John 19 - NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

19:1 had him flogged. Although flogging was sometimes a punishment by itself, it also normally preceded execution. First, the victim would be stripped naked and tied to a post; then soldiers would beat the victim, sometimes until bones or internal organs were visible. For provincials such as Jesus, the soldiers would probably use a leather whip with sharp metal or bone woven into the ends.

19:2 Ridiculing and abusing prisoners was common. crown of thorns. Imitating Hellenistic garlands, the soldiers may have intended the thorns to point especially outward, but some of the thorns would nevertheless turn inward, scraping the scalp. clothed him in a purple robe. Soldiers wore red cloaks, but when faded the cloak could resemble “purple,” like the cloaks of Hellenistic princes. See note on Mk 15:17.

19:3 Hail. A common address to rulers and equivalent to the Latin Ave. Most of Rome’s soldiers in Jerusalem were Syrian auxiliaries; in many locations, Syrians and Jews often clashed. In ridiculing the “king of the Jews,” the soldiers probably also mock Jewish people more generally.

19:4 I find no basis for a charge. A governor’s verdict would be final—unless political considerations demanded otherwise (v. 12).

19:5 Here is the man! Ironically, Pilate unwittingly echoes how God introduced Israel’s first king to Samuel (1Sa 9:17).

19:6 I find no basis for a charge against him. Pilate was not known for cooperating with Judeans, for whose customs he had little patience. Everyone knew that only Pilate could legally give the death sentence (18:31).

19:7 We have a law . . . he must die. False prophets could be executed under Biblical law (Dt 18:20), and this should have included false claims to be the Messiah; but Rome did not permit Jewish courts to execute capital punishment. Ultimately neither Scripture nor Jewish tradition made Messianic claims a capital offense, since someone might in fact prove to be the Messiah someday (Pharisees and most people hoped for a Messiah, although the Sadducean priests may not have done so). Roman concerns about order, however, made any royal claims a capital offense (cf. vv. 12, 15). Ironically, Biblical law supported Jesus rather than demanding his death (5:45–46; 15:25). claimed to be the Son of God. God called Israel his children (e.g., Ex 4:22); he also called members of David’s line his son (2Sa 7:14), particularly with regard to the ultimate Davidic ruler, the Messiah (cf. Ps 2:7).

19:8 he was even more afraid. Ironically, Pilate the polytheist takes the claim of Jesus’ divine origin more seriously than do Jesus’ accusers.

19:9 Jesus gave him no answer. Jewish people often respected martyrs who refused to answer their accusers.

19:10 I have power . . . to free . . . or to crucify. Under Roman law, Pilate could make whatever decision concerning Jesus he thought best.

19:11 from above. Often a Jewish way of speaking about God (cf. 3:3). Jesus seems to imply that Caiaphas, “who handed [Jesus] over to [Pilate]” (see 18:28), had illegitimate authority. In fact, Caiaphas did not inherit his office the Biblically-prescribed way, but was installed in his office by the Roman governor Gratus, because Gratus believed Caiaphas would work well with Rome.

19:12 no friend of Caesar. Subordinate “friends” of patrons owed them honor in return for favors. “Friend of the emperor” was an especially desirable title sometimes given in this period also to clients of Sejanus, though it could also be used figuratively here. The most dangerous charge under the current emperor, the paranoid Tiberius, was treason.

19:13 judge’s seat. A governor would issue a capital verdict from the judgment seat (see note on Ro 14:10). Stone Pavement. Against some earlier proposals, this refers to the elevated paved area near Herod’s palace; Pilate spoke to hearers from the platform there also on other occasions.

19:14 the day of Preparation of the Passover. The day that lambs were slaughtered in the temple; they would then be eaten during the Passover meal after sundown. John appears to report Jesus delivered and executed when the paschal lambs were being sacrificed, rather than (as in the Synoptics) the day before (see the article “The Synoptic Passover Meal Versus John’s Passover Lamb”). Some contend that John means simply the day of preparation for the Passover week’s Sabbath (which it also was; v. 31; Mk 15:42). about noon. Some find in “noon” a connection with 4:6 or an allusion to the alleged time of the Passover offering (though probably the offerings required the full day). Ancient hearers often connected noon especially with bright light and strong heat. Here is your king. Ironically, Pilate echoes the acclamation of Zec 9:9 cited in Jn 12:15.

19:15 We have no king but Caesar. A daily Jewish prayer requested that God send the Messiah, and another prayer later used in the Passover liturgy affirms that God alone is king. Even aside from the speakers’ possible sarcasm here, many Sadducean elite priests probably were more concerned about their future with Rome, which also buttressed their own status, than with the messianic aspirations of a larger segment of their people.

19:16 Finally Pilate handed him over. Insistent Judean demands had forced Pilate to give in on other known occasions, such as when Jerusalemites’ willingness to die as martyrs compelled him to withdraw the idolatrous Roman standards that he had brought into Jerusalem. He did not take further political risks in those matters in which he had firmer convictions; he would hardly do so for a prisoner. If he followed common procedure, he may have announced, “You will mount the cross.”

19:17 Carrying his own cross. Normally the condemned person was forced to publicly carry the horizontal beam (the patibulum) of his own cross out to the site of his execution. Whereas other Gospels emphasize the failure of Jesus’ disciples to help him with the cross, perhaps after he falters, John emphasizes Jesus’ own role in carrying his cross (cf. 10:18). the place of the Skull. See note on Mk 15:22. The soldiers would have led Jesus from Herod’s palace and through the Garden Gate (not following the route enshrined in later tradition). Executions, like burials, were outside the city walls.

19:18 People were crucified naked, on humiliating display as a warning to others. For further details on crucifixion, see note on Mk 15:24.

19:19 notice. Sometimes someone would carry a tablet indicating the titulus, or charge, against the prisoner, to the site of the execution. king of the jews. A treason charge—yet, ironically, John’s audience knows that Jesus really is king.

19:20 Many of the Jews read this sign. Roman executions, like traditional Jewish ones (cf. Lev 24:14, 23; Nu 15:35–36; at the city gate, where many would see it, Dt 17:5; 22:24), were outside the city. Aramaic, Latin and Greek. Both Aramaic and Greek were in common usage in Israel (the former dominant, e.g., in upper Galilee [northern Galilee], the latter among Jerusalem’s elite); Latin was used in the western part of the empire, but also (relevant for Judea) for military inscriptions in the east. (Some key inscriptions even in Jerusalem were in both Latin and Greek.)

19:22 What I have written, I have written. Now that the threat of unrest has passed, Pilate is no longer ready to accommodate the local leaders’ demands.

19:23 took his clothes, dividing them. Divided clothing recalls Ps 22:18 (cited in Jn 19:24; see note there), but also fits historical practice. Roman execution squads (typically about four men) had rights to whatever clothing or other effects remained on the prisoner. undergarment . . . was seamless. The inner tunic was normally formed by sewing two cloths together; a seamless tunic was thus specially made and valuable.

19:24 They divided my clothes. Ps 22:18 also mentions casting lots for one’s garment; soldiers used dice and other means to gamble. lots. See note on Ac 1:26.

19:25 Women were expected to mourn and were considered a low risk for acting violently. Soldiers might allow them to come near a dying prisoner even if the soldiers wanted to keep others away.

19:26 Woman, here is your son. Jesus’ mother might be a widow in her mid-40s; because men controlled most legal proceedings, having a male advocate was vital. Since Jesus as the eldest son was responsible for his mother’s care, entrusting this responsibility to another before he died was important. Jesus had younger brothers (7:3–5), who would normally take the responsibility, but Jesus entrusts her care to a disciple, treating him as a member of the family (cf. Mk 3:32–35). Testaments could entrust care for a family member to a designated person, and one who was dying could assign property or duties verbally. In contrast to many subsequent portrayals, Jesus’ cross left him close enough to the ground (like many other ancient crosses) for his mother and disciple to hear him.

19:28 I am thirsty. Since Jesus cited Ps 22:1 on the cross (Mk 15:34), some scholars suggest that Jesus’ words here evoke the thirst in Ps 22:15.

19:29 wine vinegar. May evoke Ps 69:21. Made of watered-down wine vinegar, it was cheap and appealed to ordinary laborers and soldiers, and hence, would have been available. a stalk of the hyssop plant. Might have been available on the premises because hyssop was used for Passover (Ex 12:22), an association John’s earliest Jewish hearers may have noticed.

19:30 gave up his spirit. Could also be translated “gave the Spirit” (cf. 7:39). For wordplays in John’s Gospel, see note on 3:8.

19:31–32 did not want the bodies left on the crosses . . . came and broke the legs. Some crucifixion victims may have died from asphyxiation, but they usually died more quickly from shock (due to blood loss from scourging and sometimes from being nailed to the cross) or dehydration. Those who did not die from blood loss could linger for several days, dying a slow and agonizing death. Deferring asphyxiation, a victim could sometimes rest himself on a seat in the cross, allowing himself to pull up his frame and keep breathing. When Romans wished to hasten someone’s death, they would break the victim’s legs, so that he could not hold himself up. Romans often left corpses on crosses to be picked clean by vultures, but in Jewish territory they would defer to unobjectionable local customs. Jewish law (Dt 21:23), followed in this period, required burial before nightfall.

19:34 pierced Jesus’ side. A soldier normally carried a lance (pilum), roughly 3.5 feet (a meter) long and consisting of a wood shaft with an iron head. Thrust with sufficient force, the lance could pierce the pericardial sac around heart and release its fairly clear fluid along with blood. The limited evidence we have suggests that soldiers sometimes pierced other executed people to make sure they were dead.

19:35 his testimony . . . he testifies. Ancient eyewitness authors often mentioned themselves in the third person (“he”), though the same author sometimes could mention himself elsewhere in the first person (as “I” or part of “we”; cf. 1:14).

19:36 Not one of his bones will be broken. The wording fits Ps 34:20, but also the proscription against breaking the Passover lamb’s bones (Ex 12:46; Nu 9:12), relevant in this context. Some suggest that John mixes both texts; ancient Jewish teachers often linked or blended texts.

19:37 John here cites Zec 12:10; some later rabbis construed the text as Messianic, but its immediate context in Zechariah probably refers to God.

19:38 Joseph . . . asked Pilate for the body. Joseph shows courage. Family members would not be punished for requesting the body. For a member of the elite to request the body, however, was to take a significant risk: unless acting officially at the behest of the Sanhedrin, he could be associated with Jesus’ alleged treason, risking his own execution. Moreover, officials sometimes liked to pin such charges specifically on members of the elite so that they could confiscate their property. Although Pilate does not act against Joseph, Joseph could not know that in advance, and his request is courageous.

19:38–42 The early Christian tradition of the site of the tomb is at least as old as the decade following Jesus’ interment. Tradition is unanimous—and custom required—that Jesus be buried outside the city walls, but the site is within the expanded walls of Jerusalem from the time of AD 41–43, so the tradition clearly points to a period before 41–43. The tombs on this site (the Catholic and Orthodox site of the Holy Sepulchre) date to the period in question; by the second century, a pagan emperor sought to deliberately desecrate the site because of its reputation as a local holy site. (By contrast, the Garden Tomb was a recent historical guess, belongs to the wrong period, and lacks any claim to authenticity.)

19:39 mixture of myrrh and aloes. After the Sabbath, those caring for the body would embalm it with the myrrh and perfume it with the aloes. Although higher figures are known (reportedly 70 pounds, or 32 kilograms, for Gamaliel, and incomparably more for Herod the Great), the spices here are expensive. By way of comparison, this extravagant act of devotion may have cost a hundred times that reported in 12:3 (see note there). In this case, however, no funeral would follow; those executed by the state could not receive public funerals.

19:40 wrapped . . . in strips of linen. Linen shrouds were common for Jewish burials (see note on Mk 15:46). The person being buried would be tightly wrapped in linen cloths to keep his or her members straight and the mouth closed.

19:41 in the garden a new tomb. A tomb so quickly accessible probably already belonged to Joseph (Mt 27:60). Because Joseph was originally from Arimathea rather than Jerusalem, his family tomb here had not yet been used. For other tombs in or near gardens, cf. 2Ki 21:18, 26.

19:42 Jewish tradition allowed washing and anointing corpses even on the Sabbath, but for the moment the body and spices are deposited. A body would be allowed to decompose for one year before its bones were placed in an ossuary (a stone box with a lid used to hold bones).