And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
And he led them out as far as to Bethany - not to the village itself, which would be no congenial spot; but "as far as to Bethany" - meaning, probably, to that side of the mount of Olives where the road strikes down to Bethany; because there is every reason to concur in the early tradition that from Mount Olivet our Lord took His flight on high. But how came Jesus and the Eleven to be now together at Bethany, having been last together in Galilee? The feast of Pentecost, now within ten days, would bring the disciples to Jerusalem, and no doubt their Lord appointed to meet them in the neighbourhood of it, probably somewhere on the way to Bethany.