GETHSEMANE [Vee(rriiiavel).—A ' plotof ground ' (xoipiov, Mt 20^*, ^Ik 14^'^), which appears to have been on the Mt. of Olives (Lk 22™) and beyond the ravine of the Kidron (Jn 18'). The 'garden' or enclosure [KiiTroi) belonging to it was the scene of our Lord's Agony. The name (from n? ' press ' and \ia 'oU') means 'oil-press' (on the form of thje name see Dalman, Gram. 152, 289 n. 3). Leaving Jerusalem by St. Stephen's gate one comes to the traditional site of Gethsemane, at a distance of almost 50 yards beyond tlie bridge that spans the Kidron. A stone wall encloses a nearly square
* There are two difficulties ; (1) 'n';[5 • I have gotten ' \b evidently meant to explain the name {*i2 Cain. See under Cain. (2) mn-riK is either simply ' the Lord ' (riN being the sign o( the object), or ' with the Lord ' (TIN being the prep.). The prep, is not elsewhere used with nin" (yet cf. 'P'riN || •pT.'Jlf': Job 26^). But the direct object gives so difficult a sense that most versions and commentators prefer the prep., as AV and RV. The LXX has •IvcT^c-a^Jli' ocvSparrov iict TOu dioij ; O.L., Vulg. pogsedi (acnuisivi. procreaiyi) homitiem per deum ; Luther, Ich habe den Mann, den Herm' ; Wj-c. 1382, * I haue had a man hi God,' lass, ' Y haue gete a man bi God ' ; Tind. ' I haue gotten a man of the Lordb ' ; Gov. ' 1 haue opteyned the man of the Lords ' ; Rog. ' I haueobtejTied a man of the Lord' ; Gen. ' 1 haue obteined a man by the Lord' [Gen. marg. That is, according to the Lord'i promise, as ch. 3^5 ; some read, To the Lord, as reioycing for the Sonne, whom she wolde offer to the Lord as the first frutes of her birth*]; Bish. *I haue gotten a man of the Lord'; Dou. ' I haue gotten a man through God ' ; Kautzsch, ' Einen Menfichen habe ich erhalten mit Hilfe Jahwes.' See Spurrell, in toe, supplemented by Konig in Expos. 6th Ser. vii. 205 f.
t This passage is referred to by Scrivener {Camb. Bible, p. 65 D. 1) as one of the colloq^uial forms which disfigure the AV Apocrypha, though he admits that it keeps up the verbal play of the Greek. It is. however, no colloquial or other English idiom, it is simply a literal tr. of the Greek. The Gen. Bible is more Idiomatic, * not considering that to have the advantage against his kinsmen is greatest disadvantage,' and it preser^'es the word-play also.
plot of ground, which contains eight very ancient olive trees. Some cling fondly to the idea that tliese were actual witnesses of the Agony ; others hold that this is precluded by tlie express state- ment of Josephus (BJ VI. i. 1), tliat during the sie^e by Titus all the trees in the neighbourhood of Jeruiialem were cut down. Rol)iiison, Thomson, and many other recent explorers doubt the accur- acy of the tradition which locates Gethsemane, although it is universally admitted that the real site cannot be far from the traditional one. The tradition in question dates only from the4tli cent., and Robinson may be ri<rht in his suggestion that the site of Gethsemane, like that of Calvary, was fixed upon during the visit of Helena to Jerusalem, A.D. 326. Eusebius (06'^ 248, 18) says that Geth- semane was at, Jerome {ib. 130, 22) that it was at the foot of, tlie Mt. of Olives. The latter adds that a church had been built over it (see the Peregrinntio Silvice, cf . the testimony of Antoninus Martyr at tlie end of 6th cent.). The traditional site is objected to on the ground that it is too near the city.
Letekaturk.— Robinson, BRP^ i. 234 f., 270; Porter, Hand- book, 177 ; Thomson, Land and Book, ii. ^S3 ; Stanley, .S'uiai and Palestine, 415; Andrews, Life of Our Lord, 413; Keim, Jesus of Nazara, v\. 9ff.; Conder, Bible Places (ed. 1807), p. 204; Lees, Jerusalem Illustrated, 130; SWP vol. iii. sh. xiii. and Jerusalem volume ; PEFSt (1BS7), pp. 151, 159 ; (18!>9),
p. 176. C. R. Conder.
GEUEL (S'K? 'majesty of God').— The Gadite gent as one of the twelve spies, Nu 13'" P.
GEZER (ni3, Td^ep, Ti^ep, Td^apa, Td^ris, Vulg. Gazer). — Now Tell Jezer, near tlie village of Abft Shdsheh and 4 miles W.N.W. of 'AmwSs, the ancient Nicopolis (see Euseb. Onom. Sac. p. 254, 14), to the right of the road from .latla to Jeru.salem. The site, which is marked by blocks of unhewn stone and early pottery, would well repay excava- tion. Here liave been found two inscriptions on a rock, one containing the name AAKIUT in Gr. letters, the other ^IJ onn ' the boundary of Gezer ' in Heb. characters of the Maccabaean age. M. Clemiont-Ganneau, to whom the discovery was due, suggests that Alkios should be identified with a certain Alkios son of Simon, whose sarcophagus has been found at Lydda, and points out tliat Tell Jezer is the Mount Gisart of the Crusaders. The inscription may define the Sabbatic limit of tlie city. Josephus [A7it. VIII. vi. 1) places the town on the frontier of the territory of the Philistines; and Strabo (XVI. ii. 29), who calls it Gadaris, states that it had been appropriated by the Jews. In 1 Ch 20^ Gezer is given in place of the otherwise unknown Gob of 2 S 21'" (where, however, the Sept. and Syr. read Gath).