John 19
John 19:1
So Pilate then took Yeshua, and flogged him.
John 19:2
The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment.
In one of the most incredible moments in history, Moshe came face to face with HaShem,
“The Angel of HaShem appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush (סְּנֶ֑ה). He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”
Exodus 3:2
The Targum identifies the ‘Angel’ in the Bush as Zagnugael, which is one of the 70 names of Metatron, who Kol HaTor identifies as the “Mashiach ben Yosef from above,”
“But Mosheh was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the rabba of Midian; and he had led the flock to a pleasant place of pasturage which is behind the desert, and had come to the mountain on which was revealed the glory of the L-rd, even Horeb. And Zagnugael, the angel of the L-rd, appeared to him in a fame of fire in the midst of the bush. And he gazed, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, yet the bush was neither burned nor consumed with fire.”
Targum Onkelos on Exodus 3
HaShem instructs Moshe to take off his sandals,
“He said, ‘Do not come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
Exodus 3:5
A similiar event happens to Joshua,
“It happened, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him, and said to him, ‘Are you for us, or for our adversaries?’ He said, ‘No, but I have come now as commander of the HaShem’s army. Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshipped, and said to him, ‘What does my lord say to his servant? The prince of HaShem’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take your shoes off of your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy. Joshua did so.”
Joshua 5:13-15
However, why would the Angel of HaShem appear in a thornbush? Thorns are related to the curse upon Adam,
“To Adam he said, Because you have listened to your wifes voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.”
Genesis 3:17
Would it not be more appropriate to appear in the midst of a towering Cedar of Lebanon? Rashi explains,
“And the angel of G-d appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a thornbush (3:2)” Why in a thornbush and not some other tree? In order to demonstrate that “I am with them in their affliction.”
Rashi, cited at Chabad.org
Isaiah 63 says,
“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”
Isaiah 63:9, ESV
John 19:3
They kept saying, Hail, King of the Jews! and they kept slapping him.
John 19:4
Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.
John 19:5
Yeshua therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, Behold, the man!
John 19:6
When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, Crucify! Crucify! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.
John 19:7
The Judeans answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
John 19:8
When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid.
John 19:9
He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Yeshua, Where are you from? But Yeshua gave him no answer.
John 19:10
Pilate therefore said to him, Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?
John 19:11
Yeshua answered, You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.
John 19:12
At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Judeans cried out, saying, If you release this man, you arent Caesars friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!
John 19:13
When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Yeshua out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
John 19:14
Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Judeans, Behold, your King!
John 19:15
They cried out, Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar!
John 19:16
So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Yeshua and led him away.
John 19:17
He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,
The Zohar says,
וּמֵהַאי טַלָּא דְּגוּלְגַּלְתָּא דָּא, טַחֲנִין מָנָא לְצַדִּיקַיָּיא לְעָלְמָא דְּאָתֵי, וּבֵיהּ זְמִינִין מֵתַיָּיא לַאֲחַיָּיא
“From the dew in this skull (Gulgalta) manna is ground for the righteous for the World to Come, and through it the dead shall be revived.”
Zohar, Ha’azinu 117
John 19:18
where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Yeshua in the middle.
John 19:19
Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, YESHUA OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
John 19:20
Therefore many of the Judeans read this title, for the place where Yeshua was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.
John 19:21
The chief priests of the Judeans therefore said to Pilate, Dont write, The King of the Jews, but, he said, I am King of the Jews.
John 19:22
Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.
John 19:23
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Yeshua, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
John 19:24
Then they said to one another, Lets not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says,
They parted my garments among them. For my cloak they cast lots. Therefore the soldiers did these things.
John 19:25
But there were standing by the cross of Yeshua his mother, and his mothers sister, Miriam the wife of Klofah, and Miriam Magdalene.
John 19:26
Therefore when Yeshua saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son!
John 19:27
Then he said to the disciple, Behold, your mother! From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
John 19:28
After this, Yeshua, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I am thirsty.
John 19:29
Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth.
John 19:30
When Yeshua therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
John 19:31
Therefore the Judeans, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
John 19:32
Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him;
John 19:33
but when they came to Yeshua, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs.
John 19:34
However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
John 19:35
He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.
John 19:36
For these things happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, A bone of him will not be broken.
John 19:37
Again another Scripture says, They will look on him whom they pierced.
John 19:38
After these things, Yosef of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Yeshua, but secretly for fear of the Judeans, asked of Pilate that he might take away Yeshua’s body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body.
John 19:39
Nicodemus, who at first came to Yeshua by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds.
John 19:40
So they took Yeshua’s body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Judeans is to bury.
John 19:41
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid.
