224. "The Place of a Skull" (Matt. 27:33; Mark 15:22; Luke 23:33; John
19:17)*
"Golgotha" is from the Hebrew "gulgoleth" (skull; it is
turned into New Testament Greek as "kranion" (cranium) and in the Latin
Vulgate becomes "Calvaria." The last of these names has found its way
into the English Bible and into common use simply through the influence of the
Bible of the church of Rome. It should therefore be used specially by those who
have strong sympathies with Rome.
Assumption that the name is descriptive led General Gordon to
identify the spot, and his conclusion is fairly commonly accepted. Sir Ambrose
Fleming (Vict. Inst. 1930) has this: "Part of this cliff (at Jeremiah's Grotto')
when seen from the front has a most remarkable resemblance to a human skull;
there are the holes forming the eye sockets, and a broken nose, and a slit which
resembles a mouth. When once it has been pointed out, it cannot possibly be
overlooked. This skull-formation is certainly not an artificial construction and
not of very recent date, and if it has existed for 1900 years there is nothing
more likely than that a place showing such a curious characteristic would come
to be called "Skull Hill", or "the place of a skull", by persons familiar with
it ... There is an ancient tradition that it was called also "the place of
stoning."
There is other appropriateness about this identification. The
Law commanded that the burnt offering be slain on the north side of the altar
(Lev. 1 :11), and the ashes of the sin-offering were to be poured out "without
the camp" (Lev. 4 :12; Heb. 13 :11). Thus there is point in the use here of the
word "place" (maqom) which commonly has the meaning of "a sanctuary, an
altar, a holy place."
The name Golgotha itself is intended to be read with symbolic
meaning. Matthew's phrasing seems to imply this: "a place called Golgotha, that
is to say, the place of a skull." Yet Matthew wrote for Jews who would not need
to have the name interpreted for them. What then is its symbolic meaning? At
least four possibilities present themselves:
- Wordsworth has suggested that the original meaning was: "The skull of
Goliath." Certainly Nob, to which David brought Goliath's head (1 Sam. 17 :54;
21 :9) was in the immediate vicinity of Golgotha, if not identical with it. And
the entire episode lends itself readily to interpretation as a type of Christ's
greater victory. Thus: After some outstanding achievements against those who
ravaged the flock, he-an eighth son, and despised by his brethren-came from
Bethlehem at his father's command, leaving his sheep, in order to fight the
great Enemy alone. He put aside all human help and support, and with the first
(Gen. 3 :15) of five stones bruised the adversary in the head. This success
rallied the Lord's people behind him, and they now added their onslaught and
victory. In answer to enquiry: "Whose son is this?" the leaders can only reply:
"We cannot tell" (Mt. 22 :41-44). He is the son of Jesse (="God exists'), and he
has for his prize a king's daughter (Ps. 45 :14) and freedom for his oppressed
people. Thereafter the men who were close kin to the Enemy become his choicest
followers (2 Sam. 15:18,19).
- The close connection with the name Gilgal
suggests "the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt" (Josh. 5 :9; Col. 2
:11,12), which again was itself only part of another elaborate type of
redemption. A people redeemed out of bondage were baptized "in the cloud and in
the sea." Given God's law, they experienced a long wilderness pilgrimage before
reaching their inheritance. The Jordan ( = "that which goes down") the barrier
to their progress, was divinely cut off at Adam, and they came into the Land
with the Ark of God's covenant two thousand cubits ahead of them, and then in
their midst. Twelve stones were left in Jordan and twelve fresh stones were
erected or the bank. Circumcision rolled away the reproach of Egypt. The manna
ceased, being no longer necessary. With the blowing of Jubilee trumpets and a
sevenfold circuit (cp. the Trumpets of Revelation), there came earthquake and
irresistible victory over the stronghold of the Enemy. And in all this they were
helped by their brethren whose own inheritance was not in the Land
itself.
- Or, yet again, in view of the use in the gospels of Hosea 10 :8,9;
"They shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. O
Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah (Gabbatha)," the Gilgal
allusion may be to Hosea 9 :15: "All their wickedness is in Gilgal (Golgotha);
for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out
of my house, I will love them no more: all their princes are
revolters."
- Quite differently, "Golgotha" may be intended to suggest the
wheels (galgal of the cherubim chariot of the Lord: Ez. 10:2,6,12,13, (an
impressive context!) and Dan. 7:9 (Jesus had used v. 13 about himself at his
trial: Mt. 26:64). This suggestion is the more apt because of the Psalm 22
quotation derisively thrown at Jesus on the cross by the chief priests: "He
trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him," is, in the original, "He rolled
himself (Heb. gol) upon the Lord" (Ps.
22:8).
Which of these ideas was intended by the early church to be
associated with the name Golgotha?
