WHY DID JOHN WRITE ‘the place of the City where Jesus was crucified was near’ (John 19:20)?

He was writing about the inscription that Pilate had put on Jesus’ cross, which, said John, 'was read by many Jews'—and the reason it was read by many Jews was because it was where all the Jewish people were gathered—near and around, the temple!
 
A correct reading of John 19:20 indicates that John used the ancient name by which the temple was known...’The Place’ (in Greek ho topos and in Hebrew HaMakom)

John’s Greek uses the Genitive Case denoting possession: it’s ‘the place OF the city where Jesus was crucified.’

Darby translates it quite correctly as, ‘This title therefore many of the Jews read, for the place of the city where Jesus was crucified was near; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, Latin.’
 
It is not the only occasion where John uses this name for the temple: in John 4:20 where the Samaritan woman converses with Jesus. She says ‘you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship’ (see KJV, NAS, Jubilee, ASV, Darby and others. Note, not ‘Jerusalem is the place’)
 
Find out about The Place (HaMakom) so designated from the days of Abraham, set apart for the presence of God among his people and known by Jacob as Bey-tel, the House of God.

'THE PLACE HaMakom: where Jerusalem's temples stood' is available from Wipf and Stock Publishers or Amazon

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