47  And  when  he  heard  that  it  was  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  he  began

to  cry  out,  and  say,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on
4s  me.  And  many  charged  him  that  he  should  hold  his  peace  :

but  he  cried  the  more  a  great  deal,  Thou  Son  of  David,  have
49  mercy  on  me.  And  Jesus  stood  still,  and  commanded  him

by  Herod  the  Great,  who  had  called  it  after  his  mother,  rose  white  in
the  sun  on  the  south  of  the  town. ...  The  great  palace  of  Herod,  in  the
far-famed  groves  of  palms,  had  been  plundered  and  burnt  down  in  the
tumults  that  followed  his  death,  but  in  its  place  a  still  grander  structure,
built  by  Archelaus,  had  arisen  amidst  still  finer  gardens,  and  more
copious  and  delightful  streams.  A  grand  theatre  and  spacious  circus,
built  by  Herod,  scandalized  the  Jews,  while  a  great  stone  aqueduct  of
eleven  arches  brought  a  copious  supply  of  water  to  the  city,  and  the
Roman  military  road  ran  through  it."  Geikie's  Life  and  Words  of
Christ,  II.  p.  385.
as  he  went]  It  is  most  probable  that  at  the  entrance  of  Jericho  He
met  one  of  the  sufferers,  who  having  learnt  from  the  crowd  that  He  was
passing,  joined  the  other  sufferer,  whom  the  Saviour  encountered  as
He  was  going  out  of  the  city  on  the  following  morning.  (Comp.  Luke
xviii.  35;  Matt.  xx.  29,  30.)

a  great  number]  of  pilgrims  accompanied  our  Lord,  who  had  come
from  Perasa  and  Galilee,  and  met  at  this  central  point  to  go  up  to  the
Passover,  at  Jerusalem.
