Meaning of SCOURGE

Name of the instrument of punishment, and of the punishment itself, inflicted by hitting leather straps, often armed with metal balls or spikes (Heb. 11:36), or with rods.

The Law allowed the guilty to be whipped, who was laid on the ground on his back (Deut. 25:2, 3). Rehoboam alludes, perhaps, to a much more severe penalty already applied before his time (1 Kings 12:11, 14).

Antiochus Epiphanes used this torture in vain to force the Jews to eat pork, but they resisted, preferring to die under the scourging rather than violate the Law of Moses (2 Mac. 6:18-31; 7:1-42 ).

The New Testament designates the action of whipping in several ways. The doctor of the law was, surely, authorized to immediately order a transgressor of the law flogged.

This is perhaps the reason why no one resisted Jesus' action in the Temple (John 2:15), although his action was not a scourge per se.

A Talmudic treatise gives express instructions on whipping in the synagogue; We also deduce from the New Testament that this penalty was often carried out in the synagogue (Mt. 10:17; 23:34; Mark 13:9; Acts 5:40; 22:19).

It seems that the Jewish whippings with rods were only gradually replaced by the Roman stripes, as we learn from 2 Cor. 7:25, distinction between the thirty-nine strokes received five times by the Jews and the three times that Paul was scourged (and from Acts 16:22 one of the times he was scourged with "rods").

Later Jewish practice evolved in such a way that the flagellation consisted of three straps and thus each blow was worth three and could be limited to thirteen blows.

The "Mishna" speaks of thirty-nine blows, thirteen on the bare chest and thirteen on each side of the back.
The Roman whippings ("kerberatio") were used:

(a) as a correction for rebellious slaves and as a penalty for serious offenses committed in military service;

(b) as torment to extract a confession from an accused;

(c) as a prelude to the crucifixion.
According to a Roman law called "Lex Portia", the first two types of whipping could not be applied to Roman citizens; in Acts. 16:22-37; 22:24 and following Paul refers to this law.

When he was sentenced to crucifixion, he first had to be whipped with straps or ropes, sometimes provided with knots or metal balls, and it constituted a totally inhuman punishment that frequently led to the death of the prisoner. These scourgings, or scourging, were performed on Jesus Christ (Mt. 27:26), probably inside the praetorium.