Delphi Complete Works of George Eliot (Illustrated) (852 page)

^*
Comp. in particular the passages cited by Wetstein, on Matth. xxvii. 26.

^†
Paulus, ut sup. s, 647.who had no wish to be cruel to Jesus, can only have caused him to be scourged with the special design which Luke and John mention, and which is also to be understood in the narratives of their predecessors. It is far more probable that in reality the scourging only took place as it is described by the two first Evangelists, namely, as an introduction to the crucifixion, and that the Christian legend (to which that side of Pilate’s character, in virtue of which he endeavoured in various ways to save Jesus, was particularly welcome as a testimony against the Jews) gave such a turn even to the fact of the scourging as to obtain from it a new attempt at release on the part of Pilate. This use of the fact is only incipient in the third gospel, for here the scourging is a mere proposal of Pilate : whereas in the fourth, the scourging actually takes place, and becomes an additional act in the drama.

With the scourging is connected in the two first gospels and the fourth, the maltreatment and mockery of Jesus by the soldiers, who attired him in a purple robe, placed a crown of thorns on his head,* put, according to Matthew, a reed in his hand, and in this disguise first greeted him as King of the Jews, and then smote and maltreated him.
^†
Luke does not mention any derision on the part of the soldiers here, but he has something similar in his narrative of the interrogation of Jesus before Herod, for he represents this prince
with his men of war
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, as mocking Jesus, and sending him back to Pilate in a
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Many suppose that this was the same purple robe which was afterwards put on Jesus by the soldiers of Pilate; but it must rather have been thrice that Jesus had to wear this disguise, if we take the narrative of John into the account and at the same time refuse to attribute error to any of the synoptists: first in the presence of Herod (Luke); secondly, before Pilate brought Jesus forth to the Jews, that he might excite their compassion with the words:
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(John); thirdly, after he was delivered to the soldiers for crucifixion (Matthew and Mark). This repetition is as improbable as it is probable that the one disguising of Jesus, which had come to the knowledge of the Evangelists, was assigned by them to different places and times, and ascribed to different persons.

While in the two first gospels the process of trial is already concluded before the scourging, and in the third, on the rejection of his proposal to scourge and release Jesus by the Jews, Pilate forthwith delivers him to be crucified: in the fourth Evangelist the scene of the trial is further developed in the following manner. When even the exhibition of Jesus scourged and disguised avails nothing, but his crucifixion is obstinately demanded, the Procurator is incensed,

^*
From the explanation of Paulus, s. 649 f., it appears highly probable that the
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was not a crown of sharp thorns, but one taken from the nearest hedge, in order to deride Jesus by the
vilissima corona, spineola
. (Plin
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H. N. xxi. 10).

^†
A similar disguising of a man, in derision of a third party, is adduced by Wetstein, (p. 533 f.) from Philo, in Flaccum.and cries to the Jews, that they may take him and crucify him themselves, for he finds no fault in him. The Jews reply that according to their law, he must die, since he had made himself the
Son of God
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; a remark which affects Pilate with a superstitious fear, whence he once more leads Jesus into the Prætorium, and inquires concerning his origin (whether it be really heavenly), on which Jesus gives him no answer, and when the procurator seeks to alarm him by reminding him of the power which he possesses over his life, refers to the higher source from whence he had this power. Pilate, after this reply, seeks (yet more earnestly than before) to release Jesus; but at last the Jews hit upon the right means of making him accede to their will, by throwing out the intimation that, if he release Jesus who has opposed himself to Cæsar as an usurper, he cannot be
Cæsar’s friend.
Thus, intimidated by the possibility of his being calumniated to Tiberius, he mounts the tribunal, and, since he cannot prosecute his will, betakes himself to derision of the Jews in the question, whether they then wish that he should crucify their king? Whereupon they, keeping to the position which they had last taken with such evident effect, protest that they will have no king but Cæsar. The procurator now consents to deliver Jesus to be crucified, for which purpose, as the two first Evangelists remark, the purple mantle was removed, and he was again attired in his own clothes.

§ 132. THE CRUCIFIXION.

Even concerning the progress of Jesus to the place of crucifixion there is a divergency between the synoptists and John, for according to the latter Jesus himself carried his cross thither (xix. 17), while the former state that one Simon a Cyrenian bore it in his stead (Matt. xxvii. 32 parall.). The commentators indeed, as if a real agreement were assumed as a matter of course, reconcile these statements thus : at first Jesus himself endeavoured to bear the cross, but as the attempt made it obvious that he was too much exhausted, it was laid on Simon.* But when John says:
And he bearing his cross went forth into — Golgotha, where they crucified him,
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he plainly presupposes that the cross was borne by Jesus on the way thither.
^†
But the statement so unanimously given by the synoptists respecting the substitution of Simon appears the less capable of being rejected, the more difficult it is to discover a motive which might lead to its fabrication. On the contrary, this individual trait might very probably have remained unknown in the circle in which the fourth gospel had its origin, and the author might

^*
Thus Paulus, Kuinöl, Tholuck and Olshausen in their Commentaries; Neander, L. J. Chr., s. 634.

^†
Fritzsche, in Marc. 684
Significat Joannes, Jesum suam crucein portavisse, donec ad Calvariæ locurn pervenisset
.have thought that, according to the general custom, Jesus must have carried his cross. All the synoptists designate this Simon as a
Cyrenian,
i.e. probably one who had come to Jerusalem to the feast, from the Libyan city of Cyrene, where many Jews resided.* According to all, the carrying of the cross was forced upon him, a circumstance which can as little be urged for as against the opinion that he was favourable to Jesus.
^†
According to Luke and Mark, the man came directly
out of the country,
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, and as he attempted to pass by the crowd advancing to the place of crucifixion, he was made use of to relieve Jesus. Mark designates him yet more particularly as
the father of Alexander and Rufus,
who appear to have been noted persons in the primitive church (comp. Rom. xvi. 1; Acts xix. 33 (?)
;
1
Tim. i.
20
(?); 2
Tim. iv. 14 (?) ).
^‡

On the way to the place of execution, according to Luke, there followed Jesus, lamenting him, a great company, consisting especially of women, whom he however admonished to weep rather for themselves and their children, in prospect of the terrible time, which would soon come upon them (xxiii. 27 ff.). The details are taken partly from the discourse on the second advent, Luke xxi. 23; for as there it is said,
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will be pronounced blessed; partly from Hosea x. 8, for the words
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(then shall they begin to say to the mountains,
etc.) are almost exactly the Alexandrian translation of that passage.