11. How was ‘the Leader of the covenant broken’?

¹¹ “Broken” too was “the Leader of the covenant” that Jehovah God had made with Abraham for blessing all the families of the earth. Jesus Christ was the Seed of Abraham promised in that covenant. (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:16) On Nisan 14, 33 C.E., Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate in the Roman governor’s palace in Jerusalem. The Jewish priests had charged Jesus with treason against the emperor. But Jesus told Pilate: “My kingdom is no part of this world. . . . My kingdom is not from this source.” So that the Roman governor might not free the faultless Jesus, the Jews shouted: “If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar. Every man making himself a king speaks against Caesar.” After calling for Jesus’ execution, they said: “We have no king but Caesar.” According to the law of “injured majesty,” which Tiberius had broadened to include virtually any insult to Caesar, Pilate handed Jesus over to be “broken,” or impaled on a torture stake.—John 18:36; 19:12-16; Mark 15:14-20.

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As foretold, Jesus was “broken” in death