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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 27:27

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Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band [of soldiers.]

27. the common hall ] i. e. “the Prtorium” (Mark), which meant originally (1) the general’s tent; (2) it was then used for the residence of the governor or prince, cp. Act 23:35; (3) then for an official Roman villa or country house; (4) barracks especially for the Prtorian guard; (5) the Prtorian guard itself (Php 1:13). The second meaning (2) is to be preferred here.

band ] Greek speira, the thirtieth part of a Roman legion consisting of two centuries.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27 30. Jesus is mocked by the Roman Soldiers

St Luke, who records the mockery of Herod’s soldiers, perhaps as St Paul’s companion in the Prtorium at Rome makes no mention of this stain on the Roman soldiery.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 27. The common hall] Or, praetorium. Called so from the praetor, a principal magistrate among the Romans, whose business it was to administer justice in the absence of the consul. This place night be termed in English the court house, or common hall.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Mark hath the same, Mar 15:17-20, only he saith they put upon him a purple robe. John seemeth to mention this a little out of order, Joh 19:1-3, as done before his condemnation; for though some think that Matthew and Mark rather mention these things out of their due order, yet the abuses seem more likely to be done to a person who was condemned, and so dead in law, than while he was upon his trial. Writers tell us that none might be crucified before he was scourged, and that not with rods, (which was the Jewish manner), but with whips (far more cruelly); but whether it was before or after condemnation we are not certain. He was condemned upon that article, that he should say, he was the King of the Jews. To mock him, therefore, they set a crown on his head, but of thorns; they put a sceptre into his hand, but it was of a reed; they bowed the knee before him, as was wont to princes; they put on him a robe of purple, or scarlet, both which were used by princes; in short they put upon him all the indignities and marks of scorn imaginable. When they had thus glutted themselves, they restore his own garment to him, and lead him away to the place of execution. Who can read these things with a believing heart and dry eyes, if he remembers, that our sins platted the crown of thorns set upon our Saviours head, and made the whips with which he was scourged? Our stomachs (when we read these things) are ready to rise against the pagan soldiers; but how little did they do in comparison of what Christ suffered for our sins! Who can read these things, and not be fortified against temptations from suffering if we will own the gospel and cause of Christ? Our sufferings will come much short of what Christ hath suffered for us.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Then the soldiers of the governor,…. Those that were about him, his attendants and guards,

took Jesus into the common hall; the “praetorium”, or judgment hall, as it is sometimes called; the governor’s palace, into which the Jews would not enter, lest they should defile themselves: Pilate therefore came out to them, and went into the pavement called Gabbatha, and sat upon a judgment seat there; see Joh 18:28, where he passed sentence on Christ; which being done, the soldiers took him into the hall of judgment; which being both magnificent and large, was fit for the scene they intended to act there. Munster’s Hebrew Gospel reads it, they took him “in the house of judgment”; and the Ethiopic version renders it, “out of the court of judicature”; both wrong.

And gathered unto him whole band [of soldiers]; the same that Judas had with him to take him, consisting of five hundred, and some say more: these their fellow soldiers, to whom Jesus was committed, got together to him, or “against him”, as the Syriac and Persic versions render it, make themselves sport and diversion with him. Think in what hands and company our dear Lord now was: now was he encompassed with dogs, and enclosed with the assembly of the wicked indeed; see

Ps 22:16. The Persic version renders it, “multitudes of knaves being gathered together to him”.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Into the palace ( ). In Rome the praetorium was the camp of the praetorian (from praetor) guard of soldiers (Php 1:13), but in the provinces it was the palace in which the governor resided as in Ac 23:35 in Caesarea. So here in Jerusalem Pilate ordered Jesus and all the band or cohort ( ) of soldiers to be led into the palace in front of which the judgment-seat had been placed. The Latin spira was anything rolled into a circle like a twisted ball of thread. These Latin words are natural here in the atmosphere of the court and the military environment. The soldiers were gathered together for the sport of seeing the scourging. These heathen soldiers would also enjoy showing their contempt for the Jews as well as for the condemned man.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

27. Then the soldiers of the governor. It is not without reason that these additional insults are related. We know that it was not some sort of ludicrous exhibition, when God exposed his only-begotten Son to every kind of reproaches. First, then, we ought to consider what we have deserved, and, next, the satisfaction offered by Christ ought to awaken us to confident hope. Our filthiness deserves that God should hold it in abhorrence, and that all the angels should spit upon us; but Christ, in order to present us pure and unspotted in presence of the Father, resolved to be spat upon, and to be dishonored by every kind of reproaches. For this reason, that disgrace which he once endured on earth obtains for us favor in heaven, and at the same time restores in us the image of God, which had been not only stained, but almost obliterated, by the pollutions of sin. Here, too, is brightly displayed the inconceivable mercy of God towards us, in bringing his only-begotten Son so low on our account. This was also a proof which Christ gave of his astonishing love towards us, that there was no ignominy to which he refused to submit for our salvation. but these matters call for secret meditation, rather than for the ornament of words.

We are also taught that the kingdom of Christ ought not to be estimated by the sense of the flesh, but by the judgment of faith and of the Spirit. For so long as our minds grovel in the world, we look: upon his kingdom not only as contemptible, but even as loaded with shame and disgrace; but as soon as our minds rise by faith to heaven, not only will the spiritual majesty of Christ be presented to us, so as to obliterate all the dishonor of the cross, but the spittings, scourgings, blows, and other indignities, will lead us to the contemplation of his glory; as Paul informs us, that

God hath given him a name, and the highest authority, that before him every knee might bow, because he willingly emptied himself ( ἐκένωσε) even to the death of the cross, (Phi 2:8.)

If, therefore, even in the present day, the world insolently mocks at Christ, let us learn to rise above these offenses by elevated faith; and let us not stop to inquire, what unworthy opposition is made to Christ by wicked men, but with what ornaments the Father hath clothed him, with what scepter and with what crown he hath adorned him, so as to raise him high, not only above men, but even above all the angels.

Mark uses the word purple instead of scarlet; but though these are different colors, we need not trouble ourselves much about that matter. That Christ was clothed with a costly garment is not probable; and hence we infer that it was not purple, but something that bore a resemblance to it, as a painter counterfeits truth by his likenesses.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 27:27. The common hall.Literally, the Prtorium, a word which, applied originally to the tent of the prtor, or general, and so to the headquarters of the camp, had come to be used with a somewhat wide range of meaning,

(1) for the residence of a prince or governor; or

(2) for the barracks attached to such a residence (as in Php. 1:13); or

(3) for any house as stately. Hero (as in Act. 23:35) it appears to be used in the first sense. Pilates dialogue with the priests and people had probably been held from the portico of the Tower of Antony, which rose opposite the temple court, and served partly as a fortress, partly as an official residence. The soldiers now took the prisoner into their barrack-room within (Plumptre). The whole band.The word used is the technical word for the cohort, or subdivision of a legion (ibid.).

Mat. 27:28. A scarlet robe.A soldiers scarf; Lat. chlamys. It was generally worn by superior officers, but its use was not confined to them. This may have been a worn-out scarf belonging to Pilate; it is different from the gorgeous robe (Luk. 23:11), which Herods soldiers put on Jesus. Scarlet was the proper colour for the military chlamys. St. Mark has the less definite purple, St. John, a purple robe. Purple, however, is used by Latin writers to denote any bright colour (Carr).

Mat. 27:29. A crown of thorns.It cannot be known of what plant this acanthine crown was formed. The nubk (zizyphus lotus) struck me, as it has struck all travellers in Palestine, as being most suitable both for mockery and pain, since its leaves are bright, and its thorns singularly strong; but though the nubk is very common on the shores of Galilee, I saw none of it near Jerusalem. There may, however, have been some of it in the garden of Herods palace, and the soldiers would give themselves no sort of trouble, but merely take the first plant that came to hand (Farrar).

Mat. 27:32. Cyrene.A city in north-eastern Africa. A large colony of Jews had settled there, as in other African and Egyptian cities, to avoid the oppression of the Syrian kings (Carr). Simon.Why, we ask, out of the whole crowd that was streaming to and fro, on the way to the place of execution, did the multitude seize on him? St. Marks mention of him as the father of Alexander and Rufus (see Mar. 15:21), suggests the thought that his sons were afterwards prominent as members of the Christian community. May we not infer that he was suspected even then of being a secret disciple, and that this led the people to seize on him, and make him a sharer in the humiliation of his Master? (Plumptre).

Mat. 27:33. Golgotha.The site is not certainly known, though Major Conder, R. E., who commanded the survey parties of the Palestine Exploration Fund, between 1872 and 1882, says: It may be said to be generally agreed that the tradition preserved by the Jerusalem Jews is worthy of belief. This tradition, discovered by Dr. T. Chaplin, places the old House of Stoning, or place of public execution according to the law of Moses, on the top of the remarkable knoll outside the Damascus Gate, on the north side of Jerusalem. It was from this cliff that the criminal used to be flung before being stoned (according to the Talmud), and on it his body was afterwards crucified; for the spot commands a view all over the city, and from the slopes all round it the whole population of the town might easily witness the execution. Here, then, was the Hebrew place of crucifixion, and here, in all human probability, once stood the three crosses bearing the Saviour of men between the two thieves (Primer of Bible Geography).

Mat. 27:34. Vinegar.Wine (R.V.).The ordinary military wine, posca. Gall.Some bitter ingredient fitted to stupefy.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 27:27-34

Via crucis.In Mat. 27:26 of this chapter we are told of our Saviours being handed over to the Roman soldiery, for the purpose of crucifixion. In Mat. 27:35, and what immediately follows, we have the crucifixion itself. In these intervening verses we are, therefore, shown Jesus on His way to the cross, and, in that connection, are asked to observe, on the one hand, how much He had to endure just previously to His death; and, on the other hand, how far He was affected thereby.

I. How much He had to endure.Much, obviously, in the first place, in the way of acute bodily pain. If the scourging then inflicted (Mat. 27:26) by order of Pilate, was at all like what was usual in such casesit must have been a most terrible thing. Terrible, because of the instrument useda thing of leather thongs, armed with many points of cruel metal or bone. Terrible, because of the manner of infliction, viz., straight down on the unprotected frame of the victim, as he stood quivering and naked-shouldered, with his hands fastened to a pillar in front. Terrible, because there was no merciful limit, as in the law of Moses, to the number of strokes. If one could describe, therefore, one would not like to describe, the amount and depth of laceration produced, and the consequently increasing agony caused by each successive descent of those thongs. We must simply remember, on this point, that what we can thus hardly bear to think of, the Master had to endure, and that the living body of the man, Jesus of Nazareth, was actually put to the torture described. Secondly, there must have been, at least, as much suffering of a mental description. These brutal legionaries evidently took no little delight in their task. To them it was a kind of sport, in which the whole cohort must join (Mat. 27:27). First, therefore, they deprive their unresisting Prisoner of His usual outermost garment, and then invest Him, in bitter mockery, with a scarlet one in its stead (Mat. 27:28). In the same spirit, they either weave together a crown of thorns (Mat. 27:29), or take one already woven (Joh. 19:5), and thrust it on to His head. After this, they place in His hand a feeble sceptre of reed (Mat. 27:29), and offer Him, in contempt, the outward homage of body and lipbowing the knee and saying to Him, Hail, King of the Jews! What a pleasure it iswhat a safe pleasureto mock that silent Man thus! Who ever saw such a Kingsuch a sceptrebefore? Soon, however, even these gross insults begin to weary upon them; probably because, in this instance, they are found to fail of their mark. Other, therefore, and even grosser outrages are resorted to next. Some present even go so far as to spit on that Holy Ones face. Others, again, with like wantonness of insult, smite Him on the head with the reed (Mat. 27:30). In every way He is despised and rejected by these hangman-like souls. Nothing do they shrink from which seems to them fitted to heap indignity on His head.

II. How far the Saviour was affected thereby.In one way, He was so overwhelmingly, viz., as to His bodily strength. Very affecting is the evidence which is supplied us of this. It is said to have been the ordinary rule, in cases of crucifixion, that the instrument of crucifixion should be carried by the victim who was about to suffer thereon. It was part of such a mans punishment in this way to carry his punishment with him. We find, accordingly, in one account (Joh. 19:17) that this method of procedure was attempted at first with our Lord. But we also find, from other accounts (Mat. 27:32; Mar. 15:21; Luk. 23:26), that it was found impossible to go on with it. Another mans strength, therefore, had to be impressed to carry the cross of the Saviour. Evidently this was because His own strength was found unequal now to the task. We say this, on the one hand, because of the well-known utter impossibility of resisting the strength of utter bodily weakness. The most iron will, the hardest heart, has to submit to its strength. And we say it, on the other hand, because we believe that the men concerned in this instance would have given way to nothing less than such irresistible strength. Evidently they see that Jesus cannot carry His cross. Evidently we see, therefore, how His previous sufferings have told on His frame. Though He has never complained of them, never resented them, never deprecated them for a moment, they have succeeded in penetrating to the very spring of His bodily life. So far as that is concerned, in fact, we may almost say of Him that He is already half dead. On the other hand, those sufferings, so far as His will is concerned, have not told on Him at all. Very significant and marked, in this connection, is the contrast we find here. Roman custom appears to have allowed one mitigation only in regard to the torture of crucifixion. The man about to die by it was allowed to partake of a mixture which was believed to have the power of making its torture more easy to bear. When those who brought Jesus to the place of crucifixion found themselves there, some among them offered Him a cup of this kind (Mat. 27:33-34). But such an offer is not one which He will allow Himself to accept. While He, therefore, so far respects it as to taste the mixture in questionand so, perhaps, make sure of its natureHe will not avail Himself of its help. The distinction seems plain. In that other matter, where He was called upon to make use of His strength, having no strength to make use of, He submitted to be helped. In this case, where He only has to endure, He refuses help, because He is able to do what is asked. The meaning, also, seems plain. Nothing shall be done by Him to diminish the bitterness of what He has to go through. On this point His will is as strong as though He had not suffered at all!

How admirable, therefore, and how affecting, also, is the picture before us! So much so in both ways, that one can hardly determine in which way the most! Perhaps, however, the story is most affecting when we look back at it from this point. For then we see, as we have said, how much the Saviours previous sufferings must have told on His strength, and what a long and wearying fever of torture He must have already gone through. On the other hand, there is, perhaps, most to admire here when we look forward from this point. Much of His previous suffering, if we may not say most, was in the way of anticipation. The worst of all, however, in that way remains still to be faced; and faced, moreover, in that extreme bodily weakness which has Him now in its grasp. Yet He neither shrinks from it now, nor allows it to be mitigated in any degree. The less He is physically able, the more He is morally determined, to encounter it all. Never, it is said, was there any sorrow like that coming then upon Him! Never any human being at once less fit, and more ready, to face it! Is there anything in the way of fortitude to go beyond this?

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 27:29. The crown of thorns.Reflect on:

I. The fact.

1. He was and is a King.
2. His Kingship was attained through sorrow.
3. His reign was begun in sorrow.

II. The explanation.This may be reached in some degree by observing three things:

1. The nature of Christs sorrow.

(1) In His Divine nature He was holy, and He came into a world of sin.
(2) In His human nature He was one with His fellow-men without sharing their love of sin and bluntness of conscience. He bore the worlds sin, and it broke His heart.
2. The spirit in which Christ bore sorrow.His suffering was a supreme act of sacrifice. In it He offered Himself to God (Heb. 9:14).

3. The purpose of Christs sorrow.He suffered from sin that He might destroy sin.

Practical lessons.

1. Repentance.
2. Grateful reverence.
3. Submission.W. F. Adeney, M.A.

The mockery of Christ.The Jews mocked Christs offices.

I. His prophetical office.Prophesy who smote Thee.

II. His priestly office.He saved others, etc.

III. His kingly office.Hail, King of the Jews.Richard Ward.

Mat. 27:32. The cross enforced or chosen.Here we have Simon and Christ: one compelled to bear the cross, the other choosing to bear it. And I want you to notice that whilst it is probable there is some cross or other which every one of us is compelled to carry, there is a cross which we may choose to carry; and there are a few simple lessons which may be learnt from the contrast.

I. There is always something accidental about the cross which one is compelled to carry.We name one or two of these crosses, and we find they bring to view the mere accidents of life.

1. Sickness.

2. Absence of success in the work of life, or in some special work which has been undertaken.

3. The powers of their life are felt by some to be so limited, that it is the very smallness of faculty which seems to be a cross, and a great cross.

4. How many men are not content with the position they occupy!

II. When we have now to speak of the cross which may be chosen, we are coming to the life indeed, getting below the mere surface of things. We may see three principles, learning from the life of our Saviour, in such a cross.

1. It is one chosen from love to some others than ourselves.

2. It is borne in quiet submission to the will of the Father.

3. It springs from hatred of sin and sorrow for sin.

Lessons.

1. Sometimes the cross which is not compelled to be borne may be put down. There is no merit in bearing a cross, so far as the mere bearing is concerned.
2. The cross which we are really compelled to carry we may choose to carry.
3. The cross goes with the bearing of it. We choose it, would rather not have it away, and it gradually ceases to be a cross. The cross of Christ becomes His throne.T. Gasquoine, B.A.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(27) The common hall.Literally, the Prtorium, a word which, applied originally to the tent of the prtor, or general, and so to the head-quarters of the camp. had come to be used, with a somewhat wide range of meaning, (1) for the residence of a prince or governor; or (2) for the barracks attached to such a residence (as in Php. 1:13); or (3) for any house as stately. Here (as in Act. 23:35) it appears to be used in the first sense. Pilates dialogue with the priests and people had probably been held from the portico of the Tower of Antony, which rose opposite the Temple Court, and served partly as a fortress, partly as an official residence. The soldiers now took the prisoner into their barrack-room within.

The whole band of soldiers.The word used is the technical word for the cohort, or sub-division of a legion.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

27. The common hall The Pretorium, or court. See note on Mat 27:11.

Whole band There were five cohorts of soldiers, comprising each about 600 men, retained by the governor at Cesarea, and one at Jerusalem. This one whole Roman cohort is therefore now summoned to perform or witness the degradation of the victim.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered together to him the whole band.’

Note Matthew’s emphasis on ‘the soldiers of the governor’. He is determined that Pilate should not to be exonerated. He alone was finally responsible for what happened, for the final authority was in his hands. From the outside, where the judgment seat had been set up, Jesus was taken into the courtyard of the Praetorium, the governor’s residence. And there the soldiers rallied their comrades in order that they might have a good time at Jesus’ expense. Note ‘the whole band’ and compare it with ‘all the people’ (Mat 27:25), although it is not to be applied too literally. It really signifies as many as were available and wanted to take part. The point is that a good number who would do so. This mockery of prisoners was a regular practise in the ancient world, and would be inevitably indulged in by anyone who had charge of Him once He was seen to be beyond the pale. He was after all only a peasant in their eyes. No repercussions could therefore be expected, and it relieved the monotony. It was one of the ‘perks’ of the job. Thus we should not be surprised by its constant repetition, (as though normally guards treated their prisoners well). Such mockery of prisoners is well attested to in external sources.

‘And gathered to Him.’ So the world has ‘gathered together’ against Jesus. In Mat 26:3 it was the Chief Priests and Elders who had ‘gathered together’ in order to plot His death, in Mat 26:57 they had again ‘gathered together’ in order to ensure that He was sentenced, in Mat 27:17 the crowds had ‘gathered together’ in order to condemn Jesus, and now the soldiers of Rome ‘gathered together’ in order to mock Him. We can compare Act 4:26 citing Psa 2:2 where the rulers ‘gathered together’ against the Lord’s Anointed. They will shortly ‘gather together’ to try to counter the dreadful news of His resurrection (Mat 27:62; Mat 28:12).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

‘And they knelt down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ’

But central to it all was the desire to mock His ‘claim’ to Kingship, and the horseplay no doubt began early and continued right through to the end as different ones thrust themselves forward trying to outdo what the previous ones had done. It is summarised here in the terms ‘they knelt down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ’ They knew after all that that was what lay behind His sentence. It was the accusation that the Chief Priests and Elders had felt was most suitable to present before Pilate, and that Pilate had brought before Jesus. It will also be paraded on His cross in order deliberately to anger the Jewish leaders. For this was how Gentiles saw the Jewish Messiah.

Note the contrast with the treatment by the Jewish guards (Mat 26:68). They had mocked Him as a prophet and Messianic pretender, these mocked Him as a failed claimant to Kingship. It all rings true.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Mock Adulation of the Soldiers (27:27-31).

Having been sentenced and committed to crucifixion Jesus now became fair game. It was not often that the soldiers had a royal claimant that they could do what they liked with. So they gathered their comrades-at-arms together, tore off his clothes, put on Him a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns, put a reed in His right hand and then mocked Him as ‘a king’. Then when they had had enough of their folly, they took back the robe, dressed Him in His own clothing, (which they would shortly be taking off Him when He needed it no longer), and took the reed which had been His ‘sceptre’ and beat Him over the head with it. These were the world’s last actions towards the King of Kings, before they sent Him back to God. But it is possibly to be seen as significant that they allowed Him to retain His crown. In God’s providence it was left there as God’s last reminder to those who would believe.

Analysis of Mat 27:27-31 .

a Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered to Him the whole band (Mat 27:27).

b And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe (Mat 27:28).

c And they plaited a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand (Mat 27:29 a).

d And they knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mat 27:29 b).

c And they spat on Him, and took the reed and smote Him on the head (Mat 27:30).

b And when they had mocked Him, they took off from Him the robe, and put on Him his own clothes (Mat 27:31 a).

a And they led him away to crucify him (Mat 27:31 b).

Note that in ‘a’ they take Jesus into the Praetorium (to make ready for His crucifixion), and in the parallel they lead Him out to be crucified. In ‘b’ they strip Him and put on Him a scarlet robe, and in the parallel they take off the scarlet robe and redress Him (note the small chiasmus). In ‘c’ they plait a crown of thorns and put it on His head and put a reed in His right hand, and in the parallel they spit on Him, take the reed out of His hand and smite Him on the head (note again the small chiasmus). Centrally in ‘d’ they pay Him false honour, and not knowing how right they are, and how their words will ring out through the ages, mock Him with the cry, ‘Hail, king of the Jews’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Final Farewell (27:27-54).

In sober words Matthew now portrays what Jesus had to endure from the moment when He was handed over to His executioners to be mocked as ‘the King of the Jews’ to the time when He breathes His last and His executioners testify that He is ‘the Son of God’.

Analysis.

a The mock adulation of the soldiers as they hail Him as ‘King of the Jews’ (Mat 27:27-31).

b The crucifixion of Jesus where He is numbered with two insurrectionists and displayed as ‘the King of the Jews’. He is mocked by the passers-by, the Chief Priests and the insurrectionists as He is hailed mockingly as ‘Son of God’ and ‘King of Israel’ (Mat 27:32-44).

c Jesus’ final hours in pitch darkness, both physical and spiritual (Mat 27:45-50).

b God openly vindicates His Son – the veil of the Temple is torn in half, an earthquake rends the rocks, the Old Testament ‘saints’ buried in Jerusalem are raised (after His resurrection) as their tombs are opened (Mat 27:52-53).

a The centurion and his men bear witness that Jesus is the Son of God (Mat 27:54).

Note how in ‘a’ the soldiers mock Him, and in the parallel they worship Him. In ‘b’ there are three witnesses to His downfall, and in the parallel there are three witnesses to His vindication. Centrally in ‘c’ we have His final hours.

But this passage divides into two parts. In the first part we again have a typical Matthaean ‘sandwich’. The crucifixion of Jesus as the King of the Jews is sandwiched between the mockery of the Gentile soldiers and the mockery of the Jewish Chief Priests and people. Thus it may be analysed as follows:

a The mock adulation of the Gentile soldiers as they hail Him as ‘King of the Jews’ (Mat 27:27-31).

b The crucifixion of Jesus where He is humiliated and displayed as ‘the King of the Jews’ (Mat 27:32-37).

a He is hung between two insurrectionists and mocked by the Jewish passers-by, the Chief Priests and the Jewish insurrectionists as He is hailed mockingly as ‘Son of God’ and ‘King of Israel’ (Mat 27:32-44).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Soldiers and People Mock Jesus ( Mar 15:16-32 , Luk 23:26-43 , Joh 19:2-3 ; Joh 19:17-27 ) Mat 27:27-44 records the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. During this event, the evangelist records the intense mockings that He endured before and during His Crucifixion.

Crucifixion in the Ancient World – Mat 27:32-44 records the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. This has to be the most touching story in the Scriptures. He could have called ten thousand angels, but He chose to suffer and die for you and me.

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). [686]

[686] “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) [687]

[687] 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) [688]

[688] 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) [689]

[689] 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) [690]

[690] 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) [691]

[691] 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) [692]

[692] 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) [693]

[693] 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) [694]

[694] 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) [695]

[695] 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) [696]

[696] 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) [697]

[697] 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) [698]

[698] 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) [699]

[699] 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) [700]

[700] 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) [701]

[701] 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) [702]

[702] 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. [703]

[703] 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) [704]

[704] 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) [705]

[705] 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). [706]

[706] 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) [707]

[707] 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). [708]

[708] Albert de Broglie, “The First Christian Emperors,” (130-190). in The Christian Remembrancer (vol. 50 July-December) (London: J. and C. Mozley, 1860), 169; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 3 (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891), 108.

Mat 27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.

Mat 27:27 “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall” Comments – The Greek word “praetorium” ( ) (G4232) is translated “judgment hall” in the KJV in Act 23:35. The Enhanced Strong says this word is used 8 times in the New Testament, being translated in the KJV as, “judgment hall 4, hall of judgment 1, common hall 1, praetorium 1, palace 1.” The word “praetorium” is of Latin origin, and according to Lightfoot it properly means, “the general’s tent,” or “the head-quarters in a camp.” [709] BDAG says it originally referred to “the praetor’s tent in camp, with its surroundings,” but that this word was later used to refer to the residence of Roman governor, who presided over a province. The ISBE says that the Romans customarily seized the existing palaces of local kings or princes and made it into their official “praetorium.” According to BDAG, the “praetorium” mentioned in the Gospels where Jesus was tried refers either to Herod’s palace located in the western part of the city of Jerusalem, or “to the fortress Antonia” located “northwest of the temple area.” (see Mat 27:27, Mar 15:16, Joh 18:28 a,b, 33; Mat 19:9) In Act 23:35 Paul’s trial would have taken place in Herod’s palace in Caesarea, which was used as the residence of the Roman governor. Thus, these palaces were used to hear disputes by the governor and pass judgment. Regarding the use of this word in Php 1:13, since Paul’s imprisonment is generally believed to be in Rome, Lightfoot supports the popular view that the word “praetorium” refers more specifically to “the imperial guard,” rather than to a building. Lightfoot believes that “in Rome itself a ‘praetorium’ would not have been tolerated.” He thus translates this word as “the imperial guards.” [710]

[709] J. B. Lightfoot, Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians (London: MacMillan and Co., c1868, 1903), 99.

[710] J. B. Lightfoot, Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians (London: MacMillan and Co., c1868, 1903), 101-102.

Mat 27:29 “when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head” – Word Study on “platted” – The Greek verb (G4120) which means, “to twine, braid.” This word is only used three times in the New Testament, and only in reference to this crown of thorns. The other two uses of this verb are:

Mar 15:17, “And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,”

Joh 19:2, “And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,”

From this verb comes the noun (G4117), which means, “anything entwined, woven, braided” ( BDAG). This word can be used to describe a net, or woven hear. For example, it is used to describe the basket in which the infant Moses was laid (Josephus, Antiquities 2.9.4).

Comments – The noun describes the shape of the crown of thorns that the Shroud of Turin reveals, which is believed to be the actual burial cloth of the Lord Jesus Christ, reveals a man who has been crucified. On this person’s head are cuts that indicate an object such as a matt of thorns was pressed into the scalp. The marks in the shroud that the thorns were gathered into a round matt rather than being rolled into a circle with an opening at the top. This is because punctures are indicated over the entire scalp area, and not just on the sides of the scalp, as many artists depict the crown’s position. [711]

[711] Grant R. Jeffery, “The Mysterious Shroud of Turin,” [on-line]; accessed 1 September 2009; available from http://www.grantjeffrey.com/article/shroud.htm; Internet.

Mat 27:34 Comments – Vinegar was a type of sour wine. E. W. G. Masterman says g all was a bitter plant mixed with the wine in order to relieve suffering. [712]

[712] E. W. G. Masterman, “Gall,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).

Mar 15:23, “And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.”

Mat 27:35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

Mat 27:35 “and parted his garments” – Comments The ancient practice of casting lots was not restricted to the Jewish culture under the Mosaic Law. The books Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Nahum provide us with references in the Old Testament Scriptures to the custom of casting of lots by someone other than the people of Israel, being practiced among the Babylonians (Oba 1:11), the Ninevites (Nah 3:10), and among the sailors (Jon 1:7), which Adam Clarke suggests to be Phoenicians based on Eze 27:12. [713]

[713] Adam Clarke, The Book of the Prophet Jonah, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Jonah 1:3.

Joe 3:3, “And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.”

Oba 1:11, “In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.”

Nah 3:10, “Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.”

Jon 1:7, “And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.”

Eze 27:12, “Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.”

The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus Christ cast lots at the foot of the Cross (Mat 27:35, Mar 15:24, Luk 23:34, Joh 19:24). The Roman statesman Cicero (106-43 B.C.) makes numerous references to the widespread practice of casting lots among the ancient cultures in his work de divination. [714] The Jewish historian Josephus (A.D. 37-100) mentions the practice of casting lots among the Roman soldiers who had encompassed the city of Jerusalem under Titus. [715] The Roman historian Suetonius (A.D. 70-130) mentions this ancient practice among Roman leaders by appointing men to tasks by casting lots, as well as casting lots as a form of divination. [716]

[714] For example, Cicero writes, “But what nation is there, or what state, which is not influenced by the omens derived from the entrails of victims, or by the predictions of those who interpret prodigies, or strange lights, or of augurs, or astrologers, or by those who expound lots (for these are about what come under the head of art); or, again, by the prophecies derived from dreams, or soothsayers (for these two are considered natural kinds of divination)?” ( de divination 1.6) Cicero also writes, “What, now, is a lot? Much the same as the game of mora, or dice, l and other games of chance, in which luck and fortune are all in all, and reason and skill avail nothing. These games are full of trick and deceit, invented for the object of gain, superstition, or error.” ( de divination 2.41) See Cicero, The Treatises of M. T. Cicero on the Nature of the Gods; on Divination; on Fate; on the Republic; on the Laws; and on Standing for the Consulship, trans. C. D. Yonge (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853), 146-147, 235.

[715] Josephus writes, “They also cast lots among themselves who should be upon the watch in the nighttime, and who should go all night long round the spaces that were interposed between the garrisons.” ( Wars 5.12.2)

[716] For example, Suetonius writes, “When later, on his way to Illyricum, he [Tiberius] visited the oracle of Geryon near Patavium, and drew a lot which advised him to seek an answer to his inquiries by throwing golden dice into the fount of Aponus, it came to pass that the dice which he threw showed the highest possible number and even to-day those very dice may be seen under the water.” ( Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Tiberius) Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, trans. Joseph Gavorse (New York: Modern Library, 1931), 130-131.

Mat 27:35 “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots” – Comments – A tenth Matthean formula can be found in Mat 27:35 in the KJV. However, the rules of modern textual criticism require the omission this phrase from the UBS 4 because it is not found in the earliest Greek manuscripts. Thus, modern English commentaries generally omit this phrase.

Mat 27:35 Scripture Reference Note Joh 19:24, “They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.”

Mat 27:39 Comments – The wagging of heads was a form of scorn by shaking the head.

Mat 27:44 Comments To “cast the same in his teeth” means to cast the same insults at Him.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Testimony of Jesus’ Deity at His Death Mat 27:27-56 records the testimony of Jesus’ deity at His death. While the soldiers and people mock Jesus (Mat 27:27-44), the centurion was convicted of His deity through the signs that accompanied His death (Mat 27:45-56).

Here is a proposed outline:

1. The Soldiers and People Mock Jesus Mat 27:27-44

2. The Testimony of the Centurion Regarding Jesus’ Deity Mat 27:45-56

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Mat 27:27 ] It would appear, then, that the scourging had taken place outside, in front of the praetorium, beside the tribunal. This coincides with Mar 15:16 , , which merely defines the locality more precisely . The was the official residence , the palace of the governor, it being commonly supposed (so also Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 53, and Keim, III. p. 359 ff.) that Herod’s palace, situated in the higher part of the city, was used for this purpose. But, inasmuch as this latter building would have to be reserved for the accommodation of Herod himself whenever he had occasion to go to Jerusalem, and with what is said at Luk 23:7 before us, it is more likely that the palace in question was a different and special one connected with fort Antonia, in which the (comp. Act 21:31-33 ) was quartered. Comp. also Weiss on Mar 15:16 .

.] who were on duty as the procurator’s orderlies.

] about Him ; comp. Mar 5:21 , not adversus eum (Fritzsche, de Wette); for they were merely to make sport of Him.

] the cohort , which was quartered at Jerusalem in the garrison of the praetorium (in Caesarea there were five cohorts stationed). Comp. on Joh 18:3 . The expression: the whole cohort, is to be understood in its popular, and not in a strictly literal sense; the , to whose charge Jesus had been committed, and who only formed part of the cohort, invited all their comrades to join them who happened to be in barracks at the time.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. (28) And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. (29) And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! (30) And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. (31) And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.”

The indignities and cruelties shewn the person of our Lord, as the prelude to his crucifixion, formed no small part in the portion of sorrow; and we are too much interested in the whole, to pass the smallest circumstance by. For besides attending to those things in the bodily and soul anguish of the Lord Jesus; our own personal interest in them demands our attention.

Pilate, before he delivered the sacred person of Jesus to the Roman soldiers, scourged Jesus himself; or caused him to be scourged, And after this, as John relates, the soldiers scourged him, as was the custom of the Romans. Joh 19:8 . But after this scourging, they stripped him of his raiment, and put on him a scarlet robe; thus adding mockery to pain. And had the crown they put upon his head, been merely designed for laughter, they would not have chosen thorns, which, when driven into his flesh, must have occasioned exquisite suffering. Their spitting on him was intended to manifest the highest indignation and contempt. Among the Jews it was the greatest indignity, imaginable. If a father spit in his daughter’s face, so filthy was she considered thereby, that like the leper, the law enjoined the being shut out of the camp seven days. Num 12:14 .

Reader! let us for a moment pause over this awful scene, and behold the expediency and needs be of the whole. The Prophet had said, that it is with his stripes we are healed. Isa 53:5 . And hence Jesus must be scourged. The Lord himself had said by the spirit of prophecy, that he gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: and that he hid not his face from shame and spitting. Isa 50:6 . And here we behold the accomplishment most compleatly. I pray the Reader to attend to what the Lord Jesus said by the spirit of prophecy concerning those things, and mark the sorrow of his soul. Psa 22 and Psa 69 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers .

Ver. 27. Then the soldiers of the governor ] “Barbarous and brutish men, skilful to destroy,” Eze 21:31 ; “Let the young men arise and play before us,” said Abner,2Sa 2:142Sa 2:14 . It is but a sport to soldiers to kill and put men to tormentful ends. At the taking of Tripolis in Barbary, the Turkish soldiers having in their hands one John de Chabos, a Frenchman born in Dauphine, they brought him into the town; and when they had cut off his hands and nose, they put him quick into the ground to the waist, and there, for their pleasure, shot at him with their arrows, and afterwards cut his throat. What insolencies and cruelties they exercised upon our Saviour for our sakes, even the whole band of them, we should read with regret for our sins, the weapons and instruments of all his sufferings; and see through his wounds the naked bowels, as it were, of his love to our poor souls.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

27 30. ] JESUS MOCKED BY THE SOLDIERS. Mar 15:16-19 . (Omitted in Luke.) Joh 19:1-3 . The assertion in Mat 27:26 is not strictly correct there . Before that, the contents of this passage come in, and the last attempt of Pilate to liberate Him.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

27. . ] The residence of the Roman governor was the former palace of Herod , in the upper city (see Winer, Realwrterbuch, ‘Richthaus’).

. . . ] The is the cohort the tenth part of a legion . The word . is not to be pressed.

] to Him to make sport with Him . This happened in the guard-room of the cohort: and the narrative of it we may well believe may have come from the centurion or others (see Mat 27:54 ), who were afterwards deeply impressed at the crucifixion.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 27:27-31 . Jesus the sport of the soldiery (Mar 15:16-20 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 27:27 . : when Jesus had been sentenced to crucifixion. . ., the soldiers of the governor, i.e. , his bodyguard. , etc.: they conducted Jesus from the scene of judgment (without) to the , i.e. , the official residence of the procurator, either Herod’s palace, or more probably a palace connected with the fort Antonia, with barracks attached. The word has various meanings: a general’s tent, a governor’s residence, the barracks of the Praetorian guard, the Praetorian guard itself. , etc.: gathered about Him (for sport) the whole , at most a cohort of 600, more probably a maniple of 200. (“ , anything twisted round like a ball of thread, is a translation of ‘manipulus’; a wisp of hay.” Carr in Cam. N. T., ad loc. ) A large number to assemble for such a purpose, but Roman soldiers at passover time would always be on the alert for serious work or sport, and here was no ordinary chance of both, a man sentenced to be crucified who passed for King of the Jews. What more natural than to make sport of Him, and through Him to show their contempt for the Jewish people? (Holtzmann, H.C.).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 27:27-31

27Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

Mat 27:27

NASB, NKJV,

NJB”Praetorium”

NRSV, TEV”the governor’s headquarters”

This was located in the Fortress Antonio or at Herod’s palace which became the Roman governor’s residence when in Jerusalem. Some have surmised that it was the site of the soldiers’barracks.

SPECIAL TOPIC: PRTORIAN GUARD

“cohort” This was about 600 men, but in reality, only some of them were on duty at one time.

Mat 27:28 “scarlet robe” This word comes from an insect which was used to dye clothes dark red. Mar 15:17 and Joh 19:2 have ” purple.” This was probably a faded Roman officer’s red cloak. Purple was the color of royalty. The early church saw this as symbolic of Jesus’ kingly position (as they did the stephanos crown of thorns). The ancients were not as precise in naming colors as moderns.

Mat 27:29-30 The soldiers take out their hostility toward the Jewish population on Jesus in their kingly mockery of Him. The “crown of thorns” may allude to (1) mocking Jesus’ claim to kingship or (2) the curse of Gen 3:18 (cf. Gal 3:13). Thorns are a symbol of rejecting the gospel (cf. Heb 6:8).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

common hall = Praetorium. In Mar 15:16 it is called the aule, or open courtyard (compare Mat 26:3). In Joh 18:28, Joh 18:33; Joh 19:9, it is Pilate’s house, within the aule.

unto = against. Greek. epi. App-104. Not the same as in verses: Mat 27:19, Mat 27:33, Mat 27:45, Mat 19:62.

band. Render “cohort” and omit “of soldiers”. The cohort contained about 600 men.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

27-30.] JESUS MOCKED BY THE SOLDIERS. Mar 15:16-19. (Omitted in Luke.) Joh 19:1-3. The assertion in Mat 27:26 is not strictly correct there. Before that, the contents of this passage come in, and the last attempt of Pilate to liberate Him.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 27:27-30. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

These soldiers were men to whom the taking of human life was mere amusement, or, at best, a duty to be performed. If the ordinary Roman citizen found his greatest delight in the amphitheater, where men fiercely fought with each other, and shed each others blood, or were devoured by wild beasts, you may imagine what Roman soldiery-the roughest part of the whole population-would be like; and now that One was given up into their hands, charged with making himself a king, you can conceive what a subject for jest it was to them, and how they determined to make all the mockery they could of this pretended king. They were not touched by the gentleness of his demeanor, nor by his sorrowful countenance; but they proceeded to pour all possible scorn and insult upon his devoted head. Surely, the world never saw a more marvelous scene than this,-the King of kings derided, and made nothing of,-treated as a mimic monarch by the very vilest and most brutal of men.

Mat 27:31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Their action, in restoring to him his own seamless robe, was overruled by God,-whatever their motive may have been,-so that nobody might say that some other person had been substituted for the Saviour. He went forth wearing that well-known garment, which was woven from the top throughout, which he had always worn; and all who looked upon him said, It is he,-the Nazarene. We know his face, his dress, his person. There was no possibility of mistaking him for anybody else.

Mat 27:32. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

It was too heavy for him to carry alone, so they bade Simon help him; and, truly, I think that Simon was thereby highly honoured. If this was Simon, who is called Niger, then there may be some truth in the common belief that he was a black man; and, assuredly, the coloured race has long had to carry a very heavy cross, yet there may be a great destiny before it. All Christs followers are called to be cross-bearers.

Shall Simon bear the cross alone,

And all the rest go free?

No; theres a cross for every one,

And theres a cross for me.

If we belong to Christ, we must be as willing to take up his cross as he was to carry ours, and die upon it.

Mat 27:33-34. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

It was not because of its bitterness that our Lord refused it, for he did not decline to endure anything that would add to his grief; but this was a stupefying draught, a death potion, which was given to those who were executed, in order somewhat to mitigate their pains; but the Saviour did not intend that his senses should be beclouded by any such draught as that, so, when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

Mat 27:35. And they crucified him,–

A short sentence, but what an awful depth of meaning there is in it! They crucified him,-driving their iron bolts through his hands and feet, and lifting him up to hang there upon the gibbet which was reserved for felons and for slaves: They crucified him,-

Mat 27:35. And parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

It was the executioners perquisite to have the garments of the man they put to death; so, in order that no single portion of the shame of the cross might be spared to the Saviour, these soldiers divided his garments amongst them, and raffled for his seamless robe. It must have taken a hard heart to gamble at the foot of the cross; but I suppose that, of all sins under heaven, there is none that does so harden the heart as gambling. Beware of it!

Mat 27:36. And sitting down they watched him there;

Some to gloat, in their fiendish malice, over his sufferings; others, to make sure that he did really die; and, possibly, some few to pity him in his agony:

Sitting down they watched him there.

Mat 27:37-44. And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

So that, as he looked all around, he met with nothing but ribaldry, and jest, and scorn. His disciples had all forsaken him. One or two of them afterwards rallied a little, and came and stood by the cross; but, just then, he looked, and there was none to pity, and none to help him, even as it had been foretold.

Mat 27:45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

From twelve oclock at noon, according to the Roman and Jewish time, till three in the afternoon, there was a thick darkness,-whether over all the world, or only over the land of Palestine, we cannot very well say. It was not an eclipse of the sun, it was a miracle specially wrought by God. Some have supposed that dense clouds came rolling up obscuring everything; but, whatever it was, deep darkness came over all the land. Dore has, in his wonderful imagination, given us a sketch of Jerusalem during that darkness. The inhabitants are all trembling at what they had done; and as Judas goes down the street, they point at him as the man who sold his Master, and brought all this evil upon the city. I should think that such darkness at mid-day must have made them fear that the last day had come, or that some great judgment would overtake them for their wicked slaughter of the innocent Jesus of Nazareth. Even the sun could no longer look upon its Maker surrounded by those who mocked him, so it traveled on in tenfold night, as if in very shame that the great Sun of righteousness should himself be in such awful darkness.

Mat 27:46-48. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

For he had also said, I thirst, which John records, specially mentioning that he said this, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Mat 27:49-51. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;

That rending of the great veil of the temple was intended to symbolize the end of Judaism; the horror of the sanctuary that its Lord was put to death; the opening of the mysteries of heaven; the clearing of the way of access between man and God.

Mat 27:51. And the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

Well says our poet,– Of feeling, all things show some sign But this unfeeling heart of mine.

Mat 27:52-54. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Mat 27:27. , the whole band) sc. even those soldiers who ought not then to have been present, and had not been so previously.[1191]-, band, Lat. spiram) Elsewhere the Greeks are wont to put a simple for the Latin i before a consonant, as in , not , etc.; they wrote, however, , because it is thus nearest to , an attempt; , to sow, etc.; to the sound of which they were accustomed.

[1191] Hereby the delivery of the Saviour into the hands of the sinful heathen was consummated.-B. H. E., p. 220.

Bengel here alludes to our Lords words in Mat 20:19; Mat 26:45.-(I. B.)

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 27:27-44

5. ROMAN SOLDIERS MOCK JESUS;

THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

Mat 27:27-44

27-31 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus.-Jesus was taken from the presence of the governor and Jews “into the Praetorium” which was the common hall; the sentence had been given in the open air; the soldiers took Jesus into the hall adjoining their own quarters in order to make preparations for his execution. “The whole band” was gathered; “band” here means cohort and was the tenth part of a legion; it varied in number from three hundred to one thousand men according to the size of a legion. This “band” stripped him, and put on him “a scarlet robe.” Probably they stripped him of his outer robe in order to carry on their brutal treatment. “A scarlet robe” was put on him; it was probably some wornout garment of royalty; this robe mentioned was a military cloak of purple worn by the Roman emperors and chief men. It was put on Jesus to ridicule his title of royalty; the insult in their mind was probably meant as a mark of contempt toward the whole Jewish nation. “They platted a crown of thorns and put it upon his head”; this crown of thorns was woven by a few turns of the flexible branches of a thorny bush which grew near Jerusalem. They crowned Jesus with this mock wreath in ridicule and put “a reed in his right hand”; this was in imitation of the sceptre carried by kings. (Est 4:11.) These reeds grew in Palestine in marshy places, especially along the banks of the Jordan. In their mockery these soldiers now had Jesus with an old worn and faded robe, a crown of thorns on his head, and a reed as a sceptre in his hand. They further mocked him by kneeling “down before him” and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” This was the usual salutation that they gave to their emperors. It was notorious that the sceptre had departed from Judah and the priests had for almost the first time declared, “We have no king but Caesar.” The Roman soldiers mock at the Jewish nation in the person of Jesus.

They further mocked him by spitting upon him, “and took the reed and smote him on the head.” We do not wish to linger over this scene of insolence and outrage which they heaped upon Jesus; it is difficult to believe that one human being can be so depraved as to so treat another one, to say nothing of so treating the Son of God. They smote him on the head to drive the sharp thorns into the living flesh, thus mercilessly adding to their horrid cruelty. “These cruelties were doubtless perpetrated while a part of the band was engaged in preparation for the execution. After mocking him with heartless and cruel mockery for some time, “they took off from him the robe and put on him his garments, and led him away to crucify him.” The time of day was probably about eight o’clock in the morning. He was led to a spot without the city gates. (Heb 13:11-12.) We do not know the exact spot as none of the writers of the gospel tell us the direction in which he was led from the city. While Jesus was led forth, a multitude, mostly women, followed him weeping, and Jesus addressed them with a prophecy of the sorrows which the sins of their countrymen were bringing upon them. (Luk 23:27-31.)

32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene.- Many think that they went out of the city by the Damascus gate, but we do not know. They found a man of Cyrene by the name of Simon; he was a Jew dwelling in that part of Libya called Pentapolis Cyrenaica, in which was a large colony of Jews. He had come to Jerusalem to attend the feast. “They compelled” him “to go with them, that he might bear his cross.” It was customary for the victim to bear his own cross to the place of execution; this was a part of the punishment inflicted on the victim. Simon was “compelled” to bear the cross of Jesus; he did it unwillingly; it was an ignominious office. A great company of people and women followed, bewailing and lamenting his fate. It is thought that Jesus was weary from his long vigils and sufferings, and was staggering under the weight of his cross. It is not known whether Simon carried the full load of the cross or whether he carried only one end of it, while Jesus continued to carry the other end. It was customary for a soldier to go in advance of the victim and carry a white wooden board on which was written the nature of the crime next came four soldiers, under a centurion, with the hammer and nails, guarding the victim, who bore the cross on which he was to suffer.

33-37 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha.-This is the Hebrew name for the place and John tells us that it means “The place of a skull.” (Joh 19:17.) It is not known why it was so called; some think that it was a hill in the place of a skull; others think that it was a common place of execution of criminals and skulls could be around there. It has been given the name of “Calvary” from a Latin derivation. Matthew omits in his detail the horrible work of nailing him to the cross, and describes some of the scenes which took place while he was on the cross. They “gave him wine to drink mingled with gall”; Mark says that they “offered him wine mingled with myrrh:but he received it not.” (Mark 15 23.) The wine of the Roman soldiers hardly deserved the name as it soon fermented and became sour to the taste. “Gall” and “myrrh” are words meaning in this case the same thing, a bitter infusion. This had the effect of stupefying the mind and nerves and shortened the life. It was offered by some pitying person to shorten the agonies of Jesus.

And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments among them.-They nailed him to the cross. The cross was made of two pieces of wood, placed one across the other, in the shape familiar to every one. The hands of the victim was nailed or tied to the transverse beam, and the feet crossed on each other and nailed to their place. Sometimes the victim was nailed to the cross before it was erected; then another mode was that of erecting the cross first and nailing the victim to it. We do not know which method was used in the crucifixion of Jesus. It is generally believed that Jesus was first nailed to the cross and that then it was fixed in an upright position in the earth and then was left under the charge of a guard until death slowly came to relieve the indescribable agonies of the sufferer. Sometimes the agonies continued for days, and again they were of short duration. The Jewish law prohibited leaving a body hanging on a tree longer than one day. (Deu 21:22-23.) Crucifixion was a Roman method of putting to death; it was a horrible, lingering death, combining horrors of mind and body which words failed to describe; it was an ignominious punishment, reserved for slaves or the basest criminals; but to the mind of a Jew, it carried also the terrors of a religious curse. We cannot analyze the sufferings one by one the agonies, the shame, the horror and anguish of our Savior’s death no tongue can tell and no pen can describe.

They parted his garments among them, casting lots.-They divided his garments into four parts, to every soldier a part. (Joh 19:23.) The clothes belonged to the executioners the coat or upper garment of Jesus was without seam, woven throughout. The four soldiers were unwilling to tear it, and therefore cast lots for it, which fulfilled a prophecy. (Psa 22:18.) It was now the third hour, that is, nine o’clock in the morning. (Mar 15:35.) It was the hour of offering up the lamb in the daily sacrifice of the temple; this lamb, which since the time of Moses had never ceased to be offered daily while the Jews had a temple or a city, was a type of Christ the true lamb of God. (1Co 5:6-7.) The soldiers sat down and watched him there; the soldiers who had crucified Jesus were made responsible for him until his death. They watched to prevent his friends from coming to steal away his body. It was the custom to place a placard above the head of the victim describing the crime that had been committed. This was done with respect to Jesus and the accusation was written in three languages-Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The accusation was: “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” It was painted or engraved in black letters on a white ground, and put over his head; this was done by order of Pilate. To make it well known, and to insult as many Jews as possible, Pilate caused it to be written in these three languages so that none could fail to read it. John gives the full sentence “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” (Joh 19:19.) The place of execution was a public place and the inscription was read by “many of the Jews.” John was an eyewitness to the crucifixion and has given accurately the inscription, while the other writers have given the meaning of it. It was on this accusation that Jesus had been condemned by the Roman authorities; no other crime had been brought against him. It seems that Pilate wished to vindicate himself for the part he had in the crucifixion and wanted it to appear that Jesus was a political aspirant for the throne as King of the Jews.

38-44 Then are there crucified with him two robbers.-Judea at that time abounded in robbers. Pilate did not reside in Jerusalem, but took advantage of his occasional visits there to pass judgment on criminals whom he found condemned. We do not know who these two robbers were; some have thought that they were companions of Barabbas. The design was to insult Jesus and the Jewish nation by making it appear that Jesus was a companion of such wretches. In doing this they fulfilled a prophecy of Isaiah which says, “He poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.” (Isa 53:12.) Jesus was crucified between these two robbers. Those who passed by “railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself.” This meant that Jesus had made the pretense of being able to destroy the temple and rebuild it in so short a time; he was now asked to show his power by rescuing himself from the cross. They further derided him by saying that he could not save himself therefore he could not save others. They thought that the certain death of Jesus was positive proof that he was an impostor. Many who passed by and reviled him were evil men; some may have been good men who did not believe that he was the Son of God.

In like manner also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders.-These religious people and leaders and teachers of the people left their work and joined the revilers of the Son of God; they had haunted him, contradicting him, and persecuting him all through his personal ministry, and now they would not let him have a peaceable hour in which to die. They tormented him up to his last moments. They said, “He saved others; himself he cannot save.” This was evidence to them that he was a pretender and impostor. They further reviled him by saying, “He is the King of Israel”; they added that if he would “now come down from the cross” they would “believe on him.” We are caused to wonder at this savage joy in the Jewish rulers; however it is easily explained if we remember that they were afraid of Jesus even unto this hour. They asked him to perform a miracle in rescuing himself from the cross. Jesus did no miracle in his course on such a motive as this. This was the same proposition that Satan made to him at his temptation soon after his baptism. (Mat 4:3; Mat 4:6.) It is to be noted that even at this time they had no evil to charge against him. If they could have found anything wrong in his life or teaching, they would have thrown it in his face at this time. They become unwilling witnesses to the goodness and purity of his life. They would not have believed on him had he come down from the cross; he had done miracles as great as that and they had not believed on him. They said that he trusted in God and that he claimed to be the Son of God, and now let God deliver him. How sadly they misunderstood him! They thought that because God permitted him to be crucified he was not the Son of God. How faulty was their reasoning!

And the robbers also that were crucified with him cast upon him the same reproach.-At first both robbers did this, but one of them afterward repented; there is no contradiction in the accounts given by Matthew and Luke. Either both of the robbers did this at first, and then one changed; or with much greater probability, some think, the expression is simply a general one. The record is clear that both robbers joined in the ridicule. (Luk 23:39-43.) Jesus had had the robber Barabbas preferred before him he has been placed in his crucifixion between two robbers; he has been reviled by the soldiers who executed him, by the people who passed by, by the religious teachers who came out of the city to help upon him their cruelty, and now even by those who were suffering on the cross by his side.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The King Mocked by the Soldiers

Ridicule is very painful to bear. In our Saviour’s case, there was great cruelty mixed with mockery. These Roman soldiers were men to whom bloodshed was amusement; and now that there was given up into their hands one who was charged with making himself a king, we can conceive what a subject for jest the gentle Jesus was in their esteem. They were not touched by the gentleness of his manner, nor by his sorrowful countenance; but they sought to invent all manner of scorn, to pour on his devoted head. Surely the world never saw a more marvellous scene than the King of kings thus derided as a mimic monarch by the meanest of men. The whole band of soldiers was gathered unto him, for seldom was such sport provided in the common hall. Jesus is a king, so he must wear the garb of royalty: they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe, some old soldier’s scarlet or purple coat. The king must be crowned: when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head. He must sway a sceptre: a reed in his right hand. Homage must be paid to him: and they bowed the knee before him. Cruel men! Yet probably they knew no better.

Oh, that we were half as inventive in devising honour for our King as these soldiers were in planning his dishonour! Let us render to Christ the real homage that these men pretended to offer him. Let us crown him Lord of all, and in truest loyalty bow the knee, and hail him, “King.”

Mat 27:31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

It was divinely overruled that Jesus should go forth with his own raiment on him, that nobody might say that another person had been substituted for the Saviour. As they led him away, robed in that well-known seamless garment, woven from the top throughout, all who looked upon him would say, “It is the Nazarene going forth to execution; we recognize his dress as well as his person.”

Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom

common hall: or, governor’s house, Mar 15:16, Joh 18:28, Joh 18:33, Joh 19:8, Joh 19:9, Act 23:35, Gr

band: Joh 18:3, Act 10:1, Act 27:1

Reciprocal: Psa 35:15 – the abjects Mat 20:19 – to mock Mar 10:34 – mock Luk 23:11 – set Joh 19:2 – the soldiers Heb 12:2 – despising

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

7:27

Of course the people of the Jews could not personally perform this execution since they were not officers of the Roman government. That action was to be done by the soldiers, who took the victim into the common hall which the margin correctly renders “governor’s house”; here they brought the entire band of soldiers. There was no need for such a military display for Jesus was not showing any disposition to resist. It was done through pomp and to humiliate the doomed man by their show of power.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

THESE verses describe the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ after his condemnation by Pilate,-His sufferings in the hands of the brutal Roman soldiers, and His final sufferings on the cross. They form a marvelous record.

They are marvelous when we remember the sufferer, the eternal Son of God! They are marvelous when we remember the persons for whom these sufferings were endured. We and our sins were the cause of all this sorrow. He “died for our sins.” (1Co 15:3.)

Let us observe in the first place, the extent and reality of our Lord’s sufferings.

The catalogue of all the pains endured by our Lord’s body, is indeed a fearful one. Seldom has such suffering been inflicted on one body in the last few hours of a life. The most savage tribes, in their refinement of cruelty, could not have heaped more agonizing tortures on an enemy than were accumulated on the flesh and bones of our beloved Master. Never let it be forgotten that He had a real human body, a body exactly like our own, just as sensitive, just as vulnerable, just as capable of feeling intense pain. And then let us see what that body endured.

Our Lord, we must remember, had already passed a night without sleep, and endured excessive fatigue. He had been taken from Gethsemane to the Jewish council, and from the council to Pilate’s judgment hall. He had been twice placed on his trial, and twice unjustly condemned. He had been already scourged and beaten cruelly with rods. And now, after all this suffering, He was delivered up to the Roman soldiers, a body of men no doubt expert in cruelty, and of all people least likely to behave with delicacy or compassion.-These harsh men at once proceeded to work their will. They “gathered together the whole band.” They stripped our Lord of His raiment, and put on Him, in mockery, a scarlet robe. They platted a crown of sharp thorns, and in derision placed it on His head. They then bowed the knee before Him in mockery, as nothing better than a pretended king. They spit upon Him. They smote Him on the head. And finally having put His own robe on Him, they led Him out of the city, to a place called Golgotha, and there crucified Him between two thieves.

But what was a crucifixion? Let us try to realize it, and understand its misery. The person crucified was laid on his back on a piece of timber, with a cross-piece nailed to it near one end,-or on the trunk of a tree with branching arms, which answered the same purpose. His hands were spread out on the cross-piece, and nails driven through each of them, fastening them to the wood. His feet in like manner were nailed to the upright part of the cross. And then, the body having been securely fastened, the cross was raised up, and fixed firmly in the ground. And there hung the unhappy sufferer, till pain and exhaustion brought him to his end,-not dying suddenly, for no vital part of him was injured,-but enduring the most excruciating agony from his hands and feet, and unable to move. Such was the death of the cross. Such was the death that Jesus died for us! For six long hours He hung there before a gazing crowd, naked, and bleeding from head to foot,-His head pierced with thorns,-His back lacerated with scourging,-His hands and feet torn with nails,-and mocked and reviled by His cruel enemies to the very last.

Let us meditate frequently on these things. Let us often read over the story of Christ’s cross and passion. Let us remember, not least, that all these horrible sufferings were borne without a murmur. No word of impatience crossed our Lord’s lips. In His death, no less than in His life, He was perfect. To the very last, Satan found nothing in Him. (Joh 14:30.)

Let us observe, in the second place, that all our Lord Jesus Christ’s sufferings were vicarious. He suffered not for His own sins, but for ours. He was eminently our substitute in all His passion.

This is a truth of the deepest importance. Without it the story of our Lord’s sufferings, with all its minute details, must always seem mysterious and inexplicable. It is a truth, however, of which the Scriptures speak frequently, and that too with no uncertain sound. We are told that Christ “bare our sins in His own body on the tree,”-that He “suffered for sin, the just for the unjust,”-that “He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,”-that “He was made a curse for us,”-that “He was offered to bear the sins of many,”-that “He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities,”-and that “the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (1Pe 2:22, and 1Pe 3:18. 2Co 5:21. Gal 3:13. Heb 9:28. Isa 53:5-6.) May we all remember these texts well. They are among the foundation stones of the Gospel.

But we must not be content with a vague general belief, that Christ’s sufferings on the cross were vicarious. We are intended to see this truth in every part of His passion. We may follow Him all through, from the bar of Pilate, to the minute of His death, and see him at every step as our mighty Substitute, our Representative, our Head, our Surety, our Proxy,-the Divine Friend who undertook to stand in our stead, and by the priceless merit of His sufferings, to purchase our redemption.-Was He scourged? It was that “through His stripes we might be healed.”-Was he condemned, though innocent? It was that we might be acquitted though guilty.-Did He wear a crown of thorns? It was that we might wear the crown of glory.-Was He stripped of His raiment? It was that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness.-Was he mocked and reviled? It was that we might be honored and blessed.-Was He reckoned a malefactor, and numbered among transgressors? It was that we might be reckoned innocent, and justified from all sin.-Was he declared unable to save Himself? It was that He might be able to save others to the uttermost.-Did He die at last, and that the most painful and disgraceful of deaths? It was that we might live for evermore, and be exalted to the highest glory.-Let us ponder these things well. They are worth remembering. The very key to peace is a right apprehension of the vicarious sufferings of Christ.

Let us leave the story of our Lord’s passion with feelings of deep thankfulness. Our sins are many and great. But a great atonement has been made for them. There was an infinite merit in all Christ’s sufferings. They were the sufferings of One who was God as well as man. Surely it is meet, right, and our bounden duty, to praise God daily because Christ has died.

Last, but not least, let us ever learn from the story of the passion, to hate sin with a great hatred. Sin was the cause of all our Savior’s suffering. Our sins platted the crown of thorns. Our sins drove the nails into His hands and feet. On account of our sins His blood was shed. Surely the thought of Christ crucified should make us loathe all sin. Well says the Homily of the Passion, “Let this image of Christ crucified be always printed in our hearts. Let it stir us up to the hatred of sin, and provoke our minds to the earnest love of Almighty God.”

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Mat 27:27. Into the palace, or, praetorium. The scourging had taken place outside. From Mark (Mar 15:16) we learn that it was into the court (comp. chap. Mat 26:68). The word praetorium was applied first to the generals tent in the Roman camp, then to the residence of the provincial governors, who were usually generals. Pilate,, when in Jerusalem, probably lived in the former palace of Herod, on the northern brow of Zion, overlooking the enclosure of the temple, and connected with it by a bridge (J. A. Alexander). But Lange thinks that Herod Antipas would probably have occupied this, and Pilate the castle Antonia.

The whole band. The tenth part of a legion, the cohort, numbering from four hundred to six hundred men, then on duty at Pilates residence. It was probably in the open guardroom of the cohort, but this does not prove that the place was the castle Antonia.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

The next part of our Lord’s sufferings consisted of cruel mockings. Our blessed Saviour had said, that he was the King of the Jews; not a temporal king, to reign over them with pomp and power, but a spiritual king, to rule in the hearts of his people; but the Jews, missing of their expectations of a temporal king in Christ, look upon him as and impostor; and accordingly they treat him as a mock king, putting a crown upon his head, but a very ignominious and painful one, a crown of thorns: a sceptre in his hand, but it was of a reed; and a robe of purple or scarlet, both of which were wont to do to princes.

Thus all the marks of scorn imaginable are put upon of blessed Redeemer: yet that which they did in jest, God did in earnest, for all these things were ensigns and marks of sovereignty; and Almighty God caused the regal dignity of his Son to appear and shine forth, even in the midst of his abasement.

Whence was all this jeering and sport, but to flout majesty? And why did Christ undergo all this ignominy, disgrace, and shame, but to show us what was due to us for our sins, and to give us an example to bear all the scorn, reproach, and shame imaginable for his sake, Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame?

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 27:27-30. Then the soldiers took Jesus The soldiers, having received orders to crucify Jesus, carried him into the common hall, or prtorium, in Pilates palace, after they had scourged him. Here they added the shame of disgrace to the bitterness of his punishment; for, sore as he was, by reason of the stripes they had laid on him, they dressed him as a fool in an old purple robe, (Mark, John,) in derision of his being called King of the Jews. Then they put a reed into his hand, instead of a sceptre; and having made a wreath of thorns, they put it on his head for a crown, forcing it down in such a rude manner that his temples were torn, and his face besmeared with blood. It is certain that they intended by this crown to expose our Lords pretended royalty to ridicule and contempt; but, had that been all, a crown of straws might have served as well. They undoubtedly meant to add cruelty to their scorn; which especially appeared in their striking him on the head, (Mat 27:30.) when this crown was put on. If the best descriptions of the eastern thorns can be credited, they are much larger than any commonly known in these parts. Hasselquist, speaking of the naba, or nabka, of the Arabians, (Trav., p. 288,) says, In all probability this is the tree which afforded the crown of thorns put on the head of Christ: it grows very common in the East, and the plant is extremely fit for the purpose; for it has many small, and most sharp spines, which are well adapted to give great pain. The crown might be easily made of these soft, round, and pliant branches, and, what in my opinion seems to be the greatest proof of it, is, that the leaves much resemble those of ivy, as they are of a very deep green: perhaps the enemies of Christ would have a plant somewhat resembling that with which emperors and generals were used to be crowned, that there might be calumny even in the punishment. Bishop Pearce, Michaelis, and a late learned writer, indeed, have remarked, that may be the genitive plural either of , thorn, or of , the herb called bears-foot, a smooth plant, and without prickles. But in support of the common version let it be observed, 1st, That in both Mark and John it is called , a thorny crown. This adjective, both in sacred and classical use, plainly denotes thorny; that it ever means bears-foot, says Dr. Campbell, I have seen no evidence. Thus in the LXX., Isa 34:13, in the common editions, the phrase, , is used for prickly shrubs. 2d, That the word , thorn, both in the right case, and in the oblique cases, occurs in several places of the New Testament and of the LXX., is unquestionable. But that in either the word is found, has not been pretended. Not one of the ancient, or of the Oriental versions, or indeed of any versions known to me, favours this hypothesis. The Italic and the Syriac, which are the oldest, both render the word thorns. Tertullian, the first of the Latin fathers, mentions the crown as being of thorns, and speaks in such a manner as clearly shows that he had never heard of any different opinion, or even a doubt raised upon the subject, which is very strong evidence for the common translation. Add to this, that an eminent Greek father, Clement of Alexandria, a contemporary of Tertullian, understood the word in the same manner. It is absurd, says he, (Pd., 50:2, c. 8,) in us who hear that our Lord was crowned with thorns, , to insult the venerable sufferer by crowning ourselves with flowers. Several passages, equally apposite, might be given from the same chapter, but not one word that betrays a suspicion that the term might be, or a suggestion that it ever had been, otherwise interpreted. To this might be added all the ancient commentators, both Greek and Latin. There is therefore here the highest probability opposed to mere conjecture. To the Son of God, in this condition, the rude soldiers bowed the knee, and said, Hail, king of the Jews Pretending respect, but really mocking him, and at the same time giving him severe blows, some with the reed, others with their hands. Those who smote him with the reed laid their blows upon the thorns, with which his head was crowned: thereby driving the prickles thereof afresh into his temples. Those who smote him with their hands, aimed at his cheeks or some part of his body. To see an innocent and virtuous man treated with such barbarity, one would suppose must have excited feelings of pity and sympathy in the minds of some, even of his unfeeling and hard- hearted enemies! Of this, however, if it took place, the evangelists are silent.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Mat 27:27-31. The Soldiers Mock Jesus (Mar 15:16-20*, which Mt. rearranges and slightly expands).Lk. (Luk 23:11) makes something of the kind happen at Herods house, but there is some doubt about the text.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

4. The crucifixion of Jesus 27:27-56

Matthew narrated the crucifixion of Jesus by emphasizing the Roman soldiers’ abuse of Jesus, the Jews’ mockery of Jesus, His actual death, and the events that immediately followed His death.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The soldiers’ abuse of Jesus 27:27-31 (cf. Mar 15:16-20; Joh 19:16-17 a)

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The soldiers in view were probably Pilate’s troops. The Praetorium or courtyard probably refers to the one in Herod’s palace near the Jaffa Gate or, less likely, the one in the Antonia Fortress. All the soldiers of the cohort present evidently took Jesus into the central courtyard. A cohort consisted of 600 soldiers. These soldiers would have been auxiliaries drawn from the non-Jewish population of surrounding areas since there was no Roman legion stationed in Palestine at this time. [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 1062.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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