Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 23:36

ἐνέπαιξαν δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται. A quaternion of soldiers (John 19:23) with a centurion. Similarly Tacitus says of the Christian martyrs who perished in the Neronian persecution, “pereuntibus addita ludibria” (Ann. XV. 44).

ὄξος προσφέροντες. It was their duty to watch Him (Matthew 27:36), for sufferers sometimes lingered upon the cross for days. It is hardly to be wondered at if, with such a vile example before them as the derision by the Priests and Elders, these provincial or Roman soldiers—men of the lowest class, and “cruel by their wars, to blood inured”—beguiled the tedious hours by the mockery of the Innocent. By the word “mocked” seems to be meant that they lifted up to His lips the vessels containing their ordinary drink—sour wine (posca, John 19:29. Comp. Numbers 6:3; Ruth 2:14)—and then snatched them away. Probably a large earthen jar of posca for the use of these soldiers lay near the foot of the Cross (Psalms 69:21; John 19:29). All these insults took place during the earlier part of the Crucifixion, and before the awful darkness came on.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 23:36

Old Testament

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