Reference: Crucifixion
Easton
a common mode of punishment among heathen nations in early times. It is not certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was not. The modes of capital punishment according to the Mosaic law were, by the sword (Ex 21), strangling, fire (Le 20), and stoning (De 21).
This was regarded as the most horrible form of death, and to a Jew it would acquire greater horror from the curse in De 21:23.
This punishment began by subjecting the sufferer to scourging. In the case of our Lord, however, his scourging was rather before the sentence was passed upon him, and was inflicted by Pilate for the purpose, probably, of exciting pity and procuring his escape from further punishment (Lu 23:22; Joh 19:1).
The condemned one carried his own cross to the place of execution, which was outside the city, in some conspicuous place set apart for the purpose. Before the nailing to the cross took place, a medicated cup of vinegar mixed with gall and myrrh (the sopor) was given, for the purpose of deadening the pangs of the sufferer. Our Lord refused this cup, that his senses might be clear (Mt 27:34). The spongeful of vinegar, sour wine, posca, the common drink of the Roman soldiers, which was put on a hyssop stalk and offered to our Lord in contemptuous pity (Mt 27:48; Lu 23:36), he tasted to allay the agonies of his thirst (Joh 19:29). The accounts given of the crucifixion of our Lord are in entire agreement with the customs and practices of the Roman in such cases. He was crucified between two "malefactors" (Isa 53:12; Lu 23:32), and was watched by a party of four soldiers (Joh 19:23; Mt 27:36,54), with their centurion. The "breaking of the legs" of the malefactors was intended to hasten death, and put them out of misery (Joh 19:31); but the unusual rapidity of our Lord's death (Joh 19:33) was due to his previous sufferings and his great mental anguish. The omission of the breaking of his legs was the fulfilment of a type (Ex 12:46). He literally died of a broken heart, a ruptured heart, and hence the flowing of blood and water from the wound made by the soldier's spear (Joh 19:34). Our Lord uttered seven memorable words from the cross, namely, (1) Lu 23:34; (2) Lu 23:43; (3) Joh 19:26; (4) Mt 27:46; Mr 15:34; (5) Joh 19:28; (6) Joh 19:30; (7) Lu 23:46.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.
and sitting down, they kept watch over him there.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with wine vinegar and put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink.
So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified, and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified. And their voices prevailed.
And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
And the people stood watching; but even the rulers sneered at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself."
It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,
Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he praised God, and said, "Certainly this was a righteous man!"
So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments, and made four parts, one for each soldier, and also his tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!"
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst." Now a vessel full of wine vinegar was sitting there; so they filled a sponge with the vinegar, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth. read more. So when Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished!" And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Therefore, because it was the day of Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Hastings
CRUCIFIXION
1. Its nature.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to carry his cross.
they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots;
And they put up over his head the charge written against him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with wine vinegar and put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink.
And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself also become a disciple of Jesus.
And the inscription of the charge written against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified. And their voices prevailed.
One of the criminals who were hanged there hurled insults at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.
Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Therefore, because it was the day of Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Therefore, because it was the day of Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the mark of the nails, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe."
The God of our fathers raised Jesuswhom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"
having canceled the certificate of debt, which stood against us with its decrees. He took what was hostile away from us, nailing it to the cross.
This is he who came by water and bloodJesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood.
There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree.
Morish
The most painful and the most degrading capital punishment, reserved for the worst crimes and for the lowest class of people. The Romans used a short beam fastened to a long upright one, on which was placed a piece of wood for the feet to rest on. Nails were driven through the hands and feet; but historians say that sometimes the feet were only tied. The torture was dreadful, and the thirst great; but in some cases life lasted three days, none of the vital parts being reached. The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus and of the two malefactors are the only cases named in scripture: crucifixion was not practised by the Jews. A stupefying draught was given to the prisoners, but the Lord refused it. He would drink the bitter cup to the dregs. It is clear from scripture, by His crying with a loud voice just before His death, that as stated in John's gospel (Joh 10:18) He gave up His life. Lu 23:46; Joh 19:30. The Lord referred to the manner of His death as being lifted up out of the earth, so that death by stoning would not have answered to this. Joh 3:14; 8:28; 12:32. We also read that He was made a curse for us; for "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Ga 3:13; De 21:23. Thus did the blessed Lord in saving rebellious man go down to the very lowest form of death.
The crucifixion is used metaphorically to instruct those who are associated with Christ: of believers it is said their 'old man' is crucified with Him. Ro 6:6. Paul could say that he was crucified with Christ; and that by Christ the world was crucified to him, and he to the world. Ga 2:20; 6:14. He accepted the judgement of himself in the cross, and he was cut off from the world by the same means.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he praised God, and said, "Certainly this was a righteous man!"
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak just what the Father taught me.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my Father."
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."
So when Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished!" And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"
But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Smith
was in used among the Egyptians,
the Carthaginians, the Persians,
the Assyrians, Scythains, Indians, Germans, and from the earliest times among the Greeks and Romans. Whether this mode of execution was known to the ancient Jews is a matter of dispute. Probably the Jews borrowed it from the Romans. It was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death. Among the Romans the degradation was also a part of the infliction, and the punishment if applied to freemen was only used in the case of the vilest criminals. The one to be crucified was stripped naked of all his clothes, and then followed the most awful moment of all. He was laid down upon the implement of torture. His arms were stretched along the cross-beams, and at the centre of the open palms the point of a huge iron nail was placed, which, by the blow of a mallet, was driven home into the wood. Then through either foot separately, or possibly through both together, as they were placed one over the other, another huge nail tore its way through the quivering flesh. Whether the sufferer was also bound to the cross we do not know; but, to prevent the hands and feet being torn away by the weight of the body, which could not "rest upon nothing but four great wounds," there was, about the centre of the cross, a wooden projection strong enough to support, at least in part, a human body, which soon became a weight of agony. Then the "accursed tree" with its living human burden was slowly heaved up and the end fixed firmly in a hole in the ground. The feet were but a little raised above the earth. The victim was in full reach of every hand that might choose to strike. A death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of the horrible and ghastly, --dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, tetanus, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of untended wounds, all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness. The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries, especially of the head and stomach, became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and, while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst. Such was the death to which Christ was doomed. --Farrar's "Life of Christ." The crucified was watched, according to custom, by a party of four soldiers,
Joh 19:23
with their centurion,
whose express office was to prevent the stealing of the body. This was necessary from the lingering character of the death, which sometimes did not supervene even for three days, and was at last the result of gradual benumbing and starvation. But for this guard, the persons might have been taken down and recovered, as was actually done in the case of a friend of Josephus. Fracture of the legs was especially adopted by the Jews to hasten death.
Joh 19:31
In most cases the body was suffered to rot on the cross by the action of sun and rain, or to be devoured by birds and beasts. Sepulture was generally therefore forbidden; but in consequence of
De 21:22-23
an express national exception was made in favor of the Jews.
This accursed and awful mode of punishment was happily abolished by Constantine.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments, and made four parts, one for each soldier, and also his tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
Therefore, because it was the day of Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.