EMMAUS, a village to which, in the narrative of Luke, it is said two of the disciples of Jesus were journeying when he appeared to them on the day of his resurrection. The Authorized Version makes its distance from Jerusalem 60 furlongs, and although some manuscripts read 160, not only is the weight of authority in favour of the shorter distance, but it is impossible that the disciples, starting in the evening, could have walked the longer distance back to Jerusalem, and have still found the eleven gathered together. The only village of the name now remaining near Jerusalem is Emmaus Nicopolis, 20 miles distant,, and from the 4th to the 14th century this village was believed to be the New Testament Emmaus. A tradition, whieh cannot be traced further back than the 14th century, fixes it at Kubeibeh; but except that the distance of Kubeibeh from Jerusalem corresponds with that of the village mentioned by Luke, no reason can now be discovered for the origin of the tradition. A place named Emmaus is mentioned by Josephus as distant from Jerusalem 60 furlongs; and he states also that the word Emmaus means “warm bath.” The word is supposed to be the Greek form of the Hebrew word Hammath, which has the same meaning. Impressed with these considerations, Lieutenant Conder, R.N., in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund (October 1876), suggests a site for the ancient Emmaus, “the most satisfactory yet proposed.” He points out that Khamasa, the name of a ruin about 8 miles from Jerusalem, is probably an Arabic corruption of Hammath or Ammaus; and this opinion is corroborated by the fact that near the ruin are a spring of clear water and a little pool, with the remains of a small church. (See Zschokke, Das neutestamentliche Emmaus, 1865, and criticism by ...Menke in Petermann’s Mitth., 1866.)
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