Difference between revisions of "Gethsemane"

<p> <b> GETHSEMANE </b> <b> ( </b> Γεθσημανεί, perhaps for נִחשְמָני[ם] ‘oil press’).—Gethsemane is usually described as a ‘place’ with a garden attached to it; but, so far as the words of [[Scripture]] show, it may have been simply a garden. St. Matthew (&nbsp;Matthew 26:36) and St. Mark (&nbsp;Mark 14:32) use the word χωρίον, St. Luke (&nbsp;Luke 22:40) uses τόπος, and St. John (&nbsp;John 18:1), describing it as ὅπου ἧν κῆπος, refers to it again (&nbsp;John 18:2) as τόπος. It lay east of Jerusalem, across the [[Kidron]] (&nbsp;John 18:1), at the foot of or upon the Mount of Olives (&nbsp;Matthew 26:20, &nbsp;Mark 14:26, &nbsp;Luke 22:39 : cf. Euseb. 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] 248. 18, and Jerome, <i> ib. </i> 130. 22). The traditional site is in the Kidron ravine, at a point about equidistant, as the crow flies, from the Golden Gate and St. Stephen’s Gate. It is easily reached by the road passing through the latter and crossing the Kidron bridge, just beyond which it lies, a square plot of ground with eight very ancient olive-trees. If the statement of [[Josephus]] ( <i> BJ </i> vi. i. I), that Titus cut down all the trees upon that side of the city, be correct, the tradition that those trees are as old as the [[Christian]] era, or the tradition as to the site, must be abandoned. Both probably are unfounded, and, according to the general consensus of opinion, this site was fixed upon at the time of the Empress Helena’s visit to [[Jerusalem]] (a.d. 326). </p> <p> The scene of Christ’s agonizing prayers immediately before the betrayal, and of His betrayal and capture (&nbsp;Matthew 26:36-57, &nbsp;Mark 14:32-53, &nbsp;Luke 22:39-54, &nbsp;John 18:1-13), it had long been a favourite resort with the [[Master]] and His disciples (&nbsp;Luke 21:37, &nbsp;John 18:2). See, further, art. Agony. </p> <p> Literature.—Robinson, <i> BR </i> P [Note: RP Biblical Researches in Palestine.] 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] i. 234 f., 270; <i> PEFS </i> t [Note: EFSt Quarterly Statement of the same.] (1887) pp. 151, 159, (1889) p. 176; Conder, <i> [[Bible]] Places </i> , 204; Le Camus, <i> Voyage aux Pays Bibliques </i> , i. 252 ff.; art. ‘Gethsemane’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (by Conder) and in <i> Encyc. Bibl. </i> (by L. Gautier); art. ‘The House of Gethsemane’ in <i> Expositor </i> , iv. iii. [1891] 220–232 (by E. Petavel). On the form of the name see Dalman, <i> Gram. </i> 152. </p> <p> John Muir. </p>

<p> ("oil-press".) Beyond the brook [[Kedron]] at the foot of the mount of Olives; where probably oil was made from the olives of the adjoining hill (&nbsp;Luke 22:39; &nbsp;John 18:1). Called a "place" or farm (choorion ), &nbsp;Matthew 26:36, to which probably the "garden" was attached. E. of Jerusalem, from the walls of which it was half a mile distant. It was the favorite resort of our Lord with His disciples (&nbsp;John 18:2), the shade of its trees affording shelter from the heat and the privacy so congenial to Him. [[Bethany]] lay on the E. of Jerusalem, and toward it our Lord led His disciples before the ascension. In &nbsp;Luke 24:50 the sense is, He led them to the side of the hill where the road strikes downward to Bethany; for &nbsp;Acts 1:12 shows He ascended from the mount of Olives. </p> <p> "Bethany probably includes not only the village but the district and side of the mount adjoining it; even still the adjoining mountain side is called by the same name as the village, el-Azariyeh. This reconciles &nbsp;Luke 24:50 with &nbsp;Acts 1:12. [[Gardens]] and pleasure grounds abounded then in the suburbs (Josephus, B.J., 6:1, section 1, 5:3, section 32), where now scarcely one is to be seen. In [[Gethsemane]] "without the city" Christ "trod the winepress alone" (&nbsp;Isaiah 63:3; &nbsp;Revelation 14:20). In these passages, however, He is the inflicter, not the sufferer, of vengeance; but in righteous retribution the scene of blood shedding of Christ and His people shall be also the scene of God's avenging His and their blood on the anti-Christian foe (&nbsp;Revelation 19:14). </p> <p> The time of the agony was between 11 and 12 o'clock Thursday night (Friday morning in the Jews' reckoning), two days before the full moon, about the Vernal equinox. The sites assigned by the Latins and [[Armenians]] and Greeks respectively are too near the thoroughfare to the city to be probable. Some hundreds of yards further up the vale and N.E. of Mary's church may be the true site. The fact that Titus cut down all the trees round about Jerusalem (Josephus, B.J., 6:1, section 1) is against the contemporary ancientness of the eight venerable olive trees now pointed out. The tenth legion, moreover, was posted about the mount of Olives (5:2, section 3, 6:2, section 8); and in the siege a wall was carried along the valley of Kedron to the [[Siloam]] fountain (5:10, section 2). The olives of Christ's time may have reproduced themselves. </p>

<p> This name derives its origin from Ge, or Ghie, a valley; and Shemin, oil. It adjoined the foul book of Kedron, into which all the filth and uncleanness of the temple emptied itself. Here it was also, into this black brook, that the accursed things which the king of [[Israel]] destroyed were cast. (See &nbsp;2 Kings 23:12) A striking type of the defilement and guilt emptied upon the person of Christ, as the Representative and [[Surety]] of his people, when passing over this brook Kedron, to enter the garden of Gethsemane, when the things typified were all to be fulfilled. Gethsemane was itself a village, at the foot of the mount of Olives; and the garden Jesus of times resorted to, saw part of this village. Gethsemane will always be memorable, and always sacred, to the mind of the true lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is impossible to have the very idea of this hallowed spot cross the recollection, without awakening the tenderest emotions. The Jews, unconscious of the cause, called it Gehennon, the valley of hell. It is the same word as Tophet. Here the sorrows of hell compassed the Redeemer. And as in a garden it was, that the powers of hell ruined our nature in the corruption of our first parents; so in a garden Jesus conquered hell. But not so, as without, blood. [[Witness]] his soul-agony, and those great drops of blood which fell from his sacred body. I would desire grace, that by faith I might often visit Gethsemane; and while traversing the hallowed ground, call to mind, that here it was Jesus entered upon that soul-conflict with the powers of darkness, which, when finished, completed the salvation of his people. Hail, sacred Gethsemane! </p> <p> (See Golgotha.—Cedron.) </p>

<p> '''Gethsemane''' (gĕth-sĕm'a-ne), oil press. A place across the Kidron and at the foot of Olivet, noted as the scene of our Lord's agony. &nbsp;John 18:1; &nbsp;Mark 14:26; &nbsp;Luke 22:39. A garden or orchard was attached to it, and it was a place to which Jesus frequently resorted. &nbsp;Matthew 26:36; &nbsp;Mark 14:32; &nbsp;John 18:2. Tradition, since the fourth century, has placed it on the lower slope of Olivet, about 100 yards east of the bridge over the Kedron. </p>

<p> See OLIVES , <em> Mount of. </em> </p>

<p> ''''' geth ''''' - ''''' sem´a ''''' - ''''' nē̇ ''''' ( Γεθσημανεί , <i> ''''' Gethsēmaneı́ ''''' </i> (for other spellings and accents see Thayer, under the word); probably from the [[Aramaic]] , <i> ''''' kḗpos ''''' </i> ), while Lk (&nbsp; Luke 22:40 ) simply says "place" (τόπος , <i> '''''tópos''''' </i> ). From &nbsp;John 18:1 it is evident that it was across the Kidron, and from &nbsp; Luke 22:39 , that it was on the Mount of Olives. Very possibly (&nbsp;Luke 21:37; &nbsp;Luke 22:39 ) it was a spot where Jesus habitually lodged when visiting Jerusalem. The owner - whom conjecture suggests as [[Mary]] the mother of Mark - must have given Jesus and His disciples special right of entry to the spot. </p> <p> Tradition, dating from the 4th century, has fixed on a place some 50 yds. East of the bridge across the Kidron as the site. In this walled-in enclosure once of greater extent, now primly laid out with garden beds, by the owners - the [[Franciscans]] - are eight old olive trees supposed to date from the time of our Lord. They are certainly old, they appeared venerable to the traveler Maundrell more than two centuries ago, but that they go back to the time claimed is impossible, for Josephus states ( <i> Bj </i> , VI, i, 1) that Titus cut down all the trees in the neighborhood of Jerusalem at the time of the siege. Some 100 yards farther North is the "Grotto of the Agony," a cave or cistern supposed to be the spot "about a stone's cast" to which our Lord retired (&nbsp;Luke 22:41 ). The Greeks have a rival garden in the neighborhood, and a little higher up the hill is a large Russian church. The traditional site may be somewhere near the correct one, though one would think too near the public road for retirement, but the contours of the hill slopes must have so much changed their forms in the troubled times of the first and second centuries, and the loose stone walls of such enclosures are of so temporary a character, that it is impossible that the site is exact. Sentiment, repelled by the artificiality of the modern garden, tempts the visitor to look for a more suitable and less artificial spot farther up the valley. There is today a secluded olive grove with a ruined modern olive press amid the trees a half-mile or so farther up the Kidron Valley, which must far more resemble the original Gethsemane than the orthodox site. </p>

<p> Gethsem´ane (seemingly from oil-press), the name of a small field, or garden, just out of Jerusalem, over the brook Kidron, and at the foot of the Mount of Olives. That which is now pointed out as the garden in which our Lord underwent his agony, occupies part of a level space between the brook and the foot of the Mount, and corresponds well enough in situation and distance with all the conditions which the narrative requires. It is about fifty paces square, and is enclosed by a wall of no great height, formed of rough loose stones. Eight very ancient olive-trees now occupy this enclosure, some of which are of very large size, and all exhibit symptoms of decay clearly denoting their great age. The garden belongs to one of the monastic establishments, and much care has been taken to preserve the old trees from destruction. Dr. Robinson admits the probability that this is the site which [[Eusebius]] and [[Jerome]] had in view; and, as no other site is suggested as preferable, we may be content to receive the traditional indication. </p>