Scourged

Scourged:

Scourging, or whipping, is a corporal punishment. This form of punishment was common among the Jews,

Deuteronomy 25:1-3, Judges were to justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. “Forty stripes (lashes,) he (the judge) may give him, and not (to) exceed (this” Forty, and no more.

There were two ways of whipping a man with a lash; one with thongs, or whips, made of rope ends, or straps of leather; the other with rods, or tree branches. Five times did Paul receive thirty-nine stripes from the Jews, 2 Corinthians 11:24, these take place in the Jewish synagogues, and before the Jewish courts of judgment.

The whips with which these stripes were given, consisted of three separate cords, and each stroke being accounted as three stripes. Thirteen strikes made 39 stripes, beyond which they never went.

Paul also tells us, that he was beaten with rods, namely, by the Roman lictors, at the command of the presiding magistrates.

My question is; this form of punishment would break most any person when administered even once. A strong man maybe two or three, but five times; then added to that he was beaten with rods. It would bring most men to there knees, pleading for mercy; and willing to acknowledge a crime they had either committed, or even a crime they had not committed.

This form of excruciating pain will break the body down, as well as the will of most men. For this reason, the Jews, and the Romans used scourging. But Paul, a mere man, did not break. Ask yourself, would you be able to have survived these beatings?

This followed by the pain caused by the cuts, bleeding, and healing of these wounds. He then had to endure it again, and again. How many of us today would endure what Paul, and the early Christian’s suffered? Only the Lord knows.

What is it that made Paul so strong? Paul was given a command by the Lord to preach the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. It seems even if he had wanted to die, he was not going to until he had completed his task.

So what experience motivated Paul to continue? I have my thoughts on the subject. Paul had several experiences that none of us have ever had.

Galatians 1:16, Paul claims he did not confer with flesh and blood (man,) but with the glorified Christ. He spoke with Him on the road to Damascus. But this is only part of the story. Paul claims,

2 Corinthians 12:1 thru 5, He claims to have been taken into the third heaven, the place where the Father, and Son reign. He could not say if he was in the body, or had an out of the body experience; but one thing we are sure of, he was brought into the third heaven. Paul heard in heaven, what he claims to be, “Unspeakable words,” words that were not lawful for him, or any other man to utter. In,

2 Corinthians 5:8, Paul writes, because of what he witnessed in heaven, he would have been “willingly rather be absent from his body (dead,) and to be present with the Lord.”

When Paul wrote this, the Lord was already in heaven, preparing a place for us.

So my reasoning is whatever it is that Paul heard, and saw in heaven, was designed by God only for him. But Paul endured these many punishments at the hands of the Jews, and Roman’s because he had witnesses in heaven what awaited him if he remained faithful; and also what awaits every other believer, “unspeakable things.”

Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com