Matthew 27:26

‘Then he released Barabbas to them, but he scourged Jesus and delivered him to be crucified.'

But Pilate could not escape the blame as easily as that, and Matthew clearly indicates his guilt in these words. In the end it is Pilate who frees Barabbas, and then has Jesus scourged, and finally handed over to his executioners so that He might be crucified (compare Jesus' prophecy that this would be so in Matthew 20:19). His hands were therefore guilty, and washing his hands could never remove that stain.

Scourging was carried out with a many-thonged whip into which metal pieces and sharp bones had been intertwined. It would regularly bare a man's back down to the bone. Few could survive it for long. But it was standard for any who were to be crucified. In a strange way it was merciful because it hastened death, but even so someone who was being crucified often survived for days unless their legs were broken, this latter preventing them from gaining the brief support that could enable them to survive a little longer. It was the cruellest of deaths, causing dreadful cramps and unbelievable strains on the muscles and tendons, as the body was twisted unnaturally, with the weight mainly on the arms, and the strains never truly eased. But a kind of saddle of wood under the buttocks enabled the crucified man to take part of the weight off his arms for a while, only to transfer much of it elsewhere until the pain in the legs or the resulting cramps also became too much. The man moved from one agony to another until he finally expired, often after suffering for days. Archaeologists have come across the body of a young man who was crucified in the first century AD. He had been nailed to the cross or stake (different forms were used) by his forearms, and his legs had been nailed with one nail. His legs were bent and had been broken and his whole body clearly revealed that he had suffered severely. Yet the remarkable thing is the way in which this physical agony is not mentioned in any of the Gospels (although to the early readers it may not have been necessary, as to them it was a fairly common sight). Concentration is on the significance of His death, and on His travail of soul.