•Cf. WetstcinonMt2"3''. tCf. Lips, de Cruc. ii. viii. t Cf. ii. xii.-xiii.
§ Cf. Bv. Pfir. 5 6 : toti kTtffmtffetn TOiii JiXouf aTO r^v ^ttfiaiv Toy
II Cf. Lips, de Cruc. ii. xiii.
t Cf. Lightfoot on Mt 273*; Wetetein on Mk 1523. See art. Gall.
** Cf. Calv. : ' Nam et h»o pare sacriacii et obedientiso ejus erat, lanjfuoris moram ad extremum usque suflerre.'
tt Cf. Dr. Johnson : ' I will take no more physic, not even my opiates ; for I have prayed that I may render up ray soul to God unclouded. '
;: i:i. '■ ■ ' ' r ,, .. :;, proClutnt. 66; Jos. BJiv. vi. 1, vii.
t unquestionably i )n. Ct. WH, XoU
tliose outlaws who infested the steep road from Jericho to Jerusalem, and by their deeds of violence gave it the grim name of ' the Ascent of Blood ' (cf. Lk 10^") ; and when one of them, recognizing the majesty of the meek Sufferer, turned to Him and prayed Him to remember him when He ' came in his kingdom,' He granted more than he sought, promising him a place that very day in Paradise. And He thought of His mother, as she stood by distracted with grief, and commended her to the care of the beloved disciple. While He hung. He was compassed with insults. The Jewish rulers, exulting in their seeming triumph, mocked Him, and the multitude joined in the poor sport. So did the soldiers who were charged with the duty of watching the crosses lest a rescue should be attempted.* Heated by their labour, they were refreshing themselves from their jar of posca, the vinegar which was the only drink allowed to soldiers on duty (see VINEGAR). Jesus was in their eyes a pretender to the Jewish throne, a rebel against the imperial government; and, hear- m^ the gibes of the rulers, they joined in, and, holding up their cups in mock homage, drank His Majesty's health (Lk '2Z'^).
Crucifixion was a lingering doom. The victims sometimes hung for days ere they died of hunger, exhaustion, loss of blood, and the fever of their wounds.t unless they were despatched either by a spear-thrust or by the coirp dc grace of the cruri- fragium, a brutality which the Romans practised usually on slaves, beating the life out of them by shattering blows with a heavy mallet.J It was, however, contrary to the Jewish law (Dt o,\-^-''^) that they should hang overnight ; and it was the more necessary that the requirement should be ob- served in this instance, since the next day was not only the Sabbath but the Sabbath of the Paschal week, a day of special solemnity (Jn 19*'). There- fore the luicrs waited on Pilate, and requested that Jt>u^ :iiiil till' liiii;ands might be despatched by the rnif ifr.hiiiin^. and their bodies taken do^vn from the iiiiNMs elf (j o'clock that evening, when the Sabbatli would begin. PUate consented, and the soldiers set about the brutal work. They de- spatched the two brigands, but when they came to Jesus, He was already dead. There was no need to strike Him with the mallet; but one of them, to ensure that He was really dead, drove his spear into His side. See Blood AND Water.
The prominent characteristic of crucifixion was the ignominy of it (cf. Gal 3'^ He 122). jhis con- stituted ' the stumbling-block of the cross ' (Gal 5") in Jewish eyes. Since it was expected that the Messiah would be a glorious and victorious King, it seemed incredible that one who was slain, and not only slain but crucified, should be the Messiah. In the eyes of the NT writers, on the contrary, its very ignominy constituted its supreme suitability to the Messiah. It identified Him utterly with sinners, making Him a sharer in the worst ex- tremity of their condition. St. John recognized a Srovidential dispensation in the enslavement of the ews to the Romans, inasmuch as it brought about the Crucifixion (IS''- 3'-). Had they been free, Jesus would have been stoned as a blasphemer ; but since they were vassals of Rome, it was not law- ful for them to put any one to death (Jn 18''). The Sanhedrin's sentence had to be referred to the procurator. It was invalid without his ratification, and it was executed by his authority after the Roman manner. It is remarkable that, unlike the mediajval
♦ Cf. Petron. Sat.: ' Cruciarii unius parentes ut viderunt noctu laxatam custodiam, detraxere pendentem ' : Jos, Vit.7!i: three cnrciarii taken down ; one recovered from his wounds.
t Cf. Lips, tie Cruc. ii. xii.
} Cf. ib. xiv.
I
CRUSE
399
artists, who loved to depict the Man of Sorrows as He hung on the cross abused and bleeding, the Evangelists have drawn a veil over the scene, detail- ing none of the ghastly particulars, and saying merely : ' They crucified him.' They recognized in tlie Crucifixion not the triumph of human malice but the consummation of a Divine purpose—' the deter- minate counsel and foreknowledge of God ' (Ac 2=^). At the moment all was dark to the disciples ; but when their minds were Ulumined by the Holy Spirit, they saw not only ' the sufferings that befell Messiah ' but ' the glories that followed these ' (1 P 1"). Their Lord had never seemed so kingly in their eyes as when He ' reigned from the tree.' * In early days, according to some authorities, Lk 9^' ran : ' They were speaking of the glory which He was about to fulfil at Jerusalem.' t So Chrysostom quotes the passage ; and this is the constant con- ception of the NT. • We look upon Jesus,' says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ' because of the -suffering of death crowned with glory and honour' (2^ cf. Ph 28'-)-