Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 27:33
And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
33. a place called Golgotha ] The site of Golgotha is unknown; it was outside the walls, but “nigh to the city” (Joh 19:20), probably near the public road where people passed by ( Mat 27:39), it contained a garden (Joh 19:41). The name, which = “place of a skull,” is generally thought to be derived from the shape and appearance of the hillock or mound on which the crosses were reared. This, however, is uncertain. Pictures often mislead by representing the crucifixion as taking place on a lofty hill at a considerable distance from the city.
The English “Calvary” comes from the Vulgate translation of Luk 23:33, “Et postquam venerunt in locum qui vocatur Calvari.” Calvaria=“a bare skull.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
33 50. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus
Mar 15:22-37; Luk 23:33-46; Joh 19:18-30.
St Mark’s account differs little from St Matthew’s. St Luke names the mockery of the soldiers and the words of the robbers to one another and to Jesus. Three of the sayings on the cross are related by St Luke only: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do;” “Verily, I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise;” “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Among other particulars recorded by St John alone are the attempt to alter the superscription the commendation of His mother to John the breaking of the malefactors’ legs the piercing of Jesus three sayings from the cross: “Woman, behold thy son!” and to the disciple, “Behold thy mother!” ‘I thirst” “It is finished.” St Matthew and St Mark alone record the cry of loneliness: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Golgotha – This is a Hebrew word, signifying the place of a skull. This is the word which in Luke is called Calvary. The original Greek, there, also means a skull. The word calvary is a Latin word meaning skull, or place of skulls. It is not known certainly why this name was given to this place. Some have supposed that it was because the mount resembled in shape a human skull. The most probable opinion, however, is that it was a place of execution; that malefactors were beheaded there or otherwise put to death, and that their bones remained unburied or unburned. Golgotha, or Calvary, was probably a small eminence on the northwest of Jerusalem, without the walls of the city, but at a short distance. Jesus was put to death out of the city, because capital punishments were not allowed within the walls. See Num 15:35; 1Ki 21:13. This was a law among the Romans as well as the Jews. He also died there, because the bodies of the beasts slain in sacrifice as typical of him were burned without the camp. He also, as the antitype, suffered without the gate, Heb 13:11-12. The place which is shown as Calvary now is within the city, and must also have been within the ancient walls, and there is no reason to suppose that it is the place where the Saviour was put to death.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 27:33-37
And they crucified Him, and parted His garments, casting lots.
The watch by the cross
The thought of those who with tender heart watch by the cross of Jesus.
I. The first thought concerns the visible tragic elements of the scene.
II. The contemplation of the sufferer, His character, and His works.
III. The Divine permission of these atrocities.
IV. What a plenitude of grace there is in this Divine provision. (J. H. Davison.)
I. The spectacle.
1. There was that which all might see.
2. There was that which only enlightened and quickened minds can see.
II. The spectators and their various emotions. Of the spectators some were-
1. Bad.
2. Hopeful.
3. Good. (Anon.)
Christ crucified
I. The process of the crucifixion.
1. The preliminary by which it was preceded.
2. The act itself.
3. The explanation by which the act was accompanied.
II. The designs of the crucifixion.
1. It was the accomplishment of a Divine purpose.
2. In order to offer an all-sufficient atonement for human sin.
3. In order that it might found for our Lord an exalted mediatorial empire.
III. The conclusions which the crucifixion should leave on the hearts of those who contemplate it.
1. To esteem supremely the love from which it emanated.
2. To repent humbly of the transgressions it was necessary to pardon.
3. To repose implicitly upon the merit by which it is signalized.
4. To avow zealously the cause with which it is identified. (J. Parsons.)
Crucifixion
I. What they did to Him. They crucified Him.
II. How He conducted Himself under it.
III. The results of all this.
1. A great consternation did befall the universe at this crucifixion.
2. It gave to the church its sublimest and most central theme.
3. It established a city of refuge for guilty men.
4. It was the opening of a fountain for the washing away of sin.
5. It was the stretching forth of a mighty hand to help, comfort, and deliver in every time of need.
6. It gave to the believing soul a pillow on which to lie down and peace. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Gambling
That is the Bibles picture of gamblers. What is gambling? It is neither begging nor stealing, but it resembles both in that it consists in getting money from another for which you have rendered no honest equivalent. The winner of a bet has rendered no service at all to country or to the individual; and ought to feel a sense of theft. Do you ask where is Gods commandment against it? In its results scored deeply on the character of gamblers. The love of gaming springs from the love of excitement that is in our nature. It unfits a man for lifes duties. It is strange how uniformly no good comes of it. It has been disallowed by all ethical and religious teachers. (B. J. Snell, M. A.)
Gambling unproductive of wealth
In honest business you give an equivalent for so much received. It may be a service, or it may be the result of service. The farmer gives his farm produce, the result of his toil; the mechanic renders his skill; the pilot his knowledge of the channel; the lawyer his acute knowledge required to navigate channels more intricate. In any one of these cases money is earned by the performance of actual service, and in every case the body politic is the richer for the service. But gambling is unproductive, the wealth of the whole body is not increased. The only result is the circulation of moneys, and even that is a questionable benefit seeing that the cash is but transferred from the pocket of the fools to the pocket of the knaves, always with a contingent reversion to the publican. The community is no more enriched by the mere circulation of gold than the level of a pool is raised by a tempest blowing upon it; gain in one direction is balanced by loss in another. (B. J. Snell, M. A.)
The excitement of gambling
The love of gaming springs from the love of excitement that is in our nature. This has existed always and everywhere. Tacitus says that the ancient Germans would stake their property and even their life on the throw of the dice-box. The typical Asiatic will risk child or wife on the turn of a die or the fighting of a game-cock. Civilization does not seem to diminish the fascination of gambling. And excitement, so long as it is within bounds, is healthful, bracing, and necessary; beyond these bounds (which no man can well define for another), it is exhausting and destructive. At first a man bets to gain a new sensation, a certain thrill of the nerves; to repeat the pleasant thrill an increased dose is necessary. The sensation itself palls; it must be intensified. The process itself is luring, and at last it heats every part of the mind like an oven. It is notorious that the passion grows; no more experiments need to be tried in that direction, vivisection could not demonstrate it more amply. The winnings that come so easily are not so much the gifts of fortune as they are the baits of misfortune that lead on to beggary. Nice distinctions are drawn between playing and gambling. Play is harmless so long as it is play; but playing is a seed that comes up gambling. It is a dangerous seed to play with. Not drunkenness itself is as hard to cure as is the gambling mania when it has once enthralled a man; he cares only for it-every passion is absorbed into that one intense consuming lust. The day lags heavy on his hands without it, all other pursuits are tasteless; he is only alive when he is gaming, and then the very dregs of his soul are stirred into fearful activity. (B. J. Snell, M. A.)
The watchers round the cross
Note the varied types of watchers around the cross.
1. The careless watch of the soldiers.
2. The jealous watch of the enemies.
3. The anxious watch of the women.
4. The wondering watch of angels on high. (Anon.)
The blind watchers at the cross
These rude soldiers had doubtless joined with their comrades in the coarse mockery which preceded the sad procession to Calvary; and then they had to do the rough work of the executioners, fastening the sufferers to the rude wooden crosses, lifting these with their burden, fixing them into the ground, then parting the raiment. And when all that is done they sit stolidly down to take their ease at the foot of the cross, and idly to wait, with eyes that look and see nothing, until the sufferers die. A strange picture!
I. How ignorant men are of the real meaning and outcome of what they do. Think of what a corporals guard of rough English soldiers, out in Northern India, would think if they were bade to hang a native charged with rebellion against the British Government. So much, and no more did these men know of what they were doing. And so with us all. No man knows the real meaning, the possible issue and outcome of a great deal in our lives. If we are wise, we will let results alone, and just take care that our motive is right.
II. Responsibility is limited by knowledge. These men were ignorant of what they were doing, and therefore guiltless. God weighs, not counts, our actions.
III. It is possible to look at Christ on the cross and see nothing. For half a day there these soldiers sat, and it was but a dying Jew they saw-one of three. They were the unmoved witnesses of God manifest in the flesh, dying on the cross for the whole world, and for them. Their ignorance made them blind. Let us all pray to have our ignorance and blindness removed, our hearts softened by the sight of Christ crucified for us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. A place called Golgotha] From the Hebrew or , golgoleth, a skull, probably so called from the many skulls of these who had suffered crucifixion and other capital punishments scattered up and down in the place. It is the same as Calvary, Calvaria, i.e. calvi capitis area, the place of bare skulls. Some think the place was thus called, because it was in the form of a human skull. It is likely that it was the place of public execution, similar to the Gemoniae Scalae at Rome.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And when they were come to a place called Golgotha,…. The true pronunciation is “Golgoltha”, and so it is read in Munster’s Hebrew Gospel. It is a Syriac word, in which language letters are often left out: in the Syriac version of this place, the first “l” is left out, and the latter retained, and it is read “Gogoltha”: and so, in the Persic, “Gagulta”; and in the Arabic, “Gagalut”. The Ethiopic version reads it, “Golgotha”; and so, Dr. Lightfoot observes, it is read by the Samaritan interpreter of the first chapter of Numbers:
that is to say, a place of a skull: some say Adam’s skull was found here, and from thence the place had its name; this is an ancient tradition, but without foundation m: it seems to be so called, because it was the place where malefactors were executed, and afterwards buried; whose bones and skulls in process of time might be dug up, and some of them might lie scattered about in this place: for, one that was executed as a malefactor n,
“they did not bury him in the sepulchres of his ancestors; but there were two places of burial appointed by the sanhedrim; one for those that were stoned, and for those that were burnt; and another for those that were killed with the sword, and for those that were strangled; and when their flesh was consumed, they gathered the bones, and buried them in their place;”
i.e. in the sepulchres of their ancestors. This place was as infamous as our Tyburn, and to be crucified at “Golgotha”, was as ignominious as to be hanged at Tyburn; which shows what shame and disgrace our Lord was brought, and what he condescended to bear on our account.
m Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4. 5. n T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 43. 1. Maimon. Hilch. Sauhedrin, c. 13. sect. 2, 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Crucifixion. |
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33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, 34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. 35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. 36 And sitting down they watched him there; 37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. 39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. 45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
We have here the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus.
I. The place where our Lord Jesus was put to death.
1. They came to a place called Golgotha, near adjoining to Jerusalem, probably the common place of execution. If he had had a house of his own in Jerusalem, probably, for his greater disgrace, they would have crucified him before his own door. But now in the same place where criminals were sacrificed to the justice of the government, was our Lord Jesus sacrificed to the justice of God. Some think that it was called the place of a skull, because it was the common charnel-house, where the bones and skulls of dead men were laid together out of the way, lest people should touch them, and be defiled thereby. Here lay the trophies of death’s victory over multitudes of the children of men; and when by dying Christ would destroy death, he added this circumstance of honour to his victory, that he triumphed over death upon his own dunghill.
2. There they crucified him (v. 35), nailed his hands and feet to the cross, and then reared it up, and him hanging on it; for so the manner of the Romans was to crucify. Let our hearts be touched with the feeling of that exquisite pain which our blessed Saviour now endured, and let us look upon him who was thus pierced, and mourn. Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow? And when we behold what manner of death he died, let us in that behold with what manner of love he loved us.
II. The barbarous and abusive treatment they gave him, in which their wit and malice vied which should excel. As if death, so great a death, were not bad enough, they contrived to add to the bitterness and terror of it.
1. By the drink they provided for him before he was nailed to the cross, v. 34. It was usual to have a cup of spiced wine for those to drink of, that were to be put to death, according to Solomon’s direction (Pro 31:6; Pro 31:7), Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish; but with that cup which Christ was to drink of, they mingled vinegar and gall, to make it sour and bitter. This signified, (1.) The sin of man, which is a root of bitterness, bearing gall and wormwood, Deut. xxix. 18. The sinner perhaps rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel, but to God it is grapes of gall, Deut. xxxii. 32. It was so to the Lord Jesus, when he bare our sins, and sooner or later it will be so to the sinner himself, bitterness at the latter end, more bitter than death, Eccl. vii. 26. (2.) It signified the wrath of God, that cup which is Father put into his hand, a bitter cup indeed, like the bitter water which caused the curse, Num. v. 18. This drink they offered him, as was literally foretold, Ps. lxix. 21. And, [1.] He tasted thereof, and so had the worst of it, took the bitter taste into his mouth; he let no bitter cup go by him untasted, when he was making atonement for all our sinful tasting of forbidden fruit; now he was tasting death in its full bitterness. [2.] He would not drink it, because he would not have the best of it; would have nothing like an opiate to lessen his sense of pain, for he would die so as to feel himself die, because he had so much work to do, as our High Priest, in his suffering work.
2. By the dividing of his garments, v. 35. When they nailed him to the cross, they stripped him of his garments, at least his upper garments; for by sin we were made naked, to our shame, and thus he purchased for us white raiment to cover us. If we be at any time stripped of our comforts for Christ, let us bear it patiently; he was stripped for us. Enemies may strip us of our clothes, but cannot strip us of our best comforts; cannot take from us the garments of praise. The clothes of those that are executed are the executioner’s fee: four soldiers were employed in crucifying Christ, and they must each of them have a share: his upper garment, if it were divided, would be of no use to any of them, and therefore they agreed to cast lots for it. (1.) Some think that the garment was so fine and rich, that it was worth contending for; but that agreed not with the poverty Christ appeared in. (2.) Perhaps they had heard of those that had been cured by touching the hem of his garment, and they thought it valuable for some magic virtue in it. Or, (3.) They hoped to get money of his friends for such a sacred relic. Or, (4.) Because, in derision, they would seem to put a value upon it, as royal clothing. Or, (5.) It was for diversion; to pass away the time while they waited for his death, they would play a game at dice for the clothes; but, whatever they designed, the word of God is herein accomplished. In that famous psalm, the first words of which Christ made use of upon the cross, it was said, They parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture, Ps. xxii. 18. This was never true of David, but looks primarily at Christ, of whom David, in spirit, spoke. Then is the offence of this part of the cross ceased; for it appears to have been by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Christ stripped himself of his glories, to divide them among us.
They now sat down, and watched him, v. 36. The chief priests were careful, no doubt, in setting this guard, lest the people, whom they still stood in awe of, should rise, and rescue him. But Providence so ordered it, that those who were appointed to watch him, thereby became unexceptionable witnesses for him; having the opportunity to see and hear that which extorted from them that noble confession (v. 54), Truly this was the Son of God.
3. By the title set up over his head, v. 37. It was usual for the vindicating of public justice, and putting the greater shame upon malefactors that were executed, not only by a crier to proclaim before them, but by a writing also over their heads to notify what was the crime for which they suffered; so they set up over Christ’s head his accusation written, to give public notice of the charge against him; This is Jesus the King of the Jews. This they designed for his reproach, but God so overruled it, that even his accusation redounded to his honour. For, (1.) Here was no crime alleged against him. It is not said that he was a pretended Saviour, or a usurping King, though they would have it thought so (John xix. 21); but, This is Jesus, a Saviour; surely that was no crime; and, This is the King of the Jews; nor was that a crime; for they expected that the Messiah should be so: so that, his enemies themselves being judges, he did no evil. Nay, (2.) Here was a very glorious truth asserted concerning him–that he is Jesus the King of the Jews, that King whom the Jews expected and ought to have submitted to; so that his accusation amounts to this, That he was the true Messiah and Saviour of the world; as Balaam, when he was sent for to curse Israel, blessed them all together, and that three times (Num. xxiv. 10), so Pilate, instead of accusing Christ as a Criminal, proclaimed him a King, and that three times, in three inscriptions. Thus God makes men to serve his purposes, quite beyond their own.
4. By his companions with him in suffering, v. 38. There were two thieves crucified with him at the same time, in the same place, under the same guard; two highway-men, or robbers upon the road, as the word properly signifies. It is probable that this was appointed to be execution-day; and therefore they hurried the prosecution of Christ in the morning, that they might have him ready to be executed with the other criminals. Some think that Pilate ordered it thus, that this piece of necessary justice, in executing these thieves, might atone for his injustice in condemning Christ; others, that the Jews contrived it, to add to the ignominy of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus; however it was, the scripture was fulfilled in it (Isa. liii. 12), He was numbered with the transgressors.
(1.) It was a reproach to him, that he was crucified with them. Though, while he lived, he was separate from sinners, yet in their deaths they were not divided, but he was made to partake with the vilest malefactors in their plagues, as if he had been a partaker with them in their sins; for he was made sin for us, and took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh. He was, at his death, numbered among the transgressors, and had his lot with the wicked, that we, at our death, might be numbered among the saints, and have our lot among the chosen.
(2.) It was an additional reproach, that he was crucified in the midst, between them, as if he had been the worst of the three, the principal malefactor; for among three the middle is the place for the chief. Every circumstance was contrived to his dishonour, as if the great Saviour were of all others the greatest sinner. It was also intended to ruffle and discompose him, in his last moments, with the shrieks, and groans, and blasphemies, of these malefactors, who, it is likely, made a hideous outcry when they were nailed to the cross; but thus would Christ affect himself with the miseries of sinners, when he was suffering for their salvation. Some of Christ’s apostles were afterwards crucified, as Peter, and Andrew, but none of them were crucified with him, lest it should have looked as if they had been joint undertakers with him, in satisfying for man’s sin, and joint purchasers of life and glory; therefore he was crucified between two malefactors, who could not be supposed to contribute any thing to the merit of his death; for he himself bare our sins in his own body.
5. By the blasphemies and revilings with which they loaded him when he was hanging upon the cross; though we read not that they cast any reflections on the thieves that were crucified with him. One would have thought that, when they had nailed him to the cross, they had done their worst, and malice itself had been exhausted: indeed if a criminal be put into the pillory, or carted, because it is a punishment less than death, it is usually attended with such expressions of abuse; but a dying man, though an infamous man, should be treated with compassion. It is an insatiable revenge indeed which will not be satisfied with death, so great a death. But, to complete the humiliation of the Lord Jesus, and to show that, when he was dying, he was bearing iniquity, he was then loaded with reproach, and, for aught that appears, not one of his friends, who the other day cried Hosanna to him, durst be seen to show him any respect.
(1.) The common people, that passed by, reviled him. His extreme misery and exemplary patience under it, did not mollify them, or make them to relent; but they who by their outcries brought him to this, now think to justify themselves in it by their reproaches, as if they did well to condemn him. They reviled him: eblasphemoun—they blasphemed him; and blasphemy it was, in the strictest sense, speaking evil of him who thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Observe here,
[1.] The persons that reviled him; they that passed by, the travellers that went along the road, and it was a great road, leading from Jerusalem to Gibeon; they were possessed with prejudices against him by the reports and clamours of the High Priest’s creatures. It is a hard thing, and requires more application and resolution than is ordinarily met with, to keep up a good opinion of persons and things that are every where run down, and spoken against. Every one is apt to say as the most say, and to throw a stone at that which is put into an ill name. Turba Remi sequitur fortunam semper et odit damnatos–The Roman rabble fluctuate with a man’s fluctuating fortunes, and fail not to depress those that are sinking. Juvenal.
[2.] The gesture they used, in contempt of him–wagging their heads; which signifies their triumph in his fall, and their insulting over him, Isa 37:22; Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15. The language of it was, Aha, so would we have it, Ps. xxxv. 25. Thus they insulted over him that was the Saviour of their country, as the Philistines did over Samson the destroyer of their country. This very gesture was prophesied of (Ps. xxii. 7); They shake the head at me. And Ps. cix. 25.
[3.] The taunts and jeers they uttered. These are here recorded.
First, They upbraided him with his destroying of the temple. Though the judges themselves were sensible that what he had said of that was misrepresented (as appears Mark xiv. 59), yet they industriously spread it among the people, to bring an odium upon him, that he had a design to destroy the temple; than which nothing would more incense the people against him. And this was not the only time that the enemies of Christ had laboured to make others believe that of religion and the people of God, which they themselves have known to be false, and the charge unjust “Thou that destroyest the temple, that vast and strong fabric, try thy strength now in plucking up that cross, and drawing those nails, and so save thyself; if thou hast the power thou hast boasted of, this is a proper time to exert it, and give proof of it; for it is supposed that every man will do his utmost to save himself.” This made the cross of Christ such a stumbling-block to the Jews, that they looked upon it to be inconsistent with the power of the Messiah; he was crucified in weakness (2 Cor. xiii. 4), so it seemed to them; but indeed Christ crucified is the Power of God.
Secondly, They upbraided him with his saying that he was the Son of God; If thou be so, say they, come down from the cross. Now they take the devil’s words out of his mouth, with which he tempted him in the wilderness (Mat 4:3; Mat 4:6), and renew the same assault; If thou be the Son of God. They think that now, or never, he must prove himself to be the Son of God; forgetting that he had proved it by the miracles he wrought, particularly his raising of the dead; and unwilling to wait for the complete proof of it by his own resurrection, to which he had so often referred himself and them; which, if they had observed it, would have anticipated the offence of the cross. This comes of judging things by the present aspect of them, without a due remembrance of what is past, and a patient expectation of what may further be produced.
(2.) The chief priests and scribes, the church rulers, and the elders, the state rulers, they mocked him, v. 41. They did not think it enough to invite the rabble to do it, but gave Christ the dishonour, and themselves the diversion, or reproaching him in their own proper persons. They should have been in the temple at their devotion, for it was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, when there was to be a holy convocation (Lev. xxiii. 7); but they were here at the place of execution, spitting their venom at the Lord Jesus. How much below the grandeur and gravity of their character was this! Could any thing tend more to make them contemptible and base before the people? One would have thought, that, though they neither feared God nor regarded man, yet common prudence should have taught them who had so great a hand in Christ’s death, to keep as much as might be behind the curtain, and to play least in sight; but nothing is so mean as that malice may stick at it. Did they disparage themselves thus, to do despite to Christ, and shall we be afraid of disparaging ourselves, by joining with the multitude to do him honour, and not rather say, If this be to be vile, I will be yet more vile?
Two things the priests and elders upbraided him with.
[1.] That he could not save himself, v. 42. He had been before abused in his prophetical and kingly office, and now in his priestly office as a Saviour. First, They take it for granted that he could not save himself, and therefore had not the power he pretended to, when really he would not save himself, because he would die to save us. They should have argued, “He saved others, therefore he could save himself, and if he do not, it is for some good reason.” But, Secondly, They would insinuate, that, because he did not now save himself, therefore all his pretence to save others was but sham and delusion, and was never really done; though the truth of his miracles was demonstrated beyond contradiction. Thirdly, They upbraid him with being the King of Israel. They dreamed of the external pomp and power of the Messiah, and therefore thought the cross altogether disagreeable to the King of Israel, and inconsistent with that character. Many people would like the King of Israel well enough, if he would but come down from the cross, if they could have his kingdom without the tribulation through which they must enter into it. But the matter is settled; if no cross, then no Christ, no crown. Those that would reign with him, must be willing to suffer with him, for Christ and his cross are nailed together in this world. Fourthly, They challenged him to come down from the cross. And what had become of us then, and the work of our redemption and salvation? If he had been provoked by these scoffs to come down from the cross, and so to have left his undertaking unfinished, we had been for ever undone. But his unchangeable love and resolution set him above, and fortified him against, this temptation, so that he did not fail, nor was discouraged. Fifthly, They promised that, if he would come down from the cross, they would believe him. Let him give them that proof of his being the Messiah, and they will own him to be so. When they had formerly demanded a sign, he told them that the sign he would give them, should be not his coming down from the cross, but, which was a greater instance of his power, his coming up from the grave, which they had not patience to wait two or three days for. If he had come down from the cross, they might with as much reason have said that the soldiers had juggled in nailing him to it, as they said, when he was raised from the dead, that the disciples came by night, and stole him away. But to promise ourselves that we would believe, if we had such and such means and motives of faith as we ourselves would prescribe, when we do not improve what God has appointed, is not only a gross instance of the deceitfulness of our hearts, but the sorry refuge, or subterfuge rather, of an obstinate destroying infidelity.
[2.] That God, his Father, would not save him (v. 43); He trusted in God, that is, he pretended to do so; for he said, I am the Son of God. Those who call God Father, and themselves his children, thereby profess to put a confidence in him, Ps. ix. 10. Now they suggest, that he did but deceive himself and others, when he made himself so much the darling of heaven; for, if he had been the Son of God (as Job’s friends argued concerning him), he would not have been abandoned to all this misery, much less abandoned in it. This was a sword in his bones, as David complains of the like (Ps. xlii. 10); and it was a two-edged sword, for it was intended, First, To vilify him, and to make the standers-by think him a deceiver and an impostor; as if his saying, that he was the Son of God, were now effectually disproved. Secondly, To terrify him, and drive him to distrust and despair of his Father’s power and love; which some think, was the thing he feared, religiously feared, prayed against, and was delivered from, Heb. v. 7. David complained more of the endeavours of his persecutors to shake his faith, and drive him from his hope in God, than of their attempts to shake his throne, and drive him from his kingdom; their saying, There is no help for him in God (Ps. iii. 2), and, God has forsaken him, Ps. lxxi. 11. In this, as in other things, he was a type of Christ. Nay, these very words David, in that famous prophecy of Christ, mentions, as spoken by his enemies (Ps. xxii. 8); He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Surely these priests and scribes had forgotten their psalter, or they would not have used the same words, so exactly to answer the type and prophecy: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.
(3.) To complete the reproach, the thieves also that were crucified with him were not only not reviled as he was, as if they had been saints compared with him, but, though fellow-sufferers with him, joined in with his prosecutors, and cast the same in his teeth; that is, one of them did, who said, If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us, Luke xxiii. 39. One would think that of all people this thief had least cause, and should have had least mind, to banter Christ. Partners in suffering, though for different causes, usually commiserate one another; and few, whatever they have done before, will breathe their last in revilings. But, it seems, the greatest mortifications of the body, and the most humbling rebukes of Providence, will not of themselves mortify the corruptions of the soul, nor suppress the wickedness of the wicked, without the grace of God.
Well, thus our Lord Jesus having undertaken to satisfy the justice of God for the wrong done him in his honour by sin, he did it by suffering in his honour; not only by divesting himself of that which was due to him as the Son of God, but by submitting to the utmost indignity that could be done to the worst of men; because he was made sin for us, he was thus made a curse for us, to make reproach easy to us, if at any time we suffer it, and have all manner of evil said against us falsely, for righteousness’ sake.
III. We have here the frowns of heaven, which our Lord Jesus was under, in the midst of all these injuries and indignities from men. Concerning which, observe,
1. How this was signified–by an extraordinary and miraculous eclipse of the sun, which continued for three hours, v. 45. There was darkness epi pasan ten gen—over all the earth; so most interpreters understand it, though our translation confines it to that land. Some of the ancients appealed to the annals of the nation concerning this extraordinary eclipse at the death of Christ, as a thing well known, and which gave notice to those parts of the world of something great then in doing; as the sun’s going back in Hezekiah’s time did. It is reported that Dionysius, at Heliopolis in Egypt, took notice of this darkness, and said, Aut Deus natur patitur, aut mundi machina dissolvitur–Either the God of nature is suffering, or the machine of the world is tumbling into ruin. An extraordinary light gave intelligence of the birth of Christ (ch. ii. 2), and therefore it was proper that an extraordinary darkness should notify his death, for he is the Light of the world. The indignities done to our Lord Jesus, made the heavens astonished, and horribly afraid, and even put them into disorder and confusion; such wickedness as this the sun never saw before, and therefore withdrew, and would not see this. This surprising, amazing, darkness was designed to stop the mouths of those blasphemers, who were reviling Christ as he hung on the cross; and it should seem that, for the present, it struck such a terror upon them, that though their hearts were not changed, yet they were silent, and stood doubting what this should mean, till after three hours the darkness scattered, and then (as appears by v. 47), like Pharaoh when the plague was over, they hardened their hearts. But that which was principally intended in this darkness, was, (1.) Christ’s present conflict with the powers of darkness. Now the prince of this world, and his forces, the rulers of the darkness of this world, were to be cast out, to be spoiled and vanquished; and to make his victory the more illustrious, he fights them on their own ground; gives them all the advantage they could have against him by this darkness, lets them take the wind and sun, and yet baffles them, and so becomes more than a conqueror. (2.) His present want of heavenly comforts. This darkness signified that dark cloud which the human soul of our Lord Jesus was now under. God makes his sun to shine upon the just and upon the unjust; but even the light of the sun was withheld from our Saviour, when he was made sin for us. A pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun; but because now his soul was exceeding sorrowful, and the cup of divine displeasure was filled to him without mixture, even the light of the sun was suspended. When earth denied him a drop of cold water, heaven denied him a beam of light; having to deliver us from utter darkness, he did himself, in the depth of his sufferings, walk in darkness, and had no light, Isa. l. 10. During the three hours that this darkness continued, we do not find that he said one word, but passed this time in a silent retirement into his own soul, which was now in agony, wrestling with the powers of darkness, and taking in the impressions of his Father’s displeasure, not against himself, but the sin of man, which he was now making his soul an offering for. Never were there three such hours since the day that God created man upon the earth, never such a dark and awful scene; the crisis of that great affair of man’s redemption and salvation.
2. How he complained of it (v. 46); About the ninth hour, when it began to clear up, after a long and silent conflict. Jesus cried, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? The words are related in the Syriac tongue, in which they were spoken, because worthy of double remark, and for the sake of the perverse construction which his enemies put upon them, in putting Elias for Eli. Now observe here,
(1.) Whence he borrowed this complaint–from Ps. xxii. 1. It is not probable (as some have thought) that he repeated the whole psalm; yet hereby he intimated that the whole was to be applied to him, and that David, in spirit, there spoke of his humiliation and exaltation. This, and that other word, Into thy hands I commit my spirit, he fetched from David’s psalms (though he could have expressed himself in his own words), to teach us of what use the word of God is to us, to direct us in prayer, and to recommend to us the use of scripture-expressions in prayer, which will help our infirmities.
(2.) How he uttered it–with a loud voice; which bespeaks the extremity of his pain and anguish, the strength of nature remaining in him, and the great earnestness of his spirit in this expostulation. Now the scripture was fulfilled (Joe 3:15; Joe 3:16); The sun and the moon shall be darkened. The Lord shall also roar out of Zion, and utter his voice form Jerusalem. David often speaks of his crying aloud in prayer, Ps. lv. 17.
(3.) What the complaint was–My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? A strange complaint to come from the mouth of our Lord Jesus, who, we are sure, was God’s elect, in whom his soul delighted (Isa. xlii. 1), and one in whom he was always well pleased. The Father now loved him, nay, he knew that therefore he loved him, because he laid down his life for the sheep; what, and yet forsaken of him, and in the midst of his sufferings too! Surely never sorrow was like unto that sorrow which extorted such a complaint as this from one who, being perfectly free from sin, could never be a terror to himself; but the heart knows its own bitterness. No wonder that such a complaint as this made the earth to quake, and rent the rocks; for it is enough to make both the ears of every one that hears it to tingle, and ought to be spoken of with great reverence.
Note, [1.] That our Lord Jesus was, in his sufferings, for a time, forsaken by his Father. So he saith himself, who we are sure was under no mistake concerning his own case. Not that the union between the divine and human nature was in the least weakened or shocked; no, he was now by the eternal Spirit offering himself: nor as if there were any abatement of his Father’s love to him, or his to his Father; we are sure that there was upon his mind no horror of God, or despair of his favour, nor any thing of the torments of hell; but his Father forsook him; that is, First, He delivered him up into the hands of his enemies, and did not appear to deliver him out of their hands. He let loose the powers of darkness against him, and suffered them to do their worst, worse than against Job. Now was that scripture fulfilled (Job xvi. 11), God hath turned me over into the hands of the wicked; and no angel is sent from heaven to deliver him, no friend on earth raised up to appear for him. Secondly, He withdrew from him the present comfortable sense of his complacency in him. When his soul was first troubled, he had a voice from heaven to comfort him (John xii. 27, 28); when he was in his agony in the garden, there appeared an angel from heaven strengthening him; but now he had neither the one nor the other. God hid his face from him, and for awhile withdrew his rod and staff in the darksome valley. God forsook him, not as he forsook Saul, leaving him to an endless despair, but as sometimes he forsook David, leaving him to a present despondency. Thirdly, He let out upon his soul an afflicting sense of his wrath against man for sin. Christ was made Sin for us, a Curse for us; and therefore, though God loved him as a Son, he frowned upon him as a Surety. These impressions he was pleased to admit, and to waive that resistance of them which he could have made; because he would accommodate himself to this part of his undertaking, as he had done to all the rest, when it was in his power to have avoided it.
[2.] That Christ’s being forsaken of his Father was the most grievous of his sufferings, and that which he complained most of. Here he laid the most doleful accents; he did not say, “Why am I scourged? And why spit upon? And why nailed to the cross?” Nor did he say to his disciples, when they turned their back upon him, Why have ye forsaken me? But when his Father stood at a distance, he cried out thus; for this as it that put wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery. This brought the waters into the soul, Ps. lxix. 1-3.
[3.] That our Lord Jesus, even when he was thus forsaken of his Father, kept hold of him as his God, notwithstanding; My God, my God; though forsaking me, yet mine. Christ was God’s servant in carrying on the work of redemption, to him he was to make satisfaction, and by him to be carried through and crowned, and upon that account he calls him his God; for he was now doing his will. See Isa. xlix. 5-9. This supported him, and bore him up, that even in the depth of his sufferings God was his God, and this he resolves to keep fast hold of.
(4.) See how his enemies impiously bantered and ridiculed this complaint (v. 47); They said, This man calleth for Elias. Some think that this was the ignorant mistake of the Roman soldiers, who had heard talk of Elias, and of the Jews’ expectation of the coming of Elias, but knew not the signification of Eli, Eli, and so made this blundering comment upon these words of Christ, perhaps not hearing the latter part of what he said, for the noise of the people. Note, Many of the reproaches cast upon the word of God and the people of God, take rise from gross mistakes. Divine truths are often corrupted by ignorance of the language and style of the scripture. Those that hear by the halves, pervert what they hear. But others think that it was the wilful mistake of some of the Jews, who knew very well what he said, but were disposed to abuse him, and make themselves and their companions merry, and to misrepresent him as one who, being forsaken of God, was driven to trust in creatures; perhaps hinting also, that he who had pretended to be himself the Messiah, would now be glad to be beholden to Elias, who was expected to be only the harbinger and forerunner of the Messiah. Note, It is no new thing for the most pious devotions of the best men to be ridiculed and abused by profane scoffers; nor are we to think it strange if what is well said in praying and preaching be misconstrued, and turned to our reproach; Christ’s words were so, though he spoke as never man spoke.
IV. The cold comfort which his enemies ministered to him in this agony, which was like all the rest.
1. Some gave him vinegar to drink (v. 48); instead of some cordial-water to revive and refresh him under this heavy burthen, they tantalized him with that which did not only add to the reproach they were loading him with, but did too sensibly represent that cup of trembling which his Father had put into his hand. One of them ran to fetch it, seeming to be officious to him, but really glad of an opportunity to abuse and affront him, and afraid lest any one should take it out of his hands.
2. Others, which the same purpose of disturbing and abusing him, refer him to Elias (v. 49); “Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Come, let him alone, his case is desperate, neither heaven nor earth can help him; let us do nothing either to hasten his death, or to retard it; he has appealed to Elias, and to Elias let him go.“
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Golgotha (). Chaldaic or Aramaic Gulgatha, Hebrew Gulgoleth, place of a skull-shaped mount, not place of skulls. Latin Vulgate Calvariae locus, hence our Calvary. Tyndale misunderstood it as a place of dead men’s skulls. Calvary or Golgotha is not the traditional place of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but a place outside of the city, probably what is now called Gordon’s Calvary, a hill north of the city wall which from the Mount of Olives looks like a skull, the rock-hewn tombs resembling eyes in one of which Jesus may have been buried.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Golgotha. An Aramaic word, Gulgoltha, = the Hebrew, Gulgoleth, and translated skull in Jud 9:53; 2Ki 9:35. The word Calvary comes through the Latin calvaria, meaning skull, and used in the Vulgate. The New Testament narrative does not mention a mount or hill. The place was probably a rounded elevation. The meaning is not, as Tynd., a place of dead men’s skulls, but simply skull.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Mat 27:33
. And they came to the place. Jesus was brought to the place where it was customary to execute criminals, that his death might be more ignominious. Now though this was done according to custom, still we ought to consider the loftier purpose of God; for he determined that his Son should be cast out of the city as unworthy of human intercourse, that he might admit us into his heavenly kingdom with the angels. For this reason the apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, (Heb 13:12,) refers it to an ancient figure of the law. For as God commanded his people to burn without the camp the bodies of those animals, the blood of which was carried into the sanctuary to make atonement for sins, (Exo 29:14; Lev 16:27😉 so he says that Christ went out of the gate of the city, that, by taking upon him the curse which pressed us down, he might be regarded as accursed, and might in this manner atone for our sins. (272) Now the greater the ignominy and disgrace which he endured before the world, so much the more acceptable and noble a spectacle did he exhibit in his death to God and to the angels. For the infamy of the place did not hinder him from erecting there a splendid trophy of his victory; nor did the offensive smell of the carcasses which lay there hinder the sweet savor of his sacrifice from diffusing itself throughout the whole world, and penetrating even to heaven.
(272) “ Et effeçast nos peche, et en fist la satisfaction;” — “and might blot out our sins, and make satisfaction for them.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(33) A place called Golgotha.The other Gospels give the name with the definite article, as though it were a well-known locality. It is not mentioned, however, by any Jewish writer, and its position is matter of conjecture. It was nigh unto the city (Joh. 19:20), and therefore outside the walls (comp. Heb. 13:12). There was a garden in it (Joh. 19:41), and in the garden a tomb, which was the property of Joseph of Arimatha (Mat. 27:60). A tradition, traceable to the fourth century, has identified the spot with the building known as the Church of the Sepulchre. One eminent archaeologist of our own time (Mr. James Fergusson) identifies it with the Dome of the Rock in the Mosque of El Aksa. Both sites were then outside the city, but were afterwards enclosed by the third wall, built by Agrippa II. The name has been supposed by some to point to its being a common place of execution; but it is not probable that the skulls of criminals would have been left unburied, nor that a wealthy Jew should have chosen such a spot for a garden and a burial-place. The facts lead rather to the conclusion (1) that the name indicated the round, bare, skull-like character of the eminence which was so called; and (2) that it may have been chosen by the priests as a deliberate insult to the member of their own body who had refused to share their policy, and was at least suspected of discipleship, and whose garden, or orchard, with its rock-hewn sepulchre, lay hard by (Mar. 15:43; Luk. 23:51; Joh. 19:38). A later legend saw in the name a token that the bones of Adam were buried there, and that as the blood flowed from the sacred wounds on his skull his soul was translated to Paradise. The more familiar name of Calvary (Luk. 23:35) has its origin in the Vulgate rendering (Calvarium=& skull) of the Greek word Kranion, or Cranium, which the Evangelist actually uses.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33. Place called Golgotha This was a Hebrew word signifying a skull-place. It is in Latin Calvaria, and thus it is in Luke called Calvary, which is the common name in English. It was called thus, some think, because, being the usual place of execution, the skulls of malefactors whose bodies had been there buried often become visible. But more probably it was so called from a supposed resemblance of the mound to a human skull. Calvary might have been a little elevated, but it could not have been a mountain or mount. Dr. Barclay, (with reasoning that may stand as valid enough in the existing absence of any proof to the contrary,) identifies Golgotha with Goath, (Jer 31:39,) which he locates on the east, close between the city wall and the Kedron, a little north of Gethsemane. If that was the place of crucifixion, there, also, was the garden containing Joseph’s new tomb. Joh 19:4. The scene of bloody sweat, the crucifixion, and the entombment was then properly one.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And they were come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, it was called, The place of a skull,’
Humanly speaking it was a coincidence that the place where Jesus died was called ‘the place of a Skull’ (Kraniou topos). It may have been a name given because a skull had once been discovered there. The repetition of ‘was called’ suggests that this is not just an interpretation but that it was called (or came to be called) this in both Aramaic as ‘Gulgalta’ (where it simply means ‘Skull’) and in Greek as ‘Kraniou topos’ (‘place of a skull’). It certainly would be called this ever afterwards, even if not before this time. We cannot really doubt that there is the implication here that, in Christian eyes at least it was a place of death. A skull represented death and corruption. Thus here we have a further emphasis on the fact that Jesus has been brought to the place of death. Interestingly enough the skull and crossbones (indicating the whole self) would later come to indicate resurrection, but that was only because of what Jesus accomplished here.
The present site of Golgotha is unknown. The traditional site was determined over three hundred years later, and by then much had taken place since this had happened, including the destruction and rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the emptying of it of its inhabitants. It is unlikely therefore that the true site would have been remembered, especially as interest in such sites was not a phenomenon of the time, but would arise much later. The focus of the Apostles’ generation was on the risen Christ. But the site would certainly have been on a rise near the road so that the public could observe quite clearly what happened to the opponents of Rome.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 27:33. A place called Golgotha A Syriac word, which signifies a skull or head. In Latin it is called Calvary: the place was so named, either because malefactors used to be executed there, or because the charnel house, or common repository for bones and skulls, might have been there. See Mar 15:22.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 27:33 , Chald. , Heb. meaning a skull. Jerome and most other expositors (including Luther, Fritzsche, Strauss, Tholuck, Friedlieb) derive the name from the circumstance that, as this was a place for executing criminals, it abounded with skulls (which, however, are not to be conceived of as lying unburied); while Cyrill, Jerome, Calovius, Reland, Bengel, Paulus, Lcke, de Wette, Ewald, Bleek, Volkmar, Keim, Weiss, on the other hand, trace the name to the shape of the hill. [35] The latter view, which is also that of Thenius (in Ilgen’s Zeitschr. f. Theol . 1842, 4, p. 1 ff.) and Furer (in Schenkel’s Lex. II. p. 506), ought to be preferred, because the name means nothing more than simply a skull (not hill of skulls, valley of skulls, and such like, as though the plural (skulls) had been used). A similar practice of giving to places, according to their shape, such names, as Kopf, Scheitel (comp. the hills called in Strabo, xvii. 3, p. 835), Stirn , and the like, is not uncommon among ourselves (Germans).
] which , i.e. which Aramaic term denotes ( ) a so-called ( ., Khner, II. 1, p. 232) place of a skull , Lat.: quod calvariae quem dicunt locum significat . It was probably a round, bare hill . But where it stood it is utterly impossible to determine, although it may be regarded as certain (in opposition to Raumer, Schubert, Krafft, Lange, Furer) that it was not the place within the city (the so-called Mount Calvary), which subsequently to the time of Constantine had been excavated under the impression that it was so, a point, however, which Ritter, Erdk . XVI. 1, p. 427 ff., leaves somewhat doubtful. See Robinson, Palst . II. p. 270 ff., and his neuere Forsch . 1857, p. 332 ff. In answer to Robinson, consult Schaffter, d. chte Lage d. heil. Grabes , 1849. But see in general, Tobler, Golgatha, seine Kirchen und Klster , 1851; Fallmerayer in the Abh. d. Baier. Akad . 1852, VI. p. 641 ff.; Ewald, Jahrb . II. p. 118 ff., VI. p. 84 ff.; Arnold in Herzog’s Encykl . V. p. 307 ff.; Keim, III. p. 404 ff.
[35] In frying to account for the origin of the name, the Fathers, from Tertullian and Origen down to Euthymius Zigabenus, make reference to the tradition that Adam was buried in the place of a skull. This Judaeo-Christian legend is very old and very widely diffused (see Dillmann, “zum christl. Adambuch,” in Ewald’s Jahrb . V. p. 142); but we are not warranted in confidently assuming that it was of pre-Christian origin (Dillmann) simply because Athanasius, Epiphanius, and others have characterized it as Jewish; it would naturally find much favour, as being well calculated to serve the interests of Christian typology (Augustine: “quia ibi erectus sit medicus, ubi jacebat aegrotus,” etc.).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
Ver. 33. A place of a skull ] Here our thrice noble Conqueror would erect his trophies, to encourage us to suffer for him, if God call us thereto, in the most vile and loathsome places, as also to assure us that his death is life to the dead.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
33. ] , in Chaldee , in Hebrew , a skull: the name is by Jerome, and generally, explained from its being the usual place of executions and abounding with skulls not however unburied , which was not allowed. This last consideration raises an objection to the explanation, and as the name does not import , but . or simply (Luke), many, among whom are Reland, Paulus, Lcke, De Wette, Meyer, &c., understand it as applying to the shape of the hill or rock. But neither does this seem satisfactory, as we have no analogy to guide us (Meyer’s justification of the name from , or , a wood near Corinth, does not apply: for that is so called from , the cornel tree De Wette), and no such hill or rock is known to have existed.
As regards the situation , we await some evidence which may decide between the conflicting claims of the commonly-received site of Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre, and that upheld by Mr. Ferguson, who holds that the Dome of the Rock, usually known as the Mosque of Omar, is in reality the spot of our Lord’s entombment. See his Article “Jerusalem” in Dr. Smith’s Biblical Dictionary: and on the other side, Williams’s Holy City, and Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, edn. 3, p. 459 ff.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Matthew
THE CRUCIFIXION
Mat 27:33 – Mat 27:50
The characteristic of Matthew’s account of the crucifixion is its representation of Jesus as perfectly passive and silent. His refusal of the drugged wine, His cry of desolation, and His other cry at death, are all His recorded acts. The impression of the whole is ‘as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.’ We are bid to look on the grim details of the infliction of the terrible death, and to listen to the mockeries of people and priests; but reverent awe forbids description of Him who hung there in His long, silent agony. Would that like reticence had checked the ill-timed eloquence of preachers and teachers of later days!
I. We have the ghastly details of the crucifixion.
What a gap there is between Mat 27:34 – Mat 27:35 ! The unconcerned soldiers went on to the next step in their ordinary routine on such an occasion,-the fixing of the cross and fastening of the victim to it. To them it was only what they had often done before; to Matthew, it was too sacred to be narrated, He cannot bring his pen to write it. As it were, he bids us turn away our eyes for a moment; and when next we look, the deed is done, and there stands the cross, and the Lord hanging, dumb and unresisting, on it. We see not Him, but the soldiers, busy at their next task. So little were they touched by compassion or awe, that they paid no heed to Him, and suspended their work to make sure of their perquisites,-the poor robes which they stripped from His body. Thus gently Matthew hints at the ignominy of exposure attendant on crucifixion, and gives the measure of the hard stolidity of the guards. Gain had been their first thought, comfort was their second. They were a little tired with their march and their work, and they had to stop there on guard for an indefinite time, with nothing to do but two more prisoners to crucify: so they take a rest, and idly keep watch over Him till He shall die. How possible it is to look at Christ’s sufferings and see nothing! These rude legionaries gazed for hours on what has touched the world ever since, and what angels desired to look into, and saw nothing but a dying Jew. They thought about the worth of the clothes, or about how long they would have to stay there, and in the presence of the most stupendous fact in the world’s history were all unmoved. We too may gaze on the cross and see nothing. We too may look at it without emotion, because without faith, or any consciousness of what it may mean for us. Only they who see there the sacrifice for their sins and the world’s, see what is there. Others are as blind as, and less excusable than, these soldiers who watched all day by the Cross, seeing nothing, and tramped back at night to their barrack utterly ignorant of what they had been doing. But their work was not quite done. There was still a piece of grim mockery to be performed, which they would much enjoy. The ‘cause,’ as Matthew calls it, had to be nailed to the upper part of the cross. It was tri-lingual, as John tells us,-in Hebrew, the language of revelation; in Greek, the tongue of philosophy and art; in Latin, the speech of law and power. The three chief forces of the human spirit gave unconscious witness to the King; the three chief languages of the western world proclaimed His universal monarchy, even while they seemed to limit it to one nation. It was meant as a gibe at Him and at the nation, and as Pilate’s statement of the reason for his sentence; but it meant more than Pilate meant by it, and it was fitting that His royal title should hang above His head; for the cross is His throne, and He is the King of men because He has died for them all. One more piece of work the soldiers had still to do. The crucifixion of the two robbers perhaps of Barabbas’ gang, though less fortunate than he by Christ’s side was intended to associate Him in the public mind with them and their crimes, and was the last stroke of malice, as if saying, ‘Here is your King, and here are two of His subjects and ministers.’ Matthew says nothing of the triumph of Christ’s love, which won the poor robber for a disciple even at that hour of ignominy. His one purpose seems to be to accumulate the tokens of suffering and shame, and so to emphasise the silent endurance of the meek Lamb of God. Therefore, without a word about any of our Lord’s acts or utterances, he passes on to the next group of incidents.
II. The mockeries of people and priests.
A common passion levels all distinctions of culture and rank. The reverend dignitaries echoed the ferocious ridicule of the mob, whom they despised so much. The poorest criminal would have been left to die in peace; but brutal laughter surged round the silent sufferer, and showers of barbed sarcasms were flung at Him. The throwers fancied them exquisite jests, and demonstrations of the absurdity of Christ’s claims; but they were really witnesses to His claims, and explanations of His sufferings. Look at them in turn, with this thought in our minds. ‘He saved others; Himself He cannot save,’ was launched as a sarcasm which confuted His alleged miracles by His present helplessness. How much it admits, even while it denies! Then, He did work miracles; and they were all for others, never for His own ends; and they were all for saving, never for destroying. Then, too, by this very taunt His claim to be the ‘Saviour’ is presupposed. And so, ‘Physician, heal Thyself,’ seemed to them an unanswerable missile to fling. If they had only known what made the ‘cannot,’ and seen that it was a ‘will not,’ they would have stood full in front of the great miracle of love which was before them unsuspected, and would have learned that the not saving Himself, which they thought blew to atoms His pretensions to save others, was really the condition of His saving a world. If He is to save others He cannot save Himself. That is the law for all mutual help. The lamp burns out in giving light, but the necessity for the death of Him who is the life of the world is founded on a deeper ‘must.’ His only way of delivering us from the burden of sin is His taking it on Himself. He has to ‘bear our griefs and carry our sorrows,’ if He is to bear away the sin of the world. But the ‘cannot’ derives all its power from His own loving will. The rulers’ taunt was a venomous lie, as they meant it. If for ‘cannot’ we read ‘will not,’ it is the central truth of the Gospel.
Nor did they succeed better with their second gibe, which made mirth of such a throne, and promised allegiance if He would come down. O blind leaders of the blind! That death which seemed to them to shatter His royalty really established it. His Cross is His throne of saving power, by which He sways hearts and wills, and because of it He receives from the Father universal dominion, and every knee shall bow to Him. It is just because He did not come down from it that we believe on Him. On His head are many crowns; but, however many they be, they all grow out of the crown of thorns. The true kingship is absolute command over willingly submitted spirits; and it is His death which bows us before Him in raptures of glad love which counts submission, liberty, and sacrifice blessed. He has the right to command because He has given Himself for us, and His death wakes all-surrendering and all-expecting faith.
Nor was the third taunt more fortunate. These very religious men had read their Bibles so badly that they might never have heard of Job, nor of the latter half of Isaiah. They had been poring over the letter all their lives, and had never seen, with their microscopes, the great figure of the Innocent Sufferer, so plain there. So they thought that the Cross demonstrated the hollowness of Jesus’ trust in God, and the rejection of Him by God. Surely religious teachers should have been slow to scoff at religious trust, and surely they might have known that failure and disaster even to death were no signs of God’s displeasure. But, in one aspect, they were right. It is a mystery that such a life should end thus; and the mystery is none the less because many another less holy life has also ended in suffering. But the mystery is solved when we know that God did not deliver Him, just because He ‘would have Him,’ and that the Father’s delight in the Son reached its very highest point when He became obedient until death, and offered Himself ‘a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing unto God.’
III. We pass on to the darkness, desolation, and death.
‘His brow was chill with dying,
And His soul was faint with loss.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 27:33-34
33And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.
Mat 27:33 “Golgotha” This Hebrew word meant ” skull.” ” Calvary” is from the Latin. The term referred to a low, bald hill, not a full skull.
Mat 27:34 “they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall” The Babylonian Talmud says the women of Jerusalem gave this strong drink to condemned prisoners to ease their pain (cf. Mar 15:23, where “gall” means ” myrrh”). This was possibly a prophetic reference to Psa 69:21.
“He was unwilling to drink” This has nothing to do with the modern denominational issue of total abstinence (see Special Topic at Mat 26:29). Jesus does later accept the cheap wine of the soldiers (cf. Mat 27:48). He is refusing to take anything to dull either the pain or His senses.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
unto. Greek. eis. App-104. Not the same word as in verses: Mat 27:19, Mat 27:27, Mat 27:45, Mat 19:62.
Golgotha. An Aramaic word, from the Hebrew Gulgoleth (see App-94. Jdg 9:53. 2Ki 9:35). Nothing is said about a “green hill”. But an elevation, which we speak of as being a “head”, “shoulder”, or “neck”. The Latin is calvaria = a skull. Hence Eng. Calvary.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
33.] , in Chaldee , in Hebrew , a skull: the name is by Jerome, and generally, explained from its being the usual place of executions and abounding with skulls-not however unburied, which was not allowed. This last consideration raises an objection to the explanation,-and as the name does not import , but . or simply (Luke), many, among whom are Reland, Paulus, Lcke, De Wette, Meyer, &c., understand it as applying to the shape of the hill or rock. But neither does this seem satisfactory, as we have no analogy to guide us (Meyers justification of the name from , or , a wood near Corinth, does not apply: for that is so called from , the cornel tree-De Wette), and no such hill or rock is known to have existed.
As regards the situation, we await some evidence which may decide between the conflicting claims of the commonly-received site of Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre, and that upheld by Mr. Ferguson, who holds that the Dome of the Rock, usually known as the Mosque of Omar, is in reality the spot of our Lords entombment. See his Article Jerusalem in Dr. Smiths Biblical Dictionary: and on the other side, Williamss Holy City, and Stanleys Sinai and Palestine, edn. 3, p. 459 ff.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 27:33-34. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
This was a stupefying draught, which was usually given to prisoners about to die in order to mitigate their pain, and therefore Christ would not drink it, for he was determined to suffer even to the bitter end. He had no mitigation of his agony when he was offering his atonement for us; and so, when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
Mat 27:35. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
This is a point upon which we cannot say much, but, to the peculiarly sensitive soul of Jesus, it must have been a great part of his shame thus to be stripped of every garment, and hung up before the sun.
Mat 27:36-37. And sitting down they watched him there; and set up over his head his accusation written: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
By their own confession, he died for being a King, and he died for being too greatly good, too royal in his love. He, being King of kings, died that you and I might live for ever, and be kings and priests unto God,
Mat 27:38-39. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads.
Not only they that sat there, such as the scribes, and Pharisee, and soldiers, and they that hung there, the thieves that were crucified with him, but the passers-by must needs revile him, indulging in a sneer.
Mat 27:40-43. And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,Hhe saved others: himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
That is the cry of the mockers today. If we will but give up the Atonement, men say that they will believe in Christ. His character is so excellent that they will accept him as an example, (no they say,) but they will not have his Godhead, nor his precious blood. This proves that they are enemies, for they use the same language as his bitterest foes did when he hung upon the cross. As for the scribes, they were learned in the Psalms, and therefore they quoted what we have already read.
Mat 27:43-44. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
Thus the Master passed through bitter trial and ignominy for our sakes.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psa 22:1-9; and Mat 27:33-44.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Mat 27:33. , of a skull) The hill was called so from its shape.[1193]
[1193] Not, as I am inclined to think, from the skulls of malefactors punished with death, which lay about there; for Golgotha, in the singular, means a skull, sc. the place of a skull.-B. H. E.
From all quarters in the circuit of the cross the whole world might behold the Son of God suspended thereon.-Harm., p. 562.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Chapter 88
The Crucifixion
And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
(Mat 27:33-44)
These verses describe the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ when he was made to be sin for us and hanged upon the cursed tree. It is an amazing, marvelous record. It is amazing and marvelous in our eyes when we realize who suffered these things. It was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the only truly holy and good man ever to live in this world. It is amazing and marvelous in our eyes when we are made to know for whom he suffered. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us(Rom 5:6-8). It is amazing and marvelous in our eyes when we remember why he suffered. The cause of his great sorrow and agony of body, soul, and spirit was the fact that the Son of God suffered for sin, as the sin-bearer. Christ died for our sins!
We have seen our Saviors sorrow in Gethsemane when he prayed three times, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. Such was the shock of his holy soul at the thought and prospect of being made sin that our Redeemer broke out into a sweat of blood. Luke describes it in these words: “Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luk 22:44).
We have seen the scourging of Pilates judgment hall, too. There our Lord was condemned in a mockery of justice (Joh 19:13). There he was delivered into the hands of cruel, barbaric Roman soldiers to be scourged. They took him into the common judgment hall where they gathered an entire band of soldiers, between five and twelve hundred of them, to scourge our Savior. They stripped him. They mercilessly whipped him with a Roman scourge. They mocked him. And they spit upon him! Then they led him away to crucify him.
Golgotha
“And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull” (v.33). Calvary, the place chosen for the slaughter of Gods dear Son, is called by Matthew, Golgotha. Golgotha means place of a skull. It was called Golgotha because in this place of slaughter, people who were stoned to death or crucified were simply covered over with a little dirt. Consequently, in a matter of time skulls and bones were seen everywhere.
Our blessed Savior was slaughtered in this hideous place of infamy where the carcasses of dead bodies were exposed as dung upon the earth as things abhorred both of God and men. Gods prophet, speaking of one cursed of God, said concerning him, They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem (Jer 22:18-19).
Therefore, when our Savior came to redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, he put himself in the place of one cursed of God. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree (Gal 3:13). He took our curse and was made a curse for us, that he might redeem us from it.
Sovereignty Displayed
In this scene of slaughter at Golgotha the Holy Spirit shows us a tremendous display of Gods glorious sovereignty in three things. First, we see Gods sovereignty displayed in the fulfillment of Holy Scripture by men who had no regard for the Scriptures. These soldiers had no more regard for the Scriptures than hogs have for diamonds. Yet they did exactly what God ordained that they would do and said that they would do (Act 4:27-28; Act 13:27-29). Thus, the Lord God makes even his Sons murderers to be his witnesses!
“They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink” (Mat 27:34). This mixture of vinegar (flat wine that had gone sour and bitter) mixed with gall was thought to be a mixture that would prolong ones life. It was given by the soldiers because they must, according to Gods decree, fulfill the prophecy of Psa 69:21. “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” John Gill wrote, This potion of vinegar with gall was an aggravating circumstance in our Lord’s sufferings, being given to him when he had a violent thirst upon him; and was an emblem of the bitter cup of God’s wrath he had already tasted of in the garden, and was about to drink up
When he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.” Our Lord refused to drink of this mixture because he was determined to suffer the wrath of God for us without any distraction or intoxication of mind. And he refused to drink of it because he would make all to know that he would do nothing to prolong his life, but was willing to die now that his hour had come. The fullness of time had come, and he would now lay down his life.
“And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots (Mat 27:35). Again, we are reminded that the Lord God was in total control on this day of infamy. The barbaric soldiers did nothing except what God had long before said they would do. This parting of our Lords garments was a fulfillment of Psa 22:18. “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
“And sitting down they watched him there” (Mat 27:36). After they had scourged him, mocked him, beat him, and crucified him, these hardened men sat down to watch the Lamb of God die. Like little boys cruelly throw a worm into a fire just to watch it wiggle, squirm, and die, they watched the Son of God; but to their utter astonishment, there was no wiggling, no squirming, and no dying until he gave up the ghost by his own sovereign will!
Second, we see a display of Gods sovereign, distinguishing grace in the two thieves crucified with our Lord. ” Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left” (Mat 27:38). Our Lord Jesus was crucified between two thieves, just as the prophet Isaiah declared he must be. He was numbered with the transgressors (Isa 53:12).
You do not need me to remind you that one of these thieves was plucked as a firebrand from the burning out of the very jaws of hell by Gods sovereign grace, while the other was left to suffer the just consequences of his sin. Let it never be forgotten by us that if we are saved, we are saved because God did it. The only distinction between you and me and the damned in hell is the distinction that grace has made (1Co 4:7; 1Co 15:10; Rom 9:16).
Third, we see in these verses a great display of Gods sovereignty in causing reprobate, unbelieving men to declare his truth, to declare the very essence of the gospel, though they never knew it themselves. We do not know for certain, but it may be that it was the testimony of spineless Pilate, the testimony of these wicked, taunting, jeering Jews, and the testimony of the mocking chief priests, scribes, and elders that became the instruments by which God taught that elect thief the gospel and brought him to faith in Christ.
Pilate declared, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS (Mat 27:37). Pilate, by the order of divine providence, announced that the crucified Christ is the King of the Jews, and refused to alter it, though urged to do so. This proclamation was made in Hebrew, the language of religion, in Greek, the language of philosophy, and in Latin, the language of science. That was no accident. There is no true religion, no true philosophy, and no true science that does not begin with the acknowledgment and confession that Jesus Christ is King.
The priests, scribes, elders, and people, danced in a drunken, hellish party around Immanuels cross, and in their blasphemy spoke the truth of God as distinctly as inspired apostles. In Mat 27:40 they jeered, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days. Though they knew it not, these religious ritualists here proclaimed the fact of our Lords death and resurrection. He destroyed the temple of his body in death and raised it up again in three days.
Again, they mocked the Lord of Glory, saying, He saved others; himself he cannot save (Mat 27:42). That is the very essence of the gospel! The Son of God died as our Substitute. If he would save us, he could not save himself. Those “fools and blind” did not know that they were proclaiming that which is Immanuels greatest glory. It was because he saved others that he could not save himself. Were he willing to let chosen sinners perish, he could have easily saved himself. But he bore, not only the cruel nails and spear, but their more cruel mockeries, rather than give up his self-imposed task of saving his people by the sacrifice of himself
He trusted in God (v.43). Our Lord Jesus Christ, as a man, lived by faith, in all things trusting God his Father. Thus he taught us that the only way we can honor, obey, and live for God in this world is by faith. And by his faith, consummating in his obedience unto death, as God the Holy Spirit declares in Gal 3:22-26, we were justified. It is not our believing that fulfilled Gods covenant promise and brought in that blessed righteousness by which we now stand before him in life. The promise is given to all who believe. But the promise was fulfilled and comes to us by faith of Jesus Christ. It was Christ to whom the promise was made as our Surety in the everlasting covenant upon condition of his obedience unto death as our Substitute. And it is Christ who obtained the promise by his faithful fulfillment of his covenant engagements as our Surety (Heb 10:5-14).
It is this, the faith of Jesus Christ, that is revealed to us by the gospel. We are shut up to Christ, who is the faith that is now revealed in the gospel. Our faith in Christ is not revealed to us; it is given to us and worked in us by the mighty operations of God the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:19-20; Eph 2:8-9; Col 1:12). It is Christ (the faith of Christ) who is revealed.
When God the Holy Spirit comes to chosen, redeemed sinners in the saving power of his omnipotent grace, he convinces them of all that Christ accomplished by his faithful obedience as our Substitute. When he reveals Christ in a person, he convinces him that his sin has been put away by Christs atonement, that righteousness has been brought in by Christs obedience, and that justice has been satisfied by Christs blood (Joh 16:8-11). And the sinner, being convinced of these things, trusts Christ.
Again they taunted our Redeemer, saying, He said, I am the Son of God (Mat 27:43). Modern infidels choose to ignore it; but these people heard his doctrine plainly. Jesus Christ of Nazareth openly, publicly declared himself to be the Son of God. And that is who he is! He is God and man in one glorious Person the Godman, our Mediator. He was the Godman in Marys womb, while he lived on earth in obedience to the Fathers will for us, and when he died as our Substitute upon the cursed tree. And he is now, and forever the Godman, exalted to save his redeemed!
The Sufferings of our Savior
When we think about the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ought always to bear in mind, to the best of our ability, the extent and reality of his sufferings. Our Lord Jesus endured all the hell of Gods wrath for us when he bore our sins in his body on the cross. He suffered all the wrath of God that we deserved in his body, in his soul, and in his spirit. The bare listing of his agonies is torturous to read. What must it have been to experience! The most savage barbarians in history have not been able to equal the tortures heaped upon the Son of God by the Jews and the Romans who crucified him. J. C. Ryle wrote, Never let it be forgotten that he had a real human body, a body exactly like our own, just as sensitive, just as vulnerable, just as capable of feeling intense pain.
Without question, many place too much emphasis upon the physical, bodily sufferings of Christ, trying to get people to feel sorry for poor, helpless Jesus. That is not my object. Jesus Christ did not die as the helpless victim of circumstances. He is the God of circumstances. Let us weep for the sins that made his death necessary. But he does not need or desire our pity. In fact, he plainly said, Weep not for me, but for yourselves, and for your children.
Yet, many seem to think our Lords bodily sufferings were of little importance. The Word of God records the physical, bodily sufferings of Christ in great detail in all four gospel narratives, in several of the Psalms, and in Isaiah 53, as well as in numerous other passages of the Old and New Testaments. Isaiah describes in considerable detail what our Savior suffered for us. In Psalms 22 David tells us what he said as he suffered the wrath of God for us. These things are recorded by divine inspiration for our learning and edification, because it is important for us to know what the Son of God suffered for us at Calvary.
Crucifixion was the most indescribably horrid form of execution ever forced upon a human being. The person crucified was stretched out on his back on a piece of timber. His hands were stretched out on the cross piece, and nailed through the wrists to the wood with huge spikes. His feet were crossed one on top of the other and nailed together with a huge mallet driving the spike through them both and fastening them to the wood. Then the Lord Jesus was picked up on the cross, and it was dropped into a socket three or four feet deep with his body attached to it! There he hung, not dying suddenly (No vital organ was touched!), in excruciating pain for six long hours. There he hung, naked, shamed, covered from head to foot with the excrement of other mens foul throats and his own holy blood. His head, his hands, his feet oozing with blood, throbbing in pain, the Lord of glory hung there for six indescribable hours of hell.
Yet, his agony of soul was infinitely more excruciating to him than that of his body. I understand the biblical doctrine of the atonement. I know that without the shedding of blood is no remission, not because God is vengeful and cruel, but because he is good, righteous, holy, and just. I understand the agony of our Saviors tormented body. I can even understand the torments of his broken heart to some degree. But the sufferings of our Saviors holy soul, I simply cannot comprehend
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isa 53:10-11).
Much we talk of Jesus blood,
But how littles understood!
Of His sufferings so intense
Angels have no perfect sense.
Who can rightly comprehend
Their beginning or their end?
Tis to God and God alone
That their weight is fully known.
See the suffering Son of God-
Panting, groaning, sweating blood!
Boundless depths of love divine!
Jesus, what a love was Thine!
The Son of God was made sin for us! Our sins were imputed to the Son of God! That fact in itself is overwhelming. But I am certain that there is more to the sufferings of our Lord for us than the mere legal, or forensic term imputation implies. His heart was not broken simply because he was made to be legally responsible for the debt of our sins. Our sins were not pasted on him, or merely placed to his account. The Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us! He was not merely made legally responsible for sin, or merely made to be a sin-offering. The language of Holy Scripture is crystal clear He hath made him sin for us (2Co 5:21).
When he was made sin for us, the Lord God made his soul an offering for sin. Then, when our Savior was most perfectly obedient to God as our Representative, his Father forsook him. Martin Luther was exactly right, when he declared, God forsaken of God, my God, no man can understand that! The Lamb of God was made sin for us. He was forsaken by his Father. And he was slain by the sword of his own holy justice. Robert Hawkers comments on this portion of Matthews Gospel are as instructive as they are precious…
Here let us pause over the solemn subject; and again look up by faith, and behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world! Methinks we may, as we look up and behold that wondrous sight, contemplate Jesus as thus with arms extended, inviting his redeemed to come to him, as his arms are stretched forth to embrace them. And while his arms are thus open to receive, his feet are waiting for their coming. And with his head reclining, he looks down with his eyes of love, as welcoming their approach. And what a thought is it for every true believer in Christ to cherish, and never to lose sight of: Jesus in all this, hung on the cross not as a private person, but as the public head of his body the Church. For as certain as that you and I, were both in the loins of Adam, when he transgressed in the garden, and were alike implicated in his guilt and punishment; so equally are all the seed of Christ crucified with Christ, and interested in his salvation. For so the charter both of justice and of grace runs: In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory (Isa 45:25).
How Christ Died
When we think about the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ought always to remember with deep reverence, gratitude, and praise how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1Co 15:3). The gospel is much more than the mere declaration of the fact that Christ died. The gospel is the declaration of how he died. The gospel has not been preached until it has been told, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It can be summarize in three words.
Voluntarily Our Lord Jesus Christ died as a voluntary victim. He was made sin; but his own hand laid our sins upon him. He was slain by the sword of justice; but his own hand held the sword (Joh 10:14-18).
Vicariously All our Lords sufferings were vicarious. He suffered not for his own sins, but for ours. He died as a Substitute in the room and stead of chosen sinners (Isa 53:5-6; Isa 53:8-10; Mat 1:21; 2Co 5:21; Gal 3:13; Heb 9:28; 1Pe 2:22; 1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18). Do not allow yourself to be satisfied with vague, general ideas about substitution and atonement. Everything our Savior did and endured as a man was for us, as our vicarious Sacrifice. Was he scourged? With his stripes we are healed. Was he stripped? It was that we might be clothed. Was he condemned? It was that we might go free. Was he mocked? It was that we might be blessed. Was he numbered with the transgressors? It was that we might be numbered with the sons of God. Was he unable to save himself? It was that he might save us. Was he made sin? It was that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Did he die? It was that we might live through him. As John Newton wrote
In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Til a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree
In agonies and blood
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.
Sure never till my latest breath
Can I forget that look.
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.
A second look He gave, which said,
I freely all forgive.
This blood is for thy ransom paid.
I die that thou mayest live.
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
(Such is the mystery of His grace),
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief and mournful joy
My spirit now is filled,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I killed.
Victoriously When the Word of God asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ was and is triumphant and victorious in his death, the meaning is just this: He shall have that for which he died. His people shall be saved. His Father shall be glorified. He shall be exalted forever (Isa 53:10-12; Heb 10:10-14).
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the fleshWho shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us (Rom 8:1-3; Rom 8:33-34).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
And when
The Order of Events at the Crucifixion
The order of events at the crucifixion:
(1) the arrival at Golgotha Mat 27:33; Mar 15:22; Luk 23:33; Joh 19:17
(2) the offer of the stupefying drink refused Mat 27:34; Mar 15:23
(3) Jesus is crucified between two thieves Mat 27:35-38; Mar 15:24-28; Luk 23:33-38; Joh 19:18-24
(4) He utters the first cry from the cross, “Father, forgive,” etc. Luk 23:34.
(5) The soldiers part His garments Mat 27:35; Mar 15:24; Luk 23:34; Joh 19:23
(6) The Jews mock Jesus Mat 27:39-44; Mar 15:29-32; Luk 23:35-38
(7) The thieves rail on Him, but one repents and believes Mat 27:44; Mar 15:32; Luk 23:39-43.
(8) The second cry from the cross, “To-day shalt thou be with me,” etc. Luk 23:43.
(9) The third cry, “Woman, behold thy son” Joh 19:26; Joh 19:27.
(10) The darkness Mat 27:45; Mar 15:33; Luk 23:44.
(11) The fourth cry, “My God,” etc. Mat 27:46; Mat 27:47; Mar 15:34-36
(12) The fifth cry, “I thirst” Joh 19:28.
(13) The sixth cry, “It is finished” Joh 19:30.
(14) The seventh cry, “Father, into thy hands,” etc. Luk 23:46.
(15) Our Lord dismisses his spirit Mat 27:50; Mar 15:37; Luk 23:46; Joh 19:30. (See Scofield “Mat 26:57”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Golgotha: Mar 15:22, Luk 23:27-33, Joh 19:17
Reciprocal: Luk 23:33 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:33
No genuine believer in Christ would wish to lessen the respect that is so universally held for “the scenes of Calvary,” yet it should be understood that most of the sentimental expressions on the subject are prompted by the general facts connected with the crucifixion. Even the poetic term “Mount Calvary” is not justified except figuratively as may be seen by the information now to be offered to the reader. Golgotha, rendered “Calvary” in Luk 23:33,” is from the Greek word KRANION which Thayer and Robinson define by the simple term “a skull.” Smith’s Bible Dictionary says the following in an article entitled Golgotha. “The Hebrew name of the spot at which our Lord was crucified. Mat 27:33; Mar 15:22; Joh 19:17. By these three evangelists it is interpreted to mean the ‘place of a skull.’ Two explanations of the name are given: (1) that it was a spot where executions ordinarily took place, and therefore abounded in skulls; or (2) it may come from the look or form of the spot itself, bald, round and skull-like, and therefore a mound or hillock in accordance with the common phrase–for which there is no direct authority –‘Mount Calvary.’ Whichever of these is correct, Golgotha seems to have been a known spot.”
In his comments on the word “Calvary,” Robert Young, author of the Analytical Concordance to the Bible, says the following: “This name occurs only in Luk 23:33, and is not a proper name, but arises from the translators having literally adopted the word Calvaria (i. e., “a bare skull”) the Latin word by which the Greek word is rendered in the Vulgate [a Latin version of the Scriptures]. This Kranion is simply the Greek translation of the Chaldee Golgotha. The place of crucifixion is by each of the four evangelists called Kranion, and is in every case translated Calvaria in the Vulgate, and in every place but that in Luke the English version translates the word by ‘scull.’ There is no sanction for the expression ‘Mount Calvary,’ for it is only 18 feet high.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
[Golgotha.] Beza pretends that this is written amiss for Golgoltha; when yet it is found thus written in all copies. But the good man censures amiss; since such a leaving out of letters in many Syriac words is very usual: you have this word thus written without the second [l], by the Samaritan interpreter, in the first chapter of Numbers Numbers_1.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 27:33. Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull. The name is the form then used, for the Hebrew word skull (comp. Luk 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 (Joh 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 Christs 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.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 27:33-34. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha A Syriac word which signifies a scull, or head. In Latin it is called Calvary. The place was so named, either because malefactors used to be executed there, or because the charnel-house or common repository for bones and sculls might have been there. Being upon an eminence, it seems to have been a proper spot of ground for the execution of criminals, as those that were crucified there might be seen at a considerable distance, and by a great number of spectators. They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall The word , here rendered gall, is used with great latitude in the Septuagint. The Hebrew word, signifying wormwood, is twice so rendered, Pro 5:4; Lam 3:15. At other times it seems to denote any bitter or poisonous infusion that tasted like gall. Mark says, They gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, . But, it seems, the two evangelists speak of the same ingredients. For though Mark terms that wine which Matthew calls vinegar, he may really have meant vinegar, which was a common drink among the ancients, (see Num 6:6,) and such as might very properly be called wine, as it was usually made of wine, or of the juice of grapes. Besides, it is well known that the ancients gave the general name of wine to all fermented liquors whatsoever. It is evident, therefore, that to reconcile the evangelists here, we have no occasion for the reading of Bezas copy, which has instead of . As to the other ingredient of this potion, it is probable the bitter, or poisonous infusion of Matthew mentioned above, might be called myrrh by Mark, because it had myrrh mixed with it; there being nothing more common than for a medicine, compounded of many ingredients, to take its name from some one of them that is prevalent in the composition. Or the evangelists maybe reconciled more directly by supposing, that the word used by Matthew and rendered gall, and which, as we have seen, is applied to wormwood, signifies any bitter drug whatsoever, and therefore may denote myrrh, which has its name from a Hebrew word signifying bitterness. Casaubon has given a third solution of this difficulty. He thinks that our Lords friends put a cup of myrrhed wine into the hands of one of the soldiers to give to him, but that the soldier, out of contempt, added gall to it. Whatever were the ingredients in this liquor, it is probable that it was offered to Christ by some of his friends, with a view to stupify and render him insensible of the ignominy and pain of his punishment. For it appears it was not unusual to give criminals drink of this kind, before their execution, in order to make them insensible of the pains of death. Jesus, however, refused the potion that was offered him, because he would bear his sufferings, however sharp, not by intoxicating and stupifying himself, but through the strength of faith, fortitude, and patience.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
27:33 {6} And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
(6) He is led out of the city so that we might be brought into the heavenly kingdom.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The word "Golgotha" is a Greek transliteration of the Aramaic gulgolta meaning "skull." "Calvary" comes from the Latin calva, "skull." Its exact location is unknown. It was evidently north of the old city wall, probably not far from the site of the present Church of the Holy Sepulcher (cf. Joh 19:20). Edersheim believed that the site was very close to the present Damascus Gate. [Note: Edersheim, The Life . . ., 2:585.] Gordon’s Calvary, which is not far from the Damascus Gate, does not enjoy much support as a site from scholars any more. [Note: See Andre Parrot, Golgotha and the Chruch of the Holy Sepulchre, pp. 59-65.] The traditional Via Dolorosa ("the way of sorrow"), the route from Jesus’ trial to the site of His crucifixion, rests on the assumption that Jesus’ trial before Pilate took place in the Antonia Fortress.