We are told in the fourth Gospel narrative that Pilate turned Jesus over to his soldiers to be crucified, and they led him away (John 19:16). Some scholars tell us that both Matthew and Mark record a scourging just before Jesus was led away to be crucified (Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15), but a closer look at what is said in the Synoptics seem to refute that idea. In other words, Jesus had one scourging and that was to gain popular pity for Jesus, not to torture him. Nevertheless, Pilate was unable to gain enough pity for Jesus that would allow the governor to release him. Nevertheless, Matthew and Mark does tell us that Pilate had Jesus scourged before he delivered him over to be crucified. What shall we say of this? I believe the text is telling us that Jesus received double punishment at Pilate’s hand—a scourging with the intention of releasing him, and a verdict of guilty to the charge of his being the Son of God, which was the accusation that got him crucified.
Therefore, Jesus left the city bearing his cross-beam, and was led to a place called the skull, which in Hebrew is Golgotha (John 19:17), but what does this mean, and where was the place located? Traditionally, there are two locations, but only one could be the site of the crucifixion, or both sites are wrong. The most popular site was pointed out in 1842 by a German theologian, Otto Thenius, because a hill with two holes in its limestone made it resemble a skull to the observer. The other site was pointed out by Constantine’s mother in 333 AD. Neither site has any objective evidence for its authenticity, and both sites should be discarded. So, where was Jesus crucified, and can we know? Yes, I believe we can know about where Jesus was crucified, and the Bible tells us its location.[1]
Three of the four Gospel records identify the place of Jesus’ crucifixion as Golgotha (G1115). Mark and John tell us it is taken from the Hebrew meaning the place of the skull (G2898). Luke identifies the site as Calvary (G2898), which is actually Anglicized from the Latin translation of the Greek (G2898), which is the same word the other Gospel writers use for the skull (Luke 23:33; cp. Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17)! It is interesting that, when we get into the Hebrew word itself, we find that the reason the place is called the skull has little to do with the hill’s appearance. Rather, it has to do with census taking:
Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls. (Numbers 1:2)
The Hebrew word translated sum is rosh (H7218), and for polls it is gulgoleth (H1538), from which we get the transliteration in the Greek Golgotha. The polling place had to be outside the city walls, so that everyone, including those who were ceremonially unclean who couldn’t enter the city ,could be registered. The Hebrew meaning of the word is head, poll, skull and is nearly always associated with census taking, from which we get our own term head count.
The Hebrew word translated sum in the verse quoted above is roshe (H7218). It seems that whenever Israel went to war and returned home, before they could enter the camp or the city, they had to cleanse themselves and were ceremonially unclean for seven days (Numbers 31:24). During this time a census or a sum (H7218) of the men of war was taken (Numbers 31:49). The cleansing was done with the water of separation, which included the ashes of the red heifer, which lay in a “clean place” just east of the Tabernacle/Temple (Numbers 19:1-9) and not far from the place, where the poll was taken.
An interesting scripture which alludes to this point is found in 2Samuel 15:32. There, David was fleeing Jerusalem from Absalom, his son who had betrayed him. He escaped death by way of the Mount of Olives, and, when he reached the summit, he bowed in worship before God. The Hebrew for summit or top of the mountain is rosh (H7218), but this doesn’t really explain where David worshiped. I think the Septuagint translators do a better job here. While the Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew, they kept the Hebrew at this point or transliterated it into the Greek:
And David came as far as Ros, where he worshipped God: and behold, Chusi the chief friend of David came out to meet him, having rent his garment, and earth was upon his head. (2 Samuel 15:32 – Septuagint; emphasis mine)
According to the ancient Jewish understanding of the Hebrew text, the translators of the Septuagint, it wasn’t merely the summit of Mount Olives where David worshiped, but a particular place on the summit—the place of the census or poll. It was here at Golgotha, where all of Israel in the days of David were numbered, that Jesus was crucified. The site of the crucifixion is, therefore, to be found on Mount Olives, at the very spot where every Israelite placed his foot for the head count.
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[1] My understanding of the place of Jesus’ crucifixion comes from Dr. Martin’s book: The Secrets of Golgotha.
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