Gethsemane

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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Name of the garden on some part of mount Olivet to which the Lord often resorted with His disciples. It was here He spent a part of the night after the last Passover, and where He was in intense agony in prospect of drinking the cup of wrath due to sin. How significant is the name, which signifies “wine-press”! Angels came and ministered to Him. Here also He was betrayed by Judas with a kiss, and arrested (Matt. 26:36; Mark 14:32; Luke 22:39; John 18:1-2). A spot, now walled round and preserved as a European flower garden, on the N.W. of the slope of Olivet, is the traditional site of Gethsemane. It is nearly opposite the St. Stephen’s gate. There are in it some venerable olive trees; but as Titus, at the destruction of Jerusalem, cut down all the trees near the city, these must be of more recent growth, and there is no certainty as to the site. A more retired spot would seem more fitting.