ted
from them in anger, for they had humiliated him; but he sent after them
that which should be a drop of bitterness in their cup of triumph.
When they were still at his judgment-seat, his last blow in his
encounter with them had been to pretend to be convinced that Jesus
really was their king. This insult he now prolonged by wording the
inscription thus: "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." It was as
much as to say, This is what becomes of a Jewish king; this is what the
Romans do with him; the king of this nation is a slave, a crucified
criminal; and, if such be the king, what must the nation be whose king
he is?

So enraged were the Jews that they sent a deputation to the governor to
entreat him to alter the words. No doubt he was delighted to see them;
for their coming proved how thoroughly his sarcasm had gone home. He
only laughed at their petition and, assuming the grand air of authority
which became no man so well as a Roman, dismissed them with the words,
"What I have written I have written."

This looked like strength of will and character; but it was in reality
only a covering for weakness. He had his will about the inscription--a
trifle; but they had their will about the crucifixion. He was strong
enough to browbeat them, but he was not strong enough to deny himself.

Yet, though the inscription of Pilate was in his own mind little more
than a revengeful jest, there was in it a Divine purpose. "What I have
written I have written," he said; but, had he known, he might almost
have said, "What I have written God has written." Sometimes and at
some places the atmosphere is so charged and electric with the Divine
that inspiration alights and burns on everything; and never was this
more true than at the cross. Pilate had already unconsciously been
almost a prophet when, pointing to Jesus, he said, "Behold the Man"--a
word which still preaches to the centuries. And now, after being a
speaking prophet, he becomes, as has been quaintly remarked, a writing
one too; for his pen was guided by a supernatural hand to indite the
words, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews."

It added greatly to the significance of the inscription that it was
written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. What Pilate intended thereby
was to heighten the insult; he wished all the strangers present at the
Passover to be able to read the inscription; for all of them who could
read at all would know one of these three languages. But