1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him.
2 And the soldiers platted a crown out of thorns (the sign of earths curse [Gen. 3:18]), and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe,
3 And said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" (see Matt. 27:29) and they smote Him with their hands. (see 18:22)
4 Pilate went outside again, and said to them, "Behold, I bring Him outside to you, in order that you may know that I find no fault in Him." (And yet he had scourged Him, illegally, hoping thereby to satiate the blood-thirst of the Jews [Kenites])
5 Therefore came Jesus outside, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe (to the horrible torture of the flagellum had been added the insults and cruelties of the soldiers). And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!" (Pilate hoped the pitiable spectacle would melt their hearts. It only whetted their appetite.)
6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify, crucify." Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves, and crucify Him: for I find no fault in Him."
7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to the law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God." (This was the charge on which the Sanhedrin condemned Him.)
8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; (A dreadful presentiment was growing in Pilot's mind, due to what he may have heard of the Lord's miracles, to His bearing throughout the trial, and to his wife's message.)
9 And went again into the judgment hall, and said to Jesus, "From where are You?" But Jesus gave him no answer. (This was Pilate's 5th question of the Lord. It expressed the fear that was growing within him. Pilot may have been a free-thinker, but like free-thinkers of all ages, he was not free from superstition. Was this Man, so different from all others he had ever seen, really a supernatural Being?)
10 Then said Pilate to Him, "Do You not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to crucify You, and have authority to release You?"
11 Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me, except it were given to you from above: on account of he that delivered Me to you has greater sin. (i.e. Caiaphas. Judas had delivered Him to the Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin to Pilate)
12 And on this Pilate was seeking to release Him: but the Jews (Kenites) cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you art not Caesar's friend: whosoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. (Gr. Kaisar. This title was adapted by the Roman emperors after Julius Caesar)
13 Pilate having heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down upon the judgment seat (a stone platform with a seat in the open court in front of the Praetorium) in a place that is strewn with stone (i.r. of mosaic or tessellated work), but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
14 And it was the preparation of the passover (i.e. the day before the Passover was eaten "at evening" on the 14th of Nisan), and about the sixth hour (i.e. midnight. The hours in all the Gospels are according to Hebrew reckoning: i.e. from sunset to sunset. Some have thought that the events of 13:1 could not be crowed into so brief a space, but the Jews [Kenites] were in deadly earnest to get all finished before the Passover, and in such a case events move quickly): and he said to the Jews (Kenites), "Behold your King!" (In irony here, as in pity [v.5].)
The Diagram below shows the 24 hours of the "Preparation Day", i.e. the day before the Passover (John 19:14, &c.). The Four Gospels agree in stating that the Lord was laid in the Sepulcher on the Preparation Day, which was Nisan 14th, immediately before "the High Sabbath", Nisan 15th (Matt. 27:62. Mark 15:42. Luke 23:54. John 19:31, 42). Therefore He must have been crucified on Wednesday, 14th of Nisan.
As shown above, the 14th of Nisan, which was the "Preparation Day", began at sunset on our Tuesday (Gentile reckoning). "The sixth hour" of John 19:14 is the sixth hour of the night, and therefore corresponds to midnight, at which, according to Gentile reckoning, Wednesday began.
The Roman numerals on the dial plate show the 24 hours of the complete Gentile day. And on either side of the dial are shown the Hebrew "hours" corresponding to the Gentile hours a.m. and p.m.
The twenty-four hours were divided into the twelve hours of the night (reckoned from sunset), and "twelve hours in the day" (reckoned from sunrise. See John 11:9). Hence "the sixth hour" of John 19:14 was our midnight; "the third hour" of Mark 15:25 was our 9 a.m.; "the sixth hour" of Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44; was our noon and the "ninth hour" of Matt. 27:45,46; Mark 15:33.34; Luke 23:44; was our 3 p.m.
15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him." Pilate said to them, "Is it your King that I am to crucify?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." (This was their final and deliberate rejection of their King, and the practical surrender of all their Messianic hopes. Cp. 1 Sam. 8:7.)
16 Then delivered he Him therefore to them (i.e. to their will) in order that He might be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led Him away. (Thus the Lord's execution was in Jewish hands [Acts 2:23]. The centurion and his quaternion of the soldiers merely carried out the decision of the chief priests. Pilate having pronounced no sentence, but washed his hands, literally as well as metaphorically, of the matter.)
B K 17. Delivered to death.
L b 18. Fellow-sufferers.
c 19-22. Discussion. Pilate and the Jews.
c 23,24. Discussion. The soldiers.
b 25-27. Fellow-sufferers.
L d 28. Saying. "I thirst."
e 29. Vinegar. Given.
e 30-. Vinegar. Received.
d -30-. Saying. "It is finished."
K -30. Death.17 And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
18 Where they crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle.
19 Moreover Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And it was written JESUS THE NAZARENE THE KING OF THE JEWS.
20 This title then read many of the Jews: because the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city (probably just outside the north wall, between the Damascus gate and Herod's gate, and near the so-called grotto of Jeremiah, about a half mile from the Praetorium.): and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews (Kenites, they were not God's priests) to Pilate, "Write not, 'The King of the Jews;' because that fellow said (spoken with contempt), I am King of the Jews."
22 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." (It therefore stands written forever. Caiaphas as representative of the Jews proclaimed the Lord and Savior for the world, Pilate fastens upon the Jews the hated name of Nazarene as their King.)
23 Then the soldiers (these were probably slaves attached to the legion who were employed as executioners), when they had crucified Jesus, received His garments (the garments were their perquisite), and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also His coat: now the coat was without seam (a tunic worn next to the body, and reaching to the knees), woven from the parts above through the whole.
24 They said therefore to one another, "Let us not tare it, but cast lots concerning it, whose it shall be:" that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, "They parted my raiment among them, and upon My vesture they did cast lots." (quoted from Ps. 22:18) The soldiers therefore did these things.
25 But there were standing beside the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. (John omits the name of his own mother Salome, who was there also [Matt. 27:56])
26 Jesus therefore seeing His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" (Joseph being evidently dead, and her firstborn son dying, there would be no support for Mary. In view of 7:3-5, it was a befitting arrangement [next verse].)
27 Then said He to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things have already been finished (there is a deep significance here. He saw the casting of the lots, and knew that all that the Scripture had foretold of others was finished. There yet remained a prediction for Him to realize, that of Ps. 69:21.), that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
29 There was set a vessel full of vinegar (see Matt. 27:34): and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth.
30 When Jesus therefore received the vinegar,
He said, "It is finished:" (Ps. 22 ends with the word "done". It is clear from Luke 23:44 that the promise to the malefactor was before the darkness. The words of Psalm 22: were uttered at the begging or during the course of the 3 hours' darkness. Probably the Lord repeated the whole of Ps. 22, which not only sets Him forth as the Sufferer, but also foretells the glory that is to follow. Perhaps other Scriptures also, as a terrible witness against the chief priests, who were present [Mark 15:31 and Luke 23:35], and must have heard)
and He bowed His head (this suggests that till then He had kept His head erect. He now lays down His life, as He had said), and gave up the spirit. (Matthew says, sent forth His Spirit)
A2 M 31. Removal of bodies proposed.
N 32-37. Bodies dishonored.
M 38,39. Removal of the Body effected.
N 40-42. The Body honored.
Wednesday sunset
31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was a high day (it was the 1st day of the Feast, our Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset),) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken (from the hip downward, broken to pieces, shattered), and that they might be taken away.
32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him.
33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs:
34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and immediately came there out blood and water. (The question of the physical cause of the Lord's death has been much discussed; but we need not seek a natural explanation of what John records as a miraculous sign. The blood and water may have been symbolical of the sprinkling with blood and cleansing with water of the Old Covenant.See Heb. 9:12-14, 19-22. 1 John 5:6,8.)
35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true (reliable, genuine): and he knows that what he says true to fact, that you might believe.
36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, "A bone of Him shall not be broken." (This has reference to Ex. 12:46. Num. 9:12. Thus in all things He was the anti-type of the Passover lamb.)
37 And again another scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced through." (Includes therefore the piercing of the hands and feet. Cp. Ps. 22:16. This is not fulfilled, but in order to its fulfillment was necessary that He should be pierced. See Zech. 12:10. It was fulfilled in the case of those who looked upon Him, but waits for its complete fulfillment when the spirit of grace and supplication is poured out on repentant Israel)
38 And after these things Joseph of Arimathaea (Probably Ramah, where Samuel was born. 1 Sam. 1:1,19), being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly (Matthew calls him "a rich man" [27:57]; Marh, "an honorable counselor" [15:43]; Luke, "a good man and just" [23:50]) because of fear of the Jews (Kenites), besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
39 And there came Nicodemus also, which at the first came to Jesus by night (now he comes openly as did Joseph), bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. (about 120 oz. )
40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices (the rolls used for swathing the bodies of the rich [Isa. 53:9]), as the manner of the Jews is to entomb.
41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb, in which was never yet any one laid.
42 There laid they Jesus therefore on account of of the Jews' preparation day; for the tomb was nigh at hand.