upon him, and by his stripes we are healed''." And though the Psahnist appears to speak of Israel at large, yet I think he has also an eye to God's servant Israel, the Messiah, in par- ticular, when he says, " The plowers plowed upon my back ; they made long their furrows ''. The various indignities of mocking and reproaching, and the spitting in his face, were also specifically mentioned : " I gave my back to the smiters, (where the scourging is again referred to,) and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair : I hid not my face from shame and spit- ting*^." And the Prophet Micah says, " They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek^." And, in refer- ence to these things, the Psalmist says, "Reproach hath broken my heart ; and I am full of heaviness : and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none: and for comforters, but I found none^. His crucifixion was plainly declared in the erec- tion of the brazen serpent in the wilderness^; as was also the place where it should be carried into effect, by the burning of the sacrifices without the camp*^. These things were also dis- tinctly foreseen, and plainly predicted, by our blessed Lord; predicted, too, as subjects of prophecy, which were assuredly to be fulfilled : " He took unto him the twelve, and said unto them. Behold, we go to Jerusalem ; and all things that are written hy the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accom- plished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on, and they shall scourge him, and put him to death'."]
And these things were all Hterally fulfilled in him —
[His scourging is first mentioned in my text. But this was inflicted to prevent his crucifixion. Pilate hoped, by scourging Jesus, to pacify the anger of the Jews against him, and to move them to compassion towards him'' : so that the very mercy of his judge, no less than the fury of his persecutors, contributed to fill up the destined measure of his sufferings.
The various insults and indignities that were offered him are next mentioned. And where were they inflicted ? In the very hall of Pilate himself, and by the very soldiers who were under his command ! The discipline maintained amongst the Roman soldiers was exceeding strict : yet did they, under the very eye of the Governor, not execute his wishes, but go in direct opposition to them, to please and gratify the Jews : and thus they, voluntarily, and of their own mind, and in direct violation of their military duty, at the risk of being called to a
^ Isai. liii. 5. *= Ps. exxix. 3. with Isai. xlix. 3.
d Isai. 1. 6. « Mic. v. 1 . ^ Ps. Ixix. 20.
g John iii. 14, 15. ^ Lev. iv. 12. i Luke xviii, 31—33.
^ Luke xxiii. 16, 22. with John xix. 1, 4, 6.