Now the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him; they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?" They kept heaping many other insults on him.
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Verse sixty-three begins with a capitalized “Kai,” showing again how such importance marks a transition point. From Peter in the courtyard of the palace for the high priest, we now are taken inside some building in that compound where those who would be judged as criminals would be held. The whole of this verse then literally states: “Kai these men these confining himself began ridiculing to himself , flogging .” In this most important verse, the Greek word “synechontes” has been translated by the NRSV as “were holding.” The form written is the present participle, not the past. The root word “sunechó” means “to hold together, to hold fast, pass. to be seized (by illness),” but the word implies (in this situation Jesus is certainly in) “press on every side, confine.” This says the room in which Jesus was placed might not have been one secured with barred doors, like a jail or prison. Thus, Jesus was watched constantly by guards; and, to make sure that Jesus was not in any condition to try to escape, they whipped him. The word “derontes” is another in the present participle, so the meaning “to skin, to thrash” implies in usage, “I flay, flog, scourge, beat.” This says they were not “beating” Jesus with their fists, but with whips. While they were doing this, they were also “began ridiculing” or “began mocking” Jesus, as the Greek word “enepaizon” allows. Here, it is good to recall that several times in the past, when Temple leaders made attempts to grab Jesus or stone him, he escaped them, almost as if he vanished and reappeared elsewhere, leaving them grasping at air. Now, the double use of “himself” (“auton, autō”) makes it important to see the soul of Jesus had been prepared (when he prayed in Gethsemane and an angel came to strengthen him), so he is able to stay awake during this punishment.
In verse sixty-four there is a hidden element in the text written by Luke, which includes two uses of “kai” in the lower-case. The second segment of words are written within angle brackets, which makes this part telling of the text be omitted from the NRSV translation, seen as optional (as a meaningless aside). The whole of this verse then literally shows this translation into English: “kai having veiled himself , <they were striking of himself this countenance , kai> they were interrogating , saying , Prophesy , who exists this having struck yourself ?”
In this translation, where the Greek word written – “prosopon” – has been translated as “countenance,” rather than “face,” the NRSV not translating anything about a “face” being “struck” says the real reason they placed a “covering” over Jesus’ head was they were being affected by his “countenance,” Jesus word the face of Yahweh, because his soul was in total submission to the Father, so he never word his ”face” to the world. When that is realized, his captors are being explained, as why they “covered” him (“blindfold” seems too vague or limited). When they asked Jesus to tell them who it was who “struck him,” that refers to his “flogging.” When the second segment of words is angle bracketed, this becomes an opportunity for Jesus to show pain, without his captors seeing those expressions. The capitalized word “Prophecy” is then divinely elevated, that is then not so much a demand for Jesus to do as they commanded, as much as it is a statement that they knew Jesus could “Prophesy” – and the ending angle bracket hides the presence of the word “kai,” before their “saying, You have Prophesied” (in the second person Aorist Imperative). They were not so much testing him to tell they who struck him. They were “ridiculing him,” because they did not believe Jesus would be there if he were truly holy.
In verse sixty-five, the word “kai” again begins a verse. The whole of this verse then literally says, “kai others many , speaking profanely of sacred things , they were commanding towards himself .” The importance of “others” is relative to shouts at Jesus. Not only did they “ridicule” his ability to “Prophesy,” they used every example a prophet or holy man would have as a character trait to demean. There were many examples from Mosaic Law that they could pull from, as it is doubtful these guards were Roman soldiers. They would have been Temple guards, who surely would have fallen quickly is forced to face a Roman soldier with sword drawn. They became bolder once they covered Jesus, so they could not see him judging them as his Father. Still, every “command” they screamed, it was well known by the God they professed belief in; because the soul of Jesus (“himself”) was divinely married to Yahweh and the two were one.
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