Luke 18

Luke 18:35. "And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way-side begging." Here this is said to be as he came nigh unto the city, in the original it is said, e? t? e????e??, in his approaching to the city. And we have an account afterwards in the first verse of the next chapter of Jesus's entering and passing through Jericho. And yet it is said in Matthew 20:29 that it was as they departed from Jericho, or as it is in the original, e?p??e??µe??? a?t??, they going out of Jericho; and in Mark, the same is said, and there we have an account before of his coming to Jericho, Mark 10:46, "And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho, with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimeus,"etc. It seems to me the difficulty and seeming inconsistency is thus to be solved, viz. That Jesus passed near the Jordan the day before from the other side, where he had been, John 10:40-42; Matthew 19:1; Matthew 19:2, and Mark 10:1, and came to the suburbs of Jericho that night, and that this is what is meant by Mark, when it is said they came to Jericho, in the first words of Mark 10:46 now mentioned; and that Christ did not go into the main city that night, but lodged in the suburbs for the comfort of lodging, and to avoid the crowd and throng of people, for it is evident that the people were now in a great disposition to flock after him and throng him, by the whole context of these places. If he had gone into the midst of so populous a city as Jericho that evening, the multitude would necessarily have greatly distressed him that night; and that Christ did lodge somewhere after he came over the Jordan into Judea, before he entered the main city of Jericho, seems evident by this, that otherwise we shall not find room for the four days that Lazarus had been dead before he came to Bethany, if we suppose the day that he was raised to be the fourth day; for we are told that, when Christ heard he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was, even beyond the Jordan, John 11:6 compared with the next verse, and the 40th verse of the foregoing chapter. Lazarus died before Christ heard this news, as is evident by what Christ said, John 11:11. It was when Christ was going out of that place into Judea, that he said to his disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep;" by this we cannot rationally suppose that he died sooner than the day before he went over the Jordan, which may be reckoned one day of his being dead, and when he came over the Jordan and lodged in the suburbs of it, there was two days, and the next day he passed through Jericho and lodged at the House of Zaccheus, Luke 19:5, etc., and the next day he came to Bethany, which is four days. There is a necessity of supposing that Christ lodged somewhere on this side of the Jordan before he came to the house of Zaccheus; but it seems evident that he did not lodge at all in the old city of Jericho, but passed directly through it, and came to Zaccheus's house the same day that he entered and passed through the city, by Luke 19:1; Luke 19:2, "And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named Zaccheus," etc.

Another thing further strengthens the probability that Christ had lodged a night on this side of the Jordan before that day that he passed through the city and came to the house of Zaccheus, viz. that if he went through the city to his house, the same day that he came near the Jordan, it is not at all likely there would have been gathered such a multitude to him, there would not have been time for it. The multitude was exceedingly great, as appears from the blind man's taking so much notice of the noise they made as they passed, Luke 18:36, and by Zaccheus's being forced to climb a sycamore-tree to see him; and therefore thus the seeming inconsistency between the evangelists is solved.

Jesus's coming from beyond the Jordan to the suburbs of Jericho, and lodging there, Mark calls his coming to Jericho, Mark 10:46 and when Christ set out on his journey the next morning to go from Jericho further towards Jerusalem, Mark calls his setting out from Jericho as his going forth from that city, though the main city was in his way, and he passed through it in his journey, which is not disagreeable to our customary way of speaking. If a man that belongs to a certain town, suppose the town of Northampton, then living in the outskirts of it on the north side, sets out to go a journey to another town south of Northampton, supposing Hartford, and anyone at his journey's end should ask him at what time it was that he set out from Northampton, such a question would be understood to mean at what time he began his journey from his own home at Northampton, though he after that passed through the main body of the town; or if he was on a journey before, and lodged at Northampton for a night, at a house in the utmost northern skirts of it, and so went forward on his journey to Hartford the next morning, this does not alter the case. The case seems to have been thus, that Jesus lodging in the eastern suburbs of Jericho, the people flocked to him in the morning before he set out on his journey, and when he set forth on his journey forwards to leave that town, on the borders of which he then was, Mark and Matthew speaking of him as then going out of Jericho, but between the place where he lodged and the walls of the main city, which he must pass through in his way; the blind man cried for mercy, and therefore Luke says it was as he was entering into the city.

Note, that the supposition of his coming over the Jordan is not agreeable to Doddridge's Harmony.