Verse 29
§ 108. THE HEALING OF THE BLIND MEN, Matthew 20:29-34 .
29. From Jericho He has left Perea, crossed the Jordan, and is again in Judea. See note on Matthew 20:17, and consult map. From the Jordan he goes up by a desert path until, in a green spot lying like an island in the surrounding waste, he finds the ancient town of Jericho, or “city of palm trees.”
Jericho was a stronghold of the Canaanites, and was the first city subdued by Israel after the crossing of Jordan and entering the Holy Land. At the time of our Saviour it had been lately enlarged and beautified by Herod the Great, who often made it his residence. Departed from Jericho Luke says, “He was come nigh unto Jericho.” On this celebrated discrepancy of language between the two evangelists, a full discussion belongs to a comment on the passage in Luke. But we may here say, that there were more than one Jericho, namely, an old and a new. If our Saviour was really leaving one and approaching the other, both expressions would be literally true.
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