Quote:
Originally Posted by GA Russell
Tom, it is my understanding that Jesus and his disciples walked everywhere. I have been told that only Roman soldiers (officers?) and high mucky-mucks had horses to ride on.
So for that reason, I believe that Jesus and everyone else was relatively thin and in good shape.
In regard to Jesus' dying after only three hours on the cross, keep in mind that 1) he hadn't slept since Wednesday night, and 2) he was scouraged at the pillar. It is my reading of the gospels' account that the scouraging was meant by Pilate to assuage the crowd calling for a crucifixion, and that it was not normal procedure to precede a crucifixion with a scouraging.
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Well, as I said, it certainly isn't the only possible explanation of his quick death on the cross, but as far as walking goes, I had an uncle who walked everyday all over town and he was a regular butterball. True, when he finally had to go to the hospital in his 60s he was told he "had the cholesterol level of a twenty-year-old," but he still had quite a gut.
One other
possible explanation for his quick death is that he suffered from pulmonary edema. This would explain the fluid that came from his chest when his side was pierced by the centurion's sword. Could this have been brought on or aggravated by the flogging? I have no idea; I'm not a doctor.