The Mark Of Forgiveness.
The mark of forgiveness was a single charcoal line placed upon the forehead; it was given by the priest to let the people know that the person had been forgiven.
The pole Moses made to hang the serpent was not a cross either, it was a single pole. The charcoal mark is symbolic of that pole Moses made. Christ was hung on a single pole, not a cross.
Ezekiel 9:4
and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a
mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”
Ezekiel 9:6
Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but
do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.
The word for mark is Tau, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
From the International Bible Standard Encyclopedia:
‘(3) תּו, tāw, “mark” (
Ezk 9:4,
Ezk 9:6). In Ezekiel's vision of the destruction of the wicked, the mark to be set upon the forehead of the righteous, at Yahweh's command, was, as in the case of the blood sprinkled on the door-posts of the Israelites (
Exo 12:22,
Exo 12:23), for their protection. As the servants of God (
Rev 7:2,
Rev 7:3) - the elect - were kept from harm by being sealed with the seal of the living God in their foreheads, so the man clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side, was told to mark upon their foreheads those whom God would save from judgment by His sheltering grace. Tāw also appears (
Job 31:35) for the attesting mark made to a document (the Revised Version (British and American) “signature,” margin “mark”).
The equivalent Hebrew letter tāw ()ת in the Phoenician alphabet and on the coins of the Maccabees
had the form of a cross (T). In oriental synods it was used as a signature by bishops who could not write. The cross, as a sign of ownership, was burnt upon the necks or thighs of horses and camels. It may have been the “mark” set upon the forehead of the righteous in Ezekiel's vision.’
Not a line, as in a pole, a ‘T’ as in a cross.
This is the Hebrew word for cross: לַחֲצוֹת
And, where is that used in Scripture?
Deuteronomy 21:23
you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is
hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
1 Corinthians 1:23. NIV
23 but we preach Christ
[crucified / staked out] a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
Acts 5:30
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Acts 10:39
And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
Origin of the word crux. Latin for: stake, scaffold, or cross, used in executions or torment.
The English term "cross" is derived from the Latin word crux. From about 1635 to 1645 AD.
Labarum
An upright pole with cross section to display a standard such as a flag, banner, or emblem.
Word Origin
From Late Latin, and of obscure origin
This standard was known by the name "labarum"—a word the etymology of which is very uncertain. The etymology of the word is unclear. Some derive it from Latin /labāre/ "to totter, or to waver." The labarum was also used to hold the ancient Babylonian sky-god emblem.
Patibulum
It is a establish fact that the two-beamed cross was in existence in the time of Yahshua, and that the word crux was used to refer to it. The crux was composed of two main pieces: The stipes, which is the upright pole, and the patibulum attached to it. The patibulum is the cross beam.
Stipe
Stipe is an upright support.
From Latin stipes "log, post, tree trunk"
Stauros
Stauros (σταυρός) is the Greek word for stake or post.
Dr. Bullinger, The Companion Bible, appx. 162 states, "crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian Sun-god...It should be stated that Constantine was a Sun-god worshipper...The evidence is thus complete, that the Lord was put to death upon and upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle."
Rev. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 197-205, frankly calls the cross "this Pagan symbol...the Tau, the sign of the cross, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the false Messiah...the mystic Tau of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and Egyptians--the true original form of the letter T--the initial of the name of Tammus...the Babylonian cross was the recognized emblem of Tammuz."
In the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, vol. 14, p. 273, we read, "In the Egyptian churches the cross was a pagan symbol of life borrowed by the Christians and interpreted in the pagan manner." Jacob Grimm, in his Deutsche Mythologie, says that the Teutonic (Germanic) tribes had their idol Thor, symbolised by a hammer, while the Roman Christians had their crux (cross). It was thus somewhat easier for the Teutons to accept the Roman cross.
Greek dictionaries, lexicons and other study books also declare the primary meaning of stauros to be an upright pale, pole or stake. The secondary meaning of "cross" is admitted by them to be a "later" rendering. At least two of them do not even mention "cross," and only render the meaning as "pole or stake." In spite of this strong evidence and proof that the word stauos should have been translated "stake," and the verb stauroo to have been translated "impale," almost all the common versions of the Scriptures persist with the Latin Vulgate's crux (cross), a "later" rendering of the Greek stauros.
In the book of Johannes Geffcken, The Last Days of Greco-Roman Paganism. p. 319, "that even after 314 A.D. the coins of Constantine show an even-armed cross as a symbol for the Sun-god."
The New Strong's Concise Concordance & Vine's Concise Dictionary of the Bible states that the meaning of "stauros (4716) denotes, primarily , "an upright pale or stake." On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, "to fasten to a stake or pale," are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed "cross." The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the "cross" of Christ."(Vine's Concise Dictionary of the Bible, pg 75, 1999 edition)
"Cross" and "Crucify" are nowhere to be found in the Greek of the New Testament. The word "Cross and Crucify" were adopted at a later date. "Cross" and "Crucify" are nowhere to be found in the Greek New Testament.
Stauroo
stauroó: to stake out.
Original Word: σταυρόω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: stauroó
Phonetic Spelling: (stow-ro'-o)
Definition: To fix to a stake; fig: To destroy, or mortify.
Stauros
stauros: an upright stake.
Original Word: σταυρός, οῦ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: stauros
Phonetic Spelling: (stow-ros')
Definition: a stake.
The words Cross and Crucify were added to the bible and dictionaries to satisfy the Catholics.
Yet, if Jesus was crucified on a cross, then "cross" would be the correct translation.
In regards to the word “cross.”Scholars do not always tell the truth, wither on purposes or accidental. It is wise to get all sides of a story, always.
You're making a mountain out of a mole hill, and ignoring some biblical evidence in the process. Again, whether Jesus died on a pole or cross isn't relevant. What matters is that he died in our place to make atonement for our sins.
