- Supplement to Lesson 13
Crucifixion is a very ancient form of
capital punishment. It was known by the Assyrians and Babylonians
of Old Testament times. It was used by the Greeks. When Alexander
the Great captured Tyre on his march eastward, he crucified a
thousand captured citizens of the city. The Romans adopted it,
but used it only on slaves and the lowest classes of foreign
criminals. Roman citizens were exempted by law from suffering
this form of death.
Cicero the Roman statesman calls it
"the most cruel and most frightful means of execution."
Josephus recoils from it as "the most pitiable of all forms
of death." This typically Roman death penalty was unknown in
the Jewish penal code.
Three kinds of crosses were in use at the
time: the so-called St. Andrew's Cross (X, the Crux decussata),
the Cross in the form of a T (Crux Comissa), and the ordinary
Latin Cross (+, Crux immissa). It is generally believed that
Jesus was crucified on the last of these three. Also, the
inscription board would most easily be mounted on this one, and
in addition the testimony of those who lived nearest the time is
in favor of this type of cross (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and many
The palace gates opened. A strange
procession emerged onto the road to Golgotha. Artists trying to
portray that scene usually show the Saviour in spotless garments.
Why not present the picture as it must have been: The Prisoner
was a miserable sight. For long hours He had undergone tortures
of mind and body. His hair was matted with blood from the thorns.
His clothing was ripped and torn. His body battered and bruised.
He had been struck and beaten, first by Jews and then by Romans.
A Roman scourging would render the strongest body a wreck for
weeks. Jesus was still bleeding from all this torture. His body
must have been wracked with pain at every step.
Crucifixion was a very cruel death, a
torturing death. First came the terrible scourging with leather
thongs to which were fastened sharp pellets of lead and iron as
well as, sometimes, knucklebones. The victim was stripped and
tied to a post. The man 's back was soon ripped to pieces, and
many lost consciousness. Some went mad. Christ was scourged
twice, and following the second scourging the cross was placed
upon His shoulders.
The scourging always preceded the
crucifixion,--Josephus tells us this twice. It was a Roman custom
to scourge condemned criminals before the sentence of death was
executed. This was considered to be a part of the punishment.
It was also the custom of the time to turn
condemned criminals over to the soldiers and the populace for
torment, mockery, and ridicule, as an additional part of their
punishment. Of this humiliating experience Jesus had also
received more than the usual portion. Three times He was buffeted
and persecuted in this manner: by the Jews, by the soldiers of
Herod, and by the soldiers of Pilate. Said Tacitus, the Roman
historian, "To the sufferings of those who were put to death
were added mockery and derision."
In addition, the crown of thorns had been
pressed into His head earlier. Mark 15:17. Experts say that it
was woven from the Syrian Christ's-thorn (Paliurus spina-christi
or Zizyphus jujuba). This is a bush or small tree, ten to fifteen
feet high, with plain white twigs. Its stipulae have each two
strong thorns which curve backward. According to Dr. G. E. Post,
who is an expert on these matters, this plant grows in the region
of old Jerusalem, especially in the area where Golgotha is said
to have been.
It was the custom of the time for the
victim to carry his own cross to the place of execution. This
practice was followed in the crucifixion of Jesus. "Then
delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they
took Jesus, and led Him away. And He bearing His cross went forth
into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the
Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified Him, and two other with
Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst." John
19:16-18. Of this ancient practice, Plutarch, a Greek historian
of the first century, says: "Every kind of wickedness
produces its own particular torment; just as every malefactor,
when he is brought forth to execution, carries his own
The cross was borne to the execution by the
One who was to suffer on it--perhaps with His arms bound to it
with cords. Frequently, the neck of the victim was fastened
within the "patibulum," two horizontal pieces of wood,
fastened at the end, to which the hands were bound. Ordinarily,
the procession was headed by the centurion, or rather, preceded
by one who proclaimed the nature of the crime, and carried a
white, wooden board, on which it was written. Commonly, also, it
took the longest road to the place of execution, and through the
most crowded streets, so as to attract the greatest public
attention. Scripture tells us that "the place . . . was nigh
to the city." John 19:20. But whether they took a short
route to it that day or not, we do not know. A pilgrim from
Bordeaux who visited Jerusalem in the year 333 specifically
mentioned "the little hill of Golgotha (Monticulus Golgotha)
where the Lord was crucified." In its full length, the
journey from the Praetorium to Golgotha could not have been a
long one. Execution would take place outside the city. Pilate
would not dare outrage Jewish feelings by crucifying anyone
within the walls of the Holy City.
When one to be crucified left the
courtroom, he was often stripped of his clothes. In this
condition, as was mentioned above, he was forced to walk through
the busiest parts of town, carrying the cross, and whipped and
mocked all the way. In this case, we are told that after His
scourging they "put His own raiment upon Him, and led Him
away." Matthew 2 7:31. One of the old classical authorities,
Plautus by name, said: "Patibulum ferat per urbem, deinde
affigatur cruce -- Let him bear the cross through the town, then
let him be nailed to the cross." The soldiers in charge of
the execution formed a bodyguard which accompanied the victim to
the place of crucifixion, not only to prevent the victim from
escaping but to prevent friends and relatives from attempting a
The Way of the Cross must have been
thronged. The city was crowded for the festival season of the
Passover. While the majority may have reviled the prisoner on the
way to the execution, there must have been many who looked on now
with honor and pity. Those who had known Jesus or had listened to
His words, and there were many such in the multitude, must have
turned from the scene with pain akin to heartbreak. Although only
four soldiers were officially necessary for the actual execution,
there must have been a large detachment present to preserve
And what was ahead? Crucifixion. Sometimes
criminals were tied to the cross by the feet and outstretched
arms. Others had their feet nailed to the upright of the cross
and their hands spiked to the crosspiece, care being taken not to
injure arteries or sever large blood vessels lest the agonies of
the victim be shortened by excessive bleeding. Either method
ensured a long, lingering death with the maximum of torture and
pain. Reliable historians report cases of crucified persons
living for days, while enduring all the torments of death from
hunger, from thirst, from exposure, from fever, and from
excruciating pain simultaneously. The horrors of this type of
punishment were held up as a deterrent to hardened criminals.
They were told that their bodies would be suspended until the
carrion birds had stripped the bones,--and even the bones
themselves would be denied burial.
The place where Jesus was crucified is
called Calvary in Latin, and Golgotha in Hebrew. The Greek word
is Kranion. The name means "skull," and is spoken of as
"the place of a skull." in Scripture. Some consider
this to mean a place of skulls--where men died and bones were
laying around--a place of death. Others think it to be a place
that resembled a skull because of the shape of the summit of the
hill on which it occurred. North of Jerusalem is what is know as
"Gordon's Calvary," which, seen from the wall of the
city, somewhat resembles a skull, with two caves below the brow
suggesting eyes. While we are told that the place "was nigh
to the city," the exact location can only be a matter of
conjecture. Jesus was crucified outside of the wall, but until we
can identify the exact location of the north wall in the time of
Christ. we may never know with certainty the exact location of
Calvary. The traditional site is inside the present north wall,
and covered by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was begun
in 325 A.D. following a visit to Jerusalem by Helena, the mother
of Constantine the Great. Inside the tottering structure, is to
be found a fourteen-foot hillock called "Calvary"
rising to the balcony level. Gordon's Calvary, which today is
more countrified in appearance, was first identified in 1849 by
Otto Thenius. Near it are adjacent gardens that would remind one
of the description in John 19:41.
According to Mark 15:25, Jesus was
crucified at "the third hour, "or nine o 'clock in the
morning. Two thieves were crucified at the same time, one on
either side of Him. Thus was fulfilled the prediction of the
prophet that "He was numbered with the transgressors."
Before being crucified, Jesus was stripped
of His outer garments, which probably consisted of a cloak, a
sort of shirt, a girdle, and a pair of sandals. The soldiers
divided these among themselves, casting lots over them.
"They crucified Him, and parted His garments, casting lots:
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They
parted My garments among them, and upon My vesture did they cast
lots." Matthew 27:35. This is the prophecy of Psalm 22:18.
This, too, is a Roman custom, and the record of it is another
evidence of the truthfulness of the Biblical account.
"And they gave Him to drink wine
mingled with myrrh: but He received it not." Mark 15:23.
This was "the death draught." It was dispensed as an
act of mercy. Similar acts are frequently recorded on other
occasions. We read in an old Jewish Baraita: "Anyone who is
led out to execution is given a small piece of incense in a
beaker of wine to numb his senses . . . The good women of
Jerusalem have a custom of dispensing this generously and
bringing it to the victims." Moldenke, who has done much
research into Biblical plants, has this to say: "Wine mixed
with myrrh was given to Jesus just before the Crucifixion to
lessen the pain, just as in the days before anaesthetics,
intoxicating drinks were poured into the unfortunate patients on
the eve of big operations." The drink offered to Jesus was a
mixture of frankincense and myrrh poured into a cup of vinegar.
Its purpose was to produce stupefaction in order to render the
victim partially unconscious to the pain caused by the nails.
This Hebrew custom was sponsored by wealthy Jewish women of
Jerusalem. Lightfoot tells us that "some of the wealthy
ladies of Jerusalem charged themselves with this office of mercy.
"Jesus, however, refused the drink and endured with all His
senses the torture of being nailed to the cross. His mind must be
clear in this final hour, as in every other in His earthly life.
Roman soldiers were accustomed to drinking
a thin, sour wine. Sometimes, in the field, they drank acetum, or
wine soured to the vinegar stage, diluted with water or oil. This
was known as posca, according to the Roman historian, Pliny the
Elder. It has been suggested that the drink offered to Jesus was
this posca, to which myrrh had been added as a narcotic.
Narcotics made from plant extracts had long been in use.
The punishment of crucifixion was invented
to make death as painful and as lingering as the power of human
endurance. Here is one description of how it occurred: First, the
upright wood was planted in the ground. Next the transverse
(horizontal) wood was placed on the ground. This piece was called
the antenna. The sufferer was laid upon it, and his arms were
extended, drawn up, and bound to it. Then a strong, sharp nail
was driven, first into the right, then into the left hand (the
clavi trabales). Next, the sufferer was drawn up by means of
ropes, perhaps ladders; the transverse either bound or nailed to
the upright, and a rest or support for the body (the cornu or
sedile) fastened on it. Lastly, the feet were extended, and
either one nail hammered into each, or a larger piece of iron
through the two. And so might the crucified hang for hours, and
even for days, in the unutterable anguish of suffering, till
consciousness at last failed.
In some cases, the whole cross was first
erected, and then the victim lifted up to it, and only after
that, the nails fastened into his arms and feet. However, we are
told in Desire of Ages, that in the case of Jesus, He was first
nailed to the cross, and then it was lifted and thrust heavily
into the hole previously made for it. "As soon as Jesus was
nailed to the cross, it was lifted by strong men, and with great
violence thrust into the place prepared for it. This caused the
most intense agony to the Son of God." --page 745.
It is said that the use of the cross as an
instrument of punishment had its origin in the ancient practice
of fastening a criminal "to a tree, which was termed
accursed," and was later known as "the cross." The
cross was therefore still spoken of as a "tree" in the
days of the apostles. Peter wrote: "Who His own self bare
our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to
sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were
healed." 1 Peter 2:24. The cross as first used by the
Babylonians during the reign of Semiramis was in the form of a T,
for Tammuz, one of the names of Nimrod, her husband.
Of the ancient cross, Renan wrote: "A
piece of wood was fastened to the upright portion of the cross,
toward the middle, and passed between the legs of the condemned,
who rested upon it. Without that, the hands would have been torn
and the body would have sunk down. At other times, a small
horizontal rest was fixed beneath the feet, and sustained
them."--The Life of Christ, page 364. Irenaeus, an early
Christian writer, said: "The structure of the cross has five
ends or summits, two in length, two in breadth, and one in the
middle, on which the crucified person rests." Justin Martyr,
another early writer, mentioned a projecting end from the middle
of the upright post "like a horn, on which the crucified
persons are seated." And Tertullian wrote of "the
projecting bar which serves as a seat." Stroud described the
cross as "having a short bar or stake projecting from its
middle."--The Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, page
On some occasions criminals were bound by
cords to the cross. The usual method was nailing. This was the
practice of the Romans and Carthagenians, though not of the
Egyptians--who only bound their victims.
Artists usually picture Christ as nailed in
the palm of the hand. However, since the whole weight of a man's
body would be upon the hands, a nail placed there would not have
the necessary support and would drag through the tendons. So it
was customary to drive a nail through the wrist. Between
"the bones of the wrist there is a free space, bounded by
the captitate, the semi-lunar, the triquetral and the hamate
bones," generally known as "Destot's space."
Historical anatomists tell us that those who were skilled in
executions knew exactly where to drive the nail both for security
and for the infliction of greater pain. The nail would go right
against the large median nerve, which serves all the sensory
nerves of the hand, and when the hand was stretched, the
slightest movement would cause the most excruciating pain. The
Flemish artists Rubens and Vandyke depict the crucifixion in this
way. We are told that archaeology confirms it.
"Pilate wrote a title, and put it on
the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE
JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where
Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in
Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin." John 19:19-20. This
inscription contained the name of the condemned, His place of
residence, and the charge on which he was sentenced to be
crucified. Matthew declared that the inscription was "set up
over His head. "It was doubt less nailed to the top of the
upright beam of the cross. The accusation was written in the
three leading languages spoken in Palestine, so that all could
read it. Hebrew was the national dialect of the Jews; Greek was
the universal tongue of the civilized western world; and Latin
was the official language of the judicial and executive power of
the then ruling empire. Geikie declares that the three languages
were a symbol of "the relation of the cross to all the
nationalities of the world."
It was customary to carry this board before
the prisoner, and there is no reason for supposing any exception
in this instance. The inscription as given by Matthew exactly
corresponds with that which Eusebius records as the Latin titulus
on the cross of one of the early martyrs. The place of the
crucifixion was near to the great road which led from the North
to Jerusalem. On that particular Feast-day, when, as there was no
law to limit, as on the weekly day of rest, travel to a 'Sabbath
day's journey,' many would pass in and out of the City, and the
attention of the crowd would naturally be arrested by the
spectacle of the three Crosses. Equally so, they would have been
impressed by the Roman titulus over the Cross of Christ.
This act of Pilate in having the title
affixed to the Cross of Christ was also a well-established Roman
custom. Suetonius, a Roman historian of the first century,
describes an execution by order of Domitian as follows: "He
exposed the father of the family to the dogs, with this title, 'A
gladiator, impious in speech.'" The victim was the father of
a family who had spoken disrespectfully of a fellow gladiator.
Dion Cassius, a Greek-Roman historian of the second century,
A.D., described a crucifixion scene thus: "Having led him
through the midst of the court or assembly, with a writing
signifying the cause of his death, and afterward crucifying
him." On such occasions the placard was either carried
before the victim or hung around his neck.
And now comes the scene of the final death
watch on Golgotha. Events have moved toward inevitable climax
with startling rabidity. Jesus had been taken prisoner before
dawn on that fatal Friday in the spring of 31 A.D. It is said
that it occurred on April 7. Now, even before mid-afternoon of
that same day, His - mutilated body, stripped of its few poor
garments, hung on the cross. The silence, seeming strange after
the tension and tumult, is broken only by the agonized moaning of
suffering men, an occasional call of ridicule directed to the One
in the midst, and low weeping of a few women who watch from afar.
Out of sympathy, one among the crowd filled
a sponge with the rough wine of the soldiers, and fastened it on
the stem ('reed') of the caper ('hyssop') plant, which is said to
grow to the height of two or three feet.
And then came His last words: "Father,
into Thy hands I commend My spirit." The word,
"commend," in its New Testament sense, means not merely
commending. It means to deposit, to commit something to another
for safe keeping. He spoke those words for you and for me. How
many thousands have whispered them when dying! They were the last
words of Polycarp, of John Huss, of Martin Luther, and of
"And Jesus cried with a loud voice,
and gave up the ghost."Mark 15:34,37. What was the cause of
Jesus' death? Of recent years scientific investigations carried
out by medical specialists in Cologne have attempted to answer
the question. In the case of a person suspended by his two hands
the blood sinks very quickly into the lower half of the body.
Within as little as fifteen minutes, blood pressure has dropped
by 50 percent, and the pulse rate has doubled. Too little blood
reaches the heart and fainting ensues. This leads to a speedy
orthostatic collapse through insufficient blood circulating to
the brain and the heart. Death by crucifixion is therefore due to
heart failure (coronary insufficiency).
There was another way in which the victim
could obtain relief from the suspension from his arms, and
consequent relief from the pooling of blood. And this was by the
nails in his feet: One way in which they were attached to the
beam was in this manner: The cross would be raised in an upright
position after the hands were nailed. The victim would thus be
suspended by his hands, and his knees would be flexed and the
feet crossed, and one long spike would be driven through both
feet. This was done not so much to take the weight off the hands
as to permit the victim to raise himself up at times in order to
expel the air from his lungs--for if he did not do this he would
soon die of asphyxiation, or lack of air. In this way life was
prolonged, and also the suffering.
It is a well-authenticated fact that
victims of crucifixion did not usually die for two days or even
longer. On the vertical beam there was often a small support
attached called a "sedile" (seat) or a
"cornu" (horn). If the victim hanging there eased his
misery from time to time by supporting himself on this, the blood
returned to the upper half of his body and the faintness passed.
When the torture of the crucified man was finally to be brought
to an end, the "crurifragium" followed: his legs were
broken below the knee with blows from a club. That meant that he
could no longer ease his weight on the footrests and heart
failure quickly followed.
But Jesus never received this
leg-shattering, or "crurifragium." "Then came the
soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which
was crucified with Him, But when they came to Jesus, and saw that
He was dead already, they brake not His legs." John
19:32-33. Why a crurifragium so quickly? Because the Jewish
leaders had requested it of Pilate. The day of the crucifixion
was "the day before the Sabbath" Mark 15:42, Luke
23:54. In addition, according to Scripture, the bodies of those
hung on trees, were not to remain hanging overnight. Deuteronomy
Jesus died of a broken heart. The fact that
both blood and water flowed from His pierced side establishes
this. As early as 1847 Dr. W Stroud in his book, Physical Cause
of the Death of Christ, suggested that the blood and water was
evidence that Jesus died of a physical rupture of the heart. His
heart was broken not because of suspension on the cross, for it
is well known that victims of crucifixion survived for more than
one day, Origen, who lived in the time when crucifixion was still
practiced, tells us that the majority of those who underwent the
experience lived through the night and day following.
Here is how Cunningham Geikie describes the
whole thing: "The suffering in crucifixion, from which death
at last resulted, rose partly from the constrained and fixed
position of the body, and of the outstretched arms, which caused
acute pain from every twitch or motion of the back, lacerated by
the knot, and of the hands and feet, pierced by the nails. These
latter were, moreover, driven through parts where many sensitive
nerves and sinews come together, and some of these were
mutilated, others violently crushed down. Inflammation of the
wounds in both hands and feet, speedily set in, and erelong rose
also in other places, where the circulation was checked by the
tension of the parts. Intolerable thirst, and ever-increasing
pain, resulted. The blood, which could no longer reach the
extremities, rose to the head, swelled the veins and arteries in
it unnaturally, and caused the most agonizing tortures in the
brain. As, besides, it could no longer move freely from the
lungs, the heart grew more and more oppressed, and all the veins
were distended. Had the wounds bled freely, it would have been a
great relief, but there was very little lost. The weight of the
body itself, resting on the wooden pin of the upright beam; the
burning of the sun scorching the veins, and the hot wind, which
dried up the moisture of the body, made each movement more
terrible than that before. The numbness and stiffness of the more
distant muscles brought on painful convulsions, and this
numbness, slowly extending through two or three days, at last
reached the vital parts, and released the sufferer by
death."--The life and Words of Christ, pages 781-782.
The Messiah would die of a broken, or
ruptured, heart. The fortieth Psalm is a Messianic prophecy, and
in verse twelve, speaking of the troubles that would encompass
Him, climaxing in His death, we are told, "Therefore My
heart faileth Me." The sixty-ninth Psalm tells us the
thoughts of Jesus on the cross, in which is a forecast of the
cause of His death: "Reproach hath broken My heart; and I am
full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there
was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave Me also
gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.
From the Biblical account of the death of
Jesus it is evident that His sudden death resulted from a
ruptured heart. Earnest Renan tells us: "The peculiar
atrocity of crucifixion was that one might live three or four
days in this horrible state upon the instrument of torture. The
hemorrhage from the hands quickly stopped, and was not mortal.
The true cause of death was the unnatural position of the body,
which brought on a frightful disturbance of the circulation,
terrible pains of the head and heart, and, at length, rigidity of
the limbs. Those who had a strong constitution only died of
hunger . . . Everything leads to the belief that the
instantaneous rupture of a vessel in the heart brought Him . . .
to a sudden death."--The Life of Jesus, pages 367-368.
Geikie adds: "The immediate cause of
death appears, beyond question, to have been the rupture of His
heart, brought about by mental agony."--The Life and Words
of Christ, page 78& Living as He did in such close harmony
with the laws of nature, there can be no question but that Jesus
had more than an ordinarily strong physical constitution. Under
ordinary circumstances, He should have lived several days on the
cross before death came.
When Joseph of Arimathaea went to Pilate
for the privilege of burying Jesus, we are told that "Pilate
marveled if He were already dead: and calling unto him the
centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead."
Mark 15:44. It was almost an unheard-of-thing for a crucified
person to die within two or three days unless death was hastened
by other means. Jesus did not die as the result of the
crucifixion. But rather, He died very suddenly in the midst of
terrible agony of mind and spirit.
The death of Christ immediately followed a
loud and piercing cry. Matthew 27:50, Luke 23:46. Usually, at the
time of death, the voice is the first organ to fail. It grows
weaker and fainter until it becomes inaudible. The loud and
piercing cry of Jesus indicated great physical strength, which
could suddenly be terminated only by the rupture of the heart.
"The cause now assigned for the death of Christ, namely,
RUPTURE OF THE HEART FROM AGONY OF MIND, has been proved to be
the result."--Dr. William Stroud, The Physical Cause of the
Death of Christ, pages 155-156.
It was separation from the Father that
broke the heart of Christ and caused His death. He bore our sins,
so that we might come back to God. But at Calvary the bearing of
those sins brought a separation that killed Him. It broke the
heart of Christ. Our sins have separated between us and our
God--and Christ bore the separation that we might return. You and
I caused the sufferings and the death of Christ.
Behold the love of God for a world that
does not love Him. Oh, my friend, just now as you read this
tract, won't you accept Him as your Saviour. There may never be a
better time. God calls us to Himself, but Satan is ever near to
whisper that it isn't the "right time." But bow much
more time can you count on? At this moment you know what you
should do. And you know that if you wait till that "better
time," you might never come.
Whether you are in the office or the shop,
in a car or at home--just now go to a quiet place, or bow your
bead or kneel down right where you are--and tell God what you've
done, and ask Him to forgive you. Tell Him you want to belong to
Him from now on. Give Him your will and your plans. Surrender all
that you have and are to Him. Tell Him that He shall have the
first place in every plan and action for the rest of your life.
Tell Him you are tired of the desolation you've made of your
life. Ask Him to send His Holy Spirit and His angels to guard and
protect you from Satan's power and to give you strength to obey
His Ten Commandment Law. For the sake of His own dear Son He will
do it. He will strengthen you and ennoble you as you come to Him
and determine to stay by His side. He will restore to you the
years the canker worm has eaten, in place of all the wasted past,
He can and He will give you a wonderful future in exchange.
The more earnest is your cry, the more
abundantly will He be able to help you in what is ahead. And as
you found Him, so walk with Him. As a little child coming home to
Father, you found the best Friend you will ever have. And as a
little child--stay with Him--all the way to the end.
May God bless you, and write me, won't you?
I want to hear from you, and when you write I'll send you
encouraging materials that will help you in your new life.