Mark 15:21

“And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, etc..] (See Gill on “<402732>Matthew 27:32”); who passed by; as they were leading Jesus to be crucified: coming out of the country; from some country village hard by, according to the Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions; or out of the field, as the Persic and Ethiopic: he might have been in the field, about some rural business; or, as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, to fetch wood from thence, which was lawful to be done on a feast day, with some provisos, according to the Jewish canon, which runs thus f261; “they may bring wood out of the field, (i.e. on a feast day, as this was,) of that which is gathered together, and out of a place that is fenced about, and…”

“The father of Alexander and Rufus - These were afterward two eminent Christians, and must have been well known when St. Mark wrote. Mark 15:22”

“15:21-22 After they left the walled city of Jerusalem, Jesus’ strength apparently failed. The Roman soldiers forced Simon . . . from Cyrene in northern Africa to carry Jesus’ cross (cp. Matt 5:41). Normally, a crucifixion victim was forced to carry the horizontal crossbeam (the patibulum) of his own cross to the place of execution. The vertical post (the staticulum) was sometimes left permanently in the ground as a warning and deterrent (like a hangman’s scaffold in a public square). • Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus, who were probably known to Mark’s readers (cp. Rom 16:13). • Golgotha is Aramaic, meaning Place of the Skull. In the Latin Vulgate, “skull” is calvariae…”

“they compel: Mat 27:32; Luk 23:26 a Cyrenian: Act 2:10, Act 6:9, Act 11:20, Act 13:1 and Rufus: Rom 16:13 to bear: Luk 14:27; Joh 15:18-20 Mark 15:22”