Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 14:65

"And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the officers received him with blows of their hands." — Mark 14:65 (ASV)

The decision that Jesus deserved the death penalty was the signal for the Sanhedrin to release their pent-up hostilities against him. Spitting and hitting were traditional means of expressing rejection and repudiation (cf. Numbers 12:14; Job 30:10; Isaiah 50:6). The demand to “prophesy” meant for Jesus to say who hit him . This was their way of trying to make a mockery of Jesus’ messianic claims because a rabbinic interpretation of Isa 11:2–4 stated that the Messiah could judge by smell and did not need sight. Jesus refused to respond to their vicious jests. When the Sanhedrin had had its fill of brutality and mockery, they turned Jesus over to the guards, who continued the beatings.