Mark 15:15

‘And Pilate, wishing to make the crowd content, released to them Barabbas and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.'

By now Pilate had given up on any idea of justice. His only desire was to pacify this crowd that had suddenly become so fired up, and if it meant the life of an innocent man it was out of his hands. So he released Barabbas and handed Jesus over to be crucified, but only once he had had Him scourged according to custom. It had all become a matter of politics. That the situation was, however, more complicated than Mark depicts can be found by considering John 19:1.

This scourging would not be just a beating. The Roman scourge was a dreadful thing. It consisted of a short wooden handle to which a number of leather thongs were attached whose ends were equipped with pieces of lead, brass and sharp bone depending on choice. The victim's back was bared and the scourge laid on more or less heavily. It could cause severe damage penetrating well below the outer flesh. There may be an allusion here to Isaiah 50:6, "I gave my back to those who scourge me…".