The “place of a skull”
While I am confined to the recliner for at least a few more days, I want to share something with you I find very interesting. When we use the word “calvary” we are describing the location of the crucifixion. The word calvary is derived from the latin “caval”, which is skull. Why would the sacred crucifixion site be called skull? It is also called Golgotha, which has long been understood to also mean skull. So, is Cavalry just a translation of Golgotha?
From the actual site of Golgotha there is a skull like figure in the side of the hill at the crucifixion site. But if we go into the Hebrew etymology of Golgotha, some problems begin to arise in the translation. The word is supposed to have been derived from the verb “galal” which is to “roll over”. Doesn’t seem to match “skull”. It isn’t until we get into the Greek text of the New Testament that we find the actual translation is “place of a skull” in the Greek, and is properly translated as such in English.
Matthew 27:33 “And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull”
It turns out that there is a great deal of history surrounding this little place of a skull called Golgotha. In ancient rabbinical writings, it was believed that Noah buried the remains of Adam there after the flood. Why would he have picked this particular spot? We have no way to know, but a logical assumption, if this is in fact true, is that he must have been commanded by God to do so because of the prophetic events that would later transpire on this same site.
For example, this is also the very spot where Abraham prepared an altar to sacrifice Isaac, his only son by Sarah at the time. Of course, we know the story and Isaac was not sacrificed, but it would be the very place of the crucifixion of the Son of God over 40 generations later, where God spared not His own son as He had with Abraham.
There was another important event that perhaps has been overlooked in these translations, going back to the time of David.
1 Samuel 17:51-54 “Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.52 And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron. 53 And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents. 54 And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.”
Jerusalem at the time was still under Philistine rule, and David had to travel a substantial distance from the place of battle with Goliath to get there. Why would he do this? Again, according to ancient rabbinical writings that are extra-biblical, David placed the head of Goliath on a pole within view of the city, at that same place called Golgotha, “the place of a skull”. This was done to intimidate the Philistines at Jerusalem, taunting and warning them that the God of Israel was coming to take possession of Jerusalem!
Keep in mind, if you fully understand Genesis, that Goliath was of a race of six-fingered Nephilim giants. This Nephilim race represents the escalation of war against God where fallen angels attempted to contaminate the entire human race with their seed and prevent the arrival of the Messiah. The significance of the beheading of Goliath by David, would manifest in David’s root, whose crucifixion would crush the head of the serpent. Golgotha was the place chosen where God’s plan would be complete and perfect, elevating man above the rank of angels by the authority achieved in the blood of the sacrificial lamb without blemish!
Golgotha then, has a double meaning. It is accurately translated as “the place of a skull”, which is where we get the name “Calvary”. But a piece of history that has been forgotten and was a play on words for this translation:
“Goliath of Gath” = Golgotha = The place of a skull
The place where Isaac was spared, is also the place where the skull of Goliath was displayed and the skull of the serpent was crushed!
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise [crush] thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15