It is of these _six cities_ here mentioned, I am now going to speak. The
name of each of the six has something significantly to tell about THE
NAME OF JESUS. They are six pictures of the Saviour, hung up in the Old
Testament picture-gallery. I am going to ask you to take a journey with
me to these towns of old Palestine. Before we enter their gates, I
should like again to repeat the verse of the precious hymn placed at
the beginning of this book:--
"How sweet the NAME of _Jesus_ sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear."
[Illustration: Kedesh]
First City--Kedesh.
If you look far north in the map of Palestine above the lake of Merom,
near the snowy peaks of mount Hermon and Lebanon, you will see where
this Refuge-city lies. Recent travellers describe its ruins as still
standing on a rocky ridge in the midst of green hills, surrounded with
the remains of forts and castles built by the Crusaders in the middle
ages. It was situated within the tribe of Naphtali, and must have been
it great town at the time when the old warrior Barak, who was born
within its walls, marched from its gates to meet Sisera in the plain
below with his nine hundred chariots of iron.
What does its name tell of Christ?
The Hebrew word KEDESH signifies "_Holy_." Jesus was "_The Holy One_."
Not one stain of sin polluted His holy human nature. Angels in heaven,
as they cast their crowns at His feet, cry, "_Holy! holy! holy_!"[12]
Devils on earth were compelled to exclaim, "_We know thee who thou art,
the_ HOLY ONE _of God_."[13] Jewish priests, as they spake of Him of old
by types, took "_a lamb without blemish_."[14] Jewish prophets, as they
spake of Him in their predictions, called Him "_The Righteous_ (_or_
HOLY) _Branch_."[15] Apostles, as they wrote about Him, said "_He was_
HOLY, _harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners_."[16] When He was
Himself on earth, He could challenge His bitterest foes, "_Which of you
convinceth me of sin?_"[17] And when He came down, soon after His
ascension, from His throne in the skies, we find Him proclaiming as His
name, "_He that is_ HOLY, _He that is True_!"[18]
Reader, remember this. Jesus never could have saved you unless He had
been "glorious in holiness." If He had had one sin in Him, you and I
must have been lost for ever. Just as one leak in Noah's ark of old
would have sunk it, so one leak of sin in Jesus, the true Ark, would
have plunged us all in the depths of eternal despair. Let us, then, love
often to walk round the walls of KEDESH, and think of _our_ "City of
Refuge" as "_The_ HOLY _Child Jesus_."[19]
And when you ponder _His_ holiness, seek to be holy, as _He_ was. How He
hated sin! How He loved to do His heavenly Father's will! How gentle,
and good, and kind He was to all! He never was angry, or passionate, or
revengeful. When a youth, at His early home in Nazareth, "He increased
in favour with God and man."[20] Be _like_ Jesus in His _holiness_! Let
_KEDESH_ be a word written on your young hearts! Whenever you are in
trouble or difficulty, or temptation, always ask, "How would the HOLY
JESUS have acted here?" Turn the words of your well-known hymn into a
prayer. While you say--
"I love the NAME of Jesus,
Immanuel, Christ the Lord;
Like fragrance on the breezes,
His _name_ abroad is pour'd;"--
seek also to add--
"I long to be _like_ Jesus,
Meek, lowly, loving, mild;
I long to be _like_ Jesus,
The Father's HOLY Child!"
[Illustration: Shechem]
Second City--Shechem.
Shechem was situated at the extremity of a valley among the hills of
Ephraim. The famous mountains of Ebal and Gerizim rose on either side,
from the slopes of which the blessings and the curses of the law were
proclaimed in the ears of assembled Israel. If Jerusalem was the
greatest and the grandest of the cities of Palestine, Shechem was
perhaps the most beautiful. It is still spoken of by travellers as one
of the loveliest spots in the Holy Land, with its orchards of olive,
fig, and pomegranate, and its flocks of singing-birds, which have made
the inhabitants give to the graceful slope on which it looks down, the
name of the "Musical Valley." I don't know if the streets in the olden
time resembled what they are now. The following is the recent
description of a traveller familiar with them:--"The streets are narrow
and vaulted over, and in the winter time it is difficult to pass along
many of them on account of brooks, which rush over the pavement with
deafening roar.... It has mulberry, orange, pomegranate, and other trees
mingled in with the houses, whose odoriferous flowers load the air with
delicious perfume during the months of April and May."[21] You do not
require to be told that _Shechem_ is a very ancient city, and that many
interesting events in sacred story took place in connexion with it. The
earliest mention made of it is when the patriarch Abraham slept under
its oaks, (the Terebinths of Moreh,) when he came to Canaan from distant
Chaldea, and erected his first altar under their shade;[22] and one of
the last Bible notices regarding it, is in connexion with the woman of
Samaria, when Jesus sat with her at "the well of Sychar," and spoke to
her of the better fountain, "springing up to everlasting life."[23]
What does the name SHECHEM tell of Christ?