A belated “Happy Easter!”
My original plan was to post this on Good Friday, yet my Internet went out. This is an important piece, and I am thankful to post it today!!
“They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).” (Matthew 27:33 NIV)
“They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).” (Mark 15:22 NIV)
“When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.” (Luke 23:33 NIV)
“Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).” (John 19:17 NIV)
From my early Christian years until the year 2006, whenever I read any one of the four verses from above, I had a question. My question: Why is the word “skull” singular?
In a place of Roman execution, I speculated that multiple skulls would be scattered around. Apparently the Roman authorities often neglected to bury the bodies of people whom they executed, some of whom were rebelling against Roman rule over their country. I considered it highly probable that some did not get a respectful burial. But then “skull” should be plural.
On the flip side, I now know Israelites implemented strict practices for handling dead bodies in order to follow cleanliness laws. (1) There might not have been any dead bodies left lying around that place of Roman execution. The name still would not fit.
Though linguistics is not a gift for me, I held this singular “skull” question for years. Keep in mind that was in my early Christian years, when the Internet was still limited.
Then in 2006, I found a book at a used Christian bookstore which answered my question. That book: The Search for the Authentic Tomb of Jesus, by Dr. William McBirnie. (2)
The traditional site for the crucifixion held over many centuries is a place which is now enclosed by a church. It has been visited by countless people.
Yet with an increasing interest in archaeology during the 1800’s, another site came under serious consideration. Traditionally termed “Gordon’s Calvary,” many people view that site year after year. It is behind a bus depot, and visible from the property of The Garden Tomb Association. Regarding the word “Gordon,” he was one person who found the site, though not the first. And he was a person who truly advocated for the site being the genuine place of the crucifixion of Christ. Regarding the word “Cavalry,” that is the Latin word for skull.
So what does the site of “Gordon’s Calvary” have to do with my question of a singular skull?
The answer: The one hillside of that location consists of limestone cliffs. And within one limestone cliff, there is a formation which had the resemblance of a skull.
Suddenly, the consideration shifts from the location being named after an execution area scattered with the skulls of the unburied, to the location being named after a formation within in a limestone cliff.
Some points to add to your consideration:
First: People visualizing a skull face in a cliff two thousand years ago is not fanciful. Here in our time, the “Old Man of the Mountain” was such a prominent site in the state of New Hampshire that it was chosen as the design for the reverse side of the United States of America quarter issued to honor New Hampshire in the year 2000.
Second: Limestone is a “soft” rock. Limestone is what Jewish stone masons used to make ossuaries. And that leads to the third point.
Third: The skull “face” has experienced erosion just in the past fifty years. Yet the “face” is more prominent in older pictures. (I will post one from the Library of Congress at the end of this piece.)
Fourth: The main dispute regarding this site is whether it was outside of the city walls. This issue was thoroughly examined by Dr. McBirnie in his book. I have never read anything by any other scholar where so much evidence was given for the theory which he or she was arguing against. Yet then there is a grand shift, and he supports his thesis all out. It is a scholarly masterpiece.
May we be ever mindful that the location of the crucifixion of Christ is not the key biblical point of the crucifixion. The key point is what Jesus accomplished at Golgotha 2000 years ago.
God’s purpose for the tragedy of the crucifixion of Jesus was to provide an opportunity for eternal life for people. How? Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone. Jesus was the substitute for the consequence of sins of people, which is spiritual death. Then Jesus was resurrected.
We human beings still experience suffering and the horror of physical death. Yet that death is not the end. Spiritually, there is life for the person who has been saved by Jesus. Believe in Jesus, and you will be saved and have eternal life.
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Hunter Irvine
Scripture Love Blog
(1) Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (1874; repr., Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 169.
(2) William Steuart McBirnie, The Search for the Authentic Tomb of Jesus
(Montrose, CA: Acclaimed Books, 1975).
