Hmm.... historical question with religious overtones... sorry

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As some mentioned here, breaking the legs sped up the death process.

This did have something to do with the sabbath because the Jews needed to get everything over with so as not to break any sabbath rules. You'll notice this in John. 19:31

Also, many believe (including myself) as mentioned in John 19:36, that Jesus legs not being broken were in fulfillment of a prophecy from several Old Testament passages.

I think the process went quite quickly after the legs were broken. I've never heard of someone being let go as one poster mentioned...I'll have to look into that.

[DavidC]

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As some mentioned here, breaking the legs sped up the death process.

This did have something to do with the sabbath because the Jews needed to get everything over with so as not to break any sabbath rules. You'll notice this in John. 19:31

Also, many believe (including myself) as mentioned in John 19:36, that Jesus legs not being broken were in fulfillment of a prophecy from several Old Testament passages.

I think the process went quite quickly after the legs were broken. I've never heard of someone being let go as one poster mentioned...I'll have to look into that.

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Well... it would make more sense not to let them go than to let them go. It would also make a lot more sense not to break someone's legs before letting them go.

Something that bothers me about this prophecy thing is that Jesus was well aware of the scriptures, so he could have, I suppose, manufactured some of the fulfillments. However, in the big scheme of things, I don't think that is really too important (the fact that he could have manufactured some of the prophecy-events).

[Wetdog]

I have heard that the Jesus story was written by the Essenes who were killed by the Romans before the birth of Jesus of Nazereth. I can not substantiate this, but it could account for the "perfect" story of prophetic consumation related in the Gospels. A sort of dress rehearsal as it were.

If it were true that the story is made up, would it invalidate the values related in the Gospels? After all, isn't religion the practice of values related to us by (a) Deity/s through messengersvisionaries//clerics/prophets/messiahs?

I don't feel like doing a philo/religio deal so I won't take it to that forum.

[whiskeytown]

it's definately your legs are broken before you die (or rather to speed up the dying process)

Cruxification is basically death by stranglation - when your body sags like that you can't breathe, so you use your legs/arms to hold yourself up so you can breathe - by breaking legs, they were guaranteed that those guys would die before the sabbath cause no one could hold themselves up for long with just their arms.

Jesus was already dead, so they stuck a spear in him to prove it instead of breaking his legs.

RB

[whiskeytown]

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Something that bothers me about this prophecy thing is that Jesus was well aware of the scriptures, so he could have, I suppose, manufactured some of the fulfillments. However, in the big scheme of things, I don't think that is really too important (the fact that he could have manufactured some of the prophecy-events).

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a diehard apoligist would point out that he fulfilled several that were impossible to rig/fullill, per se -

this includes birthplace, where he grew up, being born of a virgin, etc, etc...

but I'm not gonna do it - I believe there are books out there that will go into detail "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" mostly comes to mind - if that's what you want.

RB

[Zygote]

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Why would the roman's actions have anything to do with the sabbath? you must have something wrong.

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There's probably a political advantage.

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Yes, they were very wary of getting the Jews riled up. They appeased them as much they could to keep them from rebelling. There were numerous Jewish rebellions during the entire Roman occupation. Not having executions on the Sabbath would have been one of the concessions made to keep people happy.

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This still makes no sense. Laws of the Sabbath do not apply to non-Jews and the Jews would have no reason to want the Romans to comply with laws of the Sabbath (at least regarding this specific example).

[toddw8]

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Why would the roman's actions have anything to do with the sabbath? you must have something wrong.

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There's probably a political advantage.

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Yes, they were very wary of getting the Jews riled up. They appeased them as much they could to keep them from rebelling. There were numerous Jewish rebellions during the entire Roman occupation. Not having executions on the Sabbath would have been one of the concessions made to keep people happy.

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This still makes no sense. Laws of the Sabbath do not apply to non-Jews and the Jews would have no reason to want the Romans to comply with laws of the Sabbath (at least regarding this specific example).

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The Jews had to bury their dead, and would probably be pissed at the Romans if they were forced to do so on the sabbath.