In Cliristian art the scorpion has received a symbolical character, as an emblem of the anti- Cliristian power. Thus a scorpion is to be seen on the shield of a Roman soldier in B. Luini's cele- brated fresco, ' The Crucifixion,' in Santa Maria degli Angeli, Lugano.
Literature. — Bochart, Hierozoicon, ii. pp. 632-645 ; Peter- mann, lieisen im Orient^, 186.'j, ii. pp. 272, 46r. ; Wood, Bible Anima'ii, 1869, pp. 640-643; PEFSt, 18G9, p. 148 ; Van-Lennep, Bible iiands, 187.'), pp. 309-311; Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the BibleS, 1889, pp. 301-303; Doughtj', Arabia Deserta, 1888, i. pp. .32;;, 438; R. Hertwig, Lehrbuch der Zoologie*, 1897, p. 441 ff. ; J. II. Fabre, Souvenirs entomoloffiqroes, ix. pp. 229-343 (extremely patient, accurate, and interesting observations).
LUCIKN Gautier. SCOURGE, SCOURGING. — In the Gospels the vb. 'scourge' is tr. of two Gr. terms, naixTiySio {h. lj.d(TTix, found in Gospels only in a metapliorical sen'-(; [EV ' plague,' RVin ' Gr. scourge '], but used in its literal meaning in Ac 22-^ He IP''); and (pyuyeWdiji (fr. ^pa^AXiof, Lat. Jlarjrllitin, which
occurs in Jn 2'^). (ppayiWiov denotes the scourge proper as an insti'ument of punishment, wliile /ndari^ in class. Gr. is often used of an ordinary whip for driving, etc. In NT, however, fj-aaTiyouj is a synonym for (ppayeWdui (cf. Mk 10^ and 15'^, Mt 27-® and Jn 19^). The subject of scourging comes before us in three connexions.
(1) In Jn 2^^ Jesus makes a scourge (^payeWiov) of cords {dK a-xotviuv) and drives the desecrating crowd of traders, as well as their sheep and oxen, out of the Temple. Farrar and others have repre- sented this scourge of Jesus as nothing more tiian a whip twisted hastily out of the rushes with which the floor would be littered — a pure symbol of authority, therefore, not a weapon of ott'ence. In this case, however, we should have had crxotVcoj', not ffxoi-viiov. axoivlov is a rope, not a rush, and though originally applied to a rope made from rushes, is used in class. Gr. in a general sense. On the only other occasion of its employment in the NT it means a rope strong enough to tow a ship's boat in a gale (Ac 27^"'^). To drive a herd of oxen out of the Temple courts, moreover, some- thing more than a symbol of authority would be required. But we need not suppose that Jesus, even in His indignation, struck the merchants themselves. For them the sign of His authority would be sufficient (cf. Jn 18*), and, as Bengel says, 'terrore rem perfecit.'
(2) In Mt 10" Jesus forewarns the Apostles of a time when men would scourge them in their syna- gogues ; and in 23^^ He predicts that the scribes and Pharisees will thus treat those whom He sends unto them. The later history gives ample evidence of the fulfilment of these words (see Ac 5^" 22"*,
2 Co 6-' ll"3-24).
(3) But, above all, we must think of the scourging endured by Jesus Himself. According to all the Synoptics, Jesus foresaw this as part of the suffer- ing that lay before Him (Mt 201^, Mk lO^*, Lk 18^3). It was, indeed, almost inseparable from His vision of the Cross, for scourging formed the ordinary accompaniment of a Roman crucifixion (cf. Jos. BJ V. xi. 1). Sometimes it was employed in criminal cases as a means of extracting confession, but regularly as the brutal preliminary to the still more brutal death of the cross. Because of the apparent inconsistency between Mt 27^", Mk 15'^, on the one hand, and Jn 19\ on the other, as to the particular stage of the trial at which Je.sus was scourged, some have thought that the torture was twice inflicted. A careful comparison of the four Gospels, however, does not support this idea. The statements of Mt. and Mk., though they convey, when taken alone, the imjiression of a .scourging immediately before the crucifixion, do not neces- sarily bear this meaning, but may quite well be understood retrospectively, and as implying simply t!iat Jesus had to endure the scourge before going to the cross. Probably the key to tiie difficultj' is to be found in Lk.'s narrative, where Pilate saj-s, ' Why, wliat evil hath this man done ? I have found no cause of death in him : I will therefore cliastise him and release him ' (23--). These words show tliat Pilate meant the scourging to be a com- promise between the death which the Jews de- manded and tlie verdict of absolute innocence wliicii was called for by his own sense of justice. And this is confirmed by Jn.'s narrative, which shows Pilate scourging Jesus (19^) and holding Him up to mockery (vv.'^- ^) in tlie evident hope of satis- fying the multitude, still insisting that he found no crime in Him (v.^), and yielding at last, only witli reluctance, to the demand for His crucifixion (v.*"^-)- f>ee art. Tkial ov Jesus Christ.
A Roman scourging miglit be carried out either with rods {rirfjrr, pdfiSoi.) — the weapons of lictors, or with the scourge proper (flngdlum, ^pay4Wiou),
582
SCRIBES
SCRIBES
in wliich leather thongs weighted with rough pieces of lead or iron were attached to a stout wooden handle. St. Paul's three Roman scourgings, as distinguished from his five Jewish ones, were inflicted by means of rods (pa^SStfo), 2 Co 11^^, Ac jg22. 23j J3y^^ Jerusalem Avas not a Roman town, like Philippi (Ac 16''^ RV), and Pilate had no lictors. Jesus was scourged by soldiers, and the implement they used, as the vb. cppayeWdw (Mt 27"^'', ]\Ik 15^^) almost implies, would be the dreadful 'Roman Jlagellum. St. Peter may have witnessed it all ; and what a world of meaning then lies in his words, ' by whose stripes [Gr. ' bruise ' or ' we^l '] ye were healed ' (1 P 2-\ cf . Is 535).