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8 The Mount of Olives in YEHOVAH God’s Plan

Kidron during his escape. Then, after crossing the Kidron Valley, David climbed the Mount of Ol-
ives.

It is interesting to realize that the only way David could “pass over” the Kidron Valley was
by way of an arched stone bridge which connected the Temple Mount to the Mount of Olives. The
Mishna, in Parah 3:6, mentions this bridge. A thousand years later the Messiah, the descendant of
David, would also walk this same route “over” the Kidron Valley on a single bridge that was part of
the Temple complex built by Herod. This arched stone bridge -- and the later one -- provided the
only ritually clean path by which the priests could take sin offerings from the Tabernacle or Temple
to the summit of the Mount of Olives -- the site of the sin sacrifice altar. According to Peter Michas,
“the stone arch-over arch design of the bridge ensued that the priests were protected from ritual un-
cleanness, such as the remains of dead bodies [below].”

After crossing the Kidron bridge, Da-
vid followed this pathway which ascended
the Mount of Olives “to the summit where
YEHOVAH was worshiped.” In II Samuel
15:32 the Hebrew words ha rosh translate in
most Bibles as “the summit.” However, these
words can also be translated as “the head” or
“the skull” -- for a very good reason! Notice
that the verses in question call this site “the
Place of THE Head [or THE Skull] -- not “the
Place of A Head [or A Skull] -- or heads or
skulls plural! It is very definitely referring to
a particular head or skull. While many people
have conjectured, over the centuries, that this
phrase indicates a geographical feature that
looks like a skull or the top of a skull, the fact
remains that it refers to a LITERAL and
PARTICULAR skull!
Marble plaque at the Monastery of St. Paul in Greece.
Note skull at foot of cross
We find in the book The Cross in
Tradition, History, and Art, by William
Wood Seymour, that “it was an early tradition that Christ was crucified IN THE SAME PLACE
WHERE ADAM WAS BURIED. S. Chrysostom alludes to it: ‘Some say that Adam died there, and
there lieth, and that Jesus, in that place where death had reigned, there also set up the trophy’” (P.
99).

Tentzelius’ “Numial Treatise,” quoted in Southey’s Omniana (Vol. I, p. 281) records this
amazing episode in ancient history: “The tree [of life], with the bones of Adam, was preserved in
the ark by Noah, who divided the relics among his sons. The SKULL fell to the share of SHEM
[Noah’s son], who buried it in a MOUNT OF JUDEA called from this circumstance CALVARY
and GOLGOTHA [the Place of the Skull].” The Aramaic word Golgotha, found in Matthew 27:33;
Mark 15:22; Luke 23:33 and John 19:17 literally means the “Place of THE Skull.” Note the similar-
ity of its meaning to that of the Hebrew ha rosh, “the skull.” In Latin the name is CALVARY.

The Berean Voice March-April 2003