Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 19:29
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put [it] upon hyssop, and put [it] to his mouth.
29. Now vinegar ] Omit ‘now.’ S. John’s precise knowledge appears once more: the other three do not mention the vessel, but he had stood close to it. The ‘vinegar’ was probably the sour wine or posca in a large jar ‘set’ by the soldiers for their own use while on guard. Criminals sometimes lived for many hours, even a day or two, on the cross.
and they filled, &c.] The true text gives, having placed therefore a sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop they put it to his mouth. The difference between the two verbs rendered ‘put’ is very graphic; the one expresses the placing of the sponge round the stalk (comp. Mat 21:33; Mat 27:28; Mat 27:48), the other the offering (Joh 16:2) and applying (Mar 10:13) it to his lips.
hyssop ] The plant cannot be identified with certainty. The caper-plant, which is as likely as any, has stalks which run to two or three feet, and this would suffice. It is not probable that Christ’s feet were on a level with the spectators’ heads, as pictures represent: this would have involved needless trouble and expense. Moreover the mockery of the soldiers recorded by S. Luke (see on Luk 23:36) is more intelligible if we suppose that they could almost put a vessel to His lips. S. John alone mentions the hyssop; another mark of exact knowledge.
put it to his mouth ] The actors and their motive are left doubtful. Probably soldiers, but possibly Jews, and probably in compassion rather than mockery; or perhaps in compassion under cover of mockery (comp. Mar 15:36).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 29. A vessel full of vinegar] This was probably that tart small wine which we are assured was the common drink of the Roman soldiers. Our word vinegar comes from the French vin aigre, sour or tart wine; and, although it is probable that it was brought at this time for the use of the four Roman soldiers who were employed in the crucifixion of our Lord, yet it is as probable that it might have been furnished for the use of the persons crucified; who, in that lingering kind of death, must necessarily be grievously tormented with thirst. This vinegar must not be confounded with the vinegar and gall mentioned Mt 27:34, and Mr 15:23. That, being a stupifying potion, intended to alleviate his pain, he refused to drink; but of this he took a little, and then expired, Joh 19:30.
And put it upon hyssop] Or, according to others, putting hyssop about it. A great variety of conjectures have been produced to solve the difficulty in this text, which is occasioned by supposing that the sponge was put on a stalk of hyssop, and that this is the reed mentioned by Matthew and Mark. It is possible that the hyssop might grow to such a size in Judea as that a stalk of it might answer the end of a reed or cane in the case mentioned here; but still it appears to me more natural to suppose that the reed was a distinct thing and that the hyssop was used only to bind the sponge fast to the reed; unless we may suppose it was added for some mystical purpose, as we find it frequently used in the Old Testament in rites of purification. The various conjectures on this point may be seen in Bowyer’s Conject. and in Calmet.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
29. filled a sponge with vinegar,and put it upona stalk of
hyssop, and put it to hismouthThough a stalk of this plant does not exceed eighteeninches in length, it would suffice, as the feet of crucified personswere not raised high. “The rest said, Let be”[that is,as would seem, ‘Stop that officious service’] “let us seewhether Elias will come to save Him” (Mt27:49). This was the last cruelty He was to suffer, but it wasone of the most unfeeling. “And when Jesus had cried with a loudvoice” (Lu 23:46). This”loud voice,” noticed by three of the Evangelists,does not imply, as some able interpreters contend, that our Lord’sstrength was so far from being exhausted that He needed not to diethen, and surrendered up His life sooner than Nature required, merelybecause it was the appointed time. It was indeed the appointed time,but time that He should be “crucified through weakness“(1Co 13:4), and Nature was nowreaching its utmost exhaustion. But just as even His own dyingsaints, particularly the martyrs of Jesus, have sometimes had suchgleams of coming glory immediately before breathing their last, as toimpart to them a strength to utter their feelings which has amazedthe by-standers, so this mighty voice of the expiring Redeemerwas nothing else but the exultant spirit of the Dying Victor,receiving the fruit of His travail just about to be embraced, andnerving the organs of utterance to an ecstatic expression of itssublime feelings (not so much in the immediately followingwords of tranquil surrender, in Luke, as in the final shout,recorded only by John): “FATHER,INTO THY HANDS ICOMMEND MYSPIRIT!” (Lu 23:46).Yes, the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. His soulhas emerged from its mysterious horrors; “My God” isheard no more, but in unclouded light He yields sublime into HisFather’s hands the infinitely precious spiritusing herealso the words of those matchless Psalms (Ps31:5) which were ever on His lips. “As the Father receivesthe spirit of Jesus, so Jesus receives those of the faithful”(Ac 7:59) [BENGEL].And now comes the expiring mighty shout.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar,…. In a place near at hand, as Nonnus observes; not on purpose, for the sake of them that were crucified, either to refresh their spirits, or stop a too great effusion of blood, that they might continue the longer in their misery; but for the use of the soldiers who crucified Christ, vinegar being part of the allowance of Roman soldiers m, and what they used to drink: sometimes it was mixed with water; which mixed liquor they called “Posca” n, and was what even their generals sometimes used; as Scipio, Metellus, Trajan, Adrian, and others: vinegar was also used by the Jews for drink, as appears from Ru 2:14 and “dip thy morsel in the vinegar”, which Boaz’s reapers had with them in the field; “because of heat”, as the commentators say o; that being good to cool, and to extinguish thirst; for which reason the soldiers here offer it to Christ; though the Chaldee paraphrase of the above place makes it to be a kind of sauce or pap boiled in vinegar; and such an “Embamma” made of vinegar the Romans had, in which they dipped their food p; but this here seems to be pure vinegar, and to be different from that which the other evangelists speak of, which was mingled with gall, or was sour wine with myrrh, Mt 27:34. Vinegar indeed is good to revive the spirits, and hyssop, which is after mentioned, is an herb of a sweet smell; and if the reed, which the other evangelists make mention of, was the sweet calamus, as some have thought, they were all of them things of a refreshing nature: vinegar was also used for stopping blood q, when it flowed from wounds in a large quantity; and of the same use were sponges; hence Tertullian r mentions “spongias retiariorum”, the sponges of the fencers, which they had with them to stop any effusion of blood that should be made in their exercises; but then it can hardly be thought that these things should be in common prepared at crucifixions for such ends, on purpose to linger out a miserable life a little longer, which would be shocking barbarity; and especially such a provision would never be, made at this time, on such an account, since the Jews sabbath drew nigh, and they were in haste to have the executions over before that came on, that the bodies might not remain on the cross on that day; for which reason they would do nothing, at this time, however, to prolong the lives of the malefactors; wherefore it is most reasonable, that this vessel of vinegar was not set for any such purpose, but was for the use of the soldiers; and therefore this being at hand when Christ signified his thirst, they offered some of it in the following manner:
and they filled a sponge with vinegar; it being the nature of a sponge (which Nonnus here calls , “a branch of the sea”, because it grows there) to swallow up anything that is liquid, and which may be again squeezed and sucked out of it; hence the Jews say s of it, , “the sponge which swallows up liquids”; and used it for such a purpose; “and put it upon hyssop”; meaning not the juice of hyssop, into which some have thought the sponge with vinegar was put, but the herb, and a stalk of it: the other evangelists say, it was put “upon a reed”; meaning either that the sponge with the hyssop were put about a reed, and so given him; or rather it was a stalk of hyssop, which was like a reed or cane; and in this country of Judea grew very large, sufficient for such a purpose. The hyssop with the Jews was not reckoned among herbs, but trees; see 1Ki 4:33 and they speak t of hyssop which they gather , “for wood”; the stalks of which therefore must be of some size; yea, they call u a stalk which has a top to it,
, “a reed”, or cane; which observation seems to reconcile the other evangelists with this: and they distinguish their hyssop which was right for use from that which had an epithet joined to it; as, Roman hyssop, Grecian hyssop, wild and bastard hyssop w: and some writers x observe even of our common hyssop, that it has sometimes stalks of nine inches long, or longer, and hard and woody, nay, even a foot and a half; with one of which a man with his arms stretched out might possibly reach the mouth of a person on a cross: how high crosses usually were is not certain, nor was there any fixed measure for them; sometimes they were higher, and sometimes lower; the cross or gallows made by Haman for Mordecai was very high indeed, and the mouth of a person could not have been reached with an hyssop stalk; but such an one might, as was erected for Saul’s sons, whose bodies on it could be reached by the beasts of the field, 2Sa 21:10 and so low was the cross on which Blandina the martyr suffered, as the church at Lyons relates y, when on the cross she was exposed to beasts of prey, and became food for them: so that there is no need to suppose any fault in the text, and that instead of “hyssop” it should be read “hyssos”; which was a kind of javelin the Romans call “Pilum”, about five or six foot long, which, it is supposed, one of the soldiers might have, and on it put the hyssop with the sponge and vinegar; but this conjecture is not supported by any copy, or ancient version; the Syriac version, which is a very ancient one, reads “hyssop”. The Arabic and Persic versions render it, “a reed”, as in the other evangelists; and the Ethiopic version has both, “they filled a sponge with vinegar, and it was set round with hyssop, and they bound it upon a reed”; and so some have thought that a bunch of hyssop was stuck round about the sponge of vinegar, which was fastened to the top of a reed; and the words will bear to be rendered; “setting it about with hyssop”: this they might have out of the gardens, which were near this place, or it might grow upon the mountain itself; for we are told z, it grew in great plenty upon the mountains about Jerusalem, and that its branches were almost a cubit long. Josephus a makes mention of a village beyond Jordan called Bethezob, which, as he says, signifies the house of hyssop; perhaps so called from the large quantity of hyssop that grew near it:
and put it to his mouth; whether Christ drank of it or no is not certain; it seems by what follows as if he did; at least he took it, being offered to him: the Jews themselves say b, that Jesus said, give me a little water to drink, and they gave him , “sharp vinegar”; which so far confirms the evangelic history.
m Julian. Imperator. Epist. 27. p. 161. Vid. Lydium de re militari, l. 6. c. 7. p. 245. n Salmuth. in Panciroll. rerum memorab. par. 1. Tit. 53. p. 274. o Jarchi & Aben Ezra in loc. p Salmuth. ib. par. 2. Tit. 2. p. 83. q Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 11. r De Spectaculis, c. 25. s Maimon. in Misn. Sabbat, c. 21. sect. 3. Misn. Celim, c. 9. sect. 4. t Misn. Parah, c. 11. sect. 8. Maimon. Hilch. Parah Adumah, c. 11. sect. 7. u Gloss. in T. Bab. Succa, fol. 13. 1. w Misn. Parah, c. 11. sect. 7. Negaim, c. 14. 6. T. Bab. Succa, fol. 13. 1. & Cholin, fol. 62. 2. x Dodonaeus, l. 4. c. 19. y Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 5. c. 1. p. 161. Vid. Lipsium de Cruce, l. 3. c. 11. z Arabes Lexicograph. apud de Dieu in loc. a De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4. b Toklos Jesu, p. 17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Was set (). Imperfect middle. John, as eyewitness, had noticed it there.
Of vinegar (). Not vinegar drugged with myrrh (Mr 15:23) and gall (Mt 27:34) which Jesus had refused just before the crucifixion.
Sponge (). Old word, in N.T. only here, Mark 15:36; Matt 27:48, our “sponge.”
They put (). Second aorist active participle of , to place around.
Upon hyssop ().
A reed () as Mark and Matthew have it. The reed of the hyssop bush was only three or four feet long.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Vinegar. See on Mt 27:48.
Hyssop. Matthew and Mark have kalamw, a reed. Luke says merely that they offered Him vinegar. The vinegar mingled with gall (Mt 27:34), or the wine mingled with myrrh (Mr 14:23) was offered to Jesus before his crucifixion as a stupefying draught. The hyssop gives a hint of the height of the cross, as the greatest length of the hyssop reed was not more than three or four feet. The vinegar in this case was offered in order to revive Christ. John does not mention the stupefying draught.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar:” (skeuous ekeito oksous meston) “A vessel was (then) set full of vinegar,” as prophesied, Psa 69:21, of vinegar and gall, bitter herbs like gall. The other gospel writers, farther from the cross, did not see or tell of the vessel of vinegar.
2) “And they filled a sponge with vinegar,” (spongon oun meston tou oksous) “Then a sponge was filled of vinegar,” the sponge was soaked in the vinegar-gall mixture, designed to alleviate pain.
3) “And put it upon hyssop,” (hussopo perithentes) ”And they put it around an hyssop; “The hyssop plant has not been identified, but it was a three or four foot length reed, long enough to reach up to the mouth of Jesus, where He was suspended on the nails, hanging on the cross, in excruciating agony of body, mind, and soul, Isa 53:7-12.
4) “And put it to his mouth.” (prosenegkan autou to atomati) “And brought it up to his mouth,” that He might drink or taste of the potion, while certain ones cried that they might watch now, see whether or not Elias, one from God, might come to relieve or rescue Him, Mat 27:49; Mar 15:16; Luk 23:36-37.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
29. And, having filled a sponge with vinegar, they fixed it on hyssop. When he says that they fixed the sponge on hyssop, the meaning is, that they fastened it to the end of a bunch of hyssop, that it might be raised to Christ’s mouth; for, in that country, hyssops grow as large as small shrubs, (180)
(180) “ Car l’a les hyssopes sont grans comme petits arbnsseaux.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(29) Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar.This vessel of the ordinary sour wine drunk by the Roman soldiers, was placed near in order to be given to those who were crucified. Thirst was always an accompaniment of death by crucifixion, and that the vessel of wine was prepared for this purpose is made probable by the mention of the sponge and hyssop (Comp. Note on Mat. 27:48.)
And put it upon hyssop.This detail is peculiar to St. John. Bochart (Hierozoicon, i. 2, 50) thinks that the plant was marjoram, or some plant like it, and he is borne out by ancient tradition. The stalks, from a foot to a foot and a half high, would be sufficient to reach to the cross. The plant is named in one other passage in the New Testament (Heb. 9:19), and is frequent in the Greek of the Old Testament. The Hebrew word is zv, and the identification must always be uncertain, because we cannot know whether the Greek translation is based upon an identification of the plant, or upon a similarity in the sound of the names.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Hyssop It is not well known what plant is here specified. But a sort of hyssop is described with a seedy stalk about a foot and a half long. Such a stalk would have been long enough to reach the mouth of a crucified person, inasmuch as the cross was not usually very elevated.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘There was set there a vessel full of sour wine. So they put a sponge full of sour wine on hyssop and brought it to his mouth.’
Near the cross was a vessel of sour wine. ‘Sour wine’ was soldiers’ wine and it was natural that the escort would have wine there to satisfy their needs and keep out the cold. It may therefore be that it was one of the soldiers who took pity on Jesus. But what a vivid picture we have here. The Saviour of the world, having died for the redemption of the world, receives from it cheap, sour wine when they should have laid the world at His feet. Yet we must not denigrate the act. It was remembered in Heaven.
‘On hyssop’. Because hyssop as known to us does not have a long stalk it has been suggested that a pike or javelin was used (necessitating a slight change in the Greek). But a long stalk would not be necessary. Jesus would be hung just off the ground and easily reachable. Besides the term hyssop may have been loosely applied to more than one plant, and part of the significance here is what hyssop indicated for it was connected with sacrifice and with the Passover (Exo 12:22).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 19:29-30 . ] as in Joh 2:6 . The vessel was in readiness for the purpose of quenching the thirst of those crucified (who had always to suffer much therefrom), with sponge and stalk of hyssop, which were to serve for handing it up.
] vinegar, i.e . small sour wine (from the skins of grapes already pressed), which served as a drink for labourers and soldiers; Wetstein on Mat 27:34 ; Hermann, Privatalterth . 26. 10. Of the bitter stupifying drink , which Jesus had disdained to receive (Mat 27:34-35 ; Mar 15:23-24 ), John says nothing. On the drink tendered to him, Luk 23:36 , see in loc.
The subject of , . . . is not named; yet there can be no doubt about who are meant, the soldiers .
] More exactly than in Mat 27:48 , and since the hyssop grows stalks from 1Ti 1 feet high (Bochart, Hieroz . I. 2. 50; Celsius, Hierobot I. p. 407 f.), such an one was fully sufficient to reach to the mouth of Jesus on the not lofty (Salmasius, de cruce , p. 284) cross. [249]
] to His mouth . That the stalk was precisely of hyssop , is accidental; as hyssop of scorning , in opposition to the hyssop of reconciliation , Psa 51 . (Hengstenberg), it is not to be thought of, since the tender of the drink in the present passage is certainly not an act of scorn. Moreover, it is precisely such non-essential special statements as these which have flowed from the most vivid recollection of an eye-witness.
] Quite as in Joh 19:28 , to be referred to the work of Jesus. Comp. Joh 17:4 . It is by Him brought to completion with this act of the last death-suffering . Further, Bengel aptly remarks: “hoc verbum in corde Jesu erat, Joh 19:28 , nunc ore profertur.”
. .] He gave over (to God) His spirit , characteristic designation of dying, in conformity with that which dying was in Jesus’ case. It is the actual surrender of His self-conscious Ego on the decease of the body; the verbal surrender, Luk 23:46 , [250] appears, since John has, instead of it, the simply grand concluding word , to belong to the enlarging representations of tradition, but, after the bowing of the head, would be no longer suitable, and hence must be assumed as taking place after .
Note further, that the . meant in Joh 1:18 did not now take place, but first by means of the ascension (Joh 20:17 ).
[249] Least of all with a dogmatic background, although Steinmeyer assumes that is a request to His enemies , and thereby illustrates the love , which completed the act of atonement . This request, he thinks, only the dying Mediator could have made.
[250] Of the seven words on the cross, only Mat 27:46 , according to Schenkel’s too rash conclusion, is to be considered as altogether beyond doubt. Mark also has only this one (Mar 15:34 ), Luke has three (Luk 23:34 ; Luk 23:43 ; Luk 23:46 ), and John likewise three (Joh 19:26-28 ; Joh 19:30 ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
Ver. 29. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar ] Cold comfort: they used to give others wine to comfort them, according to Pro 31:6 , and mingled myrrh with the wine ( granum thuris in calice vini ), that might attenuate their blood, and so help to despatch them; as also to cause a giddiness in them, that they might be the less sensible of their pain. But they dealt much worse with our Saviour, mingling for him, in mockery, vinegar and gall, to add to his other misery. This he drank, that we might drink of the heavenly nepenthes, that torrent of pleasure, Psa 16:11 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
29. ] The was the posca, the sour wine, or vinegar and water, the common drink of the Roman soldiers.
an aromatic plant growing on walls, common in the south of England and on the Continent, with blue or white flowers, and having stalks about 1 foot long, which would in this case be long enough, the feet of the crucified person not being ordinarily raised above that distance from the ground. It was much used for sprinkling, Exo 12:22 ; Lev 14:4 &c.: Psa 51:7 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 19:29 . “There was set a vessel full of vinegar”; the mention of the vessel betrays the eye-witness. “The Synoptists do not mention the , but John had stood beside it.” Plummer. , the vinegar used by soldiers. [Ulpian says: “vinum atque acetum milites nostri solent percipere, uno die vinum, alio die acetum”. Keim, vi. 162.] Here it seems to have been provided for the crucified, for as Weiss and Plummer observe, there were a sponge and a hyssop-reed also at hand. , i.e. , the soldiers, but cf. Mar 15:36 ; They filled a sponge, because a cup was impracticable, and put it round a stalk of hyssop, and thus applied the restorative to His mouth. The plant called “hyssop” has not been identified. All that was requisite was a reed ( cf. , Mat 27:48 , Mar 15:36 ) of two or three feet long, as the crucified was only slightly elevated.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Now. All the texts omit.
vinegar. See note
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
29.] The was the posca, the sour wine, or vinegar and water, the common drink of the Roman soldiers.
-an aromatic plant growing on walls, common in the south of England and on the Continent, with blue or white flowers, and having stalks about 1 foot long, which would in this case be long enough, the feet of the crucified person not being ordinarily raised above that distance from the ground. It was much used for sprinkling, Exo 12:22; Lev 14:4 &c.: Psa 51:7.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 19:29. ) The hyssop in those regions being larger than that of our country, suitably held with its small branches a sponge full of vinegar.-, putting upon the hyssop) viz. the sponge.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 19:29
Joh 19:29
There was set there a vessel full of vinegar:-[Sour wine, or vinegar and water, the common drink of the Roman soldiers, but probably a vessel of this specially placed for the use of those crucified.]
so they put a sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop, and brought it to his mouth.-Jesus was too high on the cross likely for them to reach his mouth with the hand so they dipped the sponge in vinegar and raised it to his mouth. [It is said that hyssop stalks grew to the height of eighteen inches. As the cross was not very high, this would be length sufficient to reach his lips with the sponge.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
was set: Mat 27:34, Mat 27:48, Mar 15:36, Luk 23:36
hyssop: This hyssop is termed a reed by Matthew and Mark; and it appears that a species of hyssop, with a reedy stalk, about two feet long, grew about Jerusalem. Exo 12:22, Num 19:18, 1Ki 4:33, Psa 51:7
Reciprocal: 1Ki 12:15 – that he might Psa 69:21 – gall for my meat
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9
The scripture prediction that was fulfilled by this is in Psa 69:21. When Jesus expressed his wants by stating the condition of thirst, someone dipped a sponge in vinegar (sour wine) and placed it upon hyssop so as to reach it up to the parched lips of the dying Saviour. This was the most convenient way either of serving or receiving it under the circumstances. It was done merely to quench his thirst and not as an opiate, since it did not have the gall mixed with it which he had refused (Mat 27:34). Some confusion might occur over this word hyssop, since both Matthew and Mark say it was put on a reed. I shall quote from Smith’s Bible Dictionary on the article in question. “Besides being thus lit for sprinkling, having cleansing properties, and growing on walls, the true hyssop should be a plant common to Egypt, Sinai and Palestine, and capable of producing a stick three or four feet long.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
[There was set a vessel full of vinegar.] but was not this an unusual and uncustomary thing, that there should be a vessel filled with vinegar? Should it not have been rather with myrrhate wine; or wine mingled with myrrh? As it is Mar 15:23.
It seems evident, from the other evangelists, that our Saviour had the proffer of something to drink at two several times.
I. Before he was nailed to the cross, Mat 27:33-34; “When they were come unto a place called Golgotha, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall,” Joh 19:35, “and they crucified him.” It was the custom towards those that were condemned by the Sanhedrim to allow them a cup, but it was of wine mingled with myrrh or frankincense; that by drinking that their brains might intoxicate, and themselves become the more insensible of their torments, and less apprehensive of their death.
When any one was leading out to execution, they gave them to drink a little frankincense in a cup of wine. And they gave it for this reason, as it immediately follows, that their understanding might be disordered. It was a narcotic draught, on purpose to disguise and stupefy the senses.
“Wine mingled with myrrh;” saith Mark; — “vinegar mingled with gall;” saith Matthew. Perhaps both these were administered; for it follows, in the place above quoted, The women of quality in Jerusalem were wont to bring them this cup of their own accord. And no doubt there were women in Jerusalem enough that would not be wanting in this good office towards Jesus: but he, saith St. Mark, would not receive it. After this, it is probable, the soldiers, or some of the Jews, might, in scorn and derision, offer him a draught of vinegar and gall, of which he also refused to drink. But be it so, that there was but one cup given him, and that of vinegar mingled with gall, yet we have observed, in our notes upon Mat 27:34; how easily these two evangelists may be reconciled.
II. As to those that were condemned by the Sanhedrim, there was no need that they should have any other drink than the intoxicating wine; for they were quickly dead, and felt no thirst. But the cross kept the wretch a long time in exquisite torment, and those torments provoked a mighty thirst. So that perhaps there might be a vessel, full either of water or something else that was drinkable, placed near the cross, by which he that was crucified might allay his thirst, as need should require. Whether this vinegar might be according to the custom of the Romans, or whether only offered at this time in sport and mockery, I will make no inquiry at present. Christ knew beforehand that vinegar would be given him when he should say, “I thirst”; and therefore did he on purpose say, “I thirst,” that vinegar might be given him, and the prophecy fulfilled.
[And they filled a sponge with vinegar.] The sponge which sucks up the drink. “The sponge that drinks up any moisture that is unclean; though it be dry on the outside, yet if it fall into a furnace it defileth it.”
[And put it upon hyssop.] Mat 27:48; put it on a reed. So also St. Mark.
I. If hyssop; as the nearness of sound might persuade us it doth, then there are several kinds of it. Whatever hyssop hath an adjunct [or an epithet] is not fit; that is, to sprinkle the unclean. For there was, as it follows afterward, Grecian hyssop: fucous hyssop; perhaps of the colour of blacklead: Roman hyssop; and wild hyssop.
II. Now, that there was a sort of hyssop that grew into stalks, like canes or reeds, is evident from that which immediately follows in the next halach, where it is thus distinguished; He gathers hyssop for food, and he gathered it for wood. Partly also from Succah; where, amongst the mention that is made of canes and reeds and twigs, wherewith they were wont to cover the booths they made at the feast of Tabernacles, this hyssop is reckoned up for one.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Joh 19:29. There was set there a vessel full of vinegar: they put therefore a sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop, and brought it to his mouth. It is possible that the vinegar here referred to may have been the mixture of vinegar and water used by the Roman soldiers to quench their thirst; or it may even have been a vessel of vinegar itself, of which large quantities were used at the Passover. The hyssop cannot be equivalent to the reed of Mat 27:48 and Mar 15:36, for the hyssop plant was of too low and bushy a habit to supply a reed. It is simply a small bunch of hyssop, which was most probably attached to the end of a reed. A piece of sponge soaked in vinegar was fastened to the hyssop end of the rod, and the draught was in this way conveyed to the lips of Jesus.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 29
A vessel full of vinegar; for the use of the soldiers, a preparation of vinegar being their common drink.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
19:29 Now there was set a {c} vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put [it] upon hyssop, and put [it] to his mouth.
(c) Galatinus witnesses out of the book called Sanhedrin that the Jews often gave those who were executed vinegar mixed with frankincense to drink, to make them somewhat delirious: so the Jews provided charitably for the poor men’s conscience who were executed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Evidently it was customary to offer wine vinegar (Gr. oxos) to the victims of crucifixion since John described the jar of it as "standing there" or "set there." Only John mentioned that the soldiers put the sponge soaked with wine vinegar on a branch of hyssop that they extended to Jesus. Hyssop was readily available since it grew out of many rocky crevices as a weed. The hyssop reference may simply be a detail in the testimony of an eyewitness to Jesus’ crucifixion. However, it may hint at Jesus being the Lamb of God since the Jews used hyssop to sprinkle blood on their doorposts and lintels at Passover (cf. Exo 12:22; 1Co 5:7). The sponge was evidently small enough so Jesus could put at least some of it in His mouth. The hyssop branch was obviously strong enough to remain erect under the sponge’s weight. Jesus was probably not extremely high above ground level as He hung on the cross, many famous paintings notwithstanding (cf. Joh 3:14).