King of the Jews

Roman soldiers mock Jesus by conducting a coronation – with robe,m crown, scepter, and acclamation (Matthew 27:28-29).  Then they strip it all off, beat Jesus, and send Him away to the cross.  The scarlet chlamys is the robe of the Roman soldier.  For the Romans, the irony is delicious: They dress the “king of the Jews” like one of themselves, implying that, whatever the Jews do, their king will always finally be a Roman soldier.

But who is the king of Israel?  Scarlet is a color in the high priest’s garments (Exodus 28:5).  The high priest also wears a crown.  The soldiers strip off Jesus’ clothes, robe Him in scarlet, and then strip that off and put his normal clothes back on Him (27:28, 31), in a (probably unconscious) parody of the Day of Atonement (cf. the LXX of Leviticus 16:23; Numbers 20:26).  Jesus is a mock king ascending the throne of His cross, and He is a mock priest getting ready to take His own blood into the sanctuary.

In the New Testament, scarlet is more thoroughly associated with the harlot city of Jerusalem (Revelation 17-18), who rides on a scarlet beast (Revelation 17:3).  Jesus is first dressed like a whore, and then stripped again to nakedness before the crucifixion (Matthew 27:35).