They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
All Commentaries on Matthew 27:34 Go To Matthew 27
John Chrysostom
AD 407
And they gave Him gall to drink, and this to insult Him, but He would not. But another says, that having tasted it, He said, It is finished. John 19:30 And what means, It is finished? The prophecy was fulfilled concerning Him. For they gave me, it is said, gall for my meat, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. But neither does that evangelist indicate that He drank, for merely to taste differs not from not drinking, but has one and the same signification.
But nevertheless not even here does their contumely stop, but after having stripped and crucified Him, and offered Him vinegar, they proceeded still further, and beholding Him impaled upon the cross, they revile Him, both they themselves and the passers by; and this was more grievous than all, that on the charge of being an impostor and deceiver He suffered these things, and as a boaster, and vainly pretending what He said. Therefore they both crucified Him publicly, that they might make a show of it in the sight of all; and therefore also they did it by the hands of the soldiers, that these things being perpetrated even by a public tribunal, the insult might be the greater.
