orth on His journey.[26] "The village and the desert
were then all alive (as they still are once every year at the Greek
Easter) with the crowd of Paschal pilgrims moving to and fro between
Bethany and Jerusalem. ... Three pathways lead, and probably always led,
from Bethany; ... one a long circuit over the northern shoulder of Mount
Olivet, down the valley which parts it from Scopus; another, a steep
footpath over the summit; the third, the natural continuation of the
road by which mounted travellers always approach the city from Jericho,
over the southern shoulder between the summit which contains the Tombs
of the Prophets, and that called the 'Mount of Offence.' There can be no
doubt that this last is the road of the entry of Christ, not only
because, as just stated, it is, and must always have been, the usual
approach for horsemen and for large caravans such as then were
concerned, but also because this is the only one of the three approaches
which meets the requirements of the narrative which follows. ... This is
the only one approach which is really grand. It is the approach by which
the army of Pompey advanced, the first European army that ever
confronted it. Probably the first impression of every one coming from
the north-west and the south may be summed up in the simple expression
used by one of the modern travellers--'I am strangely affected, but
greatly disappointed!' But no human being could be disappointed who
first saw Jerusalem from the east. The beauty consists in this, that you
then burst at once on the two great ravines which cut the city off from
the surrounding table-land.

* * * * *

"Two vast streams of people met on that day. The one poured out from the
city, and as they came through the gardens whose clusters of palms rose
on the south-eastern corner of Olivet, they cut down the long branches,
as was their wont at the Feast of Tabernacles, and moved upwards towards
Bethany with loud shouts of welcome. From Bethany streamed forth the
crowds who had assembled there on the previous night, and who came
testifying to the great event at the sepulchre of Lazarus. The road soon
loses sight of Bethany. It is now a rough, but still broad and
well-defined mountain track, winding over rock and loose stones,--a
steep declivity below on the left; the sloping shoulder of Olivet above
on the right. Along this road the multitudes threw down the branches
which they cut as they went