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

At the time of Jesus, Palestine was a province of Rome, which held completecontrol over the area. Rome reserved the authority to put someone to death, sofor 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) washighly irregular, and not a typical time for gathering.The term “Son of Man” (14:62) is drawn from Daniel and is literally, “Son ofAdam”.To tear one’s clothing (14:63) was the proper Jewish response when someonespoke blasphemy.The main reason the Jewish leaders were able to get Jesus crucified wasbecause His alleged claim to be king of the Jews (in challenge to the RomanEmperor) made Him an insurrectionist and rebel, and thus worthy of crucifixionunder Roman law.   For Roman crucifixion, since the vertical piece of the cross was usually alreadyinstalled at the place of crucifixion, the one to be crucified only carried thehorizontal cross piece of the cross to the place of crucifixion, not both thehorizontal and vertical pieces.In crucifixion, the nails were not driven through the palm (where there is almostno structure to hold the body to the cross), but the nails were driven through thebones 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 usagein order to understand what specific part of the upper limb a Greek writer meant.Because the Romans wanted to completely shame and humiliate those whowere being crucified, the crucified were stripped of all clothing and left to hangcompletely naked from the cross.The Greek word “lēistēs” often translated as “robber” in the Holy Scriptures couldalso mean insurrectionist or rebel. It is much more likely that Jesus was crucifiedbetween two insurrectionists, and He Himself also crucified insurrectionists. Greek WordsChristos: anointed (The Hebrew word (mashiach) meant “anointed”, messiah.)Cheir: any part of the arm from the upper arm including the hand, thus hand orarm.Lēistēs: bandit or insurrectionistTo listen to any or all of our Mark Bible study, use this link:  https://ohioyearlymeeting.org/filterable-podcasts-list/ and click on Conservative Friends Bible Study of Mark.A complete list of our podcasts,  organized into topics, is available on our website.We will be publishing video interviews with Conservative Friends on YouTube.  See our YouTube channel.  The first interview is with Susan Smith. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit  ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups.  Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website.   Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline.We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes.   Contact us through our website.