TEXT [Commentary]

11. The soldiers mock Jesus (15:16-20; cf. Matt 27:27-31)

16 The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. 17 They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. 18 Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 19 And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. 20 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

NOTES

15:16 governor’s headquarters. This was probably Herod’s palace (France 2002:637). Pilate would have been Herod’s guest, or else have had a room at the Roman fortress, the Antonia. The courtyard suggests Herod’s palace; some ancient traditions identify a location on the western slope of the Tyropeon Valley (noted by Evans 2001:489).

entire regiment. If this was a cohort, it was a unit of 600 men. If the term is being used in a less technical sense, then it was probably a maniple, or about 200 men.

15:18 taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” Such mockery of a prisoner was quite common. Evans (2001:488) notes a scene involving a street person in Philo (Flaccus 6.36-39) and an incident involving the deposed Vitellius in AD 69 from Dio Cassius (64.20-21; so also Eleazar, according to 4 Macc 6:1-30).

15:20 When they were finally tired of mocking him . . . they led him away to be crucified. Having had their fun, the soldiers took back the purple robe, clothed him, and sent him to his death. The word for mock (empaizō [TG1702, ZG1850]) can mean “to treat cruelly” (2 Macc 7:7, 10; TDNT 5:63).

put his own clothes on him. This suggests that as a concession to Jewish sensibilities (m. Sanhedrin 6.3), Jesus was not crucified in the nude. If the soldiers later took his garments prior to the crucifixion, they may have left his undergarment, while soldiers cast lots for his tunic.

COMMENTARY [Text]

The soldiers began mocking Jesus by dressing him in a robe the color of wealth and royalty (Luke 16:19; Rev 18:12; 1 Macc 10:20, 62, 69; 11:58; 14:43-44) and giving him a mock crown of thorns (1 Macc 5:20; 2 Macc 14:4). Some suggest that this crown was made of the long spines of the date palm (Hooker 1991:370), but France (2002:638) questions this.

The soldiers continued to mock and taunt Jesus, thereby showing their complete disrespect for him. The soldiers dropping to their knees imitated the worship of Caesar (Taylor 1966:586). The title they taunted him with (“King of the Jews”) shows the political-regal issue that swirled around his person. He was executed as a messianic pretender. When the accounts refer to Jesus as “King of the Jews” (see 15:9), they show that Jesus was executed for more than being a prophet.

Jesus was treated with contempt by the soldiers, all in fulfillment of what he had predicted in 10:34. That Jesus should suffer so much, even as he was about to die on behalf of many (10:45), indicates just how serious the condition of humanity is with regard to the things of God. Jesus went to the cross as a rejected King of the Jews, but God did not share man’s rejection of Jesus, and would soon vindicate him through the resurrection.