Luke 23:16 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

I will therefore chastise him— Pilate might imagine that Christ was an enthusiast, though not a seditious person; and this punishment might be designed as an admonition to him in future, not to use such expressions as had given so much umbrage; being persuaded, that if he was set at liberty, he neither would nor could give them any further trouble. He might likewise order Jesus to be scourged, hoping that they might be contented with thatlesser punishment, being himself fully satisfied of his innocence. John 19:1. It was the custom of the Romans to scourge criminals condemned to crucifixion, after they had received their sentence. See Livy, lib. 1 Chronicles 26. But Christ was scourged by the order of Pilate before sentence was passed on him, for the reasons above mentioned; and therefore it is thought that during the time he underwent that punishment, he was bound to a pillar, and not to his cross, like those criminals who were scourged after their condemnation; as St. Paul afterwards would also have been treated, had he not prevented it by pleading his privilege as a Roman citizen.