But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him. "Two of them," not of the apostles, but of the larger body of the disciples. Most commentators agree in stating that Luke himself was one of the two men, and that he here tells his own experience in such graphic detail. Emmaus was a village lying to the northwest of Jerusalem, now generally identified with Kalonieh. sixty stadia from Jerusalem, each stadium being six hundred feet in length, and the total distance being between six and seven miles. The two men were conversing together on all the things which had taken place in Jerusalem in the last few days, on all the happenings that had transpired there. The discussion at times waxed lively, being carried on almost with some heat. It may be that one was skeptical about the reported resurrection, while the other was strongly inclined to believe. And while they were thus traveling along, all oblivious to their surroundings, a third wanderer joined them, Jesus Himself having chosen to walk with them. But their eyes were restrained, were held from recognizing their Master, in order that they might not know Him for the time being. Jesus had His own reasons for dealing with them thus; He wanted to give them a lesson in believing the Word. "And behold, with what great diligence He shows His interest in these two men of weak faith and does everything to help their weakness and to strengthen their faith! Since He sees and knows that they, in their affliction and grief, have gone away from the apostles and know neither what to think or what to hope for, He does not want to leave them in such doubt and disturbance, but comes to help them out and becomes their partner on the way; He even lets the other apostles sit all alone, although they also were in deep grief and weak enough in their faith."

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