LANDS AND PLACES
Bethany was the village near Jerusalem and a place beyond the Jordan, where John baptized.
1. A village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about 3 km (1.9 mi) east of Jerusalem, on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Bethany was the home-place of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, whom Jesus visited on several occasions (Matt. 21:17; Luke 10:38). In Bethany was also the home of Simon the leper, who prepared a feast in Jesus’ honor, where Mary anointed Jesus (Matt. 26:6-13). In this village, Jesus performed one of his greatest miracles, when he resurrected Lazarus (John 11).
2. A place beyond the Jordan. Some early manuscripts of John 1:28 state that John the Baptist baptized in “Bethany beyond the Jordan” (not “Bethabara”). The Gospels are not precise where this Bethany was. Traditional view is that John baptized near Jericho, perhaps in the Wadi el-Kharrar, in the Judean wilderness. Mark 1:4, 5 says John baptized in the wilderness, but gives no specific location. Matthew 3:1 specifies the place as “wilderness of Judea,” but Luke 3:3 notes that John went “into all the region around the Jordan.” John 3:23, however, refers clearly to the location of “Aenon near Salim” as a place where John ministered.
According to another suggestion, Bethany is the region of Bashan that extended from Mount Hermon to the southern edge of the Sea of Galilee. The Septuagint describes Bashan, like Bethany, as being “beyond the Jordan” (on the east side of the river; Num. 32:32, 33). If a northern site is “Bethany,” then for Andrew and Peter to follow John makes sense, as they came from Bethsaida, as did Philip (John 1:44). A northern location also fits with the Baptist’s imprisonment and execution, as Herod Antipas was the tetrarch of Galilee, and the leading men of Galilean were present at the banquet during which Herod had John executed (Mark 6:21).
So far archaeology has not found determinative evidence for the site of Bethany, so neither the northern or southern Jordan theory is conclusive.