Mark 15:15 Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

 Why does Pilate release Barabbas and hand Jesus over?

“Wishing to satisfy the crowd” (Mark 15:15)

•       βουλόμενος τῷ ὄχλῳ τὸ ἱκανὸν ποιῆσαι

(boulomenos tō ochlō to hikanon poiēsai)

o  “Phraseological Latinisms are scarce and used mostly in connection with Roman authorities and the like. Clearly belonging here are δὸς ἐργασίαν (Lk 12:58 = da operam, τὸ ἱκανὸν (§131) ποιεῖν Mk 15:15 (cf. Herm Sim 6.5.5) = satisfacere” (BDF, 5-6).

o  “Some features of Markan style recall Latin constructions and vocabulary. That they are probably more frequent in Mark than in other NT texts, except the Pastoral epistles, may raise the question whether Mark was written in Italy in a kind of Greek that was influenced by Latin. However, supposing that his language is influenced in that way, we presume that it could have happened as well in the Roman provinces” (MHT IV:2 §6, 29).

o  “Several of Mark’s words are obviously transliterations from Latin, and some of them are in other gospels too, but there is nothing very remarkable about transliterations and loan-words, for they occur in all languages” (MHT IV: 2 §6, 29).

o  τὸ ἱκανὸν (Neuter Accusative Singular) ποιῆσαι

(“to satisfy”)

“When the predicate stands for the subject conceived as a class and in the abstract, not as an individual instance or example, then classical usage puts the adjectival predicate in the neuter singular, even with subjects of another gender” (BDF, 72).

What does Pilate do before handing Jesus over?

has “Jesus scourged” (Mark 15:15)

•       φραγελλώσας (phragellōsas) (“scourged”) Masculine Nominative Singular Aorist Active Participle of φραγελλόω “flog, scourge, a punishment inflicted on slaves and provincials after a sentence of death had been pronounced on them. So in the case of Jesus before the crucifixion” (BDAG, 1064).

•       “The Romans first stripped the victim and tied his hands to a post above his head. The whip (flagellum) was made of several pieces of leather with pieces of bone and lead embedded near the ends. Two men, one on each side of the victim, usually did the flogging. The Jews mercifully limited flogging to a maximum of forty stripes; the Romans had no such limitation. The following is a medical doctor’s description of the physical effects of flogging.

‘The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles…. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue’

(C. Truman Davis, “The Crucifixion of Jesus,” Arizona Medicine 22/3 (March 1965): 185).”

Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, eds., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew–Mark (Revised Edition), Vol. 9, p. 967-68.

•       What had Jesus previously foretold His disciples about what  would happen to Him in Jerusalem?

“They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on head of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. "They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again"'” (Mark 10:32-34).

Who hands Jesus over to be crucified?

Pilate (Mark 15:15)

Why does Pilate hand Jesus over?

“to be crucified” (Mark 15:15)

•       ἵνα σταυρωθῇ (hina staurōthē) (“to be crucified”)

ἵνα + σταυρωθῇ 3S Aorist Passive Subjunctive of σταυρόω, 

“to fasten to a cross, crucify” (BDAG, 941).

o  “The infinitive of purpose likewise dates very far back and it certainly has a much wider range of usage in Homer than in Attic authors, who use it mostly after verbs meaning ‘to give, appoint, present, send’, etc. … Ἵνα can again represent this infinitive”(BDF §390, 197).

•   “According to Cicero (Verr. 2.5.168) and Josephus (J.W. 7.6.4 §203), crucifixion was the worst form of death. Juvenal has this grim thought in mind when he writes, ‘The vulture hurries from dead cattle and dogs and crosses to bring some of the carrion to her offspring’ (Sat. 14.77-78; Suetonius, Aug. 13.1-2: ‘the carrion-birds will soon take care of’ one’s ‘burial’!; Horace, Ep. 1.16.48: ‘hanging on a cross to feed crows’). A text from a later period expresses well how crucifixion compared to other forms of execution: ‘But hanging is a lesser penalty than the cross. For the gallows kills the victim immediately, whereas the cross tortures for a long time those who are fixed to it’ (Isidore of Seville, Etymologia 5.27.34; cf. Seneca, Dial, 3.2.2: ‘long-drawn-out agony’). Another writer from late antiquity explains: ‘Whenever we crucify the condemned, the most crowded roads are chosen, where the most people can see and be moved by this terror. For penalties relate not so much to retribution as to their exemplary effect’ (Pseudo-Quintilian, Decl. 274; cf. Josephus, J.W. 5.11.1 §§450-51). On a second-century epitaph, the deceased declares that his murderer, a slave, was ‘crucified alive [ζωὸν ἀνεκρέμασαν] for the wild beasts and birds’ (NewDocs 8:1)”  (Craig A. Evans, Mark 8:27–16:20. Vol. 34B, World Biblical Commentary, 484).

Father,

You are just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Infinite is Your mercy and abounding is Your grace in light of the magnitude of our sin and its horrific consequence. You so loved the world that You sent Your One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Glory and thanks to You and to Yeshua for accomplishing the redemption of Your people. For Your wrath is eternally and completely satisfied by the single sacrifice of Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, the Great High Priest and Good Shepherd of Your people. All whom the Son sets free are free indeed.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.