Zeichmann makes the point in Jesus’ time soldiers were not functioning as what we would understand as occupying forces:

First is the counterintuitive insight that there was no monolithic “Roman army.” Rather, there were a variety of military forces in early Roman Palestine—forces that had little in common by way of purpose and demographics… There is no reason to think the historical Jesus ever encountered a legionary, despite the ubiquity of such soldiers in the popular imagination of Roman antiquity. Roughly equal in number to the legionary soldiers across the empire were auxiliaries. Auxiliaries, like legionaries, served the government of Rome but were divided into two distinct military types: cohors (speira) and ala (eilē)—infantry and cavalry, respectively—with a few mixed units termed cohors equitata as well. Auxiliary soldiers were almost exclusively noncitizens who became soldiers under the promise of receiving Roman citizenship in exchange for their military service; this citizenship grant was indicated by the gift of a “diploma”—a formulaic bronze tablet listing the conditions of retirement and information about the soldier receiving that particular diploma (e.g., DMIPERP 202–296).4 Auxiliary soldiers were significantly less Romanized than legionaries: auxiliary soldiers from eastern provinces spoke the lingua franca of Greek along with local languages (e.g., Aramaic), bearing little if any competence in Latin. Though auxiliaries often served in major imperial provinces alongside legionaries, they also served in minor provinces or specific regions within major provinces as well. Thus, provinces or subprovinces with a governor of equestrian status (e.g., Raetia, Noricum, prewar Judea) had no legions but only auxiliaries. Auxiliary soldiers were present in the province of Judea (6–40, 44–66 CE) as the only soldiers in the region. Importantly, these soldiers were recruited from within Judea, especially the cities of Caesarea Maritima and Sebaste, which is to say that they were locals… Any soldiers Jesus encountered in either the province of Judea or the Decapolis were auxiliaries, as were the soldiers that crucified him…   Rather, the vast majority of soldiers were located in small rural garrisons and seemed to have served as more of a patrolling force than the sort of occupying power they are commonly imagined to be.

So, using this as a base to expand on Zeichmann, if the issue for Jesus with soldiers was not to be understood as a reaction to occupying powers, why do they figure prominently in the bible?  What is “soldier-hood” all about.  It’s interesting that one of the great thinkers in history was also a highly regarded soldier: Socrates.

Socrates was a military veteran with a well-known reputation for his exceptional endurance and courage.  For instance, Xenophon noted:

Again, concerning Justice he did not hide his opinion, but proclaimed it by his actions. All his private conduct was lawful and helpful: to public authority he rendered such scrupulous obedience in all that the laws required, both in civil life and in military service, that he was a pattern of good discipline to all. (Memorabilia, 4.4.1)

While there isn’t a single widely recognized “ancient soldier” specifically known for unwavering obedience to orders, the concept of following orders to the letter is often associated with the Spartan soldiers of ancient Greece, who were renowned for their strict discipline and loyalty to their military hierarchy, often placing duty above personal choice.  Spartans underwent rigorous training from a young age, emphasizing obedience and unquestioning compliance with commands.  Their primary loyalty was to Sparta itself, not individual leaders, which further reinforced the idea of following orders without hesitation. A Spartan training program where young warriors were sent out to live in the wilderness, often engaging in covert operations, demonstrating their ability to execute orders without question.

We see this ancient soldier ethic emerging in early Christian writing to characterize the believer.  For instance, we read “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:13).”  In 2 Timothy 2:3-4 we have “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.”

How might we understand the soldier at the cross who calls Jesus the son of God / an innocent man?  We have something similar in Plutarch’s account of onlookers gazing upon the crucified Cleomenes III, which gives us the sense of what kind of story theme we are looking at:

The typology of a crucifixion transfiguring onlookers doesn’t seem to originate in oral memory, but rather in other contemporaneous sources of the general theme. Plutarch’s Parallel Lives relates the old story of political reformer Cleomenes III, who was stabbed in his side while his body was crucified around 220 BCE. As he hung on the cross, a snake coiled around his head and prevented the birds from mutilating him. A group of women were watching this. The king of Alexandria was suddenly seized with fear when he saw this: maybe this was a righteous man, beloved by the gods. So the king gave the women the rights to perform purification. According to Plutarch, the Alexandrians then started to worship Cleomenes III and would come to the cross and address Cleomenes as a hero and son of the gods (Plutarch, Parallel Lives, “The Life of Cleomenes,” §39).

And the soldier at the cross?  With his desperate Gethsemane prayer and cry at the cross of “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” this is a phrase from the Bible, specifically Psalm 22:1, which Jesus uttered on the cross, expressing a feeling of extreme anguish and abandonment during his crucifixion; it is recorded in both Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. This line is the opening verse of Psalm 22, which describes the suffering of a righteous person who feels forsaken by God.  The subject of the Psalm is one who feels abandoned by God but is still faithful to God’s plan, trusting Him, following orders.  Jesus is the paradigmatic servant and soldier for God, and this is the bravery the soldier saw in Jesus on the cross in Mark. We see something similar in Matthew where the soldier’s words reflect terror at the power of God, and in Luke where the soldier realizes he has wrongly crucified an innocent man.

Jesus thought the desperate Gethsemane prayer was answered (Hebrews 5:7).  He thought God would send Elijah to save him at the last minute (Mark 15:35-36) like Isaac was spared, but Elijah had been prophesied to return in the end times and Jesus and Paul had wrongly claimed the end was imminent.  According to the book of Malachi 4:5-6, Elijah is prophesied to return “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” signifying that he will return in the last days, acting as a harbinger of the Messiah and the end times; his return will be marked by turning the hearts of fathers to children and children to fathers.  He is to restore relationships between generations and prepare people for the end times.

Just as Jesus misunderstood the timing of the apocalypse, he had misunderstood that the Malachi prophesy predicting Elijah’s return had been fulfilled in John the Baptist.  Mark uses typology to clothe John in Elijah imagery but the prophesy had been misread because scripture says John was born of a woman like Jesus, whereas Elijah had never died (2 Kings 2:11).  As a result, the gospel of John clears up the confusion by having John the Baptist deny he was Elijah (John 1:21).  Why did Christ eventually come to think John the Baptist was not Elijah returned?  Because the baptizer had died without enacting the great movement of reconciliation Elijah was supposed to according to Malachi.  We read:

16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16-20)

To this day, Jewish Seders include an empty chair at the table in anticipation that Elijah will return to herald the Messiah in fulfillment of Malachi’s word.

Zeichmann, Christopher.   Armies and Soldiers in Crossley, James; Keith, Chris. The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus (pp 438-455). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition (202