Death of Jesus

The Crucifixion of Jesus

YESHUA's death on the cross is an actual event recorded in the annals of that time, and later authenticated through numerous testaments.

► After his arrest in the middle of the night, YESHUA was brought before Caiaphas, the high priest.

► One of the soldiers who didn't like the answer He gave Caiaphas, inflicted either a slap or a blow with a stick.

Jean 18:22 "À ces mots, un des gardes qui se trouvait là donna une gifle à Jésus en disant: C’est ainsi que tu réponds au grand-prêtre?" |Segond 21 (2007)|
Jean 18:22 "A ces mots, un des hommes de service qui se tenait à côté de Jésus, lui donna un coup de bâton en lui disant: Est-ce de la sorte que tu réponds au grand-prêtre." |Nouveau Testament Stapfer (1889)|

►When YESHUA claimed to be the Son of God, the chief priests covered his eyes, spat in his face, punched and slapped him, asking him to identify who was hitting him.

Matthieu 26:67-68 "Là-dessus, ils lui crachèrent au visage et le frappèrent à coups de poing; certains lui donnaient des gifles en disant: Christ, prophétise-nous qui t’a frappé!"
Marc 14:65 "Alors quelques-uns commencèrent à lui cracher au visage; et lui ayant couvert la face, ils lui donnaient des coups de poing, en lui disant : Prophétise, et dis qui t’a frappé. Et les valets lui donnaient des soufflets."

►In the early hours of the morning, beaten, bruised, dehydrated and exhausted by a sleepless night, YESHUA was taken to the Praetorium of Fortress Antonia, the seat of Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judea. Pilate questioned Him about His divinity, but found nothing wrong with Him. Pilate then handed over the responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea.

Luc 23:1-7 "Puis ils se levèrent tous et le menèrent à Pilate. Et ils se mirent à l’accuser, disant: nous avons trouvé cet homme sollicitant la nation à la révolte, et défendant de donner le tribut à César, et se disant être le Christ, le Roi. Et Pilate l’interrogea, disant: Es-tu le Roi des Juifs ? Et [Jésus] répondant, lui dit: tu le dis. Alors Pilate dit aux principaux Sacrificateurs et à la troupe du peuple: je ne trouve aucun crime en cet homme. Mais ils insistaient encore davantage, disant: il émeut le peuple, enseignant par toute la Judée, et ayant commencé depuis la Galilée jusques ici. Or quand Pilate entendit parler de la Galilée, il demanda si cet homme était Galiléen. Et ayant appris qu’il était de la juridiction d’Hérode, il le renvoya à Hérode, qui en ces jours-là était aussi à Jérusalem.

► Herod, happy to see YESHUA and hoping He would perform miracles, asked Him many questions, but YESHUA remained silent. Herod scorned YESHUA and made Him wear a white or bright garment in mockery. Finding no guilt in YESHUA, he sent him back to Pilate.

Luc 23:8-11 "Hérode, voyant Jésus, en eut une grande joie ; car il désirait depuis longtemps le voir, parce qu’il avait entendu dire beaucoup de choses de lui, et il espérait lui voir faire quelque miracle. Il lui adressait donc de nombreuses questions ; mais Jésus ne lui répondit rien. Cependant les princes des prêtres et les scribes étaient là, l’accusant sans relâche. Or Hérode, avec ses gardes, le méprisa, et il se moqua de lui en le revêtant d’une robe blanche; puis il le renvoya à Pilate."

► Back at Pilate's house, the chief priests and scribes incited the people to revolt. To appease the crowd, Pilate ordered the release of Barabbas, the scourging of YESHUA and He'd be handed over for crucifixion. The soldiers stripped him and made him wear a red cloak. They braided a crown of thorns, placed it on his head and pressed it into his scalp, striking his head with a reed while spitting on him. They placed the reed in his right hand like a royal scepter and then prostrated themselves before him as a means of humiliation. Then they took him away to scourge and crucify him.

Marc 15:16-20 "Les soldats conduisirent Jésus dans l’intérieur de la cour, c’est-à-dire, dans le prétoire, et ils assemblèrent toute la cohorte. Ils le revêtirent de pourpre, et posèrent sur sa tête une couronne d’épines, qu’ils avaient tressée. Puis ils se mirent à le saluer: Salut, roi des Juifs ! Et ils lui frappaient la tête avec un roseau, crachaient sur lui, et, fléchissant les genoux, ils se prosternaient devant lui. Après s’être ainsi moqués de lui, ils lui ôtèrent la pourpre, lui remirent ses vêtements, et l’emmenèrent pour le crucifier.
Matthieu 27:28-30 "Ils lui enlevèrent ses vêtements et lui mirent un manteau écarlate. Ils tressèrent une couronne d’épines qu’ils posèrent sur sa tête, et ils lui mirent un roseau dans la main droite; puis, s’agenouillant devant lui, ils se moquaient de lui en disant: «Salut, roi des Juifs!» Ils crachaient sur lui, prenaient le roseau et le frappaient sur la tête. Après s’être ainsi moqués de lui, ils lui enlevèrent le manteau, lui remirent ses vêtements et l’emmenèrent pour le crucifier.

Indeed, according to archaeological evidence, the Romans, having discovered crucifixion among the Carthaginians, long made it a capital punishment, until the emperor Constantine prohibited it in the 4th century. Originally reserved for slaves, crucifixion was the most dishonorable death imaginable. In the penal tradition of ancient Rome, crucifixion was also a means of exposing the condemned person's lower social status. The objective of Roman crucifixion was not only death, but also a gruesome means of publicly executing criminals in order to dissuade the masses from breaking the law.

Crucifixion included many forms of painful execution, from hanging from a tree to impaling the victim's private parts on a stake. The condemned individual was usually naked.

The executioners began the torture with flogging, violently whipping the victim with a leather strap whip. Iron balls were attached a few inches from the end of each strap, and sometimes sharp sheep bones were attached near the ends. With each lash, the leather straps cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, first producing an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, then finally arterial bleeding from the vessels in the underlying muscles. Iron balls and sheep bones would tear flesh and muscle. The whole dorsal area thus turned into an unrecognizable mass of torn tissue, causing considerable blood loss. This would send the condemned man into a state of shock, dizziness or unconsciousness.

After the flogging, a heavy patibulum (the horizontal part of the cross) was attached to the condemned man's shredded and bloody back. Amid the mockery of the citizens, the condemned person had to carry the patibulum to the crucifixion area outside the city walls. The vertical part of the cross (the stipe) was already planted in place.

Despite YESHUA's efforts to stand upright, the weight of the patibulum on his lacerated skin, as well as the shock produced by the considerable loss of blood, must surely have pushed his human muscles beyond their endurance. He stumbled and fell. Simon of Cyrene helped him carry the patibulum to Mount Golgotha.

The condemned man was then crucified by driving a nail between the two bones below the wrist. The nail was strategically placed so as not to hit the major blood vessels, but rather the median nerve, causing the hands to tense into an excruciating contracture and unable to relax. In this contracture, whenever the condemned man moved a little or took breaths of air, his hands would abruptly bend towards the wrists, causing searing neuralgic pain in the arms. Dislocation of the shoulder or elbow could occur when the other arm was pulled back to drive in the second nail.

The feet were nailed by driving a nail between the second and third metatarsals so that the body's weight could be supported by the massive bones of the feet, causing extreme shooting pain in the legs. When the weight of the whole body was only supported by the outstretched arms, the condemned person would experience severe difficulty in breathing, due to hyper-expansion of the lungs.

In some cases, a wooden support or block was used to prop up the condemned man's feet, enabling him to breathe in more easily. But in all cases, he had to work hard to expel the air from his lungs, because to be able to do so, he had to pull or force his body upwards. In doing so, his back would press against the rough part of the stipe and this in turn would cause the wounds on his back to reopen.

Death by crucifixion activated a process of gradual asphyxiation, in which the two sets of muscles used for breathing: the intercostal [chest] muscles and the diaphragm, gradually weakened. Death could occur after several hours or even 2 or 3 days. Often, in order to shorten the condemned man's suffering, his legs were broken with an iron bar, causing him to suffocate and die quickly. If death did not come from asphyxiation, it could result from the physical shock caused by the scourging that preceded crucifixion, from the nailing itself, from dehydration or exhaustion.

On the cross, YESHUA would have experienced several hours of unlimited pain, wrenching joint cramps, intermittent partial asphyxia, a burning pain on His lacerated back rubbing up and down against the rough wood, and a terrible deep pain in His chest as His pericardium slowly filled with serum and compressed His heart. And He endured it all without saying a word.

1 Pierre 2:23 "lui qui, injurié, ne rendait point d'injures, maltraité, ne faisait point de menaces, mais s'en remettait à celui qui juge justement."
Psaumes 22:14-15 "Je suis comme de l'eau qui s'écoule, Et tous mes os se séparent; Mon coeur est comme de la cire, Il se fond dans mes entrailles. Ma force se dessèche comme l'argile, Et ma langue s'attache à mon palais; Tu me réduis à la poussière de la mort."

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