The next great struggle in this plain was one upon which the Survey

of Palestine has thrown some new light, enabling us to follow the

fugitives in their retreat, and to fix some sites which are named in

the narrative. The fruitfulness of the Great Plain has been, in our

own times and all through the ages, an irresistible attraction to the

Bedouin from the east of Jordan. Pressed by war or famine, they have

crossed the Jordan at the fords near Beisan, poured up the Valley

of Jezreel, and covered the plain with their tents and camels. The

peaceful husbandmen have laboured, only to be periodically plundered

and oppressed. Thus in 1870 only about a sixth part of the beautiful

corn land was tilled, and the plain was black with Arab “houses of

hair.” But the Turks wrought a great and sudden change; they armed

their cavalry with the Remington breech-loading rifle, and the Bedouin

disappeared as if by magic. In 1872 nine-tenths of the plain was

cultivated, nearly half with corn, the rest with millet, sesame,

cotton, tobacco, and the castor-oil plant. It was, of course, to be

expected that when external troubles had weakened the Government,

the lawless Nomads would again encroach and levy toll as before.

Accordingly, in 1877, Fendi el Fais and the Sukr Arabs once more

invaded the plain and levied blackmail on the luckless peasantry.

Thus it has ever been; for the history of Palestine seems constantly

to repeat itself from the earliest period recorded, in a recurring

struggle between the settled population and the Nomads.

Some time after the days of Barak and Deborah, the historian tells

us, “the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of

the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven

years.” These marauders from the east came across the Jordan, bringing

their cattle and their camels, and pitching their black tents. They

came as locusts for multitude, eating up the fruitful country and

levying tribute on the villages, all the way round to Gaza. The

Israelites fled in alarm, taking refuge in the mountains, and existing

in dens and caves. No sustenance was left them, either for sheep,

or ox, or ass; and “Israel was brought very low because of Midian.”

Perhaps they might have borne the oppression longer, only that their

lives were not safe from the sword, and they smarted under losses

inflicted on their families. In some petty struggle, perhaps it was,

in which one brother came to the assistance of another, that seven

fine young men, sons of Joash of Abiezer, were put to death by Zeba

and Zalmunna the Chiefs of Midian. But there was one son left, whose

name was Gideon, and he was a man of valour. He felt this oppression

to be insupportable: the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and after

destroying the altar of Baal in his native place, he blew a trumpet,

and raised a revolt. His own tribesmen (the men of Menasseh) gathered

to his standard, and the men of the northern tribes also, even Asher

assisting on this occasion.

Gideon “pitched beside the Spring of Harod, and the camp of Midian was

on the north side of them, in the valley.” The Bible narrative appears

to show that the spring was in the neighbourhood of Gilboa, being

towards the south of the Valley of Jezreel. “It is very striking,” says

Conder, “to find in this position a large spring with the name ’_Ain

el Jem’ain_,’ or ‘fountain of the two troops’ and there seems no valid

objection to the view that this is the Spring of Harod.”

Gideon went down upon the enemy in the midnight darkness, leading

three hundred men, who carried concealed torches, as well as trumpets.

The sudden sounding of trumpets and flashing of lights spread

consternation among the Midianites; they fought suicidally, every

man’s hand was against his brother, and they fled down the Valley of

Jezreel. It was some 10 miles or more to the fords of the Jordan. At

the fords they divided, Zeba and Zalmunna, the sheikhs, passing over,

while Oreb and Zeeb, the lesser chiefs, continued their journey on the

western side. Presumably they were hoping to get across at the great

ford opposite Jericho; but Gideon sent word to the men of Ephraim

to intercept them, and they did so. Gideon himself crossed at the

northern fords, pursuing Zeba and Zalmunna, as far as Karkor, and when

he had captured them he brought them back to Penuel. “Then said he to

them, ‘What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor?’ And they

answered, ‘As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children

of a king.’ And he said, ‘They were my brethren, the sons of my mother:

as the Lord liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.’”

The men of Ephraim “slew Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the

winepress of Zeeb.” These two names signify the _Raven_ and the

_Wolf_--not unnatural names for the chiefs of Nomad tribes--and Conder

has discovered these names in the Jordan valley, a little north of

Jericho. There is a curious conical chalk hill called ’_Osh el Ghurab_,

the “Raven’s Peak,” and near to it a lesser hill with a valley, known

as _Tuweil edh Dhiab_, the “Wolf’s Den.” The executions, if they took

place on these elevations, would be in sight of all the people in the

plain; and afterwards the heads were carried across to Gideon, who was

now beyond Jordan.

But victory was not always given to the Israelites in the Plain of

Esdraelon. In the days of King Saul the Philistines, having been twice

beaten in the hills, determined to try their fortune in the plains.

Under the leadership of Achish, king of Gath, they marched northward,

round the promontory of Carmel, and took up their position at Shunem,

under “Little Hermon.”[18] Saul was posted on Mount Gilboa, but had

no confidence in his strength. In his distress, indeed, he actually

paid a night visit to the witch of Endor, although Endor was north of

“Little Hermon,” and he had to go past the Philistine camp to reach

it. The next morning the battle went against him: the Israelites

were positively driven up the slope of Gilboa and slaughtered on the

heights, which should have been their natural battle-ground. David,

when he heard of it, felt the humiliation of it, or at least the depth

of the misfortune, and his dirge for Saul and his son opens with the

words, “Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! How are the

mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath” (2 Sam. i.).

The head of Saul was sent round to Ashdod, to the temple of Dagon, the

Philistine Fish-god. The armour of Saul was dedicated to the goddess

Ashtoreth, in the city of Bethshan, not very far from the scene of

the battle. We may judge that Bethshan was still in possession of the

Canaanites. The bodies of Saul and his sons were fastened to the wall

of Bethshan. But the men of Jabesh Gilead, east of Jordan, a city

which Saul had once befriended (1 Sam. xi.), came across in the night

and took them away. After burning them in Jabesh, they buried the

bones under a tamarisk tree; and thence, at a later opportunity, David

fetched them away and buried them in the family tomb in Benjamin.

We read in Scripture of “Bethshan and her daughter towns” as belonging

to the tribe of Manasseh (1 Chron. vii. 29). A black mound at the

modern Beisan represents the Bethshan or Bethshean of the text. On

this natural fortress stood the citadel. The ruins have been planned

by Conder; and his drawings will be found in the Memoirs of the

Survey. Not far from Beisan are the ruins of a Roman bridge across the

Jordan--the highway to Gadara. In the plain of Beisan, as we learn from

Mr Trelawney Saunders, are twenty-four _tells_, scattered all over the

upper and lower terraces. They still bear distinctive names; and Mr

Saunders feels no doubt that they are the sites of former habitations,

scenes of domestic happiness and abundant wealth. Moreover, he surmises

that the life and happiness of the district may be restored almost

as rapidly as they were obliterated, when once the civilisation and

power of the West becomes conscious of the connection between Oriental

prosperity and that of its own manufacturing populations. “These

_tells_,” he says, “probably mark the substantial and lordly centres of

villages, the latter more or less extensive, and readily levelled with

the ground. They denote the populous character of the region, when a

strong government restrained the plundering Ishmaelites, and protected

instead of robbed people. The _tells_ are more indicative of a large

population than the remains of such a ‘splendid’ and ‘noble’ city as

Beisan, when it was either Jewish Bethshan or heathen Scythopolis; with

its dominating citadel, temples, hippodrome, theatre, baths, monument,

and bridge.” If there be any truth in this view of the matter we may

expect interesting results from an exploration of these _tells_. Conder

describes the locality as one of the best watered in Palestine, and (in

April) literally streaming with rivulets from some fifty springs.

The death of Saul brought David to the throne. But David had previously

gone through an adventurous experience, the story of which is

intimately connected with localities that are mentioned, and requires

a knowledge of the topography fully to appreciate. “The desert of

Judah,” says Conder, “was no doubt as much a desert in David’s time as

it is now. Here he wandered with his brigand companions as ‘a partridge

on the mountains.’ Here he may have learned that the coney makes its

dwelling in the hard rocks. Here, in earlier days, he tended the sheep,

descending from Bethlehem, as the village shepherds of the present day

still come down, by virtue of a compact with the lawless Nomads, and

just as Nabal’s sheep came down from the highlands under agreement with

the wild followers of the outlaw born to be a king. I do not know any

part of the Old Testament more instinct with life than are the early

chapters of Samuel which recount the wanderings of David. His life

should only be written by one who has followed those wanderings on the

spot; and the critic who would imbue himself with a right understanding

of that ancient chronicle should first with his own eyes gaze on the

‘rocks of the wild goats’ and the ‘junipers’ of the desert.”

Conder declares that we have now so recovered the topography of

David’s wanderings that the various scenes seem as vivid as if they

had occurred only yesterday. First, we have the stronghold of Adullam,

guarding the rich corn valley of Elah; then Keilah, a few miles

south, perched on its steep hill above the same valley. The forest of

Hareth lay close by, on the edge of the mountain chain where Kharas

now stands, surrounded by the “thickets” which properly represent the

Hebrew “Yar”--a word wrongly supposed to mean a woodland of timber

trees.

Driven from all these lairs, David went yet further south to the

neighbourhood of Ziph.... The treachery of the inhabitants of Ziph,

like that of the men of Keilah, appears to have driven David to a yet

more desolate district, that of the Jeshimon, or “Solitude,” by which

is apparently intended the great desert above the western shores of the

Dead Sea, on which the Ziph plateau looks down. As a shepherd-boy at

Bethlehem, David may probably have been already familiar with this part

of the country, and the caves, still used as sheep-cotes by the peasant

herdsmen, extend all along the slopes at the edge of the desert.

East of Ziph is a prominent hill on which is the ruined town called

Cain in the Bible. Hence the eye ranges over the theatre of David’s

wanderings: the whole scenery of the flight of David, and of Saul’s

pursuit, can be viewed from this one hill.

The stronghold chosen by the fugitive was the hill Hachilah, in the

wilderness of Ziph, south of Jeshimon. “This, I would propose” (says

Conder) “to recognise in the long ridge called El Kôlah.... On the

north side of the hill are the ‘Caves of the Dreamers,’ perhaps the

actual scene of David’s descent on Saul’s sleeping guards.”

Pursued even to Hachilah, David descended farther south, to a rock or

cliff in the wilderness of Maon, which was named “Cliff of Division”

(1 Sam. xxiii. 2-8). Here he is represented as being on one side of

the mountain, while Saul was on the other. Now, between the ridge of

El Kôlah and the neighbourhood of Maon there is a great gorge called

“the Valley of Rocks,” a narrow, but deep chasm, impassable except by

a detour of many miles, so that Saul might have stood within sight of

David, yet quite unable to overtake his enemy; and to this “Cliff of

Division” the name _Malâky_ now applies, a word closely approaching the

Hebrew Mahlekoth. The neighbourhood is seamed with many torrent-beds,

but there is no other place near Maon where cliffs, such as are to be

inferred from the word Sela, can be found. “It seems to me pretty

safe, therefore” (says Conder) “to look on this gorge as the scene of

the wonderful escape of David, due to a sudden Philistine invasion,

which terminated the history of his hair-breadth escapes in the South

Country.”

To return to Adullam. The famous hold where David collected “every

one that was in distress and every one that was in debt, and every

one that was discontented,” was, according to Josephus, at the city

called Adullam (Ant. vi. 12, 3). This city was one of the group of

fifteen situated in the Shephelah or Lowlands (Josh. xv. 35). The term

Shephelah is applied to the low hills of soft limestone which form a

distinct district between the maritime plain and the central line of

mountains. M. Clermont Ganneau was the first explorer who found the

name Adullam still in use; but Major Conder also, on finding it among

the names which Corporal Brophy had collected, set out to examine the

site.

The great Valley of Elah (Wâdy es Sunt) is the highway from Philistia

to Hebron; and divides the low hills of the Shephelah from the rocky

mountains of Judah. Eight miles from the valley-head stands Shochoh,

and Wâdy es Sunt is here a quarter of a mile across: just north of

this ruin it turns round westward, and so runs, growing deeper and

deeper, between the rocky hills covered with brushwood, becoming

an open vale of rich corn land, flanked by ancient fortresses, and

finally debouching at the cliff of _Tell es Safi_. About 2½ miles south

of the great angle near Shochoh there is a very large and ancient

terebinth--it is from _elah_ the “terebinth” tree that the valley gets

its name--and near it are two ancient wells, with stone water troughs

round them. South of the ravine is a high rounded hill, almost isolated

by valleys, and covered with ruins, a natural fortress, not unlike the

well-known _tells_ which occur lower down the valley of Elah. “This

site seems to be ancient” (says Conder), “not only because of the

wells, but judging from the caves, the tombs, and the rock quarryings

which exist near it.”

Below the hill, and near the well, there are ruins which are called

_’Aid el Ma_, and this is radically identical with the Hebrew Adullam.

“But if this ruined fortress be, as there seems no good reason to

doubt it is, the royal city of Adullam, where, we should naturally

ask, is the famous cave? The answer is easy, for the cave is on the

hill. We must not look for one of the greater caverns, such as the

Crusaders fixed upon in the romantic gorge east of Bethlehem, for such

caverns are never inhabited in Palestine; we should expect, rather,

a moderate-sized cave, or (considering the strength of the band) a

succession of ‘hollow-places.’ The site of Adullam is ruinous, but not

deserted. The sides of the tributary valley are lined with rows of

caves, and these we found inhabited, and full of flocks and herds. But

still more interesting was the discovery of a separate cave on the hill

itself, a low, smoke-blackened burrow, which was the home of a single

family. We could not but suppose, as we entered this gloomy abode,

that our feet were standing on the very foot-prints of the Shepherd

King, who here, encamped between the Philistines and the Jews, covered

the line of advance on the corn fields of Keilah, and was but 3 miles

distant from the thickets of Hareth.

“The hill is about 500 feet high.... There is ample room to have

accommodated David’s four hundred men in the caves, and they are, as we

have seen, still inhabited.

“It is interesting to observe that the scene of David’s victory over

Goliath is distant only 8 miles from the cave at _’Aid el Ma_.”

When David became king of all Israel, he made it his first great

object to capture Jerusalem. There might be several reasons for this.

In the first place, his capital hitherto had been Hebron, a city

which was not sufficiently central. Secondly, the border line between

Judah and Benjamin ran right through Jerusalem; the city was partly

in the territory of one tribe, partly in the other; Saul was a man of

Benjamin, while David belonged to Judah; so that there were jealousies

between these two tribes, which might be healed if David could make the

city his capital. Thirdly, Jerusalem had proved itself to be a strong

city, well-nigh impregnable. Joshua had not taken it, as he took the

other cities of the Gibeonite league--it has defied the arms of Israel

for four or five centuries--and therefore, if David can capture it,

he will possess a redoubtable stronghold. Jerusalem, therefore, was

besieged and taken. Secure in Jerusalem, David extended his conquests

on every side, subduing Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, and

Midianites; placing garrisons in the towns of Syria, and even extending

his rule as far as the river Euphrates. Of all these countries

Philistia alone comes into the survey of Western Palestine.

Gaza, the capital of Philistia, still exists as an inhabited city, and

is very picturesquely situated, having a fine approach down a broad

avenue from the north. It rises on an isolated hill, about 100 feet

above the plain, and bristles with minarets. The population is given

by Conder as eighteen thousand, including sixty or seventy houses

of Greek Christians. The town is not walled, but the green mounds

traceable round the hill are probably remains of the ancient enclosure.

The new mosque, built some forty or fifty years ago, is full of marble

fragments, from ancient buildings which were principally found near

the sea-shore. East of the Serai is the reputed tomb of Samson; and

south-east of the city is a hill called the Watch-tower, to which

place, according to tradition, Samson carried the gates of Gaza. A

yearly festival of the Moslems is held there.

North-east of Makkedah, Ekron still stands, on low rising ground--a

mud hamlet, with gardens fenced with prickly pears. Conder says there

is nothing ancient here.

[Illustration: TELL ES SAFI. (Site of Gath?) (_By favour of

the Palestine Exploration Fund._)]

At Azotus, or Ashdod, one of the Philistine cities, is a large mound,

with columns cropping up out of the ground on the outskirts of it.

Mr Trelawney Saunders, the geographer, has described the site in his

“Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.” Ashdod, on a hillock

(alt. 140 feet), at the western end of the plain of Zeita, is now

separated from all that remains of its port, by sand-downs 3 miles in

breadth. The site is occupied by the present village of Esdud, with

eighteen hundred people, but the remains of this primeval city, once so

strong and mighty, are so few and insignificant that one is tempted to

suppose the greater part of the city may be buried beneath the sands.

If so, they may be in a superior state of preservation, and would

perhaps repay for digging out.

Gath, the birth-place of Goliath, has long been a lost city, but is now

reasonably identified with _Tell es Sufi_ at the mouth of the _Wady_

or water-course which runs from near Hebron, past Adullam and Shochoh,

and westward towards Ashdod. It is the site of the Crusading fortress

of Blanche Garde, which was built in 1144 A.D. as an outpost

for defence against the people of Ascalon. It is now a mud village with

olives beneath it, standing on a cliff 300 feet high, which is burrowed

with caves. The Rev. Henry George Tomkins takes _Tell es Sufi_ to be

the “mound of Safi,” and regards Safi as a personal name. In a learned

paper in the _Quarterly Statement_, October 1886, he argues that Safi

was a brother of Goliath’s, and if so this is an additional reason for

regarding _Tell es Sufi_ as Gath.

Ascalon, “the bride of Syria,” is still called Askalon. The

fortifications and walls are in ruins, and the site of the city is a

garden planted with fruit trees and vegetables. The walls are the ruins

of battlements, erected by Richard Lionheart in 1191 A.D.,

in place of those destroyed by Saladin, and doubtless with the same

materials. They are half buried by the great dunes of rolling sand

which are ever being blown up by the sea breeze from the southward.

The whole interior of the site is covered with rich soil, to a depth

of about 10 feet, and the natives find fragments of fine masonry,

shafts, capitals, and other remains of the old city, by digging into

it. Of Herod’s beautiful colonnades nothing now remains. The Crusaders

had little respect for antiquities, and the innumerable granite pillar

shafts which are built horizontally into the walls are no doubt those

originally brought to the town by Herod.

Conder says, “We heard a curious tradition at Ascalon. A tomb had been

opened by the peasantry, near the ruin, some thirty years ago. Under a

great slab, in the eastern cemetery, they found a perfectly preserved

body, with a sword by its side, and a ring on its finger. The dead eyes

glared so fiercely on the intruders that they let fall the slab; and as

one of the party soon after died, they came to the conclusion that it

was a _Nebi_ or Prophet whom they had disturbed, and the place has thus

become surrounded with a mysterious sanctity.”

In the days of David’s grandson the kingdom of the Israelites divided

in two, and began the new phase of its existence as the parallel

monarchies of Israel and Judah. The disruption, it may be said, was

owing to the fact that Ephraim envied Judah, and Judah vexed Ephraim.

Naturally, the split, when it came, took place along a line between

these two powerful tribes and right athwart the tribe of Benjamin.

Benjamin was torn asunder--Jericho and Bethel going to the northern

kingdom, while other towns went to the south. Jerusalem continued to be

a capital, but it was now the capital of the kingdom of Judah only; and

Shechem was chosen as the capital of the northern kingdom, which was

called Israel.

But these northern monarchs had their pleasant summer residences as

well, corresponding to Windsor or Versailles. One of these was Samaria,

another was Tirzah, a third was Jezreel.

The Samaria of the present day is a large and flourishing village of

stone and mud houses, standing on the hill of the ancient Samaria.

The most interesting ruins now to be seen there are those of Herod’s

colonnade to the west of the modern village. The colonnade seems to

have surrounded the whole city with a kind of cloister, which was 60

feet wide, and the pillars 16 feet high. The city of Samaria of the Old

Testament has disappeared. But the kings of Israel were buried here,

and the ancient tombs may yet perhaps come to light.

Tirzah, famous for its beauty, is the only Samaritan town mentioned

among the royal cities taken by Joshua. Conder finds it in the present

mud hamlet of Teiasir. It was delightfully situated on a plateau where

the valleys begin to dip suddenly towards Jordan.

Conder found numerous rock-cut sepulchres burrowing under the houses;

and he thinks that some of them are probably those of the early kings

of Israel, before the royal family began to be buried in Samaria.

Jezreel is now called Zerin, and the site of Ahab’s palace is now a

village, surrounded by heaps of rubbish. The position of Zerin is

remarkable. On the south the ground slopes gently upwards towards the

site, and on the west also the place is accessible. But on the north

the ground is extremely rugged and falls rapidly, and on the east

occurs a saddle separating the high point on which the town stands

from the Gilboa chain, the road ascending from the valley and the

neighbourhood of ’Ain Jalud. The top of the hill is 284 feet above

this spring, which is visible beneath. Thus the site is naturally

strong, except on the south-west. It is conspicuous from the plain, and

it commands a view down the valley to Beisan and the trans-Jordanic

ranges. Major Conder, climbing up to the village, was struck by the

absence of any traces of antiquity. But the houses stand on a mound of

rubbish, and in this a great number of ruined cisterns exist.

Ahab from his palace in Jezreel looked down upon Naboth’s vineyard.

There seem to be no vineyards in the neighbourhood now; but on the east

and south-east there are rock-cut wine-presses on the rugged hills,

where no doubt the “portion of the field of Naboth” and his vineyard

are to be placed. The commanding position of the place would also

enable Joram’s watchmen, looking down the Valley of Jezreel, to observe

the two horsemen sent forward by Jehu coming up from Bethshan--the

dust raised, the gleam of their armour--and Jehu himself following and

“driving furiously.” It was by “the fountain which is in Jezreel” that

Saul had pitched before the fatal battle of Gilboa.

Here at Jezreel, with Mount Carmel in the distance, we are reminded

that the sacrifice which Elijah offered did not take place on the point

of Mount Carmel nearest the sea, as commonly imagined, but much nearer

to Jezreel, on a part of the range where our explorers discovered a

perennial spring, that would supply the prophet with water when the

rest of the country was dry. Stationed at this spot, he might see the

palace of Jezebel in the city of Jezreel. From this position he sent

his servant a few minutes’ distance, to the highest point of the range,

where he could overlook the sea and perceive the little cloud rising.

Then said Elijah, “Get thee down, Ahab, there is a sound of abundance

of rain”--get thee down Ahab, or the river of Kishon will sweep thee

away! Elijah himself, amidst the rushing storm, ran before the chariot

of the monarch, down the slope, and as far as the entrance of Jezreel.

And soon thereafter, fearing Jezebel’s threats, he journeyed swiftly by

the north and south road, nor stopped till he got to Beersheba. This is

the extremity of Judah, and here he leaves his servant behind him and

plunges into the wilderness, for he is going to “Horeb, the Mount of

God,” to seek a revelation.

Elijah was commissioned to call Elisha to be his successor; and Elisha

in his turn made frequent resort to Mount Carmel. When the Shunamite

woman came to him there, her journey lay across the plain, and he could

see her approaching (2 Kings iv. 24). Shunem, now called _Sulem_,

stands on the southern slope of _Neby Duhy_ (Little Hermon), and is

only a mud hamlet, with cactus hedges and a spring. West of the houses

there is a beautiful garden, cool and shady, of lemon trees, watered

by a little rivulet, and in the village is a fountain and trough.

Westward the view extends as far as Carmel, 15 miles away. Thus the

whole extent of the ride of the Shunamite woman, under the burning

noon-tide sun of harvest-time, is visible. Conder remarks that if the

houses of that time were no larger than the mud-cabins of the modern

village, it was not a great architectural undertaking to build a little

chamber for the prophet; and the enumeration of the simple furniture

of that chamber--the bed (perhaps only a straw mat), the table, the

stool, and the lamp--seems to indicate that it was only a little hut

that was intended. Another point may be noted: how came it that Elisha

so constantly passed by Shunem? The answer seems simple; he lived

habitually on Carmel, but he was a native of Abel Meholah, “the Meadow

of Circles,” a place now called _’Ain Helweh_, in the Jordan Valley, to

which the direct road led past Shunem down the Valley of Jezreel.

Before we leave the Plain of Esdraelon, which is also called the

Plain of Megiddo--and because of its typical character as the field

of great battles, is used in the Apocalypse as the scene of the great

final struggle, _Ar-Mageddon-_--let us glance at the fruitless effort

of Josiah, king of Judah, to stop the march of Pharaoh Necho. It was

in the last days of the Jewish monarchy, when the northern kingdom

had been already destroyed, that Palestine was first exposed to the

disastrous fate which involved her in so long a series of troubles

from this time forward--that of being the debatable ground between

Egypt and the further East; first under the Pharaohs and the rulers

of Babylon; then under the Ptolemies and Seleucidae. “In the days of

Josiah, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up against the king of

Assyria to the river Euphrates” (2 Kings xxiii. 29), possibly landing

his army at Accho (says Dean Stanley), more probably, as the expression

seems to indicate, following the track of his predecessor Psammetichus,

and advancing up the maritime plain till he turned into the plain of

Esdraelon, thence to penetrate into the passes of the Lebanon. King

Josiah, in self-defence, and perhaps as an ally of the Assyrian king,

went against him. Josiah would march by the watershed road, northward

from Jerusalem, and descend into the plain, perhaps by Dothan. The

engagement took place in “the Valley of Megiddo” (2 Chron. xxxv. 22).

The Egyptian archers in their long array, so well known from their

sculptured monuments, shot at King Josiah, as he rode in state in his

royal chariot, and he was sore wounded, and placed in his reserve

chariot, and carried to Jerusalem to die. Dean Stanley remarks that all

other notices of the battle are absorbed in this one tragical event,

and the exact scene of the encounter is not known.

The position of Megiddo is not fixed very definitely in the Bible

narrative. But a broad valley (as we see above) was named from the

city, and the “waters of Megiddo” are also spoken of. Major Conder

believes he has found the place and the name, in the large ruined site

of Mujedda, at the foot of Gilboa--a mound from which fine springs

burst out, with the broad valley of the Jalud river to the north.

Otherwise Megiddo has been located on the _Mukuttà_, near _Lejjun_. Mr

Trelawney Saunders considers it an objection to Conder’s site that it

is separated from the river Kishon and the town of Taanach, and cannot

be made to fit in with the account of Ahaziah’s flight from Jezreel (2

Kings ix. 27). The king, having been smitten at “the going up to Gur,”

near Ibleam, fled to Megiddo, where he died. But if Megiddo were in

the Plain of Bethshean he would hardly be likely to do this, seeing

that Jehu his enemy made his furious advance upon Jezreel through that

plain. Besides, he fled by the way of the “garden house,” En-gannim

(the modern _Jenin_); the garden-like character of which spot is still

preserved--and _Jenin_ would not be on the route between _Zerin_ and

_Mujedda_.

[_Authorities and Sources_:--“Tent Work in Palestine.” Major

Conder. “Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.” By

Trelawney Saunders. “Survey of Western Palestine.” P. E. Fund.

“Twenty-one Years’ Work in the Holy Land.” P. E. Fund.]

9. _Sacred Sites of the Hebrews._

In order to pass in review the sites selected by the Israelites for

places of worship, it will be convenient to go back to the time when we

find the tribes encamped at Gilgal, on their first entrance into the

country.

That Mount Sinai should remain sacred after the giving of the Law was

to be expected; and we have just now seen that its sacredness could

attract Elijah after many centuries. The Israelites, when they left

the wilderness, and came to sojourn in the outskirts of Moab, were

attracted by the shrine of Baal-Peor; but they were made to feel that

this was wrong, and the ambassadors of the western tribes refer to it

as a warning when they expostulate with their brethren about the altar

called Ed (Joshua xxii. 17). In passing over into Canaan, they carried

the Lord’s tabernacle with them; where that rested was holy ground, and

it was not intended that any rival site should be tolerated.

The ark of the covenant--the chest which contained the agreement or

treaty between Jehovah and his people--was set down at Gilgal, the

tabernacle or holy tent was erected over it, and Gilgal became a sacred

place. Afterwards, when the hill country had been conquered, the ark

and tabernacle were brought to Shiloh, and then Shiloh became a sacred

place. Shiloh is now called _Seilun_, and here the ruins of a modern

village occupy a sort of _tell_ or mound. The position of the place

is remarkably retired, shut in between high, bare mountains. A deep

valley runs behind the town on the north, and in its sides are many

rock-cut sepulchres. “The site being so certainly known,” says Conder,

“it becomes of interest to speculate as to the exact position of the

tabernacle. Below the top of the hill, on the north of the ruins,

there is a sort of irregular quadrangle, sloping rather to the west,

and perched above terraces made for agricultural purposes. The rock

has here been rudely hewn in two parallel scarps for over 400 feet,

with a court between, 77 feet wide and sunk 5 feet below the outer

surface. Thus there would be sufficient room for the court of the

tabernacle in this area. From the Mishna we learn that the lower part

of the tabernacle erected at Shiloh was of stone, with a tent above.

There are, however, two other places which demand attention as possible

sites, one being, perhaps, a synagogue, the other a little building

called the ‘Mosque of the Servants of God.’”

According to the Jews, the ark and tabernacle remained at Shiloh three

hundred and sixty-nine years--so long that Shiloh was regarded as only

second to Jerusalem in sanctity. In the disastrous days of Eli the ark

was sent into the battlefield and captured by the Philistines, who

carried it to Ashdod, to the temple of Dagon. When Dagon fell down

before it they sent it away again, and it was, after some adventures,

recovered by the men of Kirjath Jearim. Eventually David brought it to

Mount Zion, and then Zion became a sacred place. Solomon said, “the

places are holy whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come” (2 Chron.

viii. 11), and on that account he brought up the daughter of Pharaoh

out of the City of David (which is Zion, 1 Kings viii. 1), unto the

house that he had built for her. The ark never went back to Shiloh

after Eli sent it away. The tabernacle, however, appears to have

remained there for some time, and so Shiloh remained sacred in some

degree.

Soon, however, even the tabernacle would appear to have been removed

from Shiloh, for although we have no direct mention of its removal,

we seem to find it in other places. Samuel, the successor of Eli,

judged the people, and on important occasions called the solemn

assembly and offered sacrifices. He was accustomed to do this at three

different places, which in his day were revered as sacred. One of

these was Gilgal, rendered sacred by the first resting of the ark: and

although the ark and tabernacle had been removed, and sanctity was to

be transferred along with them, yet it is not easy to obliterate the

sanctity of a place from the tradition and practice of the people.

Another of these three places was Bethel, where Jacob had seen his

vision of the ladder with angels ascending and descending, and had

been constrained to say, “This is the house of God and the gate of

Heaven.” The third place at which Samuel called assemblies and offered

sacrifices was not Shiloh, as we might suppose it would be, but one of

the many places called Mizpeh. We do not know where this Mizpeh was.

Conder is inclined to identify it with _Neby Samwil_--the Mount of

the Prophet Samuel, a conspicuous conical hill, 4 or 5 miles north of

Jerusalem; and as Mizpeh means a watch-tower, there is plausibility in

this suggestion. We do not know whether the tabernacle was pitched at

either of these three places in Samuel’s day: we do not know why Samuel

should be content to regard three different places as holy; but it is

not altogether impossible that the tabernacle was carried from one

meeting-place to another, and made each one holy in turn.

A little later we seem to find the tabernacle nearer to Jerusalem.

When David is fleeing from King Saul, and taking the road from Rama in

Benjamin to Gath in the land of the Philistines, he comes to Nob, to

Ahimelech the priest, and is permitted to eat the shewbread (the holy

bread exhibited before the Lord in the sanctuary), and to carry off

the sword of Goliath, which had been laid up as a trophy. So here we

have the priests, the shewbread, and the tabernacle at Nob. As to the

locality of Nob, Dean Stanley follows Mr Thrupp in fixing it on the

northern summit of the Mount of Olives, and Mr Thrupp reminds us that

David brought the head of Goliath to Jerusalem, before the city itself

was captured (1 Sam. xvii. 54). David, in fleeing from Rama to Gath,

could hardly find a shorter or more convenient route than that which

took him past Jerusalem.

This position for Nob is confirmed by Isaiah’s graphic and detailed

description of the advance of the Assyrian invader (Isaiah x. 28):--

He comes to Ai, passes through Migron,

At Michmash deposits his baggage;

They cross the pass, Geba is our night station:

Terrified is Ramah, Gibeah of Saul flees.

Shriek with thy voice, daughter of Gallim;

Listen, O Laish! Ah! poor Anathoth!

Madmeneh escapes, dwellers in Gebim take flight.

Yet this day he halts at Nob:

He shakes his hand against the mount, daughter of Sion,

The hill of Jerusalem.

“In this passage” (says Sir Charles Wilson), “if it has a meaning--and

I cannot suppose that it has not--the prophet describes, in such detail

that it is difficult to believe he is not describing an actual event,

the march of an Assyrian army upon Jerusalem; and we may be quite

certain that, with his knowledge of the country, and writing as he did

for those who were equally well acquainted with it, he would describe

a line of march, which, under certain conditions, an army would

naturally follow if its special object were the capture of Jerusalem.

The conditions to which I allude are the passage of the great ravine

at Michmash, and encampment for the night at Geba; why this route

was selected in preference to the easier road along the line of

water-parting we have no means of ascertaining, and it does not affect

the question.”

“Of the places mentioned by Isaiah, we know, with a considerable

degree of certainty, the positions of Michmash, Geba, Ramah, Gibeah,

and Anathoth; of the others nothing is known. From Geba to Nob was

evidently a day’s march in the progress of the army; and the order

in which the villages are mentioned leads us in the direction of

Jerusalem. If, as I believe, the passage means that the Assyrian

warrior was leading an army from Geba against Jerusalem, and that his

progress was suddenly arrested at Nob, we must seek a site for Nob on

the road between these two places, and I cannot imagine a more natural

one than some place in the vicinity of that Scopus whence, in later

years, Titus and his legions looked down upon the Holy City.”

Doeg, the Edomite, who happened to be present when Ahimelech gave

David the sword, informed Saul, and Saul, who was mad with suspicion,

slew all the priests and utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Nob.

But even after the destruction of the sanctuary by his violence the

sanctity of the summit of Olivet was still respected. It was necessary,

however, to remove the tabernacle from the scene of so much bloodshed,

and perhaps it was immediately removed to the high-place of Gibeon,

where we find it in the early part of Solomon’s reign.

The state of things at the beginning of the reign of Solomon is

described in 1 Kings iii.--“The people sacrificed in the high places,

because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those

days. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was

the great high place.” We learn from 2 Chron. i. that at Gibeon was

the Tent of Meeting (the tabernacle) which Moses had made in the

wilderness. Moreover, the brazen altar made by the inspired artist in

the wilderness was there before the tabernacle, and Solomon and the

congregation sought unto it, and offered a thousand burnt offerings

upon it.

Thus far, then, we have at least half a dozen sacred places, venerated

in turn, and more or less acknowledged simultaneously,--namely, Gilgal,

Bethel, Shiloh, Mizpeh, Nob, and Gibeon. To these we must add Zion, to

which David brought the ark, setting it up in the tent which he had

prepared for it, though _the_ tent, time-honoured and sacred, was at

Gibeon (2 Sam. vi. 17; 1 Chron. i. 4-6).

The ark, however, did not remain in “the city of David, which is Zion;”

for when the temple was built upon Mount Moriah, the ark was brought

up into the oracle of the house, with much sacrificing of sheep and

oxen, and the Tent of Meeting was brought along with it (1 Kings

viii.). Mount Moriah was now God’s holy mountain, and it was intended

to concentrate all public worship at the Temple. Even previously

it had been the law that the high places of the heathen should be

discarded, and irresponsible sacrifice in the open field should be

discountenanced, and that every man who had sacrifices to offer should

bring them to the tabernacle, wherever the tabernacle might be located

at the time (Levit. xvii. 1-6; Deut. xii. 1-6). So, now that the

permanent temple had superseded the wandering tent, it was ordered, of

course, that all sacrifices and public worship should take place on

Mount Moriah. “For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height

of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all

of them, serve Me in the land: there will I accept them, and there will

I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your oblations, with

all your holy things” (Ezek. xx. 40).

Nevertheless, during the years of David’s reign, and until the temple

was built, the ark resting on Zion conferred sanctity on that mountain.

Psalms of David, and others written at that time, would of course make

reference to Zion and not yet to Moriah.

“In Salem also is his tabernacle,

And his dwelling-place in Zion.”

Psalm lxxvi. 2.

And even after the ark had been carried up to the Temple, Mount Zion

would retain its sanctity by tradition; or perhaps the name Zion would

be extended so as to include Moriah, as they may in truth be related as

the slope and the summit of the same hill.[19]

His foundation is in the holy mountains,

“The Lord loveth the gates of Zion

More than all the dwellings of Jacob.”

Psalm lxxxvii. 1.

So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy

mountain. (Joel iii. 17 and Zech. viii. 3).

Human nature would not be what it is if theory and practice always

went hand in hand. Laws may be good, but universal obedience to them

cannot always be secured. Solomon himself, who had built the temple,

and by bringing the Tent of Meeting into it, had disestablished Gibeon,

set the example, in his later years, of recognising afresh other

high places and the gods of the heathen. Having married “women of

the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites,” besides

the daughter of Pharaoh, he doubtless thought it only an enlightened

toleration to let them worship in their own way, and as a logical

consequence he supplied them with the means, and perhaps occasionally

accompanied them to their respective places of worship. “For Solomon

went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians,” and “did build a

high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is

before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of

Ammon. And so did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and

sacrificed unto their gods” (1 Kings xi.).

We see in this passage that the site selected as the high place for

Chemosh was on the Mount of Olives--perhaps the place where Nob had

stood, a site which had the tradition of sanctity already.

Many later kings imitated Solomon, and declined to regard Jehovah

as the only God, or the holy mountain at Jerusalem as the only high

place possessing sanctity. It was hardly to be expected that the

people should be more faithful than their kings; and the after history

furnishes many examples of lapses into heathen worship, and periodical

reforms attempted by such kings as Josiah and Hezekiah. It was not

convenient for the more distant tribes north of Esdraelon or east of

Jordan to come up to Jerusalem to worship. Added to this consideration

there was the local shrine, and time-honoured tradition in its favour.

Just as in our own country Ripon cathedral is built over St Wilfrid’s

Saxon church, and St Paul’s cathedral on the site of a heathen temple,

so on the part of the Israelites there was a disposition to keep to the

old spots. What wonder if there was, besides, a frequent adherence to

the old forms of worship?

The tribes east of Jordan worshipped eastern gods--Peor, Chemosh,

Milcom. Gad worshipped the god of Fortune (Isaiah lxv. 11), and was

named after that deity. Josephus spells the name of Reuben as _Reubel_

(Ρουβελος), and Bel was one of the eastern gods. Manasseh had a

sanctuary in the city of Golan. From the east of Jordan came Jephthah,

who made a rash vow like a heathen, and kept it, although it involved

human sacrifice.

Beyond Esdraelon we have Kadesh Naphtali, a heathen sanctuary adopted

by the Israelites as a city of refuge, but apparently without any

entire suppression of the original worship. The place is now called

_Kedes_, and among the ruins found by the explorers are those of a

temple with a figure of an eagle on the lintel, besides richly executed

scroll-work of vine-leaves, bunches of grapes, a stag, and a bust

(possibly of Baal). There were also places called Beth-shemesh (House

of the Sun) scattered up and down the country.

At the disruption of the kingdom, Jeroboam, fearing that his subjects

would be attracted to the religious festivals at Jerusalem, established

two other centres. One of these was Bethel, convenient for the southern

part of his kingdom, and sacred already, because there Abram had

builded an altar, and Jacob had seen his vision, and Samuel had called

solemn assemblies. The other was Dan, convenient for the northern part

of his kingdom, and sacred again, already, for here, in the time of the

Judges some colonists from the tribe of Dan had set up a graven image

and established a priesthood. Besides, it was probably a sanctuary of

the Phœnician inhabitants whom the Danites displaced; and, as we have

seen in a previous chapter, the heathen god Pan came to be worshipped

here. Thus we see that Jeroboam selected religious centres which

combined traditional sanctity with geographical convenience.

When the tribes of the northern kingdom were carried into captivity,

and the Assyrian conquerors brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah,

and from Avva, and from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the

cities of Samaria (2 Kings xvii. 24), the foreigners, or the mixed

population which sprung up, fixed upon Mount Gerizim as their sacred

high place. But Mount Gerizim already possessed a traditional sanctity,

for the ark and tabernacle had accompanied Joshua to Shechem; the

tribes had assembled on the twin mountains to hear the reading of the

Law; and in earlier time Abram had builded an altar hereabout, the

first altar to Jehovah in all the Holy Land.

Thus there were many high places in Palestine, and there was much

disputing as to which should have the pre-eminence, the jealousy

reaching its height in the later centuries in the rival claims of

Gerizim and Jerusalem. No final solution was possible excepting that

which Jesus Christ gave to the woman of Samaria. “The hour cometh, and

now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit

and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God

is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and

truth.” (John iv. 23). Local centres lose their special sanctity

because “every place is holy ground.” The Temple at Jerusalem might

be destroyed--probably soon would be--but within a marvellously short

period the spiritual temple would take form. For such true teaching

Jesus Christ was crucified and Stephen stoned.

* * * * *

It was a matter of much interest to Major Conder to find out if

possible where the mountain of the scape-goat was situated. According

to the Law of Moses the scape-goat was led to the wilderness, and there

set free. “This was not, however, the practice of the later Jews. A

scape-goat had once come back to Jerusalem, and the omen was thought so

bad that the ordinary custom was modified, to prevent the recurrence of

such a calamity. The man who led the goat arrived at a high mountain

called Sook, and there was at this place a rolling slope, down which he

pushed the unhappy animal, which was shattered to atoms in the fall.”

The district where this was done was called Hidoodim, and the high

mountain Sook. Sook was 6½ English miles from Jerusalem, as reckoned

by the ten tabernacles which divided the messenger’s path into stages

of 2000 cubits. Conder identifies the place in the neighbourhood of

the convent of St Saba. At the required distance from Jerusalem is the

great hill of _El Muntâr_, the highest point of a ridge of mountains

running north and south. The rest of the ridge is called _El Hadeidûn_;

and beside the ancient road from Jerusalem is a well called _Sûk_.

From this high ridge the victim was yearly rolled down into the narrow

valley beneath, at the entrance of the great desert, which first

unfolded itself before the eyes of the messenger as he gained the

summit half a mile beyond the well of Sûk.

[_Authorities and Sources_:--Colonel Warren, Colonel Wilson,

&c., in the _Quarterly Statements_, P. E. Fund. “Tent Work in

Palestine.” Major Conder. “Sinai and Palestine.” Dean Stanley.]

10. _The Method of the Survey, and Incidents of the Work._

At the commencement of the Triangulation Survey a base line was

measured, near Ramleh, on the Jaffa plain, and this was afterwards

checked by a second line measured on the Plain of Esdraelon. The method

of work employed is described by Major Conder, both in his “Tent Work”

and in his volume called “Palestine.” The camp, consisting of three

or four tents, was pitched in some convenient central position, by a

town or village. Thence the surveyors were able to ride 8 or 10 miles

all round, and first visited a few of the highest hill-tops. As each

was found satisfactory, or one near it preferred, they built great

cairns of stones, 8 or 10 feet high, and whitewashed them to make them

more conspicuous. This work took about five days. When the points

were chosen, five more days were consumed in revisiting them with the

theodolite, which travelled in its box bound to the back of a mule,

the muleteer perched behind it; and with it went the saddle bags,

holding lunch, the chisel and hammer for cutting the broad arrow on the

summits of the hills, the hatchet for hewing down trees and copses.

From two to four hours were spent at each point, fixing the position of

every prominent object, tree, village, white dome or minaret visible

within 10 miles. “The names were collected” (says Conder) “from the

peasant who accompanied the party, and as the afternoon shadows began

to lengthen, we slowly wound down the hill-side, a rough-looking

cavalcade, preceded by our Bashi-bazouk in his red boots, armed to

the teeth, and followed by the non-commissioned officers, who had

become well accustomed to their stout little Syrian ponies, whilst the

pack-mule and guide came last. We all wore revolvers and the native

head-dress, the Bedawin _Kufeyeh_ or shawl, a sure protection from

sun-stroke and substitute for an umbrella. Our appearance was therefore

an extraordinary compound of European and Bedawin, which is often,

however, assumed by the Turkish officials in travelling, and thus

attracted less attention.”

The theodolite work over, and the fixed points laid down, the filling

in of the detail followed. The two non-commissioned officers divided

the work between them, and Major Conder took alternate days with each,

to enable him to do the hill sketching and examine the geology. In open

country they found the daily riding pleasant, but when the hills were

precipitous and the valleys deep and stony, the labour was very severe.

Starting at eight, resting at noon, returning at sunset, and sleeping

immediately after dinner, the days sped by with wonderful rapidity, and

the Survey spread gradually over the country.

The old cultivation was traced by the wine-presses, olive-presses,

ruined terraces, and rude garden watch-towers. Ancient sites were

recognised by their tombs, cisterns, and rocky scarps. In seeking to

identify sites the greatest care was exercised: it was laid down that

the site must show traces of antiquity; it must be known to the natives

under its original name, or a modification of that name; its position

must suit the known accounts of the place; and the measured distances

must lend confirmation.

The new map was to include every object that has a name, and the name

itself was to be correctly given. But here was a difficulty. How are

names to be accurately ascertained in Palestine? The natives are

perverse, or they suspect you of designs against their country, and

they purposely mislead you. On the other hand, they are obliging, and

if you express a hope that you have found a Scripture site, which

you name, they will confirm your impression that it is so. Or it may

be that you yourself are deficient in Arabic, and after being at the

greatest pains to inquire the name of a site, find that the name you

have noted down signifies “a heap of stones.” A story is told of

a European traveller who asked his guide the name of a place, and

received the reply--_Mabarafsh_. Carefully marking it on the sketch-map

of his route, he by-and-bye inquired concerning a second site which

he did not recognise, and received the same reply--_Mabarafsh!_ Of

course it is possible that names should be repeated, as in England we

have several Newports, Nortons, and Hamptons; but _Mabarafsh_ actually

means, “I don’t know!” A wise suggestion was made that travellers and

surveyors should always get the sheikh of the village to write down the

name correctly in Arabic; but, unfortunately, only one sheikh in ten

can write at all, and he cannot spell correctly.

The plan adopted by the Survey party was one which guarded as far as

possible against all mistakes. It is described by Major Conder in “Tent

Work,” where he speaks as follows of his inquiries in the neighbourhood

of Hebron. “My party now consisted of three non-commissioned officers;

and Lieutenant Kitchener was expected to join me in about a month. We

had with us eleven natives, including Habib the head man, a scribe, a

second valet, two grooms, the cook (a villain who only sat and watched

his boy cooking), two muleteers, and two Bashi-bazouks; the party

was thus at its full strength composed of only sixteen persons, with

nine horses and seven mules.... By night a guard was provided by the

sheikh of the village. Four guides were hired, who received a shilling

a day, a mule to ride, and breakfast. The information which they gave

the Surveyors was written down from their mouths by the scribe, an

intelligent young Damascene recommended by Mr Wright. Thus correctness,

both of pronunciation and of locality, was ensured, and the names

were checked by every means in our power. Besides obtaining names

from the local guides, inquiry was made of peasants, and generally of

several peasants separately. No leading questions were put, nor were

either guides or peasants allowed to suppose that one name would be

more acceptable than another. Such was the daily routine. The parties

left by eight a.m. and returned by five p.m.; dinner was at sunset,

and from about eight to eleven, or even until midnight, I studied,

after the day’s work, the topography of the district. This labour was

not unrewarded, for one might easily have passed over many places of

interest had one not known the points to which Mr Grove and other

scholars required special attention to be directed.”

Fortunately in Palestine the ancient names retain their hold very

tenaciously, and reassert themselves after all the efforts of

conquerors to displace them. Thus the town of Bethshan (or Bethshean)

which in Greek and Roman times became Scythopolis, is to-day again

known to the natives as _Beisan_. _Tell-el-Kadi_, at the foot of

Mount Hermon, signifies in Arabic the “heap of the Judge;” but in

Hebrew the word for judge is _Dan_, and this is the mound of Dan,

the northern extremity of the land whose length was measured “from

Dan to Beersheba.” Shiloh is now called _Seilun_, and no site is

more certain. Almost every important site retains its Biblical name.

The pretentious titles, Eleutheropolis, Nicopolis, &c., have quite

vanished, and the old native names of these cities, _Beth Gubrin_,

_Emmaus_, &c., are those by which they are now again known. An

important exception, however, is _Nablous_ (corrupted from Neapolis)

for the ancient Shechem--a change which may perhaps be traced to Jewish

hatred of the name of Shechem.

Tradition also is valuable as confirming the identification of sites,

although it might be insufficient if it stood alone. In the case

of Jacob’s Well, near Nablous (Shechem), the Hebrew and Samaritan

traditions, the Mohammedan and Christian traditions, all agree.

There is agreement also about the grotto at Bethlehem, under the

Church of the Nativity, as the place of Christ’s birth. There can be

no question that the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham

bought for a burial place, is that which is now covered by the great

mosque at Hebron. And here again we have that valuable consent of

traditions--Jewish, Christian, and Moslem--which seems to distinguish

the true sites from those less genuine concerning which two or more

discordant traditions have arisen. The Prince of Wales, Dean Stanley,

and a few other Europeans have been admitted into the mosque; but

it seems very doubtful if any living being has ever descended into

the mysterious cavern beneath the floor since the Moslem conquest

of Palestine. The surrounding wall of the mosque is also one of the

mysteries of Palestine, and a monument inferior only to the Temple

Enclosure at Jerusalem, which it resembles in style.

The Temple Area at Jerusalem is still a sanctuary; and the Tower

of Antonia maintains its military character in the present Turkish

barracks. In Palestine we find a Mohammedan mosque where a Christian

church used to be--and built from the same materials. The church in

its time had followed a Jewish synagogue. Throughout the country for

thousands of years the people have gone on living in the same way

and in the same place, and calling the places by the same names. The

name of almost every village is Hebrew, and each stands on the great

dust-heap into which the ancient buildings have crumbled. The Hebrew

names are retained, and are scarcely changed since the days of Abraham,

because the peasantry are really Semitic in descent.

In those parts of the country which are seldom visited by Europeans the

natives were much astonished to see the Survey party at work. At one

place called _Baka_ (in the Sharon district) the great gig umbrella

over the theodolite attracted much attention, and the chief delight

to elderly men was a peep through the theodolite telescope. “What do

you see, O father?” cried the less fortunate who crowded round the

observer. “I see Hammad and his cows, two hours off, as if he were

close here!” replied the delighted elder.

It was a common notion that the English intended to take the country,

the Survey being only preparatory to that step. The land was being

parcelled out, and cairns erected on the high mountains where the chief

men would build their houses. The surveyors were looking for crosses

cut on the ruins, and intended to claim ownership of all such places.

Most of the peasantry believed they were seeking for hid treasure,

which by incantation would be wafted to England. Sometimes they dug

for gold under the cairns; often they pulled them down, and had in

consequence to be imprisoned. A shepherd saw the party levelling, and

had a vague idea they were making a railway, “Will you let the sea

into Jordan?” he asked, “or will the steamships go on wheels?” “The

best idea” (says Conder) “was that we were sent by the Sultan to see

what villages had become ruinous, and to remit their taxes. We were

favourites then!”

The work of the Survey was not carried out without frequent

discomforts. For instance, the Bukei’a plain is good corn land, “but

seems to have a bad natural drainage, and our mules floundered in deep

bogs, sometimes up to their girths. Farther north we began to descend

a long valley, and came on a different kind of country, a basaltic

outbreak appeared, and cliffs tilted in every direction; the valley bed

was strewn with fragments of hard basalt. Passing over a bare ridge we

descended into a most desolate valley where a muddy stream was flowing.

We had ridden 15 miles, and it now began to rain again. We found to our

dismay that this was where we had to camp, as no other supply of water

existed in a position central to the new work. We soon made a still

more unpleasant discovery. The valley was full of clear springs, but

they were all tepid and salt. If the Survey was to be done at all, it

appeared that we should have to drink brackish water for ten days or

more. Here, then, we sat down on the wet grass, in a driving drizzle of

rain, by the brackish stream: not a soul was to be seen, either Bedawi

or peasant, and it was evident that food would have to be brought from

a distance. The mules soon arrived with our tents and beds, which

though soaked with rain, we set up on the bare ground. Of course all

the party were cross, and thought themselves injured. I had a very bad

cold and rheumatism, and Habib had tic-douloureux. The Arabs looked

wretched; but I was glad they should have their share of the hardships,

for, unlike our Abu Nuseir friends at Jericho, they were the most lazy

and good-for-nothing tribe we had come across.”

Again, at the miserable little hamlet of _El B’aineh_--between

Lake Tiberias and the Mediterranean--they found the inhabitants all

fever-stricken from the malarious exhalations of the great swamp,

which even as late as July extended over half the plain. The place

was evidently unhealthy, and they were tortured by armies of huge

mosquitoes, rendering sleep impossible at night. Attacks of fever were

frequent. “Once or twice” (says Conder) “the fit came on while I was

riding, and I can imagine nothing more disagreeable than to be 10 miles

from home on a rough road, with a fever headache.”

One night the Sukr Arabs tried to steal the horses, but the big dog

gave a sharp bark, and the thieves were seen and fired on just as they

reached the tethering rope. In another place, when the dog had been

left behind, a thief came into the tents, ripped up the saddle-bag

containing the provisions and took them all with him, besides the tin

washing-basin, and the plates, bread, chickens, and barley from the

servants’ tents--all being noiselessly and neatly accomplished in about

ten minutes. The next morning the party were without food.

But there were worse things than these to endure. In the district of

David’s wanderings Corporal Brophy was attacked by four cowherds, who

abused him as a “pig,” and threatened to stone him. He had, indeed,

some difficulty in escaping. “The first really serious attack on the

party” (says Conder), “though not the last nor the worst, was made near

Mount Carmel. Sergeant Black was quietly surveying near the village of

_El Harithiyeh_, where, as it appeared afterwards in evidence, a fete

or ‘fantasia’ was being held. The young men were firing at a mark, and

one or more turning at right angles, deliberately fired at the sergeant

on the neighbouring hill. He must have been in no little danger, as he

brought home two bullets which had fallen near him.”

On the 10th July 1875 a very serious attack was made upon the whole

party, and it is a marvel that any of them escaped with their lives.

Fatigued with a long and arduous march, and a final ascent of 2000

feet, they chose a camping ground north of _Safed_, a town which lies

in a saddle of the high mountains of Upper Galilee and looks down

on the lake. The tents were about half way up when Major Conder,

resting on his bed, in shirt-sleeves and slippers, heard angry voices

in altercation. Looking out, he saw to his astonishment a sheikh,

evidently a man of good position, engaged in throwing stones at Habib,

who, with his hands spread out, was calling the bystanders to witness

the treatment he underwent. Conder advanced to demand an explanation;

but the sheikh, who was mad with passion, strode up to him, seized

him by the throat and shook him, meantime pouring out unintelligible

words. Major Conder had been accustomed to be treated with respect,

even by the highest officials in the country; and he felt that if he

submitted to this insult he would lose his influence with the natives

for ever, so he knocked the man down. He got up and returned to the

attack, with one arm behind him. Conder knocked him down a second time,

and as he fell observed in his hand a knife with a blade a foot long.

Conder’s party consisted of five Europeans and ten Maronites, and when

the latter heard news of the insult received by their “Kabtân,” they

came running up, quite beside themselves, and soon seized the sheikh,

took his knife away, and bound his arms behind his back. The sheikh

cried out, “Where are my people?” and the Moslem bystanders began to

throw stones. Conder’s servants were running to the tents for arms,

for they had eight revolvers ready for use, besides three shotguns

and a rifle. Their “captain,” however, was wiser; he had the sheikh

immediately released, and sent Habib at once to the Governor of the

town. But the crowd presently numbered about three hundred, and all

the more violent engaged in hurling stones. Lieutenant Kitchener was

struck more than once, and a muleteer was knocked over. The cries which

Christians in Palestine have good reason to dread, associated as they

are with memories of bloodshed, were now raised by the mob--“Allah!

Allah!” and “Din! Din! Mohammed!” the cry of the Damascus massacres.

Presently a number of fully-armed men came running down the hill-side,

all relatives and retainers of the sheikh, who indeed, it afterwards

appeared, was no less a person than ’Aly Agha ’Allân, a near relative

of ’Abd el Kâder himself. “I advanced at once” (says Conder) “to meet

these assailants, and singled out two men, one a white-bearded elder

with a battle-axe, the other a tall man with a club. They addressed

me with many curses, and the old man thrust the battle-axe against

my ribs; but it was a wonderful instance of the influence which a

European may always possess over Arabs, that they allowed me to take

them by the arms and turn them round, and that on my telling them to

go home, with a slight push in that direction, they actually retreated

some little way. Meantime a most extraordinary figure appeared--a

black man with pistols in his belt, brandishing a scimitar over his

head, and bellowing like a bull. He was the Agha’s slave, and bent on

revenge; seeing him so near, and seeing also a gun pointed at my head,

I retreated to the tents. I could not help laughing, even at so serious

a juncture, when I found myself supported by Sergeant Armstrong, who

stood at ‘the charge’ armed with the legs of the camera-obscura! I now

saw that Lieutenant Kitchener was opposing another group to my right

front, and went forward to him, when I was greeted with a blow on the

forehead from a club with nails in it, which brought the blood in a

stream down my face. The man who wielded it raised it once more, in

order to bring it down on the top of my skull, but luckily I was too

quick for him, and ducked my head close to his chest. The blow fell

short upon my neck, but even then it stunned me for the moment, and I

staggered.”

All the party were wounded, and as they were averse to using fire-arms,

they at last “bolted over thistles and stone-walls to a hill-side some

hundred yards away, and stood there in suspense and anxiety.” They were

much surprised to hear no more the cries of the crowd; but soon learned

that the Governor had sent a body of soldiers, and they were safe, at

least for the moment. They returned to camp, and held their ground for

the night, in spite of the threat of ’Aly Agha that he would come back

and cut their throats. Next morning they marched out in good order,

with four mounted guards, and made for the coast. Arriving at Acre they

laid the affair before the Pacha, and telegraphed to Constantinople;

for it would have been unsafe to attempt to continue their work until

the assailants had been punished. Such was the attack at Safed. It was

due to the insolence of one man, accustomed to overbear and bully the

few Christians who pass through the town, and to the fanaticism of the

Moslem population.

The strain upon the Europeans had been too much for health. Excitement,

fatigue, pain, and anxiety, added to malarious poison imbibed in the

swamps, brought on a severe attack of fever. For twenty-four hours

Major Conder was not expected to recover. Lieutenant Kitchener also

soon succumbed, and the rest followed. They lay in their beds in the

Carmel convent, and Sergeant Armstrong nursed them. Truly, as Conder

remarks, the Survey of Palestine was no holiday work.

The Committee who organized the Survey and the officers who carried it

out deserve our gratitude, for they have conferred a lasting benefit

upon Palestine travellers and upon all students of the Bible. We have

now a map by which a traveller can find his way. Dr Robinson and other

explorers of that day used to describe the position of a place by

saying it was two hours east from the last, and then one and a quarter

hours north-west; but we now have exact distances. We have a map which

helps us to understand Bible narratives of personal journeys or the

march of armies. We can now see which route _must_ have been followed;

we can pursue step by step the Scripture events. We are certain now

that the Bible could not have been written in any other country under

heaven.

Before the Survey the Sea of Galilee was variously computed as being

from 300 feet to 600 feet below the Mediterranean: it is now fixed

at 682. The courses of the affluents of the Jordan are found to be

entirely different from those previously shown. Only four fords of the

Jordan were known and marked on the maps, whereas we now have more

than forty. Villages have had to be transferred from one side to the

other of the great boundary valleys. Scores and scores of Scripture

sites, wrongly placed or altogether lost, have been found and fixed.

And the finding of the sites has enabled the surveyors to trace

accurately the boundaries of tribes and provinces. How was it possible

to understand the Bible history unless we knew the situation of towns,

the boundaries of tribes, the fords and passes and valleys which were

open to foreign invaders? How could we understand it unless we knew

the routes of wayfarers and the way of commerce? These things have now

at last been ascertained, and with accuracy. When the base line which

was measured on the Jaffa plain was checked by a line measured on the

plain of Esdraelon, it was found to be perfectly satisfactory; and the

closing line when calculated in 1876 at Southampton had a margin of

only 20 feet, which is an invisible distance on the one inch scale. It

may be claimed for the Survey that the new discoveries are almost as

numerous as all those of former travellers put together; and nothing

so great has been done for the right understanding of the Old and New

Testaments since the translation of the Scriptures into the vulgar

tongue.

[_Authorities and Sources (Western Palestine)_:--“Survey

Memoirs of Palestine Exploration Fund.” “Tent Work in

Palestine.” By Major Conder. “Palestine in its Physical

Aspects.” Rev. Canon Tristram. “Sinai and Palestine.” By Dean

Stanley. “Twenty-One Years’ Work in the Holy Land.” Published

by the P. E. Fund. “Memoir on the Geology.” Dr Ed. Hull.

“Mount Seir.” Dr Ed. Hull. “Introduction to the Survey.”

Trelawney Saunders. “Quarterly Statements of P. E. Fund.”

Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible.” “_Rob Roy_ on the Jordan.”

John Macgregor.]

11. _The East of Jordan._

It would be well if the topographical survey could be extended so as

to cover all the ground occupied by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and

the half tribe of Manasseh. It is true indeed that the East of Jordan

is less intimately bound up with the Scripture narrative than the West,

yet still there are ninety-six places east of Jordan mentioned in

the Bible--Dr Selah Merrill estimates that there are two hundred and

forty--and it would be an advantage to have them all identified. On the

east side, also, the country is much more thickly strewn with ruins

than on the west; and although the so-called “giant cities” of Bashan

may not deserve that name, yet is the region full of Roman towns, of

Nabathean and Arab texts scrawled on the rocks, of Greek temples and

Greek inscriptions, and of dolmen groups yet older.

In the absence of detailed trigonometrical survey of the whole region,

the map published by the Palestine Exploration Society in 1890 is the

best that could be compiled from all sources. The sources available

were--Van de Velde’s map as a general basis; the route maps of later

travellers; the work of the American Palestine Exploration Society as

reported in their “Statements;” Major Conder’s survey of 500 square

miles in the land of Moab in 1881 and 1882; and lastly, surveys made by

Herr Schumacher in the Hauran and the Janlan.

_Bashan_: the territory of the half tribe of Manasseh. As an

illustration of the abundance of the ancient remains east of Jordan, Dr

Selah Merrill, the archæologist of the American Exploring Expedition,

says that every one who has visited _Kanawat_ is amazed at the number

and variety of the ruined buildings, castles, temples, churches,

convents, theatre, bath, palaces, reservoirs, underground apartments

or vaults, costly tombs, and still others which have never been fully

examined. Dr J. L. Porter found here what he calls a colossal head

of Astarte, sadly broken ... with the crescent moon (which gave to

this goddess the name _Karnaim_ or two-horned) still on her brow. Mr

Tyrwhitt Drake secured a stone at this place which was thought to be

part of an altar, upon two opposite sides of which were the features of

Baal and Astarte, boldly cut in high relief upon the closest basalt,

with foliage, showing the artistic hand.

One’s first impression is that all the antiquities are of Roman times

and date only from the early centuries of the Christian era. This is

indicated not only by the style of architecture but by the considerable

number of inscriptions, which form an almost continuous chain from

the first century to the fourth. They belong to the Emperors Marcus

Aurelius, Lucius Aurelius Verus, Commodus, Septimius Severus, Alexander

Severus, &c.

These Roman cities became converted to the religion of Christ, and then

not only were the sanctuaries of paganism transformed into Christian

sanctuaries, but new churches were erected adapted to the new worship;

houses, palaces, and tombs were built; even entire cities were founded.

At length all these Christian cities were abandoned at the same

time--probably at the epoch of the Mohammedan invasion--and since then

they have not been touched. Except that earthquakes have thrown to the

ground many of the walls and columns, they lack only beams and planks,

or they would be perfect edifices, which soon might be made habitable

again.

But how intensely interesting the exploration of the district becomes

when we learn that underneath these towns of Roman date are the

dwellings of the earlier inhabitants! For example, _Burak_ is a city

of the Hauran which has been identified with the episcopal city

Constantia, founded, it is supposed, or at least embellished, by

Constantine. But Rev. W. Wright tells us that while the houses seem

to stand on a mound of black earth, they are in reality built on the

foundations of houses of a more remote antiquity. In one place he

descended to a depth of 16 or 18 feet, to see some pottery which had

lately been discovered, and he found the walls at that depth formed

of enormous undressed and unsquared stones, unlike the stones of the

superstructure, which are small in size and have been better prepared

for the walls. “Nor will it be doubted” (he says) “that beneath that

raised mound are buried the remains of one of the ‘three-score cities’

that once existed in Bashan, and which still exist under changed

circumstances, sometimes under different names.”

At another place, called _Dra’a_, Dr S. Merrill desired to explore

the underground caves or chambers which were known to exist, and the

sheikh sent his son as a guide. They went through several chambers,

galleries, and avenues, and then entered a small room, and followed a

passage leading out of it that had been cut in the solid rock. Soon

they were obliged to go on their hands and knees, and after proceeding

about thirty yards the guide came upon a human skeleton, at which he

was so shocked that he refused to go any farther, and the party were

obliged to return. How the skeleton came there was a mystery: some wild

beast may have dragged a body to the place, or a murder may have been

committed, or some person may have been trying to explore the caverns

and failed to find his way out. _Dra’a_ ought to be a rich field for

excavations, because at least three cities exist there, one beneath

another. The present Arab buildings and heaps of filth are, for the

most part, on the top of a Greek or Roman city, as is evident from the

walls which are exposed in a multitude of places, and the masons’ marks

which appear on them. And the Roman town appears to rest on one still

older, in which bevelled stones were used. But whether there are two or

three cities above ground, there is certainly a large one beneath them,

entirely excavated in the rock on which the upper cities stand.

The underground dwellings at this place had been visited some years

before by Dr J. G. Wetzstein, and he also was prevented from making a

thorough exploration; for when his attendant’s light went out he was so

impressed with a sense of the danger they would be in if both lights

went out together, that he thought it prudent to retreat. But he had

seen a good deal. After passing a difficult passage he found himself

in a broad street which had dwellings on both sides of it, and whose

height and width left nothing to be desired. Farther along there were

several cross streets, and soon after they came to a market-place,

with numerous shops in the walls, exactly in the style of the shops

that are seen in Syrian cities. After a while they turned into a side

street, where a great hall attracted his attention, the roof formed of

a single slab of jasper, and supported by four pillars. Dr Wetzstein

speaks of this remarkable place as “old Edrei, the subterranean

labyrinthine residence of King Og.”

Herr Schumacher has also visited this underground city of _Dra’a_ or

_Ed Der’aah_, and describes it, giving plans, in his work, “Across the

Jordan.” He regards such cities as the work of the earliest inhabitants

of Hauran, the so-called giants of Scripture. He was assured by the

sheikh Naif, and by many others, that this underground city extends

below the whole of _Ed Der’aah_.

Although the chambers and passages were ventilated, the question

arises, why any people should choose to live in such gloomy seclusion

instead of in the light of day? Mr Schumacher’s conjecture is that

they did ordinarily live in the daylight, and that these subterranean

places were hollowed out in order to receive the population in time

of danger. They were thus prepared to stand a siege, as long as their

magazines were filled with food, their stables with cattle, and their

cisterns with water. If, however, the enemy had found out how to cut

off their supply of air, by covering up the air-holes, the besieged

would have been compelled to surrender or perish. Another circumstance

also might have proved disastrous--if armies of wasps found their way

into the underground city the inhabitants would be driven out. Some

writers think that this occurrence is actually spoken of in Exodus

xxiii. 28--“And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive

out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee;” and

Deut. vii. 20--“Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among

them, until they that are left, and hide themselves, perish from before

thee”--_they that are left, and hide themselves_!

Herr Schumacher and Mr Laurence Oliphant find many names and traditions

which lead them to regard the country of Western Hauran as probably

the land of Uz. “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job”

(Job i.). The old village of _Sheikh Sa’ad_ is a spot which from the

most ancient times has been held sacred to the memory of Job (_Neby

Ayyub_). We find there the ruins of the Monastery of Job (_Deir

Ayyub_), much venerated by the ancient people of the Hauran. At the

south-eastern extremity of the long low hill upon which the village

is built, and elevated about 40 feet above the surrounding plain, is

the “Rock of Job,” which stands now in a mosque. Here, so says the

legend, Job sat when he was leprous, and received his friends. The rock

is a monolith of basalt, 7 feet high and about 4 feet broad, and on

its surface are some illegible letters. There may be no truth in the

legend; but it serves to show how closely the name of Job is associated

with this region.

About half a day’s journey due east from Bethshan is a place called

_Mahneh_, which several writers, on account of the similarity of name,

have been inclined to identify with Mahanaim, where Jacob met the

two companies of angels, and where David sojourned during Absalom’s

rebellion. A mound exists here, and Dr Tristram picked up some pieces

of old pottery, scattered about, so that it might be worth while to

excavate: but we must look elsewhere for Mahanaim.

Mahanaim must have been some little distance north of the Jabbok,

because Jacob came to it before he crossed that stream. It must have

been in or near the Jordan Valley, for Jacob, in his prayer at that

place, says, “With my staff I passed over this Jordan,” language which

would not have been used if the Jordan were not within sight. The city

was assigned to one of Solomon’s commissariat officers (1 Kings iv.

14), from which we may infer that it represented a district. These

conditions appear to point to _Khurbet Suleikhat_, a large ruined

city at the mouth of _Wady Suleikhat_, 9 miles north of the Jabbok.

If we fix Mahanaim here we can understand why the name is in the dual

form--the two Mahans or camps--for the ruins lie on both sides of the

stream which here runs down the _Wady Suleikhat_ into the Jordan.

_Khurbet Suleikhat_ is some 300 feet above the plain, and among the

foot-hills, in such a way that it overlooks the valley, while the

road running north and south along the valley passes nearly a mile

to the west of it. A watchman from a tower could see to the north a

considerable distance, also clear across the valley to the west, and

down the valley to the south a long stretch, nearly or quite to the

point where the Jabbok and the Jordan unite, at the foot of _Kurn

Surtabeh_.

We can now understand the account of the messengers who bore the news

of Absalom’s death to David. The battle between Joab and Absalom took

place a little to the south-east of Mahanaim. Josephus says that Joab

“put his army in battle array over against the enemy in the great

plain where he had a wood behind him” (Antiq. vii. 9, 8, and 10, 1-5).

Absalom’s men were routed, and fled through the forests and valleys,

pursued by David’s men. The battle was scattered over the face of all

the country (2 Sam. xviii. 8), and probably extended to the foot-hills.

The two messengers appear to start from some point on the hills, where

Joab stood on vantage ground. “The Cushite,” an Ethiopian slave of

Joab’s, attempted to go across over deep wadies and broken ground; but

Ahimaaz, who knew the country better, struck down to the Jordan Valley,

and ran by the way of the Plain (the _Kikkar_) where he had a level and

smooth road all the rest of the way. Consequently, although he started

second, he arrived first. David sat between the two gates at Mahanaim,

and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate unto the wall, whence

he descried the messengers approaching.

Succoth also was a city east of Jordan, for Jacob came to it before he

crossed the Jordan from the east, and Gideon passed it after he had

crossed the Jordan from the west (Judges vii. 4). From the account of

Jacob’s return it would seem to be at no great distance from Mahanaim.

But notwithstanding that Jacob had crossed the Jabbok southward before

he met Esau, and journeyed to Succoth after parting with Esau, there

is reason for placing Succoth north of the Jabbok. Jacob recrossed the

stream. The Jerusalem Talmud tells us that Succoth, one of the cities

“in the valley,” came to be called Darala; and just north of the Jabbok

we find _Deir ’Alla_, one of the most conspicuous mounds or _tells_

in the plain, 60 feet high, and covered with broken pottery of many

colours and qualities. The site was mapped by Warren in 1868.

The word Succoth means “tents,” and perhaps the place was named from

the tents of the Arabs so constantly seen there. The region about the

mouth of the Jabbok is fertile, with abundant grass and water, and is

very much frequented now by the powerful desert tribes for the purpose

of pasturing their flocks and herds. When Gideon, who crossed the

Jordan near _Beisan_, had followed the Midianites down the valley to

Succoth, it is said that “he went up by the way of them that dwell in

tents,” apparently some well-known route leading up the Jabbok Valley

to the eastern deserts.

A fair interpretation of the circumstances leads to the conclusion that

Penuel was not far east of Succoth. It was a fortified city, for it had

a tower, which Gideon threatened to break down; and was regarded by

Jeroboam as an outpost, useful in the defence of Shechem (1 Kings xii.

25). Dr Merrill finds that there is but one suitable site for it, and

that is at the mounds called the “Hills of Gold,” about 4 miles east

of Jordan, in the valley of the Jabbok. The mounds are very striking

objects; they are covered with ruins, and on the eastern side are the

remains of an ancient castle. The work is not Moslem, Christian, or

Roman; the stones are unhewn blocks, and appear to date from a remote

period.

A large district east and south-east of the Sea of Galilee was called

Decapolis, or the region of the Ten Cities. The name occurs frequently

in Josephus and other writers, and three times in the Gospels.

Immediately after the conquest of Syria by the Romans (B.C.

65), ten cities appear to have been rebuilt, partially colonised, and

endowed with peculiar privileges. One of the cities was Scythopolis,

west of the Jordan; the others included Gadara, Geraza, Philadelphia,

Pella, &c., all on the east. The region, once so populous and

prosperous, is now almost without inhabitants; and the few families

that do remain--in Scythopolis, Gadara, and Canatha--live amid the

crumbling ruins of palaces, and in the cavernous recesses of old tombs.

Herr Schumacher has explored Abila of the Decapolis (now _Tell Abil_),

and Gadara (at _Umm Keis_), and Pella (_Fahil_).

Pella--situated just opposite _Beisan_, on the other side of the

Ghor--is the city to which the Christian believers fled when Titus

advanced to besiege Jerusalem. Epiphanius says that “they removed

because they had been forewarned by Christ himself of the approaching

siege.” Seventy years later (A.D. 135) when Hadrian rebuilt

Jerusalem as a Roman city, and changed its name to Ælia, the Christians

again left it and sought refuge in this elegant city of Pella in the

Jordan valley. Dr Merrill is inclined to think that Christ himself

had been in Pella (for we know that he visited Perea), and met with

such favour and success as to make the city a fitting asylum for his

followers. Herr Schumacher, after describing a rock-cut chamber of

rectangular shape, having a ceiling cut in the shape of a cross vault,

with two pillars on the southern and northern walls, says, “It may

be accepted as beyond doubt that we have here a cave, once inhabited

by those Christian anchorites, who, in the beginning of the Christian

era and during the Jewish wars, found a refuge at Pella. The flooring

consisting of earth and remains of charcoal, as well as the plan of the

whole, has no sepulchral character, but rather that of a habitation;

the passages being used to secure air and afford a way of escape in

case of persecution, for these small caves, if their door entrance was

carefully shut, were hardly visible from below, and the passage still

less. The entire northern slope is honeycombed with such caves.”

The wonder is that Pella should ever have been forsaken, it is so

favoured in position. Even after the long summer drought, the springs

gushing out among the broken columns and ruins of former splendour

are abundant enough to make fertile all the neighbouring land, which,

situated on the upper level of the Ghor, and 250 feet below the sea,

enjoys, perhaps, the finest climate, from an agricultural point of

view, that can be found in Syria.

The capital of Perea was Gadara, a city mentioned in the Gospel

narrative of the demoniac who had his dwelling among the tombs. The

population of _Umm Keis_ may be about two hundred souls, and the people

cultivate tobacco, vegetables, and grain. Below the ground occupied by

the present village, many caves and ancient burial places have been

discovered. The ruins include a Roman theatre and what may be the

remains of a castle.

_Gilead._--The boundary of the tribe of Gad was some few miles north

of the Jabbok, for the territory included Mahanaim; while on the south

it extended to the Arnon. The region had belonged to the Ammonites;

and it was long before they were driven out, for even after Saul was

anointed King of Israel, Nahash the Ammonite besieged Jabesh Gilead and

sought to lay a hard condition of surrender upon the Israelites there

(1 Sam. xi.). This district is the land of Gilead or “Mount Gilead”

of the Bible. It is a good land for cattle, and would be prized by

agricultural people in any part of the world. “It is not to be wondered

at,” says Dr Merrill, “that the two and a half tribes were perfectly

willing to stay on the east of Jordan. Judea has no land to compare

with it; neither has Samaria, except in very limited portions. The

surface of the country is slightly rolling, but the fields are broad

and comparatively free from stone. Here common Arab trails broaden out

into fine roads. Here are rich pasture lands and luxuriant fields of

wheat and barley, and the ignorant Bedouin who own the soil point with

pride to the green acres that are spread out beneath the sun.”

_Amman_, called in the Bible Rabbath Ammon (Deut. iii. 11; 2 Sam. xi.

1, &c.), was the chief city of the children of Ammon fifteen hundred

years before Christ. Here the bedstead of Og, the king of Bashan, was

taken by Joab, David’s general (2 Sam. xi. xii.), and Uriah the Hittite

was killed in one of the sorties. Rabbath Ammon was rebuilt by Ptolemy

Philadelphus, king of Egypt, and its name changed to Philadelphia.

Again it was destroyed by the Saracens when they conquered Syria. The

stream of the Jabbok ran right through Rabbath Ammon, and it was called

the “City of Waters.” It was after Joab had taken the City of Waters

that he sent to David and suggested that he should come and capture the

citadel himself, lest all the glory should go to his servant.

Major Conder regards _Amman_ as the most important ruin surveyed in

Palestine, as regards its antiquarian interest, and the best specimen

of a Roman town that he visited, except the still more wonderful

ruins of Gerasa, which yield only to Baalbec and Palmyra among Syrian

capitals of the second century of our era. The Roman remains include

two theatres, baths, a street of columns, and remains of what was once

a very great temple on the highest part of the acropolis of the city.

Several noble families must have lived in the town, as shown by the

magnificent private tombs surrounding the city.

But the oldest remains visible at _Amman_ are the dolmens, of which,

with other rude stone monuments, there are some twenty in all. Next to

these come the old rock-cut tombs, which Conder supposes to be of the

early Hebrew period. But who knows whether there be not a buried city

underneath _Amman_? The whole region south of _Amman_, and also north

and west of it, abounds in ruins.

_Moab._--The country south of Gilead was given to the tribe of Reuben.

It was the land of the Moabites, and a land where Moabite kings

continued to reign, notwithstanding the rights of Reuben. From this

land came Ruth, to dwell at Bethlehem with Naomi, to marry Boaz, and be

held in memory by-and-bye as the ancestress of David. Perhaps it was on

account of Ruth that David found the king of Moab willing to give safe

asylum to his aged parents, while he himself braved the dangers of the

outlaw’s life (1 Sam. xxii. 3). Yet the time came when David fought

against the Moabites and conquered them, treating the captives with a

severity which makes us suspect that there had been some act of perfidy

or insult. It has been conjectured that the king of Moab betrayed the

trust which David reposed in him, and either killed Jesse and his wife

or surrendered them to Saul. We do not know.

The strong fortress of Moab was Kir-Haraseth, or Kir-Hareseth, or

Kir-Heres (2 Kings iii. 25; Isaiah xvi. 7, 11); and it was on the walls

of this city that King Mesha offered his son for a burnt-offering,

and by the moral effect thus produced turned the tide of battle. We

have reasonable ground for identifying Kir-Heres with the modern

_Kerak_, near the south-eastern part of the Dead Sea. The allied armies

marched round the southern end of the Dead Sea to reach it, instead

of crossing the Jordan. “No chain of evidence,” says Dr Tristram,

“can be less open to cavil than that which identifies Kerak with

Kir-Moab (Isaiah xv. 1) or Kir-Hareseth. It was the castle ‘Kir,’

as distinguished from the metropolis ‘Ar’ of the country, _i.e._,

Rabbath Moab, the modern _Rabba_.” The Targum translates the name as

“Kerakah.” The Crusaders mistook it for Petra, and gave to its bishop

that title, which the Greek Church has still retained, but the name in

the vernacular has continued unchanged. No wonder, as we look down from

the neighbouring heights upon it, that the combined armies of Israel,

Judah, and Edom could not take it, and that “in Kir-Haraseth left they

the stones thereof; howbeit the archers went about it and smote it,”

but to no purpose.

The position is so strong by nature that it would be seized upon as a

fortress from the very earliest times. The platform on which the city

is built is on a lofty brow, which pushes out like a peninsula and is

only connected with other ground by a narrow neck. Two deep _wadies_

flank it north and south, with steeply scarped or else rugged sides.

There have been originally only two entrances to Kerak, and both of

them through tunnels in the side of the cliff, emerging on the platform

of the town.

Another town--reckoned to Reuben in an ancient fragment of poetry,

but rebuilt by Gad (Num. xxi. 30, xxxii. 34,)--was Dibon. It is now

identified with _Dhiban_, on the Roman road, about 3 miles north of

the Arnon, a spot where there are extensive ruins. It is described by

Dr Tristram as being quite as dreary and featureless a ruin as any

other of the Moabite desolate heaps. “With its waterless plain,” he

says, “the prophecy is fulfilled--‘Thou daughter that dost inhabit

Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler

of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strongholds’

(Jer. xlviii. 18). The place is full of cisterns, caverns, vaulted

underground storehouses, and rude semicircular arches. All the hills

about are limestone, and there is no trace of any basalt but what has

been brought here by man. Still there are many basaltic blocks among

the ruins, dressed to be used in masonry.”

It was among these ruins that the famous Moabite Stone was found in the

year 1868. It is a block of basalt measuring about 3½ feet by 2 feet,

and has upon its face thirty-four lines of writing in the character

known as Phœnician. As the language also is Phœnician--or probably

Moabite, though closely related to Phœnician, and certainly closely

related to Hebrew--there would have been no great difficulty in reading

the inscription; but, unfortunately, when the Arabs found that the

stone was valued by Europeans, they quarrelled about the possession

of it and broke it up. About two-thirds of the fragments, however,

were recovered and pieced together; besides which, a “squeeze” of the

whole had been hurriedly taken before it was broken, and from this it

was possible to fill in some of the gaps. The restored monument is now

preserved in the Louvre at Paris, and a plaster cast is to be seen in

the British Museum. The inscription shows that the monument was set

up by Mesha, king of Moab (nearly nine hundred years before Christ),

to record victories which he had gained and public works which he had

accomplished. It would appear that after the allied armies retired

from the siege of Kir-Haraseth, the fortune of war changed and went in

Mesha’s favour. The translation of the inscription is as follows:--

“I, Mesha, am the son of Chemosh-Gad, king of Moab, the Dibonite. My

father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father.

And I erected this stone to Chemosh at Korcha, a (stone of) salvation,

for he saved me from all despoilers, and made me see my desire upon

all my enemies, even upon Omri, king of Israel. Now they afflicted

Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. His son succeeded

him, and he also said, I will afflict Moab. In my days (Chemosh) said,

(Let us go) and I will see my desire on him and his house, and I will

destroy Israel with an everlasting destruction. Now Omri took the land

of Medeba, and (the enemy) occupied it in (his days and in) the days

of his son, forty years. And Chemosh (had mercy) on it in my days;

and I fortified Baal-Meon, and made therein the tank, and I fortified

Kiriathaim. For the men of Gad dwelt in the land of (Atar)oth from

of old, and the king (of) Israel fortified for himself Ataroth, and

I assaulted the wall and captured it, and killed all the warriors of

the wall for the well-pleasing of Chemosh and Moab; and I removed from

it all the spoil, and (offered) it before Chemosh in Kirjath; and I

placed therein the men of Siran and the men of Mochrath. And Chemosh

said to me, Go, take Nebo against Israel. (And I) went in the night,

and I fought against it from the break of dawn till noon, and I took

it, and slew in all seven thousand (men, but I did not kill) the women

(and) maidens, for (I) devoted them to Ashtar-Chemosh, and I took

from it the vessels of Yahveh, and offered them before Chemosh. And

the king of Israel fortified Jahaz and occupied it, when he made war

against me; and Chemosh drove him out before (me, and) I took from

Moab two hundred men, all its poor, and placed them in Jahaz, and took

it to annex it to Dibon. I built Korcha, the wall of the forest, and

the wall of the city, and I built the gates thereof, and I built the

towers thereof, and I built the palace, and I made the prisons for the

criminals within the walls. And there was no cistern in the wall at

Korcha, and I said to all the people, Make for yourselves, every man,

a cistern in his house. And I dug the ditch for Korcha by means of the

(captive) men of Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the road across the

Arnon. I built Beth-Bamoth, for it was destroyed; I built Bezer, for

it was cut (down) by the armed men of Dibon, for all Dibon was now

loyal; and I reigned from Bikran, which I added to my land, and I built

(Beth-Gamul) and Beth Diblathaim and Beth-Baal-Meon, and I placed there

the poor (people) of the land. And as to Horonaim, (the men of Edom)

dwelt therein (from of old). And Chemosh said to me, Go down, make war

against Horonaim, and take (it. And I assaulted it, and I took it, and)

Chemosh (restored it) in my days. Wherefore I made ... year ... and

I ...”

In 1881 Major Conder, aided by Lieutenant Mantell, was sent out to

begin the systematic survey of Eastern Palestine. The country at that

time was very much disturbed; but the party crossed the Jordan into

Moab, and for two anxious months laboured at very high pressure. After

measuring a base-line and connecting their triangulation with that west

of the river, they worked over 500 square miles in detail. And even

after attention was drawn to their presence they were able to extend

their work over a considerable area, and they came back from the desert

with their hands full of valuable results.

One of the most remarkable discoveries was the abundance of menhirs,

dolmens, and stone-circles. They are numbered by hundreds, whereas in

Judea and Samaria there are none, and in Galilee only half a dozen. Dr

Merrill and Herr Schumacher found them abundant also in the Jaulan and

the rest of the Hauran. According to Herr Schumacher, an examination of

many specimens in Eastern Jaulan makes it apparent (1) that the dolmens

are always built on circular terraces, which elevate them about 3 feet

above the ground; (2) that in most cases they are formed by six upright

and two covering slabs; (3) that the major axes of the dolmens all

run east and west; (4) that the western end of the dolmens is broader

than the eastern; (5) that the western end is often distinguished by

headings, one on each corner of the top slab; and (6) that they vary in

size from 7 to 13 feet in length. He finds it difficult to avoid the

conclusion that these dolmens were built originally as burial places.

The covered chamber, elevated above the ground, and shut in by slabs,

was the first beginning of a sarcophagus; and the body was laid facing

the rising sun, with its head in the west. On the other hand Major

Conder, who finds in Moab many rude stone monuments of a different

kind, bids us remember that stones may be placed on end for more than

one purpose. After examining seven hundred examples in Moab and Gilead,

he has come to the conclusion that the sepulchral theory is often quite

untenable, though we cannot deny that bodies were buried in such stone

chambers sometimes. In many cases in Moab it was certain that no mound

of earth had ever covered the stones; there was nothing but hard rock

to be found, and sometimes the structure was not large enough to cover

even the body of a child. We must turn to local superstitions in order

fully to understand the use of trilithons and dolmens. Wild as are the

legends, they preserve, in Conder’s opinion, what was once the religion

of the dolmen-building tribes. After making measured drawings of about

a hundred and fifty dolmens in Moab, it seemed to him that the purpose

of the builders was to produce a flat table-like surface, which they

perhaps used as an altar. True that the dolmens are often more numerous

in a confined area than we should expect altars to be, but we must

not forget the story of Balaam and Balak, in which seven altars are

built on the same mountain top, and again seven more on a neighbouring

mountain top. Then, as to the absence of such monuments in Judea and

Samaria, Conder suggests that they may very probably have once existed,

and may have been purposely destroyed. Israel was commanded to “smash”

the _menhirs_ of the Canaanites, to “upset” their altars, and to

destroy their images. These commands Josiah, the zealous king of Judah,

is recorded to have carried into practice.

Who built these structures? They are very likely the surviving work of

Canaanite tribes. Herr Schumacher assigns those of the Hauran to the

same period as the subterranean cities.

There is a curious archæological note in Deuteronomy, which speaks of

the bedstead of Og, the king of Bashan, a bedstead 9 cubits long by

4 cubits wide. The passage had very much exercised the ingenuity of

commentators, and some of them supposed it to refer to a sarcophagus of

basalt. The Bible indeed speaks of a bedstead of iron; but basalt is

a material which resembles iron in appearance, and which is actually

known by the name of iron among the Arabs, while a stone coffin might

allowably be spoken of as a bed or bedstead. But Conder says there is

no basalt at Rabbath, and thinks it doubtful if Og was likely to be

buried in a sarcophagus at all. He is disposed to render the words as

Og’s _strong throne_, instead of “iron bedstead.” A memory of Irish

dolmens suggested to him a possible connection between Og’s throne

and some rude stone monument which tradition might have indicated as

a giant’s seat, just as in Ireland dolmens are the “beds of Grain and

Diarmed,” and connected with legends of giants. It was, therefore,

very striking to find a single enormous dolmen standing alone in a

conspicuous position near Rabbath Ammon, and yet more striking that the

top stone measured 13 feet (or very nearly 9 cubits of 16 inches) by 11

feet in extreme breadth.

If we look for a coffin or a bedstead rather than a dolmen, it is very

striking to find that parallels exist both for bedsteads and coffins of

the same gigantic dimensions. Dr Erasmus Wilson, describing the coffins

and mummies found at _Deir-el-Bahari_, says that, “the coffin of Queen

Nefertari is gigantic in stature, measuring with its feathered crest

13 feet long. It is made of cloth-board and modelled into the shape

of a statue, resembling, with arms crossed upon the chest, one of

those architectural columns which are denominated Caryatides.” Still

more remarkable is the bedstead of the Babylonian god Bel, described

by Mr George Smith in his account of the “Temple of Bel.” After some

description of the principal buildings, he says, “In these western

chambers stood the couch of the god, and the throne of gold mentioned

by Herodotus, besides other furniture of great value. The couch is

stated to have been 9 cubits long and 4 cubits broad (15 feet by 6 feet

8 inches).” These are exactly the dimensions assigned to Og’s bedstead.

Before leaving Moab it was Major Conder’s privilege to stand where

Moses stood, and view the landscape on all sides. There can be no

doubt about the identification of Mount Nebo. It was ascertained by

Canon Tristram; it has been confirmed by Conder, who finds the field

of Zophim close by; and Sir Charles Warren discovered the ruins of the

ancient city of Nebo at its foot. Moreover, it retains the name _Neba_,

and from the summit you obtain the celebrated “Pisgah view” (Deut.

xxxiv. 1-3). Naphtali, Gilead, Ephraim, and Manasseh, Judah, and the

Negeb, or “dry land” south of Hebron, are all in sight, with the plains

of Jericho “unto Zoar.” But, according to Conder, the Mediterranean

Sea is not visible from Nebo, being hidden throughout by the western

watershed of Judea and Samaria. Dr Tristram says, in his “Land of

Moab,” “Carmel could be recognised, but we never were able to make out

the sea to the north of it; and though it is certainly possible that

it might be seen from this elevation, I could not satisfy myself that

I saw more than the haze over the plain of Esdraelon.” But even if the

waters of the “great sea” in the Bay of Haifa could be seen distinctly

from Mount Nebo, the fact would hardly be relevant, for Deut. xxxiv.

points rather to the sea south of Joppa. It is sufficient, however,

that from no other summit can you get so extensive a prospect as from

Mount Nebo.

Conder’s work was abruptly stopped. Even when the party went out in

1881 there was great excitement in the East. A Moslem Messiah was

expected to appear in the year 1300 of the Hegira, and the war in

Egypt was brewing. The British Government had served Conder with a

notice that any expedition he might take out would be at his own risk,

and they could not be responsible for the consequences. After fifteen

months, during which the work was carried on at great risks, the

Sultan heard that English captains were surveying the land, and sent

orders for them to cease. In the same year Mr Rassam’s researches in

Mesopotamia were stopped. Finally, Conder and his party left Syria on a

steamer crowded with refugees from the Alexandria massacres.

[_Authorities and Sources_:--“East of the Jordan.” By Selah

Merrill. London: Bentley & Son, 1881. “Across the Jordan.” By

Gottlieb Schumacher. Bentley & Son, 1886. “The Jaulan.” By G.

Schumacher, Bentley, 1888. “Abila,” “Pella,” and “Northern

Ajlun.” By G. Schumacher. London: Palestine Exploration

Society, 1888, 1889. “Palestine.” By Major Conder. London:

George Philip & Son, 1889. “Heth and Moab.” By Major Conder.

Bentley & Son, 1883. “The Land of Moab.” By Rev. Canon

Tristram. London: John Murray, 1873. “Unexplored Syria.” By

Burton and Drake. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1872.]