Sponge stick - The Video Bible Dictionary

Disclaimer: This is our first run at the Video Bible Dictionary, we'd love your feedback, so please leave a comment.

Maybe you've read about Jesus being offered some sour wine on a 'sponge on a stick' when he was on the cross, ever thought about why?

Actor/guide/interpreter - Richie Savo
Camera - Mark Murfitt
Narrator - Mark Murfitt
Editor - Jonnie Conibeer
Produced, Directed - Mark Murfitt

A sponge on a stick is mentioned in the following scriptures*:
Mark 15:33-39

Transcript:
"Sponge-stick
People made a sponge-stick by attaching a sponge to the end of a stick using string.
A sponge is soft with lots of holes, it can be yellow or darker in colour.
People find sponges growing in the sea; they can be found washed up on the sea shore.
Sponges can be many different sizes.
The sponge which was tied on a stick would have been about the size of one fist.
Romans used a sponge-stick to clean themselves after they had been to the toilet.
During Jesus’ death on the cross, people offered Jesus a sponge soaked in sour wine twice.
We do not know if it was Roman soldiers who offered the wine in order to mock Jesus, or if it was Jewish woman hoping to help reduce the pain.
Jesus refused the wine the first time, but he accepted it the second time."


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What is the Video Bible Dictionary?
How do you explain what a desert wilderness is to someone who’s only ever lived in a jungle? Or how can a person understand what a winnowing fork is when they’ve never seen one?
The Video Bible Dictionary is an ambitious project to film items, objects and places mentioned in the Bible which will be collated into a single resource (a dictionary of sorts) to help people understand and read the Bible; basically what the things and places in the Bible really look like.

Who’s it for?
The primary audience is for Oral Preference Learners, however everyone and anyone will benefit from a more literal understanding of actual places and items from the Bible.

What’s an Oral Preference Learner?
A person who prefers to listen, learn and pass on information orally rather than through reading (most of us, right?). This ‘person’ finds context critical in understanding the world around them, hence every video in the Video Bible Dictionary will show the item, object and place in context of a person.
By way of an example; do you remember those old school textbooks which showed a silhouette of a dinosaur with a silhouette of a person standing next to them? It gave you an understanding of how big the dinosaur was compared to a person, right? This is the same thing.

Why do this?
The Video Bible Dictionary is part of a larger project to provide a resource to support the local church around the world as they teach and share Jesus with those who have yet to hear about Him.

Who do you work for?
This project is being produced by SRV in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators and ETEN (short for ‘Every Tribe Every Nation’).

Who am I?
My name is Mark Murfitt, I live in the UK and it’s my privilege to produce and direct these videos as well as to oversee the script writing and media production for this project.

Is something like this really necessary?
Absolutely.
For many people, in both developed and developing countries, much of what we’re videoing isn’t known, understood or believed to actually be real.

Is this work copyright protected?
The source video and voiceover are shareable, this version with the music isn’t unfortunately.
This version contains material that has some form of copyright and cannot be freely distributed. For a shareable version of this video under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license, please contact us!

There may be other scriptures where this item, object or place is featured, this isn't and shouldn't be used as an exclusive list