Love You In The Lord Ministries

The false assumption that the Romans restricted themselves to 39 strikes is a misnomer. That was a Jewish custom and the Romans did not honor the Jewish customs. Roman floggings were dependent upon the severity of the crime.

Floggings for those convicted of treason against the state of Rome were carried out in a lower, or below street level, room in the Fortress of Antonia. Every person condemned to death by crucifixion was first flogged. This was a preliminary punishment demanded by Roman law.

The instrument generally used in flogging was a short whip called a flagellum or flagrum, The whip had several (from 9 to 20) braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which iron chips, pottery shreds, and sharp pieces of bone were woven into the braided thongs at intervals.

At the very end of each braided leather strap was attached a small steel ball. Although the Bible does not record the number of strikes to which Jesus was subjected, we do know that a minimum of 100 up to a maximum of 200 strikes was genercondemned to crucifixion.

If in fact the flagrum had a count ally the number reserved for those convicted of treason and prescribed strikes of 100, Jesus would have been subjected to as many as 1200 individual stripes.

In preparation for flogging, the prisoner was stripped of all clothing and was restrained by being forced to bend over a 1 meter tall, round (about 18″-24″ in diameter) stone pedestal, whereupon his wrists were tightly chained to his ankles throughout the flogging, to prevent him from moving. Crucifixion was a very expensive form of capital punishment-extra expense for additional guards, crowd control, security guard at the crucifixion site and so on. Therefore, it was to Rome’s financial advantage for the victim to die before the time of crucifixion.

So, an all-out effort was made by the Romans in an attempt to kill the victim before his crucifixion date. Since the scourging and crucifixion was administered under the direction of the Roman military, the Roman Governor General Phinius Copornicus was the ranking Roman administrator in charge of this portion of Jesus’ ordeal. Hence,

the record of Pracitius, the court historian/scribe for the Governor General, was the primary source used in detailing Jesus’ scourging and crucifixion (Sirilius was also present at the scourging and crucifixion, but his record of the scourging and crucifixion was not as detailed as Pracitius’ account). Before using the flagrum, a Roman legionnaire would beat the victim (only in cases where the condemned had been convicted of treason) with a thick wooden stave.

The number of blows was not consistent, so it could range from 10 blows to as many as 75. The purpose for the beating was to force the blood from the muscles to the surface of the skin, so that the whip could inflect the maximum amount of damage. most cases where the victim was convicted of treason the number of blows was generally between 50 and 75.

When the Roman legionnaire in charge of the flogging determined that the blood had risen close enough to the surface of the skin to maximize flogging by the flagrum, he stepped aside and directed the flogging. Four strong gladiator slaves who had distinguished themselves in the arena blood games administered the flogging.

The process involved all four. Each gladiator was allowed 10 strikes at a time until the strike allotment, determined by either the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate, the Governor General, Phinius Copornicus, or the administering Roman legionnaire (the legionnaire who had beaten the prisoner with the wooden stave), had been administered, or the prisoner died.

After each strike, the flagrum was dipped into salt water, which was intended to increase agony of the prisoner. The Roman government was generous when it came to the gladiators who were chosen to administer treason floggings, for if a gladiator could kill the condemned with his allotted strikes, the gladiator would receive either a talent of gold (about 35 kilos) or the victim’s weight in silver—the gladiator’s choice. Either would have been enough for him to buy his freedom and then live comfortably for the rest of his life on what money remained.

Thus, each of the four tried to the best of his ability to kill the prisoner with the strikes that he had been allotted. There was no reprieve if the prisoner collapsed into unconsciousness. If this happened, the prisoner would be revived and then the flogging would be continued.

The heavy whip was brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ naked shoulders, back, buttocks, and legs; reaching around the body on the sides as well as the face, causing deep contusions and lacerating the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Before long the skin was hanging in quivering ribbons, exposing the underlying skeleton, backbone and skull, and some internal organs.

In essence, the entire area that was being flogged became an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. Fifty strikes were administered to Jesus’ back. He was then turned over and fifty more were administered to his front (Pracitius notes that Jesus’ face and sexual organs were completely gone, internal organs were exposed and that Jesus was totally unrecognizable as a man, Sirilius says that of the more than 200 scourgings that he had witnessed, Jesus was mutilated and disfigured more than any). After the flogging was complete, the victim was unshackled.

Victims who did not die during the flogging were determined by the Romans to be destined by the gods to face death by crucifixion. So, to prevent the victim from bleeding to death so that he could face crucifixion, the flow of blood had to be stopped. Hence, Jesus’ entire body was immersed in a vat of salt water. The pain was excruciating, but the process did check the unimpeded flow of blood.

The reason why he did not cry out was because of his love for us. He knew that Isaiah had prophesied (Isaiah 53:4-7).

He knew that by the stripes that were laid upon his body that we have a provision for healing. He knew that if he cried out or begged for mercy or said anything in protest that we could never have healing for our bodies.

He endured the stripes for us and remained silent for us, because of his matchless and unparalleled love for us—you and me. In Jesus’ case, after the beating, the Roman soldiers, (Pracitius estimates that there were approximately 600 soldiers who participated) amused that this weakened mass of torn tissue and blood had claimed to be a king, began to mock him by placing a scarlet or deep purple robe (perhaps a cloak of one of the legionnaires) on his shoulders, a crown of thorns on his head, and a wooden staff as a scepter in his right hand.

They knelt before him and mockingly paid homage by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews.” They spat on him, they beat his head that contained the crown of thorns, that covered the entire scalp, with the wooden staff, driving the 2 inch long thorns deep into the scalp, causing severe bleeding and agonizing headaches, and they ripped his beard by the handfuls out of the mass of torn flesh that used to be his face, exposing his jaw bone and teeth.

Finally, the Roman soldiers tired of their sadistic sport and tore the robe from Jesus’ back. Already having adhered to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, the robe’s removal caused excruciating pain.

The severity of the beating is not detailed in the Gospels. However, the Old Testament book of Isaiah (chapters 50, 52, and 53) mentions that Jesus was beaten so severely that his form did not look like that of a human being. People were appalled to look at him. Isaiah implies that Jesus was more marred than any other.