NOTES ON THE SCOURGING (Shroud )
1. Scourged with a Roman Flagrum
2. Unusual double punishment - scourging then crucifixion
3. Double punishment led to weakness - unable to carry cross
Led to premature death - Jesus died after a short time on the cross
4. Head, arms and feet have no scourge marks - arms were tied above him, and he was scourged in a standing position.
5. Each of the scourge wounds is shaped like a tiny dumbbell
6. The criss-cross pattern means there were two scourgers.
7. The smudging of the scourge wounds over the shoulders is consistent with him having carried across beam aft his scourging
8. A flagrum similar to what created the scourge marks was later recovered from the Roman city of Herculaneum[24], which, with its neighbour Pompeii, was buried in the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79[25].
9. short handle, three leather thongs and two lead balls (plumbatae) spaced near the end of each thong[26] Consequently, scourge marks are in groups of 3 .
10. How many scourge wounds? Shroud literature contains widely different numbers of scourge wounds on the Shroud (presumably counting each pair of dumbbell shaped-wounds as one), from a low of 60[29] to a high of 220[30] with between 100 and 120 in the middle: 100[31], 100-120[32], 120[33]. This leads to another common unsubstantiated claim by some Shroudies that, while the Jews were prohibited from administering more than 40 lashes (Dt 34:3)[34] and in practice they only administered 39 (2Cor 11:24)[35],
11. Roman executioners were not bound by this law and were limited only by the need to keep the victims alive until they could be crucified[36].it was evidently Roman policy to respect deeply held Jewish religious beliefs. For example, according to ancient Roman custom the condemned had to carry his crossbeam naked through the streets of his city or town[37], but Jews were spared this final humiliation and were allowed to be clothed while carrying their crossbeam to their place of crucifixion (Mt 27:31,35; Mk 15:20,24; Lk 23:34; Jn 19:23)[38]. And the Roman governor Pontius Pilate (r. c. AD 26–36) complied with the Jewish leaders' request that the bodies of Jesus and the two other crucifixion victims not remain on their crosses on a sabbath (Jn 19:31)[39]. So it is likely that the number of scourge wounds the Shroudman received was 39 x 3 thongs = 117[40]
12. The number of scourge marks is related to John 1 v 1
3 x 13 x 3
3.x 13 x 31 x 3
13. the Shroudman would not have been wearing a loincloth because, as can be seen in the National Geog-raphic photograph above, there are scourge marks on his buttocks[42].] This supports the idea that he was crucified naked.
14. Under a microscope, each scourge wound has a slightly depressed centre and raised edges (see below)[44].
15. Tiny scratches expected from a Roman flagrum which are only obviously visible under a microscope in ultraviolet light[45].
16. Blood clot retraction serum halos (see below) some of which are only obviously visible under a microscope in ultraviolet[46] and others are only visible under a microscope in ultraviolet light[47].
[Above (enlarge)[48]: A blood clot under a microscope in white light (left) and ultraviolet light (right). Note the serum halo which remained after its clot had retracted as it dried. Some of the scourge wound serum halos are barely visible to the unaided eye[49] and others are only visible under a microscope in ultraviolet light[50]. Each of the 100-plus scourge wounds has a tiny dried blood clot with a retraction serum halo! As has every other of the hundreds, if not thousands, of clotted blood bloodstains on the Shroud have a near-invisible retraction serum halo[51]!]
