John 19:2

And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple garment.

This conduct on the part of the Roman military, brutalized from experience on many a bloody field, nevertheless seems atypical, even in such men as themselves. It seems out of character that they could have been sufficiently motivated to perform the repulsive actions of this mockery. The crooked hand of Satan appears in these events, as in the equally repugnant mockery in the very palace of the high priest of Israel, where they "spat in his face, buffeted him, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ: who is he that struck thee" (Matthew 26:67,68).

Purple garment ... This was a three-color fabric of sufficient extravagance of design to suggest royalty, being, in all probability, red and blue on opposite edges, blended into purple in the middle, thus accounting for the variable descriptions of it as "crimson," "scarlet," or "purple." These were the colors of the veil of the temple; and, in view of the extensive symbolism of that veil, standing in one figure for Christ himself (Hebrews 10:20), it was most appropriate that he should have borne the colors of it in his sufferings. See full treatment of this subject in my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 27:51.

A crown of thorns ... See my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 27:29.