Blinzler states, "Crucifixion was unknown in Jewish criminal law. The hanging on a gibbet, which was prescribed by Jewish law for idolators and blasphemers who had been stoned, was not a death penalty, but an additional punishment after death designed to brand the executed person as one accursed of G
OD, in accordance with Deut. 21:23 (LXX): 'For he is accursed of G
OD that hangeth on a tree.' The Jews applied these words also to one who had been crucified. If crucifixion was the most shameful and degrading death penalty even in the eyes of the pagan world, the Jews in the time of Jesus regarded a person so executed as being, over and above, accursed of G
OD."
The Encyclopedia Americana records:
"The history of crucifixion as a mode of punishment for crime must be studied as a part of the Roman system of jurisprudence...The Hebrews, for example, adopted or accepted it only under Roman compulsion: under their own system, before Palestine became Roman territory, they inflicted the death penalty by stoning."
"...In 63 BC, Pompey's legions cut their way into the Judean capital. Palestine became a Roman province, though nominally a puppet Jewish dynasty survived."
Thus, the type of death pictured in Isaiah 53 and Psalms 22 did not some into practice under the Jewish system until hundreds of years after the account was written.
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46. MADE INTERCESSION FOR HIS PERSECUTORS
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"...Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors."
Isaiah 53:12
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"...Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing..."
Luke 23:34
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"This office He began on the cross (Luke 23:34), and now continues in heaven..." (Heb. 9:24; I John 2:1).
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47. REJECTED BY HIS OWN PEOPLE
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."
Isaiah 53:3 (Also see Psalms 69:8; 118:22.)
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"For not even His brothers were believing in Him. No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?"
John 7:5,48 (Also see John 1:11; Matt. 21:42,32)
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"This was fulfilled in Christ, whose brethren did not believe on Him (John 7:5), who came to His own, and His own received Him not (John 1:11), and who was forsaken by His disciples, whom He had been free with as His brethren."
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48. HATED WITHOUT A CAUSE
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head..."
Psalms 69:4 (Also see Isaiah 49:7)
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"But they have done this in order that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their Law, 'They hated Me without a cause.' "
John 15:25
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49. FRIENDS STOOD AFAR OFF
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague; And my kinsmen stand afar off."
Psalms 38:11
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"And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee, were standing at a distance, seeing these things."
Luke 23:49 (Also see Mark 15:40; Matt. 27:55,56.)
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"At the very time when my affliction would have required them to stand nearer and more steadily by me than ever, they are afraid of the danger that they would incur b y seeming to take part with me. While the enemies are near, the friends are far. So in the case of Messiah" (Matthew 26:58; 27:55; Luke 23:49; John 16:32).
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50. PEOPLE SHOOK THEIR HEADS
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"I also have become a reproach to them; When they see me, they wag their head."
Psalms 109:25 (Also see Ps. 22:7)
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"And those who were passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads..."
Matthew 27:39
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"- A gesture implying that there is no hope for the sufferer, at whom they contemptuously sneer" (Job 16:4; Psalms 44:14).
"-As though it was all over with me: and I and my cause were irretrievable ruined" (Psalms 22:7; Matthew 27:39).
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51. STARED UPON
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me."
Psalms 22:17
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"And the people stood by, looking on..."
Luke 23:35
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52. GARMENTS PARTED AND LOTS CAST
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots."
Psalms 22:18
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"The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. They said...'Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be...' "
John 19:23,24
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53. TO SUFFER THIRST
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"...And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
Psalms 69:21 (Also see Psalms 22:15)
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"After this, Jesus...said, 'I am thirsty.' "
John 19:28
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54. GALL AND VINEGAR OFFERED HIM
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
Psalms 69:21
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"They gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink."
Matthew 27:34 (Also see John 19:28,29)
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A. R. Fausset writes:
"His bitter sufferings might have been expected to soften even His enemies, who had caused those sufferings; but instead of cordials, they gave Him gall and vinegar. Twice vinegar was offered to the Saviour on the cross - first vinegar mixed with gall (Matthew 27:34), and myrrh (Mark 15:23); but when He ahd tasted it, He would not drink it; for He would not meet His sufferings in a state of stupefaction, which is the effect of myrrh. As given to criminals, it was a kindness; as given to the righteous Sin-bearer, it was an insult. Next, in order to fulfill this Scripture, He cried 'I thirst,' and vinegar was given Him to drink" (John 19:28; Matthew 27:48).
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55. HIS FORSAKEN CRY
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"My GOD, my GOD, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
Psalms 22:1a
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"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My GOD, My GOD, why hast Thou forsaken Me?; "
Matthew 27:46
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Psalms 22 - "The expressive repetition twice (v.1) of the cry, 'my G
OD,' implies that the Sufferer clung firmly to this truth, that G
OD was still His G
OD, in spite of all appearances to the contrary. This was His antidote to despair, and the pledge that G
OD would yet interpose as His Deliverers."
This cry turned the attention of the people back to Psalms 22. Christ was quoting the first verse of the psalm, and that psalm is a clear prophecy of the crucifixion.
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56. COMMITTED HIMSELF TO GOD
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"Into Thy hand I commit my spirit."
Psalms 31:5
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"And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.' "
Luke 23:46
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57. BONES NOT BROKEN
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"He keeps all his bones; Not one of them is broken."
Psalms 34:20
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"...But coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs."
John 19:33
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Although not stated in Scripture, there are two other prophecies which concern His bones that undoubtedly had an exact fulfillment.
- And all my bones are out of joint (Psalms 22:14). The disjointing of bones while hanging on the cross by the hands and feet could easily come about, especially when we note that His body was attached to the cross while it was lying on the ground.
- I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me (Psalms 22:17). All His bones could easily be seen while He was left hanging ont he cross. The extension of His body during crucifixion would tend to make the bones more prominent than usual.
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58. HEART BROKEN
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"My heart is like wax; It is melted within me."
Psalms 22:14
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"...But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water."
John 19:34
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The blood and water which came forth from His pierced side are evidences that the heart had literally burst.
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59. HIS SIDE PIERCED
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"...They will look on Me whom they have pierced..."
Zechariah 12:10
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"...But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear..."
John 19:34
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Theodore Laetsch writes:
"Now a remarkable statement is added. The LORD Jehovah speaks of Himself as having been pierced by men who shall look upon Him and shall mourn for Him.
"The word pierce - thrust through - occurs nine times as a thrust by a sword or spear (Num. 25:8; Judg. 9:54; I Sam. 31:4; I Chron. 10:4; Is. 13:15; Jer. 37:10, 'wounded'; 51:4; Zech. 12:10; 13:3); it occurs once as pierced by pangs of hunger described as more painful than a sword thrust" (Lamentations 4:9).
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60. DARKNESS OVER THE LAND
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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" 'And it will come about in that day,' declares the LORD GOD, 'That I shall make the sun go down at noon And make the earth dark in broad daylight.' "
Amos 8:9
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"Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour."
Matthew 27:45
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Because the Jews reckoned 12 hours from sunrise to sunset, ti would make the sixth hour near noon and the ninth hour about three o'clock.
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61. BURIED IN RICH MAN'S TOMB
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PROPHECY
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FULFILLMENT
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"His grave was assigned to be with wicked men, Yet with a rich man in His death..."
Isaiah 53:9
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"...There came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph...and asked for the body of Jesus...And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb..."
Matthew 27:57-60
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