No Hunting, Part 6

Blog » No Hunting, Part 6

Monday, July 8, 2013    Nick Cirino

Luke 18:35 ESV· As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.  


Matthew 20:29-30 ESV

· And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, there were two 

  blind men sitting by the roadside,  

At first glance, the above looks like a blatant contradiction. But there are possible solutions. That’s key. If there are possible solutions, the accounts are not (strictly speaking) irreconcilable. 

Here’s a solution suggested by Zane C. Hodges: the miracle happened inside Jericho. Luke starts talking about the event as Jesus is walking into Jericho. A crowd is going in front of him (Luke 18:39) and the blind man asks them what is going on. The crowd tells him Jesus is passing by, that is, he has entered the city by the time they tell the blind man (Luke 18:38). They start yelling out to Jesus for help.  

So Jesus is walking through the city and intending to leave out the other side when the blind man starts yelling. This is where Matthew picks up. He starts his story when Jesus is in Jericho on his way out. He is in Jericho, leaving. So Luke and Matthew are both right, they just tell the story from different angles. If we were there, it would have made perfect sense.  

But who cares? This detail really doesn’t affect the meaning of the story at all.  

Here’s why I care:  

1. I want us to have a rock solid assurance that the Bible is true.

2. I want us to be able to defend the Bible’s accuracy in a time when the popular thing to do is
    claim the Bible is inaccurate.

3. I want us to have faith that even though men wrote the Bible, God is the real author.


Article: “Blind Men at Jericho” by Zane C. Hodges. Bibliotheca Sacra, October 1965.

Image from: flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/

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