The Jews, desirous that the spectacle of the execution should not
pollute the sanctity of their Sabbath, requested that the death of
the victim might be hastened (John xix, 31). Therefore, according
to custom, the Roman soldiers broke the legs of the thieves, but,
finding Jesus already dead, they did not break his legs (John xix,
33). In this the writer of John sees the fulfillment of a prophecy
(John xix, 36). In Exodus xii, 46, occur the words "neither shall
ye break a bone thereof," which were nothing more than a command of
"the ordinance of the passover" (Ex. xii, 43), and applied to the
sacrificial animals to be eaten then. But the gospel writers, delving
for prophecies, saw with their queerly distorted eyes a prophecy in
this and Numbers ix, 12, regardless of the fact that for centuries,
in celebrating the passover, the Jews had conformed to this practice
of not breaking the bones of the animals eaten. But the biographers
saw Jesus as the paschal lamb, and associated him with the meat of
the passover. The tendency to regard his body as the solid of the
Eucharist has likewise aided in this construction of the passages
in Exodus and Numbers into a prophecy. In David's apostrophe to the
righteous he says that though their afflictions are many, "the Lord
delivereth him out of them all" and preserves him. "He keepeth all
his bones; not one of them is broken" (Psalm xxxiv, 19-20). This
has no reference to the Christ, but the distorted vision of the
apostolic writer saw in it such an intent. He says (John xix, 36),
"For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled,
A bone of him shall not be broken."
In order, however, to be sure that Jesus was actually dead and, in
case he was not, to hasten that event, one of the soldiers pierced
his heart with a lance. Here John sees another prophecy fulfilled
(John xix, 37), "They shall look on him whom they pierced." This
refers to Zechariah xii, 10, where we find the words, "And I will
pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the spirit of grace and supplications; and they shall look upon me
whom they have pierced." This was the language of a prophet in a
diatribe against the enemies of Juda. How could the writer of John
have seen a prophecy in this, when the context reads "in that day
I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem"
(Zech. xii, 9), and when at the time of the crucifixion, Jerusalem
was in the hands of the Romans?
Likewise, the writers of Matthew and John saw in the drawing of lots by
the soldiers at the foot of the cross for the garments of Jesus--the
usual custom regarding the minor possessions of executed criminals,
which were always considered the spoil of the military guard--"the
fulfillment of a prophecy" (Matt. xxvii, 35 John xix, 23, 24) found
in Psalms xxii, 18, "They part my garments among them, and cast
lots upon my vesture," which really was a metaphorical expression
of David concerning the treatment accorded him by his enemies. In
the preceding verse 16, in the same relation and rhetorical figure,
he says "they pierced my hands and my feet." On the whole, Psalm
xxii was a particularly happy composition for the Christian adepts
at misconstruction. Neither Mark nor Luke refers to the fulfillment
of a prophecy regarding the vestments, but content themselves with
narrating the event (Mark xv, 24; Luke xxiii, 34).
It was customary to give the condemned a drink of wine and myrrh
to stupefy him and thus decrease the sufferings of execution. When
this was offered to Jesus he refused it (Mark xv, 23), probably
because he wished to be perfectly conscious at the time when God
should miraculously reprieve him. Matthew, xxvii, 34, intentionally
falsifies the episode and calls the drink vinegar and gall, so bound is
he to see a messianic prophecy in Psalms xix, 21, "They gave me also
gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink,"
which words were really applied by David to his own personal enemies.