[Footnote 1:  John x. 23.]

[Footnote 2:  Jos., B.J., V. v. 2.  Comp. Ant., XV. xi. 5, XX. ix. 7.]

[Footnote 3:  Jos., places cited.]

[Footnote 4:  See ante, p. 316.  I am led to suppose that the tombs called those of Zachariah and of Absalom were monuments of this kind.  Cf. Itin. a Burdig.  Hierus., p. 153 (edit.  Schott.)]

[Footnote 5:  Matt. xxiii. 29; Luke xi. 47.]

At the end of the month of December, he celebrated at Jerusalem the feast established by Judas Maccabeus in memory of the purification of the temple after the sacrileges of Antiochus Epiphanes.[1] It was also called the “Feast of Lights,” because, during the eight days of the feast, lamps were kept lighted in the houses.[2] Jesus undertook soon after a journey into Perea and to the banks of the Jordan—­that is to say, into the very country he had visited some years previously, when he followed the school of John,[3] and in which he had himself administered baptism.  He seems to have reaped consolation from this journey, especially at Jericho.  This city, as the terminus of several important routes, or, it may be, on account of its gardens of spices and its rich cultivation,[4] was a customs station of importance.  The chief receiver, Zaccheus, a rich man, desired to see Jesus.[5] As he was of small stature, he climbed a sycamore tree near the road which the procession had to pass.  Jesus was touched with this simplicity in a person of consideration, and at the risk of giving offense, he determined to stay with Zaccheus.  There was much dissatisfaction at his honoring the house of a sinner by this visit.  In parting, Jesus declared his host to be a good son of Abraham; and, as if to add to the vexation of the orthodox, Zaccheus became a Christian; he gave, it is said, the half of his goods to the poor, and restored fourfold to those whom he might have wronged.  But this was not the only pleasure which Jesus experienced there.  On leaving the town, the beggar Bartimeus[6] pleased him much by persisting in calling him “son of David,” although he was told to be silent.  The cycle of Galilean miracles appeared for a time to recommence in this country, which was in many respects similar to the provinces of the north.  The delightful oasis of Jericho, at that time well watered, must have been one of the most beautiful places in Syria.  Josephus speaks of it with the same admiration as of Galilee, and calls it, like the latter province, a “divine country."[7]

[Footnote 1:  John x. 22.  Comp. 1 Macc. iv. 52, and following; 2 Macc. x. 6, and following.]

[Footnote 2:  Jos., Ant., XII. vii. 7.]

[Footnote 3:  John x. 40.  Cf.  Matt. xix. 1; Mark x. 1.  This journey is known to the synoptics.  But they seem to think that Jesus made it by coming from Galilee to Jerusalem through Perea.]

[Footnote 4:  Eccles. xxiv. 18; Strabo, XVI. ii. 41; Justin., xxxvi. 3; Jos., Ant., IV. vi. 1, XIV. iv. 1, XV. iv. 2.]