Was Yeshua crucified on a stake or a cross?

The question we here at The Refiner’s Fire receive every once in a while is:  Did Yeshua die on a stake or a cross?

Author and teacher Jeremy C. Springfield provides the following insights:

Ultimately, I do not know the answer, and I do not believe anyone knows, for sure.

The Romans had not standardized a specific form for the cross. Some were poles, some were shaped like a capital T, and some were the more traditional appearance we are used to a lowercase t.

All we know for certain is that there was room for a sign to be affixed over the head of Yeshua on the cross.

The text of the Peshitta uses two different terms in scattered places: ZAKIFA TZELIBA. The first just refers to something that is upright, and could be interpreted as a pole. The second has been used to refer to the cross and the "sign of the cross," which is obviously not just an upright gesture. That would potentially seem to suggest the one he was crucified upon was in that general shape.

Incidentally, Jewish texts, when speaking about the cross, usually use a phrase that means "the upright and the horizontal," which points to the shape as not being just an upright pole.

In the end, I am unsure, but I do find it of interest that the Hebrew letter Tav was anciently, in PaleoHebrew script, written as an X or a t.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Jeremy C. Springfield is a translator of Biblical languages with work appearing in published Bible translations.  A former congregational teacher and leader, and an author whose works have appeared on Jewish and Christian websites and radio, he has authored over one hundred in-depth studies displaying the harmony of Scripture from a Jewish perspective, using in particular the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Bible, along with traditional Jewish religious sources, to show a portrait of the New Testament that is fully compatible with the Hebrew Scriptures as understood within the boundaries of Judaism. All of this and more can be found at his website, Random Groovy Bible Facts.