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Act 1:12. Ἐλαιῶνος, of Olives) where His agony had taken place.-ἐγγὺς, near to) five furlongs.-Σαββάτου ὁδὸν, a Sabbath day’s journey) As far as a Jew was permitted to journey on the Sabbath day, without fatigue; i.e. as much as two thousand cubits (ells). Chrysostom infers from this, that it was on the Sabbath day that they returned to the city: I am more inclined to think that the exact spot in the whole Mount of Olives, which was that from which the Ascension took place, is marked by this distance from the city.[2]
[2] Lightf. on Luk 24:50, and here, states that the reason why the limit of the Sabbath journey was 2000 cubits beyond the walls of the city or one’s house was, because the innermost tents of the Israelitish camp in the wilderness were that distance from the tabernacle, Jos 3:4. See Num 35:4-5. Epiphanius (Hær. 66, 82) makes the Sabbath journey six Greek stadia or three-fourths of a Roman mile. So Josephus, B. J. v. 2, 3, makes the Mount of Olives six stadia from Jerusalem; and this is here, Act 1:12, called a Sabbath day’s journey. In Antiq. Act 20:8; Act 20:6, Jos. makes it five stadia. Probably it was about five or six, which is below the estimate of 2000 cubits.-E. and T.