BRITISH INTEREST AND WORK IN PALESTINE
Mr. Rogers――Mr. Finzi――Agricultural work in Palestine under
the auspices of the British Consul――W. Holman Hunt――Thomas
Seddon――A New Appeal――Prof. D. Brown――Rev. John Fry――Rev.
Capel Molyneux――Prof. C. A. Auberlen――Dr. W. Urwick――Dr. E.
Henderson――Prof. Joseph A. Alexander――Dr. Patrick Fairbairn
――Dr. Thomas Arnold.
“THE greatest advantages had resulted to the Jews from this indirect
protection, and as a natural consequence Jews of all kinds continually
resorted to the British Consulate at all times for advice when in
distress, and they received every kind of help which could be properly
afforded them. They were no longer outwardly persecuted, being well
known to be under British protection.... The Russian Jews, now since
1850 British protégés, enjoyed, especially in _Safed_ and _Tiberias_,
a tranquillity to which they had long been strangers, and the
Consulate was well seconded in regard to them by Mr. [Edward Thomas]
Rogers (1830(1)‒1884), the new Vice-Consul at _Haifa_, besides whom we
had had from long previous years, as British Consular Agent, at Acre,
Mr. Finzi, who was a Jew.”¹
¹ _Ibid._, vol. ii., _pp._ 56‒57.
The British Consul also started works of philanthropy which seemed to
be the beginning of an experiment in Jewish agriculture.
“A plot of ground of about eight to twelve English acres had been
purchased in 1852, on which as soon as money could be obtained for
supplying wages some of the poor had been set to work. That land was
set apart for ever under the name of ‘the Industrial Plantation for
employment of Jews of _Jerusalem_,’ and it was in due time placed
under the security of three trustees.
“The design was not so much to constitute a rural colony of farmers on
this spot, as to afford daily employment _to residents of the city_,
returning from work every evening to their families.
“It was always designed that other branches of Jewish agricultural
employment, that might be carried on in other places in the vicinity,
should be associated with this institution under the general name of
‘Industrial Plantation.’
“We were not so sanguine as to expect pallid creatures, weakened by
hunger and disease, to perform the labours of healthy robust peasants
of the villages, but at least they could clear off the loose stones
from the land in baskets, they could assist in building up dry walls
of enclosure with the guidance of a few peasants; they could carry
water from the cistern, and they could learn to do other things.
“These tasks would be profitable and preparatory. Upon such tasks we
had already in 1850 to 1853 employed as many poor Jews as the small
funds at our disposal had permitted. Now in 1854 we applied to friends
in England, and elsewhere, to send us the means of relieving some
of the vast amount of misery around us, by means of employment in the
open air. The appeal was responded to and funds were sent from England,
from India, and also one or two contributions from America. By the
month of April money had arrived, and we were able to set the people
to work.... Notice was given to the Jews that employment on the
land might be obtained for wages on the ground above-mentioned; the
Arabic name which it bore among the peasants, of its former owners,
was _Ker’m el Khaleel_――the vineyard of the Friend――_i.e. Abraham_
(1948‒2123 _a.m._), by which epithet _Abraham_ is always known.
The very name of the ground was attractive, and the effect of the
announcement fulfilled our best expectations.”
“The foreman in charge of the work was a Polish Jew who had been
in the Russian Army.”¹ “The idea of labouring in the open air for
daily bread had taken root among the Jews in _Jerusalem_――the hope of
cultivating the desolate soil of their own Promised Land was kindled.
These objects were never again lost sight of. The Jews themselves took
them up.”²
¹ _Ibid._, _pp._ 64‒66.
² _Ibid._, _p._ 76.
Sir Moses Montefiore was one of the first Jews who took up these
objects. On his second visit to _Jerusalem_ he was received by Colonel
Gawler, the ardent Christian Zionist. After this visit the impression
was left upon the public mind that the Jews, hitherto so despised,
had, in England at least, powerful representatives, through whom their
grievances might make themselves heard in Europe.
At the same time England’s interest in Palestine was growing in
all directions. In 1849 an English Literary Society was founded by
the Consul, for the investigation of all subjects of literary and
scientific interest in the Holy Land. English artists were also the
first European artists who started serious work in Palestine. Two
English artists of note, William Holman Hunt, O.M. (1827‒1910) and
Thomas Seddon (1821‒1856), came to reside in the Holy City in 1852,
in order to study Bible scenes and Eastern customs. Hunt was the first
painter who attempted to depict the true colours of the mountains of
_Moab_. He began in _Jerusalem_ his great picture of “The Scapegoat
in the Wilderness.” Seddon pitched a tent among the pomegranate trees
in the neighbourhood of _Jerusalem_, and his picture of “_Olivet and
Siloam_,” now in the South Kensington Museum Gallery, was taken from
that spot.
In English literature we find another appeal made by an anonymous
political writer in 1856 in a lofty moral tone, which is at the same
time a high appreciation of Judaism.
“To do justice at once to a people approved of God as ‘His
Inheritance,’ ... a simple course is open to us――to the nations. Let
us prevail upon the Porte to allow the Jews facilities to return to
their own land; to appoint Palestine as a place of refuge for them,
from the anarchy and confusion from which they suffer, but in which
they have no share....
“If the allies are sincere in their professions towards the Porte,
and its eyes are open to its own interests and safety; if Christians
really believe in a Just and Holy God, and that the Bible is His Word;
if Mohammedans feel that God is great, who hath appointed them the
keepers of his holy place against this time, while their elder brother
has been in exile;... If then, we say, integrity in belief or duty has
any place at all with the parties concerned; this matter of a refuge
for the Jews――has only to be mentioned to be accomplished....
“Britons, let us at least be true to the position which the integrity
and foresight of our fathers have, in the providence of God, earned
for us; true to the mission of our faith, ... seek at once to wash our
hands of this monstrous rebellion against Judgment and Righteousness
――the peace of the world and the progress of the human race――and do an
act of tardy justice to a people to whom mankind owe all their higher
privileges and better civilization.”¹
¹ The Crisis, and Way of Escape. An Appeal for the Oldest of
the Oppressed,... London:... 1856.... (_pp._ 5‒6).
The Christian propaganda for the Restoration of _Israel_ made further
progress. Even those who felt disinclined to connect the events of
the time with any particular prediction were ready to admit that these
events were coming as something more decisive in history than anything
that had happened since the Reformation. “With such impressions abroad,
the multitude of treatises on prophetic subjects soon exceeded all
precedent;...”¹
¹ The Restoration of the Jews:... By David Brown, D.D., ...
Edinburgh.... London. 1861 (_p._ 60).
“What most surprises us is, that a ritual of worship, so like the
Mosaic ceremonial, should again be restored by divine appointment,...
For we read of all the various offerings of the Levitical economy;...
We can only reply:――Such is the divine pleasure.”¹ But this one
Divine is not the only precursor of _Rabbi_ Hirsch Kalischer in this
idea; there were others who believed in it. The Rev. Capel Molyneux
(1804‒1877) announced the restoration of the Mosaic sacrifices, and
explained its necessity from a Christian point of view.² The most
curious and interesting opinion is that of a Swiss Protestant divine,
Carl August Auberlen (1824‒1864) of Basle:――“_Israel_ is again to be
at the head of all humanity.... In the Old Testament the whole Jewish
national life was religious; but only in an external legal manner
... in the millennial kingdom, all spheres of life will be truly
Christianized outwardly from within. From this point of view it will
not be offensive to say that the Mosaic ceremonial law corresponds to
the priestly office of _Israel_――the civil law to its kingly office.
The Gentile Church could only adopt the moral law; in like manner
her sole influence is by the word working inwardly, by exercising
the prophetic office. But when the royal and priestly office shall
be revived, then ... the ceremonial and civil law of _Moses_ also
will develop its spiritual depths in the Divine worship and in the
constitution of the millennial kingdom,” _etc._³ In a word, the Jews
have to be restored, and to live according to their Law, which, as
the learned professor believes, will “develop spiritual depths,” an
idea which the most orthodox Jew would accept, and which is even more
conservative than that of some of the _Talmudists_, who maintain that
the ritual prescriptions _Mizvoth_ will be abolished in the Messianic
age.
¹ The Second Advent;... The Restoration of Israel――.... By the
Rev. John Fry, B.A.... In Two Volumes.... London:... 1822
(vol. i., _p._ 583).
² Israel’s Future.... By the Rev. Capel Molyneux, B.A.――London:
... (_pp._ 257‒258).
_p._ vi., 68, _Gloucester Terrace_, _Hyde Park_, _July 17,
1852_.
³ The Prophecies of Daniel ... with an exposition on the
principal passages. By Carl August Auberlen,... Translated
by the Rev. Adolph Saphir. Edinburgh:... MDCCCLVI.
Exaggerations of this kind may have stimulated the opposition which
was represented by the Rev. Dr. William Urwick (1791‒1868) (the
elder),¹ the Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Henderson² (1784‒1858), Professor
Joseph Addison Alexander³ (1809‒1860), the Rev. Patrick Fairbairn⁴
(1805‒1874), Dr. Thomas Arnold⁵ (1795‒1842), Head Master of Rugby,
and many representatives of the so-called Spiritual school, who were
strongly opposed to these Judaizing tendencies. They endeavoured to
transform the plain statements of the Bible into airy visions, and
explained all the names (_Israel_, _Jerusalem_, _etc._) in a peculiar
way. Thus it is to the “spiritual” Christian and not to the natural
Jew that the name of Israel belongs, as it is the Roman and the Greek
to whom alone the promises of Restoration to the Holy Land were made,
and not the “seed of _Abraham_.” In fact, the Spiritualists are far
from being consistent. They would, for instance, spiritualize the
Israel which is blessed, and accept in a literal sense the Israel that
is cursed. A departure from the literal meaning of words has always
proved a source of error and confusion, as words are often taken
literally when they agree with certain theories, allegorically when
they do not――a process by which the Bible may be made to say something
to please everybody. Spiritualistic interpreters, as a rule, go to the
Bible to find support for their own views, rather than to be guided by
the standard of the Word as to whether they be correct or not. Where
they find what they want, the Bible is plain, where they do not, it
is difficult; and they have to have recourse to the expedient of what
is called “spiritualizing” the Word, a term imposing enough, but most
inapplicable――carnalizing would be a far more suitable designation of
the process.
¹ The Second Advent.... By William Urwick, D.D. Dublin:...
MDCCCXXXIX.
² The Book of the Prophet Isaiah ... with a commentary,
critical, philological, and exegetical:... By the Rev. E.
Henderson, D.Ph.... London:... MDCCCXL.
³ The Earlier Prophecies of Isaiah. By Joseph Addison
Alexander, Professor in the Theological Seminary, Princeton,
New Jersey, New York & London:... 1846.
The Later Prophecies of Isaiah. By Joseph Addison Alexander
... New York & London:... 1847.
⁴ The Typology of Scripture,... With an Appendix on the
Restoration of the Jews. By Rev. Patrick Fairbairn, Salton.
Edinburgh:... MDCCCXLV.
⁵ Two Sermons on the Interpretation of Prophecy,... By Thomas
Arnold, D.D.... Oxford.... MDCCCXXXIX.
In Jewish exegetical literature there is an excellent rule: no
Biblical verse should be explained differently from its literal
meaning. To this may be added what the learned Joseph Mede (1586‒1638)
said on the same subject from the Christian point of view: “I cannot
be persuaded to forsake the proper and usual import of Scripture
language, where neither the instruction of the text itself, nor
manifest tokens of allegory, nor the necessity and the nature of the
things spoken of do warrant it. For to do so were to lose all footing
of Divine testimony, and instead of Scripture to believe mine own
imaginations.”