Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 19:16
Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led [him ]away.
16. Then delivered he, &c.] Better, Then therefore delivered he, &c. In none of the Gospels does it appear that Pilate pronounced sentence on Jesus; he perhaps purposely avoided doing so. But in delivering Him over to the priests he does not allow them to act for themselves: ‘he delivered Him to them that He might be crucified ’ by Roman soldiers; not that they might crucify Him themselves.
And they took ] The best authorities give, They therefore took. The word for ‘took’ should rather be rendered received, as in the only other places in which it occurs in this Gospel, Joh 1:11, Joh 14:3. It means to ‘accept what is offered, receive from the hands of another.’ A comparison of the three texts is instructive. The eternal Son is given by the Father, comes to his own inheritance, and His own people received Him not (Joh 1:11). The Incarnate Son is given up by Pilate to His own people, and they received Him to crucify Him (Joh 19:16). The glorified Son comes again to His own people, to receive them unto Himself (Joh 14:3).
and led him away ] These words are of very doubtful authority.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the notes at Mat 27:32-37.
Joh 19:22
What I have written … – This declaration implied that he would make no change. He was impatient, and weary of their solicitations. He had yielded to them contrary to the convictions of his own conscience, and he now declared his purpose to yield no further.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 19:16
Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified
When?
I. NOT WHEN THE EVIDENCE AGAINST JESUS WAS CONCLUSIVE. Charges had been made, but nothing had been proved. Neither in their testimony, nor in the utterances of Jesus Himself, did Pilate find any ground for passing the death-sentence.
II. NOT WHEN HEROD SENT HIM BACK TO PILATE. Had that ruler sent word that Christ was worthy of death, Pilate might have yielded, and then have passed sentence on the prisoner. But Pilate says: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto Him.
III. NOT WHEN HIS WIFE URGED HIM TO PLEASE THE JEWS. Herod had, indeed, beheaded John the Baptist through his wifes influence. But, singularly enough, Pilates wife defended the righteous Prisoner.
IV. NOT WHEN HE THOUGHT THAT THE MOTIVES OF HIS ACCUSERS WERE JUST AND HOLY. Pilate was not by any means deceived by them.
V. NOT WHEN HE HAD NO POWER TO DELIVER CHRIST FROM THEIR RAGE. Knowest Thou not that I have power, &c. The power lay absolutely in his hands. The Jews knew this, and Pilate knew it. He never could have pleaded that he was powerless.
VI. NOT WHEN HIS CONSCIENCE FAILED TO ACT IN THIS MATTER. If ever Pilates conscience was active, it was just at this time. To the very last it strove with him, even to the extent of making him wash his hands. His testy answer to the Jews, later on, when they wanted the superscription over the cross changed, shows that he was irritated at having been dragged into the position in which he found himself.
VII. WHEN HE SAW THAT BY REFUSAL HE WOULD FORFEIT THE FAVOUR OF THE JEWS. He did not want to do wrong, if he could help it. But, at the same time, he did not want to lose the favour of the Jewish leaders. Two desires strove within him for the mastery. The conflict was long and bitter. All arguments but one were in favour of the release of Jesus. But all just arguments had to go to the wall before the one selfish motive of popularity. Conclusion: And are there no modern Pilates? The youngest child has had experience enough to enable him to sympathize keenly with this man.
1. For no one lives long in this world without finding that, sooner or later, duty and desire conflict with each other. Not for lack of light, but for lack of will, do men go astray.
2. Like Pilate, men seek to evade the responsibility for their actions. How often circumstances are blamed, or companions are made the bearers of the responsibility. Inability to resist is pleaded. Any flimsy excuse is laid hold of and magnified, in order to shift the guilt of the act from the sinning soul. Pilates hand-washing seems to us frivolous and childish. Is it any more childish than half of the foolish excuses offered for the evil deeds of many?
3. It is very possible that a previous misdeed of Pilates may have occurred to him as a reason for this iniquitous act (Luk 13:1). Is it too fanciful to suppose that at this time Pilate saw an opportunity to regain the popularity which then he had lost? One lie calls for another, and one dishonest deed begets a second. The only way out of past wrong is to confess it, and break from the bondage of old-time sins. Otherwise, the last state of a man simply becomes worse than his first. (A. F. Schauffler.)
The morally wrong ever inexpedient
I. A DIFFICULTY REMOVED DESTINED TO APPEAR IN MORE TERRIBLE FORMS Then delivered he, &c. In this no doubt Pilate felt that he had got rid of a difficulty. How to meet the claims of his imperial master, maintain his popularity with the Jews, and save his conscience, constituted a difficulty that had distracted him beyond measure. Now handing Christ over to the Jews he would breathe more freely. Alas! the difficulty is merely temporarily shifted and pushed for a moment out of sight, but otherwise becoming, more huge and revolting. No difficulty can be removed by outraging or ignoring rectitude.
1. One man has a financial difficulty: accumulated debts drag him down, and he knows not how to deliver himself. He makes himself bankrupt, or forges a bill and fancies the difficulty removed. Not so.
2. Another has a social difficulty. By amorous impulses and reckless vows, he has committed himself to some one whom he comes to loathe as an intolerable infliction. In an evil moment he uses a razor or administers a poison, foolishly supposing that the difficulty is got rid of. But the old tormentor, though buried in the earth, is alive in memory to haunt it for ever.
3. Another has a moral difficulty; his conscience is oppressed with a sense of guilt, and he seeks to remove the difficulty by resorting to drink and revelry. But the sleeping conscience soon awakes.
II. A CONQUEST ACHIEVED WHICH MUST OVERWHELM THE VICTORS IN ULTIMATE RUIN. And they took Jesus and led Him away. The Jews were now triumphant: but of what worth was their victory? Even in this life they felt the rebound. A few years on, and the king they chose ravaged their country, destroyed their Temple, extinguished their national life, and scattered them throughout the earth. Truly the triumphing of the wicked is short. History abounds in instances of conquests reversed and victors vanquished. Whoso taketh the sword shall perish by the sword. The slaveholders martyred John Brown, and thought they had killed the antislavery movement; hut in the course of a few years the cause of slavery was ruined. The principle is this–what is wrongfully achieved must lead to ruin. A man struggles for a fortune. He achieves it, but how? He struggles for senatorial honours, but how? The how is the question. All the produce of human labour, however valuable, if unrighteously obtained, the justice of the universe turns into stone that will grind the possessors to powder. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
And they took Jesus, and led Him away
The procession of sorrow
I. CHRIST AS LED FORTH. Pilate scourged our Saviour according to the custom of Roman courts, and gave him over to the Praetorian guards to insult him. We do not read that they removed the crown of thorns, and therefore it is probable that our Saviour wore it along the Via Dolorosa. They put on Him His own clothes that the multitude might discern Him to be the very man who had professed to be the Messiah. We all know that a different dress will often raise a doubt about the identity of an individual; but lo! the people saw Him in the street wearing His garment without seam. How they led Him forth we do not know; perhaps with a rope about His neck, since it was not unusual for the Romans thus to conduct criminals to the gallows. We care, however, far more for the fact that He went forth carrying His cross. This was intended at once to proclaim His guilt and intimate His doom.
1. We learn here as we see Christ led forth that which was set forth in shadow by the scapegoat. Did not the high-priest bring the scapegoat, and put both his hands upon its head, confessing the sins of the people, that thus those sins might be laid upon the goat? Then the goat was led away by a fit man into the wilderness, and it carried away the sins of the people. Now we see Jesus brought before the priests and rulers, who pronounce Him guilty; God Himself imputes our sins to Him; He was made sin for us; and, as the great Scapegoat, led away by the appointed officers of justice.
2. Jesus was conducted to the common place of death. Our great Hero, the destroyer of Death, bearded the lion in his den, and slew the monster in his own castle.
3. He was led thither to aggravate His shame. Calvary was like our Old Bailey. Christ must die a felons death in the place where horrid crimes had met their due reward. In this, too, He draws the nearer to us, He was numbered with the transgressors, &c.
4. But the great lesson is, let us go forth, therefore, without the camp, bearing His reproach.
(1) The multitude are leading Him forth from the Temple. He is not allowed to worship with them.
(2) He is exiled from their friendship. No man dare whisper a word of comfort to Him.
(3) He is banished from their society, as if He were a leper. See, here is a picture of what we may expect from men if we are faithful to our Master. It is not likely that we shall be able to worship with them, have their friendship, or be received into their society. Go ye, then, like the Master, expecting to earn reproach, without the camp.
II. CHRIST CARRYING HIS CROSS. I have shown you, believer, your position; let me now show you your service. Christ comes forth from Pilates hall with the cumbrous wood, all to heavy for His exhausted frame; so they place it upon Simon, a Cyrenian. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus, two persons well known in the early Church; let us hope that salvation came to his house when he was compelled to bear the Saviours cross. Let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simons
1. It is not our cross, but Christs which we carry. When your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then remember, it is Christs cross; and how delightful is it to carry that.
2. You carry the cross after Him. Your path is marked with footprints of your Lord.
3. You bear this cross in partnership. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of it. That is possible; Christ may have carried the heavier end. Certainly it is so with you. Rutherford says, Whenever Christ gives us a cross, He cries, Halves, My love. Others think that Simon carried the whole of the cross. If he carried all the cross, yet he only carried the wood of it; he did not bear the sin which made it such a load. If you think that you suffer all that a Christian can suffer, yet, remember, there is not one drop of wrath in all your sea of sorrow. Jesus took that.
4. Although Simon carried Christs cross, he did not volunteer to do it, but they compelled him. I fear that the most of us carry it by compulsion; at least when it first comes on to our shoulders we do not like it; but the world compels us to bear Christs cross. I do not think we should seek after needless persecution. That man deserves no pity who purposely excites the disgust of other people. We must not make a cross of our own. Let there be nothing but your religion to object to, and then if that offends them, it is a cross which you must carry joyfully.
5. Though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honour. The cross we have to carry is only for a little while at most. I reckon that these light afflictions, &c.
III. CHRIST AND HIS MOURNERS. When the voice of sympathy prevailed over the voice of Scorn, Jesus paused, and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, &c. This was a very proper sorrow; Jesus did not by any means forbid it, He only recommended another sorrow as being better.
1. Weep not because the Saviour bled, but because your sins made Him bleed. The Lord thinks far more of the tears of repentance than of the mere drops of human sympathy.
2. Weep over those who have brought that blood upon their heads. We ought not to forget the Jews.
3. Sorrow deeply for the souls of all unregenerate men and women. What Christ suffered for us, these must suffer for themselves, except they put their trust in Christ.
IV. CHRISTS FELLOW-SUFFERERS. There were two other cross-bearers, malefactors. Their crosses were just as heavy as the Lords, and one of them had no sympathy with him, and his bearing the cross only led to his death, and not to his salvation. I have met with persons who have suffered much, and therefore suppose that because of that they shall escape punishment. Yonder malefactor carried his cross and died on it; and you will carry your sorrows, and be damned with them, except you repent. No sufferings of ours have anything to do with the atonement of sin.
V. THE SAVIOURS WARNING QUESTION. If they do these things in the green tree, what will they do in the dry? If I, the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus, what will be done when the sinner himself shall fall into the hands of an angry God? Remember that when God saw Christ in the sinners place He did not spare Him, and when He finds you without Christ, He will not spare you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. Then delivered he him] This was not till after he had washed his hands, Mt 27:24, to show, by that symbolical action, that he was innocent of the death of Christ. John omits this circumstance, together with the insults which Christ received from the soldiers. See Mt 27:26, c. Mr 15:16, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This must be at or about twelve of the clock, for that must be signified by the sixth hour, Joh 19:14. Pilate condemned him, and delivered him to the executioner, who (as the manner is in such cases) led him away.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Then delivered he him thereforeunto them to be crucified, &c.(See Mr15:15).
Joh19:17-30. CRUCIFIXION ANDDEATH OF THE LORDJESUS.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then delivered he him therefore,…. Perceiving he could not by any means work upon them, and that nothing would satisfy them but his death; he therefore passed sentence on him, and gave him up to their will,
unto them to be crucified; as they requested, and which was done in a judicial way, and all by divine appointment, according to the counsel and foreknowledge of God:
and they took Jesus and led him away; directly from the judgment hall, out of the city to the place of execution, whither he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, without opening his mouth against God or man; but behaved with the utmost patience, meekness, and resignation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ Condemned; The Crucifixion. |
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16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. 17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
We have here sentence of death passed upon our Lord Jesus, and execution done soon after. A mighty struggle Pilate had had within him between his convictions and his corruptions; but at length his convictions yielded, and his corruptions prevailed, the fear of man having a greater power over him than the fear of God.
I. Pilate gave judgment against Christ, and signed the warrant for his execution, v. 16. We may see here, 1. How Pilate sinned against his conscience: he had again and again pronounced him innocent, and yet at last condemned him as guilty. Pilate, since he came to be governor, had in many instances disobliged and exasperated the Jewish nation; for he was a man of a haughty and implacable spirit, and extremely wedded to his humour. He had seized upon the Corban, and spent it upon a water-work; he had brought into Jerusalem shields stamped with Csar’s image, which was very provoking to the Jews; he had sacrificed the lives of many to his resolutions herein. Fearing therefore that he should be complained of for these and other insolences, he was willing to gratify the Jews. Now this makes the matter much worse. If he had been of an easy, soft, and pliable disposition, his yielding to so strong a stream had been the more excusable; but for a man that was so wilful in other things, and of so fierce a resolution, to be overcome in a thing of this nature, shows him to be a bad man indeed, that could better bear the wronging of his conscience than the crossing of his humour. 2. How he endeavoured to transfer the guilt upon the Jews. He delivered him not to his own officers (as usual), but to the prosecutors, the chief priests and elders; so excusing the wrong to his own conscience with this, that it was but a permissive condemnation, and that he did not put Christ to death, but only connived at those that did it. 3. How Christ was made sin for us. We deserved to have been condemned, but Christ was condemned for us, that to us there might be no condemnation. God was now entering into judgment with his Son, that he might not enter into judgment with his servants.
II. Judgment was no sooner given than with all possible expedition the prosecutors, having gained their point, resolved to lose not time lest Pilate should change his mind, and order a reprieve (those are enemies to our souls, the worst of enemies, that hurry us to sin, and then leave us no room to undo what we have done amiss), and also lest there should be an uproar among the people, and they should find a greater number against them than they had with so much artifice got to be for them. It were well if we would be thus expeditious in that which is good, and not stay for more difficulties.
1. They immediately hurried away the prisoner. The chief priests greedily flew upon the prey which they had been long waiting for; now it is drawn into their net. Or they, that is, the soldiers who were to attend the execution, they took him and led him away, not to the place whence he came, and thence to the place of execution, as is usual with us, but directly to the place of execution. Both the priests and the soldiers joined in leading him away. Now was the Son of man delivered into the hands of men, wicked and unreasonable men. By the law of Moses (and in appeals by our law) the prosecutors were to be the executioners, Deut. xvii. 7. And the priests here were proud of the office. His being led away does not suppose him to have made any opposition, but the scripture must be fulfilled, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, Acts viii. 32. We deserved to have been led forth with the workers of iniquity as criminals to execution, Ps. cxxv. 5. But he was led forth for us, that we might escape.
2. To add to his misery, they obliged him as long as he was able, to carry his cross (v. 17), according to the custom among the Romans; hence Furcifer was among them a name of reproach. Their crosses did not stand up constantly, as our gibbets do in the places of execution, because the malefactor was nailed to the cross as it lay along upon the ground, and then it was lifted up, and fastened in the earth, and removed when the execution was over, and commonly buried with the body; so that every one that was crucified had a cross of his own. Now Christ’s carrying his cross may be considered, (1.) As a part of his sufferings; he endured the cross literally. It was a long and thick piece of timber that was necessary for such a use, and some think it was neither seasoned nor hewn. The blessed body of the Lord Jesus was tender, and unaccustomed to such burdens; it had now lately been harassed and tired out; his shoulders were sore with the stripes they had given him; every jog of the cross would renew his smart, and be apt to strike the thorns he was crowned with into his head; yet all this he patiently underwent, and it was but the beginning of sorrows. (2.) As answering the type which went before him; Isaac, when he was to be offered, carried the wood on which he was to be bound and with which he was to be burned. (3.) As very significant of his undertaking, the Father having laid upon him the iniquity of us all (Isa. liii. 6), and he having to take away sin by bearing it in his own body upon the tree, 1 Pet. ii. 24. He had said in effect, On me be the curse; for he was made a curse for us, and therefore on him was the cross. (4.) As very instructive to us. Our Master hereby taught all his disciples to take up their cross, and follow him. Whatever cross he calls us out to bear at any time, we must remember that he bore the cross first, and, by bearing it for us, bears it off from us in great measure, for thus he hath made his yoke easy, and his burden light. He bore that end of the cross that had the curse upon it; this was the heavy end; and hence all that are his are enabled to call their afflictions for him light, and but for a moment.
3. They brought him to the place of execution: He went forth, not dragged against his will, but voluntary in his sufferings. He went forth out of the city, for he was crucified without the gate, Heb. xiii. 12. And, to put the greater infamy upon his sufferings, he was brought to the common place of execution, as one in all points numbered among the transgressors, a place called Golgotha, the place of a skull, where they threw dead men’s skulls and bones, or where the heads of beheaded malefactors were left,–a place ceremonially unclean; there Christ suffered, because he was made sin for us, that he might purge our consciences from dead works, and the pollution of them. If one would take notice of the traditions of the elders, there are two which are mentioned by many of the ancient writers concerning this place:– (1.) That Adam was buried here, and that this was the place of his skull, and they observe that where death triumphed over the first Adam there the second Adam triumphed over him. Gerhard quotes for this tradition Origen, Cyprian, Epiphanius, Austin, Jerome, and others. (2.) That this was that mountain in the land of Moriah on which Abraham offered up Isaac, and the ram was a ransom for Isaac.
4. There they crucified him, and the other malefactors with him (v. 18): There they crucified him. Observe (1.) What death Christ died; the death of the cross, a bloody, painful, shameful death, a cursed death. He was nailed to the cross, as a sacrifice bound to the altar, as a Saviour fixed for his undertaking; his ear nailed to God’s door-post, to serve him for ever. He was lifted up as the brazen serpent, hung between heaven and earth because we were unworthy of either, and abandoned by both. His hands were stretched out to invite and embrace us; he hung upon the tree some hours, dying gradually in the full use of reason and speech, that he might actually resign himself a sacrifice. (2.) In what company he died: Two others with him. Probably these would not have been executed at that time, but at the request of the chief priests, to add to the disgrace of our Lord Jesus, which might be the reason why one of them reviled him, because their death was hastened for his sake. Had they taken two of his disciples, and crucified them with him, it had been an honour to him; but, if such as they had been partakers with him in suffering, it would have looked as if they had been undertakers with him in satisfaction. Therefore it was ordered that his fellow-sufferers should be the worst of sinners, that he might bear our reproach, and that the merit might appear to be his only. This exposed him much to the people’s contempt and hatred, who are apt to judge of persons by the lump, and are not curious in distinguishing, and would conclude him not only malefactor because he was yoked with malefactors, but the worst of the three because put in the midst. But thus the scripture was fulfilled, He was numbered among the transgressors. He did not die at the altar among the sacrifices, nor mingle his blood with that of bulls and goats; but he died among the criminals, and mingled his blood with theirs who were sacrificed to public justice.
And now let us pause awhile, and with an eye of faith look upon Jesus. Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow? See him who was clothed with glory stripped of it all, and clothed with shame-him who was the praise of angels made a reproach of men–him who had been with eternal delight and joy in the bosom of his Father now in the extremities of pain and agony. See him bleeding, see him struggling, see him dying, see him and love him, love him and live to him, and study what we shall render.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
He delivered (). Kappa aorist active of , the very verb used of the Sanhedrin when they handed Jesus over to Pilate (John 18:30; John 18:35). Now Pilate hands Jesus back to the Sanhedrin with full consent for his death (Lu 23:25).
To be crucified ( ). Purpose clause with and the first aorist passive subjunctive of . John does not give the dramatic episode in Mt 27:24f. when Pilate washed his hands and the Jews took Christ’s blood on themselves and their children. But it is on Pilate also.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Delivered. Luke says, delivered to their will (xxiii. 25). Pilate pronounced no sentence, but disclaimed all responsibility for the act, and delivered Christ up to them [] , they having invoked the responsibility upon themselves. See Mt 27:24, 25.
And led Him away. The best texts omit.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
CHRIST CRUCIFIED V. 16-30
1) “Then delivered he him therefore,” (tote oun paredoken auton) “Then at that point he delivered him,” the Christ, in response to and as a result of the clamor of the priest-led, Sanhedrin demands of a religious Jewish mob, motivated by sanction of and appeals from the chief priests, elders, scribes, and council of the Sanhedrin, Mar 15:1; Luk 23:1.
2) “Unto them to be crucified.” (autois hina staurothe) “To them in order that he might be crucified,” in response to their demands. Though Pilate pronounced no sentence, he delivered up an innocent man, an uncondemned prisoner, like a chunk of meat to howling wolves, to satisfy the demands of the priests.
3) “And they took Jesus and led him away.” (parelabon oun ton lesoun) “Then they took (charge of) Jesus,” the Sanhedrin and the whole multitude of the congregated Jews took Him, not to their legal Mosaic stoning, but to be crucified, an heathen form of death for an accused person, the worst of criminals, Deu 21:23; Gal 3:13; 1Pe 2:24.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. Then, therefore, he delivered him to them to be crucified. Pilate was, no doubt constrained by their importunity to deliver Christ; and yet this was not done in a tumultuous manner, but he was solemnly condemned in the ordinary form, because there were also two robbers who, after having been tried, were at the same time condemned to be crucified. But John employs this expression, in order to make it more fully evident that Christ, though he had not been convicted of any crime, was given up to the insatiable cruelty of the people.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) Then delivered he him therefore unto themi.e., to the chief priests. The Crucifixion was actually carried out by the Roman soldiers, acting under the direction of the chief priests,
And led him away.These words should probably be omitted.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘They therefore took Jesus, and he went out bearing the cross for himself, to the place called the Place of the Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha., where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus in the middle.’
Jesus, His back in tatters, His clothes covered in blood, was now made to bear the means of His execution. The heavy timber which would form the crosspiece of His cross was laid across His back. (The upright would be found on site). We learn elsewhere that in the end all this proved too much for Him in His weakened state so that He had to have assistance (Luk 23:26). He Who was bearing the sins of the world could not even carry His crosspiece.
‘The Place of the Skull’. This was possibly some well known natural formation in nature depicting a skull. Such a place can be seen today but it is not necessarily the identical one. Such things come and go. Nature’s work often produces shapes which are identified as one thing or another, and equally often erodes them away. Alternately it may have been a place which had become connected with a particular skull of some famous or infamous person. We really do not know. But John saw the name as fitting the current situation. It was the place of death.
‘Where they crucified him.’ Every angel in Heaven must have stood in readiness, every sword must have been unsheathed, awaiting the Father’s expected command, a thousand legions of them and more. But no word came and in perplexity they sheathed them again. They could not understand it. The One Who was the outshining of the Father’s glory, the One Whom they had worshipped through the ages, was being nailed ignominiously to a cross, and they were forced to stand by and do nothing.
But on earth the scene was more simplistic. The timber was laid down on the ground, the bleeding figure was roughly thrust on it, the hammer thudded as the nails were driven home, and the whole was lifted up as a spectacle for the world to behold its bleeding king.
He was not alone. Two brigands were crucified with Him, one on either side, and He in the middle. He was being ‘numbered with the transgressors’ (Isa 53:12; Luk 22:37). They represented God’s sentence of death on the world for which He died. He was the sacrifice made on their behalf. They bore their own curse. He bore our curse that we may not have to bear it if we come to Him. For by this act of crucifixion He had become accursed in the eyes of men on our behalf (Gal 3:13; Deu 21:23).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Lamb is Offered Up ( Joh 19:16-37 ).
Meanwhile the innocent victim was being dragged through the streets of the city, and then through an outer gate in order to be crucified ‘outside the gate’ (Heb 13:12). Rejected by those to whom He had come He was being treated as an excrescence, seen as not even fit to suffer within the city, something emphasised by the fact that He was being crucified. In the words of Deu 21:23, ‘a hanged man is accursed by God’, and that is how the Jews would see it. They overlooked the fact that that was only true where the judgment was deserved.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus is Crucified In Joh 19:16-22 we have Mark’s account of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Crucifixion in the Ancient World – References to impalement and crucifixion in ancient history are too numerous to mention them all. These most cruel forms of punishment were used for perhaps a thousand years, from the sixth century B.C. by the Persians until fourth century A.D. when Constantine abolished its practice throughout the Roman Empire. Perhaps the earliest references to crucifixion and impalement as a form of capital punishments are recorded by the Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), who says the Persians practiced it against their enemies and other condemned of crimes. Although the Persians may have not have been the first to use this cruel form of punishment, they certainly appear to be the first to use it extensively. Herodotus makes numerous references to the Persian practice of impalement and crucifixion, with most gruesome event taking place when King Darius of Persian subdued the Babylonians a second time in 519 B.C. by crucifying three thousand chief men among them on one occasion (3.159). [257]
[257] “Crucifixion,” in Encyclopdia Britannica [on-line]; accessed December 21, 2011; available at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/144583/crucifixion; Internet.
“and with that he took the Magians who interpreted dreams and had persuaded him to let Cyrus go free, and impaled [ ] them.” ( Herodotus 1.128) [258]
[258] Herodotus I, trans. A. D. Godley, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1920, 1975), 167.
“Having killed him (in some way not worth the telling) Oroetes then crucified [ ] him.” ( Herodotus 3.125) [259]
[259] Herodotus II, trans. A. D. Godley, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1928), 155.
“When the Egyptian chirurgeons who had till now attended on the king were about to be impaled [ ] for being less skilful than a Greek, Democedes begged their lives of the king and saved them.” ( Herodotus 3.132) [260]
[260] Herodotus II, trans. A. D. Godley, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1928), 163.
“For he had raped the virgin daughter of Zopyrus son of Megabyzus; and when on this charge he was to be impaled [ ] by King XerxesBut Xerxes did not believe that Sataspes spoke truth, and as the task appointed Mas unfulfilled he impaled [ ] him, punishing him on the charge first brought against him.” ( Herodotus 4.43) [261]
[261] Herodotus II, trans. A. D. Godley, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1928), 241-243.
“Artaphrenes, viceroy of Sardis and Harpagus who had taken Histiaeus, impaled [ ] his body on the spot, and sent his head embalmed to king Darius at Susa.” ( Herodotus 6.30) [262]
[262] Herodotus III, trans. A. D. Godley, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1938), 175-177.
“Their captain was the viceroy from Cyme in Aeolia, Sandoces son of Thamasius; he had once before this, being then one of the king’s judges, been taken and crucified [ ] by Darius because he had given unjust judgment for a bribe.” ( Herodotus 7.194) [263]
[263] Herodotus III, trans. A. D. Godley, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1938), 511.
“Thus was Babylon the second time taken. Having mastered the Babylonians, Darius destroyed their walls and reft away all their gates, neither of which things Cvrus had done at the first taking of Babylon; moreover he impaled [ ] about three thousand men that were chief among them.” ( Herodotus 3.159) [264]
[264] Herodotus II, trans. A. D. Godley, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1928), 193-195.
The Greek historian Thucydides (460-396 B.C.) records the use of impalement during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) by the Persians, which suggests the introduction of this form of punishment to the Greek by the Persians.
“for the Persians were unable to capture him, both on account of the extent of the marsh and because the marsh people are the best fighters among the Egyptians. Inaros, however, the king of the Libyans, who had been the originator of the whole movement in Egypt, was taken by treachery and impaled.” ( Thucydides 1.110) [265]
[265] Thucydides, vol. 1, trans. Charles Forster Smith, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1956), 185.
The Greek general Alexander the Great adopted crucifixion as a form of punishment against his enemies in his conquests. The Roman historian Curtius Rufus (flourished A.D. 41-54) says Alexander the Great crucified two thousand citizens of Tyre along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea after having conquered them.
“Then a sorrowful spectacle to the victors caused by the wrath of the king, two thousand suffering (his) madness which were killed, fixed to a cross [crux] along the enormous distance of the seashore. He spared the ambassadors of the Carthaginians” (author’s translation) (Quintus Curtius Rufus , Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great 4.4.18) [266]
[266] Quintus Curtius Rufus, Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, trans. William Henry Crosby (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1969), 45.
The Romans adopted crucifixion into their judicial system. The Roman statesman Cicero (106-43 B.C.) describes crucifixion as the worst form of capital punishment that should be reserved for all but Roman citizens, and he condemns those Roman officials who performed it upon their own citizens.
“The Roman people will give credit to those Roman knights who, when they were produced as witnesses before you originally, said that a Roman citizen, one who was offering honourable men as his bail, was crucified by him in their sight.” (Cicero, Against Verrem 1.5) [267]
[267] C. D. Yonge, The Works of Philo Judaeus, the Contemporary of Josephus, vol. 1 (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854), 137.
“The punishments of Roman citizens are driving him mad, some of whom he has delivered to the executioner, others he has put to death in prison, others he has crucified while demanding their rights as freemen and as Roman citizens.” (Cicero, Against Verrem 2.1.3) [268]
[268] C. D. Yonge, The Works of Philo Judaeus, the Contemporary of Josephus, vol. 1 (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854), 154.
“I will produce, also, citizens of Cosa, his fellow-citizens and relations, who shall teach you, though it is too late, and who shall also teach the judges, (for it is not too late for them to know them,) that that Publius Gavius whom you crucified was a Roman citizen, and a citizen of the municipality of Cosa, not a spy of runaway slaves.” (Cicero, Against Verrem 2.5.63) [269]
[269] C. D. Yonge, The Works of Philo Judaeus, the Contemporary of Josephus, vol. 1 (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854), 535.
“Then you might remit some part of the extreme punishment. Did he not know him? Then, if you thought fit, you might establish this law for all people, that whoever was not known to you, and could not produce a rich man to vouch for him, even though he were a Roman citizen, was still to be crucified.” (Cicero, Against Verrem 2.5.65) [270]
[270] C. D. Yonge, The Works of Philo Judaeus, the Contemporary of Josephus, vol. 1 (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854), 537.
The Romans appear to have taken crucifixion to its fullest extent of torment. The Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnasus (60-7 B.C.) tells us that the Romans combined scourging and various forms of torture as a prerequisite to crucifixion.
“And straightway all those whom the informers declared to have been concerned in the conspiracy were either seized in their houses or brought in from the country, and after being scourged and tortured they were all crucified.” (Dionysius of Halicarnasus, Roman Antiquities 5.51.3) [271]
[271] Dionysius of Halicarnasus, The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnasus, vol. 3, trans. Earnest Cary, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1940), 153.
“When the plot was revealed, the ringleaders were arrested and after being scourged were led away to be crucified.” (Dionysius of Halicarnasus, Roman Antiquities 12.6.7) [272]
[272] Dionysius of Halicarnasus, The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnasus, vol. 7, trans. Earnest Cary, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1950), 221.
The Roman philosopher Seneca (4 B.C. to A.D. 65) tells us that the Romans experimented with a variety of methods for crucifying men in an effort to inflict maximum suffering.
“I see before me crosses not all alike, but differently made by different peoples: some hang a man head downwards, some force a stick upwards through his groin, some stretch out his arms on a forked gibbet.” ( Dialogues 6, To Marcia, On Consolations) [273]
[273] Aubrey Stewart, L. Anneaus Seneca: Minor Dialogues (London: George Bell and Sons, 1889), 192.
The Roman historian Appian (A. D. 95-165) tells us that the Roman general Crassus crucified six thousand men in 71 B.C. after crushing a slave rebellion led by Spartacus. He stretched these crosses along the main road leading to Rome so that everyone may see and fear the Romans. [274]
[274] William Bodham Donne, “Spartacus,” in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 3, ed. William Smith (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1849), 892.
“They divided themselves in four parts, and continued to fight until they all perished except 6000, who were captured and crucified along the whole road from Capua to Rome.” ( The Civil Wars 1.120) [275]
[275] Appian’s Roman History, vol. 3, trans. Horace White, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1964), 223-225.
The Assyrian satirist Lucian (A.D. 125-180) reflects the Roman’s passion for the most extreme forms of punishment in his work The Fisherman.
“But how are we to punish him, to be sure? Let us invent a complex death for him, such as to satisfy us all; in fact he deserves to die seven times over for each of us. PHILOSOPHER I suggest he be crucified. ANOTHER Yes, by Heaven; but flogged beforehand. ANOTHER Let him have his eyes put out long beforehand.. ANOTHER Let him have that tongue of his cut off, even longer beforehand.” (Lucian, The Fisherman 2) [276]
[276] Lucian, vol. 3, trans. A. M. Harmon, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1960), 5.
The Jewish historian Josephus (A.D. 37-100) makes many references to the Roman practice of crucifixion against the Jewish people. His description of the thousands of crucifixions that the Romans performed upon the Jews during the siege of Jerusalem is perhaps the most horrific of his many references.
“after they had fought, they thought it too late to make any supplications for mercy; so they were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city. This miserable procedure made Titus greatly to pity them, while they caught every day five hundred Jews; nay, some days they caught moreSo the soldiers out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest; when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.” (Josephus, Wars 5.11.1)
“Whereupon Eleazar besought them not to disregard him, now he was going to suffer a most miserable death, and exhorted them to save themselves, by yielding to the Roman power and good fortune, since all other people were now conquered by them.” (Josephus, Wars 7.6.4)
The Roman philosopher Seneca (4 B.C. to A.D. 65) gives one of the most vivid descriptions of what a person suffers during a crucifixion in ancient literature:
“But what sort of life is a lingering death? Can anyone be found who would prefer wasting away in pain dying limb by limb, or letting out his life drop by drop, rather than expiring once for all? Can any man by found willing to be fastened to the accursed tree, long sickly, already deformed, swelling with ugly tumors on chest and shoulders, and drawing the breath of life amid long drawn-out agony? I think he would have many excuses for dying even before mounting the cross!” ( Epistle 101.14). [277]
[277] Seneca, vol. 4 , Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, vol. 3, trans. Richard M. Gumere, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1971), 167.
The Roman jurist Julius Paulus (2 nd to 3 rd c. A.D.) considered crucifixion as the most extreme of all punishments.
“Every one should abstain not only from divination but also from the books teaching that science. If slaves consult a soothsayer with reference to the life of their master, they shall be subjected to extreme punishment, that is to say, to crucifixion; and if those who are consulted give any answer, they shall either be sentenced to the mines, or deported to an island.” ( The Civil Law 5.21.4) [278]
[278] S. P. Scott, The Civil Law (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Central Trust Company 1932) [on-line]; accessed 17 January 2011; available at http://webu2.upmf-grenoble.fr/Haiti/Cours/Ak/Anglica/Paul5_Scott.htm#21; Internet.
The legal reforms of Constantine led to the abolishment of crucifixion and replaced it more humane forms of capital punishment (Eusebius, Life of Constantine 4.26) ( PG 20, cols. 1173-1178). [279]
[279] Albert de Broglie, “The First Christian Emperors,” (130-190). in The Christian Remembrancer (vol. 50 July-Decemeber) (London: J. and C. Mozley, 1860), 169; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 3 (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891), 108.
Joh 19:17 “And he bearing his cross” Comments – Scholars tell us that Roman law required the criminal to carry his own cross to the place of his punishment. [280]
[280] John Gill, John, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on John 19:17.
Joh 19:17 “went forth into a place called the place of a skull” Comments – Jesus went forth without the city in order that He might sanctify the people with His own blood.
Heb 13:11-13, “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp . Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate . Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp , bearing his reproach.”
This passage in Hebrews refers to the Mosaic Law:
Exo 29:14, “But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp : it is a sin offering.”
Lev 4:1-21
Lev 9:9-11, “And the sons of Aaron brought the blood unto him: and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the bottom of the altar: But the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul above the liver of the sin offering, he burnt upon the altar; as the LORD commanded Moses. And the flesh and the hide he burnt with fire without the camp .”
Lev 16:27, “And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp ; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.”
Num 19:1-3, “And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:”
Under the Mosaic Law, judgment against people was always done without the camp:
Lev 24:14, “ Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp ; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.”
Joh 19:17 “which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha” Word Study on “Golgotha” BDAG says the Greek word “ ” (G1115) is a transliteration of the Hebrew word (H1538), which means, “the skull (as round),” and implied, “the head (in enumeration of persons)” ( Strong). The Hebrew word is used 12 times in the Old Testament. Note:
Exo 38:26, “A bekah for every man , that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.”
Num 1:2, “Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls ;”
2Ki 9:35, “And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull , and the feet, and the palms of her hands.”
1Ch 10:10, “And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Jesus is Crucified Joh 19:16-22
2. Fifth Scripture Fulfilled Cast Lots for Garment Joh 19:23-24
3. Jesus’ Mother at the Cross Joh 19:25-27
4. Jesus’ Death Joh 19:28-30
5. Sixth Scripture Fulfilled No bones broken Joh 19:31-36
6. Seventh Scripture Fulfilled His side pierced Joh 19:37
7. Jesus’ Burial Joh 19:38-42
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Crucifixion. v. 16. And they took Jesus, and led Him away.
v. 17. And He, bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha;
v. 18. where they crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
v. 19. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
v. 20. This title then read many of the Jews; for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
v. 21. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that He said, I am the King of the Jews.
v. 22. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. John omits the account of the insults and cruelties which the soldiers inflicted upon Christ. See Mat 27:26-30; Mar 15:16-19. Death by crucifixion was the sentence, the most shameful death known to the Romans, one meted out only to criminals of the worst type. The execution of the sentence was in the hands of the soldiers, who carried it out according to custom, adding such little indignities and cruelties as they might devise on the spur of the moment. They took Jesus along with them, leading Him away from the praetorium. And He was bearing His cross, loaded down with the heavy log that must have hurt the lacerated back most cruelly. Of the relief afforded by the meeting with Simon of Cyrene, John says nothing, since this fact was known from the other gospels. In this way the procession reached a place which, after its shape, was called Calvary, the place of the skull, or, in the Aramaic form of the Hebrew language, Golgotha. Its exact location has never been determined in spite of the many claims that such has been the case. And it is best so, since even now the various denominations that have representatives at the Holy City are in the habit of fighting almost pitched battles over the supposed holy places. There on Calvary the soldiers then crucified Jesus, fastening Him to the cross-arms of the tree of curse and shame by driving nails through His hands and feet. The crucifixion and the torture of being suspended by His own flesh caused excruciating agony. And here the shame and disgrace was intensified and emphasized by the fact that Jesus was placed between two malefactors, men who were guilty of criminal acts and had deserved the penalty of death. Thus Jesus became a malefactor, took the place of the malefactors of the whole world. What we had become guilty of by our sins and transgressions: the greatest shame, curse, and damnation, all this was laid upon Him, in order that we might be free. “Thus Christ was crucified and hanged to the cross as the greatest thief, scoundrel, rebel, and murderer ever seen in the world, and the innocent Lamb, Christ, must bear and pay strange debts; for it is in our interest. Our sins they arc that lie upon His neck; we are such sinners, thieves, scoundrels, rebels, and murderers. For though we are not so coarse in our actions, yet such is our state before God. But here Christ comes in our stead, and bears our sins, and pays them, in order that we might receive help. For if we believe in Him, not only we that avoid the outward, coarse sins will be saved through Christ, but also those that fall into coarse, outward sins are saved, if they truly repent and believe in Christ. ” After Jesus had been crucified, there was some difficulty and discussion concerning the superscription. For Pilate had chosen the version: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, as containing the chief accusation against the Lord. Incidentally, this was a form of revenge on the part of Pilate, who regarded Jesus as a harmless fool, and wanted the Jews to feel that such a man was the proper king for them. The leaders of the Jews felt the sting of the words all the more since so many people went’ by the place of crucifixion, Calvary being near to the city’s gates. The fact also that the superscription had been composed by Pilate in the three languages that were in use in Palestine, in Hebrew-Aramaic, which was spoken by the common people, in Greek, which was the language of commerce, and in Latin, which was the language of court and camp, did much to make the matter contained in the words known. The chief priests of the Jews therefore remonstrated with Pilate with the object of having the reading changed to some form which would throw the blame on Jesus, that He had made the claim of being the King of the Jews. As it read, the superscription sounded as though the claim were admitted. But Pilate, with a firmness which would have stood him In good stead a few hours before, a firmness which was here reinforced by obstinacy and stubbornness, absolutely declined to make any change. But in all these things the hand of God must be discerned. It was God’s dispensation to have this very title placed over the head of Jesus. This Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified by the Jews is in truth the King of the Jews in the best sense of the word, the Messiah of Israel. This Messiah was to bring salvation to all the people of the entire world, whose chief languages were here used. By the torture of His cross and by His bitter death Jesus has atoned fully for the transgressions of the world. And this fact should be made known to all nations on earth, that they might place their trust in their Substitute that died on Calvary.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
XXVIII
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST THE FIRST THREE HOURS
Harmony, pages 207-212 and Mat 27:31-44
Upon the execution of Jesus by crucifixion I have one general remark. Far back yonder in Old Testament history, in the days of Moses, is this saying, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” The one hanged on a tree was lifted up. See particularly the expiatory case of hanging up the sons of Saul. Hence also the typical act of Moses in lifting up the brazen serpent, and our Lord’s application to his own case as antitypical: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” a type that the Saviour of the world was to die by crucifixion. Jesus explained in his lifetime that by being lifted up signified the manner of his death.
The question comes up, Why was Jesus crucified, since the Jewish penalty was death by stoning? They did not crucify they stoned other people. How mighty the spirit of prophecy, so far back in history, to foretell a method of punishing not known to the prophet in his age!
Now we commence on page 207 of the Harmony. I will give first the events leading to the place of crucifixion, and what transpired there. The incidents, in their order, as we see on page 207, are as follows: The first incident is expressed near the top in John’s column: “They took Jesus, therefore; and he went out bearing the cross for himself.” In view of the next incident, it is quite probable that in his fasting and weakness, and his lack of sleep, he was physically unable to carry that cross from the judgment seat to the place of crucifixion, and fainted under it. Hence we come to the second incident, recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke: “And as they came out they found a man of Cyrene, Simon, by name: him they compelled to go with them, that he might bear his cross.” So Christ bore his own cross until they got out of the city, and being unable to carry it longer, the crucifiers took a man that they met coming into the city and compelled him to bear the cross. There is a song we all have heard: Must Jesus bear the cross alone, And all the world go free; No, there’s a cross for every one, And there’s a cross for me. Judge Andrew Broadus, who was once president of the old Baptist State Convention of Texas, once said that when this song was first written, or certainly as they used to sing it in old Virginia, it read thus: Must Simon bear the cross alone, And all the world go free; No, there’s a cross for every one, And there’s a cross for me.
The newspapers reported that when the Pan-Episcopal Council was held in the City of London (the Pan-Council is an all-the-world council) Dean Stanley, dean of the ceremonies, put up to preach in Westminster Abbey a coal black Negro, Bishop of Haiti; and when that Negro got up to preach in the presence of royalty, nobility, and the professors of the great colleges or universities of Oxford and Cambridge, surrounded by “storied urn and animated bust,” he read the scripture about the two sons of Zebedee being presented by their mother for the positions on the right hand and on the left hand in the kingdom of Jesus; and he fashioned his text this way: “Lord, let my son John have the place on thy right hand in thy kingdom, and let my son James have the place on thy left hand in thy kingdom.” Then the Negro said, “Let us pray,” and offered this prayer: O God, who hast fashioned all of our hearts like, and hast made of one blood all the nations of men that inhabit the earth, we pray thee that the sons of Shem who betrayed the Lord may have the place on thy right hand, and the sons of Japheth who crucified the Saviour may have the place on thy left hand; but let the sons of Simon of Cyrene, the African, who bore thy cross, have the place at the outer gate, where some of the sweetness of the song from within, and something of the light of the glory of God in heaven may fall upon them, but where, looking earthward, they may see Ethiopia stretching out her dusky hands to God and hear the footfalls of the sons of Gush coming home to heaven.
That Negro preacher based his thought upon the geography of Simon the Cyrenian. Cyrene is a province of northern Africa, but it does not follow that because he was from Cyrene he was a Negro, and this Simon certainly was not. He was rather the father of Alexander and Rufus, well-known Jews. But, anyhow, that Negro’s prayer, in my judgment, was the most eloquent language ever spoken in Westminster Abbey.
I call attention to a singular sermon. At a meeting of Waco Association many years ago, held with the East Waco church, Rev. C. E. Stephen preached the annual sermon from this text: “Him they compelled to bear his cross,” referring to Simon. Simon, the Cyrenian, him they (the enemies of Christ) compelled to bear the cross of Christ. It certainly was a singular sermon. His thought was this: That if a man professes to be a Christian and will not voluntarily take up the cross of his Lord and Master, the outside world will compel him to bear that cross, or they will advertise him well abroad. “Compelling a Christian to bear the cross,” was his theme. For instance, it is reported that in the days of demoniacal possession Satan took possession of a Christian, and when he was summoned before a saint with power to cast out demons, and asked how he dared to enter into a Christian he said, with much extenuation, “I did not go to the church after him; he came into my territory. I found him in the ballroom and in the saloon, and I took possession of him.” Whenever, therefore, a Christian departs from true cross-bearing; when he leaves the narrow way by a little stile and goes over into the territory of Giant Despair, he is soon locked up in Doubting Castle until he is compelled to bear his cross.
The next incident related is that a great multitude followed. And a great multitude will follow a show, parade, even a band of music, or a hanging of any kind. I once saw 7,000 people assembled to see a man hanged, and since I saw it, I was there myself. Now, here was a man to be hanged on a tree, and a great multitude followed from various motives. In this multitude were a great many women who bewailed and lamented. They followed from no principle of curiosity, no desire to see a show, but with intense sympathy they looked upon him when he fainted under the burden of the cross that he was carrying his own cross. The women wept, and right at that point the great artists of the world with matchless skill have taken that scene for a painting, and we have a great masterpiece of Christ sinking under the cross and a woman reaching out her hands and weeping and crying, dragging up Simon the Cyrenian to make him take the cross.
The next incident is that of the two malefactors also condemned to crucifixion, walking along with him. They had their crosses, and Jesus had his cross with the malefactors. And another incident is that they came to the place of crucifixion, which is, in the Hebrew, or Aramaic, called Golgotha, and in the Latin version it is called Calvary. Golgotha and Calvary mean exactly the same thing, “a skull.” Dr. Broadus rightly says that this was a place where a projection of the hill or mountainside assumes the shape of a skull. You can see a picture of it in any of the books illustrative of the travels in the Holy Land; and there that rocky skull seems to stand out now. That is the place where Jesus was crucified. If you were to go there they would tell you he was crucified where the holy sepulcher is situated; they would show you a piece of the “true cross” if you wanted to see it. They have disposed of enough of the pieces of the “true cross” to make a forest.
Just as they came to the place of crucifixion, Golgotha, they made a mixture of wine and gall. The object of that was to stupefy him so as to deaden the pain that would follow when they began to drive the nails in his hands, just as a doctor would administer ether, laudanum, or chloroform, and Jesus, knowing what it was, refused to drink it. He looked at what was before him, and he wanted to get to it with clear eyes and with a clear brain. Some men seek stupefication of drugs, and others that of spirits, such as alcohol, suggested by still lower spirits of another kind; and they drug themselves in order that they may sustain the terrible ordeal they are to undergo. Christ refused to drink. These are the incidents on the way and at the place.
Now they have gotten to the place, and it is said, “They crucified him.” The word “crucify” comes from crux, meaning “a cross,” that is, they put him on a cross. There are three kinds of crosses. One looks like X, or the multiplication sign; that is called St. Andrew’s cross; another was like a T. This probably was the oldest form. The third form is like a + with the upright stroke extending above the crossbar. This is the most usual form, and is the real form of the cross on which Christ was crucified. Except the cross had been made in this last fashion, there could not have been put over his head the accusation that we will look at directly. The tall beam was lying on the ground, Christ was laid on it, and a hole was dug as a socket into which the lower end of it could be placed after he was fastened on it. Then he was stretched out so that his hands, with palms upward, would come on that crosspiece, and with huge spikes through each hand he was nailed to that crosspiece. Then his feet were placed over each other with the instep up, and a longer spike was driven through the two feet into the centerpiece. When he was thus nailed, they lifted that cross up just as they do these big telegraph poles. They lifted up that cross with him on it and dropped it into its socket in the ground. You can imagine the tearing of his hands and of his feet; but he said nothing.
When they had crucified him, the record says, “And sitting down they watched him there.” When I was a young preacher, in 1869, I was invited to preach a commencement sermon at Waco University, afterward consolidated with and known as Baylor University. So I came up to preach this commencement sermon, and my text was, “Sitting down, they watched him there,” explaining who “they” were; the different people that watched him, and the different emotions excited in their minds as they watched him; the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the elders, the Romans, the curious crowd they watched him, and they watched him there on the cross. Many years afterward, George v. Truett came to my house one day and said, “I would like to see a sermon you preached when a young man.” So I gave him that sermon to look at. He sat there and read it with tears in his eyes, and said, finally, “You can’t beat it now.”
The next thought is: What time of day was it? The record says that it was the third hour, which means, counting from sunup of our time, nine o’clock exactly, when the cross was dropped into the socket. And now is presented the thought that the two malefactors the thieves, or robbers, along with him were crucified, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. He was crucified between two thieves, and what a proverb that has become -0- “crucified between two thieves!” The sinless man and only holy man by nature and perfect obedience that ever lived crucified as a sinner and between two evildoers. How dramatic how pathetic!
Now for the first time Jesus speaks. On the way to the cross he had spoken just once. He had said to those weeping women: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me: weep for yourselves and for your children.” And then he tells them of the awful doom coming on that city and on that nation, because of their rejection of Christ. He never opened his mouth again until in this first voice, hanging there between those two thieves, and looking at his executioners, he says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Whoever, under such circumstances, prayed such a prayer? The martyrs oftentimes afterward, when they were bound to the stake and burned and the flames would begin to rise, and the Spirit of Christ would come on them, would stretch out their hands through the fire and say, “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” That is voice one.
The next incident is that there were right under the cross the four soldiers four were detached at each cross, according to the Roman custom, the executioners who were entitled to the effects of the victim. And they had taken off all his outer garments before they crucified him. Now these four men take various articles of his apparel and divide them: “Now, you take the girdle and I’ll take the turban”; “I will take the inner coat,” and so on. But they came to the outer coat, a seamless coat, and being without a seam, how could they divide that? So they agreed to gamble for it. And there, with Christ, hanging on the cross and dying, the men that impaled him there gamble for his clothes. And the record says that two scriptures were fulfilled thereby. One scripture says, “They parted my garments [vestments] among them, and for my garment did they cast lots.”
In order to see the dramatic effect on many painters, of Christ on the way to the cross, of Christ on the cross, and of Christ being let down from the cross, just go into a good and great picture gallery in Europe, or into a real good one in the United States. There will be seen the great master-paintings of Christ before Pilate, the Lord’s Supper, Christ sinking under the burden of the cross, Christ nailed to the cross, Christ hanging on the cross, or Christ taken down from the cross. Picture after picture comes up before you from the brushes of the great master painters of the world.
The next incident recorded is: They nailed up above his head a wide board on which the accusation against him was written. That was in accordance with the law that if a man be put to death, a violent death, over his head, where everybody could see it, could be read the charge against him. Now, I will reconcile the different statements of that accusation. Mark says, “The King of the Jews”; Luke says, “This is the King of the Jews”; Matthew says, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews”; John says, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
So we see that Luke prefixes two words, Matthew puts in the word “Jesus,” and John adds the other two words “of Nazareth.” So we take the simple statement first and go to the most complex, the four statements given by the historians, just as it is given above. All tradition is agreed as to “The King of the Jews,” and each one of the historians adds some other thought. As I said in a previous discussion, that accusation was written in Hebrew, or Aramaic, in Greek, and in Latin, and this will account for some variations in the form of the statement. Suppose, for instance, in Aramaic it was: “This is the King of the Jews”; in Latin, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews”; in Greek, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”; you can see how each one could have written just exactly as he should read it; and everybody that passed by, seeing a man hanging on the cross would look up and say, “What has he done, this King of the Jews? What has this Jesus, the King of the Jews done? What has Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, done?”
So Pilate wrote on that board that went over the head of Jesus Christ on the cross, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” He had not been able to try him on any other offense than that. When the Jews saw that sign they said to Pilate, “Do not put it, ‘This is the King of the Jews,’ but write it that he said he was the King of the Jews.” Pilate then was petulant and said to them, “What I have written, I have written. You charge him with being King of the Jews, and I write that over his head on the cross.”
I heard Dr. Burleson preach thirteen times on what Pilate said, “What I have written, I have written.” He makes this application of it: “You cannot get away from anything that you have signed your name to: ‘What I have written, I have written,’ ” that you can ofttimes evade a word you have spoken, though the Arabs have a proverb that “the word spoken” is master. Lawyers will tell you: “Say what you please, but don’t write anything; curse a man if you want to, knock him down if you want to, kill him if you want to, but don’t write anything. Whatever you write is evidence, and that is against you; but so long as you don’t write anything we can defend you and get you off under some technicality of the law.” As a famous baron of England once said to a young man he encouraged: “Whisper any sort of nonsense you please in the ear of the girl, but don’t write a letter; that letter can be brought up in evidence against you.” Now we can see how Dr. Burleson made the application in that sermon, “What I have written, I have written.”
Pilate was determined that everybody should see and be able to read it; and so he wrote it in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. They were the three languages of the world, and therefore when Conybeare and Howson began to write their Life of Paul , the motto of the first chapter is, “And the title was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin”: in Hebrew, that every Jew might be able to read it; in Greek that every scholar might be able to read it; in Latin that every Roman might be able to read it. Hebrew, Greek, and Latin were the reigning languages of the world, and through the world in the three regnant languages there went this statement of Pilate: To the Jew, who said in his own language, “This crucified man is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” To every Roman it went, being written in Latin, “This crucified man is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” To every Greek it went in his language, “This crucified man is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
The second voice is the next thought for consideration. You are not to suppose that he was up very high, but so that his feet were two or three feet above the ground. Then he had to be up there where everybody could see his face, and as they were watching him he was looking at his mother. In the Temple when he was presented, Simeon, whom God had declared should live until Christ came, turning to the mother, said, “This child is set for the falling and rising of many in Israel; and for a sign which is spoken against; yea, and a sword shall pierce through thine own soul.” And the sword comes.
The Romanists have a very beautiful tract called the “Sorrows of Mary.” I have a copy of it, but it is in Portuguese. The seven sorrows of Mary answer to the sword piercing her heart, and one of them was when Christ fell down under the cross, and another was when she saw him hanging on the cross. Now, he is looking at his mother. Joseph, her husband, has long since died. They were very poor when Joseph lived. As you know, they could offer only a pair of turtle doves when they presented him in the Temple. They were not able to offer even a kid or a lamb, they were so poor. And Jesus had no home nowhere to lay his head and his mother and his younger half-brothers would go around with him wherever he went. “Now you take care of the mother, the brokenhearted mother,” he said, as he looked down from the cross upon John. This next voice comes, then, as he speaks for his mother. John is seen as he looks down. So he says, “Mother, behold thy son!” And then he looks at John (who is now talking to his mother), and says, “Son, behold thy mother!” He meant for John to provide for her. Her own sons had no abiding place, no home. John was well-to-do the richest one of the apostles. So he charges John to take care of his mother, and from that hour John took her to his home. Now the Romanists say that this proves that these others were not half-brothers of Jesus that Mary never had but one child. They say, “If her own sons were living, why did Jesus give her over to John, her kinsman?” And the answer is that they had no home. John was rich; he had a home. John was nearer to Jesus than these half-brothers, and John was nearer to Mary than they were. The voices of Jesus, thus far, as he spoke from the cross: first, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”; second, “Woman, behold thy son; Son, behold thy mother.” We will now consider the mocking that took place. Let us see who did that mocking.
First class: They that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself: if thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Thus spake the passer-by.
Second class: “In like manner also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, he saved others; himself he cannot save. He is the king of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on him. He trusteth on God; let him deliver him now, if he desireth him,” and they belonged to the Sanhedrin. How sarcastic and cutting they were!
Third class: “And the robbers also that were crucified with him cast upon him the same reproach.” The passer-by; the priests, scribes, and elders and his fellow sufferers, all mock him.
But Luke tells us a different story about one of these men hanging there. In other words, at first both of them mocked him, but one of them, looking at him, reflected about his case, became penitent, and he turned around then, and said to the other, “Dost thou not even fear God, seeing that thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due rewards of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss.” He rebukes himself and the other malefactor, dying there by the side of Christ. Penitence strikes him when he looks upon the matchless dignity, patience, and glory of Jesus. Twisting his head around toward Christ, he said, “Jesus, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,” as a hymn so sweetly puts it: Jesus, thou art the sinner’s friend, As such I look to thee; Now in the fulness of thy love, O Lord, remember me.
I heard that hymn sung in a camp meeting when one thousand people wept and hundreds of lips spoke out and said, “O, Lord, remember me.”
We now come to the third voice of Jesus. “Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” “You ask me to remember you when I come to my kingdom. I answer not hereafter, but right now. To-day you and I will enter Paradise together.” What a salvation! No wonder everybody wants to preach on the penitent thief. How gracious to see a man who had been a criminal, his hands stained with blood, being led out to execution, strange to say, being executed by the side of the Saviour, and there, instead of an ignominious death, the thought awaited him of the Paradise of the world to come!
The question arises: Where is Paradise? This question we will discuss in the next chapter (Mat 27:45-56 ).
QUESTIONS 1. What was the general remark on the crucifixion of Christ?
2. What was the first incident cited leading to the crucifixion?
3. What was the second incident, the hymn based thereon and, according to Andrew Broadus, what is the original text of the first stanza?
4. What was the incident of the Pan-Episcopal Council, based on this bearing of Christ’s cross?
5. What singular sermon cited and what is the application?
6. Who followed him to the place of crucifixion, what pathetic incident on the way, and what is the meaning and application of Christ’s little parable in Luk 23:31 ?
7. Where was Christ crucified, what is the description of the place and what is the story of the auctioneer illustrating the traditions of sacred places and things?
8. What anesthetic was offered Christ at the place of crucifixion and why did he not take it?
9. What is the meaning of “crucify,” what are the different kinds of crosses used and upon which kind was Christ crucified?
10. Describe the awful scene of nailing Christ to the cross and the erection of it.
11. Who “watched him there” and what was the effect on each class? (See sermon in the author’s first volume of sermons.)
12. At what hour of the day was the cross erected, and what makes this scene peculiarly dramatic and pathetic?
13. What was the first voice from the cross and how unlike any other saying ever uttered before?
14. What incident at the cross especially emphasizes the depravity of the human heart?
15. What was the dramatic effect of the crucifixion on the world’s artists?
16. What custom prevailed among the Romans in regard to an accusation under which a man was crucified?
17. What were the words so written, as given by the four historians, commencing with the briefest form and going in order to the longest, showing why there is no contradiction?
18. Why would not Pilate change the form of the accusation at the request of the Jews?
19. According to this accusation, under which of the three charges was Jesus executed blasphemy, treason, or sedition?
20. What great preacher preached many times on Pilate’s reply to the Jews and what was the application?
21. In what three languages was Christ’s accusation written, and why?
22. What was the second voice from the cross and why did Jesus commit the care of his mother to John?
23. Who mocked Jesus on the cross and what did each class of mockers say?
24. What was the case of the two thieves, what led to the repentance of one of them, what was his prayer and what hymn is based upon it?
25. What was the third voice from the cross, what was its meaning and what was the significance of the three crosses?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
Ver. 16. Then delivered he him, &c. ] Overcome by their importunity, and over awed by the fear of Caesar to condenm the innocent. It was Cato’s complaint, that private men’s thieves are laid by the heels, and in cold irons; but these public thieves that wrong and rob the commonwealth sit in scarlet, with gold chains about their necks. Sinisterity is an enemy to sincerity. a All self-respects and corrupt ends must be laid aside by men in authority and justice, as Moses speaks, that is, pure justice without mud must run down,Deu 16:20Deu 16:20 . Durescite, durescite, said the smith to the duke, that dared not do justice.
a Privatorum fures in nervo et compedibus vitam agunt; publici in auro et purpura visuntur. Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 11. c. 18. 2:349
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16. ] Here the scourging seems (Matt., Mark) to have taken place, or perhaps to have been renewed, since the former one was not that customary before execution, but conceded by Pilate to the mob in hope of satisfying them.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
16 b 42. ] Jesus surrenders himself to death . Mat 27:31-61 .Mar 15:20-47Mar 15:20-47 . Luk 23:26-56 . Compare the notes on the four throughout.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
16. ] ., viz. the chief priests.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
delivered, &c.: i.e. to their will (Luk 23:25). Thus the Lord’s execution was in Jewish hands (Act 2:23). The centurion and his quaternion of soldiers merely carried out the decision of the chief priests, Pilate having pronounced no sentence, but washed his hands, literally as well as metaphorically, of the matter.
to be = in order that (Greek. hina) He might be.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16.] Here the scourging seems (Matt., Mark) to have taken place, or perhaps to have been renewed, since the former one was not that customary before execution, but conceded by Pilate to the mob in hope of satisfying them.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 19:16
Joh 19:16
Then therefore he delivered him unto them to be crucified.-Pilate yielded and gave Jesus to be crucified by the Roman soldiers at the behest of the priests and Pharisees and they took him away from the court of Pilate.
[We should note how careful the Holy Spirit is to record the time when Pilate gave sentence against Christ. In general, it was on the day of the preparation for the Passover; that is, the day immediately before it, when they prepared everything needed for the solemnization; and, in particular, it was about the sixth hour of that day. We should also observe the great love and condescension of Christ in stooping so low to expiate our guilt, which deserveth eternal sufferings.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Then
For order of events, (See Scofield “Mat 27:33”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Mat 27:26-31, Mar 15:15-20, Luk 23:24
Reciprocal: Job 16:11 – to the ungodly Mat 27:20 – should Mat 27:31 – and led Mar 15:20 – and led Luk 23:26 – they laid
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The Calvary Chapter
Joh 19:16-37
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We will suggest the steppingstone which immediately precedes the Calvary experiences of our Lord and then enlarge on the Calvary events. What we say will be found in Joh 19:1-15. We take our stand at the hall of Pilate, as Christ appeared before him.
1. The scourging. Joh 19:1 reads, “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him.” We would ask what right did Pilate have to scourge Him, when he, himself, immediately after pronounced Him without fault, and thrice made that statement? Yet, so it was all the way through the trial and crucifixion of Christ. He could look His enemies square in the face and say, “Which of you convinceth Me of sin?”
Do you remember a Scripture in Isa 53:1-12 which reads, “With His stripes we are healed”? The scourging He received was the scourging due unto us. He stood before Pilate to be condemned, because we are condemned. He went to the Cross, bearing our sins and our shame.
2. The crown of thorns. Joh 19:2 describes how the soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it upon His head. Then they put upon Him a purple robe and cried, “Hail, King of the Jews!” What the soldiers did was in mockery and derision. Yet, both the crown of thorns and the purple robe carry a tremendous message. Away back in the Garden of Eden God had said to Adam, “Thorns * * and thistles shall it (the earth) bring forth to thee.” Christ bore the crown of thorns. In other words, He died to lift the curse off of the earth, and when He comes again this lifting of the curse will be realized, as is seen in the Prophets. “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree.”
3. The presentation. Pilate went before the people and said, “Behold, I bring Him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in Him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!”
What a pitiable sight is Christ, as He stood there before the mocking crowd. The Blood from His thorn-pressed brow was matting His hair; His back, from the scourging, was covered with wounds and bruises. This scene, however, is only a prelude to that other scene as Christ hung upon the Cross; even as the Prophet wrote, “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”
4. The maddened cries. Joh 19:6 says, “When the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out, Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” It seems impossible that One so holy, so kind, and so true could have been so derided. However, even until this day, there are many who are “crucifying the Son of Man afresh and putting Him to an open shame.” Some deny His Virgin Birth and by so doing villify Him as a bastard. Some deny His claims to Deity and make Him no more than a common liar. Some will not have Him to reign over them. They cast Him out as though He were nothing but the refuse of the earth.
5. The supreme charge against the Christ. The Jews said, “We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” This was the cry of the chief priests. The statement was true; Christ did make Himself the Son of God, and He was and is the Son of God, or else He is the greatest religious impostor that the world has ever produced. The Scribes of yesterday and the Modernists of today cast the same charge against Him. The only difference is that the Modernists with one breath deny Christ’s Deity, and with the next breath acclaim Him the greatest human that ever lived. We aver that Christ was either what He claimed to be or else He was unworthy the plaudits of any man. We further aver that the time is coming when every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is the Christ.
6. The delivery. We must group the balance of the verses together; Pilate was afraid when he heard that Jesus had said He was the Son of God, therefore he questioned Christ. But the Lord gave him no answer. Pilate said, “Speakest Thou not unto me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and have power to release Thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above.”
After this Pilate sought to release Him the more; the Jews tauntingly said, “If thou let this Man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend.” Poor, vacillating, weak-kneed, self-seeking Pilate! When he heard that taunt, he delivered Him unto the Jews, saying, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests, with doubtful loyalty cried, “We have no king but Caesar.” Thus, have we prepared the way for the study which follows.
I. THE PLACE OF A SKULL (Joh 19:17)
The text describes our Lord bearing His Cross and going forth unto the place of a skull, “which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.”
1. Bearing the Cross. One of the other Gospels tells us that they compelled one, named Simon of Cyrene, to bear it. Thus it was that as Christ marched on toward Golgotha, another followed behind Him, bearing the Cross.
Beyond doubt our Lord had this scene in mind when He said “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Are we willing to bear the Cross? Not the beautiful little gold cross that some wear, dangling to a chain, but the crude, rugged Cross that bears us in death to the world. This Cross stands to us for our separation. It signifies that we have gone outside the camp unto Him, sharing His reproach.
2. The place called “Golgotha.” The word “Golgotha,” commonly known to us as Calvary, was a place of dead men’s bones. There, the bodies of those crucified were left to rot and to decay, while the bones were left to bleach on the hill. Calvary stood for everything that was loathsome and vile. It was a place to be dreaded.-A place of shame. Jesus touched it and it became to all those who bear His Name a place of glory, radiating redemption. How we delight to sing;
“On Calvary’s brow my Saviour died,
‘Twas there my Lord was crucified,
‘Twas there He bore the shame and loss,
And suffered there, upon the Cross.
Oh, Calvary, blest Calvary,
‘Twas there my Saviour died for me.”
II. JESUS IN THE MIDST (Joh 19:18)
Where “they crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.” The story of this verse was the fulfillment of the prophecy, “He was numbered with the transgressors.”
1. Jesus in the midst of sinners, reckoned sin. There is a depth of meaning here that is unfathomable. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” He was not only between two sinners, but He Himself by God and man, was reckoned sin. Yea, by God, He was even made sin. What inexplicable love-what mercy-what grace! God put all of our sins over on the Son of God, and then, in the exceeding riches of His mercy and of His grace, He put all of God’s righteousness over upon us.
2. Jesus in the midst of saints. By virtue of that Calvary death, we who were once sinners, have been washed and made whiter than snow. We are now reckoned as sinless, and Jesus, who once hung between two thieves, hovers in the midst of His own people. Has He not said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst”? Hallowed is the fellowship, sacred is the union between Christ and His own.
3. Jesus in the midst in the Glory. We read in Revelation of the Father’s throne, of the four living ones, the four and twenty elders, and the innumerable company of angelic hosts which surround it. Then we read that Jesus stood in the midst.
First, He was in the midst of sinners, making saints. Second, He was in the midst of saints, making them fit for Heavenly relationships. Finally, He is in the midst of the host of Heaven. As we behold that great company about the throne-a company that numbered ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, we hear their glad acclaim, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.”
Thus it is that the ignominy of the first vision of Christ in the midst of sinners, dying for us, is the basis of Christ in the midst of the Father’s throne, glorified as the Redeemer.
III. THE SUPERSCRIPTION (Joh 19:19-22)
1. The title’s reading. “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the Cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.” The title expressed Pilate’s vindication of himself in delivering Christ to be crucified. He did not deliver Him because Christ had said He was the Son of God. He delivered Him because he feared the fact that the Jewish priests would embarrass him with King Caesar, saying that Pilate had turned loose a usurper to the throne, who would seek to break the rule of Caesar over the Jews.
To us, however, the title which Pilate wrote bears a different significance. To us it means that the Jews had rejected their King. We remember when John the Baptist came preaching, he said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Shortly afterward, Christ also proclaimed, “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
The week of the crucifixion Jesus had been placed upon, a colt, the foal of an ass, and He had ridden toward the city of Jerusalem. The rejoicing multitude had shouted, saying, “Blessed be the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord: peace in Heaven, and glory in the highest.” The Pharisees rebuked the disciples. Jesus, when He was come near, beheld the city and wept over it, saying, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Thus it was that Israel rejected their King.
How fitting, therefore, was the superscription, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
2. The statement of Pilate. “What I have written I have written.” The Jews requested Pilate to change the reading of the superscription that it might run. “He said, I am King of the Jews.” Pilate spurned their suggestion, and said, “What I have written I have written.” May we draw this simple lesson. Every life must sooner or later be a closed book. It will be a message, not only concluded, but a message that cannot be changed. We must stand before God upon the basis of what we have written, not on the basis of what we wished we had written.
IV. THE CASTING OF THE LOTS (Joh 19:23-24)
When the soldiers “had crucified Jesus, [they] took His garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also His coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it.”
1. Christ’s disrobing suggests His humiliation. We seem to see Christ, not merely disrobed of His garments, but disrobed of the glory of His Person. His honor was thrown to the winds. The sacredness of His character was seemingly shattered.
Like a sheep before his shearers, He was sheared. Think of it. The One accustomed to the glory of the Father, The One who was not only with God from eternity, but who was God. The One who created the Heavens and the earth, and all things therein. The One whom angels adored, and whom the seraphim praised, saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
Think of such a One as He-disrobed! Think of the spitting, and the shame heaped upon Him! Think of Him cast out as a common mongrel! Behold, the Lord of Glory, numbered with ruffians, highway robbers, malefactors! Behold Him surrounded by a raving populace, who wagged their heads against Him, like the bulls of Bashan!
All of this, and more we see in the disrobing of the Lord.
2. The fulfillment of Scripture. When they came to the coat, which was without seam, they said, among themselves, “Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be.” Thus did they fulfill the Scripture, which said, “They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture they did cast lots.”
We do not hesitate to state that every detail enacted at Calvary that day had been definitely and distinctly prophesied in Scripture. Neither do we hesitate in saying that the Lord Jesus knew that every detail was being fulfilled. He went to the Cross in the full knowledge of all that awaited Him.
Did not Christ say, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified,” etc.? Yes, Christ knew it all.
Our Lord did not go to the Cross as a slave goes to the dungeon. He went led by the mob. He went as a lamb led to the slaughter, but He did not go against His will.
In His prayer in the garden He said, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” He was willing to drink it. And “having loved His own, * * He loved them unto the end.”
V. THE WOMEN ABOUT THE CROSS (Joh 19:25-27)
“Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus, His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.”
1. The fidelity of womanhood is clearly seen. It has often been said that the women were last at the Cross and first at the tomb. Much more than that may be said. Christ was made of a woman, made under the Law. God made Him hope when He was on His mother’s breast. The women, Martha and Mary, welcomed Him into their home at Bethany. The women heard Him gladly. The women bemoaned Him as He went through the streets at Jerusalem on His way to the Cross.
After His resurrection He appeared first to certain women. In the upper room the one hundred and twenty waited with the women, and with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The women, following Christ’s ascension, became of note among the disciples. They were found among the most faithful, the most zealous, the most ready to suffer reproach for Christ’s Name.
2. The faithfulness of Christ to womanhood is clearly seen. To Mary, His mother Christ said, “Woman, behold thy son.” And to John, He said, “Behold thy mother.” That faithfulness the ages have not changed. The Lord still cares for womanhood. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has redeemed the woman from slavery, with its abuse and degradation. The woman, through the Gospel, becomes the beloved of her husband, even as the Church is beloved of Christ.
VI. THE SCRIPTURE FULFILLED (Joh 19:28-30)
1. The omniscience of the Lord. In Joh 19:28 we read, “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished.” We have here, first of all, a concession of Christ’s knowledge of Scripture. Had He not known the Scriptures He would not have known when the Scriptures were fulfilled.
We have also the concession that Christ knew those particular Scriptures which had reference to His death upon the Cross. In other words, Christ knew beforehand every prophesied detail which lay before Him on that hour.
With what sense of satisfaction did the Lord see each foretold event accomplished, as He went round the cycle of His suffering. With what particular satisfaction did He realize that “all things were now accomplished.” His agony was almost over; there remained but one thing yet to be fulfilled.
2. Christ’s supplemental work. In order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled He said, “I thirst.” Let us quote for you the very passage which Christ had in mind. It is found in Psa 69:21, “They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.”
We have already seen that the Scripture found in Psa 22:18 had been fulfilled. That Scripture read, “They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.” This one Scripture in Psa 69:21, now awaited fulfillment before He gave up the ghost.
Having cried, “I thirst,” they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth. “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” We can almost catch the exultant spirit of our Lord in this cry, as He realized that He had accomplished the work that His Father had given Him to do.
VII. IT IS FINISHED (Joh 19:30)
What was finished?
1. The fulfillment of prophecy is finished. This was previously discussed.
1. The Calvary work was finished. That is, the plan of God’s redemptive work was completed and the Atonement was accomplished.
It is for this cause that the cry, “It is finished,” carries with it such an illumination and glory. We can now pillow our heads sweetly on a finished work. If redemption was finished on the Cross, we have nothing left to do, save to receive the Atonement. We cannot atone for our own sins; we can believe that Christ paid it all. There is one little word that hovers over this cry-that is the word GRACE. Salvation is all of God, and nothing of man. God began it; He planned it; He purposed it.
When Christ was born of the virgin, God was pressing His way toward Calvary’s substitutionary work. As Christ approached the Cross more and more the plan of God was nearing completion. When Christ cried, “It is finished,” redemption was accomplished. The Law which had been broken was satisfied. Every legal obstacle to man’s redemption was removed. God had proved Himself to be just and yet, at the same time, the justifier of the ungodly.
The cry, “It is finished,” was the Eureka to the sinner; it meant that the Door to Heaven had been thrown open wide. It meant that God had opened the way for salvation. Do we marvel, therefore, that the veil of the Temple was rent from top to bottom?
If any sinner goes to hell he goes over the Cross of Christ, he goes unnecessarily. He goes a rejecter of grace-a despiser of mercy; he goes because he will not come unto Christ that he might have life.
AN ILLUSTRATION
“Recently a western iron manufacturing concern in experimenting with powerful magnetic cranes found that one of the magnets on being passed over the ground on their premises, recovered thousands of pounds of iron that had lain buried for years. Huge pieces of iron fairly leapt through their earthen mantle to meet the mighty magnetic force and not a few mysterious disappearances of parts reported “missing” were accounted for on this day of reckoning.
What a picture of the power of the Spirit of God when He moves over a community. Often the Spirit might pass over the earth today and attract with His irresistible power the “steeled hearts” of those sunken in the sins and cares of worldliness. “If I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.”
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
6
Pilate regarded the remark in the close of the preceding verse as final, and at once delivered Jesus unto the soldiers, who led him away to be crucified.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 19:16 a. Then therefore delivered he him up unto them to be crucified. The tragedy has reached its climax; and in this single sentence the rest of the direful story may be told.
Joh 19:16 b. They therefore received Jesus. They, not the soldiers, but the chief priests of Joh 19:15 and the Jews of Joh 19:14. The verb is that of chap. Joh 1:11, His own accepted him not. Now they did receive Him, but only to hurry Him to a cruel death. It will be observed how much this peculiar force of the verb is brought out by the true reading of the verse, which omits and led him away.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Section 1. (Joh 19:16-30.)
Obedience perfected.
The first section shows us then His obedience unto death completed. John’s presentation of all this is unique, both in what he gives and in what he omits. Details are little dwelt upon: a few points are brought into prominence, every one of which has its manifest bearing upon the general presentation. The simplicity and depth that everywhere pervade the Gospel are nowhere more conspicuous than they are here.
1. First, He comes, bearing His cross, to Golgotha, the place of a skull, -the place of the kingdom of death. This is plainly what the world is because of sin, -death being the stamp of the government of God upon it. For this the Lord sought it: here His love to men brought Him; only He could lift this burden from them, and for this He must come Himself under it. Those two others whom we well know, to whom death is clearly such a penalty, are on either side of Him, and He in the midst. Penalty it is He is taking; Himself on the division line between the saved and the unsaved, the Transformer of death into that which effects the transition from penalty to Paradise.
2. He comes thus into death as King, -“King of the Jews,” indeed, but which in its full rendering implies so much. It faces the Jew, the Greek, the Roman, affirming to each in his own language, with a positiveness which His enemies vainly strive to set aside, a meaning for each one. Here is indeed God’s King, -King in death as in life, -here in a peculiar way affirmed; His Cross henceforth to be the very sign of His power, the sceptre under which they bow, in adoring homage.
3. Now we see what indeed recalls the burnt-offering. This was flayed, that all beneath might be exposed, and its perfection seen. So now they strip the Lord, and expose Him. Here, in this Gospel alone, His seamless robe is spoken of, in figure that robe of righteousness which in Him was indeed seamless, but which now human hands have stripped from off Him, giving Him the malefactor’s place instead. But how fully is He displayed by it in a righteousness which glorifies the righteousness of God itself, by penalty owned and taken in grace for others! It is not relaxed or modified, as many would teach, but taken in its full intensity of suffering; which alone would maintain the perfect righteousness of it. But thus He has a righteousness acquired as Man, which as Man He needs not. It is not His personal obedience in life, but in stooping to that which, because of His righteous life, could be no due of His. Thus it remains for the lot (which refers the whole disposal of it to the Lord) to decide whose it shall be. God has decided that it shall belong to the man of faith; and so the best robe in the Father’s house is reserved for the returning prodigal; keeping nearer to what is before us here, let us say, to those who pierced His hands and feet, or drove the spear into His blessed side.
4. Amid it all, He has still the human tenderness which shows unchanged the Man Christ Jesus. His mother, standing by His cross, He commends to the care of His beloved disciple, the spiritual link being more than the natural, even while the natural is being recognized. Here, with one exception in the first chapter of Acts, we part with Mary; she is not mentioned in the after-books. In all the doctrine of the epistles she has no place. Blessed among women as she is surely by her connection with the human nature of our Lord, the entire silence of Scripture as to her in that fulness of Christian truth which it was the office of the Spirit of truth to communicate is the decisive overthrow of the whole Babel-structure of Mariolatry which Romanism has built up upon a mere sand-foundation. She remains for us in the word of God, a simple woman rejoicing in God her Saviour, -a stone in the temple to His praise, and with no temple of her own. To use the grace of the Redeemer in taking flesh among us by her means to exalt the mother to the dishonor of Christ her Lord is truly a refined wickedness worthy of the arch-deceiver of mankind.
5. We find now the divine end reached, and as it only could be, by the divine way; the Lord Himself here declares the perfect accomplishment of all that Scripture has foretold, save one thing only, and in death, as in life, Scripture is for Him the authoritative word of the living God. As in the temptation He had refused to minister to His own need, apart from that by every word of which, He declared, man lives, so now, on the same principle, He makes known that need, not that it might be ministered to, but that Scripture might be fulfilled. He does not Himself fulfil it; God can be trusted to take care for that; but He gives utterance to the distress which will as uttered occasion the fulfilment. The terrible thirst of crucifixion is upon Him; but that is not enough to force the parched lips to speech; but it is written, “In My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink:” this opens them. He will show Himself, as ever, in active obedience to the will of God, which He came to accomplish. He simply says, “I thirst:” and by the unsympathetic hands of those around His cross, the vinegar is tendered, and the prophecy fulfilled.
All is finished: and His own lips declare it. The very smallness, apparently, of this last matter cared for is absolute proof that no scripture whatever could be left as of no importance. The entire body of Old Testament prophecy is confirmed and certified with all the weight of Christ’s authority. He had said before, “Scripture cannot be broken:” and we know exactly what for Him was “Scripture.” Here, amid the intense sufferings of the cross, we see how completely He owned and was guided by it. That will of God which He came to do was here marked out for Him. The Law was in His heart; and in the very replacing of the Old Testament sacrifices by His one supreme sacrifice, (of which the psalm referred to speaks,) every part of this was honored and upheld. The Antitype necessarily confirmed the type He was displacing, and we have seen this in all the detail given us in the Gospels.
It is to His sacrificial work that the Lord undoubtedly has reference here. All scripture as to Himself was certainly not yet fulfilled; but the work of propitiation was accomplished, His words, of course, anticipating (as we have seen to be so much the character of the Gospel of John) the death which was now just before Him. The cup of wrath was, in fact, already drained, as the comparison of Mark and Luke fully assures us. The awful cry of forsaken sorrow which we find in the former has been already exchanged for the cry of “Father,” with which the enjoyment of all that this endeared relationship implies has returned also. Death remains yet, before full atonement is completed; for death and judgment are the double penalty upon man. Death, however, is governmental, not the necessary expression of divine holiness as against sin. Men may, therefore, die in the full favor of God; while the wrath of God would be impossible to be felt by one enjoying it. Death and the cup of wrath were both taken by the Lord; the latter first, -death following to complete the work; and thus now, at the moment of death, the Victor’s cry, “It is finished.” (See Introduction pp. 26-28.)
So He delivers up His spirit to the Father. We do not find Him, as in Luke, actually saying, “Father;” and this would seem more suited an utterance in the Gospel of the Manhood, than here, where (though not exclusively) the Only-begotten is set before us. Yet it is, as we know, to the Father that He commends it. Here He does not commend it, but delivers it up; He has power over it, as mere man has not; and the expression is stronger in this respect than that in Matthew, where the proper rendering is that “He dismissed” it. The expression in each Gospel is in the most perfect accordance with the character of each.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Joh 19:16-18. Then delivered he him Having now laid aside all thoughts of saving Jesus, Pilate gave him up to the will of his enemies, and commanded the soldiers to prepare for his execution. And they took Jesus, and led him away After they had insulted and abused him, as is related Mat 27:27-31; Mar 15:16-20, where see the notes. And he, bearing his cross Not the whole cross, (for that was too large and heavy,) but the transverse beam of it, to which his hands were afterward fastened. This part they used to make the person carry who was to be executed. Went forth Out of the city, to a place which it seems lay on the western side of Jerusalem, but a little without the boundaries of it; unto a place called a place of the scull The place of execution had this name given it from the criminals bones which lay scattered there. See note on Mat 27:33. Golgotha is a Syriac word, and signifies a scull, or head. Here some of Christs friends offered him a stupifying potion, with a view, probably, to render him insensible of the ignominy and pain of his punishment. See note on Mat 27:33-34. And two other with him, on either side one See note on Luk 23:32-33.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Third Section: 19:16b-42. The Execution of Jesus.
1. The crucifixion: Joh 19:16 b-18;
2. The inscription: Joh 19:19-22;
3. The parting of the garments: Joh 19:23-24;
4. The filial legacy: Joh 19:25-27;
5. The death: Joh 19:28-30;
6. The breaking of the legs and the spearthrust: Joh 19:31-37;
7. The burial: Joh 19:38-42.
John does not desire to present a complete picture of the crucifixion of Jesus. He brings out some circumstances omitted by his predecessors, and at the same time completes and gives precision to their narratives.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
CHAPTER 27.
JESUS LED TO CALVARY
Mat 27:31-34; Mar 15:20-23; Luk 23:26-33; Joh 19:16-17. And they took Jesus, and led Him away, carrying His cross. Mark: And when they mocked Him, they divested Him of His purple robe, and put on Him His own raiment, and led Him away, that they may crucify Him. You see the crown of thorns was not taken off but remained on His brow throughout His crucifixion. They compel Simon, a certain Cyrenian along with them, having come from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, that he may bear His cross. As the city of Cyrene stood on the northern shore of Africa, there is at least a probability that this was a stout, muscular colored man, who enjoyed the honor of carrying the cross, which proved too much for the fainting Jesus after a night of sleepless harassment and terrible suffering, attended by the loss of much blood.
Luk 23:27-32. And a great crowd of people followed Him, and of women, who continued to weep and bewail Him. And Jesus, turning to them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me, but weep for yourselves, and your children. For, behold, the days are coming in which they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs which did not bring forth, and the breasts which did not nurse. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. These words of our Savior describe the horrific sufferings which came on those people forty years from that date, the Roman wars lasting five years, and resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem, the death of a million, the slavery of another million, the exile of the little remnant, and the annihilation of the Jewish polity. All this He saw in vivid panorama before His eyes mountains of the dead, rivers of blood, and the desolation of the city and the land.
Because if they do these things in the green tree, what may be done in the dry? This statement is metaphoric; e. g., If, while Mercys door is wide open, the Holy Ghost wooing, Jesus and His apostles and evangelists preaching, and everything prosperous and auspicious, they reject and crucify Him who came from heaven to save them, killing their own Christ for whom they had waited two thousand years, what will they do when the Holy Ghost has retreated away, and God has turned them over to hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind, to believe lies and be condemned? Thus the green tree emblematizes the mercy and grace abounding in the days of Jesus; and the dry, the horrific spiritual dearth coming on the land because they insulted God, slew His Son, and outraged the Holy Ghost.
And there were also two others, malefactors, being led, along with Him to be put to death. Mat 27:33-34 : And having come into the place called Golgotha, which is denominated the place of a skull, they gave Him vinegar mingled with gall to drink; and tasting it, He did not wish to drink. This was a soporific potion, conducive to the lulling of the nerves to insensibility and the obtundification of the feeling, so as to mitigate the awful severity of the pain, somewhat corresponding with the modern chloroform. You see that Jesus declined to drink it, preferring to enjoy the clear and unclouded exercise of His intellect and the full acumen of His nerves. So when physicians want you to take chloroform, or some kind of a nervous sedative, which might probably render you unconscious of your suffering, you have the example of Jesus declining all artificial relief when passing through the terrible ordeal of crucifixion, enjoying the normal exercise of nerves and brain. Calvary is not far from Pilates judgment-hall, the ascension beginning in the city about one square from the hall, and continuing really to the summit of Calvary, passing northward through the Damascus Gate, then turning somewhat eastward, the mountain being one of the peaks of Bezetha, and within the angle formed by the road to Jericho, leading east, and the way to Damascus leading north, as the Romans were in the habit of crucifying their criminals in the most public and conspicuous places, so as to present the greatest possible terror to evildoers. Heb 13:12, locates it without the gate. Calvary is Greek, and means skull, because the hill has the shape of a human skull. When I first came to Jerusalem, with nothing but the Scripture for my guide, I recognized Calvary before any one pointed it out to me.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 16
Unto them; that is, to their will. One of Pilate’s centurions had charge of the execution.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
19:16 {5} Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led [him] away.
(5) Christ fastens Satan, sin, and death to the cross.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Pilate’s action constituted his sentence against Jesus. Evidently John meant that Pilate handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers to satisfy the demands of the Jews. He omitted any reference to the severe flogging (the verberatio) that the Roman soldiers then gave Jesus as preliminary punishment before His crucifixion (cf. Mat 27:27-30; Mar 15:15-19).
"He was slapped in the face before Annas (Joh 18:22), and spat on and beaten before Caiaphas and the council (Mat 26:67). Pilate scourged Him and the soldiers smote Him (Joh 19:1-3); and before they led Him to Calvary, the soldiers mocked Him and beat Him with a rod (Mar 15:19). How much He suffered for us!" [Note: Wiersbe, 1:379.]
The NASB and NIV translators divided the material in Joh 19:16-17 differently, but the content is the same.
In his account of Jesus’ civil trial, John stressed the divine kingship of Jesus and the Jews’ rejection of Him. The Gentiles also rejected Him in the person of their leader, Pilate.
"From the human standpoint, the trial of Jesus was the greatest crime and tragedy in history. From the divine viewpoint, it was the fulfillment of prophecy and the accomplishment of the will of God. The fact that God had planned all of this did not absolve the participants of their responsibility. In fact, at Pentecost, Peter put both ideas together in one statement! (Act 2:23)" [Note: Ibid., 1:381.]