Matthew 26:4

4 ¹and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Matthew 26:4 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 26:4

And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety
The Jews had often attempted his life, but he escaped out of their hands; they had sent officers to apprehend him, but to no purpose; they therefore meet and consult together, to form some scheme, and make use of some stratagem, that they might lay hold on him, and keep him; they were for doing this in the most private manner they could:

and kill him;
not with their own hands, nor privately; but their scheme was to apprehend him privately, by some secret artifice, and then deliver him to the Roman governor; to put him to death according to law, publicly, for crimes they had to charge him with; hereby ( Psalms 2:2 ) , had its accomplishment, at least in part.

Matthew 26:4 In-Context

2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. ”

3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

4 and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. ”

6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,

Cross References

• 1. 26:4 John 11:53; See ch. 21:46