John 19:14 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And it was the preparation— The governor being frightened into compliance, contrary to his inclination, was angry with the priests for stirring up the people to such a pitch of madness, and resolved to affront them. He therefore brought Jesus out a second time on the pavement, wearing the purple robe and crown of thorns, with his hands manacled; and, pointing to him, said, Behold your king; either in ridicule of the national expectation, or, which is more probable, to soften the Jews, and shew them how vain the fears were which they pretended to entertain about the emperor's authority in Judea; the person who was the occasion of them, shewing, in the whole of his deportment, a temper of mind no way consonant to the ambition wherewith they branded him. Augustus's rescript to the governors of provinces preserved by Josephus, Antiq. John 16:10 shews in what manner the Jews computed their preparation for the sabbath; for, among other things, it is therein ordered, that the Jews should not be compelled to appear in courts of judicature, either on the sabbaths, or on the day before the sabbaths, after the ninth hour of the preparation. The preparation therefore began at the ninth hour, or at three o'clock in the afternoon, which is the reason that the Jews were then freed from attendance in law-suits. Nevertheless, the manner in which the rescript is worded shews, that the whole of the day was called the preparation, consequently the evangelist wrote accurately, when he tells us, it was the preparation, and about the sixth hour. The Roman sixth hour is here meant, or our six o'clock in the morning, answering to the first Jewish hour, when Pilate brought Jesus out on the pavement.