23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
"They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."
So this is what the soldiers did.
In most countries, at that time, the clothes of a person being put to death were the special privilege of the executioners. Clothes were handmade and comparatively more expensive than those of today. And so it was in the case of our Lord’s belongings. More than likely, Jesus had been stripped naked prior to nailing his hands and feet upon the cross – this was part of the customary cruelty of those times. It was also yet another part of the shame and disgrace He bore for our sakes. The shame of nakedness arrived on the scene when sin entered the world. Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame - surely a symbolism of all of life being laid bare before the One to whom we must give an account – and at that time there was nothing for them to hide. Genesis states the following regarding Adam and Eve prior to the fall:
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Gen 2:25 (NIV)
The humiliation and disgrace of our first parent’s nakedness entered in with their sin and therefore He who was made sin for us was called to bare that same shame.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:21 (NIV)
The soldiers more than likely had laid Jesus’ clothes aside to do the dirty work to later return to them for division and distribution. Their payment and willingness to crucify our Lord was for some simple old clothes. They were happy to kill Him for a mere trifle. While Christ was on the cross dying in agony they were greedily dividing His spoils. This is mentioned in all four gospels certainly calling us to a special attention of it – repetition being a red flag in Scripture.
The division of our Lord’s garments is garments into into four sections show there were four soldiers employed in Jesus’ crucifixion besides the centurion. One item – the undergarment – remained and, in lieu of rending it, they cast lots for it just as Scripture would have it – and yet another prophecy of Scripture was precisely fulfilled which had been delivered a mere thousand years prior. Surely these Roman soldiers could not have possibly imagined that they were actually supplying evidence of the Truth of the Scriptures. Again, God can use any clay pot to do His bidding - little do men consider that we are all instruments in God’s hand for accomplishment of His purposes. John testified that the words of the Psalmist were quite literally fulfilled:
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. Psalms 22:15-18 (NIV)
“It is noteworthy that in this, as in many other things, our Lord was, in a striking manner, our substitute. He was stripped naked, and reckoned, and dealt with as a guilty sinner, in order that we might be clothed with the garment of His perfect righteousness and reckoned innocent...It is worth remembering, that when the first Adam fell by sin and was cast out of Eden, God mercifully clothed him and covered his nakedness. When the second Adam died as our substitute, and was counted ‘a curse’ for us on the cross, He was stripped naked and His clothes sold.” J. C. Ryle
“O the deep, deep love of Jesus. Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love, leading onward, leading homeward, to my glorious rest above! O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore! How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, never more! How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own; how for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne! O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best! ‘Tis an ocean full of blessing, ‘tis a haven giving rest! O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ‘tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me; and it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!” Samuel Trevor Francis
“It is His love for man, His compassion for the human race, that prompts God to hate sin with such a vengeance. He gave Heaven’s finest that we might have the best; and He loathes with a holy abhorrence anything that would hinder our being reconciled to Him.” Billy Graham