SCOURGE (skftrj), (Hebrew generally, Ult, shoot, to whip); noun Tilt, shale, a whip (Job ix:23; Is. x:26; xxviii:15,18); bik-ko' relit, properly to examine (Lev. xix:2o); Gr. Acter ry6w, znizs-tig-eo, to flog (Matt. x:17; xx:t9; xxiii:34; Luke xviii:33; John xix:i; Acts xxii:25); opa-yEXX6w, frag-cl-leo, to lash, as a public punishment (Matt. xxvii:26; Mark xv:15), and its derivative, a whip (John 11:15).
The punishment of scourging was very com mon among the Jews. Moses ordains (Deut. xxv : 1-3) that if there be a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, then the judges may judge them. And if the wicked man were found worthy to be beaten, the judge was to cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, ac cording to his fault, by a certain number, but not exceeding forty stripes. There were two ways of giving the lash : one with thongs or whips, made of rope-ends, or straps of leather ; the other with rods or twigs. The offender was stripped from his shoulders to his middle, and tied by his arms to a low pillar, that he might lean forward, and the executioner the more easily strike his back.
St. Paul informs us (2 Cor. xi :24) that at five different times he received thirty-nine stripes from the Jews ; which seems to imply that this was a fixed number, not to be exceeded. The apostle also clearly shows, that correction with rods was different from that with a whip ; for he says, "Thrice was I beaten with rods." And when he was seized by the Jews in the Temple, the tribune of the Roman soldiers ran and took him out of their hands ; and, desiring to know the reason of the tumult, he ordered him to be tied and stretched on the ground, to put him to the question, by beating him with rods (Acts xxii :24, 25), for thus the Romans commonly put prisoners to the question (Calmet). Our Savior, speaking of the pains and ignominy of his passion, commonly puts his scourging in the second place (Matt. xx: to ; Mark x :34 ; Luke xviii :32, 33).