Some have suggested that the “them” who are forgiven were the Jewish
authorities that pressed charges against Jesus before Pilate, or the Jewish
nation as a whole, which failed to recognize and welcome their Messiah. On
these views, Jesus was asking for the postponement of God’s judgment on the
nation or their representatives for their persistent unbelief, and God’s
response was to grant a generation of about forty years (ad 30–70), from the
crucifixion to the fall of Jerusalem, during which time there was an
opportunity for Jews to hear the gospel and embrace Jesus as Messiah. However,
in early Christian preaching there was a call for Jews as well as gentiles to
repent “for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 24:47); their forgiveness was not
automatic. Jesus’ request was not simply for a delay in divine retribution.
More probably, the persons for whom Jesus interceded were the four-man
Roman execution squad and their supervising centurion. The present tense
verbs—“they do not know,” and “what they are doing”; not “they did not know
what they did”—strongly support this view. (Murray J. Harris, “Navigating
Tough Texts: Whom Did Jesus Forgive on the Cross—And Why? (Luke 23:34),” Bible
Study Magazine 14, no. 3 [March/April 2022]: 20)
