Luke 24:13

Lu 24:13-35. Christ Appears to the Two Going to Emmaus.

13. two of them--One was Cleopas (Lu 24:18); who the other was is mere conjecture. Emmaus--about seven and a half miles from Jerusalem. They probably lived there and were going home after the Passover.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Verse 13. Two of them. Two of the disciples. The name of one of them was Cleopas, Lk 24:18. Many have supposed that the other was Luke, and that he omitted his own name from modesty. Others have supposed that it was Peter. See Lk 24:34, 1Cor 15:5 There is no evidence to guide us here. Dr. Lightfoot has shown that Cleopas is the same name as Alpheus, who was the father of the apostle James, Mt 10:3.

Emmaus. In regard to the locality of Emmaus, it seems quite probable that it is the same village which is referred to by Josephus (Jewish Wars, vii. 6,  6), who states that, after the destruction of Jerusalem, Titus gave Emmaus, distant from Jerusalem threescore furlongs, to eight hundred of his troops, whom he had dismissed from his army, for their habitation. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. it. p. 307, 540) regards it as the present Kuriet el 'Aineb, which Dr. Robinson identifies with Kirjath-jearim. Of this place he says:

"Kuriet el 'Aineb itself would be the proper distance
from Jerusalem, and being on the road to Jaffa, and on
the dividing ridge between the plain and the mountains,
the Roman emperor might have deemed it an advantageous
post for a colony made up of his disbanded soldiers,
who could keep in check the surrounding country. Certain
it is that in these later ages the occupants of this
place have controlled the whole adjacent region, and
for many a generation exercised their lawless tyranny
upon helpless pilgrims.

"It took just three hours' moderate riding from Kuriet
el 'Aineb to Jerusalem: first, a long descent into
Wady Hanina, which passes between it and Soba; then a
similar ascent, succeeded by a very steep pass, and a
very slippery path down to Kulonia. At this place
are some heavy foundations of church, convent, or
castle by the road-side, which may be of almost any
age, and also gardens of fruit-trees, irrigated by
a fountain of excellent water. Kulonia is on a hill
north of the road, and appears in a fair way to
become a ruin itself before long. The path then winds
up a valley, and stretches over a dreary waste of bare
rocks until within a mile of the city, when the view
opens upon its naked ramparts and the mysterious
regions toward the Dead Sea."

Threescore furlongs. Sixty furlongs, or about seven or eight miles. It is not certain that these were apostles, but the contrary seems to be implied in Lk 24:33. Lk 24:33. If they were not, it is probable that they were intimate disciples, who may have been much with the Saviour during the latter part of his ministry and the closing scenes of his life. But it is wholly unknown why they were going to Emmaus. It may have been that this was their native place, or that they had friends in the vicinity. They seem to have given up all for lost, and to have come to the conclusion that Jesus was not the Messiah, though they naturally conversed about it, and there were many things which they could not explain. Their Master had been crucified contrary to their expectation, their hopes dashed, their anticipation disappointed, and they were now returning in sadness, and very naturally conversed, in the way, of the things which had happened in Jerusalem.

(g) "two of them" Mk 16:2

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Verse 13 Behold, two of them - This long and interesting account is not mentioned by Matthew nor John, and is only glanced at by Mark, Mar 16:12, Mar 16:13. One of these disciples was Cleopas, Luk 24:18, and the other is supposed by many learned men, both ancient and modern, to have been Luke himself. See the sketch of his life prefixed to these notes. Some of the ancient versions have called the other disciple Ammaus and Ammaon, reading the verse thus: Behold two of them, Ammaus and Cleopas, were going in that very day to a village about sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem. But the Persian says positively that it was Luke who accompanied Cleopas. See the inscription to section 140 of this Gospel in the Polyglott. Dr. Lightfoot thinks it was Peter, and proves that Cleopas and Alpheus were one and the same person. Threescore furlongs - Some MSS. say 160 furlongs, but this is a mistake; for Josephus assigns the same distance to this village from Jerusalem as the evangelist does. War, b. vii. c. 6. s. 6. Αμμαους απεχει των Ἱεροσολυμων σταδιους ἑξηκοντα, Ammaus is sixty stadia distant from Jerusalem, about seven English miles and three-quarters. A stadium was about 243 yards, according to Arbuthnot.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

This appearance of Jesus to the two disciples going to Emmaus, happened the same day that he rose from the dead. It well becomes the disciples of Christ to talk together of his death and resurrection; thus they may improve one another's knowledge, refresh one another's memory, and stir up each other's devout affections. And where but two together are well employed in work of that kind, he will come to them, and make a third. Those who seek Christ, shall find him: he will manifest himself to those that inquire after him; and give knowledge to those who use the helps for knowledge which they have. No matter how it was, but so it was, they did not know him; he so ordering it, that they might the more freely discourse with him. Christ's disciples are often sad and sorrowful, even when they have reason to rejoice; but through the weakness of their faith, they cannot take the comfort offered to them. Though Christ is entered into his state of exaltation, yet he notices the sorrows of his disciples, and is afflicted in their afflictions. Those are strangers in Jerusalem, that know not of the death and sufferings of Jesus. Those who have the knowledge of Christ crucified, should seek to spread that knowledge. Our Lord Jesus reproved them for the weakness of their faith in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Did we know more of the Divine counsels as far as they are made known in the Scriptures, we should not be subject to the perplexities we often entangle ourselves in. He shows them that the sufferings of Christ were really the appointed way to his glory; but the cross of Christ was that to which they could not reconcile themselves. Beginning at Moses, the first inspired writer of the Old Testament, Jesus expounded to them the things concerning himself. There are many passages throughout all the Scriptures concerning Christ, which it is of great advantage to put together. We cannot go far in any part, but we meet with something that has reference to Christ, some prophecy, some promise, some prayer, some type or other. A golden thread of gospel grace runs through the whole web of the Old Testament. Christ is the best expositor of Scripture; and even after his resurrection, he led people to know the mystery concerning himself, not by advancing new notions, but by showing how the Scripture was fulfilled, and turning them to the earnest study of it.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain