Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
The verse records one movement. Annas has finished with his prisoner and passes Him on, still tied, to Caiaphas, the high priest. It raises two questions. Why did they take Jesus to a man who no longer held the office? And how much of the earlier questioning belongs to Annas, not Caiaphas?
Who Annas Was
Annas was not the high priest, but he was the high priest's father-in-law. That tie, and his reputation for judging cases, help explain the private hearing before the Lord went on to Caiaphas.
C. E. StuartHe belonged to the Sadducees. John tells us that Joseph Caiaphas, the high priest at the time of the Lord's death, was his son-in-law. People probably saw Annas as a man with experience in legal cases, and that may explain this informal questioning before they handed the Lord over to Caiaphas. The chief priests may also have hoped that Annas could get some admission out of the Lord to help toward His condemnation. But he was not high priest, and so he had no authority. The Lord did not discuss things with him. He had no real jurisdiction in a case like this.
Annas got nothing out of Him, and the next court was no better.
F. W. GrantAnnas is baffled, though he has not given up his malice, and he sends Him bound to Caiaphas. John takes no further notice of that trial. It was hardly a trial in form, and it was decided before it began.
Which High Priest Did the Questioning?
Commentators differ over where verse 24 belongs. Some read the hearing of verses 19–23 as Annas's, so that our verse closes it:
L. M. GrantThe hearing before Annas continued till verse 24. The right translation there is, "Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest." Only John reports this hearing. He gives no account of the hearing before Caiaphas, as the other Gospels do. It may be that both of them were occupying the palace of the high priest. But it was Caiaphas who had urged the death of the Lord.
Others take the verse as a parenthesis dropped in to prevent a wrong assumption — that the questioning was Caiaphas's all along:
William KellyVerse 24 is meant parenthetically, to correct the hasty assumption that the first general questioning was before Annas, to whom Christ was led first; whereas it really was before Caiaphas, to whom Annas sent Him "bound," though it may probably have been only across the same courtyard.
Others place that hearing before Caiaphas, and some manuscripts even moved the verse:
William KellyMost commentators think this verse should come between verses 13 and 14. Some Greek and Syriac manuscripts put it there, and Cyril of Alexandria read it that way. They hold that the questioning and the striking took place before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. Other writers think John describes only the informal hearing before Annas, and so passes over the trial by Caiaphas.
Bound
The one detail John insists on is the rope. It was not strength that failed.
The Bible TreasuryOnly think of the blessed Lord being bound! They had bound Him before, and it seems they had untied that bond. Now they bind Him again. When they bound Samson, how easily he broke the cords! How much easier for our blessed Lord to do so! But no; the hour had come, and He was going to the cross to secure eternal salvation for you and me.
The next court had more than ropes waiting for Him.
W. T. P. WolstonThey take Him, and bind Him fast. One Gospel says, "Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest." Annas mocks Him, and sends Him to his son-in-law, Caiaphas. There He is jeered at, mocked, spat on, and struck with rods... That is what man will do to Jesus, the Son of God... He bears it all in patient grace.
A Priesthood in Ruin
Two men shared the title in one night, and both wanted the same verdict. That is the state Israel's priesthood had reached.
Hamilton SmithHere, then, we see what the earthly priesthood is like according to the mind of God. It is not what the history of failing Israel shows. That history ends with two wicked men filling the place of high priest at the same time, plotting together to crucify their Messiah.
The Disciple by the Fire
John sets the sending of Jesus and the denial of Peter side by side.
R. EvansBut the only one in this terrible scene who really loved and knew the Lord takes the lowest place of all. Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas, and Peter warmed himself while he denied his Lord; for the moment, he was morally one of them. Peter and Judas, apostles; Pilate and Herod, Gentile rulers; Annas and Caiaphas, high priests. Never was there such a company before.
Summary
- Bound — the ropes held Him because He allowed it. He could have snapped them as easily as Samson snapped his cords. But He was going to the cross.
- Bound to a man without authority — Annas was no longer high priest and had no real jurisdiction. So the Lord gave him nothing, and the hearing settled nothing.
- Bound to a verdict already fixed — Annas got nowhere, so he passed Him on to Caiaphas. That trial was decided before it began.
- Bound by a ruined priesthood — Israel's priesthood ends with two men in one office at once. They agreed on one thing: they wanted their Messiah dead.
- Bound while a friend denied Him — Jesus goes from court to court. Peter stands warming himself, and for that moment he belongs with the crowd, not with his Lord.