John 19:1 Commentary

John 19:1 reads:

Then therefore, Pilate (Πειλᾶτος or Πιλᾶτος) took Jesus, and scourged (ἐμαστίγωσεν) him. --John 19:1

Τότε οὖν ἔλαβεν ὁ Πειλᾶτος τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ ἐμαστίγωσεν. --John 19:1

Already, widely know is that Jesus means "salvation." The name Pilate transliterated from the Greek word provided by John as pilatos, comes from Latin pilatus a Roman surname (obviously) which refers to a javelin:

pīlātus , a, um, adj. pilum, 

I. armed with javelins: “agmina,” Verg. A. 12, 121: “cohors,” Mart. 10, 48, 2. --Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary

Which in turn seems to come from: 

pīlo , no 

 I. [select] perf., ātum, 1, v. a., = πιλέω, qs. to ram down; hence, in gen., to thrust home (ante-class. and rare): hastam pilans prae pondere frangit, Host. ap. Serv. ad Verg. A. 12, 121 (pilans id est figens, Serv.). —Hence, pīlātus , a, um, P. a., closepressed, thick, dense = densus, pressus. --Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary

I have not yet found a father drawing any symbolism from Pilate's name. Similar to the lance of the soldier, this may be an allusion to the sword of the angel guarding paradise. Or, perhaps, to Phineas who used a javelin to stay the plague.

Also, noteworthy, if Abel is a type of Christ, an innocent man slain, the name Cain can also mean spear/javelin (in addition to the meaning acquired provided by Genesis 4):

 וְהָאָדָם, יָדַע אֶת-חַוָּה אִשְׁתּוֹ; וַתַּהַר, וַתֵּלֶד אֶת-קַיִן, וַתֹּאמֶר, קָנִיתִי אִישׁ אֶת-יְהוָה

And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bore Cain (קַיִן), and said: 'I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.'--Genesis 4:1

The spelling קַיִן appears once in scripture to mean spear/javelin:

  וישבו (וְיִשְׁבִּי) בְּנֹב אֲשֶׁר בִּילִידֵי הָרָפָה, וּמִשְׁקַל קֵינוֹ שְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת מִשְׁקַל נְחֹשֶׁת, וְהוּא, חָגוּר חֲדָשָׁה; וַיֹּאמֶר, לְהַכּוֹת אֶת-דָּוִד

And Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear [קֵינוֹ keyno] was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with new armour, thought to have slain David.--2 Samuel 21:16

Note that קֵינוֹ has וֹ at the end meaning "his" without the vav the word would be spelled קין just like Cain's name. So, we see Christ and Abel both killed by men named javelin/spear.

St Ephraim the Syrian draws a link between Christ and the javelin of Phinehas and the Cherub wielding a sword (as I call this elsewhere, "sacred sharp and pointy objects":

The lance of Phinehas filled me with fear, that sword , with which he excluded the plague. The lance that guarded the Tree of Life makes me joyful yet sad, for it excluded Adam from Life yet excluded the plague from the people. But the lance which wounded Jesus, I [only] grieve for it; he was wounded, and I weep. From him came forth water and blood; Adam washed, came to life and returned to paradise. --Ephrem, Carmina Nisibena 39:7 CSCO , 240, Syri. 102, 24-25, ET by R. Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition, 126. 

Phinehas by killing the Israelite and his pagan wife (a union forbidden in the Torah) with a javelin or lance, God's wrath was placated, and a plague was stopped.

And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. And he went after the man of Israel into the chamber, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So, the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.--Numbers 25:7-8

On the issue of scourging, John uses ἐμαστίγωσεν but Mark and Matthew use φραγελλώσας (a word not used elsewhere in the NT and OT): 

Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged (φραγελλώσας)Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.--Matthew 27:26

τότε ἀπέλυσεν αὐτοῖς τὸν βαραββᾶν, τὸν δὲ ἰησοῦν φραγελλώσας παρέδωκεν ἵνα σταυρωθῇ.--Matthew 27:26

and,

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged (φραγελλώσας) Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.--Mark 15:15

ὁ δὲ πιλᾶτος βουλόμενος τῶ ὄχλῳ τὸ ἱκανὸν ποιῆσαι ἀπέλυσεν αὐτοῖς τὸν βαραββᾶν, καὶ παρέδωκεν τὸν ἰησοῦν φραγελλώσας ἵνα σταυρωθῇ.--Mark 15:15

The word ἐμαστίγωσεν is not used in the LXX of Isaiah 53, 

But he was wounded because of our acts of lawlessness and has been weakened because of our sins; upon him was the discipline (παιδεία) [or punishment] of our peace; by his bruise we were healed.--Isaiah 53:5 (New English Translation of the Septuagint)

αὐτὸς δὲ ἐτραυματίσθη διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν καὶ μεμαλάκισται διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν παιδεία εἰρήνης ἡμῶν ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν

Regardless it is clear that this is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53 (and Isaiah 50:6) as St Cyril points out:

He was scourged unjustly, that He might deliver us from merited chastisement; He was buffeted and smitten, that we might buffet Satan, who had buffeted us, and that we might escape from the sin that cleaves to us through the original transgression. For if we think aright, we shall believe that all Christ's sufferings were for us and on our behalf, and have power to release and deliver us from all those calamities we have deserved for our revolt from God. For as Christ, Who knew not death, when He gave up His own Body for our salvation, was able to loose the bonds of death for all mankind, for He, being One, died for all; so we must understand that Christ's suffering all these things for us sufficed also to release us all from scourging and dishonour. Then in what way by His stripes are we healed, according to the Scripture? Because we have all gone astray, every man after his own way, as says the blessed Prophet Isaiah; and the Lord hath given Himself up for our transgressions, and for us is afflicted. For He was bruised for our iniquities, and has given His own back to the scourge, and His cheeks to the smiters, as he also says. --St Cyril of Alexandria, On the Gospel according to John, Book XII

For more citations of the Father on Isaiah 50:6 see my commentary on John 19:3 on "slapping." 

St John Chrysostom says it was done to appease Christ's enemies 

Pilate scourged Him perhaps desiring to exhaust and to soothe the fury of the Jews. For when he had not been able to deliver Him by his former measures, being anxious to stay the evil at this point, he scourged Him, and permitted to be done what was done, the robe and crown to be put on Him, so as to relax their anger.--St John Chrysostom, Homilies on John's Gospel, Homily 84

Not long after St John Chrysostom, St Augustine in north Africa said similar:

On the Jews crying out that they did not wish Jesus to be released unto them at the passover, but Barabbas the robber; not the Saviour, but the murderer; not the Giver of life, but the destroyer —"then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him." We must believe that Pilate acted thus for no other reason than that the Jews, glutted with the injuries done to Him, might consider themselves satisfied, and desist from madly pursuing Him even unto death. With a similar intention was it that, as governor, he also permitted his cohort to do what follows, or even perhaps ordered them, although the evangelist is silent on the subject.--St Augustine, Tract 116

Then the wife of the judge, who had suffered in a dream because of Him, sends a message to her husband; he was better disposed than the rest, he even wished not to kill Him, but to release Him, and he commanded Him to be scourged, in order to allay their fury; thus fulfilling the saying of the prophet: "With His stripes we are healed." --Eusebius of Emesa, Homily on the sufferings and death of our Lord 

Lactantius, a 4th Century, North African Roman convert from paganism, states this verse fulfills even Delphic Sibyls:

But that these things were thus about to happen, was announced both by the utterances of the prophets and by the predictions of the Sibyls. In Isaiah it is found thus written: "I am not rebellious, nor do I oppose: I gave my back to the scourge, and my cheeks to the hand: I turned not away my face from the foulness of spitting." In like manner David, in the thirty-fourth Psalm: "The abjects were gathered together against me, and they knew me not: they were dispersed, nor did they feel remorse; they tempted me, and greatly derided me; and they gnashed upon me with their teeth." The Sibyl also showed that the same things would happen:—     

"He shall afterwards come into the hands of the unjust and the faithless; and they shall inflict on God blows with impure hands, and with polluted mouths they shall send forth poisonous spittle; and He shall then absolutely give His holy back to stripes."

...And another Sibyl rebukes the land of Judæa in these verses:—

For you, entertaining hurtful thoughts, did not recognise your God sporting with mortal thoughts; but crowned Him with a crown of thorns, and mingled dreadful gall. 

--Lactantius, Divine Institutes, Book IV (Of True Wisdom and Religion), Chapter 18