Guest Blog: Hillsdale College Guest: Charles Leerhsen - "Who Was Ty Cobb? The History We Know That’s Wrong"

Ty Cobb :  Baseball's First Hero

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ty_Cobb.jpg

Detroit Tigers (1905–1926), 
Philadelphia Athletics (1927–1928)
See also:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ty_Cobb


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Who Was Ty Cobb? 

The History We Know That’s Wrong

 “Reprinted by permission from Imprimis,

    a publication of Hillsdale College.”

March 2016 • Volume 45, Number 3 • Charles Leerhsen

Charles Leerhsen
Author, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty

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Charles Leerhsen is a journalist, author, and adjunct professor at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism. He has been an editor for Sports Illustrated, People, and Us Weekly, and spent eleven years as a senior writer at Newsweek. He has also written for Esquire, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, and Money. He is the author of several books, including Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America and, most recently, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, which won the 2015 Casey Award for best baseball book of the year.

Ty Cobb was one of the greatest baseball players of all time and king of the so-called Deadball Era. He played in the major leagues—mostly for the Detroit Tigers but a bit for the Philadelphia Athletics—from 1905 to 1928, and was the first player ever voted into the Hall of Fame. His lifetime batting average of .366 is amazing, and has never been equaled. But for all that, most Americans think of him first as an awful person—a racist and a low-down cheat who thought nothing of injuring his fellow players just to gain another base or score a run. Indeed, many think of him as a murderer. Ron Shelton, the director of the 1995 movie Cobb, starring Tommy Lee Jones in the title role, told me it was “well known” that Cobb had killed “as many as” three people.

It is easy to understand why this is the prevailing view. People have been told that Cobb was a bad man over and over, all of their lives. The repetition felt like evidence. It started soon after Cobb’s death in 1961, with the publication of an article by a man named Al Stump, one of several articles and books he would write about Cobb. Among other things, Stump claimed that when children wrote to Cobb asking for an autographed picture, he steamed the stamps off the return envelopes and never wrote back. In another book—this one about Cobb’s contemporary Tris Speaker—baseball historian Timothy Gay wrote (implausibly, if you think about it) that Cobb would pistol-whip any black person he saw on the sidewalk. And then there were the stories about how Cobb sharpened his spikes: before every game, numerous sources claim, he would hone his cleats with a file. In the 1989 film Field of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson says that Cobb wasn’t invited to the ghostly cornfield reunion of old-time ballplayers because “No one liked that son of a bitch.” The line always gets a knowing laugh.

When I pitched my idea for a book on Cobb to Simon and Schuster, I was squarely in line with this way of thinking. I figured my task would be relatively easy. I would go back to the original source material—the newspaper accounts, documents, and letters that previous biographers had never really looked at. I would find fresh examples of Cobb being monstrous, blend them with the stories that Al Stump and others wrote, and come up with the first major Cobb book in more than 20 years. But when I started in on the nuts-and-bolts research with original sources—the kind of shoe-leather reporting I had learned working at Newsweek in its heyday—it didn’t even take me ten minutes to find something that brought me up short.

Cobb being from Georgia—he grew up and is buried in Royston, a town in Georgia’s northern hills—I had begun by searching old issues of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I quickly came across a curious article written in late 1911, after the baseball season had ended, when Cobb was touring in a three-act comedy called The College Widow. (In those days, ballplayers were tied to their teams by the reserve clause and couldn’t sell their services for their true market value; to make extra money, they often capitalized on their fame by appearing in plays or vaudeville.) The writer of the article was recounting a backstage visit with Cobb, and described him as a man who very much wanted to please the audience. Cobb was also going out of his way to accommodate the interviewer (who was asking tedious questions) while simultaneously being hospitable to a second guest—a catcher he had played with in the minor leagues—who showed up in the small dressing room smoking a cigar. It was like the crowded stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera, and meanwhile the play was in progress, Cobb was trying to make costume changes, and the stage manager was barking at Cobb to be on his mark in 30 seconds.

What did this story say about Ty Cobb? On the one hand, he was just doing what any decent person would do—being as polite as possible under trying circumstances. But on the other, Cobb’s ordinary decency was exactly the point. For me, with this one story, the myth of the evil Ty Cobb began to crumble.

As I proceeded I found many more stories contradicting the myth. Was he widely hated? An old newspaper clipping reported that the Chicago White Sox gave Cobb an award—remarkably, a set of books; Cobb was known as a voracious reader of history—for being Chicago’s most popular visiting player. And it turns out that when the Detroit Tigers were in town, Ring Lardner, Chicago’s smartest and best sportswriter, bought cheap seats in the outfield so he could spend the game bantering with Cobb.

Did he steal stamps from children? Letters in museums and private collections make abundantly clear that Cobb responded to his young fans, sometimes with handwritten letters that ran to five pages. And he always told them he was honored by their autograph requests.

What about race? It is “common knowledge” that Cobb was “an avowed racist”—but when and where did he make such a vow and where is it recorded? A 1984 biography of Cobb, written by a college professor named Charles Alexander, is typical. It describes three people who fought with Cobb—a night watchman, a bellhop, and a butcher—as being black. Such evidence was enough for documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, whose made-for-PBS series Baseball described Cobb as an embarrassment to the game because of his racism and cast Cobb as the anti-Jackie Robinson.

But Burns, like so many others, was letting himself be misled by the oft-repeated myth. Looking into census reports, birth certificates, and contemporary newspaper accounts, I found that all three of the black fighters cited by Charles Alexander were in fact white. Yes, Cobb had also fought with two black men during his life, but those fights didn’t have racial overtones, and Cobb—who had an extremely thin skin—fought with many more white men. So how did such a distinguished author make such obvious mistakes? When I asked Alexander about this, he simply replied, “I went with the best information I had at the time.”

But what about Cobb’s 19th-century Southern roots? How could someone born in Georgia in 1886 not be a racist? What I found—and again, not because I am the Babe Ruth of researchers, but because I actually did some research—is that Ty Cobb was descended from a long line of abolitionists. His great-grandfather was a minister who preached against slavery and was run out of town for it. His grandfather refused to fight in the Confederate army because of the slavery issue. And his father was an educator and state senator who spoke up for his black constituents and is known to have once broken up a lynch mob.

Cobb himself was never asked about segregation until 1952, when the Texas League was integrating, and Sporting News asked him what he thought. “The Negro should be accepted wholeheartedly, and not grudgingly,” he said. “The Negro has the right to play professional baseball and whose [sic] to say he has not?” By that time he had attended many Negro league games, sometimes throwing out the first ball and often sitting in the dugout with the players. He is quoted as saying that Willie Mays was the only modern-day player he’d pay to see and that Roy Campanella was the ballplayer that reminded him most of himself.

Cobb was, like the rest of us, a highly imperfect human being. He was too quick to take offense and too intolerant of those who didn’t strive for excellence with the over-the-top zeal that he did. He did not suffer fools gladly, and he thought too many others fools. He was the first baseball celebrity, and he did not always handle well the responsibilities that came with that. And yes, he once went into the stands and repeatedly punched a man who had been heckling him for more than a year, and who turned out to have less than the full complement of fingers—hence the story of him attacking a handicapped fan. This is a mark against him. But was he a racist and an embarrassment to the game? Far from it.

Cobb’s mind-boggling statistics don’t tell half the story of the ballplayer he was. It is often not remembered, because there is very little motion picture footage of him, but Cobb was likely the most exciting player of all time. Yes, he got thousands of hits with his unusual split-hands grip, and that in itself was entertaining; but it was what happened after he got on base that set him apart. “Ty Cobb getting a walk is more exciting than Babe Ruth hitting a home run,” a sportswriter once said.

When Cobb made it to first—which he did more often than anyone else; he had three seasons in which he batted over .400—the fun had just begun. He understood the rhythms of the game and he constantly fooled around with them, keeping everyone nervous and off balance. The sportswriters called it “psychological baseball.” His stated intention was to be a “mental hazard for the opposition,” and he did this by hopping around in the batter’s box—constantly changing his stance as the pitcher released the ball—and then, when he got on base, hopping around some more, chattering, making false starts, limping around and feigning injury, and running when it was least expected. He still holds the record for stealing home, doing so 54 times. He once stole second, third, and home on three consecutive pitches, and another time turned a tap back to the pitcher into an inside-the-park home run.

“The greatness of Ty Cobb was something that had to be seen,” George Sisler said, “and to see him was to remember him forever.” Cobb often admitted that he was not a natural, the way Shoeless Joe Jackson was; he worked hard to turn himself into a ballplayer. He had nine styles of slides in his repertoire: the hook, the fade-away, the straight-ahead, the short or swoop slide (“which I invented because of my small ankles”), the head-first, the Chicago slide (referred to by him but never explained), the first-base slide, the home-plate slide, and the cuttle-fish slide—so named because he purposely sprayed dirt with his spikes the way squid-like creatures squirt ink. Coming in, he would watch the infielder’s eyes to determine which slide to employ.

What of the stories about him sharpening his spikes and injuring opposing players? Cobb believed strongly that the runner had the right of way in what he called “my little patch,” in front of the bag. The opposing players who were asked to comment on him respected his ability and consistency, and agreed with his “little patch” theory. “It was no fun putting the ball on Cobb when he came slashing into the plate,” said Wally Schang, who caught for almost every American League Club. “But he never cut me up. He was too pretty a slider to hurt anyone who put the ball on him right.” Infielder Germany Schaefer, a teammate of Cobb, called him “a game square fellow who never cut a man with his spikes intentionally in his life, and anyone who gets by with his spikes knows it.” And if Cobb could dish out the punishment, he could also take it. Catcher Steve O’Neill of the Cleveland Naps once favored Cobb with the greatest compliment a catcher can give: “He came home on a base hit and I was blocking the plate. I got him in the kidneys and knocked him out. When he came to he didn’t say a word. He just got up and limped out to his position.”

There is a famous photograph that is often used to indict Cobb. It shows Cobb and St. Louis Browns catcher Paul Krichell in 1912. Cobb appears to be flying foot-first into Krichell’s crotch while the catcher squints in pained anticipation. But there is a 1950s interview with Krichell, then a scout for the Yankees, and by his own testimony, Cobb was aiming his foot at the ball in Krichell’s glove, and succeeded in knocking it to the backstop. Here is Krichell’s account: “The ball hit the grandstand on the fly. I was mad and stunned. Cobb was mad and shaken. In a way it was really my fault. I was standing in front of the plate, instead of on the side, where I could tag Ty as he slid in. But out of that mix-up I learned one thing: never stand directly in front of the plate when Cobb was roaring for home.”

To the extent that the myth of Ty Cobb is connected to his aggressive style of play, it has seeds in his playing career. People in those days were fascinated by spikes—an adult fan in the early days of baseball had almost certainly not played the game, and thought of spikes as exotic. The legend of “the man who sharpened his spikes” had been around since at least the 1880s, and had been attributed to many, including John McGraw. And some sportswriters—understanding that sports is less about scores than about storylines, and that without antagonists stories fall flat—were willing to fan the flame and depict the aggressive, unpredictable Cobb as a dirty player. Many of the quotes I found from opposing players defending Cobb’s style were in response to charges that he was a spiker. To a man, they said he wasn’t. And in 1910, Cobb wrote to the American League president asking that players be forced to dulltheir spikes so that he might be free of the dirty-player charge.

In that sense Cobb was always controversial. But how did he come to be portrayed as a monster? After he retired in 1928, he stayed out of Major League Baseball, and the game changed to a slugger’s sport. It became the game of Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle, and Cobb faded from memory. By the late 1950s, when Cobb went on the TV quiz show I’ve Got a Secret, the panelists not only didn’t guess his “secret”—“I have the highest batting average of all time”—they couldn’t identify him by sight. Cobb didn’t like that, and he disliked even more being remembered as a dirty player. As he grew older and less healthy he became obsessed with setting the record straight, and he started to shop around an autobiography. Doubleday & Co. agreed to publish it and assigned a ghostwriter, Cobb being too ill to write it himself. For this job they picked a man who was known for quantity over quality, a hard-drinking hack newspaperman named Al Stump.

Stump, who had never met Cobb, spent only a few days with him before setting off to write. For several months he refused to show Cobb the work in progress, and when Cobb finally prevailed upon the publisher to give him a look, he was angry. Stump was filling in the gaps by making up stories out of whole cloth, and Cobb’s voice in the book sounded suspiciously like Stump’s own. Cobb wrote letters threatening a lawsuit if the book wasn’t cancelled or rewritten. But he died soon thereafter, and the book—entitled My Life in Baseball: The True Record—came out a few months later.

Stump also struck a deal with a sensationalist barber shop magazine called, ironically, True. For $4,000, a tidy sum in 1961, he would write a seamy tell-all about what it was like to live and work with Cobb in his final days. Stump had negotiated the fee by pitching the tale of a wild man drinking to excess and driving around the Lake Tahoe area waving a gun at (unnamed) people, cursing at (unnamed) emergency room doctors, flinging drinks at (unnamed) bartenders, and waking up an (unnamed) bank president in the middle of the night—in person, with a gun—to stop a $5 check. All the women in Cobb’s family feared him, Stump wrote, again without naming names. Furthermore, he may have killed some unnamed person, though he was never prosecuted and the story never made the newspapers. Everyone in baseball had hated him, Stump claimed, adding meanly and dishonestly that only three people went to Cobb’s funeral.

It didn’t matter that sportswriters rushed to Cobb’s defense, saying they had visited his homes in Tahoe and Georgia during this same period—had spent more time with him than Stump, in fact—and never witnessed such behavior. It didn’t matter that all of Stump’s sources were anonymous, all his quotes unidentified, and that Stump himself had been banned from several newspapers and magazines for making things up. It didn’t matter that Cobb’s family had put out the word that his funeral was a private service, or that four of his closest friends in baseball did attend, or that thousands of people packed the church and lined the way to the cemetery. Despite all this, people thrilled to the story of the monstrous Cobb. And the story got a lot of attention because no one had ever written anything like this before about a major sports figure.

The next big development came in 1984, when Charles Alexander published his book. The word “racist”—non-existent in Cobb’s time—was by then very much a part of the lexicon, and people were eager to make assumptions about a Southern white man. A decade later, director Ron Shelton bought the screen rights to Stump’s True magazine article and urged Stump, still alive, to write yet another book—a biography this time—that would serve to promote the movie. This 1994 book, also entitled Cobb, was a huge bestseller and was excerpted in Sports Illustrated. Then came Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary, which parroted Stump and Alexander. And the myth grew further with the rise of the Internet—search for “Ty Cobb” on Twitter and see what you find.

I knew going into this project—having been at one time an editor at People magazine—that human beings take delight in the fact that the rich and famous are often worse and more miserable than they are. What I didn’t understand before was the power of repetition to bend the truth. In Ty Cobb’s case, the repetition has not only destroyed a man’s reputation, it has obliterated a real story that is more interesting than the myth. Is it too late to turn things around? John the Evangelist said, “The truth will set you free.” But against that there is the Stockholm syndrome, whereby hostages cling avidly to what holds them in bondage.

I guess it’s me versus Al Stump. Who knows who will win? What I know for certain is that the greatness of Ty Cobb was something that had to be seen, and to see it was to remember it forever.

 “Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.”

Repost on the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus for Good Friday 2016

Jesus, an Historical 4 Gospel account of His movements and words from the Last Supper to the Cross

(Note: Although I originally posted this in 2009, it is so far back into the archives (though worthy of view) that I thought it would be appropriate for reflection.   I hope you will concur.    The ff. is faithfully translated from the Greek with word pictures and reiterations: by Brianroy)

To the Mt. Olivet: (at night), following the Last Supper.

“And having sung a song of praise, 1
and as according to His custom, together -- Jesus, and His disciples who followed along behind 2
-- went out forth into the Mount of Olives. 3 

And going forth, Jesus -- and the disciples of Him -- did
cross the running-torrent winter-brook in the Kidron (Valley)." 4

[Commentary: The crossing of torrential waters flowing in the Kidron informs us of two things:

1) Jesus and His disciples had to cross by a bridge which was destroyed by 70 A.D.; and

2) There was probably a heavy overcast from south of Jerusalem to northern Samaria, if not also, a ground- saturation from rains at the time.

Even if it was raining, we are not -- nor would we be -- informed directly of this in the Bible. We can safely say that, at the very least, it probably was drizzly, with a possible early morning fog rolling in (that fog, in turn, would burn off by 7am or 8am that following morning). :End of Commentary]

"And Jesus said to them,‘All of you will be offended in Me in this night….’ 5 

and Jesus accompanies them 6
upon a place called Gethsemane, 7
where a garden was. 8 

Then knew also Judas (Iscariot), the (one) betraying Him, the place, because Jesus had assembled there many times (before) with His disciples." 9

[Commentary: The Apostles John, Andrew, Thomas, and Nathaniel -- through the Gospel of John -- accuse Judas of following behind by stealth, at a safe distance, to see where Jesus and the disciples went. Therefore, by this means, Judas knew exactly where Christ and His disciples went, following the Last Supper. There must have been something, which more than just one of the disciples saw from their vantage point on the way across the bridge, or had seen from near the narrow path off the road into Gethsemane that night - at some very near distance away. Perhaps some of these disciples had called out to Judas, and beckoned him over, only to see him scurry away. Although John 18:2 may imply this, neither John (the dictator) -- nor Andrew (the scribe) -- enters it into the record of the Gospel of John.

Now the Greek suggests that Gethsemane visibly concealed its occupants from the road. This informs us: that at the time, there must have been very dense vegetation that was surrounding the area to which Jesus and His disciples would retreat. Therefore, in a cold camp, unlit by campfires or torches, concealed by the vegetation, discovery was impossible at night, unless one knew EXACTLY where to look for the lone restrictive path, and how to get to this hideaway.

The Greek also suggests that the Garden was down the slope of Olivet, off the road, under and through bushes and trees. Hence therefore, coming “upon the place”, Jesus would descend down to a clearing out of even normal daytime sight from the road. : End of Commentary]

"He said to them, ‘Sit down upon this [wall], until going aside, I shall express (My) concerns -- vows -- and give thanks (over) there. 10 

Offer humble petitions of coming alongside with prayer (of expressing your concerns -- vows -- and giving of thanks) so that you will not enter into the testing of trial and adversity.’" 11

[Commentary: The Greek word for the activity of prayer in this passage is “proseuchomai”. The word “pros” (‘up to, and alongside’ /’ with’) - is enhancing and directing the usage of “euchomai”. It is not a word involving worship of prostration, but rather petitioning a form of prayer and communication. This type of communion communication appears to be the same type to which “angels” engage in with the Father, by inference. : End of Commentary]

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"And He takes with Him, Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee: James and John. 12

  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw. 13 

And He began to be utterly astonished and terrified, and deeply distressed. But He speaks His mind and feelings to them, saying, ‘Deeply grieved is the soul of Me, unto death. Remain here, and keep awake and alert with Me.’ 14 

And going forward a little (distance), 15
He falls and sets on the knees," 16

[Commentary: The word picture of falling and settling the knees, suggests that Jesus is either in soft dirt or mud. This is indicative of a recent surge in the Kidron torrent, and His close proximity to it; or of very recent rainfall. The wet soft dirt of Gethsemane, unlike the Creation, is cold and chilling; where as the dirt of the Garden following the creation of the world was originally hot and wet, and beneficial (Genesis 2:6). Gethsemane’s dirt represents the cold dead state of man’s eternal soul without GOD; and the Second Adam, being Christ, is come to restore man to his first state, in a right relationship with Him. : End of Commentary.]

"His face upon the ground, 17
expressing concerns -- vows -- and the offering up of thanks, in that if it were to be possible, the time might pass from Him: 18
saying,
‘Father of Me, if it is able to be so, let this cup pass from Me;
but not in what manner or way as I will, but rather in what
manner or way as You.’ 19 

And He was withdrawn from the disciples [upon the road] about a stone’s throw. 20

[An hour passes]

And He comes up alongside the disciples, and finds them sleeping, and he speaks His mind to Peter, saying,
‘Simon, do you sleep? Do you not have the strength and power
and ability for (even just) one hour to watch with Me?’21

Stay awake and alert, and will yourself forward, in order that
you do not enter into the testing of adversity; for indeed, the spirit
(is) eager and willing, but the flesh (is) strengthless.’22

And again, departing, He prayed the same word (He was praying before).23

[A second hour passes]

And coming, again He finds them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down and heavy, 24
and they could not open the eyes to see or perceive what to answer Him. 25
And once more, departing, a third time did He petition in prayer the same words (He was praying before). 26

[A third hour approaches completion]

And an Angel from Heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him; 27
and becoming in agony, He prayed more instantly." 28

[Commentary: Notice the comment, “He prayed more instantly.” This tells us that when Jesus prayed, it was slow and methodical after this effect: He was careful in what He chose to say while praying. Further, once He prayed, He was able to ask exactly the same prayer over and over again. That prayer was not pre-fabricated as a nonsensical utterance, but was specifically tailored for the concerns and needs of the moment. We are to follow this example. This form of repetition is perfectly within our rights. We must be careful in the use of pre-fabricated prayers, when repeated thousands of times, to which the mind may wander in a sort of automatic, not focusing on the relationship with the Almighty Himself. : End of Commentary.]


"Then the sweat of Him, as it were, became as thick clots of blood falling down upon the earth. 29 

And rising up from the prayer of petition, coming up to and alongside the disciples of Him, 30

[Peter, James, and John] a third time,31
He finds (them) sleeping from (their) grieving.32
And He said to them,
‘Why do you sleep? Stand up and express your concerns, vows, and
offer thanks, in order that you enter not into the testing of trial and
adversity.’33

[Minimal response. The disciples are not aroused.]

‘Sleep on down (for) what (time) remains and rest,34
for it is enough! 35

Look, and see! The hour draws near 36
and has come. 37

Rising up, express your concerns -- vows -- and giving of thanks in prayer, in so that it may be that you will not enter into the testing of trial and adversity. 38

Look and see, the Son of Man is betrayed into (the)
hands of sinners! 39

Rise up! Let’s go! (For) Behold, the (one) betraying
Me approaches and draws near!’" 40

[Commentary: The “look and see” / “beholds” of the Garden are prophetically linked to the three V’Hineh’s of Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:7.

1) The binding of sheaves in the field (‘The hour draws near).

2) The crucifixion or the raising of Joseph’s sheaf (‘The Son of man is betrayed).

3) The gathering in of all the children of Israel (‘Those betraying Me approach and draw near’), being those that marvel and bend over toward the raised or crucified sheaf.
 :End of Commentary.]

"Judas, receiving the 400 - 600 41
and the Suborning Officers 42
of the First Priests and the Pharisees, comes forth there (down into the Garden of Gethsemane) with torches and lamps and weapons.43

And immediately, while Jesus was yet still speaking (to His disciples), behold, -- Judas, one of the 12, came from before the front of the First Priests and the Elders of the People with an abundantly numerous and disconcerted crowd (armed) with swords and clubs.44 

Then perceiving and knowing all the things coming upon Him, Jesus having gone forth, said to them, ‘Whom do you strive to find?’ 

They snapped back judgingly to Him, ‘Jesus the Nazarene!’ 

And Judas, he betraying Him, stood also with them. Jesus declares His mind and heart to them, saying, ‘I AM’. When He told them that, ‘I AM’, they went away while looking back, and fell to the earth [and into the mud].45
Again then, He interrogated, ‘Whom do you strive to find?’
They then said respectfully, with an intelligent answer and tone,
‘Jesus the Nazarene….’46

[Back to Mount Moriah]

Then the band [of the 400 - 600 armed Levites], and the Ruler of the Thousand, and the Suborning Officers of the Jews, together seized Jesus, and bound [and hooded] Him, and led Him away: first, up alongside with Annas: because he was Father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. This Caiaphas, [being the same one] having advised the Jews, that it is profitable for one man to perish in place of -- and for the sake of -- the people.47

Then the High Priest (Annas) questioned Jesus concerning His disciples, and concerning His teachings. Jesus answered him,
‘I publicly spoke to the world. I always taught in the Synagogue
and in the Temple, where Jews always came together, and I spoke
nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those having
heard what I spoke to them. Look and see, these know what I
have said.’
And as He was saying these things, one of the Suborning Officers -- standing by -- violently struck Jesus with the open palm, saying, ‘Thus, in such a manner, you answer the High Priest?!’ 

To him, Jesus answered,
‘If I have spoken evilly, bear witness concerning the evil;
but if well, why do you beat Me?’
And those seizing Jesus so led (Him) away blindfolded, and those holding Him beating Him (continually) about the face, up to and alongside Caiaphas, the High Priest48
-- where the first priests and scribes and elders were (now) assembled:49
the attendants and the under-officers remaining outside, in the Court below.50

And the First Priests and the elders and the whole* Sanhedrin sought after false testimony against Jesus, in what manner how they might execute Him. And found none, even though a great* number of false witnesses (were) coming forward, (still they) did not find, because their testimonies were not alike.
And coming up alongside [the High Priest], the false witnesses said: ‘We heard Him say, I will throw down this Temple made with hands, and through 3 days, another will I build, not made with hands.’ And: ‘This One said, I am able to destroy the Temple of GOD, and -- through 3 days -- to rebuild and establish it.’ And neither in this, was their testimony alike."51

[Commentary: The role of two agreeing witnesses was to be that of executioners who strangle the victim to death with a cord about the neck of the accused; each witness pulling on an end until the guilty one was dead of asphyxiation (Midrash, Sanhedrin 7:3). : End of Commentary.]

"And, standing up in the midst (of the false witnesses), the High Priest questioned Jesus, saying, ‘You do not answer ---nothing? What of these (who) witness against You?’52 

 But Jesus kept silent. And answering, the High Priest said to Him, ‘I exorcise You, and command You to oath -- by the Living GOD -- so that You may tell us that if You are the Messiah, the Son of GOD!’53

And Jesus said, ‘I AM!!!’

‘You have spoken My very thoughts and feelings on the
matter! Besides, I tell you, from this moment you will
see the Son of Man out from the Right (Hand) of the
Power, sitting, and coming upon [the Earth] with the
clouds of Heaven.’54

Then the High Priest tore his garments, saying, ‘He blasphemed! Why yet have we need of witnesses? Look and see! Now you have heard the blasphemy of Him. We have heard it from His mouth. What seems it to you?’
And they [the Sanhedrin, upon casting their votes, declared], saying, ‘He is liable of death.’55 

 Then some began to spit at Him and in His face, and to smother the face of Him. And the Suborning Officers struck Him with slaps from the open palm, and others beat Him about with the fists; and (they were) saying to Him, ‘Prophesy! Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who it is having struck You!’56

[And as the cock crowed twice, realizing that dawn was breaking] immediately, having made a Council of chief priests, and the elders and the scribes and of the whole Sanhedrin, having bound Jesus, they led Him away to Pontius Pilate, the Governor."57

 

[From the High Priest Caiaphas to the Judgment Hall]

"Then they lead Jesus from Caiaphas (the High Priest) into the Praetorium.58 

And the first light was lighting upon the [eastern] skies,59 but the (Council) did not enter the Praetorium themselves [lest contrariwise they be defiled], so that they might eat the Passover."60

[Outside the Judgment Hall]

"Therefore Pilate went out unto them, and said,
‘What accusation bring you against this Man?’

They answered and said unto him,
‘Unless this One was not an immoral and perniciously evil influence
upon the Community, then not to you (would) we have delivered Him.’

Then Pilate said to them,
‘You take Him, and judge Him according to the Law of You.’

Then the (leaders of the Council of the) Jews said to him,
‘It is not lawful (for us) to put any one to death.’
so that might be fulfilled the word of Jesus, which He said, signifying by what kind of death (by which) He was about to die."61

[Inside the Judgment Hall]

"Then Pilate went into the Praetorium again, and called Jesus, and said to Him,
‘Are You the King of the Jews?’

Answered Jesus,
‘From yourself you say this, or others told you about Me?’

Pilate answered,
‘A Jew, I am not. This nation and kingdom of Yours -- and
the First Priests -- delivered You up to me. What did You do?’62
‘Are You the King of the Jews?’

Jesus answered,
‘You are speaking my mind and feelings on the matter.’63
Pilate asked, ‘What did You do?’

Answered Jesus,
‘My Kingdom is not of this world. If of this world, was My
Kingdom, My servants would have fought, so that I should
not be delivered up to the [leaders of the] Jews. But (for)
now, My Kingdom is not from here.’

Then Pilate said to Him [skeptically],
‘Really, not a King are You?’

Answered Jesus,
‘You say that King, I am. I, for this, have been born; and for
this, I have come into the world, that I may witness to the True
Reality: every one being of the True Reality hears of Me, the
Voice.’

[Commentary: Jesus explains that Kingship is His birthright, in a manner and behavior that only kings and royal-born should explain it.   :End of Commentary.]

Pilate says to Him, ‘What is True Reality?’"64

[Outside the Judgment Hall]

"And having said this, again Pilate went out to the [Council of the] Jews, and tells them,
‘I, not one crime, find in Him.’65

But they insisted, saying,
‘He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea,
beginning from Galilee to here.’

And Pilate, hearing Galilee, asked if the man is a Galilean. And having known that He is from Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him up alongside with Herod, who -- in these days -- also being in Jerusalem."

[At Herod’s Royal Quarters in Jerusalem]

"And Herod, seeing Jesus, rejoiced greatly; for through hearing of so many things about Him, he was wishing of a long (time) to see Him. And Herod hoped to see some miracle brought about by Jesus. And using many words, questioned Him. But Jesus answered him nothing. And being humiliated, the First Priests and the scribes stood up and went on a tirade, vehemently accusing Him.
Therefore, Herod and his soldiers, mocking Him, put luxurious clothing around Him, and sent Him back to Pilate."66

[Return to Pilate’s Palace Grounds/Praetorium]

"Pilate, then, calling the first priests and the leaders and the people together, said up to and alongside with them,

‘You brought to me this man, as having perverted the people.
Look and see! I, before the eyes of your faces, examining
both accurately and carefully, found nothing in the Man
neither cause or reasonable justification to speak openly
and down against Him. No less did Herod, for I sent you
up alongside with him, and behold, nothing as weighty as
death is to be done to Him. Having instructed, educated, and
chastised, then, I will need to release Him.’67

And the First Priests and the elders hurriedly accused (Jesus) of many things,
‘This One we found through turning and twisting out of place
the people of this ethnicity, and dwarfing and reducing the
Tributes to be given to Caesar, saying Himself (that He is)
Christ, an existing king.’68
but (Jesus) answered nothing."69

[Commentary: When Jesus was approached by the Pharisees with the Herodians in Matthew 22:15-22, the Herodians sought to trick Jesus by a coin of Caesar. Had Jesus opposed the coins of Caesar, he would also have opposed the coins of Herod (some of which made Messianic claims through symbolism). The Herodians were Essenes who worked hand in hand with Herod’s secret police to root out and crush seditions, real or imagined. Therefore, to answer nothing while being interrogated, or simply questioned, was a common practice. : End of Commentary.]

"Pilate therefore speaks his mind and feelings to Him, and says,
‘Do You answer nothing? Don’t You hear what they are
witnessing against You?’

And He answered him not, not even up to and alongside with even a single word - so as to (cause) the governor Pilate, to greatly marvel.70 

Then, (as) he (was) sitting upon the exalted Tribunal Seat, his wife sent (word) up alongside with him, saying,
‘Not even once to you, and to that Righteous One many things,
for I suffered today, down in a dream through Him.’"71

[Gabbatha]

"Then Pilate took Jesus, and had Him violently whipped [in the Judgment Hall].72
And the soldiers, having twisted into form -- a crown out of thorns, -- and placed it on Head (pressing down and ensuring its setting);73
and (accompanied this by) throwing around Him a seamless garment of purple (also); and laid upon Him words [so that their breath did breathe out upon His face],74 
 proclaiming, 'Hail! the King -- of the Jews!!!'

And they [the 400-600 Romans, took turns, as they] smote Him, giving Him blows with the open palm."

[Commentary: Cyprian, in his Defense against the Heresy of Noetus, .18, informs us that Christ was only able to see out one eye while upon the Cross, saying, “…the rulers are ashamed when they see the Director of the Universe upon the Cross closing His eye and giving up the ghost.”

We therefore should keep in mind the violent swelling to the left side of Messiah’s face as a direct result of the Roman open palm strikes to His face, allowing Him only thereafter to see out of His right eye until His death. We should also keep in mind, that Jesus appears to have purposely withheld His miraculous and curative powers during His own Passion. Thus, stripping Himself of even the basest of Heavenly privileges, and in all ways like us. : End of Commentary.]

"Then Pilate went outside (the Judgment Hall) once again, and said to the accusers.
'Behold! (Look and see!). I bring Him out to you,
so that you may know that the end of the matter is (this),
that in Him, I find not (even) one crime!'

Then Jesus came outside, wearing: the thorny wreath, and the seamless garment of purple.

And (Pilate) says to (the First Priests and their officers),
'Behold! The man!'

Then, when the First Priests and their officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, 'Crucifixion!…Crucifixion!!'

Pilate says to them,
'You take Him (away) and crucify (Him);
but as for me, I do not find in Him any crime!'

Then the (leaders of the) Jews answered him, (saying),
'We have a Law of Custom! And according to (this),
the Law of our Custom, He ought to die! Because,
He has brought Himself forth, as the Son of GOD!!'

When Pilate heard this, he was greatly shaken (by the news), and briefly terrified!
 

[And removing himself with Jesus and the guard-escort], they re-enter the Praetorium [into the Judgment Hall] again. And he says to Jesus,
'From where -- are You (from)?'
But Jesus did not give him an answer. Then Pilate says to Him,
'To me -- You do not speak? --.
Do You not know the authority, that I have,
is that same authority to crucify You;
(and) is also the same authority,
by which I can deliver You, from being crucified?'
Then Jesus answered,
'You would not have Authority -- not against Me --
if it was not being given to you from above.
Therefore: he, delivering Me to you, has the greater sin.'
Out of this (declaration), Pilate searched vigorously (for a technicality by which) to release Him."

[Commentary: He debated with his legal advisers over points of Roman Law on the matter. :End of Commentary.]

"Meanwhile, [as Pilate delayed,] in the Court of Gabbatha, the leaders of the Jews cried out with such words as,
'If you release this One, you are definitely no friend of Caesar!' (and)
'All who produce forth themselves as a king, do so (by) speaking
against Caesar!'
As Pilate still heard these sayings ringing in his ears, (he) retrieved Jesus, and personally led Him out. And Pilate sat down upon the exalted platform's Judgment Seat before the crowd, this Place and its Court being called 'The Pavement', but in the Hebrew tongue, it is called: 'Gabbatha'.
And at about the 6th hour of the Passover Preparation, (Pilate) says to the (leaders of the) Jews, 'Behold, The King of you!'
But they cried out,
'Lift Him up!'
'Raise Him up!'
'Crucify Him!'
Pilate says to them,
'The King of you, I shall crucify?'
Then the First Priests answered alone,
'We have no King…but Caesar!'
Then, [as a result of these words], he certainly gave Him over to them to this end -- in order that He might be crucified."

[Commentary: Because, He had declared Himself to be their King, and they rejected His right to the Throne over them.       :End of Commentary.]

[Out of the City to Golgotha]

"Then they [the first priests] took and received Jesus near to themselves,
and taking the lead, led Him away;"

[Commentary: That is, the first priests personally led Jesus captive out of the city, ahead of the Roman guards; as if they were in a parade. :End of Commentary.]

"and bearing up and supporting the Cross at the foot of Him,
He came out and went forth 75
into that which is related to and uttered in the Hebrew tongue as GOLGOTHA: in which place they did crucify Him; and with Him, two others (beside), on this side and on that side, and then Jesus -- in the center of their midst.
Then Pilate also wrote a Title, and lay and placed it upon the Cross: it was then, having been written - ‘JESUS the Nazarene, the King of the Judeans.’
Now certainly did this title the many of the Judeans read;"

[Commentary: possibly as they walked past, filing by, and gazing upon Him]

"because the place where Jesus was crucified was so near and close to the City,"
 

[Commentary: the valleys of Kidron and Hinom served as conduits for the millions to move through and around the city for religious purposes of approaching the Temple.76

The people were not static, but with the sounding of the trumpets and the use of banners, they moved in an orderly fashion. :End of Commentary.]

and it was having been written in Hebrew, Greek, Latin.”77





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End Notes

1 Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26

2 Luke 22:39

3 Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26

4 John 18:1

5 Mark 14:27. For the sake of fluidity, other sayings/discussions, which follow Mark 14:27 - are left off.

6 Matthew 26:36, Mark 14:32

7 Luke 22:40

8 John 18:1

9 John 18:2

10 Matthew 26:36

11 Luke 22:40

12 Mark 14:23, Matthew 26:37

13 Luke 22:41

14 Matthew 26:37-38, Mark 14:33-34

15 Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:35

16 Luke 22:41, Mark 14:35

17 Matthew 24:39, Mark 14:35

18 Mark 14:35

19 Matthew 26:39

20 Luke 22:41

21 Matthew 26:40, Mark 14:37

22 Mark 14:38, Matthew 26:41

23 Mark 14:39

24 Matthew 26:43, Mark 14:40

25 Mark 14:40

26 Matthew 26:44

27 Luke 22:43

28 Luke 22:44

29 Luke 22:44

30 Luke 22:45

31 Mark 14:41

32 Luke 22:45

33 Luke 22:46

34 Matthew 26:45, Mark 14:41

35 Mark 14:41

36 Matthew 26:45

37 Mark 14:41

38 Luke 22:46

39 Mark 14:41

40 Mark 14:42, Matthew 26:46

41 The Greek word “speira” is used in relating a group of 400-600 Romans, or a half-force who are off-watch duty, but under the authority of the Chiliarchos. The shift is generally a maximum of 1/3 the force, each 1/3 working twice a day in 4 hour shifts: First Watch (6 am/pm -10 am/pm), Second Watch (10 am/pm -2 am/pm), Third Watch (2 am/pm - 6 am/pm). The Roman Legionnaires were divided into these sub-divisions:

a) 8-10 soldiers per decurion (like a corporal and his squad),

b) 8-10 decurions per centurion (that is, 8-10 decurions, each having their squads of 7-9 more, totaling 80-100 men per centurion);

c) 8-10 centurions (and their forces) per tribune or Chiliarchos (being 640-1010 men per Chiliarchos);

d) and 6 - 10 Chiliarchos to the general or superior commander of the Legion. (cf. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 5.12.2. and 6.2.5.).

This totals a Roman Legion to no less than a force of 3,846 to a full strength of 10,110. The average Legion of the First Century A.D. is generally reckoned as being about 6,066 men under their general. This count does not include the carpenters, artisans, slaves, and logistical support; which adds 25% - 33% against the base number of troops (cf. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 3.5.).

The counter commander of the Roman Chiliarchos (Commander of the 1,000) is the Temple “strategos”. During the High Festivals, in which over 3,000,000 come up and crowd Jerusalem -- which time this is. Josephus informs us in Wars of the Jews 6.9.3., that at least 2,700,000 of that number could legally partake the Passover -- those men with venereal diseases, and those women in their discharges, could not. The Temple would be teeming with armed Levites the size of a Roman Legion during the High Festivals. More than likely, at night, and only upon the high festivals, there was a minimum presence of well over 1,000 armed Levites upon the Temple Mount: half being asleep, the other half mostly dispersed through the streets and alleys of the Upper City, and at the entry ways to the Temple itself. Whereas, at other times of the year, the armed Levitical presence probably did not exceed 50, half that number being the entire defending force from the Court of the Gentiles on in.

This conscription was true only for about 20 years, in the construction era from circa 25 A.D. to ca. 44 A.D. This began with “the Samaritan defilement”, in which certain members sneaked in and dumped corpses upon Temple grounds by night. The conscription number on the High Holy Days apparently ceased with the death of Herod’s genealogical line in A.D. 44 - 45. That act of defilement in ca. A.D. 25 remained fresh in the minds of Israelis during the circa 1290 Days of Christ’s ministry (ca. September 9, 27 A.D. to March 23, 30 A.D.); and antagonized most all sons of Jacob to hate the Samaritans, ever after banning them from setting foot on Temple grounds in Jerusalem ever again.

The Temple Commanders presided over troops, and the disconcerted and numerous crowd was actually comprised of a core group of robbers who were stirring up the common folk in and about Jerusalem. The Nasi (princes of the Sanhedrin), who were also the Beth Din (the judges of the House or “Temple”), allied with these murderous “robber bands”, with whom there was a clear association in later years, when the Gospels were compiled (the early- mid 50s A.D.). The High Priest was called the Av Beth Din (the head judge). As the name, “Av” or “Ab” implies, the high priest was thought after the manner of a “father”, or in the comparative sense, a godfather. The comparison is appropriate, as this alliance between the robber bands and select members of the Sanhedrin began much like the OSS-CIA alliance of the United States Government with its domestic Mafia Underworld in the 1940s and 1950s. The literal cloak and dagger First Century Association between the Sicarii Terrorists and the Sanhedrin that most likely developed ca. 25 A.D., and became open by and transparent by the 50s A.D., is clearly spelled out (as it were)  for us by Josephus (cf. Antiquities of the Jews, 20.8 -.3, .5-6, .8, .10).

42 Suborning Officers in the Greek of John 18:3 is “huperetas”: the “Captains of the 100s and the sergeants or lieutenants of the 50s”, if you will. The Jews mimicked the Legion structure, but had the equivalent of first sergeants running groups of 50, and master sergeants or lieutenants running the 100. This use of 5’s was seen as a perfect geometrical number by the Greeks, who found that the square root of 5:1 was a divine agent of their deities to man. Its most famous Greek application is the design of the Parthenon of Athens, Greece; designed to a 360 degree compass divided into 12. The Legion derived its structure from that compass to become 6,000 with 500 men in each of the 15 degrees of influence. The Levitical armed presence was thereby altered, probably with Herod I, from a guard army of 5,000 to a guard army of 6,000 following this principle. After the Temple construction was fully completed, this force appears to have been dramatically reduced by Roman will -- so as to appear to be a token force of perhaps one “speira” of 400 - 600 Levites during the Festivals from ca. A.D. 49 to 66.

43 John 18:3

44 Matthew 26:47, Mark 14:43, Luke 22:47. Cf., Supra 42.

45 John 18:4-6 Jesus boldly declares the Name of YHVeH of Exodus 3:14 to those children of Israel who do not know Him. The Greek can be taken in one of two ways: Jesus’ words “Ego Eimi” either cut the leaders to the heart so sharply, that in fear they retreated and fell back to the rear of the crowd, every one falling down to the ground…and into the mud…. Or, there was a miracle of angelic intercession which occurred in which the impertinent are cast back over the heads of the crowd. In either case, the leading accusers of Christ in this mob, end up as covered almost entirely in mud; and must return in that state before their leaders and peers.

In the second option of interpretation cited above, Jesus was taking the NAME unto Himself so forcefully, it is likened to being in the middle of 700 decibel thunderclap. This utterance is so powerful, that the very air and earth shakes, and it’s effect is likened to having the accusers in the front being blown upwards into the rear of the crowd as if by an explosion: being lifted up (uphill, and out of the Garden), and then “falling” (Gk. ‘epeson’) upon the earth, in an age that knew little of explosions. The reaction would be a temporary dumbfounding and numb to the reality of what’s happening around them. I am of a mind to accept this interpretation, even though some might call it “reaching”. I leave it up to the reader to accept or reject this theory as nothing more than a theory, and it being either valid or it being not credible. This miraculous casting away uphill will be duplicated later on the great stone that will cover the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Matthew 28:2 reveals that an Angel of the LORD casts away that stone. Therefore, just as easily, these haters of Christ were cast away by the unseen Angel who strengthened Christ in Luke 22:43.]

46 John 18:7

47 John 18:12-14 Also note, that if Annas was turning 61 during the last year of his tenure, he was required to step aside, as priestly service was supposed to end at age 60 for a “High Priest”, and start no earlier than age 40. This age range, of 40-60, is supposed as the prime or peak time of a man’s life mentally and spiritually -- while 20-40 is supposed to be the peak of a man’s physical life.

48 John 18:19-24, Luke 22:63-64

49 Mark 14:53

50 Mark 14:54,66; Matthew 26:58; John 18:18.

51 Mark 14:55-59

52 Mark 14:60, Matthew 26:62

53 Matthew 26:63, Mark 14:61

54 Mark 14::62, Matthew 26:64, Luke 22:69

55 Mark 14:63-64, Matthew 26:65-66, Luke 22:71

56 Mark 14:65, Matthew 26:67-68

57 Matthew 27:1-2, Mark 15:1, Luke 23:1

58 John 18:28

59 Matthew 27:1, Mark 15:1

60 John 18:28

61 John 18:29-32

62 John 18:33-35

63 Matthew 27:11-12

64 John 18:34-38

65 John 18:38, Luke 23:4

66 Luke 23:5-12

67 Luke 23:13-16

68 Luke 23:2 Out of sequence, but this most probably retains the true essence of accusations laid against Him, based on how the Greek reads. If Jesus indeed calls Himself Christ, as the accusation implies, then the First Priests would have claimed to have recently heard it. This utterance was manifest at the trial of “Caiaphas”, to which name is called a “donkey (or jack-ass)” after the Greek “Kantheros”, and “monkey” after the Hebrew Aramaic association. In either case, even the Pharisees may have had little respect for this very rich Galilean Sadducee who bought his way into the High Priesthood, past his own father-in-law.

69 Mark 15:3, Matthew 26:12

70 Mark 15:4-5, Matthew 26:13-14

71 Matthew 27:19

72 The Greek word regarding the whip is εμαστιγωσε (emastigose): mastigoo found in the aorist indicative active. This word comes from μάστιξ (mastix), which is often found as either “a whip” or “the flogging of a whip”. Mastix may also be used as a disease or plague that is laid upon a people as though it were a whip of wood - leather - and iron (or such components). The action of the aorist indicative active tells us that the flogging is not continuous. It does, however, entail the placing of those emotional and psychological trials and torments upon the person during the time of the scourging.

In Isaiah 53:5, when He is “wounded for our transgressions”, the Hebrew words for “wound” is that which can “pierce and bore” through. This Hebraic word “Chalal” is also used for “the flute”, a musical instrument. “Chalal” may also be used to describe a defilement of that which is, or those, which are, considered as “Holy unto the LORD”. In turn, that which is Holy (‘kodesh’) and that which is a Sanctuary (‘mikdash’), says Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, both derive from two words in Hebrew, “Moked Esh”: “the altar’s hearth of fire” (Leviticus 6:1) -- [Jerusalem Post, International Edition, April 25, 2003, p. 31 -- “Weekly Portion” by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin]. Therefore, Messiah, by being whipped, is offered up as a Scriptural variant of the burnt sacrifice, based on the allowances made in Scripture and connected firmly by the Hebrew.

In regards to the wounding after the “Chalal” of a flute: when Messiah spoke of this generation being like the children of the marketplace who complained after “piping” to someone that they did not dance, and mourning with someone who did not mourn also with them; there was also a darker side to this. The meaning had to do with those “children who mocked the afflicted, those being whipped”. Apparently, it was a form of entertainment, and they were disappointed when there were those who neither flinched under the whip, nor cried out.

Further, Isaiah 53:5 says that the “Chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” The word chastisement here is the Hebrew word “Musar”, which comes from “Yasar”. Basically, the wounding with stripes -- the whipping of Messiah -- is prophesied as being brought about as a form of corrective action against Him. It is prophesied as being a punishment that is meant to bring about a right behavior. In the case of Christ, it appears prophecy says that this is Pilate’s true intent. In the literal sense, “Musar” deals with being bound (in this case by the hands) down to something, while the punishment is administered. Hence, the whipping post, and the necessity for Messiah to fulfill this prophecy in the exact manner that He did.

It must further be noted, that without the shedding of blood, there can be NO ATONEMENT of sin (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). In Egypt, the lambs blood was placed against the very doors of the dwelling-places of the Jews, that sin might “pass over” them (Exodus 12:7,13). Christ shed His blood as our Passover sacrifice, and covers us with His blood of atonement -- once and for all time; because as YHVeH is above and beyond the bounds and limitations of time, even though as a man does He suffer within the confines and parameters of Time.

73 και οι στρατιωται πλεξαντες στεφανον εξ ακανθων επεθηκαν αυτου τη κεψαλη

“And the soldiers having weaved (knitted, braided)”, hence ‘formed’, “a wreath out of thorns, put (it) on His head.”

The Greek word for “put (it) on” is epethekon. In this sense, it is to lay on (with affliction). (cf. Luke 10:30, and Acts 18:10). In Acts 18:10, it denotes those wanting to get a sure grip of, to “press down and to wound”. In Luke 10:30, the activity that “no man shall set on thee to hurt thee…” still communicates a word picture of pressing down to seriously wound or stab. This act -- in regards to the crown of thorns -- was to assure that Jesus died for all the maladies of thoughts, and even the mentally diseased. This is further assurance that all sins are paid for, both that committed by inaction and thought, as well as by action. Jesus Christ paid the total price of redemption for them all.

74 και ελεγου Lego has its origins in laying or lying down. When one gave an account, what he did was to lay down words before an audience, who judged as to whether or not his words were true, as if he had laid out a scroll with his words before them, to be examined. Thus, literally, the Romans lay upon Christ “words”. Their very breath touches His face, and rises up into His nostrils; probably almost nose to nose in closeness or proximity.

75 For the sake of “train of thought” consistency, I have excluded Simon the Cyrene’s participation here. Simon is the one who actually carried the Cross through the Siloam / Water Gate, and to Calvary for Messiah. Messiah probably was kicked and dragged through the running Kidron, while Simon and the thieves probably crossed by wooden bridge. 

76 Aboth 5.5 tells us that every year, the festival was a miraculous event, with the average family pitched in tents; even tents pitched in the squares within the walls of Jerusalem. The more fortunate would stay in the home of a Jerusalemite, crammed for space. These that did, were obligated by custom to offer their hosts the skin of any animals they would offer for sacrifice in the Temple, as payment (Yoma 12a).

77 John 19:1-20, with word pictures and commentary, translation mine.

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The Resurrection of Jesus (A Foreword) 



In preparation for Resurrection Day, First-Fruits, often called by the common as Easter, we turn our minds away from the ills of the world and toward Christ and the Life and World to come for those of us who believe into Jesus Christ as our LORD and Savior.

The original Festival of Easter Sunday is titled First Fruits in Leviticus 23,

1.  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:   Leviticus 23:10
2.  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.1 Corinthians 15:20

and the Early Church knew it both as a First Harvest Celebration and the Day of the LORD's Resurrection almost without question for the first 300 years, and then less and less for about the next 450 years of Christianity where it was essentially pushed out entirely with (or at least by the time of)  the second council of Nicea of 787.
 

However, to pursue along those lines, well, that is (perhaps, and LORD willing) for another topic and posting for another day.

We begin our preparation with a historical reading from the Gospel of Matthew.
 

Matthew 28 (King James Version)

 ¹In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

 ²And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

 ³His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

 ⁴And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

 ⁵And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

 ⁶He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

 ⁷And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

 ⁸And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

 ⁹And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

 ¹⁰Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

 ¹¹Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

 ¹²And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

 ¹³Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

 ¹⁴And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

 ¹⁵So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

 ¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

 ¹⁷And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

 ¹⁸And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

 ¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

 ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The Resurrection of Jesus: An Historical 4 Gospel Account:

The ff. is a Four Gospel Abridged Historical Account, faithfully translated from the Greek with word pictures: by me, Brianroy.  Thanks.

Golgotha

“And coming toward and into a tract of land, upon which is called Golgotha in the Hebrew, the which is saying -- in interpretation -- ‘the skull cap area’. {1}

[My Comment: The insinuation is a yarmulke. The tomb of David, which was prominent in this land-tract, was like the skullcap upon the head of Jerusalem. In this area, only those kings of Israel that were considered worthy, had their bones interred. Nehemiah 3:16 (and other passages), tell us that there were multiple burial sites for the Kings of the Davidic line here: thus, the name “Golgotha” or “skull-cap”, being an idiom for an area dedicated to the “kings or the skull-caps of the nation of Israel”. Kings were therefore a type of yarmulke in their symbolism.

The tomb of David was a white sepulcher that eerily resembled a skull at certain times of the day. This was hated by the first priests. In effect, David was looked down upon by the first priests of the city as just an ancestral reference whose name, like the Almighty, could be invoked to frighten the common folk into compliance.]

And having crucified Him, sitting down, (the soldiers) guarded Him there. {2}

And the people stood wherever they were at, viewing attentively. {3}

[My Comment:  This last verse translated from Luke 23:35, testifies to the crowded conditions mentioned by Josephus and others, 3,000,000  plus were crammed into an area less than a few square miles. By comparison, Alexandria Egypt was a crowded city with less than a mile in width and four miles in length, being congested daily with just 500,000. The condition in Jerusalem was 6 - 7 times worse in a comparable area of about half that length for three times a year: twice being in excess of 7 days at a time. This feast of Unleavened Bread - the Passover - First Fruits, all part of the same 8 days (a week and one day) of  continuous Observance by ancient Israel's near entire population of men ages 20-60 in Jerusalem, was one of those occasions.   Just the fact that the Romans were able to push their crucifixion through the streets of Jerusalem was practically a feat in itself.]

And it was then the third hour [being 9 a.m.] when they crucified Him. {4} 

Then from sixth hour [being 12 p.m. -- noon] the light of day was removed entirely, for the darkness came into being (as night) upon and over all the the Land,  

 [of Israel, even upon the whole Earth]  

until the ninth hour  [until 3 p.m.],
for the sun was as black as the darkness. {5}

Then, in the ninth hour, Jesus emphatically cried out with a loud and commanding voice {6}  

…and the veil of the Temple was rent violently in two,
from top to bottom. {7}  

Then Jesus again emphatically cried out with a great
and commanding voice, releasing the wind, {8} 

bowing His head and having stopped breathing. {9}

[My Comment:  The night and morning previous, there was rainfall. The clouds had dissipated by the third hour, and there was no wind for six hours. Upon the death of Jesus, not only did His “Spirit” or pneuma depart from His body, but doubly applicable, the “wind” or pneuma was released, as though with a vengeance or authority, as well.]

And the earth trembled with an agitated shaking. {10}

[“ O YHVeH, put on them reverent fear and dread (like clothing) [upon a man],
(and like scrub) [upon a field]. Let the nations know intuitively that they
(are only) mortals. Selah.” (Psalm 9:20  - AWPR)]

And the centurion standing near, but across, out and off at the opposite of  Him, {11} 

 guarding Him, {12}

 saying,
‘Surely this righteous man was the son of GOD.’ {13}

Then the soldiers came, and …coming upon Jesus, when they saw and perceived that He was presently at this time dead, they did not break his legs -- as with an axe, in two. {14}

 But still another one of the soldiers with a lance, drove in deep, pierced the side of Him: and all at once (there) came out (of the wound) blood and water. {15}

[Pilate asks Joseph to bury Jesus]

Then after these things, {16}  

Joseph of Arimathea went in, up to, and alongside
Pilate. {17}

 And taking courage asked (what was to become) of the body of
Jesus. {18} 

Then…having called near the centurion, he (Pilate) interrogated him19…and fully knowing from the centurion, {20} 

Pilate asked Joseph of Arimathea, -- then being a concealed disciple of Jesus, through the terror and fright of the Jews -- in order that he might take up and carry away the body of Jesus. {21}

[My Comment:  The testimony of John in the Greek specifically and literally says that Pilate asked Joseph. The testimony of Peter through Mark infers a fearsome inquisitiveness to the effect of: ‘Now that this one has died, you’re not really going to leave the body up there are you? It’s already between the evenings, the preparation time of our observance of Holy Day.’ Therefore, it makes perfect sense for Pilate to turn to Joseph and ask the favor, and may be that he personally issued some money quietly for the linen for Jesus’ burial. Although Pilate’s wife may have wished Jesus ill, I sincerely believe that Pilate did not. However, to say Pilate gave Joseph money to make the linen purchase is simply a 50/50 speculation on my part, based on the reading of the Gospel text.]

And purchasing a linen fabric, and coming, {22} 

he took the body of Jesus. {23}

Then also came Nicodemus, bearing up and carrying a mixed blend of myrrh and aloes, about 100 (times) 12 ounces. {24} 

They together, they bore up the body of Jesus, and wrapped Him up in the linen sheeting, and bound it around and fastened it together with the spices, as is customary with Jewish burial. {25}

And in that same tract of land where He was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden there was a new tomb out of rock, in which no one had ever been placed.
They then put Jesus there through the (time) of the Preparation of the Jews

[until the first three stars were about to appear in the sun setting sky],

because the tomb was near. {26}

And having rolled a very great stone to the door of the memorial cave, he left. Then, was there Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary sitting down before the presence of the grave.
Then upon the next day, the which is in the midst {27}

 of the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together up alongside and next to Pilate, saying ‘Lord, we do mindfully so recollect that one, the deceiver, said upon (His) life, ‘’After three days, I will be raised up (a new creation).’’ Set in motion and urge then (for) the grave to be made secure until the third day, lest at any time the disciples of Him come near by night, and by stealth steal Him, that they might say to the people, ‘’He is arisen from the dead’’; and the last deceit will thereby be worse than the first.

Then Pilate shone forth his words to them,

[having heretofore been suspicious of them, and having kept silent],

‘You now have and hold possession of a custodian guard. Go away and depart in secret, and secure it against (your) enemies and verify all with your sight and observance that it is so. They then, rushed and ran through with violence and made the grave secure against (their) enemies, setting the stone (with) the seal of authenticity (upon) the grave in the midst of the custodian guard. {28}

[My Comment:  Upon arrival, the Pharisees and First Priests have the stone removed, and verify the identity of Jesus, while in the midst (or presence) of the custodial guard. The centurion verifies definitively that indeed their testimony is true. That is, probably the entire council witnesses Jesus’ chest and head with their own eyes. The tomb is closed back up with the great rock, and then sealed with the signet of Pilate. The two Mary’s are chased off from the area; the site is secured to the  council’ satisfaction. 

 The guard will consist of about 20 sentries and one centurion. They will be consistently checked up on at regular intervals without fail ranging from 4 - 8 hours by those who bring meals, and by the Centurion of the Watch who inspects each post in a circuit.  They may have more frequent shorter intervals than even this.  The Chiliarch must also receive regular interval reports by the Centurions of the Watch, and order any post not reporting in investigated immediately by others beside the Centurion of the Watch while bringing forth the Centurion of the Watch to the Chiliarch to give an immediate first-hand report with the expedience of answering for a life threatening reprimand. At the first sign of trouble, there would have likely been a trumpet of some sort to sound an alarm, as the Romans used them like Bugles to send orders and announce virtually everything they were doing as a troop.]

Then, the evening watch of the Sabbaths, upon the first rays of light dawning into the one of the Sabbaths [First-fruits], Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary came towards, to gaze and closely look upon the grave. And behold!
A shaking came into being, very great! For (the) Angel of the LORD descending down out of Heaven, and coming up to and alongside (the location) rolled up back and (sending uphill and) away the stone, and sitting down up on top of it.


[My Comment:  The context of the rolling back of the stone appears to be that it was done so forcefully, that the great rock was out of its groove, and tossed a short way up and behind the tomb entrance, yet still over the cave’s perspective. This indicates that the rock was circular, and not squared, like a cork. As the Psalmist said, “But GOD will redeem My soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive Me. Selah.” (Psalm 49:15 - KJV)]



And then the face of His was the beholding of lightning, and the weight of his glory as white as snow. Then from the intense and quaking fear of him, those guarding were shaken to their very core, and came into being as if they were dead.
From judging discreetly, the Angel then said to the women,

‘Don’t you be frightened out of your wits (also). For I see and know that you
seek Jesus, He having been crucified. He isn’t here, because He was raised up, just as He said. Come here. Look and see the place where the LORD lay down. {29}

Then weeping outside up alongside the tomb, Mary stood; and as she wept, she bent over beside and into the tomb, and beheld two angels sitting down: one up alongside the head, and one up alongside the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And say these to her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’

She responds and says, ‘Because they took up and carried away my LORD,
and I don’t see or know where they placed Him.’
And saying these things, she turns about to where she was looking back, and looks at and gazes at Jesus [up close, and personal], standing (there), and still does not see and yet know that it is Jesus.

Jesus says to her,
‘Woman, why are you crying? Just who is it that you seek after
and strive to find?” {30}

This question is on the lips of Jesus to you.  

Just who is it that you seek after and strive to find? 

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End Notes:

1 Matthew 27:33, Mark 15:22, Luke 23:33, John 19:17

2 Matthew 27:35, 36; Mark 15:24

3 Luke 23:35

4 Mark 15:24. Also, the symbolism of a conqueror who captures his enemy, and drags him through the streets, as in a noose, is prophesied as a result of the crucifixion in the Hebrew of Psalm 9:16.

“YHVeH is made known in the Judgment He has made and brought about:
in the work of the bend of His Hands [.i.e., in His wrists]
are the wicked ensnared
(as in a noose). A Meditation. Selah!” 
(Psalm 9:16, AWPR)

“And (one) shall say unto Him, ‘What are these wounds in thine hands?
Then He shall answer,
(Those) with which I was wounded (in) the house of my friends.” (Zechariah 14:6, KJV)

5 Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44-45

6 Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, Luke 23:7 The Greek emphasis given by Luke and Mark’s gospel is that the cry was great, and loud, and commanding; not just a query. It goes to experiencing the separation of which the unbeliever has in hell, and why Christ -- without sin -- experienced the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth aspect of sin upon the Cross. By confining Himself to Scripture, YHVeH the Son not only experienced man’s separation from GOD the Father, but was able to offer up the appropriate response to which we believers are called to respond with. We may call GOD into question for activities of withdrawal and ask why. We may not lawfully accuse Him or slander. Jesus simply noted the activity and then demandingly questioned, why? As seen in the Psalms, and as the Son of David, this response is perfectly acceptable with GOD.

7 Luke 23:45, Mark 15:38. Matthew 27:51 places the order of the temple veil, the earthquake, and resurrection in a collective utterance (i.e., vv. 51-53 are to be read as parenthetical).

8 Matthew 27:50

9 John 19:30, Mark 15:37, Luke 23:46

10 Matthew 27:51,54. The biblical writers had a habit of leaving natural events and weather out of their writings. Matthew, in the heart of the capitol, among thousands of hostile witnesses, in 55 A.D., freely speaks of the simultaneous earthquake, the solar anomaly, and the sudden wind that blew fiercely at the time of the crucifixion. When these events happened, it made the senses of the millions watching even more acute, so that when the centurion cried out, ‘Surely this was the son of GOD!’, and the more heard him and paid his words attention. There is no Talmudic teaching to argue or dispute the Gospels or their events from having occurred. If there was any objection, despite the persecutions of the Roman Catholic Church in their sphere of influence, those disputations of Christian history would have survived among the rabbinate. That rabbinical silence is, de facto, an affirmation of the Christian witness.

11 Mark 15:39 - ο παρεστηκως εξ εναντιας αυτου This tells us the positioning of the centurion and the soldiers in relation to the Cross. The soldiers had placed Jesus on one side of the stone fissure which leads up to David’s tomb, while they stood upon the other side. The fissure’s width had to be narrow and easily traversed by a running soldier (e.g. Mark 15:36). The area of crucifixion also had to be leveled out, yet steep round about it: easily defensible.

Only one centurion was needed to prevent access while his troop sat and rested. Why? Perhaps the site was a steep mound, like a high place, easily controllable, accessible by one narrow path no more than 4-5 feet wide. Though upon the Eastern Mount, the western slope of Olives, the Romans held a south-north positioning from Jesus near the Kidron - Hinom Valley Juncture. This will not entirely make sense until the fissure to Azal is excavated, and David’s tomb is found along that fissure. Once that site of David’s former tomb in Jerusalem is found, then the Gospel accounts will make perfect sense.

Having never seen what the Apostles saw, as it relates to Jerusalem’s topography in 30 A.D., accurate visualization is very difficult. Paul through Luke in Hebrews indicates the Romans were to the north, and Christ crucified closer to the south or Hinom gate, through which the blood of animals were to be burned without the camp.

12 Matthew 27:54

13 Mark 15:39, Luke 23:47, Matthew 27:54

14 John 19:32-33

15 John 19:34 The blood and water aspect shows that Jesus heart burst after dying of asphyxiation, and congestive heart failure. What little blood was left in His body was quickly separating. The Gospel of John is telling us that there was probably about a 20 minute interval between Jesus’ death and the piercing. This probably occurred when the soldiers receive the writ from Joseph of Arimathea, bearing Pilate’s order to give the body of Jesus to him, and get rid of the other two by usual means (cf. John 19:38). The spear would have punched through Jesus’ left side, and rode up under the ribcage, straight into the heart. The notion of a right side to left side spear punch is idiocy from those unlearned in small weapons combat. The testimony is to the effect that Jesus went limp leaning to His right. Had He been closer to the ground, a thrust from a six to eight inch blade -- with a quick counter clockwise twist before removal -- would have had the same effect as the lance.

However, the Psalms specifically list the “spears” of the bulls of Bashan “western or Roman” soldiers, as piercing Messiah. The left side must flow forth the Living Waters if Messiah is to sit at the Right Hand of the Father in order for the river of Life to proceed from BOTH the throne of the Father and the Lamb (e.g. Revelation 22:1).

16 John 19:38

17 Mark 15:43; Matthew 27:57-58; Luke 23:50,52

18 Mark 15:43

19 Mark 15:44

20 Mark 15:45

21 John 19:38

22 Mark 15:46

23 John 19:38

24 John 19:39

25 Mark 15:46, Matthew 27:59, Luke 23:53, John 19:40

26 John 19:41-42

27 Meta… here means “in the midst” of the Preparation, evening-morning. Based on the context: “the next morning” following the Passover sacrifice, even though it is still a holy day. The Passover has already been partaken of, so defilement with Pilate is not an issue. Whether they penalize themselves 7 days or not, the primary concern is to secure the body of Jesus before the disciples gain courage to do so.

Now that the Passover had been taken, the number of people had dwindled dramatically from the very hour of the 3pm sacrifice (Luke 23:48), so that by the next day, and well before the time of First fruits, less than a few thousand beside the Temple guard and Roman patrols would still be remaining in the hills about Jerusalem. Many hundreds of thousands would be leaving in a very short span of time, so that it might not be hard to tamper with the tomb upon the following evening. Therefore, it was imperative to open the tomb, verify the identity of the body, seal it, and guard it. By doing this very act, these first priests verified and sealed the authenticity of the coming Resurrection of Jesus as definitive fact, though unknowingly at the time.

28 Matthew 27:60-66

29 Matthew 28:1-6

30 John 20:11-15 The woman stooped down and was able to look inside the cave-tomb. The entrance was probably at least 3 feet high, with a groove of at least 1 ½ - 2 feet in depth, of sufficient width to allow a man to safely turn about in it without falling down. The platform and floor of the cave had to drop another 3-5 feet below the elevation where the woman was standing, and be back into the cave some 8-10 feet. In all likelihood, there were finger mausoleums -- which were also cut into the back of the cave, curving out of sight, even from the light of the angelic radiance. Because of its proximity to the tomb of King David, and its being on the Mount of Olives, this newly hewn out rock-cave tomb was a very expensive purchase and stone cutting project, and speaks of immense wealth. Whoever owned this cave was not only rich, he was almost like a government treasury unto himself. Perhaps more so than the rich young man of Matthew 20:16-22.