Matthew 26:4

4 and made plans to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death.

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 "In two days, as you know, it will be the Passover Festival, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

3 Then the chief priests and the elders met together in the palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest,

4 and made plans to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death.

5 "We must not do it during the festival," they said, "or the people will riot."

6 Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease.