And he said unto them the third time,.... After Christ had been sent back to him from Herod; for he had declared before he had sent him to him, that he found no fault in him, John 18:38.
Why, what evil hath he done? what capital crime has he committed? is he guilty of murder? or sedition? or blasphemy? or robbery, and theft? or any other enormous a crime?
I have found no cause of death in him; why he should be put to death at all; and much less to this shameful and painful death of the cross, which was the punishment of slaves, and of the vilest of men, which they were desirous of:
I will therefore chastise him, and let him go; this he said, not as if he was determined to do it, whether they liked it, or not; but as signifying what he willed, or chose, and hoped they would be contented with, that he should be scourged, or beaten, and dismissed, as he at first proposed.