The Crucifixion Site of Jesus -- By: Ernest L. Martin

Journal: Bible and Spade (Second Run)
Volume: BSPADE 05:4 (Autumn 1992)
Article: The Crucifixion Site of Jesus
Author: Ernest L. Martin


The Crucifixion Site of Jesus

Ernest L. Martina

The following is a summary of Dr. Martin’s book Secrets of Golgotha (ASK Publications, Alhambra CA, 1988) in which he suggests that the traditional locations of Jesus’ crucifixion are incorrect and that the true site is on the Mount of Olives. — Ed.

Since the publication of my book Secrets of Golgotha in the Spring of 1988, there has been a steady flow of new information which shows that the crucifixion of Jesus took place on the Mount of Olives. Some of the evidence has come from other scholars who have seen the fact that Jesus was executed somewhere near the summit of Olivet. A great deal has also been arrived at by further research of my own. What is emerging is real evidence that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Garden Tomb located in Jerusalem are nowhere near the proper spot where the actual crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus took place. This fact has revolutionary consequences associated with it. This is because the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Orthodox churches for the past 1660 years have generally accepted the area associated with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the crucifixion site. Even classical historians have thought the site has most of the historical credentials to justify its acceptance by the scholarly world. But this new evidence shows that the Constantinian Church is thoroughly wrong. The Bible and history plainly establish that the Mount of Olives is the real place of the crucifixion.

Just over 118 years ago in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly (1873, 115; also 1870, 379–381) Dr. Hutchinson suggested that the crucifixion of Jesus must have taken place east of the Temple Mount — which placed it on the Mount of Olives. Until the publication of my book Secrets of Golgotha, that is the last scholarly indication I have found which suggests that the crucifixion happened on Olivet. Since AD 1873, the only candidates for the site have been the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which was built west of the second wall of Jerusalem or at the Garden Tomb region north and east of the Damascus Gate. But my book shows from the New Testament and early Jewish records that the southern summit of the Mount of Olives near the altar “without the sanctuary” where the Red Heifer was burnt to ashes (Ez 43:21) has far greater credentials for being the site.

Sacrifice of the Red Heifer

The first point to notice is that the burning of the Red Heifer and Jesus’ crucifixion were symbolically connected in a precise way by Christians who lived during the period of Herod’s Temple. The author of the Book of Heb...

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