Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Matthew 27:33

Matthew 27:33. Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull. The name is the form then used, for the Hebrew word ‘skull' (comp. Luke 23:33, where ‘Calvary' means simply skull). It is very unlikely that it was the place of execution, and that the name arose from the skulls of the criminals lying there. The Jews did not leave bodies unburied, and in their mode of execution (stoning) the skulls would be broken; there is no evidence that the Jews had a special place for public execution; and a rich man like Joseph of Arimathea would not have a garden near such a spot (John 19:41). In that case, too, the name would have been: ‘the place of skulls.' It is now generally believed that the form of the elevation (scarcely a hill) resembled a skull. There is a curious tradition, that Adam was buried where the second Adam died and rose again.

Tradition has for fifteen centuries pointed out the site of the present ‘Church of the Holy Sepulchre' as the actual spot. The arguments in favor of this popular opinion are: the unbroken tradition, the fact that no good case has been made out for any other locality. But tradition has proved an unsafe guide on such points, and it is highly probable, that this spot was inside the city wall at that time. Nor is it necessary to fix the site, the whole question, however interesting, being of little practical importance. The Apostles and Evangelists barely allude to the places of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. They fixed their eyes upon the great facts themselves, and worshipped the exalted Saviour in heaven, where He lives forever. Since the age of Constantine, in the fourth century, these localities have been abused in the service of an almost idolatrous superstition, yet not without continued protest from many of the wisest and best men of the Church. It is repugnant to sound Christian feeling to believe that a spot so often profaned and disgraced by the most unworthy superstitions, impostures, and quarrels of Christian sects, should be the sacred spot where the Saviour died for the sins of the race. A wrong estimate of these holy places led to the fearful loss of life in the Crusades; the contention respecting them occasioned the Crimean war; even those who profess to be above such superstitions often spend more of time, trouble, and money in journeyings of sentimental curiosity thither, than they do for the spread of the gospel of the crucified and risen Redeemer. It would therefore seem a wise ordering of Providence that the exact locality cannot be determined. Even if the traditional site be accepted, it is very unlikely that our Lord parsed along the so-called ‘Via Dolorosa,' whether Pilate lived in the palace of Herod or in the castle Antonia.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Matthew 27:33

Old Testament

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