Death By Crucifixion

This is an excerpt from Crucifixion in the Ancient World by Dr. Richard P. Bucher.

The ancients considered death by crucifixion to be not just any execution, but the most obscene, the most disgraceful, the most horrific execution known to man.

What form did a normal crucifixion take? First came the flogging or scourging. The flogging was usually done by two soldiers using a short whip that had several leather strips of different lengths. Tied to these were small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones. The victim was stripped of his clothing and his hands were tied above him to a post. The back, legs and buttocks would then be flogged until the person collapsed. With the back and legs thus torn open there would be extensive blood loss.

Next the condemned man was made to carry his own cross to the place of crucifixion outside the city walls. The condemned man typically carried the crossbeam across his shoulders, shoulders that had just been ripped open by the flogging. This crossbeam would have weighed from 75-125 pounds.

When the victim reached the place of execution, by law, he was given a drink of wine mixed with myrrh. This was intended to be mild narcotic that would deaden the pain. It is significant that Jesus refused this drink. The criminal was then stripped naked, thrown to the ground on his back with his arms outstretched along the crossbeam. The hands would then be nailed to the crossbeam. Then the victim, now nailed to the crossbeam, would be hoisted up so that the crossbeam was attached to the upright beam. Finally the feet were nailed, one on top of the other, to the upright beam with another iron spike.

The pain of crucifixion is not difficult to imagine. In addition to the excruciating pain from the nails, the position of the crucified on the cross led to marked interference with normal respiration, especially exhalation. The crucified person could not exhale properly and this eventually would lead to painful muscle cramps. Furthermore, adequate exhaling required the crucified to lift his body by pushing up on the feet and rotating his elbows. This, of course, resulted in searing pain in both feet and hands. Lifting of the body to properly exhale would also painfully scrape the scourged back against the rough wooden cross, probably reopening wounds and causing more bleeding. On the cross every breath would be an agonizing affair and finally in combination with exhaustion would lead to suffocation.

Death by crucifixion did not come easily. There the crucified would hang, naked, the object of jeering and ridicule, powerless to remove the insects that landed in their mouth, eyes, and open wounds, exposed to the elements, unable to eat or drink. Crucifixion in the ancient world, as the ancients themselves tell us, was the most disgraceful and agonizing execution known to man.

And this is the death that Jesus Christ died. All this our Savior did for us, to save us from our sins.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8).

Here are more resources on the death of Jesus:

• On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ
• Medical Aspects of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ
• Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die - download the free book by John Piper
• Evidence for the Resurrection - an audio or video lecture series by Josh McDowell