Day 23
John 19:13-16a
13So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" 15They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." 16So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
The Judge's Seat on the Stone Pavement (John 19:13-16a)
There were three different forms of ‘flogging’ that could be imposed under Roman law.
fustigatio: A beating given for relatively light offences, delivered with severe warnings.
flagellatio: A brutal thrashing imposed for more serious offences.
verberatio: A terrible scourging, often associated with other punishments like crucifixion.
The prisoner to be flogged would be stripped and tied to a post so that his back was exposed. The instrument was a leather whip of several thongs, each thong fitted with pieces of lead and sharpened bone at various places along its length. In a province such as Judea, the punishment would be given by a soldier and the prisoner would be flogged until the soldier was exhausted or his officer called a halt.
In a straightforward way John states the facts and make no attempt to play on the emotions of his readers.
