EBD: Crucifixion
SMITH: CRUCIFIXION
ISBE: CRUCIFIXION
BRIDGEWAY: CRUCIFIXION
Crucifixion
Crucifixion [nave]
CRUCIFIXIONThe reproach of, Gal. 3:13; 5:11.
Of Jesus, See: Jesus, History of.
Of two malefactors, Matt. 27:38.
Of disciples, foretold, Matt. 23:34.
See: Cross.
Figurative
Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Gal. 5:24; Gal. 6:14 See: Cross, Figurative.
Crucifixion [ebd]
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 (Lev. 20), and stoning (Deut. 21).
This was regarded as the most horrible form of death, and to a Jew it would acquire greater horror from the curse in Deut. 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 (Luke 23:22; John 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 (Matt. 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 (Matt. 27:48; Luke 23:36), he tasted to allay the agonies of his thirst (John 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; Luke 23:32), and was watched by a party of four soldiers (John 19:23; Matt. 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 (John 19:31); but the unusual rapidity of our Lord's death (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 (John 19:34). Our Lord uttered seven memorable words from the cross, namely, (1) Luke 23:34; (2) 23:43; (3) John 19:26; (4) Matt. 27:46, Mark 15:34; (5) John 19:28; (6) 19:30; (7) Luke 23:46.
CRUCIFIXION [smith]
was in used among the Egyptians, (Genesis 40:19) the Carthaginians, the Persians, (Esther 7:10) 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, (John 19:23) with their centurion, (Matthew 27:66) 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. (John 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 (21:22,23) an express national exception was made in favor of the Jews. (Matthew 27:58) This accursed and awful mode of punishment was happily abolished by Constantine.CRUCIFIXION [bridgeway]
It is not certain where or when the practice of crucifixion originated, but it had been used as a method of execution long before the time of the Roman Empire. The Romans used it mainly against those accused of anti-government rebellion (Luke 23:18-19). When the Jews wanted to get rid of Jesus, they knew that if they accused him to the Roman governor of treason, they could call for his crucifixion (Luke 23:1-2,20-21).Jesus’ trial, before both the Jewish Council and the Roman governor, ignored many of the normal procedures, and was contrary to all accepted standards of justice (Matt 26:57-68; 27:11-31; see SANHEDRIN; PILATE). Once it became clear that Jesus was to be crucified, procedures followed a well established pattern.
The Bible gives no detailed description of the horrors that made crucifixion such a frightful sight, though it records the crucifixion story at length. This emphasizes the significance of the crucifixion as being central to the mission of Jesus and, indeed, to the entire history of the world (1 Cor 2:1-5; Gal 6:14; 1 Peter 2:24). (For the theological meaning of the crucifixion see CROSS.)
Crucifixion was carried out in a public place outside the city (Matt 27:31,33,39; John 19:20; Heb 13:12), though the trial took place inside the city, usually at the governor’s headquarters (Matt 27:27; see PRAETORIUM). The condemned person was first of all flogged (Matt 27:26), and then led off through the city to be crucified (Matt 27:31; Luke 23:27). He even had to carry the heavy piece of wood that formed the horizontal part of the cross on which he was to be crucified (John 19:17). If he was so weak from the flogging that he collapsed under the load, another person was forced to carry it for him (Matt 27:32).
At the place of crucifixion the usual procedure was to nail the victim’s outstretched arms to the crosspiece, and then to lift this on to the vertical piece already fixed in the ground. The feet were then nailed (Luke 24:39; John 20:25). Though lifted up from the ground, the victim was close enough to the ground for people to read the accusation nailed to the cross above his head (John 19:19-20). People could also give him drugged wine to deaden the pain, though when it was offered to Jesus he refused it (Matt 27:34).
The soldiers who carried out the crucifixion received the victim’s clothing (John 19:23-24). To prevent any attempted rescue, soldiers remained at the cross till the victim was dead (Matt 27:54). This may have taken several days, so to hasten the death they sometimes broke the victim’s legs (John 19:31). This was not necessary in the case of Jesus. When, after about six hours on the cross, he knew that he had finished the work he had come to do, he triumphantly committed his spirit to God, bowed his head, and died (Mark 15:25,33-34,37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30).
