Download These Images in .jpeg HERE
Introduction
In recent years, the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ(as) has stimulated considerable
interest. The inspiration received from the masterpiece of the Promised
Messiah, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as), Jesus in India,
stimulated this author to conduct an interdisciplinary investigation on the
circumstances surrounding the crucifixion and to present a
historical-cum-medical accurate account as to why Jesus Christ(as) went
into a state of swoon and the circumstances that led to his recovery, and to
explore the differential diagnosis of other clinical conditions put forward by
doctors. There is a range of evidence on the process of crucifixion in
literature. However, the credibility of any discussion will be determined primarily
by the credibility of the source material. For this ‘theory’, the source
material includes the extensive and detailed descriptions of the process of
flogging and crucifixion found in the New Testament Gospels,[3] and
contemporary Christian and non-Christian authors.[14] The
interpretations of modern writers, based on the knowledge of science and
medicine, may offer additional insight into this.
Jesus Christ(as) was
arrested past midnight at Gethsemane and taken to the high priest where he was
found guilty of blasphemy. Soon after daybreak he was blindfolded, spat on the
face and struck on the face with fists. There is no mention of any blood loss
nor does blood loss of any significance occur with such an assault. Further, it
is reasonable to assume that Jesus Christ(as) was in good
physical condition.
Scourging. Left, short whip (flagrum)
with lead balls and sheep bones tied into leather thongs. Center left, naked
victim tied to flogging post. Deep stripe like lacerations were usually
associated with considerable blood loss Center right, View from above, showing
position of lector. Right superolateral direction of wounds.
Scourging (Flogging)
Practices
At the praetorium, Jesus
Christ(as) was flogged – a preliminary to almost every Roman
execution. The instrument was a short whip with several single or braided
leather thongs of variable length, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of
sheep bones were tied at intervals.[4,7,8] The victim was
stripped of his clothing, and his hands were tied to an upright post.[8] He
was then struck on the back with the whip encircling the side and part of the
front of the chest. (see image below) The iron balls of the whips resulted in
deep contusion, and sharp piece of sheep bones caused deep cuts into the skin
and subcutaneous tissue.[4,7,8] The extent of blood loss may
well have determined how long the victim would survive on the cross.[9] In
the case of Jesus Christ(as), scourging was mild and blood loss
minimal. Also, the severity of scourging is not discussed in the four Gospel
accounts[3] and it is not known whether the number of lashes
was limited to thirty nine, in accordance with the Jewish Law.[4]
Surviving Crucifixion
Survival length on the cross
generally averaged three days (with a range of two to five days).[8,9] Jesus
Christ(as) did not carry the crossbar from the flogging post to
the site of crucifixion (as was customary for condemned men), one third of a
mile (600 to 650 m) away.[3,4,7,8,9,13] At Golgotha, the
crucifixion site, after twelve noon that Friday, Jesus Christ(as) cried
out in a loud voice, bowed his head, and swooned.[3,15] He
remained on the cross for only about two hours until the sixth hour on Friday,
just before sunset, because the next day was the Sabbath and according to
Jewish custom it was unlawful to keep anyone on the cross on the Sabbath, or
the night previous. The soldiers broke the leg of the two thieves, but not that
of Jesus Christ(as), as they mistook his being in a state of swoon
for being dead.[3] Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his
chest, with an infantry spear,[3] most probably into the
pericardial cavity, producing a sudden flow of blood and water. After the dust
storm and violent earthquake, many people had dispersed.[3,15]Christ(as) having
been taken for dead, his body was handed over to Joseph of Arimathea.[3,15,8] Nicodemus,
a very learned physician who knew the secrets of ‘Therapents’ – a term for
therapeutics, saw the wound with blood and water flowing, which is not seen in
the dead, and spoke in a low tone: ‘Dear friends, be of good cheer, and let us
to work. Jesus is not dead. He seems so only because his strength is gone.’[15]Having
carefully laid the body of Jesus Christ(as) on the ground,
Nicodemus spread strong spices and healing salves, making out that he was doing
so to keep the body from decaying. These spices and salves had great healing
power and were used at that time. Both Joseph and Nicodemus ‘blew into him
their own breath’[15] as if providing mouth-to-mouth artificial
respiration. Nicodemus also ‘believed that it was not best to close up the
wound in Jesus’ side, because he considered the flow of blood and water was
helpful to respiration and beneficial in the renewing of life’.[15] This
is a well-known practice in patients with cardiac tamponade (bleeding within
the pericardial cavity) where after aspiration with a wide bore needle the
blood is allowed to drain to avoid recollection. At the suggestion of Pilate,
Jesus Christ(as) was then placed in a nearby inconspicuous
house, built like a tomb.[3]
Nailing of wrists. Left,
Size of iron nail. Center, Location of nail in wrist, between carpals and
radius. Right, cross section of wrist, at level of plane indicated at left,
showing path of nail, with probable transection of median nerve and impalement
of flexor pollicis longus, but without injury to major arteries and without
fractures of bones. Blood loss is thus, minimal.
Medical Aspects of
Crucifixion Of Jesus Christ(as)
Scourging of Jesus Christ(as)
The severity of scourging
depended on the disposition of the lictors (Romans soldiers) and was intended
to humiliate and weaken the victim.[9] In the case of Jesus
Christ(as), scourging was mild due to the seemingly favourable
attitude of Pilate. The iron balls caused contusion and the sheep bones cut
into the skin and subcutaneous tissues,[7]thus the blood loss was
minimal. The sharp pieces of sheep bones probably injured the pericardial sac
resulting in slow accumulation of blood within the pericardial cavity. If the
rate of blood accumulation had been fast, this would have most likely caused
severe injury, as the faster rate would have interfered with the adequate
functioning of the heart. The rate of blood accumulation may well have
determined the time Jesus Christ(as)lapsed into a state of coma.
Crucifixion of Jesus
Christ(as)
With the arms
outstretched, the wrists were nailed to the cross. It has been shown that the
ligaments and bones of the wrist can support the weight of the body but the
palms cannot.[8,11,16,17] The nail in the wrist might pass
between the bony elements and thereby produce no fractures, the likelihood of
painful periosteal injury, i.e. injury to the outer layers of bones, which are
rich in nerves and hence very sensitive to pain, wound seem great.[7,8,16] (see
image below).
Nailing of feet. Left,
position of feet atop one another and against cross. Upper right, Location of
nail in second intermetatarsal space. Lower right, Cross section of foot, at
plane indicated at left, showing path of nail.
Most commonly, the feet
were fixed to the front of the cross by means of an iron spike driven through
the first or second intermetatarsal space, (space between the first and second
toe), just distal to the tarsometatarsal joint.[4,8,9,16,17] Thus,
crucifixion per se was a relatively bloodless procedure since no major arteries
pass through the favoured anatomic sites of transfixion.[8,11,16] (see
image below) .
Spear wound to chest.
Left, Probable path of spear. Right, Cross section of thorax, at level of plane
indicated at left, showing structures perforated by spear into pericardial
cavity. LA indicates left atrium; LV, left ventricle; RA, right atrium; RV,
right ventricle. (Modified from Edward et al.6)
The actual cause of death
varied with each case. It mainly depended on the initial health of the victim
including mental health, the duration on the cross, dehydration, excruciating
pain, exhaustion, asphyxia (on account of prolonged interference of normal
respiration), blood loss with hypovolaemia (excess blood loss), and
crurifracture – the act of breaking someone’s legs so as to ease their pain by
speeding along their death in crucifixion. Jesus Christ(as), he was
in good health and in excellent mental state. He remained on the cross for a
significantly short time with less exhaustion, dehydration and asphyxia. The
blood loss was minimal both during scourging and crucifixion making the
possibility of shock due to the loss of a large volume of blood unlikely. No
bones were broken in order to hasten death. The injury to the chest with a
spear can result in pleural effusion but the blood congeals in a dead man with
poor flow with blood clots and pleural fluid. It is most probable that the
infantry spear came to the rescue of Jesus Christ(as) when it
pierced the pericardial cavity and revived the encaged heart as ‘blood and
water gushed out’ (see image below). It is only in a beating heart of a living
person that blood gushes out. Skepticism has arisen in explaining with medical
accuracy, the flow of both blood and water. In ancient Greek, the order of
words generally denoted prominence and not necessarily a time sequence.[18] therefore;
it seems likely that John was emphasising the prominence of blood following the
injury with a spear.
A popular but medically
unacceptable explanation has been that Jesus Christ(as) died of
cardiac rupture. It is mentioned that in the setting of scourging and
crucifixion, an altered coagulable state may have resulted in thrombotic
vegetation over the aortic and mitral valves which could have embolised in the
coronary circulation resulting in myocardial infarction, rupture and death,[19,20] meaning
that blood becomes more prone to clotting, leading to a congealed mass of blood
on the structures on the left side of the heart. These congealed masses may
have broken off from the heart and gotten to the blood supply of the heart,
resulting in the condition. This is a very naïve explanation that is hardly, if
ever, seen in medical practice. The altered coagulable state (when blood
congeals inside the body, rather than readily flowing) is uncommon with
scourging or crucifixion. When it does develop, it takes many hours, and
presents primarily as bleeding from the wound. The patient usually dies of
blood loss over the next few days. These detached broken off clots mainly block
the small arteries such as kidneys. The small arteries of the heart are seldom
involved but if the small arteries are ever involved, myocardial infarction is
extremely unlikely as the main coronary arteries are spared. If ever a heart
attack does occur, rupture of the infracted segment (deadened part of the
heart), usually takes five to seven days. Thus, the explanation does not find
cardiological acceptance. Another explanation put forward is the state of
exhaustion on account of scourging, blood loss and pre-shock state.[7] The
fact that Jesus Christ(as) did not carry his crossbar is given
in support of this interpretation. However, one should not forget the
compassionate attitude of Pilate who never wanted Jesus(as) to
be crucified in the first place. In the case of Jesus Christ(as),
scourging was mild and no mention is given in the four Gospel account. The
above explanation thus, is untenable. It has been postulated that perhaps Jesus
Christ(as) died of acute heart failure with terminal fatal
cardiac arrhythmia, i.e. serious problems with the rhythm of the heart.[4,6-8,11,13,16] This
explanation in a man like Jesus Christ(as) without previous
history of any medical ailment makes the above diagnosis unlikely. Jesus Christ(as) has
been described by some to have suffered from an extremely rare medical disorder
of bloody sweat (heamatidrosis).[21] This may have occurred in
highly emotional state in which he was in and could have resulted in
hypervolemia (loss of blood volume) contributing to his death.[3] It
is rather odd to think of such rare disorder in a healthy man with a loss of a
substantial volume of blood in sweat on a cold night of early April.[3] Also
it is very unlikely that a noble Prophet of God would have succumbed under
emotional stress.
Conclusion
Thus, with knowledge of
both anatomy and ancient crucifixion practices, it is not difficult to
reconstruct the probable medical aspects of crucifixion from a cardiologist’s
perspective. It is extremely likely that Jesus Christ(as) sustained
an injury to the pericardium during the process of scourging. The sharp pieces
of sheep bones in the whip caused deep cuts in the pericardium. This resulted
in accumulation of blood in the pericardial cavity. While on the cross, the
process of blood accumulation continued. This resulted in cardiac tamponade
with hemodynamic disturbance, a condition that caused the heart to struggle, as
it was unable to pump blood against free blood in the coverings of the heart,
leading to low blood pressure and pulse. In such a predicament, the cardiac
output dropped and the brain was deprived of oxygen. It was most likely at this
critical stage of hemodynamic disturbance, i.e. low blood pressure and heart
rate that Jesus Christ(as) cried out in a loud voice, bowed his
head and became unconscious. The piercing of the spear in the chest aimed at
the heart created a rent in the outer layer of the pericardium. This resulted
in decompression of the heart ‘as blood and water gushed out.’ The
increase in cardiac output as the heart was decompressed resulted in
improvement of oxygen to the brain. The arrival of Joseph of Arimethia and
Nicodemus, an experienced physician, further lend support that Jesus(as) survived
the ordeal of crucifixion. The application of strong spices and salves at this
stage was essential to prevent the wounds from infection and relief of pain.
They probably employed artificial respiration when they ‘blew into him their
own breath’ after Jesus(as) was brought down from
the cross. Also, the wound of the spear was left open to drain, as ‘Nicodemus
believed that it was best not to close up the wound in Jesus’(as) side
because he considered that flow of blood and water from there was helpful to
respiration in the renewing of life.’ This practice is well known amongst
cardiologists to prevent reaccumulation of blood in the pericardial cavity.
Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus
Christ(as) did not die on the Cross but was delivered alive and
then treated.
Map of Jerusalem at time
of Christ. Jesus left Upper Room and walked with disciples to Garden of
Gethsemane (1), where he was arrested and taken first to Annas and then to
Caiaphas (2). After first trial before political Sanhedrin at Caiaphas’
residence, Jesus was tried again before religious Sanhedrin, probably at Temple
(3). Next, he was taken to Pontius Pilate (4), who sent him to Herod Antipas
(5), Herod returned Jesus to Pilate at (6), and Pilate finally handed over
Jesus for scourging at Fortress of Antonia and for crucifixion at Golgotha (7),
(Modified from Pfeiffer et al.17)
Professor M M H Nuri MBBS,
FCPS, MRCP, FACC is Chief Executive and Chief Cardiologist of Tahir Heart
Institute (THI) Rabwah Pakistan. THI is a state of the art, not-for-profit,
partly charitable, heart hospital in the most impoverished region of Punjab, Pakistan.
References
1.
Ahmad MG: Jesus in India., printed in Great
Britain at the Alden Press, pp.20, Oxford 1978.
2.
Riceiotti G: The Life of Christ, Zizzamia Al
(trans), Milwaukee, Bruce Publishing Co, 1947, pp.29-57, 78-153,161-167 &
586-647.
3.
Matthew ch:, Mark ch: Luke ch: John ch:, in Holy Bible
Authorised (King James) Version. National Publishing Company USA,1978
4.
Bucklin R: The Legal and Medical Aspects of the Trial
and Death of Christ, Sci Law 1970; 10: 14-26
5.
McDowell J: The Resurrection Factor, San
Bernardino, Calif, Here’s Life Publishers, 1981, pp.20-53,75-103
6.
Edwards WD, Gabel JG, Hosmer FE: On the Physical Death
of Jesus Christ(as), JAMA 1986, 255: 1455-1463
7.
Davis CT: The Crucifixion of Jesus: The Passion of
Christ from a Medical Point of View, Ariz Med 1965; 22: 183-187
8.
Barbet P: A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord
Jesus Christ as Described by a surgeon, Earl of Wicklow (trans),
Garden City, NY, Doubleday Image Books 1953, pp.12-18,37-147,159-175,187-208
9.
Tenny SM: On death by crucifixion, Am Heart J
1964; pp.68: 286-287
10.
Freidrich G: Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, Bremiley G (ed-trans) Grand Rapids, Mich, WB Eerdmans Publisher,
1971, Vol.7, pp.572, 573, 632
11.
DePasquale NP, Burch GE: Death by crucifixion, Am
Heart J 1963; pp.66: 434-435
12.
Stroud W:Treatise on the Physical Cause of the Death of
Christ and its Relation to the Principles and practice of Chemistry, ed 2,
London, Hamilton & Adams 1871, pp.28-156, 489-494
13.
Johnson CD: Medical and cardiological aspects of the
passion and crucifixion of Jesus, the Christ, Bol Assoc Med PR 1987; pp.70:
97–102
14.
Bloomquist ER: A doctor looks at crucifixion. Christian
Herald, March 1964 pp 35, 46 – 48
15.
The Crucifixion by personal friend of Jesus in to an Esseer
Brother in Alexandria, Supplemental Harmonic
Series vol II, 2nd ED, Chicago, Indo-American Book Co. 1907, pp.62, 64, 65
16.
Lumpkin R: The Physical suffering of Christ, J Med
Assoc Ala 1978; 47:8 – 10,47
17.
Pfeiffer CF, Vos HF, Rea J (eds): Wycliff Bible Encyclopedia,
Chicago, Moody Press, 1975, pp.149–152, 404–405, 713–723, 1173–1174, 1520–1523
18.
Robertson AT: A Grammar of Greek New Testament in
light of Historical Research, Nashville, Tenn, Broadman Press, 1931,
pp.417–427
19.
Kim H-S, Suzuki M, Lie JT, et al: Non-bacterial
thrombotic endocadities (NBTE) and disseminated intervascular coagulation
(DIC): Autopsy study of 36 patients, Arch Pathol Lab Med 1977; 101 :
pp.65–68
20.
Becker AE, Van Mantgem J-P: Cardiac Tamponade: A study
of 50 hearts. Eur J Cardiol 1975; 3: pp.349–358
21.
Scott CT: A case of Haematidrosis, Br Med J 1918,
pp.532-533
Comments
Post a Comment