John 19:23

τὰ ἱμάτια. The upper garment, girdle, sandals, &c. The ἱμάτιον was large enough to be worth dividing. By the law De bonis damnatorum the clothes of executed criminals were the perquisite of the soldiers on duty. The τέσσερα shews accurate knowledge: a quaternion has charge of the prisoner, as in Acts 12:4; but there the prisoner has to be kept a long time, so four quaternions mount guard in turn, one for each watch. Here there was probably a quaternion to each cross. The danger of a popular outbreak (John 18:3) is at an end, and a small force suffices.

ἄραφος. Josephus (Ant. III. John 7:4) tells us that the high-priest’s tunic was seamless, whereas in other cases this garment was commonly made of two pieces. Possibly S. John regards it as a symbol of Christ’s Priesthood. The χιτών was a shirt, reaching from the neck to the knees or ancles. “It is noted by one of the Fathers, that Christ’s coat indeed had no seam, but the Church’s vesture was ‘of divers colours;’ whereupon he saith, In veste varietas sit, scissura non sit: they be two things, unity and uniformity” (Bacon, Essay III.).