John 19:32

Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. THEN CAME THE SOLDIERS, AND BRAKE THE LEGS OF THE FIRST, AND OF THE OTHER WHICH WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM. Crucifixion being a very lingering death, the life of the criminals was still in them, and was thus barbarously extinguished....

31-37 A trial was made whether Jesus was dead. He died in less time than persons crucified commonly did. It showed that he had laid down his life of himself. The spear broke up the very fountains of life; no human body could survive such a wound. But its being so solemnly attested, shows there was something peculiar in it. The blood and water that flowed out, signified those two great benefits which all believers partake of through Christ, justification and sanctification; blood for atonement, water for purification. They both flow from the pierced side of our Redeemer. To Christ crucified we owe merit for our justification, and Spirit and grace for our sanctification. Let this silence the fears of weak Christians, and encourage their hopes; there came both water and blood out of Jesus' pierced side, both to justify and sanctify them. The Scripture was fulfilled, in Pilate's not allowin...

EXPOSITION JOHN 19:1 (d) [Within the Praetorium.] The unjust scourging, and the crown of thorns. JOHN 19:1 Then PILATE THEREFORE TOOK JESUS, AND SCOURGED HIM. The force of the "therefore" may be seen in the foregoing observations (see especially Luke 23:23). He obviously fancied that the sight of their victim's utter humiliation, his reduction to the lowest possible position, would sate their burning rage. Scourging was the ordinary preliminary of crucifixion, and it might be regarded as Pilate's verdict, or the conclusion of the whole matter. Roman and Greek historians confirm the custom (Josephus, 'Ant.,'...

THEN CAME THE SOLDIERS,.... Pilate having granted the Jews what they desired; either the soldiers that crucified Christ, and the others with him, and watched their bodies, being ordered by Pilate, went from the place where they sat; or a fresh company, which were sent for this purpose, came from the city: AND BRAKE THE LEGS OF THE FIRST; they came unto, which whether it was he that was crucified on his right hand, and was the penitent believer in him, as some have thought, is not certain: AND OF THE OTHER WHICH WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM; who, if the former is true, must be he that reviled him; and was this their position, it was a lively emblem of the last day, when the sheep shall stand at the right, and the goats on the left hand of Christ....

John 19:1. _Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him._ This was one of the most terrible punishments to which a man could be sentenced. The Roman scourge was no trifle. It tore off the quivering flesh of the agonized sufferer for it was constructed on purpose to do so. It was generally made of the sinews of oxen, intertwined with the knuckle bones of sheep, and small slivers of bone. This torture our blessed Saviour endured. These are the stripes with which we are healed. John 19:2. _And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,_ Mockery was blended with cruelty. They might have made him a crown, yet surely it need not have been one of thorns unless they intended to put him to the utmost torment that they could c

CHAPTER 19 _ 1. Behold the Man! (John 19:1 .)_ 2. The Last Question of Pilate and Christ's Last Word. (John 19:8 .) 3. Delivered up and Crucified. (John 19:12 .) 4. The Title upon the Cross. (John 19:19 .) 5. The Parted Garments. (John 19:23 .) 6. Behold Thy Son! Behold Thy Mother! (John 19:25 .) 7. It is Finished! (John 19:28 .) 8. His Legs not B

THE LANCE-THRUST AND THE BURIAL. It has been said that these verses contain parts of two accounts of burial, by the Jews, and by Joseph. In reality the Jews only demand that the law of Deuteronomy 21:23, applicable to any day, should not be broken, especially considering the sanctity of the morrow, which was both a Sabbath and the great day of the Feast. The breaking of the legs was often allowed, as an act of mercy to the sufferers. In the Gospel of Peter the Jews object to it, in order that Jesus'suffering may not be shortened. As a means of ensuring death the lance-thrust is perfectly natural, and results which might easily be described by an actual witness in the terms of John 19:34 are not physiologically impossible (Exp., May 1916). Again it is easier to suppose that facts have caused the discove

THEN CAME THE SOLDIERS. At the orders of Pilate the soldiers, beginning with the two outside sufferers, broke their legs in succession, but when they came to Jesus, the central figure, they found him already dead, and, hence, "broke not his legs." Thus as the paschal lambs, slain at that very hour, and eaten that evening, were preserved with bones unbroken, so "the Lord our Passover" descended from the cross, pierced and mangled, but not. bone was broken....

JESUS AND PILATE (John 18:28-40 ; John 19:1-16)...

THE FIRST, &c. See App-164. CRUCIFIED WITH. Greek. _sustauroo._ Only here, Matthew 27:44.Mark 15:32.Romans 6:6; Galatians 1:2; Galatians 1:20....