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.
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In one house shall it be eaten. Ye shall carry none of the flesh out at the doors: moreover, see that ye break not a bone thereof.
let not his body remain all night upon the tree, but bury him the same day. For the curse of God is on him that is hanged. Defile not thy land therefore, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit.
Therefore I will give him his part in many, and the spoil of the rich he shall divide: because he gave his soul to death, and was numbered with the trespassers, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for transgressors.
they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli Eli lama sabacthani?" That is to say, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
When the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things which happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Of a surety this was the son of God."
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani," which is, if it be interpreted, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
He said unto them the third time, "What evil hath he done? I find no cause of death in him. I will therefore chasten him, and let him go loose."
And there were two evildoers led with him to be slain.
Then said Jesus, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
The soldiers also mocked him, and came and gave him vinegar,
And Jesus said unto him, "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise."
And Jesus cried with a great voice and said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And when he thus had said, he gave up the ghost.
Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also his coat. The coat was without seam, wrought upon throughout.
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple standing whom he loved, he said unto his mother, "Woman behold thy son."
After that, when Jesus perceived that all things were performed, that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, "I thirst." There stood a vessel full of vinegar by. And they filled a sponge with vinegar, and wound it about with hyssop, and put it to his mouth. read more. As soon as Jesus had received of the vinegar, he said, "It is finished," and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. The Jews then, because it was the Sabbath even that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day - For that Sabbath day was a high day - besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken down.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear, thrust him into the side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
Hastings
CRUCIFIXION
1. Its nature.
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If a man have committed a trespass worthy of death and is put to death for it and hanged on tree:
If a man have committed a trespass worthy of death and is put to death for it and hanged on tree: let not his body remain all night upon the tree, but bury him the same day. For the curse of God is on him that is hanged. Defile not thy land therefore, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit.
And then Joshua smote them and slew them and hanged them on five trees till evening.
And they hanged up his harness in the house of Ashtaroth, but they hanged up his carcass on the walls of Bet-Shean.
This commandment have I given. And what man soever he be that altereth these words, there shall a beam be taken from his house, and set up, and he shall be hanged thereon, and his house shall be made a dunghill for the deed.
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had made for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, named Simon: him they compelled to bear his cross.
they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. When they had crucified him, they parted his garments, and did cast lots. To fulfill that was spoken by the prophet, "They divided my garments among them: and upon my vesture did cast lots."
And they set up over his head the cause of his death written, "This is Jesus the King of the Jews."
And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea named Joseph, which same also was Jesus' disciple.
And the title of his cause of his death was written, "The King of the Jews."
He said unto them the third time, "What evil hath he done? I find no cause of death in him. I will therefore chasten him, and let him go loose."
And his superscription was written over him, in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew letters: "This is the King of the Jews."
Behold my hands and my feet: that it is even I myself. Handle me and see. For spirits have not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
Behold my hands and my feet: that it is even I myself. Handle me and see. For spirits have not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.
And Pilate wrote his title, and put it on the cross: The writing was, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."
And Pilate wrote his title, and put it on the cross: The writing was, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."
The Jews then, because it was the Sabbath even that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day - For that Sabbath day was a high day - besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken down.
The Jews then, because it was the Sabbath even that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day - For that Sabbath day was a high day - besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken down.
but one of the soldiers with a spear, thrust him into the side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
The other disciples said unto him, "We have seen the Lord." And he said unto them, "Except I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the holes of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on tree.
And we are witnesses of all things which he did in the land of the Jews and at Jerusalem: whom they slew, and hung on tree.
And when they had fulfilled all that were written of him, they took him down from the tree and put him in a sepulchre:
But Christ hath delivered us from the curse of the law, and was made accursed for us - for it is written, "Cursed is everyone that hangeth on tree" -
and hath put out the handwriting that was against us, contained in the law written, and that hath he taken out of the way, and hath fastened it to his cross,
This Jesus Christ is he that came by water and blood, not by water only: but by water and blood.
For there are three that bear record: the spirit, and water, and blood: and these three are one.
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.
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let not his body remain all night upon the tree, but bury him the same day. For the curse of God is on him that is hanged. Defile not thy land therefore, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit.
And Jesus cried with a great voice and said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And when he thus had said, he gave up the ghost.
And as Moses lift up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lift up,
Then said Jesus unto them, "When ye have lift up on high the son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; But as my father hath taught me, even so I speak.
No man taketh it from me: but I put it away of myself. I have power to put it from me, and power I have to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father."
And I, if I were lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."
As soon as Jesus had received of the vinegar, he said, "It is finished," and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
This we must remember, that our old man is crucified with him also, that the body of sin might utterly be destroyed; that henceforth we should not be servants of sin.
I am crucified with Christ. I live verily, yet now not I, but Christ liveth in me. For the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God, which loved me, and gave himself for me.
But Christ hath delivered us from the curse of the law, and was made accursed for us - for it is written, "Cursed is everyone that hangeth on tree" -
God forbid that I should rejoice but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified as touching me, and I as concerning 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.
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for this day, three days, shall Pharaoh take thy head from thee, and shall hang thee on a tree, and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee."
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had made for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
And they went and made the sepulchre sure with watchmen, and sealed the stone.
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also his coat. The coat was without seam, wrought upon throughout.
The Jews then, because it was the Sabbath even that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day - For that Sabbath day was a high day - besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken down.