Why do the Gospels not agree on where Christ was in relation to Jericho when this miracle took place? Mark and Luke tell us that it occurred as they approached Jericho, but Matthew says it was, ‘as they departed from Jericho.’ This is said to be another example in the Gospels of where the accounts do not tally. The explanation comes from the historical fact that there were two habitations called Jericho – the old and a new Jericho – which were less than a mile apart. Both are now in the modern city. There was the old city, at this time pretty derelict but with a number of people living in it, straddling the road. The new Jericho had been built by Herod more recently; he had chosen to build a splendid palace there. Both have been excavated. Jericho was first excavated in the mid-1800s, then in 1902, and again in the 1950s by Kathleen Kenyon. The simplest solution is that the healing took place as they were leaving the old Jericho and approaching the new, which was closer to Jerusalem. Mark and Luke are thinking of the old city and Matthew of the new. Bartimaeus was located on the road between the two which was heavily trafficked.