bethany Summary and Overview

house of dates. (1.) The Revised Version in John 1:28 has this word instead of Bethabara, on the authority of the oldest manuscripts. It appears to have been the name of a place on the east of Jordan. (2.) A village on the south-eastern slope of the Mount of Olives (Mark 11:1), about 2 miles east of Jerusalem, on the road to Jericho. It derived its name from the number of palm-trees which grew there. It was the residence of Lazarus and his sisters. It is frequently mentioned in connection with memorable incidents in the life of our Lord (Matt. 21:17; 26:6; Mark 11:11, 12; 14:3; Luke 24:50; John 11:1; 12:1). It is now known by the name of el-Azariyeh, i.e., "place of Lazarus," or simply Lazariyeh. Seen from a distance, the village has been described as "remarkably beautiful, the perfection of retirement and repose, of seclusion and lovely peace." Now a mean village, containing about twenty families.

(house of dates, or house of misery), a village which, scanty as are the notices of it contained in Scripture, is more intimately associated in our minds than perhaps any other place with the most familiar acts and scenes of the last days of the life of Christ. It was situated "at" the Mount of Olives, #Mr 11:1; Lu 19:29| about fifteen stadia (furlongs, i.e. 1 1/2 or 2 miles) from Jerusalem #Joh 11:18| on or near the usual road From Jericho to the city, #Lu 19:29| comp. Mark 11:1 comp. Mark 10:46 and close by the west(?) of another village called Bethphage, the two being several times mentioned together. Bethany was the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and is now known by a name derived from Lazarus--el-Azariyeh or Lazarieh. It lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, fully a mile beyond the summit, and not very far from the point at which the road to Jericho begins its more sudden descent towards the Jordan valley. El-'Azariyeh is a ruinous and wretched village, a wild mountain hamlet of some twenty families. Bethany has been commonly explained "house of dates," but it more probably signifies "house of misery." H. Dixon, "Holy Land," ii. 214, foll.

BETH'ANY (house of dates, or of misery). 1. A village on the eastern slope of Mount Olivet, about 1 1/2 to 2 miles ("15 furlongs") east of Jerusalem, John 11:18, toward Jericho; the home of Mary and Martha, whither Jesus often went. Matt 21:17; Mark 11:11-12. It was the home of Simon, Mark 14:3; the place where Lazarus was raised from the dead, John 11:18-44; Bethany. (After Photographs.) and near it Jesus ascended to heaven, Luke 24:50; named only in the Gospels, and there eleven times. Present Appearance. -- Three paths lead from Jerusalem to Bethany -- the first over Olivet, north of its summit; the third branches from the first, below Gethsemane, over the southern slope of Olivet; the second lies between these two. "The name, which signifies 'house of poverty,' was probably suggested by its solitary and remote situation, bordering on the desert, or by the fact that lepers, who are popularly called the 'poor,' once sought an asylum here." Mark 14:3. -- Baedeker's Handbook. The town is now a poor mountain hamlet of about 20 rude stone houses inhabited by Moslems. The water is good, and olive, fig, almond, and carob trees abound. The reputed sites of Simon's house and that of Mary, also "the tower" and the tomb of Lazarus, are still pointed out. A church stands over the tomb. Bethany is now called el-Aziriyeh, "place of Lazarus." See Schaff's Bible Lands, p. 276. 2. Some manuscripts read Bethany for Bethabara in John 1:28. See Bethabara.

("house of dates".) Bethabara, though dates have long disappeared from the locality, and only olives and figs remain (whence Olivet and Bethphage are named). (See BETHABARA.) Bethany is not mentioned until the New Testament time, which agrees with the Chaldee hinee being the word used for "dates" in the composition of the name, Beth-any. Associated with the closing days of the Lord Jesus, the home of the family whom He loved, Mary, Martha. and Lazarus where He raised Lazarus froth the dead; from whence He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem; His nightly abode each of the six nights preceding His betrayal; where at the house of Simon the leper He was anointed by Mary (Mark 14:3); and where, most of all, we are introduced to the home circle of His private life. In John 11:1 His arrival at Bethany is recorded, namely, in the evening. The sending of the two disciples for the colt was evidently on the following morning, to allow time for the many events of the day of His triumphal entry and visiting the temple, after which it was "eventide" (Mark 11:11), which coincides with John's (John 12:12) direct assertion, "the next day"; at the eventide of the day of triumphal entry He "went out unto Bethany with the twelve," His second day of lodging there. On the morrow, in coming from Bethany, He cursed the figtree (Mark 11:12-13), cast out the money-changers from the temple, and at "even" "went out of the city" (Mark 11:19), lodging at Bethany for the third time, according to Mark. "In the morning" they proceeded by the same route as before (as appears from their seeing the dried up fig tree), and therefore from Bethany to Jerusalem (Mark 11:27; Mark 12:41) and the temple, where He spoke parables and answered cavils, and then "went out of the temple" (Mark 13:1), to return again to Bethany, as appears from His speaking with Peter, James, Jehu, and Andrew privately "upon the mount of Olives" (Mark 13:3), on the S.E. slope of which Bethany lies, 15 stadia or less than two miles from Jerusalem (John 11:18), the fourth day, according to Mark, who adds, "after two days was the feast of the Passover" (Mark 14:1). Thus Mark completes the six days, coinciding (with that absence of design which establishes truth) exactly with John, "Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany" (John 12:1.) Though John does not directly say that Jesus went in the evenings to Bethany, yet he incidentally implies it, for he says, "they made Him a supper" at Bethany, i.e. an evening meal (John 12:2). The anointing by Mary, introduced by Mark, after mention of the chief priests' plot "two days" before the Passover, is not in chronological order, for it was six days before the Passover (John 12), but stands here parenthetically, to account for Judas' spite against Jesus. Judas "promised and sought opportunity to betray Him unto them in the absence of the multitude " (Luke 22:6); Matthew (Matthew 26:5) similarly represents the chief priests, in compassing His death, as saying," Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people." Jesus therefore in the day could clear the temple of the money-changers, but at night He was exposed to stratagem; so the very first night that He did not retire to Bethany, but remained in Jerusalem, He was seized. It is striking how God's ordering brought about the offering of the true Paschal Lamb on the feast day, though the opposite was intended by the Jewish rulers. From the vicinity of Bethany, on the wooded slopes beyond the ridge of Olivet, He ascended to heaven, still seen to the moment of His being parted from His disciples, and carried up from their "steadfast gaze," blessing them with uplifted hands (Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9-12). Bethany was "at" the mount of Olives (Mark 11:1; Luke 19:1-29), near the usual road from Jericho to Jerusalem (Mark 10:46; Mark 11:1), close to Bethphage ("the house of figs"), frequently named with it. Now el-Azariyeh, named so from Lazarus; on the E. of the mount of Olives, a mile beyond the summit, near the point at which the road to Jericho makes a sudden descent toward the Jordan valley; a hollow, wooded with olives, almonds, pomegranates, oaks, and carobs; lying below a secondary ridge which shuts out the view of the summit of Olivet. The village is a miserable one, of some 20 families of thriftless inhabitants. The house and tomb of Lazarus, and the house of Simon the leper, exhibited here, are of very doubtful genuineness.