They are perhaps Pilate’s soldiers (verse 27), the last identified subject. It is certain that “they” of the following verse refers to the soldiers, and “they” of verse 32 seems also to refer to them. The him, on the other hand, is clearly Jesus, not Simon.

The wine (first discussed at 9.17) offered to Jesus may well have been “drugged wine” (Barclay), since it was customary to offer a condemned man a wine containing some sort of narcotic to ease the pain. But this may not be what Matthew intended. For Mark the pain-relieving ingredient is the myrrh which had been mixed in the wine (15.23). But influenced by Psalm 69.21, Matthew substitutes a bitter substance, literally gall, and there is no indication that he had in mind the meaning “some bitter drug” (Phillips). Translators should have either “a bitter substance” (Good News Translation) or “a bitter substance called gall.”

When he tasted it is mentioned only by Matthew; would not drink is slightly different from Mark, which has “did not take” (15.23).

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .