The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

crucified

At the time of Jesus punishment by the cross was confined to slaves or to criminals of the worst class. Exemption from it was the privilege of Roman citizenship.

This form of punishment was in use among the Egyptians (Gen 40:19), the Carthaginians, the Persians (Esth 7:10), the Assyrians, Scythians, Indians, Germans, and from earliest times among the Greeks and Romans.

After the conquest of Tyre, Alexander the Great ordered two thousand Tyrians to be crucified as punishment for the resistance which that city made.

Crucifixion was abolished by Constantine, probably toward the end of his reign,no doubt because of his increasing reverence for the cross.

Among the Jews, as well as among the Romans, crucifixion was considered the most horrible form of death; to a Jew it would seem the more horrible from the curse "He who is hanged is accursed of God" (Deut 21:23).

Crucifixion was preceded by scourging. The criminal carried his own cross, or a part of it, in which case another person was compelled to share the burden (Lk 23:26). The place of execution was outside the city (1 Ki 21:13; Acts 7:58; Heb 13:12); arriving there, the condemned was stripped of his clothes, which became the property of the soldiers (Mt 27:35); and the cross having been previously erected, he was drawn up and made fast to it with cords or nails, although sometimes he was first fastened to the cross and then raised. The limbs of the victim were generally three or four feet from the earth. Before the nailing or binding took place a medicated cup was given out of kindness to confuse the senses and deaden the pangs of the sufferer (Pro 31:6), usually of "wine mixed with myrrh," because myrrh was medicinal. The Lord refused it (Mt. 27:34; Mk 15:23).

The sufferer was left to die of exhaustion, it might take days to accomplish the process. Instances are on record of persons surviving for nine days. The Lord was watched, according to custom, by a party of four soldiers (Jn 19:23), with their centurion (Mt. 27:54). Fracture of the legs was resorted to by the Jews to hasten death (Jn 19:31). This was done to the two thieves crucified with Jesus but not to Him, for the soldiers found that He was dead already (19:32-34).

In most cases the body was allowed to rot on the cross by the action of the sun and rain or to be devoured by birds and beasts. Interment was generally, therefore, forbidden, but because of the Jewish laws (Deut 21:22-23) an exception was made in favor of the Jews (Matt. 27:58).