Lodovico Cardi (aka Cigoli), ca. 1607
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)
Compare Matthew 27:26-28; Mark 15:15, 17-20
When the chief priests answer Pilate by saying “We have no king but Caesar!” the echo of 1 Samuel 8:4-7 is impossible to miss:
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In