Memorial Season 2012

The first century Jewish calendar has coincided with our current calendars this year, so each day of the Memorial season is exactly the same day as it was for Jesus and his disciples.

Im going to present each day of the final week of Jesus life with the passage of gospel showing what occurred on each day. The first day begins at Saturday Nisan 9th. The day's on the jewish calander begin in the evening and end the following evening. So Saturday Nisan 9th begins on Saturday March 31st at sundown & ends Saturday March 31st at Sunset.




Saturday Evening Nisan 9 - Saturday March 31st 2012 After Sundown.
Mark 14:3-9 And while he was at Beth′a·ny in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the meal, a woman came with an alabaster case of perfumed oil, genuine nard, very expensive. Breaking open the alabaster case she began to pour it upon his head. 4 At this there were some expressing indignation among themselves: “Why has this waste of the perfumed oil taken place? 5 For this perfumed oil could have been sold for upward of three hundred de·nar′i·i and been given to the poor!” And they were feeling great displeasure at her. 6 But Jesus said: “Let her alone. Why do YOU try to make trouble for her? She did a fine deed toward me. 7 For YOU always have the poor with YOU, and whenever YOU want to YOU can always do them good, but me YOU do not have always. 8 She did what she could; she undertook beforehand to put perfumed oil on my body in view of the burial. 9 Truly I say to YOU, Wherever the good news is preached in all the world, what this woman did shall also be told as a remembrance of her.”




Saturday Daylight hours Nisan 9 - Saturday March 31st Daylight hours
Mark 11:1 Now when they were getting near to Jerusalem, to Beth′pha·ge and Beth′a·ny at the Mount of Olives, he dispatched two of his disciples 2 and told them: “Go into the village that is within sight of YOU, and as soon as YOU pass into it YOU will find a colt tied, on which none of mankind has yet sat; loose it and bring it. 3 And if anyone says to YOU, ‘Why are YOU doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it, and will at once send it off back here.’” 4 So they went away and found the colt tied at the door, outside on the side street, and they loosed it. 5 But some of those standing there began to say to them: “What are YOU doing loosing the colt?” 6 They said to these just as Jesus had said; and they let them go.
7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and they put their outer garments upon it, and he sat on it. 8 Also, many spread their outer garments on the road, but others cut down foliage from the fields. 9 And those going in front and those coming behind kept crying out: “Save, we pray! Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Save, we pray, in the heights above!” 11 And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and he looked around upon all things, and, as the hour was already late, he went out to Beth′a·ny with the twelve.





Nisan 10 Daylight events - Monday April 2
Mark 11:12 The next day, when they had come out from Beth′a·ny, he became hungry. 13 And from a distance he caught sight of a fig tree that had leaves, and he went to see whether he would perhaps find something on it. But, on coming to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season of figs. 14 So, in response, he said to it: “Let no one eat fruit from you anymore forever.” And his disciples were listening.

15 Now they came to Jerusalem. There he entered into the temple and started to throw out those selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves; 16 and he would not let anyone carry a utensil through the temple, 17 but he kept teaching and saying: “Is it not written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But YOU have made it a cave of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and they began to seek how to destroy him; for they were in fear of him, for all the crowd was continually being astounded at his teaching.
19 And when it became late in the day, they would go out of the city.

Nisan 11 Daytime Events - Tuesday April 3rd
Mark 11:20-12:27
20 But when they were passing by early in the morning, they saw the fig tree already withered up from the roots. 21 So Peter, remembering it, said to him: “Rabbi, see! the fig tree that you cursed has withered up.” 22 And in reply Jesus said to them: “Have faith in God. 23 Truly I say to YOU that whoever tells this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but has faith that what he says is going to occur, he will have it so. 24 This is why I tell YOU, All the things YOU pray and ask for have faith that YOU have practically received, and YOU will have them. 25 And when YOU stand praying, forgive whatever YOU have against anyone; in order that YOUR Father who is in the heavens may also forgive YOU YOUR trespasses.” 26 ——

27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the older men came to him 28 and began to say to him: “By what authority do you do these things? or who gave you this authority to do these things?” 29 Jesus said to them: “I will ask YOU one question. YOU answer me, and I will also tell YOU by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism by John from heaven or from men? Answer me.” 31 So they began to reason among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why is it, therefore, YOU did not believe him?’ 32 But dare we say, ‘From men’?”—They were in fear of the crowd, for these all held that John had really been a prophet. 33 Well, in reply to Jesus they said: “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them: “Neither am I telling YOU by what authority I do these things.”

12 Also, he started to speak to them with illustrations: “A man planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a vat for the winepress and erected a tower, and let it out to cultivators, and traveled abroad. 2 Now in due season he sent forth a slave to the cultivators, that he might get some of the fruits of the vineyard from the cultivators. 3 But they took him, beat him up and sent him away empty. 4 And again he sent forth another slave to them; and that one they struck on the head and dishonored. 5 And he sent forth another, and that one they killed; and many others, some of whom they beat up and some of whom they killed. 6 One more he had, a beloved son. He sent him forth last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those cultivators said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him outside the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the cultivators, and will give the vineyard to others. 10 Did YOU never read this scripture, ‘The stone that the builders rejected, this has become the chief cornerstone. 11 From Jehovah this has come to be, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 At that they began seeking how to seize him, but they feared the crowd, for they took note that he spoke the illustration with them in mind. So they left him and went away.

13 Next they sent forth to him some of the Pharisees and of the party followers of Herod, to catch him in his speech. 14 On arrival these said to him: “Teacher, we know you are truthful and you do not care for anybody, for you do not look upon men’s outward appearance, but you teach the way of God in line with truth: Is it lawful to pay head tax to Caesar or not? 15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” Detecting their hypocrisy, he said to them: “Why do YOU put me to the test? Bring me a de·nar′i·us to look at.” 16 They brought one. And he said to them: “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to him: “Caesar’s.” 17 Jesus then said: “Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” And they began to marvel at him.

18 Now Sadducees came to him, who say there is no resurrection, and they put the question to him: 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote us that if someone’s brother dies and leaves a wife behind but does not leave a child, his brother should take the wife and raise up offspring from her for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, but when he died he left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, but died without leaving offspring; and the third the same way. 22 And the seven did not leave any offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection to which of them will she be wife? For the seven got her as wife.” 24 Jesus said to them: “Is not this why YOU are mistaken, YOUR not knowing either the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but are as angels in the heavens. 26 But concerning the dead, that they are raised up, did YOU not read in the book of Moses, in the account about the thornbush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob’? 27 He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living. YOU are much mistaken.”

41-44 And he sat down with the treasury chests in view and began observing how the crowd was dropping money into the treasury chests; and many rich people were dropping in many coins. 42 Now a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins, which have very little value. 43 So he called his disciples to him and said to them: “Truly I say to YOU that this poor widow dropped in more than all those dropping money into the treasury chests; 44 for they all dropped in out of their surplus, but she, out of her want, dropped in all of what she had, her whole living.

Nisan 12th Daytime Events - Wednesday April 4th

Mark 14:1 Now the passover and the [festival of] unfermented cakes was two days later. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize him by crafty device and kill him; 2 for they repeatedly said: “Not at the festival; perhaps there might be an uproar of the people.”...
10 And Judas Is·car′i·ot, one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 When they heard it, they rejoiced and promised to give him silver money. So he began seeking how to betray him conveniently


Nisan 13 Daylight Events - Thursday April 5 Daylight hours
Mark 14:12-16
Now on the first day of unfermented cakes, when they customarily sacrificed the passover [victim], his disciples said to him: “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the passover?” 13 With that he sent forth two of his disciples and said to them: “Go into the city, and a man carrying an earthenware vessel of water will encounter YOU. Follow him, 14 and wherever he goes inside say to the householder, ‘The Teacher says: “Where is the guest room for me where I may eat the passover with my disciples?”’ 15 And he will show YOU a large upper room, furnished in preparation; and there prepare for us.” 16 So the disciples went out, and they entered the city and found it just as he said to them; and they prepared for the passover

Nisan 14 Begins at Sundown - Thursday 5th April Nightime Events.
Mark 14:17-72
After evening had fallen he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said: “Truly I say to YOU, One of YOU, who is eating with me, will betray me.” 19 They started to be grieved and to say to him one by one: “It is not I, is it?” 20 He said to them: “It is one of the twelve, who is dipping with me into the common bowl. 21 True, the Son of man is going away, just as it is written concerning him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been finer for that man if he had not been born.”

22 And as they continued eating, he took a loaf, said a blessing, broke it and gave it to them, and said: “Take it, this means my body.” 23 And taking a cup, he offered thanks and gave it to them, and they all drank out of it. 24 And he said to them: “This means my ‘blood of the covenant,’ which is to be poured out in behalf of many. 25 Truly I say to YOU, I shall by no means drink anymore of the product of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

26 Finally, after singing praises, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
27 And Jesus said to them: “YOU will all be stumbled, because it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered about.’ 28 But after I have been raised up I will go ahead of YOU into Gal′i·lee.” 29 But Peter said to him: “Even if all the others are stumbled, yet I will not be.” 30 At that Jesus said to him: “Truly I say to you, You today, yes, this night, before a **** crows twice, even you will disown me three times.” 31 But he began to say profusely: “If I have to die with you, I will by no means disown you.” Also, all the others began saying the same thing.

32 So they came to a spot named Geth·sem′a·ne, and he said to his disciples: “Sit down here while I pray.” 33 And he took Peter and James and John along with him, and he started to be stunned and to be sorely troubled. 34 And he said to them: “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death. Stay here and keep on the watch.” 35 And going a little way forward he proceeded to fall on the ground and began praying that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him. 36 And he went on to say: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this cup from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”

37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter: “Simon, are you sleeping? Did you not have strength to keep on the watch one hour? 38 Men, keep on the watch and praying, in order that YOU do not come into temptation. The spirit, of course, is eager, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And he went away again and prayed, saying the same word. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down, and so they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them: “At such a time as this YOU are sleeping and taking YOUR rest! It is enough!
The hour has come! Look! The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let us go. Look! My betrayer has drawn near.”

43 And immediately, while he was yet speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the older men. 44 Now his betrayer had given them an agreed sign, saying: “Whoever it is I kiss, this is he; take him into custody and lead him away safely.” 45 And he came straight up and approached him and said: “Rabbi!” and kissed him very tenderly.

46 So they laid their hands upon him and took him into custody. 47 However, a certain one of those standing by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and took his ear off. 48 But in response Jesus said to them: “Did YOU come out with swords and clubs as against a robber to arrest me? 49 Day after day I was with YOU in the temple teaching, and yet YOU did not take me into custody. Nevertheless, it is in order that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.”

50 And they all abandoned him and fled. 51 But a certain young man wearing a fine linen garment over his naked body began to follow him nearby; and they tried to seize him, 52 but he left his linen garment behind and got away naked.
53 They now led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the older men and the scribes assembled.

54 But Peter, from a good distance, followed him as far as in the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting together with the house attendants and warming himself before a bright fire.

55 Meantime the chief priests and the whole San′he·drin were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they were not finding any. 56 Many, indeed, were giving false witness against him, but their testimonies were not in agreement. 57 Also, certain ones were rising and bearing false witness against him, saying: 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will throw down this temple that was made with hands and in three days I will build another not made with hands.’” 59 But neither on these grounds was their testimony in agreement.
60 Finally the high priest rose in their midst and questioned Jesus, saying: “Do you say nothing in reply? What is it these are testifying against you?” 61 But he kept silent and made no reply at all. Again the high priest began to question him and said to him: “Are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed One?” 62 Then Jesus said: “I am; and YOU persons will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 At this the high priest ripped his inner garments and said: “What further need do we have of witnesses? 64 YOU heard the blasphemy. What is evident to YOU?” They all condemned him to be liable to death. 65 And some started to spit on him and to cover his whole face and hit him with their fists and say to him: “Prophesy!” And, slapping him in the face, the court attendants took him.


66 Now while Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and, seeing Peter warming himself, she looked straight at him and said: “You, too, were with the Naz·a·rene′, this Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying: “Neither do I know him nor do I understand what you are saying,” and he went outside to the vestibule. 69 There the servant girl, at the sight of him, started again to say to those standing by: “This is one of them.” 70 Again he was denying it. And once more after a little while those standing by began saying to Peter: “Certainly you are one of them, for, in fact, you are a Gal·i·le′an.” 71 But he commenced to curse and swear: “I do not know this man of whom YOU speak.” 72 And immediately a **** crowed a second time; and Peter recalled the saying that Jesus spoke to him: “Before a **** crows twice, you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and gave way to weeping

By the time the rooster crowed, it was almost sunrise, hence this is the 12th hour of Nisan 14. The following events take place during the daylight hours of Nisan 14.

Nisan 14 Daylight hours - Thursday April 5th

Mark 15:1-47
And immediately at dawn the chief priests with the older men and the scribes, even the whole San′he·drin, conducted a consultation, and they bound Jesus and led him off and handed him over to Pilate. 2 So Pilate put the question to him: “Are you the king of the Jews?” In answer to him he said: “You yourself say [it].” 3 But the chief priests proceeded to accuse him of many things. 4 Now Pilate began questioning him again, saying: “Have you no reply to make? See how many charges they are bringing against you.” 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate began to marvel.

6 Well, from festival to festival he used to release to them one prisoner, whom they petitioned for. 7 At the time there was the so-called Bar·ab′bas in bonds with the seditionists, who in their sedition had committed murder. 8 So the crowd came on up and started to make petition according to what he used to do for them. 9 Pilate responded to them, saying: “Do YOU want me to release to YOU the king of the Jews?” 10 For he was aware that because of envy the chief priests had handed him over.

11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Bar·ab′bas to them, instead. 12 Again in reply Pilate was saying to them: “What, then, shall I do with him whom YOU call the king of the Jews?” 13 Once more they cried out: “Impale him!” 14 But Pilate went on to say to them: “Why, what bad thing did he do?” Still they cried out all the more: “Impale him!” 15 At that Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Bar·ab′bas to them, and, after having Jesus whipped, he handed him over to be impaled.


16 The soldiers now led him off into the courtyard, that is, into the governor’s palace; and they called the whole body of troops together, 17 and they decked him with purple and braided a crown of thorns and put it on him. 18 And they started greeting him: “Good day, you King of the Jews!” 19 Also, they would hit him on the head with a reed and spit upon him and, bending their knees, they would do obeisance to him. 20 Finally, when they had made fun of him, they stripped him of the purple and put his outer garments upon him. And they led him out to impale him. 21 Also, they impressed into service a passerby, a certain Simon of Cy·re′ne, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Ru′fus, that he should lift up his torture stake.

22 So they brought him to the place Gol′go·tha, which means, when translated, Skull Place. 23 Here they tried to give him wine drugged with myrrh, but he would not take it. 24 And they impaled him and distributed his outer garments by casting the lot over them as to who takes what. 25 It was now the third hour, and they impaled him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him was written above, “The King of the Jews.” 27 Moreover, they impaled two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. 28 —— 29 And those going by would speak abusively to him, wagging their heads and saying: “Bah! You would-be thrower-down of the temple and builder of it in three days’ time, 30 save yourself by coming down off the torture stake.”

31 In like manner also the chief priests were making fun among themselves with the scribes and saying: “Others he saved; himself he cannot save! 32 Let the Christ the King of Israel now come down off the torture stake, that we may see and believe.” Even those impaled together with him were reproaching him.

33 When it became the sixth hour a darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour (12noon - 3pm). 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus called out with a loud voice: “E′li, E′li, la′ma sa·bach·tha′ni?” which means, when translated: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of those standing near, on hearing it, began to say: “See! He is calling E·li′jah.” 36 But a certain one ran, soaked a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and began giving him a drink, saying: “LET [him] be! Let us see whether E·li′jah comes to take him down.”
37 But Jesus let out a loud cry and expired. 38 And the curtain of the sanctuary was rent in two from top to bottom. 39 Now, when the army officer that was standing by with him in view saw he had expired under these circumstances, he said: “Certainly this man was God’s Son.”

40 There were also women viewing from a distance, among them Mary Mag′da·lene as well as Mary the mother of James the Less and of Jo′ses, and Sa·lo′me, 41 who used to accompany him and minister to him when he was in Gal′i·lee, and many other women who had come up together with him to Jerusalem.


42 Now as it was already late in the afternoon, and since it was Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 there came Joseph of Ar·i·ma·the′a, a reputable member of the Council, who also himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. He took courage to go in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 But Pilate wondered whether he was already dead, and, summoning the army officer, he asked him whether he had already died. 45 So after making certain from the army officer, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 Accordingly he bought fine linen and took him down, wrapped him in the fine linen and laid him in a tomb which was quarried out of a rock-mass; and he rolled a stone up to the door of the memorial tomb. 47 But Mary Mag′da·lene and Mary the mother of Jo′ses continued looking at where he had been laid.





Jesus was buried quickly before the sunset on Nisan 14th. This was in keeping with Mosaic law that no one hung upon a stake would be left there overnight.
Deut 21:22 “And in case there comes to be in a man a sin deserving the sentence of death, and he has been put to death, and you have hung him upon a tree, 23 his dead body should not stay all night on the stake; but you should by all means bury him on that day, because something accursed of God is the one hung up; and you must not defile your soil, which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance.

torture stake

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Hello pegg,
i have two questions if you don't mind.

1- which version do you use, if it is the watch tower version, then let me ask you if any ancient version says stake instead of cross.

2- if we leave the Bible and all christian books asids, historically is it possible to prove that in the first century, in that land, Romans used stake not cross.

Thanks in advance

Marco19 said:

Hello pegg,
i have two questions if you don't mind.

1- which version do you use, if it is the watch tower version, then let me ask you if any ancient version says stake instead of cross.

2- if we leave the Bible and all christian books asids, historically is it possible to prove that in the first century, in that land, Romans used stake not cross.

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

Hi Marco,
I've used the New World Translation bible, and yes it is the Watchtower translation.
In all the original language manuscripts, the greek word used by the writers is stau·ros′ and it means a stake...not a cross.

Some researchers have taken note of this. For example, The Non-Christian Cross, by John Denham Parsons, states:
“There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross. . . . it is not a little misleading upon the part of our teachers to translate the word stauros as ‘cross’ when rendering the Greek documents of the Church into our native tongue, and to support that action by putting ‘cross’ in our lexicons as the meaning of stauros without carefully explaining that that was at any rate not the primary meaning of the word in the days of the Apostles, did not become its primary signification till long afterwards, and became so then, if at all, only because, despite the absence of corroborative evidence, it was for some reason or other assumed that the particular stauros upon which Jesus was executed had that particular shape.”—London, 1896, pp. 23, 24.

Vine’s (a Greek Scholar) Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1981, Vol. 1, p. 256 says: “STAUROS (σταυρό&#962 denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross....the Chaldean origin of the two-piece cross and how it was adopted from the pagans by Christendom in the third century C.E. as a symbol of Christ’s impalement'”




As regards to evidence outside the bible of death by staking, yes there is evidence that it was a common method used by a number of nations at that time.
But first, even under Jewish law, a criminal who was tried and executed was also strung up on a stake and left up as a warning example to other would-be law breakers. For example, see the following hebrew scriptures about this practice: Deut 21:22, 23; Joshua 8:29 & 10:26


From Assyrian archeology, there are ancient monuments depicting this method of impalement.
The Persians also used impalement as a form of punishment. One of the orders decreed by Darius the Great in the 5th century bce forbade interference with the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple. The bible records the decree in the book of Ezra... any violator of that decree was to be impaled (literally, raised up) on a piece of timber pulled out of his own house. (Ezr 6:11)

It was apparently Constantine in the 3rd century who stopped the practice of impalement by Rome for criminals. So its very likely that when Constantine made christianity a state religion, the implement was changed from a stake to a cross because a cross was always used by pagans as a religious symbol.

Hello pegg and thanks for your comments.

Well, i know for you is a matter of belief, and after reading more about the issue, i can say that it makes sense.

my POV is that we have three theories, stake, T, and cross.
all are possible, but couldn't find a definite evidence to make it clear which was the case.

coming to your comments, i would say that they are fine, but don't belong to the exact time of Jesus crucifiction. for instance your references of Hebrew Bible, they all belong to centuries before Jesus, closest is Ezra who lived around 500 BCE.

I'm looking for a people or historians who lived within that period and described the crucifiction.

so i wonder if you have some other sources

Marco19 said:

Hello pegg and thanks for your comments.

Well, i know for you is a matter of belief, and after reading more about the issue, i can say that it makes sense.

my POV is that we have three theories, stake, T, and cross.
all are possible, but couldn't find a definite evidence to make it clear which was the case.

coming to your comments, i would say that they are fine, but don't belong to the exact time of Jesus crucifiction. for instance your references of Hebrew Bible, they all belong to centuries before Jesus, closest is Ezra who lived around 500 BCE.

I'm looking for a people or historians who lived within that period and described the crucifiction.

so i wonder if you have some other sources

Click to expand...

the best evidence is in the gospels themselves ... all the writers used the same Greek word stau·ros′ when referring to the instrument of execution on which Jesus died. (Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:30; Luke 23:26) The word stau·ros′ refers to an upright pole, stake, or post. It simply does not mean cross.

The other greek word used at Acts 5:30 by the apostle Peter is xy′lon, meaning 'tree'

Do you perhaps have an explanation why the word for stake is used rather then the greek word for cross? And what do you think the reason might be for using this word?

Do you perhaps have an explanation why the word for stake is used rather then the greek word for cross? And what do you think the reason might be for using this word?

Click to expand...

Well, before writing i need to mention that i have NO intention to debate, as i said before i'm trying to look objectively and find the truth.

since you asked, i may share my thoughts, and who knows i could have some wrong information and you correct them.

First: The word stauros has developed by time, so it's unfair to define it as cross nor as a stake.
why? because it was used as stake until 4th century, then between 300BCE till 300ACE it's refered to cross,
and no doubt modern days it has to do with Jesus and His cross.
(you may read more on wikipedia and use the references too)

Second: Another page on wikipedia there is a good explanation with references about the theories/methods of execution,
it's non sense to post the entire page, but i may focus on one section entitled: "Stauros" interpreted as ambivalent in meaning

The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott reports that the meaning of the word "σταυρός" in the early Homeric form of Greek, possibly of the eighth to sixth century BC, and also in the writings of the fifth-century BC writers Herodotus and Thucydides and the early-4th century BC Xenophon, is "an upright pale or stake" used to build a palisade[16] or "a pile driven in to serve as a foundation"[17] It reports that in the writings of the first-century BC Diodorus Siculus, first-century AD Plutarch and early second-century Lucian—as well as in Matthew 27:40, Luke 9:23, 14:27—the word "σταυρός" is used to refer to a cross, either as the instrument of crucifixion or metaphorically of voluntary suffering; "its form was indicated by the Greek letter T". It also reports that Plutarch used the word with regard to a pale for impaling a corpse.[18] Of the writers whom Liddell and Scott gives as using "σταυρός" to mean a cross, the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology holds that in Diodorus Siculus the word probably means a stake for hanging.[19] Plutarch (in An vitiositas ad infelicitatem sufficiat) distinguishes crucifixion on a stauros from impalement on a skolops.[20]
Joel B. Green, in The Cambridge Companion to Jesus, says the evidence of the manner of Jesus' death is far more ambiguous than is generally realised. Literary sensibilities in Roman antiquity did not promote graphic descriptions of the act of crucifixion, and even the Gospels report simply, "They crucified him," adding no further detail. According to Green, the Romans were slaves to no standard technique of crucifixion: "In describing the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman army, for example, Josephus reports that ‘the soldiers out of rage and hatred amused themselves by nailing their prisoners in different positions’ (J.W. 5.449–51). Elsewhere we learn that victims of crucifixion might be fixed to the stake in order to die, or impaled after death as a public display. They might be fixed to the cross with nails or with ropes. That Jesus was nailed to the cross is intimated in several texts (John 20.25; Acts 2.23; Col 2.14; Gos. Pet. 6.21; Justin Dial. 97). Nor can we turn to archaeological evidence for assistance."[21]
In his book Crucifixion in Antiquity,[22] Gunnar Samuelsson also declares that the New Testament terminology is not conclusive one way or another: "(The Gospels) do not describe the event in length ... The non-detailed accounts of the Gospels do not, however, contradict the traditional understanding. So the traditional understanding of the death of Jesus is correct, but we could acknowledge that it is more based on the eyewitness accounts than the actual passion narratives."[23] Further information and examples of various misunderstandings could be found on Samuelsson's Q and A page.[24]

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One more time, i have no biased thoughts, and not trying to convince, but rather to be convinced with evidences what exactly happened.

Marco19 said:

Well, before writing i need to mention that i have NO intention to debate, as i said before i'm trying to look objectively and find the truth.
since you asked, i may share my thoughts, and who knows i could have some wrong information and you correct them.

First: The word stauros has developed by time, so it's unfair to define it as cross nor as a stake.
why? because it was used as stake until 4th century, then between 300BCE till 300ACE it's refered to cross,
and no doubt modern days it has to do with Jesus and His cross.
(you may read more on wikipedia and use the references too)

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Its certainly commendable to seek to find the truth in such matters because our worship of God is the most important thing. In reality, the instrument on which Jesus died is not what Christianity is about...it certainly doesnt change any of Jesus teachings or how we understand them.

But knowing the truth of the matter might make us think twice in how we view the 'cross' or if we make it a part of Christian worship through venerating it as a religious symbol or a symbol representing Christ himself. If he didnt die on a cross, and everyone thinks he did, then we are not really worshiping in 'truth' as he said we should. So it is an important matter to address.

Im going to give you some reference works which discuss the issue of the cross. These are not from the Watchtower, these are from scholars and historians and religious authorities.

New Catholic Encyclopedia: “The representation of Christ’s redemptive death on Golgotha does not occur in the symbolic art of the first Christian centuries. The early Christians, influenced by the Old Testament prohibition of graven images, were reluctant to depict even the instrument of the Lord’s Passion.” (1967), Vol. IV, p. 486.

History of the Christian Church says of the first century christians: “There was no use of the crucifix and no material representation of the cross.”—(New York, 1897), J. F. Hurst, Vol. I, p. 366

The Imperial Bible-Dictionary : “The Greek word for cross, [stau·ros′], properly signified a stake, an upright pole, or piece of paling, on which anything might be hung, or which might be used in impaling [fencing in] a piece of ground. . . . Even amongst the Romans the crux (from which our cross is derived) appears to have been originally an upright pole.”—Edited by P. Fairbairn (London, 1874), Vol. I, p. 376.

An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words: “The shape of the [two-beamed cross] had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.” (London, 1962), W. E. Vine, p. 256.

The Worship of the Dead : “The cross in the form of the ‘Crux Ansata’ . . . was carried in the hands of the Egyptian priests and Pontiff kings as the symbol of their authority as priests of the Sun god and was called ‘the Sign of Life.’”—(London, 1904), Colonel J. Garnier, p. 226.

The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art: “It is strange, yet unquestionably a fact, that in ages long before the birth of Christ, and since then in lands untouched by the teaching of the Church, the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. . . . The Greek Bacchus, the Tyrian Tammuz, the Chaldean Bel, and the Norse Odin, were all symbolised to their votaries by a cruciform device.”— (London, 1900), G. S. Tyack, p. 1.

Encyclopædia Britannica: “Various objects, dating from periods long anterior to the Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of different designs, in almost every part of the old world. India, Syria, Persia and Egypt have all yielded numberless examples . . . The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times and among non-Christian peoples may probably be regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature worship.”— (1946), Vol. 6, p. 753.

A Short History of Sex-Worship : “Various figures of crosses are found everywhere on Egyptian monuments and tombs, and are considered by many authorities as symbolical either of the phallus [a representation of the male sex organ] or of coition. . . . In Egyptian tombs the crux ansata [cross with a circle or handle on top] is found side by side with the phallus.”—(London, 1940), H. Cutner, pp. 16, 17; see also The Non-Christian Cross, p. 183.



As you can see from the above references, the cross is not something invented by Christians. If Christians of the first century refused to use a symbol of any sort for Christs death, and if they only wrote about it as a 'stauros' (stake), we do well to ask when and how the cross came to be used by Christians in the first place. The answer may come from this final reference:
The Companion Bible, Appendix No. 162
“These crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian sun-god, [See book], and are first seen on a coin of Julius Cæsar, 100-44 B.C., and then on a coin struck by Cæsar’s heir (Augustus), 20 B.C. On the coins of Constantine the most frequent symbol is [See book]; but the same symbol is used without the surrounding circle, and with the four equal arms vertical and horizontal; and this was the symbol specially venerated as the ‘Solar Wheel’. It should be stated that Constantine was a sun-god worshipper, and would not enter the ‘Church’ till some quarter of a century after the legend of his having seen such a cross in the heavens.”—see also The Non-Christian Cross, pp. 133-141.

You likely know that it was Constantine who made Christianity the state religion of Rome late in the 3rd century....and being a son god worshiper, the cross was a sacred symbol he was very familiar with. And Latin is where the word 'cross' is derived from. The latin word for Cross is Crux. The Latin vulgate is the translation made by Jerome in the 4th century....prior to this, the only word used to represent the instrument was 'stauros'.

But consider this for a moment.... If the cross was being used throughout the ancient world as a religious ceremonial symbol, do you really think those same pagan worshipers would use their own sacred religious symbols to execute criminals? The likelihood is that executions were carried out in a derogatory way, in a way that would humiliate the criminal and bring them low before the eyes of onlookers. It is highly unlikely that they would actually use something they considered sacred for that purpose.

Marco19 said:

Second: Another page on wikipedia there is a good explanation with references about the theories/methods of execution,
it's non sense to post the entire page, but i may focus on one section entitled: "Stauros" interpreted as ambivalent in meaning

One more time, i have no biased thoughts, and not trying to convince, but rather to be convinced with evidences what exactly happened.

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it should be noted that any bible translations made from the Latin Vulgate would undoubtedly use the word 'cross' in all instances of 'stauros'.... the KJV is one of these as is the Jerusalem Bible. The KJV is the bible used by most of christendom for the past 400 years, so naturally everyone would be very comfortable with the use of the 'cross'

but when you examine the original language manuscripts, you do not find a 'cross' being used...you find a 'stake' and that is why the NWT uses stake because our translation is made from the original language manuscripts rather then the latin vulgate.

In the end it is up to each individual to weigh up the evidence and decide what is more reasonable to them.

Hello pegg & thanks for sharing

Definitely agree with you that there are many common points between Christianity and the ancient religions (Pagans).
actually it's not only the case of curcifixion, but there is a very long list starting with vergin birth, Mary(name), born on 25th, being son of God ... etc
i'm sure you know them all.

Like your last comment about Costantinian influence, at the end he was a political leader and comprmising/adapting to have a united religion embracing all, but i wonder if we remove everything which has a common part with the Pagans, then what will remain?

yesterday i was thinking about the T scenario and wonder why Christians don't discuss it as the other two (cross and stake).
in many refeences it is mentioned that Romans always erected the stake before execution, but when we read the Bible it's obvious that Jesus brought and even carried for a while his "wood"
so T scenario could be the case either ...

Another thing i wonder (even though it's not that big issue ), do you believe in hanging only (using ropes) or they used nails to fix his hands and legs?

If the cross was being used throughout the ancient world as a religious ceremonial symbol, do you really think those same pagan worshipers would use their own sacred religious symbols to execute criminals?

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i don't know. It's good qustion, i should ask this in christianity DIR
i'm not sure (of course if the cross theory is right) if the Pagans looked at the crucifixion cross the same as their own believing cross,
because they are not the same, the Pagan cross looks like this:

KJV is the bible used by most of christendom for the past 400 years

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just out of curiosity, what is the WT version of Luke 9:23?

Thanks in advance

Marco19 said:

Like your last comment about Costantinian influence, at the end he was a political leader and comprmising/adapting to have a united religion embracing all, but i wonder if we remove everything which has a common part with the Pagans, then what will remain?

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Before constantine entered the picture, even the trinity was not an official teaching....so we have a very different christianity before Rome got involved in it.
If we strip it back to its original form, what will remain is something more like Judaism (although without the mosaic law code) . They are the foundation of christianity so the way they followed Christ is how we would want to be following & believing in Christ.

Marco19 said:

yesterday i was thinking about the T scenario and wonder why Christians don't discuss it as the other two (cross and stake).
in many refeences it is mentioned that Romans always erected the stake before execution, but when we read the Bible it's obvious that Jesus brought and even carried for a while his "wood"
so T scenario could be the case either ...

Another thing i wonder (even though it's not that big issue ), do you believe in hanging only (using ropes) or they used nails to fix his hands and legs?

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Yes we believe his hands and feet were nailed down as the scriptures state. I believe the romans used to do both nailing down and tieing down with ropes. Apparently when nailed down, victims would die quicker then if they were only tied down. This could be the reason why Jesus was dead before the other two criminals beside him.

Marco19 said:

just out of curiosity, what is the WT version of Luke 9:23?

Thanks in advance

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The NWT reads: Luke 9:23 Then he went on to say to all: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake [σταυρός stau·ros′] day after day and follow me continually