DEATH AND BURIAL.
ON THE WAY TO CALVARY.[1301]
Pontius Pilate, having reluctantly surrendered to the clamorous demands
of the Jews, issued the fatal order; and Jesus, divested of the purple
robe and arrayed in His own apparel, was led away to be crucified. A
body of Roman soldiers had the condemned Christ in charge; and as the
procession moved out from the governor's palace, a motley crowd
comprizing priestly officials, rulers of the Jews, and people of many
nationalities, followed. Two convicted criminals, who had been sentenced
to the cross for robbery, were led forth to death at the same time;
there was to be a triple execution; and the prospective scene of horror
attracted the morbidly minded, such as delight to gloat over the
sufferings of their fellows. In the crowd, however, were some genuine
mourners, as shall be shown. It was the Roman custom to make the
execution of convicts as public as possible, under the mistaken and
anti-psychological assumption, that the spectacle of dreadful punishment
would be of deterrent effect. This misconception of human nature has not
yet become entirely obsolete.
The sentence of death by crucifixion required that the condemned person
carry the cross upon which he was to suffer. Jesus started on the way
bearing His cross. The terrible strain of the preceding hours, the agony
in Gethsemane, the barbarous treatment He had suffered in the palace of
the high priest, the humiliation and cruel usage to which He had been
subjected before Herod, the frightful scourging under Pilate's order,
the brutal treatment by the inhuman soldiery, together with the extreme
humiliation and the mental agony of it all, had so weakened His physical
organism that He moved but slowly under the burden of the cross. The
soldiers, impatient at the delay, peremptorily impressed into service a
man whom they met coming into Jerusalem from the country, and him they
compelled to carry the cross of Jesus. No Roman or Jew would have
voluntarily incurred the ignominy of bearing such a gruesome burden; for
every detail connected with the carrying out of a sentence of
crucifixion was regarded as degrading. The man so forced to walk in the
footsteps of Jesus, bearing the cross upon which the Savior of the world
was to consummate His glorious mission, was Simon, a native of Cyrene.
From Mark's statement that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus
we infer that the two sons were known to the evangelist's readers as
members of the early Church, and there is some indication that the
household of Simon the Cyrenian came to be numbered with the
believers.[1302]
Among those who followed or stood and watched the death-procession pass,
were some, women particularly, who bewailed and lamented the fate to
which Jesus was going. We read of no man who ventured to raise his voice
in protest or pity; but on this dreadful occasion as at other times,
women were not afraid to cry out in commiseration or praise. Jesus, who
had been silent under the inquisition of the priests, silent under the
humiliating mockery of the sensual Herod and his coarse underlings,
silent when buffeted and beaten by the brutal legionaries of Pilate,
turned to the women whose sympathizing lamentations had reached His
ears, and uttered these pathetic and portentous words of admonition and
warning: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in
the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that
never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to
say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if
they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" It
was the Lord's last testimony of the impending holocaust of destruction
that was to follow the nation's rejection of her King. Although
motherhood was the glory of every Jewish woman's life, yet in the
terrible scenes which many of those there weeping would live to witness,
barrenness would be accounted a blessing; for the childless would have
fewer to weep over, and at least would be spared the horror of seeing
their offspring die of starvation or by violence; for so dreadful would
be that day that people would fain welcome the falling of the mountains
upon them to end their sufferings.[1303] If Israel's oppressors could do
what was then in process of doing to the "Green Tree," who bore the
leafage of freedom and truth and offered the priceless fruit of life
eternal, what would the powers of evil not do to the withered branches
and dried trunk of apostate Judaism?
Along the city streets, out through the portal of the massive wall, and
thence to a place beyond but yet nigh unto Jerusalem, the cortege
advanced. The destination was a spot called Golgotha, or Calvary,
meaning "the place of a skull."[1304]
CRUCIFIXION.[1305]
At Calvary the official crucifiers proceeded without delay to carry into
effect the dread sentence pronounced upon Jesus and upon the two
criminals. Preparatory to affixing the condemned to the cross, it was
the custom to offer each a narcotic draught of sour wine or vinegar
mingled with myrrh and possibly containing other anodyne ingredients,
for the merciful purpose of deadening the sensibility of the victim.
This was no Roman practise, but was allowed as a concession to Jewish
sentiment. When the drugged cup was presented to Jesus He put it to His
lips, but having ascertained the nature of its contents refused to
drink, and so demonstrated His determination to meet death with
faculties alert and mind unclouded.
Then they crucified Him, on the central cross of three, and placed one
of the condemned malefactors on His right hand, the other on His left.
Thus was realized Isaiah's vision of the Messiah numbered among the
transgressors.[1306] But few details of the actual crucifixion are given
us. We know however that our Lord was nailed to the cross by spikes
driven through the hands and feet, as was the Roman method, and not
bound only by cords as was the custom in inflicting this form of
punishment among some other nations. Death by crucifixion was at once
the most lingering and most painful of all forms of execution. The
victim lived in ever increasing torture, generally for many hours,
sometimes for days. The spikes so cruelly driven through hands and feet
penetrated and crushed sensitive nerves and quivering tendons, yet
inflicted no mortal wound. The welcome relief of death came through the
exhaustion caused by intense and unremitting pain, through localized
inflammation and congestion of organs incident to the strained and
unnatural posture of the body.[1307]
As the crucifiers proceeded with their awful task, not unlikely with
roughness and taunts, for killing was their trade and to scenes of
anguish they had grown callous through long familiarity, the agonized
Sufferer, void of resentment but full of pity for their heartlessness
and capacity for cruelty, voiced the first of the seven utterances
delivered from the cross. In the spirit of God-like mercy He prayed:
"_Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do._" Let us not
attempt to fix the limits of the Lord's mercy; that it would be extended
to all who in any degree could justly come under the blessed boon
thereof ought to be a sufficing fact. There is significance in the form
in which this merciful benediction was expressed. Had the Lord said, "I
forgive you," His gracious pardon may have been understood to be but a
remission of the cruel offense against Himself as One tortured under
unrighteous condemnation; but the invocation of the Father's forgiveness
was a plea for those who had brought anguish and death to the Father's
Well Beloved Son, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Moses forgave
Miriam for her offense against himself as her brother; but God alone
could remit the penalty and remove the leprosy that had come upon her
for having spoken against Jehovah's high priest.[1308]
It appears that under Roman rule, the clothes worn by a condemned person
at the time of execution became the perquisites of the executioners. The
four soldiers in charge of the cross upon which the Lord suffered
distributed parts of His raiment among themselves; and there remained
His coat,[1309] which was a goodly garment, woven throughout in one
piece, without seam. To rend it would be to spoil; so the soldiers cast
lots to determine who should have it; and in this circumstance the
Gospel-writers saw a fulfilment of the psalmist's prevision: "They
parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast
lots."[1310]
To the cross above the head of Jesus was affixed a title or inscription,
prepared by order of Pilate in accordance with the custom of setting
forth the name of the crucified and the nature of the offense for which
he had been condemned to death. In this instance the title was inscribed
in three languages, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, one or more of which would
be understood by every observer who could read. The title so exhibited
read: "_This is Jesus the King of the Jews_"; or in the more extended
version given by John "_Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews_."[1311]
The inscription was read by many, for Calvary was close to the public
thoroughfare and on this holiday occasion the passers-by were doubtless
numerous. Comment was aroused; for, if literally construed, the
inscription was an official declaration that the crucified Jesus was in
fact King of the Jews. When this circumstance was brought to the
attention of the chief priests, they excitedly appealed to the governor,
saying: "Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of
the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written." Pilate's
action in so wording the title, and his blunt refusal to permit an
alteration, may have been an intended rebuff to the Jewish officials who
had forced him against his judgment and will to condemn Jesus; possibly,
however, the demeanor of the submissive Prisoner, and His avowal of
Kingship above all royalty of earth had impressed the mind if not the
heart of the pagan governor with a conviction of Christ's unique
superiority and of His inherent right of dominion; but, whatever the
purpose behind the writing, the inscription stands in history as
testimony of a heathen's consideration in contrast with Israel's
ruthless rejection of Israel's King.[1312]
The soldiers whose duty it was to guard the crosses, until loitering
death would relieve the crucified of their increasing anguish, jested
among themselves, and derided the Christ, pledging Him in their cups of
sour wine in tragic mockery. Looking at the title affixed above the
Sufferer's head, they bellowed forth the devil-inspired challenge: "If
thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself." The morbid multitude, and
the passers-by "railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou
that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself,
and come down from the cross." But worst of all, the chief priests and
the scribes, the elders of the people, the unvenerable Sanhedrists,
became ring-leaders of the inhuman mob as they gloatingly exulted and
cried aloud: "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King
of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe
him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him:
for he said, I am the Son of God."[1313] Though uttered in ribald
mockery, the declaration of the rulers in Israel stands as an
attestation that Christ had saved others, and as an intended ironical
but a literally true proclamation that He was the King of Israel. The
two malefactors, each hanging from his cross, joined in the general
derision, and "cast the same in his teeth." One of them, in the
desperation incident to approaching death, echoed the taunts of the
priests and people: "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us."
The dominant note in all the railings and revilings, the ribaldry and
mockery, with which the patient and submissive Christ was assailed while
He hung, "lifted up" as He had said He would be,[1314] was that awful
"If" hurled at Him by the devil's emissaries in the time of mortal
agony; as in the season of the temptations immediately after His baptism
it had been most insidiously pressed upon Him by the devil
himself.[1315] That "If" was Satan's last shaft, keenly barbed and
doubly envenomed, and it sped as with the fierce hiss of a viper. Was it
possible in this the final and most dreadful stage of Christ's mission,
to make Him doubt His divine Sonship, or, failing such, to taunt or
anger the dying Savior into the use of His superhuman powers for
personal relief or as an act of vengeance upon His tormentors? To
achieve such a victory was Satan's desperate purpose. The shaft failed.
Through taunts and derision, through blasphemous challenge and
diabolical goading, the agonized Christ was silent.
Then one of the crucified thieves, softened into penitence by the
Savior's uncomplaining fortitude, and perceiving in the divine
Sufferer's demeanor something more than human, rebuked his railing
fellow, saying: "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our
deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss." His confession of guilt
and his acknowledgment of the justice of his own condemnation led to
incipient repentance, and to faith in the Lord Jesus, his companion in
agony. "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into
thy kingdom."[1316] To the appeal of penitence the Lord replied with
such a promise as He alone could make: "Verily I say unto thee, To day
shalt thou be with me in paradise."[1317]
Among the spectators of this, the greatest tragedy in history, were some
who had come in sympathy and sorrow. No mention is found of the presence
of any of the Twelve, save one, and he, the disciple "whom Jesus loved,"
John the apostle, evangelist, and revelator; but specific record is made
of certain women who, first at a distance, and then close by the cross,
wept in the anguish of love and sorrow. "Now there stood by the cross of
Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas,
and Mary Magdalene."[1318]
In addition to the women named were many others, some of whom had
ministered unto Jesus in the course of His labors in Galilee, and who
were among those that had come up with Him to Jerusalem.[1319] First in
point of consideration among them all was Mary, the mother of Jesus,
into whose soul the sword had pierced even as righteous Simeon had
prophesied.[1320] Jesus looking with tender compassion upon His weeping
mother, as she stood with John at the foot of the cross, commended her
to the care and protection of the beloved disciple, with the words,
"_Woman, behold thy son!_" and to John, "_Behold thy mother!_" The
disciple tenderly led the heart-stricken Mary away from her dying Son,
and "took her unto his own home," thus immediately assuming the new
relationship established by his dying Master.
Jesus was nailed to the cross during the forenoon of that fateful
Friday, probably between nine and ten o'clock.[1321] At noontide the
light of the sun was obscured, and black darkness spread over the whole
land. The terrifying gloom continued for a period of three hours. This
remarkable phenomenon has received no satisfactory explanation from
science. It could not have been due to a solar eclipse, as has been
suggested in ignorance, for the time was that of full moon; indeed the
Passover season was determined by the first occurrence of full moon
after the spring equinox. The darkness was brought about by miraculous
operation of natural laws directed by divine power. It was a fitting
sign of the earth's deep mourning over the impending death of her
Creator.[1322] Of the mortal agony through which the Lord passed while
upon the cross the Gospel-scribes are reverently reticent.
At the ninth hour, or about three in the afternoon, a loud voice,
surpassing the most anguished cry of physical suffering issued from the
central cross, rending the dreadful darkness. It was the voice of the
Christ: "_Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?_" What mind of man can fathom
the significance of that awful cry? It seems, that in addition to the
fearful suffering incident to crucifixion, the agony of Gethsemane had
recurred, intensified beyond human power to endure. In that bitterest
hour the dying Christ was alone, alone in most terrible reality. That
the supreme sacrifice of the Son might be consummated in all its
fulness, the Father seems to have withdrawn the support of His immediate
Presence, leaving to the Savior of men the glory of complete victory
over the forces of sin and death. The cry from the cross, though heard
by all who were near, was understood by few. The first exclamation,
_Eloi_, meaning _My God_, was misunderstood as a call for Elias.
The period of faintness, the conception of utter forsakenness soon
passed, and the natural cravings of the body reasserted themselves. The
maddening thirst, which constituted one of the worst of the crucifixion
agonies, wrung from the Savior's lips His one recorded utterance
expressive of physical suffering. "_I thirst_" He said. One of those who
stood by, whether Roman or Jew, disciple or skeptic, we are not told,
hastily saturated a sponge with vinegar, a vessel of which was at hand,
and having fastened the sponge to the end of a reed, or stalk of hyssop,
pressed it to the Lord's fevered lips. Some others would have prevented
this one act of human response, for they said: "Let be, let us see
whether Elias will come to save him." John affirms that Christ uttered
the exclamation, "I thirst," only when He knew "that all things were now
accomplished"; and the apostle saw in the incident a fulfilment of
prophecy.[1323]
Fully realizing that He was no longer forsaken, but that His atoning
sacrifice had been accepted by the Father, and that His mission in the
flesh had been carried to glorious consummation, He exclaimed in a loud
voice of holy triumph: "_It is finished!_" In reverence, resignation,
and relief, He addressed the Father saying: "_Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit._"[1324] He bowed His head, and voluntarily gave up
His life.
Jesus the Christ was dead. His life had not been taken from Him except
as He had willed to permit. Sweet and welcome as would have been the
relief of death in any of the earlier stages of His suffering from
Gethsemane to the cross, He lived until all things were accomplished as
had been appointed. In the latter days the voice of the Lord Jesus has
been heard affirming the actuality of His suffering and death, and the
eternal purpose thereby accomplished. Hear and heed His words: "For,
behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he
suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto
him."[1325]
IMPORTANT OCCURRENCES BETWEEN THE LORD'S DEATH AND BURIAL.
The death of Christ was accompanied by terrifying phenomena. There was a
violent earthquake; the rocks of the mighty hills were disrupted, and
many graves were torn open. But, most portentous of all in Judaistic
minds, the veil of the temple which hung between the Holy Place and the
Holy of Holies[1326] was rent from top to bottom, and the interior,
which none but the high priest had been permitted to see, was thrown
open to common gaze. It was the rending of Judaism, the consummation of
the Mosaic dispensation, and the inauguration of Christianity under
apostolic administration.
The Roman centurion and the soldiers under his command at the place of
execution were amazed and greatly affrighted. They had probably
witnessed many deaths on the cross, but never before had they seen a man
apparently die of his own volition, and able to cry in a loud voice at
the moment of dissolution. That barbarous and inhuman mode of execution
induced slow and progressive exhaustion. The actual death of Jesus
appeared to all who were present to be a miracle, as in fact it was.
This marvel, coupled with the earthquake and its attendant horrors, so
impressed the centurion that he prayed to God, and solemnly declared:
"Certainly this was a righteous man." Others joined in fearsome
averment: "Truly this was the Son of God." The terrified ones who spoke
and those who heard left the place in a state of fear, beating their
breasts, and bewailing what seemed to be a state of impending
destruction.[1327] A few loving women, however, watched from a distant
point, and saw all that took place until the Lord's body was laid away.
It was now late in the afternoon; at sunset the Sabbath would begin.
That approaching Sabbath was held to be more than ordinarily sacred for
it was a high day, in that it was the weekly Sabbath and a paschal holy
day.[1328] The Jewish officials, who had not hesitated to slay their
Lord, were horrified at the thought of men left hanging on crosses on
such a day, for thereby the land would be defiled;[1329] so these
scrupulous rulers went to Pilate and begged that Jesus and the two
malefactors be summarily dispatched by the brutal Roman method of
breaking their legs, the shock of which violent treatment had been found
to be promptly fatal to the crucified. The governor gave his consent,
and the soldiers broke the limbs of the two thieves with cudgels. Jesus,
however, was found to be already dead, so they broke not His bones.
Christ, the great Passover sacrifice, of whom all altar victims had been
but suggestive prototypes, died through violence yet without a bone of
His body being broken, as was a prescribed condition of the slain
paschal lambs.[1330] One of the soldiers, to make sure that Jesus was
actually dead, or to surely kill Him if He was yet alive, drove a spear
into His side, making a wound large enough to permit a man's hand to be
thrust thereinto.[1331] The withdrawal of the spear was followed by an
outflow of blood and water,[1332] an occurrence so surprizing that John,
who was an eye-witness, bears specific personal testimony to the fact,
and cites the scriptures thereby fulfilled.[1333]
THE BURIAL.[1334]
A man known as Joseph of Arimathea, who was at heart a disciple of
Christ, but who had hesitated to openly confess his conversion through
fear of the Jews, desired to give the Lord's body a decent and honorable
interment. But for some such divinely directed intervention, the body of
Jesus might have been cast into the common grave of executed criminals.
This man, Joseph, was "a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just."
It is expressly said of him that he "had not consented to the counsel
and deed of them"; from which statement we infer that he was a
Sanhedrist and had been opposed to the action of his colleagues in
condemning Jesus to death, or at least had refrained from voting with
the rest. Joseph was a man of wealth, station, and influence. He went in
boldly unto Pilate and begged the body of Christ. The governor was
surprized to learn that Jesus was already dead; he summoned the
centurion and inquired as to how long Jesus had lived on the cross. The
unusual circumstance seems to have added to Pilate's troubled concern.
He gave command and the body of Christ was delivered to Joseph.
The body was removed from the cross; and in preparing it for the tomb
Joseph was assisted by Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin, the
same who had come to Jesus by night three years before, and who at one
of the conspiracy meetings of the council had protested against the
unlawful condemnation of Jesus without a hearing.[1335] Nicodemus
brought a large quantity of myrrh and aloes, about a hundredweight. The
odorous mixture was highly esteemed for anointing and embalming, but its
cost restricted its use to the wealthy. These two revering disciples
wrapped the Lord's body in clean linen, "with the spices, as the manner
of the Jews is to bury"; and then laid it in a new sepulchre, hewn in
the rock. The tomb was in a garden, not far from Calvary, and was the
property of Joseph. Because of the nearness of the Sabbath the interment
had to be made with haste; the door of the sepulchre was closed, a large
stone was rolled against it;[1336] and thus laid away the body was left
to rest. Some of the devoted women, particularly Mary Magdalene, and
"the other Mary," who was the mother of James and Joses, had watched the
entombment from a distance; and when it was completed "they returned,
and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according
to the commandment."
THE SEPULCHRE GUARDED.[1337]
On the day following the "preparation," that is to say on Saturday, the
Sabbath and "high-day,"[1338] the chief priests and Pharisees came in a
body to Pilate, saying: "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while
he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore
that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples
come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen
from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first." It is
evident that the most inveterate of the human enemies of Christ
remembered His predictions of an assured resurrection on the third day
after His death. Pilate answered with terse assent: "Ye have a watch: go
your way, make it as sure as ye can." So the chief priests and Pharisees
satisfied themselves that the sepulchre was secure by seeing that the
official seal was affixed at the junction of the great stone and the
portal, and that an armed guard was placed in charge.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 35.
1. Simon the Cyrenian.--Simon, upon whom the cross of Jesus was laid,
was a member of the Jewish colony in northern Africa, which had been
established nearly three centuries before the birth of Christ by
Ptolemeus Lagi, who transported thither great numbers of Jews from
Palestine (Josephus, Antiquities, xii, chap. 1). Cyrene, the home of
Simon, was in the province of Libya; its site is within the present
boundaries of Tunis. That the African Jews were numerous and influential
is evidenced by the fact that they maintained a synagog in Jerusalem
(Acts 6:9) for the accommodation of such of their number as visited the
city. Rufus and his mother are mentioned in friendly reference by Paul
over a quarter of a century after the death of Christ (Romans 16:13). If
this Rufus be one of the sons of Simon named by Mark (15:21), as
tradition indicates, it is probable that Simon's family was prominently
identified with the Primitive Church. As to whether Simon had become a
disciple before the crucifixion, or was converted through his compulsory
service in bearing the Lord's cross, or became a member of the Church at
a later date, we are not definitely told.
2. Christ's Words to the Daughters of Jerusalem.--"The time would come,
when the Old Testament curse of barrenness (Hosea 9:14) would be coveted
as a blessing. To show the fulfilment of this prophetic lament of Jesus
it is not necessary to recall the harrowing details recorded by Josephus
(Wars, vi, 3:4), when a frenzied mother roasted her own child, and in
the mockery of desperateness reserved the half of the horrible meal for
those murderers who daily broke in upon her to rob her of what scanty
food had been left her; nor yet other of those incidents, too revolting
for needless repetition, which the historian of the last siege of
Jerusalem chronicles. But how often, these many centuries, must Israel's
women have felt that terrible longing for childlessness, and how often
must the prayer of despair for the quick death of falling mountains and
burying hills rather than prolonged torture (Hosea 10:8), have risen to
the lips of Israel's sufferers! And yet, even so, these words were also
prophetic of a still more terrible future (Rev. 6:10). For, if Israel
had put such flame to its 'green tree' how terribly would the divine
judgment burn among the dry wood of an apostate and rebellious people,
that had so delivered up its Divine King, and pronounced sentence upon
itself by pronouncing it upon Him!"--Edersheim, _Life and Times of Jesus
the Messiah_ vol. 2, p. 588.
Concerning the prayer that mountains fall to crush and hide, Farrar
(_Life of Christ_, p. 645, note), says: "These words of Christ met with
a painfully literal illustration when hundreds of the unhappy Jews at
the siege of Jerusalem hid themselves in the darkest and vilest
subterranean recesses, and when, besides those who were hunted out, no
less than two thousand were killed by being buried under the ruins of
their hiding places." A further fulfilment may be yet future. Consult
Josephus, Wars, vi. 9:4. See also Hos. 9:12-16; 10:8; Isa. 2:10; compare
Rev. 6:16.
3. "The Place of a Skull."--The Aramaic Hebrew name "Golgotha", the
Greek "Kranion", and the Latin "Calvaria" or, as Anglicized, "Calvary",
have the same meaning, and connote "a skull". The name may have been
applied with reference to topographical features, as we speak of the
brow of a hill; or, if the spot was the usual place of execution, it may
have been so called as expressive of death, just as we call a skull a
death's head. It is probable that the bodies of executed convicts were
buried near the place of death; and if Golgotha or Calvary was the
appointed site for execution, the exposure of skulls and other human
bones through the ravages of beasts and by other means, would not be
surprizing; though the leaving of bodies or any of their parts unburied
was contrary to Jewish law and sentiment. The origin of the name is of
as little importance as are the many divergent suppositions concerning
the exact location of the spot.
4. Crucifixion.--"It was unanimously considered the most horrible form
of death. Among the Romans also the degradation was a part of the
infliction, and the punishment if applied to freeman was only used in
the case of the vilest criminals.... The criminal carried his own cross,
or at any rate a part of it. Hence, figuratively, _to take, take up_ or
_bear one's cross_ is _to endure suffering, affliction, or shame_ like a
criminal on his way to the place of crucifixion (Matt. 10:38; 16:24;
Luke 14:27, etc.). The place of execution was outside the city (1 Kings
21:13; Acts 7:58; Heb. 13:12), often in some public road or other
conspicuous place. Arrived at the place of execution, the sufferer was
stripped naked, the dress being the perquisite of the soldiers (Matt.
27:35). The cross was then driven into the ground, so that the feet of
the condemned were a foot or two above the earth, and he was lifted upon
it; or else stretched upon it on the ground and then lifted with it." It
was the custom to station soldiers to watch the cross, so as to prevent
the removal of the sufferer while yet alive. "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.... 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 Deut.
21:22, 23, an express national exception was made in favor of the Jews
(Matt. 27:58). This accursed and awful mode of punishment was happily
abolished by Constantine." Smith's _Bible Dict._
5. Pilate's Inscription--"The King of the Jews."--No two of the
Gospel-writers give the same wording of the title or inscription placed
by Pilate's order above the head of Jesus on the cross; the meaning,
however, is the same in all, and the unessential variation is evidence
of individual liberty among the recorders. It is probable that there was
actual diversity in the trilingual versions. John's version is followed
in the common abbreviations used in connection with Roman Catholic
figures of Christ: J. N. R. J.; or, inasmuch as "I" used to be an
ordinary equivalent of "J",--I. N. R. I.--"Jesus of Nazareth, King [Rex]
of the Jews."
6. The Women at the Cross.--"According to the authorized version and
revised version, only three women are named, but most modern critics
hold that four are intended. Translate, therefore, 'His mother, and His
mother's sister, (i.e. Salome, the mother of the evangelist [John]); and
Mary the wife of Cleophas; and Mary Magdalene.'"--Taken from Dummelow's
commentary on John 19:25.
7. The Hour of the Crucifixion.--Mark (15:25) says: "And it was the
third hour and they crucified him"; the time so specified corresponds to
the hour from 9 to 10 a.m. This writer and his fellow synoptists,
Matthew and Luke, give place to many incidents that occurred between the
nailing of Christ to the cross and the sixth hour or the hour from 12
noon to 1 p.m. From these several accounts it is clear that Jesus was
crucified during the forenoon. A discrepancy plainly appears between
these records and John's statement (19:14) that it was "about the sixth
hour" (noon) when Pilate gave the sentence of execution. All attempts to
harmonize the accounts in this particular have proved futile because the
discrepancy is real. Most critics and commentators assume that "about
the sixth hour" in John's account is a misstatement, due to the errors
of early copyists of the manuscript Gospels, who mistook the sign
meaning 3rd for that signifying 6th.
8. The Physical Cause of Christ's Death.--While, as stated in the text,
the yielding up of life was voluntary on the part of Jesus Christ, for
He had life in Himself and no man could take His life except as He
willed to allow it to be taken, (John 1:4; 5:26; 10:15-18) there was of
necessity a direct physical cause of dissolution. As stated also the
crucified sometimes lived for days upon the cross, and death resulted,
not from the infliction of mortal wounds, but from internal congestion,
inflammations, organic disturbances, and consequent exhaustion of vital
energy. Jesus, though weakened by long torture during the preceding
night and early morning, by the shock of the crucifixion itself, as also
by intense mental agony, and particularly through spiritual suffering
such as no other man has ever endured, manifested surprizing vigor, both
of mind and body, to the last. The strong, loud utterance, immediately
following which He bowed His head and "gave up the ghost", when
considered in connection with other recorded details, points to a
physical rupture of the heart as the direct cause of death. If the
soldier's spear was thrust into the left side of the Lord's body and
actually penetrated the heart, the outrush of "blood and water" observed
by John is further evidence of a cardiac rupture; for it is known that
in the rare instances of death resulting from a breaking of any part of
the wall of the heart, blood accumulates within the pericardium, and
there undergoes a change by which the corpuscles separate as a partially
clotted mass from the almost colorless, watery serum. Similar
accumulations of clotted corpuscles and serum occur within the pleura.
Dr. Abercrombie of Edinburgh, as cited by Deems (_Light of the Nations_,
p. 682), "gives a case of the sudden death of a man aged seventy-seven
years, owing to a rupture of the heart. In his case 'the cavities of the
pleura contained _about three pounds of fluid_, but the lungs were
sound.'" Deems also cites the following instance: "Dr. Elliotson relates
the case of a woman who died suddenly. 'On opening the body the
pericardium was found distended with _clear serum_, and a very large
coagulum of blood, which had escaped through a spontaneous rupture of
the aorta near its origin, without any other morbid appearance.' Many
cases might be cited, but these suffice." For detailed treatment of the
subject the student may be referred to Dr. Wm. Stroud's work _On the
Physical Cause of the Death of Christ_. Great mental stress, poignant
emotion either of grief or joy, and intense spiritual struggle are among
the recognized causes of heart rupture.
The present writer believes that the Lord Jesus died of a broken heart.
The psalmist sang in dolorous measure according to his inspired
prevision of the Lord's passion: "Reproach hath broken my heart; and I
am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was
none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for
my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." (Psalm 69:20,
21; see also 22:14.)
9. The Request that Christ's Tomb be Sealed.--Many critics hold that the
deputation called upon Pilate on Saturday evening, after the Sabbath had
ended. This assumption is made on the ground that to do what these
priestly officials did, in personally supervizing the sealing of the
tomb, would have been to incur defilement, and that they would not have
so done on the Sabbath. Matthew's statement is definite--that the
application was made on "the next day, that followed the day of the
preparation." The preparation day extended from sunset on Thursday to
the beginning of the Sabbath at sunset on Friday.
FOOTNOTES:
[1301] Matt. 27:31-33; Mark 15:20-22; Luke 23:26-33; John: 16, 17.
[1302] Note 1, end of chapter.
[1303] Note 2, end of chapter.
[1304] Note 3, end of chapter.
[1305] Matt. 27:34-50; Mark 15:23-37; Luke 23:33-46; John 19:18-30.
[1306] Isa. 53:12; compare Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37.
[1307] Note 4, end of chapter.
[1308] Numb. 12.
[1309] Revised version, marginal reading, "tunic."
[1310] Matt. 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23,24; compare Psa.
22:18.
[1311] Note 5, end of chapter.
[1312] Pages 85 and 89.
[1313] Matt. 27:42, 43. The clause "if he be the King of Israel" in
verse 42 of the common text is admittedly a mistranslation; it should
read "He is the King of Israel." See revised version; also Edersheim,
vol. 2, p. 596; compare Mark 15:32.
[1314] John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32.
[1315] Matt. 4:3, 6; see pages 130, 137 herein.
[1316] Luke 23:42; the revised version reads "when thou comest in thy
kingdom."
[1317] See chapter 36, following.
[1318] John 19:25; compare Matt. 27:55, 56; Mark 15:40, 41; Luke 23:48,
49. See Note 6, end of chapter.
[1319] See references last cited; and Luke 8:2, 3; also page 264 herein.
[1320] Luke 2:34, 35; page 97 herein.
[1321] Mark 15:25; see Note 7, end of chapter.
[1322] Compare P. of G.P., Moses 7:37, 40, 48, 49, 56.
[1323] John 19:28; compare Psa. 69:21.
[1324] The Gospel writers leave us in some uncertainty as to which of
the last two utterances from the cross.--"It is finished," and "Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit," was spoken first.
[1325] Doc. and Cov. 18:11; revelation given in June 1829; see also
19:16-19, and page 613 herein.
[1326] See "The House of the Lord," pages 59, 60.
[1327] Matt. 27:51-54; Mark 15:38, 39; Luke 23:47-49.
[1328] John 19:31-37.
[1329] Deut. 21:23.
[1330] Exo. 12:46; Numb. 9:12; Psa. 34:20; John 19:36; 1 Cor. 5:7.
[1331] John 20:27; B. of M., 3 Nephi 11:14, 15.
[1332] Note 8, end of chapter.
[1333] John 19:34-37; compare Psa. 22:16, 17; Zech. 12:10; Rev. 1:7.
[1334] Matt. 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42.
[1335] John 3:1, 2; 7:50; see pages 158 and 404 herein.
[1336] See revised version, Mark 15:46.
[1337] Matt. 27:62-66.
[1338] Note 9, end of chapter.