Jerusalem sits atop a mountain, and in the Old Testament it is said to be the place where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:2), we know this to be accurate as we look at 2 Chronicles 3:1 and we see Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. This really gives context to our reading when Jesus tells His disciples they are going “up” to Jerusalem when they are actually north of Jerusalem in the region of Judea after having come out of Galilee (Matthew 19:1). In our modern vernacular we generally refer to up and down by the direction of north or south.