Gadarenes. The old MSS. do not give any assistance here, but the similarity of the name Khersa to that of Gergesa is, as Dr Thomson points out, in "the Land and the Book," a strong reason for believing that the reading of Matthew is correct; and we have also the testimony of Eusebius and Origen that a village called Gergesa once existed on the borders of the lake. Perhaps the discrepancy may be explained by supposing that Gergesa was under the jurisdiction of Gadara. Gadara itself, now Umm Keis, is a good two hours' distance from the lake, else here we find rock-hewn tombs which are actually occupied by fellahin, while there do not appear to be any such at Khersa. To meet the difficulty which might be felt from the absence of tombs at Khersa, Sir C. Wilson has suggested that the demoniacs may have lived in a tomb built above ground, like one still existing at Tell Hum, a rectangular building, capable of holding a large number of bodies, and which appears to have been whitewashed within and without. It is possibly this description of tomb to which our Lord refers in Matt. xxiii. 27, where he compares the Scribes and Pharisees to "whited sepulchres," beautiful in outward appearance, but within "full of dead men's bones."
Dr Merrill, speaking of Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, and other places now desolate by the Lake of Galilee, remarks that the contrast between the present and the former condition of this region is painful to one who knows its history. Nevertheless, he says, "this region is to me one of the most sacred and delightful on earth. No place that men have consecrated brings me so near to Christ as a day spent in walking and meditating on these lonely shores."
"Christ also visited Perea, the country east of the Jordan. Doubtless he followed the main road to the hot springs on the Yarmuk, and thence to the beautiful city of Gadara, on the mountain above them. He may have gone
