Volume 2

340
Life of Jesus Christ
one of them. He related the parable of the Prodigal Son
and told of the calf that his father commanded to be
slaughtered for him. He passed the night under a tent on
the roof of the synagogue, for the people of this place
were accustomed to sleep on the roofs.
The feast was continued during the next day. The
tabernacles of foliage were intended for the Feast of
Tabernacles also, which was to begin in about fourteen
days. Next morning Jesus delivered an instruction in the
synagogue, and outside the school cured many blind,
many consumptives, and several harmless possessed.
After that He partook of a dinner and then left the city,
accompanied by the Levites and others, about thirty in
all.
The road led first over that mountain from which the
soldier had seen the barley loaf rolling down into the
camp of the Madianites. 2 Then the travellers climbed by
a defile over another mountain narrow, long, and high,
on the opposite side of which they journeyed northward
through the valley for about an hour. They reached at
last a pleasant little lake near which rose some buildings
belonging to the Levites of Azo. A brook flowed through
it and down through the valley into the Jordan. About
six hours northeastwardly from this point was Betharamphtha-Julias
built around a mountain.
Jesus partook of a luncheon by the lake. It consisted of
roasted fish, honey, bread, and a beverage of balm from
a little jug, all of which the party had with them. The
lake was about three hours' distance from Azo. All along
the route, Jesus had related parables of the sower and the
stony soil, for it was over such they were then journeying.
He also related another of fishes and how to catch
them. There were some little boats on the lake fishing
with drawnets, the capture being intended for the poor.
An hour and a half distant was Ephron. It could not be
seen from here, though the high mountains in its vicinity