they came to Jericho: The journey Jesus began in 10:1 was nearing its end. Jericho was the last major city in the Jordan River Valley before Jerusalem. It may be the oldest continuously occupied city in the world.
In the time of Jesus, it was no longer located on the much smaller site of Old Testament times (Tell es-Sultan). It had been moved and become much larger. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem was steep, with an elevation change of about 1,000 meters (3,000 feet).
The large crowd following Jesus might have been fellow travelers going to Jerusalem for Passover. But the crowd also showed how popular and influential Jesus had become.
A blind beggar … was sitting beside the road: This was a good place to collect gifts of money from religious travelers going to Jerusalem.