John 19 - ESV Study Bible

19:1 After the Jewish phase of the trial and the interrogation by Pilate, Jesus’ sentencing begins. On “Pilate,” see note on 18:29. flogged him. Jesus was beaten both before being sentenced (19:1) and after being sentenced to death (e.g., Matt. 27:26; Mark 15:15). Some interpreters think this first beating is the same as the severe “scourging” that Jesus received in Matt. 27:26 and Mark 15:15. However, it seems unlikely that Pilate would have administered so violent and severe a punishment to someone who had not yet been condemned to death (see John 19:16) and whom Pilate was still trying to release (see vv. 4,10,12). It seems more likely, therefore, that this flogging was what the Romans called fustigatio, the lightest form of flogging administered for minor crimes. Thus John 19:1 and Luke 23:16 use the verbs mastigoō and paideuō (respectively) to refer to this lighter flogging, whereas Matt. 27:26 and Mark 15:15 use a different word, phragelloō (“scourged”) to refer to the much more severe beating that Jesus received after Pilate pronounced the sentence of death (the Roman verberatio, which was the most horrible kind of beating, administered in connection with capital punishments, including crucifixion).

19:2 The crown of thorns represents a mock crown ridiculing Jesus’ claim of being a king. The thorns would sink into the victim’s skull, causing blood to gush out and distorting a person’s face. The purple robe (cf. Matt. 27:28; Mark 15:17) similarly represents a mock royal robe. Purple is the imperial color (1 Macc. 8:14). The soldiers’ actions are in stark, ironic contrast to the fact that Jesus truly is the King.

19:3 Hail, King of the Jews! mimics the “Ave Caesar!” (“Hail, Caesar!”) extended to the Roman emperor.

19:4 went out. See note on 18:29.

19:5 Behold the man! (Latin Ecce homo!) probably conveys the sense, “Look at the poor fellow!” (In other words, “What possible threat could this man pose to the government or to anyone else?”) In his mock regal garments, Jesus must have been a heartrending sight. But in the context of John’s Gospel, the statement may also highlight Jesus’ identity as one who is truly the perfect man, and in that case Pilate’s words are recorded to show the irony of the situation. Traditionally the location of this event has been identified with the Ecce Homo Arch, which marks the traditional site for the Antonia Fortress on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. However, most scholars believe the pavement in this locale to be later than the time of Jesus and the arch to be Hadrianic (i.e., 2nd century). See also note on v. 13.

19:6 Crucify him, crucify him. On crucifixion, see note on Matt. 27:35. Take him yourselves. Pilate uses sarcasm, being fully aware that the Jews do not have the authority to impose the death penalty (see note on John 18:31).

19:7 The Jews’ comment recalls Lev. 24:16: “when he blasphemes the name, [he] shall surely be put to death.” See also note on John 5:18, as well as 8:59; 10:31,33.

19:8 Pilate was even more afraid. Cf. the reference to Pilate’s wife’s dream (Matt. 27:19).

19:9 his headquarters. See note on 18:28. Where are you from? Jesus’ origins were frequently at issue in his dealings with his opponents (e.g., 7:27–28; 8:14; 9:29–30). For John, there are clear spiritual overtones to Pilate’s question (cf. 18:36–37). Jesus’ silence before Pilate is reminiscent of the depiction of the servant of the Lord in Isa. 53:7 (cf. Mark 14:61; 15:5; 1 Pet. 2:22–23).

19:11 In typical Jewish fashion, Jesus uses from above as a circumlocution for God (see note on 5:32). Jesus instructs Pilate that God rules over all, and that Pilate’s authority is derived from God. He who delivered me over to you probably refers to Caiaphas, the high priest (see 18:24,28). Greater sin implies that there are also lesser sins (cf. Lev. 4:2,13; 5:17; Num. 15:30; Ezek. 8:6,13; Matt. 5:19; 23:23).

19:12 Pilate remained unconvinced of Jesus’ guilt and sentenced him to die only after intense Jewish pressure (vv. 13–16). Caesar’s friend. “Friend” here is likely a technical term suggesting that Pilate, in his role as an imperial procurator, was not responding as a good “client” to his “patron” Caesar. “Caesar,” originally the last name of Gaius Julius Caesar (d. 44 B.C.), became the title of subsequent Roman emperors (cf. v. 15; Matt. 22:17,21).

19:13 The Greek for judgment seat here (bēma) implies a raised area used for official judgments (cf. Matt. 27:19); also, the name Gabbatha plausibly indicates a “raised place.” The exact locations of the Stone Pavement and the judgment seat, however, are uncertain.

19:14 The day of Preparation of the Passover may refer to the day preceding the Sabbath of Passover week (cf. Matt. 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; see notes on John 18:28; 18:39). Thus all four canonical Gospels concur that Jesus’ Last Supper was a Passover meal eaten on Thursday evening (by Jewish reckoning, the onset of Friday). About the sixth hour means about noon, but it is only an approximate statement since people did not keep precise time. Mark 15:25 has “the third hour” for the crucifixion, and various solutions have been proposed. The answer may simply be that the actual time was around 9:30–10:00 A.M. and John knew this, but his intention here was not to pinpoint the exact time but to note that it was nearing the time (“about” the middle of the day on “the day of Preparation”) when the Passover lambs would begin to be sacrificed in Jerusalem, thus highlighting a direct connection with Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Behold your King! Pilate’s words again show the stark irony of the situation (cf. note on 19:5).

19:15 By professing to acknowledge Caesar alone as their king, the Jewish leaders betray their national heritage (in which God himself is their ultimate King; cf. Judg. 8:23; 1 Sam. 8:7) and deny their own messianic expectations based on the promises of Scripture. See also note on John 19:12.

19:16 Upon pronouncement of the sentence, the person was first scourged (see note on v. 1) and then executed.

19:17 Jesus set out carrying his own cross until he collapsed on the way, whereupon Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service (cf. Matt. 27:32 par.). He went out is in keeping with the Jewish requirement that executions take place outside the camp or city (Lev. 24:14,23; Num. 15:35–36; Deut. 17:5; 21:19–21; 22:24; cf. Heb. 13:12). Place of a Skull translates the Aramaic Gulgulta; the Latin equivalent used in the Vulgate is “Calvary.” See also note on Matt. 27:33.

19:18 On crucifixion, see notes on 18:32; Matt. 27:35. Jesus’ crucifixion between two criminals is reminiscent of Ps. 22:16 (“a company of evildoers encircles me”) and Isa. 53:12 (“numbered with the transgressors”).

19:19 The purpose of the inscription was to indicate a person’s specific crime, presumably to deter others from committing similar acts. the King of the Jews. Pilate’s words again are true in a much more profound way than he or the Jewish people realized, which is another example of John’s frequent use of double meaning and irony (see notes on 3:14; 4:10; 8:24; 11:50–51; cf. also 3:7–8).

19:20 the place … was near the city. See note on v. 17. Aramaic was the language most widely understood by the Jewish population of Palestine; Latin was the official language of the Roman occupying force; and Greek was the “international language” of the empire, understood by both Jews and Gentiles. The trilingual nature of the inscription thus ensured the widest possible awareness of the official reason why Jesus was being crucified.

19:23 Similar to several later events related to the crucifixion (see vv. 28–37), the soldiers’ actions fulfilled Scripture (see note on v. 24; cf. note on 12:37–40).

19:24 John quotes Psalm 22 (the psalm most frequently quoted in the NT), in which the psalmist David provides numerous prophetic details of the execution scene that are fulfilled in Jesus’ crucifixion nearly 1,000 years later. This is the first of several references to Jesus as the righteous sufferer in keeping with the experience of the psalmist (cf. John 19:28,36,37). By dividing Jesus’ garments among them and by casting lots for his tunic, the Roman soldiers unwittingly fulfilled Scripture, continuing John’s theme of Jesus’ enemies unknowingly participating in God’s plan of redemption. The soldiers’ reasoning was that they did not want to tear Jesus’ tunic, which was formed out of one piece of cloth (vv. 23–24). John’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion reflects several details of Ps. 22:15–18, which mentions the sufferer’s thirst (v. 15), his “pierced … hands and feet” (v. 16), and his bones (v. 17). (Cf. Matt. 27:35–43.) This cluster of references strikes a strong note of prophetic fulfillment.

19:25 On Jesus’ mother, see vv. 26–27 and 2:1–5. His mother’s sister may be Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee mentioned in Matthew and Mark. On Mary the wife of Clopas, cf. Luke 24:18. Regarding Mary Magdalene, see John 20:1–18 (cf. Luke 8:2–3).

19:26–27 In keeping with biblical injunctions to honor one’s parents (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16), Jesus made provision for his mother, who was almost certainly widowed and probably in her late 40s or early 50s, with little or no personal income. On the address Woman, see note on John 2:4.

19:28–29 The reference to Scripture being fulfilled builds on v. 24 (see note there), most likely in allusion to Ps. 69:21: “for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink” (cf. Matt. 27:34,48; see also Ps. 22:15). The sour wine (Mark 15:36) Jesus is offered here was used by soldiers to quench their thirst and is different from the “wine mixed with myrrh,” a sedative that Jesus was offered (and refused) on the way to the cross (Mark 15:23). Hyssop was a plant classified in 1 Kings 4:33 as a simple shrub that could grow from the crack of a wall. It was used for the sprinkling of blood on the doorposts at the original Passover (Ex. 12:22).

19:30 Jesus received the sour wine, probably to moisten his parched throat in order to be able to proclaim a loud cry of triumph at the end of his suffering. It is finished proclaims that all the work the Father had sent him to accomplish (cf. 4:34; 9:4) was now completed, particularly his work of bearing the penalty for sins. This means there was no more penalty left to be paid for sins, for all Jesus’ suffering was “finished” (see Heb. 1:3; 9:11–12, 25–28). The term gave up, which emphasizes the voluntary nature of Jesus’ self-sacrifice (see notes on John 2:19; 10:17), echoes the description of the death of the suffering servant in Isa. 53:12. His spirit does not mean the Holy Spirit but Jesus’ own human spirit, which he voluntarily released from his body that it might return to the presence of God the Father (see Luke 23:43,46). His spirit would remain in heaven with the Father until it returned to his body at his resurrection “on the first day of the week” (John 20:1).

19:31 On the day of Preparation, see note on v. 14. That Sabbath was a high day (i.e., a special Sabbath) because it was the Sabbath of Passover week. The Jews’ request was based on Deut. 21:22–23 (cf. Josh. 8:29), according to which bodies of hanged criminals were not to defile the land by remaining on a tree overnight. legs might be broken. The Romans typically left decaying bodies on crosses long after death (see note on crucifixion on Matt. 27:35). However, on certain ceremonial occasions (such as the emperor’s birthday, see Philo, Against Flaccus 83), they could take the bodies down early, and breaking the legs would facilitate a quick death by preventing a person from prolonging his life by pushing himself up with his legs to be able to breathe. Arm strength soon failed, and asphyxiation ensued. The excavated bones of a crucified man from Givat ha-Mivtar (discovered near Jerusalem in 1968), whose legs had been broken, provide confirmation of this practice.

19:34 The flow of blood and water indicates that Jesus truly died as a fully human being with a genuine human body (cf. 1 John 5:6–8). The spear (Latin hasta) was about 6 feet (1.8 m) in length and was made up of an iron point or spearhead joined to a shaft of light wood, such as ash. See also note on John 19:36.

19:35 See notes on 5:31–47; 13:23; 21:24.

19:36 Not one of his bones will be broken. After vv. 24,28 (see notes), this is now the third scriptural proof cited by John to indicate that Jesus’ death fulfills Scripture (Ps. 34:20; also Ex. 12:46, reiterated in Num. 9:12). Jesus escaped the breaking of his legs, and the spear piercing his body likewise failed to break any bones.

19:37 The second of two texts fulfilled by the Roman soldiers’ actions in v. 34 is Zech. 12:10: They will look on him whom they have pierced (also cited in Rev. 1:7).

19:38 Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy member of the Jewish ruling council (Matt. 27:57), asks Pilate for Jesus’ body, fulfilling another Scripture: “they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death” (Isa. 53:9). On Arimathea, see note on Luke 23:50–51.

19:41 Regarding the place where Jesus was crucified, see notes on vv. 17, 20. Garden points to an elaborate structure (cf. note on 18:1); a gardener is mentioned in 20:15. tomb. See note on Mark 15:46.

19:42 Regarding the Jewish day of Preparation, see note on v. 14. The Sabbath was rapidly approaching, when all work must cease, including that of carrying spices or transporting a corpse. The use of a rich man’s tomb (cf. Matt. 27:57) fulfills Isa. 53:9.