Roman praefectus to Judea from 26-36 AD, and almost universally infamous for being the man who authorized the death of Jesus by crucifixion.
Nothing is known of Pilate's life prior to 26 AD when, appointed by emperor Tiberius, he took up his office in Judea. He seemed like a man who had little respect for the people he ruled, and almost immediately after taking office, he antagonized the Jewish population by ordering Roman standards bearing the image of the emperor to be set up in Jerusalem (Click here to read Josephus' account of the incident). Josephus and Eusibius also report how he aggrieved the Jews by, so went the charge, using money from the Temple treasury to build a aquaduct to bring water into Jerusalem from a spring some 40 km away (Click here to read Josephus' account of this incident).
His rule came to an end when he sent troops who slaughtered thousands at a public gathering of Samaritans at Mount Gerizim which actually posed no danger to the security of the nation. For this he was replaced by Marcellus and ordered back to Rome to answer to the emperor the charges brought against him by a delegate of Samaritans. By all accounts he arrived just soon after the emperor died. There is no extent record of what happened to him after this point, though a number of apocryphal accounts—including one that he became a Christian—exist.
Pilate is mentioned in all four Gospels. "The verdict of the NT is that he was a weak man, ready to serve expediency rather than principle, whose authorization of the judicial murder of the Saviour was due less to a desire to please the Jewish authorities than to fear of imperial displeasure if Tiberius heard of further unrest in Judaea. This is made abundantly evident by his mockery of the Jews by the wording of the superscription (Jn. 19:19-22)."
Pilate is mentioned in several extrabiblical accounts, including Josephus, Eusebius, Tacitus, and Philo; invariably he is remembered in association with putting Jesus to death. For what he did his name appears in the NT more often than any other Roman official—62x in 60 verses.
While excavating Caesarea, a stone tablet was recovered on which was inscribed the names of Tiberius and Pilate.
Inscription recording Pilate's presence in Caesarea. This is a replica; the original is in the Israeli Museum.
RESOURCES:
You may also wish to read the account of Pilate's taking office as Prefect of Judea in 26 AD.
☰ Andreas J. Köstenberger, "'What is Truth?' Pilate's Question in its Johannine and Larger Biblical Context," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 48/1 (March 2005): 33-62.
☰ Brent Kinman, "Pilate's Assize and the Timing of Jesus' Trial," Tyndale Bulletin 42.2 (1991): 282-295.
©ALBERITH
200518lch