JOHN 19:31 — KING JAMES VERSION 0 0
“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”
Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken so that their bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that sabbath was a great day — The request to break legs (skelokopia, hastening death by preventing use of legs as support) seeks to fulfill Deuteronomy 21:23's prohibition against leaving bodies exposed overnight. The irony: in seeking to honor the Sabbath's sanctity through rapid burial, the leaders unwittingly ensure Jesus is not buried before Sabbath begins, forcing his lying in the tomb on the holy day—foreshadowing the resurrection.
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