a large pool or reservoir. Though it does not possess the same marks of
antiquity as those at Hebron, Urtas and Bethel, it has yet been
identified with some probability as that near which Naboth was slain by
the infamous and idolatrous Jezebel, and where shortly after, “one
washed the chariot of Ahab in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked
up his blood, and they washed his armour according to the word of the
Lord, which he spake.”[211]
Near “the pool of Samaria” are the remains of a large and handsome
Christian Church, in the cave under which, according to a very early
tradition, the body of John the Baptist was buried after his
execution.[212] Though the date of the edifice is comparatively modern,
it leads back our thoughts to Apostolic times, when “Philip went down to
the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them, and the people with
one accord gave heed unto those things which he spake.” Such was the
success of his ministry that Peter and John joined him in the work. Here
it was that the divine judgment fell upon Simon the Sorcerer—a solemn
warning to after ages of the danger of mercenary motives in religious
profession.[213]
Of the earlier city of Omri and Ahab no trace remains. The threatenings
of ancient prophecy have been literally fulfilled. “I will make Samaria
as a heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour
down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the
foundations thereof.” “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of
Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head
of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! Behold the Lord
hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a
destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast
down to the earth with the hand.” “Samaria shall become desolate; for
she hath rebelled against her God.”[214] Standing on the summit of the
hill, and looking down on the mounds of stone poured into the valley
below, it would be difficult to find a more exact accomplishment of
prophecy than that before us. The ruins of the city subsequently built
upon the site are very striking, not only from their extent but from
their character and position. A double avenue of Corinthian columns may
yet be traced along the whole brow of the hill. The colonnade, according
to Dr. Porter, runs eastward in a straight line for about one thousand
feet, and then curves round to the left, following the sweep of the
hill, extending altogether about three thousand feet. On the
north-eastern slope of the hill the ground falls back into a natural
amphitheatre. The central part of this seems to have been cut into steps
forming tiers of seats, as though a theatre had been constructed here.
In front of these earthworks are the remains of another very remarkable
structure. Dr. Porter calculates that when the edifice was complete
there must have been one hundred and seventy columns, of which fifteen
are still standing. But we have no clue to the character of the building
of which they formed part.
[Illustration: THE HILL OF SAMARIA.]
[Illustration: _After Horace Vernet._
AN ARAB STORY-TELLER.
_From Sir Richard Wallace’s Collection._
]
From Samaria northwards two routes of great interest and beauty lie
before us. The one leads westward through a line of valleys of
extraordinary fertility, where in spite of the sparse population and the
depredations of the Bedouins large crops of wheat and barley meet the
eye. A few wretched villages stand amidst the luxuriant vegetation, the
inhabitants of which, unprotected by the government, have to repel, as
best they can, the attacks of the marauding nomads whose black tents may
be seen on every hillside. These sons of Ishmael, in whom the prophecy
respecting their father is still exemplified, “he will be a wild man;
his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against
him,”[215] render travelling without an escort dangerous, but they add
greatly to the picturesqueness and interest of the scene. In the evening
their long lines of flocks and herds pouring into the encampment form a
most striking object in the landscape, and the elders may often be seen
grouped around a tent door recounting their exploits, or planning a
foray upon some hostile tribe, or listening to a story-teller reciting a
tale from the ‘Arabian Nights Entertainments.’ Upon a life of settled
industry they look down with contempt; “Mayst thou become a fellah” (a
peasant) is one of the bitterest curses which a Bedouin can pronounce
upon his fellow-wanderer.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE CITY OF SAMARIA.]
[Illustration: RUINS OF CÆSAREA.]
Soon we enter the northern portion of the plain of Sharon, through the
centre of which we passed on our way eastward from Jaffa. Leaving behind
us the mountains of Samaria and reaching the shores of the
Mediterranean, we find ourselves at Kaisariyeh, the ancient CÆSAREA.
This city was built by Herod the Great, with the design of connecting
himself more closely with the western world, and leaving behind him a
lasting monument of his power and magnificence. A vast mole was run out
into the sea to afford a secure harbour for shipping. A city was reared
which might vie in splendour with those of Italy, and surrounded with
fortifications which were deemed impregnable. A temple to Cæsar
containing statues not inferior to that of Jupiter Olympius, so Josephus
asserts, rose on an eminence within the walls. But the attempt thus to
perpetuate his memory was vain. All has gone down to utter ruin and
decay. Even in Palestine itself it would be hard to find a spot more
utterly desolate than that of the proud capital of Herod. In the present
day it is only remembered by its connection with the obscure, hated, and
despised sect whose founder he sought to slay in His cradle at
Bethlehem, and to whose death at Calvary his son and successor was a
consenting party. It was the scene of some of the most memorable
incidents in the Acts of the Apostles. Here Philip the deacon, after the
baptism of the Abyssinian eunuch, lived for many years as the pastor of
a prosperous church, and the centre of missionary activity throughout
the whole region. The first Gentile convert was here admitted into “the
fellowship of the saints,” in accordance with the vision vouchsafed to
Peter at Joppa, a day’s journey down the coast. It was at Cæsarea that
Herod Agrippa was smitten with the Divine judgment upon his impious
pride and vainglory. Hither Saul of Tarsus was brought on his way from
Jerusalem; and here Paul the Apostle, as a prisoner, “reasoned of
temperance and righteousness and judgment to come” with such persuasive
force as to draw from one of his judges the confession, “Almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian.”[216]
Continuing our journey we soon leave the plain of Sharon, and find
ourselves amongst the lower spurs of Carmel, whose long ridge runs out
as a bluff promontory into the sea, a few miles to the northward. This,
however, will more fitly occupy a place in a subsequent section.
The other route from Samaria to Galilee leads us through a district
richer in Scriptural associations than that just described. It runs
almost due north through a series of picturesque glens, or over romantic
hills which need only a moderate amount of labour to be turned into a
succession of gardens. At a little distance to the right is Talûza, the
TIRZAH of the kings of Israel, a royal residence, the beauty of which
furnished Solomon with the comparison, “Thou art beautiful, O my love,
as Tirzah!”[217] A little farther on is Tûbâs, or THEBEZ, where
Abimelech was slain by the hand of a woman, his ignominious death
furnishing a proverb for after years.[218]
About twelve miles north of Nablus, and just before descending into the
plain of Jezreel we pass the entrance to a broad, deep valley, or basin
amongst the hills on our right. Its name, DOTHAN, recalls one of the
most memorable incidents in the lives of the patriarchs which formed one
of the turning-points in the history of the Church and of the world.
Joseph, sent by his father to visit his brethren in their favourite
camping-ground at Shechem, found on his arrival that they had passed
northward to Dothan. Hither, therefore, he followed them; and “when they
saw him afar off they conspired against him to slay him.” Having cast
him into one of those deep pits with which the district yet
abounds—excavations formed by the inhabitants of the land for storing
grain or water, often shaped like an inverted funnel—they left him to
perish. Relenting in their murderous purpose, or prompted by the selfish
hope of gain, they subsequently drew him thence, and sold him to a
company of Midianites from Gilead, who were passing on their way down
into Egypt.[219] Upon this slight incident the whole after-fortunes of
the nation turned.
[Illustration: JENIN, THE ANCIENT EN-GANNIM.]
Here, as elsewhere throughout Palestine, a study of the topography of
the district gives unexpected confirmation or illustration to the
narrative. Dothan lies just off the main route by which the Bedouins,
like the Ishmaelites of old, travel on their way southward. Crossing by
the upper ford of the Jordan, near to Beisan, the ancient Bethshan, the
caravans enter the main road at Jenin, a short distance to the north,
and pass the very spot indicated by the inspired historian. I met
several parties of Bedouins near Dothan, “who came from Gilead with
their camels,” conveying the produce of the Hauran to exchange it in the
bazaars of Jerusalem, Nablus, or Jaffa for the manufactures of Europe,
which is to the Syrian nomads of the present day what Egypt was to their
forefathers three thousand years ago.
The mound of ruins which rises from the valley of Dothan, marks the site
of the city. It was here that Elisha hid himself from the fury of the
king of Syria, when the monarch, infuriated at the repeated disclosure
of his plans by the prophet, resolved to put him to death, and for this
purpose “compassed the city both with horses and chariots.” But whilst
the valley was filled with the “great host,” “behold the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha,” so that he
could confidently say, “Fear not; for they that be with us are more than
they that be with them.”[220] As we look at the valley girdled with
hills on every side, and remember the mighty host of defenders once
revealed there to the eye of faith, we gratefully call to mind the
promise made to every believer, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round
about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.”[221]
The town of JENIN, which lies at the junction of several valleys and
roads, is a place of considerable importance. Its Scripture name,
En-gannim,[222] (the fountain of the gardens) seems to be derived from a
magnificent fountain of water which rises in the hills just behind the
town, and irrigating the rich alluvial soil turns it into a garden. It
has the reputation of being unhealthy; but its picturesque minarets,
surrounded by clumps of feathery palms, gardens of cactus and prickly
pear, and luxuriant orange groves, make it one of the most beautiful
towns in Palestine. Dr. Wilson, in his “Lands of the Bible,” calls
attention to the peculiar head-dress of the women of this district, and
thinks it illustrates the words of Solomon, “Thy cheeks are comely with
rows [of jewels], thy neck with chains [of gold].”[223] Strings of gold
coin hang down from a sort of tiara upon the cheeks, like the tie of a
helmet, and a similar ornament is worn round the neck. A colony of
Egyptians was settled in this neighbourhood about half a century ago,
and as it resembles the head-dress of the fellaheen of Egypt it may have
been derived from them, but it is probably much older.
We are now at the entrance of the great PLAIN OF ESDRAELON, so memorable
in the military history of the Jews as the scene of some of their
greatest victories, and most disastrous defeats. It forms an irregular
triangle, stretching from the Mediterranean to the Jordan valley,
bounded on the north by the hills of Galilee, on the south by those of
Samaria. Amongst the former Tabor is the most conspicuous, both from its
height and its peculiar pyramidal form. The long ridge of Carmel
stretches along the south-western side. The mountains of Gilboa and
Little Hermon rise out of the plain itself at the eastern end.
[Illustration: HEAD-DRESS OF EGYPTIAN FELLAHEEN.]
Near the centre of the plain on a low flat-topped hill at the foot of
the western extremity of Gilboa, are a cluster of wretched mud hovels,
now called Zerin. They mark the site of JEZREEL, _the seed plot of God_
as the name means, and which it probably gained from the extraordinary
fertility of the soil.[224] Here stood the “ivory palace” of Ahab and
the temple of Astarte with its four hundred priests supported by
Jezebel. On the eastern side overlooking a steep rocky descent into the
plain was the house of Jezebel, from the window of which she was cast
down at the command of Jehu. Killed by the fall, she was left to be
devoured by the troops of pariah dogs which to this day prowl and snarl
around every oriental city, and are its only scavengers. The ruins of an
ancient tower probably mark the spot where the watchman stood looking
out along the valley toward the Jordan, and saw Jehu driving furiously
towards the city. Though only the lower courses of the original _Migdol_
or watch-tower remain, yet a view may be gained for miles in the
direction from which Jehu was approaching, and every incident in the
narrative can be made out. A smooth open space outside the city is
pointed out as Naboth’s garden. The fountain by which he was slain, and
where the blood was washed from the chariot of Ahab is likewise shown,
but the biblical narrative seems to point to Samaria rather than to
Jezreel as the scene of the murder and the retribution.[225]
[Illustration: PLAIN OF ESDRAELON, WITH RUINS OF JEZREEL, AND GILBOA IN
THE DISTANCE.]
A few flat-roofed hovels are all that remains of the beautiful city
whose only associations are those of idolatry and lust and bloodshed.
One marble sarcophagus, and the fragments of two or three others lie
outside the modern village. The crescent moon, the familiar symbol of
the goddess of the Zidonians is sculptured upon them. It is possible,
perhaps even probable, that these very coffins once held the bones of
the royal house which “taught Israel to sin.”
[Illustration: MOUTH OF THE RIVER KISHON.]
The scene of the great battle between Sisera, the captain of Jabin king
of Hazor, and the Israelites under “Deborah the prophetess,” and “Barak,
the son of Abinoam,” was at the western end of the plain. Sisera was
encamped at the foot of Carmel near the Canaanitish city of Megiddo with
“his nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with
him from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.” The Kishon
is a small stream which rises at the eastern end of Carmel and flows
into the Mediterranean. In summer it is nearly dry, but it rises with
great rapidity and when swollen by storms of rain becomes a rushing
roaring torrent.[226] The little army of Deborah consisted of the men of
the northern tribes who had suffered from the oppression of the king of
Hazor. Those of the south and east were indifferent to the sufferings of
their brethren. “Reuben abode amongst the sheepfolds to hear the
bleatings of the flocks,” “Gilead abode beyond Jordan,” “Dan remained in
ships,” and “Asher continued on the sea-shore.” But “Zebulun and
Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death, in the
high places of the field.” With them was a contingent from Ephraim,
Benjamin, and Issachar. The small but heroic band of ten thousand men
encamped on Mount Tabor, a strong position, which commands a view of the
whole plain. At a signal from Deborah, Barak, with his compact and
resolute army, rushed down upon the foe and threw them into confusion.
Josephus informs us, that a sudden and violent storm of sleet and hail
aided the attack. “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.”
The river swelling from a petty brook into a furious torrent completed
the rout. “The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the
river Kishon.” Sisera alighting from his chariot fled away on foot, and
as a solitary fugitive met his death from a woman’s hand.[227]
No long time elapsed before a new and yet more terrible oppressor was
sent as a scourge to chastise “the children of Israel, who again did
evil in the sight of the Lord.” Every traveller in the Vale of Esdraelon
has seen the black tents of the Bedouins who have crossed the Jordan
with their flocks and herds for the rich pasturage which they here find.
Until within the last few years these wild maurauders were accustomed to
lay waste the whole district, carrying off the crops and the cattle of
the peasantry without any check from the corrupt and feeble government.
It was from this quarter that the new foe appeared. Vast hordes of these
“children of the east ... came up with their cattle and their tents, and
they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels
were without number.” “They destroyed the increase of the earth, till
thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep,
nor ox, nor ass.” A “mighty man of valour,” Gideon, the son of Joash,
was summoned by the angel of the Lord to undertake the task of
deliverance. He began by throwing down the altar to Baal. The invaders
at once gathered their forces to crush the rising spirit of resistance.
They pitched their tents all along the valley of Jezreel. Gideon and his
men were encamped on the mountains of Gilboa. Just where the mountains
subside into the plain a spring of water gushes out in such abundance as
to form a pool of considerable size, and then flows down to the Jordan.
Gideon, who had already reduced his numbers by dismissing to their homes
all who were “fearful and afraid,” was now ordered to reduce them still
further by bringing them down to the fountain to drink. The great
majority went down upon their hands and knees and drank from the stream.
But three hundred hardy veterans were satisfied to take a little water
in the palms of their hands and “lap it as a dog lappeth,” whilst they
stood alert and erect upon their feet. This was the little band by whom
God was to work deliverance for Israel. The smallness of the number
would show that God “saveth not by many, nor by few,” but by his own
power. And the selected few—men vigorous, temperate, and
self-denying—were fitting instruments for Him to work with.
[Illustration:
SKETCH PLAN OF THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON AND THE SURROUNDING DISTRICT,
FROM EL-MUHRAKAH.
_From a Drawing by J. G. Crace, Esq._
]
Night had now closed over the scene. Gideon and his servant having crept
down amidst the sleeping hosts and overheard the narrative of a dream
told by one of the invaders to his companions, returned and prepared for
the attack. Dividing his men into three companies of a hundred each,
they rush upon the unsuspecting enemy. The trumpets peal out their
shrill and startling blast; the lamps flash forth in the midst of the
tents; the war-cry of Israel—“the sword of the Lord and of Gideon”—is
heard rising loud and high above the din; “and the Lord set every man’s
sword against his fellow throughout all the host: and the host fled” in
wild confusion and disorder to the fords of the Jordan, a few miles to
the eastward. Here, as they attempted to cross, they were attacked a
second time, suffered a second defeat, and two of their sheiks, Oreb and
Zeeb—the Raven and the Wolf—captured and put to death. Gideon and his
three hundred heroes, “faint, yet pursuing,” continued to press upon the
rear of the flying foe. Coming up with them in Karkor he attacked and
defeated them yet a third time. Finding that their kings Zebah and
Zalmunna had “slain his brethren, the sons of his mother,” he put them
to the sword. This disastrous defeat finally broke up the Bedouin
confederacy. Never again whilst the Jewish commonwealth lasted did “the
children of the East” attempt an invasion.[228]
The valley which had been the scene of these great victories was next to
witness a mournful defeat—that of Saul by the Philistines. The two
armies were encamped in nearly the same positions with those of Gideon
and the Midianites—the Israelites on Gilboa near the fountain of
Jezreel, the Philistines at Aphek, or Shunem, on the opposite side of
the valley. Saul, in his moody despair, “when he saw the host of the
Philistines, was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul
enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dream, nor
by Urim, nor by the prophets.” Like the great captain who long before
had encamped on the same spot he undertook a night journey, past the
host of the Philistines, to the village of Endor, which lay in the
mountains a few miles in the rear of their camp. His interview with the
witch whom he went to consult but deepened the dark and gloomy cloud
which hung around him. Next morning the battle was joined, the
Israelites were defeated, and “fell down slain in the mountains of
Gilboa.” The tragic end of Saul, and the pathetic lament of David are
too familiar to need further record here.[229]
The inspired narrative contains allusions to other engagements of minor
importance as having been fought on this great battle-field: one of
these scarcely less mournful than the defeat and death of Saul is
recorded in detail. It was towards the close of the Jewish monarchy;
that of Israel had already disappeared. Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, on
his way to attack the Assyrians, was marching through this valley.
Josiah, either to preserve the integrity of his territory, or as being
in alliance with the king of Assyria, met him at the western end of the
plain, near Megiddo. Necho warned him against “meddling” in the conflict
which concerned the Assyrians solely, and in which he had no part. The
result cannot be told more briefly and simply than in the words of
Scripture. “Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but
disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto
the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the
valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king
said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants
therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second
chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and
was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and
Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all
the singing men and all the singing women spake of Josiah in their
lamentations to this day; and made them an ordinance in Israel: and,
behold, they are written in the Lamentations.”[230]
[Illustration: MONASTERY ON MOUNT CARMEL]