| 1. spread (paved with stones)
2. a mosaic or tessellated pavement 1) of a place near the praetorium or palace of Jerusalem 2) an apartment whose pavement consists of tessellated work 3) of places in the outer courts of temple ++++ The word for "Pavement" is found nowhere else in the NT, but its Hebrew equivalent occurs just once in the OT, and it is evident that the Holy Sprit would have us link the two passages together. In 2 Kings 16:17 we read, "King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it and put it upon a "pavement" of stones." In Ahaz's case, his act was the conclusive token of his surrender to abject apostasy. So here of Pilate coming down to the level of the apostate Jews. In the former case it was a Jewish ruler dominated by a Gentile idolater; in the latter, a Gentile idolater, dominated by Jews who rejected their Messiah! AWP |