Sabbath Sunrise
Sabbath, Feb. 24. 1856. — Up long before sunrise to watch the first streak of dawn coming down upon the city. The morning breaks rather heavily. There is no rain; but the clouds hang thickly over us, and the sun is hidden. Yet the olives of Gethsemane are kindling up, and the old city is coming out distinctly in the daylight. Mosque and minaret, church and dome, all throwing off their shadows. No stir has begun. Jerusalem is not yet awake. I see but two men down in the valley crossing the Kedron. The crowing of a cock and the barking of a dog are the only sounds I hear. Now a little smoke begins to rise from some houses here and there; how different from the ascending volumes of village or city smoke at home!
What Sabbath calm! Yet an hour will dispel it; for Jerusalem has no Sabbaths, and the bustle will soon begin.*
* Even sentimental ism finds congeniality between the place and the day; and would reckon the confusion of the bazaar, the bustle of the This is my first Sabbath in J erusalem, and to-day my people at home are remembering their Lord at his table, while I am looking down upon the scene of his great agony. I thought on this last night when kneeling under the old olive; I think on it now again.
About eight we set out for the city, crossing the Kedron at the usual bridge, and finding our way over the shoulder of Moriah and Mount Sion, into the city.
At half-past nine we set off for Solomon’s gardens, where I had agreed to conduct service. Mr Meshullam, a Christian Jew, with his wife and family, live there, as I have noticed, cultivating the ground, and bringing the produce to the Jerusalem market. The clouds had passed into sunshine, and the forenoon, though not hot, was yet bright. Going out at the J affa gate, and crossing the hollow which lies between what are called the upper and lower pools of Gihon, we were soon riding quickly over the plain of Rephaim, once much richer and greener than now. When passing through it, and looking at its wide extent, with its scarcely perceptible south-west slope, you naturally call it a “plain, as we found ourselves generally doing; but marking the low hills which hem it in on all sides, you see that it is really a valley, and understand the accuracy of the Scripture name, which is always valley, not
streets, the noise of riotous children, rather out of place here on the day of rest. The Mahommedan has his Friday, the Jew his Saturday, and the Christian his Sunday. How the Jew clings to his Sabbath! Parents and children are taught to revere and love it.
BITTIR,
plain; an emeh, a wide depression between hills, such as “the vale of Hebron,” and the “valley of Ajalon.”
We did not dismount to look into “the well of the wise men,” which lay right in our way,* and hardly bestowed a glance upon the flat rock to our right, at Mar Ellas, to see the mould of Elijah’s body.-f- But we did look to the distant right with some interest, to see the hill of Bittir, not because of its conjectural connection wTith the Bether of the last great slaughter of the Jews under Barchochebas (a.d. 135), but because possibly it might be the place referred to by Solomon: —
Turn, my beloved,
And be like a roe,
Or a young hart,
Upon the mountains of Bether.” (Cant. ii. 17.)
We pass Er-Bam on the left, and Rachel’s sepulchre on the right, J which last the Jews visit, once a
* The Romish Church has made kings of these wise men, but without evidence. See Trench’s “Star of the Wise Men,” p. 12.
t The old Ihnerarium Antonini Placentini (about the middle of the sixth century) does not mention Mar Elyas; but it mentions a well “good and plentiful,” three miles from Bethlehem, “in via media,” where Mary sat down with the child.
X If this Er-Ram be the true Ramah of Jer. xxxi. 15, then its proximity to Rachel’s sepulchre renders the reference to it in Matt. ii. 18 very natural. It was certainly in the coasts of Bethlehem, where the other Ramahs are not. At the same time, it is not so easy to see why Rachel should be said to mourn over the children in Ramah, except generally as a mother in Israel. The original reference by Jeremiah was to the captivity, which fell so heavily on Benjamin. Rachel’s cause of sorrow is easily seen; but the application, by Matthew, of this to the children of Judah is not so obvious. Yet the border of Benjamin might have come near Bethlehem. Mr Trench speaks of the nearness of Rachel’s grave to month, to pray there, before the full moon. Beit-Jala hangs nobly on the heights above, with its magnificent olive-forest. But we passed on. The Shepherds’ Plain soon came into view, with the village of Pastora on the height,* hard by Bethlehem, which now shone out in its quiet splendour, f Entering Bethlehem, we visited Dr Sandretzki’s school and congregation. There were
Ramah (meaning Ramah of Benjamin, five miles north of Jerusalem); but even though, it were nearer than it is, the difficulty that occurs is, what had the northern Ramah to do with the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem 1 — Trench’s “Star in the East,” p. 107. Jerome speaks of Ramah as being “juxta Bethlehem;’’ while in his Comment, on Jer. xxxi., he gives us an interesting piece of information in connection with Rachel and her sepulchre. He tells us that not only had Rachel to weep over the captivity in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and over their slaughter under Herod, but also iff the days of Vespasian and Hadrian; for he says that the captive Jews were led southward to Gaza and Alexandria past Rachel’s tomb, — an. innumerable multitude of all ages, to be sold “in mercato terebinthi,” which I suppose means a market held under Abraham’s oak at Hebron. The children of Abraham sold into captivity under Abraham’s tree!
* Pastora, of course, takes its name from the shepherds to whom the angel appeared, (Luke ii. 8). This may be mere tradition; but the village may probably be the Migdol-Edar, the “tower of Edar,” where Jacob encamped after setting up Rachel’s pillar, (Gen. xxxv. 21). He was on his way to Hebron, and his first stage after his sore bereavement was but a short one. Edar means flock; and Jerome tells us that this “tower of the flock” was about a mile from Bethlehem, and was the place of the shepherds. The Jews make the “tower of the flock” to mean the “temple,” where Israel assembled as a flock; and the name in Micah iv. 8 seems to refer to some place about Jerusalem. See Jeromes “Questiones in Genesim;” also De Sola’s Notes in his edition of “The Pentateuch,” p. 226, and Jervis’s “Genesis Elucidated,” p. 462.
f “Bethlehem est locus splenclidissimus,” says Antoninus, in his Itinerary. Half a mile from it he mentions David’s tomb. He speaks of the monastery as containing” multitudinem monaehcrum, seventeen children present; but Dr S. told us that there were upwards of thirty throughout the week. A native Bethlehemite teaches the school, and besides the children, there are ten native adult worshippers in the congregation. It was pleasant to kneel down, at the close of the service, with the Christian worshippers in Bethlehem, even though their petitions were presented in a tongue which we could not understand. They smiled and shook hands with us very cordially. What a fine-looking race these Bethlehemites are, — men, women, and children! The European blood which the Crusaders left behind them here flows still in their veins.*
Leaving Bethlehem by a very rugged road, we soon reached Urtass, or El-Tos. Descending the steep side of what is called Wacly Etdn (the Etam of 2 Chron. xi. 6, and of J osephus), we soon arrived (about twelve o’clock) at Meshullam’s house, which is at the bottom of the valley, looking out upon the gardens. The congre-
* I was four times in Bethlehem; and as I came and went, the words of the old Spanish hymn often came into mind: —
“While to Bethlehem we are going,
Tell me, Bias, to cheer the road,
Tell me why this lovely infant
Quitted his divine abode?
From that world, to bring to this
Peace, which of all earthly blisses
Is the brightest, purest bliss.
The references to Bethlehem, to the wise men, the shepherds, and the star, in the old Latin hymns, are very numerous. See “Mone s Hymni Latini,” vol. i. pp. 39, 41, 56, 62, 68, 72, &c. Most of these are poor, and not worth quoting. gation was soon assembled, consisting of himself, his wife and children. The last had their catechism and chapters all ready for us; and the little company joined devoutly in the service, and listened to the message spoken. While Mrs Meshullam was preparing dinner, Mr. M., Mr Graham, and myself, wandered out into the garden, which stretches up and down the valley for seme distance, watered by a fountain of its own,* not by Solomon’s pools, which carry all their treasure past it into Bethlehem or the mosque at Jerusalem. Many of the fruit-trees were in blossom; others were budding; all looked fresh with spring-life. The hillside shone bright with the cyclamen, and anemone, and marigold, in all their many colours; and it seemed as if some rainbow had fallen to pieces on the slope, and strewn its fragments over the rocks.
The waters of the spring were finding their way through every part of the garden, “visiting each plant,” and sending up the sap through the veins of the pomegranate, the quince, the fig, the almond, whose varied branches formed a glade, which when April has called out the full leaf, must be delicious in shade and beauty. Even now, in February, how exquisite the scene, and how richly oriental !-f*
* This fountain seems pure and abundant. But the gardens need more than this; and when we were there Meshullam was longing for rain. The following year, I believe he got more rain than he desired: it swept down his crops; flooded away his turnips to be the prey of the Aiabs; and, forming an under-ground reservoir, burst up into his house.
t On the 24th of July 1856, this valley was the scene of an interesting gathering, of which a full account is given in the Jerusalem Miscellany for
SONG OF SOLOMON.
“The winter is past!
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of song is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs,
The vines with the tender grape yield their fragrance,
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (Cant. ii. 11-13).*
We left about four, returning to Jerusalem by the same way in which we had come in the morning. Still there was a wondrous difference, such a difference as evening makes upon the landscape and upon the spirits. We repassed Bethlehem, fairer now than ever. We looked down on the Shepherds’ Plain, as green and calm as before. We looked up to the heights of Beit-Jalah, whose olives, quivering in the cool breeze, turned up the silver lining of their dark green leaves, and
November 1856. It was meant as a brotherly testimonial to Mr Graham, whose kindnesses to the Jews of Palestine, both spiritually and temporally, have won for him the cordial confidence of the converts. Along with the Hebrew Christians of J erusalem, there were Mr Rogers, British Consul at Kaiffa, Mr Nicolayson, Mr Hefler, and others — about thirty persons in all. I give an extract in the Index, under Urtass, as it describes the summer beauty of these gardens.
* Mr Nicolayson, speaking of the Song of Solomon, gives an interesting account of a conversation which he had respecting that book with one who had lived and travelled in the east, and was versed in Arabic literature. From the knowledge he had acquired of Arab songs and other poetry, a3 used in their most solemn worship, by dervishes and olemas, he had no doubt that Canticles was a religious song, setting forth the object of worship, with the feelings supposed to subsist between God and his worshippers. There are, it seems, numerous Moslem songs in constant use in Moslem assemblies for worship, quite of a kindred nature to the Song of Solomon.
shaking them in the sunshine, produced a singularly beautiful appearance, in the alternation of green and silver. When we came within two miles of J erusalem we took a curve to our right, to vary our route, by riding along the low heights on the east. This gave us quite a new view of the city. The valley of the Kedron entirely disappeared. The hills seemed to dip from north to south. Mount Zion seemed but a lower range or continuation of Scopus; and Jerusalem itself looked as if lying on a slope of that northern height — “the sides of the north,”
We went for an hour to Mr Nicolayson’s, in whose company it was at all times pleasant to be; then, after preaching in the school-room, I returned to the hotel, musing over the scenes and events of my first Sabbath in Jerusalem.
Monday, Feb. 25, 1856. — Went out a little aftei seven, for a walk about Jerusalem. Met a Bethlehemite Christian selling goods of various kinds, chiefly beads and ornaments of olive wood, or ink bottles and the like of the bituminous stone from the Dead Sea. These are sold largely to travellers; but still more largely to pilgrims. Bethlehem seems the chief place of manufactory for these articles of wood and stone, as Hebron is for its rings and bracelets of glass. These “travelling merchants” frequent Jerusalem, and never fail to bestow a few friendly calls on European travellers. But their chief places of business are the porticoes of their churches. Under the long colonnade by which we
THE GREAT MOSQUE.
entered the Bethlehem convent, we found them; and at whatever time we passed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we found these Bethlehem and Hebron “hawkers,” squatted in front of the large double-arched gateway.
I went up the slope to the west, and wandered over the ground for an hour. Returned, and went to breakfast with the French Consul. In the afternoon I went to Mr Nicolayson’s, and after a little we set out for a walk. We took a north-west direction. Within a mile from the Jaffa gate we observed large stones, which might have been the foundations of the ancient city wall. We noticed also here a pool and a tomb. We meant to have made further examination as to the ancient walls of the city; but rain drove us back to our quarters.
Tuesday, Feb. 26. — Went about seven with Mr Graham and Dr Fraser, from the Crimea, to the house of the Pasha’s Secretary, by whom we were admitted into the “Mosque of Omar,” or Kubbet es-Sakhra, and allowed to visit every part of the enclosure, or Haram, below ground as well as above.* The first thing that struck
* The rigid exclusion of all but Moslems from the mosque is well known. I was therefore the more favoured in entering it twice and twice returning safe from it. Felix Fabri mentions that many Christians in his day (a.d. 1483) found ways of entrance (multi Christiani so periculo dant et modosexcogitant, &c). He tells us that, though rather given to sight-seeing, (quamvis ego ipse libenter nova et curiosa videam), he never tried to enter; and he warns others against the attempt, giving them reasons to Bhew the sin of it, at great length, and also assuring them that they see me in passing over the area, was its pavement A largo portion of this is the solid rock; the hill of Moriah having been levelled by Solomon to form a sufficient area. Here, then, was the bare rock, as Solomon’s “hewers” and “stone squarers” (1 Kings v. 18) had left it. The feet of kings and priests had been here. Over this pavement the Son of God had walked. It was this pavement that was drenched with Jewish blood in the last hour of their temple, as for ages before it had been sprinkled with the blood of their sacrifices. It was this pavement that had been wet alternately with the blood of the Saracen and Christian; and over all this area had been the piled up carcasses of the slain. It was this pavement that Saladin had sprinkled with rose-water, to purify it, and the mosque in its centre, from the pollution of Christian feet and Christian blood. And this is the pavement which, from that day to this, now more than six centuries, has been trodden only by Moslem feet! We passed in to the mosque, taking off our shoes, and putting on slippers, which we had brought with us for the purpose. An Arab lad constituted himself the bearer of our shoes, and followed us throughout.* The
from without all that is worth seeing, for within there are no altars nor pictures nor images; nothing but a plain but ample building. (Evagatorium, vol, ii. p. 224. 225.) Besides the two parties mentioned by Dr Robinson as having got in (in 1818 and 1833), the Jesuit traveller, Eugene Roger, entered it in 1645 by a stratagem which he declines mentioning, and gives us two or three pages of description, with a plan. La Terre Sancte, &c, pp. 90-95.
* Jewish tradition as to the shoes is the same as Moslem. “No man is to go on the mountain of the temple with his stick, his shoes, or with his purse,
TnS KUBBET OH DOME.
outside of the great mosque looks faded, in some places rather shabby, yet not anywhere ruinous. It is finely, almost gaudily ornamented all round; while over all its doors, as well as at other intervals, verses of the Koran in large Arabic characters look down upon you. What they were we did not ask. Possibly they might be utterances of the prophet threatening death to us for entering the sanctuary. The inside is less faded and very gorgeous, from the floor up to the centre of the dome. One would suppose that the dome, and the whole circle on which it rests, was one vast hemisphere of stained glass. It seemed a collection of rainbows, braided into one bright tissue, and belted round at the base by a rainbow brighter than all the rest. The effect of this when the sunlight of noon is pouring in, must be brilliant in the extreme; for even though the morning was cloudy wThen we were there, the result of the transparencies was very splendid. No less so must it be at night when lighted up for festival by a thousand lamps. Islamism, it would seem, needs the “dim religious light” for its worship. How unlike the ancient
nor yet with dust-covered feet, nor is be to make it a thoroughfare (taking a short cut through it to some place beyond); much less is he permitted to spit thereon. “Mishna. Treatise Berachoth, chap. ix. 5. The poor Arab shoe-bearer reminded us of Matthew iii. 11, and John i. 27, in three points: — (1) He loosed and tied our shoe latchets. (2 ) He carried our shoes. (3.) He came after us. And is not this last point specially referred to in John’s comparison ] ‘Though He cometh after me, yet is He preferred before me; though I am first in time, yet I am not worthy to follow Him as his shoe-bearer.”
THE BOCK Oil SAKHRAH. service on this mount; when Jehovah’s altar stood out a covering under the broad sunlight; no roof, no Qome, no grove darkening the full day, or making men oelieve that the worship of the living God is not a service of gladness, and liberty, an.d filial fellowship.
But it was not the brilliant dome, nor the well-adorned walls, nor the noble colonnade, that interested us chiefly. It was the immense mass of unhewn rock rising up in the centre that fixed our eye. Some five feet above the floor on which we were standing, surrounded with a rail or screen of wood, high enough to keep off sacrilegious intruders, yet not high enough to hinder our seeing it fully, (round and round, as well as over the top of its rugged surface), there it lay, the old top of Moriah, grey and bare! * I would fain have got within the screen to examine it more closely, but that honour is reserved for Moslem saints of the highest standing. I had to con-
* See Catherwood in Bartlett, p. 177. It is called by Moslem writers the “consecrated rock,’’ (Jalal Adadm’s Hist, of the Temple, (p. ii.); “the rock of the Holy One,” (ib. p. ix.); “the rock of the Holy House, (ib. p. 7); the” middle of the world,*’ (ib. p. 14); the “first part of the earth that was created,” (p. 19). “Here, says the same writer, is the chapel of the Holy Rock, near to Soha, and the dawning light of the morning brightens in the heaven of its holiness,” (p. xiv.) “The most beloved of all mountains is that whereon stands the Sakhrah,” (p. 21). It is made of Jacynth (p. 21), and from it the four streams of Paradise issue forth (p. 22). David stood on it (p. 31), and saw the angels descending on a golden ladder resting on the rock (p. 32). Solomon stood on it, sacrificing and offering the consecration prayer of the Temple (p. 38). In his days its he;ght was 12,000 cubits! (p. 44). It was the Kiblah of the patriarchs, (p. 1U6). It was the place on which the ark was placed, and towards which Israel prayed, (p. 103).
THE FRACTURE.
tent myself with looking at it in ail directions, and thrusting my hand through the narrow interstices ot the railing to feel it.* It is forty feet broad by sixty long, and stands in all seventeen feet above the external area. Solomon must thus have cut away the hill to a depth of seventeen feet in order to obtain the area ior building the temple; and then, as this was not sufficient, he must have raised the side-slopes of the hill, in order to bring up the ground to a level with the rocky area thus secured by the levelling of the seventeen feet.
The one end of this great mass is cut away, and bears the traces of this quite distinctly, not only in the marks of the tools, but in the peculiar cut or fracture of the rockt Though perhaps this excision may not date farther back than the era of the Crusaders (the Mahommedans ascribed it to the Christians), J yet the difference of colour between the cut and the uncut portion of the stone is very remarkable. Of course the surface of the
* This screen is called “a splendid covering of net- work” by Jalal-eddin, p. 247- “The Franks had cut off a piece from the Sakhrah and carried it to Constantinople. A piece was transported to the country of the Slevi (Russians), who bought it for its weight in gold,” (p. 249). He calls the repairing of this fracture the “healing the wounds of Islamism,” p. 255). I may notice here that this Moslem writer calls Christians “people of the Book” (p. 112), anticipating the charge of “Bibliolatry” advanced against some in later days.
f See Mr Catherwood’s account in Bartlett’s Walks round Jerusalem, p. 167.
X “Before the capture (of the Sakhrah by the Christians) no cutting nor severed portion had been externally visible; but the infidel people have left somewhat of this sort behind it.” Jalal Addin. p. 247. rock is not level. Its inequalities are considerable, yet looking across it, one would say that, upon the whole, it was tolerably level, and must have formed a considerable circle for the top of the old hill.
What is this rock?* It must have been preserved for some special reason when all around was levelled. It could not be for ornament, for a rough block like this would be an eyesore, quite a disfigurement to the spacious level platform. The fact, too, of its being so carefully preserved to this day, shews that not only the original levellers, but all subsequent repairers of the temple or mosque, must have had a reason for sparing it. Had an unsightly block been left in the midst of St Paul’s, under the dome, every visitor would ask this as his first question, how came this here, and what led the architect to spare it when excavating or levelling all around? If Herod’s temple were on the same spot (however enlarged) as Zerubbabers, and Zerubbabers on the same spot as Solomon’s, as most certainly they were, then the careful preservation of the stone must be traced back to Solomon. What reason had Solomon for sparing the rock? Not simply because it was the time-honoured top of Moriah. It must have been for some more special reason; and the only reason which we can conjecture is that it was the thrashing-floor of
* The Mahommedan traveller tnus answers the question,” In the middle you see the noble rock mentioned in tradition, from which the prophet ascended to heaven. It is a very hard rock about six feet high.’-’ — Ibn BatuiaKs Voyages, K,T>. 1326.
190 araunah’s thrashing-floor,
Araunah the Jebusite, where David his father had offered sacrifice. The circumstances mentioned m Scripture respecting this transaction are worth noticing. (1.) The spot where the sword of judgment staid was this thrashing-floor; “the angel of the Lord was by the thrashing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite,” (2 Sam. xxiv. 16). (2.) Gad’s message to David from the Lord was as follows, “Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the thrashing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite,” (ib. 18). (3.) David’s purchase of the spot; “so David bought the thrashing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”* (4.) David’s sacrifice; “David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings,” (ib. 25); “David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon the Lord, and he answered him by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering,” (1 Chron. xxi. 26). (5.) David’s prophetic announcement. After he had sacrificed on the thrashing-floor (1 Chron. xxi. 30), he spoke to the assembled people, “Then David said, this is the house of the Lord God, and this is the ALTAR OF BURNT-OFFERING FOR ISRAEL,” (1 Chron. xxii. 1). Thus he solemnly fixed the site of the altar and announced it to Israel; and he did this, not by any private impulse, but by divine dictation, for it was David,
* In this above passage it is said that David gave fifty shekels of silver. By 1 Chron. xxi. 25 it is said that he gave five hundred shekels of gold. The explanation of which seems to be that the thrashing-floor cost the smaller sum, and the whole hill round about the larger. Bochart’s laboured solution is too strained to be admissible. though Solomon was the builder of the temple, that received the plan and pattern, as Moses did of the tabernacle, directly from God, “All this the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern,” (1 Chron. xxviii. 19). (6.) Solomon’s carrying out of this design. “Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jeruslem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father; IN THE PLACE THAT DAVID HAD PREPARED, IN THE THRASHING-FLOOR OF ORNAN THE JEBUSITE,” (2 Chron. iii. 1). (7.) The descent of the fire at the dedication of the temple. “When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt-offering and fhe sacrifice,” (2 Chron. vii. 1). These passages very clearly imply that the thrashing-floor of Araunah was to be set apart for God, from that day, to be the great centre or pivot round which all Israel’s worship was to turn in future days. “This is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.”
Of these facts Josephus makes full mention also, adding, that “this thrashing-floor was the very spot on which Isaac was laid by Abraham.”* I might cite Maimonides and Abarbanel to the same effect; only they spoil their testimony by telling us that, not only was this the spot to which Abraham brought Isaac, but the place on which Noah built his altar on his exit from the arkf In the traditions of later days, both
* Antiq. vii. 13, 14.
f Lightfoot’s Centuria Chorographica, p. 57. Cramer’s Dissertatio ae
Christian and Moslem, regarding the sacred rock, it is curious to find mention made of the fire from heaven, having come down upon it to burn up the sacrifice.*
The Rabbies do not mention the rock, so far as I can discover, but they insist uniformly that the “brazen altar” was made of stone, and that it was called the brazen altar simply because that was its name in the tabernacle, from Moses to David t They assume that the words of Moses were a commandment, and not a mere permission. J They are very explicit in maintaining that the stones were to be unhewn. No tool was to be permitted to touch them, and they were to be dug from places where no hand of man had been.
The question is not one which can be settled by measurements. The rock is a little broader than the altar was, and considerably longer; but then the bare rock itself need not have been the altar, nay, could not have been, as the following passage from the first book of Maccabees shews: —” When they consulted what to do with the altar of burnt-offerings, which was profaned, they thought it best to pull it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the heathen had defiled it. Wherefore they pulled it down, and laid up the
Templi secundi Ara exteriore, (1696) chap. i. § 5. This latter quarto is the fullest and most valuable book on the subject that I have seen. * Fabri’s Evagatorium, vol. ii. p. 221.
f Cramer (de Ara, chap, ii.) quotes Kimchi and other Rabbies to the above effect. The Jews say that there were three stone altars, one at Nob, another at Gibeon, and the third in the Temple.
X See Exod. xx. 25; Beut. xxvii. 5; Jo3h. viii. 31. stones in the mountain of the temple, in a convenient place... Then they took whole stones and built a new altar according to the former,“* The altar had a large base; then at a height of one cubit, it receded and left a ledge for the priests to walk round, and then there was another contraction towards the top; so that, from base to top, it was ten cubits high, (2 Chron. iv. 1). The sloping ascent, and the various appendages on the different sides, would require very considerable space, so that in these respects there need not be much difficulty in believing the Sakhrah to be the altar-base, The singular cavity or chamber under the rock accords also with this conjecture. As the Jews are very explicit and unanimous on this point, there is probably truth in their tradition. One says, “the foundations of the altar are hollow and very deep,”f This cavity was called Shit, as another writer informs us: — “By Shittim are meant the perforations through which the wine poured out flows down into a place under ground which is called Shit,” I This “subterraneous cavity,” as one of them calls it, was said to be not artificial, but natural. “It was made among the works of the six days of creation,” This great cavity was not for receiving the blood, or offal of any kind. It was solely for the libamina, the drink-offerings. The blood was conveyed away at once by pipes of lead, or clay, or brass (for all
* 1 Mace, iv. 44, 47; Jos. Ant. xii. 7, 6. See also Drusii, Annot. in loc, + Bartenora, quoted by Cramer De Ara, iv. 3. £ Maimonides, cited by same.
19-i ROCK POLLUTED BY THE EARLY CHRISTIANS.
these are mentioned), down the hill, under the foundations of the temple, to the Kedron.* This pipe or small conduit was called Siun;f and, according to the Jews, must have been at the south or south-east side of the altar, where the remainder of the blood not used in sprinkling, was to be poured out. J The Kubbet-es-Sakhrah lies north and south, and it is under its eastern or south-eastern end that the cavity, or “noble cave,” as the Moslems call it, is situated; so that the receptacle for the blood, and that for the libations, were quite separate.
There is another interesting fact in connection with these remarks. Arabian annalists tell us that when Omar first got possession of Jerusalem, about the beginning of the seventh century, he set about planning a mosque, on the site of Solomon’s temple. He was shewn, as the spot, the great rock. This, it would seem, was at this time lying in neglect, heaped over with refuse and filth, in contempt of the Jews, towards whom the Christians of these centuries, both in the
* It may be this to which Benjamin of Tudela refers : — “You see to this day vestiges of the canal, near which the sacrifices were slaughtered in ancient times, and all Jews inscribe their name upon an adjacent wall.” — Itinerary, Asher’s edition, p. 71. Jalal-Addin records a tradition connected with this: — “Upon the Sakhrah of the Baitu-l-Mukaddas there shall be a great sewer.” — Hist, of Temple, p. 179.
T Maimonides ad Mikvath, iv. 3. See Cramer, whose own words are worth quoting: — “Viden’ in eo sanguinem a libatis separari, quod ille in Kidron, haec in Schittim abeant ] Prseterea caverna Schit longe profundissima et ad abyssum usque producta.”
£ “Cruorem superstitem in crepidinem effundere debuemnt et quidem in auetralem, quoniam hunc a dextra habuerunt.” — Cramer, ib. east and west, appear to have cherished no feelings, save those of malicious hatred, — hatred all the more evil and unworthy, because professedly founded upon reverence for Him whom Israel had crucified. Omar, it is said, soon restored the rock to its better state,* and built his mosque, the fairest and the largest of the fourteen hundred which, admirers say, he erected during his khalifate. The story may or may not be true; but the men who gave it forth must have believed that the rock was the site of the Jewish altar, and that it had been considered so by the Christians who possessed the place. For we know from frequent incidents in Jewish historv, that when conquerors, such as Antiochus,
* The Christians in early centuries (Greeks, it is said at another time), it would seem, had not only covered it with filth but turned the cavity into a public cesspool, (Jalal Addin, p. 177). Omar having entered the city, said: — “0 Abu-Ishak make me to know the place of the rock. Then he said, measure out one cubit on each side of the wall which is nearest to the valley of Hinnom; then dig, and thou shalt find it. Thus said he. Now that place was at that time a public cesspool. Then he dug, and the Sakhrah became manifest,” (lb.) He proceeded to clear the filth. Musk, amber, and rose-water made the incense for purifying, which was carried about in censers of gold and silver, and aloes-wood of Kimar. Streams of water were poured over it. It would seem that, from this part of the story, there was no building over it before the Mahommedans got the city; but of a later time it is said: — “The Franks had built achurchupon it, and had never ceased to lift up their hands in blessing it.... They adorned it with images and candlesticks, and had dedicated therein a place for monks. ... A little chapel on the place where Christ set his foot... The Sakhra was hidden from the passenger, being covered over by the buildings on it. The Sultan removed the covering; he brought home this bride with pomp; he caused this pearl to come forth from the shell.”’ This was after the crusades. — (p. 246).
TRADITIONS.
wished to insult the Jews and profane their temple, it was the altar that they fixed upon as the place of scorn.* Whether Omar found the rock thus defiled by Christian hands, may perhaps be questioned; but the tradition to that effect is sufficient to shew what the rock was supposed to be.-f-
•IMacc. i., 59; iv. 38, 44, 45.
+ The traditions are somewhat confused, from the numerous events said to be connected with the rock. The “Jerusalem Itinerary” speaks of a “lapis pertusus,” which the Jews visit annually. This they anoint, lamenting and rending their garments. This stone he mentions in connection with the building which stands on the site of Solomon’s temple, so that it would appear that the rock was not within the walls of the church, as, in that case, the Jews would not have had access to it. Perhaps it was when driven out of this place of wailing by the erection of the mosque, that they betook themselves to the present one outside the Haram.
Saewulf (a.d. 1102), after viewing the rock of the holy sepulchre, goes to the “temple of the Lord, two arbalist shots to the east of the holy sepulchre.” There he sees “the large and high rock, hollowed beneath, in which was the Holy of Holies,” Maundeville (a.d. 1322) says: — “About one hundred and sixty paces from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the temple of the Lord.... The Saracens will not suffer any Christian or Jew to come in; but I went in there, and in other places where I would, because I had letters of the Sultan. This temple is sixty-four cubits wide, and as many in length, and within it has pillars of marble all round; and in the middle of the temple are many high stages, fourteen steps high, with good pillars all about; and this place the Jews call the Holy of Holies. ... On the other side of the temple there is a rock, which men call Moriah, where the ark of God, with relics of Jews, was wont to be put.” Fabri (a.d. 1482) gives us the tradition of his day, making this the rock on which the priests placed “the holocaust,” and telling us that it was here Jeremiah, at the destruction of the city and temple, hid the ark. Sir R. Guylford’s chaplain (a.d. 1506) says: — “They (Saracens) worship there a rok of stone, whiche is closyd aboute with yron ... In the same rok the Jews kept the ark of God, with the relics Into the cavity we now descended by a short flight of steps at the south-east corner. The steps seem cut out in the rock. They looked smooth and whitish; though indeed there was not very much light to shew us what they wrere. The chamber looked sufficiently ample for a cave on the top of a hill ;* and it goes quite under the great rock, which forms a complete and tolerably level roof; suspended there, we are told, by the hand of Mahomet, though to us it looked tolerably firm in its adhesion to the sides of the chamber, of which it evidently formed a solid part, not requiring the prophet’s aid at all.f We saw here one or two marble fragments, not unlike the capitals of some great pillars whose shafts had disappeared. They were standing on the ground in a corner, not above three feet in height, beautifully adorned with spiral work, which, in several double or triple plies of cord-work, went round them. They reminded us of Solomon’s “wreathen work and of the “short pillars with ten spirals round them” described by Josephus.j These were no doubt Jewish,
that Titus carry ed to Home.” Though some of these traditions speak of the ark of the covenant as being hidden under this rock, and of the whole temple as the Holy of Holies, yet the almost uniform idea seems to be, that the rock was the site of the altar of burnt-offering.
* “It is irregular in form, and its superficial area is about six hundred feet, the average height seven feet.” Catherwood’s Letter, in Bartlett’s Walks about Jerusalem, p. 167.
»f “The rock stands by itself; for that God raised it up who supporteth the seasons, and the sun’s course without columns.” (Jalal-Addin’s Hist, of the Temple — Introduction, p. 14.)
X Antiq. viii. 3, 5. Though he is describing brass, not marble pillars, in this place, still the likeness of design is not the less striking.
THE BIR ARUACH.
and probably belonged to the Temple’s earliest age; though what they were it is not easy to say. They were fragments of some pillar, or porch, or gateway; ornaments which some of David’s or Solomon’s masons had hewn and polished.*
When walking about and surveying all parts of the cavity, our Moslem guide, a tall massive fellow with a prodigious tarboosh, and a staff eight or ten feet long, stopped in the centre of the chamber, turned up the matting on the floor, and struck a circular piece of marble with the end of his rod, at the same time calling our attention to the peculiar ring or echo which the stroke produced. He meant us to understand that there was a hollow beneath, or, as he called it, Bir, — a well or shaft. Here was the Bir Arudeh, the well of souls !•(- I asked if we might not be allowed to descend and see what was there. No, that was not permitted. I do not know whether we should have seen much, but one would have liked to make the trial, for Christian tradition speaks of some of the temple vessels as hidden here, and Jewish tradition affirms that somewhere under the floor of the Haram, the tables of the law lie concealed, so that when the Jews were lately asked by the Pasha to join in a public procession to pray for rain in a time of great drought, they refused lest they should trample on their law!
* 2 Kings xii. 12; 1 Chron. xxii. 2.
+ Is the Moslem name a remnant of Jewish tradition, originating in the fact that somewhere here the blood was poured down? For “the blood is the life “or soul.
Our guide soon led us up out of this strange chamber, and hurried us to another part of the enclosure. He was unlike most of the Mahommedans we had met with either in Egypt or Syria in one respect, that he seemed in great haste, hardly giving us time to look at the different objects which he pointed out. Whether he thought that a single glance was the utmost that could be allowed to the unbelievers, and that more would pollute the place; or whether he were afraid that the hour of service was coming on, and that it would not be safe for us to encounter the worshippers, especially the Abyssynian guard, I do not know; but he did try to push us on hastily. He did not succeed, however, so well as he wished, for we persisted in seeing fully all that was to be seen. He was a good-natured man notwithstanding, and seemed somewhat amused when I took from him his long staff of office to try its length and weight.
We next proceeded to the mosque El Ahsa; which lies south from the great mosque, about a hundred yards, close by the southern wall of the temple. Here the cypresses, shooting up out of the very midst of the area, and everywhere surrounded by the white limestone of walls, pavement, arcades, and minarets, form such striking objects in all directions, specially from the Mount of Olives.* Their tall dark-green spires look beautiful, in contrast with the glittering marble around. This
* Are these cypresses and other trees which are to be found here, a part of the fulfilment of Mic. iii. 12, and Jer. ix. 11,” the mountain of the house shall become as the high places of the forest V
Solomon’s substructures.
mosque is by no means so splendid as its northern neighbour, either inside or outside. But it is more venerable. We went carefully through all its parts, examining its pillars and aisles. In all its parts, both in plan and detail, it looked not unlike a Christian church, which it is really supposed to have been. Adjoining its south-west is the mosque of Abu-Bekr; and at the east side is a very small mosque, said to be the true mosque of Omar. We were led down some steps into a sort of small cloister, where a small marble trough was pointed out to us as a most sacred object, “the cradle (some say the tomb) of our Lord Issa,” that is of the Lord J esus Christ, It was painful thus unexpectedly, in a Moslem mosque, to stumble upon some of the Latin and Greek mockeries, which at Bethlehem had seemed so offensive.
We then went down to the vast substructures which lie at the south-east angle of the Haram close by El-Aksa, the foundations for the platform of the temple area. They strike you in a moment as singularly massive and strong. Strength alone; — not beauty nor grace has been consulted here. Not that there is anything out of taste in that interminable vista of arches, but it is its solidity that impresses you from first to last. Nowhere, I suppose, is there anything like it; and as we moved slowly down the slope of the hill, and felt the arches increasing in height and massiveness as we advanced, we seemed to be wandering: through the rock-cut crypt of some vast Egyptian temple. It looked more as if the hill had been excavated into these cells rather than that these cells had been built upon the hill. The cost and labour must have been great; and the engineering skill which they indicate is much beyond what modern ideas are inclined to allow to ancient science. The level platform which they produced above, forms a large addition to the ancient hill, whose summit, as it stood originally, must have been narrow, and quite unsuited for any building beyond that of a tomb. This fact thoroughly supports the statements of Josephus and the Rabbis, that these substructures were, in part at least, the work of Solomon, perhaps begun by David. Had it not been that Millo is spoken of in connection with Sion, not Moriah, we might have fancied from the name that here was Millo, the “filling up,” as the name implies. Herod may have made additions, and so enlarged the area above; Simon the son of Onias also may have made others ;* but the inner
* Ecclesiasticus, 1. 1. “Simon, the high priest, the son of Onias, repaired the house again, and fortified the temple by him was founded the height of the double porch (supplying crrdag) and the high fortification (avoCkri[JjfJjCc) of the circuit of the temple.” The word avaXrifX/xa signifies something lifted up, and is applied to terraces and hanging gardens. It is the word used by Josephus for the substructures of the temple (Antiq. xv. 11. 5), and it is the word used by the septuagint as the translation of Millo in 2 Chron. xxxii. 5., to avaArj/Jb/Aa rg koXsojc, Aavid. The fullest statement (critical and historical) as to these substructures is to be found in Lamy’s elaborate folio, “De Tabernaculo, do S. Civitate, et de Templo,” pp. 751-760. He shows also that these immense cavities were used for various purposes, “innumeraa cryptse, apothecai, lavacrae, stagnae, cloacae,” (p. 359). I suspect that it was here Benjamin of Tudela saw the stables of Solomon, which he says formed part of the temple (1 Kings iv. 26); for he speaks of the immense stones
SUBTERRANEOUS ARCADE.
parts of these under-erections must have been the work of Solomon himself. As you first enter, you think you might touch the roof with your hand; for they cannot be more than nine or ten feet high; but as you move down the long slope, you seem to be receding from the roof, till at the extremity you find that it must be about thirty feet above you. I would fain have climbed up, and looked out into the valley from a pretty large aperture in the wall, but it was too high to attempt, I tried to penetrate into an adjoining recess; but after scrambling some way over rubbish and rough blocks of the fallen stone, I had to return, as the darkness made it somewhat perilous, and there was, so far as I could judge, nothing to be seen. Some one talked of a well here, but it did not seem a likely place for one. The arch under which we stood was a very noble one, and the pillars very massive. As we walked down the slope, an aperture in the right wall was pointed out, which is said to be the mouth of a passage communicating with mount Zion. The use of such a secret passage is not very apparent: but it may have existed.
It is said that at the upper part of this long aisle, some olive trees have struck through their roots; and this has been urged in proof of the insolidity as well as modern date of the structure. I did not see the roots; but I suppose the fact is as has been stated. It seems, however, to afford no ground for the above conclusions.
employed in this structure, “the like of which are nowhere else to be met with,” (vol. I. p 71).
The roof may, in the course of ages, have given way in some places, but what building is there in the world that has been tested as this has been, by age, by neglect, by assault, by the fierce hand of the destroyer?
Wherever we looked we saw the same massiveness, in wall or arch or pillar. There appeared to be no small stones in any part. These were inadmissible in such a structure. We measured the stones in the right hand wall as wre went down, and found them to average a length of fifteen feet by a depth of eight. As at the present day, so in former ages, stones of the finest limestone rock were to be had in abundance, and just at hand. For cedars Solomon must send to Lebanon, for firs to some of the Syrian mountains, for shittim-wood to the desert, for copper to Wady Magharah or Surabit-el-Khadem, for gold and silver to the farthest south; but for stone he did not need to go a mile beyond Jerusalem. It lay all around and beneath.
We nowr remounted the slope, under the mighty arches, which seemed to descend on us as we advanced, and soon found ourselves upon the open area of the Haram, proceeding towards the golden gate, which lies a considerable way along the eastern wall. The outside of this we have often seen, when looking down from the Mount of Olives upon the city, or passing along the eastern slope of the Kedron. It forms a notable object, even to the careless observer, as it projects several feet from the wall and rises to a considerable height above it. It is now quite built up, but must have been at
GOLDEN GATE.
one time a splendid double-arched gateway. That this is Roman, not Jewish, is more easily affirmed than proved. The style of architecture is not decisive either way; but one can hardly conceive of Adrian being at the cost of such a splendid gateway, as its interior, even more than its exterior, proves it to have been.* It is with the interior that we are now concerned.
We soon found ourselves within the pillars of the noble gateway. It is really fine, and I should say that Mr Catherwood’s drawing of it does bare justice to it; not because of any inaccuracy, as because it is impossible in a drawing to give an idea of the spacious wrhole. We had to descend some steps in order to reach it; for it lies a good many feet below the level of the area. The stone is, of course, the usual limestone of which everything here is built. In several parts, especially at the joinings of the stones, there has been considerable disintegration going on. Indeed, in all its parts, it presents a much more wasted aspect than the substructural pillars and arches which sve had been seeing; so much so that you would be led, by a casual survey, to conclude the latter, the less ancient of the two. Greatei
* Mr Catherwood, speaking of the southern gateway under the El-Aksa, says: — “This gateway is apparently of the same age and style as the golden gate.” See letter in Bartlett’s Works, p. 170. Now, of the former. Dr Robinson says: —” There can be little question that this is the ancient gate mentioned by Josephus in the middle of the southern side of the temple urea.’’ — Vol. i. p. 305. If, then, in spite of some Roman indications, the El Aksa gate be traced back to Herod, why may not the golden gate be ascribed to the same era ) exposure to weather, as well as rude usage from besiegers, may have worn its stones away, and been the cause of the fractured aspect which, in some parts, it presents. Its stones are all of them massive, quite as much so as those in the vaults of El-Aksa, or in the exterior of the south-eastern angle of the wall. Two splendid monoliths struck us, one standing out in the centre, the other imbedded in the corner of the wall. The former was a column, whose height I could not measure, and am unwilling to guess. It was not pure Corinthian, though, at first sight, it looked very like it. It seemed a mixture of Corinthian and Ionic, though with more of the former than of the latter about it. Its capital was very massive, but a good deal wasted, its floral ornaments having lost all their sharpness. The latter monolith was square, but of equal height, and of greater thickness. Antiquity, stateliness, splendour, suggested themselves to us as our eye went from angle to angle, from pillar to pilaster, from roof to floor.
We picked up a few fragments from the base of the pillar, part of which was broken. Our Arab shoe-bearer, seeing our desire to possess these, and being, no doubt, desirous of a piastre, took up a large stone lying on the floor, and began to break off some pieces for us. Our guide, however, interfered and forbade him; for as the portico is used as a Moslem place of prayer, the stones are, I suppose, accounted sacred. The boy, however, had no fear nor reverence for the Mullah; so, as soon as the guide’s back was turned, he resumed his efforts, and
WELLS AND PAVEMENT.
Drought us a fresh fragment from the base of the square monolith.
We now came up to full daylight once more, and wandered for a little upon the level platform, in which the only thing that interested us was the wells. We sat down on the edge and looked into one of them, dropping stones to ascertain its depth. It did appear deep; but we could see nothing. They seemed to be merely reservoirs for the rain water, not springs. The Rabbis speak specially of three wells within the precincts of the temple, — the well Gola, the large well, and the cold well. Very possibly those which we saw were these; but we need not try to guess.*
How slippery the smooth pavement of the temple must often have been, either with the rain or with the drippings of blood! For we noticed that exposure to the air hardens the outer coat of the limestone, and the continual treading polishes it. We found this in all the exterior stairs of houses, and in the paved streets of the city. The sloping ascent to the altar, formed doubtless of this same limestone rock, would soon acquire quite a marble polish, and in time of rain, or when blood fell on it, must have been very slippery and dangerous. Hence the frequent reference to the precautions against slipping, in the Rabbinical traditions.
* “They may strew salt on the stairs, that they slip not down; also draw water from the well Gola, and from the Large Well, with the rolling wheel, on the Sabbath, and from the Cold Well on festivals.” — Michna, Treatise Erulin, ch. 10, 14.
Salt was kept in large quantities for this purpose, and pavement as well as stairs were sprinkled wTith it. It is said that this salt was from the Dead Sea, and was called the “salt of Sodom,” the “salt that kept no Sabbath,” being continually in the process of ejection from the never-resting waters of the lake.
We then retraced our steps out of the precincts of the mosque, walking over the same bare flat rock as when we entered, — Solomon’s old levellings. No evil befell us from Moslem indignation; no insults were received, nor stones cast at us. Indeed we saw very few people in any part of the enclosure. Had any of the African guards crossed our path, we might not have fared so well. But they were somewhere else, — locked up, some said, lest their fanaticism should break loose upon the profane intruder. But possibly gold had cooled their zeal; for they are well paid for their forbearance. The alliance of England with Turkey against Russia has done something towards smoothing down, if not eradicating, hatred of the Giaour. But gold does the most. We had to pay one napoleon each for our admission; and as a considerable number have of late been admitted, these black defenders of the faith have learned how profitable it is to say nothing, but quietly submit to the locking op.
In the course of the forenoon, Mr Crawford .kindly came to conduct us to the chief Rabbi of the Sephardim Jews. To Mr C. and his brother missionaries, we are deeply indebted on this and many other occasions.
MISSIONARY WORK.
We enjoyed their society as Christian men, and admired their zeal for Israel, while we availed ourselves of their knowledge of men and places, in order to see and hear all that might be seen and heard in Jerusalem. Though missionary success here, in labour for the Jews, is, as elsewhere, not great, yet they do not labour in vain. It is but “the remnant of Israel” that is now gathering; for the day is not come when “all Israel shall be saved,” (Rom. xi. 26); and this “remnant” in Jerusalem, these men of God, are gathering in faith and patience. They avail themselves of every method to reach the Jews. Having free access to them, with no bar but Jewish prejudice, they converse with them singly or in groups by the way; they see them in their houses; they meet them in their synagogues; not only letting slip no opportunity of usefulness, but seeking out opportunities continually. One part of their operations interested me much. Throughout the J ewish quarter, large handbills, in Hebrew, are posted up upon walls and doors, containing passages from the prophets, and questions for Jews to ponder. As you went down to the bazaars, you might see a J ew standing at one of these reading it; a group of Jews hard by conversing over it. In many such ways do the missionaries approach the Jews of Jerusalem, kindly yet boldly. Many inquiries have been the result, and some conversions to the faith and love of Christ.
With Mr Crawford we set out for the house of a rather peculiar being, by name Cresson, who was to introduce us to the Rabbi. He is an American, and was once professedly a Christian. But he has renounced Christianity, embraced Judaism, parted with his American wife, and married a Jewess. He is, as might be expected, more Jewish than the Jews, and does all he can, like Elymas of old (Acts xiii. 8) to hinder the gospel, and thwart the missionaries. We had hardly seated ourselves in Cresson’s house, when he began to praise the Jews in the most extravagant manner, giving us to know that with them were all religion, morality, and wisdom. I reminded him of the charges which their prophets bring against them; he kindled up, and affirmed that all these things were long past. I called his attention to the fact, that many of these prophecies related to the latter day, and that they intimated that Israel would grow worse and worse, until “the Redeemer came to Sion.” He got fiercer still; and denied that there were any such prophecies. Several other things of similar bearing, and with similar explosions on his part, were spoken. At last he blazed up into utter fury, and I thought he would have struck us, if he durst, in his zeal for Judaism. He rose, however, at length, to fulfil his promise of conducting us to the Rabbi’s house. As we were going out I took occasion to reprove him for his furious demeanour and hasty words, telling him that he was giving us a very bad specimen of a Jew. A reproof from a Christian was beyond sufferance; so, gesticulating with both arms, as if he would have pushed me to the ends of the earth,
THE RABBI.
he exclaimed at the pitch of his voice, “Away with your Christianity and your Presbyterianism.’” This outburst seemed to empty him, for he was tolerably quiet as he guided us along, and said almost nothing in the Rabbi’s house.
The Rabbi lived not far off; so we were soon seated on his divan. We could not get directly upon the subject of Messiah, or sacrifice, or sin-bearing through the blood, as we had done with the Karaite Rabbi; but he was most friendly and conversable. Of course we could only converse through an interpreter, as he spoke a peculiar kind of Spanish, which requires some practice to understand. Mr Crawford interpreted for us. He brightened up when he heard that we had been at Sinai, and made some remarks on Israel’s history in connection with that mountain, to which we responded. As he was likely to know all the traditions of his nation, great and small, I was anxious to learn whether he had any knowledge of the written rocks of the desert. But he had not so much as heard of Wady Mukatteb and its inscriptions. Neither he nor his nation know anything about them. Now, as the Jew lets slip no part of his nation’s history, enshrining every jot and tittle of it, either in histories or legends, it is incredible that this Sephardim Rabbi should not have heard of these desert writings, were they the relics of his fathers, and the records of their miraculous story. If it is answered that he might be an ignorant man, the answer is that ignorant as Jewish Rabbies may be as to all Gentile history, they are never ignorant of their own; and that besides, his professed ignorance of the rocks is quite in harmony with the utter silence of Targum, Talmud, Mishna, and every Jewish work of tradition or history. What a niche would these inscriptions have occupied in Rabbinical story, had they ever been known to the J ews as the works of their fathers!
In the afternoon we called for a Mr Johnston, a peculiar individual, but very different from Cresson. He is connected with the south of Scotland, as he told us, though he was born in England. In the “Narrative of Mission to the Jews” (p. 146) he is described as living in complete retirement, and waiting for the coming of the Son of Man. Nearly eighteen years have elapsed since this statement was made, and it truly describes the man to this hour; only that he is more of a hermit than ever. He never leaves his house, and hardly sees any one. We had some difficulty in finding entrance to him. Several times had we to knock with force at his rude outer door, well barred and chained. At length he came down the dozen steps that lead in to the court, and opened the gate. As he knew Mr Crawford he received us kindly, though his manner did seem to imply that he would rather be left alone. He wants to be both Christian and J ew. He wears the long side-ringlets of the latter as well as their dress, conforming himself in general to their customs.
THE CONSUL.
But he will not give up Jesus of Nazareth. He applied to the Jews to be received as a proselyte, and satisfied them on most points. But when asked to renounce Christ he drew back. And at this point he resolutely stands, anxious to be a J ew, yet resolved not to deny the Lord, whom he seems really to know and love. He does no active work, but spends his days in meditation and prayer. I asked him why he did not do some work for Christ. He said he was waiting upon the Lord. I said that he might wait on the Lord, and yet work for the Lord. No, he said, he must wait on the Lord to know what the Lord would have him to do, and he justified himself by the example of Moses, who was commanded to spend forty years in Horeb, doing nothing. And thus he has been waiting for upwards of twenty years. A most guileless man, — quiet and kindly, — with a pleasant benevolence in his face and eye, yet strangely blind to present duty, and misled by a fanaticism into which minds of his passive make are not unapt to fall.
The rain, which fell constantly all day long, kept us within doors, or at least within the city walls, hindering a projected ramble to-day, as it had done yesterday. The evening we spent most agreeably at the house of the Consul, Mr Finn, whose Christian kindness and hospitality were always at our service. The interest which he and his lady have taken, both in the temporal and spiritual welfare of Israel, has won them the confidence of the Jews, both converted and unconverted.
Britain’s representatives.
The knowledge of the interest which Britain takes in the Jews, saves them from many a wrong which would be done them, without remorse, by Moslem, Latin, and Greek. No concern have these creeds ever taken about the sons of Abraham, save to persecute and spoil; so that the old Rabbies used to make it a question, whether it were worse to live under Edom or Ishmael.
Had the representative of England been indifferent to the cause of Israel, and had he exhibited any sympathy, however distant, with High Church veneration for the old idolatries either of the Latin or Greek apostasy, it might have been much worse for the Jew, and the missionary, and the cause of Protestantism in Jerusalem. In the good providence of God, we have three excellent men as Consuls, or Vice-Consuls, in Palestine, — Mr Finn, at J erusalem; Mr Rogers, at Khaiffa; and Dr Kayat, at Jaffa. They represent well the Evangelical Protestantism of Great Britain.