Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 23:27

"And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him." — Luke 23:27 (ASV)

A great company of people, and of women.—Here, again, we come across a characteristic incident peculiar to St. Luke, and obviously derived from the devout women to whom we have traced so many facts which he alone records. (See Introduction.)

Daughters of Jerusalem were there, as our Lord’s words show—perhaps one of the sisterhoods formed in that city for mitigating the sufferings of condemned criminals by narcotic drinks (Deutsch. Remains, p. 38). Among these may have been Mary and Martha, but Luke 23:49 implies the presence of women from Galilee also.

The wailing was loud and bitter, for they, we may believe, had cherished, even more fondly than the disciples, the thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear (Luke 19:11).