Bethphage
Bethphage (Jewish Palestinian Aramaic בית פגי Bēth Paggē "House of unripe figs") or Bethsphage [1] is a Christian religious site on the Mount of Olives east of historical Jerusalem.
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Bethphage is mentioned in the New Testament as the place in ancient Israel from which Jesus sent his disciples to find a colt upon which he would ride into Jerusalem. The Synoptic Gospels mention it as being close to Bethany.[2][3][4] Bethphage is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the modern village of al-Eizariya.
Unknown villagers living there, the owners of the colt according to Gospel of Luke 19:33, permitted Jesus' disciples to take the colt away for Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. There is an annual Palm Sunday walk into Jerusalem which begins here.[5]
Eusebius (Onom 58:13) located it on the Mount of Olives.[3] It was likely on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and the limit of a Sabbath-day's journey from Jerusalem, that is, 2000 cubits. There is the Franciscan Church of Bethphage at a likely location.
References
- In some manuscripts (Picirilli, Robert E. (2003). The Gospel of Mark. Randall House Publications. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-89265-500-7.), but not in critical editions of the New Testament such as Novum Testamentum Graece, the primary source for most New Testament translations (Nestle Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, Mk 1:11).
- Matt. 21:1, Mark 11:1, Luke 19:29
- Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land by Avraham Negev 2005 ISBN 0826485715 page 80
- The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700 by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor 2008 ISBN 0199236666 page 150
- "Bethphage « See The Holy Land". seetheholyland.net. Retrieved 2015-10-18.