Day 8 Part 5 Jesus Bearing His Cross...

We started Friday the 14th of Nisan with Christ and his disciples eating the Passover meal. We read the scriptures that took us through the nighttime supper, reminding us of what Christ said and did. We followed Christ and the 11 disciples from the upper room to where ever they stopped and gathered to hear more of Christ’s teaching and prayers.

From the upper room in Jerusalem we went to the garden on the Mount of Olives, where Christ was arrested and taken to the high priest’s palace in the Temple precinct for a pre-trail hearing. Then as it became light, the dawning of the daytime of the Passover day, Christ was taken into the Temple and then into the chamber of Hewn Stone where sat the Jewish Supreme Court. We then went from the court to the Roman fort to be heard by Pilot and also a short trip to Herod’s for another hearing, then back to Pilot. Pilot did his best to release Christ but the Jews intimidated him, so he therefore sentenced Christ to crucifixion. We left off at Golgotha, the location of the crucifixion.

Friday 14th of Nisan [Wednesday the 12th April 2006].
[The Passover is two days before Good Friday this year].
Passover – Crucifixion

Crucifixion & Death. Israel time.
On the Cross: 9:00am = 11:00pm Tuesday11th April 06 Vancouver time
Death: 3:00pm = 5:00am Wednesday12th April 06 Vancouver time

I could not get very close to the site of the crucifixion because of the crowd the Roman soldiers put a cordon around the perimeter of the crucifixion site. From what others told me who were closer to the crucifixions and from what they could make out, they nailed all three patibulum’s [cross pieces, or plank board] around the circumference of a large tree.

I hesitate to believe that they were all on the same tree because when they stoned the Christ they would have also hit the two thieves. I think that they were hung up on trees that were fairly close together as the thieves were able to have a conversation with Jesus and that the trees were spaced in a triangular to a round formation, so that when Christ was stoned very few if any of the stones hit the thieves.

Modern scholars have tried to determine whether Christ was put on the traditional cross or if he was nailed to a plank board, then the board nailed to a living tree and then his feet nailed to the tree.
There is much evidence that the latter is the case. Part of that evidence I have been able to obtain is below.

The Manner of Christ's Crucifixion. Dr E. Martin. [More detail is given at the end of the day].
John 19:41. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
The garden in Greek can refer to trees, orchard, or plantation. After the beatings Christ received it is most unlikely that Christ carried a 200lb Latin cross. What Christ carried was most likely a board plank that his arms or wrists were nailed to. And that Simon of Cyrene carried the final distance to Golgottha.

The technical name for this board is [patibulum [Latin].

Then there is stake or pole that the cross piece was attached to, called a stauros (stow-ros').

Mk15.21 Mark 8:34. NT: Strong # 4716 stauros (stow-ros'); from the base of Strong # NT:2476; a stake or post (as set upright), i.e. (specifically) a pole or cross Strong's Numbers.
Most commentaries will say Christ was crucified on a "stauros [stow-ros"] Grk. The meaning of this word like a lot of others change with time, it does not have to mean a cross. The original meant a pole or stake. Carry,' lift up and carry along'.

The cross piece or plank board was called a [patibulum]
The pole or stake was called a [stauros] = Grk stow-ros

A man condemned to die by crucifixion was forced to carry the cross-piece (the patibulum) to the place of execution. [from the UBS Handbook Series]. This board was affixed to a living tree.
The crucifixion was a "hurry up" affair as the Jewish traditional Passover began at the end of that day. According to Hastings "Christ & the Gospels"Vol.2.pg749. it was common to nail the victim directly to the tree Acts 5:30. By using a tree as the main support it saved time digging holes for a post. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Acts.10.39, Acts.13.29, 1Pet.2.24.Tree in Greek = [Xulon] [xoo-lon]. This would indicate to us the tree was living, and the location was in a garden-trees. But Lk.23.26. the cross is called a stauros but stauros means pole. The whole execution device is called stauros, including the patibulum.

Melito of Sardis [2nd century] consistently said the cross of Christ was a tree. He said: just as from a tree came sin, so also from a tree came salvation. [New fragment, 111.4].
It would seem that the patibulum of Christ was nailed to a living tree. John 19:31 The Jews, therefore, that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, since it was the preparation, (for that Sabbath day was a great one, [or Holy Day]) asked of Pilate that their legs may be broken, and they taken away.
Bodies plural-cross singular. Three men on one tree with 3 patibulum.

Jn 19:32 was crucified with. 4957 sustauroothéntos (Interlinear Transliterated Bible). It would seem that there is a good possibility that "Christ was crucified with" the thieves on the same tree.
Mtt 27:38. Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. Jn 19:32-33 32.
Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.
Came to Christ last. If Christ was in the middle, Christ should have been 2nd, not last. But if they were all on one tree with the boards spread around the circumference of the tree & when looking down on a plan view the boards forming almost a triangle shape. Then they could have come to Christ last.

Christ was in the middle of the two thieves and when it was time to break their legs, the soldiers first came to one of the thieves and then to the other thief, then to the Christ last.

If Christ was in the middle of a straight line of trees or the traditional crosses with the pole end buried in the ground, it would not matter from what end the soldiers started, Christ would have been the 2nd person. The two groups of soldiers may have started from both ends and worked toward the middle because they could see and guess that Christ was already dead.

But if the trees were in a rough triangular to round formation, then as the soldiers worked their way around the formation of the three trees, starting with one of the thieves, they would have come to the Christ last. Or as mentioned before, two groups of soldiers could have started with the thieves because Christ gave every indication that he was already dead. He then would have been the last to receive the soldier’s attention in making sure they were all dead.

If Christ were crucified on the traditional cross with pole freshly dug in the ground, there is a good chance that they would have been put in a straight line in military fashion.

After they all were nailed up, some of the people were incited by the religious leaders and began to throw stones at the Christ. This stoning may have been one of the reasons Jesus died before the two thieves and that he was marred (disfigured, beaten) more than the other men. It may also be the reason that Pilot was so surprised that Christ died so early on in the day.

It was hard to see from where I was standing to try and see over the heads of the crowd so I consulted with some scholars at the scene of the crucifixion and the following is what was discussed. Martin/Golgotha Pg.186-188.

What did his tormentors do to him, other than simple crucifixion, that took so much skin and flesh that was torn away from the parts of his body facing them? I realize that such a description may seem offensive to some people, but it is time for all of us to take stock of what the scriptural revelation actually says and not be squeamish about the truth of the crucifixion scene. The prophet Isaiah described the Suffering Servant with his visage and form, marred more than any man. Some people may find it distasteful to imagine Christ in this fashion, but that is what Isaiah wrote and it seems reasonable to accept his description. The apostles certainly did, and several of them were also eyewitnesses to the crucifixion.

What type of judicial punishment could produce such an awful description of the Suffering Servant?
The scourging that Christ was subjected to before his crucifixion cannot account for such mangling since Pilate intended to let him go after the soldiers had chastised him, and from this it shows that Pilate fully believed he would recover (Luke 23:22). No, it was not the beatings that Christ endured under the abuse of the soldiers. There is really only one type of execution that could fit the scriptural descriptions (which was a common one in Jerusalem at the time). Interestingly, it is the only kind of punishment that the Mosaic legislation allowed for capital crimes. What we find in these prophecies is a classic portrayal of a person who was pelted with stones.

There is no doubt that Christ experienced the torment of volleys of small, sharp stones thrown at the front parts of his naked body while he was nailed to the tree of crucifixion. The stones were hurled at his face, at his mid-section and his legs! These must have been like sharp Flintstones (many of which are on the Mount of Olives) that would break the skin and dislodge the flesh but without the force to break his bones. Such volleys of stones hitting his body periodically for almost a six hour period could produce the description of Isaiah: "As many were astonished at thee: his visage [his outward appearance] was so marred more than any man, and his form [so marred] more than the sons of man."

In the Old Testament stoning was the only type of execution that was prescribed for those committing capital crimes. Notice what Hastings’s Dictionary of the Apostolic Church says about the Old Testament legislation concerning stoning.
Stoning was "the pelting of stones by a mob at a person who had merited their ill-will (Exo.8:26; 17:4; II Chron.24:20ff; cf. Heb. 11:37; Acts 5:26) or the infliction of the death penalty by stoning (Lev.20:2; Deut.l3:10). The method which an enraged crowd took of executing vengeance with the weapons lying readiest to their hand came to be employed afterwards as a regular and legal method of inflicting the death sentence on a criminal. Stoning is the ONLY form of capital punishment recognized in the Mosaic Law" (vol.11, pp.528,529 emphases mine).

In the time when Christ was put to death, the Romans forbade the people of Judaea from applying the death penalty on anyone (Johnl8:31). It was Pilate who had the only authority to execute Christ and the Roman method for crimes against the state for non-Romans was normally by crucifixion. And, without doubt, Christ was indeed crucified to a tree. But there was much more to Christ's death than a simple crucifixion. Pilate also permitted the authorities in Jerusalem to kill him according to biblical law. He told them to "take ye him and judge him according to your law" (John 18:31). This was an extraordinary allowance because it subjected Christ to suffer both the Roman method of execution for terrible crimes (the Gentile practice) but it also gave permission to the people of Jerusalem to pelt him with stones in the scriptural (Mosaic) manner. In Leviticus 24:15-18 Moses commanded that all Israelites and aliens in sight of a blasphemer should take up stones and stone the profane and ungodly person to death. The Hebrew actually means that Israel was to "overwhelm" the criminal with countless volleys of stones being thrown at his naked body (Rashi, Commentary, vol.11, p.lll).

It should be remembered that the crime which the authorities in Jerusalem charged against Christ was that of blasphemy (Mark 16:64). This was the most dastardly crime imaginable to the people of Judaea. And the official judgment against him made him worthy of death in the most despicable fashion (Matt.26:65,66). It is interesting that it was Christ's claim that he was the Son of God that made the authorities proclaim him a blasphemer. With such a terrible charge against him, the leaders went to Pilate and asked him to allow Jesus to be killed in the manner prescribed by the Law of Moses. "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God" (John 19:7).

To the authorities, Christ's appraisal of himself was tantamount to blasphemy. The law that they were referring to was that of
Leviticus 24:16. "And he that blasphemcth the name of the Lord [Yahwch], he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well as the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemoth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death."

Thus, all the residents of the land (Jews and Gentiles alike) were required to barrage the blasphemer with volleys of stones. During the time of Christ's ministry, many of the people who did not like his teaching had several times tried to carry out this Mosaic Law against him. "Then they took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going throughout the midst of them, and so passed by" (John 8:59). "Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone you not; but for blasphemy; and because you, being a man, make yourself God" (John 10:31-33).

The fact is, time and again the authorities were trying to kill him by stoning. "His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone you; and go you [to Jerusalem] again?" (John 11:8). It is made clear in the Gospel record that the people who were hostile to Christ were looking for every opportunity to stone him for his blasphemy (as they considered it). And they finally got their wish when they went to Pilate and said: "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die" (John 19:7). And Pilate acquiesced to their wishes. "Take you him and judge him according to your law" (John18:31). [Note that all the references in the previous paragraph about the people desiring him to be stoned, are found in the Gospel of John which records the appeals of the authorities to Pilot to have Christ killed according to the law of Moses.

to be continued...