Psalm 22 is quoted by Jesus on the cross and referred to multiple times by the authors of the Gospels. The details within it referring to the crucifixion are uncanny and haunting. One wishes it were simply metaphorical and allusionary, but knowing the torture and death of Christ paints it all black.

David writes “they have pierced my hands and feet–I can count all my bones–they stare and gloat over me” (vv16-17). This turned out to be no mere symbol for Jesus. Flagellatio, Roman scourging, was performed by soldiers “using the most dreaded instrument of the time, called a flagrum, or, in the words of Horatio, “the horrible flagellum””, as M.D. and forensic pathologist Federick Zugibe reports in his forensic inquiry The Crucifixion of Jesus (19). The flagrum was not a simple whip, but contained three or more tails on its end, each finished with metal balls, pieces of bones or other tenderizing and lacerating objects. One flagrum with rounded bits of lead was discovered at the Roman city Herculaneum in 1709 which was preserved after that city was destroyed by a volcano eruption in A.D. 79.

Unlike the law of Moses which prohibited any corporal punishment beyond 40 lashes, the Roman soldiers were at liberty to do their pleasure. The victim would often receive enough lashes to die (formal execution by scourging was not uncommon), but the less fortunate were preserved in order to be endure crucifixion. The victim would be stripped naked, shackled to a fixed object such as a standing column, and upon command the Roman soldier would raise the instrument and whip it down upon his back. The tails of the flagrum would then stretch around the victim’s body, back and front including shoulders, arms, upper and lower legs, propelled by the weighted objects at the ends. The dull objects would thud and tenderize the flesh; the sharp ones would pierce and often lodge. Then the soldier would rip the whip back, tearing chunks of flesh, sending cataracts of blood running and spewing. Internal bleeding would also commence as ribs fractured and longs were often pierced. “Bouts of vomiting, tremors, seizures, and fainting fits would occur at varying intervals and sometimes appear, concomitantly, during these maneuvers. There would be agonizing shrieks by the victim at the conclusion of each lash, usually with begging and pleading for mercy. . . . The victim would be reduced to an exhausted, mangled mass of flesh with a craving for water.”

Good Friday is the antidote to all easy-believism and what Bonhoeffer called cheap grace. The idea that an innocent man and incarnate creator God could ever allow himself to suffer this way is unthinkable. Unthinkable until we realize that this is what the sin of Adam deserved, and the only one capable of paying it and reversing the curse would have to be a new Adam. To see the scourging and crucifixion is to see the love of God. And to see the resurrection is to see the victory of God.