Pilate ordered Jesus brutally beaten, probably believing
that such punishment would satisfy the ugly mob, but it demanded more and Jesus
was delivered up to be crucified.

A Physician Testifies About the Crucifixion

by Dr. C. Truman Davis

About a decade ago, reading Jim Bishop's The Day Christ Died, I
realized that I had for years taken the Crucifixion more or less for granted --
that I had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity with the grim
details and a too distant friendship with our Lord. It finally occurred to me
that, though a physician, I didn't even know the actual immediate cause of
death. The Gospel writers don't help us much on this point, because crucifixion
and scourging were so common during their lifetime that they apparently
considered a detailed description unnecessary. So we have only the concise words
of the Evangelists: "Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be
crucified -- and they crucified Him."

I have no competence to discuss the infinite psychic and spiritual suffering
of the Incarnate God atoning for the sins of fallen man. But it seemed to me
that as a physician I might pursue the physiological and anatomical aspects of
our Lord's passonate some detail. What did the body of Jesus of Nazareth
actually endure during those hours of torture?

This led me first to a study of the practice of crucifixion itself; that is,
torture and execution by fixation to a cross. I am indebted to many who have
studied this subject in the past, and especially to a contemporary colleague,
Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who has done exhaustive historical and
experimental research and has written extensively on the subject.

Apparently, the first known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians.
Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world -- to
Egypt and to Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from the
Carthaginians and (as with almost everything the Romans did) rapidly developed a
very high degree of efficiency and skill at it. A number of Roman authors (Livy,
Cicer, Tacitus) comment on crucifixion, and several innovations, modifications,
and variations are described in the ancient literature.

For instance, the upright portion of the cross (or stipes) could have the
cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top in what we
commonly think of as the Latin cross. The most common form used in our Lord's
day, however, was the Tau cross, shaped like our T. In this cross the patibulum
was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes. There is archeological evidence
that it was on this type of cross that Jesus was crucified.

Without any historical or biblical proof, Medieval and Renaissance painters
have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. But the upright
post, or stipes, was generally fixed permanently in the ground at the site of
execution and the condemned man was forced to carry the patibulum, weighing
about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution.

Many of the painters and most of the sculptors of crucifixion, also show the
nails through the palms. Historical Roman accounts and experimental work have
established that the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrists
(radial and ulna) and not through the palms. Nails driven through the
palms will strip out between the fingers when made to support the weight of the
human body. The misconception may have come about through a misunderstanding of
Jesus' words to Thomas, "Observe my hands." Anatomists, both modern and ancient,
have always considered the wrist as part of the hand.

A titulus, or small sign, stating the victim's crime was usually placed on a
staff, carried at the front of the procession from the prison, and later nailed
to the cross so that it extended above the head. This sign with its staff nailed
to the top of the cross would have given it somewhat the characteristic form of
the Latin cross.

But, of course, the physical passion of the Christ began in Gethsemane. Of
the many aspects of this initial suffering, the one of greatest physiological
interest is the bloody sweat. It is interesting that St. Luke, the physician, is
the only one to mention this. He says, "And being in Agony, He prayed the
longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground."

Every ruse (trick) imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain
away this description, apparently under the mistaken impression that this just
doesn't happen. A great deal of effort could have been saved had the doubters
consulted the medical literature. Though very rare, the phenomenon of
Hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress
of the kind our Lord suffered, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break,
thus mixing blood with sweat. This process might well have produced marked
weakness and possible shock.

After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was next brought before
the Sanhedrin and Caiphus, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical
trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining
silent when questioned by Caiphus. The palace guards then blind-folded Him and
mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat upon Him,
and struck Him in the face.

In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a
sleepless night, Jesus is taken across the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia,
the seat of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. You are, of
course, familiar with Pilate's action in attempting to pass responsibility to
Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical
mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was in
response to the cries of the mob, that Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and
condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.

There is much disagreement among authorities about the unusual scourging as a
prelude to crucifixion. Most Roman writers from this period do not associate the
two. Many scholars believe that Pilate originally ordered Jesus scourged as his
full punishment and that the death sentence by crucifixion came only in response
to the taunt by the mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar
against this pretender who allegedly claimed to be the King of the Jews.

Preparations for the scourging were carried out when the Prisoner was
stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. It is
doubtful the Romans would have made any attempt to follow the Jewish law in this
matter, but the Jews had an ancient law prohibiting more than forty lashes.

The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his
hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two
small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought
down with full force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back, and legs. At
first the thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they
cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood
from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial
bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.

The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken
open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long
ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue.
When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near
death, the beating is finally stopped.

The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone
pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this
provincial Jew claiming to be king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and
place a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their
travesty complete. Flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used in
bundles for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed
into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding, the scalp being one of the most
vascular areas of the body.

After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the
stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper
into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn
from His back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood and serum in the
wounds, its removal causes excruciating pain just as in the careless removal of
a surgical bandage, and almost as though He were again being whipped the wounds
once more begin to bleed.

In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return His garments. The heavy
patibulum of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the
condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed
by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of His
efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the
shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The
rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the
shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their
endurance.

The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart
North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows,
still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock, until the 650 yard
journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed.

Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refuses
to drink. Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus
quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire
feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square,
wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to
the other side and repeats the action being careful not to pull the arms to
tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in
place at the top of the stipes and the titulus reading "Jesus of Nazareth, King
of the Jews" is nailed in place.

The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both
feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the
knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down
with more weight on the nails in the wrists excruciating pain shoots along the
fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain -- the nails in the writs are
putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this
stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet.
Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between
the metatarsal bones of the feet.

At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the
muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps
comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral
muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be
drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in
order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the
lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically,
he is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short
sentences recorded:

The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His seamless
garment, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

The second, to the penitent thief, "Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John --
the beloved Apostle -- he said, "Behold thy mother." Then, looking to His mother
Mary, "Woman behold thy son."

The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, "My God, my God, why
has thou forsaken me?"

Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps,
intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His
lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another
agony begins...A terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium
slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: "I am poured out like
water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in
the midst of my bowels."

It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical
level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood
into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small
gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the
brain.

Jesus gasps His fifth cry, "I thirst."

One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: "My strength is
dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has
brought me into the dust of death."

A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of
the Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn't take any of
the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of
death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words,
possibly little more than a tortured whisper, "It is finished."

His mission of atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to die.

With one last surge of strength, he once again presses His torn feet against
the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh
and last cry, "Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit."

The rest you know. In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the Jews asked
that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses. The common
method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of the bones
of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; thus the
tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest and rapid
suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when the
soldiers came to Jesus they saw that this was unnecessary.

Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance
through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium
and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the Gospel according
to St. John reports: "And immediately there came out blood and water." That is,
there was an escape of water fluid from the sac surrounding the heart, giving
postmortem evidence that Our Lord died not the usual crucifixion death by
suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken heart) due to shock and constriction
of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.

Thus we have had our glimpse -- including the medical evidence -- of that
epitome of evil which man has exhibited toward Man and toward God. It has been a
terrible sight, and more than enough to leave us despondent and depressed. How
grateful we can be that we have the great sequel in the infinite mercy of God
toward man -- at once the miracle of the atonement (at one ment) and the
expectation of the triumphant Easter morning.

Dr. C. Truman Davis is a nationally respected Opthalmologist, vice president
of the American Association of Ophthalmology, and an active figure in the
Christian schools movement. He is founder and president of the excellent Trinity
Christian School in Mesa Arizona, and a trustee of Grove City College.

This work is ©copyrighted
by The Review of the NEWS, April 14, 1976

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