this cannot be, because Jesus asended to heaven from Bethany, (Luke xxiv. 50,) and that was considerably on the other side of the mountain. Kypke supposed that Luke calculated at seven stadia, not the distance of the mountain from Jerusalem, but its length from one side to the other. This is a most unfortunate illustration. What writer would ever think of giving the admeasurement of a mountain, when it is neither required nor even alluded to. Besides, a sabbath day's journey is not a measure applicable to a field, as it is not from a field, but from the walls of a city that such admeasurement would commence. Unluckily for this comment, the Mount of Olives is not seven, but ten stadia long its western bounds were five stadia from Jerusalem; its eastern boundary, where Bethpage was situated, was (John xi. 18,) fifteen stadia, consequently the difference between the two would be ten stadia, and gives the length of the mountain. What I have said tends to remove a contradiction, which, it has been alleged, makes Luke at variance with himself. Luke xxiv. 50, says that Jesus led his disciples as far as Bethany, which was fifteen stadia from Jerusalem. But Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, does not specify the spot where Christ ascended to heaven, he merely says how near the Mount of Olives was to Jerusalem. THE END. IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY ST. STRAND. |