PALESTINE
The Love and Knowledge of the Holy Land――The Land of the
Bible――The Bible Societies and the Institutions for the
Investigation of the Holy Land――The Palestine Exploration Fund
――Colonel Conder――Sir Charles Wilson――Sir Charles Warren――Lord
Kitchener.
THE love and knowledge of the Holy Land were scarcely less valuable
than the influence of the Bible and its language in paving the way
for an understanding of Zionist aspirations. What is more natural
than that the Land of _Israel_ most strongly attracted the Christian
Englishman by its past history and its present condition? He could not
lay his hand upon his Bible without being reminded of the _Jordan_,
of the _Lebanon_, of the _Mount of Olives_. Every Sunday called to
his mind the ancient history and lost prosperity of the “glory of all
lands,” while the existing ruin and desolation of the country gave
testimony to the truth of the Bible and the certainty of the promised
blessings.
While the familiar passages of Scripture concerning the Restoration
were calculated to promote human effort in this great cause――for
in many of these passages the spiritual application is not the most
obvious, and all of them seem inspired by the vision of a real and
natural return to the Land――the Biblical descriptions of the Holy Land
contributed not less to the propaganda of what we may call the Zionist
idea. There is no country whose geography is, if not better known, at
any rate dearer to the heart of man than that of the land of which the
Bible speaks.
Apart from the divine character of the Scriptures, they have handed
down through the centuries the earliest history of which we have any
records, and have preserved for all time records of the economic,
domestic and political life of a people which inhabited one of the
most important provinces of the ancient world. The people and the land
are no allegory, no abstraction; they are realities. They still exist,
and they can be brought together again as they were in their natural
condition. They are both equally typical, almost unique. There is no
other country whose geographical features are so strongly marked as
those of Palestine, the character of whose inhabitants so strikingly
depends on peculiarities of position, soil and climate. And there is
no other people whose character, history and destinies are so peculiar
as those of the Jewish people.
Two kinds of English organizations, without parallel in any other
country――Bible Societies and Palestine Societies――have contributed
particularly to the investigation of Palestine. Apart from their
conversionist tendency, the Bible Societies were founded in order “to
promote the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, both at home and in
foreign lands.” This idea could take deep hold of the minds of the
people only in England. The first Bible Society of Great Britain was
founded in 1802 (Appendix xxxviii). Shortly afterwards――in 1805――a
“Palestine Association”¹ was established for the purpose of promoting
the knowledge of its geography, natural history and antiquities, with
a view to the illustration of the Holy Writings. The inquiries of the
Society were directed in the first place to ascertaining the natural
and political boundaries of the several districts within the limits
of the Land of _Israel_, the topographical situation of the towns and
villages, the courses of streams and rivers, the ranges of mountains,
and the manners and customs of the inhabitants. They extended to
the natural products of the Holy Land and adjacent countries, to
peculiarities of soil, climate and minerals, and to the exploration
for Jewish antiquities. This was, however, by no means the beginning
of the study of Palestine: it was rather a new organization of the
studies in question. But notwithstanding the learned and laborious
compilations of Christianus Adrichomus (1533‒1585), Petrus Ravanellus
(_ob._ 1680), Christophorus Cellarius (1638‒1707), Thomas Fuller
(1608‒1661), John Lightfoot (1602‒1675), and the more recent work of
Dom [Antoine] Augustin Calmet (1672‒1757), Johann Heinrich Michaelis
(1668‒1738), Thomas Harmer (1715‒1788), Willem Albert Bachiene
(1712‒1783), and Ijsbrand _van_ Hamelsveld (1743‒1812), many of the
most important points were still left unexamined. “No country should
be of so much interest to us as Palestine, and at the same time no
country more urgently requires illustration.” With this motto the
“Palestine Association” started its fruitful work, which it continued
during the whole of the last century with growing skill and success.
¹ Palestine Association. 1805. (Proposals.) _p._ 4. _Saville
Row_, _March 31, 1805_. [B. M.]
The Society known as the “Palestine Exploration Fund” was first
formally constituted in 1865. The object of the founders was the
prosecution of systematic and scientific research in all branches
of inquiry connected with the Holy Land, and the principal reason
alleged for conducting this inquiry was the illustration of the Bible
which might be expected to follow such an investigation. The Society
numbered among its first supporters both Christians and Jews. The
War Office granted the services of Royal Engineers for the execution
of excavation work――Colonel Claude Reignier Conder (1848‒1910), Sir
Charles William Wilson (1836‒1905), and Sir Charles Warren. Colonel
Conder devoted his whole life to Palestinian research. Earl Kitchener
(1850‒1916) surveyed _Galilee_ for the Society, and his work aroused
general interest and led to important results (Appendix xxxix).
Hitherto knowledge regarding the country had been very limited;
reconnaissance sketch-maps of parts of the country had been made,
but every successive traveller was able to point out deficiencies,
errors and unexplored tracts. With trained skill, thoroughness and
conscientious work the Society combined a love and enthusiasm for
Palestine which made it possible to obtain the most admirable results.
The progress from the theological character of the first “Palestine
Association” to the scientific methods of the “Palestine Exploration
Fund” typifies the evolution of the whole Palestinian idea from a
traditional belief to a great human and historical aspiration――the
same evolution which can be traced in the development of the Zionist
idea.
Illustration:
_Gen. Sir_ CHARLES WARREN _Maj.-Gen._
_Elliott and Fry, Ltd._ _Sir_ CHARLES W. WILSON
_Earl_ KITCHENER
London Stereoscopic Co.
_Dr._ EDWARD ROBINSON _Col._ CLAUDE R. CONDER