Mark 15:25 - They Crucified Him.
Mark 15:25; They Crucified Him.
Mark 15:25 (KJV) And it was the third hour, and they crucified
Crucifixion - Medical Description
What is Crucifixion?
A medical doctor provides a physical description: The Cross is
placed on the ground and the exhausted Man is quickly thrown backwards
with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire [A member of a
legion: the major unit of the Roman army, trained for combat, consisting
of 3,000 to 6,000 infantry troops and 100 to 200 cavalry troops.]
feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy,
square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood.
Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful
not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and
movement. The Cross is then lifted into place.
The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and
with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch
of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now crucified.
As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists,
excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode
in the brain--the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the
median [Situated in or near the plane that divides a bilaterally
symmetrical animal into right and left halves; mesial.] nerves. As He
pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places the
full weight on the nail through his feet. Again He feels the searing
agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of His
feet. As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting
them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes
the inability to push Himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn
into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise Himself in order
to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in
the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside.
Spasmodically [Happening intermittently.] He is able to push
himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.
Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending
[To tear or split apart or into pieces violently; To tear away
forcibly.] cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation [Asphyxia: a condition
in which an extreme decrease in the amount of oxygen in the body
accompanied by an increase of carbon dioxide leads to loss of consciousness
or death. Asphyxia can be induced by choking, drowning, electric
shock, injury, or the inhalation of toxic gases.], searing pain as
tissue is torn from His lacerated [Lacerate: to rip, cut, or tear.]
back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another
agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the
pericardium [The membranous sac filled with serous fluid that encloses the
heart and the roots of the aorta and other large blood vessels.]
slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now
almost over--the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical
level--the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish
blood into the tissues--the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort
to gasp [To draw in the breath sharply, as from shock; to breathe
convulsively or laboriously.] in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill
of death creeping through is tissues... Finally he can allow his
body to die. And, "It is finished..."
All this the Bible records with the simple words, "And they
crucified Him." (Mark 15:24). What wondrous love is this?
Adapted from C. Truman Davis, M.D. in The Expositor's Bible
Commentary, Vol. 8