or place, the difficulty of arranging here the chronological succession of events is so

great, that we can only suggest what seems most probable, without feeling certain of

the details. Happily, the period embraced is a short one, while at the same time the

narrative of St. Luke remarkably fits into that of St. John. St. John mentions three

appearances of Christ in Jerusalem at that period: at the Feast of Tabernacles,1 at that

of the Dedication,2 and His final entry, which is referred to by all the other Evangelists.3

But, while the narrative of St. John confines itself exclusively to what happened in

Jerusalem or its immediate neighborhood. it also either mentions or gives sufficient

indication that on two out of these three occasions Jesus left Jerusalem for the country

east of the Jordan (St. John x. 19-21; St. John x. 39-43, where the words in ver. 39,

'they sought again to take Him,' point to a previous similar attempt and flight). Besides

these, St. John also records a journey to Bethany - though not to Jerusalem - for the

raising of Lazarus,4 and after that a council against Christ in Jerusalem, in consequence

of which He withdrew out of Judæ n territory into a district ne ar 'the wilderness'5 - as we

a

infer, that in the north, where John had been baptizing and Christ been tempted, and

whither He had afterwards withdrawn.6 We regard this 'wilderness' as on the western

bank of the Jordan, and extending northward towards the eastern shore of the Lake of

If St. John relates three appearances of Jesus at this time in Jerusalem, St. Luke

records three journeys to Jerusalem,8 the last of which agrees, in regard to its starting

point, with the notices of the other Evangelists,9 always supposing that we have

correctly indicated the locality of 'the wilderness' whither, according to St. John xi. 54,

Christ retired previous to His last journey to Jerusalem. In this respect, although it is

impossible with our present information to localise 'the City of Ephraim,'10 the statement

that it was 'near the wilderness,' affords us sufficient general notice of its situation. For,

the New Testament speaks of only two 'wilderness,' that of Judæ in the far South, and

a

that in the far North of Peræ , or perhaps in the Decapolis , to which St. Luke refers as

a

the scene of the Baptist's labours, where Jesus was tempted, and whither He

afterwards withdrew. We can, therefore, have little doubt that St. John refers11 to this

district. And this entirely accords with the notices by the o ther Evangelists of Christ's last

journey to Jerusalem, as through the borders of Galilee and Samaria, and then across

the Jordan, and by Bethany to Jerusalem.

It follows (as previously stated) that St. Luke's account of the three journeys to

Jerusalem fits into the narrative of Christ's three appearances in Jerusalem as