Gibeon — Sychem — Samaria — Carmel
“Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin. Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel have 1 made known that which shall surely be.” — Hosea v. 8, 9.
In the cool of the afternoon, all the preparations for our departure being completed, we mounted our horses and wound our way through the streets of Jerusalem, slowly and reluctantly. We felt deep regret at leaving both the city with its holy associations, and the kind friends who had given us such Christian entertainment in this strange land. The communion of saints had been inexpressibly precious, though enjoyed here only for a few days. Mr. Nicolayson, whose truly Christian and brotherly kindness we can never forget nor repay, rode some miles with us, and then bade us farewell.
A Latin Christian, Giuseppe, asked leave to travel in our company. He lived at Bethlehem, and had visited us several times in Jerusalem, selling the beads, inkhorns, and mother-of-pearl ornaments, which are made at Bethlehem. On his arm he had the Virgin Mary and the Holy Sepulchre punctured with the AT-henna dye, a custom which appears to have been in use in ancient times.*
We journeyed north-west, and soon passed the Tombs of the Judges, but had only time to glance at them. They are cut out of the rock in the same manner as the Tombs of the Kings. Though it is commonly said that they are the sepulchres of members of the Sanhedrim, yet their real history has not been ascertained. Descending by a very rocky path, we came to the bottom of the deep valley, called by travellers the Valley of Elah. Luxuriant vineyards were on either hand, and the sun’s rays poured down with great power into the dee)) ravines. We soon began to ascend the high ridge on which Naby-
* Isa. xlLx. 16; xliv. 5.
NABY-SAMUEa — RAMAH. 199
Samuel stands. Several villages appeared among the hills both on the right and left, and the remnants of ancient terraces were distinctly to be traced on most of the slopes.
In two hours from Jerusalem, we arrived at Naby-Samuel, situated on the highest point of a terraced hill of considerable height, having a few wretched houses, and an old ruined church, said to have been built by the renowned St. George, but now converted into a mosque, whose spire or minaret attracts the eye on every side. For many centuries this spot has been regarded as the ancient Ramah, where the prophet Samuel was born; where he lived and mourned over the land and its apostate king, as he looked down from this eminence on its populous tribes; and where also he was buried.* There appears to be no good reason for doubting the accuracy of this ancient tradition. The ruins stand on the most elevated point of the whole region, commanding a magnificent view on every side; thus answering well to the name Ramah, which means “a height,’’’ and to its other name Ramathaim-Zophim, “The heights of the watchmen.” The conjecture that it is the ancient Mizpeh, the gathering-place of Israel, is without any solid foundation. t
* Sam- i. 1; viii. 4; xxv. 1.
t Tho only objection to this being the Ramah of Samuel, is taken from the history of Saul’s visit to Samuel, recorded 1 Sam. i.. x. In his house at Ramah, Samuel had entertained the future king of Israel. When Saul rose to return to Gibeah, Samuel describes the way as leading “by Rachel’s sepulchre, in the border of Benjamin, at Zelzah” (1 Sam. X. 2). But as both Rachel’s sepulchre and Zelzah are many hours to the south of Naby-Samuel, every step taken in that direction would lead him away from Gibeah, which lies to the north-east. At first reading this passage is veiy perplexing; the difficulty, however, may be cleared up in the following manner. Saul’s father lived not at Gibeah, but at Zelzah or Zelah (Bet-Jala), for we read that his family sepulchre was there (2 Sam. .xxi. 14). But he had an uncle who dwelt at Gibeah (1 Sam. X. 14); and Saul himself usually resided there, both before and after his being appointed to the kingdom (1 Sam. x. 26), and hence it “was called “Gibeah of Saul.” On the occasion of his father losing his asses, he sent for his son Saul to help him in seeking for them. Saul, however, sought in vain, and was now on his way to Zelzah to let his father know that he had not found the asses, when, as he was passing near the hill of Ramah, his servant suggested a visit to Samuel. It was then that the interview mentioned 1 Sam. x. occurred. On leaving Samuel, he proceeded towards his father’s house at Zelzah as he had proposed, passing by Rachel’s sepulchre. Here he met two men just come from home, who told him that the asses were found; next he met three men on the plain of Tabor (a spot now unknown); and then, having seen his father, came back to his own house at Gibeah; which is called the “hill of God,” because there was a school of the propheta there.
We ascended to the roof of the deserted mosque, and surveyed the country round and round with unniingled pleasure. We could count twelve towns or villages within sight. To the south, Jerusalem, sheltered by the Mount of Olives, was distinctly visible; and still farther south, about twelve miles distant, Bethlehem and the Frank Mountain. We were now in a situation to understand the prophecy of Jeremiah in reference to the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem, “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they ai’e not.” * The tomb of Rachel suggested the figurative representation of the mother of Benjamin and Joseph rising up to lament her slaughtered little ones, and the import of the passage is as if he had said. That the tide of wo rolled from Bethlehem to the hill whereon Rama stands. Rachel from her sepulchre begins the note of wo, and it spreads all around even to the distant hills that shut in the plain. Quite near us in the same direction stood a village in the mountains called Lifta, and still nearer Betiksa, which may possibly be the ancient Sechu, where thei’e was a great well, f To the south-east was another village, Kephorieh, which we foncied might possibly be the site of Clicphira,l since the other cities of the Gibeonites, Beeroth, Gibeon, and Kirjath-jearim, are all in this region. Emmaus must have been like one of these secluded villages, and probably in this direction. We could easily imagine the two disciples traversing the rocky pathway between the vineyards, by which we had that evening passed, and Jesus himself drawing near and going with them, talking with them by the way, and opening to them the Scriptures, while they perceived not the difficulties of the road nor the lapse of time, for “their hearts burned within them by the way.” 5 Looking to the east, a fine hilly scene lay before us, bounded by the mountains of Moab. Upon a height near at hand stood Bet-hanina; to the north-east, on another hill, Ram; and still farther north, Kelundieh. In the same direction, though not within our view, lay Gibeah of Saul, and Michmash, not far from each other, bqth of which remain unto this day. Due north we saw Rem-Allah in a very notable position; a little to the west, Beth-hoor, believed
* Matt. ii. 18. t 1 Sam. xix. 22.
t Josh. ix. 17. 5 Luke xxiv. 32.
r.IBEON — AJALOUN. 201
to be the Upper Beth-hor on; and on the hill above it Bet-unia. To the west, we looked down from the hills of Ephraim upon the vast plain of Sharon, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, into which the evening sun was pouring a flood of golden rays.
But Ihe most interesting of all the ancient towns at this time within sight was El Geeb, lying at our feet, directly north, and about a mile distant. This is the ancient Gibeon, whence came the wily Gibeonites who beguiled Joshua and the congregation of Israel,* described as, “a great city, as one of the royal cities, greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.”! It is situated on the the top of a remarkably round hill, the sides of which are so completely terraced, not by art but
by nature, that tli</> jueociii ujl- ct|4ir,iiaiK .■ mi a night of steps all round from the top to the bottom. The buildings are mostly on the western brow of the hill, the rest of the summit being covered with fine olive-trees. Many of the terraces also are set with vines and fruit-trees. From the foot of the ridge on which Ramah stands, a fine plain or shallow valley stretches past Gibeon to the north for two or three miles. From Gibeon it stretches westward for about a mile, bounded by a low hilly range, except in two points, where there are openings towards the western plain, the one of which is the descent of Beth-Jioron. The fields of this valley were distinctly marked out, some of them bearing grain, but most lying waste. In one place, the vineyard stretched quite across, with a verdure most refreshing to the eye. This valley the muleteers called Ajaloun.” Again and again we pat the question to them, to make sure that we were not mistaken, and they still answered Ajaloun. Since our return, we have not been able to find that any previous writer has found this name still remaining, and applied to this valley, and we therefore fear that the muleteers may have picked it up from the inquiries or conversation of some traveller. How- * Josh. ix. t ,Fosh. x. 2.
5!l« VALLEY OF GIBEON.
ever this may be, the scene of Joshua’s miracle was at that time vividly set before us. The glorious sun was sloping westward, about to sink in the ]Iediterranean Sea, and his horizontal rays were falling full upon the hill of Gibeon; at the same moment the moon was rising, and soon after poured her silver beams into this quiet vale. Such probably was the very position of the sun and moon, in that memorable day when Joshua prayed and “said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.”* We are plainly told that the battle between Joshua and the five kings of the Amorites was “at Gibeon.” It lasted probably the greater part of the day, till toward evening the bands of the Amorites began to give way, and Israel chased them as far as the descent to Beth-horon. At that steep defile the Lord cast down great liailstones from heaven upon them, so that they died. But it seems to have been before that, and before they were out of sight of Gibeon, that Joshua uttered the singular prayer above narrated; and in confirmation of this view, it is interesting to notice that Isaiah calls the scene of that day’s wonders, “The Valley of Gibeon. “f There was a peculiarly mellow softness in the evening light, that gilded both tower and valley at the moment, and it was strangely interesting to look upon the scene where “the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man.”
It was at Gibeon also, that Abner and Joab met on either side of the pool, and that the young men began the contest which ended so fatally.J: We were afterwards told that the pool remains there to this day on the north side of the hill.^ Here, too, “at the great stone which is in Gibeon,” Joab murdered Amasa, and “shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.”l| In the same place, Johanan, the son of Kareah, found Ishmael “by the great waters that are in Gibeon.” It was here also, that “God appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and said, Ask what I shall give thee.” IT It is thus hallowed as a place of prayer, and yet more, as a place where God showed to the world before the Redeemer came, how unlimited was his boun-
* Josh. x. 12. t Isa. xxviii. 21. t 2 Sam. ii. 12.
$ Professor Robinson told us that he had seen this pool, but had fop got to look for the great stone. 11 2 Sam. XX. 8; 1 Kings ii. 5. HI Kings iii. 5.
RAPHAT — BEER. 203
ty to his t3eop]e — all a prelude to the unspeakable gift, his beloved Son, which has made all other wonders lose their glory by reason of the glory that excelleth.
Leaving the height of Raniah, we descended into the plain, but did not enter Gibeon, because the sun was setting. As we crossed through the rich vineyards, which skirt the hill upon which Geeb stands, two foxes sprang out, and crossing our path, ran into the corn fields. The thick leafy shade of the vine conceals them from view, while the fruit allures them; like the secret destroyers mentioned in the Song, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.” * We saw before us also the mixture of standing corn, and vineyards, from one to the other of which the foxes ran, when Samson set them loose.f Journeying still north, we passed near two other villages, both finely situated on rocky terraced heights; the name of one of which was Raphat. It was here that Dr. Keith missed his favourite staff, which had a mariner’s compass on the top of it. A muleteer rode back in search of it, but in vain. The darkness was coming down, so that we had to hurry on. Our view was beginning to be obscured, but we could perceive that Benjamin (whose borders we were traversing) had a pleasant portion.
In two hours from Ramah, we reached Beer, the ancient Beeroth. Our servants had gone before us and erected the tent, and now stood at the tent-door to welcome us, Giuseppe helping us to alight with great kindness. It was a fine moonlight evening; the ground was sparkling with the light of the glow-worm, in a manner similar to what we had seen at Hebron, and the fire-flies glittered through the air in great numbers. Our tent was pitched immediately in fi’ont of a gushing fountain that emptied its waters into a large trough, above which was a Mahometan place of prayer falling into decay. We lay down to rest, with the remembrance that it was here that Jotham took up his abode when he fled from Shechem for fear of his brother Abimelech.| There is a pleasing though fanciful tradition associated with the place, that it was here Joseph and Mary, on their way back to Nazareth, fii-st discovered that the child Jesusj was not in their
* Song ii 15. Herod, too, is called by this name Luke xiii. 32, a deslroyer of the Lord’s vinci/ard. It was in reference to this that Erasmus was at one time branded by the monks as a fox that laid waste the vineyard of the Lord.
t Judg. XV. 5 t Judg. ix. 21. $ Luke ii. 44.
company, and turned back arain to Jerusalem seeking him. It was probably near this, too, that Deborah the prophetess dwelt “under the palm-tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim.” *
(June 19.) We were up before the sun, and enjoyed the luxury of washing ourselves at the full flowing fountain of Beer. It is from this fountain that the toVn receives its name, both now and in ancient times. The Moslem women came out to draw water, and the well soon presented a lively scene. The remains of the town lie on the rising ground to the north-east of the fountain. We wondered how travellers could ever suppose this to be the site of Michmash: for it does not stand near any deep defile, nor are there any such sharp rocks as Bozez and Seneh in the neighbourhood ;f besides, it is not on the east of Beth-aven or Bethel, but to the south-west of it.f Beeroth was one of the cities that belonged to the Gibeonites, and afterwards fell to the lot of Benjamin.y It was to this place, also, that the murderers of Ishbosheth originally belonged. ]|
We journeyed to the north-east, through a pleasant pastui-e country. On our left, we iassed a cave in the hillside, running a considerable way into the rock, which suggested to us the nature of the retreat of the five kings of the Amorites, who fled from the battle of Gibeon, and “hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.”ir
In a little time we approached the district of ^eif/i-are/i or Bethel. The hills around, as well as the ruins of the town, are called by the Arabs, Beteen. This name is, in all probability, the remains, not of Bethel, but of Beth-aven. It would seem, that in the days of Joshua, this region was called “the wilderness of Beth-aven,”** and perhaps the hill on which the town afterwards stood, Beth-aven.ff When the town was built it was called Luz, but Jacob, grateftil fbr the visit of mercy which he there received, called it Bethel, “the house of God.” In later days, it became the seat of idolatrous worship, and the indignant prophet of Israel, to awaken the people to a sense of their sin, recalled the ancient name X “Beth-aven,” or “house of vanity,” and sometimes only
* Judg. iv. 5. t 1 Sam. xiv. 4.
% 1 Sam. xiii. 5. Professor Robinson and Mr. Nicolayson visited Michmash, lying to the south-east of Bethel. A deep valley below it and two pointed rocks still {i. its position, and the Arabic name is Mulihmas.
$ Josh. ix. 17; xviii 25. H 2 Sam. iv. 2. IT Josh. x. 16.
Josh, xviii. 12. tt Josh. vii. 2. tt Hos. x. 5, 8.
“Aven.” From this seems to have been formed the present name Beteen.
Turning off the path, a little to the right, we rode into the middle of the ruins, on the summit of a considerable rising ground. A ruined tomb on the nearest eminence guides to them. There are not many remains of edifices that can be traced, but here and there heaps of ancient stones, the foundations of a wall, and a broken cistern, indicate former dwellings. The whole summit of the hill is covered over with stones that once composed the buildings, and there is space enough for a large town. We looked with deep interest across the ravine on the right to the gentle hill considerably higher, on the east of Bethel. Probably tills was the very spot where Abraham pitched his tent, when first he came a lonely stranger to the land of Canaan; for, it is said, he removed to “a mountain on the east of Bethel, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar unto the Lord,” which he afterwards returned to visit ;* showing with what holy boldness he trusted himself to the Lord’s keeping, though bitter foes on either side enclosed him. Nor could we forget, that on the hill where we stood Jacob spent that solemn night, when he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and beheld a ladder “set upon the earth, and the top of it reaching to heaven.” We read over the passage and applied the prayer to ourselves.f It was here, too, that Jeroboam set up one of the golden calves. And here he stood beside the altar, burning idolatrous incense. Perhaps there was a double scheme of wicked policy in his choice of this place, for we observed that it must have been within sight of the highway to Jerusalem, that the people might” be intercepted on their way up to the house of the Lord; so that his object was at once to allure them from God, and obliterate Bethel’s .hallowed associations with Jehovah’s gracious discoveries of himself to their fathers Jacob and Abraham. The success of this plan may be conjectured from the children that here mocked Elisha, and taunted him with Elijah’s ascension, saying, “Go up, thou bald-head.” The prophet who came out of Judah, and warned Jeroboam, probably travelled the road over which we had passed. Deborah, Rebecca’s nurse, died here, and was buried probably in the ravine on the south, for it is said to have been “beneath Bethel,” under an oak tree; and
* Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 3. t Gen. xxviii 11, 12.
Jacob showed his tendei” remembrance of her, by calling it “Allon bachuth,” “the oak of weeping.”
Few places are so full of interest. The shapeless ruins scattered over the brow of the hill, are themselves silent witnesses of God’s truth and faithfulness. He had said, “Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.“”* This word has been fulfilled to the very letter. We did not at the time remember the prophecy of Hosea, “The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars;” but we have no doubt, from the desolate nature of the ground, and the abundance of thorny plants in that region, that some other travellers will discover that thorns and thistles are waving over the altars of Bethel, in fulfilment of the word of Him who cannot lie. We ourselves saw sufficient marks of the curse, of which the thorn and the thistle are the emblems.J
Leaving the ruins, we returned to the road, and proceeding northward, came in less than an hour to a village on our left, Ain Yebrud, finely situated upon the summit of a very rocky hill, whose sides were terraced and planted with vines. A little after, we saw upon the left another smaller village of the same name, situated upon a similar hill, whose sides were entirely uncultivated, presenting little more than a barren rock. The contrast was very striking, and showed us at once the change produced by the slightest cultivation in this land, and how, by the blessing of God, in “a very little while Lebanon may be turned into a fruitful field.” Another village further on, and also upon a hill, was called Geeb, conjectured by some to be the ancient Gob, famous in the wars with the Philistines,^ though others suppose it to be Gibeah in Mount EpJiraim, the burying-piace of Eleazar the son of Aaron. 1| These villages on the tops of the hills had not only the advantage of being easily defended, but must also have been highly salubrious, having the cool breezes playing around them. We now entered a narrow defile cafled Mezra, and descended rapidly among the finest vines and fig-trees which we
* Amos V. 5. Lord Lindsay’s interpretation of this passage cannot stand. It is not a direction to a traveller not to search out its ruins, but a command to the idolatrous Israelites to give up their idolatry, q. d ‘Seek not Bethel, but return to me.”
t Hos. X. 8. t See p. 119
$ 2 Sam. xxi. 19. 11 Josh. xxiv. 33 m the original had yet seen. The terraced hills of Ephraim shut us in on both sides, and often the rocks were entirely concealed by the bright green leaves of the vines. Under the fig-trees, ripe barley was waving, whilst a very large species of convolvulus, and many other sweet flowers, adorned the pathway; and the voice of the turtle, issuing from the olives that often girt the hills, once more began to salute our ears. At the bottom of this defile we came into a wider ravine running from east to west, in which was a broad channel of a brook now dry. We conjectured that this may be one of the brooks of Gaash* in Mount Ephraim. Crossing the dry channel we ascended by the ravine of a tributary, like the former finely planted with fruit-trees; and came upon a building, which is reckoned half-way between Jerusalem and Nablous. It was once a fortress, and is said to have been the headquarters of banditti. There is a singular cavern near that may have favoured their designs.
This road must have been often traversed by our Lord in going from Jerusalem to Sychar and Galilee. The reflection of the sun’s rays that now beat upon us from these rocks, may have been felt by him on that very day, when, “wearied with his journey,” about noon he sat down on Jacob’s Well. In about an hour we ascended into a pleasant fertile little plain spreading to the east, having Singeel, a village on the hills, on our left hand, and Turmus Aya, upon an eminence in the middle of the plain, on our right. It was at this point that we should have turned to the right, to visit Seiloun, the remains of ancient Shiloh. Our guide promised at setting out to carry us that way, but unwilling to lengthen thefatigues of the journey, he allowed us to proceed north without letting us know till it was too late to return. We afterwards found that it lay about an hour distant to the right. Mr. Calhoun, an American Missionary, told us that he had visited it, and found it situated upon an eminence, having fine valleys on every side of it, except towards the south, — valleys that could have contained multitudes at the great feasts. Higher hills rise behind these valleys. Our servant Ibraim had visited it with Professor Robinson, and told us that they had found nothing but ruins. The words of the prophet are still full of meaning; “Go ye now into my place which w;is in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.”! We
* 2 Sam. xxiii. 30. Josh, x.xiv. 30 i Jer. vii. 12 could also see the minute accuracy of the description of
its situation given in Scripture, “Shiloh, a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.” * The region round is all fitted for such vineyards as are described in the same chapter.f
We now ascended to the highest ridge of a rocky mountain, having a very deep valley on our left. Below us on our right lay a picturesque plain of small extent embosomed in hills. Into this we descended by a dangerous pathway, and came first to an old ruin called Khanel-Luban, and then to a fine flowing well, Beer-el-Luban. The water was cool and pleasant. Some Syrian shepherds had gathered their flocks around the well. There were many hmidreds of goats; some drinking out of the troughs, some reclining till the noonday heat should be past. We were again reminded of the Song, “Where thou makest the flock to rest at noon;”J and of the care which the Lord Jesus takes to refresh the weary souls of his people during the burden and heat of the day, delivering them from daily returning wants and temptations. At the north-west end of this valley, on the height, we could see the village of Luban, the ancient Lebonah.^
Having travelled more than five hours without intermission, we were glad to rest and refresh ourselves for a little under some pleasant olive-trees. Scarcely had we resumed our journey, when we met at the northern entrance of the plain, the Bedouin Sheikh whom we had seen at Jerusalem, and who was to conduct Lord Claud Hamilton to Amnion and Jerash. He had faithfully fulfilled his engagement, and was now returning, having left his charge at jXablous. Three fine young Bedouins rode behind him, and all were attired and armed in the manner of their country. He at once recognised us with joy, and showed us with no little vanity the presents he had got from Lord Hamilton. Bidding them salam, we wound out of the valley to the right under a small town, like a nest in the rocks, which an old Arab called Sawee, Leaving this vale we descended into another running from east to west, very deep and rocky. Some countrymen called it Wady Deeb. Crossing the dry channel, and ascending to the very summit of the opposite ridge. a noble prospect burst upon our view. From the foot of the mountain on which we stood, a beautiful plain
* Judg. xxi. 19. t Judg. xxi. 21, Song i. 7. $ Judg. xxi. 19.
stretches to the north apparently for five or six miles. It seemed about two miles in breadth, bounded on either side by lofty and finely intersected hills, studded with villages. The furthest of these hills on the west side was Gerizim, with a white tomb upon the summit, and Ebal beyond it, the two hills that embosom Sychar. The plain itself was cultivated in a style very superior to any thing we had yet seen in Palestine, and was beautifully variegated with fields of different colour, some bearing dhura of a bright green, some ripe barley. We descended into this interesting plain, and followed the track close under the western hills.
The country people were engaged in their harvest. Indeed, this was the busiest part ol” the country we had yet visited. Several times we came on a band of reapers at their work, and met camels laden with sheaves. In one of the villages the treading and winnowing were going on in a lively manner. cTn the eastern range of hills there are three villages perched in very romantic situations, the name of the northmost was Raujeeb. Probably these were flourishing towns in the days when Joseph’s portion was blessed with “the chief things of the ancient mountains, and the precious things of the lasting hills.“* While we gazed upon these villages of the Samaritans, one of the “most touching narratives of the gospel was vividly recalled to us. Once when our Lord was going up to Jerusalem, he sent messengers before his face, and “they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him, and they did not receive him.” His disciples wished to command fire to come down from heaven; but he gently rebuked them, saying, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of;” and they went to another village.f It is probable that this was the road by which the Saviour was travelling, and some of these may have been the villages here spoken of
In about two hours we left this fertile plain, and came round the eastern shoulder of Mount Gerizim, ascending up a path worn deep in the rock, till we found ourselves in the entrance of the Vale of Sychar, running east and west between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. We did not know at the time, but an after visit made up for the omission, that it was at this very turn of the road, where it bends toward the city, that Jesus rested; for Jacob’s Well was there. Entering a little way within the vale, we rested for a while beside a flow- * Deut. xxxiii. 15. t Luke ix. 52 — 3f).
ing fountain, called Beer-el-Defna, at which the shepherds were watering their flocks. The water flows into a large reservoir, from which it is conducted to irrigate a delightful garden of herbs. The ride up this valley was indeed beautiful. The plain stretches about two miles long to the town of Xablous, the ancient Sychar, and the average breadth appeared to be nearly half a mile. The sun was beginning to sink in the west, and was pouring his beams directly through the valley as we approached. A fine grove of old olive-trees extends for about a mile to the east of the town. Through this we passed, and then under the northern wall till we came to a grassy spot on the banks of a winding stream, where we pitched our tent on the west side of Sychar. We had often read of the verdure and beauty of this scene, but it far exceeded our expectations. The town with its cupolas and minarets is peculiarly white and clean, and is literally embosomed in trees. In the gardens beside us, we saw the almond-tree, the pomegranate, the fig, the vine, the carob-tree, and the mulberry; orange-trees also, with golden fruit, and a few graceful palms. The singular prickly pear is the common hedge of these gardens. Sitting at our tent-door, we surveyed calmly the interesting scene. Mount Ebal was before us, rising about 800 feet from the level of the plain. It appeared steep, rocky, and barren. A few olives were sprinkled over its base, but higher up we could observe no produce save the prickly pear, which seemed to cover the face of the hill, much in the same way as the prickly furze on many of the hills of our own country. Viewing it from another point further to the west the next day, it appeared entirely without verdure, frowning naked and precipitous over the vale. Mount Gerizim was behind us, rising to a similar elevation. Although precipitous in many parts, it has not the same sterile and gloomy appearance which Mount Ebal has. It has a northern exposure, and therefore the midday sun does not wither up its verdure with its scorching rays. On the sides of one of its shady ravines we saw fields of corn, olives, and gardens, giving it altogether a cheerful appearance. In some places the precipices of Gerizim seem to overhang the town, so that Jotham’s voice floating over the valley, as he repeated the Parable of the Trees from one of the summits of Gerizim, might easily be heard by a quiet audience eagerly listening in the plain below.*
* Judg. ix. 7 — 20.
It was here also, upon the sloping sides of these confronting hiDs, that the bJ^sing and the curse were so solemnly pronounced in the days of Joshua. * Six tribes were stationed on the sides of Gerizim, and six on the sides of Ebal; while in the valley between was placed the ark of God, with the priests and Levites standing round. When all was thus arranged, and every man of Israel held in his breath in anxious suspense, the Levites in a clear loud voice uttered the curses in the name of Jehovah. At every pause, the six tribes on Ebal responded “Amen 1” Then the blessings were uttered with the same deep solemnity, and the six tribes on Gerizim responded to every blessing “Amen!” It is not difficult to understand how the united voices of the band of Levites in the valley would be heard by the multitudes that lined the hills on either side, when we remember that the sound floated upwards amid the stillness of an assembly awed into deepest silence. This lovely valley formed a noble sanctuary, with these rocky mountains for its walls, and only heaven for its canopy. And where can we meet with a scene of more true sublimity than was witnessed there, when a covenanted nation bowed their heads before the Lord and uttered their loud Amen, alike to his promise and his threatening ]
In our evening worship, we read John iv., with feelings of new and “lively interest. We had scarcely commttted ourselves to repose, when the jackals and wolves, which in great numbers find covert in the neighbouring hills, began their loud and long-continued howhng; the dogs that prowl about the gates of the town immediately sent back a loud cry of defiance, and for several hours there seemed to be a regular onset between the parties. The ropes of our tents were occasionally shaken by some that were pursuing or pursued; and the valley continued to resound with their mingled cries till the depth of midnight.
(June 20.) Mr. Bonar, waking before sunrise wandered through the grove of fruit-trees toward the gate of the town. Finding it already opened, he entered. Wandering alone in the streets of Sychar at this early hour seemed like a dream. A Jewish boy w.~om he met led him to the synagogue. It was small but clean, and quite full of worshippe’rs. They meet for an hour at sunrise every day. There were perhaps fifty persons p)”esent, and every one wore the TephiUim, or phylacteries,
* Deut. xxvii. 12.
212 SYCHAR — Jacob’s well.
on the left hand and forehead, this behig the custom at morning prayer. They seei;(^d really devout, for they scarcely looked up to observe the entrance of a stranger till the service was done. At the close several came and spoke to him, He spoke a little Italian to one, and then tried German with another, finding that there were Jews fi’om many different places. Some were from Spain, some from Russia, one from Aleppo, and a few were natives of Sychar. After conversing for a short time they separated, going home to breakfast.
Mr. Bonar engaged a very affable Jew to show him the road to Jacob’s’ Well, who, after leading him through the town, gave him in charge to another that knew the place. They went out at thelastern Gate and proceeded along the Vale of Sychar, keeping near the base of Gerizimfor nearly two miles, till they arrived at a covered well, which is marked out by tradition as the memorable spot. It is immediately below the rocky path by which we had travelled the day before, at that point of the road where we turned from the spacious plain into the narrow vale, between Ebal and Gerizim. The guide removed a large stone that covers the mouth of the low vault built over the well; and then thrusting himself through the narrow aperture, invited Mr. Bonar to follow. This he accordingly did; and in the act of descending, his Bible escapingfrom his breast-pocket fell into the well, and was soon heard plunging in the water far below. The guide made very significant signs that it could not be recovered, “for the well is deep“”* The small chamber over the well’s mouth appears to have been carefully built, and may have been originally the ledge which is often found round the mouth of Eastern wells, affording a resting-place for the weary traveller. But the well itself is cut out of the rock. Mr. Calhoun, who was here lately, found it seventy-five feet deep, with ten or twelve feet of watei’. In all the other wells and fountains wdiich we saw in this valley the water is within reach of the hand, but in this one the water seems never to rise high. This is one of the clear evidences that it is really the Well of Jacob, for at this day it would require what it required in the days of our Lord, an “dirX^j/^a,” “something to draw with, for it was deep.” f On account of the great depth, the water would be peculiarly cool, and the associations that connected this well with their father
* See note at the end of this Chapter. r John iv. 11.
Joseph’s tomb. 213
Jacob no doubt made it to be highly esteemed. For these reasons, although there is a line stream of water close by the west side of the town, at least two gushing fountains within the walls, and the fountain El Dcfna nearly a mile nearer the town, still the people of the town very naturally reverenced and frequented Jacob’s Well. This may in part account for the Samaritan woman coming so far to draw water, even if the conjecture be disregarded that the town in former times extended much’ further to the east than it does now. The narrative itself seems to imply that the well was situated a considerable way from the town. He who “leads the blind by a way which they know not,” drew the woman that day by the invisille cords of grace, past all other fountains, to the well where she was to meet with one who told her all that ever she did — the Saviour of the world and the Saviour of her soul.
The Romish hymn seemed peculiarly impressive when remembered on this hallowed spot:
Quaerens me sedisti lassus,
Redemisti crucem passus,
Tantus labor non sit cassus!
(Weary — thou satst seeking me;
Crucified — thou setst me free;
Let not such pains fruitless be!)
But nothing can equal the simple words of the Evangelist, “Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey sat thus on the well.”
About a hundred yards off, to the north of the well, is Joseph’s Tomb, a whited sepulchre, believed to mark the place where Joseph’s bones were buried.* The Jews frequently visit this tomb; and many Hebrew sentences are inscribed upon the walls. Whether by design or accident, we could not ascertain, a luxuriant vine had made its way over the wall that encloses the tomb, and was now waving its branches from the top, as if to recall to mind the prophetical description of this favoured tribe, given by the dying Jacob, “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall.”t The beautiful field around it is, no doubt, “the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph,” taking it out of the hand of the Amorite, “with his sword and with his bow.”t And this plain is the plain of Moreh, near to Sychar.J Some have fancifully con-
* Josh. xxiv. 32. t Gen. xlix. 22.
1 Gca xlviii. 22. $ Gen. xii. 6. Deut. xi. 30.
SYCHAR — LEPERS — BAZAAR.
jectured the name to be derived fi-om Jacob’s exploit, as if it meant, “the plain o{the Archer.”
About eight o’clock, the rest of our company paid a visit to the town, to visit the Jews and Samaritans. Under a spreading nabbok-tree near the gate, we came upon five or six miserable objects, half-naked, dirty, and wasted by disease. Immediately on seeing xls, they sprang up, and stretched out their arms, crying most imploringly for alms. We observed that some had lost their hands, and held up the withered stump, and that others were deformed in the fice; but it did not occur to us at the time that these were lepers! We were afterwards told that they were so, — lepers on the outside of the city gate, like the ten men in the days of Jesus, who lifted up their voices, and cried, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”* Our Master, had he been with us, would have stood still, and said, “I will; be thou clean.” On the nabbok-tree were hung many rags of cloth, of different colours. These are intended as sacred offerings, in accordance with a superstition of the Mahometans, which was never fully explained to us, and which we saw frequently in other parts of the country.
We passed through the streets, and found a good example of the Eastern bazaar. It is a covered way, with a few windows in the roof; abundantly dark, but very cool and pleasant. There is a deep pathway in the middle unpaved, about three feet in breadth, along which mules or camels are allowed to pass. On each side of this, there is a raised stone pavement, very smooth and slippery, which is used as a place for the shopkeepers to sit or to display their goods. When not thus occupied, it may be used for walking. It is a strange sight to walk along, and observe the turbaned and bearded sellers sitting cross-legged, and smoking in every door-way. The presence of a stranger excites little curiosity among them in general. Often they disdain to lift their eyes. Finding out the Jewish quarter, we went to the synagogue, into which several Jews followed us. The little children also came round us, and the women looked in at the door. Our Hebrew Bible was soon produced, and the prophecies concerning Messiah formed the subject of our broken conversation. Dan. ix, Isaiah ix, liii, Ezek. xxxvi, xxxvii, and Jer. xxiii, were the passages read and commented on. The men were most willing to hear, and
* Luke xvii. 13k some of the children clung to us; but the women seemed displeased and impatient. At one turn of the conversation, Ibraim, our servant, who understood what they were saying, cried out, “Hear how that woman is cursing you.”
While we were thus engaged, a Samaritan came into the synagogue and sat down. He was much better dressed than the poor Jews; his scarlet mantle and tidy appearance showing plainly that he was better oft” in the world. He invited us to visit the Samaritan synagogue, an invitation with which we willingly complied. The Rabbi was seated on a carpet in the stone court, a clean pleasant place close by the synagogue. He was a reverend-looking old man, with large uplifted eyebrows, handsomely attired; he received us kindly, and convei’sed with great freedom.
Mr. Bonar having missed the rest of us, and hearing that we were gone to the Samaritan synagogue, persuaded a Jew to guide him thither. He led him to a shop in the bazaar, where a fine-looking man, tall and cleanly dressed, was sitting. The Jew’s’look was that of contempt, as he pointed out this man, saying he was “a Samaritan.” The Samaritan kindly left his shop, and leading the way through many streets, arches, covered ways, and lanes, brought Mr. B. to the Synagogue. The old priest having made sure of obtaining a handsome present from us, now unlocked the door, and we, after taking off” our shoes, were permitted to enter the .synagogue, a clean airy apartment, having the floor covered with carpets. One-half of the floor was raised a little higher than the rest, and seemed to be used for sitting on during the reading of the law. On one side, there was a recess which we were not allowed to enter, where the sacred manuscripts are kept. After long delay, and the promise of a considerable sum (for he told us the sight was worth 150 piastres at any time,) the priest agreed to show us the copy of the Torah, or five books of Moses, which is so famed for its antiquity. They said that it was written by the hand of Abishua, the son of Phlnehas, and is 3600 years old. It was taken out of its velvet cover, and part of it unrolled before us. The rollers were adorned with silver at the extremities, and the back of the manuscript was covered with green silk. It was certainly a ver)’- ancient manuscript. The parchment was much soiled and worn, but the letters were quite legible, written in the old Samaritan character. If this was the real copy
J^16
SYCHAR — JEWS AND SAMARITANS.
SO much boasted of, the Samaritans have lost some of their superstition regarding it, for they allowed us to touch it. Several of their prayer-books were lying about, all written with the pen in the Samaritan character.
The Samaritans can speak very little Hebrew; their language is Arabic, but by means of our servant Ibraim, and a Jew who kept by us, we got our questions answered, and a good many remarks were made on both sides upon passages of Scripture. The son of the priest was an interesting young man, candid, and anxious to hear the truth. He admitted that the prophecy regarding “the seed of the woman” referred to the Messiah: and said that they still expect a prophet “like unto Moses.” The Samaritans do not believe in the restoration of the Jews. They told us that there are about forty who attend the synagogue, and about 150 souls altogether belonging to their communion. The enmity, between the Jews and the Samaritans is not now so great, nor so openly manifested, as once it was; but we could perceive that it still existed. We had seen a Samaritan sitting in the Jewish synagogue, and the Jew who accompanied us was now seated in the Samaritan synagogue: yet it was easy to see that the Jew was jealous of the attention which we paid to the Samaritans. After taking leave of the priest and his son, we were conducted again to the Jewish quarter. We found a Rabbi, an old grey-haired man, sitting in the synagogue, reading the Talmud. We spoke a good deal with him in Hebrew, chiefly pointing out “the Lord our righteousness.” It was pleasant to speak even a word to a Jew, in the city where Jacob often dwelt; and to a Samaritan in the very place where Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for the)^ are white already to the harvest.”* Our Jewish guide next led us to a handsome fountain of water at the west end of the town within the walls. It seemed to be supplied from Mount Gerizim. He said that Jacob had built the walls of it.
A little Jew boy, named Mordecai, with sparkling bright eyes, had for some time kept fast hold of Mr. M’- Cheyne’s hand. He could speak nothing but Arabic; but by means of most expressive signs, he entreated Mr. M. to go with him. He consented, and the little boy — , with the greatest joy, led him through streets and lanes, then opening a door, and leading the way up a stair, he
* Jolui iv. 35.
brought him to the house of the Jewish Hazan. The room into which he was led was very clean, delightfullycool, and neatly furnished, in the Eastern mode, with carpets and a divan with cushions all round. The Hazan was not at home, but his wife soon appeared, and received the stranger with all kindness. She was dressed in the peculiar attire of the Jewish female, and carried a long pipe in her hand, which she occasionally smoked. Her only language was Arabic, for the females in Palestine appear to be strangers to the Hebrew, and are thus entirely shut out from understanding the Word of God which is read in the synagogues. She ordered rose-water to be brought — and then coffee — and seemed gratified to be permitted to entertain her unexpected guest. On taking leave, the little guide urged him to pay another visit. He led the way to the Bazaar, and there stopped beside the shop of a merchant, a venerable-looking man, saying YeJuuli, “a Jew.” Sitting down on the stone pavement, the Hebrew Bible was produced, and the passage read was “the dry bones” of Ezekiel. Several Jews gathered round who could speak Italian or the Lingua Ffaara, and all joined in the discussion by turns. The merchant himself seemed to be a worldly Jew, and cared little about divine things; but some of the rest were interested. Leaving this group, the little Jew proposed to guide Mr. M. to the well of Jacob, which he said he knew. But the day was too far spent, as we had agreed to leave Sychar at noon. With difficulty, Mr. M.’now prevailed upon little Mordecai to come with him to our tents, to receive a reward for all his kindness. Giving him a Hebrew tract for the Hazan, another for the old Jew in the Bazaar, and a third for his father, and putting a silver piece into his hand, which seemed to fill him with wonder, we bade farewell to little Mordecai.
We felt sorry to part so soon from such a scene as this. The twice-repeated blessing of fruitfulness put upon the land of Joseph lingers about the vale of Sychar still, “Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits bi ought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon.”* It seemed almost as if the Lord remembered still the kindness of its former people, and kept this natural beauty around it as a memorial.
* Deut. xxxiii. 13, 11. Gen. xlL. 22.
SYCHAR — FOUR JEWS.
We were in the act of preparing to mount our horses, when the four interesting Jews with whom we had sailed from Syra to Alexandria,* arrived at the very spot of our encampment. We could scarcely believe our eyes; but so it was. They were mounted on horses, and had proceeded thus far on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. After we left them in Egypt, they” had sailed from Alexandria to Beyrout, endured the sixteen day’s quarantine there, and were now accomplishing the object of their journey. We met like old friends; they all saluted us with great heartiness, and were willing ere we parted to receive Hebrew tracts from us. We delayed a short time conversing with them, and then about one o’clock bade farewell to them and to Sychar.
The road from this to Samaria is perhaps the best we travelled in all Palestine. It is a level, broad highway at the base of hills — no doubt once much frequented by the kings of Israel, who would keep the highway to their capital in good repair. The direction it takes is north-west for about one hour, and then over a ridge which may be regarded as a continuation of Ebal. The vale down which we rode was well watered everywhere; a fine stream meanders through it, and there are many wells; forming a complete contmst to the south part of the land.f The gardens on every hand are very luxuriant, the trees wearing their richest foliage; the fig, olive, and orange trees laden with fruit. We observed gardens of onions which seemed to rival those of Egypt. Many villages embosomed in trees also came in sight. A small village on the left was called Bet-Ouzin. Another on the hill Bet-Iba. Below this an old aqued uct having eleven arches ci’osses the valley, the water of which turns a mill. Before leaving the Valley of Nablous, we looked back and obtained a view of Ebal, strikingly rocky and sterile.
Our route now lay north-west over a considerable ridge, during the ascent of which we obtained a view of many distant villages; and among others Ramla, on an eminence. When we had gained the summit, the hill of Samaria came in sight, rising out of the plain to the height of about four hundred feet. It is an oblong hill sloping up toward the west, and has a considerable extent of table-land on the top. The plain, near the head of which it stands, stretches far to the west, and the moun-
* See p 42 t Ps. cxxvi, 4.
t tains that enclose it are lofty. It is a hill in the miast of higher hills; a noble situation for a royal city. A grove of ohves covers the plain, and the lower part of the southern side of the hill. On the mountain to the right stands a picturesque village called Nakoura, and on the summit a white tomb of a Moslem saint. We reacver the prophecy of Micah* regarding Samaria as weew near to it, and conversed together as to its full meaning. We asked Dr. Keith what he understood by the expression “I will make Samaria as an heap of the field T’ He replied, that he supposed the ancient stones of Samaria would be found, not in the form of a ruin, but gathered into heaps in the same manner as in cleaning a vineyard, or as our farmers at home clear their fields by gathering the stones together. In a little after we found the conjecture to be completely verified. We halted at the eastern end of the hill beside an old aqueduct, and immediately under the ruin of an old Greek church which rises on this side above the miserable village of Subuste.f The ruin is one of the most sightly in the whole of Palestine. We ascended on foot by a narrow and steep pathway, which soon divides into two, and conducts past the foundations of the ruined church to the village. The pathway is enclosed by rude dykes, the stones of which are large and many of them carved, and these are piled rather than built upon one another. Some of them are loose and ready to fall. Many are peculiarly large, and have evidently belonged to ancient edifices. Indeed, the whole face of this part of the hill suggests the idea that the buildings of the ancient city had been thrown down from the brow of the hill.
Ascending to the top, we went round the whole summit, and found marks of the same process everywhere. The people of the country, in order to make room for their fields and gardens, have swept off the old houses, and poured the stones down into the valley. Masses of stone, and in one place two broken columns, are seen, as it were, on their way to the bottom of the hill. In the southern valley, we counted thirteen large heaps of stones, most of them piled up round the Trunks of the olive-trees. The church above mentioned is the only solid ruin that now remains where the proud city once
* Micah i 6.
+ Herod rebuilt the city and called it Schaste, which means “august, tor venerable,” in honour of Augustus Ccesar; but God had written its doom centuries before.
RUINS OF SAMARIA.
Stood. In the houses of the villagers, we saw many pieces of ancient columns, often laid horizontally in the wall; in one place, a Corinthian capital, and in another, a linely-carved stone. Near the village, and in the midst of a cultivated field, stood six column, bare and without their capitals then seven more that appear to have formed the opposite side of the colonnade; and at a little distance about seventeen more. Again, on the north-east side, we found fourteen pillars standing. But the greatest number were on the north-western” brow. Here we counted fifty-six columns in a double row at equal distances, all wanting the capital, many of them broken across, and some having only the base remaining. These ruins may be the remnant of some of Samaria’s idolatrous temples, or more probably of a splendid arcade, which may have been carried completely round the city. And these are all that remain of Samaria, “the crown of pride!” The greater part of the top of the hill is used as a field; the crop had been reaped, and the villagers were busy at the thrashing-floor. Part of the southern side is thickly planted with figs, olives, and pomegranates. We found a solitary vine, the only representative of the luxuriant vineyards which once supplied the capital. At one point, a fox sprang across our path into the gardens, a living witness of an unpeopled city.
It was most affecting to look round this scene of desolation, and to remember that this was the place where wicked Ahab built his house of Baal, where cruel Jezebel ruled, and where Elijah and Elisha did their wonders. But above all, it filled the mind with solemn awe to read over on the spot the words of God’s prophet uttered 2500 years before — “/ will make Samaria as an heap of the yield, and as plantings of a vineyard; and I tvill pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof’’* Every clause reveals a new feature in the desolation of Samaria, differing in all its details from the desolation of Jerusalem,! and every word has literally come to pass. We had founa both on the summit and on the southern valley, at every little interval, heaps of ancient stones piled up, which had been gathered off the surface to clear it for cultivation. There can be no doubt that these stones once formed part of the temples, and palaces, and dwellings of Samaria, so that the word is fulfilled,” / will make Samaria
* Mic. j. 0. t See pages 130. 145.
FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 2^1
as an heap of thejield.” We had also seen how eoinpletely the hill has been cleared of all its ediiices, the stones gathered off it as in the clearing of a vineyard, the only columns that remain standing bare, without their capitals, so that, in all respects, the hill is left like ‘■’■ the plantings of a vineyard,’’’’ either like the bare vine-shoots of a newly planted vineyard, or like the wellcleared terraces where vines might be planted.* Still further, we had seen that the ruins of the ancient city had not been left to moulder away on the hill where they were built, as is the case with other ruined cities, but had been cleared away to make room for the labours of the husbandman. The place where the buildings of the city stood has been tilled, sown, and reaped; and the buildings themselves rolled down over the brow of the hill. Of this, the heaps in the valley, the loose fragments in the rude dykes that run up the sides, and the broken columns on their way down into the valley, are witnesses; so that the destroyers of Samaria (whose very names are unknown), and the simple husbandman, have both unwittingly been fulfilling God’s word, “/ will pour doiun the stones thereof into the valley.’’’’ And last of all, we had noticed that many of the stones in the valley were large and massy, as if they had been foundation-stones of a building, and that in many parts of the vast colonnade nothing more than the bases of the pillars remain. But especially, we obseiwed that the ruined church had been built upon foundations of a far older date than the church itself, the stones being of great size, and bevelled in a manner similar to the stones” of the temple wall at Jerusalem, and those of the mosque at Hebron; and these foundations were now quite exposed. So that the last clause of the prophecy is fulfilled with the same awful minuteness,” / will discover the foundations thereof’’ Surely there is more than enough in the fulfilment of this fourfold prediction to condemn, if it does not convince, the infidel.
We examined the old church at the east end of the hill. It is a massy substantial building, supposed to have been built in the time of the Crusades, as there are many crosses of the templars on its architecture. The Mo.slems have broken away one of the limbs of each of the crosses in their zeal to shape them into the form of a crescent. Within the area of the church, there is a tomb
* The word in the original may signify either the bare vine-shoots, or the plat of ground where the vines are planted.
222 8AMARIA — SCENERY.
where tradition says that John the Baptist was buried Having obtained lights, we descended twenty-one steps into a handsome vault, the floor of which was tesselated with marble. There were five niches for the dead. The centre one was said to be that of the Baptist, and the door had a hinge of stone like the remarkable doors in the sepulchres of the kings at Jerusalem. “Now,” said our friend Giuseppe with great gravity, “Tell your father when you go back to your own country, that you have seen the tomb of John the Baptist!”
But the natural scenery of Samaria had greater charms for us. The situation of the city is worthy of particular notice. The sun, about two hours from setting, was gilding the whole country with his mellowed rays, while we stood and gazed around. We could plainly see the meaning of Isaiah’s description, “Wo to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine.” * The valley near the head of which the hill of Samaria stands, is even now rich in olive-trees, and probably abounded in vineyards and gardens in former days, while the hill itself, covered with palaces and towers, rose over it like a glorious crown. The natural strength of the position of the city at once suggested the true Ibrce of the words of Amos, “Wo to them that trust in the mountain of Samaria.” f
Within half an hour’s distance of the hill on the north and south, and still nearer on the east, the ring of lofty hills which enclose the valley of Samaria begins to rise. These are what the Scripture calls “the mountains of Samaria.” They encompass the city, so that in the days of Israel’s glory, when they were all clad in vineyards, the capital would appear encircled by plenty and luxuriance. The days are coming, when these same “mountains of Samaria” shall again be clothed more luxuriantly than ever, and cultivated by the hands of ransomed Israel; for the same unerring woi’d that foretold the present desolation, has foretold the coming glory, “Thou shalt yet plant vines vipon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.” f
We remembered the history of the siege of Samaria by Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, § and observed how easy it would be to shut in such a city on every side, so
* Isa. xxviii. 1. See Lowth’s Note. t Amos. vi. 1.
X Jer. xxxi. 5. $ 2 Kings vi. 24 as to cut off the supplies; and it occurred to us, that probably the unbelieving lord, who was trodden to death in the gate, was thrown down by the stream of people rushing down the In 11 toward the Syrian camp.*
As we had still a journey of several hours before us, we were compelled to leave Subuste before sunset. We heai’d the sound of the millstone in some of the houses as we passed, and saw a man kneeling in prayer on the roof of his house, reminding us of Peter at Joppa.f It was very pleasant to remember that along the road we had come, and on the spot we had been traversing, Philip the Evangelist preached Christ unto the people. “” There was great joy in that city”|: then — greater than in the days of her royal magnificence, for Philip brought them joy from the fountain of life.
Regaining the public road, we proceeded due north to the foot of the hills which enclose the valley of Samaria, having high on our right a village called “Bet-emireen,” “the house of Emirs.” In about half an hour we began to ascend, and came to a romantic village called Bourka, half-way up the mountain. The peasants were all actively engaged at the thrashing-floor; their houses were built entirely of mud, but pleasantly surrounded by ohve-trees, out of which the voice of the turtle sounded sweetly as we passed. Looking back we saw the whole of “the fat valley” beautifully illumined by the last rays of the setting sun. A very steep and difficult ascent soon brought us to the summit of the ridge, when a magnificent scene burst on our view. To the west lay the Mediterranean Sea, and that part o{ the plain of Sharon which stretches to ancient Caesarea; to the north, immediately beneath us, Wady Gaba, a fine valley or undulating plain, which seemed like a Paradise, watered by a winding stream, and abounding in olive-trees. This stream M-e afterwards conjectured to be the brook Kanah mentioned in Joshua.) To the north-east rose the hills of Galilee, among which we thought we could distinguish Mount Tabor in the distance. At the head of the valley below, appeared a sheet of water, the first we had yet seen in this country. Slanting down the mountain side, which the Arabs called Jebel Gaba, in a north-easterly direction, we passed through the small village Matalish, and then through the village of Gaba; the latter may possibly indicate the position of
* 2 Kings vii. 17. t Acts x. 9.
tActsviilS., $ Josh. xvi. 8; xvii. 9 the ancient Gibbethon, where Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, was slain by Baasha,*for that town seems to have been near Tirzali, and Tirzah was near to Samaria. The moon rose with great beauty, and the noise of the grasshoppers quite filled the valley. The glow-worms and fire-flies were scattering their light around us. At length we encamped on the plain opposite Sanour. The time in which the servants were occupied in putting up the tents generally afforded us a profitable hour for meditation and retirement under the shady trees. In our evening worship together we read 2 Kings vi. which recounts some of Elisha’s deeds in Samaria.
We set out at six next morning (June 21,) and passed by the foot of a steep rocky hill, upon ^^’hich stands the ruined castle of Sanour, a relic of crusading times. We were now within the borders of the half-tribe of Manasseh, and remarked the abundance of streams and the remnants of fertility, far exceeding any thing we had seen in the southern parts of the country, — as if the blessing put “upon the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren,” had not yet passed away.
“V^’e rode alongside of the large sheet of water which we had seen the night before at the head of the valley. The Arabs called if Merj Ibnama. It is merely a gathering of water left by the latter rains, and is often dried up in summer. A much larger supply of rain than usual had fallen this year, which accounted for its being so full at this advanced season. It resembled not a little the Compensation Pond among the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh.
We came upon two men ploughing with oxen, and noticed that they held the plough only with one hand. The soil appeared rich and fertile. Thousands of a blue starshaped flower, the name of which we did not know, decked the ground, mingled here and there with the pink, anemone, a very large species of convolvulus, and the tall plants of the lavatera. The beautiful hills all round the plain were clothed with brushwood, with olives and fig-trees sometimes running up a short way from their base.
Leaving this pleasant vale, we soon came to a height from which the hills of Galilee again came in view. From this we descended a rockj’- pass into a rich olive valley, with 3’ellow corn-fields beyond and found the
* 1 Kings XV. 27; xvi. 15.
large Arab village oT Gabatieh. Some of the houses were well built of stone, others were entirely of mud. They had no windows except loopholes, and these generally looking into the court of the house; the doors also were very low, perhaps for the purpose of defence. Emerging from the olive-grove we got a full sight of its beauty,”and again remembered the niany Scriptures which compare the soul of a thriving believer to a green and vigorous olive-tree.* Two things seem invariably united in this land, namely, the voice’of the turtle wherever there is an olive-grove, and a village wherever the eye discerns verdure.
We met here, and often afterwards throughout the day, camels carrying home the harvest, with tinkling bells hanging from their neck. Many splendidly coloured butterflies were on the wing, and lizards without number were seen basking upon the rocks. Descending a ravine, still to the north-east, on the banks of a small st’ream running in the same direction, we reached Jenin in three hours from Sanour. This is the frontier town of the great plain of Esdraelon in this direction, so that it must always have been a place of some importance. It is believed to be the ancient Gukbg, mentioned in the wars of Josephus. It is still a considerable town, surrounded with gardens and hedges of prickly pear, interspersed with a few graceftil palm-trees, over which rises a mosque with its pointed minaret. The Bedouin camel-drivers seem to make it a place of rendezvous. Many of their brown tents were planted near, closely resembling our gipsy encampments; and in one of their herds we c’ounted as many as thirty camels. We halted for a short time under the shade of a spreading tree, while our servants went into the town to buy provisions.
Turning now to the N. W. we began to move along the edge of the plain of Esdraelon, the ancient valley of Jezreel. Very large fields of ripe barley occasionally occurred, sometimes a grove of olive-trees, but oftener the plain was waste and given over to thorns. It is melancholy to traverse the finest spots in this land, and to find them open and desolate. Even the highways are gone, along which the chariots of the kings of Jezreel used to run. The times of Shamgar are returned — “In the days of Shamgar the son of ^nath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.” f The threatening of Moses
* See p. 106. t Judg. v. 6.
is fulfilled, “The land shall rest and shall enjoy her Sabbaths, while she lieth desolate.” * We felt the heat of the sun very intense, while it poured its rays down upon the plain. Sometimes we sought a moment’s shelter under a shady tree, and sometimes we rode briskly forward to create a refreshing current in the air. It was over these level fields that the Canaanites used to drive their iron chariots in the days of Joshua ;t and it was in these plains that Sisera was defeated with his multitude and nine hundred chariots of iron: “The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Tannach by the waters of Megiddo.” We saw how easily Ahab could ride in his chariot from Carmel to Jezreel, while Elijah ran before him, there being no obstacle in all the plain ;5 and also how Jehu “could drive furiously” as he came up from Jordan toward Jezreel. It was in another part of the same valley that good king Josiah came to fight with Pharaoh Necho in the valley of Megiddo, when the archers shot at him and wounded him in his chariot, and he died. IT
Leaving the plain we entered among the low swelling hills on the west near a village, Bourkeen, in less than three hours from Jenin, and arrived at Ramouni, (that is, “pomegranate,”) a village finely embosomed in fig-trees, oUves, and pomegranates, from the midst of which came the voice of the blackbird and turtle-dove. Could this be Hadad-rimmon, of which Zechariah speaks, and which was near the valley of Megiddo ]** There is space for a large town here, and there are many reservoirs of water, which show that it has been a place of some importance. Flocks of goats were couching by the well, and the Arab women were milking them,”while a boy drew water in a skin and poured it into the trough. Our way lay westward over the slope of low undulating hills, covered with the carob-tree, and evergi-een oak, a finely wooded wilderness. Immense thistles, having heads of a rich violet hue. Spina Christi, lavatera, convolvulus, and our common hollyhock, were the most abundant plants. We encamped at noon under the deep shade of a carob-tree of unusual size, and employed ourselves in writing up our notes and gathering wild flowers. Leaving at three o’clock, we rode through a fine sylvan solitude, hills and dales, all wild and seemingly untrodden, yet
* Lev. xxli. 34. t Josh. xvii. 16. t Judff. iv. 15; v. 19.
$ 1 Kings xviii. 44. 11 2 Kings ix. 20. IT 2 CBron. xxxv. 23.
Zech. xii. 11.
frequently having ruins and traces of ancient terraces, which showed that once it had been a peopled land.
The first village we came to was called Am-el-Felim, that is, “mother of charcoal,” probably from the abundance of wood which clothes the hill on which it stands, and the whole neighbo-urhood. Soon after, an opening in the hills gave us a rich prospect to the north-east over the plain of Esdraelon, as far as the hills of Nazareth, which seemed to be not many hours distant. Riding still north-west, the hill began to assume a more barren aspect, and the valleys looked sad and waste. Thistles, browned and withered, held undisputed reign, and the white stones covering the side reminded vis of the valley of dry bones. Toward sunset the mountains opened to the west, and we looked down upon the Mediterranean Sea — the great plain of waters, — and the line of coast near CaesaTrea. Here our guide missed the track, but after passing a poor miserable hamlet, Cafreen, where not a tree grew, nor a single shrub, except one small cluster of the prickly pear, we reached a convenient spot for encamping near another village called Dalee. The frogs kept up an incessant croaking in the wady below, and the fire-flies glistened in the dusky air. Ibraim brought a plentiful supply of rich goat’s milk from the village, a refreshing accompaniment to our evening meal. We had this day been passing through a portion of the land whose luxuriance used to be proverbial, and yet we had seen little else than a labyrinth of thorns and briery plants. Isaiah xxxii. 13, again came to mind, and the remembrance was soothing, for as certainly as the curse has been fulfilled, so shall the blessing — “the Spirit shall be poured out from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field.”
Next morning (June 22), as we left the poor village of Dalee, we noticed the women carrying their children, some on their sides and some on their shoulder. We were now traversing the portion of Issachar, whose “land was pleasant,” and out of which princes came to the help of Deborah: yet now the pasture was scorched and withered, and the only traces of fertility were a few patches of barley and tobacco. As we approached the sea a cool breeze sprung up, which tempered the excessive heat of the morning. For about an hour after resuming our journey, the“same features as before prevailed over the country, the only variety being a few Bedouin tents, “tents of Kedar.” In about an hour we began to “XSS VILLAGE OP IGZIM — MEDITERRANEAN.
descend towards the west, and the country became much more fertile, assuming the appearance of the hill country between Bethlehem and Hebron. The swelling hills were covered with verdant brushwood, out of which issued the cooing of the dove. The deep thickets of evergreen frequently suggested to us the idea of the ancient groves of idolatrywhere they “inflamed themselves with idols under every green tree.”* We approached a large and important-looking village, called Igzim. The houses seemed to be solidly built of stone, and there were many large enclosures of prickly pear. Often, too, we noticed here, “the lodge in a garden of cucumbers.” f
Instead of entering the village, we turned to the right into a wild pass between wooded hills, which in a short time became a rocky defile, with a single sharp-pointed rock overhanging the entrance. Climbing up to this rocky pinnacle, we found some deep natural caves, which may have afforded a shelter to the prophets in the days of Elijah. The defile down which we had come issues suddenly into the narrow plain along the sea-shore, which is a continuation of the plain of Sharon. From the rocky height this plain lay stretched at our feet, and on the sho-e there were heaps of rubbish without any definite ruin, which mark the situation of Tortura, the ancient Dor, nine miles north of Casarea, one of the towns out of which Manasseh was not able to drive the Canaanites.]: On the rocks above us we saw the vulture perched looking oat for his prey. After slanting across the plain, which was covered sometimes with fields of barley, sometimes with sesamine, and still oftener lay waste, our road lay parallel to the shore, and within view of it; at length we came upon the shore of the Mediterranean, happy again to meet its deep blue waters. Proceeding north, we came in about an hour to a small stream which here runs into the sea; its banks were skirted with tall oleanders in full bloom, and as we forded the stream many tortoises dropt into the water from the banks. Soon after, looking back we saw on a projecting point of the shore some conspicuous ruins of pillars and ancient buildings. The place is called by the Arabs Athlete, and anciently Castellum Peregrinorum. We were anxious to press forward, and therefore did not turn aside to examine the ruins.
We remembered with interest that we were now in Paul’s footsteps, when he travelled with a few friends in * Isa. lvii. 5. t Isa. i. 8. t Josh- .wii. 11, 12.
the opposite direction from Ptolemais to Ceesarea.* Four miles further north we came under the sloping sides of Mount Carmel, but it was some time before we could be persuaded that it was really the hill Vv’e had read of from infancy. It did not present an imposing appearance; but, on the contrary, seemed low and almost uninteresting. One of our number exclaimed, “Is this Carmel ] Lachnagar is finer than this!” We had been expecting to see a majestic mountain towering high over the sea, and felt not a little disappointed to find the real Carmel a moderately high ridge, becoming less lofty and conspicuous as it approaches the sea, till it terminates in a point about 900 feet in height. Before we left Carmel, however, and especially after viewing the whole extent of it from the heights above Acre, this feeling of disappointment was entirely done away.
At its northern extremity, it comes very near the sea, so that there is but a narrow sti’ip of land between the steep rocky side of the mountain and the shore. Upon this narrow strip were pitched a multitude of tents of all shapes and sizes, while men of different costumes were couching round them, or wandering along the beach. It was an animating scene, and would have been more so had we not known that this was the station where we must perform quarantine. The plague had been for a long time prevailing in several parts of the south of Palestine, but it had not spread to the north of Carmel. Accordingly, all travellers from the south were obliged to rest here in quarantine for fourteen days, or, if they consented to have all their clothes bathed in the sea, for seven days. We pitched on the shore, the waves of the sea almost washing the cords of our tents, and an Egyptian soldier, a simple good-natured man, was appointed our guardiano, to see that we touched nobody; for should it happen that any one touch the person, or clothes, or cord of a tent, of any other party in quarantme, they are obliged to begin their days of quarantine anew.
The view which we enjoyed from our tent-door was every way splendid. The deep blue Mediterranean was in front of us, bounded only by the horizon. On the right was the beautiful Bay of Acre, round the whole sweep of which the eye could wander, uninterrupted except by the distant battlements of the town, or by small native vessels sailing past. In the distant background rose Jebel Sheikh, the ancient Hermon, which” the Si- * Acts xxi. 8. t Deut. ill 9.
230 MOUNT CARMEL — aUARANTINE — SABBATH.
donians called Sirion, and the Amorites Shenir;” a noble mountain, where were “the lions’ dens and the mountains of the leopards.” * The sea-breeze was pleasant and refreshing, and we had the pleasure of bathing daily in the cool waters; but the sand often glowed like a furnace, and the thermometer was generally 86° F. day and night. It was here that Giuseppe, the native of Bethlehem who accompanied us from Jerusalem, took leave of us. He insisted on our giving him a backshish, which we could not refuse, although we considered that the favour was all on our side. He kissed our hands again and again, bidding us Addio.
The next morning was the Sabbath (June 23,) and we welcomed the day of rest. Quietly seated in our tents, we read over and meditated upon the history of Elijah, especially his sacrifice on this mountain and his prayer, when seven different times he said to his attendant, “Go again.” f In the cool of the evening we wandered far from the tents, and had delightful leisure and retirement, and every assistance from association, to spread before God the case of our own souls, our people, our land, and our journey in behalf of Israel. We longed for the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous Elijah.
The greater part of Monday was occupied in dipping our. tents, clothes, &c., in the sea, while our books and papers were all fumigated, — inconveniences to which we willingly submitted that our quarantine might be shortened to seven days. It seems very doubtful whether quarantines, as at present conducted, serve any good purpose. A traveller whose tent was next to ours told us that his servant, anxious to spare a handsome coat from being plunged in the salt-water, hung it up among the drying clothes as if it had been immersed in the sea. Our own” guardiano, whenever he came to any article of value, proposed with a look of inexpressible cunning, to bury it in the sand till the fumigating was over, and seemed not to understand why we would not agree to it. The operations of this day made us understand better the command so frequently given in the ceremonial law, “He shall wash his clothes and be unclean till evening.”|
The remaining days of this week were spent in extending our notes, writing letters to the Committee of our Church, and to friends at home, in preparing ourselves for further inquiries concerning Isi’ael, and in soli-
* Song iv. 8. +1 Kings xviii, 43. t Lev. xi. 40, &c.
tary meditations while we rambled along the shore. The heat was uniformly great. Befoi-e dawn, indeed, and toward sunset, there” was generally a pleasant breeze, but on account of the nearness of the sea, the heat was as great at night as through the day. The food furnished to us was simple and wholesome. The inhabitants of the neighbouring town of Khaifa brought water-melons, and cusas, and fruits in abundance. Water, however, was sometimes scarce, there being but one well to supply the quarantine, and that one not very plentiful. We had long been strangers to the luxury of sitting upon a chair, and now felt the want of that accommoda;ion less than we should otherwise have done. Still, the uneasy position of sitting upon the sand with our writing-desk supported on our knees, made the labour of wriUng in such a climate much greater than any one can imagine who has not made the same attempt.
Lord Hamilton and Mr. Littleton were fellow-prisoners with us; and in a tent at some distance from us. Lord Rokeby, an English nobleman, who also had been travelling in these countries. Stretched upon the sand at respectful distances, under the eye of our guardiano, we held friendly conferences on the wonders we had seen. Dr. Keith frequently applied and expounded the prophecies of the Word of God. On one occasion, in speaking of the wild animals that are found in the land at present, Lord Hamilton mentioned that his servant had seen during the preceding night two lynxes from Mount Carmel, with bright glaring eyes, quite near the tents. Near the Jordan, “too, they had seen many wild boars and lynxes; and at Jenin, before dawn one morning, his servant had seen sixteen h3’enas at one time.
Sometimes when the tide retired (for there is an ebb and flow of a few feet at this place), we gathered shells and sponge among the rocks. We saw some of our neighbours seeking for specimens of the shell-fish from which, in ancient times, used to be extracted the famous purple dye. We did not see them find any specimens, but were told that still this is found here. It used to be found in all parts of the Bay, and there were two kinds of it. One of these yielded a dark blue colour, the other a brighter tint, like scarlet; and by mingling together these two juices, the true purple colour was obtained. It was thus that Asher, whose rich and beautiful plain supplied viands fit for the table of kings, yielded also the dye of their royal robes, conveyed to many a distant court by the merchants of Tyi’e and Sidon. And thus we see the full meaning of Jacob’s blessing on Asher “he shall yield royal dainties.” *
Grasshoppers abounded in the fields between the shoi-a and the hill, and we found a few scorpions of a black colour; small, but dangerous on account of their venom. One evening, when we were walking along the beach, our guardiano discovered one. He’instantly stamped upon it with his foot, and afterwards showed us its sting. This reminded us of the asp on whose hole the “sucking child shall play.”!
We enjoyed the view of several magnificent sunsets here. One evening especially the sun went down behind the great waters, tinging a vast array of fleecy clouds with the most gorgeous crimson. In the course of the week. Sir Moses Montefiore and his company arrived in quarantine, pitching their tents a little way to the south of us. He kindly sent us a present of a fine water-melon, and afterwards two bottles of the “wine of Lebanon,” procured from the convent on Mount Carmel. If this was a fair sample of that famous wine, it must have lost much of its excellence since the days of Hosea,| for it is not very pleasant to the taste. It has the same peculiar flavour with the wine of Cyprus, a flavour said to be communicated b)^ the tar put upon the thread with which the skins containing the wine are sewed. Sir Moses and Di Keith frequently walked on the beach, conversing on the prophecies that had been fulfilled in the desolations of the land, a subject to which the former had evidently paid a good deal of attention; but he positively declined all reference to the New Testament. During the greater part of Saturday, although the heat was very great, he and his lady, and a medical attendant, who was a very bigoted Jew, went through the Jewish service with scrupulous attention.
On Friday evening (June 2S), a party of Egyptian Arab soldiers of the Pasha came into quarantine and encamped beside us. They were rude undisciplined barbarians, having nothing but their pikes and muskets, which they fixed by sticking the bayonets into the sand. They had often noisy quarrels with one another, and sometimes as we passed their tents, half in jest, half in
* Gen. xlix. 20. The original word D’Jij.’D means whatever de-Hghts and regales, and its cognate is expressly applied to dress in 2 Sam. i. 24.
t Isa. xi. 8. t Hos. xiv. 7.
earnest, would level their muskets at us, crying, “Nazarani” At night, we heard them chanting tTieir Arab songs in the same way as we had heard our Egyptians do in the desert, — a single voice leading, and a chorus responding with clapping of hands.*
Oa the Saturday, a woman and her two children, in a tent within a few yards of oui’s, were declared by the physician to be ill of plague. This was a solemn intimation in such circumstances; but we remembered the 91st Psalm, and entrusted ourselves more entirely to Him who had brought us hitherto. None of the cases proved fatal during our stay. We had a longing desire to ascend the summit of Mount Carmel, that we might see the place from whence Elijah’s servant saw the cloud no bigger than a man’s hand, and that we might fully understand the Scripture references to it, several of which did not at that time appear so exactly suitable as we had found the references in regard to other places. But the regulations of quarantine would not permit us to wander to so great a distance. For the present, therefore, we were satisfied to skirt the foot of the hill, and to examine the large caverns which are to be found there. The limestone rock of this mountain aiiounds in them; and in some such cave Obadiah hid the Lord’s prophets, and fed them with bread and water.f We were assured that there are no caves on the summit of the mountain, so that it cannot be in reference to them that Amos speaks of sinners hiding “in the top of Carmel.” J
On Sabbath morning (June 30,) after worshipping together in our tent, we had separated for the day to pass the forenoon in retirement, when suddenly we were roused by hearing loud cannonading from the opposite side of the bay, and, looking up, saw the town of Acre enveloped in smoke. This continued for nearly an hour. What it meant we could not imagine; but at last a courier arrived from Acre, to announce that the Pasha’s army had gained a great victory at Nezib, and that he had commanded all the large towns to celebrate it by rejoicings during three days. This information was good news to us, and for a time set our minds considerably at rest. Our days of quarantine were now expired, though we did not intend to leave till Monday; but the question with us was, — Are we to cross the country to Galilee, to inquire into the statejof the Jews in that interesting region, or must we give up this fondly-cherished hope, and * See p. 01. t 1 Kings xviii. 13. t Amos ix. 3.
’22 proceed by water to Beyrout 1 This had occupied much of our consideration the preceding day. The reports of the state of the country were very contradictory, some affirming that the Arabs, in absence of the Pasiia’s troops, were infesting the roads, plundering and murdering in every direction; others declaring that there was little danger. Now, however, we joyfully concluded that the news of the victory would overawe the Arabs, and open our way into Galilee. This gave us more rest of mind for enjoying the tSabbath, till the evening, when the Vice Consul of Khaifa paid us a visit which overthrew all our hopes. He came to say that the state of the roads towards Galilee was so dangerous, that he would not provide horses for us on the “morrow, since in that case he would be held responsible for our safety. Our course was now decided, and we made up our minds to sail along the coast to Beyrout.
Meanwhile, in the cool of evening, we ascended Mount Carmel by a deep and rocky ravine a little way to the south. We conversed together on Elijah’s wonderful answer to prayer obtained on this mountain, and felt that we could well spend the evening of the holy day in such a place. Having soon reached the summit, a consideral3le way above the Latin Convent, we sat down at a point commanding a full view of the sea to the west and to the north. Near this must have been the spot where Elijah prayed when he went up to the top of Carmel, and cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said. There is nothing. And Elijah said, ‘Go again,’ seven times.“* There we united in praying for abundance of rain to our own souls, our friends, and our people, and for the progress of our mission, which seemed for a time impeded. It was awfully solemn to kneel on the lonely top of Carmel. The sun was going down beyond the sea, the air was cool and delightfully pure scarcely a breath of wind stirred the leaves, yet the frag-I’ant shrubs diffused their pleasant odours on every side. A true Sabbath stillness rested on the sea and on the hill. The sea washes the foot of the hill on each side, and stretches out full in front till lost in the distance. To the east and north-east lies that extension of the splendid plain of Esdraelon which reaches to the white walls of Acre, and through which” that ancient river,
* 1 Kings xviii. 42, 43.
the river Kislion” was winding its way to the sea, not far from the foot of Carmel. These are the waters that swept away the enemies of Deborah and Barak,* and that were made red by the blood of the prophets of Baal, after Ehjah’s miraculous sign of fire from heaven. To the south is seen the narrow plain between the mountains and the sea which afterwards expands into the plain of Sharon. And along the ridge of Mount Carmel itself is a range of eminences, extending many miles to the south-east, all of them presenting a surface of table-land on the top, sometimes bare and rocky, and sometimes covered with mountain shrubs. On some of these heights, the thousands of Israel assembled to meet Elijah, when he stood forth before them all and said, “How long halt ye between two opinions!” and from this sea they carried up the water that drenched his altar; and here they fell on their faces and cried, “Jehovah, he is the God! Jehovah, he is the God!”
The view we obtained that evening on Mount Cai’mel can never be forgotten. No scene we had witnessed surpassed its magnificence, and the features of it are still as fresh in our memory as if we had gazed on it but yesterday. It was, moreover, a most instructive scene; we saw at once the solution of all our difficulties in regard to the Scriptural references to this hill. Carmel is not remarkable for height; and is nowhere in Scripture celebrated for its loftiness. At the point overhanging the sea, we have seen that it is less than 900 feet high. To the south-east it rises to the height of 1200 feet, which is its greatest altitude. But then the range of hills runs nearly eight miles into the country, and was in former days fruitful to a proverb. Indeed, the name Carmel, signifying “a fruitful field,” was given to it evidently for this reason. And when this vast extent of fruitful hills was covered over with vineyards, olive-groves, and orchards of figs and almond-trees, not on the sides alone, but also along the table-land of its summit — would not Carmel, worthy of the name, appear an immense hanging garden in the midst of the land! in the days of its pristine luxuriance, before the curse of God blasted its glory, “the exoeJleney of Carmel,” f of which the prophet speaks, must have been truly wonderful! How easy at that time it would have been “to hide in the top of Carmel;” I for embowering vines and deep shady fig-trees would afford a covert for many a mile along the summit.
* Judg. V. 21. t Isa. xxxv 2. 1 Amos ix. 3.
And would not the beholder in other days at once understand the meaning of the beautiful description of the Church given in the Song, “Thine head upon thee is like Carmel ‘” * Would not the jewellery and ornaments, or perhaps the wreath of flowers, around the head of an Eastern bride, resemble the varied luxuriance of the gardens of Carmel seen from afar ] There are at present in the Convent garden on the hill a few vines that produce excellent grapes; but these are all that now remain to testify of the spot where Uzziah had his vine-dressers.f With the exception of these, which are not properly on the summit of the hill, we could not descry a single fruit-tree on the top of Carmel. A few verdant olive-trees grow at the northern roots of the hill, and some extend a short way up the side; but the extensive summit, which was once like a garden, was covered as far as our eye reached with wild mountain shrubs and briery plants, all of stunted growth, except whei’e the rock lay bare and without verdure under the scorching sun. The same God who said, “Zion shall be ploughed like a field,” and “I will pour the stones of Samaria down into the valley,” said also, “The top of Carmel shall toither;’’ X and that word we saw before our eyes fulfilled to the letter.
“We had a fine chain of Divine truth before us in the references made by the prophets to this mountain. Amos represents the guilty sinner detected, though he was to hide in its top, or plunge into the sea at its foot. Solomon shows the sinner justified in a Redeemer’s righteousness, beautiful as Carmel. Micah alludes to its rich pastures, when he would express the care of the great Shepherd in feeding his justified ones, or restored Israel, and says,” Feed thy people, which (at present) dwell solitar)’’ in the wood, in the mkh-t of Carmel.’’^ j And when Isaiah would describe the fruitfulness and beauty of the New Earth, he can say nothing higher than this, “The excellency of Carmel shall be given unto it.”
Refreshed in spii’it, we descended through a deep ravine, each side of which was fragrant with sweet-smelling briers. Among other plants there was alundance of the Poterium spinosum, such as we had found in the Valley of Eshcol. We reached the shore before it was dark.
Early next morning, (July 1) we saw an interesting
* Song vii. 5. t 2 Chron. xxvi. 10.
t Amos i. 2. 9 Mic. vii. 14.
JEWS VISIT SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE — KIiAlFA. 237
scene. About twenty Jews from Khaifa came along the shore to the tent of Sir Moses Monteliore, to show’him respect before his departure. They were of all ages, and most of them dressed in the Eastern maimer. It was affecting to see so many of them rnarcliing in a body in their own land.
Having determined to sail from Khaifa to Beyrout in a coasting vessel, we struck our tents, passed the barrier, and bade farewell to the quarantine and our kindly guardiano. We proceeded through the little plain of Khaifa, by the foot of Carmel on the north, rich in vegetable gardens, with some fine figs and olives. The entrance to the town is between hedges of prickly pear. Here we met an old Jew, originally from Vienna, who had been unable to keep up with the rest in their visit to Sir Moses, and was lingering near the town: he wore the broad-brimmed German hat and black Polish gown. We spoke to him in German, and found him very affable. He took two German tracts and one in Hebrew, and after briefly telling him, in Scripture language, his need of pardon, and that it came through Messiah, we separated, never to meet till the day of Christ.
A simple incident here vividly recalled a Scripture narrative.* A young Jew who had been out at the quarantine, was returning before us; and he had come away, probably, before the morning meal, and now felt hungry, for he stopped under a spreading fig-tree, and, looking up, searched the branches for a ripe fig, but in vain.
Khaifa is enclosed with walls, and appeared a neat little town. We found our way to the synagogue, and by this time most of the Jews had returned’from their visit to Sir Moses. There were about thirty in the synagogue, all wearing the Tallith or shawl with fringes, and the Tephillim or phylacteries, because this was the hour of morning prayer. We conversed a little with three or four Russian Jews who spoke German, and told them our object in coming from Scotland. On our asking what they expected Messiah would do at his coming, one of them said nobody could ever know that; and this he proved by turning to Daniel xii. 9, — “The words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end.” In this way he evaded the subject oia suffering Messiah. We showed them from Isaiah i. 15, “When ye make many prayers I will not hear,” that their many prayers would not justify them before God. They answered,” We do not * Matt. xxi..l8, 19.
make many prayers; our prayers are very few.” We pressed them also with Ezek. xxxvi. 26, to show them that Israel at present have a heart of stone, and that they need a change of heart. Altogether they were most friendly.
There were several boys present, and they too wore the Tephillim. Several of the little children came up to us, kissed our hands, and laid them on their heads, that we might bless them in the Jewish manner. They little knew how truly we longed that God would pour out his blessing upon Israel’s seed, and his Spirit on their offspring. One fine little boy followed us to the boat, and lingered on the shore till we had fairly sailed. When we reached the shore, the men were busy in getting ready the vessel, — a large open boat without cabin, and even without an awning. A man and a boy had the management of it, a poor remnant of the Phoenician sailors so famous of old. As we sailed, the town looked well from the sea, adorned with some graceful palm-trees. The flags of Britain and France were floating together on the roof of the Vice-Consul’s house, and the Egyptian flag, bearing the crescent and star on a blood-red ground, waved over the fort. Behind rose Mount Carmel, stretching into the country in what seemed an unbroken range, bare and withered; and we could now understand well the prophet’s description, “Carmel by the sea,” * for its northern extremity seems to descend into the very waters. The swell of the sea soon became unpleasant, the vessel rocked with every breeze, and we were exposed unprotected to the burning rays of the sun. We sailed past Acre, presenting a fine but not a formidable appearance. It is the ancient Ptolemais, where Paul abode one day.f The men soon after pointed to Zeeb, the ancient Achzib, one of the cities of Asher, from which he could not drive the Canaanites.| It stands upon a slope near the sea. By sunset we were opposite Tyre, “the strong city,” and could distinguish clearly the part that was once an island. Here the breeze died away, and we were becalmed for many hours. We spent a painful night exposed to the heavy dew; but remembering how our Master slept in just such a vessel as this, we were still. At break of day we found ourselves opposite Said a, the ancient Zidon, and could hear the distant sound of the rejoicings in the town in honour of the recent victory. Soon the range of Lebanon appeared,
* Jer. xlvi. IS. t Acts .lxi. 7. t Josh. xi.. 29. Judg i. 31.
rising up to the clouds in tranquil majesty* About eleven o’clock the promontory called Ras-el-Beyrout came in sight, and in a little time we sailed into the harbour of Beyrout. We were thankful to land and escape the discomforts of a Syrian boat, which we had been experiencing for twenty-eight hours.
The town has a tine appearance, the rising ground behind being studded with villas, and completely clothed with verdant gardens and mulberry plantations. A dilapidated castte runs out into the sea, in the midst of a singularly beautiful bay, and over all rise the towering heights of Lebanon.
The public rejoicings were going on; the inhabitants were all dressed in their finest clothes; some moved through the streets with instruments of music, singing and clapping of hands; some were carried in palanquins, and some had mock-fights to the sound of music. We were glad to find refuge in the inn of Giuseppe, a Greek Christian, the first inn we had met with since leaving Alexandria.
We were soon waited on by two of the American Missionaries who are stationed here, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Hebard, who showed us every kindness. They seemed to be earnest, devoted men, and have been blessed with considerable success. They have a regular Arabic service every Lord’s day, attended by sometimes more than a hundred hearers, who are chiefly Christians of the Greek, Latin, and Armenian Churches. They have very efficient Sabbath schools for the young, and their week-day schools are attended by sixty boys and forty girls. In addition to these, they have a seminary for raising up native teachers, attended at present by about twenty Syrians. At this institution they first make trial of the boys for two months, and if in that time they do not evince sufficient aptitude or talent, their instruction is not carried further. Some of those attending are Arabs; one is an Armenian, one a Maronite, one a Druse; and a few belong to the Greek Church. The Missionaries have baptized eighteen persons since the commencement of their labours in this country. The Roman Catholics, and still more the Maronites, are theii most implacable and bigoted adversaries, throwing ever>
* Jer. xxii. 6, alludes to this prominent and majestic view of Lebanon. The true rendering of the whole verse is perhaps as follows: — “Thou, head of Lebanon, art Gilead (i. e. the heap of vntness) to me; surely I will make thee a wilderness of uninhabited cities!” — that is, I call upon the towering heights of Lebanon to bear witness that I will do this.
obstacle in their way. The priests of both these sects would burn the Bible if they found it in the possession of any of their people. Still, by means of native agency, the Bible is distributed, preserved, and read. The Greeks, and next to them the Armenians, have far less of a bigoted and persecuting spirit. Mr. Hebard labours here in the winter season, but generally in summer visits Mount Lebanon and labours among the Druses. These are a singular people, supposed to have been originally Mahometans, but having now scarcely any religion. They worship in secret places, and have doctrines which they make known only to the initiated. They are very ignorant, but much more open to the words of the missionary than the prejudiced .Maronites.
Several of the resident merchants also showed us much attention, especially Mr. Heald, Mr. Kilbee, and some of our Scottish countrymen, among whom was Mr. Kinnear, who has since given so interesting an account of his sojourn in the East. By a kind providence also, we now met with Erasmus Scott Caiman, a believing Jew, newly arrived from England. We had become acquainted with him in London, and were now providentially brought together, for he was destined to be our kind companion and fellow-traveller from that day till we arrived in England. We had also much joy in meeting with Mr. Pieritz, once Jewish Rabbi at Yarmouth, now Missionary of the London Society, along with Mr. Levi and Dr. Gerstmann, both converted Jews and labourers in the vineyard, the former laid aside for a time through bad health, the other, the medical missionary at Jerusalem. Some of the Syrian young men belonging to the American seminary were very kind and attentive to us, especially two who could speak English very well, named Abdallah and Habib. The latter said, “My name is Habib, that is, ‘friend,’ so when you want any thing you must call Habib.” Frequently during our stay at Beyrout, we visited the residences of the American Missionaries, delightfully situated on the high ground to the south of the town, and about half a mile distant, in the midst of mulberry gardens.
From the roof and windows of Mr. Thompson’s house we enjoyed a splendid prospect. The coast of Syria, indented with numerous bays stretched far to the north. But we were chiefly occupied with the view of majestic Lebanon. It is a noble range of mountains, well worthy of the fame it has so long maintained. It is cultivated in a wonderful manner by the help of terraces, and is still very fertile. We saw on some of its eminences, more than 2000 feet high, villages and luxuriant vegetation, and on some of its peaks, 6000 feet Ihgh, we could discern tail pines against the clear sky beyond. At first the clouds were resting on the lofty summit of the range, but they cleared away, and we saw Sannin, which is generally regarded as the highest peak of Lebanon. There is a deep ravine that seems to run up the whole way, and Sannin rises at its highest extremity to the height of 10,000 feet. The rays oi’ the setting sun gave a splendid tint to the lofty brow of the mountain, and we did not wonder how the church of old saw in its features of calm and immovable majesty an emblem of the great Redeemer; “His countenance is as Lebanon.” * The snow was gleaming in many of its highest crevices, reminding us of the prophet’s question, “Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon?” + In coming through the bazaar we had seen large masses of it exposed for sale. The merchants slice it off the lump, and sell it to customers for cooling wine and other liquors, and it is often mixed with a sweet syrup and drunk in passing as a refreshing beverage. Not far from Sannin the ancient cedars are found, a memorial of the glory of Lebanon. Cedars of smaller size are found also in other parts of the mountain.
There are nearly 200,000 inhabitants in the villages of Lebanon, a population exceeding that of all the fest of Palestine. This may give us “an idea of the former “glory of Lebanon,” and may explain the ardent wish of Moses, “I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, even Lebanon.” §
Not many miles east of Beyrout, over the ridge of Lebanon, lies the beautiful vale of Crele-Syria (hollow Syria) between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. It is said to be most fertile, and abounds in plentiful springs of water, which may perhaps be some of the “streams from Lebanon.” At the northern extremity of that vale there is a considerable town called Hamah, supposed to be the ancient Hamath. The narrow entrance of this fine valley may be “the entrance of Hamath,” in the northern portion of the land which God gave to Israel. IF Ezekiel xlvii. 16, joins it with Berothah, the very Beyrout where we then stood. Mr. Thompson informed us of the death
* Song V. 15. + Jer. xviii. 14. t Isa. xxxv. 2.
$ Deut. iii. 25. 11 Song iv. 15 If Num. xxxiv. 8
242 BEYROUT — RO.MAN REaiAINS — JEWS
of the well known Lady Hester Stanhope, which had taken place a few days before at her own residence in the mountains near to Sidon. He had attended her funeral, and read the service over the grave in her own garden. No Cinistian was near her when she died, azrd not a para of money was found in the house.
One evening we went with Mr. Kilbee to see the ancient columns that are sunk in the harbour, and the remains of old Mosaic pavement along the shore. These are the relics of Roman days, when Berytus was renowned for its school of jurisprudence, and frequented by the learned from various countries. An old caravansei’a also attracted our attention, once the resort of merchants with their camels, but now fallen into disuse. It was a large square, with buildings round the four sides, the lower part affording accommodation for the animals; the upper, furnished with a gallery all roimd, intended for the travellers themselves. On the eastern side of the town there is a Moslem burying-ground, with a soHiary cypress rising over the tombs, “it was pleasant to wander there and look out upon the calm glassy sea and Lebanon. Nothing can surpass the softness of the Syrian sky at evening. At such an hour we used to see many of the citizens with their children on the roofs of their houses, enjoying the cool evening air. Some even sleep upon the roof at this season of the year. Beyrout is one of the hottest towns in all Syria. The thermometer stood generally at 85° or 90^ F. during the day, but often rose to 96° during the night. The reason of this seems to be, that there is little or no land breeze, owing to the proximity of the mountains, so that there is perfect stillness in the air till morning, when the sea breeze commences.
There are about 200 Jews in Beyrout. We visited them and their synagogue on Friday evening at the commencement of the Jewish Sabbath. We found them generally ignorant men, with little of peculiar interest in their character.
From INIr. Pieritz, the missionary mentioned above, we received much important information. Speaking of the best STATIONS for the labours of a Jewish missionary, he mentioned the Grand Dutchy of Pose a as one of the most promising fields in the whole world. There are nearly 100,000 Jews there, among whom the London Society have sent three labourers; but there is room for thirty. The Jews there have been enlightened so far as to be loosened from the Talmud, and “yet they are not Rationalists. This may be accounted for by their situa-MISSIONARY STATIONS — TRACTS FOR THE JEWS. 243
tion among Protestant Christians. Nearly one-half of all the Jewish converts are from that country, among whom are three of the Jerusalem labourers.
In Mildavia and Wallachia there is another great field, hitherto untried. The cheapness of living there is extraordinary, and the resources of commerce are great and unoccupied, so that Jewish inquirers and converts could easily support themselves independently of their brethren. Judeo-Polish and Judeo-German are the languages they speak.
From personal observation, he also mentioned Gibraltar as a desirable missionary station. On one side lies the coast of Barbary, all lined with Jews, each of its towns having several thousands, and these men of singular industry. On the other side are Spain and Portugal, where are many called “New Christians,” who are all baptized Jews, to whom a prudent missionar)’- might find access, In Gibraltar itself are about 2000 Jews, speaking Hebrew and Spanish; many of whom at present allow their children to attend Christian schools there. A knowledge of the Arabic language is required by a labourer on the Barbary coast, and Judeo-Spanish on the European side.
Mr. Pieritz spoke further upon the subject of tracts FOR THE JEWS. The most useful tract for a Jew is a plain Christian tract, such as one would give to a careless professing Christian, setting before him the simple truth of his lost condition, and the death and atonement of Christ. This is much better than a deficient controversial tract. If it is controversial, it ought to be complete, for otherwise a Jew, accustomed as he is, by studying the Talmud, to acute reasoning, will soon see its deficiency and throw it aside. The tract “Helps to Self-examination” is good, because it sets before them the law that convinces of sin, and closes with prayer for light. “The City of Refuge” is another that Mr. Nicolayson considered useful.
Some of Mr. Pieritz’s anecdotes regarding the Jews in Palestine were very interesting. In Jerusalem, a Jew named Munsternetze, when pressed much to read the Bible for himself, replied, “But I am afraid.” “Why 1” “Because (said he) I have a wife and children.” He meant, that if he were to study the Bible, he would be convinced of the truth, and would, through the enmity of the Jews, reduce his family to poverty. Six weeks after Mr. Pieritz came there, a learned Jew, named Joseph, visited his house to converse with him, and remained from ten in the morning till five at night, and the result was, that he would not read his rabbinical books any more. Not long after, he came secretly every day and they read over together most of Isaiah, and all Matthew critically. One day he said that it had occurred to him that, as Messiah should have come just at the time when Christ appeared, it might be the case that Christ, knowing this, had taken advantage of it, and by the force of gi-eatgenius, had brought all the prophecies to meet in himself Mr. Pieritz gave him Isa. liii. Dan. ix. and Zech. xii. to compare and meditate upon. When he had read the first of these chapters, he returned, saying that he understood it; at the same time, he applied it partly to the Jews, and partly to thelNIessiah as one of the Jews. Mr. Pieritz set him to read all the three chapters. He sat very thoughtfully for a while; then burst out into the exclamation, “How to understmid is easy enough, hut how not to understand is the difficulty.’” From that time, he became really anxious about spiritual things. One Friday evening, talking of veracity toward God and man, reference was’made to one of the Talmudical prayers, which says, “I thank thee for commanding” such and such things, although no command has been given for it in the Bible. He” felt the force of this at once, and on going home, finding the table spread to usher in the Sabbath, declined the service. His friends became suspicious of him; but his change became public in an unexpected way. A Maliometan’was in the room one day, to whom Mr. Pieritz said, “that the unbelief of the Jews was no objection to Christianity, as many of them did believe,” appealing to Joseph, who boldly assented. The Mahometan told this to the Jews, and Jerusalem was turned upside down. An excommunication was pronounced upon Joseph, so awful that the whole synagogue were in tears. They then forced him to divorce his wife, and, by repeated solicitations, to leave Jerusalem for Constantinople, whither he went, seeking Christian baptism. On another occasion, a public controversy was held, in which Rabbi Benjamin was spokesman in favour of the Talmud. It did not last long, but three months after, he came to Mr. Pieritz to say, that though convinced at the time that himself had the best of the argument, yet, on going home, he had been led to reflect and inquire. Another day, he and Rabbi Eleazar came both together with a list of questions written, but went away without proposing them, after hearing Mr. Pieritz’s statement of the truth. They began to read the New Testament together. One evening, while thus engaged in one of .heir houses, Rabbi Abraham came in unexpectedly; they tried to hide their books, but he insisted on seeing them. Upon a vow of secrecy, they showed their New Testaments. He was very angry, but agreed to go with them to visit Mr. Pieritz. He came full of fire against Christianity. He began by showing the inaccuracy of the quotation about Bethlehem-Ephratah in Matt, ii, and said many acute things; but ;Ir. Pieritz kept to the statement of the gospel. Rabbi Abraham soon became the most earnest of the three in his love for Christianity, and all determined to make an open profession.* Two of them belong to the
best Jewish families in Russia. Chaii or Hyman Paul, a young man, became convinced of the truth and was baptized. He used to go to the convent and argue with Roman Catholics, telling them that they could^not be true Christians, because they did not care for the Jews, but hated them. On one occasion they ordered him out.
On the subject of prophecy, Mr. Pieritz agreed in the sentiments of Mr. Nicolayson that it is quite necessary for a missionary to hold the literal interpretation of prophecy. He mentioned that some Jews in Poland condemn parts of Abarbinel for spiritualizing. The Jews feel their dispersion to be literal; and therefore if you explain unfulfilled prophecy by saying it is spiritual, they reckon you a kind of infidel. If you say that “a wolf” does not mean a wolf but a bad man, that “Zion” means the church, and “redeeming Israel” not redeeming Israel but something else, and yet try to convince them of the truth of Christianity from the Bible, they think that you yourself do not believe the Bible. In arguing with the Jews, it is sometimes of importance to show the similarity between Rabbinism and Popery,t and that they have the same author. One day a Jew referred to the follies transacted at the Holy Sepulchre, and said, “that religion cannot be true.” The missionary replied, “They do just as you do; they add to the New Testament, and you add to the Old.” Like the Papists, the Jews do not approve of a man reading much of the Bible, because it leads him to speculate, and they say the Rabbinical commentaries contain as much as it is proper to know. The parts of scripture read in the synagogue, are generally passages that do not directly instruct in doctrine. For example, they read the 52d and 54th chapters of Isaiah, but omit the 53d.
* The Jewish Intelligence for April 1810, gives the last accounts of these three. All were remaining steadfast in their adherence to the truth, but Abraham had gone to Constantinople, and had not returned.
t See Appendix. No. VII.
In speaking of the Holy Land as a Missionayy field, Mr. Pieritz gave us the smallest estimate we had yet heard of the numbers of the Jews. He reckoned that in Jerusalem there are only 3000 Jews, in Saphet 2000, in Tiberias 1000, in Hebron 700, and in other towns and villages 1300, making in the whole land only 8000 Jews. During the last year he thought there had been a decrease in the Jewish population; for the plague carried away more than those born during the year, and the Jewish emigrants who came to settle at Jerusalem during that time were not more than twenty. As to their means of support, the Ashkenazim depend wholly on the contributions from Europe, except in isolated cases. The Sephardim are not so entirely dependent on this source, as they have a little trade. If the contributions were withheld, they would all be forced to seek support by their own industry, and this would be infinitely better for them. Every intelligent friend of Israel we met agreed in this opinion. There are no Rabbis properly speaking among the Ashkenazim, that is, the Rabbi is supported in no other way than as a member of the congregation; but among the Sephardim there are “Hachamim” (cD’csn) or “Wise,” for they do not call them Rabbis. These are all who are raised above the lower class, and have reached a certain standard of learning. Above this is the class of the “Hacham Morenu” (uniD CDsn) or “Teacher.” Him they regard with unqualified respect, and submit to him as a kind of Pope. He is well supported by them, and often lives in affluence. The Ashkenazim do not pay any such respect to their Rabbis. The Polish and German Jews are generally better scholars than the native Sephardim; but, on the other hand, the latter have more knowledge of the Bible. On the Barbary coast, it is not uncomnion to meet with very unlearned Jews who are well acquainted with their Bible. There is a mixture of the customs of different countries among the Jews of Palestine; but a general inclination prevails to yield to the manners and laws of the Sephardim; as, for example, in the rites of burial. There is much more of Pharisaism among the Sephardim than among foreign Jews, and much less morality. Polygamy is not unfrequent among them, but is not allowed among the Ashkenazim. There are several in Jerusalem at present who have two wives, and some who have even four. Divorce occurs every day. Mr. Pieritz mentioned one case of a Jewess in Jerusalem, not above thirty years old, who was then mar-CHARACTER OF JEWS IN PALESTINE — KARAIlEd. 247
ried to her fifth husband. In how affecting a mannei* does this illustrate the question put by the Pharisee to our Lord, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause!”* and the touching answer of Jesus.
The Jews here are far lower in morals than those in Europe. Those living in Saphet are worse than those in Jerusalem; those in Hebron are the most respectable of all. Then- misery also is very great. It is not true, as some have supposed, that though the houses are outwardly poor, they are well-furnished within. Yet the Jews are more open and friendly in this land than in any other, because of their misfortunes. The Bible shews that affliction will be one way of humbling them; and it is so here. In other lands, where they are involved in business, or rich and comfortable, they will not attend to the missionary.
The Jews here will take an Old Testament willing)y-, but often they will read the historical parts only, andiot the prophets; for it flatters their national pride to read the story of the wars of their fathers. To remedy this, the London Society have published The Prophets separately, and these are often sold to them.
The Karaites,! or Jews who keep by the text of the word of God and reject traditions, abound most in the Crimea, and hence some erroneously give that country the honour of originating the name. They are generally very ignorant, having no literature of their own. In the Crimea and Turkey, diey are said to repeat their prayers in Turkish. Their prayer-book is a beautiful compilation, being taken almost entirely from Scripture, with some hymns: and they do not omit any book of the Bible in the Scriptures, as some have asserted. The other Jews hate this sect more than they do the Gentiles.
In regard to the literary auALiFicATioNs op missionaries, the remarks of Mr. Pieritz have been mostly anticipated.J He shewed the necessity of a Missionary’s knowing more languages than Hebrew. If he speak to them only in Hebrew, he must quote the Scripture simply as it stands in the Hebrew text, which they often understand in a different sense from what he does. For the sake of perspicuity, therefore, he must explain him-
* Matt. xix. 3.
+ D’Xnp that is, textualists, adhering to the simple Scripture, «ip and rejecting traditions. t See pages 193, 194.
self in the vernacular tongue — Judeo-Polish or German for the Ashkenazim, and Judeo-Spanish or Arabic for the Sephardim. The study of the Talmud sharpens the intellect much; so that a JMissionary who has not studied it deeply ought to have passed through an academica. education. The only way of learning it is by the help of some learned Jew. The parts that are not controversial are the most easy. But one who is a Talmudist and nothing more will never do for a Missionary. One advantage of Talmudical knowledge is, that it enables the person to argue by Talmudical logic, which is much shorter and more striking than scientific logic. Jews cannot follow a long argument. They do not feel the power of the syllogism; and, on this account, “Leslie’s Method” does not suit them.
The concluding words of our conversation with this interesting person were worthy of remembrance. “Rather send one good Missionary than fifty others. I have come after many Missionaries, and have wished that they had never been there. It was pleasant to come after Wolff. All the Jews in the place knew what he wanted with them — viz. that without Christ there is no remission of sin.”
(July 5.) In the streets of Beyrout, it is common to meet Druse women wearing the tantour or “horn” of silver, with the white veil thrown over it. It is far from being a graceful ornament, and is adopted only by the women of Lebanon. It is likely that this fashion vias borrowed originally from the language of Scripture, and not that Scripture refers to a fashion which existed long before. Probably the truth in regard to this custom, is the same as in regard to .several practices in use among the Abyssinians; they have grafted custoins on a literal application of Scripture expi’essions. Such passages as “I have defiled my horn in the dust,”* may have suggested this singular head-dress to the people of Lebanon. The horn to which the words of Scripture refer, was simply, as among the Greeks, the horn of animals, — that being their principal weapon of defence, and therefore the natural symbol of power.
We met a man carrying a wooden key hanging over his breast, and an iron key over his shoulder hanging down his back; and we found that it is common for merchants, when they carry more than one key, to suspend them in this way over the shoulder. It was once the custom in Judah; “The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder.”! Every body also seems to carry in his hand a string of beads, keeping his fingers in constant employment. Christians, Jews, and Mahometans seem equally wedded to the practice.
We had been deliberating for some time as to our future movements in the important Mission with which we had been entrusted; and now, after much anxious and prayerful deliberation, came to a unanimous conclusion. Our valuable fellow-traveller. Dr. Black, had for some time felt the climate of Syria, and the rude manner of travelling, too much for his bodily strength, and feared that he would not be able to undergo the further fatigue of a journey into Galilee. In these circumstances, it was considered right that he and Dr. Keith should proceed homewards by Constantinople and the Danube, making inquiries into the condition of the Jews in all the most important places through which that route would take them; whilst the two younger members of the Deputation should remain to visit the Jews of Galilee, and return to England by a land journey through Europe. To aid us in our inquiries, Mr. Caiman, a Christian Israelite, of whom we have already spoken, a man of tried integrity, who had formerly laboured five years in Palestine, and was master of the Arabic and Gei’man languages, was engaged to accompany us.
On Saturday afternoon (July G), we were present at the Arabic service in the house of Mr. Hebard, the American Missionary. About twenty Syrian converts were present, and among the rest a venerable old man, named Karabet, who had been twenty years Armenian Bishop in Jerusalem, but had now renounced the errors of that
Job Avi. 15. t Isa. xxii. 22.
church at the cost of sacrificing all his worldly interests. A prayer meeting was conducted in English, and then an address and pra5’er in Arabic followed. In the evening, the heights of Lebanon were here and there blazing with fires kindled by the Maronites in honour of the feast of St. John.
(July 7. Sabbath.) Early this morning the missionaries came to take us to the house of the American Consul, where their forenoon service is conducted. Here, in a large commodious room with stone floor, the open windows of which commanded a splendid view of the sea, the old castle, and Lebanon, was assembled a congregation of more than 100, consisting of English residents and their families, and many turbaned Syrians who understood English. The singing of the hymns was very sweet in a foreign land. Dr. Black preached from Rom. V. 1. At three o’clock, we parted with our esteemed fellow-travellers, and saw them set sail in the Austrian steamer for Smyrna. It was solemn and painful to separate from our brethren, “not knowing the things that were to befall us.”
We now went to the mission-house above the town; and round the door found several of the Syrian boys waiting for the commencement of the Arabic service. Sitting down under the shade of the mulberry-trees, we conversed with them. Two of them spoke English remarkably well, and went over the Old Testament history most accurately, as far as the wanderings of Israel, accompanying every answer with most expressive looks and actions. One of them especially was full of liveliness, and on asking him the story of Moses wishing to see Lebanon, related it fully, pointing to the lofty mountain towering before us. Three others sitting by occasionally added a remark, while old Bishop Karabet, and many others, looked on from the steps above. Soon after, the Arabic service commenced in a large airy room, divided by a partition, except at the place where the Missionary stood. The women sat on the one side of the partition, the men on the other, according to the custom of the Christian churches of this country, the preacher standing within sight of both parts of the congregation. Mr. Thomson preached in deeplytoned Arabic, to an attentive audience of about one hundred and thirty, gathered out of many different countries. There were two Armenian bishops, with clean venerable beards, Karabet, and Jacob Aga; there were
lord’s supper. 25a
Greeks and Greek-Catholics, an Abyssinian Christian, and a Druse, convei’ted Jews, American Presbyterians and Congregationalists, and Ministers of the Church of Scotland — all different in name, and yet, we trust, one in Christ. This service closed, and we removed to a more convenient upper chamber, to partake of the Lord’s Supper. The American manner of administering this sacrament differs little from ours, except that they give thanks a second time before giving the cup, in close imitation of our Lord. One of us safbetween two believing Jews, the other between the two Armenian Bishops. Many of the others also participated, so that it was an emblem of the meeting of the great multitude gathered from nations and kindreds at our Father’s table above. This was a well of living water at which we were strengthened for our coming journey, and refreshed after the departure of our elder brethren. When they were gone, we felt as if we were beginning our journey anew in circumstances of more responsibility than before. But we hoped for Asher’s blessing, “As thy days so shall thy strength be.”
Note to page 212. * It is a somewhat curious occurrence, that the remnants of this Bible were found and drawn up from the bottom of the well, in July 1843, by Dr. Wilson and his fellow traveller, who employed a Samaritan from Sychar to descend and examine the well. (See Memoir of M’Cheyne, published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication.)