They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it.
Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take. It was the third hour, and they crucified him. The superscription of his accusation was written over him, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left. The Scripture was fulfilled, which says, “He was counted with transgressors.”
Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 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?”
Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit. The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv24, 33, 34 Christ hangeth naked upon the cross, and as the…
Christ hangeth naked upon the cross, and as the most wickedest caitiff that ever was, most vilely reproved: that we being clothed with his righteousness, and blessed with his curses, and sanctified by his only oblation, may be taken up into heaven.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv23, 25, 26, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled…
23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.
Ver. 23. Wine mingled with myrrh] This was not the same potion with that in Mar 15:36; Mat 27:48, but another.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v38 The prodigies happening upon the death of our Saviour,…
The prodigies happening upon the death of our Saviour, and the passages happening between the time of his expiration and his burial, are more largely reported by the other evangelists than by Mark; we have put them all together, and considered the passages relating to them, in our notes on Mat 27:51-54.
See Poole on "Mat 27:51", and following verses to Mat 27:54.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v38 Three circumstances are here observable; 1. A stupendous prodigy…
Three circumstances are here observable; 1. A stupendous prodigy happening upon the death of our Saviour, The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom: The veil was a hanging which parted the most holy place from the holy sanctuary. By the rending of which, God testified that he was now about to forsake his temple; that the ceremonial law, was now abolished by the death of Christ, and that by the blood of Jesus we have access unto God, and may enter into the holy of holies. See the note on Mat 27:51.
Observe, 2. What influence the manner and circumstances of our Saviour’s death had upon the mind of the centurion, and the soldiers with him; they cry, Verily this was the Son of God.
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Where observe, That the heathen soldiers were sooner convinced of the divinity of our Saviour than the unbelieving Jewish doctors. Obstinacy and unbelief filled their minds with an invincible prejudice against Christ, so that neither the miracles wrought by him in his life, or at his death, could convince them that Christ’s friends were witnesses of his death; they are the women that followed him, and ministered unto him; not one of his dear disciples came near him, except John, who stood by the virgin Mary.
O! what a shame was this, for the apostles to be absent from a spectacle upon which the salvation of the world did depend!
And what an honour was this to the female sex in general, and to these holy-women in particular, that they had the courage to follow Christ to his cross, when all his disciples forsook him and fled! God can make timorous and fearful women bold and courageous confessors of his truth, and fortify them against the fears of suffering, contrary to the natural timorousness of their temper; these women wait upon Christ’s cross when his apostles fly, and durst not come nigh it.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v33 Here we have an account of Christ's dying, how…
Here we have an account of Christ's dying, how his enemies abused him, and God honoured him at his death.
I. There was a thick darkness over the whole land (some think over the whole earth), for three hours, from noon till three of the clock. Now the scripture was fulfilled (Amo 8:9), I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day; and Jer 15:9, Her sun is gone down while it is yet day. The Jews have often demanded of Christ a sign from heaven; and now they had one, but such a one as signified the blinding of their eyes. It was a sign of the darkness that was come, and coming, upon the Jewish church and nation. They were doing their utmost to extinguish the Sun of righteousness, which was now setting, and the rising again of which they would never own; and what then might be expected among them but a worse than Egyptian darkness? This intimated to them, that the things which belonged to their peace, were now hid from their eyes, and that the day of the Lord was at hand, which should be to them a day of darkness and gloominess, Joe 2:1, Joe 2:2. It was the power of darkness that they were now under, the works of darkness that they were now doing; and such as this should their doom justly be, who loved darkness rather than light.
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II. Toward the close of this darkness, our Lord Jesus, in the agony of his soul, cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mar 15:34. The darkness signified the present cloud which the human soul of Christ was under, when he was making it an offering for sin. Mr. Fox, in his Acts and Monuments (vol. 3, p. 160), tells of one Dr. Hunter, a martyr in queen Mary's time, who, being fastened to the stake, to be burnt, put up this short prayer, Son of God, shine upon me; and immediately the sun in the firmament shone out of the dark cloud, so full in his face, that he was forced to look another way, which was very comfortable to him. But our Lord Jesus, on the contrary, was denied the light of the sun, when he was in his sufferings, to signifying the withdrawing of the light of God's countenance. And this he complained of more than any thing; he did not complain of his disciples' forsaking him, but of his Father's, 1. Because this wounded his spirit; and that is a thing hard to bear (Pro 18:14); brought the waters into his soul, Psa 69:1-3. 2. Because in this especially he was made sin for us; our iniquities had deserved indignation and wrath upon the soul (Rom 2:8), and therefore, Christ, being made a sacrifice, underwent as much of it as he was capable of; and it could not but bear hard indeed upon him who had lain in the bosom of the Father from eternity, and was always his light. These symptoms of divine wrath, which Christ was under in his sufferings, were like that fire from heaven which had been sent sometimes, in extraordinary cases, to consume the sacrifices (as Lev 9:24; Ch2 7:1; Kg1 18:38); and it was always a token of God's acceptance. The fire that should have fallen upon the sinner, if God had not been pacified, fell upon the sacrifice, as a token that he was so; therefore it now fell upon Christ, and extorted him from this loud and bitter cry. When Paul was to be offered as a sacrifice for the service of saints, he could joy and rejoice (Phi 2:17); but it is another thing to be offered as a sacrifice for the sin of sinners. Now, at the sixth hour, and so to the ninth, the sun was darkened by an extraordinary eclipse; and if it be true, as some astronomers compute, that in the evening of this day on which Christ died there was an eclipse of the moon, that was natural and expected, in which seven digits of the moon were darkened, and it continued from five o'clock till seven, it is remarkable, and yet further significant of the darkness of the time that then was. When the sun shall be darkened, the moon also shall not give her light.
III. Christ's prayer was bantered by them that stood by (Mar 15:35, Mar 15:36); because he cried, Eli, Eli, or (as Mark has it, according to the Syriac dialect) Eloi, Eloi, they said, He calls for Elias, though they knew very well what he said, and what it signified, My God, My God. Thus did they represent him as praying to saints, either because he had abandoned God, or God had abandoned him; and hereby they would make him more and more odious to the people. One of them filled a sponge with vinegar, and reached it up to him upon a reed; "Let him cool his mouth with that, it is a drink good enough for him," Mar 15:36. This was intended for a further affront and abuse to him; and whoever it was that checked him who did it, did but add to the reproach; "Let him alone; he has called for Elias: let us see whether Elias will come take him down; and if not, we may conclude that he also hath abandoned him."
IV. Christ did again cry with a loud voice, and so gave up the ghost, Mar 15:37. He was now commending his soul into his Father's hand; and though God is not moved with any bodily exercise, yet this loud voice signified the great strength and ardency of affection wherewith he did it; to teach us, in every thing wherein we have to do with God, to put forth our utmost vigour, and to perform all the duties of religion, particularly that of self-resignation, with our whole heart and whole soul; and then, though speech fails, that we cannot cry with a loud voice, as Christ did, yet if God be the strength of the heart, that will not fail. Christ was really and truly dead, for he gave up the ghost; his human soul departed to the world of spirits, and left his body a breathless clod of clay.
V. Just at that instant that Christ died upon mount Calvary, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, Mar 15:38. This bespoke a great deal, 1. Of the terror of the unbelieving Jews; for it was a presage of the utter destruction of their church and nation, which followed not long after; it was like the cutting asunder of the staff of beauty (for this veil was exceedingly splendid and glorious, Exo 26:31), and that was done at the same time when they gave for his price thirty pieces of silver (Zac 11:10, Zac 11:12), to break the covenant which he had made with that people. Now it was time to cry, Ichabod, The glory is departed from Israel. Some think that the story which Josephus relates, of the temple door opening of its own accord, with that voice, Let us depart hence, some years before the destruction of Jerusalem, is the same with this; but that is not probable: however, this had the same signification, according to that (Hos 5:14), I will tear, and go away. 2. It bespeaks a great deal of comfort to all believing Christians, for it signifies the consecrating and laying open to us of a new and living way into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
VI. The centurion who commanded the detachment which had the oversight of the execution was convinced, and confessed that this Jesus was the Son of God, Mar 15:39. One thing that satisfied him, was, that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost: that one who was ready to give up the ghost, should be able to cry out so, was very surprising. Of all the sad spectacles of this kind he never observed the like; and that one who had strength to cry so loud, should yet immediately give up the ghost, this also made him wonder; and he said, to the honour of Christ, and the shame of those that abused him, Truly this man was the Son of God. But what reason had he to say so? I answer, 1. He had reason to say that he suffered unjustly, and had a great deal of wrong done him. Note, He suffered for saying that he was the Son of God; and it was true, he did say so, so that if he suffered unjustly, as it was plain by all the circumstances of his suffering that he did, then what he said was true, and he was indeed the Son of God. 2. He had reason to say that he was a favourite of heaven, and one for whom the almighty power was particularly engaged, seeing how Heaven did him honour at his death, and frowned upon his persecutors. "Surely," thinks he, "this must be some divine person, highly beloved of God." This he expresses by such words as denote his eternal generation as God, and his special designation to the office of Mediator, though he meant not so. Our Lord Jesus, even in the depth of his sufferings and humiliation, was the Son of God, and was declared to be so with power.
VII. There were some of his friends, the good women especially, that attended him (Mar 15:40, Mar 15:41); There were women looking on afar off: the men durst not be seen at all, the mob was so very outrageous; Currenti cede furori - Give way to the raging torrent, they thought, was good counsel now. The women durst not come near, but stood at a distance, overwhelmed with grief. Some of these women are here named. Mary Magdalene was one; she had been his patient, and owed all her comfort to his power and goodness, which rescued her out of the possession of seven devils, in gratitude for which she thought she could never do enough for him. Mary also was there, the mother of James the little, Jacobus parvus, so the word is; probably, he was so called because he was, like Zaccheus, little of stature. This Mary was the wife of Cleophas or Alpheus, sister to the virgin Mary. These women had followed Christ from Galilee, though they were not required to attend the feast, as the males were; but it is probably that they came, in expectation that his temporal kingdom would now shortly be set up, and big with hopes of preferment for themselves, and their relations under him. It is plain that the mother of Zebedee's children was so (Mat 20:21); and now to see him upon a cross, whom they thought to have seen upon a throne, could not but be a great disappointment to them. Note, Those that follow Christ, in expectation of great things in this world by him, and by the profession of his religion, may probably live to see themselves sadly disappointed.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv23–38 And it was the third hour, and they crucified…
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. The time of the daily sacrifice of the morning, at which the priests ought to have been; and the time when the sanhedrim usually began to sit (x); for
"the grand sanhedrim sat from the daily sacrifice of the morning, to the daily sacrifice of the evening:''
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but this being an extraordinary case, and they in a hurry to put Jesus to death, had been sitting up all night; and early in the morning had procured the sentence of death on him, which they were going to execute by the time they used to sit: this was about nine o'clock in the morning, and takes in the time between that and twelve at noon. The Ethiopic version reads, "and it was the sixth hour", to make it agree with Joh 19:14; and for the reconciling of these two places; see Gill on Joh 19:14.
(x) Maimon. Hilch. Sanhedrin, c. 3, sect. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv24, 28, 29, 33, 34, 37 St. Mark seems to intimate, that they first nailed…
St. Mark seems to intimate, that they first nailed him to the cross, then parted his garments, and afterward reared up the cross.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv25, 27, 28, 32, 34, 37 Verse 25. The third hour] It has been before…
Verse 25. The third hour] It has been before observed, that the Jews divided their night into four watches, of three hours each. They also divided the day into four general parts. The first began at sunrise. The second three hours after. The third at mid-day. The fourth three hours after, and continued till sunset. Christ having been nailed to the cross a little after mid-day, Joh 19:14-16; Joh 19:17, and having expired about three o'clock, Mr 15:33, the whole business of the crucifixion was finished within the space of this third division of the day, which Mark calls here the third hour. Commentators and critics have found it very difficult to reconcile this third hour of Mark, with the sixth hour of John, Joh 19:14. It is supposed that the true reading, in Joh 19:14, should be τριτη, the third, instead of εκτη the sixth; a mistake which might have readily taken place in ancient times, when the character γ gamma, which was put for τριτη, three, might have been mistaken for Ϛ episema, or sigma tau, which signifies six. And τριτη, the third, instead of εκτη, the sixth, is the reading of some very eminent MSS. in the place in question, Joh 19:14. See Bengel, Newcome, Macknight, Lightfoot, Rosenmuller, &c., on this perplexing point.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v33 Mar 15:33-38. When the sixth hour was come —…
Mar 15:33-38. When the sixth hour was come — For an explanation of this paragraph, see notes on Mat 27:45-53. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? — In these words, Jesus claims God as his God; and yet laments his Father’s withdrawing the tokens of his love, while he bare our sins.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv23, 25, 26, 28 Wine mingled ... - Matthew says “vinegar.” It was…
Wine mingled ... - Matthew says “vinegar.” It was probably “wine soured,” so that it might be called either. This was the common drink of the Roman soldiers.
Myrrh - See the notes at Mat 27:34.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv23, 25, 26, 28, 32 St. Matthew says mixed with gall; for gall is…
St. Matthew says mixed with gall; for gall is here used for bitterness, and wine that has myrrh in it is a very strong bitter; although, perhaps, both gall and myrrh might have been ingredients to increase the bitterness. (St. Augustine) --- Or, in the confusion that was occasioned, some might have offered him one thing, some another; one person giving vinegar and gall, another wine mixed with myrrh. (Theophylactus) --- Wine mingled with myrrh may perhaps be used for vinegar. (St. Jerome) --- This was given to criminals, to lessen their torments. Our Lord was pleased to taste the bitterness, but he would not permit the relief which the admittance of the same into his stomach might have afforded. Thus so were the scriptures fulfilled: they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalm lxviii.) (Ven. Bede)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 23. they gave him] More literally, they offered Him.
23. they gave him] More literally, they offered Him.
wine mingled with myrrh] It was a merciful custom of the Jews to give those condemned to crucifixion, with a view to producing stupefaction, a strong aromatic wine. Lightfoot tells us (Hor. Heb. ii. 366) it was the special task of wealthy ladies at Jerusalem to provide this potion. The custom was founded on Rabbinic gloss on Pro_31:6, “Give strong drink to him that is perishing, and wine to those whose soul is in bitterness.”
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but he received it not] The two malefactors, who were led forth with Him, probably partook of it, but He would take nothing to cloud His faculties.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34 (23) Wine mingled with myrrh.—Note this description as in…
(23) Wine mingled with myrrh.—Note this description as in part explaining St. Matthew’s “wine mingled with gall.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh: but…
And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. There were two occasions on which drink was offered to our Lord during the agonies of his crucifixion. The first occasion is that mentioned by St. Matthew, (Mat_27:34) when they offered him wine mingled with gall. This was a kind of stupefying liquor, a strong narcotic, made of the sour wine of the country, mingled with bitter herbs, and mercifully administered to dull the sense of pain. This was offered before the actual crucifixion took place. It is to this first occasion that St. Mark here refers. The words in the original are (kai edidoun autw esmurnismenon onion), "they were giving, they offered him." But he received it not. He would not seek alleviation of the agonies of the crucifixion by any drugged potion which might render him insensible. He would bear the full burden consciously. The second occasion on which drink was offered to him was after he had been some hours on his cross, and when the end was drawing near; and it was then given in answer to his exclamation, "I thirst." This drink does not appear to have been mingled with any stupefying drug; and we do not read that he refused it. St. Mark does not record this second occasion.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38 But He received it not.
Mar_15:24
But He received it not.
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Wine mingled with myrrh.
The stupefying potion
Solomons words in Pro_31:6-7, were taken by the Jews to apply to such as were condemned to death, and it was usual for the most illustrious and honourable women of Jerusalem to attend criminals to their execution, and to give them to drink, before they were put to death, wine and myrrh, with gall, which was regarded as numbing the nerves, and superinducing sleep. The Talmud says that they were wont to put a grain of incense in the draught, as that deadened the sense of pain. It says further, The women of highest rank in Jerusalem, out of free impulse, and at their own cost, gave the condemned man this draught. But if it should so happen that the noble ladies failed to do so, then the cost of providing this drink fell on the community, and was paid for out of the public fund. This was sometimes the case among the heathen. We are told that at the annual feast of Chronos, when a man was put to death to expiate the sins of the people, he was first made drunk with wine, and then executed whilst in a state of intoxication. Among the ancients, myrrh was regarded as having great effect as a pain killer, and, indeed, it will be found to be one of the principal ingredients in modern compounds, sold for the purpose of deadening the nerves to suffering. Accordingly, the pious women who followed Jesus were only acting according to immemorial custom, when they followed Him weeping, bearing the cup of wine, mingled with myrrh and gall, and offered it to Him before He was stretched on the cross, and His hands and feet nailed to the wood. He, however, turned away His head. He would not drink of the offered cup; not because He disapproved of the piety and pity of the women who offered it, but because He would not seem in any way to evade the sufferings He had come to endure. (S. Baring Gould, M. A.)
Christ refusing any alleviation of His suffering
I. The source of the moral majesty of the Son of Man. That was Christs power, the yielding to the loving will of Heaven, even though it led Him into darkness so deep and vice so unutterable, that His fainting humanity sank beneath the awful burden of the spirits agony; not choosing suffering in order that He might grandly bear it, but, because it came from Heaven, refusing to accept any deliverance from man.
II. What was the meaning of the consummation of Christs sufferings? That man might be reconciled to God, and two things were requisite.
1. Man must learn the majesty of Gods law.
2. He must be drawn by love to the Divine One. Both these receive glorious illustrations from these words.
III. The clearness of Christs vision of death. He resolved to die with His mental vision clear and calm.
IV. The duty of Christs disciples. Not to seek suffering, but when it comes in the path of duty to meet it calmly, resolutely, and fearlessly.
V. The power of Christs claims on all men. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
Christ refusing the stupefying draught
The intention of the soldiers was humane. Crucifixion was so lingering and painful that it was customary thus to deaden the consciousness of the criminal.
I. What was the Saviours condition at that moment? Intense anguish of soul combined with physical suffering. Christs nature was peculiarly sensitive. The sorrow at Gethsemane had already weakened Him. Now His sorrow had reached its height.
II. Why did He refuse the proffered relief? Not to awaken mens admiration. Not to awaken mens sympathy.
1. Because His sufferings were by Divine appointment; not simply accidental. He would not escape the full force of the penalty which He had undertaken to endure.
2. Because He was unwilling to die without a full consciousness of the conquest which He was achieving over sin and death.
III. What enabled Him to dispense with this stupefying draught? It was the direct result of His self-surrender to the Father. He who gives up will, purpose, life, into the hands of God, may expect that God will be all in all to him.
IV. What lesson does His refusal teach us?
1. His true nobility.
2. Our own duty under trial. The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? It is our privilege to accept the Saviours love. He suffered, died, arose, ascended to Heaven, and pleads now for us. (Seeds and Saplings.)
Mar_15:24
They parted His garments.
The soldiers
The soldiers who crucified our Lord were not Jews, but Romans; they had not, therefore, the same grounds of opposition to Him which the Jews had: they had not the same expectations of the Messiah, nor the same prejudices as to the perpetuity of the Mosaic ritual; and yet they participated largely in the great crime of His crucifixion. All classes were, in an extraordinary manner, brought in contact with the Redeemer during His last sufferings, that all might have an opportunity of displaying the state of their minds towards Him, of showing how they were affected towards the Saviour of men. It is remarkable what a share all ranks had in His death,-priests, rulers, the common people, kings, governors, soldiers; the rich and the poor, the high and the low, the religious and the profligate, the learned and the rude; from the representative of Caesar on the Roman tribunal, to the wretched malefactor on the cross; from the sanctimonious Pharisee, with his phylacteries and his prayers, to the profane and profligate wretch who lived without a thought of God; from the learned Rabbi, with his books and his speculations, to the illiterate peasant who knew not the use of letters; from the king, with his insignia of royalty, down to the poor drudge who scarcely dared to call himself a man; from the high priest, with his sacerdotal vestments and functions, down to the Gentile soldier,-all were brought near Him during His last sufferings; all had a voice or a hand in them; and all showed that their hearts were not with Him. We have now brought before us the actual perpetrators of the murder of Jesus Christ. Indeed, we have here a striking illustration of the difference between the act and the guilt. The actual murderers of Jesus were not the most criminal; perhaps they were the least so of all the parties concerned in the transaction. The soldiers who executed the sentence of death upon Jesus were not so guilty as Pilate who pronounced it; Pilate who pronounced it was not so guilty as the people who demanded it; and the people who demanded it were not so guilty as the priests and rulers who designed it, and who instigated the whole proceeding. Guilt pertains not so much to the hand as to the head, and still more to the heart; it lies not so much in the deed, as in the design and purpose of the inner man. The priests and rulers who did not touch Him were far more guilty of His murder than the soldiers who actually nailed Him to the cross. The remarks we have to offer on the conduct of the soldiers will relate to the brutality which marked their treatment of the Redeemer, and then to their unconscious connection with the greatest event which the history of the world records.
I. Our first remarks will relate to the brutality and cruelty of the soldiers towards Jesus. It is to be observed that there was not, on the part of the soldiers, any personal enmity to Jesus. But still there were evident marks of brutality and cruelty; such were their stripping Him of His raiment, arraying Him in the old scarlet robe, putting the reed in His hand as a mock sceptre, crowning Him with thorns, bowing the knee to Him, and crying, Hail, King of the Jews! How are we to account for this barbarity of the Roman soldiers towards one who was guilty of no crime.
1. Their occupation tended to blunt their sensibilities, and to harden their hearts. They were familiar with deeds of horror and of blood, not only on the field of battle, but in the prison house, and the place of public execution; they were familiar with fetters and stripes; they sported with lacerations and death. Strange things the human heart can be brought to.
2. But another reason may be assigned for it; it is found in our Lords claim to royalty. He was accused of attempts against the Roman government, and of declaring Himself the King of the Jews. They may have heard of the expectations which prevailed amongst the Jews respecting the Messiah. But the claims of Jesus, who seemed only a poor oppressed peasant, to royalty, would appear to them ineffably absurd-a fit subject for derision and scorn. Hence their indignities and insults were founded chiefly on this. Thus it often is: men pronounce that ridiculous which they do not understand; they declare there is nothing visible, because they are too blind to see. Hence, we perceive, how almost all sin is based on ignorance. Had the soldiers known Jesus they could not have mocked Him.
3. But we have one remark more to offer on this part of our subject. The character which the soldier has ever been taught and accustomed to admire is the opposite of that of Jesus Christ. The character which he admires is the bold, high-spirited-keen to perceive insult, and quick to resent an injury; the meekness, gentleness, forbearance of Jesus Christ were beyond his comprehension. It is a true remark, that mankind have almost always admired and lauded the destroyers of their race more than their greatest benefactors. Indeed, the worlds admiration of conquerors is wonderful. Military greatness, as the eloquent Channing has justly remarked, is by no means the highest order of greatness. With him we claim the first rank for the moral; real magnanimity, which, perceiving the true, the right, the good, the pure, and loving it, cleaves to it at all hazards, and will die for it rather than deny it. The second rank we assign to the intellectual; the power of thought which perceives the harmonies of the universe, which discloses the secrets of nature, and, revealing to men some of the laws by which God governs the material or the spiritual word, augments the power of man, and increases his means of enjoyment. We cannot assign a higher than the third rank to the active; the energy and force of will which surmounts practical difficulties. And it is to this class the soldier belongs: it is with the physical, not with the spiritual, that he has to do. Hence Napoleon was not so great a man as Bacon and Newton, as Milton and Shakespeare; nor so great a benefactor to his race. Still less is he to be compared with Howard, with Carey, with Williams. Napoleon felt this; hence he wished to rest his fame far more on the noble code of laws which he was the means of giving to his vast empire, than on all his splendid victories. We trust the days are coming in which correct views of this subject will be generally formed; and that the discoveries of science, and the various inventions of man, will contribute, in conjunction with the diffusion of the spirit of the gospel, to banish wars from the earth. Meantime, as to the military profession, one wonders at the estimate in which it is held. I speak not of individuals, but of the system. To think of men letting themselves out for a shilling a day to shoot their fellow creatures, and to be shot at! What a high estimate they must form of themselves!
II. It is time that we adverted to the second train of remark in which we propose to indulge. They knew they had many hours to wait, and, having completed their task, they composed themselves as well as they could; they put themselves, mentally and physically, in an attitude of patience, till death slowly, but surely, accomplished his work. They sat down and watched him there. There is something very affecting in the position of him who sits down and watches a fellow creature as life slowly ebbs. The tender mother, as she watches her beloved child, or the affectionate daughter, as she watches her aged parent, thus sinking in the arms of death, feels her position to be at once a painful and a solemn one. Oh! yes, in the chamber of the dying saint, what solemn and impressive thoughts may we not indulge! But the men who were appointed to see the last of Jesus, watched Him without the slightest emotion; they were not impressed with the solemn character of their position; death was there at work, but they had been accustomed to his neighbourhood, and were unmoved by his presence. Oh! how closely, and yet how unconsciously, may men be allied to the most interesting and the most important events. How unconscious were they of the character of Him who was suffering there. They were utterly unconscious of His dignity or His worth; they did not know that when they saw Him, they saw the fullest and clearest revelation of God that the world ever beheld-that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily. When God appeared on Mount Sinai, the Jews trembled; when the cloud filled the tabernacle and the temple, the priests could not abide there, they were awe-struck; but in Jesus, they had not simply a symbol of the Divine presence-the Divinity itself dwelt in Him, so that His disciple said, We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth; and He said, He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father. And little did they think, when they roughly bound Him, fiercely scourged Him, and rudely nailed Him to the tree, that they had in their hands the Lords anointed; that they were thus treating the only begotten and well-beloved Son of God; that they were thus touching the apple of His eye. Had they known Him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; had they known Him they would not readily have touched Him, they would rather have trembled in His presence; they would have fallen down at His feet and worshipped Him. But not knowing Him, they imbrued their hands in His blood; unconsciously they crucified the Son of God. Ignorance is a fearful thing; say we not truly, sometimes, that all sin is a mistake,-a grand, a fatal mistake? How much evil may we do ignorantly? Take heed of your sins of ignorance. The apostle says, Unawares some have entertained angels, and some have entertained them strangely. Prophets, God-sent men, have been among them, and they have not regarded them, but have treated them most contumeliously. The soldiers were equally unconscious of the nature and grandeur of the transaction in which they were concerned; they saw in it merely a very common occurrence, an event of no importance, and of very partial and transient interest. They were wholly unconscious of the real nature of the transaction, of the infinite and enduring interest of the event. Little did they think, while they sat down watching Him there, of the relation of what was passing before them to all worlds and to all beings-to heaven, earth, hell-to God, to man, to angels, and apostate spirits. Little did they think that they were witnessing the greatest act of obedience to the Divine commands which God had ever received; that the Divine law was never so magnified. They were equally ignorant of the consequences which would result from it. Ah! no; while men live in opposition to God, they are ignorant of the real nature of their conduct, and are altogether unprepared for the consequences which must ensue. The responsibility increases, however, with the means of information within our reach. Ignorance, so far from excusing the transgressions which grow out of it, may itself be exceedingly sinful. All that they did had been foreseen and foretold by some of the ancient seers; the whole of their conduct had been described by inspired men, who had looked at it through the vista of ages; and every action of theirs, in connection with the crucifixion of Jesus, was the fulfilment of some prediction; but they knew it not. In this sense, too, they knew not what they did. This part of our subject suggests an important reflection: it relates to the consistency between the free agency of man, and the foreknowledge of God. (J. J. Davies.)
Stripped of His raiment
Tom Baird, the carter, the beadle of my working mans church, was as noble a fellow as ever lived-God-fearing, true, unselfish. I shall never forget what he said when I asked him to stand at the door of the working mans congregation and when I thought he was unwilling to do so in his working clothes. If, said I, you dont like to do it, Tom; if you are ashamed Ashamed! he exclaimed, as he turned round upon me; Im mair ashamed o yersel, sir. Div ye think that I believe, as ye ken I do, that Jesus Christ, who died for me, was stripped o His raiment on the cross, and that I-Na, na, Im prood to stand at the door. Dear, good fellow! There he stood for seven winters, without a sixpence of pay; all from love, though at my request the working congregation gave him a silver watch. When he was dying from smallpox, the same unselfish nature appeared. When asked if they would let me know, he replied: Theres nae man leevin I like as I do him. I know he would come. But he shouldna come on account of his wife and bairns, and so ye maunna tell him! I never saw him in his illness, never hearing of his danger till it was too late. (Norman Macleod.)
The hardened gamester
There was a profligate gamester, whose conversion was attempted by some honest monks, and they in order to break his heart for sin, put into his hands a fine picture of the crucifixion of Christ; but when they inquired what he was studying so intently in the picture, hoping his conversion was going forward, he replied, I was examining whether the dice, with which the soldiers are casting lots for the garment, be like ours. This man too well resembles bad men in the ceremonies of religion, and their hearts guide their eyes to what nourish their vices, not to what would destroy them. (Robert Robinson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v33 CHAPTER 15:33-41 (Mar_15:33-41)
CHAPTER 15:33-41 (Mar_15:33-41)
THE DEATH OF JESUS
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"And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, He calleth Elijah. And one ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let be; let us see whether Elijah cometh to take Him down. And Jesus uttered a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood by over against Him, saw that He so gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. And there were also women beholding from afar: among whom were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; who, when He was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered unto Him; and many other women which came up with Him unto Jerusalem." Mar_15:33-41 (R.V.)
THREE hours of raging human passion, endured with Godlike patience, were succeeded by three hours of darkness, hushing mortal hatred into silence, and perhaps contributing to the penitence of the reviler at His side. It was a supernatural gloom, which an eclipse of the sun was impossible during the full moon of Passover. Shall we say that, as it shall be in the last days, nature sympathized with humanity, and the angel of the sun hid his face from his suffering Lord?
Or was it the shadow of a still more dreadful eclipse, for now the eternal Father veiled His countenance from the Son in whom He was well pleased?
In some true sense God forsook Him. And we have to seek for a meaning of this awful statement -- inadequate no doubt, for all our thoughts must come short of such a reality, but free from pervarication and evasion.
It is wholly unsatisfactory to regard the verse as merely the heading of a Psalm, (Psalm 22) cheerful for the most part, which Jesus inaudibly recited. Why was only this verse uttered aloud? How false an impression must have been produced upon the multitude, upon St. John, upon the penitent thief, if Jesus were suffering less than the extreme of spiritual anguish. Nay, we feel that never before can the verse have attained its fullest meaning, a meaning which no experience of David could more than dimly shadow forth, since we ask in our sorrows, Why have we forsaken God? but Jesus said, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?
And this unconsciousness of any reason for desertion disproves the old notion that He felt Himself a sinner, and "suffered infinite remorse, as being the chief sinner in the universe, all the sins of mankind being His." One who felt thus could neither have addressed God as "My God," nor asked why He was forsaken.
Still less does it allow us to believe that the Father perfectly identified Jesus with sin, so as to be "wroth" with Him, and even "to hate Him to the uttermost." Such notions, the offspring of theories carried to a wild and irreverent extreme, when carefully examined impute to the Deity confusion of thought, a mistaking of the Holy One for a sinner, or rather for the aggregate of sinners. But it is very different when we pass from the Divine consciousness to the hearing of God toward Christ our representative, to the outshining or eclipse of His favor. That this was overcast is manifest from the fact that Jesus everywhere else addresses Him as My Father, here only as My God. Even in the garden it was Abba Father, and the change indicates not indeed estrangement of heart, but certainly remoteness. Thus we have the sense of desertion, combined with the assurance which once breathed in the words, O God, Thou art my God.
Thus also it came to pass that He who never forfeited the most intimate communion and sunny smile of heaven, should yet give us an example at the last of that utmost struggle and sternest effort of the soul, which trusts without experience, without emotion, in the dark, because God is God, not because I am happy.
But they who would empty the death of Jesus of its sacrificial import, and leave only the attraction and inspiration of a sublime life and death, must answer the hard questions, How came God to forsake the Perfect One? Or, how came He to charge God with such desertion? His follower, twice using this very word, could boast that he was cast down yet not forsaken, and that at his first trial all men forsook him, yet the Lord stood by him (2Co_4:9; 2Ti_4:16-17). How came the disciple to be above his Master?
The only explanation is in His own word, that His life is a ransom in exchange for many (Mar_10:45). The chastisement of our peace, not the remorse of our guiltiness, was upon Him. No wonder that St. Mark, who turns aside from his narrative for no comment, no exposition, was yet careful to preserve this alone among the dying words of Christ.
And the Father heard His Son. At that cry the mysterious darkness passed away, and the soul of Jesus was relieved from its burden, so that He became conscious of physical suffering; and the mockery of the multitude was converted into awe. It seemed to them that His Eloi might indeed bring Elias, and the great and notable day, and they were willing to relieve the thirst which no stoical hardness forbade that gentlest of all sufferers to confess. Thereupon the anguish that redeemed the world was over; a loud voice told that exhaustion was not complete; and Jesus "gave up the ghost." [9]
Through the veil, that is to say His flesh, we have boldness to enter into the holy place; and now that He had opened the way, the veil of the temple was rent asunder by no mortal hand, but downward from the top. The way into the holiest was visibly thrown open, when sin was expiated, which had forfeited our right of access.
And the centurion, seeing that His death itself was abnormal and miraculous, and accompanied with miraculous signs, said, Truly this was a righteous man. But such a confession could not rest there: if He was this, He was all He claimed to be; and the mockery of His enemies had betrayed the secret of their hate; He was the Son of God.
"When the centurion saw" . . . "There were also many women beholding." Who can overlook the connection? Their gentle hearts were not to be utterly overwhelmed: as the centurion saw and drew his inference, so they beheld, and felt, however dimly, amid sorrows that benumb the mind, that still, even in such wreck and misery, God was not far from Jesus.
When the Lord said, It is finished, there was not only an end of conscious anguish, but also of contempt and insult. His body was not to see corruption, nor was a bone to be broken, nor should it remain in hostile hands.
Respect for Jewish prejudice prevented the Romans from leaving Jesus' body to molder on the cross, and the approaching Sabbath was not one to be polluted. And knowing this, Joseph of Arimathea boldly went in to Pilate and asked for it. It was only secretly and in fear that he had been a disciple, but the deadly crisis had developed what was hidden, he had opposed the crime of his nation in their council, and in the hour of seeming overthrow he chose the good part. Boldly the timid one "went in," braving the scowls of the priesthood, defiling himself moreover, and forfeiting his share in the sacred feast, in hope to win the further defilement of contact with the dead.
Pilate was careful to verify so rapid a death; but when he was certain of the fact, "he granted the corpse to Joseph," as a worthless thing. His frivolity is expressed alike in the unusual verb [10] and substantive: he "freely bestowed," he "gave away" not "the body" as when Joseph spoke of it, but "the corpse," the fallen thing, like a prostrated and uprooted tree that shall revive no more. Wonderful it is to reflect that God had entered into eternal union with what was thus given away to the only man of rank who cared to ask for it. Wonderful to think what opportunities of eternal gain men are content to lose; what priceless treasures are given away, or thrown away as worthless. Wonderful to imagine the feelings of Joseph in heaven today, as he gazes with gratitude and love upon the glorious Body which once, for a little, was consigned to his reverent care.
St. John tells us that Nicodemus brought a hundred pound weight of myrrh and aloes, and they together wrapped Him in these, in the linen which had been provided; and Joseph laid Him in his own new tomb, undesecrated by mortality.
And there Jesus rested. His friends had no such hope as would prevent them from closing the door with a great stone. His enemies set a watch, and sealed the stone. The broad moon of Passover made the night as clear as the day, and the multitude of strangers, who thronged the city and its suburbs, rendered any attempt at robbery even more hopeless than at another season.
What indeed could the trembling disciples of an executed pretender do with such an object as a dead body? What could they hope from the possession of it? But if they did not steal it, if the moral glories of Christianity are not sprung from deliberate mendacity, why was the body not produced, to abash the wild dreams of their fanaticism? It was fearfully easy to identify. The scourging, the cross, and the spear, left no slight evidence behind, and the broken bones of the malefactors completed the absolute isolation of the sacred body of the Lord.
The providence of God left no precaution unsupplied to satisfy honest and candid inquiry. It remained to be seen, would He leave Christ's soul in Hades, or suffer His Holy One (such is the epithet applied to the body of Jesus) to see corruption?
Meantime, through what is called three days and nights -- a space which touched, but only touched, the confines of a first and third day, as well as the Saturday which intervened, Jesus shared the humiliation of common men, the divorce of soul and body. He slept as sleep the dead, but His soul was where He promised that the penitent should come, refreshed in Paradise.
[9] The ingenious and plausible attempt to show that His death was caused by a physical rupture of the heart has one fatal weakness. Death came too late for this; the severest pressure was already relieved.
[10] I.e. in the New Testament, where it occurs but once besides.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv24, 29, 33, 38 Mat 27:35-38; Luk 23:33-38; Joh 19:18-24; Mar 15:24-28. “And…
THE CRUCIFIXION
Mat 27:35-38; Luk 23:33-38; Joh 19:18-24; Mar 15:24-28. “And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.” Here you see the bloody work of death began at 9 A.M., and they remained on the cross till 3 P.M. “And they crucify along with Him two thieves; the one on His fight, and the one on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled, saying, He was numbered with the transgressors.” Thus the high priests maneuvered to do their utmost to cover Him with ineffaceable disgrace, having Him crucified between two robbers. N.B. — If you would follow Him up to heaven, you must go with Him to Gethsemane, and there give up all the world, your will sinking away into the Divine. Then you must go with Him to Calvary, and be crucified between two robbers; i. e., if you would get sanctified, you may expect the people to pronounce you a thief robber, or some other vile reprobate. They will so misunderstand and misjudge you as to identify you with the worst people. All this you must bear patiently and unmurmuringly, like Jesus, if you are going up to live with Him in heaven.
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Luk 23:34. “And Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they are doing.” How true! If those preachers had known that they were killing their own Christ, they would not have done it for a million of worlds. They were so blinded by the devil that they did not know what they were doing. So have the people claiming to be God’s elect slaughtered about two hundred millions of God’s people. They killed them all under criminal charges, believing them to be bad people. What is the solution of this wonderful mystery? Satan, as in the case of the Jews when they crucified Jesus, had so deluded them as to make them follow him, thinking he is God. Amid these delusions, are the people inculpatory? Certainly they are. Having rejected the light and believed Satan’s lies, they have drifted into the awful dilemma where they call evil good, and good evil.
Joh 19:23-24. “Then the soldiers, when they crucified Jesus, took His garments, and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier; also His tunic. For the tunic was seamless, woven from the top throughout. Then they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but gamble for it, whose it shall be; in order that the Scriptures may be fulfilled, saying, They parted My garments among themselves, and upon My vesture they did cast the lot. Indeed, then, the soldiers did these things.” Roman law gave the garments of the crucified to the quaternion, consisting of four soldiers, who took charge of each criminal and executed the bloody work. In that day, when there were no factories, clothing was not only very valuable, but quite scarce. The vesture or tunic was the inner garment, and, as you see here, it was seamless throughout, beautifully illustrating the absolute unity of the true Church, the body of Christ, the divisions all having been made by Satan, and, so far as they go, represent the Satanic phase of the true Church. The soldiers having divided all of His other garments, now recognized this seamless vesture, and concluded that it will spoil it to tear it into pieces; consequently they agreed to settle the ownership by a game of dice. O that all religious people could only have the gumption of these heathen barbarians, and see that they can not divide up the Church of Christ without serious detriment! Luk 23:38 : “And the superscription was written over Him in Greek, Roman, and Hebrew letters, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Roman law claimed pre-eminent justice in all things. Consequently the crime for which every culprit was crucified was written on the cross over his head, so the multitudes could all read it and know the reason why he suffered this awful death. Though the Jews had condemned Him for blasphemy, they could not use that charge against Him under Roman administration, as their law knew no such a crime. Though both Pilate and Herod had positively vetoed the charge of treason against Caesar which the Jews tried so hard to get them to recognize, yet in the finale, Pilate had it written over Him simply to fill a vacancy, as he had nothing else. As you pass by Roman Catholic cemeteries and churches, you frequently see a cross, superscribed I.N.R.I. This is an abbreviation of Jesus Nasarenus Rex Judaeorum, “Jesus of Nazereth, King of the Jews.”
These are the very words which were superscribed on the cross above the head of Jesus, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the language of religion, learning, and law, for the convenience of all the multitudes, as they could all find it out from these three languages.
Joh 19:20-21. “Then many of the Jews read this title; because the place was near the city where Jesus was crucified.” Calvary overlooks the city, the prominence rising only about one hundred yards from the north wall, the Jericho road running between, and then the hill about one hundred yards more to its summit, which is somewhat level on top, uniformly and gradually descending, actually resembling a human, skull, for which it is named, and is the most conspicuous place about Jerusalem, lying in the angle of the two most important roads — i. e., those leading to Damascus and Jericho — in harmony with the Roman policy of crucifying criminals in the most conspicuous places. I emphasize these, specifications because the Greek, Roman, and all other Oriental Churches, locate Calvary some distance within the present wall of the city, where there is no mountain, but rather a subsidence, between Zion and Akra, within the great Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which has stood there since the days of Constantine, the most magnetic pilgrim-resort in all the Holy Land, as they believe that Jesus there laid down His life to save a guilty world. I believe they are mistaken as to the location of Calvary; and this lonely hill, outside of the wall, for more than a thousand years a Moslem cemetery, is, beyond doubt, the true Calvary. You remember that the Romans utterly destroyed the city, A. D. 73, verifying the prophecy of Jesus, leaving it utterly desolate fifty years. Then the Emperor Adrian went there, and founded a Roman colony, using the ruins to rebuild the city, calling it Elia Capitolina, thus even burying the name “Jerusalem” in (as they supposed). hopeless oblivion. So two hundred years rolled away during the nonexistence of Jerusalem, this Roman city occupying the site. When the Emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity, A. D. 325, he and his royal mother, Queen Helena, came to this sacred spot, revived and rebuilt the city, and restored the heaven-born name, Jerusalem. During these three hundred years there were no people there who knew the sacred places. Hence the confusion with reference to the locations. For an exhaustive elucidation of this matter, see “Footprints of Jesus.”
“Then the high priest of the Jews said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that He said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate responded, What I have written, I have written.” In Oriental dialect, this is the very strongest negative, bluntly and stubbornly muttered out by the impatient proconsul. The truth of the matter is, they had browbeaten Pilate from the beginning, and run over him like a dog. Fearful of official depreciation, deposition, arraignment before the emperor, and untold humiliation, with which the high priests and elders threatened him, despite all his protestation of the innocence of Jesus, and the diversity of stratagems to which he resorted for His release, they treated all his efforts with utter contempt; having yielded to their imperious clamors again and again, and finally, though with the utmost reluctance, signed His death-warrant, and, pursuant to the Roman custom, superscribed the only accusation they had brought against Him on the cross above His head, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,” and still they are dissatisfied and clamored for a change, — his patience broke down, and he positively and abruptly refused. No wonder Pilate refused to change that writing. He could not change it; Jesus is King of tile Jews, and will be forever. In coming eternity, as well as through the bright millennial centuries, when God will honor the patriarch and prophets, the elect custodians of His Revealed Oracles, amid a world of darkness and sin, Jesus will be King of the Jews forever, encumbering and honoring the Theocratic throne of David.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv24, 33 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXXIII. B. Jesus…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXXIII. B. Jesus Crucified and Reviled].
CXXXIII. THE CRUCIFIXION. Subdivision B. JESUS CRUCIFIED AND REVILED. HIS THREE \line SAYINGS DURING FIRST THREE HOURS. (Friday morning from 9 o'clock till noon.) aMATT. XXVII. 35-44; bMARK XV. 24-32; cLUKE XXIII. 33-43; dJOHN XIX. 18-27.
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b25 And it was the third hour, and cthere d18 where cthey crucified him. b27 And a38 Then are there crucified bthey crucify awith him dtwo others, cthe malefactors, arobbers, one on the right hand, and one cthe other on the bhis left. don either side one, and Jesus in the midst. [These were doubtless robbers of the class of Barabbas. They were those who, led on by fanatical patriotism, had become insurrectionists and then outlaws. Large numbers of them were crucified during the Jewish wars (Jos. Wars, xiii. 2. 3). These two may have been crucified at this time for convenience' sake, but the fact that Jesus was placed between them suggests that they were crucified with him to heighten his shame and indignity. For, though Pilate had no personal ill will toward Jesus, he wished to show contempt for Judah's King.] c34 And Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. [Our Lord's prayer here reminds us of the word at Isa_53:12. It accords with his own teachings ( Mat_5:44), and it was echoed by Stephen ( Act_7:59, Act_7:60). Peter and Paul both speak of the Jewish ignorance ( Act_3:17, 1Co_2:8). Ignorance mitigates, but does not excuse, crime.] b24 And they crucify him, d23 The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part [A quaternion or band of four soldiers did the work of the actual crucifixion. The Roman law awarded them the garments of the condemned as their perquisites]; band part aparted cparting bhis garments among them, casting cthey cast lots. [725] bupon them, what each should take. [The sandals, girdle, outer robe, head-dress, etc., of Jesus were divided into four parts and lots were cast of the parts.] dand also the coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. [This was the tunic or undergarment. It reached from the shoulders to the knees. Ordinarily it was in two pieces, which were fastened at the shoulders by clasps; but Josephus tells us that the tunic of the high priest was an exception to this rule, being woven without seam (Ant. iii. 7. 4). Thus in dividing the Lord's garments, they found a suggestion of his high priesthood.] 24 They said therefore one to another, 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 garments among them, And upon my vesture did they cast lots. [See Psa_22:18.] 25 These things therefore the soldiers did. [Even their small part was the subject of minute prophecy.] a36 and they sat and watched him there. [They were on guard to prevent any attempt at rescue.] d19 And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. cover him, a37 And they set up over his head bthe ca superscription bof his accusation written, aAnd there was written, cTHIS IS aJESUS dOF NAZARETH, bTHE KING OF THE JEWS. [It was a well-established Roman custom to thus place a writing above the heads of the crucified to indicate the cause for which they died. Pilate writes the accusation so as to clear his own skirts before Cæsar and so as to show his contempt for the Jewish people. They had forced him to crucify an innocent man, and he retaliates by giving to that man the title which his enemies accused him of professing.] d20 This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, and in Latin, and in Greek. [These three languages were respectively those of religion, law and philosophy; but Pilate made use of them because all three were spoken by people then in Jerusalem.] 21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to [726] Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. [The rulers smarted under this title which Pilate had tauntingly written. They had insisted that Jesus' kingship was dangerous enough to justify his crucifixion; but now (if politically and temporally interpreted) they admit that his kingship was an idle claim, a mere matter of words.] c35 And the people stood beholding. [The scene had an awful fascination which they could not resist.] a39 And they that passed by [Jesus was evidently crucified near the highway] railed on him, wagging their heads, 40 and saying, bHa! Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, 30 save thyself, aif thou art the Son of God, band come down from the cross. 31 In like manner also the chief priests cAnd the rulers also scoffed at him, bmocking him among themselves with the scribes aand elders, said, csaying, He saved others; bhimself he cannot save. clet him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen. aHe is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on him. b32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe. a43 He trusteth on God; let him deliver him now, if he desireth him: for he said, I am the Son of God. c36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, offering him vinegar, 37 and saying, If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself. [Thus one and all unite in mocking Jesus, using both word and gesture. They bring forth echoes from the trial of Jesus and take other incidents from his life, little dreaming the deep significance of what they utter. They reminded Jesus of his words about destroying the temple, when they were committing that very act. They speak of his building it again when Jesus was about to die that he might rise. They taunt him with saving others, yet being unable to save himself, which is the great truth of the atonement which the Lord [727] was then making. They promised to believe if he will come down from the cross, yet his being lifted upon the cross was the very act which would convince them-- Joh_8:28.] a44 And the robbers also that were crucified with him breproached him. acast upon him the same reproach. c39 And one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? save thyself and us. 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, Dost thou not even fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said, Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom. 43 And he said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. [It seems that at first both robbers reviled Christ, but one repenting spoke in his favor and prayed to him. It is not likely that this robber had any conception of the spiritual kingdom of Jesus, but he somehow arrived at the conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah, and would come into his kingdom despite his crucifixion. Jesus answered his prayer by a solemn promise that they would, that day, be together in that portion of the invisible world where those who are accepted of God await the resurrection. Many thoughtlessly make this dying robber the model of death-bed repentance, arguing that others may also be saved in this irregular manner. But Christ had not yet died, and the new testament or covenant was not sealed. Jesus then could change its terms to suit the occasion. It is therefore no evidence whatever that after his death and in his present glorified state our Lord will in any way change the covenant so as to do away with a single one of the terms required for obtaining remission of sins ( Heb_9:15-18). Moreover, the example of the penitent robber is a difficult one to follow; he professed faith in Christ and his kingdom when there was no other voice in the whole wide world willing to do such a thing. Any one having such a faith in Christ will not put off his confession until the hour of [728] death.] dBut there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. [For comment on these four women, see note on Joh_2:4). Thus he cut her off from all parental authority over him. In this last hour our Lord bestows upon his helpless mother the disciple whom he loved, who was then in the flower of his manhood. All of Christ's disciples are thus appointed by him protectors of the helpless, but few recognize the behest as John did.]
[FFG 725-729]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv23, 24, 25, 26, 37, 38 The stupefying drink usually given to those crucified.
drink
The stupefying drink usually given to those crucified.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv26, 33, 38 The sufferings of the cross:
The sufferings of the cross:
v. 26. And the superscription of His accusation was written over, The King of the Jews.
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v. 27. And with Him they crucify two thieves, the one on His right hand and the other on His left.
v. 28. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And He was numbered with the transgressors.
v. 29.And they that passed by railed on Him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah, Thou that destroyest the Temple, and buildest it in three days,
v. 30. save Thyself, and come down from the cross!
v. 31. Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; Himself He cannot save.
v. 32. Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with Him Revelation led Him.
In a spirit which savored of vengeful spite, Pilate had prepared a superscription for the cross of Jesus, stating the cause of His punishment, in much the same form as it had been given to Him by the Jewish authorities: The King of the Jews. Neither he nor the Jews themselves knew how true the words were, that this man was indeed, as the Redeemer of the world, the King of all mankind. But they had rejected Him and His message and thereby willfully excluded themselves from the blessings of the Kingdom. The evangelist notes the exactness with which the Old Testament prophecies were being fulfilled in all the incidents of the Passion, even in those of a secondary nature, by remarking that two robbers, common criminals, were crucified at the same time, one on either side of Jesus, placing Him on an absolute level with the scum of the earth, Isa 53:12. And now came the procession from Jerusalem, unconsciously, but none the less surely, to fulfill another prophecy which was spoken concerning the suffering of the Savior, Psa 22:7-17. First came the common people, with whom the bloodthirstiness had now abated, leaving in its stead the satisfaction of having gained their object and having forced the procurator to do their bidding. They moved their heads from one side to the other, as though questioning the sanity of the Lord in making such statements as they quoted, of His being able to destroy the Temple and to erect it again in three days. Jeeringly they challenge Him to save Himself by stepping down from the cross. Then came the high priests, not minding, for once, the contamination which might result to them from mingling with the common people. They called out to each other and to some of the scribes that also came to enjoy the spectacle in gleeful mockery. They now felt free to admit what they formerly would have denied with the greatest vehemence, the fact that Christ had actually helped others. They are merely surprised and act astonished over the fact that He cannot help Himself. They want a proof of His Messiahship. If He should come down from the cross in plain sight before them, then they would be willing to believe Him. All this was hypocritical mockery. They had rejected Him as the Messiah of Israel, they had hardened their hearts against His message of salvation, they had refused to believe and to draw the correct conclusions in the case of far greater miracles; and they would not have believed Him now. And finally, the robbers that were hanging on either side of the Lord, impelled, perhaps, by the excruciating agony of the crucifixion, began to vituperate Him, to heap blasphemous epithets upon Him. It was a veritable orgy of blasphemy of every kind that was held there under the cross. And all the time the Lord was hanging there, meekly, patiently suffering and dying for them, for the very men that were casting the most insulting epithets into His face. That is one of the most inexplicable marvels of history.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv25, 29, 31, 33, 36 the third hour
the third hour
"Third" here is a ordinal number. This refers to nine o'clock in the morning. AT: "nine o'clock in the morning" (See: Ordinal Numbers)
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On a sign
The soldiers attached this sign to the cross above Jesus. AT: "They attached to the cross above Jesus' head a sign on which" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the charge against him
"the crime they were accusing him of doing"
one on the right of him and one on his left
This can be written more clearly. AT: "one on a cross on the right side of him and one on a cross on the left side of him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
crucify
King of the Jews
thief
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38 15:23 Whether Jesus was offered a drink of wine…
15:23 Whether Jesus was offered a drink of wine drugged with myrrh in kindness (Prov 31:6) or in mockery is uncertain. Jesus refused the drink, for he had committed himself to drinking the cup that God had given him (Mark 10:38-39; 14:36). • Myrrh has been used since before Jesus’ time to treat wounds and infections and for digestive ailments.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.