36-56;  Mark  xiv.  32-52;  Luke  xxii.  39-53;
John  xviii.  1-12).  The  traditional  site  of
Gethsemane  lies  a  little  east  of  the  bridge  by
which  the  road  from  St.  Stephen's  gate  of
Jerusalem  crosses  the  Kidron.  The  garden


Geuel


245


Gibea


is  situated  at  the  angle  made  by  the  division
of  the  road  into  two  branches,  one,  the  most
northerly,  leading  directly  up  the  face  of
the  mount  of  Olives,  while  the  more  south
erly  one  winds  gently  around  the  southern
brow  of  the  hill.  The  garden  is  nearly
square,  and  the  Latins  have  recently  enclosed
it  with  a  wall,  its  northern  side  150  feet  and
its  western  one  160  feet.  Eight  venerable
olive  trees  are  within,  on  which  it  is  said
the  tax  levy  can  be  traced  back  to  the  occu
pation  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Arabs  in  the
seventh  century ;  and  many  equally  old  are
outside  on  the  slope  of  the  mount.  These
trees,  however,  did  not  witness  our  Lord's
agony,  for  all  the  trees  around  Jerusalem
were  cut  down  during  the  siege  of  the  city
by  Titus  (War  v.  12,  4).  Eobinsou  thinks
that  the  spot  is  the  same  as  that  described  by
Eusebius  as  at  the  mount  of  Olives,  and
afterwards  more  definitely  by  Jerome  as  at
the  foot  of  the  mount ;  but  he  is  doubtful  if
it  is  the  genuine  Gethsemaue.  Thomson  says,
"  The  position  is  too  near  the  city,  and  so
close  to  what  must  have  always  been  the
great  thoroughfare  eastward,  that  our  Lord
wrould  scarcely  have  selected  it  for  retire
ment  on  that  dangerous  and  dismal  night."
He  believes  Gethsemane  to  have  been  in  a
secluded  vale  several  hundred  yards  north
east  of  the  traditional  site.  Barclay  thinks
it  evident  that  the  present  enclosure,  from
its  narrow  dimensions,  can  occupy  only  in
part  the  site  of  the  ancient  garden,  and  finds
a  better  position  higher  up  in  the  valley.
