The Mount of Offense
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty and kill him.”—Matthew 26:1–4. It was then that Judas Iscariot covenanted with them and promised for thirty pieces of silver to betray his Lord. The house of Caiaphas, where Judas Iscariot sought the chief priests and scribes and negotiated with them, is thought to have been on the top of the Hill of Evil Counsel, south of the Valley of Hinnom. East of this Hill of Evil Counsel and south of the Mount of Olives is the Mount of Offense, a picture of which we give above. As the road from Bethany winds over the sloping shoulder of Olivet there is a steep declivity below on the left of the Mount of Offense, with fig trees below and above. At the highest point of the ridge the first view is caught of the southeastern corner of the city. Still further on, the whole city bursts into view. It is hardly possible to doubt that this rise and turn of the road, this rocky ledge, was the exact spot where the multitude paused again and He, when He beheld the city, wept over it. But what a contrast between the tears of Jesus and the tears of Judas! between the death of the Messiah and the death of the malefactor!
Comments