The charge against him (Barclay “a written copy of the charge against him”) refers to the custom of displaying a statement of the criminal’s crime on the cross. It would either have been carried over his neck on the way to the cross, or else someone would have gone in front of him carrying it in the procession. It can be expressed as “a notice that told why he was being put to death.”

The King of the Jews is the title used of Jesus in 2.2; see comments there.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .