Was Jesus nailed through the hands or wrists?

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Please settle an argument. A friend of ours says that Jesus was nailed to the cross through his wrists because it is physically impossible to support the weight of his body on the cross by nailing through the hands. I replied that he must have been nailed through the hands because all of the stigmatists have had wounds on their hands, not wrists, and all crucifixes show Jesus's hands being nailed. Were Jesus's wrists tied to the cross with rope as well? There is a picture of this in my St. Joseph Bible.

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), April 07, 2004

Answers

An expert who studied the Shroud of Turin also gave a lot of details on what happened to Jesus during all his torture. The nails were square and they drove the spikes not into his hands, because there was not enough anotomical strength there, but drove them into the wrist area without breaking his bones. He was tied to a cross beam which weighed between 75 to 100 pounds, and they would eventually attach it to the upright cross. They tied his shoulders to the beam and in the picture that was shown to me it did look as though he was tied elsewhere on his arms. I hope this helps somewhat.

-- Sonya (johnsonya2003@hotmail.com), April 07, 2004.

See this thread: http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl? msg_id=00BuLy

-- Emily (jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), April 07, 2004.

Thanks Emily,

I feel like a moron for re-setting such a recent thread. I guess I just missed it, sorry. If Jesus was nailed or spiked through the wrists though, why do stigmatists such as Padre Pio, Saint Francis of Assisi etc. have the wounds on their hands?

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), April 07, 2004.


There has also been other research done that Jesus could have been nailed through the hands, but only if he had a stool to stand on. There are some crosses that have this on it.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), April 07, 2004.

scott, that would be an innacuracy... as would his having been tied at the shoulders. Crucifixion kills you precisely because you are hanging by your hands (fore arm area). The method of crucifixion would have to be strong enough to support a persons body weight. Weight resting on the raised arms causes the lungs to collapse. A foot plate, as seen put under Jesus' foot in "The Passion" would be placed to prolong the death, so the person could relieve some of the pressure on their lungs by standing up. After the romans got bored they would break the knees of the victim, forcing them to hang from their arms (also seen in "The Passion").

Christ, however, died before they needed to break His legs, which is significant because it went to fulfill a prophecy. two reasons He may have died earlier: his scourging caused Him to die faster by bleeding, etc, or His scourging left him too weak to use the foot plate to stand. Or i guess a third possibility: He was willing to die for us without resisting and chose not to stand to resist death, but rather to willingly die for our sins.

-- paul h (dontSendMeMail@notAnAddress.com), April 08, 2004.



Doesn't the Bible say Jesus was nailed athrough his hands? In John 20:25,27, it talks about Jesus's hands. Did they used to think that the wrists were part of the hands? I would think the wrist is part of the arms.

Brian, on a second note-I heard on TV that the stigmatists have wounds either on the wrist or the hands, depending upon where they perceive Jesus to have them. However, I heard this on TV a few years back and we all know how accurate TV coverage is.

Sharon

-- Sharon (delipasta@hotmail.com), April 08, 2004.


Paul gave a good answer. It was a Dr. Anthony Paruta that was the expert on the Shroud that I mentioned before, but he was talking about the cross beam that Jesus carried and was tied to (before it was attached to the cross). In another picture that he showed me, I didn't see Him tied anymore, just hanging on the cross. I am sorry about not giving enough information before.

-- Sonya (johnsonya2003@hotmail.com), April 10, 2004.

I recently had two priests over for dinner and asked them this question. They replied that Jesus was nailed through the wrists. They also said that the stigmatas of St. Francis, Padre Pio etc. are on the hand because it is possible for humans to live with a hole in one's hand, and not possible to live with a hole in one's wrist.

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), April 16, 2004.

Brian, Interesting speculation, and logical. We need to remember that priests are teachers, and not necessarily correct in all their speculations. The bottom line is we don't know.

In Christ, Bill

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), April 16, 2004.


I find it rather interesting that the "evidence" for Jesus' having been nailed through the palms is pictures drawn by men. We should all know by now that we can't believe everything we see! :) My understanding is that, yes, the wrists were once considered part of the hands. I have also had a friend tell me that when she had x- rays, her wrist was labeled as part of the hand on her x-ray.

-- Rachel Ramey (A2JC4life@hotmail.com), May 15, 2004.


rachel,

i believe we were discussing different ideas used in pictures, not using them as proof for anything.

the only image used as proof is the shroud of turin, which was laid over Jesus when he was entombed.

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), May 16, 2004.


If Christians beleive that Jesus was nailed to the cross ethier through the hands or the rist and yet beleives that none of his bones were broken. then thats just imposible. Because when he was nailed the nails had to go thorough some part of the bone, therefore had to have broken bones.And since they were broken, then i have to ask whether he was put on the cross at all becaus of John 19-36; A bone of him shall not be broken.

-- John has (ib434@hotmail.com), May 22, 2004.

If a nail was driven through the center of the palm of the hand, it would pass between the metacarpal bones, spreading them apart. If driven through the wrist, which is the more likely scenario, it would pass easily through the ample space between the distal radius and the distal ulna, again causing no breakage of bones.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), May 22, 2004.

If the bones were not broken of Jesus on his hands what about his feet?

-- John has (ib434@hotmail.com), May 23, 2004.

again, as paul M stated, hammering a nail through the feet would have the same effect as hammering one through the hands... being place properly it would spread the bones appart, but not break them.

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), May 23, 2004.


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