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<a href="/context/mark/15-15.htm" title="And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas to them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.">Mark 15:15-19</a>, <a href="/context/luke/23-24.htm" title="And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.">Luke 23:24-25</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-1.htm">John 19:1</a></div><div class="verse">Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged <i>him</i>.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">Then Pilate therefore took Jesus.</span>—For the connection and the force of “therefore” comp. <a href="/context/luke/23-21.htm" title="But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.">Luke 23:21-23</a>.<p>(1) That the earlier Gospels all make the darkness last from twelve until three (the sixth hour until the ninth hour). This is apparently intended to indicate the time of the Crucifixion, and they thus agree generally with St. John’s account.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-2.htm">John 19:2</a></div><div class="verse">And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put <i>it</i> on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,</div>(2) For the crown of thorns, comp. <a href="/matthew/27-26.htm" title="Then released he Barabbas to them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.">Matthew 27:26</a>; and for the purple robe, <a href="/matthew/27-28.htm" title="And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.">Matthew 27:28</a>; <a href="/mark/15-17.htm" title="And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,">Mark 15:17</a>.<p>(2) That St. John distinguishes between the condemnation to be scourged (<a href="/john/19-1.htm" title="Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.">John 19:1</a>) and that to be crucified. In St. Matthew and St. Mark the flagellation is regarded as the preliminary and part of the punishment. If it was the third hour at which this commenced—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> if the incident of <a href="/john/19-1.htm" title="Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.">John 19:1</a> of this chapter is to be assigned to nine o’clock—then the Crucifixion itself would naturally come about twelve o’clock.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-3.htm">John 19:3</a></div><div class="verse">And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">And said, Hail, King of the Jews.</span>—The reading of the better MSS. is, <span class= "ital">and they kept coming to Him and saying</span> . . . It is a description of the mock reverence which they paid Him. They kept drawing near and bowing before Him. (Comp. <a href="/matthew/27-29.htm" title="And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on 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!">Matthew 27:29</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">They smote him with their hands.</span>—Comp. Note on <a href="/john/18-22.htm" title="And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answer you the high priest so?">John 18:22</a>.<p>(3) That St. John is not careful to give the time more than roughly “about the sixth hour.” The hours of that day may well be confused, for their sorrow would have made minutes seem as hours, and the sun, which on other days marked the hours, was on that day itself darkened. St. Matthew is equally uncertain at what exact time there was the cry with a loud voice (<a href="/matthew/27-46.htm" title="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 have you forsaken me?">Matthew 27:46</a>), and St. Luke does not give the exact time when the darkness commenced (<a href="/luke/23-44.htm" title="And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.">Luke 23:44</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-4.htm">John 19:4</a></div><div class="verse">Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Pilate therefore went forth again.</span>—He had returned to the palace, and had ordered the scourging in the courtyard (<a href="/context/mark/15-15.htm" title="And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas to them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.">Mark 15:15-16</a>). He now goes forth again with Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and hopes by the spectacle to move the sympathy of the people, and to prevent the design of the rulers.<p><span class= "bld">That ye may know that I find no fault in him.</span>—Comp. Note on <a href="/john/18-38.htm" title="Pilate said to him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, I find in him no fault at all.">John 18:38</a>. Had he found proof of a legal crime he would have ordered His execution, and not have led Him forth in this mock royal attitude to move the feelings of the people.<p>(4) That the third, sixth, and ninth hours (comp. <a href="/matthew/20-3.htm" title="And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,">Matthew 20:3</a>; <a href="/matthew/20-5.htm" title="Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.">Matthew 20:5</a>) seem to have been, in common life, rough divisions of the day, corresponding to the watches of the night. An event occurring at ten o’clock might have been spoken of roughly as about the third hour, while it might, on the other hand, be thought of as within the division called the sixth hour.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-5.htm">John 19:5</a></div><div class="verse">Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And <i>Pilate</i> saith unto them, Behold the man!</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Then came Jesus forth.</span>—The verse describes the scene as the writer remembers it. The figure of the Lord whom he had himself followed and loved, and of whom he thinks as ascended to the throne of the King of kings, led in the cruel mockery of royal garments, was one which left its mark for ever in his mind.<p><span class= "bld">Behold the man</span>!—Pilate’s “Ecce homo!” is an appeal to the multitude. That picture of suffering—is it not enough? Will none in that throng lift up a cry for mercy, and save Him from the death for which the Sanhedrin are calling?<p>(5) That St. John’s narrative is that of an eyewitness, relating what he himself saw and remembered. (Comp. <span class= "ital">Chronological Harmony of the Gospels,</span> p. 35)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-6.htm">John 19:6</a></div><div class="verse">When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify <i>him</i>, crucify <i>him</i>. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify <i>him</i>: for I find no fault in him.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him.</span>—Comp. <a href="/john/18-3.htm" title="Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, comes thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.">John 18:3</a>. The spectacle, so far from moving their pity, excites their passionate hatred, and they frustrate any other cry which may arise by that of “Crucify Him!” (Comp. <a href="/matthew/27-22.htm" title="Pilate said to them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say to him, Let him be crucified.">Matthew 27:22</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.</span>—Comp. Notes on <a href="/john/18-31.htm" title="Then said Pilate to them, Take you him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:">John 18:31</a>; <a href="/john/18-38.htm" title="Pilate said to him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, I find in him no fault at all.">John 18:38</a>. “Crucify Him,” the words mean, “if you dare to do so; there is no charge on which I can condemn Him; and I will be no party to your act.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-7.htm">John 19:7</a></div><div class="verse">The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">We have a law, and by our law he ought to die.</span>—The better reading is,. . . . <span class= "ital">and by the law He ought to die.</span> (Comp. <a href="/leviticus/24-16.htm" title="And he that blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemes the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.">Leviticus 24:16</a>.) They feel the bitter sarcasm of Pilate’s taunt, and appeal to their own law, which, in accordance with the general Roman policy, was in force in all questions which did not directly affect the Government. They change the accusation then from one of treason against Cæsar (<a href="/john/19-12.htm" title="And from thereafter Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend: whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.">John 19:12</a>), of which Pilate claimed to be judge, to one of blasphemy against God, of which they only could be judges; and assert that Jesus is by that law guilty of a capital offence, for which He ought to die. (Comp. <a href="/context/matthew/26-63.htm" title="But Jesus held his peace, And the high priest answered and said to him, I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you be the Christ, the Son of God.">Matthew 26:63-66</a>, and <a href="/luke/22-70.htm" title="Then said they all, Are you then the Son of God? And he said to them, You say that I am.">Luke 22:70</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-8.htm">John 19:8</a></div><div class="verse">When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;</div>(8) <span class= "bld">When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid.</span>—That is, as the verses which follow show, he was the more afraid because of his wonder who Jesus really was. He must have heard of some of the current impressions as to His life and words; he had himself heard Him claim a kingdom which is not of this world; his wife’s dream (<a href="/matthew/27-19.htm" title="When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, Have you nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.">Matthew 27:19</a>) had furnished an evil omen which the superstition of the most educated classes of the Roman empire would interpret as a message from the gods; and now the Jews speak of Him as one who claimed to be the Son of God. (Comp. Notes on the words of the Roman centurion in <a href="/matthew/27-54.htm" title="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.">Matthew 27:54</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-9.htm">John 19:9</a></div><div class="verse">And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus.</span>—He had brought Jesus out to the people. He now led Him back to the palace in order to inquire further of Him in private.<p><span class= "bld">Whence art thou?</span>—The question is based upon the claim to be Son of God, of which he had heard. He knew that Jesus was a Galilean before sending Him to Herod (<a href="/luke/23-6.htm" title="When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.">Luke 23:6</a>). It is not of His earthly habitation, therefore, that he inquires, but of His origin and nature. (Comp. the same word, and in the same sense, in <a href="/john/8-14.htm" title="Jesus answered and said to them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know from where I came, and where I go; but you cannot tell from where I come, and where I go.">John 8:14</a>, and <a href="/matthew/21-25.htm" title="The baptism of John, from where was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say to us, Why did you not then believe him?">Matthew 21:25</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">But Jesus gave him no answer.</span>—This silence of our Lord has seemed hard to understand, and very many and very different have been the explanations suggested. An explanation can only be suggested; it cannot be given with any degree of certainty; but that which seems most in harmony with the position is that Pilate’s question was one which to him could not be answered in reality, and therefore was not answered in appearance. The answer had, indeed, already been given (<a href="/john/18-37.htm" title="Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.">John 18:37</a>), but he had treated it with the impatience which showed he could not receive it now. Not of the truth, he could not hear the voice of the Son of God, and therefore that voice did not speak.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-10.htm">John 19:10</a></div><div class="verse">Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Speakest thou not unto me?</span>—The position of the pronoun in the original is strongly emphatic—“To <span class= "ital">me</span> dost Thou not speak?” Pilate is true to the vacillating character which now as man trembles before One who may be a Being from the other world, and now as Roman governor expects that Being to tremble before him.<p><span class= "bld">Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?</span>—The text of the better MSS. inverts the order, reading,. . . . <span class= "ital">have power to release Thee, and have power to crucify Thee.</span> This is the more natural order of thought—“Thy life is in my power; yea, and Thy death also.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-11.htm">John 19:11</a></div><div class="verse">Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power <i>at all</i> against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.</span>—Pilate had twice said, with something of the pride of his position, “I have power.” Jesus says that he had of himself neither power of life nor power of death, that he had no power against Him but that which was given to him from above. By this is meant, of course, the power which was given to him by God, and the form in which it is expressed (“from above”) has a special force in connection with the question of <a href="/john/19-8.htm" title="When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;">John 19:8</a>, “Whence comest Thou?” That power of which he boasted existed only because He against whom he boasts submitted to it of His own will. “He that cometh from above is above all” (<a href="/john/3-31.htm" title="He that comes from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth: he that comes from heaven is above all.">John 3:31</a>). But that power was given to him of God for the carrying out of the Messianic purposes which rendered the death of Jesus necessary. The position of Pilate was that of a half-conscious agent wielding this power. He indeed had sin, for he acted against his own better nature; but not the greater sin, for he did not act against the full light of truth.<p><span class= "bld">He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.</span>—This cannot mean Judas, who is nowhere mentioned in this connection, and is excluded by the words “unto thee.” Judas delivered our Lord to the Jews. It was the Sanhedrin, and especially Caiaphas, the high priest, who, professing to represent God on earth, had delivered up the Son of God, and had declared that by the law He ought to die. (Comp. <a href="/john/11-49.htm" title="And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said to them, You know nothing at all,">John 11:49</a>; <a href="/context/john/18-14.htm" title="Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.">John 18:14-28</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-12.htm">John 19:12</a></div><div class="verse">And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him.</span>—The words may be interpreted of time, as in the Authorised version, or of cause—“For this reason Pilate sought to release Him.” The latter is more probable, as the reference seems to be to the attempt which he made at once. (Comp. Note on <a href="/john/6-66.htm" title="From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.">John 6:66</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend. . . .</span>—There was another weapon left in the armoury of their devices, against which no Roman governor was proof. The jealous fear of Tiberius had made “treason” a crime, of which the accusation was practically the proof, and the proof was death. The pages of Tacitus and Suetonius abound with examples of ruin wreaked on families in the name of the “law of treason.” (Comp. Merivale: <span class= "ital">History of the Romans under the Empire,</span> vol. v., p. 143 <span class= "ital">et seq.</span>) Here was One who had claimed to be a king, and Pilate was seeking to release Him. They knew, indeed, that it was a claim to be “king” in a sense widely different from any which would have affected the empire of Cæsar; but Pilate has refused to condemn Him on the political charge without formal trial, and he has refused to accept their own condemnation of Jesus on the charge of blasphemy. He dare not refuse the force of an appeal which says that he is not Cæsar’s friend, and suggests an accusation against himself at Rome. See Note on <a href="/matthew/27-2.htm" title="And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.">Matthew 27:2</a> for the special reasons which would lead Pilate to dread such an accusation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-13.htm">John 19:13</a></div><div class="verse">When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">When Pilate therefore heard that saying.</span>—Better . . . <span class= "ital">these sayings</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the two sayings of the previous verse.<p><span class= "bld">He brought Jesus forth</span> ., .—Comp. <a href="/john/19-9.htm" title="And went again into the judgment hall, and said to Jesus, From where are you? But Jesus gave him no answer.">John 19:9</a>. He hesitates no longer about the course to be taken. His own position and life may be in danger, and he prepares, therefore, to pronounce the final sentence, which must necessarily be done from the public judgment seat outside the palace. (Comp. <a href="/matthew/27-19.htm" title="When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, Have you nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.">Matthew 27:19</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">The Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.</span>—Both these words occur here only, and are instances of the writer’s minute knowledge of the localities in Jerusalem. It may have been better to have preserved the Greek name (<span class= "ital">Lithostrōton</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> as well as that by which the place was known in the Hebrew (Syro-Chaldaic) of the time. The word literally means “stone-paved,” and was the Greek name for the tesselated “pavement” of marble and coloured stones with which from the time of Sylla the Romans delighted to adorn the Prætorium. The Chaldee word means “an elevated place,” so that the one name was given to it from its <span class= "ital">form,</span> and the other from the material of which it was made. Suetonius (<span class= "ital">Life,</span> chap. 46) tells us that Julius Cæsar carried about with him such pieces of marble and stone, but the mention of the <span class= "ital">“</span>place” bears the impression that it was a fixture in front of the Prætorium at Jerusalem, in which the Bema was placed; or it may have been a portion of the northern court of the sanctuary to which Pilate came out, if we identify the Prætorium with the tower Antonia. (Comp. Note on <a href="/matthew/27-27.htm" title="Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered to him the whole band of soldiers.">Matthew 27:27</a>.) Josephus mentions that the whole of the Temple mountain was paved with this kind of Mosaic work (<span class= "ital">Ant</span> v. 5. 2. Caspari, <span class= "ital">Chron. Geogr., Introd.,</span> Eng. Trans., p. 225).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-14.htm">John 19:14</a></div><div class="verse">And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!</div>(14) <span class= "bld">And it was the preparation of the passover.</span>—Comp. Note on <a href="/matthew/26-17.htm" title="Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, Where will you that we prepare for you to eat the passover?">Matthew 26:17</a>, and <span class= "ital">Excursus F: The Day of the Crucifixion of our Lord.</span><p><span class= "bld">And about the sixth hour.</span>—Comp. Notes on <a href="/matthew/27-45.htm" title="Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land to the ninth hour.">Matthew 27:45</a>; <a href="/mark/15-25.htm" title="And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.">Mark 15:25</a>; <a href="/luke/23-44.htm" title="And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.">Luke 23:44</a>. St. John’s statement of time (twelve o’clock) seems opposed to that of St. Mark, who states that the Crucifixion took place at “the third hour” (nine o’clock); and no solution of the discrepancy is wholly satisfactory.<p>There are, as we may have expected, some variations of MSS., and as early as the time of Eusebius we find a suggestion that “third” should be here read for “sixth.” No competent critic would, however, for a moment admit that either in the parallel in St. Mark, or in this passage, there is even a strong presumption in favour of any reading except that of the Received text.<p>The common supposition that St. John adopted the Roman division of hours, and that by “sixth hour” he meant six o’clock is equally unsatisfactory. (Comp. Notes on <a href="/john/1-39.htm" title="He said to them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelled, and stayed with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.">John 1:39</a>; <a href="/john/4-6.htm" title="Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.">John 4:6</a>; <a href="/john/4-52.htm" title="Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said to him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.">John 4:52</a>; <a href="/john/11-9.htm" title="Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world.">John 11:9</a>.) Even if it could be proved that this method was in use at the time, the fact would not help us; for if we read this text as meaning six o’clock, it is as much too early for the harmony as twelve o’clock is too late.<p>It is better, therefore, simply to admit that there is a difficulty arising from our ignorance of the exact order of events, or, it may be, of the exact words which the Evangelists wrote.<p>Candidly admitting this, and not attempting to explain it away, we may still note:—<p>(14) <span class= "bld">Behold your King</span>!—The words are spoken in bitter irony towards the Jews, as those in the following verse and those written over the cross (<a href="/john/19-19.htm" title="And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.">John 19:19</a>). (Comp. Note on <a href="/matthew/27-37.htm" title="And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.">Matthew 27:37</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-15.htm">John 19:15</a></div><div class="verse">But they cried out, Away with <i>him</i>, away with <i>him</i>, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">But they cried out . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">they cried out therefore .</span> . . They feel the sting of Pilate’s irony, therefore cry the more passionately, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.”<p><span class= "bld">Shall I crucify your King?</span>—In the order of the Greek words “your King” comes emphatically first, “Your King—shall I crucify Him?” The taunt is uttered in its bitterest form.<p><span class= "bld">We have no king but Cæsar.</span>—They are driven by Pilate’s taunt, and by their hatred of Jesus, to a denial of their own highest hopes. They who gloried in the Theocracy, and hoped for a temporal Messianic reign, which should free them from Roman bondage; they who boasted that they “were never in bondage to any man” (<a href="/john/8-33.htm" title="They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how say you, You shall be made free?">John 8:33</a>); they who were “chief priests” of the Jews, confess that Cæsar is their only king. The words were doubtless meant, as those in <a href="/john/19-12.htm" title="And from thereafter Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend: whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.">John 19:12</a>, to drive Pilate to comply with their wishes, under the dread of an accusation at Rome. They had this effect.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-16.htm">John 19:16</a></div><div class="verse">Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led <i>him</i> away.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Then delivered he him therefore unto them</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> to the chief priests. The Crucifixion was actually carried out by the Roman soldiers, acting under the direction of the chief priests,<p><span class= "bld">And led him away.</span>—These words should probably be omitted.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-17.htm">John 19:17</a></div><div class="verse">And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called <i>the place</i> of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:</div>(17) For the way of the cross, comp. <a href="/context/matthew/27-31.htm" title="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.">Matthew 27:31-34</a>; <a href="/context/mark/15-20.htm" title="And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.">Mark 15:20-23</a>; <a href="/context/luke/23-26.htm" title="And as they led him away, they laid hold on one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.">Luke 23:26-33</a>. For the present passage, comp. especially Note on the parallel words in <a href="/matthew/27-33.htm" title="And when they were come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,">Matthew 27:33</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-18.htm">John 19:18</a></div><div class="verse">Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.</div>(18) Comp. Notes on <a href="/matthew/27-38.htm" title="Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.">Matthew 27:38</a>; <a href="/mark/15-27.htm" title="And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.">Mark 15:27</a>; <a href="/context/luke/23-33.htm" title="And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.">Luke 23:33-34</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-19.htm">John 19:19</a></div><div class="verse">And Pilate wrote a title, and put <i>it</i> on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.</div>(19) Comp. Notes on <a href="/matthew/27-37.htm" title="And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.">Matthew 27:37</a>; <a href="/mark/15-26.htm" title="And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.">Mark 15:26</a>; <a href="/luke/23-38.htm" title="And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.">Luke 23:38</a>. St. John speaks of the <span class= "ital">title</span> placed over the cross. This was the common Roman name for an inscription of the kind, which was meant to give information of the crime for which the sentence of crucifixion had been given. St. Matthew calls it the “accusation;” St. Mark, “the superscription of the accusation;” St. Luke, “the superscription.” (Comp. <a href="/luke/23-38.htm" title="And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.">Luke 23:38</a>.) The inscription varies in word, though not in sense, in each of the narratives; <span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the Evangelists, in dealing with a written inscription, in which there could have been neither doubt nor difficulty, have not been careful to give us the exact words. The fact is significant, as bearing upon the literary characteristics of the Gospels, and upon the value which the writers set upon exact accuracy in unimportant details. The reason of the variations may, of course, be traced to the fact that one or more of the accounts may be a translation from the Hebrew inscription.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-20.htm">John 19:20</a></div><div class="verse">This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, <i>and</i> Greek, <i>and</i> Latin.</div>(20) This and the following verses are peculiar to St. John, and furnish another instance of his exact knowledge of what took place at Jerusalem.<p><span class= "bld">Many of the Jews.</span>—That is, of the hierarchical party, as generally in this Gospel. (Comp. Note on <a href="/john/1-19.htm" title="And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?">John 1:19</a>.) It has been sometimes understood here of the people generally, because the inscription was written in the three languages; but the last clause of the verse furnishes the reason for the action of the chief priests in the next verse. It would be better to punctuate the verses thus: “This title therefore read many of the Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. And it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Therefore said the chief priests . . .”<p><span class= "bld">Nigh to the city.</span>—Comp. Note on <a href="/matthew/27-33.htm" title="And when they were come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,">Matthew 27:33</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.</span>—“Hebrew,” <span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the current Syro-Chaldaic, was the language of the people generally. The precise form which occurs here is used in the New Testament only by St. John (<a href="/john/5-2.htm" title="Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.">John 5:2</a>; <a href="/john/19-13.htm" title="When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.">John 19:13</a>; <a href="/john/19-17.htm" title="And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:">John 19:17</a>; <a href="/john/19-20.htm" title="This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.">John 19:20</a>; <a href="/john/20-16.htm" title="Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned herself, and said to him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.">John 20:16</a>; <a href="/revelation/9-11.htm" title="And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue has his name Apollyon.">Revelation 9:11</a>; <a href="/revelation/16-16.htm" title="And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.">Revelation 16:16</a>). “Greek” was the most widely-known language of the time. “Latin” was the official language of the Roman Empire.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-21.htm">John 19:21</a></div><div class="verse">Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Therefore said</span> . . ., <span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> because the inscription could be read by all comers, and the Messianic title, “King of the Jews,” would be exposed to scorn. Yet these are the men who said, in order to accomplish the death of Jesus, “We have no king but Cæsar.”<p>The expression, “chief priests of the Jews,” occurs only here in the New Testament, perhaps in contrast to the title, “King of the Jews,” to indicate that their anxiety about the title came from them as representatives of the national honour.<p><span class= "bld">What I have written I have written.</span>—The words are a formula to signify that the thing was done and could not be undone. There are frequent instances of similar expressions in the Rabbinical writings.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-23.htm">John 19:23</a></div><div class="verse">Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also <i>his</i> coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.</div>(23) On <a href="/context/john/19-23.htm" title="Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.">John 19:23-24</a>, comp. Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/27-35.htm" title="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 on my clothing did they cast lots.">Matthew 27:35-36</a>; <a href="/luke/23-34.htm" title="Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.">Luke 23:34</a>. St. John’s account is again more full than any of the others.<p><span class= "bld">And made four parts, to every soldier a part.</span>—The soldiers there who carried the sentence into execution were one of the usual quarternions (<a href="/acts/12-4.htm" title="And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.">Acts 12:4</a>), under the command of a centurion.<p><span class= "bld">Also his coat: now the coat was without seam.</span>—More exactly, the <span class= "ital">tunic,</span> or <span class= "ital">under-garment.</span> It reached from the neck to the feet, while the outer “garment” was a square rug thrown round the body. Ordinarily the tunic consisted of two pieces connected at the shoulder by clasps; but that worn by Jesus was made in one piece. This seems to have been the rule with the priestly tunics. (Comp. the account of Aaron’s tunic in Jos. <span class= "ital">Ant. iii.</span> 7, § 4.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-24.htm">John 19:24</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">That the scripture might be fulfilled.</span>—Comp. Note on <a href="/matthew/1-22.htm" title="Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,">Matthew 1:22</a>.<p><span class= "bld">They parted my raiment among them.</span>—The quotation is from <a href="/psalms/22-18.htm" title="They part my garments among them, and cast lots on my clothing.">Psalm 22:18</a>, closely following the Greek translation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-25.htm">John 19:25</a></div><div class="verse">Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the <i>wife</i> of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.</div>-25<a href="/context/john/19-25.htm" title="Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.">John 19:25-27</a> relate an incident which is found in St. John only.<p><span class= "bld">Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Mary the </span>(<span class= "ital">wife</span>)<span class= "ital"> of Clopas,</span> as in margin. This Clopas is usually identified with Alphæus. (Comp. <a href="/matthew/10-3.htm" title="Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;">Matthew 10:3</a>; <a href="/matthew/27-56.htm" title="Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedees children.">Matthew 27:56</a>, and <span class= "ital">Introduction to the Gospel according to St. Matthew,</span> p. 41) The question arises, Are there three or four women mentioned here?—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> Is “Mary the (wife) of Clopas” sister of Mary the mother of our Lord? or does St. John mean by “His mother’s sister” an unnamed woman, who may not improbably be his own mother, Salome, whom he nowhere mentions? The question cannot be answered with certainty; but upon the whole, the balance of evidence inclines to the view that we have four persons here mentioned in two pairs: “His mother and His mother’s sister; Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” As early as the second century, the Peshito Syriac version adopted this view, and inserted “and” after the word sister. (Comp. Notes on <a href="/matthew/28-1.htm" title="In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.">Matthew 28:1</a> and <a href="/luke/24-18.htm" title="And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said to him, Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem, and have not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?">Luke 24:18</a>, and especially the <span class= "ital">Excursus</span> on <span class= "ital">The brethren of the Lord</span> in Lightfoot <span class= "ital">On Galatians,</span> pp. 247-282.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-26.htm">John 19:26</a></div><div class="verse">When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!</div>(26) <span class= "bld">The disciple standing by, whom he loved.</span>—Comp. Note on <a href="/john/13-23.htm" title="Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.">John 13:23</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Woman, behold thy son</span>!—Comp. Note on <a href="/john/2-4.htm" title="Jesus said to her, Woman, what have I to do with you? my hour is not yet come.">John 2:4</a>. There were those who were called the “brethren of the Lord” who may seem to us to have been of nearer relationship (comp. Note on <a href="/matthew/13-55.htm" title="Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brothers, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?">Matthew 13:55</a>), but He regards whosoever doeth the will of His Father which is in heaven, as “brother and sister and mother.” (Comp. Notes on <a href="/matthew/12-46.htm" title="While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood without, desiring to speak with him.">Matthew 12:46</a> <span class= "ital">et seq.</span>) He now sees standing by the cross her who. by His death will be left without son as well as without husband, for the silence of the history can only be accounted for on the supposition that Joseph was already dead; and in the tenderness of His love He commits her to the care of him whom He Himself had loved beyond others, because beyond others he could receive His love.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-27.htm">John 19:27</a></div><div class="verse">Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own <i>home</i>.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">Behold thy mother</span>!—The solemn committal is a double one. The loving heart of the disciple should find, as well as give, sympathy and support in the love of the mother. The sympathy in their common loss is to be the source of love for each other.<p><span class= "bld">And from that hour.</span>—The words do not necessarily mean, but they certainly may mean, that St. John at once took Mary away from the scene that a mother’s heart could hardly bear; but he is himself present (<a href="/john/19-35.htm" title="And he that saw it bore record, and his record is true: and he knows that he said true, that you might believe.">John 19:35</a>), and the whole account, brief as it is, is that of an eye-witness.<p><span class= "bld">Unto his own home.</span>—Comp. Note on <a href="/john/1-11.htm" title="He came to his own, and his own received him not.">John 1:11</a>, and <span class= "ital">Introduction,</span> pp. 369, 371. The word is used in <a href="/john/16-32.htm" title="Behold, the hour comes, yes, is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.">John 16:32</a> of the lodging or sojourning place of the Apostles. The meaning here is that whatever was his home became hers.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-28.htm">John 19:28</a></div><div class="verse">After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.</div>(28) Comp. accounts of the darkness and death in <a href="/context/matthew/27-45.htm" title="Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land to the ninth hour.">Matthew 27:45-50</a>; <a href="/context/mark/15-33.htm" title="And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.">Mark 15:33-39</a>; <a href="/context/luke/23-44.htm" title="And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.">Luke 23:44-46</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled.</span>—It is difficult to give the exact meaning of the words in English. In the original the words for “accomplished” and “fulfilled” are derived from the same root, and the latter word is not the ordinary formula of quotation which we have had, <span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> in <a href="/john/13-18.htm" title="I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.">John 13:18</a> (see Note there). The Vulgate has “Postea sciens Jesus quia omnia <span class= "ital">consummata</span> sunt ut <span class= "ital">consummaretur</span> Scriptural Perhaps the nearest English rendering is “that all things were now completed that the Scripture might be accomplished.” But then there arises the difficult question, Is this connected with the words which follow, or not? The margin assumes that it is, and refers to <a href="/psalms/69-21.htm" title="They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.">Psalm 69:21</a>. On the other hand (1) St. John’s custom is to quote the fulfilment of Scripture as seen in the event after its occurrence; (2) he does not here use the ordinary words which accompany such a reference; (3) the actual meaning of “knowing that all things were now accomplished” seems to exclude the idea of a further accomplishment, and to refer to the whole life which was an accomplishment of Scripture; (4) the context of words as they occur in the Psalm (<a href="/john/19-22.htm" title="Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.">John 19:22</a> <span class= "ital">et seq.</span>) cannot be understood of our Lord. There seems to be good reason, therefore, for understanding the words “that the Scripture might be completed,” of the events of the whole life, and not of the words which immediately follow.<p><span class= "bld">I thirst.</span>—He had refused the usual stupefying drink at the moment of crucifixion (comp. Notes on <a href="/matthew/27-34.htm" title="They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.">Matthew 27:34</a>; <a href="/matthew/27-48.htm" title="And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.">Matthew 27:48</a>), but now all has been accomplished, the moment of His departure is at hand, and He seeks relief from the physical agony of the thirst caused by His wounds.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-29.htm">John 19:29</a></div><div class="verse">Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put <i>it</i> upon hyssop, and put <i>it</i> to his mouth.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar.</span>—This vessel of the ordinary sour wine drunk by the Roman soldiers, was placed near in order to be given to those who were crucified. Thirst was always an accompaniment of death by crucifixion, and that the vessel of wine was prepared for this purpose is made probable by the mention of the sponge and hyssop (Comp. Note on <a href="/matthew/27-48.htm" title="And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.">Matthew 27:48</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">And put it upon hyssop.</span>—This detail is peculiar to St. John. Bochart (<span class= "ital">Hierozoicon,</span> i. 2, 50) thinks that the plant was marjoram, or some plant like it, and he is borne out by ancient tradition. The stalks, from a foot to a foot and a half high, would be sufficient to reach to the cross. The plant is named in one other passage in the New Testament (<a href="/hebrews/9-19.htm" title="For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,">Hebrews 9:19</a>), and is frequent in the Greek of the Old Testament. The Hebrew word is <span class= "ital">ēzōv,</span> and the identification must always be uncertain, because we cannot know whether the Greek translation is based upon an identification of the plant, or upon a similarity in the sound of the names.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-30.htm">John 19:30</a></div><div class="verse">When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">It is finished.</span>—That is (comp. <a href="/john/19-28.htm" title="After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst.">John 19:28</a>, and <a href="/john/17-4.htm" title="I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.">John 17:4</a>), the work which God had given Him to do. (Comp. Notes on <a href="/matthew/27-50.htm" title="Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.">Matthew 27:50</a>, and <a href="/luke/23-46.htm" title="And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.">Luke 23:46</a>.) This word is the expression by Jesus Himself of what St. John had expressed by saying, “Jesus knowing that all things were now finished, that the Scriptures should be fulfilled.”<p>The order of the seven words of the cross will be, (1) “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (<a href="/luke/23-34.htm" title="Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.">Luke 23:34</a>); (2) “Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise” (<a href="/luke/23-43.htm" title="And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, To day shall you be with me in paradise.">Luke 23:43</a>); (3) “Woman, behold thy son,” “Behold thy mother” (<a href="/context/john/19-26.htm" title="When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son!">John 19:26-27</a>); (4) “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (<a href="/matthew/27-46.htm" title="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 have you forsaken me?">Matthew 27:46</a>, <a href="/mark/15-34.htm" title="And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?">Mark 15:34</a>); (5) “I thirst” (<a href="/john/19-28.htm" title="After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst.">John 19:28</a>); (6) “It is finished” (<a href="/john/19-29.htm" title="Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth.">John 19:29</a>); (7) “Into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (<a href="/luke/23-46.htm" title="And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.">Luke 23:46</a>).<p><span class= "bld">And he bowed his head.</span>—This reminiscence of the very attitude of the last moments is peculiar to St. John.<p><span class= "bld">And gave up the ghost.</span>—Comp. <a href="/john/10-18.htm" title="No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.">John 10:18</a>, and Notes on <a href="/matthew/27-50.htm" title="Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.">Matthew 27:50</a>; <a href="/mark/15-37.htm" title="And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.">Mark 15:37</a>; and <a href="/luke/23-46.htm" title="And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.">Luke 23:46</a>. All the expressions used lay stress on the voluntary action of the death.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-31.htm">John 19:31</a></div><div class="verse">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 an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and <i>that</i> they might be taken away.</div>(31) The account of the piercing of the side (<a href="/context/john/19-31.htm" title="The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.">John 19:31-37</a>) is peculiar to St. John.<p><span class= "bld">The preparation,. . . . an high day.</span>—Comp. <span class= "ital">Excursus F: The Day of the Crucifixion of our Lord,</span> p. 559. The Roman custom was to allow the bodies to remain on the cross. To the Jews this was defilement (<a href="/context/deuteronomy/21-22.htm" title="And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and you hang him on a tree:">Deuteronomy 21:22-23</a>), against which they were the more anxious to take precaution because the approaching Sabbath was “an high day.”<p><span class= "bld">That their legs might be broken.</span>—The breaking of the legs by means of clubs was a Roman punishment, known by the name of <span class= "ital">crurifragium,</span> which sometimes accompanied crucifixion, and appears also to have been used as a separate punishment. It is not otherwise clear that its purpose was, or that its effect would be, to cause death, but this is the impression we derive from the present context (<a href="/john/19-33.htm" title="But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they broke not his legs:">John 19:33</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-32.htm">John 19:32</a></div><div class="verse">Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">Then came the soldiers,. . . .—</span>The words do not mean, as they have sometimes been understood, that other soldiers came, but refer to the quaternion before named (<a href="/john/19-23.htm" title="Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.">John 19:23</a>), who had naturally fallen back from the crosses, and are here represented as coming forward to complete their work. The mention of the “first” and the “other” suggests that they formed two pairs, and began on either side breaking the legs of the thieves crucified with Jesus.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-33.htm">John 19:33</a></div><div class="verse">But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:</div>(33) <span class= "bld">And saw that he was dead already,</span> . . . The only explanation of their not breaking the legs of Jesus seems to be that the purpose of the <span class= "ital">crurifragium</span> was to ensure death, or, in any case, prevent the possibility of escape. Crucifixion itself would not necessarily cause death for several days, nor, indeed, at all; but Jesus had by His own will committed His spirit to His Father.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-34.htm">John 19:34</a></div><div class="verse">But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.</div>(34) <span class= "bld">But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side.</span>—They had seen that He was dead, and therefore did not break the legs. To cause death was not, then, the object in piercing the side; and yet it may have seemed to make death doubly sure. The word rendered “pierced” occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, but it is certain, from <a href="/john/20-27.htm" title="Then said he to Thomas, Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.">John 20:27</a>, that the act caused a deep wound, and that the point of the lance therefore penetrated to the interior organs of the body. If the soldier stood before the cross, this wound would naturally be in the left side.<p><span class= "bld">And forthwith came there out blood and water.</span>—“Various physiological explanations have been given of this fact, such as—(1) that the lance pierced the pericardium, which contained a small quantity of watery lymph, which immediately flowed out; and also the heart, from which the blood flowed, the actual death taking place at this moment; (2) that the physical death of Christ resulted from rupture of the heart, and that the cavities of the heart and the surrounding-vessels contained a watery fluid; (3) that decomposition of the blood in the corpse had taken place, the solid matter being separated from the fluid, so that it would appear to be blood mixed with water. (Comp. Notes on <a href="/context/1_john/5-5.htm" title="Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?">1John 5:5-6</a>.)<p>Whatever solution we adopt, it is clear that death had taken place some time previously (<a href="/john/19-30.htm" title="When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.">John 19:30</a>), and that, while we cannot say which physical explanation is the true one, there is within the region of natural occurrences quite sufficient to account for the impression on the mind of St. John which he records here. We have to think of the disciple whom Jesus loved looking at the crucified and pierced body of his Lord, and remembering the picture in later years, and telling that there flowed from that pierced side both blood and water.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-35.htm">John 19:35</a></div><div class="verse">And he that saw <i>it</i> bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.</div>(35) <span class= "bld">And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true.</span>—Comp. <a href="/john/1-7.htm" title="The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.">John 1:7</a>. It may be better to render the word here, as elsewhere, by “witness,” in order that we may get the full force of its frequent recurrence. The writer speaks of himself in the third person (comp. <span class= "ital">Introduction,</span> p. 375), laying stress upon the specially important fact that it was an eye-witness—“he that saw it”—who testified to the fact, and one who therefore knew it to be true. The word rendered “true” in this clause is the emphatic word for “ideally true,” which is familiar to the readers of this Gospel. (Comp. Note on <a href="/john/1-9.htm" title="That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world.">John 1:9</a>.) It answers to the idea of what evidence should be, because it is the evidence of one who himself saw what he witnesses.<p><span class= "bld">And he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.</span>—The witness was ideally true, and therefore the things witnessed were actually true. He cannot doubt this, and he testifies it in order that others may find in these truths ground for, and the confirmation of, their faith.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-36.htm">John 19:36</a></div><div class="verse">For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.</div>(36) <span class= "bld">For these things were done </span>(better, <span class= "ital">came to pass</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> <span class= "bld">that the scripture should be fulfilled.</span>—The emphatic witness of the previous verse is not therefore to be confined to the one fact of the flowing of the blood and the water, but to the facts in which the fulfilment of Scripture was accomplished, and which establish the Messiahship of Jesus.<p><span class= "bld">He saw</span>—that which might have seemed an accidental occurrence—that they brake not the legs of Jesus; he saw—that which might have seemed a sort of instinct of the moment—that the Roman soldier pierced the side of Jesus; he saw in the water and blood which flowed from it visible proof that Jesus was the Son of man; but he saw, too, that these incidents were part of the divine destiny of the Messiah which the prophets had foretold, and that in them the Scripture was fulfilled. (Comp. Note on <a href="/john/13-18.htm" title="I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.">John 13:18</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">A bone of him shall not be broken.</span>—The reference is, as the margin gives it, to the Paschal Lamb, in which the Baptist had already seen a type of Christ (comp. Note on <a href="/john/1-29.htm" title="The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.">John 1:29</a>), and which St. Paul afterwards more definitely identifies with Him (<a href="/1_corinthians/5-7.htm" title="Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:">1Corinthians 5:7</a>). It is not equally apposite to refer to <a href="/psalms/34-20.htm" title="He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken.">Psalm 34:20</a>, as the thought there is of preservation in life, but the words of the Psalm are doubtless themselves a poetic adaptation of the words of Exodus.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-37.htm">John 19:37</a></div><div class="verse">And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.</div>(37) <span class= "bld">They shall look on him whom they pierced.</span>—The words, as they occur in the Authorised version, of the prophecy are, “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced,” but the reading which St. John has followed is that of many MSS., and is adopted by many Rabbinic (as Rashi and Kimchi) and many modern authorities (as Ewald and Geiger). The Greek translation (LXX.) of the prophet avoided the strong word “pierced,” as applied to Jehovah, and substituted for it “insulted.” St. John translates the original Hebrew freely for himself (comp. <a href="/revelation/1-7.htm" title="Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.">Revelation 1:7</a>), and gives the undoubted meaning of the Hebrew word, translating it by the same Greek word which is used by Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus. He thinks of the prophecy which spoke of Jehovah as pierced by His people, and sees it fulfilled in the Messiah pierced on the cross.<p>For the fulfilment of the prophecy, comp. Notes on <a href="/john/8-28.htm" title="Then said Jesus to them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things.">John 8:28</a>; <a href="/john/12-32.htm" title="And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me.">John 12:32</a>. Jewish Rabbis, and Greek proselytes, and Roman soldiers alike looked, as they stood before the cross, on Him whom they pierced. That scene is typical. He shall draw all men unto Him, and the moral power over the heart of humanity will be the heart of love, which loves and therefore saves him that has pierced it through and through. “God commendeth His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-38.htm">John 19:38</a></div><div class="verse">And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave <i>him</i> leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.</div>(38) For the burial (<a href="/context/john/19-38.htm" title="And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, sought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.">John 19:38-42</a>), comp. generally Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/27-57.htm" title="When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:">Matthew 27:57-61</a><span class= "ital">;</span> <a href="/context/mark/15-42.htm" title="And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,">Mark 15:42-47</a>; <a href="/context/luke/23-50.htm" title="And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counselor; and he was a good man, and a just:">Luke 23:50-56</a>.<p><span class= "bld">But secretly for fear of the Jews.</span>—This is the only additional fact which St. John supplies with regard to Joseph. He places him in these verses side by side with Nicodemus, and ascribes the same trait of character to both.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-39.htm">John 19:39</a></div><div class="verse">And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound <i>weight</i>.</div>(39) <span class= "bld">Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night.</span>—He is mentioned only by St. John. (Comp. Notes on <a href="/context/john/3-1.htm" title="There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:">John 3:1-2</a>; <a href="/john/7-50.htm" title="Nicodemus said to them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)">John 7:50</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">A mixture of myrrh and aloes.</span>—For “myrrh,” comp. Note on <a href="/matthew/2-11.htm" title="And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented to him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.">Matthew 2:11</a>. “Aloes” are not elsewhere mentioned in the New Testament, but they are joined with myrrh in the Messianic <a href="/psalms/45-8.htm" title="All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made you glad.">Psalm 45:8</a>. The aloe is an Eastern odoriferous wood—to be distinguished from the aloes of commerce—and chips of the better kinds are now said to be worth their weight in gold. The myrrh and aloes were probably pulverised and mixed together, and then placed in the linen in which the body was wrapped.<p><span class= "bld">About an hundred pound weight.</span>—Comp. Notes on <a href="/john/12-3.htm" title="Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.">John 12:3</a> <span class= "ital">et seq.</span> The quantity is clearly much more than could have been placed in the linen which surrounded the body; but the offering was one of love, and part of it may have been placed in the sepulchre. We read of the burial of Asa, that they “laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art” (<a href="/2_chronicles/16-14.htm" title="And they buried him in his own sepulchers, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' are: and they made a very great burning for him.">2Chronicles 16:14</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-40.htm">John 19:40</a></div><div class="verse">Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.</div>(40) <span class= "bld">And wound it in linen clothes with the spices.</span>—Comp. Notes on <a href="/luke/24-12.htm" title="Then arose Peter, and ran to the sepulcher; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.">Luke 24:12</a>. The same word does not occur, but the manner of the Jews to bury has been also illustrated in the Note on <a href="/john/11-44.htm" title="And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them, Loose him, and let him go.">John 11:44</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-41.htm">John 19:41</a></div><div class="verse">Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.</div>(41) <span class= "bld">Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden.</span>—Comp. <a href="/john/18-1.htm" title="When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.">John 18:1</a>. St. John’s account makes the choice of the sepulchre depend on its nearness to the place of crucifixion; the account in the earlier Gospels makes it depend on the fact that the sepulchre belonged to Joseph. The one account implies the other; and the burial, under the circumstances, required both that the sepulchre should be at hand, and that its owner should be willing that the body should be placed in it.<p><span class= "bld">A new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.</span>—An emphatic combination of the two statements made in <a href="/matthew/27-60.htm" title="And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed.">Matthew 27:60</a> and <a href="/luke/23-53.htm" title="And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.">Luke 23:53</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/john/19-42.htm">John 19:42</a></div><div class="verse">There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation <i>day</i>; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.</div>(42) <span class= "bld">The Jews’ preparation day.</span>—Comp. <a href="/john/19-14.htm" title="And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he said to the Jews, Behold your King!">John 19:14</a>; <a href="/john/19-31.htm" title="The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.">John 19:31</a>, and <span class= "ital">Excursus F: The Day of the Crucifixion of our Lord,</span> p. 559.<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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