the chief priests had delivered our Lord for envy. That he could not help observing, as a “shrewd Roman judge, from their gestures and manner. And then he knew also, at least by report, of the purity of Jesus, and of the holy freedom with which he rebuked their vices. So he thought, reasonably enough, that if the chief priests wished to destroy him for envy, the people, who had experienced so many kindnesses from him, would desire that he should live.
Ver. 10.—Envy was the low passion that influenced the chief priests. They saw that Jesus was gaining a great and in- creasing influence over the people by the sublime beauty of his character, by the fame of his miracles, and the constraining power of his words. And hence they con- cluded that, unless he was arrested in his course, and put out of the way, their own influence would soon be gone. The whole world was going after him. Therefore he must be destroyed.
Ver. 11.—But the chief priests stirred up the multitude (avéccicay roy dxAov), that he should rather release Barabbas unto them, St. Matthew (<xvii. 20) says, “ They persuaded the multitudes” (Zresay rods SxAous). St. Mark’s word (ayéceicay) im- plies a rousing of their bad passions; agitat- ing them to a blind zeal for his crucifixion.
Ver. 12.—And Pilate again answered and said unto them, What then shall I do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jows? The word “again” has the support of three great uncials, and the best of the cursives. Pilate did not give way without many an inward struggle. And now at last he puts the matter, so to speak, in their own power; 80 that it might be an act of their clemency, and that they might have the honour of saving our Lord’s life. But it was all in vain. For the chief priests bad resolved to press for his crucifixion, little dreaming that they were doing what “God’s hand and God’s counsel had before determined to be done.” Pilate puts the question before them with much shrewdness and tact. He speaks of our Lord as one whom “ they called the King of the Jews.” He appeals to their national pride and their national hopes. Would they degrade themselves, and ex- tinguish their hopes, by giving up to the most ignominious of deaths one who had established such claims upon their reverence and their love?
Ver. 13.—And they oried out again, Cruei him. These words might seem at rigor justify the old reading in ver. 8, adopted in the Authorized Version, “ cr;ing aloud.” But there the word was avaBojcas, here it is Expatay. Moreover, in ver. 14, it is not (wepiccorépws) “the more exceedingly,” bua (wepsoaas) “ they cried exceedingly.”
on, xv. 1—47,] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK.
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Ver. 15.—And Pilate, wishing (BovAdueves) | to content the multitude, released unto them Barabbas, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. St. Luke and St. John are more full in details here. From their narratives it appears that when Pilate found that his attempt to rescue our Lord, by putting Barabbas in contrast with him, had failed, he next hoped to move the multitude to pity by the terrible punish- ment of scourging, after which he trusted that they would relent. Scourging was a vile punishment, inflicted on slaves. But it was also inflicted upon those who were condemned to death, even though freemen. This scourging, which was a part of the punishment of crucifixion, was of frightful severity. Horace (‘Sat.’ i. 3, 119) speaks of it as “horribile flagellum.” But it appears from St. John (xix. 1) that the scourging of Jesus took place before his formal condemnation to be crucified; we may therefore suppose that it was not a part of the ordinary punishment of crucifixion. At all events, there is nothing, upon a care- ful comparison of the narratives, to lead us to the conclusion that our blessed Lord was scourged twice. In fact, Pilate anticipated the time of the scourging, in the vain hope that he might by this means save our Lord from the capital punishment. A comparison of the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Mark with that of St. John will make this clear; for they all three refer to one and the same scourging. Recent investigations at Jerusalem have disclosed what may pro- bably have been the place of the punish- ment. In asubterranean chamber, discovered by Captain Warren, on what Mr. Fergusson holds to be the site of Antonia, Pilate’s pretorium, stands s truncated column, no part of the structure itself, but just such « dwarf pillar as criminals would be tied to to be scourged. The chamber cannot be later than the time of Herod (see Professor Westcott on St. Jobn xix.).
Ver. 16.—And the soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Pretorium; and they call together the whole band. This was the principal court of the palace, where a large number of soldiers were elways quartered. “The whole band” would be the “ cohors prstoria” of Cicero; Pilate’s body-guard.
Vers. 17, 18.—And they clothe him with purple, and plaiting a crown of thorns, they
ut iton him; and they began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! They clothe him with purple (evdiovcw aitdv roppipay). So also says St. John (xix. 2, (uariov roppupodv). St. Matthew says (xxvii. 28), “They put on him a scarlet robe (repie6neay ate xAapnvda xoxklynv).” Purple and scarlet are not such very dissimilar colours. Purple is a royal
MARK—UI.
eolour; and the chlamys of St. Matthew was @ short military cloak of scarlet, intended to be a kind of royal livery. St. Cyril says that the purple cloak symbolized the king- dom of the whole world, which Christ was about to receive, and which he was to obtain by the shedding of his most precious blood. It was designed in mockery of his claim to be a King, and it probably had a reference to his supposed insurrection against Owsar. All this was permitted by Pilate, in order that he might the more easily, after this ignominious treatment, deliver Christ from the extreme sentence. And plaiting a crown of thorns, they put it on him. The crown of thorns was in all probability woven from the Zizyphus spina Christi (the nabk of the Arabs), which grows abundantly in Pales- tine, fringing the banks of the Jordan. This plant would be very suitable for the purpose, having flexible branches, with leaves very much resembling the ivy leaf in their colour, and with many sharp thorns. The pain arising from the pressure of these sharp thorns upon the head must have been excruciating. And they began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! (Xaipe, Baowred ray *Iovdalwy). This word, xaipe, was an ancient form of salutation; here used by the sol- diers in bitter mockery of his claim to be a king.