The Jericho road was the scene of the parable of the Good Samaritan. “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” The actual descent would be about 3000 feet; and every expression of that kind in the Scriptures, as of “going down” or “going up,” is always true to the features of the ground. The man “fell among thieves.” So likely a district is it, that in the days of the Crusaders nine knights banded themselves together to defend pilgrims going down this dangerous pass: and hence arose the Order of Knights Templars. “There came by a priest and a Levite.” Jericho was a sacerdotal city, and priests and Levites were continually passing and repassing between Jericho and Jerusalem. In going down the Jericho road the traveller has often a wide prospect on either side; but it is, for all that, a mountain pass, with no way of escape if one were attacked; and the Bedawin, whose black tents may be seen in the distance, are the very fellows to attack the traveller now, if they dared. The road up from Jericho brings us past Bethany--a village now of about forty small dwellings--and over the Mount of Olives, to Jerusalem. [_Authorities and Sources_:--“Tent Work in Palestine.” Major Conder. “The Sea of Galilee.” Sir Charles Wilson. (In vol., “Recovery of Jerusalem.”) “East of Jordan.” Dr Selah Merrill. “Survey Memoirs.” Vol. of Special Papers. “Quarterly Statements of P. E. Fund.” “Galilee in the time of Christ.” Dr Selah Merrill. “Twenty-One Years’ Work in the Holy Land.” P. E. Fund.] 2. _Christ in the Capital._