Mark 15:16-20
Mark 15:16 (KJB)
And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call
together the whole band.
Then the crowd, Jesus, and the soldiers were still outside of the judgment seat
where he just sat. The praetorium would have been the former palace of Herod in
the western part of the city. This is where Pilate resided during the days of
the feasts. Jesus would definitely have been in a weakened state from the loss
of blood and the pain from the scourging. There were only a few hundred soldiers
in Israel at the time which was a cohort or 1/10 of a legion which would be 600
soldiers. So quite a number must have been assembled because of the ferocity of
the crowd. They took Jesus from the place where He was scourged to the common
hall.
Mark 15:17 (KJB)
And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it
about his head,
In the palace Jesus was again stripped of all His clothing and they placed upon
Him a purple or scarlet robe. (Mat 27:28 KJV) And they stripped him, and put
on him a scarlet robe. The color “purple” had varied from a scarlet red to
a deep purple and that depended upon the variety of shell fish from which the
dye was derived. Now when we realize the amount of openings in the skin from the
scourging, the robe would adhere to the cuts and start to help heal them like a
scab. When the robe would be removed, then it would be like He was scourged all
over again because the cloth would rip out of the wounds and cause the pain. The
color purple was the color of royalty and the robe of red they placed on Jesus
was nothing more than an act of ridicule. We could look at this scarlet robe as
the robe of sins which He bore for the Elect of God.
Then the next element of humiliation was they placed a crown of thorns on His
head. These would have been long thorns woven together in a crown of some type
of grass or hedge. The thorns would have been placed on His head very hard to
cause the thorns to go into His scalp and cause pain and bleeding. Just as the
Judaizers became the thorn in the flesh to Paul, Jesus also felt the thorns of
the Judaizers, the ones who rejected and hated Him and His followers. (2 Cor
12:7 KJV) And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of
the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
Mark 15:18 (KJB)
And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
As the soldiers were mocking Jesus by dressing Him in royal colors, they were
continually hailing Him as King of the Jews. The Roman soldiers probably saw the
soldiers of Herod do it so they now joined in and mocked Jesus. Pilate did not
join them in this heinous act.
Mark 15:19 (KJB)
And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing
their knees worshipped him.
The soldiers then continued their humiliating treatment of Jesus as they began
to spit on Him. Then they continued to torture Jesus by hitting Him on the head
with the reed which caused the large thorns to go deeper into the scalp. The
Greek imperfect tense behind the word “smote” tells us that they kept striking
Him repeatedly. Thorns were also the curse on the ground that came from man’s
sin. (Gen 3:18 KJV) Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; The crown of thorns was the very
symbol of the curse of mankind.
Mark 15:20 (KJB)
And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own
clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
Once the time of mocking was finished, they then ripped the robe off of Him
which would have once again opened the wounds from the scourging and made it
feel like a second scourging. Then they placed His own garments upon Him and
started the walk to where He would be crucified. By this time now Jesus would
have been forced to carry His own cross and would soon buckle under from the
weight of it.