the facts we find that there are no discrepancies at all. It is clear that there was no

copying one another.

The main city of Roman Jericho (the remains of which have been discovered) was

occupied by poorer Jews, and lay about a mile east of Herod's winter headquarters, also

called Jericho. This contained the palace, fortress and houses of Herod's wealthy friends.

The miracle evidently took place between the two Jerichos, hence the approaching and

departing depends upon which town one is referring to, and of the two men, one was

more prominent than the other (Bartimaeus, Mark 10: 46) and there is no reason why Mark

and Luke should not concentrate on one of them.

They were obviously Israelites, for they addressed Christ as the Son of David, thus

recognizing His Messiahship. The Lord graciously healed them at a touch.

With chapter 21: we come to a crisis point in this Gospel and it centres around the

holy city, Jerusalem. Verse 1 tells us that they approached the city and came to Bethpage

on the Mount of Olives. Bethpage means "house of figs". We know little of this place,

for it is not mentioned in the O.T. or the Apochrypha and only occurs in the first three

Gospels. It apparently lay on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives or at its foot, and

was larger than Bethany.

The Passover was at hand and there would be immense numbers of pilgrims that had

come to Jerusalem for the Feast. In addition to this, many of the dispersed Jews living

abroad would be present too. The Lord's ministry had been attracting great crowds. In

Matt. 19: 2 we are told that "great multitudes followed Him". Luke tells us that "the

crowds increased" (11: 29), and in 12: 1 "many thousands had gathered so that they were

trampling on one another" and "large crowds were traveling with Jesus" (14: 25), and "a

large crowd followed Him" (Matt. 20: 29). Thus the overruling of God saw to it that a

large and important section of the chosen nation was assembled at Jerusalem to witness

the final events of Messiah's ministry, which first of all consisted of the regal entry of the

Messiah into the capital city as the King of Israel.

The great time of final decision had now come for this favoured people. The leaders

had already rejected Him but now the nation had to make up its mind either to accept or

reject Him as their King.

The Lord Jesus gives instructions to two disciples to go to the nearby village where

they would find a donkey with her colt and the owner would be willing to part with them

(21: 1-3). The possibility was that this person had already been blessed under Christ's

ministry, and so would raise no objection. The Evangelist tells us that this fulfilled the

prophecy of Zech. 9: 9: