15. THE Mark 15:22-28 (Matthew 27:33-38; Luke 23:33-34; Luke 23:38; John 19:17-24) 22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.--"Golgotha" is Hebrew for skull. "The place of a skull" was the place of execution of criminals. "The place of a skull" has about the same significance as "bone yard," as sometimes a place of execution of criminals is called in a slangy way. "Calvary" means a bare skull, and is applied to the same place. Golgotha is Hebrew; Calvary is Greek for skull. There is nothing in the Bible that justifies it being called "Mount Calvary." They who bring him on are the soldiers, to whom he has been delivered to be crucified. The band is under the command of a centurion.] 23 And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh:-- [Matthew says "wine to drink mingled with gall." Myrrh was bitter, hence called gall by Matthew. Vinegar was soured wine. This was given to persons about to be executed on the cross to stupefy the senses and deaden pain.] To give it was a custom of the Jews. but he received it not.-- [Matthew says, "When he had tasted it, he would not drink." He tasted, learned what it was, and refused to be stupefied by the potion. This was given before he was nailed to the cross.] He would not do his work stupefied or intoxicated. In the full possession of all his mental faculties he would "tread the winepress." He was determined not to ward off the sufferings that had been appointed for him. 24 And they crucifiy him,--[The crucifixion consisted in nailing the outstretched hands to the cross and leaving him to die by the suffering and exposure. The victim, with outstretched arms, was nailed to the cross, his feet nailed or tied to the upright post, and a peg was fixed in the post between the legs to support his weight. He lingered in this way until relieved by death. Sometimes he lingered in this torture two or three days. Who can imagine torture greater than this? The body was watched by soldiers until death came, otherwise the friends might take it down and the person be restored to freedom.] Crucifixion was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death. and part his garments among them,--The garments of which he had just been stripped. casting lots upon them, what each should take.--[They parted his garments. They divided them into four parts, corresponding to the number of soldiers engaged in his crucifixion. John says: "When they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which said, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots." (Psalms 22:18.) The soldiers, knowing nothing of this prophecy, in their course fulfilled it. When they crucified him, Luke reports that he said: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." This prayer for forgiveness, I take it, was more especially for the soldiers, who ignorantly did what others planned.] 25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.--[The third hour, by the usual computation of time, would be nine o'clock a. m. He was betrayed during the early part of the night, Thursday, 14th. He was carried to Annas, then to Caiaphas, and tried. Then when it was day they again assembled and confirmed what had been done during the night. They brought him to Pilate; he tried him, and sent him to Herod, who heard the accusations, and questioned him, and returned him to Pilate. He parleyed with the Jews, finally yielded, signed the death warrant, and again and again pleaded with the Jews for him. He is delivered to the soldiers, carried to Calvary, and is crucified, nailed to the cross. It seems impossible that this could be done by nine o'clock a.m., but John (John 19:14) says: "It was the Preparation of the Passover: it was about the sixth hour" when he delivered him "unto them to be crucified." (Verse 16.) This places the crucifixion after twelve o'clock. The explanation usually accepted is that the day was divided into four parts of three hours each--the first from six to nine; second from nine to twelve; third from twelve to three; fourth from three to six. Mark called the third division, beginning at twelve noon, the third hour.] 26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, The King of the Jews.--[Over the head of the criminal was usually a board with a label telling who the criminal was, and the crime for which he was convicted. Mark says Pilate wrote, "The King of the Jews"; Matthew, "This is Jesus the King of the Jews"; Luke, "This is the King of the Jews"; John, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Three of these could be easily explained by their having been written in terms a little different in the different languages--Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. This would leave the fourth unexplained, so we must conclude the writers presented the sense without being exact as to the words. John (John 19:21) says: "The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, that he said, I am King of the Jews." This inscription and the reply to the request show Pilate was chagrined--that he was petulant toward them. He had trampled on right to please them, and would do no more. But when the great deed was done, the smaller matters were nothing.] 27 And with him they crucify two robbers;--Meyer says that this is spoken with reference to another band of soldiers, the others, according to Matthew, having sat down to watch Jesus. The two may have been those companions of Barabbas mentioned in verse 7. one on his right hand, and one on his left.--They might well be considered as representatives of the two classes who had secured his death, the priests and the scribes. John was standing somewhere near the cross, and how vividly must have come to his mind the request which he and James had once made, to be on his right and left, and the answer that Jesus made. [This was the work of the Romans, not of the Jews. The thieves were likely already condemned and they concluded to crucify all at once. They placed one on his right hand, the other on his left. This was done to heap ignominy on Jesus. The Roman soldiers entered fully into the spirit of the Jews in heaping shame upon him, so they place him between the two thieves, utterly unconscious in so doing that they are fulfilling prophecy concerning him.] 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was reckoned with transgressors.--This verse is omitted in the American Revised Version, but retained in the footnotes. [In that wonderful prophecy of the Savior (Isaiah 53:12) it was foretold, he "was numbered with the transgressors"; and now, under the providence of God, wicked men, who know nothing of God or these scriptures, carry out the predictions in the most striking manner. What they do to degrade him proves him beyond doubt to be the sent of God, and secures to him everlasting honor and glory. God turns ignominy, suffered by his children for his sake, into everlasting honor and glory. If we suffer with him we will reign with him.]