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The
Jewish leaders wanted Jesus executed on a cross, a method of death that they
believed brought a curse from God (Deuteronomy 21:23). They hoped to
persuade the people that Jesus was cursed, not blessed, by God. If
Jesus died by crucifixion, He would die the death of a rebel and slave, not
of the king He claimed to be. This is just what the Jewish religious
leaders wanted, and the reason they whipped the mob into a frenzy.
This crowd was most likely a group of people loyal to the Jewish leaders.
Jesus’ sympathizers were
afraid of the Jewish leaders, so they went into hiding.
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