Risen Christ, The by Leith Anderson

Author:Leith Anderson [Anderson, Leith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biographies & Memoirs, Leaders & Notable People, Religious, Christian Books & Bibles, Theology, Christology, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, death, Disciples, Cross, Sunday, passion, Easter, Tomb, Christ, Golgotha, Gethsemane, Risen, Resurrection, Bible, Good Friday, Scars, Calvary, Thorns, Crucifixion, Rose from Grave, History, Gospels, Third Day, Jesus, Biography
Amazon: B00702M6IA
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Published: 2012-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

†The Romans developed a standard protocol for crucifixion but may not have always followed the same routine, especially in Judea, which was out on the perimeter of the empire. The basics of crucifixion were awful even if the exact procedures sometimes varied.

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Crucifixion

Crucifixion was invented by the Persians some time in the sixth century BC. The Carthaginians borrowed it. The Romans perpetuated and perfected it as an extreme form of capital punishment and a deterrent to crime.

Cicero called it “the most cruel and horrifying death.” Although the Romans crucified tens of thousands, they always held crucifixion in contempt. It was against the law to crucify a Roman citizen, and attempts were made to keep crucifixion out of Italy. It was for people in the provinces, for slaves, and for the worst of non-Roman criminals.

“Ibis ad crucem!” (“You will go to the cross!”) were the sentencing words of a Roman judge at the end of a capital trial. The defendant was then turned over to a quaternion (four) of Roman soldiers, who first flogged him and then tied his arms to the cross for transportation to the crucifixion site. Often it wasn’t the whole cross but just the horizontal beam that was later attached to a 9- to 12-foot-high vertical pole that was planted in the ground.

The soldiers prodded the man through the streets of his community to the place of crucifixion—two soldiers at his sides plus one in front and one behind. The front soldier typically carried a placard announcing the crime. This served two purposes: a warning to other would-be criminals and therefore a deterrent to crime, and a last opportunity for witnesses to step forward and give testimony in the condemned man’s defense.

Upon arrival at the place of execution, the soldiers would tie or nail the victim to the cross. They held the body to the horizontal bar with one of them kneeling on an arm while another felt for the small soft spot at the base of the hand. Once the spot was found, a square spike was driven through without breaking bones or risking the body tearing free once it was upright. The opposite wrist was similarly nailed, making sure there was adequate bend in the elbow to allow for movement of the arms and body. Often a single spike was used to nail both feet to the vertical timber of the cross, again making sure that the knees were bent to allow for body movement and a slower death.

Sometimes days passed before the crucified person died. During those many hours, the victim suffered from exposure to sun and heat during daylight and cold during the night. Insects and birds were a constant source of irritation. Hunger and thirst compounded the ordeal. Blood loss that began with the flogging continued on the cross. However, few died from any of these aspects of the torture.

Death came from heart failure or, most commonly, from asphyxiation. The victim’s arms knotted with pain and strain as his body hung from his hands, and the pectoral muscles of the chest were virtually paralyzed.

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