The thieves also
One or other of them, not both; an Hebrew way of speaking, as
Drusius F2 observed: so it is said of Jonah, (
Jonah 1:5 ) ,
that he was "gone down into the sides of the ship"; not into both
sides, but into one or other of them: so here the thieves, one or
other of them, not naming which, railed at Jesus, for it was but
one of them; see ( Luke 23:39 ) , unless it
can be thought, as it is by some, that they both at first reviled
him; but one being quickly convinced of his evil, ceased, and
rebuked his fellow sufferer, confessed his, sin, bore a testimony
to the innocence of Christ, and desired to be remembered by him
in his kingdom. This was an aggravation of the sufferings of
Christ, that he should be vilified by those,
which were crucified with him;
who ought to have been, considering the condemnation they were
in, and the future state they were just entering into, lamenting
and confessing the sins they had been guilty of, instead of
adding sin to sin, and so aggravating their condemnation. These,
at least one of them,
cast the same into his teeth;
as the populace, the chief priests, Scribes, elders, and
Pharisees had done; twitted him with his pretensions of being the
Son of God, the Messiah, and king of Israel; and urged, that if
he was, why did not he save himself, and them also?