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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Mark 15:22 - 15:26
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_15:22-26
22Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. 24And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26The inscription of the charge against Him read, "THE KING OF THE JEWS."
Mar_15:22 "Golgotha" This is an Aramaic term. The term "calvary" is Latin for "skull." The terms do not refer to the full skull, but the forehead. The location is uncertain, but it was outside the old walls of Jerusalem, probably on a low, bald hill on a major thoroughfare into the holy city (cf. Lev_24:14; Num_15:35-36; Joh_19:20).
Mar_15:23 "They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh" This is imperfect tense meaning they tried several times. Talmudic tradition says that the women of Jerusalem did this as a ministry to condemned prisoners. It was in effect a strong drug to ease the pain and dull the mind.
▣ "but He did not take it" The reason is unknown.
Mar_15:24 "crucified Him" The Romans did not nail through the palms of the hand but through the wrists with the body supported mostly by ropes around the arms. The legs were slightly bent with the feet nailed to a small triangular box. This was done to cause a person to continually lift themselves up in order to breathe. There was also a small piece of wood, called the saddle, on which the person could sit and briefly rest their weight. Most crucified people died from asphyxiation. The person was suspended off the ground only high enough to get their feet about one foot above the ground.
▣ "divided up His garments" The Roman soldiers who crucified criminals got to keep their possessions as part of their pay.
▣ "casting lots" This was predicted in Psa_22:18. This psalm describes Jesus' crucifixion (Christological typology). Jesus quotes the first line of this Psalm in Mar_15:34. Also Psa_22:7-8 foreshadows the comments of those who passed by and mocked Jesus (cf. Mar_15:29).
Mar_15:25 "the third hour" In Joh_19:14 it says "the sixth hour." The Synoptic Gospels consistently use Jewish time, while John, often, but not exclusively, uses Roman time.
▣ "they crucified Him" The Gospel writers do not play on our emotions describing the gruesome physical steps that were involved. The theological issue is not how (although Deu_21:23 is significant, cf. Gal_3:13) He died, but who He is and why He died!
Mar_15:26
NASB, NRSV,
NJB "the inscription. . .read"
NKJV "the inscription. . .written above"
TEV "the notice of the accusation against him said"
The information that this inscription was in three languages comes from Joh_19:20. The information that it was nailed over Jesus' head comes from Mat_22:37.
The KJV and NKJV translate Mar_15:26 in such a way as to imply it clearly states "above," but the term "inscription" is repeated in the verb, which means to engrave, inscribe, imprint, write on, but not "above."
▣ "the charge read" This small sign was called the Titulus by the Romans. It was usually black letters on a white background. This official charge was either (1) carried before the condemned or (2) hung around the neck of the condemned. At the place of crucifixion it was placed above Jesus' head on the cross (cf. Mat_27:37). See Manners and Customs of the Bible by James M. Freeman, pp. 395-6.
▣ "'THE KING OF THE JEWS'" It is interesting to note the variety among the Gospels as to the exact wording of the charge placed over Jesus' head on the cross.
1. Mat_27:37 – "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews"
2. Mar_15:26 – "The King of the Jews"
3. Luk_23:38 – "This is the King of the Jews"
4. Joh_19:19 – "Jesus, the Nazarene, the King of the Jews"
Each one is different, but basically the same. This is true of most of the variety of historical details among the Gospels. Each writer recorded his memories (and sources) in slightly different ways, but they are still the same eyewitness account.
Pilate meant to irritate the Jewish leaders by putting the very title they feared on Jesus' cross (cf. Mar_15:21-22).