Conservative Friends Bible Study of Mark #27 Mark 14:53-15:32

Ohio Yearly Meeting's Podcast

At the time of Jesus, Palestine was a province of Rome, which held complete
control over the area. Rome reserved the authority to put someone to death, so
for a local government to put someone to death required Roman approval.
The meeting of the Sanhedrin at night to try Jesus (14:53 and following) was
highly irregular, and not a typical time for gathering.
The term “Son of Man” (14:62) is drawn from Daniel and is literally, “Son of
Adam”.
To tear one’s clothing (14:63) was the proper Jewish response when someone
spoke blasphemy.
The main reason the Jewish leaders were able to get Jesus crucified was
because His alleged claim to be king of the Jews (in challenge to the Roman
Emperor) made Him an insurrectionist and rebel, and thus worthy of crucifixion
under Roman law.
For Roman crucifixion, since the vertical piece of the cross was usually already
installed at the place of crucifixion, the one to be crucified only carried the
horizontal cross piece of the cross to the place of crucifixion, not both the
horizontal and vertical pieces.
In crucifixion, the nails were not driven through the palm (where there is almost
no structure to hold the body to the cross), but the nails were driven through the
bones of the wrist. The Greek word for hand (cheir) included any part of the arm,
from the hand to the upper arm. Thus, one had to know the context of the usage
in order to understand what specific part of the upper limb a Greek writer meant.
Because the Romans wanted to completely shame and humiliate those who
were being crucified, the crucified were stripped of all clothing and left to hang
completely naked from the cross.
The Greek word “lēistēs” often translated as “robber” in the Holy Scriptures could
also mean insurrectionist or rebel. It is much more likely that Jesus was crucified
between two insurrectionists, and He Himself also crucified insurrectionists.
Greek Words

• Christos: anointed (The Hebrew word (mashiach) meant “anointed”, messiah.)
• Cheir: any part of the arm from the upper arm including the hand, thus hand or
• arm.
• Lēistēs: bandit or insurrectionist

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