OF the many places in the Holy Land which have acquired an undying interest through their connection with our Lord Jesus Christ, few have a stronger hold upon the heart than the “wild mountain hamlet,” Bethany. Unknown in Old Testament days, it has no ancient record to make it famous. It is not associated with any triumph of arms; it has no fame as a place of commercial activity; nor did any of the great ones of Israel spring from it. Yet, apart from all these things, it has acquired an almost unrivalled interest, because it was the scene of so much that moves the heart in the history of the Lord. At Bethany (and, we may almost say, there alone) He found a home. Though to Nazareth belongs the Honor of His upbringing, in His later days it cast Him out; Capernaum, His “home,” received not His words; Jerusalem, which should have been His court, the center of His kingly glory, repulsed Him with the cry, “Away with Him!” “We have no king but Caesar!” but no such unhappy memories cling to Bethany’s name. There dwelt the little family which Jesus loved― (“Martha, her sister, and Lazarus”) ―and there, during the last week of His life before the cross, He passed the night, after the day of ministry in Jerusalem.
These feelings attach also to the hill upon which Bethany stands. Mount Olivet is mentioned in Scripture with so much that possesses intense interest. It is one of the mountains “round about Jerusalem”― the one nearest the city―and seems to overhang it in such a manner, that, from the hills which lie on the opposite side, it is not easy to distinguish between the outline of the village on its summit and that of the city buildings and walls. Up this hill, in olden days, David, together with his mourning followers, had passed― “by the ascent of Olivet, and wept as he went up.” That is the only occasion on which it stands markedly out in the Old Testament, and interesting as that is, the occasion is eclipsed by what happened in the days when “Great David’s greater Son” sojourned in the world. It was upon Mount Olivet that He was sitting when His disciples questioned Him concerning the overthrow of the Temple, the signs of His coming, and the end of the world (age). Then followed His solemn words, in full view of the Holy City and Temple, concerning the woes that should come upon that city and her land, and concerning His own appearing.
Still more affecting it is for us to remember the Lord’s agony in Gethsemane, the garden whither He was wont to resort. This hallowed spot lies to the north of Bethany, and is likewise on Olivet. It possesses an interest second only to that of Calvary, because there the blessed Lord tasted grief surpassed only by the Cross. “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” It was the witness also of His betrayal and seizure, the rude binding with cords, and the leading away like a common malefactor.
Yet this, the scene of His humiliation, was near at hand to the place whence He was “received up into glory.” On that fortieth day after His resurrection, He led out His disciples as far as to Bethany; “He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” It was the last glimpse that the loving eyes of the disciples caught of their Lord; His hands, once “nailed for their advantage to the bitter cross,” now outstretched in blessing, till the cloud received Him out of their sight. Tradition― “sadly at fault” ―points out the place of His ascension at Et Tur, and a church has been erected over the place, but it is difficult to believe it to be the true site. It is a most public spot, in full view of Jerusalem, and therefore very little in harmony with the retirement which accompanied most of the ways of the Lord, and especially with the privacy which marked His actions during the forty days when He appeared, not to all, but to witnesses chosen of God. Furthermore, and chiefly, it does not agree with the gospel narrative, for it lies only about half way to Bethany. But wherever the exact spot may be, we know that somewhere on this hill it was that the Lord gave the final charge to His disciples; then earth relaxed its hold, and heaven stooped to receive Him, the cloud receiving and hiding Him from mortal eyes, till the day shall come when “this same Jesus” will return in like manner.
Nor must we forget that Bethany was the witness of those two solemn occasions when the Lord was moved to tears. The story of the raising of Lazarus is a familiar one, yet ever fresh, and we marvel at the wondrous union in the Lord Jesus, of Divine power and glory, as the Resurrection and the Life, with the true and perfect human feelings which expressed themselves in tears.
It could have been only a little later than this that Jesus was again at Bethany, partaking of the supper which the sisters had made for Him, and was anointed by Mary “against the day of His burying.” Then came the journey to Jerusalem; the accompanying multitude from Bethany those who came from Jerusalem, and so all passing down the road, “now a rough, but still broad and well-defined mountain track, winding over rock and loose stones; a steep declivity below on the left, the sloping shoulder of Olivet above on the right, with fig trees below and above, here and there growing out of the rocky soil.”With shoutings of joy and words of welcome the multitudes went on, the ground strewn with garments and branches in His Honor, and amid all the outward signs of a triumphal procession; but as they went down the hill, He, “when He beheld the city, wept over it.” He knew what lay before it; the things which belonged to its peace had been brought to it, but in vain, and soon would judgment fall!
The scene from the hill, as the descent is made from Bethany, has been often described. It is only on that road that the full view of the city in all its beauty of situation bursts upon the eye. One writer says: “Probably the first impression of every one coming from the north, the west, and the south, may be summed up in the simple expression used by one of the modern travelers― ‘I am strangely affected, though greatly disappointed.’ But no human being could be disappointed who first saw Jerusalem from the east.” Another says: “The beauty of the situation of the town is seen from it (Olivet) to be of a surpassing character. Even in its present widowhood, as observed from this mount, there is something peculiarly imposing’ and interesting.” And it should be remembered that such impressions are caused by the city as it now is, after repeated desolations have fallen upon it. The Lord beheld it clothed with all the glory of its brightest days—a glory so soon to be lost!
The village of Bethany (which is now called El Azarieh, an Arabic modification of “Lazarus”) is described by John as being “nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.” It lies beyond the Valley of the Kidron, up the hill side of Olivet, in an easterly direction, inclining a little to the south. “It is at present a dirty Arab village of about thirty small hovels, but its situation is beautiful and peaceful. A considerable number of fruit trees―olive, pomegranate, fig, and almond―adorn its neighborhood.” Its name, as commonly interpreted, seems to refer to this abundance of fruit― “The House of Dates.” Tradition, which as a rule spoils all that it touches, points out to the traveler an old ruin as the house of Mary and Martha; close by is the house of Simon the leper, and near at hand the reputed tomb of Lazarus! The former two may be dismissed without any consideration. Of the tomb of Lazarus it can only be said that while there is nothing in its structure or position which can be said to militate against the tradition, on the other hand, the tradition itself cannot be traced further back than the fourth century. At that time a church—no longer existing―was standing over the tomb: this latter, at the present day, is reached by a descent of about twenty-five or twenty-six “slippery-steps,” and is “a wretched cavern, every way unsatisfactory, and almost disgusting.”
In concluding, we add the following interesting passage from a work previously quoted―” By one of those strange coincidences, whether accidental or borrowed, which occasionally appear in the Rabbinical writings, it is said in the Mishna that the Shechinah, or Presence of God, after having finally retired from Jerusalem, ‘dwelt’ three years and a half on the Mount of Olives, to see whether the Jewish people would or would not repent, calling, Return to Me, O my sons, and I will return to you; ‘Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near;’ and then, when all was in vain, returned to its own place. Whether or not this story has a direct allusion to the ministrations of Christ, it is a true expression of His relation respectively to Jerusalem and to Olivet. It is useless to seek for traces of His presence in the streets of the since ten times captured city. It is impossible not to find them in the free space of the Mount of Olives.”