Matthew 27:37

and set up over His head His accusation written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

The cruel mockery finally began to pall upon the soldiers; they proceeded to carry out the sentence. Taking off the mantle, they clothed Him once more in His own clothes, and led Him away to crucify Him. The very simplicity of the narrative enhances its effect a hundredfold, besides being internal evidence for the truth of Scriptures. Matthew relates only some of the chief incidents of the day. Just beyond the gates of the city the procession came upon one Simon of Cyrene, a town in African Libya, where many Jews were living. This man they pressed into service, Jesus having proved too weak to carry His cross; for the bearing of the cross was a part of the criminal's punishment. Thus they all came to a place called Golgotha, or the place of the skull, undoubtedly named so from its shape, which resembled that of the upper human skull. It was outside the walls of the city, Hebrews 13:12. Here, in accordance with the prophecy, Psalms 69:21, they gave Him vinegar or sour wine to drink, mixed with gall, a potion which was supposed to stupefy the senses and deaden the sense of pain; a Jewish custom. But Jesus refused the draught; He wanted to endure all His sufferings with full consciousness, also the pains which attended the act of crucifying. Crucifixion was a punishment of criminals. And among these Christ was reckoned; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, Isaiah 53:5. After the crucifying had been performed, the soldiers amused themselves by gambling for the garments of Jesus, probably in this manner that they first put up the several pieces and cast lots according to the value, each one thus getting a part. The coat they then made a separate stake, since it could not be divided, John 19:23. Thus again a prophetic word was fulfilled, Psalms 22:18, and the mocking soldiers unconsciously performed the will of God. They then settled down to their duty of watching their crucified charges, in order that no one might meddle with them, especially not for the purpose of taking any one of them down. They also affixed, at Pilate's command, a sign to the head of the cross, giving the reason for the sentence: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews; written in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew-Aramaic. Thus did Pilate give vent to the bitterness of his heart, for he felt the sting of his defeat at the hands of the Jews. Thus did the soldiers enjoy their final jest at the expense of Jesus and of the nation to which He belonged. And, unconsciously, but none the less truly, they uttered therewith a comforting bit of Gospel-truth, for Jesus of Nazareth is the promised King of the Jews, the Messiah of the world.

The form of execution by means of crucifying had been introduced into Judea by the Romans when this country became a province of the Roman Empire. The Jews had made use of a post or upright pole for hanging, called the cursed tree, Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23, but the Romans employed some form of a cross-beam, and nailed the body to the cross thus formed by driving nails through the hands and feet. Since there was rarely more than a small strip beneath the feet to support the weight of the body, the pains attending crucifixion must have been the most unbearable torture, a slow straining of muscles and sinews, a gradual wrenching apart of ligaments and joints, to which was usually added the fever caused by the open wounds, Psalms 22:14. By Roman custom the crucified criminal was compelled to die in this excruciating agony, after which his flesh was given to the birds or to wild animals. According to Jewish custom, due partly to reasons of humanity, partly to demands of Levitical purity, the bodies must be taken down and buried. By a combination of the two customs, the practice of breaking the legs, to hasten death, and of giving the mercy-stroke of piercing the body, with a lance, was introduced.