The Perean Mission Begins 

Abner, former chief of the twelve apostles of John the Baptist, was a Nazarite and one-time head of the Nazarite school at Engedi. Now chief of the seventy messengers of the kingdom, he called his associates together in January of 30 CE and gave them final instructions before sending them on a mission to all of the cities and villages of Perea. This was the final mission for the kingdom, and it lasted for three months. At its end, in March of 30 CE, Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time to endure his final ordeals in the flesh.The seventy evangelists worked in the following cities and towns and some fifty additional villages: Zaphon, Gadara, Macad, Arbela, Ramath, Edrei, Bosora, Caspin, Mispeh, Gerasa, Ragaba, Succoth, Amathus, Adam, Penuel, Capitolias, Dion, Hatita, Gadda, Philadelphia, Jogbehah, Gilead, Beth-Nimrah, Tyrus, Elealah, Livias, Heshbon, Callirrhoe, Beth-Peor, Shittim, Sibmah, Medeba, Beth-Meon, Areopolis, and Aroer. They were accompanied by the Women’s Evangelistic Corps, which now numbered sixty-two; these women ministered to the sick along the way.

Jesus' teachings had reached a higher spiritual threshold by this time. In no other area was the gospel so thoroughly preached as this Perean region in this final mission. The area was about one-half gentile, so the fields were fertile for the reception of the gospel of the kingdom. The seventy, under Abner’s instruction, baptized all believers, although Jesus had not required this ritual.

Periodically, Jesus and his twelve apostles worked in these cities, too, assisting Abner and his associates. However, Jesus and the twelve apostles remained headquartered at the Pella camp during much of the Perean Mission, only going out into the field occasionally to lend assistance to Abner and the seventy,

In January, more than twelve hundred people assembled at Pella. Jesus personally taught this crowd at least once a day, usually in the morning. Peter and the other apostles taught the multitudes in the afternoons. In the evenings, a group of about fifty people typically gathered for the daily question and answer period, presided over by Jesus and the apostles.

By March, the crowds at Pella had swelled to over four thousand, and this was the highest level of interest in Jesus’ message in its non-miraculous stage. Most of those who came to the Pella camp to hear Jesus were truth-seekers, but there were also a large number of Pharisees, doubters, and malcontents.

Most of Jesus’ time was spent at Pella; the apostles largely ignored the fieldwork of Abner and the seventy. Abner was very familiar with the Perean region because this was where John the Baptist had done most of his work for the kingdom. Abner and the seventy never returned to the Pella camp after the Perean mission ended.

But in the middle of March, Jesus and the apostles left the Pella camp, traveling towards Jerusalem and the Master’s final days. Along the way, they visited with Abner and his associates. Acting on the instructions of the Apostle Andrew, David Zebedee closed the visitors’ camp at Pella on Wednesday, March 15. 30 CE.