03/21/2013

• T&M SCOURGED

  And when he had scourged Yahvahosha, he delivered him to be impaled Mt 27:26

  What was it like for a prisoner to be scourged in the Restored Covenant times? From what materials was a scourge made? How did it feel when the straps of a scourge whipped across a person's back and body? What effects did a scourging have on the human body?
  

  Mt 27:26 tells us that Pilate "had scourged Yahvahosha" before he dfelivered Him to be impaled, so we need to understand what it meant to be "scourged" The word "scourged" is the Greek  word phragello, and it was one of the most horrific words used in the ancient world because of  the terrible images that immediately came to mind when a person heard this word. Let me tell you a little about the process of scouring and what it did to the human body. I believe this explanation is important so you can understand more completely what Yahvahosha endured before He was taken to be impaled.
  

  When a decision was made to scourge an individual, the victim was first stripped completely naked so his entire flesh would be open and uncovered to the beating action of the torturer's  whip. Then the victim was bound to a two foot high sclouring post. His hands were tied over his head to a metal ring, and his wrists were securely shackled to the metal ring to restrain his body from movement. when in  this locked position, the victim couldn't wiggle or move, trying to avoid or dodge the lashes that were being laid across his back.
  

  Romans were professional at scourging; they took special delight in the fact that they were the "best" at punishing a victim with this brutal act. Once the victim was harnessed to the post and stretched over it, the Roman soldier began to put him through unimaginable torture. One writer notes that the mere anticipation of the first blow caused the victim's body to grow rigid, the muscles to knot in his stomach, the color to drain from his cheeks, and his lips to draw tight against his teeth as he waited for the first sadistic blow that would begin the tearing open of his body.
  

  The scourge itself consisted of a short, wooden handle with several 18 to 24 inch long straps of leather protruding from it. The end of these pieces of leather were equipped with sharp rugged pieces of metal, wire, glass, and jagged fragments of bone. This was considered to be one of the most feared and deadly weapons of the Roman world. It was so ghastly that the mere threat of scouring could calm a crowd or bend the will of the strongest rebel. Not even the most hardened criminal wanted to be submitted to the vicious beating of a Roman scourge.
  

  Most often, two torturers were utilized to carry out this punishment, simultaneously lashing the victim from both sides. As these dual whips struck the victim, the leather straps with their jagged, sharp, cutting objects descended and extended over his entire back. Each piece of metal, wire, bone, or glass cut deeply through the victim's skin and into his flesh, shredding his muscles and sinews.
  

  Every time the whip pounded across the victim, these straps of leather curled tortuously around his torso, biting painfully and deeply into the skin of his abdomen and upper chest. As each stroke lacerated the sufferer, he tried to thrash about but was unable to move because his wrists were held so firmly to the  metal ring above his head. Helpless to escape the whip, he would scream for mercy that this anguish might come to an end.
  

  Every time the torturers struck a victim, the strap of leather attached to the wooden handle would cause multiple lashes as the pieces of metal, glass, wire, and bone sank into the flesh and then raked across the victim's body. then the torturer would jerk back, pulling hard in order to tear whole pieces of human flesh from the body. the victim's back, buttocks, back of the legs, stomach, upper chest, and face would soon be disfigured by the slashing blows of the whip.
  

  The Roman torturer would so aggressively strike his victim that he wouln't even take the time to untangle the bloody, flesh filled straps as he lashed the whip across the victim's mangled body over and over gain. If the scouring wasn't stopped, the slicing of the whip would eventually flay the victim's flesh off his body.
  

  The loss of blood caused the victim's blood pressure to drop drastically. Because of the massive loss of bodily fluids, he would experience excruciating thirst, often fainting from the pain and eventually going into shock. Frequently the victim's heartbeat would become so irregular that he would go into cardiac arrest.
  

  This was a Roman scouring.
  

  According to Jewish law, in Dt 25:3, the Jews were permitted to give forty lashes to a victim, but because the fortieth lash usually proved fatal, the number of lashes given were reduced to thirty nine, as Paul noted in 2 Co 11:24. But the romans had no limit to the number of lashes they could give a victim, and the scourging Yahvahosha experienced was at the hands of Romans, not Jews. therefore, it is entirely possible that when the torturer pulled out his scourge to beat Yahvahosha, he may have laid more than forty lashes across His body. In fact, this is even probable in light of the explosive outrage the Jews felt for Yahvahosha and the terrible mocking He had already suffered at the hands of Roman soldiers.
  

  So when the Scripture tells us that Yahvahosha was scourged, we now know exactly what type of beating that Yahvahosha received that night. The Restored Covenant doesn't tell exactly what Yahvahosha looked like after He was scourged, but Isa 52:14 says, "As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men."
  

  If we take this Scripture literally for what it says, we can conclude that Yahvahosha's physical body was marred nearly beyond recognition. As appalling as this sounds, it was only the overture to what was to follow. Mt 27:26 continues to tell us "...and he had scourged Yahvahosha, he delivered him to be impaled." This scourging was only the preparation for Yahvahosha's impalement.
  

  Yahvahosha's broken body was the payment Yahvah demanded to guarantee our physical healing! Just as Yahvahosha willfully took our sins and died on the Stake in our place. He also willfully took our sicknesses and pains on Himself when they tied Him to the scouring post and laid those lashes across His body. That horrific scouring paid for our healing!
  

  Yahvahosha went through this agony for you,  and me, so don't let the devil tell you that is Yahvah's will for you to be sick or weakly.  Considering the pain Yahvahosha endured to bear your sickness that day, isn't that enough evidence to convince you how much He wants you to be physical well?
  

  PRAYER: YAHVAH, I AM MOVED BY WHAT I'VE LEARNED TODAY. I HAD NO IDEA HOW MUCH PAIN YOU ENDURED TO PAY THE PRICE FOR MY PHYSICAL HEALING. FORGIVE ME FOR THE TIMES I'VE TOLERATED SICKNESS AND DIDN'T EVEN PRAY TO BE HEALED.  NOW I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU DESIRE TO SEE ME HEALED IS SO GREAT THAT YOU PAID A PRICE FAR BEYOND ANYTHING I WILL EVER BE ABLE TO COMPREHEND. SINCE MY PHYSICALLY WELL BEING IS THAT IMPORTANT TO YOU, STARTING TODAY I DETERMINE TO WALK IN DIVINE HEALTH AND HEALING. I AM TAKING A STAND OF FAITH TO WALK IN HEALING AND TO FULLY POSSES THE HEALTH YOU BROUGHT FOR ME THAT DAY WHEN YOU WERE SEVERELY BEATEN! I PRAY THIS IN THE NAME OF YAHVAHOSHA MESSIAH HALLELUYAH! Bro. Doc
  

  • 11:48 am
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