‘And the soldiers led him away within the court which is the Praetorium, and they call together the whole band, and they clothe him with purple, and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on him, and they began to salute him, “Hail, king of the Jews”. And they smote his head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees paid him homage.'
After the scourging, the humiliation. In Isaiah 50:6 the smiting is followed by the shame and spitting, as here. As far as these soldiers, rough, hardened and callous men, were concerned this was fun time. And they called their mates to join in the fun. Then they dressed Him up as a king and mocked Him.
Such horseplay with condemned prisoners was a recognised pastime, and here it was related to the charge brought against Him. There were many thorny plants in Palestine and one was used here. The idea of thorns was probably to mimic the rays of light coming from the ‘radiant crowns' shown as worn by rulers on contemporary coins. The fact that they might be painful did not matter. The purple robes indicated royalty. The reed was first provided as a mock sceptre before being used to smite His head in mockery. Then they treated Him as a mock king.
They were on the whole brutal men and proved it by brutal behaviour. If they were auxiliaries, as they probably were, they would be drawn from non-Jewish inhabitants of the land and would have had no liking for Jewish kings. They were on duty. They were bored. And they egged each other on. And here was a diversion, a Jewish pretender. So they made the most of it.
‘The Praetorium.' That is, the governor's residence, probably in this case Herod's palace. Jesus had been taken into the courtyard to be prepared for crucifixion. Meanwhile there was fun to be had. ‘The whole band' (or cohort). That is, such as were present in the Praetorium. The cloak was probably a scarlet military cloak used to designate the purple robe worn by kings.
‘Paid Him homage.' We who know how worthy He was of honour and worship can only watch in awed silence. Their homage feigned worship such as was offered to both the Emperor and Oriental kings.