Pilate’s wife was with him in Judea (Mt 27:19), this being possible because of an earlier change in Roman governmental policy concerning governors in dangerous assignments.

Sometime prior to this, Pilate’s wife had advised him of her troublesome dream concerning “that righteous man.”​—Mt 27:19.

His wife’s dream was evidently of divine origin, even as were the earthquake, the unusual darkness, and the rending of the curtain that took place on that day. (Mt 27:19, 45, 51-54; Lu 23:44, 45) Her dream should have warned Pilate that this was no ordinary trial, no ordinary defendant.