village nearly two miles E.S.E. from Jerusalem, beyond the Mount of Olives. It was the residence of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha, and Jesus often went out from Jerusalem to lodge there. It is now a poor village of about twenty families. The only marks of antiquity are some hewn stones from more ancient buildings, found in the walls of some of the houses. The monks, indeed, show the house of Mary and Martha, and of Simon the leper, and also the sepulchre of Lazarus; but there is no reason to believe that this is the real tomb.

Bethel, originally called Luz, an ancient city on the borders of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve Roman miles north of Jerusalem. It was the place of Jacob's vision, and its name was consequently changed to Bethel, which signifies the "house or place of God." It is identified with the ruins at Beitin.

Bethesda, called in the Greek καθαρίστης προβάτων, and thence in the Vulgate piscina, probatica, was the Hebrew name for a pool or public bath, which had five porticos, piazzas, or covered walks, around it. This bath was called Bethesda, בְּתֵה הַכֶּסֶד, or Beth-Cheeda, the "House of Mercy," probably because the erection of baths was a kindness to the poor. Some, however, will have the word Bethesda to be בֵית אֶסְתָר Beth-estha, the "sink-house," or "drain," because the waters which came from the temple, and the place where the victims were washed flowed thither. From the use of the word κολυμβητήριον by Josephus, to denote the baths at Jericho, Dr MacKnight, in his Harmony of the Gospels, concludes against such an opinion; and, moreover, he considers it inconsistent with the situation of Bethesda, which was near the sheep-gate or market in the S.E. wall of the city. That which is now and has long been pointed out as the pool of Bethesda, is a great dry basin or reservoir outside the northern wall of the inclosure around the Temple Mount; but there appears much reason to suppose that this was not the pool so called. (See Robinson's Biblical Researches, vol. i.) With regard to the precise nature of the miracle performed here there has been much diversity of opinion. Dr Mill contends that the text of the evangelist has been interpolated, and proposes to omit a verse not to be found in the Cambridge manuscript, which originally belonged to Beza. Dr Macknight strenuously opposes this method of interpretation; and while he maintains the integrity of the text, shows that Dr Mill's expedient leaves the difficulty exactly where it was. Grotius thinks that the angel is said to have descended, not because he was ever seen to do so, but because the Jews were persuaded that God brought such things to pass by the ministration of angels. And Dr Hammond supposes that the waters became medicinal by being impregnated with a healing warmth from the blood and entrails of the beasts offered in sacrifice that were washed there; and that the ἄγγελος, "angel," or "messenger," mentioned in the text, was a common messenger or servant of the priest, who at a proper season was sent by him to trouble the pool.