‘And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say to him, “Prophesy.” And the officers received him with blows of their hands.'
The translation ‘some' is general without being too specific, but it may serve to confirm the presence of others than the Sanhedrin members who, it may be thought, would not have stooped to this. Luke 22:63 said it was ‘the men who held Jesus'. However, spitting could be an official way of demonstrating disapproval (compare Deuteronomy 25:9; Isaiah 50:6; Numbers 12:14; Job 30:10), as could contemptuous blows. So there is a good likelihood that it was in fact their final visible official demonstration of the verdict, which was then carried on by their men. The spitting and buffeting was reminiscent of Isaiah 50:6 see also Isaiah 53:7. He was now seen as guilty, and His guilt was being publicly demonstrated.
The covering of the face was so that He could not see who hit Him. Then they jeeringly suggested that as a prophet He should be able to tell. (Their view was probably that the Messiah would have been able to do so on the basis of Isaiah 11:3 which was seen as indicating Messiah's supernatural ability). The officers responsible for holding Him also mistreated Him. From now on He was anyone's plaything.