Matius 27:27-35
Konteks27:27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence 1 and gathered the whole cohort 2 around him. 27:28 They 3 stripped him and put a scarlet robe 4 around him, 27:29 and after braiding 5 a crown of thorns, 6 they put it on his head. They 7 put a staff 8 in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: 9 “Hail, king of the Jews!” 10 27:30 They 11 spat on him and took the staff 12 and struck him repeatedly 13 on the head. 27:31 When 14 they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then 15 they led him away to crucify him.
27:32 As 16 they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced 17 to carry his cross. 18 27:33 They 19 came to a place called Golgotha 20 (which means “Place of the Skull”) 21 27:34 and offered Jesus 22 wine mixed with gall to drink. 23 But after tasting it, he would not drink it. 27:35 When 24 they had crucified 25 him, they divided his clothes by throwing dice. 26
[27:27] 1 tn Or “into their headquarters”; Grk “into the praetorium.”
[27:27] sn The governor’s residence (Grk “praetorium”) was the Roman governor’s official residence. The one in Jerusalem may have been Herod’s palace in the western part of the city, or the fortress Antonia northwest of the temple area.
[27:27] 2 sn A Roman cohort was a tenth of a legion, about 500-600 soldiers.
[27:28] 3 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[27:28] 4 sn The scarlet robe probably refers to a military garment which had the color of royal purple, and thus resembled a king’s robe. The soldiers did this to Jesus as a form of mockery in view of the charges that he was a king.
[27:29] 6 sn The crown may have been made from palm spines or some other thorny plant common in Israel. In placing the crown of thorns on his head, the soldiers were unwittingly symbolizing God’s curse on humanity (cf. Gen 3:18) being placed on Jesus. Their purpose would have been to mock Jesus’ claim to be a king; the crown of thorns would have represented the “radiant corona” portrayed on the heads of rulers on coins and other artifacts in the 1st century.
[27:29] 7 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[27:29] 8 tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.
[27:29] 9 tn Grk “they mocked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.
[27:29] 10 tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”
[27:29] sn The statement Hail, King of the Jews! is a mockery patterned after the Romans’ cry of Ave, Caesar (“Hail, Caesar!”).
[27:30] 11 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[27:30] 13 tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.
[27:31] 14 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[27:31] 15 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
[27:32] 16 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:32] 17 tn Or “conscripted”; or “pressed into service.”
[27:32] 18 sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon. Mark 15:21 names him as father of two people apparently known to Mark’s audience.
[27:33] 19 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[27:33] 20 tn This is an Aramaic name; see John 19:17.
[27:33] 21 sn A place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). This location is north and just outside of Jerusalem. The hill on which it is located protruded much like a skull, giving the place its name. The Latin word for the Greek term κρανίον (kranion) is calvaria, from which the English word “Calvary” is derived (cf. Luke 23:33 in the KJV).
[27:34] 22 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:34] 23 sn It is difficult to say for certain who gave Jesus this drink of wine mixed with gall (e.g., the executioner, or perhaps women from Jerusalem). In any case, whoever gave it to him most likely did so in order to relieve his pain, but Jesus was unwilling to take it.
[27:35] 24 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:35] 25 sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.
[27:35] 26 tn Grk “by throwing the lot” (probably by using marked pebbles or broken pieces of pottery). A modern equivalent, “throwing dice,” was chosen here because of its association with gambling. According to L&N 6.219 a term for “dice” is particularly appropriate.
