Page 38 - BV4

But why 2,000 cubits [3,000 feet]? It was determined that the "place" of a person's resi-
dence could extend outward 2,000 cubits from his central "place" of abode. If, for exam-
ple, one lived in a tent in the desert, one could consider his "place" as extending 2,000 cu-
bits from the tent itself. If one lived in a town with walls around it, then his "place" was
reckoned as being 2,000 cubits from the walls because the whole of the town was looked
on as a corporate "place." This reckoning was arrived at by noting that there were about
2,000 cubits between the Ark of the Covenant (where God symbolically resided) and the
rest of the Israelites while they were on their march toward the holyland. From this it was
determined that God considered his own "place" (or residence) as having an extension of
2,000 cubits from the Holy of Holies wherein was supposed to be the Ark of the Cove-
nant. Similarly, each of the Levitical towns was allowed 2,000 cubits surrounding its
walls as being their "CITY LIMITS" (Numbers 35:5,6). ASK Publications, 1983. Pages
44-45.

From this we know, then, that the place of execution was "OUTSIDE THE CAMP" -- AT
LEAST 2,000 CUBITS OR 3,000 FEET AWAY FROM THE SANCTUARY OR TABERNACLE.

At the time of Christ the Sanhedrin (Jewish governing body) used the SAME rule of thumb
for the city of Jerusalem. With the Court of the Sanhedrin as the center, they took a radius of 3,000
feet encircling it as the LIMITS OF THE ENCAMPMENT! Anything beyond this radius was
"OUTSIDE THE CAMP"; and somewhere, beyond this line, Christ was executed. THIS
ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITS JEREMIAH'S GROTTO AS BEING THE LOCATION OF
CHRIST'S CRUCIFIXION; because it is well within the 3,000 foot zone! IT IS NOT "OUTSIDE
THE CAMP"!

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has an even more intriguing background!

This traditional site of Christ's burying place has long been honored by Christians of all
lands as the indisputable place where Joseph of Arimathea laid the body of the Savior following
His death at Golgotha.

It is startling to realize that this belief is based entirely upon a tradition that emerged as late
as 333 A.D. -- after a lapse of more than three centuries from the date of the actual event! The tra-
dition becomes the more shadowy when it is recalled that, between the time of the crucifixion and
the date of the supposed discovery of the tomb, the city of Jerusalem had been reduced to a virtual
rubble-heap by the Romans and, a century later, completely replanned and rebuilt. Not only that,
but the ruins became the center, for scores of years, of a Roman army camp. The presence of this
camp would have prevented ANYONE from searching for the site of Christ's death and burial --
especially Christians who would NEVER have been allowed by the authorities to venture any-
where near the ruins!

It was THREE HUNDRED YEARS after the death of Christ that Macarius, Bishop of Jeru-
salem, excavated a tomb beneath a Roman temple of Venus and, on the SLENDER evidence of the

38