As might be expected, Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, had heard of the minor revolt, and he questioned his soldiers as to how fair they were in the arrests. Those suspected received a stern warning and were just released.
Now it was the fifth day of the week.
Next came this: as Matthias worked in the blacksmith's shop, he heard steps. The door was open when the shop was open. So Matthias could clearly see Roman soldiers marching over here.
One soldier stepped in, clean-shaven. "You're Zadok the blacksmith?"
Okay, what did Zadok do? Matthias simply responded, "No, but I am learning from him, so I can make nails for you, sirs." Next, Matthias realized what he just implied!
But the soldier nodded. "For Celeb and his fellow ringleaders!"
So no matter how minor the rebellion, Antipas would still use crucifixion? How low could he get?
Matthias hesitated. To give these Romans the nails would be to turn traitor against his fellow Jews. But he muttered to the warriors, "So how... many nails do you need?"
The soldier said, "Well, there's four or five sentenced to crucifixion—"
"It's five, brother," said one of the other soldiers. It's in Latin, so Matthias did not understand.
"Ah, five. Five it is," proceeded the soldier speaking to me. "So that means you must provide... um..." He turns to his companion. "The feet also?" he asked in Latin.
"That's up to us, brother," the other comrade answered, again in the Latin tongue.
"Ah, well then..." he said, slipping back into Aramaic, "then, sir, that'll be... that'll be like 15 nails, 15 sharp nails."
Matthias thought this one act could haunt him for life! But he felt hopeless against trained warriors. He said, "Look, I've never seen a crucifixion. So how long do you want the nails?" He simply added, "Sorry for asking."
The soldier answered him, "Ten of them should be two hand-breadths long, and 5 of them should be one span long. You can do that, can you?"
Matthias shut his eyes. If he backed down, then he would surely get punished. If he proceeded to fulfill their wish, he would get backlash from my people. It's this war inside him.
But he finally gets the tools and some iron.
It's one of the difficult dilemmas of life, and Matthias was just going to have to make the nails. He cannot compromise in this situation, for how could he please both these Romans and his own Jewish people? But the iron was being made into the dreaded nails in order to be used in crucifixion.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 of these," he said as he passed the smaller nails into the soldiers' nail bag, notably empty. He got the span-length nails and put them inside the bag also. "And here's 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5." Please, he would not want to pass on the impression he's cheating on numbers.
"How much for these good nails?" the soldier asked him.
"Well, for those nails it's one denarius, sir," Matthias answered his overlord.
"Yes, one denarius is reasonable," the soldier said as he took his moneybag and dropped several denarii unto his other hand. He pulled out one and passed it to Matthias' open palm. "One denarius, nail-maker," he said. Then, having placed the other coins back into the moneybag, he and the other soldiers left with the 15 nails.
Matthias, in the meantime, looked down on that denarius in his hand. This is a fair day's pay for a common laborer. There's that imprinted image of the emperor at the front, telling him what he had done this transaction for. Rome. He muttered to himself, "I'm so done for. My people won't forgive me for this."
He put the denarius - ill gain - into his moneybag. He proceeded out and shut the door. He started out for the Roman street in Jotapata, where he knew the prison is at. There's a small crowd around. There's the hazzan Ezra bar-Johann. He could see Hannah embracing her released husband Ethan. There's Celeb's cousin Josiah. He saw Matthias and groaned, "Matthias, they'll murder him!"
Then Matthias saw the prison door, the big entrance door, open. Some poles were nearby, recently installed. He saw the centurion of Jotapata, who turned to his soldiers and handed down orders in Latin. The soldiers quickly hurried in and forced out the five soon-to-be victims of crucifixion. Celeb first off, then Arch, then Abijah, then Pelet, then Assir. The Roman soldiers stripped the five of their garments. The undergarments remain. Some soldiers turned to their centurion and said something in Latin. The centurion nodded, so those soldiers left for somewhere.
In the meantime, some soldiers took these... horrid-looking whips. One with mere wire, they called "fustigatio". A crueler whip with some sharp metal and bone, they called "flagellatia". The worst of them all—plenty of sharpened glass with the metal and bone—they called "verberatio".
The soldiers turned to the centurion, who said to them, "Verberatio." Quickly the five resisting men, tied to these poles, shook in fear. The five Roman soldiers with these "verberatio" whips came forward.
Josiah grabbed Matthias. "Look away."
So they both turned away from the poles. Naturally, 17-year-old Matthias wouldn't wish to observe a lashing. Then he heard it starting. Man, even hearing the whips crack made him shudder. The screams. The agony. He could hear Pelet screaming, "Rome! Cursed are you!"
And Celeb shouting, "Freedom for Israel!"
And poor Arch crying, "Mercy! Mercy!"
Five lashings happening at the same time. It seemed like it was lasting forever. Matthias sat down. I can't bear all this. Tears started to flow out. Then he felt a hand laid on his shoulder. It's rabbi Ezra. He said, "Matthias, the cruelty of Rome cannot continue, especially as it is now felt in Jotapata."
Matthias said in agony, "Please, may none speak ill of Rome again."
Meanwhile, the torture had ended—it seemed. Matthias heard no more whips. He heard the unchaining of the wrists of those Zealots, and they collapsed on the ground. Matthias lingered on the ground for a long while. He shut his eyes as to the reality of Rome's force and cruelty. He took deep breaths.
After what seemed like an hour, Matthias heard the soldiers shouting in Aramaic, "Out of the way!"
Matthias quickly got up. The soldiers were not referring to him, but Matthias saw five wooden beams tied to each of the five Zealots, dressed again with some red stains on their garments. These Zealots were clearly in pain. There were five wooden boards with some ropes tied to the small holes on these thin boards. The five who were doomed to die were wearing those boards around their necks. As the five were forced to walk through the street, Matthias could see that these boards have writing on them—all in Aramaic: "Celeb the Zealot", "Arch the Rebel", "Abijah the Troublemaker", "Pelet the other Zealot", and "Assir the Enemy of Peace".
In grief, Matthias followed this small procession. The Romans led the five out of Jotapata. Only a few were in the observing crowd, so many of them can see he was there, feeling for Celeb and his doomed gang.
Finally, they exited beloved Jotapata. Abijah collapsed on the dusty and rocky ground. "Ahh!" he gasped.
"Get up now!" shouted a soldier. "On your feet now, Abijah the Troublemaker!" Some soldiers forced Abijah up. It was hard for him since a wooden beam is tied to his arms. But he finally walked again, like the others.
The group went through a hill and a field. The walk was taking forever for Matthias—how much more for these men in pain! The soon-to-be victims were always whining and even cursing. Celeb had it worst: "Israel will be free, and Rome will be nothing!" He looked up at the sky. "Oh Messiah, may You come soon!"
Finally, there were the other soldiers that left before the lashings. By the road, five holes were dug, and there were some strong cords and five longer beams than the ones carried by the five to-be-crucified. And that nail bag and some pallets.
"Alright dudes!" said the centurion. "Let's get this execution going!"
The Romans dragged the unwilling would-be victims to their respective stakes. The five were untied to their beams. Some soldiers undressed the men as other soldiers fixed the beams together. Once unclothed, the men got placed on their respective crosses. Celeb was set in the middle.
The soldiers took the nails—they were Matthias' nails—and pellets, and hurried to the men on the crosses. Matthias shook my head in trembling. The Romans set the sharp side of the nails over each of their wrists, and the pallets hammered them into the wood, passing through their flesh.
They screamed and shouted in agony as these nails cut through their wrists, securing them to their cross.
The Romans now took the five longer nails and, the feet tied together, hammered them through both feet. For each of them, one foot overlapped the other, and the same nail passed through both feet and still got stuck on the wood.
The screaming continued as the five were in misery. "Curses! Curses, Romans!" shouted Assir.
Now the ropes were tied to the edges of the crossbeams, and as a soldier hung on to the top of a cross, some other soldiers pulled up the cross by the rope. Abijah's cross got pulled up first. The cross stood upright by that hole in the ground. Once fixed into place, the pain began again. "Auuughhh!!!" went the now-crucified Abijah as gravity forced his body downward, but his hands and feet were stuck in the same position.
The other crosses got raised up in the same way.
Matthias had just seen a crucifixion! How horrible! The five were now struggling to breathe in and out. With their torn backs touching the wood, it was even worse. Celeb cries out, "Woe to you, Rome! Aah!"
The soldiers now watched over the crosses, that there may be no rescue attempts. Josiah now approached Matthias, tears in his eyes. "This... is what Rome does to the people of the Lord."
He now approached Celeb's cross. "Cousin?" Josiah asked.
Celeb turned his face to Josiah. "Jo... Josiah," the crucified one moaned, "wait... for... the Messiah."
Josiah nodded. "I will." He then asked, "Celeb, are you in pain?"
W... Whatttttt? Seriously, Josiah?? thought Matthias. He was nearly lashed to death, made to carry a beam, hammered into a bad position, and undergoing crucifixion—and you ask, "Are you in pain?"
"Aug, yes," proceeded Celeb.
Matthias slowly walked off, but then Ethan grabbed me. "I do not think Jotapata will stay safe," he said, "so this will be a farewell Shalom. Hannah and I will leave."
Matthias was surprised. "But you can't just leave!"
"We'll see each other again, Matthias," added his sister, who's beside Ethan. "Antipas will enforce more Roman soldiers in Jotapata. Our relative peace—gone!"
Matthias stood there, dumbfounded. And then he hugged Hannah, accepting their decision. "I pray that we shall meet again."
The hazzan now approached. "I'll miss you two also. Hannah—the most pious Jewess in Jotapata."
After some hugging, Ethan and Hannah walked away. Matthias watched them go to Jotapata, obviously to get their things. He put his hand on his face. More tears. He then felt rabbi Ethan's hand on his shoulder. "Take courage, Matthias. Things will turn out for the better."
So they, the whole crowd, walked back to Jotapata eventually.