Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Matthew: Chapter 27].
cloak worn by soldiers, military officers, magistrates, kings,
emperors (2Macc. 12:35; Josephus, _Ant_. V. 1,10), a soldier's
_sagum_ or scarf. Carr (_Cambridge Gk. Test._) suggests that it
may have been a worn-out scarf of Pilate's. The scarlet colour
(\kokkin•n\) was a dye derived from the female insect (\kermes\)
which gathered on the \ilex coccifera\ found in Palestine. These
dried clusters of insects look like berries and form the famous
dye. The word occurs in Plutarch, Epictetus, Herodas, and late
papyri besides the Septuagint and New Testament. Mark (Mr
15:17) has "purple" (\porphuran\). There are various shades of
purple and scarlet and it is not easy to distinguish these
colours or tints. The manuscripts vary here between "stripped"
(\ekdusantes\) and "clothed" (\endusantes\). He had been stripped
for the scourging. If "clothed" is correct, the soldiers added
the scarlet (purple) mantle. Herodotus (iii. 139) relates that
Darius richly rewarded a Samian exile for a rare scarlet robe
which he obtained from him. This scarlet mantle on Jesus was mock
imitation of the royal purple.
27:29 {A crown of thorns} (\stephanon ex akanth•n\). They wove a
crown out of thorns which would grow even in the palace grounds.
It is immaterial whether they were young and tender thorn bushes,
as probable in the spring, or hard bushes with sharp prongs. The
soldiers would not care, for they were after ridicule and mockery
even if it caused pain. It was more like a victor's garland
(\stephanon\) than a royal diadem (\diad•ma\), but it served the
purpose. So with the reed (\kalamon\), a stalk of common cane
grass which served as sceptre. The soldiers were familiar with
the _Ave Caesar_ and copy it in their mockery of Jesus: {Hail,
King of the Jews} (\chaire, Basileu t•n Ioudai•n\). The soldiers
added the insults used by the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:67), spitting on
him and smiting him with the reed. Probably Jesus had been
unbound already. At any rate the garments of mockery were removed
before the _via dolorosa_ to the cross (verse 31).
27:32 {Compelled} (\•ggareusan\). This word of Persian origin was
used in Mt 5:41, which see. There are numerous papyri examples
of Ptolemaic date and it survives in modern Greek vernacular. So
the soldiers treat Simon of Cyrene (a town of Libya) as a Persian
courier (\aggaros\) and impress him into service, probably
because Jesus was showing signs of physical weakness in bearing
his own Cross as the victims had to do, and not as a mere jest on
Simon. "Gethsemane, betrayal, the ordeal of the past sleepless
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