1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 sn The custom of Pilate to release one prisoner to them is unknown outside the gospels in Jewish writings, but it was a Roman custom at the time and thus probably used in Palestine as well (cf. Matt 27:15; John 18:39); see W. W. Wessel, “Mark,” EBC 8:773-74. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 sn A Roman flogging (traditionally, “scourging”) was an excruciating punishment. The victim was stripped of his clothes and bound to a post with his hands fastened above him (or sometimes he was thrown to the ground). Guards standing on either side of the victim would incessantly beat him with a whip (flagellum) made out of leather with pieces of lead and bone inserted into its ends. While the Jews only allowed 39 lashes, the Romans had no such limit; many people who received such a beating died as a result. See C. Schneider, TDNT, 4:515-19. 19 20 21 sn The governor’s residence (Grk “praetorium”) was the Roman governor’s official residence. The one in Jerusalem may have been Herod’s palace in the western part of the city, or the fortress Antonia northwest of the temple area. 22 23 24 25 26 sn The statement Hail, King of the Jews! is a mockery patterned after the Romans’ cry of Ave, Caesar (“Hail, Caesar!”). 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 sn An allusion to Ps 22:18. 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 sn See the note on Christ in 8:29. 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 sn Cf. Luke 8:3. 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80