The traditional site of the baptism of Christ at MakhAdet Hajlah in the Jordan Valley near Jericho, though defended by Sir Charles Wilson and others, seems to be too far south. Others would read, by conjecture, in the text of St. John's Gospel, Bridapa^pd, i.e. Beth-nimrah, on the Wddy Shaib, five miles east of the Jordan, E.N.E. from Jericho (see T. K. Cheyne in Encyc. Bibl. s.rr.).
and add Smith's DD'^
361 f . and note ;
p. 310 ; Farrar, Li/e of Clir Christ, i. p. JesiM the Messiah, i. pp. 264, Christ, i. 388, and Holy Land . Sacred Sites of the Gospels, 11, and the Commentaries on Jn 1
• uhI Words 0/ -7 ; Sanday, , 11II13, p. 161;
Geden.
BETHANY (B^Sa^/a). — 1. A village whose in- terest arises mainly from its having been the residence of Lazarus, Martlia and Mary. As to this it is well to note the following points. (1) None of the three Synoptists mentions Lazarus. (2) St. Matthew and St. Mark maintain the same silence as to Martha and Mary. (3) St. Luke (lO^s-^) records a sojourn of Jesus in ' a village ' (Kii/ii; ris), which he leaves unnamed. (4) St. John alone (IP- '" 12^i^-) names Bethany as the place where the brother and the two sisters lived. (5) St. Matthew and St. Mark state that Bethany afforded hospi- tality to Jesus during the days that preceded His death (Mt21"'^-, Mk 11"^) ; but in connexion with His stay there they make mention only of the house of 'Simon the leper' (Mt 26'»f-, Mk W-), and give no name to the woman who anoints the feet of the Lord. (G) St. Luke does not speak of this sojourn at Bethany, but simply says in a more general way that Jesus passed the night 'at the mount called the Mt. of Olives' (21"). (7) The data usually accepted regarding Bethany and tlie family that lived there and entertained Jesus in their house, are thus derived essentially from the Fourth Gospel. VOL. I.— 13
Bethany is mentioned neither in the Canonical books nor in the Apocrypha of the OT ; it makes its appearance for the first time in the NT, and is not named in Josephus. Its situation is relatively easy to determine. Weknow(Mk IC^U', Lkl9'--*) that it was on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, at a distance of 15 furlongs from the latter (Jn 11'*), lyin^ thus on the E. or rather S.E. side of the Mt. of Olives. Origen asserts that in his time the posi- tion of Bethany was known. In the 4th cent, the Bordeau.x Pilgrim (333) mentions a place where the ' crypta ' of Lazarus was to be seen. Eusebius records that 'the place of Lazarus' was shown, and Jerome adds that it was 2 miles from Jeru- salem (OS'^ 108. 3, 239. 10). According to Niceph. Callist. (HE viii. 30 [Pair. Gr. cxlvi. 113]), a church containing the tomb of Lazarus was built by tlie empress Helena. Another sanctu.ary marked the spot where Je.sus met Mary (Jn ll-""-). A number of ecclesiastical buildings have risen at Bethany ; as many as three churches have been counted there. In its present condition it is a village without im- portance or interest, with a population of about 200. It bears the name el- Azaritjek, defned from 'Lazarus' or from 'Lazarium' (Aafapioi/), a form found as early as the Pilgrimage of Silvia (383) ; the initial L has been taken for the Arab, article.
According to the Talmud, Bethanij is = Aram. Beth-Aineh or Beth-Hini, ' place of dates' (?) ; but this etymology is uncertain. The same may be said of that which traces it to the root niy, and would yield the sense of ' place of affliction ' or ' place of the afflicted one,' whieli may be simply a popular etymology (cf. Nestle, Philologica Sacra, 1896, p. 20).
The buildings which are shown at the present day as possessing a historical interest are— 1. The ' castle ' of Lazarus, a tower which dates from the time of the Crusades, and was probably built in 1147 by Queen Melissenda for the Benedictine nuns ; according to others, its construction is still earlier. "The name 'castle' is explained by the fact that the Vulgate renders the NT ki!i/j.v by cas- tdlum.. 2. The tomb of Lazarus is shown to iiiiiiliTu pilurims, but its genuineness is so doubtful that it is (|uestioned even by Koman Catholic wiilrrs, r.(j. Mgr. Le Camus, bishop of La Rochelle (Nulrc Voyage aux pays bibliques,i. 245). 3. There are still shown — or there used to be shown — at cl- 'Azariyeh the house of Martha, that of Mary, and that of Simon the leper.
In Lk 24™ the scene of the Ascension is placed, if not at Bethany, at least in its immediate vicinity : ' He led tliem t'ws -rpis BTidaflav ' (AV 'as far as to Bethany,' RV less satisfactorily, 'until they were over against Bethany'). On the other hand, Ac 1'^ relates that after the Ascension the Apostles 'returned unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey oft'.' The statement in Luke's Gospel deserves the preference ; it fixes the place of the Ascension itself near Bethany, wliile the text of Acts simply connects the return of the Apostles with the Mt. of Olives, on the slope of which Bethany lies, and does not speak necessarily of the summit of the mountain", as ecclesiastical tradition supposed (cf. Tobler, Die Siloah<iuelk und der Oelberg, p. 83).