‘By His Stripes We Are Healed’—The Bloody Reality of Jesus’ Scourging
Excerpted from Easter—The Rest of the Story.
In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are fragments of two stone columns dating back to the First Century that are disfigured by the marks of a Roman scourge.
One column fragment, which is granite and whitish in color, rests behind a piece of glass in a niche that is located in a circular passageway, and it is overseen by the Roman Catholic Church. The other blackish-looking column is exhibited high on a shelf in the walls of an interior chapel in the same Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and it is overseen by the Orthodox Church.
This second column fragment, also marred by Roman scourging, had been broken into two fragments. Another piece of this dark-colored column is on display at the Patriarchal Cathedral Church of St. George, an Orthodox church in Istanbul, Turkiye. There, this treasured relic is located in the southeast corner of the church, described as a portion of the column where “our Lord was bound and whipped by Roman soldiers during His Passion and before His crucifixion.”
Each of these historical churches claims “their” column is the actual column, or post, on which Jesus was scourged before He carried the cross to Golgotha. There are serious arguments to support that these respective columns are the authentic ones upon which Jesus was scourged — and the columns are so ancient that it is nearly certain they were used for scourging during the time period of Jesus’ scourging.
The two short columns bear the scars of a Roman scourge and demonstrate how horrible a Roman scourging would be upon human flesh — for if the scourge of a torturer could shred and mar columns of stone, what would a scourge do to a human body?
In Matthew 27:26, we read Pilate “had scourged Jesus” before he delivered Him to be crucified. The word “scourge” was one of the most horrific words ever used in the ancient world because of the terrible images that immediately came to mind when a person heard it. It is essential for you to understand what it meant to be “scourged” so you can fully grasp what Jesus did for you and me even before He died on the Cross and was resurrected — raised to life again.
I’s important to understand the process of scourging and its physical toll on the human body to fully grasp what Jesus endured before He was taken to be crucified. You will learn:
What was it like for a person to be scourged?
From what materials was a scourge made?
How did it feel when the straps of a scourge ripped across a person’s back and body?
What effects did a scourging have on the human body externally and internally?
The Process of a Roman Scourging
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 normally bound to a two-foot-high scourging post made of stone. His hands were tied over his head to a metal ring, and his wrists were securely shackled to that ring to restrain his body from movement. When in this locked position, the victim couldn’t wiggle, move, or dodge the lashes that were being laid across his body. Romans were professionals at scourging and took special delight in the fact that they were the “best” at punishing a victim with this brutal act.
Once a victim was harnessed to the post and stretched over it, Roman soldiers began to put him through unimaginable torture, so much so that one writer notes the mere anticipation of the whipping 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 tearing his body open.
The scourge itself, as a weapon, consisted of a short, wooden handle with several 18- to 24-inch-long straps of leather protruding from it. The ends of these pieces of leather were knotted with sharp pieces of metal, wire, glass, and jagged fragments of bone. The scourge 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 scourging could calm a crowd or bend the will of the strongest rebel. Even the most hardened criminal recoiled from the prospect of being submitted to the vicious beating of a Roman scourging.
Most often two torturers were utilized to carry out this vicious punishment, simultaneously lashing the victim from two sides. As these dual whips struck the victim, the leather straps with their sharp, jagged objects extended over his entire back, and 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, those 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, even if he tried to thrash about, he was unable to move because his wrists were held so firmly to the metal ring fastened on the stone column. Helpless to escape the whip, most often victims would scream for mercy that this anguish might come to an end.
Every time the torturers struck a victim, the straps of leather that were attached to the wooden handle would cause multiple lashes as the sharp objects at the end of each strap 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 Physical Effects History Recorded About Roman Scourgings
Historical records describe a victim’s back as being so mutilated after a Roman scourging that his spine could actually be exposed. Others recorded how the bowels of a victim could even spill out through the open wounds created by the whip. The Early Church historian Eusebius wrote: “The veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.”
The Roman torturer would so aggressively strike his victim that he wouldn’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 again. If the scourging wasn’t stopped, the slicing of the whip would eventually flay the victim’s flesh off his body.
With so many blood vessels sliced open by the whip, the victim would begin to experience a profuse loss of blood and bodily fluids. The heart would pump harder and harder, struggling to get blood to the parts of the body that were bleeding profusely. But it would be like pumping water through an open water hydrant; there was nothing to stop the blood from pouring through the victim’s open wounds.
This 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 scourging.
The Differences Between Jewish and Roman Scourgings
According to Jewish law described in Deuteronomy 25:3, Jews were permitted to give 40 lashes to a victim, but because the fortieth lash usually proved fatal, the number of lashes given was reduced to 39.
Romans, however, had no limit to the number of lashes they could give a victim, and the scourging Jesus experienced was at the hands of Romans, not Jews. So it is entirely possible that after the torturers pulled out their whips to beat Jesus, they may have laid more than 40 lashes across Jesus’ body. In fact, this is probable in light of the explosive outrage the Jews felt for Jesus and the terrible mocking He had already suffered at the hands of Roman soldiers. And think of it — no man could overtake the Great I AM. Jesus willingly submitted to His captors in the Garden and then to the mocking, spitting, and beating by the religious Jews. And now, finally, He was submitting to the Roman soldiers’ horrific scourging. And He did it for you and me.
Jesus’ Appearance After a Brutal Roman Scourging
The New Testament doesn’t tell us exactly what Jesus looked like after He was scourged, but Isaiah 52:14 gives us some idea, saying, “As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.”
Taking this scripture literally for what it says, we can conclude that Jesus’ physical body was marred nearly beyond recognition. As appalling as this sounds, it was only the overture to what was to follow, for Matthew 27:26 continues to tell us, “...And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”
This scourging was only the preparation for Jesus’ crucifixion.
By His Stripes, We Are Healed
When we think about the scourging Jesus received on that day, it is vital that we remember the promise God makes in Isaiah 53:5, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” In this verse, God declared long ago that the price for our healing would be paid for by the stripes that were laid across Jesus’ back.
In First Peter 2:24, Peter quoted Isaiah 53:5 as he told his readers, “...By whose stripes ye were healed.” The Greek word for “stripes” in this verse describes a full-body bruise. It refers to a terrible lashing that draws blood and that produces discoloration and swelling of the entire body.
When Peter wrote this verse, he vividly remembered what happened to Jesus’ body and what His physical appearance looked like after His scourging. After graphically reminding us of the beating, bleeding, and bruising that Jesus endured, Peter declared that it was by these same stripes that we were “healed.”
The word “healed” is from a Greek word that clearly refers to physical healing, as it is a word borrowed from the medical term to describe the physical healing or curing of the human body. For those who think this promise refers to spiritual healing only, the Greek word emphatically speaks of the healing of a physical condition. This is a promise of bodily healing that belongs to all who have been redeemed, who are children of God by virtue of their acceptance of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice and their belief in His resurrection as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Just as Jesus willfully took our sins when He died on the Cross in our place, He willfully took our sicknesses and pains on Himself when they tied Him to a real scourging post and laid those lashes across His entire body. Jesus’ broken body was the payment that guaranteed our physical healing.
It was that horrific scourging which paid for our healing!
This means if you need healing in your body or in your mind — and you are a redeemed child of God — you can go to the Father and ask for healing to come flooding into your system. Never forget that Jesus went through this agony for you, so don’t let anyone tell you that it’s God’s will for you to be weak or sickly, vexed, or oppressed.
Considering the pain Jesus endured to bear your sicknesses that day, isn’t that enough evidence to convince you how much He wants you to be physically well?
