The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 228

11mong thnt flcldo crowd. Pi!Rte wns deter- terrible. Not only the mugcJes of the back, mined to cnrry out his threo.t of scourging but the breast, the face, tlie eyes, were torn ; tbo Innocent. That might satisfy tl,om, the very entrails were laid hare, the anatomy perhaps excite thoir pity. Something whis- peml to him that he would he wieo if he we.a exposed, and the sufferer, convulsed refrained from staining his life with the with torture, was often thrown down 11 blood of that strange quiet Prisoner. bloody heap at the feet of the judge. In our Lord's case this punishment, tbou;::h St. Luke omits here the" scourging;" the not proceeding to the awful consequence.'! mock-homage of the soldiers; the scarlet described in some of the • :!\fartyrologics,' robo ancl the crown of thorns: the last must have been very severe: this is evident appeal to pity when Pilato produced the from hie sinking under the cross, a.nu from palo, bleeding Sufferer with tho words," Ecce the short time which elapsed before his Homo I" the lo.st solemn interview of Pile.ta death upon it. "Recent investigations at and Jesus, related by St. John : the sus- Jerusalem have disclosed what may have tained clamour of the people for the blood been the scene of the punishment. In a of the Sinless. " Then lie delivered Jesm to subterranean chamber, discovered by Cnpto.in their will" (ver. 25). (Seo l\Iatt. xxvii., Warren, on what Mr. Fergusson holdd to Me.rk. :i.v ., and John xi.x., for these details, be the site of Antonia-Pilate's Prietorium- omitted in St. Luke.) stands a trnnco.ted column, no part of the Of the omitted details, tbe most important construction, for the chamber is ve.ultctl piece in connection with tho "last things" above tho pillar, but just such a pillar as is the recite.I by St. John of the examination criminals would be tied to to be scourged" of Jesus by Pile.to in the Prielorium. None (Dr. Westcott). of the Sanhedrists or strict Jews, we have After the cr11el scourging came the mock- noticed, were present at these interroga- ing by the Roman soldiers. They threw tories. They, we reo.d, entered not into the across the torn and mangled shoulders one judgment-hall of Pilate, lest they might of those scarlet cloaks worn by the soldiers be defiled, and so be precluded from eating themselves-a coarse mockery of the royo.1 the Passover Feast. mantle worn by a victorious genernl. They St. Jehn, however, who appears to he.ve pressed down on his tem pies a. crown or been the most fenrlcss of the " ele,en," and wreath, imitating what they had probahly who besides evidently had friends among seen tlJe emperor wear in the form of laurd the Sanhedrin officio.ls, we.a clearly present wreath-Tiberius's wreath of laurel was at these exe.mine.tions. He too, we are seen upon his arms (Suetonius, • Tihcriu8,' a.ware, had ea.ten his Pe.ssovor the evening c. 17). The crown was made, as an old before, e.nd therefore ho.d no defilement to tradition represents it, of the Zizyphus fenr. Christi, the nubk of the Arabs, a plant The first interrogatories he.ve been e.lreo.dy which is fountl in e.ll the warmer parts of alluded to, in tho course of which the Palestine e.nd a.bout Jerusalem. The thorns question, " Art thou a. King, then? " was put are numerous and sho.rp, and the flexible by Pile.to, and the fomous reflection by the twigs well adapted for tho purpose (Tris- Romo.n, "What is truth ? " was made. trnm, 'Natural History of the Bible,' p. Then followed the "sending to Herod:" 429). "The represento.tions in the great the return of the Prisoner from Herod: thti pictures of the Italian pa.inters prohobly offer of release, which ended in the choice ;:omo very neor tht1 truth" (' Spea.ker's by the people of Do.rabbe.s. The scourging Commentary '). of the prisoner Jesus followed. In bis right be.ncl they placed a reed to Th,s wo.s a horrible punishment. The simule.to 11, sceptre, o.nd before tb~ sad, woe- condewned person WBJ! usually stripped and begone Figure "they bowed the knee, fastened to a pillar or stake, and then saying, H11.il, King of the Jews I" scourged with leather throngs tipped with Hase(' Geechichte Jesu,' p. 573) is even leaden ho.lie or sho.rp spikes. moved to say, "There is some comfort The effects, described by Romans, and in the fa.et that, even in the midst of the Christiana iu the 'Mo.rtFdoms,' were morkery, the truth me.de itself Celt. Herod 238 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [c11. xxm. 1-56,