Some
of them who stood there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him a drink. The rest said, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”
Matthew 27:47-49
Matthew 27 [45.] Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Matthew 27 [47.] Some of them who stood there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”
Matthew 27 [48.] Immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him a drink. The rest said, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”
Matthew 27 [50.] Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
Meaning:
After three hours of darkness, Jesus cried out the opening words of Psalm 22, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-46). These verses tell how the bystanders reacted. Mark gives the same account: “Behold, he is calling Elijah” (Mark 15:35-36).
- “This man is calling Elijah.”
The Hebrew word “Eli” means “my God,” but it sounded like the name of the prophet Elijah. Some bystanders may have misheard the cry of a dying man, while others may have twisted it on purpose as one more joke. Either way, Elijah was on people’s minds. Malachi had promised, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes” (Malachi 4:5). Popular belief also held that Elijah, who had been taken up to heaven without dying, would come to help the righteous in their time of need.
The irony is that Elijah had already come. Jesus told his disciples, “Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted to. Even so the Son of Man will also suffer by them” (Matthew 17:12). He was speaking of John the Baptist. Those who waited for Elijah failed to recognise both the forerunner and the Lord he prepared the way for.
- “took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed”
The “vinegar” was probably the cheap sour wine drunk by soldiers and labourers. Someone ran to soak a sponge in it and lifted it to Jesus’ lips on a reed. John tells us that Jesus had said, “I am thirsty,” “that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 19:28-30). The Scripture is Psalm 69, another psalm of the suffering righteous one: “They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21). Earlier Jesus had refused wine mixed with gall, which may have been offered to dull his pain (Matthew 27:34). Now he accepted the drink, perhaps to wet his parched mouth so that he could speak his last words.
Whether the man acted from kindness or from a wish to keep Jesus alive a little longer to see what would happen, we are not told. It may be one small act of mercy in a scene full of cruelty.
- “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”
The rest of the crowd wanted to watch. Their words mix curiosity, mockery and unbelief. They had heard Jesus cry to God and treated it as a spectacle. They waited to see whether Elijah would come down, when the Son of God himself was dying in front of them.
The Significance of Matthew 27:47-49
- Misunderstanding Jesus
The bystanders misheard Jesus’ prayer and missed its meaning. People still hear about Jesus and misunderstand him, treating the most important event in history as a curiosity. The cross calls for more than watching. It calls for faith.
- Small acts of mercy
Amid mockery, one person offered a drink. Jesus said that whoever gives “a cup of cold water” to one of his little ones will not lose his reward (Matthew 10:42). Kindness to the suffering is never wasted.
Cross-References:
Psalm 69:21: "In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink." The psalm fulfilled at the cross.
Malachi 4:5: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet" The promise the bystanders remembered.
Matthew 17:12: "Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him," Jesus on John the Baptist.
John 19:28: "that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”" John’s account of the same moment.
Conclusion: When Jesus cried “Eli, Eli,” some bystanders thought he was calling Elijah. One man ran to give him sour wine on a sponge, fulfilling Psalm 69, while the rest said, “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.” They waited for Elijah, not realising that Elijah had already come in John the Baptist and that the Saviour himself was before them.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible