_The City of Nain--“Spoiling the Egyptians”--Ruins of an old Philistine City--Curious Strategy--The Torches in Pitchers--Kleber and
the Turks--Ahab’s Palace--Tropical Picture--A Crusader’s Church--More “Backsheesh”--The Samaritans of To-day--The Mount of Blessings
and the Mount of Cursings--A Despised People--A Strange Religious Belief--A Parchment Thirty-five Centuries Old--Jacob’s Well--Its
Present Appearance--The Tomb of Joseph--The Scene of Jacob’s Dream--The Philistines’ Raid._
A RIDE of less than an hour from Endor takes us to Nain, the “City” of Christ’s time, but now a small village. The ruins show that
the place was once important, and the guides point out the old cemetery, at whose gate the miracle is located.
As we ride on, we pass the valley of Jezreel, a fertile spot, which might be made productive in the hands of some other people than
these lazy, shiftless Syrians. The inhabitants are a mixed lot, as they include, besides the regular hash of Moslems, Christians,
and Jews, a colony of Egyptians brought here by Ibrahim Pasha. These fellows were put here, because of the richness of the soil, and
the stern old warrior thought he had given them a good thing. But they have an impression that it is more honorable to steal than to
work, and consequently make it rather disagreeable for their neighbors. The latter get even with them, by making occasional raids in
return, and justifying themselves by some remark or other about “spoiling the Egyptians.” From what I can learn of their history, I
think these Egyptians were pretty well spoiled before they came to Syria. {356}By going a little out of way we can visit Beisan,
the ancient Bethshean, whose ruins cover an area nearly three miles in circumference. It was a city of temples; four of these can
be distinctly traced in one group, and others are scattered around promiscuously. Bethshean was of Phoenician origin, and was the
principal abiding place of the Philistine god, Dagon. The citadel stood on the hill, overlooking the city, and on its walls the
Philistines hung up the bodies of Saul and Jonathan.
The “Doubter,” on hearing this, looks for the bodies, and unable to find them, refuses to believe any part of the story.
Below the citadel is the theatre, semi-circular in shape, and nearly two hundred feet in diameter. Tradition says that Julian, the
Apostate, used to give _matinée_ performances here to his friends, at which he occasionally had a lot of Christians cut up.
They were popular for a time, but the shrieks of the victims interfered so much with the conversation in the boxes and with
peanut-selling in the galleries, that the show had to be given up.
There is a large fountain--Ain-Jalud--in this valley, where Gideon is said to have fought his celebrated battle with the Midianites,
described in the Old Testament, when he ordered his men to conceal their torches in pitchers, which they were to break when the
proper signal was given. It was one of the best pieces of strategy on record, and was brilliantly successful.
Several battles have been fought in this valley and in its neighborhood. The latest was that between the French and Turkish armies
in 1799. Gen. Kleber had moved from Nazareth to attack the Turks, and was met by the enemy near the village of Fuleh.
He formed his army into squares, with artillery at the angles, and in this way resisted the charges of cavalry for six long hours.
He had three thousand men and the Turks were fifteen thousand strong, but the effective fire of the French held the enemy in check,
in spite of their determined bravery. At the end of six hours, Napoleon arrived with fresh cavalry and infantry and attacked the
Turks on flank and rear. Thus surrounded, the latter became panic stricken, and retired in disorder, with heavy loss.
It was the discipline of Kleber’s division and its powers of continued resistance, that gave the victory to the French.
We soon arrive at the modern village of Sebustieh, which {357}stands on the site of Samaria and has a population of four or five
hundred Moslems, badly disposed towards strangers. The Crusaders built a church here and dedicated it to St. John, but it has been
converted into a mosque, that cannot be entered without the use of the magical “backsheesh.” And this has to be applied skillfully,
to avoid offense; a very good way is to take the keeper of the mosque into your confidence and do the “backsheesh” business through
him Give him a fair allowance of piasters to distribute to the crowd after you have gone, and he will generally set his cudgel at
work among them. He is an honorable man, and you can feel certain that he will faithfully distribute the money--to himself. Samaria
was a fine city in its time, and the ruins that cover the hill confirm the accounts of the historians. Many of the stones of the
old temples and colonnades have been built into the walls and terraces of the modern town so that the extent of the city is not
perceptible to a casual observer.
From Nazareth to Nablous, we cross the basin just described, and climb a long ascent to the crest of a ridge. Thence our road is
through glens and over hills, but it is less rough than most of the routes we have heretofore traveled. Nablous is a city of about
eight thousand inhabitants. This is the ancient Shechem, which was assigned to the Levites and made a city of refuge--a place where
a man who had murdered anybody or otherwise shocked the fastidiousness of his neighbors, could live a virtuous and respectable life
and be safe from harm. No extradition treaty could touch him, and he might hope in course of time, to become mayor or alderman
in his new home, and have a finger in the city treasury. The authorities used to try the refugees who came there, and, in case of
wilful murder, the fellows were delivered up to justice. But if the trials were anything like those of murderers in olden times, it
was a pretty safe thing for a man to get into a city of refuge, as he could plead accident and insanity, especially the latter, and
get off without trouble.
Shechem, or Nablous, is chiefly interesting to-day as the residence of the Samaritans; there are considerably less than two hundred
of them and they live now, as they did in Christ’s time, and long before it, following the same occupations, obeying the {358}same
laws and worshipping after the ancient manner. We read in the New Testament that “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans,”
and the statement applies at this day and hour as it did when these words were written.
Down to a few centuries ago, there were colonies of Samaritans in three or four of the Oriental cities, but they have all
disappeared except this one at Nablous. They date from the Assyrian conquest of Israel and the carrying of the people into
captivity. They came from the East, to settle in the deserted cities, and added to their own religion some features of Jewish
worship. Rejected by the Jews, they determined to have a temple of their own, and they erected it upon Mount Gerizim, one of the
hills overlooking Shechem. They go there now, as they have always done, to celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and follow the mode
prescribed in the twelfth Chapter of Exodus. Six lambs are roasted after the ancient method* and eaten by the people, and no infidel
Christian, Jew, or Moslem is allowed to touch any of the meat or any part of the culinary apparatus. They accept the first five
books of the Bible as their gospel, but reject all others; they accept Moses as the only law-giver, believe that a Messiah is to
come, believe in the resurrection of the body, and in a state of future rewards and punishments, and they keep all the feasts and
fasts enjoined in the Pentateuch. They also keep the feast of Purim, on the ground that it celebrates the journey of Moses to Egypt
to deliver the Israelites, and not as the Jews celebrate it for the release of their people by Queen Esther.
What a strange people! The only remaining adherents of a faith that was once wide spread through Syria--a link binding us to the
mystic past, and carrying us back more than thirty centuries of time. They are born, they live, they think, they worship, they die
as their ancestors have done for more than a hundred generations. To them the present is a dream, the past the only reality.
They have a synagogue, and by dint of energy and “backsheesh,” we may visit it. They show us the famous Samaritan Codex, the copy of
the Pentateuch, which is said to be the oldest MS. copy in existence. It is on parchment, about fifteen inches wide and twenty-five
yards long, and is much defaced and injured
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[Illustration: 0371]
{361}by time and handling. There has been much discussion concerning this parchment, and many pages have been written to prove or
disprove its antiquity. The Samaritans claim that it is thirty-five hundred years old, and they give the name of the writer, but
he is not there now to swear to the truth of the statement. As Sergeant Buzfuz would say, “his is in itself suspicious.” That it is
very ancient there is no doubt, and the reader may take his choice as to date of manufacture. The “Doubter” says that he saw in the
parchment the watermark “Eagle Mills”--Jones and Smith, encircling a flying eagle with a shield in his claws. But I don’t believe
him.
We pass Gibeah, the ancient Geba, and next come to Bethel, now called Beitin, where Jacob lay down, as you see the Arabs lying now,
with the earth for a bed and a stone for his pillow, and dreamed that he saw a ladder reaching to Heaven, and angels ascending and
descending upon it. Abraham pitched his tent here, and here was buried Deborah, the nurse of Rachel, under an oak tree, which Jacob
had chosen.
We pass Ramah, a heap of ruins, in which a modern village is huddled. Its inhabitants have no higher object than the extortion of
“backsheesh” from travellers, and they keep up a steady din of supplications as long as we are in their vicinity. We pass out of the
fertile country and come again among the limestone hills, the eternal hills “round about Jerusalem” We are looking anxiously for the
Holy City, and finally, as the sun is sinking and the approaching night spreads the shadows over the glens and valleys, we climb the
crest of Scopus and look away toward a rounded mountain, crowned with a monastery.
This is the Mount of Olives; nearer to us, and at its feet lies a city with grey walls and with domes and minarets rising above
them. Do we need to be told that we are gazing upon Jerusalem?
We halt a moment at the Damascus gate. From one of the Arabs that gather about us, let us borrow the Enchanted Carpet, which may
have belonged to his ancestor, celebrated in the Arabian Nights. Seating ourselves upon it, we utter a wish to return to Damascus,
and behold, in an instant we are once more in the court-yard of Dimitri’s hotel.
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[Illustration: 0374]