- GETHSEMANE oil-press, the name of an olive-yard at the foot of the
Mount of Olives, to which Jesus was wont to retire (Luke 22:39) with his
disciples, and which is specially memorable as being the scene of his agony
(Mark 14:32; John 18:1; Luke 22:44). The plot of ground pointed out as
Gethsemane is now surrounded by a wall, and is laid out as a modern
European flower-garden. It contains eight venerable olive-trees, the age of
which cannot, however, be determined. The exact site of Gethsemane is
still in question. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book) says: “When I
first came to Jerusalem, and for many years afterward, this plot of ground
was open to all whenever they chose to come and meditate beneath its
very old olivetrees. The Latins, however, have within the last few years
succeeded in gaining sole possession, and have built a high wall around
it...The Greeks have invented another site a little to the north of it...My
own impression is that both are wrong. The position is too near the city,
and so close to what must have always been the great thoroughfare
eastward, that our Lord would scarcely have selected it for retirement on
that dangerous and dismal night...I am inclined to place the garden in the
secluded vale several hundred yards to the north-east of the present
Gethsemane.” - GEZER a precipice, an ancient royal Canaanitish city (Joshua 10:33;
12:12). It was allotted with its suburbs to the Kohathite Levites (21:21; 1
Chronicles 6:67). It stood between the lower Beth-horon and the sea
(Joshua 16:3; 1 Kings 9:17). It was the last point to which David pursued
the Philistines (2 Samuel 5:25; 1 Chronicles 14:16) after the battle of
Baal-perazim. The Canaanites retained possession of it till the time of
Solomon, when the king of Egypt took it and gave it to Solomon as a part
of the dowry of the Egyptian princess whom he married (1 Kings
9:15-17). It is identified with Tell el-Jezer, about 10 miles south-west of
Beth-horon. It is mentioned in the Amarna tablets. - GHOST an old Saxon word equivalent to soul or spirit. It is the
translation of the Hebrew nephesh and the Greek pneuma, both meaning
“breath,” “life,” “spirit,” the “living principle” (Job 11:20; Jeremiah 15:9;
Matthew 27:50; John 19:30). The expression “to give up the ghost” means
to die (Lamentations 1:19; Genesis 25:17; 35:29; 49:33; Job 3:11). (See
HOLY GHOST.)
kiana
(Kiana)
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