A tradition, entitled to more than usual respect, from its serious and
reasonable air, commemorates the circumstance that the Christians, on
leaving Jerusalem, took refuge in the city of Pella, which stood on a
small western branch of the Jordan, about sixty miles north-west from
Jerusalem, among the mountains of Gilead. The locality on some accounts
is a probable one, for it is distant from Jerusalem and beyond Judea,
as the Savior directed them to flee; and being also on the mountains,
answers very well to the other particulars of his warning. But
there are some reasons which would make it an undesirable place of
refuge, for a very long time, to those who fled from scenes of war
and commotion, for the sake of enjoying peace and safety. That part
of Galilee which formed the adjacent territory on the north of Pella,
a few months after, became the scene of a devastating war. The city
of Gamala, not above twenty miles off, was besieged by Vespasian, the
general of the Roman invading army, (afterwards emperor,) and was taken
after a most obstinate and bloody contest, the effect of which must
have been felt throughout the country around, making it any thing but
a comfortable place of refuge, to those who sought peace. The presence
of hostile armies in the region near, must have been a source of great
trouble and distress to the inhabitants of Pella, so that those who
fled from Jerusalem to that place, would, in less than a year, find
that they had made no very agreeable exchange. These bloody commotions
however, did not begin immediately, and it was not till nearly one year
after the flight of the Christians from Jerusalem, that the war was
brought into the neighborhood of Pella; for Josephus fixes the retreat
of Cestius Gallus on the twelfth of November, in the twelfth year of
Nero’s reign, (A. D. 66,) and the taking of Gamala, on the twenty-third
of October, in the following year, after one month’s siege. There was
then a period of several months, during which this region was quiet,
and would therefore afford a temporary refuge to the fugitives from
Jerusalem; but for a permanent home they would feel obliged to look not
merely beyond Judea, but out of Palestine. Being in Pella, so near the
borders of Arabia, which often afforded a refuge to the oppressed in
its desert-girdled homes, the greater portion would naturally move off
in that direction, and many too, probably extend their journey eastward
into Mesopotamia, settling at last in Babylon, already becoming a new
dwelling-place for both Jews and Christians, among whom, as has been
recorded in a former part of this work, the Apostle Peter had made
his home, where he probably remained for the rest of his life, and
also died there. Respecting the movements of the Apostle John in this
general flight, nothing certain can be affirmed; but all probability
would, without any other evidence, suggest that he followed the course
of the majority of those who were under his pastoral charge; and as
their way led eastward, he would be disposed to take that route also.
And here the floating fragments of ancient tradition may be cited, for
what they are worth, in defense of a view which is also justified by
natural probabilities.