Psalm 22:17
17 I may tell [caphar] all my
bones: [`etsem] they look [nabat] and stare [ra'ah] upon me. KJV-Interlinear
17 I
can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; NASB
Much of the detailed suffering
description of Jesus, comes not from the New Testament, but from Old Testament
passages such as these.
Isa 52:14,
"Many were
astonished at thee;"
Isa 53:2-3,
"He hath no form nor
comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him;"
The magnitude of the
punishment inflicted on Jesus was so great that people, even while mocking Him,
stood and stared in astonishment.
They probably have seen
others crucified and heard their screams and tantrums of agony as they died.
But Jesus was not one of
those, displaying no such emotion, no such reaction, but sustained all with
dignity and poise, despite the increased level of punishment inflicted upon
Him.
Here is described an
emaciated body. A body that testified to
all who looked upon Him, that His punishment was far and above greater than He
deserved, and certainly more than anyone else had ever received. And this resulting from the severe pressures
imposed upon Him combined with the severe beatings and floggings that He was
made to suffer.
People actually stared,
viewed, looked, gazed at Jesus. This is not
a story or symbolism, but an actual event that was witnessed by people who
lived in that time.
His emaciation was so
rapid and severe, that His bones could be easily counted.
Whereas on the previous
day, He was eating dinner with the apostles and was not then emaciated. But from the point of the arrest during the
night, up to and including the cross on the following day, He was beaten and
punished so severely that people had to stare, gawk, look at Him with
astonishment, amazement, bewilderment, as they simultaneously belittled and
mocked and ridiculed Him.
How could one not too
many days earlier, raise the dead back to life, who could perform so many
miracles, who had such a reputation of a good person, now be brutally beaten
with extreme trauma, and still maintain His poise?
