Matthew 20:29

Matthew 20:29. And at they went out of Jericho. Comp. Mark 10:46; Luke 18:35. Probably after the conversation just mentioned our Lora entered Jericho, and meeting a multitude there passed out of the city with them and returned again to encounter Zaccheus (Luke 19:2-10). On this excursion He passed the blind men. He left Jericho for Bethany on noon of Friday (8 th of Nisan), a week before the crucifixion. On Saturday He was in Bethany (John 12:1). Jericho was in the tribe of Benjamin on the borders of Ephraim, about two hours journey from the Jordan, and the road thence to Jerusalem was difficult and dangerous (Luke 10:30-34). The district was a blooming oasis in the midst of an extended sandy plain, watered and fruitful, rich in palms, roses, and balsam: hence probably the name (‘the fragrant city'). Built by the Canaanites, and destroyed by Joshua (Joshua 6:26), it was rebuilt and fortified at a later day, and became the seat of a school of the prophets. Herod the Great beautified it, and it was one of the most pleasant places in the land. In the twelfth century scarcely a vestige of the place remained, there is now on the site a wretched village, Richa or Ericha, with about 200 inhabitants. Robinson, however, locates the old Jericho in the neighborhood of the fountain of Elisha (two miles northwest of Rich).