HOW DID JESUS DIE SO
QUICKLY ON THE CROSS?
I used to wonder how
JESUS could have passed on the cross so quickly. Besides the lack of O2 and the
spear in His side when this was done He had already passed at that point.
Like most of us,
coming from a society where flogging is not the norm (and should never be!), where
as a child a switch on the rear for bad behavior or the strap at school was the
norm. I never understood but after seeing the movie “The Passion” and photos
like these, one can see that major body trauma from the lashing alone, would
expedite our LORD's death on that cross.
As the reference of
40 lashes was actually the maximum that any man could receive in Jewish law and
it was always done very careful not to exceed 40 but no one ever said what
lashing was really like. Forty lashes were done to never risk breaking in
Jewish Law at the time, for it was the LORD GOD's Commandment. This is why it
is said "forty lashes less one" or thirty-nine and we often infer
this number to the lashes that JESUS received.
A sentencing judge or
a witness would count the strikes as they fell; and in case someone made a
mistake they stopped at 39 and the administered whippings in the synagogues for
certain offenses, these were mild in comparison to scourging.
So why did Pilate
have Jesus scourged? Roman law required capital sentences to be accompanied by
scourging, the decision to scourge JESUS was made before it was determined that
he would be crucified. After JESUS was scourged, Pilate attempted to release
him. Only when this small crowd threatened riot causing possibly the whole city
to riot, at this suggestion did Pilate allow JESUS to be crucified and then,
still in my opinion reluctantly. It seems that Pilate had two things in mind.
First, it may be that Pilate, while he was unable to find out exactly what
Jesus had done to cause this crowd to be so angry with him, suspected that JESUS
was at least a troublemaker and had probably done something to deserve a
flogging. It was Pilate’s job to keep and enforce peace in his region of the
empire, so he probably felt no guilt at having JESUS scourged for having caused
such an uproar. Second, Pilate hoped that if he humiliated JESUS enough this
mob would be satisfied and he would not have to execute a man he believed to be
innocent. He stood the scourged JESUS before the mob wearing a crown of thorns
and a mock robe. Pilate told them, “Behold, the man!” by this he meant; “Look
at him now. He will not go around calling himself a King any more and He will
not cause you any more trouble!”
However, this mob was
not satisfied with only a humiliated JESUS, they demanded His death…
Scourging, called
verberatio by the Romans was possibly the worst kind of flogging administered
by ancient courts. Scourging unlike crucifixion was not normally a form of
execution, but it certainly was brutal enough to be fatal in many cases. A
person certainly could be beaten to death by the scourge if that was desired.
Its purpose was not only to cause great pain, but also like crucifixion, to
humiliate as well. It was belittling, debasing, and demeaning. It was
considered such a degrading form of punishment that, according to Roman laws,
Roman citizens were exempt from it. It was, therefore, the punishment
appropriate only for slaves and non-Romans, those who were viewed as the lesser
elements in Roman society. To make it as humiliating as possible, scourging was
carried out in public. The instrument used to deliver this form of punishment
was called in Latin a flagellum or a flagrum. This was much different from the
bull whip that is more commonly known in our culture. Can you believe, I had a
Great Grandfather who used a bull whip to punish his kids and I thought the school
strap was bad?
It was instead more
like the old British cat o’ nine tails, except that the flagellum was not
designed merely to bruise or leave welts on the victim. The flagellum was a
whip with several (at least three) thongs or strands, each perhaps as much as
three feet long, and the strands were weighted with lead balls or pieces of
bone. This instrument was designed to lacerate. The weighed thongs struck the
skin so violently that it broke open and tore flesh. There are many recounts
with vivid, horrible detail a scene of scourging. For example here is one; “For
they say that the bystanders were struck with amazement when they saw them
lacerated with scourges even to the innermost veins and arteries, so that the
hidden inward parts of the body, both their bowels and their members, were
exposed to view! Now I finally know how our LORD died so quickly on the cross and
I also understand as so did JESUS, for He knew as He spoke His death of what
was to come…
These thoughts came
to me from a photo post from a friend.
Sir Richard.
