1 Shevat 30 AD = Monday Julian 23 January. = vision of Monday 28 January 1822
(p. 71) The flags for the Feast of the New Moon were waving from long flagstaffs on the roof of the synagogue. Large knots were made at intervals on the staves between which the folds of the streamers opened in the breeze. The number of knots signified to those at a distance what month had just begun. Such flags were unfurled also as signals of victory or of danger.
The whole day Jesus was busy preparing for Baptism the people who had gathered there on the eve and encamped around; but there was no baptizing, because a feast was being celebrated in commemoration of the death of a wicked King (Alexander Jannaeus). The place of Baptism had been very beautifully arranged and adorned.
2 Shevat 30 AD = Tuesday Julian 24 January = vision of Tuesday 29 January 1822
Andrew and the other disciples began very early on the following day the Baptism of those that Jesus had prepared the day before.
The preceding evening Lazarus had returned with Obed, Simeon’s son, and with them Jesus started very early the next morning for the neighborhood of Bethlehem, passing between Bethagla and Ophra, which was more to the west. Jesus took this journey with Lazarus in order to hear what reports were circulating about Himself at Jerusalem, also to give him some instructions, which he was to transmit to the little Community, as to how they should conduct themselves under certain circumstances. They took the road once trodden by Joseph and Mary when going to Bethlehem, and in about three hours reached a row of poor, isolated dwellings belonging to shepherds. Lazarus told Jesus all that was being said about Him at Jerusalem, and that they spoke of Him in a manner partly derisive, and partly inquisitive. They said that they would see whether He would come to Jerusalem for the Pasch and if He did, (p. 72) whether He would as daringly perform His miracles in a great city as among the credulous people of Galilee. He told Jesus also of the spying of the Pharisees and of what they reported of Him in different places. Jesus relieved Lazarus’s anxiety on these points, and drew his attention to various passages in the Prophets wherein all this had been foretold. He said that He would be about eight days longer at the Jordan, would then return to Galilee, then go to Jerusalem for the Pasch, and after that call His disciples. Jesus consoled Lazarus on the subject of Magdalen, of whom He said that already there had fallen upon her soul a spark of salvation, which would entirely consume her.
They spent the greater part of the day among the shepherd dwellings, at which they were entertained with bread, honey, and fruit. There dwelt here only about twenty-one women of the shepherd class, all widows. Some had grown sons, who supported them in their old age. Their dwellings were merely cells separated from one another by hedges of living brushwood. Some of these women had visited the Crib Cave at the birth of Christ and offered gifts. Jesus taught here. He entered some of the cells and cured the sick inmates. One was very old and emaciated, and lay upon a couch made of leaves. Jesus led her forth by the hand. The women had a refectory and dormitory in common.
3 Shevat 30 AD = Wednesday Julian 25 January = vision of Wednesday 30 January 1822
Lazarus and Obed went back to Jerusalem, while Jesus continued visiting and curing the sick. Toward three in the afternoon, I saw Him again at the place of Baptism.
4 Shevat 30 AD = Thursday Julian 26 January = vision of Thursday 31 January 1822
(Christ teaches at the baptism place.)
5 Shevat 30 AD = Friday Julian 27 January = vision of Friday 1 February 1822
Jesus, with most of His disciples, passed through Bethagla to Adummin, a place hidden away in a frightfully wild, mountainous region, broken by innumerable ravines. The road running along by the rocks (p. 73) was in some places so narrow that even an ass could scarcely tread it. It was about three hours from Jericho, in a district so retired on the boundary between Benjamin and Juda that I never before noticed it. It was wonderfully steep. It was a refugial city for murderers and other malefactors, who found here protection from capital punishment. They were either kept in custody until they reformed or employed in the quarries and in the most painful field labors. The place received on this account the appellation “The Path of the Red, the Bloody.” This city of refuge was in existence even before David’s time. During the first persecution of the Community after Jesus’ death, it came to an end. Later on, a convent was built there to serve as a stronghold, or fortress, for the first religious guardians of the Holy Sepulcher. The people subsisted by the culture of the vine and other fruits. It was a frightful wilderness, consisting chiefly of naked rocks, which sometimes toppled from their base, carrying down with them the clinging vines.
The road proper from Jericho to Jerusalem did not run through Adummin, but westward of it, on which side there was no access to the city. But that from Bethagla to Adummin was intersected by another running from the shepherd valley to Jericho and at about one half-hour’s distance from Adummin. Near this crossroad was a very narrow and dangerous pass, designated by a stone as the spot where long before had really happened the fact upon which Jesus based the parable of the good Samaritan and the man that had fallen among robbers. As Jesus was approaching Adummin, He turned a little out of the way with His disciples, to give an instruction on that memorable spot. Seated on the stone chair and surrounded by the disciples and the people of the immediate neighborhood, He taught, taking for His text the incident just quoted.
6 Shevat 30 AD = Saturday Julian 28 January = vision of Saturday 2 February 1822
He celebrated the Sabbath in Adummin and taught in the synagogue, relating a parable that referred to the advan- (p. 74) tages offered to malefactors by the refugial city, all which He applied to the grace of doing penance on this earth. He also cured several persons, most of them dropsical. The Sabbath over, Jesus and the disciples returned to the place of Baptism.
7 Shevat 30 AD = Sunday Julian 29 January = vision of Sunday 3 February 1822
Next evening Jesus went with His disciples to the city of Nebo, situated on the opposite side of the Jordan at the foot of Mount Nebo, whose height is such that several hours are necessary to reach the summit. Messengers had previously been sent to implore Him to enter the city and teach. The population was a mixed one, Egyptians, Moabites, and Israelites that had in former times defiled themselves with idolatry. They had been aroused by John’s preaching, but had not had the courage to go over to Jesus’ place of Baptism. I think they dared not. On account of some crime of their forefathers (of what kind I no longer remember), they were held by the Jews in great contempt. They dared not go about freely, but to certain places only. They now came to Jesus humbly begging Him to baptize among them. The disciples had brought from the baptismal pool, water in leathern bottles, which they had left under the care of some guards.
Nebo was about one half-hour from the Jordan, from which it was separated by a mountain, and between five and six hours from Macharus. The country around was not fertile. To reach Nebo, one must, after crossing the river, climb the mountain and then descend on the other side. Just opposite the place of Baptism stands the mountain, affording no place for a landing, and behind was the city Nebo. It was tolerably large, the foundation hilly, and separated by a valley from the mount of the same name. There was still here a heathen temple, but it was closed and something built around it.
8 Shevat 30 AD = Monday Julian 30 January = vision of Monday 4 February 1822
Jesus, from a teacher’s chair and out in the open air, prepared the people for Baptism, which the disciples ad- (p. 75) ministered. The baptismal basin was placed over a cistern into which the neophytes stepped, and which was filled with water to a certain height. The disciples had brought with them the baptismal robes, rolled up and wrapped around their person, which were put on the neophytes during the ceremony. They floated around them on the water. After the Baptism a kind of little mantle was placed on their shoulders. At John’s baptism, it was something like a stole and as wide as a hand-towel, but at the Baptism of Jesus, it was more like a real little mantle on which was fastened a stole like a lappet trimmed with fringe. Among the newly baptized were mostly tender youths and very old men, for many of the middle-aged were postponed until they should become less unworthy. Jesus healed many sick of fevers and many dropsical who had been carried thither on litters. The possessed among the heathens were not so numerous as among the Jews.
Jesus blessed also the drinking water, which was not good here. It was muddy and brackish. It was collected among the rocks whence it was brought in bottles and poured into a reservoir. Jesus blessed it crosswise, and rested His hand upon several different points of the surface.
9 Shevat 30 AD = Tuesday Julian 31 January = vision of Tuesday 5 February 1822
On their return journey to the inn outside Ono, Jesus and the disciples spent the greater part of the day on the road, only one hour long, from Nebo to the Jordan ferry. Jesus taught the whole way. The road was bordered by huts and tents in which the people from Nebo sold to travellers fruit and distilled wine. It was these vendors that Jesus instructed. Before evening He returned with the disciples to His inn at the place of Baptism.
10 Shevat 30 AD = Wednesday Julian 1 February = vision of Wednesday 6 February 1822
Jesus went afterward through the surrounding district, instructing the peasants singly and in crowds. Among them were many good souls, who during the time that (p. 76) John was baptizing here supplied the crowds with food. Jesus appeared to be seeking out everyone, even those in the most remote corners, for He was soon to leave these parts and go on to Galilee.
11 Shevat 30 AD = Thursday Julian 2 February = vision of Thursday 7 February 1822
He stopped for a while at the house of a rich peasant whose fields covered a whole mountain. On one side the harvest was ripe, when on the other they were just about to sow. Jesus taught in a parable of sowing and harvesting.
There was here an old, dilapidated teacher’s chair formerly used by the Prophets. The peasants had restored it very handsomely, and from it Jesus delivered His instructions.
Several such places for teaching had been restored since John had here baptized. He had ordered it, for that, too, was a part of his preparing the way. These teaching chairs had here, as with us the pictures of the Stations, quite gone to ruin since the times of the Prophets. Elias and Eliseus had frequented this part of the country. Jesus celebrated in Ono the morning of the Sabbath, which was followed by a feast that must have had same connection with fruit. I saw whole basketfuls carried during those days into the synagogue and town halls.
The arrangements at the place of Baptism had already been taken apart and stowed away by the disciples. Near the spot upon which the stone of the Ark of the Covenant lay, there were now scattered around about twenty dwellings. Bethabara was not close to the shore, but about one half-hour from the ferry; one could see it however. From the ferry to John’s present place of baptism beyond Betharaba was a good hour and a half’s distance.
12 Shevat 30 AD = Friday Julian 3 February = vision of Friday 8 February 1822
I saw Jesus going from house to house at Ono. At first I knew not for what reason, but later I heard that it was on account of the tithes, to the paying of which He was urging the people. He reminded them also of the (p. 77) alms which it was customary to give on the feast of fruit trees now beginning. That evening He celebrated the Sabbath in the synagogue where He taught.
13 Shevat 30 AD = Saturday Julian 4 February = vision of Saturday 9 February 1822
(Christ teaches in Ono.)
14 Shevat 30 AD = Sunday Julian 5 February = vision of Sunday 10 February 1822
After that began the preparations for the new year’s fruit festival. It was a threefold feast: first, it commemorated the rising of the sap in the trees; secondly, because today tithes of all the fruits were offered; and lastly, it was a feast of thanksgiving for the fertility of the soil. Jesus gave an instruction upon all these points. They ate much fruit, and gave to the poor whole figures of fruit that were built up on the tables. About twenty new disciples had, up to the present, come to Jesus.
15 Shevat 30 AD = Monday Julian 6 February = vision of Monday 11 February 1822
At the close of the feast, Jesus left Ono with twenty-one disciples and journeyed to Galilee. His way led through the region in which Jacob had owned a field, and among those shepherd houses, from one of which Joseph and Mary had been so harshly turned away on their journey to Bethlehem. He visited the occupants of the inn that had extended hospitality to the holy travellers, and instructed them; with those of the inhospitable one, He stayed overnight and admonished them to be converted. The woman of the house was still alive, though on a sickbed. Jesus cured her.
16 Shevat 30 AD = Tuesday Julian 7 February = vision of Tuesday 12 February 1822
Then He passed through Aruma where He had before been. Jairus, a descendant of the Essenian Chariot, dwelt in the neighboring and somewhat despised place, Phasael. He had some time previously begged Jesus to cure his sick (p. 78) daughter, and Jesus had promised to do so, though not just then. Although his daughter was dead, Jairus now dispatched a messenger to meet Him and remind Him of His promise. Jesus sent His disciples on ahead after appointing a certain place where they should again meet Him, and He Himself accompanied Jairus’s messenger back to Phasael.
When He entered the house of Jairus, the daughter lay wrapped in the winding-sheet ready for burial, her weeping friends around her. Jesus ordered the neighbors to be called in, and the winding-sheet and linens to be loosened. Then taking the dead girl by the hand, He commanded her to arise. She did so, and stood before Him. She was about sixteen years old and not good. She had no love for her father, although he prized her above all things. He was charitable and pious, and shrank not from communication with the poor and despised. That was a source of vexation to his daughter. Jesus roused her from death both of soul and body. She reformed, and some time after joined the holy women. Jesus warned those present not to speak of the miracle they had witnessed. It was through the same desire of secrecy that He had not allowed the disciples to accompany Him. This was not the Jairus of Capharnaum whose daughter also was, at a later period, raised from the dead by Jesus.
17 Shevat 30 AD = Wednesday Julian 8 February = vision of Wednesday 13 February 1822
On leaving Phasael, Jesus turned His steps to the Jordan which He crossed, and continued His journey northward through Peraea as far as Socoth, where He recrossed to the west side of the river and went on to Jezrael.
18 Shevat 30 AD = Thursday Julian 9 February = vision of Thursday 14 February 1822
Jesus taught in Jezrael and performed many miracles before a great concourse of people. All the disciples from Galilee were here assembled to meet Him. Nathanael Chased, Nathanael the bridegroom, Peter, James, John, the sons of Mary Cleophas, all were there. (p. 79) Lazarus, Martha, Seraphia, and Johanna Chusa, who had come before from Jerusalem, had visited Magdalen at her castle of Magdalum to persuade her to go with them to Jezrael in order to see, if not to hear, the wise, the admirable, the most eloquent, and most beautiful Jesus, of whom the whole country was full. Magdalen had yielded to the persuasions of the women and, surrounded by much vain display, accompanied them thither. As she stood at the window of an inn gazing down into the street, Jesus and His disciples came walking by. He looked at her gravely as He passed with a glance that pierced her soul. An unusual feeling of confusion came over her. Violently agitated, she rushed from the inn and, impelled by an overpowering sense of her own misery, hid in a house wherein lepers and women afflicted with bloody flux found a refuge. It was a kind of hospital under the superintendence of a Pharisee. The people of the inn from which Magdalen had fled, knowing the life she was leading, cried out: “That’s the right place for her, among lepers and people tormented with bloody flux!”
But Magdalen had fled to the house of the leprous through that feeling of intense humiliation roused in her soul by the glance of Jesus, for she had made her way into that respectable position among the other women through a motive of pride, not wishing to stand in the crowd of poor, common people. Accompanied by Lazarus, she returned to Magdalum with Martha and the other women. The next Sabbath was there celebrated by them, for Magdalum could boast a synagogue.
19 Shevat 30 AD = Friday Julian 10 February = vision of Friday 15 February 1822
(p. 80) Toward evening Jesus went for the Sabbath to Capharnaum, though not till after He had visited His Mother. He taught there, and again took up His abode in the house belonging to the bridegroom of Cana. The disciples were gathered here.
20 Shevat 30 AD = Saturday Julian 11 February = vision of Saturday 16 February 1822
Jesus preached all the next day and till the close of the Sabbath.
Numbers of sick and possessed were brought to Him from the country around. He cured them openly before all His disciples, and drove the devils out in presence of an ever-increasing crowd. Messengers came from Sidon begging Him to go back with them, but He put them off kindly until a future day.
21 Shevat 30 AD = Sunday Julian 12 February = vision of Sunday 17 February 1822
The crowd became so great that at the close of the Sabbath Jesus left Capharnaum with some of His disciples, and escaped into a mountainous district about an hour to the north of the city. It was situated between the lake and the mouth of the Jordan, and was full of ravines. Into one of these He retired alone to pray. This is the same mountain range from one of whose spurs, when returning lately from the mount of Bethanat with His disciples, they had seen the ships of Peter and Zebedee on the lake.
The disciples that accompanied Him went down to the dwellings of the fishermen near the lake in order to apprise them of Jesus’ coming. Andrew had stayed behind in Capharnaum, teaching and explaining to the assembled multitude.
In the evening Jesus went to His Mother’s house between Bethsaida and Capharnaum, whither had come Lazarus with Martha and the other women from Jerusalem. They were on their way from Magdalum and had called to take leave of Mary before returning to Jerusalem. He said that Martha was too anxious, that Magdalen had been very deeply affected, yet she would, (p. 81) notwithstanding, relapse once more into her old ways. She had not yet laid aside her fine attire, for, as she declared, one in her position could not dress so plainly as the other women, etc. As there now began in the city a fast of thanksgiving for the death of a man who, in violation of the Law, had caused certain images to be set up in the Temple
22 Shevat 30 AD = Monday Julian 13 February = vision of Monday 18 February 1822
Jesus taught again in Capharnaum. Again were brought to Him the sick, of whom He cured many, and again did messengers come to invite Him to other places. There were at this time some very ill-disposed Pharisees around Him and they contradicted Him on several points. They asked Him what would come of all that excitement, for the whole country was in commotion on His account, since He was teaching publicly and daily swelling the numbers of His followers. Jesus rebuked them severely, and told them that He was about to teach and act still more openly.
On that evening began a fast in commemoration of the great victory gained by the other tribes over that of Benjamin, on account of some shameful transgression. I saw that in the country of Phasael, where Jesus had lately raised to life the daughter of Jairus, as also in Aruma, Givea, etc., this day was kept with special strictness, since they had been the theater of those events. I saw that the women in those places made a certain offering and took a prominent part in the fast of atonement.
23 Shevat 30 AD = Tuesday Julian 14 February = vision of Tuesday 19 February 1822
That night Jesus, with Andrew, Peter, the sons of Mary Cleophas and of Zebedee, was conducted by Nathanael Chased to Gennabris, his own dwelling place. Nathanael had established there an inn for Jesus. He did not enter Nathanael’s house which, however, He passed on the way to the city. Nathanael the bridegroom and his wife also visited Capharnaum and Jezrael at this time.
The place of Baptism near Ono was guarded in turn by the inhabitants. Jesus taught in Gennabris and cured some raging possessed. A road for traffic ran through the (p. 82) city. The inhabitants were not so docile as those nearer the lake. Although they did not openly contradict Jesus, yet many received His teaching coldly.
Besides the future Apostles, Jonathan, Peter’s half-brother, was also in Gennabris. The other Apostles had scattered around Capharnaum and Bethsaida relating all that they had seen and heard of Jesus.
24 Shevat 30 AD = Wednesday Julian 15 February = vision of Wednesday 20 February 1822
From Gennabris Jesus went with the future Apostles to Bethulia, about three hours distant, five from Tiberias, and not far from Jezrael. It lay on a height so steep that one might fancy it was ready to topple down at any moment. The fragments of its walls were so broad that a wagon could be driven on them. The road from here to Nazareth passed Mount Thabor, from which it was only a couple of hours to the south.
Nathanael Chased had at this time given over his office in Gennabris to his brother, or cousin. He was, for the future, to follow Jesus.
When Jesus entered Bethulia, the possessed began to cry after Him on the street. On arriving at the marketplace, He stood still near a teacher’s chair and sent some of His disciples with directions to the superior of the synagogue to have the doors on all sides of the school opened. Others were sent from house to house to call the occupants to the instruction. The synagogue was surrounded by doors between the columns, and it was customary to throw them open when the crowd was exceptionally great. Jesus taught here of the tiny grain of wheat that must be cast into the earth. During His stay He abode in an inn that had been prepared for Him. The Pharisees here did not indeed openly contradict, but they murmured, and Jesus knew that they did so, because they feared He would celebrate the Sabbath among them. He told His disciples this, and that He would keep it about a couple of hours further on, at a place to the northwest toward Thabor. I cannot now recall the name of that (p. 83) place, but the inhabitants were engaged in dyeing silk for fringes and tassels.
Jesus also cured the sick there. All the disciples that had remained behind met here again.
25 Shevat 30 AD = Thursday Julian 16 February = vision of Thursday 21 February 1822
As Jesus, on account of the murmuring of the Pharisees, left Bethulia, He taught outside of the city at the distance of about a quarter of an hour where there was a teacher’s chair of stone. Ruined walls lay around, and the place looked as if it might once have belonged to the city proper. At about three in the afternoon, Jesus arrived at Chisloth, which was almost three hours distant, at the foot of Mount Thabor. Andrew and the others had preceded Him in order to arrange the inn. A great multitude from the whole country around had gathered at Chisloth, among them numbers of shepherds with their crooks and merchants on their way from Sidon and Tyre. Jesus’ miracles and preaching were already noised throughout the land. All crowded to the places where He taught; and when it became known that He purposed celebrating the Sabbath at Chisloth, they flocked thither to hear Him.
Wherever Jesus now appeared great excitement prevailed. They called after Him, cast themselves down before Him, and pressed around Him in order to be able to touch Him; consequently He came and went suddenly and unexpectedly, thus to escape the crowd. Frequently He separated from His disciples on the road, sent them by another route, and went on Himself alone. In the towns and villages, they often had to open a way for Him through the crowd. Nevertheless He permitted many to draw near and touch Him, and many a one was thereby interiorly aroused, converted, or cured.
In the evening Jesus retired to the inn prepared for Him by the disciples outside of Chisloth-Thabor, where He had already been twice before. Chisloth was perhaps seven hours from Nazareth, though in a direct line about (p. 84) five. As the roads of this country are so winding, running as they do through the valleys, and as the inhabitants determine distances sometimes by the length of the roads between two places, and sometimes by what it might appear to one gazing down from the mountains, their statistics on that point seldom agree. Galilee was thickly dotted with cities and towns, but from no elevated point could more than a few be seen.
Chisloth-Thabor was chiefly a commercial mart in which were some rich merchants and a great number of poor people. Many of them were dyers of raw silk which was afterward manufactured into fringes and tassels for sacred vestments. These dyers in earlier times were found principally at Tyre on the sea, but later many of them removed here. The rich merchants employed the poor in their factories. I saw here likewise some people who appeared to be slaves.
The disciples, with thick ropes run through stakes, had cut off a space in front of the inn in order to keep back the crowd. It was from that space that Jesus preached. As among His audience there were many of the rich merchants from the city, He taught upon riches and the danger attending the love of gain. Their position, He told them, was more perilous than that of the publicans, who more easily than they would reform. Saying these words, Jesus pointed to the ropes that separated Him from the crowd, and uttered the words: “A rope like one of those would go more easily into the eye of a needle than a rich man into the Kingdom of Heaven.” The ropes were camel’s hair, as thick as one’s arm, and drawn four times through the stakes around the enclosure. The rich people defended themselves by saying that they gave alms out of all their profits. But Jesus replied that alms that have been expressed from the sweat of the poor bring down no blessing. This instruction was not pleasing to His hearers.
26 Shevat 30 AD = Friday Julian 17 February = vision of Friday 22 February 1822
Chisloth was a Levitical city made over by the tribe of (p. 85) Zabulon to the Levites of the race of Merari. The most celebrated school of the whole country was here. It was very large and all its exercises were conducted with solemnity. When on the Sabbath Jesus taught in the synagogue, the priests assisted at the discourse. They handed Him the rolls of Scripture or read the passages that He indicated, upon which He questioned and explained. There was also singing, but not of the Pharisaical kind. I heard the voice of Jesus sweetly sounding among all the others, but I do not remember having heard Him singing alone.
Next morning Jesus taught in the school of Chisloth. Andrew instructed the children in an adjacent hall, and recounted to the strangers crowding in all that he had seen and heard of Jesus. Jesus took for His subject vanity and presumption. He performed no cures that day because, as He said, they thought themselves better than others, and attributed to their own merit His coming to teach in their city; whereas He would have them know that He had been led thereto by His knowledge of their misery and His desire to humble and convert them.
The preaching ended, Jesus went out into the court in front of the synagogue, in which there were little cells belonging to it. They were like sentry boxes in a courtyard. Here, He cured of convulsions and other ills numerous children brought to Him by their mothers. He cured them because they were innocent. He cured several women also who humbled themselves before Him, saying: “Lord, hearken to my fault, my transgression!” They cast themselves down in the hall before Him and bewailed their sins. Among them were some afflicted with a bloody flux, and others tormented by evil inclinations from which they implored to be freed.
That evening Jesus celebrated the Sabbath in the school and afterward ate at the inn. His future Apostles and intimate friends were with Him at the same table, and the disciples not engaged in serving were in adjoining apart- (p. 86) ments.
27 Shevat 30 AD = Saturday Julian 18 February = vision of Saturday 23 February 1822
The next day He celebrated the Sabbath in the synagogue, and in front of it healed many sick. He also visited and cured in their homes many that could not be carried to Him. The disciples assisted Jesus in this, bringing the sick, leading them to Him, raising them up, and making room for them. They executed His commissions and delivered His messages.
All the travelling expenses, as well as the alms, were up to the present furnished by Lazarus, and Simeon’s son Obed kept the accounts.
The little cells before the synagogue that looked like sentry boxes were in the courtyard where, through a grating, the women spoke in private to Jesus. It was the custom for female sinners, penitents, or women that had contracted legal impurity to receive in these cells consolation from the priests.
There was no city upon Mount Thabor, but there were bulwarks, walls, and something like a vacant fortress, whither at times the troops retired. On the evening after the Sabbath, Jesus and His most intimate disciples, the future Apostles, were entertained by a Pharisee who had been touched and converted by the teaching of Jesus.
28 Shevat 30 AD = Sunday Julian 19 February = vision of Sunday 24 February 1822
Next day Jesus, with His disciples, was present at a great banquet, given in His honor in the public feast hall by the most distinguished men of the place. Jesus taught here also, and on the same evening left the city for Jezrael, which was not much more than three hours’ distance from Chisloth-Thabor.
29 Shevat 30 AD = Monday Julian 20 February = vision of Monday 25 February 1822
In Jezrael, Jesus’ relatives and the disciples from Bethsaida, including Andrew and Nathanael, took leave of Him in order to visit their homes. He indicated to them where they should again meet. About fifteen of the younger disciples still remained with Him while He taught here and performed some cures. There were all kinds of religious and secular schools in Jezrael, for it was a large city. Jesus took Naboth’s vineyard for the subject of one of His discourses.
30 Shevat 30 AD = Tuesday Julian 21 February = vision of Tuesday 26 February 1822
(p. 87) From Jezrael Jesus went one hour and a half southward to a field in a valley, two hours long and as many broad, wherein were numerous orchards surrounded by low hedges. It was an uncommonly productive and charming fruit region. There were numerous tents here standing in couples at different intervals, and occupied by people from Sichar who guarded and gathered in the fruit. I think it was a kind of service that they were obliged to take turns in rendering. About four occupied one tent. The women dwelt together apart from the men, for whom they did the cooking. Jesus instructed these people under a tent. There were here most beautiful springs and abundant streams, which flowed into the Jordan. The principal source came from Jezrael. It formed in the valley a charming spring, over which a kind of chapel was built. From this spring house the stream divided into several others throughout the vale, united with other waters, and at last emptied into the Jordan. There were about thirty custodians whom Jesus instructed, the women remaining at some distance. He taught of the slavery of sin, from which they should free themselves. They were inexpressibly rejoiced and touched that He had come to them. He was so loving and condescending to these poor people that I had to shed tears myself over it. They set before Jesus and the disciples fruit, of which they ate. In some parts of the valley the fruit was already ripe, in others the trees were only in blossom. There were some brown fruits like figs, but growing in clusters like grapes, also yellow plants from which they prepared a kind of pap. In this valley rises Mount Gilboa, and here also was Saul slain in battle against the Philistines. In the evening Jesus went through Jezrael and about three hours further to Sunem, an open place on a hill.