AND Modern Discoveries Henry A. Harper /f^iv,^;^ fMmi^^'3:m^ m.^ ^^^^^^^Hmts,,^^^ •AxV^^i^ PRINCETON, N. J. SAe//. Division IdS 1 IB .0. Section •O.K^ ^ Number K ,^V^ >;».,r^''^ ^ ""^ 87^«»?V-' ' rve'f samaAOOSia mmoe aNv aiaia mi THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS HENRY A. ^HARPER AUTHOR OF 'illustrated letters to my children from the holy land,' ' WALKS IN PALESTINE,' 'GOSHEN TO SINAI,' ETC., ETC., ETC., AiiO. Member of the Execative Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fuyid PUBLISHED FOR THE COMMITTEE OF THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND BY ALEXANDER P. WATT 2 PATERNOSTER SQUARE LONDON 1890 ' So to delineate the outward events of the Old and New Testament as that they should come home with a new power to those who by long familiarity have almost ceased to regard them as historical truth at all ; so to bring out their inward spirit that the more complete realization of their outward form should not degrade, but exalt, the faith of which they are the vehicle — this would indeed be an object worthy of all the labour which travellers and theologians have ever bestowed on the East.' — Dean Stanley : Sinai and Palestine, Intro- duction, p. xxvii. intPvOductio:n^. During the whole of my long occupation of the Secretary's chair in the office of the Palestine Ex- ploration Fund, it was a continual cause of trouble and reproach to us that we had produced no book connecting in a popular and vivid manner the work which had been done by the Society with the Bible narrative. Sir Charles Warren's ' Recovery of Jerusalem,' for instance, admirable as a record of discovery, could not pretend to aflPord the material for a complete reconstruction of the Herodian city, a thing which must still be post- poned until further research has yielded the exact course of the walls, the exact lie of the rock, and the site of the Royal Sepulchres and that of the Temple. Major Conder's books, ' Tent Work in Palestine ' and ' Heth and Moab,' deservedly popular as they are, must be considered as books of travel in the first instance, only showing here and there what riches of Biblical illustration vi INTRODUCTION. can be got from the survey of the country by one who knows how to use the materials. Again, my own httle books, ' Our Work in Palestine ' and ' Twenty-one Years' Work in Palestine,' were in- tended as a very brief record of research accom- plished, and could not do more than touch upon Biblical illustration, though that, and that alone, was the motive, and the reason, and the object of all the Society's work. Many subscribers to the Society constantly, and year after year,. urged upon me the desirability of pointing out every quarter, in the Journal of the Society, the Biblical bearing of the researches and the discoveries. This I could not do, nor was it possible for anyone to do, and for many reasons. First of all there are many lines followed out which lead to nothing, as when days and weeks are spent in searching for the Secojid Wall, and nothing is found except — say — an old Crusading church ; or when pages and pages of the Journal have to be occupied with the details connected with a Byzantine pavement, which may be — or may not be — that constructed by Constantino round his Basilica of the Anastasis ; or, again, when a new group of tombs has been discovered, and must be sketched, planned, and described at length ; or when a building has been found which may prove on examination by INTRODUCTION. vii arcKitects, or may not prove, to have been a syna- gogue ; or when among the ruins on a hilltop pillars and capitals, which may prove architecturally and historically important, are found ; or when among the heaps of broken pottery over some old site there are picked up pieces which, by their form and orna- mentation, may connect the place definitely with history. Who is to say, as the record goes on from day to day, what bearing this or that discovery may prove to have upon the Bible? It must be remembered that the Bible is a collection of books covering a very long period of time ; but that, though many of the ruined sites in the Holy Land are undoubtedly of extreme anti- quity— even dating from before the conquest by Joshua — it is rare indeed to find anything which can be clearly pronounced to be older than the time of Herod. Therefore, when such a discovery is actually made, it becomes of the greatest possible importance — witness the Moabite Stone and the Phoenician inscription at the Pool of Siloam and the masons' marks on the foundation- stones of the Temple. Such discoveries illustrate the Old Testament history in a way which at once strikes the most ignorant reader. But they are rare indeed. On the other hand, researches which seem as they go on to produce little indeed that can viii INTRODUCTION. be directly connected with the Bible may be really revealing to us little by little the whole ancient life of the country, and giving back to us the long- vanished past. Thus, it is only by a scientific and exact survey of the whole country that the old topography can be recovered. Conder alone has rescued from oblivion more ancient sites than all other travellers put to- gether. It is by carefully and patiently observing and notino' the manners and customs of the most conservative people in the world that those of their ancestors may be learned and illustrated. The legends, language, traditions, songs and stories of the modern Syrians, furnish a continual commentary on the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. The study of the fauna, the flora, the geology throws light on many obscure points ; the architecture and arts of the past connect ancient Syria with the countries about It. Indeed, one of the most valuable results of research is the modern discovery — it is nothing less — of the fact that Syria and its occupants were at no time isolated, but were always in relations more or less intimate with the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Hittites, and all other nations around them. Little by little- — here and there by aid of an unex- pected flash of light — w^e are recovering ancient Syria. As the past gives up its secrets they may be placed in columns parallel with those of the Old INTRODUCTION. ix Testament, and lo ! they are found to fit exactly. One thing, however, is as yet wanting. We have never yet found an ancient IsraeHte Hbrary. On the site of Ur of the Chaldees, for instance, we have found all the records of the past clearly written, to be read by any who have the skill. There are the sacred hymns, the songs of the people, their leases and contracts, their laws, their tariffs, every- thing to show the daily life of the city. In Syria this discovery remains to be made. Somewhere — in the vaults beneath the Temple which have never yet been explored ; under some Tell, one of the mysterious mounds in the South Country, perhaps, there lie stored up for future ages, if the present age does not discover them, the ancient Books of the Hebrew people written in the Phoenician character — the Books of the Things Left Out — those Books which shall supplement the Chronicles and bridge over the time between the fall of the kingdom and the rising of Judas Maccabaeus. When the Memoirs of the Survey were published, the few people — only five hundred in all — who could get that great work saw for themselves how great was the mass of material collected by the indefatigable hand of Claude Conder, whose name will never be forgotten as the Sur- veyor of the Holy Land. Then the cry for some X INTRODUCTION. such pojDular connection of the Memoirs with the Bible became louder and more persistent. Here a new difficulty arose. The man who could write such a popular book must possess certain necessary qualifications. He must have travelled in Palestine — not, that is, gone on a tour, but actually travelled in the old sense, which did not mean lying down in one place at night and going on again in the morning. This qualification excluded all but a very few. Next, he must possess an intimate knowledge of the Book to be illustrated. Now it is quite certain that those who really know the Bible are very few indeed. I have had exceptional oppor- tunities of proving the amount of such knowledge possessed by the average man or woman, and I boldly assert that anything approaching to a real knowledge of the Bible is rare indeed, even among those who every day teach from it. One, for instance, a serious and deeply religious lady, who may stand for many, confessed to me once that though she read in the Bible every day she only read the Epistles of St. Paul. Portions of the Bible are read and studied constantly, and the rest is neglected. Also, with the decay of the Puritanic spirit has decayed to a great extent the old fashion of looking to the Old Testament history for examples of conduct and lessons in faith. Unless I very much mistake the INTRODUCTION. xi signs of the times, the last twenty years have seen a great decline, chiefly due to this cause, in the study of the Old Testament both in its historical and its prophetic Books. On the other hand, the Bible is now read and studied by many who formerly never thought of consulting it, and with objects not dreamed of in those days. It is now known to be an invaluable help in the study of the past ; the student of Egyptian and Assyrian history would be lost without it. The ancient books are full of Ethno- logical history. The science of religion is found, in a new sense, to be based upon the Bible. The history of ancient civilization is inextricably connected with the historical portions of the Bible. And, again, those who love to consider the doubts and perplexities of humanity and to reflect on the conduct of life, are never tired of reading those portions of the Old Testament which contain the Doubtings of the Man of Uz, the Hymns of King David, the Proverbs of his son, the words of Koheleth the Preacher, and the most impassioned of all Love Songs. But with the light of modern discovery the historical portions will now be read with an entirely new interest. If we no longer take Sisera and his fall as a lesson designed for every man in all ages, we may, and shall, still read the story with reference to the map, and study the campaign literally and xii INTRODUCTION. exactly as if it were Wellington's campaign in the Peninsula. There are, however, many left who will continue to find such lessons in the history ; these will be greatly helped in taking the lessons home to themselves by the new reality which can be thrown upon the narrative. The third qualification necessary for one who should add a new commentary capable of being read and understood by all, is the power of writing popu- larly and vividly. All three qualifications appeared to the Com- mittee to be possessed by the author of the following pages. Mr. Henry A. Harper has been a traveller, not a tourist ; not once, but twice, his feet have lingered over these holy fields. He is an artist who has painted the lands of Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt ; he has a profound knowledge of the Bible and a deep love for every portion of it ; his reading is not limited to St. Paul on the one hand nor to the Book of Job on the other. He knows every part of the Bible. He has been for a great many years an active member of the Committee of this Society. And, finally, he has shown in his * Letters to my Children from the Holy Land ' how well he can illustrate with pen and pencil the scenes of the Bible. In this new work, therefore, the author has INTRODUCTION. xiii attempted a thing hitherto untried. He has taken the sacred history as related in the Bible step by step, and has retold it with explanations and illustra- tions drawn from modern research and from personal observation. He has, in short, written a book which we hope will prove that long-desired popular connec- tion of scientific exploration with the subject which exploration was intended to illustrate. It is, I hope, needless to point out that Mr. Harper in this volume speaks for himself and not for the Committee. If, therefore, there be any who should differ from him in conclusions or opinions, in points of topography or points of doctrine, they will be so good as to remember that they differ from the author, and not from the Committee of which he is a member. WALTER BESANT, Hon. Sec. Palestine Exploration Fund, 1, Adam Street, Adelphi, Oct. UK 1889. PREFACE. At the request of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund the writer has at- tempted to compile a simple account of the valuable discoveries made by the officers of the Fund in Palestine, as well as some of the equally valuable discoveries made by the Egyptian Exploration Fund, the two American Expeditions, and the latest travellers. The critic is warned that the writer does not pretend to literary skill — the arduous life of a landscape-painter has given him little time to cul- tivate the sister art of literature. He has en- deavoured to write a simple book, for simple folk who love their Bible. To these he trusts this work will be of use. The warmest thanks of the writer are due to the Chairman and the gentlemen of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund for the use of their pubhshed works and their unstinted assistance in every way; to the able Assistant Sec- retary, Mr. George Armstrong, who is intimately acquainted with every inch of the land of Palestine, xvi PREFACE. the writer's very best thanks are due — in short, without Mr. Armstrong's assistance in correcting the Arabic names, and other valuable suggestions, the writer could not have completed this work. To Walter Besant, Esq., the Hon. Secretary of the Fund, the writer is most deeply indebted for kind encouragement, for valuable suggestion, for help ever cheerfully given, and now, not least, for his valuable Introduction. Biblical critics will doubtless discover mistakes — in so large a subject and on which so many opinions exist, the writer cannot hope that he has escaped error ; but if any mistakes are pointed out, he will gladly profit by the corrections in future editions of this work. The list of principal works consulted closes the book ; but as for many years the writer has studied the works of most Biblical students, it would be impossible to name his indebtedness. In short, the merits of the book belong to others, its faults and failings to H. A. H. Cliff House, Milford-on-Sea, Hants. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. FROM THE CALL OF ABRAHAM TO THE DEATH OF JOSEPH ----.. 1 IL ISRAEL IN EGYPT - - - - - 77 IIL JOSHUA - - - - - - 177 IV. THE BOOK OF JUDGES - - - - 218 V. THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL - - - - 257 VI. THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL - - - 297 VII. THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS - - - . 340 VIIL THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS - - - 412 IX. THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES - - - 480 X. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES - - - 495 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE lake of gennesaeeth - 6 boundary between egypt and palestine - - - 16 Jacob's well 44 the edge op the deseet 104 THE BEOAD PASS NEAE 'aIN HAWAEAH - - - - 117 WADY TAIYIBEH 121 NAGB BUDERAH 124 THE GEEAT PLAIN OF EL MARKHA - - - - - 126 EAS SUFSAFEH, ' SINAI,' AND PLAIN OF EE EAHAH - - 137 NAWAMIS 140 STONE CIECLE NEAE HESHBON 155 DOLMEN NEAE HESHBON - - ' - - - - - 157 STONE GATE OF UNDEEGEOUND CITY - - - - 159 COLUMNS 160 AIE-HOLB - - 161 OBSEEVEES - - - - - - - - - 177 DEBIE - - - - 220 CAVE OE CLEFT NEAE 'aTAB (eTAM) .... 248 THE VALLEY OF MICHMASH 274 TOMB OF NICODEMUS ----... 343 XX LIS T OF ILL USTRA TIONS. I'AGE view from jentn, looking north across the plain of esdraelon 346 shaft at south-east angle . - - - - 351 jar handles . - 353 phcenician letters and marks 359 the sakhrah " 361 Wilson's arch, under first shaft in western wall 865 Robinson's arch 371 SAMARIA 409 a JORDAN FORD 436 njAP ...----- End of Booh THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOYERIES. CHAPTER I. / FROM THE CALL OF ABRAHAM TO THE DEATH OF JOSEPH. HE Bible is the Word of God — the Sword of the Spirit. At the same time it is permitted to man, by the exercise of the facul- ties given him by his Creator, to explain, by re- search, patient investiga- tion, and travel, passages which otherwise might be dark, with every sympathy for ' honest doubt.* Yet this book is written for those who love the Bible; who see in it God graciously revealing Himself to man : who find in it His gracious plan of Redemp- tion, and find also in it God's Magna Charta for the poor, which, if acted up to, would prevent any and all of the wrongs they often suffer. If, too, this Word of God were only read, studied, and acted up ^ '(y ^ 1 ±1 vi3 1 1 ! M 1 4m^ ^%^uA nkw^HKri Tt^Nj ? "**■ \ ^M^Bam fl]^HlBil\ \ flili 2^1^ A ^jj^Way ^^^n^^^^w ^Ml WS/Sk^^m '^^J ^^ "^^^J 2 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. to, all those terrible divisions of Christianity which so scandalize the world would disappear. To rightly understand the Word, we must first remember that it is an Eastern book, written in Eastern lands — full of Eastern thought, all customs spoken of Eastern ; hence the necessity for investi- gation in those lands, by the spade and pick, by study of monuments, language, customs, by close exami- nation of the ground, in order that the full meaning of its pages may be understood. Some may say that BibHcal discoveries are but the dry bones of religion ; but the prophet of old, when moved by the Spirit of God, found that the breath of the Spirit could wake even the dry bones into life, and that they stood upon their feet a great army clothed with flesh and vigorous with life. A very dear friend of my own — a splendid explorer, a great traveller — w^as at heart, in secret, an unbe- liever in the sovereignty of God. Circumstances com- pelled him to explore Palestine. To tmderstand the country he found he must read the Book ; and readinof it in the full blaze of liofht which custom and country threw on it, he found that Jesus was indeed his Saviour. He brought the full power of his able mind to bear on all he saw, on all he read ; and in humble, grateful adoration he bowed before his God and Redeemer. He rests in the little Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion. Though dying at an early age, he was yet full of joy, thankful that he had been brought to that land, the study of which had removed all his doubts and had FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEA TH OF JOSEPH. 3 placed his feet upon the rock. There had been no sudden, violent change ; all had been noiselessly accomplished : it had descended out of heaven from God. We may say, in one respect, that the minds of all great men resemble the revealed mind of the Great Creator ; that is, in patience. Look at all great lives : the settled pur^^ose ; the steady holding to it. Abram is a fair type of all those men whose work God honours. They take Him at His word. The world may say they ' venture ;' that they are * enthusiasts ;' but He blesses their faith and their- work. Let us look at the lessons of Abram's life. In Gen. xi. 31 we first find his name : he is living with his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in * Ur of the Chaldees.' His father leaves Ur, and, accompanied by all his family, goes to Haran. True, we know St. Stephen says, in the Acts of the Apostles vii. 2, that God had appeared to Abram ' before he dwelt in Haran,' and had told him to go out of the land of the Chaldseans ; but the outward sign of this was that he accompanied his father Terah. ' " Ur of the Chaldees " has been found, th<^ ruins of its temples excavated ; some of its engraved gems may be seen in the British Museum. The j^lace is now called Mugheir, on the western side of the Euphra- tes, on the border of the desert west of Erech '"^ — low down near the Persian Gulf, and not the ' Ur ' of * Prof. Sayce, 'Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments,' 1888, pp- 44, 45. 1 — 2 4 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. most Biblical maps, near Haran. The name ' Ur ' is Semitic for Accadian eri, ' city.' The worship of * Ur' was that of the Moon-god. We may note here that Abram's original name is found on an early Babylonian contract tablet, written Abu-ramu, or Abram, ' the exalted father.' Sarah is the Assyrian sarrat, * queen.' Milcah, the daughter of Haran, is the milcat, 'princess.' The Accadian inscriptions of which I speak are as yet the oldest in the world. Until these inscriptions were found and read, scholars placed both Ur and Haran in wrong localities. Haran, the place to which Terah emigrated, was the frontier town of Babylonia, com- mandinof both the roads and the fords of the Eu- phrates. The word Haran means * road.' This road was well known ; for Sargon I, of Accad had swept along it on his great expedition to the West. He has left his image on the rocks of the Medi- terranean coast, and he even crossed the sea to Cyprus. Abram here would be brought into contact with Semitic traders, as it was the great caravan road to Damascus and Egypt. In his early days he would be well accustomed to business. Do we not see his business habits coming out later in his transactions with the children of Heth (Gen. xxiii. 1 6^, when his possession of the field was ' made sure ' (verse 1 7.) ? We have in the British Museum seals of jasper, cornelian, and other hard stones, dating before his time. These seals were for stamping deeds. At Haran, Abram may have seen the armies of Che- dorlaomer as they passed on their way to their FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEA TH OF JOSEPH. 5 distant conquests — armies which thirteen years later he was to enofasfe in conflict and defeat. And now Terah dies, and the direct call comes — to leave his '■ father's house . . . unto a land I will show thee ; and I will make of thee a great nation, and bless thee . . . and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed ' (Gen. xii. 1-3). Obedient to the call, he goes, taking with him Lot and all his family, ' not having,' as St. Stephen says, * so much as to sot his foot on' (Acts vii. 5) of the land. He is no Jew, remember. He is Abram, ' the Hebrew' ; that is, * the man who has crossed ' the river Euphrates. Let us see if we can trace his route. Probably, as Dean Stanley thought, he crossed the Euphrates at Bir ; then a fertile track would lead him straight on. He must take that fertile track, and not the others suggested ; for had not he and Lot sheep, 'flocks, and herds, and tents "^ (Gen. xii. 4, 5). Thence by Aleppo to Damascus^. We may dismiss the various Arab traditions which say he ruled as king in the latter city. And now, crossing the Pharpar,he must needs ascend the hills of Bashan, leaving on his left hand * Argob,' now called el Lejjah, that stony, barren region ; from the heights he would see Lebanon, and Hermon, known then under its name of Shenir, the ' Shining' ; and from some height hereabout would get his first view of the promised land : he would see Gennesareth and all the land of Galilee — places so full of Him who said, ' Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and He saw it.' Dean Stanley remarks of the views from 6 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. hereabouts : * the finest he had ever seen in thia part of the world.'* This is still the caravan route : thence onwards, crossing the Jabbok, now called the Zerka, he might cross at the fords of Damieh, just below the junc- tion of Zerka and Jordan ; thence by the easy road of Wady Far 'ah to Shechem. He is now in the * land of Canaan ' (Gen. xii. 5), GENNESAKETH, which word means ' lowlands' ; it originally meant only the coast, but in time the word was used to ex- press the whole of Palestine. At Shechem the pro- mises of God were renewed (Gen. xii. 7) ; and over the uplands he goes to Bethel ; again builds an altar, and j ourney s ' towards the south' ( ver. 9 ). Now, the south, called in Hebrew ' Negeb,' was the southern limit of what afterwards became the land of Judah, held at this * ' Sinai and Palestine.' FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEA TH OF JOSEPH. 7 time by the Philistines — a land subject to periodic droughts, and hence famine. Why, even in 1870, owing to a drought, the Philistine country was almost depopulated, the inhabitants having gone to Egypt for food. The pastures of those Bethel hills would soon be exhausted and not fit for winter quarters, exposed as all the country there is to cold winds, snow and hail. In 1875 the cold there was most trying, and hence I imagine why Abram went south, as there he would find better winter quarters. But the patriarch, who had seen the civilization of Baby- lonia, was now to come face to face w^ith the culture of EgyjDt. He does not intend to stay permanently, but to 'sojourn there' (ver. 10). He must have gone in the cool season, for then the short desert can be crossed ; and from the south he would go by the central road, known in the Bible by the description of 'the way of Shur.' The Hebrew word used means a * road,' ' a beaten track '; it is often translated 'the king's highway.' Traces of this road were found in 1878 by the Rev. F. W. Holland, on his fifth visit to Sinai Desert.'" The road is really a continuation of the caravan route from Hebron and Beersheba. He found wells and ancient ruins, large numbers of flint flakes and arrow-heads. Here I must dio^ress for a moment. The word ' Shur ' is said, by competent scholars, to mean *■ wall.' There is plenty of proof that the ancient Egyptian kings built a ' wall ' to keep out the in- * Palestine Fund Quarterly Statement, January, 1884, pp. 5 13. 8 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. cursions of the Bedawin. If this is right, then the passage in Gen.xxv. 18 has this meaning : 'The wall that is before Egypt as thou goest toward Assyria.'* The earliest discovered mention of this wallt is in an ancient papyrus, of the twelfth dynasty, now in the Berlin Museum. It was closely guarded : there were ' watchers upon the wall in daily rotation.* Papyrus and inscriptions show us the Egyptian officers writing down the names of any who sought to pass the wall into Egypt ; so strict were their instructions that the names and numbers of the strangers are reported to the king. A papyrus, now in the British Museum, known as * The Two Brothers,' shows us the state of aftairs ; it tells of a Pharaoh who sent two armies to take a fair woman from her husband, and then to murder him. Another papyrus, in Berlin, records how the wife and children of a foreigner were taken from him by a Pharaoh, These extracts will show us why it was that Abram was in such fear on entering into Egypt,. and why he wished Sarai to conceal the truth. It happened as he foresaw, and * the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh ' (Gen. xii. 14, 15). But how was it that Abram had no need of an interpreter ? And how was it that these Egyptians ' beheld the woman that she was very fair' ? (Gen. xii. 14). * 'Kadesh Barnea,' Trumbull, pp. 44 to 58. t That there was a ' wall ' of defence on the borders of Egypt and Philistia is, I think, proved by Egyptian papyri. The extent or limits of that wall is a very open question. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 9 * Abram entered Egypt during the reign of the Hjdvsos, or Shepherds.' The Egyptian word is hik shasit, ' prince of the Shashu,' or ' Bedawin.' They were a Semitic race, which had driven out the native Egyptian kings, who had taken refuge in Memphis* and Thebes. These shepherds reigned over the fertile Delta ; they had adopted Egyptian state, and they spoke a Semitic language, though they copied many Egyptian words ; for they called their king Pharaoh, from Egyptian ^9 ?V-aa,t ' great house.' So the palace gave its name to the king ; just as we now say ' the Porte,' or gate, when we mean the Turkish Sultan. In short, these Hyksos, the foreigners, had adopted the customs of pure Egyptian culture. Now as to the veil. After a careful examination of thousands of inscriptions and representations of the daily hfe of Old Egypt, in the various temples, I cannot recall one in which a woman is represented with a veil. Wilkinson re- marks that ' the ancient Egyptians were not as other Orientals, who secluded their women. '| But in the in- scriptions we see them in all their feasts and public rejoicings and daily life. We can see all the mysteries of the toilette of an Egyptian beauty. She has her eyebrows painted — ' beauty spots ' put on — hair dressed in various fashions; but never a veil. If, there- fore, Sarai wore one in Haran (which I doubt), she would, in deference to Abram's desire to do nothing * Mariette Bey thinks the Hyksos conquered the country even i.z far as Memphis, t Sayce. J ' Ancient Egyptians,' Wilkinson. lo THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. to attract much attention, leave it off before enter- ing Egypt. This question of veils will come up again. One thing is clear : she did not wear one.* All happened, then, as Abram had feared; and ' Pharaoh and his house are plagued with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife' (Gen. xii. 17). She is released. And see how honourably Pharaoh behaves. No revenge : he restores the wife, and * commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and all that he had ' (ver. 20). That king listened to the Voice — to the hand of God. Do not the Apostle's words apply here ? ' Of a truth, I perceive God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh right- eousness is accepted with Him ' (Acts x. 34, 35). Though Abram fell, yet there w^as life in him — ever struggling upwards. Egypt w^as going downwards. Better to be the crushed blade of grass which, though bent and feeble, yet has life, than the polished stone which, though it crushes the blade, is but itself dead. We can only repeat the words of Holy Writ : * Abram believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness ' (James ii. 23). The patriarch, now with Lot, goes ' up out of Egypt' (Gen. xiii. 1). This is a true description; for to go south would be, indeed, to ascend into the hill country. They go back to Bethel. There Abram ' called on the name of the Lord.' Then comes the strife with the herdsmen. Lot chooses * No veils are worn now by the Bedawin women in the * Negeb,' and in the country round Bcersheba. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH, ii the plain which he saw; for he 'beheld the plain of Jordan ' (Gen. xiii. 10). A fact of importance, as we shall see hereafter. Abram goes to Mamre — He- bron ; and while there, comes that great invasion of Chedorlaomer and his confederate kings. The ^ kings ' or ' sheikhs' of Sodom and the plain had been subject to this mighty monarch, but had re- belled ; and now comes that wondrous march. Starting from Elam, below Babylon, he follows the course of the river Euphrates, on the east bank, to Haran — high up north ; then crosses the fords, and, turning, taking or passing Kadesh of the Hit- tites, on to Damascus ; through Rephaim, the land of giants, Bashan, Moab ; further on crushing the Horites, in Mount Seir ; turns west to El Paran, now the station of Nakhl, in the desert, having swept the Gulf of Akabah ; thence turning to Kadesh, the oasis, he sweeps through the country of the Amalekites and Amorites ; to Hazezon- tamar, the Engedi, and thence through the passes. So, having cleared his flanks, he goes through to the vale of Siddim. The kings of Sodom, Go- morrah, and the kings of the vale, oppose him ; he defeats their array — some fly to the mountains, some fall in the ' slime' or bitumen pits — while he carries Lot and all the accumulated plunder away. This vale of Siddim seems ever to have been full of slime-pits. The Egyptians got the bitumen with which they embalmed their dead from here ; and even to this day ' pits ' exist. Dr. Merrill, of the American Survey, counted in one place a row 12 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. of thirty-one, and in another row twenty ; they are from three to six feet deep ; and he says more can be traced.* The Arabs have an old tradition that they were dug for mihtary purposes ; and relate how a king once fell into them, and that a powerful Jewish prince rescued him. This, to say the least, is curious. Pits or ' ditches ' are mentioned as having been dug when Jehosaphat warred against Moab (2 Kings iii. 16). The Rev. J. Neil has given me an interesting account of these * pits.' He visited them before Dr. Merrill, and says that first there are large pits about six feet deep ; then there is a deep shaft or well : * this well is connected with the next pit by a tunnel, so that when that well is full it over- flows into the other pit ; and so on through the whole series, every pit having a well. The first pit, being on the higher ground, would catch the rain water from the hills, and when the well was full the water would pass into the next by the tunnel, and so the whole row would be filled, and a good store of water secured.' He adds that ' similar disused pits are to be found near Kurn Surtubeh' (the Altar of Ed), and that near Damascus the same arrangement for storing water may be seen in ivorkirig order, and that there a region which would otherwise be barren is made fertile. This solves the problem of the water-supply for the cities of the plain. Major Conder looked for ' springs,' and finding none, was puzzled to explain hoAV those ' cities/ * 'East of the Jordan,' Merrill, p. 225. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 13 or 'villages,' now marked by 'tells' or heaps, could have obtained their water-supply. Some who escaped came and told Abram, who, secure in the highlands at Hebron, had not felt the shock of the invader; he armed his 'trained servants' (Gen. xiv. 14), with his allies, Aner and Eschol, for his heart yearned for Lot, his nephew. Aner and Eschol would also have their contingents ; for the Hebrew text says they were ' lords of a league' with Abraham. All had friends to rescue or aveno-e. o Down the passes they go ; soon up the valley, or ghor, on the track of the invader ; and after about four days and nights of swift marching, see his camp — Chedorlaomer's army, spoilt by conquest, hampered with spoils and captives, demoralized by feastings, thinking they had conquered all foes, keeping a loose night watch — as all Eastern armies have ever done, from those days to Tell el Kebu' — subject, too, as all Eastern armies have ever been, to sudden panic. Then came the night-attack in flank and rear — had not Abram ' divided himself agfainst them by night'? (Gen. xiv. 15) — not deficient in strategy; 'turning movements' were known to him. The huge array fell in each other's way; a defeat fol- lowed— just like those of Xerxes in after-years ; the victor pursues them to Hobah, near Damascus, rescuing Lot, his goods and women — to receive on his return the congratulations of that mysterious personage, Melchizedek. Here we note the grandeur of Abraham's conduct. He declines to take anything for himself: ' Lest thou 14 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. sliouldest say, I have made Abram rich' (ver. 23). And yet — Hke every good commander, thoughtful of his men — he says for the young men, the men who went with him, 'Let them take their portion ' (ver. 24). The promise to Abram is again renewed ; then he has ' a deep sleep ' and ' an horror of great darkness' (ch. xv. 12): he is told his 'seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs'; that they shall be afflicted four hundred years, and that afterwards they shall come out with great sub- stance ; that he shall be buried in peace, and that in the fourth generation they shall come hither again — 'for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full ' (ch. XV. 16). What a wonderful revelation 1 for as yet he had no son. In the 18 th verse follows the covenant the Lord made with Abram : ' Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of EgyjDt unto the great river, the river Euphrates,' These words define the borders of the Promised Land, north and south. The question, however, arises. What is ' the river of Egypt ' ? Here great confusion has crept in through an unhappy translation both in the Authorised Version and the Revised Version. What is called ' river ' should be ' brook,' or, better still, ' torrent.' In 2 Kings xxiv. 7 it is called ' the hrooh of Egypt ;' in Joshua xv. 4, the Revised Version also translates the word ' brook of Egypt.' The borders of the Promised Land never touched the Nile. This ' brook,' or ' torrent ' of Egypt is now known as Wady el 'Arish ; few FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 15 travellers have explored it. Let us quote some. Mr. G. J. Chester,* speaking of his journey from * San ' — the Zoan of the Bible — to the border, says : ' Evening coming on, I again encamped near the seashore, and the next morning arrived at the Wady Eiumara, or dry torrent-bed of "El 'Arlsh," so strangely and misleadingly termed in the Authorised "Version " the river of Egypt." The town, or rather village, of clay houses, stands between the desert and the sea, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile from the latter. ... To the west of the entrance of the wady, close to the sea- shore, are the remains of some ancient houses. Occasionally in winter, when heavy rains have fallen amongst the mountains inland, the wady of El 'Arish is temporarily a turbulent rushing torrent. ... El Arish, or rather the wady at that place, is the natural boundary of Egypt, and appears as such in many maps.'t He notes that on the road he travelled old cisterns and wells abounded, and ruins of old cities. The late Rev. F. W. Holland left some most interesting notes of a desert journey from Nakhl to Ismailia.J He explored and mapped the true course of Wady el 'Arish. He found numerous small watercourses leading into this great wady. * Palestine Fund Quarterly Statement, July, 1880, p. 138. + The starting-point of the present boundary between Egypt and Palestine is about midway between El 'Arish and Gaza. Palestine Fund Quarterly Statement, October, 1886. % Palestine Fund Quarterly Statement, January, 1884. 1 6 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. At one watering-place (' El Hathirali ') ' there are five bad wells and one good, which is very- deep ;' near this ' a stream and three or four shallow wells with troughs. Great beds of rushes betoken the presence of water, and we had to pick our way through these on account of small streams.' FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 17 Many ' flint flakes and broken pottery were found.' He frequently notes ' streams and rushes.' Wady el 'Arish has been traced from the Mediterranean Sea to Nakhl ; it is really more than one hundred miles in length, and so is justly and truthfully called by the sacred historians ' the hrooh ' or ' torrent ' of Egypt. At its source, near Nakhl, Holland describes it as * a large barren plain with no trees,' and he further on adds that the Alluvial Plain is so scored by watercourses as to be very bad ground for travelling, and says in wet weather this uj^per portion must be quite impassable. Professor Palmer"^ shows how two great valleys drain the mountain plateau of the Tih Desert, and how they ' combine their streams, and then, flowing into Wady el 'Arish, are carried on to the Mediterranean.' Dr. Trumbull thus describes the wady :t * The extended watercourse known as Wady el 'Arish, which runs northwards throuofh the Desert of the Wanderings, dividing it into eastern and western halves, may be said to sej^arate the Desert of the Wanderings on the east from the Desert of Shur on the west.' The name El 'Arish means * boundary,' or ' extremity.' Some scholars con- sider that in ' Nakhl ' — the name of the Egyptian fortress in mid-desert — we really have the word ' torrent,' while others derive the word from the Arabic ' Nakhl ' — ' palm-trees.' ' Egypt proper * 'Desert of the Exodus,' vol. ii., pp. 288, 289. f Trumbull, ' Kadesh Barnea,' p. 115. 2 i8 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. is bounded definitely enough on the east by a line drawn from El 'Arish to Akabah.'* The wady dries up in the hot season, but after rain it is a narrow and rapid stream. The Archduke Ludwig of Austria,t in describing this wady, says : * It still brings water down from the hills. It may be crossed either close to the seashore or at a shallower spot not fxr distant.' He adds that the Alluvial Plain * is so scored by watercourses as to be very bad ground for travelling.' Enough has been quoted to show^ how true was the expression * brook ' or ' torrent ' of Egypt, and that it should never be confounded with the Nile. So this, the southern frontier of the Promised Land, is seen to be a well-defined gorge, or wady, which reaches from the Great Sea westward to Nakhl, and continues to Akabah on the Ped Sea. If we look at 2 Chron. ix. 26, we read: ' Solomon j:uled over all the kings from the river (^.e., Euphrates) even unto the land of the Philis- tines and the harder of Egypt.' The waiter there did not confuse the ' brook ' with the Nile, as so many Biblical commentators do now. Listening to the advice of Sarai, Abram now takes Hagar, the Egyptian maid, as wife. She, being dealt with harshly by Sarai, fled, and is found by the angel by ' the fountain in the way to Shur ' (Gen. xvi. 7). The only note of the position of this fountain is that ' it is between Kadesh and * McCoan, ' Egypt as it is.' t * Caravan Route between Egypt and Syria.* FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPLL. 19 Bered.' Bered has not been identified, though some maps put the name in without question ! Kadesh has been found, and will be spoken of hereafter. The fountain must have been well known, for it is called tlie fountain, and so would be on the middle or ' Shur' road from Palestine to Egy23t. Palmer thinks he has identified it with a place now called ' 'Ain el Muweileh.'* Near the junction of Wady el 'Ain and Guseimeh, there are Avells overflowing with water. The hills about are covered with ruins. Other travellers say it is still called by the Arabs ' the Well of Hagai',' and they point out a rock chamber which they call ' the House of Hagar.' It is about twelve miles west from Kadesh ; its Hebrew name, as we know, is Beer-lahai-roi, 'the well of the living one, who seeth me.' * Ishmael,' her son's name, means * God heareth.* God, the merciful God, had seen the trials and heard the cry of the poor Egyptian wife. She returned to her home, and bare her son ; let us ho])e Sarai was kind to her. Long years pass ; Ishmael is thirteen years old, and the promise of the son by Sarai is still un- fulfilled. At ninety-and-nine years of age, the Lord God again appears, and gives that wondrous command : * Walk before Me, and be thou perfect ' (Gen. xvii. 1). His name and that of his wife are changed ; the name of the promised son is given ; he is to be called Isaac, and from him a great nation is to come. And then we have that beautiful Eastern idyl of Abraham sitting in the tent door, in the heat * 'The Desert of the Exodus,' Prof. Pahner, vol. ii., p. 351. 9 9 20 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, of the day, when three strangers appear. True to all the claims of hospitality, so sacred to the Eastern races, Abram and Sarai find water and prepare food. It is too much the fashion of writers of the present day to sneer at the hospitality offered now in the East, and say it is because they expect greater gifts in return ; that has not been my experience. The Western races might still learn a lesson from the Bedawin, who, knowing not the law, are yet ' not forgetful to entertain strangers' (Heb. xiii. 2) ; many a poor gift has warmed my heart when far away. And one felt the ' brother- hood ' of man, perhaps, more there than in the crowded city. And now the time is near at hand for the fulfil- ment of the long-delayed promise, and Sarah, behind the tent curtain in the women's compartment, had been listening to the conversation with the strangers, and when they named the time for the birth, she laughed (Gren. xviii. 12); and the son, remember, long before was to be named Isaac, that is, * to . laugh' (Gen. xvii. 19). She only followed Abra- ham's example, for Gen. xvii. 17 shows he 'laughed.' We all know that wondrous story of Abraham pleading for the guilty cities of the plain. Abraham, after all, is left in doubt ; if there were ten righteous men, the cities would be saved (Gen. xviii. 32). We must now examine the position * of the cities of the plain,' and see if the commonly accepted notion is true, that the * Dead Sea ' covers their sites. And first let us note that the ' Dead Sea ' is not a FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 21 Biblical term ; that sea is always called in the Bible * the Salt Sea,' or the * Sea of the Plain,' or the * East Sea,' to distinguish it from the Mediter- ranean, which is always spoken of as * the Great Sea westwards.' We noted before that Lot, standing on the Bethel hill, * saw ' ' the Valley of the Jordan.' From 710 hill there, except one called by the Arabs * the Hill of Stones,' can any view of the Jordan Valley or Dead Sea be seen ; and what can there be seen is the northern end of the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley, and the river running like a blue thread through the green plain. The hills of Engedi shut out completely all view of the southern end of the sea ; but, as I before said, the northern end, where the Jordan runs in, and about two or three miles of the sea, can be seen. I have wandered over all the Bethel hills and tested this question. The cities ivere destroyed, but how ? ' Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and that which grew upon the ground ' (Gen. xix. 24, 2 5). The whole country then and now is bituminous ; the cities were built of the soil of the plain. Like the builders of Babel, ' they had brick for stone, and slime (bitumen) for mortar' (Gen. xi. 3). The ' fire from heaven' was lightning — truly a fire from God! Cities, corn, grass, all took fire, and ' the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.' How extremely local the destruction was we can see in that Zoar, one of the 22 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. cities of the plain, was not touched, at Lot's inter- cession. He says he 'cannot escape to the mountain' ; the city is ' little,' and ' near' Again, when * the morning arose,' Lot, his wife and children are led out ; and * the sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar :' so the time of his flight is between dawn and sunrise. Again, look at Abraham at Mamre, not twenty miles off : he hears nothing, sees nothing, though he is full of anxiety, till, ' early in the morning,' Abraham got up to the place where he stood before the Lord, and he looks toward Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xix. 27, 28), and sees the smoke. He had heard nothing, felt nothing, before. Had it been, as some say, an earthquake, why, Palestine would have shaken to its centre to make that deep depression. Geology proves — as, in fact, anyone can see — that the deep depression of the valley and the Dead Sea must have existed from prehistoric times, when in long ages past the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea were united through the Wady Arabah, and the whole plain was an inland sea. But we do not rest on these proofs alone. In Deut. xxix. 23 it is written : ' And the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger, and in His wrath.* Nothinof here about a sea coverino- the sites ! And, again, Deut. xxxii. 32 : ' For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah : FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 73 their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.' And St. Peter (2ncl Epistle ii. 6), speaking of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, remarks, ' turning the cities into ashes.' One final remark : From Mamre, or Hebron Hills, no view of the Dead Sea can be got; the Engedi hills bar the view ; but there is a dip, or gap, which would enable smoke to be seen if it arose at the northern end of the sea. Poets may write of * That bituminous lake where Sodom flamed,' but many things of Milton have been accepted as Bible truth with as little foundation in fact. And what of the so-called ' apple of Sodom '? Here, again, in the Bible I find it only speaks of the * vine,' that its clusters are ' bitter ' — nothing about a tree or shrub. And none of the proposed ' trees ' satisfy me. There is another mention of the * vine ' when the sons of the projohets went into the valley and gathered some 'gourds,' and shred them into the pot, and then found the pottage bitter, and cried, ' O, thou man of God, there is death in the pot !' and the prophet Elisha cured the pottage (2 Kings iv. 39-41). And why hunt for an ' apple,' when there is in the desert, growing on the little hillocks, a ' vine,' much like a melon-vine for foliaofe, and bearinof a fruit the size of a lemon, which is lovely to look at, but death to taste, as all Bedawin know ; and well I remember their horror when they saw me gather some, think- 24 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. ing I was about to eat them ! This fruit has a thick skin, and inside is full of pips, which are very bitter. They dry, and are hard enough then to bear all the dangers of travel, for I have some still in my cabinet. Here, again, poets have led the vv^orld astray. There has always been a mountain of rock-salt at the south end of the Dead Sea ; and there must always have been salt fields and marshes near it. The ruins at the south end are small and in- significant, but at the north end there is a remark- able group of tells — ' ruined heaps ;' in fact, it is covered with ruins — sites of cities that existed in the days of Joshua. For the north end is fertile ; five important sites have been found. Tell- Iktanu, one of these sites, has no meaning in Arabic. Dr. Merrill* suggests it is from the Hebrew word Katan, ' little,' or ' little one '; and he is supported by great authorities. The name 'Zoar ' in early days was ' Bela ' (Gen. xiv. 2). Zoar is mentioned in connection with Moses (Deut. xxxiv. 3), and in Isaiah and Jeremiah. Edrisi — an Arab writer — speaks of small ships plying on the Lower Jordan and the Dead Sea itself Again, Abraham goes south between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar. This place has been identified with ' Umm el Jerrar.'t The valley is about 200 yards wide. At the time of * ' East of Jordan,' pp. 235-239. t Conder, Quarterly Statement, July, 1875, pp. 162-165- January, 1881, p. 38. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 25 Major Conder's visit there was a large encamp- ment of the Terabin Arabs in the valley. He could neither see nor hear of ' wells.' There were many * cisterns.' No wells nearer than Beer- sheba — no springs, though they are marked on many maps ; but the Arabs, who are numerous, supply themselves with water by digging in the bed of the valley until they come to it. This valley really drains an immense area, as its head is close to Hebron, thence by Beersheba to the sea, a distance of over 6 0 miles. No ruins visible ; a dozen cisterns, and scattered about are heaps of pottery ; but a little south of this is an enormous mound, crescent-shaped, 100 yards in diameter, covered with broken pottery — its present name, Tell- Jemmeh. Later travellers speak of the country as undulating, a chalky soil, covered with grass. Many Arabs and their cattle about. Cultivated plots with barley, melons. In Wady Sheriah there are many wells. In a circle of two miles, twenty-four wells are marked in the great map issued by the Palestine Fund. The Philistine King of Gerar, Abimelech, takes Sarah, but, warned by a dream, returns her to Abraham, at the same time reproaching him for his want of truthfulness. And Abimelech claims that his is 'a righteous nation' (Gen. xx. 5). He gives back the wife, with many gifts. Isaac is born. When he is * weaned ' there is a great feast. With us, children are weaned early ; not so with Easterns. A * man child ' is often given the 26 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, breast till the end of his fourth or fifth year — a favourite child sometimes not weaned till its seventh year ! It would seem, from all considerations, that Isaac was five years of age when weaned. This exj^lanation gives point to our Lord's remark, * Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise.' Ishmael, the son of Hagar, mocks at the feast (Gen. xxi. 9-1 5) ; so Abraham, taking 'bread and a bottle of water,' puts it on Hagar's shoulder, and sends her away with her son. She wanders in the wilderness of Beersheba. The water spent, the boy exhausted, she casts him under one of the shrubs — the ' Retem * — little broom bushes which grace the desert, and which every traveller knows are often the only shelter and shade from the burning sun. It has often been my lot, when worn out with fatigue, to seek shelter in this way. I may here remark that Gerar was well known to the Egyptians. Its name appears in the list of Thothmes III. as * Kerara.' I do not think there are any grounds for identifying Gerar with Gaza, as is done by some writers. The position of Gaza does not fit in with the Bible narrative, and that, apart from everything else, is a sufficient objection. One reason why all these wells are so difficult to find is the great objection the Bedawin have to show the oases. That there are more wells in the desert of Shur than are known to travellers I am convinced. Twice in my own wanderings in the desert have I been taken — after giving a solemn promise not to FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 27 tell — to water. Once it was a lovely spot — a deep, pure pool, with palms growing near, jDapyrus and other rushes rank and rich — I gathered some of the papyrus, which I still have — grass and flowers. This is not marked in any map. In the other case, shallow pools of water were existing in the rocks — natural holes. Ishmael grows up and dwells in the ' wilderness of Paran,' becoming an 'archer' (Gen, xxi. 20). It is a common mistake to think that the Bible term * wilderness ' has the same meanino;- as * desert.' It is not so. 'Wilderness' really means a place or region which wild beasts inhabit. The wilderness of Paran lies south of the ' way of the Ped Sea,' which 'road,' or 'way,' is now called the 'way of the Haij,' for it is the route taken by the Mecca pilgrims on the way past ' Nakhl.' Ishmael, in short, was a Bedawy, and he takes a wife out of Egypt, which would be quite near ; easily, he might get an Egyptian wife from any of the Egyptian colonies which then existed close by, and where they worked the various mines of copper and turquoise. There is a life-like scene between Abimelech, the King of Gerar, and Abraham, because of a well of w^ater. As I before noticed, ' wells ' would draw a settled population, and disputed proprietorship of land would follow. ' The land question ' has ever been a difficulty. The well is given up, and called Beersheba — a name famous for evermore with the history of Israel. Its meaning, * the well of the oath.' records the covenant with 28 THE BIBLE AND 'MODERN DISCOVERIES. the king. Abraham, ever thoughtful, plants a * tamarisk ' (R. V.) grove there, for shade. This is a life-like touch, for only those trees would grow in such a locality. Beersheba is now called Bir Sebi. Palmer* found two wells filled with water, one dry, and traces of four others. The dry one was built of fine solid masonry, and in good condition. The west side of the valley was banked up with a wall of ancient masonrj^, to prevent the valley falling in. The hillsides are covered with ruins. The country around is a fine rolling plain or down, broken up by torrent-beds, in spring covered for miles with grass, flowers, and shrubs. The Arabs say the pasture is usually so rich that the grass and herbage grow up to the knees. When Palmer visited it, there had been a drought, and the whole pasture-land was burnt and bare as the desert. In Abraham's time ifc was not, probably, the deserted country it now is, for Palmer found, not far off, old, very old houses, nearly in perfect preservation, built often of hewn stones — especially the lintels and door-posts — circular in form. These houses were about seven or eight feet in diameter. Flint arrow-heads and other relics were found — ■ stone circles, cairns. Every hill is covered with ruins. Palmer even found beams of acacia-wood. No trees now exist. He found 'grainery pits' — in short, ample proofs that at some early period this region was thickly inhabited. Many of its people may have been * 'Desert of the Exodus,' pp. 387-390. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 29 Horites, and lived in caves. But enough here has been said to show that there were good reasons why Abimelech's servants were so jealous of Abraham founding new settlements. In later days, as we shall see, this region was even more densely populated. In January, 1884, Professor Hull,* wdth the exploring party sent by the Palestine Exploration Fund, visited Beersheba. At the time of his visit, the wady in which the ' wells ' are situated was a watercourse, owing to rains, and the wells only a few yards from the torrent. The old well- sinker knew that the chances of a constant supply were greatest in the low ground which borders a wady, and that the water from the wady itself would find its way by percolation into the well. Yet these wells are at a sufficient elevation to prevent the torrent-water, which is usually turbid, from getting direct access to the water in the wells. Great judgment was shown in the selection of the site — great skill in workmanship to cut out of the limestone rock wells of such depth and ex- cellence. Major Condert says the depth of the large well is over forty-five feet, lined with rings of masonry to the depth of twenty-eight feet, and he discovered that the masonry is not ancient. Fifteen courses down he found a stone with an inscription in Arabic dated 505 a.h. — that is, in the twelfth century — showing that it was then restored. * • Mount Seir.' t ' Tent Work,' p. 96. 30 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. The country is strewn with ruins of wells and foundations of buildings ; lines of foundations mark the ancient city — lines half a mile in extent when Canon Tristram ^^ visited it. The vast uneven plateau, almost green, was pastured over by thousands of goats, horned cattle, and camels. Several Arab encampments w^ere in sight, and, moreover, there were large portions of unfenced land cultivated with corn by the Arabs. Wheat and barley are hero grown. The land is ploughed or scratched, each piece lying fallow two years, and sown the third year. Rope marks worn by the water-drawers have worn deep flutings in the limestone. No less than 143 flutings were counted, the shallowest four inches deep. Marble troughs were lying about, and all day long Bedawln and their wives were drawinof water and filling- skins. There are traces of pillars of an ancient open roof over the well. The whole country is now treeless. Flowers of crocus, blue iris, and crimson ranunculus abound, and for creatures there are sand-grouse and plover, with flocks of the great crane, a few ruffled bustards, and herds of gazelles. Abraham 'sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.' That is the wiiole hint of time. Then ' God did prove Abraham.' He is told to off'er Isaac in the land of Moriah. They go three days, and see the place afar off". It would be a good three days' travel to get to Mount Moriah at Jerusalem. They would see it ' afar off ' coming * Tristram, 'Land of Israel,' p. 3G9. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 31 over the ridge at Bethlehem ; and this one fact, to my mind, quite destroj^s the efforts of some to identify ' Moriah ' with Mount Gerizim ; for, coming from the south, the latter mountain cannot be seen at all until you are crossing the watershed and quite close to Gerizim. What a test to Abraham's faith ! Throuofh this son * all the nations of the earth ' were to be ' blessed,' and yet he is told to sacrifice him ! (Gen. xxii. 2). Abraham would be quite familiar with the customs of the dwellers in Canaan, who hesitated not to sacrifice their first- born to their false gods, and so, ' to prove him,' the Almighty says, * Will you do as much for Me ?' His faith stood the test. The ram offered in his stead, father and son return to Beersheba. Sarah would seem to have been dwelling, because of her great age, in the more sheltered and settled town of Hebron, and Abraham has now to encounter the greatest earthly sorrow which falls to the lot of man — Sarah dies (Gen. xxiii. 2). Abraham 'comes' to w^eep for her. He was not present at her death, and now, as a ' stranger and sojourner ' (ver. 4) he has to ask of the children of Heth for a burying-place. What a truly Eastern scene now follows ! As a ' mighty prince ' (ver. 6) he is treated with the greatest courtesy ; he is offered his choice of any sepulchre ; he returns courtesy for courtesy ; he ' bowed himself to the peo^^le of the land,' or, as the account says later on, 'bowed himself down' (ver. 12). All representations of 'bowing down' in Egyptian or Assyrian sculptures 32 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. show that the bowing was to the ground, and not, as too many * pictures ' represent, a stiff right-angle bend. Let us stick to the Bible. The stiff bow •may be Persian ; it never was Egyptian, Assyrian, or Syrian. He buys the field and cave of 'Ephron the Hittite,' which fact proves that the Hittite was holding possession in Canaan. Abraham gives the price — * current ' money. A deed of some sort was drawn up, for the ' field,' cave, and trees were 'made sure' (ver. 17) to Abraham. His early business training in Ur and Haran here comes out ; we know that his descendants have not forgotten this early lesson. The only plot of the * Promised Land' he ever lives to possess is a field and a tomb. The trusty servant goes charged to find a suitable wife for Isaac. A devout man, he prays to God for guidance (Gen. xxiv.), and when the daughters of the city come out to draw water, he sees a damsel * fair to look upon ' — no veil here. She kindly gives water to the servant and his camels. Her generosity is rewarded by the rich gifts. * Straw and jDro vender ' is given to the camels. The message given, she is quite willing to go, though her relations wish for the usual ten days of rejoicing. The girl, however, agrees with the servant's urgent request, and starts at once with her nurse. The long journey is nearly over. By Hagar's Well (Gen. xxiv. 62) Isaac has been dwelling, but, coming south, he sees the long train of camels. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 33-, At the same lime Rebekah sees her future lord,, and out of modesty or coquetry takes her veil and covers herself. Her shy maidenly nature now asserts itself; she may have seemed bold before, but her true nature is now revealed. Abraham now sends his other sons, by his new wife and concubines, to * the East country ' (Gen. XXV. 6). Where? To the land of Seir, Mount Hor, or to Teman — who can say ? Abraham dies. He is buried with his wife in the Cave of Mach- pelah. The son of promise and the son of the bondwoman join in his funeral rites. Isaac goes, back to ' Hagar's Well ' (ver. 11), while Ishmael dwelt in 'Havilah' (ver. 18), on the way to Shur. This ' Havilah ' could not have been that described in Gen. ii. 11, 12. That is spoken of as where the best gold was found ; but this * Havilah ' of Ishmael was, I think, that gold region known so well to the Egyptians, and from which perhaps he got his wife. Rebekah's two sons are different : one a hunter,, fond of meat ; the other a ' ]Amn man,' fond of tent life, living, as Arabs who are out of the track of caravans now do, on milk or vegetable diet. Palmer says : ' The Arabs of the Tih, or this south country, live almost entirely on milk '; and the red lentil is still a favourite food for the poor in Egypt, as every traveller knows. Many a time I have seen my Arabs prepare this dish, though they will eagerly eat it fresh and uncooked. The hasty Esau — probably unfortunate in his hunting — sells his 3 3+ THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. birtlirioflit, so little does he value it, and its spiritual promises and privileges. For a full meal of bread and pottage he " despised his birthright' " (Gen. XXV. 34). The ' plain man ' had lived his quiet life, looking after his flock and herds — as did his forefathers — living on simple food ; his best dish red lentil porridge, the ' red ' being the better kind. The lentil is boiled, then olive-oil, and sometimes pepper, is mixed with it — it was then and is now a favourite dish. Barzillai brought some lentils as a gift fit for a king to David (2 Sam. xvii. 28). This pottage is a sustaining healthy food in the East, fit for simple folk, as is the porridge of Scotland. The usual summer drought compels Isaac to move to Gerar. The king, * Abimelech ' — whose name was evidently given by the Philistines of that time to their kings, just as Pharaoh was the Egyptian title — receives him ; but Isaac is warned not to go down to Egypt. His was not the same strong nature as his father's, and probably he would not be able to withstand the temptation of Egyptian worship and custom. This king does not take away Rebekah from her husband, and reproves Isaac for his want of trust in him, his host. Isaac plants corn, and has a wondrous increase, even in that productive land which only requires water to yield its * thirty or hundred fold.' His flocks and herds increase, and he pays the usual penalty of prosperity : 'the Philistines envied him ' (Gen. xxvi. 14-35); FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 35 they foresee a possible political danger. Ownership of land again ! The wells hastily dug by Abraham had been stopped up and filled with earth. These * wells,'* I imagine, were like those dug now by the Arabs in Sinai, 'ponds ' eight or ten feet deep ; they tap surface springs and collect rain-water. Isaac re-opens them. They go further into the valley and find by digging a spring of ' living ' water, a prize indeed. This will not dry up in the hot summer, hence the strife with the herdsmen of Gerar. The patriarch names it Esek {' contention '), and leaving it, digs another ; and probably found the same * living ' water that is still more fiercely con- tended for, for he calls it Sitnah (' enmity ') ; he removes and digs another : the Philistines strove not for that, so he called it Rehoboth (' room '). Palmert remarks that the name Rehoboth, being in the plural, may apply to any of the valleys in which he places the present Ruheibeh. In this wady he found wells, one ancient, the troughs and other masonry being of immense proportions, and seemingly of very great antiquity. One of the troughs is round, the other circular, cut in blocks six feet by five feet by six feet. This he thought was the well of Isaac. There are many ruins about, remains of a large town. When he visited Ruheibeh * It has been found that a great underground stream flows down the valley past Hebron, then southwards to Beersheba, and so passes Gerar to the sea. The Arabs, to-day, make exca- vations— ' pits.' Probably the ' wells ' dug by Abraham were of this description. See Quarterly Statement, 1881, p. 38. t ' Desert of the Exodus, ' O Q O Zi 36 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, the well was partly filled up with debris. On the sloping sides of Wady el Bir, near there, are ruins, numerous wells, reservoirs and cisterns. Again, near is a small wady or valley, now called Bahr bela mi (the waterless sea) ;* on its left, a small valley, which he thinks is undoubtedly the Sitnah of Isaac. Isaac goes to Beersheba, builds an altar, and calls on the name of the Lord. The promise is renewed to him ; he has a peaceful interview with the king and his captains. They have a feast to ratify their friendship. It must have been a * tem- perance ' feast, for they ' rose betimes in the morning,' renewing their oath of friendship, and the visitors go back to Gerar. Esau, carrying out his contempt of his birth- right, makes a marriage which causes grief to his parents. And then comes the story of Jacob's deceit, under his mother's guidance. Esau, though a worldly man, was yet generous, frank, self-for- getful, and he had a blessing, too, and though for a time he hated his brother, yet we know how frankly he forgave him in the end. The orthodox religious world is too often like Jacob, timid and wily. Though he had the birthright, yet he had great sorrow. The Bible relates facts, and does not extenuate or excuse the bad deeds of good men. Jacob is sent away from home to Padan-aram. The long way from Beersheba to Bethel is passed ; he halts at this place to sleep ; he would know its history ; he lays his head upon a stone. It would * 'Desert of the Exodus,' vol. ii., p. 385. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OP JOSEPH, yj not be difficult to find one on those stony hill-tops at Bethel, covered as they are with boulders. He takes the stone and erects it as a pillar, and pours oil on the top of it (Gen. xxviii. 18). This menhir, or 'long stone,' is the simplest and perhaps the oldest of human monuments ; it is the parent of the obelisk, and was the earliest method of marking a famous place. It was used by the Canaanites. Man}^ still exist ; one in Moab, called Hajr el Mansiib,* has a name identical radically with the Hebrew word translated * pillar ' in the Bible ; and here one may perhaps say a few words on the ridiculous theory that the * Coronation Stone ' in Westminster Abbey is the veritable stone Jacob set up, said to have been in the Temple of Solomon, then by Jeremiah brought to Ireland. We are to believe that it was the * throne of David,' that Solomon ' placed it in the Temple as the chief corner-stone.' It is only necessary to mention these assertions ; argument is useless.! Jacob goes on his journey, arrives at a well where the sheep are lying about. The stone is rolled over the well-mouth, and it beino- ' hio-h day,' it is time the cattle should be gathered together for food and water. So Rachel comes with her father Laban's sheep. She is pointed out to Jacob, who rolls away the stone and kisses the damsel. That she should have been sent with the sheep proves that she was of tender age — from * Conder, ' Heth and Moab,' p. 253. t It has been, in fact, proved to be of the kind of stone most common in Scotland. 3S THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. seven to ten years, not older. All Eastern customs prove, as may be seen to-day, that only young girls of that age are allowed to tend the sheep, or go alone. Rebekah, in her case, remember, went ' with the daughters of the city.' Eastern customs are un- chanofeable. Jacob kisses the child, and loves her at once. It is a case of love at first sight. She is not of a marriageable age, and so the man pro- poses to wait seven years for her. This is the simple explanation of the puzzle. Jacob serves the seven years, and then is tricked — he has to serve another seven. In time he wishes to go away. Laban refuses consent. Jacob, still wily, gets the better of his father-in-law, whose own sons grumble. So, after consulting with his wives, Jacob ' stole away unawares.' He passes over the river — which must be the Euphrates ; probably at the same ford which Abraham crossed — and ' sets his face to the mountains of Gilead.' After a seven days' chase, he is overtaken by Laban, who reproaches Jacob for so secretly departing, urging he would have liked the usual feast and rejoicing ; but his main ground of complaint is that Jacob has stolen his * gods.' It would seem that Jacob was ignorant of the theft by Rachel. A search is made. Rachel, pleading illness, refuses to rise from the camel-furniture, under which she had hidden the ' Teraphim.' The word is obscure ; it is in the plural, and implies images — probably of human form. Laban seems to have attached great value to them, for he calls them his 'gods.' And yet, in Gen. xxiv. 49-53, FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 39 we are told that he beHeved in the true God. They would seem to have had something to do with magic. They are afterwards often mentioned in Jewish history. Jacob is very wrath, and details his twenty years of hard service ; how that he was responsible for everything ; how that the drought by day, and the frost by night, destroyed his sleep (Gen. xxxi. 40); that he served fourteen years for his wives and six for his flocks, having- his wao-es chang-ed ten times. It is a purely Eastern scene. The high excito- ment, the loud wrangle, the vigorous gesticulation, can be seen now when Arabs meet. But after the storm a calm. Jacob again puts vqi a menhir — * pillar ' — and tells his brethren to gather stones and make a heap, and then they * did eat ' by the heap — the usual solemn ratification of peace, to this day existing. The heap is called Galeed (ver. 48), which seems a play or pun on the word Gilead, which means ' stony,' or * a rocky region.' It is also called Mizpah (' the watch-tower '). And they make a compact that neither will pass that heap to injure the other. Laban departs. Then the angels of God meet Jacob, who calls the place Mahanaim (' the two hosts '). The Septuagint says, where Israel ' saw the camp of God encamped.' Many have been the attempts to identify this place. Canon Tristram* thinks he has found the place in Birket Mahneh, M^here there are five fine ponds — ' Birket ' — and some ruins. Dr. Merrill, of the American * ' Land of Israel,' p. 474. 40 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Survey, does not accept this place. Mr. Laurence Oliphant thinks, after an examination of the country, that Canon Tristram is more hkely to be right than Dr. Merrill ; while Major Conder says the site is ' unsettled.' He gives many reasons. Jacob was going to Edom to meet Esau (Gen. xxxii. 2). He had sent messengers, and they had returned, hearing that Esau was coming with 400 men. Jacob, afraid, divides his party, passes his wife Leah and flocks over the ford of Jabbok, while he remains on the other side (ver. 22, 23). Then there is that wonderful wrestling with the angel, and Jacob calls the place Peniel, which means 'face' or 'appearing' of God. This 'Peniel' would seem to have been a ridge, for Jacob passed over it as the sun rose ; and Conder* suggests that the high summit of the hill now called Jebel Osh'a is the place. In Murray's map a valley called Faneh is marked. If this is correct, the Arabic word would be a good translation of the Hebrew, Penuel. Jacob no doubt was going on the old pilgrim-road to the north. And we find from Joshua xiii. 26 that Mahanaim is noted as opposite the border of Debir — ' the edge of the ridofe.' Mahanaim was near a wood, for Absalom was killed there. The slopes of Mount Gilead are clothed with woods of fine oak. As to the site of Mizpeh, it is remarkable that close to a village called Suf, near Jerash, there is still existing a finet * 'Heth and Moab,' p. 179. t lUd., p. 243. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 41 group of rude-stone monuments, showing it was once a sacred centre. And it is curious to note how closely dolmen centres in Eastern Palestine are connected with the early history of Israel. It is the case at Nebo. Gilgal, Bethel are clearly men- tioned as places where menhirs once stood. If Suf be the Mizpeh of Gilead, we do there also find a rude-stone centre in the Galeed of Jacob. If we are unable to fix with absolute certainty the position of Mahanaim, it is difl:erent with the * ford ' over which Jacob passed his flocks. The Jabbok, now called the Zerka ('blue river'), has been well explored by competent travellers. They describe it as a fine stream running between sand- stone banks — a stream which has many cascades, the slopes of the gorge clothed with oleander, and having here only one ford, or, rather, only one practicable. Here was the meeting with Esau, whose wild retainers would be crowding the oppo- site slope. The cautious Jacob keeps his most dearly beloved Rachel and Joseph * hindmost,' giving them a chance of escape if Esau were not friendly. He bowed himself to the ground seven times — a very great mark of humility. All his fears were groundless. The injured Esau saw only his brother, ran to meet him, embraced him, and fell on his neck and wept ! They both wept. Brotherly love and long absence had swept away all angry feelings. They only remembered they were brothers. Twins in birth, they are united aofain. 42 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Again comes out the cautious nature of Jacob. Esau offers to go before him, or, when that is dechned, to leave some of his men. That, too, is decHned ; so Esau returns on his way to Seir, while Jacob goes to Succoth, builds a house, and makes booths for his cattle. It is evident Succoth was on the main route from Central Palestine to Eastern Gilead, for he was on his way to Shechem. Burckhardt found a ruin east of Jordan called Sukhat, and that ruin is in the territory of Gad, in which we know Succoth was placed. It was probably near the Jabbok ford, and on the main road, for Gideon pursued the Midianites to Succoth, and past Penuel. Jacob passes on in peace to Shechem, again probably following the route of Abraham. He buys a parcel of ground and erects an ' altar ' — ■ not a menhir this time. It seems somewhat strange that nowhere in the Old Testament is it stated that Jacob dug a well here, and yet the distinct statement of the Samaritan woman estab- lishes the fact (St. John iv. 12). All traditions — of Jews, Samaritans, Moslems, and Christians — agree in this. The whole history of Jacob shows his caution. Buying the field, he would have the right to dig a well, and so would avoid all the quarrels his father had had ; and his practical wisdom was never more shown than in thus securing a possession in this the garden of Canaan. It became his. homestead, while his flocks could roam on the plain now called El Mukhnah. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEA TH OF JOSEPH. 43 Many springs exist all around, but he feared trouble, lest the natives should quarrel with his sons when the flocks and herds wanted water. This well is probably the deepest in Palestine. Originally it is believed to have been 150 feet deep. Rubbish has, however, fallen in ; but when I was camped there in 1875, on dropping a stone down, it was many seconds before I could hear the splash. Three granite columns were lying on the ground, and there was a ruined arch. The masonry extends down the well about twenty feet ; after that the shaft is bored through the rock. The Palestine Exploration Fund, in 1879, proposed to clear it of rubbish and build a low stone wall around it. Plans were drawn. The design was frustrated, and the site was bought by the Greek Church. However, in 1881a most interesting discovery was made by Bishop Barclay.* In a letter to the Palestine Fund, 17th May, he relates how he had often visited the place. But on this occasion, with his wife, they clambered down into the vault, when he chanced to notice, a few feet from the opening, a dark crack between the stones. They removed some stones and earth, and were then able to trace part of a curved aperture in a large slab of stone. They cleared more earth and stones, and soon distinguished the circular mouth of the well, though it was blocked by an immense mass of stone. Calling in aid two men who were * Quarterly Statement, July, 1881, p. 212. 44 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. R VINE I) VAULT 0 VER Jacob's well. ^jMctson ry ^^ JJejitJtofWell JSfl: Si me •^r- DiameCer Vft. 6'in. inloWeU Fic,.2, ^^r^^ Ziimeslone:-_ Roc/c ^^■~ ^= Flccnnf ChuTcJt S=- Zicilt overJeicohs TVcIl g 4 clesc TiZecl iyJlr CJtJpJius m 'tip. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 45 looking on, with considerable labour they managed to remove it, and the opening of the well was clear ! There was the ledge on which, doubtless, the Saviour rested ; there were the grooves in the stone caused by the ropes by which the water-pots were drawn up. The next day they completely laid bare the massive stone which forms the mouth. It is of hard limestone, in fair preservation. The exact measurements are given. A boy was lowered to the bottom. It was found to be sixty-seven feet, and then there was a large ac- cumulation of rubbish. In 1866 it was seventy- five feet, and Captain Anderson, of the Survey party, had a narrow escape, for he fainted away, and was insensible for some time on the stones at the bottom. The difference of depth shows what amount of rubbish had been thrown in in those few years. According to Jerome, the noble Lady Paula found a church round about Jacob's Well, which she entered. The Bordeaux Pilgrim, who visited Gerizim 333 a.d., speaks of 'plane-trees,' and a bath supplied with water from the well, but no church, though other writers do mention it. Bishop Arculf, in 700 a.d,, saw the church, and sketched it. It was, however, destroyed before the Crusaders' time. Doubtless, the heaps of ruins, which in 1875 I found scattered about belonged to that ancient church. As I before said, the cautious patriarch dug this well, hoping to escape quarrel v/ith the people 46 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. of the land. We all know how all his hopes were frustrated. The sad story of Dinah, and the revensre of her brothers, force him to leave ; but so great was the terror round about them that none pursue, and Jacob goes on to Bethel — burying under the oak at Shechem the 'strange gods' (Gen. xxxv. 2-4), the Teraphim, stolen by Rachel, and the rings in their ears. They purified themselves, and changed their garments. Why was this ? Jacob, with all his faults, and weak towards his family, still clung to the Lord God ; he goes to Bethel, and again builds an altar. Bebekah's nurse dies, and is buried below Bethel, under the oak (ver. 8). No more hint as to the grave. There are no oaks there now. Again Jacob erects a ' menhir,' pouring out a drink-offering and oil (ver. 14). It is remarkable how often this is noted of him. They journey on. Benjamin is born; and Rachel, the dearly-loved wife, dies, and is buried in the way to Ephrath — Beth- lehem (Gen. xxxv. 19). He set up a 'pillar' over her grave. That ' pillar ' has long disappeared, but has been replaced at various times by different building's. Jerome, in his account of the pilgrimage of Santa Paula, says she * stood beside the tomb of Rachel' The Bordeaux Pilgrim, 333 A.D., says: 'From Jerusalem, going to Bethlehem, on the road on the right hand is a tomb, in which lies Rachel, the wife of Jacob.' A tomb still exists, but it is merely an ordinary Moslem wely-tomb, a small building, twenty-three feet long by twenty feet high, a roof, a dome plastered FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 47 over with mortar. There must have been a laroje arch at one time. Traces of other arches can be also seen. Pilgrimages are still made to it by the Jews. The walls are covered with names — many Hebrew. This is, again, one of the few places in the Holy Land in which Jew, Mohammedan and Christian traditions agree. Though some have thought Rachel's sepulchre was north of Jerusalem, I presume to say that no one who knows the country would so place it. The Bible says : ' There was still some way to come to Ephrath ' (ver. 16). The Hebrew word translated in A.V. * some way ' really means * a little way,' and this agrees with the position of this present tomb. * Then Israel journeyed, and spread his tent be- yond the town of Eder ' (Gen. xxxv. 21). We get this name Eder again in Joshua xv. 21, when it is spoken of as one of the towns of Judah in the ex- treme south, on the borders of Edom. Eder means 'tower of the flock.' The traditions of 700 a.d. and 867 a.d. place it near Bethlehem. In the Jewish Mishna it is also placed not far from Bethlehem. The Targum of Jonathan adds, ' which is the place where shall be revealed the King Messias in the end of days.' There is a ruin called by the Arabs ' The Buin of the Sheepfold,' and the Survey party mention this, and add, * Walls, cisterns, vaults, and tombs — probably early Christian ruins.'* Another Rabbinical tra- * * Survey Western Palestine,' Jerusalem Sheet, and Conder, Quarterly Statement, 1876, p. 98. 48 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. dition appears to refer to the same place. It is about four and a half miles from Bethlehem. The mediaeval site can be recognised close to the so- called * Shepherd's Plain.' East of Bethlehem there exists a small chapel, ^^il^^i's and ruins of a larger building. There is no spot in the country about so well fitted for an encampment. Jacob goes to his father at Mamre (ver. 27) — Hebron. Isaac dies, and Esau and Jacob bury him (Gen, xxxv. 29). We can now speak of the Cave of Machpelah. In modern times two very competent observers have been allowed to enter the mosque at Hebron — Dean Stanley, with the Prince of Wales ; later, Major Conder, with the Poyal Princes, in 1881. First, let us note who is buried there : Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Bebekah. Jacob buried Leah (Gen. xlix. 31) ; there he also was buried (Gen. 1. 13). This is the last Biblical mention of the Cave of Machpelah. It is strange that St. Stephen should say they were buried at Shechem (Acts vii. 16). Josephus says the monuments existed in his day. They were of ' beautiful marble, and admirably worked.' The Bordeaux Pilgrim, a.d. 333, de- scribes the monuments. We shall see that the stones are older than Herod. Hebron is very old : * built seven years before Zoan in Egypt (Numb, xiii. 22). The terebinth, or oak, were shown in the days of Josephus, and still the name lingers, for the field below the building is still called ' Field FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 49 of the Terebinth.' The sanctit}^ of the place has ever been venerated by Jew, Christian, and Moslem. There were great objections raised when the Prince of Wales wished to enter the mosque, which, from its form, shows it to have been a church of the Byzantine period, afterwards made into a mosque. In this mosque are shown the so-called tombs. Each is enclosed in a chapel, or shrine, closed with gates. In different recesses are shown the shrine of Abraham and Sarah. The latter had a pall over it. No one was allowed to enter, it being the tomb of a woman. The Prince was allowed to enter the shrine of Abraham after a prayer by the chief of the forty guardians of the mosque, who said, * O friend of God, forgive this intrusion.' The so- called tomb was a cofBn-like structure, six feet high, built of blasted marble or stone, hung with three carpets, green and gold. In the area of the mosque are placed the tombs of Isaac and Pebekah. The same rule of exclusion applied to Pebekah's tomb. In recesses are the tombs of Jacob and Leah. They were not allowed to enter the tomb of Isaac, on the plea that he was of a jealous disposi- tion. No tomb shown of Pachel or Ishmael, as one might expect from Moslems. But how as to the embalmed body of Jacob, which may be supposed to be intact ? The only hint of the sacred cave was a small circular hole about eight inches across, of which one foot above the pavement was built of strong masonry, but of which the lower part was of the living rock. This 4 so THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. cavity appeared to open into a dark space. The guardians of the mosque believed it to extend under the whole platform. Here, undoubtedly, is the ancient Cave of Machpelah. Sometimes a lamp is let down into this opening, for the guardians say, ' The saint likes to have a lamp at night.' Moslem and Christian together for 600 years held this sanctuary, and no attempt was made to explore the cave ! Thus far Dean Stanley. Other accounts have been given ; they are not considered trust- worthy. What did Major Conder see in 1881 ?* He was able to take a plan, to measure the walls. Some of the courses of stones, he says, are in average height 3 feet 7 inches ; the longest stone seen and measured w^as 24 feet 8 inches by 3 feet 8^ inches in height ; the thickness of the walls between the buttresses, 8 J- feet ; the height of ancient wall, 46 feet average. A modern wall is built on the top. The cave was not entered. It is below the floor. There were three known entrances, but they were flagged over, and, of course, were not allowed to be broken, as that would be a desecration. The sheikh of the mosque described the cave as being double, which agrees with the original name, Machpelah (' division in half '). No historical notice of the building of the great wall is to be found. In * 'The Princes' Visit to the Holy Land,' Conder, pp. 5-27, Palestine Exploration Fund. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 51 the Middle Ages the cave was always spoken of as *■ the double cave.' At one point is a shaft. A lamp was lowered, and a chamber seen about fifteen feet below that of the' mosque. The four walls could be seen. It is said to lead to the western cave. The doorway was also seen. That closely resembled the doorways which give access to ancient rock-cut tombs in Palestine. The cave probably resembled many of the rock-cut sepulchres in Palestine, with a square antechamber quarried, and two inner sepul- chral chambers ; and at some later time access has been made through the roof^ now the jloor of the present mosque. A Greek inscription was noticed, built into the wall — an invocation to Abraham to bless and protect certain individuals. It probably dates from the time of Justinian. No modern explorer has ever been allowed to enter the cave. Major Conder and Sir Charles Wilson think that the masonry of the wall is of the same date as that of the wall of the ' Wailinof Place ' at Jerusalem, and certainly Herodian. It is, how- ever, curious that Josephus, who speaks of the building as existing in his day, should, if built by Herod, not have noticed its erection when he spoke of so many buildings Herod did build. Jacob dwelt in the land of Canaan. Joseph, living as a shepherd with his brothers, a lad of seventeen years old, tells his father of the evil doings of Eeuben, his brother. His fatlier loved him more than all the others, * because he was the 4—2 52 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. son of his old age.' He shows his want of judg- ment in making Joseph a ' coat of many colours.' The dress of the ordinary shepherd would be a short under-garment, like a shirt, confined at the waist by a leathern girdle ; a long cloak of camel- hair, or a tanned sheepskin, as often worn now by shepherds ; a short garment like a jacket ; a simple head-covering like a handkerchief, fastened round the head by a cord of camel-hair dyed black. This head-dress is now called heffiyeh. The corners can be drawn across the mouth and fastened at the back in the cord. This head-covering is most useful in the East, as it thus protects the mouth and nostrils from dust or hot wind. The * coat of many colours ' might be described as a gentleman- farmer's coat — longer than the usual shirt, with pendent sleeves, and made of fine linen or silk, in stripes of many colours, just as may be seen to-day on a well-to-do farmer or sheikh. Joseph has dreams. Boy -like, he tells his brothers. No doubt he was somewhat puffed up by the distinc- tion of dress and extreme fondness of his father, who appears to have been dwelling near Hebron. Jacob sends his sons away to Shechem, to the plot of land he had bought, probably to get them away from evil associates, and for better pasture for the flocks. He sends Joseph to Shechem to find out how they are going on. It would be a long journey if on foot, as it seems to have been. He found them not. * Wandering in the field ' (Gen. xxxvii 15) — probably the * very parcel of ground bought * FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 53 by Jacob — he is seen by a man, who tells him he had overheard them say, * Let us go to Dothan ' (ver. 17). If you were to ask a native of Shechem to-day, * Where is the best pasture- ground for sheep ?' he would tell you, * Dothan.* Because there would be better pasture there than at Shechem is, I think, the reason they moved on. He goes after them ; they see him ' afar off.' Here is a touch of local truth ; for, after climbing the high hill north of Samaria, which would be Joseph's route, he would then descend the steep northern slope of the ridge, and at Dothan would be easily seen afar off. His figure would tell against the sky-line. They recog- nised his figure and dress, sharp-sighted, as all Arab shepherds are to-day. They have often distin- guished and told me who was coming, when I required my opera-glass to tell if their statements were correct. They cry to each other, ' The dreamer cometh !' (ver. 19) and propose to slay him ; but Reuben, of whose evil deeds Joseph had told, would not allow it. Reuben was not altoo^ether bad. One would have said, out of revenge, lie would have been the one to do the lad ill. He proposes they should cast him into a pit, meaning that he might deliver him and restore him to his father. This pit was em23ty, and had no water — the usual sort of pit or pond dug even now by Arabs and shepherds to get rain-water, perhaps ten feet deep, with sloping sides, and not that stone well pictures will persist in representing. The 54 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. incorrect art given in pictures, especially for the young, is a fruitful source of error. The old masters have much to answer for in their pictures of Christ, and moderns, too, are not exempt from blame. Everyone who draws sacred subjects should take care and stud}^ the text, and not be like a popular artist — now dead — who, when asked to illustrate a Bible, agreed, but asked his publisher to send round the book he was to illustrate ! They sit down to eat, and, behold ! a caravan — Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to Egypt (ver. 25). This caravan was on the well-known route, taking, as usual, a convoy of those articles used in the embalming of bodies in Egypt. These men are called Midianites, probably coming from Damascus, which has always been the great emporium of the East. Joseph is sold to them for twenty pieces of silver (ver. 2 8), and they go on their way. Reuben would seem to have been away at the moment ; he is full of grief ; he knew of his past sin, and naturally thought suspicion would rest on him. The Midianites would soon be out of sight, as they w^ould go their usual route through the plain of Dothan westward. They would traverse the maritime Plain, and so take the ' way of the Philistines ' to Egypt ; for the Midianites and the Children of the East held sway in this region up to the time of the Judges, which is also stated on Egyptian inscriptions. And now again comes a bit of purely Eastern deceit : they kill a he-goat, dip the coat belonging FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 55 to Joseph in the blood, and they bring it themselves (ver. 23) to their father ! The poor old man recog- nises it ; his grief is unbounded. The torn gar- ments, the bandage of sackcloth, are all Eastern marks of sorrow. He says, * I will go down into the grave unto my son, mourning' (ver. 35), and yet he was deceived. Objectors to the Bible have often said it excuses the bad deeds of its so-called saints, and represents them as committing grave offences ; but read what is written of Jacob ; be- cause the Bible is true and relates faithfully the dark sins of good men, it never excuses them. Jacob deceives his father; what are the consequences? He has to fly from his home ; he has to suffer heat and cold and loss of sleep for his wife, and he is deceived; his wa^es are chansfed ten times ; his own favourite wife steals from her father things he values, and which are a snare to her. He hopes for peace at Shechem, and takes great precautions ; but his sons cause him great trouble ; his dearly -beloved wife dies ; his eldest son Reuben dishonours him. He has a flivourite son ; his own brothers sell him as a slave, and deceive their father, and see without any com- punction his great grief. Through all his life he suffers at the hands of others from deceit. Do not the words of Moses apply here, ' Be sure your sin will find you out ' (Numb, xxxii. 23) ? The Midianites arrive in Egypt ; he is sold in Zoan, or Tanis — now called San, a city which wor- shipped Set, or Baal ; for though the Hyksos had become Egyptians, they yet regarded Set as the 56 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. chief object of their worship. Zoan at this time was really the civil capital of Pharaoh, and stood near the western limit of his land. Potiphar, to whom Joseph was sold, was apparently chief officer of Pharaoh's guard, probably the chariot corps, for on this frontier the chariot guard was stationed. The name Potiphar is a purely Egyptian name, meaning * the gift of the risen one,' or, as others'* translate it, ' devoted to the Sun-god,' both mean- ings being the same. Joseph prospers in the house ; he is made overseer. In the many Egyptian inscriptions all over Egypt we can see the ' overseer ' represented, now directing the labourers in the field ; now taking account of the crops, writing down on tablets the goodly store of goods ; introducing what strangers might come to the master, or directing punishment to offenders — all was in the hands of the overseer ; and does not the Bible say Potiphar left all to Joseph ? The youthful, handsome Hebrew over- seer is assailed and tempted by Potiphar's wife. Either her husband did not quite believe her, or he saw that the Lord was with Joseph; therefore, he did not put him at once to death, but placed him in prison, where the king's prisoners w^ere put. But the Lord never forsakes His own servants. They may have sore trials ; but the man who could saj^-, ' I cannot do this wickedness, and sin against God * (Gen. xxxix. 9), was not deserted in his hour of bitter trial by his God. * 'Dwellers on the Nile,' W. Budge, p. 86. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 57 There is still existing a papyrus on which is written what is called ' The Tale of the Two Brothers/'"' a story before the times of Joseph, written at considerable leno'th — tellinsf how a wife of the elder brother assailed the younger one, who fled ; she then accused him to her husband, who sought to kill him ; but he was warned, and the Sun-god protected him. The brother in time learnt the truth, and killed his wife. This, and much more, is related in the old story, of which the full account can be read in the pages of Brugsch. The captain of the guard of the prison makes JosejDh an overseer really of all the prisoners. The real piety, the transparent honesty and uprightness of Joseph, were felt by this captain, who probably had known the accused in his long years of service with Potiphar ; for Joseph was seventeen years old when sold, * two full years ' in prison, and ' thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh King of Egypt ' (Gen. xli. 46). So it follows he must have been about eleven years in Potiphar's house. He had risen from the position of a slave to be so that he could say, * Saving my master, there is none greater in this house than I ' (Gen. xxxix. 9). It was not a sudden fancy Potiphar took to him, but the result of long years of honest service. Doubtless so important a man would be well known to the captain of the prison, and we see from his conduct that he felt Joseph had been falsely accused. * Brugsch, 'History of Egypt,'!., pp. 309-311 ; also quoted by Sayce. 58 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Two men especially are mentioned as being put in his charge — the chief butler and the chief baker. We know not what their crimes were, but they each dream, and are sad because ' there is none that can interpret ' (xl. 6) — that is, being in prison, they had no access to the professional magicians, or wise men. Joseph tells them that ' to God alone belong interpretations.' But he asks them to tell him. He tells the chief butler that in three days he will be restored to favour. The cupbearer's office, as we can see on the inscriptions, was one of honour. It was near the king's birthday, and it was common to have rejoicings on that day. It was considered holy. And, as now, amnesties for past offences were granted ; all Joseph asks is that his case may be mentioned to Pharaoh. He knows his innocence, and doubts not he could prove it if tried. The cupbearer joromised, but forgot ! He would be in those scenes of feastinsf which are so fully represented on the Egyptian inscriptions, so perhaps it was no wonder this man forgot in courtly apartments the promises he had made in prison. The air of courts has ever been a difficult one to live in. The chief baker, reassured by the good news for his fellow-prisoner, tells his dream. He says he dreamt he was carrying three baskets of white bread — bread for Pharaoh — on his head, the upper- most basket holding * all manner of baked meats ' — all kind of food, that is. At Thebes we see ample picture representations of baking : one man is carry- FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 59 ing ou his head a long basket, on which are placed rolls of bread, while others are engaged in the various processes of cake-making, cooking lentils, making macaroni on a jjan over the fire, kneading the dough, or jDreparing the oven. The birthday of Pharaoh comes. The explanation given by Joseph comes true. The cupbearer is restored to favour — the other executed. In the inscriptions we have ample representations of Egyptian justice. The goddess Thmei"^ — which appears to have been the origin of the Hebrew Thummin, this word, according to the Septuagint, meaning * truth ' — is always represented ' having her eyes closed,' show- ing, as Plutarch says, ' that justice ought neither to be accessible to bribes, nor guided by favour or affection.' Pich or poor, ignorant or learned, were placed on an equal footing, and it was the case, not the person, upon which judgment was passed. In fact, Egyptian laws seem to have been dictated by a scrupulous regard to justice and humanity. And very rarely was the death punishment in- flicted. This being so, it would seem that the chief baker must have been guilty of some great crime. Pharaoh has two dreams, which the magicians and wise men cannot interpret. The cupbearer then speaks of Joseph. When there is an opportunity of bringing him- self into importance by helping Pharaoh out of his difficulty, he can remember the Hebrew. * Wilkinson, ' Ancient Egyptians,' p. 205. 6o THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, Joseph is sent for. He is brought hastily * out of the dungeon.' But before he is fit to appear before the king, he is * shaved/ and changes his raiment. Here, again, the monuments offer us many ilhistrations.'"* Egyptians only allowed their hair to grow during the times of mourning. To neglect the hair was considered dirty. When a man of low station is represented, he is always drawn with a beard. The head was shaved, only a few locks beino- left. Priests shaved the whole body every three days. In many tombs have I seen representations of the barber at work. There is a hymn in praise of learning, where the hard work of the barber is contrasted with the easy work of the scribe. It is translated by Dr. Birch : ' The barber is shaving till evening, f When he places himself to eat, he places himself on his elbows. He places himself at street after street to seek after shaving. He wearies his hands to fill his belly, as bees feed by their labour. 'J Joseph is brought before Pharaoh. The great man says he has heard of him, that he can interpret dreams. Joseph says, ' it is not in him, but God.' His faith, his trust in God, stands every test. The dreams are told — that of the kine, of the ears of corn. Dr. Birch has seen a * Wilkinson, 'Ancient Egyptians,' p. 326. t 'Eecords of the Past,' viii., p. 148. X Old Egyptian razors are to be seen in the Boulak Museum, and also in the British Museum. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 6i reference to the seven cows of Athor pictured in the Book of the Dead ; and the Egyptian word * reed-grass,' there used, is now used in the Revised Version, instead of * meadow,' as in the Authorized Version. The dreams are interpreted. Joseph says, 'God showing what He is about to do,' He then gives the king advice. Pharaoh consults with his ad- visers. Courtier-hke, they agree with the king, and Joseph is ' set over all the land of Egypt ' (Gen. xli. 41)! From the dungeon to a palace at one bound ! * Pharaoh took off his signet-ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand ' (Gen. xli. 42). That is, he invested him with the royal signet- ring — the seal by which the royal assent was given to all state documents. Joseph then would get the king's secretaries to write any decree he might like to dictate, would then rub ink with his finger on the seal, press it on the papyrus roll, and it was a decree. Such is the custom to-day. My permit to enter the convent of Mount Sinai is * sealed ' in exactly the same manner. Then he is given ' vestures of fine linen. So perfect was Egyptian linen, that a piece found at Thebes has 152 t breads in the warp, 7 1 in the woof, to each inch. A piece from Memphis is as fine again ; this is also covered with hieroglyphics so finely drawn that the lines are w^ith difiSculty followed by the eye, and there is no appearance of the ink having run. When held up to the * Wilkinson, ' Ancient Egyptians,' pp. 73-83, 139. 62 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. light — an ancient way of proving fine cloth — no knots, or breaks — as seen in our best cambric — are to be found. Many Egj^ptian stuffs have various patterns worked into them by the loom, quite independent of those produced by dyeing. A gold chain is given him. Nothing is more remarkable than the knowledge the ancients had of gold, and how to work it. At Beni Hassan in the early tombs there are representations of gold- smiths : one with a blowpipe is blowing a fire for melting the gold ; others are making rings ; it is being weighed, a scribe writing down its value ; gold is being washed ; while walking about is the superin- tendent directing the workmen. At Thebes are other representations, one especially of a man with a blowpipe, with tongs in one hand, blowing a fire — the fireplace has raised cheeks of metal to confine the heat. Great skill may be inferred, quite apart from the Bible statements. In the history of Abraham we read of earrings and bracelets. Quantities of gold ornaments have been found in tombs datinof back as far as 3930 years ago. We can also see that they understood how to crush quartz to powder, and wash it. The whole processes are represented. The second chariot is also given to the new ruler. The words ' bow the knee ' offer some difficulty. Some think they should be translated * bow the head ;' but, for the Hebrew word given, * bow the knee ' is a good translation. Joseph is given a new name, which in Egyptian is Za-pa- unt-pa-aa-ankh, 'governor of the district of the place FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 63 of life '* — that is, the fertile district of the Delta, where these things took place. He marries a wife, daughter of the priest of On, the Heliopolis of the Greeks. In Hebrew this city is also called Beth-shemesh, words having the same meaning, * the city of the sun.' It had also a civil name, An ; its sacred name, Pe Ra. It was the priest city, the great university of the empire ; it was, in short, the centre of Egyptian religion. Nothing now remains but a solitary obelisk reared by a prince of the twelfth dynasty, a thousand years before the daughter of its priest became the wife of Joseph. All happened as God had revealed to Joseph. There were the seven plenteous years, and he stored the corn ; he has two sons ; he calls them by names showing he had not forgotten his early faith ; and then the dire famine comes. Famine was a rare occurrence in Egypt, but, dependent as the whole land, and especially the Delta, is upon the river Nile, a low Nile, of course, means a bad year. There are records of famine, for Ameni, an officer of King Usertasen I., has engraved at the entrance of his tomb at Beni Hassan — tombs which we know were of a date long before the time of Joseph — that ' No one was hungry in my days, not even in the years of famine ;t for I had tilled all the fields of the district of Mah up to the southern and northern frontiers. Thus I prolonged the life of * ' Fresh Light,' Sayce, pp. 51-52. t ' The Dwellers on the Kile,' W. Budge, p. 86. 64 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, its inhabitants, and preserved the food which it produced. No hungry man was in it. I dis- tributed equally to the widow as to the married woman. I did not prefer the great to the humble in all that I gave away.' Records exist of a seven years' famine caused through the river failing in 1064 a.d., under one of the Caliphs. Still another record on a tablet at El Kab, Southern Egypt — and that is thought to be the famine in Joseph's time — of a nobleman called Baba. It runs thus : ' When a famine arose lasting many years, I distributed corn to the city each year of famine.' The date of this inscription agrees with the date scholars assign to Joseph. These inscriptions, anyhow, jirove this much : that famine was not unknown ; and we must re- member that it is only of very recent date that the cities of the Delta have been found, and not yet have the inscriptions been read. Theologians were misled as to the position of the cities reigned over by the Pharaoh who was patron to Joseph. Discoveries come thick and fast, and I think there are good grounds for hoping that ere long more confirmation, more light, will be thrown by ex- cavation and reading of the inscrijjtions. Now all nations came to Egypt for corn ; it was ever the granaiy for the ancient world. Jacob, living in Canaan, * saw there was corn in Egypt * (Gen. xlii. l) ; that is, it was a matter of common knowledge. The caravans would spread the news. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 65 He would see the camels laden with corn passing on their routes, both on ' the way of Shur ' and on ' the way of the Philistines.' He sends his sons. They see no fear ; they go in a large company. We may note, by the way, that though Joseph's actions towards the people of Egypt appear at first sight harsh, yet Gen. xlvii, 25 shows that the people of that land were grateful. One who had known adversity and had been so true could not be unkind. And their words, ' Thou hast saved our lives,' must be taken in their full meanino- of ofratitude. Jealously guarded as the great wall of Egypt was, the governor would be soon told of the arrival of this Semitic band. Inscriptions show what care was exercised. We read of the great precautions taken to prevent strangers crossing the frontier, * unless they brought cattle, or came to hire them- selves for service.' These rough shepherds are brought before the ruler, and ' bowed down themselves with their faces to the earth.' Inscriptions in plenty show this sort of thinof done. Joseph knew them. Tliey ? — they in their wildest dreams never thouMit of connectinof their sold brother with this great ruler. To digress a little : I have often spoken of ' the wall and forts ' which guarded this, the most open frontier of Egypt, the side from which all the great invasions came. The proof of its very early existence is to be found in a papyrus obtained by Lepsius, and now in Berlin Museum. That celebrated man translated it — its 5 66 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. date of the twelfth dynasty — the ' old ' Egyptian empire long before the days of the Hyksos in- vasion. This papyrus tells how Sineh, or Saneha, an Egyptian traveller, went eastwards. As he went, he came to this frontier wall, 'which the king had made to keep off the Sakti.' ' There were watchers upon the wall in daily rotation.' In the night he eluded the sentries, and wandered into a dry and thirsty land. His story is told as follows : * Thirst overtook me in tny journey ; My throat was parched ; I said, This is the taste of death.'* He, however, escaped, and settled in Edom, won and married the daughter of the prince of that country, and finally returning to Egypt, was re- ceived with honour by the king. Chabas and Ebers agree as to this early date of the wall. In another papyrus in the British Museum, of the nineteenth dynasty, the wall is again mentioned, in the report of a scribe of an effort to recapture two fugitive slaves, who had fled to the eastern desert, and who, before he could overtake them, 'had got beyond the region of the w^all, to the north of the Migdol (tower) of King Seti Mineptah.'t * Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.' He sj)eaks harshly to them, tells them they are * See Trumbull's ' Kadesh Barnea,' pp. 46, 47, and tho authorities there quoted. t Brugsch, 'History of Egypt/ ii., pp. 1 38-389. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 67 * spies' (Gen. xlii.). In the past years they had learnt truthfuhiess — they tell him they are * twelve brethren.' Had they not been truthful, they could have said ' ten,' for they might have supposed that he, the Egyptian, as they thought him, could know no better. He appears not to credit their statement, and declares they shall not leave Egypt unless the younger brother of whom they spoke is brought, and Simeon is left bound as hostage. They had sorrowed for their sin, for see how^ Reuben reminds them of it, and says Joseph's ' blood is required.' We have this custom of * blood callino" for blood ' existing amongst the Arabs of to-da}^ : travellers often sneer at what they call the cowardice of Arabs, who, in a fight, will make a great noise, but object to shed blood ; it is because, if a man is slain, there can never be peace between the tribes again unless the man who killed him is slain by the avenger. Every traveller in the desert can tell of some fuo'itive from his tribe because of this ' blood feud.' How the Egyptian steward must have re- joiced when told to put back the money in their sacks ! He would not know the reason, but intrigue is always grateful to an Eastern. Again poor Jacob has sorrow — he sorrows without hope ; but the pressing necessities of famine com^^el them to go again to Egypt, and, after a great struggle, Benjamin goes with them. They take presents, so the ' famine ' only applies to the fiiilure of the corn crop (Gen. xliii. 11). Arrived in Egypt, Josej^h is told of it. They 5—2 68 thb: bible and modern discoveries. explain how the money was found. The Eastern steward does not speak the truth, and from his lying hps it comes badly that God had given them the money. They are treated as favoured guests, and dine ' at noon ' with Joseph. The state and glory with which he is surrounded has not deadened his heart. He is obliged to leave * to weep.' They marvel at the arrangements of the dinner. Again the steward is told to hide the money, and the ' cup ' — a silver cup — is put in Benjamin's sack. They are overtaken. Now the steward must have thought he had them for good — the cup is found.^ Their sorrow is great. Was there ever a more touching story told than that by Judah (Gen. xliv. to end of chapter) ? Joseph can restrain himself no longer, but, weeping, he reveals himself. But how tender is his speech ! how he tries to take away remorse from them ! * God did send me before you to pre- serve life,' is his comment on their sin (Gen. xlv. 5). He tells them of the famine that is yet to come — ' five years ' more. They are to come to him. But now, ' go in " haste " to my father, and bring him.' Simeon had been released from his bonds — had he been the cruel adviser ? It would seem so * The steward sa3's : ' Is not this (the cup) in which my lord drinketh, and whereby he indeed divinethi' Cups were used for magical purposes from very ancient times. Then they had inscriptions on them, supposed to have magical influence — water or wine being poured into such cup was supposed to be affected by the inscription ; poison was to be detected, or health restored, by the use of this magical cup. The steward is only speaking as. an Egyptian would naturally speak ; there is nothing to connect Joseph with the steward's idea. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 69 from his nature, as depicted in Gen. xlix. 5, 6 ; if so, he had been punished by his bondage. Joseph, though kind, is yet just. The great king hears the news and is pleased. He gives his own royal commands in the matter. ' Wagons ' are to be sent with rich presents. In the Egyptian inscriptions * chariots ' are constantly represented ; we can see exactly how the horses were harnessed. Sir Gardner Wilkinson says : * There is no instance of a representation of a chariot with more than two horses, nor any repre- sentation of a carriage with shafts, drawn by one horse ; a pair of shafts has been found, and a wheel with six spokes. There is but one representation of an Egyptian ybitr-wheeled car, and that was used for religious pur^Doses.'* The travelling carriage was usually drawn by two oxen. W^e can see a representation of that at Thebes, but there the occupants are women, and attended by a woman, t In the British Museum there is a representation of a chariot drawn by a pair of mules. With this light, we can form some idea of the sort of ' wagon ' sent for Jacob. It is quite clear from the text that this convoy ■ must have taken the middle or * Shur road ' out of Egypt — that road portions of which were found by the Rev. F. Holland^ — for, in Gen. xlvi. 1, we * 'Ancient Egyptians,' pp. 381-384. t Wilkinson, p. 385. X Quarterly Statement, January, 1884, pp. 4-14. Holland says : ' The discovery of this road is regarded as of the greatest importance.' 70 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. read that ' Israel came to Beersheba/ that he ' rose up from Beersheba,' and with the Httle ones, women, etc., went in the ' wasfons.' These chariots would not be able to come further, because of the hilly nature of the ground. In Gen. xlvi. 28, we read that ' he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to show the way before him unto Goshen,' M. de Naville, in his able work on ' Goshen,'* remarks that ' Goshen ' ' belonged to a region which as yet had no definite boundaries, and which extended with the increase of the people over the territory they inhabited. The term " land of Barneses '* applies to a larger area.' And further, * The Septuagint, writing of Heroopolis, says it is in the land of Barneses, not Goshen.' The Hebrew text (quoted above) * is vague, but the Septuagint is more precise ; they desire to record the tradition of their time and to fix the place where father and son met together. That place is Heroopolis.' The father and son met. How simple is the Bible story ! Joseph * wept a good while ' while he fell on his neck — the Eastern mode of embrace between men, first kissing one side of the neck and then the other. Joseph, ever thoughtfid, advises his father what to say to Pharaoh ; for though amongst the Hebrews it was ever an honourable occupation to feed sheep, yet ' shepherds were an abomination unto the Egyptians' (Gen. xlvi. 34). Wilkinsont remarks, on the different classes into which Egy^^tian society was * Egyptian Exploration Fund, 'Goshen.' t 'Ancient Egyptians,' vol. ii., pp. 16S, 160. FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 71 divided, that the Egyptian aristocracy looked upon those who attended cattle as followino- a diso-raceful employment. That would be the reason why Joseph recommended Goshen, because they then would avoid the native Egyptians, as well as get good land for pasture ; probably, too, as we see from the text, Pharaoh's cattle were kept there. The region named is still the best land for grazing. Then, too, we must remember that the native Egyptians had good reason to hate * shepherds,' for the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, had conquered their land. In Upper Egypt, which was at this time held by native Egyptians, all the inscriptions de- light in caricaturing the * appearance of shepherds.' All happened as Joseph had foreseen. How touching are those words of Jacob, ' Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life ' ! Ah ! yes, he got the coveted birthright by deceit, but sorrow had tracked his steps all through. Though a pardoned sinner, the evil consequences of his sin ever followed him. After seventeen years in the land of Egypt Jacob dies ; his great dread is that he would be buried in Egypt. As the thoughts of every old man go ever back to the time of his youth, Jacob thinks of the burial-place of his fathers. Joseph swears he will do his wish, and, after blessing Joseph and his sons, he calls his own sons together, that they may hear his last words. And though it does not lie in the scope of this work to dilate on the forty -ninth chapter of Genesis, yet I 72 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. presume to think the tenth verse is so commonly misunderstood that I trust a few words may not be considered out of place. The sceptre is not to depart from Judah ' till Shiloh come.'"' The Jew never held the sceptre of the world. Even in the reign of Solomon the country ruled over was small as compared to the empire of Egypt or Assyria. And what was it compared to Alexander or Rome ? But to the Jew was given the true sceptre of the world, that Ae should be selected by God to be the nation to whom He revealed Himself He was to hold it * till Shiloh come ' — Shiloh, the Prince of Peace, the Saviour — then ' unto Him shall the obedience of the peoples be.' Then the true sceptre — the know- ledge of God — passes from the Jew and becomes the common property of mankind. St. Matt, (xii. 21) saw this when he said, * In His name shall the Gentiles trust.' He was to be * the Liofht to liofhten the Gentiles' (Isa. xlix. 6), and when those Greeks came to Philip, and were introduced by Andrew and PhiliiD to Jesus, the projjhecy was fulfilled — it had begun its more glorious fulfilment — for did not our Lord say, * The hour is come that the Son oj man should be glorified ' ? (John xii. 20-23). Jacob dies, and, by Joseph's order, is embalmed. The whole process of this Egyj)tian custom is amply depicted on the Egyptian monuments. We there read that it was done by members of the medical profession. The Bible says * physicians.* * Dr. Mimro Gibson, in his 'Ages before Moses.' FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 73 The number of days of mourning given accords with that of Scripture — seventy — forty of which the Bible expressly says were taken up by the embalming process. Nothing is more completely shown on Egyptian monuments than the feasts — the mourning rites — for the dead. They are on all the tombs from Ghizeh to Abu Sinibal, and are well depicted in the pages of Dr. Ebers.* With a large company of Pharaoh's servants and great state, ' chariots and horsemen,' * a very great company,' the embalmed body is taken to ' Atad,' a threshing-floor. So it would be at the com- mencement of the hill ranofes, for threshinof-floorst were usually in such a position. This place has not been identified ; but from the text we can see that the Egyptians stopped here. The hill- passes would not be practicable for chariots, and Gen. 1. 13 says: 'His sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the field of Machpelah.' From Beersheba to Hebron the country is hilly compared to the flatter land of the ' way of Shur ' — ' the way,' I believe this mourning cavalcade to have passed, for then you enter the limestone region impassable to chariots. When Joseph returns to Egypt, his brethren fear that now the father is dead he will a venose himself. The nobleness of his nature shines forth still brighter, and he ' comforted them' (Gen. 1. 21) * 'Egypt.' t See Tomkins' * Life and Times of Abraham.' 74 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Joseph lives to a ripe old age, and goes the way of all flesh ; but, like his father, his thoughts are with that land God has ^^romised to Abraham and his seed. He dies — is embalmed — ' he is put in a coffin in Egypt.' How is this ? Why was he not taken to Hebron ? The Egyptian monuments give us the clue : The sway of the Hyksos Pharaohs was now being challenged by the native kings of Memphis and Thebes ; troubles were on the border ; the great man of the Hebrews was dead ; his brothers — master herdsmen to Pharaoh — were of no political account, so why should the body be so honoured as to have a state funeral in Canaan ? Objections have sometimes been made to the Biblical account of Jacob's entry into Egypt, on the plea that a few people entering a land so populous as Egypt would surely not be taken into account. Now, though we have not as yet dis- covered on the monuments any direct reference to the recorded events given in the Bible, yet who that has seen, as I have done, those half-faded picture representations of a Semitic tribe entering Egypt, which are at Beni Hassan, can doubt the care that was taken to note the arrival of foreigners and their doings ? It is just possible that the records may yet be found ; but when we see how carefully Rameses II. effaced all records of these Hyksos and their doings, even recutting the sphinxes at Tanis, we must admit there is but little hope of finding such inscriptions. And yet ex- FROM CALL OF ABRAHAM TO DEATH OF JOSEPH. 75 plorers in despair one day are full of joy at dis- covery the next. Let us have patience. The inscription at Beni Hassan of which I speak was at one time thought to be a record of Jacob's entry, but clearer light has shown that it is of the date 2354 — 2194 B.C. — long before Jacob. Dr. Ebers and others give full details, and thus describe the picture : * The earliest representation that has yet been met with of a Semitic race. These, conducted by their prince, Absha, crave admission into the district of Mah. The governor of the district receives the strangers with caution, for his scribe is presenting him with a deed, or tablet, on which the number of the travellers — thirty-seven — is inscribed. The Semitics are bringing gifts of eye-pigment (antimony), with a roe-deer and a gazelle. The men are armed in various manners — one in particular has a piece of wood for flinging, a kind of boomerang — and they have bows, lances, and a target ; women on foot, and children on an ass, with another ass to carry the weaver's beam and shuttles, accompanying the tribe. A minstrel strikes the lute in honour of their ceremonious introduction. The sharper features of the Semitic race are clearly distinguished from those of the Egyptians. Elegant ornamental patterns are to be seen on the dresses of the Semitics. In other pictures in the same tombs, among the soldiers, we see red-haired men in a peculiar garb, and these, too, seem to belong to the Semitic tribe. It is remark- ^t THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. able that among the Jews in Egypt to this day blonde hair is not uncommon, while among the Arabs, or Fellahin, it is extremely rare, and in the time of the Pharaohs it roused the utmost aversion ; for red was the colour of Seth, or Typhon, and red-haired people (particularly among the hated foreign interlopers of Semitic origin) were looked upon as Typhonic.'* These tombs at Beni Hassan are full of priceless records of the joast. However able descriptions of them may be, they yet fail to satisfy those whose good fortune it has been to study the original works. This family chapter of Jewish history closes in gloom. A coffin holds all that remains of the Jewish ruler. And now in that gloom and sorrow must the Israelites wait. Their champion dead, the curtain falls, not to be lifted for many a year. All is silent as the tomb. * Dr. Ebers, 'Egypt,' ii., pp. 172, 173. CHAPTER II. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. In Exodus i. 6, 7, we read : * And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abun- dantly, and mullriplied and waxed exceeding mighty ; and the land was filled with them.' Such is the brief record of the three hundred and fifty years which intervened between the close of the book of Genesis and this of Exodus. But see how the historian emphasizes the growth of the nation from the family. They are ' fruitful,' ' increased abundantly,' 'multiplied,' ' waxed exceeding mighty,' * the land filled with them,' anticipating, as it were, the cavils as to their numbers of later ages. During those three hundred and fifty years, as far as the Bible is concerned, the history of Israel is told no further. The dark veil is only lifted to tell this much. The Egyptian monuments, as at present read, tell us nothing of them ; but we must bear in mind one or two facts. It is only of late years that Egyptologists have had their attention directed to the true position of the land of Goshen. The discoveries of De Naville and others have come 78 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. thick and fast. There is yet much more to be discovered in that part of the Delta. Who that knows Egypt will not recall the mud villages of the present Fellahin, built nearly always on mounds — the ruined heaps of ancient temples and towns ? I have sketched many a miserable village of to-day that is perched on the top of an old temple ! This fact alone adds to the difficulty of exploration ; for, unless you can get the inhabitants to remove, how are you to explore ? They have no idea that ex2:)lorations are conducted in the cause of science. They tell you they know better, and that the real reason is that you are searching for hidden treasure. It is the ' Arabian Nights ' again. ' Your books, or Jinns, have told j^ou where the men of old hid their wealth. The knowledge is lost to the true believer, but the infidel, by his dark arts, knows of the place.' It is not only the Fellahin who think and say this. Witness the conduct of the pasha whom M. de Naville speaks of A huge stone was found — a monolith. The pasha ordered it to be broken up, on the idea that it contained gold ! As I before said, intelligent explorers have been so late in the field. Why, in 1884, De Naville found in a village close to Zagazig — that important junction of the railway — a thick slab of red granite, scul23tured on both sides with figures and inscrip- tions of the thirteenth dynasty, then used as a corner-stone at the end of a street ! He found also a tablet of black granite, bearing the name of Ptolemy Philadelj^hos, which is richly covered ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 79 with figures and inscriptions ; it was then lying in a pond, and used by Fellahin women as a slab on which to wash their linen !'"' Bridges and palaces have for long ages past been built from the ruins of the ancient temples, and when used all inscriptions erased ! Then, too, who has not seen, when examining temples in Egypt, that all the inscriptions above-ground were erased by the different conquerors of the land ? Why, in the very gardens of Ismailia is a sphinx of the Hyksos period, which was recut and all Hyksos inscriptions erased by Rameses II. In 1888, M. de Naville announced further dis- coveries at Bubastas. * That this place was an important Hyksos settlement is what no one suspected, but it is a fact conclusively established by the work of the present season. Two black granite statues, the head of one nearly perfect, of the unmistakable Hyksos tyj^e ; the lower half of a seated statue of an unknown kino-, also of Hyksos work ; and a fine red granite architrave, engraved with the cartouche of Apepi, the most famous of the Hyksos kings, have been discovered.' * In digging to the southward of the Hall of Osokon I., we found, first, the head-dress of a colossal statue in black granite. The type of the face is Hyksos, the sunken cheeks and the project- 1 ing mouth being exactly like those of the Tanis sphinxes. A statue of a Hyksos king wearing the insignia of Egyptian royalty is certainly unique.' * See De Naville's Eeports to Egyptian Fund. 8o THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Another more important statue was found. The inscriptions give the name and titles of an absolutely unknown king. The inscription describes him as the worshipper of his Iza {i.e., his ghost or double). This inscription was shown to the Mohammedan official in charge of Boulak Museum. He at once said, ' That is the Pharaoh of Joseph. All our Arab books call him Reiyan, the son of El-Welid.' The statue shows the left thigh foreshortened, and clad in the striped shenti, or folded kilt. The king, in addition to his cartouche, is styled the * Good God ' and the ' Son of Ra.' The identification of the learned Mohammedan official must be received with extreme reserve, but the identity of the two names is very extraordinary. * Ra-ian ' may be read * Ian-R,a,' and is curiously like the name of the Hyksos launus quoted by Josephus from Manetho. That Joseph served a Hyksos king has long been accepted by the majority of Egyptologists. Other discoveries show that the Temple of Bast, after being enriched by the Hyksos kings, and before being rebuilt by Rameses II., was yet flourishing in the time of the Restoration. The discoveries are too numerous to mention here. The results are splendid, and more facts will undoubtedly be soon brought to light. ' The name Avhich Arab tradition gives to Josephus's Pharaoh is all but identical with the name discovered. The tradition says that the Hamites, who peopled Egypt, had been for some ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 8i time ruled over by women, in consequence of which kings from all quarters were lusting after their land. An Amalekite king named El-Welid invaded it from Syria, and established his rule there. After him came his son, in whose time Joseph was brought to Egypt. It is hard to believe that so striking a coincidence should be due to mere chance.'"^ Josephus preserves a fragment of Manetho, an Egyptian w^riter of the third century before Christ, which frao-ment otvcs an account of what the Egyptian priests of that day taught as to the Israelitish race ; but Manetho confuses the Israelites v/ith the Hyksos, and in one case makes them the rulers of Egypt, and in another account calls them * captive shepherds.' His dates are all wrong, for he speaks of the building of Jerusalem at a time thirty-seven years before Abram came out of Haran ! It is this Egyptian priest who also says that the Israelites were expelled because they were leprous and unclean. This so-called history of Manetho is a priestly jumble. The curious can read the whole story in Josephus, ' Against Apion.' But if we have no records as yet of the Israelites in the long blank of Bible history, we have a good deal of Egyptian history on the monuments. I wdll follow here Professor Sayce :t ' The expulsion of the Hyksos conquerors ot Egypt, while it brought oppression and slavery tf * Times, April 6, 7, 1888. + 'Fresh Light,' pp. h^, 57. 82 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. their Semitic kindred who were left behind, in- augurated an era of conquest and glory for the Egyptians themselves. The war against the Asiatics, which had begun in Egypt, was carried into Asia, and under Thothmes III., and other great monarchs of the eighteenth djmasty, the Egyptian armies traversed Palestine and Syria, and penetrated as far as the Euphrates. The tribes of Canaan paid tribute ; the Amorites or ' hill- men ' were led into cajDtivity, and the combined armies of Hittites and Phoenicians were defeated in the Plain of Megiddo. On the temple walls of Karnac at Thebes, Thothmes III. (b.c. 1600) gives a list of the Canaanitish towns which had submitted to his arms. Among them vv^e read the names of Zarthan and Beroth, of Beth-Anoth and Gibeah, of Migdol and Ophrah, of Taanach and libleam, of Shunem and Chinneroth, of Hazor and Laish, of Merom and Kishon, of Abel and Sharon, of Joppa and Achzib, of Beyrut and Accho, of Heshbon and Meofiddo, of Hamath and Damascus. One of the conquered places bears the curious name of Jacob-el, " Jacob the God," while mention is made of the Negeb, or " Southern district," which afterwards formed part of the territory of Judah. * Two centuries later, when the troublous times which saw the close of the eighteenth dynasty had ushered in the nineteenth, the same districts ^ had again to be overrun by the Egyptian kings. Once more victories were gained over the powerful Hittites in their fortress of Kadesh on the Orontes, ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 83 and over the tribes of Palestine. Seti I., the father of Rameses II,, records among his conquests Beth- Anoth, or Kirjath-Anab (' the city of grapes ' — Josh. xi. 21), in the south, as well as Zor or Tyre. Rameses II. himself, the Sesostris of the Greeks, battled for lono- years as^ainst the Hittites on the plains of Canaan, and established a line of Egyptian fortresses as far north as Damascus. The tablets which he enofraved at the mouth of the Doof River, near Beyrut, still remain to testify to his victories and campaigns. Representations were sculptured on the walls of Thebes of the forts of " Tabor in the land of the Amorites," of Merom and of Salem, and the capture of the revolted city of Ashkelon was celebrated both in sculpture and in song.' We shall afterwards see how these great con- quests were but preparing the way for the Israelites. A new ej)och arises for that nation, as we see from Exod. i. 8 : ' Now there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph.' To understand the full meaning of this, we must again turn to Egyptian monuments ; they show us that the Hyksos invaders were not expelled until after long contests, in which victory sometimes inclined to the invaders, sometimes to the native kings who had taken refuge in Upper Egypt. Professor Maspero, on the 3rd of June, 1886, unrolled in Cairo at the museum at Boulak some precious mummies ; amongst others, that of * Sekenen-Ra, prince of the Thebaid, who headed G— 2 84 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the great national parties in the armed rising known as the War of Independence, and thenceforth assumed the title of king, so ranking as the first national Pharaoh of the seventeenth dynasty. This prince is best known by the part which he plays in that precious fragment of legendary romance called " The First Sallier Papyrus," now in the British Museum. Of the War of Independ- ence, and the fate of the three heroes of the family of Taa, of which Sekenen-Pa is the first, very little is known, except that the war lasted many years, and ended (about B.C. 1703) in the final expulsion of the foreign (Hyksos) conquerors. It is therefore extremely interesting to learn that the mummy of Sekenen-Pa bears evidence of a violent death, the head and face being covered with wounds. The inference is, of course, that he died upon the field of battle.'* After this king arises Seti I., whose mummy has also been found and unrolled, and photographs of whom can be seen in any shop-window. Then comes the great Rameses II. These mummiest were found in a tomb at Thebes, long concealed ; but in 1879 Maspero saw a tablet which had been got from an Arab, caused this Arab to be arrested, and after some time the secret hiding-place w^as divulged. The daring explorers w^ere let down by ropes into a deep pit, where, in a chamber, * Academy, July 24, 1886. t See Appendix, * History of Ancient Egyptian Ait,' Perriot and Chipiez, vol. ii. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 8j they found boxes of statuettes, bronze and terra- cotta jars, alabaster vases and also in a chamber eif^-hteen huofe mummy-cases. There was Seti, * who drew his frontiers where he pleased,' Rameses the Great, and other Pharaohs of the Theban dynasties. Investigations gave the ex- planation as to why these mummies had been taken away from the royal tombs and placed in this obscure hiding-place. In the times of Rameses IX. tombs had been rilled, and others damaged. An inquiry was held, and some of the delinquents were brought to justice. The ' Abbott ' and the ' Amhert ' papyri give accounts of the pro- ceedings in full, and the confession of one of the criminals. As disorders progressed in the kingdom, and the power of the monarchy declined, it appears to have been determined to move the royal remains from the royal tombs and place them in this con- cealed hole. And so it is that we in these days can look upon the face of that king ' who knew not Joseph,' and his predecessors and successors ! The struggle Seti had w^ith his enemies, and the character of his conquests, are shown on many a. monument. At Thebes we see him represented with his mace, striking prisoners-of-war, a group of whom are kneeling before him ; there is the negro with his woolly hair, ring in ear ; the Assyrian with his long wig ; undoubted Semitics and other races, all holding hand aloft, craving mercy. In the splendid ruins of Abydos we see this king again offering homage to his god, or triumphing 86 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. over his enemies, all tellino- of war. And then Rameses II. The whole land of Egypt is full of his doings. Was it likely so proud a king would tolerate in his midst and close to his most vulnerable frontier a subject nation, allied by blood to those Semitic Hyksos kings his ancestors had such fierce battles with ? How politic his advice to his people was! (Exod. i. 9, 10) : ' Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and miofhtier than we : come now, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass tliat, lulien there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.' This was the ' cry ' with which the astute king went to his people. ' The country is in danger !' He appeals to Egyptian patriotism, reminds them, too, of past trouble, and su^-o-ests that it misfht occur ao^ain. Politicians have never been at a loss for reasons Avhen they wished to act unjustly. The wolf found that the lamb fouled the stream, though he did drink the water heloiv the complainant ! And yet Pharaoh had some truth on his side of the argument. All that was happening was in the con- trolling hand of God, though kings thought then, and think still, that they rule the world. Acting, then, on the advice of Pharaoh, ' they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.' A study of the Egyptian monuments shows us well what that meant. The stick, the bastinado, ISRAEL IN EG 1 'PT, Zj had its native homo in Epi'ypt, and the barbarous way in which it was appHed is shown on many temples. For some crimes as many as a thousand blows were ordered. And yet old authorities tell us that ' an Egyptian blushes if he cannot show numerous marks on his body that evince his en- deavours to evade his duties.'* ' The bastinado was inflicted on both sexes.' In the Beni Hassan tombs we see a man held down on his face by two fig-ures, another holdino- his heels, while an official rains blows on his naked back. Another picture representation shows two boys — one being brought by the officer, stick in hand, before the master or steward ; another boy is appealing for mercy to an official, who is rejecting him. Also at Beni Hassan we see a woman bastinadoed on her back — women generally sat. In a tomb at the Pyramids we see a superintendent beating a workman, who, with another man, is polishing a slab of granite. At Thebes frequent pictures of the same punishment are to be seen. All Eg^^ptian inscriptions tell the same story, and Egypt is unchanged. Those who witnessed the makinof of the Suez Canal saw the ant-like swarm of workmen — Fellahin, taken by force from their villaofes — fillinG: the baskets with ''IAe^r hands, then hurrying with their loads up the banks to shoot the rubbish ; or saw the Nile barges with the forced corvee comlnsf from Nubia and the Soudan, the men packed like sardines in a box ; or, later on, saw those men workino- in the suofar-fields * ' Ammianus Marcelliaus,' see Wilkinson, vol. ii., p. 211. 83 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. of the late Khedive — saw them with loads of canes on shoulder, hurried at a trot into the susfar-house, two living streams of men — one loaded, the other unloaded — and saw the taskmasters with corbash or heavy thong in hand, standing at given distances on either line. And then, if from fatigue, or what not, the burden-carriers lagged, down on their naked backs came the lash ! I have seen men who had fainted, and fallen down, merely dragged on one side, a bucket of Nile water dashed over them, and then left to recover or die. Or ofo and see at niofht the tired multitude (in one instance I saw 10,000) lying about in groups — no roof but the sky and the quiet stars, which look on a scene like a horrid battle-field. There lie figures contorted in the strangest manner, seeking rest for the poor weary body. A few groups are gathered round poor fires, trying to warm themselves, for, after the cruel toil of the day and the burning heat of an Egyptian sun, few have any cloaks or wraps to shelter them from the chill night-dews. Coughing comes all around, and then ever and anon rises in the still air that strange pathetic song in the minor key, of some poor soul singing, * Ya Ali ! Ya Ali 1' an invocation to a favourite saint.* See all this, and then you could the better realize what those terse words in the Bible meant : * The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour : they made their lives bitter' (Exod. i. 13, 14). * In Palestine the common expression day or night from the people is ' Ya Allah !'— ' Oh God 1' ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 89 An amusing instance of the unchangeable nature of Egyptian habits and types is that remarkable figure carved out of sycamore-wood found by Marriette Pasha. It is now in the museum at Boulak. It was shown to me by the discoverer. It represents a high official of mature age and proud bearing, carrying in his hand his staff of office. The face expresses great determination. When the Fellahin who were disfg-ina- for Marriette came upon it they with one voice shouted out, * Sheikh-el Beled !' 'Here's our magistrate !' It is the exact type of that official of to-day. We may take it as a settled fact that Rameses II. was ' the oppressor,' and we will therefore briefly examine some of the monuments of that kinof and his father, Seti I. Rameses I. reigned a very short time ; but under Seti the empire waxed all- powerful, and his son, Rameses II., if possible, made the empire still greater. A few facts, taken almost at random, will enable us to better under- stand the verses (Exod. i. 12-14). On the north wall of the temple at Karnak we see Seti I. returning victorious from an expedition into Syria. He is in his chariot. Before him go long lines of captives of different types. Arms tied behind their backs, ropes round their necks, they are led on, to be stopped by a Suez Canal ! Yes ; Seti had ordered a canal to be made ; full accounts of it are given, and the rejoicings on its opening.'" Priests and princes kneel by the side of the * The reader can see representations of all this in Wilkinson. 93 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. canal and offer the victorious Icing homage and gifts. An inscription on this interesting picture calls the canal the ' cut through.' Verily, there is nothing new under the sun ! Another picture on the walls of Thebes is very interesting. Here are represented captives working in the brickfields. We see men going to the river to get the Nile mud. One figure is represented breast-high in it, with his load on his shoulder. Then there is the great heap of mud on the land. Men are filling baskets with it, and carrying it away ; while others are engaged with wooden frames pressing the mud into shapes, just as can be seen in a modern brickfield. The bricks made, men carry them away on boards. These boards are slung by a pole over the shoulders. Others are piling the soft bricks into heaps, allowing air-space between. Then, on the same wall, we see labourers enofagfed in buildino'. Men are brinsfinof loads on their backs, while others are stooping to work. But ever present, ever vigilant, stands the task-master with his rod, and the official with his lash ! Sometimes the head official sits and looks on while the labourers work ; but the lash always — even when the people represented are art workmen, and carving inscrip- tions or sphinxes — down comes the lash on their naked backs !* It would take a volume to describe all these representations. Seti and his son, Rameses, were the great builders of all public works in Egypt. * Ebers, 'Egypt,' vol, ii., p. 21. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 91 Not only, therefore, had the Israehtes to build * cities,' but there was ' all manner of service in the field ' — canals, fortifications, temples, ' store cities ' (R. v.). We may not be able to identify the Israelites in the pictures, but we see how those works were done. The eleventh verse specially mentions ' treasure cities,' ' Pithom and Raamses.' Here again we touch very firm ground, as we shall see later on ; but we must follow the line of the Bible story. Next comes the cruel edict of the iealous kino- : The male children are to be destroyed. To haughty conquerors such as Rameses, whom all the inscrip- tions delight in representing as trampling on his opponents, this would doubtless appear a very light thing. But the * midwives fear God,' and evade the edict. Here I cannot but relate v/hat happened to me in the Desert of Sinai. I had been staying with a Bedawin tribe. The favourite wife of the sheikh was ill. I had a considerable reputation as a Hakeem, or doctor, from some cures I had effected, and my own men always told the tale — with additions ! I was ' medically consulted.' The affair was strange, because I was told I could not be allowed to see the afflicted woman ; so I de- clined to act unless I saw her tongue ! Eventually, in the presence of the midwife of the tribe, I was allowed, and fortunately saw what was the matter — a sharp touch of fever. I cured the woman, and the midwife, anxious probably to increase her own knowledge, became very friendly. She was a 92 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. fearful old hap;-. One clay, talking with her, I expressed my surprise at the few female, children running about the tents, for the very young children were all in a state of nature. She told me Bedawin women rarely had female children ! Very strongly I told her she was not speaking the truth, and that she would not get the information she desired from me unless she did. After some time she then said : * This happened.' The ' this ' was an ugly motion of the thumb and finger, with a still uglier twist at her throat, which explained that the female babe was strangled ! Too many women in the desert would doubtless be an encumbrance — another mouth to feed, and little food to be got. Was this a relic of old times ?^ I know not. But Pharaoh's order was different. The male was then to be thrown into the river — the daughters saved : they would be useful as slaves or for the harem. Moses is born and put in the ark of bulrushes, and the compassionate princess saves his life. He grows up an Egyptian outwardly ; but he had been taught by liis mother (Exod. ii. 8) and doubtless taught the promises of God — told of the promised inheritance. Also, he was * learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds ' (Acts vii. 22). Yet his heart yearned for his suffering brethren. * In Palestine at the present day there is great rejoicing when a son is born, but if a girl, the opposite. Laurence Oliphant speaks of a woman pitching her child out of the window when she discovered it was a girl, and the poor tiling was a cripple for life. He saw the child limping about, and on inquiries found the cause. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 93 Up to this time he appears to have been hving at Pharaoh's court — probably at Tanis, away from Goshen. But when forty years okl he visited his brethren, and, seeinsf one suffer wronsf, indigrnation overcame him, and he slew the oppressor. The story was told, and Moses had to fly. He fled to the ' land of Midian.' Why there ? Egyptian inscriptions help us. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, so he would well know that it was useless to try to escape to Palestine by the * wa}^ of the Philistines.' That was barred by the great wall and its garrisoned forts, and he, a fugitive, had no passport. The same reasons ap- plied to the ' way of Shur.* That would lead him past those Egyptian colonies and mines in the Desert of Sinai, of which we shall have more to sa3\ There was only one route possible — the ' way of the Red Sea.' He must have taken that, and, so escaping all danger, gets to the end of the Gulf of Akabah and into Midian, that land of which Captain Burton tells us in his ' Land of Midian.' He looks and is dressed as * an Egyptian.' For did not the daughters of the priest think so? (Exod. ii. 19). He marries, and lives the life of a shepherd. How did he get that news of the twenty-third verse of the second chapter — 'that the King of Egypt died'? In the fourth chapter, fourteenth verse, we are told ' Aaron cometh forth to meet thee ' (Exod. iv. 14). So his brother in Egypt must have known of his abiding-place. Moses would be safe in Midian, for every bit of the Sinai Desert was well 94 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. known to the Egyptians, and under their sway. But in Midian Moses was over their frontier. The bondage of the children of Israel is made more bitter, and then 'they cry' unto God ; and the ever-loving God ' had respect unto them ' (Exod. ii. 23-2 5). Moses is given various proofs of God's power and gracious intentions towards Israel; and the man who modestly says he is ' not eloquent,' and ' slow of speech,' goes on his great mission. He must have been glad to get away from his shrew of a wife ! Moses and Aaron return to Egypt, tell their mission to the ' elders ;' all the ' people be- lieved,' ' and worshipped.' The great leaders go before the new Pharaoh ; his haughty answer is, * Who is the Lord ?' These Egyptian despots, in all their native inscriptions, assumed that title to themselves ! The intervention of Moses only angered Pharaoh, and he ordered that the burden of the Israelites should be increased. Let us now^ see what modern discovery has to tell us of Pithom and Pameses. And here we must turn to those deeply interesting discoveries of the Egypt Ex- ploration Fund, a sister society to the Palestine Exploration Fund. The labours of the able explorers of the first-named society, M. Flinders Petrie and M. de Naville, like those of the Palestine Fund, wonderfully light up the pages of Scripture.* They show how little the Delta is known, though the great traveller Lepsius did years ago suggest the true site of Pithom. Every traveller * 'Pithom,' Egyptian Exploration Fund. ISRA EL IN EGYPT. 95 in Egypt has noticed the mounds about twelve miles from Ismailia, in Wady Tumilat ; the Arabic name being Tell el Maskhuta (* the mound of the statue ') because a statue of Rameses II. was found there, sitting between the two solar gods, Ra and Tum. Near this mound, close to the earthworks thrown up by Arabi's soldiers, runs a work called by the Arabs ' The Canal of the Wady.' It is now a marsh, fall of reeds ; but it marks the site of that old canal of Seti, of which I liaA^e spoken. Here, also, are remains of a thick wall, built of large bricks. M. de Naville then gives an account of the excavations. Amonofst other thino^s found vras a square area, enclosed by enormous brick walls, containing a space of about 5 5,000 square yards. This space contained the ruins of a temple. The monumental inscriptions ivere destroyed. Then come strange buildings of thick walls of crude brick, joined by thin layers of mortar. The walls were Avell built, having a thickness of from two to three 3"ards ; the surface smooth. Many other chambers were found. These were the undoubted store- houses, or granaries, in which the Pharaohs stored the provisions necessary for armies about to cross the desert. They were border forts. The Hebrew translation in our version, * treasure cities,' should be * storehouses.' The Septuagint calls them ' fortified cities.' Inscriptions found prove undoubtedly that these ' cities ' were built by Rameses II. — the Pharaoh of the oppression. Now, the city is called in the Bible ' Pithom.' 95 THE BIBLE AXD MODERN DISCOVERIES. The Egyptian words are Pi Turn — ' the city or abode of Turn.' Now, ' Turn ' was one of the solar gods worshipped by the king ; so in this case he cahs the ' city,' or storehouse, by the name of his god ! Many most valuable objects and inscriptions were found — one, for instance, a portion of a sphinx. There is a fragment of an inscription : ' The Lord of Theku, of Succoth.' This name occurs again. A portion of another inscription reads : 'His obedient son has dedicated to his father Pithom, the abode of the festivals of the king — the divine offspring of Ea,' Another : * The first prince of Sept, the Lord of the East, the head of the prophets of Turn — the great god of Succoth,' etc. This * Sept ' is often called the ' Lord of the East.' A longer inscription reads (it is to King Rameses) : ' I am pleased with what thou hast done, my son who loves me ! I know thee ; I love thee ; I am thy father. I give thee everlasting joy and an eternal reign. Thy duration is like my duration on my throne on earth. Thy years are like the years of Turn. Thou risest like the god of the two horizons, and thou illuminest the land. Thy sword protects Egypt ; thou enlargest thy frontiers. All the prisoners made by thy gallant sword are brought to Egypt from Syria, from Ethiopia, from the Tahennu, from the Shasu,"^- from the islands of the sea. King Rameses — living eternally.' Was it likely that kings vaunted like this would think much of the treatment of a nation of * Bedawin. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 97 shepherds — a helpless crowd, with no political power or leaders ? M. Naville carries his proofs further. He found a fragment on which was written, ' The good Recorder of Pithom ' (Pi Turn). This fragment has been brouofht to Eno^land. And now mark another discovery. Speaking of the bricks of which the. huge ' storehouse ' is built, he says : * Many of them are made with straw, or with fragments of reeds, of which traces are still to be seen ; and some are of Nile mud, without any strata at all.'* What is the meaning of * no straw,' of these * fragments of reeds ' ? We must go back to the Bible again, and see how Pharaoh orders that the people are to have * no straw ' given to them ; they are to gather it themselves. Yet they are to make the same quantity of bricks. * The task- masters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works^ your daily tasks, as when there was straw.' We have seen what those task-masters were in the Egyptian inscriptions, and we may be sure they did not spare the stick ; for we read * they were beaten.' * The officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh,' and tell of the oppression, and speak of the cruel conduct. The despot tells them r * Ye are idle, ye are idle.' He sneers at their religion, and their condition is made worse. Let us look more closely into the meaning of the words * straw * and ' stubble.' * ' Pithom,' M. Naville. 7 98 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. The Hebrew word translated * straw ' means * crushed or broken straw/* like our chopped hay. The * straw ' in its natural state has another Hebrew word, which in our version is called '■ stubble.' Now, crushed straw was the only kind used in brick-making. Captain Conder shows how even now it is so used in Palestine. ' The bricks are made in spring by bringing down water into ditches dug in the clay, when chopped straw is mixed with the mud ; thence the soft mixture is carried in bowls to a row of wooden moulds or frames, each about ten inches long by three inches across. These are laid out on flat ground, and are squeezed full, the clay being then left to harden in the sun.' This is a most accurate picture of the way bricks were made in the times of the Pharaohs, as is shown by the inscriptions. But now see what Pharaoh's order really was. * Ye shall no longer give the people (crushed) straw. Let them gather (crushed) straw for themselves.' ' So they were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather straw, for the crushed straw.'' Now, it was two months to harvest. They would have to hunt for last year's straw, and, when they had collected it, would have to make it into crushed straw ! * ' " Crushed straw " is called " Tibn " in Arabic ; it is not broken ■or cut by any implement, but broken by the oxen treading out the corn ; it can in Palestine be had all the year round, as it is €tored up in dry cisterns, and then a pile of loose stones is erected over the mouth. Horses are fed on Tibn and barley mixed.'— Note by Mr. G. Armstrong. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 99 Well might they say * that they were in evil case.'* This explanation enables us the better to see how terribly the burdens of the Israelites were in- creased, and how, too, that, not finding * straw ' {crushed straw), they had to pick up what the Authorised Version calls ' stubble,' or even, as the bricks prove, the rushes from the watercourses ! For in the sluo-o-ish waters of the Delta rushes of every kind flourished ; for it was here that the papyrus grew, and still grows, and not in that rapid Nile at Cairo, of which travellers speak when they express their surprise that no papyrus grows now. The photographs taken by M. Naville for the Egyptian Fund show brick chambers of a huge size — in the lowest course the bricks are well made ; in the higher courses, rough straw and rushes in the bricks ; last courses, neither ! What a con- firmation of the Bible history ! (See Exod. v. 7-19.) We have seen that the Pharaoh Rameses II., who ordered the death of the male children, and from whom Moses fled, was dead — that his suc- cessor still further increased their burdens bv carrying on the great works in brick which his father had commenced. Do the Egyptian monu- ments tell us anything of him — this hard son of a hard father ? His name is Meneptah. Brugsch Bey gives one record of him, and it furnishes a striking proof of the manner in which ♦ * Palestine Explored,' Rev. J. Neil, pp. 222-243. 7—2 loo THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the nomads (that is, those who were sons of the desert ; Bedawin, as we call them ; * Shasu ' they are called by the Egyptian scribes) sought sus- tenance for themselves and their cattle in the rich pastures of Egypt. The papyrus is a report from a high Egyptian official to the king : * Another matter for the satisfaction of my master's heart. We have carried into effect the passage of the tribes of the Shasu from the land of Aduma (Edom), through the fortress of Mineptah Hotephima, which is situated in Thuku, to the lakes of the city Pi-tum of Mineptah Hotephima, which are situated in the land of Thuku, in order to feed themselves and their herds on the possessions of Pharaoh, who is there a beneficent sun for all peoples.' This sort of immigration was what had alarmed Rameses, ' lest they ' (the Israelites) ' join also unto our enemies and fight against us ' (Exod. i. 10). The ' Thuku ' mentioned in this writing is by Brugsch Bey translated ' Succoth.' M. Naville* considers the region this tribe was allowed to occupy is ' Etham.' It is called by various names in the papyri. He shows that these immigrants were allowed to occupy some of the good pasture assigned to the Israelites, and that the signs used prove it to have been a border land, which agrees with what is said of * Etham ' — that it was ' in the edge of the wilderness.^ ' Etham was a region, not a city,' for we read of ' the wilderness of Etham ' in * See Keports to Egyptian Exploration Fund. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. loi Numb, xxxiii. 8. The papyri call it ' the land of \ Atuma,' and it was occupied by nomads (Bedawin) of Semitic race. The question now arises, Where was Pharaoh when Moses and Aaron had their various interviews , with him ? Writers on this subject have made many suggestions, but the Bible is clear. If we turn to Psalm Ixxviii. 8, we find it written : * Marvellous things did He in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in tlie field of Zoan.' Now, this was where Pharaoh was holding his court, a distance of about thirty miles from Goshen. This was, therefore, the distance Moses and Aaron had to traverse. Egyptian records show that the Pharaohs often resided there, especially when they had affairs of state in hand with the Semitic peoples in the Delta. At the time in question the disaffection of the Hebrews was in itself a good reason for the royal residence being fixed at this place. Of the present state of Tanis, Dr. Ebers re- marks :* * Many of the remains of the cities and temples that have come down to us from the period of Egypt's splendour are of greater extent and in better preservation, but no ruins excel these in picturesque charm. . . . The city must have been a large one, and one of the most splendid resi- dences and centres of culture in the kingdom. Only in Thebes are there so many and such large * 'Egypt,' i,, p. 97. I02 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. monuments of hard granite to be found ; but of all the magnificent buildings which once stood here, not even the ground-plan can be recognised. The great sanctuary erected by Rameses II., Pharaoh the Oppressor, has crumbled into dust. Granite pillars with palm-leaf capitals, colossi, and no less than twelve broken obelisks, lie by the side of less important monuments in grand confusion on the earth. An Arabic leofend relates that the Pharaohs were giants, who could move the mightiest masses of rock with a magic rod ; but if it needed giants to erect these monuments, it must have required the will and the strength of a god thus to overthrow them.' Such is the present state of that city in which the haughty Pharaoh received the messengers from God. It was a favourite residence of his father, Pameses II., for he had so many wars on that frontier with Semitics. Dr. Ebers says : * Venerable papyrus-rolls contain the accounts of the task-masters of the Hebrews, as rendered to the overseers, and show us how unremittingly the officers watched the labourers, and endeavoured to promote their material comfort. The officials praise the neighbourhood of Tanis and the fertility of Goshen in words of rapture.' Pictures at Thebes have already shown us how bricks were made, and the inscription tells us these prisoners were * to make bricks for the new buildings of the provision-houses or granaries of the city of Amon.' By the side of the second picture it is written, ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 103. ' Prisoners brought by his majesty to labour at the temple of his father Amon.' A third inscription celebrates the vigilance of the task-masters, and the. gods are entreated to reward the king, for remem- bering them, with wine and good food. An over- seer calls out to the people, ' I carry the stick ; be ye not idle !' ' It is impossible to study these pic- tures without thinking of the oppression of the Hebrews.' The cry of the overseer is but the echo of Pharaoh's words, * Ye are idle ! ye are idle !''"' The king refuses to let the people go. Plagues follow, the last, when ' there was a great cry in Egypt,' for all the firstborn were smitten with death. Now in haste Pharaoh urges them to go ; the Egyptians also, ' for they said. We be all dead men.' The douofh is taken without beino- leavened; the Israelites borrow 'jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment,' and the huge array of captives set off, ' from Pameses to Succoth * (Exod. xi.) Not only the Hebrews, but a mixed multitude — 'flocks and herds, and very much cattle.* * The host hurried on to the eastward, executing, apparently, in one day a march of twelve to fifteen miles. They reach the district of Succoth, and camp within its limits, to the west of Pithom^ There is no more likely place for this encampment- than the neighbourhood of Kassassin, where there is abundance of forage and water. . . . Meetino: with no molestation or pursuit, they continued thei^' march on the following day, and encamped, ^t * Ebers' « Egypt,' i., p. 103. 104 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. -Rtham, at the eastern end of Wady Tumilat. . . . So the route of the IsraeHtes must have been near "the present town of Ismailia, at the head of Lake Timsah.' Here the desert presents, in consequence of its slight elevation above the bottom of the w4dy, a better defined ' edge.'* * Sir J. W. Dawson, ' Egypt and Syria,' p. 59. ISRAEL IN EGYPT, 105 It is just here where the land route to Pales- tine begins, and was so used as a route by the Bedawln before the days of the present Suez Canal. We must not forget that the chariot corps — * creme de la creme ' of the Egyptian army — was stationed at Tanis ; it could there the better guard the frontier. But a new command comes from the Lord God : that the array was to ' turn.' They had been told not to go ' the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near ; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent ivlien they see ivar' (Exod. xiii. 17). Had they gone that direct route, they must have * seen ivar,' and plenty of it, too, for the chariot corps would have been well on their flank, and in their front the great fortified wall ;* and, moreover, Philistia at this time was under the sway of Egypt. None but a powerful array of trained soldiers could have had any hope of cutting their way through all these warlike forces of the enemy, and the Israelites were a frightened mob of captives, just liberated from hard bondage, with coward minds and frightened hearts. This ' turn ' gave Pharaoh courage. He thought they were ' entangled in the land,' and here I will quote what I have previously written on this part of the subject, for, on re-examination of the whole route, I see no reason to alter it :t * Poole, ' Cities of Egypt,' p. 66, says : ' There stood on the eastern border of Egypt from the days of Abraham the fortresses carefully constructed on principles we are pleased in our ignorance to call modern, with scarp and counter-scarp, ditch and glacis, well manned by the best troops, the sentinel on the ramparts day and night.' t ' Goshen to Sinai,' Sunday Magazine. io6 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. ' They now marched to encamp before " Pi- hahiroth," between Migdol and the sea over against " Baal-Zephon." " Pi-hahiroth " means " edge of the sedge," or " where sedge grows ;" Baal-Zephon, ''the Lord of the North.'* This latter was across the sea, and probably the high peaks of " Jebel Muksheih "* were in view. But have we any reason to believe that the " Bed Sea " extended in those days as far as " Lake Timsah "? Yes, plenty of proof Egyptian records show how at that time the " sea " extended to that place. They tell how a canal was made to connect the Nile with that sea, and give an account of the rejoicings on the opening of the canal. The " sea '* has retreated owing to the elevation of the land. Proofs are in plenty from recent geological surveys, and now we can understand with a clearer eye what the prophet Isaiah means when he says (chap. xi. 15): "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea, and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.** "Egyptian Sea" — it could never have meant that which now ends at Suez, but one which all records prove extended to Lake Timsah. Sluggish, yes ; for it was " weedy," or " reedy." And here let me say there is no warrant, according to the best scholars, in calling the sea in question " Red Sea." The Hebrew * Jebel Muksheih is the prominent northern point of the Jebel er Rabah. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 107 words are clear, and mean " sea of reeds," or " sea of weeds," when they describe the '' sea " the Israehtes crossed. This, again, is a most power- ful confirmation of the view that at one time the present Gulf of Suez extended to Lake Timsah.' Pharaoh thought that, hemmed in by that ' sea,' the Israelites would be at his mercy ; so he makes ' ready his chariot,' and takes his chariot guard — 600 chosen chariots — * and pursued after the children of Israel.* He overtakes the multitude, who see their danger : the desert towards Jebel Attaka, with its steep cliffs, in front ; the ' sea ' on their left hand. They murmur at Moses, ' Were there no graves in Egypt ?' They remind him of their fears, their cowardly fears : ' It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness !' The pursuit continued, for * Pharaoh drew nigh ;' but the Lord orders that the people * go forward,' and the promise is that they shall cross the sea on ' dry ground.' The host of Israel is led by a ' pillar of fire ' by night, a * pillar of cloud ' by day. Eastern armies have from time immemorial been led by ' cressets ' of fire at night ; Alexander so led his troops. The Mecca caravan of to-day is led by * cressets ' of fire borne aloft. This is now done to escape the heat of the sun. But the pillar of cloud was now in the rear (Exod. xiv. 19) of the Israelites, showing its bright face to them, but dark - ness to the Egyptians. So those troops still pursuing would be as if in a fog ; they would dimly see the io8 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, fugitives moving on, but ignorant of their own exact position. They, in the darkness caused by the cloud,* would not see the waters. The Egyptian host is * troubled,' and, as old versions of the Bible read, ' their chariot wheels were bound,' or * made them to drive heavily.' Yes, because the wind which had caused the sea to go back was changing by a miracle. So the water, percolating through the sand, would make the whole a quicksand; and 'when the morning appeared ' the Egyptians saw their dangerous position, tried to fly — it was too late ! they were all swallowed up ; and * Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon . the Egyptians.' ' Egyptian records tell us that at this time the then Pharaoh had had to meet a serious invasion of Lib^^'ans and other peoples on the west.' This is probably w^hy he had so weakened his garrisons at Tanis that he only had the chariot corps. I have already spoken of the great discovery of royal mummies, and told how Seti Rameses and many other royal bodies have been found. The mummy of Meneptah is missing ! Though no mummy of Meneptah is found yet; in Boulak Museum we can look upon his sculptured face, which, if the artist does not belie him, shows him to have been a weak, irresolute man, such as the Bible narrative suggests — pufied up by his gran- deur ; for he WLa,rs on his head a double crown, that for Upper and Lower Egypt. No Egyptian * ' It was a cloud and darkness to them ' (Exod. xiv. 20). ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 109 inscriptions record his death — nothing of the disaster ; but we need not wonder at this, for, as is usual with courtly scribes, they only tell of victories, not of defeats. One thing is, how- ever, clear from the monuments — that it was lono- ere any Egyptian expeditions across the border were undertaken ; and this in itself would imply that the empire was weakened from some cause known to the Egyptians, and which they wished to conceal. Those best able to judge say that the explorations in the Delta, Tanis, and other towns, have as yet only touched the fringe of possible discovery. It is an interesting fact that Zoan, the Tanis of Pharaoh, was built seven years after Hebron, and from its name must have been built by Semitics. No trace of * Zoan ' exists ; Tanis was built over it, and city after city has been built over the ruins of that. We also see that * Hyksos inscriptions on sphinxes are always in a line down the right shoulder, never on the left. This honouring of the right shoulders by Semitics was followed by the Jews ;' the Egyptians, on the contrary, when they wished to show honour, inscribed on the left shoulder ; but they were usually indifferent. It will be seen that we totally disagree with those theories which would make the Israelites cross the Gulf of Suez. To my mind the whole of that theory is unsound ; contrary to the position assigned in the Bible to the land of Goshen ; entirely destroyed by M. Naville's discovery of Pithom, which sets all doubt at rest. Theologians no THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. had read Josephus, and, misled by the Letopohs, which he speaks of, thought it meant Hehopohs, near Cairo. Hampered by this vital mistake, they overlooked the Bible statements as to Zoan and Goshen, and have led the world astray. The Israelites had crossed by a miracle, and then ' went three days in the wilderness and found no water.' Had they crossed at Suez, three hours would have taken the host to the * Wells of Moses ;' but cross- ing about Lake Timsah, they would have to go ' three days ' before they could reach that oasis. Why should it be thought necessary that Pharaoh and his host descended a steep bank into a fearful chasm ? His chariot-wheels could not have driven down it, and it was really when they ' drove heavily ' that the soldiers found out where they were, and turned to fly. Had the Bible been read more closely, this popular idea of Suez would never have gained credence. Let us examine the oasis — called by Europeans ' The Wells of Moses.' They are not ' wells,' but * springs.' The Arabic ' 'Ay tin Musa ' — ' Springs of Moses ' — is a truer definition. There are seven- teen pools, or * ponds ' ; but ' about a dozen peren- nial springs of various sizes rise through the soil, some into rudely-walled wells, others into wide pools or basins, and furnish a tolerable abundance of somewhat brackish, yet fairly palatable water, that from the larger springs being the least impure. There are also a few small water-holes of little or no use for drinking purposes.' Water from each ISRA EL IN EG YP T. m well was examined by the Ordnance Survey party.* The largest spring ' contained a small deposit of bog iron ore,' * saltish, and also bitter, too strong for use.' "Water from the other ' springs ' fairly good. There is never any lack of supply, and before the days of the ' Sweet- water Canal ' to Suez, that town depended chiefly for its supply of * sweet water ' on ' 'Ayun Musa/ It will here be well to notice how Easterns have ever described water. * Sweet water ' means our ' fresh water,' or drink- able water ; ' living water ' our ' sjoring water ' ; * bitter water ' our * brackish ' water. Before we leave these springs let us sum up what the recent Biblical gains have been. The true starting-point of the Exodus, with the city of Pithom, has been found. Then, also, that the Hebrew words translated in Authorised Version do not mean * Red Sea,' but ' Sea of Heeds.-' Also we have found that ' the tonofue of the Egyptian Sea ' at the time of the Exodus extended to the present Lake Timsah ; that owing to the elevation of the ground that ' sea ' ' dried up,' and left lakes of brackish water, through which the present Suez Canal runs ; that the Israelites crossed * the Sea of Beeds ' somewhere near Lake Timsah, and then went ' three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah ' (Numb, xxxiii. 8). They had come to Marah, and find the * waters of Marah ' bitter. We have seen that these * Musa' springs are ^bitte7%' that they * Ordnance Survey of Sinai. 112 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, have a deposit of hog iron ore in some, and others are ' hracJcisJu' Trees grow at this oasis ; but what the tree was that God ordered Moses to east into 'the waters' (Exod. xv. 2 5), of that we have no clue. Now, Exodus calls the wilderness into which the people went after crossing by the miracle the * wilderness of Shur,' whereas Numbers calls it the ' wilderness of Etham,' Is there a contra- diction here ? No. ' Etham is another name for the great tvall of Egypt. Dr. Ebers was the first to catch a glimpse of this truth. Both Ebers and Brugsch show that the Etham of the Hebrew text is identical with the Khetam of the Egyptian monuments. The word is a common name for '' fortress" or " closure." Brugsch shows that the " Egyptian texts " speak only of towns and forts on the frontier. Hence the Khetam of Zor is the border, barrier, or closure of Mazor, toward the Easterif desert, or, as the Hebrews would desig- nate it, the " Etham which is in (or at) the edge of the wilderness." Many papyri refer to these forti- fications. Brugsch gives one : A father writes of his son's recall to the boundary of his own land (when the son had started out, like Sancha, beyond " the frontier wall which the king had made to keep off the Saki "). " My son, who was on his way to Phoenicia, I have caused to return towards the Khetamu" (" the fortifications ") " with his companions to re-enter Egypt." *Wheii Seti I. returned to Egypt after his ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 113 campaign in the north and east, he is shown passing through the open gates of the fortifications, and crosses the bridge which spans the great canal, where he is welcomed by the priests and princes. The inscriptions show that he is passing the famous " Khetam of Zor," the border barrier of Mazor. Ebers remarks, " This Karnak inscription is of the greatest significance and importance."* Inscriptions too numerous to mention tell the same story. It is not without interest that we find that the cry of the people to Rameses is, " May he live for ever." Here is the " God save the King " of 1 Sam. X. 24, and which is echoed in every land of a king to-day.' ' The Egyptians called this border barrier in- difiierently by their own name Anboo, or Khetamoo, the wall or the fortifications. The Hebrews called it indifiierently by their own pure Hebrew name, " Shur (the wall) which is before Egypt," and by the Hebraized Egyptian name, " Etham (the fortifications) at the edge of the wilderness." Naturally, therefore, the desert which was just beyond the great wall was known to the Hebrews indifferently as " the wilderness of Shur " or " the wilderness of Etham." 't The recent discoveries I have glanced at enable us to clear away a host of mistakes. The radical error of all writers on the Desert of Sinai has been, that they were influenced by the idea of the * See Ebers" Egypt,' vol. ii., pp. 19-21, where bas-reliel of Seti and Canal is given. t Dr. Trumbull. 114 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Israelites crossing at Suez. This hampered them so that no account of the desert and its oases, as we find them, could be made to fit in with the sacred text. This gave a loophole for so much cavil and doubt. The Israelites are about to plunge into the desert. What are its general features ? Do we get any help from the Bible ? The Bible is almost silent as to the mountain character of the Sinai Desert. Exod, xxxii. 1 2 does speak of ' the moun- tains/ and when Elijah fled into the desert (1 Kings xix. 11) we are told that *a great and strong wind rent the mountains and brake in pieces the Tochs before the Lord.' In Psalm cxiv. 4 we read, ' The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.' The Bible does speak of the ' great and terrible wilderness '; but that does not explain the mountainous character. So it will be well to explain that Sinai Desert is chiefly a moun- tain district. This fact alone would be enough to frighten the Israelites, accustomed as they were to the flat land of the Delta, for none of those people had seen Palestine. The popular idea of the desert may be stated thus : ' Yellow sand, green palm-trees, blue sky.' It is, moreover, thought that the desert is ' flat.' Really, there is very little sand ; the palm-trees grow in the oases, and the land is not flat ! Even where sand exists, it is rarely yellow, chiefly gray or white. The Desert of Shur, on which the Israelites had now entered, is a rolling plain — a * raised beach ' near the sea, then a gravelly tract ISRAEL IN EGYPT. nj dotted with ridges and hillocks of drifted sands. Low terraces and knolls, shrubs and herbs, dot the expanse and give pasturage to the camels of the Bedawin. Watercourses — dry in summer — cross the plain from the Tih range to the sea. They are called ' wadies ' by the Arabs. These ' watercourses * are often more than a mile across. Wady Sudur — the first great wady you pass — is much dreaded by the Arabs. I found it very difficult to get them to camp here. I wanted to sketch. The Arabs dread floods, for if a sudden storm breaks over the Tih range, the water rushes down with great force,. to lose itself in the sea, on your right hand. Tlie fragments of palms and water- worn boulders show how frequent these floods are. The Rev. F. Holland on one occasion had to ford Wady Sudur knee-deep, and large tracts of ground are often submerged. When I crossed, the mud in the bed of the stream was wet, and the camels slipped very much. It was here that Professor Palmer, Captain Gill and Lieutenant Charrington were murdered by Arabi's adherents. The route across this desert plain is well marked by a score or more of parallel trails. These trails dwindle as they approach the raised terraces, and cross the wady by one or two gaps. All the travelling hereabouts is easy. Some- where on these trails the Israelites must have passed. Wady Sudur is about twenty miles from * 'Ayun Musa.' Though the bushes and shrubs are frequent, yet the general character of the ground is stone or pebbles, worn smooth by the driving of .9 Ii6 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the sand during the ' sand ' storms, or * gravel ' storms, which are so frequent in this region, and so much dreaded by Arabs and travellers, for it is not possible to get shelter. It was my lot to be caught in a very bad one on this plain. I will quote again my own remarks : ' A bright morning with high wind, cold, soon passing into a gale. Dark clouds like the darkest thunder-storm coming up with the wind. The frightened camels refuse to proceed, so they are made to kneel down, and their legs are securely tied together. They groan and roar with fright. We lie down, covering mouth and nostrils. The darkness increases ; flash after flash of lightning tears down. I hear no thunder. There is no rain. The whole air is full of fine sand, while the desert looks like a sea of gravel and sand torn up by the fury of the wind, which is now hot. Hours pass. I note, and make rapid sketches as well as I can ; but feeling as if death is very close. The figures of men and camels are almost covered. Some poor beast, in its agony, breaks a rope and struggles to its feet ; Ave are forced to pull it down again. Night comes on ; the storm continues. About three o'clock next day all is ended — peace reigns, a sweet rainbow spans the sky. With weary, exhausted bodies, we set ourselves to collect our belongings, to eat some bread, and drink Avater which is full of fine sand. Sand has got into everything.'^ * Sunday Magazine. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 117 Did the Israelites know the ' Khamseen ' ? Yes, for it is common enough in the Delta. The trail goes on : we cross Wady Werdan, a broad wfidy like Sudur, with water- worn boulders, but a dry bed. Then the valley closes in. The ground is broken up by low hills on either side, and there is 1 18 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, a sort of broad pass, in which, there are two or three stunted palms and two shallow pools of un- clrinkable water — it is rare to find water in these pools, though they are called * 'Ain Hawarah,' The host must have passed here, as the nature of the ground proves. Writers hampered by the Suez theory have thought ' 'Ain Hawarah ' was the * Marah.' As I have sufficiently shown, it won't fit in with a single part of the Bible story. On to Elim the host of the Israelites go. In the Author- ised Version it is said, ' There were twelve wells of water ;' the Revised Version more properly trans- lates the word into * springs.' In Wady Gharandel, the * Elim,' which we now reach, the valley is well defined, and when I was there on two occasions I found a delightful stream of water running through it — the stream small, but fed by springs, many of which I found out some distance up the wady. The water was good. There are bushes in plenty, and groups of the stunted palms of the desert. Birds sang in the bushes, and low down the glen there were jdooIs, like as in a Scotch burn, where the water dashed and rippled over the stones ; festoons of forget-me-nots and masses of maiden- hair fern hung on the banks ; water-fowl rose from some of the pools, which led on into a jungle of rank growth and marshy ground ere the stream fell into the sea. This, I think, must be the ^ Elim ' where the * three score and ten palm-trees '* * How rare palm-trees were in this desert when the Israelites crossed we see by their counting them at ' Elim.' ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 119 grew. We find from the text that the IsraeHtes stayed here a month (see Exod. xvi. 1). In this wady, and on the slopes of the hills about, there is pasture, and the people would get some needed rest after all the excitements they had gone through. The account in Exodus also says : ' They encamped there by the waters.' It seems to me there is a meaning in the ' encamped ' which marks a longer stay than the word ' pitched.' Bedawin still often * camp ' at a place for months, while the pasture and water holds out. The word ' pitched,' I take it, means a shorter stay. Some writers suggest that the next camp — that by the ' Red Sea ' — was that the Israelites went straight on down Wady Gharandel to the sea. If so, then their march would be over the tangled jungle I have spoken of to reach a beach, where there is no room, and where the waves often dash at the base of the great hill called by the Arabs Jebel Hammam Farun, from which issue the hot springs called the * Baths of Pharaoh.' There is no road or track of any kind possible. * It is just possible for an active man to clamber along the fallen debris at the foot of the cliffs,'* so this suggested route may be dismissed as im- possible. So we will cross the stream and take what is really the main track to Sinai. We cross, then, the Plain of El Gargah, and reach Wady Useit, about six miles from Gharandel, a broad valley, with a few palms and bushes, and three small brackish * Eeport of Sinai Expedition. Ordnance Survey. I2C THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. springs. Very seldom do Bedawin drink this, as the good water of Gharandel is so near. Many writers have sought to identify ' Useit ' with the Elim of the Bible. I cannot bring myself to believe Moses would leave such a fine oasis as Gharandel for the poor pools of Useit. This wady does run to the sea, but at some distance down is quite impassable to camels, and quite impassable for a host. We may dismiss that as a route for the Israelites. Then, seven miles further on, another wady, also running to the sea — a wild gorge, equally impassable to camels and difficult for a jDedestrian. That may be dismissed. The scenery here is very grand, though the hills are wild and strange in form. Now we come to Wady Shebeikeh (the * valley of the net '), a labyrinth of cliffs, often quite vertical, but splendid scenery for an artist. Now we come to a most critical point. It is, I think, quite evident that hitherto we may be sure we have been on the route of the Israelites ; but now the road or track divides, one going straight on, the other turning. The straight track goes through Wady Hamr, the other down Wady Taiyibeh. Which did the Israelites take ? Here the Bible helps us most completely. In Numb, xxxiii. 10, we read: 'And they journeyed from Elim, and pitched by the Bed Sea.' So down Wady Taiyibeh they must have gone, as we have shown already. The other wadies are im- passable, and Wady Taiyibeh is broad and open. This verse in Numbers is most invaluable. Had ISRAEL IN EGYPT. critics, who have sought to throw doubt on the Bible narrative, knoivn the countrij, they would not I W 1 1\\ WADY TAITIBEH. have sneered at the ' ignorance of Moses,' they, forsooth, being so much wiser than the divinely- 122 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. inspired leader ! But why did Moses take the lower route ? For the best of all reasons. The main route (which the Bible shows he did not take) leads to Wady Nasb, Serabit-el-Khadim, and Maghara. What if it did ? Why, there were the well-known mines, colonized and worked by Egyptians, held by garrisons of soldiers, with strong positions and passes ! And so Moses, ' skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians,' evades all this mining country — turns the flank of it, so to speak — and, leading the host to the Red Sea, puts a mountain barrier between the coward host and the Egyptian garrisons and miners ! This single fact, gained from a knowledge of the country and the statements of the Bible, entirely destroys the elaborate argument of those who say, when speaking of these mines at Serabit-el-Khadim and Maghara, and the impossibility of passing them, that ' the unprejudiced will see in it (the existence of these Egyptian mines) another proof that the peninsula was never visited by the de- parting Israelites !'* I think I am right when I say that the writer of those words has never himself visited the Sinai Desert, and he cannot have noticed the passage in Numb, xxxiii. 10. I have no intention of further noticing the book I have quoted. It is a fair sample of the 'reasonable proofs !' Those w^ho object to the Bible account of the Exodus make objections to the truthfulness of Moses ! When * J. Baker Green, LL.B., * The Hebrew Migration from Egypt.' JSRA EL IN EG YP T. 1 23 tliey know as much of the desert as he did, then, perhaps, their remarks will alter, and be of moi-e value. It does not lie in the scope of this work to describe these Egyptian mines. They have been explored by many scientific travellers — their in- scriptions copied. I visited them myself, and obtained some fine turquoise from them. The whole country bears evident traces of a long Egyptian occupation, the mining belt being about twenty-five miles square. This mining region also helps us much in the further route of the Israelites, and disposes of many of the suggested routes writers thought the children of Israel took, I will only mention one — that from Wady Shellal by the Nagb Buderah. This latter is an abrupt cliff or precipice of sandstone, about a hundred feet in height. The name Buderah derives its oris'in from the tribe of Arabs who first made the path passable. Major Macdonald, who years ago reworked the mines, improved it ; but before that it must have been impassable. Even now my loaded camels found difficulty in ascending, and how could the Israelites, with their huge array, their flocks and herds and their wagons, have gone over it ? Wagons ! Well, they must have had some conveyances for the * tents ' or ' booths,' for the baggage — the ' spoils ' they borrowed from the Egyptians ; and for proof of wagons read Numb. vii. There * six covered wagons and twelve oxen ' are spoken of in v. 3. ' Wagons ' 124 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. are repeatedly mentioned in this same chapter. These must have been brought from Egypt, NAGB BUDKRAH. and the route to Wady Taiyibeh would offer no obstacles. They might have been rude, if ISRAEL IN EGYPT. ■ 125 you will — probably they only had two wheels, for in all Egyptian inscriptions there only occurs one representation of a wagon with four wheels. They could not have taken them over Nagb Buderah, even in its improved state, so we will return to Wady Taiyibeh, and pass down it to the sea. The cliffs are very fine — beautiful, I may say. Some fine palms grow near pools of water. These pools are exquisite in colour, but brackish to the taste. The track is broad and easy. You reach then the great plain of El Markha. On that plain water is found at two places, but it is bad. The plain is about sixteen miles long, and four to five miles broad. Clifi:s on your left hand, sea on the right, bushes of desert growth in plenty ; but the heat is usually very great, and the blasts of air come hot from the Red Sea. The effects were very fine when I crossed the plain, but the heat was ' steaming ' — hot vapours, giving beautiful effects, but a climate like the Turkish bath. A careful reconsideration of all the arguments of experts leads me to think that this is the ' Wilderness of Sin ' (Numb, xxxiii. 11, 12), and here it is that ' manna ' is given for bread and quails for ' flesh.' The ' manna ' was to come in the morning when ' the dew that lay was gone up,' the quails in the ' evening.' The point of the miracle of quails lies, I think, in this : quails migrate at yiiglit in Egypt. I have often noted this. When expecting quails at the time of their usual migration, I have walked over a lentil-field late in the eveninof with 126 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. my dogs and found none. Next morning at dawn, before smirise, I have gone over the same field, and the quails rose at every step. The Israelites would know this, for this bird is common in the Delta. By a miracle God had brought those quails by some wind across the Red Sea, so that ISRAEL IN EGYPT, 127 the tired birds * came up and covered the camp.' We may note here that a second miracle of quails afterwards happened ; and in Psalm Ixxviii. 26, 27, it is expressly referred to * an east wind and a south wind,' and the tired birds fell ' in the midst of their camp.' Having short wings, these birds can only fly a short distance. But the * wind ' in the text would be a 'Khamseen,' and so, again, they would be blown by it, and drop near the camp. Here also we see the wisdom of Moses in makino- that flank march which enabled him to avoid all the Egyptian mines, as the people were ripe for revolt. They sighed for the ' flesh-pots ' of Egypt, and, despising their freedom, looked back on the days of their captivity with longing eyes ! The manna divinely sent could not have been that gum which now at certain seasons of the year drops from the tamarisk-tree. This is produced by the prick of an insect. It is collected ; about 700 pounds weight is the whole yield in the peninsula. It will not keep even when put in tin vessels, but runs to a gummy liquid ; at least, that is my experience. Dophkah and Alush are the next camps mentioned ; there is no satisfactory identification of these. As to the duration of the camps, Numb. ix. 15-23 shows that the Israelites rested when the cloud remained on the tabernacle. * Whether it was a day, two days, a month, or a year,' this disposes of a common error, that the Israelites were always on the move ; they lived, in short, as do the Bedawin of to-day. I2S THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. camping sometimes for months at the same place. Not only did they make these prolonged halts at their cam2:»s, but they sometimes made niglit marches, as we see from verse 21. What a scene it must have been when the Israelites moved at night 1 Only those who have seen the Mecca caravan can, I think, realize it, going, as Arabs say, through a desert where there was only * He ' (that is, Allah). Captain Burton* well describes a night march : ' At half-past ten that evening we heard the signal for departure, and, as the moon was still young, we prepared for a hard night's work over rough ground covered with thicket. Darkness fell upon us like a jmll. The camels tripped and stumbled, tossing their litters like cock-boats in a short sea. It was a strange, wild scene ; the black basaltic field was dotted with the huge and doubtful forms of spongy-footed camels, with silent tread, looming like phantoms in the midnight air ; the hot wind moaned, and whirled from the torches sheets of flame and fiery smoke ; whilst ever and anon a swift-travellinof Takht- rawan, drawn by mules and surrounded by runners bearing gigantic Mashals,t threw a passing glow of red light upon the dark road and the dusky multitude.' Such would be the scene while the host of Israelites marched by night, led by the pillar of fire, through the wilderness, either to escape heat * Burton's •Pilgrimage to Mecca.' t A cresset. The Pasha's cressets are known l\y their smell — a little incense being mingled with the wood. By this means the Bedawia discover the dignitary's place. ISRA EL IN EG YP T. 129 or to avoid their many enemies — the Amalekites, Edomites, or Amorites. As to their water-supply on these marches, they again, I think, did as caravans do now : the beasts of burden would carry the water-shins, which would be filled up at the different oases. The host goes on to Rephidim, which I think we must accept as being the Wady Feiran. The objection may be made, ' But how about Wady Mokatteb and the Sinaitic writings ?' — a most interesting subject. I found these writings all over the peninsula ; some are on granite, which- shows skill in cutting ; the mass are, however, 011 sandstone. They number thousands ; but, in spita of the Rev. C. Foster,'" I do not think the Israelites had anything to do with them. Professor Palmer and all authorities entitled to credence say the same. Various are the ideas about them, some thinkinof they are early Christian, because the cross comes in often ; but the cross was a well-known heathen sign. Go to the British Museum, and look on the statue of Samsi Vul, King of Assyria, b.o. 825 : on his breast he wears this ^. The vestments of the priests of Hoi us, the Egyptian god of light, are marked y. At Thebes, in the Tombs of the Kings, royal cows are represented ^^loughing, a calf playing in front. Each animal has a like this marked in several places on it. M. Passam has found buildings at Nineveh marked with the Maltese cross. * 'Sinai PhotOL^raplied.' 0 I30 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Osiris, as well as Jupiter Amnion, had for mono- gram a "f". Dr. Schliemann, writing of the cross, says : ' It is the most ancient of all religious emblems, but as an emhlem of Christianity it came into use after Constantine.' Dean Burgon, writing of the catacombs at Rome, says : ' I question whether a cross occurs in any Christian monument of the first four centuries.' The cross is found marked on Phoenician monuments before Christ 1600 ! Niebuhr rightly sums up Constantine's motive in adopting the cross as a Christian emblem: ' His motives in establishing^ the Christian relio^ion are something very strange indeed. The religion there was in his head must have been a mere jumble. On his coins he has " the unconquered sun ;" he worships Pagan deities, consults the soothsayers, holds heathen superstitions ; yet he shuts up the temples and builds churches.' No ; there is no warrant for saying the cross is a Christian emblem ; before a.d. 300 * the Christian emblems were the fish, the anchor, the ship, the dove, the palm hranchJ'* The cross as a Christian emblem was brought in when Pagan Pome adopted politically some Chris- tianity, and so became Paj^al Pome ! For some days past the grandest of all the Sinai mountains, Jebel Serbal, has been showino- his many peaks over the hills — by some Middle Age writers thought to be the Mount of God — but only * Major Conder in letter to author. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 131 explore the difficult passes by which you approach Serbal — passes quite impassable for a host, difficult even for a Bedawin, with no plain at all at the foot of the lower ranges which lie at its base ! Grand, imposing as it is, as an artist I can never speak in sufficient praise of its grandeur. Yet it could not be the Mount of the Law. Wady Feiran, the Rephidim, is a fine pass with incessant twists and turns, with a grand cliff at either side, and leads to the greatest of the Sinai oases. But does not the Bible say that ' there was no water ' ? Yes ; there is no water for many iniles. Professor Palmer has well summed up the whole argument : ' We should not expect a mere desert tribe, such as Amalek was, to sally forth in well-organized troops to meet the advancing hosts of Israel while the latter were yet in the compara- tively open wilderness. Their immediate impulse on the first intimation of the enemy's approach would be to collect around their wells and palm- groves and concert measures for protecting these their most precious possessions. When the hostile body had encamped within a short distance of the oasis, they would, no doubt, watch for an oppor- tunity of attacking them unawares, in order to take them at a disadvantage before they could establish their camp or recover from their fatigues. Such would be the tactics of the modern Bedawin, and such, it appears from the Bible account, Avas the nature of the opposition which Israel en- countered at Bephidim. They had ** pitched in 9—2 132 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, Repliidim," but the wells were defended, and they were oblisfed to halt on the outskirts of the fertile district, " and there was no water for the people to drink." Disappointed and fatigued, they " mur- mured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst ?" The miracle of striking the rock released them from this difficulty, and, as we are told, imme- diately afterwards, " then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim " (Exod. xvii. 8).' But it is a significant fact that in Wady Feiran, immediately before the part of the valley where the fertility commences, I discovered a rock which Arab tradition regards as the site of the miracle. This rock, which has never before been noticed by travellers, is called Hesy el Khattatin, and is surrounded by heaps of pebbles placed upon every available stone in the immediate neighbourhood. These are accounted for as follows : ' When the children of Israel sat down by the miraculous stream and rested, after their thirst was quenched, they amused themselves by throwing pebbles upon the surrounding pieces of rock. This has passed into a custom, which the Arabs of the present day keep up, in memory of the event. It is supposed especially to propitiate Moses, and any- one having a sick friend throws a pebble in his name, with the assurance of speedy relief* To the Bedawin of to-day Feiran is a real * 'Desert of the Exodus,' i., pp. 158, 159. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 133 paradise. I can sympathize with them. When we apj)roached the oasis, my men burst out into loud songs in its praise. Through the broad wady there runs a small stream, giving life and verdure all around, for here grow over five thousand palm- trees ; the date palm, too — not that wild desert one — bushes of tamarisk,* Sidr trees ; patches of corn, maize, or tobacco, irrigated by the Shaduf. The dates grown here are the finest in all the Egyj^tian territory. Birds sang and doves cooed in the trees. There is a small permanent village of Bedawin to guard and tend the trees, for each tree has its owner, who has to pay a tax on its produce to the Egyptian Government. The oasis has one great drawback, being liable to sudden floods. The Rev. F. Holland saw one which swept away in a moment a whole encampment of Arabs, their flocks and tents, and he narrowly escaped. On a hill are ruins of an old Christian village and remains of two churches ; while in the cliffs are innumerable caves or cells, burrowed out by hermits in olden time. Tombs abound. There are paths made to Serbal — paths of huge boulders, some clamped with iron harSyf showing that a large population, possess- ing great engineering skill, once existed here. Old writers speak of ' fairs,' held once a year ; but, fertile as the wady now is, surely it must have been * The tamarisk is a tree as well as a bush. There are fine specimens of it in Sinai ; even in England I know of some very fine trees of tamarisk. t Proofs exist that iron ore was known and worked b}' Egyptians in Sinai. 134 '^HE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. more so in old days, and very different, for I found many buildings of sun-dried bricks — bricks made from mud. Where did that come from ? Well, in Feiran, as well as in other wadies, you will see * Jorfs,' as the Arabic has it — banks of sedimentary deposits, in which you can find shells o^ fresh-ivater mussels. I have found these shells in more than one wady. What does that prove ? Why, that at some time quiet lakes of fresh water existed here Something happened, and the lower end gave way ; the water ran off. These floods cut their way through the soft bed of the old lakes, and left these banks, ' Jorfs.' I hazard no conjecture as to when this took place ; but many facts show that the Desert of Sinai is now more barren than it was in ancient days, and it is hecoming more so. Why ? Well, the Bedawin of Sinai have to pay taxes to the Egyptian Government, and that tax is ordered to be paid in charcoal. To get this they must cut down trees. I have seen the long array of camels carry- ing this charcoal tax, and then did not wonder that timber is becoming scarce. Old men speak of trees in certain wadies, where none now exist ; and yet in many have I seen splendid groves of acacia and other timber trees, and therefore cease to wonder at the size of the planks used in the tabernacle, for Exod. xxxvi. 21 tells us, 'Ten cubits was the IciKjtli of a board, and a cubit and a half the hreadth of each board.' Rain, too, must have been frequent — indeed, it is so now — for in Psalm Ixviii. 9 it says, ' Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whei'eby ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 135 Tilou didst confirm Thine inheritance when it was weary.' On one occasion I filled up my water- skins from rain pools in the granite rocks, in an apparently waterless wady.* Dews are very heavy, often soakina: the tents. We read of ' dews ' in Eiod. xvi. 13 ; Numb. xi. 9. These and many other facts lead me to the conclusion that at the time of the Exodus the Sinai Desert was more fruitful far than now. Three thousand years of neglect ; for after the Exodus the Egyptians would seem to have abandoned all their mines, and the country has been left to the Arabs, who, as a rule, only destroy. Later on we shall examine some of the proofs of ancient settled habitations in the whole region. A difficulty must now be faced : the Bible says, * For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness : and there Israel camped before the mount' (Exod. xix. 2). Professor Palmer remarks : m ' Now, if Jebel Musa be Sinai, it could hardly be reached in a single day's journey by any large host with heavy baggage. From Feiran the road is broad and open enough as far as the Nagb Hawa ; but the laden camels must make a detour of some six or eight hours by the valley which comes in a little lower down to the left, namely Wady es Sheikh . . . but when they had come to that pass Avhich forms, as it were, the gate of the Sinai * More than once I was forced to halt from rain, and Holland once gave me a graphic account of an ascent of Sinai he made in a snowstorm. 136 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. district, they may be fairly said to have reached *'the desert of Sinai," The words ''and there Israel camj)ed before the mount " seem to me to imply a separate operation, and I should be inclined to interpret the passage thus : They were departed from Rephidim, or Feiran, and had reached the wilderness of Sinai — that is, the Sinai district at the mouth of the Nagb Hawa — and here they began to look out for a suitable place for a perma- nent camp. The spot chosen was the plain of Er Rahah, " And there Israel camped before the mount."' He also points out it is quite possible Moses and the elders took the short route through the pass, leaving the host to go the longer route. The professor and Sir Charles Wilson did this. I did it years after, and got to Jebel Musa, walk- ing, some hours before my camels. The host may also have travelled as Bedawin do : march six or eight hours, then rest, and pursue their journey in the evening. Again, I have more than once done a ' forced march ' in this way, and without much fatigue traversed ground that usually occupies two days' march. It is most tempting to try to describe Sinai — *Ilas Sufsafeh'; but it has been done so thoroughly by the Ordnance Survey party, and by Professor Palmer, that I must pass it, only remarking that * Sinai ' is a cliain of mountains with many peaks, ending with a grand bluff, which fronts the plain of Er Pahah. It may be impossible to 'prove that R^s Sufsafeh be Sinai ; but the difficulties in the ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 137 llill'!if'"ft 138 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. way of proving tliat are of no moment compared to the difficulties attachinof to the other momitains sug*- gested — such as Serbal, Umm Shummur, or Mount Hor : none other but the one named fits in with the Bible narrative. No other mountain in the peninsula has a 'plain at its foot where a multitude could encamp ; no other mountain has vegetation in its front on which flocks and herds could feed, as the Bible tells us they did at Sinai ; and if we go to Arab traditions, all are in favour of Has Sufsafeh, Difficulties which the student at home may feel, are no difficulties to one who has explored this region of Sinai ; and the opinion of all those scientific observers of the Ordnance Survey was that Bas Sufsafeh was the ' Mount of God.' Accurate survey of the plain of Er Bahah shows it to be 4 0 0 acres in extent ; and when the open wadies near and surrounding are taken into account, there are in all 940 acres of excellent standing ground in front and in full view of Bas Sufsafeh (which is the Arabic name of the bold bluflf or cliff which fronts the plain). Impossible to ascend is the bluflf in front ; easy at either side ; and this would explain why, when Moses and Joshua were descend- ing the mount, they did not at first see the multi- tude and the camp, and why Joshua — the soldier — thought there was a noise ' of war in the camp.' Moses had keener ears, and said, ' It is the noise of them that sing' (Exod. xxxii. 17, 18). In the matter of the Tables of the Law, art has led the world astray. Michael Angelo represents Moses as ISRAEL AV EGYPT. 139 a strong athlete, struggling with two heavy tomb- stones, so to speak ; yet the least knowledge of Hebrew would prove that those stone tablets, the writing of which was ' the writing of God,' would really be very small — not so large as a j)age of this book. Go to the British Museum and look on those Deluge Tablets, and see how much could be written on a small surface, and no longer think that Middle Age art was right, but study your facts in the light of the Bible. We call ' the Law ' the ten commandments ; the Hebrew original calls them * the ten words.' The command is there given to leave Sinai — for the host to enter the Promised Land. Though led by the pillar of fire and cloud, yet Moses asks Hobab to be as ' eyes ' to them, he knowing all the desert. This selection had far-reachinof conse- quences (as we shall see in Judges). They go through the ' great and terrible wilderness ' to Paran, a region well known (Gen. xiv. 6 ; xxi. 21). They went by ' the way (or road) of the mountain of the Amorites,' and then on to * Kadesh-barnea ' (Deut, i. 19). The first station after Sinai was Kibroth-hattaavah. Palmer thouo-ht he had found this in Wady el Hebeibeh, wdiere a bit of elevated ground is covered with small enclosures of stones, and on a hill near an erection of rough stones, surmounted by a white block of pyramidal shape. He and Drake explored this camp, found old fire- places, in which were charcoal, and outside the camjD stone heaps, which he says could be nothing else but I40 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. graves. The place is called by the Arabs Erweis* el Ebeirig ; and Arab tradition says a Hajj caravan pitched their tents here, and then were lost in the Tib Desert. Later travellers do not consider this question settled. The desert into which the Israelites moved is now called Badiet et Tih — 'the desert of the wanderino-s.' Shut in on one side by the Edomites, on the other by the Amalek- ites, and in front by the Amorites — a very desert country indeed, but having (so Drake told me), wadies in which grass grew high. Scattered all over the peninsula are rude-stone buildings, which the Arabs say were erected by the Israelites to protect themselves from mosquitoes. They call these stone buildings naivdmis ; but this word really only means ' a shelter for huntsmen.' I have explored many. They are rude in construc- tion, circular at base, rising like a cone, and having a very small entrance-door. None of them are near springs. They must have been built before the Sinaitic inscriptions, for the Ordnance * See ' Desert of the Exodus,' Palmer, vol. i., p. 257. ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 141 Survey party found inscriptions on the ruins of some naivCtmis. It is suggested they belonged to those very peo^^jle of Amalek who fought with Israel in Rephidim (Exod. xvii. 8). Stone-circles like the so-called Druidical circles are frequently found. Also * cup markings ' cut in rocks with rude tools, foot and sole marks, and old rock sculp- tures, and these are quite apart from the so-called Sinaitic inscriiDtions. There are many enclosures consisting of a low wall of stones, with thorny acacia inserted. These are called 'hazeroth,' or fenced enclosures. It would be about the middle of May when the Israelites moved into the Till. A second miracle of quail occurs. The tired birds, instead of flying high, flew ' two cubits ' — about three feet — above the ground, so that they could easily be captured. The people were smitten with plague, and the place was called Kibroth-hattaavah ('the graves of lust') (Numb. xi. 34, margin). From thence they journey to Hazeroth, and thence to Kadesh-barnea. Many have been the attempts to find the latter place, so important in the history of the wanderings. Dr. Robinson, the celebrated traveller, thought he had found it ; but the position he located for it would have been untenable from a military point of view, and would have exposed the Israelites to attacks from every quarter. The Rev. John Rowlands, familiar with the country, at a third attempt had the good fortune to find the oasis, now called 'Ain Kadis. This name is the exact Arabic form of the Hebrew Kadesh. On his 142 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. way he identified * S'beita ' as the site of the ancient Zephath. Mr. Rowlands thus describes the place : * The rock is a large single mass, or a small hill of solid rock, a spur of the mountain to the north of it rising immediately above it. It is the only visible naked rock in the whole district. The stream when it reaches the channel turns west- wards, and after running about three or four hundred yards loses itself in the sand. I have not seen such a lovely sight anywhere else in the whole desert — such a copious and lovely stream,' He gives many proofs of its identity with Kadesh. I give a few : ' It lies at the foot of the mountains of the Amorites (Deut. i. 19). It is situated near the grand pass or entrance into the Promised Land by the Beer Lahai-Roi well, which is the only easy entrance from the desert to the east of Jebel Halal, and most probably the entrance to which the Hebrews were conducted from Sinai towards the Land of Promise. A good road leads to this place all the way from Sinai. A grand road, still finer, I was told, by broad wadies, goes from 'Ain Kadis to Mount Hor. The locality answers, in every respect, to the description given of it in Scripture.'* Professor Palmer tried hard to find this place. He was misled by an Arab, a sheikh, the very man who years after betrayed Palmer to his death. To the skill and perseverance of an American traveller, Dr. Trumbull, we owe the rediscovery * Appendix, Eobinson's ' Eesearches.' ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 143 of Kadesli. After a charmins^ account of tho difficulties put in his way by the Arabs, he saj^s \^ * Wady Qadees is an extensive hill-encircled, irregular-surfaced plain, several miles wide ; it is certainly large enough to have furnished a camping- ground for Chedorlaomer's army, or for all the host of Israel. . . . About the middle of Wady Qadees is an extensive water-bed of unusual fertility for the desert. Rich fields of wheat and barley covered a large portion of it. . . . There were artificial rido-es to retain and utilize the rainfall for irrio'ation. We saw a larofe cfi'ain-mao-azine dug into the ground. . . . The lintel of the door- way of this granary was a large tree-trunk, larger than we should look for in the desert nowadays.' He found j)its, cisterns, cairns, and circles of stone, low stone walls, like low dams, such as described by Robinson and Palmer — the ' little plantations ' of olden times. Then came * a rough stone-covered plain,' The mid-day heat intense. Dazzling chalk hills ; desolation all around after three hours. They turned an angle of the hills, * and then the long-sought wells of Qadees were before our eyes.' ' It was a marvellous sight ! Out from the barren and desolate stretch of the burnino;- desert waste we had come with magical suddenness into an oasis of verdure and beauty unlooked for and hardly conceivable in such a region. A carpet of grass covered the ground. Fig-trees laden with * ' Kadesh Barnea,' pp. 269-272. 144 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. fruit nearly ri^^e enough for eating were along the shelter of the southern hillside. Shrubs and flowers showed themselves in variety and pro- fusion. Running water gurgled under the waving grass. We had seen nothing like it since leaving Wady Feiran, nor A\as it equalled in loveliness of scene by any single bit of landscape of like extent even there.' He notices the rock described by Rowlands and gives further details : ' A circular stone well, stoned up from the bottom with time-worn limestone blocks, was the first receptacle of the water. A marble watering- trough was near this well, better finished than the troughs at Beersheba, but of like primitive work- manship.' A second well, another marble trough, a basin or pool larger than either of the wells. All water seemed to come from subterranean springs under the rock. ' Camel and goat dung, as if of flocks and herds for centuries, trodden down with the limestone rock, so as to form a solid plaster bed.' ' Another and a larger pool lower down the slope was supplied with water by a stream which rippled and cascaded along its narrow bed from the upper pool; and yet beyond this, westwards, the water gurgled away under the grass as we had met it when we came in, and finally lost itself in the parching wady from which this oasis opened. The water itself was remarkably pure and sweet, unequalled by any we had found after leaving the Nile. * There was a New England look to this oasis, ISRAEL IN EGYPT. US especially in the flowers and grasses and weeds, quite unlike anything we had seen in the Peninsula of Sinai. Bees w^ere humming there, and birds were flittinsf from tree to tree. Enormous ant- hills made of green grass seed, instead of sand, were numerous. As we came into the wady we had started up a hare, and had seen larks and quails. It was, in fact, hard to realize that we were in the desert, or even near it.' Such the long-sought-for oasis, the * En-niishpat, which is Kadesh,' wdiere Chedorlaomer halted (Gen. xiv. 7) ; where Israel 'abode many days' when the people ' chode ' with Moses ; where he * smote ' the rock with his rod ; where the ' water came out abundantly ;' where Miriam died ; where Israel waited for the return of the spies, and to which those spies brought back the ' cluster of grajDCS ' which they cut at Eshcol, and to which after thirty-eight years of wandering the host returned. No place in the Bible narrative so arrests the attention, after the ' Mount of God ' as this Kadesh. It is a common mistake to think that ' Eshcol ' was near Hebron. ' Eshcol ' means a ' bunch of grapes.' The discoveries of Palmer prove that the Negeb, or south country, was near, and the whole of that region shows indisputably that grapes were then grown. The discovery of Kadesh has other consequences; it shows us that the Israelites did not use the ' Arabah ' as their main camping-ground. That great wady, surrounded as it was by their enemies, 10 1 46 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. would have been no safe camping-ground for them ; but stopjDing at Kadesh, and the desert near, they would be out of the track and in defensible positions. ' So also the traditional Mount Hor must be re- cognised as an impossible Mount Hor.'* The Israelites, frightened by the report of the spies, rebel, are punished, and then the awful fiat goes forth : ' Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.' Blind to all warning, they presume to ' go up into the hilltop,' are defeated, and ' discomfited even to Hormah.' The word means * banning,' and is identical wdth Zephath. This has been identified by Palmer with ' S'beita,' and he discovered close by the ancient ' watch tower ' (which again is the meaning of the Hebrew w^ord). This tower is on the top of a hill. The ruins are primeval, thouofh there are more recent fortifications. From this fort the Amorites and Canaanites most likely issued to attack Israel. The Arabic words used for the valley near the mountain mean ' the ravine of the Amorites,' and the mountains them- selves are called by a word meaning ' head ' or 'top' * of the Amorites.' The wanderinsfs beofin in Numb, xxxiii. The list of stations is given. An examination of some of the names will give a clue as to why they were chosen. Rithmath, a name coming from * retem/ a broom bush, pro- bably means valley of broom bushes. Kadesh 'holy place,' its original name, Enmishpat (Gen. * ' Kadesh Barnea,' p. 320. ISRA EL IN EGYPT. 1^7 xiv. 7), ' well of judgment ;' Kadesh Barnea, its newer name, ' the land of moving to and fro,' or ' wandering,' or ' shaken.' Then Rimmon j^a}^:^, * the pomegranate breach.' Libnah, ' whiteness,' probably from the white poplar -trees growing there. Rissah, ' dew.' Mount Shapher, * the mount of beauty ' or of ' goodliness.' Mithcah, ' sweetness,' in reference to the water. Hashmonah, ' fatness,' * fruitfulness,' where to this day there is a pool full of sweet living ^vater with abundant vegetation around. Bene-Jaakan, or, as in Deut. X. 6, ' Beeroth of the children of Jaakan,' ' the wells of the children of Jaakan,' probably the wells which the Jaakanites had dug on their expulsion by the Edomites from their original homes (Gen. xxxvi. 27; 1 Chron. 1-42). Jotbathah, * goodness,' and Ebronah, probably ' fords.' The other names are either derived, from jDeculiarities of scenery or else from special events, as Kehelathah, * assem- bling ;' Makheloth, ' assemblies ;' Haradah, ' j)lace of terror.'* We have already seen from the text that the Israelites often camped for lengthened periods, contrary to the common idea. They must have lived in touch Avith tribes — for instance, the Bene- Jaakan. They had money, for they offered to buy 'meat' and 'water.' And Deut. xi. 28, 29 tells how they had done this with ' the children of Esau which dwelt in Seir, and the Moabites v/hich dwelt in A.r/ " Dr. Edersheim. 10 — 2 148 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Moses, when he sent messengers to the King of Edom, asking permission to pass through his land, calls Kadesh ' a city in the uttermost of thy border.' He appeals to the king that he would let * thy Jjr other Israel ' pass through. He touchingly tells of their past troubles, and of the Divine deliverance, but Edom haughtily refused — came ' out with a strong hand ' — that is, in force he held the jDasses which would have given the Israelites easy access to the Promised Land. So they * turned away from him ' — reading this, how is it possible that the traditional Mount Hor can be the place of Aaron's grave ? It was not until the days of JosejDhus, fifteen centuries after Aaron's death, that the mountains near Petra were thousfht to be the place of this funeral, Pead the Bible, and leave tradition alone, then I think it will be ad- mitted that this commonly accepted site docs not fit in with the text. The true site of Kadesh beinsf found helps us to the true Mount Hor. The Hebrew form of words to describe this mountain are Hor,* ha Har, literalty. Mountain, * The Mountain.'! It does not say it was the highest. Just as we have seen that Jebel Serbal, though, higher and grander than Musa, is not the * Mount of God.' Is it likely that after Israel had asked permis- sion to enter Edom, and been met with a refusal, * The word ' Hor,' mountain, is also used for Hormon. Sea Numb, xxxiv. 7, 8. t Dr. Trumbull, * Kadesh Barnea.' ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 149: they would march into the very heart of the country, camp close to its capital, and then bury Aaron in the mountain close by ? * Moreover, the Bible record shows that when the Israelites moved' from Kadesh Barnea to Mount Hor, they alarmedl the King of Arad, in the land of Canaan, as if they were advancing threateningly northwards, and in consequence he came out against them in force. It has been a puzzle of puzzles for commentators to explain why that king should have supposed that the Israelites were coming towards him when they were really going from him, as they must have been doing if Jebel Neby Harun (the traditional Mount Hor) was their destination. . . . And in addition to all the other reasons for rejecting these claims, it should be considered that since the stretch of Edom was on both sides of the 'Arabah, the Arabah it- self, northwards of the lower extremity of Mount Seir, was within the territory of Edom, hence it could not have oeen entered by the Israelites.'* Deut. X. 6 gives another name to 'the mountain- on which Aaron died — ■ Moserah.' Now, within a day's march of Kadesh is a remarkable mountain called * Moderah,' rising by itself alone from a plain. It stands on the boundaries of Edom, of Canaan,, and the Wilderness of Paran — the very verge of the Land of Promise. All the border wadies run to it and the plain. Every traveller who has seea it appears to have been struck by its remarkable isolation.' Pobinson calls it a ' lofty citadel.' * Dr. Trumbull, 'Kadesh Barnea.' ISO THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Professor Hull thinks the traditional Mount Hor at Petra is the site, but one of the reasons he gives fails to commend itself to my mind : * We may well suppose the eyes of the high- priest of Israel were allowed to rest themselves upon the hills of Judea, ere he resigned his priestly robes, and prejDared himself for his resting-place, perha^DS in the little cave which is covered by a Mohammedan shrine.' Measure on the map a straight line from Petra to Hebron ; you will find it eighty miles or about. What human eyes could see objects at that distance ? and, further, how could he then have seen over those heights at Hebron ? What Bible warrant is there for thinkino- Aaron had a view of the Promised Land ? Anyhow, he v/ould see very little of it from Petra. The Israelites had received the refusal of the King of Edom ; they must, therefore, make a detour to reach Wady Arabah below, where the army of Edom was placed. Deut. x. 7 tells us they 'journeyed into Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a and of rivers of waters.' On their way they were ^ittacked by the King of Arad. Then Israel vowed ^ surface of the ground is about seventy feet. Further exploration is needed here. What has been already found shows that a large population could exist here. A curious historical fact may be here mentioned, that when Baldwin III. (1144-1162) and the Crusaders went to Bozrah, they went by this town. The army suffered for want of water, but as often as they let down buckets by ropes into the cisterns here, men concealed in this underground city cut the ropes. In 1874 the President of Queen's College, Belfast,* found a curious old city about two miles in circuit, the buildings of black basalt. Some of the ruins were inhabited, but they were chiefly buried. The ancient houses were cave-like, of massive walls, of roughly-hewn blocks of basalt ; stone doors of the same material, and roofs of long slabs closely laid together. Most of the houses were originally above ground. Others were excavated out of the solid rocks. He mentions many other similar towns. Dr. Merrillt again speaks of cyclopean structures ; he found one near Kirateh. * This structure ' (for he found * Quarterly Statement, April, 1881, pp. 77. t Dr. Merrill, ' East of Jordan,' pp. 30-42. 11 1 62 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. fifteen similar ones) *is built of large unhewn stones, and was from twenty-five to thirty-five feet in length. That was the length of the front wall, w^hich was exactly north and south. The w^estern outline circular ; in the centre of each structure a rectangular pit or hole, eight, nine, and some- times twelve feet long, and six to eight feet wide. . . . The platform, of great unhewn stones, into which the pit appears to be sunk, was built with striking regularity and solidity.' He considers them too costly for tombs, and thinks the ruins about show that this platform was the base of some rude pyramid, but the structures were of great age. A ' colossal head of Astarte ' was found at another place ; the fragment is now in England. Another head with rays was found at Alii — a bullock's head on an altar of basalt, now in America. From a hill this same observer saw forty ruined towns. On a stone he discovered a sculptured image of Dusares or Bacchus, and a strange figure holding grapes in his hand ; he thinks it Phoenician. In Deut. iii. 10, ' Salchah' is mentioned as one of Og's towns. Arabs now call this place Salkhad. Here there are ruins of an old castle, built in the mouth of an extinct crater. On the wall of this castle is a curious inscription : a rude tree with pendent fruit, guarded at the foot of the tree bv two straiiQfe four-footed animals, like leopards. To my mind it is a rude repre- sentation of the tree of life. AVe shall see later some more of the wonderful stone ruins which ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 163 still exist in Baslian. Can we wonder tlicn at the pride with which Moses reminds the people that it was '■ the Lord our God ' who delivered Og and all his cities with their walls and gates into the hands of these people who had seen so little of war ? No wonder, I say, that Moses recalls * the great things He hath done.' There is a curious arch geological note in Deuteronomy, where it is said Og's * bedstead was a bedstead of iron.' Major Conder says of this :* ' This passage has exercised the ingenuity of many commentators, and is generally supposed to refer to a basalt sarcophagus ; but there is no basalt at Rabbath, while all we know of early tribes would render it very doubtful if Og Avas likely to be buried in a sarcophagus. The word may, however, mean a hut (as in Arabic), or more properly a throne, while it is not impossible that the word rendered '' iron " may mean (as in Talmudic use) '' strong " or " princely." The monument in such case would be Og's throne rather than his bedstead. A memory of Irish dolmens suggested to me a possible connection between Og's throne and some rude- st one 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 Rabboth Ammon, and yet more striking that * * Heth and Moab,' pp. IGO, 161. 11 — 2 1 64 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the top stone measured thirteen feet (or very nearly nine cubits of sixteen inches) in length (the size given in Deuteronomy). The extreme breadth was eleven feet. It seemed to me possible that it is to this solitary monument that the name of " Og's Throne " might be attached, and I here give the suggestion for what it is worth.' Then follows the distribution of the conquered land to those tribes who, seeing that the land * was a place for cattle,' wished not to settle the other side Jordan. The scenery is magnificent ; we are told by travellers of wide ujDland pastures, of rich forests and fine streams, and these tribes had all along preserved their nomadic habits. Their flocks and herds seem to have been their sole possessions. Moses disliked the request ; it seems a selfish one, and he shows them how it would * discouragfe ' the other tribes. It would be the * little rift between ' which would in time break up the commonwealth. They come again with another offer. They will build sheep-folds for their cattle, rebuild the destroyed cities (changing their names), so as to give safe abiding-places for their wives and children, while they themselves offer to go over armed, in front of the array. To these conditions Moses agrees, but it was an unhappy precedent of the sad division which happened long after. It shows that after all the wonderful works which God had wrought for them, they were only thinking of their own worldly goods, and had not seen that they were God's chosen instruments to ISRA EL IN EG YPT. 1 65 chastise those nations whose ' iniquity ' was now 'full.' Sihon and Og being defeated, no forces now barred the way to the Promised Land ; so Israel ' pitched in the plains of Moab, on this side Jordan, by Jericho.' The old name, ' plains of Moab,' had kept to these plains, though we know that they had been taken from Moab by the Amorites ; the Amorites had been defeated ; Moab, however, was not to be touched. They are now in * Abel Shittim ' — the meadow of the ' acacias,' now called Kefrein — rich meadow - land with marshy glades, where still grow acacia-trees, and which is de- scribed as beinof the * laro-est and richest oasis ' in the Jordan Valley. Their camp extended towards the north to Beth Jeshimoth ('the house of desolations'), where the desert reigns : from the high tableland Balak, King of Moab, looks down on their camp ; he had been left untouched. What, then, were his reasons for wishing to destroy Israel ? Why did he send for Balaam ? It was the hatred of heathenism to Jehovah. Heathens were willinof to acknowledge Jehovah as * the God of the Hebrews,^ but not willing to acknowledge Him as the one only true God — Lord of all. They would not hear that Chemosh or Baal were ' idols ' ; it was the conflict of light with darkness — the everlasting war which ever goes on with the true believer and the world. So the soothsayer Balaam is sent for : his name means ' devourer ' or ' swallower-up '; his father's name, Beor, means ' burner-up ' i66 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, or ' destroyer.' This magician lives at Pethor, in Mesopotamia, and Balak was probably of Midianitish origin — for his father's name Zippor (* bird ') reminds us of Oreb (' crow ') — so there would be affinity between the two men. The character of Balaam is a difficult one to under- stand ; he knew the right — for greed he sought the wrong. We see him in Scripture a monument of those who seek to do the impossible : * Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.' He comes to Balak from ' the high places of Baal ;' he sees the people of Israel ; seven altars are built ; he is not permitted to curse — he blesses ; he is taken to the ' field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah '; seven more altars are built ; he is taken to the top of Peor ; seven altars again are reared — the result is the same ; he sees his defeat ; he seeks no longer ' enchantments '; but lifts up his voice in parable. And now he is an inspired man and lifts the veil from the future ; but he was an iimvilling instrument. ' The Spirit of God came upon him ;' he * heard the words of God,' and was compelled to give them utterance : ' He maketh even His enemies to praise Him.' But though he could not curse, yet it was he Vv-ho gave such advice to Balak that the children of Israel w^ere seduced into wickedness, and a plague followed (Num. xxxi. 16). Balaam comes to his end among the enemies of God. The women of Moab and the women of Midian had been the traps he set to seduce Israel. He joined himself to Midian, and when, by God's com- ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 167 ■m mancl, the latter are smitten with all their kings, the name of Balaam, the son of Beor, is amongst the slain (Num. xxxi. 8). Having so far followed the Bible account, we can now take up modern discovery. Major Conder and the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey party have made many interesting dis- coveries here. I give a brief description :* The high places to which Balaam was brought were three in number, each sacred to a Moabite deity, each commanding a more or less extensive view of the Jordan Valley. The first is Bamoth Baal, south of Nebo, and which is a ' bare hilltop ' ; next the Field ofZophim, now called Tal'at es Sufa — an Arabic name, identical with the Hebrew Zuph, whence Zophim. This is the old ' Field ofZophim,' or ' of views,' in the ' ascent of Zuph ' — the field close to the Cairn of Nebo ; and few 2>laces in Palestine are so well identified as this ridofe. *■ Zophim ' is but another name for the Nebo ridge. Close to this place stands a huge dolmen, perfect and unshaken ; others on the southern slope ; another overturned on the west, close to the Cairn of Nebo ; a great rude-stone circle on the southern slope, and quite close to another dolmen centre on the other side of the gorge. All prove we are here in the centre of altars. The third station of Balaam was the ' Cliff of Peor, that looked toward Jeshimon,' and whence apparently the whole host of Israel was visible in the * ' Heth and ]\Ioab,' Conder. i68 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. • plains of Abel Sliittim. The first, then, was the hill of Baal, the Sun -god ; the second, that of Nebo or Mercury ; the third, of Peor, the Priapus of Moab, who resembled the Egyptian Khem. At each site seven altars were raised : one to each of the seven planetary gods — the Cabiri of Phoenicia, whose aid was invoked against the God of Israel. The third station evidently gave a more ex- tensive view, and it could not have been far from the other two stations. Such a ridge we find im- mediately south of that of Bamoth Baal, in the narrow spur which runs out to Minyeh. The very name at once suggests a connection with Peor, for it means * luck,' or ' desire,' and is in- timately connected with that of Meni, or Venus, the proper wife of Peor ; while a legend of a magic well, springing from the spear of 'Aly, attaches to the spot. It was therefore a most interesting discovery to find, on the very edge of the cliff of Minyeh, a line of seven monuments of large stones, concerning which the Arabs have no traditions, only that they are very ancient. In each case a circle has existed, with a central cubical stone, such as the ancient Arabs used to consecrate to their chief female divinity, and each had originally a little court or enclosure on the east, where the worshipper stood with his face to the west, the proper quarter of Hathor (or Venus) in Egypt, the home of the evening aurora seen behind the mountains of Judah. The view from the * Cliff of Peor ' is ISRAEL IN EGYPT. iCg more extensive than that from either Bamoth Baal or Nebo ; it commands a complete view of the plains of Shittim, from Beth Jeshimoth to Nimrim, while on the south-west the watershed, sinking from Hebron towards the Beersheba desert, is more distinctly seen. Standing on the lofty knoll just south of the seven circles, Balaam would be able to see all the camp of Israel. He could see Moab, Edom, and Jebus, the rocky nest of the Kenite, which comes as a peak on the south-western horizon. Here was pronounced the doom of those children of Sheth who adored in Peor and Nebo, but other forms of the ' pillar,' Set, that idol god so sacred to Hittites and Egyptians also. Cairns of huge size, stone circles, huge upright standing stones are found in many places, but in this regie n they abound, and their position points to the fact that here, where Balaam was brought by Balak, was the very centre of the heathen worship. Some circles are 100 yards in diameter. Of the upright stones, called * menhirs,' the most important group was found by the explorers at El Mareighat, then a square enclosure, an inner circle, a central group on the top of the knoll, and align- ments on the west. The Arabs call them ' the smeared stones,' and there is little doubt that they were originally the objects of Pagan worship — once anointed with oil or smeared with blood. There is no evidence to connect any of them with places of sepulchre. The main object of their J70 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. erection seemed always to be the construction of a flat table, arranged with a slight tilt in the direc- tion of its length. They are nearly always near streams of water — always in places where good views are to be got. Cup hollows are in the tables, or top stone. Sometimes channels are cut from the cup hollow, all irresistibly giving evidence that some sort of libation was jooured on the stone. At an earlier period, long before the law of Moses existed, the fathers of the Hebrew race seem to have used the same stone monuments, which were subsequently condemned in consequence of the cruel and shameless rites with which they were connected in Canaanite paganism. Jacob anointed a menhir. Moses even marked the altar in his circle under Sinai with the blood of oxen. Joshua made a circle at Gilgal, and the sons of Jacob a cairn on Gilead. The dolmen is not distinctly mentioned in Hebrew Scripture, but the libation on a rock, the sacrifice on a great stone — the raising of * hands,' or cippi — is attributed to venerated heroes of the Hebrew race : to Gideon, and Saul, and Jacob, not less than to later wor- shippers of Peor and Chemosh, the names still adhering to these Syrian monuments. ' Smeared ' stones, ' wishing ' stones, stones of ' blood,' are valuable as showing the libations and bloody rites connected with dolmens and menhirs. To sum up, the menhir is the emblem of an ancient deity; the circle, a sacred enclosure ; the dolmen, an ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 171 altar ; the cairn, not always sepulchral, but some- times a memorial heap.* And it is not without interest to note that in Judaea ^ not a single dolmen noiv remains standing,^ because, in their zeal for the faith of Jehovah, the good kings Hezekiah and Josiah in later years swept away for ever the ' tables of Gad.' ' It may seem a bold suggestion, but there appears nothing extravagant in the idea that the altars erected by Balaam, or some of them, are these very altars found by the exploring party.' The days of Moses are numbered, but mindful ever of his ' duty,' he appoints three cities of refuge on this side Jordan, toward the sun-rising, tliat is, the east — ' Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites ; and Bamoth in Gilead, of the Gadites ; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites ' (Deut. iv, 43). The first has been identified by Palmer, and the ruins are about two miles south-west of Dibon ; they are on a knoll, and are of some extent. Bamoth in Gilead is commonly identified with Es Salt. Major Conder does not ao-ree with the identification of Es Salt with Bamoth, and points out that all we know of it is that it was a strong city in Mount Gilead, and also that at a later period chariots were employed in a battle near this city, which would be impossible at Es Salt. Dr. Merrill, of the American Survey, remarks that Es Salt would be in the middle of Gad's territory, which would not be appropriate, * See Major Conder's ' Syrian Stone Lore,' pp. 42, 47. 172 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. and, further, that Ramoth Gilead was a commissariat station, as we see from 1 Kings iv. 13. Gilead was in existence in the days of Hosea (vi. 8). The Midrash on Samuel says ' Gerash ' is * Gilead,* and Dr. Merrill thinks the present Gerash is Ramoth Gilead. * It would be suitable for a city of refuge, because it was on one of the main routes which would be kept open ' (see Deut. xix. 3); 'it would be an appropriate point at which to station a commissariat officer who was to command Eastern Gilead and Bashan. Chariots could here be used. Jewish tradition saj^s Ramoth was opposite Shechem ; in this Gerash would agree. Jewish tradition again says Gerash is identical with Gilead.' ' It is now a ruined and deserted city, where over three hundred columns are still standing amid fallen temples and other splendid remains. There is a fine stream, a gate, a wall, a position of great strength — remains of the place which in the days of the Kings was of so much importance.'* Golan in Bashan comes next, mentioned here by Joshua, and also in 1 Chronicles. It is never after- w^ards mentioned in the Bible. The American Survey party, who visited Bashan, consider that the site is to be found in Wady 'Allan. The Arabic represents the ancient Golan. t All over this country are ruined towns. Moses, in spite of all entreaty, is forbidden to * Dr. Merrill, ' East of Jordan.' t Schumacher, 'Across the Jordan,' pp. 91-98, found a large village with important ruins, now called 'Sahem ej Jaulixn,' which Arabs say was once ' the capital of Jaulam.' ISRAEL IN EGYPT, 173 enter the Promised Land, and is ordered to go up * into this mountain, Abarim, Nebo,' at other times called Pisgah. Abarim is four times mentioned, and Pisgah four times, each alone, PisQfah is four times called * Ashdoth Pisofah.' * The streams of Pisgah,' now called by Arabs * Springs of Moses,' is a picturesque spot, where a stream runs through a valley. The stream throws itself over a cliff thirty feet high. The hollow below is full of maiden-hair fern, and a large wild fig grows up against the cliflf. When Pisgah is mentioned alone, the Hebrew words mean ' top or summit of Pisgah.' Many have claimed to have stood on the spot on which Moses stood, but the exact spot is uncertain. The ridge of Nebo is known ; it runs out west from the plateau, sinking gradually, first a field of arable land, then a flat top ending in a summit called Siaghah, whence the slopes fall steeply on all sides. The word ' Nebo ' or ' Neba ' (* the knob ' or ' tumulus ') applies to the flat top with the cairn, and the name Tal'at es Sufa to the ascent leading up to the ridge from the north. Here we get the three Scripture words: Nebo, now Neba ; Siaghah, which is identical with the Aramaic Se'ath, the name Nebo is called in the Targum of Onkelos (Num. xxxii. 3) ; and third, Tal'at es Sufa, identical with Hebrew Zuph, the old ' field of Zophim ' or ' views.' Pisgah is not known, but is thought to be another title of the Nebo ridge.* The view is much the same from * ' Heth and Moab,' Condor, pp. 131-138. 174 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the two first -mentioned positions. Let me now describe somewhat the view. On the north-east the site of Heshbon is seen ; a ridofe hides the Sea of Gahlee and Hermon. The northern half of the Dead Sea is visible. On the west the watershed of Judea and Samaria, while Bethlehem and Jerusalem and Herodium are clearly seen ; also the ' nest of the Kenite ' on the south- west, and thence the ridge from which Abraham saw the smoke of Sodom. Olivet, Neby Samwil, Mizpeh, Ophrah, and the ridge of Baal-Hazon, with its great oak-trees, are prominent objects. North aofain, Gerizim and Ebal, with the cleft between indicating Shechem ; then the lofty summit of * Ezekiel's Mountain ' — Bezek, where Saul num- bered Israel. Tabor is said to be seen, but the lie of the OTOund renders that doubtful. Turn south : the lower hills and the Jordan Valley, Jericho, and the plain. The Jordan Biver, with the streams from Jericho ; the north shore of the Dead Sea. At our feet, Jordan, with its tamarisks and olean- *ders ; then the 'meadow of acacias.' All ex- plorers speak of the great haze which obscured their view, and to that, I presume, must be attri- buted the conflicting statements of Hermon and Tabor beinsf in view. But enouo-h has been said of this, the last view Moses had. He was told to go '■ up into the mountain,' but he was ' buried in a valley.^ Deut. xxxiv. 6 : * No man knoweth of his sepulchre.' Jewish tradition says that the meaning of the words in Deuteronomy are, that ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 175 ' Moses died by the kiss of the Lord.' But may we not infer that though Moses received in death the wages of sin, yet his body passed not through corruption, however much ' the devil,' contending as for his lawful prey, ' disputed '* for its possession, but was raised up to be with Elijah the first to welcome the Lord in His glory ? For ' men bury a body that it may pass into corruption. If Jehovah, therefore, would not suffer the body of Moses to be buried by men, it is but natural to seek for the reason in the fact that He did not intend to leave him to corruption.'! Moses went up the hill ' alone ' — alone, but with God. He had been his one Guide througfh all those weary years. No hand of man was to close those aged eyelids ; no hand of man dug his grave. From first to last he and God were alone toofether. ' Moses led a people long crushed by tyranny to discipline and order. He taught of God, who is not " afar off," but a God of the living as well as of the dead — a God of the market-place as of the Temple. He did not say with the heathen re- ligions, " Leave the world to itself that you may save your own soul," but rather, " Love God, keep His commandments, and do your duty to your neighbour." ' * No man knoweth of his sepulchre to this day.' ' The despoiled tombs of the Pharaohs mock the vanity that reared them. The name of the Hebrew who, revolting from their tyranny, strove for the * Jude ix. t Edersheim and Kurtz. 176 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. elevation of his fellow-men, is yet a beacon light to the world.' To this clay Moses is a living power — a blazing light to all those who struggle and hope to raise the masses from their sorrow, and bring hope to the oppressed. If politicians in our day, faced by so many problems which demand solution, would but study the Mosaic institutions, they would the better be able to reconcile those conflicting claims which threaten such danofer to the commonwealth. CHAPTER III. JOSHUA. Moses, the great lawgiver, the founder of Jewish jiohtics, being dead, a different agent is chosen by Jehovah. We have heard of Joshua the son of Nun before. Now he steps into the front rank, for his work is that of the soldier, ' in whom is the Spirit ' (Num. xxvii. 18). Though the Israelites were Divinely led, yet God works through man, and He selects His agents according to the work required. The work now to be done requires quite a different leader to Moses. *God buries His ao-ents, but carries on His work.' We may note here how often a ' soldier ' is selected for commendation in holy writ. Joshua is a splendid type of a whole- 12 178 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. hearted follower of the Lord ; the motto of his life, the secret of his success, he gives in his last brave words : ' Choose you this day whom ye will serve ... as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' Before we enter into the consideration of his conquests, it will be well to glance at the state of Palestine in his day. We know that when Abraham went through the land he found Hhe Canaanite and the Perizzite.' That at Hebron he bought the Cave of Machpelah from the Hittite Ephron. But yet the country could not have been thickly inhabited, for he and Lot do not seem to have encountered any opposition when they divided the land at Bethel. Abraham says : ' Let there be no strife between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen.' The other inhabi- tants would seem not to have objected. Then how comes it that when the spies go up from Kadesh Barnea they on their return to the camp report : * The people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very great ' f and further we shall see that as Joshua enters the country he finds Jericho ' walled ' — Ai ' walled '; for is not the * gate ' spoken of ? and ' cities ' are continually spoken of. The explanation is the simple one that, as the children of Israel had gone down into Egypt a family, and had emerged a nation, so also, during that space of about 430 years — from Abraham's time to that of Joshua — the population and settlement of Canaan had also progressed — cities had been built, nations, 'greater JOSHUA. 179 and mio-htier ' than Israel, had cultivated the land, and these were to be ' driven out ': not ' for thy righteousness,' ' but for the wickedness of those nations,' was the word to Israel ; and yet of the progress or affairs of those nations in the 430 years the Bible is silent. Egyptian records help us somewhat. Glancinoi- at them, we now can see how God prepared the way — the future homes for the Israelites. While they were in bondage in Egypt, the Hittites, allied with other tribes, re- sisted the progress of the Egyptian Pharaohs, who at one time had overrun Canaan even to the. Lebanon. Rameses II,, the oppressor of the Israelites^ had waged war with these Hittites and their con- federates. Pictures on the walls of the memnonium,. the palace temple of Pameses II,, as well as at Thebes, tell the story ; so also rt Abu Sjmbal we can read the accounts of the battles and see, too,, how jDowerful these nations were. Their great stronghold was Kadesh on the Orontes. The poen: written by Pentaur, the Egyptian court poet, exists and shows how stern was the conflict. These Hittites had 2,500 chariots. Their city was walled and defended by a river and moats. The city is vividly portrayed on the walls of Abu Simbal. The 2Deople represented have long pigtails like Chinese. They have high caps on their heads. Their faces resemble Armenians. Their names appear to be Semitic. Their gods were Baal, Ashtoreth, and Set. These Hittites were a great 12—2 tSo THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. and powerful race, as all Egyptian inscriptions show. Their solid sovereignty was broken by the Egyptians, and so we find in the days of Joshua that the country of Palestine was ruled over by many kings or petty kinglets, sheikhs of tribes, who represented that once great empire which is now known as * Hittite.' Major Conder has dis- covered the ruins of the city, Kadesh on the Orontes, represented on the Egyptian monuments. The site and the ruins vividly recall the scul23tured scenes at Abu Simbal. So while the Israelites were in bondage a great empire had grown up in Canaan. That empire was shattered by the Egyptians, and it was therefore only its broken fragments that Joshua had to encounter. They ■did try on one or two occasions to reunite, but compact union was impossible. In their scattered * kingdoms ' they resembled those small cometary bodies which astronomers think are but fragments of some large planet, shattered by some celestial convulsion. Merely to have a glimpse of these events enables us to see the patience of God, the steady working out of His purpose ; how that rocky land was first made fruitful by the laboun- of nations who, forsaking Him, wrought thei; own destruction and yet prepared the way for the chosen race. One race labours, and anothei enters into the fruit of their labours. Though Joshua knew that the Lord was wit^; him, yet he omits no precautions ; a skilfLii commander, he does not despise his adversary, JOSHUA. i8x SO he sends * two spies.' Probably in Egypt he had learned the art of war. He had certainly known what servitude was, and in some way his military skill had shown itself, for in the desert he had been the chosen leader of that force which resisted the attack of the Amalekites. The spies go to the house of Kahab, which house- was on the city wall. They are tracked by men sent by the King of Jericho, and by woman's- wit are saved, for she hid them under stalks of flax which were spread out on the flat roof. Flax and barley were ripe at the same time in the Jordan Valley. The spies escape to the mountains behind Jericho. These barren mountains are full of natural caves. They hide there three days ; then the fords are no longer watched, and the men regain their camp. Rahab, living close to the Jordan fords, on the highway to Egypt and Baby- lonia, probably had heard the whole story of the Exodus and the after-events. She carried on a trade in linen, for she had flax — a dyer too, for she had a scarlet line to let down. (' Babylonisli garments ' were among the spoils of Jericho.) The suggestion that Rahab kept an inn or khan has no supporting facts. She lived in her own house, and we nmst remember that * harlotry ^ was not considered a sin by the heathen. She had faith, which ' was counted to her for righteousness.' Salmon* afterwards married her. Very probably he had been one of the ' spies,' and from her and * See ' Salmon,' Smith's ' Bible Dictionary.' 1 82 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. her descendants came Him who, sinless Himself, yet became cin for us, that He might take away all sin. Gentile and sinner as this woman was, she had grasped the great truth : ' The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath.' So she was saved by faith. Joshua now ordered the host to form in march- ing array ; he mentions by name the nations to be driven out of the land: 'Canaanites' {^ Lowlanders^)^ then Hittites — that great nation of whom we have spoken — then 'Hivites.' This people lived in the hill country, north of Jerusalem. The word is said to metin ' midlander' or ' villager.' 'The Perizzites ' — * rustics ' living in * country villages.' They lived in the centre of Palestine. Nothing is known of the * Girgasites ' or the * Amorites,' 'mountaineers' or ' hill men' ; these were found on both sides of the Jordan, taking their name from the hill country they inhabited. * The Jebusites,' inhabitants of Jerusalem and the surroundinof hills. Now the ark is to go forward, carried by priests. 'The Jordan was in flood at the time ; it wr.s "barley harvest. But how is this ? We know that •our rivers get smaller in the hot v/cather. Yei, hut Jordan, rising at Banias, its springs fed by the melting snow on Mount Hermon, increases in volume as the hot weather approaches. Its name •* Jordan,' ' Descender,' truly indicates its torrent Uiaracter. A most winding stream, full of rapids and cascades, it hurries on its turbid course to its grave in the Dead Sea. Not navigable by boats, JOSHUA. 183 no city of importance on its banks, it fertilizes those banks, but flows through a desert. It has three banks : one, the bed of the stream when it is low ; then comes an extent of soft banks of sloping sedimentary deposit ; above the edge of this second * bank,' the third, a dense thicket of jungle, tree, bush, and rush, the haunt of wild boar, wolves, and other animals — the home of waterfowl. Not like the Nile in its overflow, which fertilizes the land, the Jordan merely hurries on so rapidly that its fall is sixty* feet to the mile ; difficult to approach in many places, im- possible in others, because of the jungle and banks. It yet has many fords ; in some places there are cliffs, old dej^osits of marl, which crumble and fall into the river in time of flood. It was there- fore at flood-time (April) that Joshua led the Israelites through the river. • The '■ spies ' had crossed by the ford, but no ' ford ' would be broad enough for the host to pass ; so as the Israelites left Egypt and crossed the * sea of reeds ' by a miracle, so now their children cross this torrent stream by another miracle. The water stood still near ' the city of Adam, that is beside Zaretan.' The Revised Version translates this passage thus : ' The waters which came down from above stood and rose up in one '■'■ 'Tent Work in Palestine,' Conder, pp. 35, 36, shows that in twenty-six and a half miles the Jordan falls sixty feet to the mile ; then for another portion the fall is forty feet to the mile ; then for ten miles ninety feet of fall, and for the last ten miles about nine feet per mile. 1 84 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. heap — a great ivay off at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan.' The meanino;- of ' Adam ' is ' red earth.' Near Beisan is an unusually large mound called Tell es Sarem. A good deal of clay is found here, and a mile to the south is a stream, the Arabic of which means ' red river.' The soil is red, and a ford near is also called by an Arabic name which means ' red earth.' ' It has been suggested that the waters of the Jordan were suddenly dammed ujj by a landslip or similar convulsion. The appearance of the banks, and .the curious bends of the river near this place, would seem to support the idea.' There is another mound called ' Tell Damieh ' near, which is a huge mound, composed of pottery and loose stones. It is clear from the Bible statement that the waters were arrested a long way off, above Jericho. The river opposite Jericho being dry, there was ample space for the host to cross and to camp on the level plain, for Jericho must have stood at the foot of the Judsean mountains, barring the road to the interior ; and the city was watered by the strong springs, one of which is known as ' Duk/ and the other the ' Springs of Elisha.' The host camp at Gilgal ' circle,' taking its name from the twelve great stones which had been taken out of Jordan. The name 'Gilgal' has been recovered by Major Conder. The Arabs- consider the place sacred, and bury their dead near a large tamarisk-tree which grows there. There are about a dozen small mounds, seemingly JOSHUA. 185 artificial. Are these traces of the Israehte camp ? One of the mounds goes by the name of Tell Jiljulieh. For a permanent camp there must have been water near. Major Conder found that a stream ran right through these Tells, or mounds. The tree spoken of is said by the Arabs to mark the site of the ' City of Brass.' Many traditions exist — one that a great leader rode round the city, and then the walls fell. This site would be about two miles from Gilo^al. Great mounds exist at Jericho. They have been examined by Sir C. Warren, but only courses of sun-burnt brick were found, with fragments of pottery. Sun- burnt brick was the usual material for building in the Jordan Valley. The ruined city would there- fore naturally become those ' shapeless heaps '* which all travellers notice on this Jordan plain, close to the hills. Several great events mark the camp at Gilgal. There the Israelites were cir- cumcised— a rite which had been in disuse all through the forty years' wandering. Manna ceased, the passover was eaten, and Joshua had had a renewed promise that the Lord God was with him. The recorded story tells of the careful com- mander. He is going his rounds, looking after * Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake remarked, in a report found after his death, that many of the Tells or ruins in the Jordan Valley must have been strongholds ; that their steep slopes show that they were fortified cities, and that in some cases the mass of debris was quite 10,000 tons. These Tells always exist near a good supply of water, and often at the mouths of passes. The Tells are steeper than those heaps in Egypt on which villages are built. 1 86 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. his camp ; he sees a ' man ' who has his * sword drawn.' Full of hio^h courao-e, Joshua at once challenges him, and then he is told that as * Captain ' or ' Prince ' of the host of the Lord he has come. Joshua is assured his victory is certain, and by God's hand alone. He is told how to use it. The walls of the city fall ; again the children of Israel have nothing to do themselves ; Ood does all for them ; they were to ' stand still and see what God wrouofht.' The Jericho of Christ, of the Crusaders, was not erected on this site. The present village is the miserable one of Eriha, the inhabitants of which are as miserable as their dwellings, though quite lately the Russians have erected a hospice, and for tourists there is an inn, and some modern villas are being raised ; for at certain seasons it is said the air of the Jordan Valley is beneficial. Speaking from experience, I should wonder when that ' season * occurs, for to my mind few places can be more un- healthy than Eriha. Jericho having fallen, the two passes that city commanded are now oj^en. Joshua sends spies uji the northern pass to get accurate information as to the strength of Ai and the general lie of the ground. It is most intricate — numbers of hills all bearing a strong resemblance to each other, all difficult to climb. The spies, encouraged by the easy conquest of Jericho, report that only a small picked corps of 3,000 men is necessary ; having a vivid remembrance of their own toils in exploring JOSHUA. 1S7 the pass and the hills around Ai, they wish to spp.re the people ' labour.' The small corps is sent and defeated ! They had tried to carry the city by a rush at the ' gate ;' they had been driven back * even unto Shebarim,' * a fracture ' or ' fissure/ some ridge near the steep precipice of the pass up which the corps had ascended. It is impossible to say whereabouts that ' fracture ' is, for the whole country is so broken up by ridges that it is useless to try to fix a place. Some translators think the word * Shebarim ' means ' quarries,' but that, again, does not help us, for the hills all about have at some time been used for quarrying purposes ; any- how, it was on the way to the great pass. Joshua and the people lose heart. All j^ast victories appear to have been at once forgotten, and they never seem to have thouQfht that it was their own fault or sin. Any blame they give to God, and cry, * What wdlt Thou do unto Thy great name ?' Greed of gold had been the sin of Achan — ' a Babylonish garment,' shekels of silver and a wedge of gold, had tempted him, though all spoil had been forbidden. Achan was stoned to death in the Valley of Achor. ' They brought them up into the valley of Achor ' implies that this valley w^as on a higher level than the Gilgal camp. Most likely it was that gorge now called Wady Kelt, which leads up from the plain to Ai and Bethel. Stones abound there, while none are on the plain. If Joshua was misled by his spies on his iirct essay upon Ai, he made no mistake of that kinl 1 88 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. again. He selects a picked corps of 30,000 men, and sends them up the pass by night. The previous examination of the ground would show them where they could ambush, while he goes up with the main body for a seemingly front attack. His strategy had to be governed by the fact that the city to be attacked has ' walls,' and the Jews had no war engines. All happens as he planned. Joshua remains in the ' valley,' having, in fact, placed two ambushes. The city is taken. Many attempts have been made to identify Ai, but to the Palestine Fund explorers is due the honour of discovering the true site. One site which has misled many is a ruin called ' Et Tell,' and as we are told that Joshua ' made Ai a heap,' it was thought this particular spot was Ai. A rain called Haiyan was, however, found south of Et Tell. Here large rock-hewn reservoirs with tombs and cisterns prove this site to be of importance and antiquity ; to the north is a rugged ravine ; to the east the desolate desert of Bethaven ; t(> the west is Bethel, two miles distant, and hetiveen the two sites is the open ravine called ' The Valley of the City,' where, unseen, yet close at hand, the ambush may have lain concealed beneath the low cliffs, or among the olive groves, after creeping across from the northern valley behind the rocky swell which runs out to the mound of ' Et Tell.' This latter place has no valley in which the ambush could hide. ' Haiyan ' would, moreover, command the road into the in- terior, hence the importance of capturing Ai. The JOSHUA. 1 89 men of Bethel went out to help Ai, and it is stranofe that Bethel does not seem to have been taken at the same time. We note the capture of Bethel is recorded in Josh. xii. 9-16, but that would appear to have been later. After Joshua's feiofned retreat the ambush would be able to advance under cover of those olive groves. Not until the smoke arose did the people of Ai know that their city was taken. The great valley which has its head west of Ai curves round to the east- ward and runs to Jericho ; in some places it becomes a narrow gorge with cliffs 800 feet high, quite concealed from all observation, and so up this pass the ambush could march unseen, till near the site of Ai (' Haiyan ') ; then its sides slope upwards by easy ascents. Having the two keys of the country, Jericho and Ai, Joshua now turns north to capture the heart of the country, with all the rich plains which were to be the portion of Ephraim. Nothing is more striking to the traveller, even now, when he has climbed the high ridge of the watershed which separates the rounded hills and shut-in valleys of Bethel and Ai — that comparatively barren country — than the great chanoi'e a few miles of travel brinofs about : corn lands of great extent and fine woods of olive-trees, culminating in the central position of Shechem. The ' terebinths of Moreh ' of Abraham's time are gone ; but noble trees of olive, fig, and pomegranate have taken their place. Water is abundant, and therefore fertilizing mist is common. It would be I90 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. a great feeding-ground for the host of Israel, and wrs the abode of those Perizzites, 'rustics,' wha do not appear to have had fortified towns. Joshua rears an altar, and afterwards read all the words of the law. The hills form a great amphitheatre, space and verge enough for all, a natural sounding gallery for Joshua's voice ; every traveller can testify of this. I found that, standing on the slopes of Ebal, my men across the valley and on Gerizim could distinguish all I said. Interesting discoveries on both these mountains have been made by the officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund, Sir Charles Wilson, Major Andercon, and Major Conder. Of Ebal, the first-mentioned explorer says : '■ The summit of Ebal is a comparatively level plateau of some extent ; there is no actual peak, but the ground rises towards the west. The view is one of the finest in the country, embracing Safed, Jebel Jermuk, and Hermon on the north, Jaffa, Ramleh and the maritime plain on the west, the heights above Bethel on the south, and the Hauran plateau on the east. There is a ruin con- sisting of an enclosure ninety-two feet square, with walls twenty feet thick, built of selected unhewn stones, without mortar. Nothing in this building connects it with the altar erected by Joshua.' Major Conder calls attention to a Moslem sacred site on the ridge of the mountain, not at its highest point, which is called the ' Monument of the Faith,' and he thinks this the true site cf the JOSHUA. igr altar. Samaritan tradition places the altar on Gerizim ; * but this title, " Monument of the Faith," may be due to the idea the Crusaders had, that this was the Dan of Jeroboam's Calf Temple.'* We must not confuse the ' altar ' built by Joshua with the ' great stone ' which he after- wards set up ; but if we are to take the passage in Josh. xxiv. 26 as indicating the site of the * altar,' then it was not on the hill, but in the valley, for the ' great stone ' was put up ' under the oak that was by ' (or in) * the sanctuary of the Lord,' and this oak would probably be Abraham's oak. The heathen did erect altars and burn sacrifices on every high hill ; but, as at Shiloh, the places selected for the altars to Jehovah were in valleys. Canon Tristramt points out that ' in the base of Mount Gerizim is a very curious natural recess,. eastwards of the modern city, so regular that it looks as if hollowed artificially out of the rocky roots of the mountain, now a sacred enclosure of the Moslems, and called "The Pillar." Exactly opposite, in the base of Mount Ebal, is a similar natural amphitheatre.' Only Moslems are allowed to enter the enclosure on the Gerizim side, and they say there still stands a column. Modern Samaritans also assert that this is the true site of the ' great stone ' set up by Joshua. Two hundred years after Joshua we read of * the oak * Conder's « Tent Life,' pp. 68-70. t Canon Williams was the first to point out * The Pillar. 192 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. of the pillar that ivas in Shechem ' (Jud. ix. 6). Fourth-century writers speak of a ' praying place outside the city resembHng a theatre.' We are told Joshua wrote on the stones of the altar . * a copy of the law of Moses.' Does that mean that he engraved the whole law on the stones ? No. If we refer to Deut. xxvii. 2, 3, we shall see that the stones were to be covered with ' plaister,' and on this ' plaister ' the words would be written ; the process, therefore, would be both easy and rapid. There is a great contrast between the barrenness of Mount Ebal and the fertility of Gerizim. That may be due a good deal to the position of them. Ebal is steeper, and is the northern hill ; Gerizim, the southern hill, so that was chosen for the mount of bless- ing, ' life and light ' being always associated with the soutli by the Jews. Gerizim was after- wards chosen by the Samaritans for the site of their temple, and they claim, too, that it was the mountain on which Abraham offered up Isaac. This latter view has obtained some credence, but an examination of the Bible will show it could not be. Abraham was at Beersheba. It would be possible to reach Mount Moriah, Jerusalem, in the three days spoken of; quite impossible to reach Shechem in that time, for, remember, Abraham travelled on an ass. The distance alone between the two places is fatal to this theory, which was invented by the Samaritans to glorify the temple they had set up in opposition to that on Mount Moriah. Standing JOSHUA. 193 on the plaim, a small Moslem tomb cuts the sky- line on the crest of Gerizim, and here are many ruins, with massive foundations : traces of a castle, some massive stones, called the ' Twelve Stones,' which Samaritan traditions say were the stones set up by Joshua ; and numerous cisterns. The ' Holy Place ' of the Samaritans is a sloping rock, which drains into a cistern. A mass of human bones were found lying in another en- closure. These ' Twelve Stones ' form a platform of unhewn masonry. The courses are four in number ; no inscriptions were found on them. This platform is j)robably a portion of the Samaritan temple. Other ruins exist, most likely remains of the fortress Justinian erected there. Then there is the Samaritan * Holy of Holies,' for the people take off their shoes when they ap- proach it. The Passover is still eaten there, but the community is becoming very small. * Towards sunset a few men in white surplices recite a form of prayer near the circular pit in which the lambs are roasted ; then all the full- grown men join, prayer and prostrations continue till sunset, when the priest rapidly repeats the twelfth chaj^ter of Exodus. The lambs are killed while the priest is speaking ; they are skinned and cleaned, the bodies then placed in the pit till roasted ; then the covering is taken off, the bodies drawn out and placed on bi^own mats ; then they are taken to the trench and laid out in line between the two files of the Samaritans, who now have 13 194 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. shoes on their feet aiid staves in their hands. Short prayers follow. They suddenly seat them- selves, and commence to eat silently and rapidly, until the whole is consumed.'* Sir Charles Wilson mentions one fact as to the distance the human voice can here be heard : that * during the excavations on Mount Gerizim the Arab workmen were on more than one occasion heard conversing with men passing along the valley below.' It has been suQfo-estedt that there must be some portion of the Book of Joshua lost, because the first eight chapters record in full the taking of Jericho and Ai, and then, without any further account, we are told of the erection of the altar at Ebal. The Septuagint version does add a brief account after the takino- of Ai : ' When all the kings which were on this side Jordan in the hills, and in the Shephelah (the plains), and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon . . . heard . . . they gathered them- selves toofether to fis^ht with Joshua and with Israel with one accord.' But as the Bible mentions ' Perizzites ' — 'rustics' — as inhabitingf that portion of the country between Ai and Ebal — a distance in a straight line of thu^ty miles — may we not presume that these ' rustics ' had no fortified towns, and gave Joshua no trouble ? * See also 'Tent Life,' Conder; and Dean Stanley's 'Jewish Church,' Appendix III. t JNIajor Conder. JOSHUA. 195 Joshua now returned to the permanent camp at Gilgal, doubtless leaving strong detachments to secure the conquered places, and put his com- missariat, no doubt, on a sound footing before undertaking new exploits. His victories had alarmed the kings, or petty sheikhs, of the land, and they formed a great league against him. While they were doing this the chiefs of four cities had gone to work ' wilily ' (Josh. ix. 4). Never, perhaps, does the Eastern love of deceit and intrigue come out more strongly than in the story recorded. Men appear at Gilgal with old garments, ' rent ' shoes, mouldy bread, old sacks, and worn-out water- bottles, professing to have come from a ' far country ' through hearing of the wonders God had wrought. What a hunt-up of old clothes there must have been ! How glibly the lies tripped off their tongues ! It is said of Easterns now that they will never tell the truth if it be possible to tell a lie ! And these Gibeonites were past-masters in the art of lying. The frank soldier is trapped ; he eats with them ; their lives are now sacred ; they are friends. To this day this old custom has come down. Get an Eastern to eat w^ith you, and unless he forswears his implied oath, you are safe. While Joshua, as every good commander, was again spying out the land, the league against him had taken form. In their journeys the Jews had explored that hilly country which exists between Ai and Gibeon, and therefore had discovered the 196 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. trick by which they had entered into a league with the sheikhs of Gibeon and its towns. Joshua could not go back from his oath. He re- strained the anger of the elders of the people, and these allies were condemned to servitude — ' hewers of wood and drawers of water for the cono^reo'ation and altar' (Josh. ix. 29). Captives taken in war from time to time augmented their i^anks. Well might the kings of Southern Canaan take the alarm, for Gibeon was another of those natural keys which kept the passes south. An examination of the ground will enable us to understand where these confederate sheikhs came from. One from Jebus, * Jerusalem,' which city w^ould be outflanked if Gibeon were held in force ; one from Hebron, far south. Then ' Jarmuth.* This was a city in the Shephelah, the ' low hills * of Judah, afterwards called Remeth, now called Yarmuk ; a mound or Tell exists here. Then * Lachish,' which must have been a stronger city than the others, for it took ' two days ' to capture it — -now thought to be represented by Tell el Hesy (' Hillock of the water-pit ') ; this also com- mands the hill passes. Lastly, Eglon, now called 'Ajlan, a low Tell with scattered stones. The ruins are extensive, and extend over a plateau which is now cultivated. The names of the sheikhs of these cities have the followinof mean- ings : Adoni Zedek, ' my Lord Righteousness '; Hoham, 'the Jehovah of the multitude^; ' Piram/ * coursing about* ivild, free ; Japhia, * exalted / JOSHUA. 197 Debir, * scribe* This southern array makes war against Gibeon ; in hot haste these people send to Joshua, who, with a picked army corps, starts imme- diately up the same pass by w^hich he ascended to attack Ai. So secretly w^as his night-march conducted, that he was in position well on the flank of the confederates as the morning broke. None could stand before the rush of the Israelites. Surprised, outflanked, terror-stricken, the hostile army fled. Standing on the high ground of Neby Samwil, you look down on Gibeon, now called * El Jib,' and the whole surrounding country is spread out like a raised map. Gibeon is an isolated hill of terraced limestone rock, conical in shape, and though now, in these days of artillery, its position would be commanded by higher ground, yet that higher ground is so far off, that in old days it could justly claim to be a ' royal city,' for it commanded the passes, while broad valleys and plains lie at its foot. It is abundantly supplied with water, for there are eight springs, one a very fine one, called ' Spring of the Village,' which issues from a rock chamber, thirty feet long, seven feet wide, and seven feet high. The water is clear and abundant. Many rock-cut chambers, caves, and tombs exist. One spring and its chamber is much venerated by the Moslems — a very large tank, probably the * Pool of Gibeon,' where Abner's and Joab's men met. A spring near gives a small supply of salt water, and on the hill are Crusading ruins of a church. Such is the position of the 198 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. principal city of the Gibeonites. Beyond that, and looking north, in the folds of the hills, you can see the position of Beeroth ('Wells'), which is about two miles south-west of Bethel. It was the most northerly of the four cities, about ten miles from Jerusalem ; its joresent name, El Bireh ; a fine spring exists here, which flows out and forms a small rivulet. It has some interesting ruins,' one a portion of a Crusading church. The land about is fertile. ' Chephirah,' identified with the ruins of Kefireh : about two miles west of Ajalon, ' Kirjath Jearim,' ' City of Forests,' a site which has been much disputed, some thinking it to be the present village of Abu Ghosh, where there are some good stone houses, olive groves, and ruins of a Christian church. In the fifth century this place w^as thought to be Kirjath Jearim, but Major Conder has fully examined the evidences, both of the ground and language, and he believes the true site is Khiirbet Erma. This site is concealed by thickets of lentisk, oak, hawthorn, and other shrubs ; it is in the mountains ; the ruins are on a knoll. This city afterwards was the place where the Ark was kept for twenty years. We will again recur to its identification. These four Gibeonite cities were therefore all hill cities, and not far apart. It therefore was in those plains at the foot of Gibeon where the Hivites were surprised by Joshua. The Bible tells of their flight past two Beth-horons : * the ascent of Beth- horon,' and ' the o-oing^ down of Beth-horon.' JOSHUA. 199 These places still exist, and are called by Arable names, meaning ' upper ' and ' lower.' They are separated by about half an hour's journey. The upper village is about four miles from Gibeon, the road always on the ascent. The descent begins from the upper to the lower village, and that road is one of the roughest and steepest in Palestine ; it is still used as the road from the coast, and is a key to the country ; it was afterwards fortified by Solomon. Old tanks and massive foundations exist. The view from the ridge is a glorious one ; you look over all the lower hill country to the plain and sea beyond. The pass is contracted, and you can easily see liow the defeated host were caught as in a trap. Camped on that ridge, I read the whole account in Joshua. The country in a most marvellous manner explained the whole circum- stances of the battle. Behind you, eastward, you could see the mountain wall of Moab, which showed where the camp of Gilgal was placed. In the blue folds of shadow among the hills you could trace the pass up which the night - march was taken. You could see how deadly a flank attack would be, and then that the defeated host, huddled up and driven one upon another, had no room to deploy or extricate themselves from their confusion — driven over the rocky ground at Beth-horon. Penned up, there was nothing for them but flight, the victors overtaking them in the intricate passes which alone give access to the lower hills. Their panic was increased by the terrible hail-storm, which, 203 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, as at Crecy, drove on the beaten host. We then get that extract from the Book of Jasher, ' the upright ' or ' pious,' which in the language of poetry, aided by fervid Eastern imagination, bursts out into that invocation to sun and moon. It is a quotation from 2i poem, not Si fact of history, which is recorded. But may we not say that, hke every true poet, the singer records a natural phenomenon ? A wave of intense cold in that hot country pro- duced this terrible hail-storm. Such occurrences are not uncommon even now in Syria. It is always at a time of intense cold that refraction of the sun occurs. "^ Travellers in the Polar regions give many instances when the sun is seen for several days, when they know the orb is one degree Ijelow the horizon. This refraction of the sun is quite a common thing ; and so it appeared to the conquer- ing Israelites as if the sun ' hasted not to go down about a whole day.' The routed army flies to Azekah. Major Conder proposes to identify it with a place called * The Monastery of the Lover,' south side of the valley of Sorek. Cisterns and caves exist, but the site is overgrown wdtli weeds and thistles. It is in the natural line of flio^ht of the fuo-itives. M. Ganneau suggests another site : the sheikhs hide in Makkedah. Sir Charles Warren identifies this with the present ' El Mughar.' A site so impor- tant requires a fuller explanation. It must have been eight to ten hours from Gibeon (that is, under " Captain Bedford Pirn, E.N., 'Marine Pocket-Case,' p. 474. JOSHUA. 2or thirty miles) ; it should also be on the natural route southwards. It must have caves — the Arabic word means ' caves.' It is the only site in the plain where caves occur. Caves of many sizes exist. The present houses are built over and in front of some. Fine corn-lands extend east and west. There is eastwards a precipitous slope, in which is found, and only here, a cave, which, curiously enough, has jive loculi rudely scooped in its sides. * The site seems well to answer the re- quirements of the case. Hidden from view, and perched high above the route of their pursuers, the five sheikhs would have looked down in fancied security on the host hurrying beneath on the high road to Azekah and Gath, and other " fenced cities." The fact of their discovery and capture before the takino- of the town would show that it was to one of the small caves outside the city to which they had retired. These caves are generally very small. Some are broken away in front, and others filled in ; but two, at least, can be pointed out wherein five men might crowd, and the entrances of which could easily be blocked with the " great stones " Vv^hich lie scattered about.'* The village is about eight miles from Ramleh. The day of the execu- tion of the sheikhs the city was taken ; the few re- maining inhabitants of Libnah are destroyed. * Lachish,' being stronger, delays Joshua * two days.' The Sheikh of Gezer, now called ' Tell Jezar,' tries to raise the siege ; he is defeated and * ]\Iajor Corider. 202 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. slain, Eoflon sliares the fate of the other cities, and so does ' Hebron ' and its villages. * Debir ' falls, and then Joshua sweeps southward to Kadesh Barnea — such the far-reaching consequences of the victory of Gibeon. A more dangerous foe now comes from the north. Jabin, King of Hazor, heads a huge array — ' much people ;' ' horses and chariots very many.' An enumeration of the leaders shows that the w^hole northern side of Canaan had taken alarm. Hazor (' enclosed ') is best represented by Hadireh, which is the exact Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew word. It is near Kades, in Upper Galilee, on the moun- tains which look down on the waters of Merom. It is a bare, rocky hillock, the ascent to it one of the most rugged in Palestine; it was the capital of the chief who headed this new league. It would naturally be one of the strongest positions, and so we find that it alone was burnt with fire and utterly destroyed. Madon is next named. This is probably represented by the village of Madin, near Hattin, west of the Sea of Galilee. Then Shimron, now called Semunieh, a small village five miles west of Nazareth, where there are mounds, traces of ruins. East of the site is a small isolated hill, which commands the plain in every direction, and was once surrounded on its summit by a wall, traces of which remain. This hill is scarped on the east ; there are heaps of debris, a sarcophagus, and ruins of a Christian church. Achshaph, a village now called Kefr Yasif, six miles north-east of St. JOSHUA. 203 Jean d'Acre ; old rock-cut cisterns and an olive press exist. There are chiefs also of the north, from Naphtali ; chiefs of the Arabah, ' the Plain,' south of the sea of Galilee ; from the sea-coast at Dor, now called Tantura. Canaanites from the east and west, with Amorite, Hittite, Periz- zite and Jebusite, and far away from the north, under Hermon, the Hivite. In this cumbersome league we get traces of Egyptian influence ; for horses and chariots are new foes for the Israelites to meet. Long years before, the Egyptian hosts had swept through Canaan, and had reached Damascus, Hermon, and the far north ; they had conquered the Hittites at Kadesh, on the Orontes, and held a chain of fortified jDosts through the land. We can get some idea of the state of the country from a record left by an Egyptian military officer,* who traversed the country shortly before its conquest by Joshua. * He goes as far north as Aleppo in a chariot.' He has his clothes stolen at nieht : his own groom joins the robbers. He visits many Phoenician cities, and speaks of Tyre as being built on an island in the sea — drinkinof-water beins- con- veyed to it in boats — Tabor, the fords of Jordan,. Beth Shean, and of a ' passage ' in front of the city of Megiddo, which had to be crossed before the town could be entered. Joppa ivas then sur- rounded hy date 2)cdms. The roads are often bad ; one runs at the edge of a precipice of 2,000 cubits, full of rocks and boulders ; his chariot is * See Conder's 'Handbook to the Bible,' pp. 277, 280, 204 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. smashed, and has to be repaired by the * iron workers.' From Jaffa he goes by way of Rehoboth and Raphia and Gaza back to Egypt. His account shows that the Egyptian name had great power in a land which they did not at that moment occupy. The mountains were covered with woods, and full of wild beasts. He shows a country full of cities, with riches and temples, kings, soldiers, scribes, chariots and horsemen, artisans and traders. All the Egyptian records of Canaan prove a high state of civilization : enormous flocks of sheep, horses, goats ; huge quantities of corn, figs, vines ; precious stones, gold, bronze ; chairs of gold, tables of ivory, of cedar ; oil, wine, incense, dates, implements of warfare, armour, and a ' galley '! A list far greater in extent might be made from the Egyptian monuments, which show what a prosperous land Canaan was just before the Israelites invaded it. Joshua is told not to be afraid of the horses and chariots ; and so again, with the swiftness which is characteristic of all his movements, he falls upon this huge host ' suddenly,' probably again by a night surprise, and they are utterly defeated. They seem to have fled in three directions, one body going north-west to Zidon, another south-west to Mis- rephoth-maim, the 'smelting pits by the waters;' the third fled to Mizpeh. All are ' chased ' and smitten ; none are left. The horses killed, the chariots burned. One battle finished that campaign. On his way back Joshua took Hazor and burnt it with fire, but the * cities that stood on their mounds ' he spared. JOSHUA. 205 These would probably be unwalled villages, not requiring large garrisons. The * great Zidon ' of the text, sometimes called Sidon ('fishery'), now called Saida, about twenty miles from Tyre. It was the parent city of Tyre, a strong place, so the defeated Canaanites would naturally fly to it for safety. It is mentioned in Homer, and was the cradle of the world's com- merce. Sarepta is identified as the ' smelting pits of the waters,' or ' burning of the waters,' evidently a name given it from its manufactory of glass ; for the ancients assert that hereabouts glass was first made.* ' The land of Mizpeh ' is the great plain or hollow west of Mount Hermon, in which are situated the ruins of Baalbek. ' The waters of Merom ' now are called ' the Lake of Huleh,' a small lake which re- ceives the waters of the Upper Jordan. It is about three miles in every direction, covered with weeds and papyrus-rush — a great haunt of water- fowl. There is a plain at the south-west of it. It is, however, difficult to imagine that Jabin could have chosen so bad a position for his army. There would be little room for the chariots. Josephus s'ays the army was assembled at Beeroth, not far from Kades in Galilee. If so, then Joshua's victory was on the plain of Acre, and the pursuit to Sidon would be natural. Three miles from the lake is * In the paintings at Beni Hassan, workmen are represented blowing glass bottles. The latest researches go to prove that the Egyptians invented glass, and that the Phreuicians were not the first inventors. 2o5 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. an isolated hill, where there are traces of fortifi- cations, and Sir Charles Wilson considers this the city of Hazor. A summary is then given of the extent of the country conquered by Joshua. Let us briefly ex- amine it. ' All the south ' : that is now called the Negeb. * The land of Goshen ' : not the Egyptian Goshen, but a tract between Gaza and Gibeon, its name probably given in remembrance of Egypt. * The Lowland and the Arabah ' : the great plains from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The name is also often applied to the Jordan Valley. * The hill country of Israel and the Lowland ': from Mount Halak. ' Smooth Mountain,' which has not been identified. Its position must be near Seir, in the south. * Baal Gad ;' that is, the valley of the Lebanon in the north. It is true Seir, which means ' rough mountain,' might have been the name given to the district near Kirjath Jearim, which country is so rugged. Then the Anakim in the hill country are smitten. The name means ' long-necked.' They were dwel- lers in the south country, and were a giant race — those who so frightened the spies. They are re- presented on Egyptian monuments as tall and fair. Their chief city was Hebron. * Debir,' which was in the hill country near Hebron, afterwards called Kirjath Sepher, which some authorities translate ' city of the book ;' but Conder thinks it means ' city on the ridge,' and proposes to identify it with a village south-west of Hebron. JOSHUA. 207 Anab, belonging to the Anakim, ten miles south of Hebron, now called ' Anab.' An extensive ruin on a flat ridge. Caves, rock-cut cisterns, wine- presses, and heaps of stones ; also ruins of a church earlier than Crusading times, two and a half miles west of Debir. The hill country of Judah and the hill country of Israel : this means the tract of country which was afterwards divided among those tribes. Three cities were not taken — Gaza, Gath, Ashdod. Of these we shall see more hereafter. The conquest of the land north and south had taken seven years, as we see from Josh. xiv. 10. It was forty-five years since the spies returned to Kadesh. Thirty-eight had been spent in the wanderings, so seven years must have been the time the conquest took, ' and the land had rest from war.' Such are the broad outlines of the conquest of Canaan by Joshua. The details have to be filled in. We see that the land was not completely subdued, and many fastnesses of the Canaanites remained. Joshua was old. The tribal division of the Israelites was another source of weakness. We saw it begin before the tribes crossed the Jordan, and so it came about that much yet remained to be done. The invaders had had brilliant victories, but they had not followed them up, and, as we shall soon see, those old inhabitants who had made their escape gave new trouble, because ' there remained yet very much land to be possessed.' 2oS THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. That ' land ' is named. Let us examine it, first glancing at some names in chapter xii. : * The Sea of Chinneroth,' afterwards called Sea of Galilee. Beth Jeshimoth, ' house of wastes,' represented by a heap of ruins near the spring. Ain Sueimeh, near the north end of the Dead Sea. Ashdoth Pisgah, the famous springs at the base of the Moab mountains under Mount Nebo. Salcah, a city in the extreme limits of Bashan, now represented by the large town of Salkhad, on a volcanic hill which rises 400 feet. It has a strong castle, and commands the desert east. The town is more than two miles in circumference. Geshurites, probably a region near the Argob north-east. Maachathites, a small kingdom outside Argob. ^ A list of chiefs slain then follows, and their country is indicated from the extreme north under Lebanon to Mount Halek south. The eastern word means * bare mountain ' or ' smooth,' not identified, but it * goeth up to Seir,' and the chalk clifis in the northern limit of the Arabah have been suggested. We have already examined the towns belonging to many of the sheikhs, and note now Geder, not known, but which was in the extreme south, possibly * ' Bible Cyclopaedia.' — Fausset. JOSHUA. 209 the ^Gedor' of 1 Chron. iv. 39, or ' Geclor,' a villaofe now called Jediir, in the mountains near Hebron. Hormah : Rowlands thought it was S'baita, where there are extensive ruins ; a ruined fortress also ; it would be near Geder and Arad. The latter is sixteen miles from Hebron, where there is a larofe ruin now called Tell 'Arad on a larg-e mound. Hormah was also called Zephath. Libnah : it was in the lowlands of Judah, but / has not been identified. _J Adullam : a city of Judah in the low country ; its place has been found, and will be fully described hereafter. Tappuah : a word signifying ' apple,' also in the low hill country. Hepher must lie not far from Dor (Tantura). Aphek : a Canaanite city, but site unknown. Lasharon, probably the ruins of Sarona, six and a half miles west of the south end of the Sea of Galilee, the district generally between Mount Tabor and Sea of Galilee. Madon : possibty the ruin Madin, close to Hattin and near Sarona. Shimron, Meron : the Jewish traveller, Hap Parchi, fixes it at two hours south of Mount Gilboa.* Achshaph : thought to be the village ' Kefr Yasif,' six miles north-east of Acre, and near the modern Haiffa. It is mentioned in the account * Fausset. 14 2IO THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the Egyptian officer gave of his journey in Canaan, which account has been quoted. Taanach : again a city somewhere on the sea- coast, for its name means * sandy soil/ now re- presented by a small village, Tannuk, on the edge of the plain of Esdraelon, a little village, with some ruins on a flat mound. Megiddo, a large ruin, with fine springs, exists at the foot of Gilboa, It is called Mujedd'a. The position fits in with all Egyptian notices of Megiddo, and all the Biblical notices — a most important position. ' If another campaign should ever occur in Palestine,' then Megiddo is said by military men to be tlie most likely spot for a battle, its position being so important.* Kedesh : not the Kedesh which was Barak's birthplace. Jokneam : of Carmel, now called Tell Keimun, on the edge of the plain of Esdraelon. It is a large and prominent hillock, formed by scarping the outlying tongue of a range of hills. The hillock is isolated. Ruins of a later date exist on it. Dor, on the coast, now Tantura. 'King of the nations of Gilgal.' The RV. reads, the King of Goiim in Gilgal ; the word * Goiim ' probably means the nomad people who had been driven away by Joshua. It is thought to be represented by Jiljulieh, a large mud village in the plain of Sharon. Moslem ruins, and a good well of water. * Conder. JOSHUA. 211 Tirzah, near Samaria. Conder jDlaces it at a village twelve miles north of Shechem ; Robinson at another villaofe six miles east of Samaria. ' The enumeration of the cities and land still held by the Canaanites follows, and we see that from Shihor ('the black river '), now called * Wady el 'Arish,' Canaan's southern frontier towards Egypt, to Ekron, now 'Akir, in Philistia, six miles west of Gezer, the land was held by the Geshurites and Avites, and from Ekron to Gaza it was occupied by the five Lords of the Philistines. Still taking the seashore, we get ' the land of the Canaanites. and Mearah,' which is considered to be a village about six miles north-east of Sidon. The word * Mearah ' means ' cave,' and east of Sidon are some celebrated caves which are to this day used as hiding-places. Aphek, now * Afka,' a village on the north-west sloj^e of Lebanon. The name signifies ' strength ;' it was famed as the situation of the Appaca of the ancients, where stood a temple to Venus. Thence, to the borders of the Amorites. This is puzzling, but may mean the country eastwards as far as the territory of Og. Then eastwards across Lebanon to Baal-gad. Banias, in the valley of the Lebanon under Hermon, to the ' enterino^ into Hamath ' — ' the enterino* * being the great valley between Lebanon and Antilebanon, that point at which the land of Israel is entered from the east. Hamath, the present Hama, the chief city of upper Syria. Hama is the key to the whole country. It is now 14 — 2 212 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. remarkable for its great water-wheels for raising water from the river Orontes ; also celebrated for the ' Hamath ' or ' Hittite stones.' Then back from Mount Lebanon to ' the burnings of the waters ' on the coast. The people who inhabit ^11 this land are to be driven out, and then the land is to be ' divided.' The land and hst of towns we will examine hereafter, only now selecting some of the more striking points. We note that nine and a half tribes had to be provided for. Two and a half had already selected land on the other side of Jordan. Levi was to havt; no inheritance — ' the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance.' Caleb — the life-long friend of Joshua, the only one who, like Joshua, had been born in Egypt ; who, also like him, had not lost heart when they with the other spies went out from Kadesh to inspect the land, and had seen those cities with their high walls, their giant inhabitants, and had yet begged the people to 'go forward' — he now comes to claim the fulfilment of the promise Moses had made him. The stout-hearted old man, eighty-five years of age, glories in his strength. His trust in God is just as firm as in those days long past, and he asks to have that very bit of -G NORTH ACROSS THE PLAIX OF ESDRAELON". Megiddo. ' Zartanali beneath Jezreel ' is thought by Major Conder to be Tell Sarem, three miles south of Bethshean ; other capable authorities place it at Tell el Zahrah, three miles west of Bethshean. Then comes Bethshean, that stronghold at the foot of the Valley of Jezreel ; Abel-meholah (' the meadow of the dance '), on the low, swampy ground of Jordan Valley, supposed to be 'Ain Helweh, nine miles south of Bethshean ; Jokneam, THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 347 unknown ; Bengeber (see marginal reading, chap. iv. 13), some place in Ramoth Gilead. Over the river, on the eastern side, are those towns of Jair, in Gilead ; Argob, before described ; Bashan, three- score great cities with walls and brazen bars, and it is here where now we find ruins of tow^ns so thickly scattered about ; Mahcxnaim ; Naphtali ; Asher, which had the ' plain or valley which lay over again Sidon.' Such is Josephus' account. This territory probably extended to the great promontory called the Ladder of Tyre, which was crowded with cities, now all in ruins. Bealoth, or as rendered by A.V. *in Aloth/ unknown ; Issachar, the rich central plain ; Ben- jamin, with its hills ; then across the Jordan again to Gilead. And here, in the country of Sihon, King of the Amorites, and of Og, King of Bashan — that is, in the country which aforetimes belonged to those kings — there was only one officer. We see how completely the whole land was mapped out, and these men had to raise in their province the food the king required, probably without payment in money, or their taxes might be taken in produce. In many parts of Palestine now the writer has met with the same custom ; for he has been informed by Turkish pashas that when they wanted food either for themselves or their horses they sent to each village in their district in succession, and made requirements to the local officer for what they needed. So these commissariat stations must not be taken as any 348 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DItiCOVERIES. thouQfht of Solomon's either for store cities, for attack or defence — as were Pithom and Rameses for the Egyptians — nor store cities for the people ; simply and solely an arrangement so that the vast supplies needed for his court at Jerusalem might be forthcoming, and so that no part of the kingdom escaped. It is not without point that in Bashan only one officer was appointed. The Israelitish hold on this province was not strong, and, there- fore, probably their demands were fewer. We see this in the next verses, for Solomon is said to have ruled from * the River,' the Euphrates, unto the land of the Philistines, unto the border of Egypt, now known as ' El 'Arish,' sometimes called the ' River of Egypt,' the stream which divides the south-west of Palestine from the Egyptian frontier. Then follows the account of what he required for one day. The list is pro- digious. Again comes an account of his territory on this side the river from Tiphsah, placed on the western bank of the Euphrates. This was an important position for his caravan trade, a good ford being near. It was great and prosperous even in the days of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand. Xenophon also relates that the fords were good and easy, there being at times no more than twenty inches of water. Now a ruined causeway marks the site. Solomon was not a conqueror, as was David ; and fatally, as we shall see, he had allied himself to Egypt — had married an Egyptian princess. The then rulers of Egypt were no longer the THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 349 warrior race of Rameses, but the priestly kings of the twenty-first dynasty, and their hold on their empire was feeble. Egypt was, in short, ftilling to pieces. An account of Solomon's wisdom follows ; of his knowledge ; and the visitors he had from ' all the kino-s of the earth.' That in Eastern language is a way of saying that those peoples near Pakstine came to see and hear this famous king. For a brief moment the Jew holds high earthly power — only for one brief life. But we must not anticipate. Hiram of Tyre, the old friend of David, is one of the first to send con- gratulations, and in reply Solomon tells of his determination to build a temple. Palestine being a country in which the trees did not grow to any size, except a few large terebinths and olives — the latter a brittle wood, and only suited for ornaments — he wishes for cedar, and he begs Hiram will furnish him with the required wood. He will pay for the services of the Tyrian woodcutters ; they were as well known to the ancient world as the American or Canadian lumbermen are known to us. Cedar-wood was exported by the Tyrian sailors, and used in Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia. A choice tree and expensive, its great size mad 3 it suitable for palaces or temples. Hiram replies he shall not only have the cedar, but the fir, or cypress, timber he requires. They are to be sent in rafts to any place named by Solomon. We know they were received by him at Joppa, and the thought occurs that many a raft 350 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. must have been lost, even by the expert Tyrian raftsmen, if tlie port of Joppa was no better in old days than it is now. Solomon in exchange gives Avheat — for Tyre had little land of its own — and pm^e oil — olive-oil, which to Easterns took the place of butter. A huge levy, or corvee, is sent from Israel — thirty thousand men, ten thousand a month were in Lebanon, and then they had two months' rest at home. Now, these would be the labourers required to bring down the timber from the hills — the * unskilled labour,' in short, for Zid-^nian wood- cutters were to cut the trees. Stones are now prepared — ' great stones,' * costly stones,' cut by Hiram's builders and the Gebalites — these last a Phcenician people, from the region between Beyrout and Tripoli, famed through the ancient world for skilful w^orkmen. Where were these stones prepared ? Probably in the quarries under Jerusalem, which are now called the Cotton Grotto, the entrance to which is near the Damascus Gate. There an opening was found in 1852 which leads to the quarry. The roof, about thirty feet high, is roughly hewn. You go over ground covered with chips. For about 6 50 feet the excavations are sloping. Stalactites hang from the roof ; the floor is strewn with stones, some cut, others in the rough. Chisel-marks are clear on the one, and quarry-marks on the others. In the w^alls of the quarry some stones still half- cut remain. Bits of pottery, bits of charcoal, have been found with bones of animals and men. Some THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 351 fel? of the rocks show where lamps were placed to give light to the workers. Such is the place where probably the stones were prepared. We are then told that while building no sound of * hammer, or axe, nor any tool of iron,' was heard in the house. * While buildinof !' This statement, therefore, means that in the quarry the stones were so accurately fitted that they required no alteration on the spot where the wall WTcS to be erected. The render must refer to the publications of the Palestine Fund to read the full and detailed account of all the work done there by shafts and under- ground chambers. Sufficient here to say that shafts had to be driven to the depth of eighty to one hundred and twenty feet ; that these shafts passed through dangerous i^ iltiiiififtiiiito aiii i '; viil^y,;itn''''"'''''''0''"' "'"^ ' SHAFT AT SOUTH-EAST ANGLE. 352 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. rubble or debris, remains of the successive destruc- tions of Jerusalem ; that passing through these layers they came at last to fat mould, varying in some places from two to three feet, in others (at the south-east angle) from eight to ten feet. No stone chips in this mould, which lay on the living rock — the original foundation ; but in this black earth are found bits of broken potsherds, old lamps for burning fat ; and, what is still more remarkable, this layer of black earth was cut away at an angle to allow of the stones being lowered to the rock, which had especially been prepared to receive the stone, so that each first or foundation stone was let into the livinof rock. Had the stones not been prepared in the quarry, as asserted in Scripture, pleyity of stone cliippings must have been found in this black earth. It is one of the most sjolendid confirmations of the truth of Holy Writ. Low down at the very base of the excavations, in a niche cut out of the rock, was found a Phoenician jar. Who put it there, and for what ? After being there for more than 3,000 years, it is now at the office of the Palestine Exploration Fund. But still other facts press upon us. Hiram sent his Phoenician masons, we are told — for, remember, the Jew was never a builder. Though no stone chippings were found in the black mould, fragments of potsherds were, the inscriptions on which are in Phoenician character. One appears to mean * belonging to King Zepha.' The jar-handles had an eagle's crest engraved on them ; still further characters in red THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 353 paint were found, copied and photographed by maofnesium wire. These characters are also Phoeni- cian, and re-repeat numerals, special masons' marks, and quarry signs. Marks of this sort have hitherto only been found at Zidon. Now, what do these marks prove ? Why, that the Biblical account which tells of a master builder, a Phosnician being tlie, architect, are absolutely correct, and these red marks which one could look on a few years ago, before the exploration shafts were JAK HANDLES. closed by order of the Turkish Government, are really marks made when Solomon laid the foundations of the Temple. I am well aware that distinguished explorers have said they consider nothing remains at Jerusalem earlier than the time of Herod, but I have studied the question to the best of my ability, and seen the things spoken of, and must cast in my lot with those equally dis- tinguished explorers who consider that here we have undoubted traces of the wall of Solomon. 23 354 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, We never read that Herod employed Phoenician workmen ; then why should these marks appear ? To my mind the jJroof is conclusive that, anyhow, in these foundations we see the very stones put down by Solomon and the Phoenician builders. As to the words ' great stones,' ' costly stones,' one stone at the south-east angle is estimated to weigh 100 tons ; another at the south-west angle is thirty-eight feet nine inches long ; other stones are three feet eight inches to four feet in height. "^ Some are ' squared ' stones ; some in foundation walls are rough ; other stones are fourteen to eighteen feet in length, three feet ten inches to four feet six inches in height. Near Robinson's arch was found in the excavations a hollow ivall, built, it is supposed, to save stone ; other subter- ranean passages, apparently to bring troops from the citadel to the Temple, were found, of what date it is impossible to say ; but these early builders were well accustomed to underground passages. Vaults, cisterns, underground passages for sewage, abound. The reader must be referred for full details to Sir Charles Warren's work, ' The Recovery of Jerusalem.' What were the cherubs ? Probably much like those sculptures found in Assyria, with a human winged figure standing on either side of the ark, as seen in so many Egyptian pictures, for the art of Solomon's time was allied to that of all sur- ''- The oldest stones are supposed to be those under Wilson's arch, and are three feet eight inches to four feet long. THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 355 rounding nations, and the Temple probably much resembled in shape those of Egypt. The work is finished, and Solomon now makes vessels of burnished brass. ' These were made in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.' Succoth, from the accounts of the battle with the Midianites, must be east of Jordan, and the Sakut, proposed by some travellers, on the western side, will not fulfil the necessary requirements. Kurn Surtiibeh has been suggested, which preserves the name. The Damieh Ford is close by. ' Solomon had finished the buildino- of the temple of the Lord.' So runs the Biblical ac- count. It is now for us briefly to see something of what has been discovered. These are the following points : I. The site ; II. The way the foundation was prepared ; III. The position of the altar of burnt- offering. To enter fully even into these would require a volume ; at the risk of recapitulating some points already touched on, we briefly note — I. The Site. It is proved, I think, without doubt, that the ' Dome of the Rock,' or the Mosque of Omar, covers the true site of Solomon's Temple. Able men have written exhaustive books to endeavour to prove that the site was elsewhere ; for instance, as to the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 23 — 2 356 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. But most of these books were written before the excavation works of Sir Charles Warren, though it is true of the late Mr. Fergusson, that he held his views to the last. No evidence contrary to his opinion had any effect upon him ; but surely the stubborn belief of an able man, formed, be it remembered, before the spade and pick revealed so much of old Jerusalem, cannot outweigh facts. So we must take ib for proved that this ' Dome of the Rock ' and the ' Haram ' enclosure really cover the site of Solomon's Temple. ' The j^lateau is about 1,500 feet from north to south, 900 feet from east to west, sustained by a massive wall rising on the exterior from 50 to 80 feet above the present level of the ground. The general level of this plateau is about 2,420 feet ; but towards the east, at the Golden Gate, it is not filled up to this level by some 20 feet or so.' ' Almost in the centre of this plateau is an irregular four-sided paved jDlatform, rising some sixteen feet above the general level of the plateau, and above the centre of this platform the sacred rock crops out, over which is built the celebrated Dome of the Rock. There is no question but that within the present noble sanctuary the Temple of Herod once stood, and that some part of the remaining wall is on the site of, or actually is, a portion of the old wall of the outer court.' It is proved that the Holy City is built upon a series of rocky spurs, and that in early days the site of Jerusalem was a series of rocky slopes ; THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 357 therefore, when we get to the rock, we see it just as it was before the city was built. The rock- levels examined by means of shafts and tunnels show that the rido-e of rock at the north-east angle is 162 feet below the sacred rock ; at the north-west angle, 150 feet below this same rock ; south-west angle, 163 feet. The Temple was not placed in a hole ; it was to be a conspicuous building — the building, in short, of Jerusalem. So it must have stood on this platform which was raised by means of walls, arches, the spaces being used as storerooms ; secret passages, underground cisterns to hold water, to store both the S23ring water and the rain water — one cistern so large that it is called the ' underground sea.' This platform was raised and carried across to the highest point of rock, which, remember, was the threshing-floor of Araunah, the Jebusite, by which 'floor' the angel's foot had stayed. II. The Way the Foundation was j^rej^ared. The lower ridge of rock having been selected, black mould was cut away at an angle. In this black mould no stone chippings were found, but frag- ments of potsherds. The mould varied in depth from two feet to eight or ten feet. The rock in which the foundation-stones stand is found to be very soft. This rock was cut through to the extent of two feet, to ensure that the prepared stone had a secure position. All these details 358 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. have been proved by the shafts dug by Sir Charles Warren — shafts which varied in depth from 85 to 120 feet. It is curious to notice that at the south-east angle a hole was found cut in the natural rock. This hole was only one foot across and one foot deep. In the hole a little earthenware jar was found standing upright. For what purpose it was so placed who can tell ? It may have con- tained the oil to consecrate the corner-stone, or it may only have been some quaint fancy of some Phoenician workman. Anyhow, it was discovered after an interval of 3,000 years. Now we note the Bible passage, ' that no tool was heard ' during the erection of the house of God. The absence of stone chippings prove that this statement is true. Anyone who has watched the erection of a house will have noticed the constant clang of the iron tools, and the heaps of brick or stone debris lying close to the foundation. But where was the stone prepared ? Come with me to the ' Cotton Grotto,' which is the modern name of the old quany. The entrance till lately was near the Damascus Gate, over a rubbish-heap •,^ and some feet below the level of the ground you found the opening to the quarry. This opening was accidentally discovered in 1852. The entrance was so small, owing to the rubbish, that it could only be entered by stooping and letting yourself drojD downwards to the floor. * Very lately cleared out, and an inclined causeway was found to lead to the opening. The Turkish Government now make a small charge on visitors, to pay for the clearing out of this old causeway. THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 359 First came a rough floor of earth, and then stones. Quite in the heart of the quarry was found a rude basin or cistern, partly full of water. Huge stones lie scattered about — stones cut thousands of years ago. Masons' marks abound. From them you LETTERS AND MARKINGS ON THE STONE. can tell the size and shape of the tools these old workers used. The marks are quite fresh, and remind you of those quarries at Assouan, in Egypt. You quite fancy it must be the dinner-hour, and that the workmen will return ere long. Some 36o THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. stones still remain which are only partially cut away. From the mass of stone chippings it is quite plain that the stones w^ere ' dressed ' here. The absence of stone chips near the foundation- stones — the black earth being quite free of them — and their presence here, prove to the very hilt the truth of the Bible statement. And then the red marks ! These mysterious letters and marks in red paint sorely puzzled the explorers in the tunnels they drove along the foundation wall. These red marks are Phcenician lettering and numerals — instructions, in short, from the master- builder to the workmen where to lay each stone — and we can fancy Hiram, the great master mason of the Phoenicians, standing on this black earth and seeing that his Sidonian workmen and the subject races of Canaan placed each stone in due order according to his plan. Here, again, we have a most wonderful, unlooked-for confirmation of the Bible statement. The Bible says that Phoenician builders built the Temple. We find, after digging shafts from 8 5 to 1 2 0 feet, that red marks of Phoenician meaning are on the foundation-stone. Then that *No tool was heard,' and no chips are found. And who that has seen — or, if not seen, realized from description — the size of the stones, the o-reat foundation-stone at the south-east angle, will not say that the words * costly stones ' is but a true and apt description, and that the words ' great stones ' is no exaggera- tion ? When we recollect that stones estimated to weigh 100 tons are in the foundation wall, that in To facepa^e 263 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 363 length they can be found 38 feet 9 inches, as in the south-east angle, surely we must admit that the account is but sober truth. III. The Position of the Altar of Burnt Offering. The inquiry may have arisen, Why this great wall ? this expenditure of stone, labour, skill ? There is one factor we must not overlook. The Temple was to be erected over the threshing-floor of Araunah. This is imperative ; that was a sacred spot, because the angel had stayed his foot there, that must be left. But Eastern threshing- floors are always, and were always, at the highest points of the ridge, and so the problem is compli- cated. They cannot cut down the highest point, and so obtain a large area for the proposed Temple. That is impossible ; all that remains is to leave the sacred threshing-floor intact, and by building this huge wall, arches, and other supports, so get an enlarged area, big enough for the Temple and the Temple courts. In this way they solved the problem. We can even see how they did it — those Phoenician builders. And what do we see now on entering the ' Dome of the Rock ' ? I do not propose to describe the richness and beauty of the interior — only the one object for which this mosque was erected ; and that is a huge mass of rock untouched, or nearly so, by chisel. Here, un- doubtedly, was the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite — a threshing-floor probably long be- fore, for the word ' Jebusite ' is said to mean 364 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. ' threshing-floor peoj^le.' From Zion David could look down on this ridge. And it has other memories too, for was not this ' Moriah ' that hill on which Abraham oflered Isaac ? So this unshaped mass of rock has very special sanctity. When I visited the mosque some years ago, a huge carpet was suspended over it by ropes from the dome, so that dust could not descend upon it ; a low railing prevented any- one touching the surface. Sir Charles Warren found a gutter cut in the rock, j^robably to drain ofli" the blood of the sacrifices. If you descend some steps, you pass under the rock into a cave, and then you notice that a hole in the roof of the cave shows that there is an opening, while certainly under your feet the floor of the cave sounds hollow, and is said by the Moslems to be the ' well of lost spirits ;' but it is thought to really be the be- ginning of some aqueduct or drain to carry ofi" the blood from the sacrifices. Huge vaults exist below the Temple, but all excavation work has long been stopped by order of the Turkish Government. Cedar-wood was most extensively used in the inner ornamenta- tion of the Temple, also gold. The designs of the ornaments, we are told, were palm-trees and open flowers, excejDt the cherubs, for the Jew w^as forbidden to represent the human figure, as did the heathen. The stone-work was concealed in the interior by this cedar-wood. A palace was also built for his Egyptian queen ; and of this we get much the same description as to stones and THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 365 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 367 interior arrangements. Experts differ so much as to the site of this palace that it is impossible at present to say exactly where it was situated. Then follows the dedication prayer, and the people present are described as coming from the uttermost limits of the kingdom. A warning is then given to the king that if Israel forsakes the Lord then this proud and stately Temple shall be destroyed and Israel cut off and made a * byword.' Solomon gave Hiram ' twenty cities,' or villages, in Galilee for the services his servants had rendered. Out of curiosity, the King of Tyre came to see them, and thought them of such little worth that he called them ' Cabul ' (1 Kings ix. 13) (^ worthless '). This Phoenician king, true to the naval instincts of his race, despised everything but the seaboard. These old sailors of the ancient world seem never to have cared for land other than as a port — just a foothold where they could touch and barter their goods. So inland villages would be thought very little of. Other great works are now undertaken. Millo, ' the tower or citadel,' would seem to have been strengthened or enlarged, also the 'wall' of Jeru- salem ; then Hazor, that stronghold in Galilee destroyed by Joshua, near the waters of Merom. Probably to guard the northern frontier, this city is rebuilt. Then Megiddo, that disputed site on the plain of Esdraelon ; then Gezer. This last site has been recovered in Tell Jezer, a ruined town near the foot of the Jud^ean hills ; it lies on the coast road to Egypt. Hence it was important to fortify it. 68 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Solomon, not being a warlike king, had obtained Gezer through Pharaoh, King of Egypt. It has been suggested that at this time the Philistines were under Egyptian sway and had rebelled, hence the capture and destruction of Gezer ; and Solomon, seeing its importance for trade, rebuilt it, especially, too, as his Egyptian father-in-law had given it to Solomon's wife. Beth-horon the nether is then built. There are two Beth-horons, one site being some distance up the hill from the other, entirely agreeing with the description given in the Book of Joshua. Here, again, this was an important road — the road from the lowlands to Jerusalem. Remains of huge cisterns and large walls exist, with numerous ruins of a later period. The Romans scarped and en- larged this difficult mountain road. Its position is very commanding, as the whole of the lower hills and plains lie open to view, with the great sea beyond. Then comes Baalath in Dan ; also Tadmor, situated in the desert between Palestine and Baby- lonia, on the main caravan route ; this was a commer- cial centre. The latter city became most powerful, and fell at last under Rome. Splendid ruins still attest its ancient grandeur, and it has been suggested that it is not impossible that it may one day again be the centre of a larafe overland trade. All these cities were selected with a view to trade, and the vanity of the Jew must have been amply fed ; for these works were not done by Jews, but the subject nations. Horses and chariots were introduced from THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 369 Syria at great cost — a chariot costing £100, and chariot horses £50 the pair. Solomon's plans were grand and large-minded, but carried out in too despotic a way, as we shall hereafter see. He forced the nation at too great a pace. Not content with extending his conquests by land, he sought to win commerce by sea ; so ships were constructed at Ezion Geber, the head of the Gulf of Akabah — a silent sea now, undisturbed by screw or sail. Ruins exist at the head of the gulf Again we see that as the Jew was no builder, so he was no shipwright ; for from distant Tyre Hiram sends his servants, and sends sailors, too, to train the servants of Solomon. These ships go to Ophir,"^ ' which some * ' For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram. Once emnj three years came the navy of Tarshish bringing gold and silver,' etc. This gold, silver, etc., is said, in another passage, to come from Ophir — which some think to be the South of Arabia, others India. ' It cannot be urged that this distant country Avas too far for Phoenician sailors, for Herodotus proves that Pharaoh Necho (B.C. 617-601) circumnavigated Africa. Necho, so says Herodotus, was the first to prove that Libya (Africa) is surrounded bj^ sea, except the part where it is con- nected with Asia. He sent Phoenician sailors and ships, ordering them to return by the Pillars of Hercules to the Mediterranean and Egypt. These sailors, accordingly, went down the Red Sea into the Southern Ocean. Each autumn they landed on the coast of Libya which happened to be near ; there they sowed corn and waited for the harvest. After reaping the corn, they embarked, and continued their voyage. In this manner they returned, in the third year, by way of the Pillars of Hercules. . . . They related that while sailing round Libya they had had the sun on their right hand.' Modern critics have tried to show that this whole narrative was false, and yet the last sentence of this old report is full evidence of its truth ; for, as soon as the sailors had passed the equator, the sun must have appeared to them in the north — or on their right-hand side. Really, these sailors of Necho anticipated the discovery of the Portuguese by two thou- sand years. — 'Ancient History,' Dr. Schmitz, pp. 85, 86. 24 2,70 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. have thought to be in India, from the fact that the words used for ivory, peacocks, apes, etc., are South Indian words for the same animals. But there was an old coast trade between India and Yemen, and Indian traders probably brought to Oj)hir Indian products, which Solomon's servants brought up the Red Sea. Ophir seems clearly to be in Yemen, or Southern Arabia ; evidently, too, the same place from which the Queen of Sheba came ;' and it is said she came with camels, etc. (1 Kings X. 2), which shows hers was an overland journey, and that the fable of her coming from Abyssinia has not grounds of fact to rest on. Here, again, this queen could come uj) on the old caravan road through Mecca and Medina, now a journey taken every year by pious Moslems. She is shown all the wonders of the Temple and its riches ; but the one thing which especially seems to have impressed her was the ' ascent,' by which Solomon went up to the house of the Lord. This ' ascent ' is thought to have been a bridge over the Tyropseon Valley, to connect Zion, the upper hill, with Moriah. Near this corner is ' Robinson's Arch,' so called because the celebrated American traveller first noticed the importance of a huge projecting stone. That this stone projects out of an ancient wall all agree, and many explorers con- sider the wall to be of the date of Solomon, while others think it of the time of Herod. Under the ground, however, by shafts and tunnels, fragments of older arches have been found, and it does appear THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. yi-i 24- THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 373 reasonable to think that here was ' the ascent.' As to the full discoveries at this particular point, the reader must consult the detailed works of Sir Charles Warren. The account then goes on to relate all the wealth which poured into Palestine. ' Linen yarn,' the famous Egyptian ' byssus,' which was not cotton. ' The father of history ' calls cotton ' tree- wool.' Cotton was one of the ]nanufactures of Egypt ; priests even used it ; but linen was a choice and expensive material. Some specimens brought to England from the old Egyptian tombs are of wondrous delicacy and lightness. Solomon's ships, with those of Hiram, brought treasure, as did the ships of ' Tarshish.'^^ There is no certain knowledge of this place. Some authorities think * * Solomon's conquest of the Edomites had given him possession of an important port on the Red Sea — Ezion Geber, at the head of the Elanitic Gulf, not far from Elath. Whatever access the Phoenicians may have had previously to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean through the favour of the Egyptians, it was a dis- tinct gain to them to enjoy the free use of a new port on the southern waters, where their presence was warmly welcomed and they were allowed to build as many ships as they pleased. In return for the opening which they thus obtained to the freest and fullest commerce with the East, the Tyrians conceded to the Israelites a participation in the traffic which they had carried on for so long a time with the nations of the far West. Two trading . fleets were formed, to which each of the two nations contributed both ships and men (1 Kings ix. 27, x. 22). . . . The whole of this commerce was absolutely new to the Hebrews, and effected a revolution in their habits which must have been most remarkable. ... If Solomon derived from a single voyage the amount of 420 talents (1 Kings ix. 28), or more than four millions sterling of our money, what is Phoenicia not likely to have obtained from a con- tinuous trade, lasting for twenty or thirty years at any rate, probably longer f — ' Phoenicia,' ' The Story of the Nations,' G. Rawlinson, M.A., pp. 101, 102. 374 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Tarshish, or Tarsus, to be in Asia Minor. Here the great Gulf of Alexandretta comes under the rocky ridges of the Taurus. There are no ruins of any importance, and yet St. Paul says of it that it was ' no mean city.' Some, again, think that it was a Phoenician city of Spain. Even Cornwall has been named. The position is uncertain. Solomon's horses and chariots were all contrary to the will of God, and the example of the great leader, Joshua, would have been better to follow. But the ' many strange women ' were at the root of all the evil. Here, again, he was breaking a most distinct command. The evil foretold came to pass. This mighty king, this great poet, thinker, genius all round, sinks so low as to pay homage to heathen gods. He becomes a universalist, and offers oblations to all the gods of the adjacent heathen. Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Phoenicians, was of course an old Philistine idol — the Ishtar, or Venus, partly a worship of the moon as ' the queen of heaven '; the Asherah, also, only another name. Its rites were idolatrous, foul, and licentious. It had some connection with the tradition of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. Milcom, or Moloch, well characterized as the * abomination of the Ammonites,' was a male god, a god of fire, worshipped with human sacrifice and ordeals of fire. Mutilations of children were offered to this god. It is said to have been represented by a human-like body, with an ox- THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 375 head, hands stretched out, made of brass, and hollow. When thoroughly heated, the priests put the babe into its hands. Drums were then beaten to drown the cries of the little victim (hence the word ' Tophet '). Other offerings were also made. In later days the Carthaginians sacrificed to this idol, and it is related by Diodorus Siculus that on one occasion 200 children were offered, and, falling off the arms of the idol, perished in the fire ! Why did not Solomon recollect what his father David had done when he took Rabbah ? He led the Ammonites through ' Malkan,'* the place where they had burned their children, not through the 'brick-kiln,' as in the A.V. (2 Sam. xii. 31). As they did to their children, so did David to them ! This idol answers to Baa], the Sun-god. Chemosh — 'the abomination of Moab.' This god was also worshipped with human sacrifices. A black stone was his symbol. Jewish tradition says a 'black star.' Dhiban, where the Moabite Stone was found, is said to have been the headquarters of this worship, and we may note that that stone is black. The just anger of an offended Jehovah was excited against Solomon ; and the respect of his people was also sapped. But the foolish king hardened his heart. Deaf to all warnings, he goes on his fated course, so now in his old asfe troubles come to him. Enemies rise up, and three especially are named. Hadad, the Edomite, who had escaped when a child the fury of Joab, and was taken by faithful * Another name given to Moloch, from ' melech,' 'king.' 376 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. servants first to Midian, that haven for Moses ; then they pass the end of the Gulf of Akabah, and come to Paran, that desert bordering on Egypt, and finally take refuge in Egypt. There the then Pharaoh takes Hadad under his protection, so much so that he gave him a house and a wife, who was sister to Pharaoh's wife. All this was a thorn in the side of Solomon, and at the death of Solomon Hadad obtained permission from Pharaoh to go to his own land. Then Pezon rebelled — he had left Hadarezer before the latter's defeat by David. He gathered men unto him, and retook Damascus and all Syria, and it would appear that Solomon, now sunk in sloth and iniquity, could not dislodge him. And, lastly, Jeroboam — he, a trusted servant of Solomon, one who had been given charge of his great works at Jerusalem, who was ' indus- trious,' and who had power to order all the burdens of 'the house of Joseph' (1 Kings xi. 2 8). Does this point to a more pressing exacting of labour, in which noiu the Jew has to work as well as the captive races, as before stated ? This man is met by a prophet — Ahijah — and told that he, the agent, is to be the ruler over ten tribes, because of the sins of the people, they following, it must be allowed, the example of the king. The idea of rebellion, it would appear, was stirred up in Jeroboam's mind by the voice of the prophet, who was a true witness. Solomon had introduced the evil ; he had fallen away from the allegiance to Jehovah ; the unity of the nation was gone. THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 377 Jeroboam, from his position as chief of those who had to provide workers for Solomon's great works, would know well the discontent of the people. It would seem he sympathized with them, and that they knew it. They looked to him in a vague sort of way as a spokesman — nay, a deliverer. Solomon must have known the peril in which he stood, for he ' sought to kill Jeroboam,' who, like many an one before him, finds refuge in Egypt. And again Shishak is mentioned. Clouds, indeed, are gathering around the last steps of the once ' wise king.' He has neglected the true source of all wisdom, and now ' she mocks at his calamity ' ; she * laughs when his fear cometh. ' It is one of the saddest pictures in the whole Bible story. The moral is short. If a man sin against God — be he king, despot, rich, what you will — his power turns to ashes, his servants betray him, his money will not purchase peace. The great king dies, and with him the empire which David's sword had carved out, and which Solomon squandered. His empire flashed and dazzled all beholders, but it exhausted his country and exasperated his people. His greatness and empire was but a bubble, and with his death it burst. In his time alone the Jews touched and possessed large territory and sovereign sway — touched it but for a moment, and lost it. Earthly empire, for which he lusted, w^as not to be his. This had been tlie fatal mistake all along, and it bore bitter fruit in after-ages. Solomon is buried 378 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. with his fathers in that unknown tomb. His son, Rehoboam, succeeds ; he goes to Shechem, the central point of the land, and all Israel there assem- ble— i.e., their official representatives — for the plain of Moreh would not hold the numbers even of the fiofhtinof men of David's last census. In distant Egypt Jeroboam is told. It would appear an embassy of the people went to fetch him. They looked to him as one who had sympathized with them in their burdens. It does not appear, but after- events show rather the contrary, that he had ever protested against the foul worship of heathen gods. No ; J^ut he had been known as an advocate for the peo^^le under their burdens when Solomon laid such exactions on them when build- ing Millo and repairing the breaches in the City of David. He returns, he is chosen spokesman of the people, and, backed by the people, he asks Rehoboam the kino- to liofhten their burdens. The service had been ' grievous,' the yoke ' heavy ' ; if he will lighten it, then they will serve him. The king seems sensible at first, for he asks for three days to consider. He consults the old men who had been rulers under his father ; their advice is to remit the burdens. This is distasteful to him. Then he consults the young men — his playfellows and friends, all of whom, like himself, were unused to responsibility. They, with boasting, insulting words, met the just demands of suffering and wronged men with bluster ; blind were they that the moment when they might make peace was passing away. The THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 379 insolent answer of the king stung the people, and the cry rang out, ' To your tents, O Israel !' The king sends an officer, Adoram — the one who was over the levy, a known taskmaster, and probably hated too. Another blunder! He is stoned to death by the enraged people, and Rehoboam fled in his chariot to Jerusalem. All Israel followed Jeroboam, and only Judah is faithful to the son of Solomon, The empire vanished in a moment. There is something remarkable in the cry ' To your tents, O Israel !' Israel still dwelt in tents, and one of those things which strike an explorer is that it is about Jerusalem that ruined villaofes and cities cluster chiefly. The people up to this time as a mass lived -very much in tents. The folly of Rehoboam and his gay companions brought about the fulfilment of prophecy. This *N^as the way God's will was to be done, Rehoboam assembles an arni}^ from Judah and Benjamin, but he is forbidden to fight Israel. Jeroboam then builds, or more probably fortifies, Shechem, and makes it his residence, Penuel, the border city and town across Jordan, is also rebuilt. And now he, not acknowledofino- God at all, thinks to for ever keep apart the kingdom. He sees clearly enough that if there is to be one religious centre — -the Temple — in all probability the people will ere long seek for a national reunion. So craftily he takes counsel, makes two calves of gold — the old Apis of Egypt, from which he had so recently come — erects one in Bethel, the nearest 38o THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. point of the kingdom to Jerusalem, and the other at Dan, its northern hmit. The lowest of the people are taken as priests, and in the eighth month, the same time as the feast in Judah, he offers at the altar ; he burns incense there. He tnuiit have a god to support his authority ; he cares not what god. We then have the story of the man of God who goes to warn Jeroboam. He fulfils that mission, but, being disobedient himself, is slain by a lion. None of these things change the heart of the king until he is touched by the sickness of his son. Then he no longer goes to the false gods, but sends to Shiloh. He persuades his wife — no difficult task to persuade a mother — to take gifts and go to the old prophet who had first foretold his eleva- tion as king. That prophet had doubtless lived in seclusion at Shiloh — the busy world of separa- tion and disunion had left that quiet glen un- frequented by worshippers. In his sore trouble, however, the heart of the king turns to Ahijah. The anxious mother has to listen to a terrible prophecy — the only consolation given her, that he shall be * buried in a grave,' and all because of the sins of her husband in following ' Asherim.' They shall as a nation be scattered beyond the river — the Euphrates — because of their sins in so easily follow- ing Jeroboam in his false worship. Tirzah, her home, is reached. The moment the poor mother arrives at home the child dies. Tirzah (' pleasant '), we see in Song of Solomon vi. 4, was much es- THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 381 teemed for beauty. The site is disputed. Robinson thinks it to be Talluza, six miles east of Samaria ; while Major Conder thinks Teiasir, eleven miles north of Shechem, to be the place. If so, it is now represented by a small village, with an ap- pearance of antiquity, with old tombs and some caves, lying in a secluded valley. The soil is good, the land arable. Fine and ancient olive-trees exist ; while here, too, is a curious building. It re- sembles a tomb, and is twenty-five feet square ; inside that is a chamber ten feet square, with four recesses, and an arch over each. The height seems to have been about twelve feet. Some of the stones of this building are four feet long. There is no clue, no suggestion, as to its uses, except that it is a tomb. The death of Jeroboam follows, but the Bible story now changes to tell of Judah and the fortunes of Rehoboam. Trouble from afar has now come to him, for Shishak, King of Egypt, comes up against Jerusalem. This Pharaoh had sheltered Jeroboam, so would have no friendship for the King of Judah and Jerusalem. And, moreover, this Egyptian was a usurper, who had gained the throne of Egypt by successful revolt ; so he would feel animosity towards Rehoboam, he being the son of Solomon by his wife the Egyptian princess. So this new King of Egypt, Shishak, had various reasons for invading Judea. On the great temj^le at Karnac, Shishak has left a record of his Judean conquests, and many are the places enumerated, which show how far his conquests extended. With 382 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. huge plunder he retired. It was to his interest that the war which went on between Jeroboam and Rehoboam should continue ; for then lie would have no strong enemy on liis frontier. Another reason — subjecting Judea to tribute made it a barrier between Egypt and the dreaded enemy, Assja^ia. The kingdom of Egypt was decaying, and Shishak knew it, and trusted by these means to break the first shock of invasion from Assyria. The history of the kingdom of Judah continues equally sad till Asa appears. His heart is right, but evil-doing and evil-doers had waxed great in the land. The vices of the Cities of the Plain had reared their foul heads again ; and women, too, headed by the queen, his own mother, had soiled their pure womanhood. She, as the R.V. puts it, had ' made an abominable image for an Asherah.' Ashteroth (the two-horned goddess Astarte, the Cyprian Venus) had a foul and licentious worship and * Asherah ' (' the grove ' — not as is often imagined, a ' wood ' or ' grove ' of trees) was some image or symbol of this goddess, capable of being ' cut down.' The stone pillar, or menhir, was the symbol of Baal, and the wooden image, or pillar, the symbol of Astarte. Ancient writers say trees were the first temples, and probably had some relation to the tradition of the tree of life and the tree of knowledo^e. Throug-hout the whole heathen world examples of the worship of trees is found, as was the case with the Druids. The rites of the Cyprian Venus, as known from the records of THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 383 antiquity, are too foul to describe, and from the earliest times the temptation under which Israel fell, from their first approach to the Promised Land to the last days, was this sin. We may note here that the brook Kidron must in those days have been, what its banks near Jerusalem prove it to have been, a rapid mountain stream, though it is now filled, or nearly so, by debris. The war between the two separated portions of Solomon's kingdom still goes on, and the King of Israel j^roposes to stop all inter- course by building Ramah — that is, this place w^as to be a fortified station, commanding as it did the great north road. We see from this that, though war might prevail and kings quarrel, yet the peoples had intercourse with each other. It was im- possible it should be otherwise in so small a land as Palestine, and in a place so close to Jerusalem as Ramah, only five miles north, now called Er Ram, which is a commanding position. Asa saw this threatened blockade would be so serious that he sends all his silver and gold that was left in the treasury to a foreign king, that dwelt at Damascus, to buy mercenaries. This was ever the fatal fault with the divided Jews — it has ever been the fault of all Easterns — to buy help, and then to fall under the sway of those forces they, by their shortsighted polic}^ had brought into the land. The King of Damascus answers the appeal. His forces attack the northern borders of the King of Israel. Ijon, a town of Naphtali, north of Banias, now thought to be El Khiam, in the fertile plain of 384 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Merj 'Ayim, north-west of Dan, falls to the in- vader. Then ' Dan' — now ' Tell el Kady/ the northern limit of Palestine — then Abel-beth- Maaeah — the city Joab besieged in the rebellion of Sheba — then * Chinneroth.' According to the Talmud, this was a fortified city of Naphtali, the site of which is unknown ; but it may apply to that district belonging to the Sea of Galilee, for all Naphtali also fell to the Syrians. Their country numbered nineteen cities, with their villages, in the days of Joshua, and they had many * fenced ' cities. Their territory stretched from Damascus and Upper Galilee to Lebanon. Alarmed when he heard of the great extent of this invasion, Baasha left off building this fortified city on the frontier near Jerusalem, and retired to the secluded home at Tirzah. Then the king, Asa, causes a corvee of all his people to assemble, and the ' stones ' of Ramah are taken away. One thing this again proves, that the Jew was never a builder himself. The temple was Phcenician, the walls also ; and here such is considered the value of masonry that all the people fetch it away. And Asa builds Geba of Benjamin, now the ruined village of Jeba, near Michmash. Here Asa wishes to fortify, in his turn, the north road. Near the great gorge — which was really the best defence on that frontier — he also builds Mizpeh. That site is much disputed, some authorities thinking it Neby Samwil, to the south-west of Jerusalem — that prominent hill which overlooks the plains of THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 385 Philistia ; while others think it Scopus, part of the ridge of Ohvet ; while Major Conder sug- gests that Nob and Mizpeh are one and the same place. It would seem from the mention of Mizpeh in connection with Geba in this text that it is probable that Scopus, or Nob, was really the place, as it is hard to see how the stones from Ramah could be moved so far as Neby Samwil ; whereas Geba and Nob were not far apart. And there would be, in a military sense, a reason why these two places should be mentioned together, as two fortified posts here would guard the north road, while Neby Samwil would not ; and the object of Asa was to guard himself against Israel. Now, his northern enemy, the King of Jerusalem was cut off from communication with Tyre and Sidon, so would be unable to avail himself of the skill of those peoples in masonry ; whereas Israel, touching as they did the Phoenician boundary, had doubtless full command of their skilful help. Hence the * stones ' of Ramah were pro- bably wrought by Phoenician workmen, and so Judah would prize them. Nabah, the son of Jeroboam, had to face a rebellion, and Baasha slew him at Gibbcthon. This, a town of Dan, is pro- bably represented by Kibbieh, a site on a lofty hill, surrounded by olive-trees. It was close to Philis- tine country, and was taken by them. Israel were laying siege to it ; it does not appear that the siege was interrupted by Nahab's death. Baasha still made his court at Tirzah, and was there 25 386 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. buried. It is at least remarkable for what a lensfth of time the kinsfs of Israel chose this as their abode ; and we have seen that there is still existing at this place a tomb which, to say the least, must have been erected for some ruler ; its size and the careful masonry prove that much. Zimri, the lieutenant-general of Elah, Baasha's son, now rebels against his master, who, a sot, was indulofinsr in a drunken bout in the house of his steward — probably at the vintage festival. Zimri has but a short reign of seven days, for Omri, the commander-in-chief of the army, at the moment en- camped before Gibbethon, leaves that place, breaks up the siege, and comes to Tirzah, which is soon taken. Zimri sees that the game is up, retires to the palace, and sets fire to it and perishes in the ruins. Still further do the fatal divisions go, for Tibni, another leader, now revolts against Omri ; the nation is divided, but Omri — probably the more skilful warrior — conquers his opponent and succeeds to the kingdom. The old, old story of Eastern revolt is here told in a few words. The successful soldier shows his military skill in choosing the hill Samaria for his stronghold, for Samaria is one of the strongest positions possible — stronger in some senses than Jerusalem, for Samaria is an isolated hill, with fertile valle3"s all around, and though dominated by higher hills, yet they lie back at considerable distance, and in the days before gun- powder no enemy with bow and arrow or sling could do this fortified city anv harm. Omri is buried in THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 387 Samaria, and Ahab takes the throne. His down- ward path is swift. He thinks it a hght thing to follow Jeroboam, who had set up the golden calves, and said, 'These be thy gods, O Israel, w^iich brought thee out of the land of Egypt' (1 Kings xii, 2 8). He asserts here that Aaron was right when he set up the golden calf before the mount of God in Sinai, and insinuates that the high priest Aaron could not have been mistaken, and that, after all, Moses had had no right to break the calf in pieces, and that really they were but returning to the true original w^orship. Ahab goes further. He takes for "svife Jezebel,* a * * Hiram was succeeded by his son, who reigned seven years ; then followed various conspiracies, and fifty years after Hiram, Eth-Baal, high priest of Ashtoreth, came to the throne. ' Eth-Baal was, as already mentioned, not only king of Tyre, but also high j^riest of Astarte or Ashtoreth. He seems to have been a religious enthusiast, and to have earnestly desired the spread of the Phoenician religion into other lauds besides his own. To effect this purpose he married his daughter, Jezebel, whom he had thoroughly imbued with his spirit, to Ahab, King of Israel, the son of Omri, the founder of Samaria. . . . Eth-Baal may have hoped to gain political advantages from the alliance, but its primary motive appears to have been religious propagandism,, The Phoenician princess took with her from Tyre the parapher- nalia of her religious worship, together with a sacerdotal entourage, which gave her at once a court of her own creatures, a band of unscrupulous adherents, and a means of displaying the ceremonial of the new religion on a most magnificent scale. Four hundred and fifty ministering priests of Baal were attached to the worship of that god in the Israelite capital, while four hundred others — devoted to Ashtoreth — hung about the royal palace at Jezreel, and feasted daily at the table which Jezebel provided for their entertainment. Ahab was persuaded to build a great sanctuary for Baal on the hill of Samaria. * " In the interior was a kind of fastness or adytum, in which were seated or raised on pillars the figures, carved in wood, of the Phoenician deities, as they were seen in vision, centuries later, by Jezebel's fellow-countryman, Hannibal, in the sanctuary of Gades. In the centre was Baal, the sun-god; around him were the inferior 25 — 2 388 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. princess of Zidon ; and her god he sets up, even Baal, the male deity of the Phoenicians, a sun-god whose emblems were * menhirs,' and all their foul sug- gestions— a god of mere passion, not a god of righteousness ; really the worship of the power of evil unrestrained. And so in time Baal becomes Baalzebub — the Prince of Devils ! Ahab argues : Foreign nations are great, prosperous. Why not try their gods ? He also builds an altar to the female deity, for he makes an Asherah, and does more to provoke the Lord God than all the kings that had gone before him. He had run riot in wickedness, and cast off all restraint on evil passions. And now, in his days — regardless of the curse of Joshua — divinities. In front of the temple stood, on a stone pillar, the figure of Baal alone" (Stanley, "Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. ii., p. 246). ' Ashtoreth was worshipped under the form of an emblem rather than of a statue. The emblem, which was sometimes of wood, sometimes of metal, was called an Asherah and is thought to have resembled the "Sacred Tree" of the Assyrians ; it was generally set up in a temple (2 Kings xxi. 7, xxiii. 6), but may sometimes have been worshipped in the open air, under the deep shade of trees. Hence the Greek translators of the Hebrew Scriptures, confounding it with its surroundings, rendered the term " grove," which the Vulgate replaced by lums, whence the " grove " of the Authorized Version. ' The daughter of Eth-Baal passed on the malign contagion of her evil genius to her own daughter Athaliah, a daughter worthy of such a mother, who became the queen of Ahaziah, monarch of the rival kingdom of Judah, and took advantage of her position to bring Judah, no less than Israel, within the sphere of the fatal fascination. The terrible virus by her introduced into the Jewish State clung to it to the end, and hastened that end. Vain were the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah. The Phoenician rites brought in by Athaliah took a firm hold on the Jewish people, and are declared by Ezekiel (chap. viii. 6-18) to have been among the chief causes of the captivity.' — 'Phoenicia,' ' The Story of the Nations,' G. Rawliuson, M.A., pp. 107-110. THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. . 389 Hiel the Bethelite attempts to rebuild Jericho — apparently on the old foundations. The word is sure, and the curse is fulfilled. Elijah now suddenly appears, his name meaning * converter.' No parentage is given, his birthplace is unknown, other than from Gilead, which, far from courts, had so often given leaders and deliverers to Israel. The licentious worship introduced by Ahab rouses him, and with terrible suddenness we read his first messao^e to the kinof : 'As the Lord the God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall be no dew or rain these years, but according to my word ' ( 1 Kings xvii. 1 ). What a picture ! The king, Ahab, lapped in luxury, caring for costly things and things of beauty — for did he not make an ivory palace and build cities ? — confronted by this wild Bedawy, with his scant desert dress. He, in short, tells the king: 'Your gods are dead, afar off. The God of Israel is near, a God who rules the seasons. He, the God of your forefathers, gives rain and appoints harvest-time and winter, and in His name I foretell this dire calamity.' Elijah im- mediately leaves, and hides in the brook Cherith. The traditional site of this brook is now the Wady Kelt, a wild glen which runs into the Jordan Valley, a small stream running through it ; but the Bible expression, * facing ' or ' before ' Jordan, would seem to imply that it was east of that river, and therefore in Elijah's own native country of Gilead, out of Ahab's reach. It has not been identi- fied, but it is thought Wady Yabis, opposite Beth- 390 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. she an, may be the place. The prophet is fed in a miraculous manner. No rain falling^, the brook dries up, and he is ordered to go to Zarephath, belonging to Zidon. This jDlace would be of easy access if the brook Cherith were east of Jordan. Zarephath, now called Surafend^ is the Sarej^ta of the New Testament. It is on the seashore north of Tyre. The old town was probably nearer the seashore than the present village. The encroachment of the sands probably had something to do with the change of position. The old ruins are considerable, and show that it was a city of some size. Broken columns, marble slabs, old foundations, strew the ground for about a mile, while old Crusading ruins attest the simple fliitli of those days which identi- fied ' sites ' so easily — for is there not an old chapel, now a Moslem ' wely ' or sacred place, wdiich is said to occupy the very site the widow's house stood on — for to a poor widow was the prophet ordered to go. She^ in her extremity, has come to the last handful of meal — for the famine has reached even here. And yet, such is . her faith, her hospitality to this poor vagrant — for such the prophet must have looked — that she shares the morsel and has a rich return. How little did the great ones of Zarephath know or care about the miracle that was being wrought in their midst ! It has been ever so in the providence of God. JNot many mighty are called. The prophet delivers his message and promise, and that promise is fulfilled, and for ' many ' days did this THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 391 household eat of the meal and taste the oil, and it failed not. We may note here that oil in Eastern lands took the place of butter with us. A greater miracle is then wrought, for the widow's son is restored to life at the jDi'^yer of the prophet. Three years have passed, and now Elijah is ordered to show himself to Ahab. The famine in Samaria was sore. The direct narrative pauses for a moment to explain that Ahab has a servant, Obadiah, 'who feared the Lord greatly.' Strange that for con- troller of his household Ahab should have one who revered God, and who had not followed the courtly example of worshipping Baal ! And now we are very tersely shown how intolerant false religion ever was and is. Jezebel had slain the prophets of the Lord, except the hundred men hidden by Obadiah. Ahab sends Obadiah in search of water ; the king dividing the search of the land with his agent shows how severe was the drought. Samaria, a land of good springs, was then water- less. It is quite of a type of this king's doings that he is represented as caring chiefly for his ' horses and mules.' He wishes to find grass, that they may be kept alive. The poor, silly French queen, when told that her subjects had no bread, said, ' Why do they not buy cakes ?' It was ever the rule in the ancient world ; there was little or no thought of the poor ; the rich, the noble, the warrior — they were considered to be the nation. It is only in the Bible that the poor are con- sidered. In Greece or Rome, and worse still in 392 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Egypt or Assyria, the poor were but serfs, chattels ; and it is entirely owing to the Word of God that the poor are taken into account. The remark may go further. You can read pages upon pages of heathen literature, Greek or Roman, and not once find the word ' God,' while there is not a page of the Hebrew Book but you find God first — God All in all. Obadiah meets the prophet, recog- nises him, and also his Divine mission ; for he — this high oflScial — fails on his face before the gaunt and rude figure of the prophet. He beseeches Elijah not to send him back with a messao-e to the kino- for he opines that the moment he has left the j^rophet Elijah will be taken away by the Spirit of the Lord ; and then, Ahab not finding Elijah, he (Obadiah), who has feared ' the Lord from his youth,' will be slain by the angry king. He tells Elijah how close has been the search for him ; not a sheikh but has been questioned — nay, put to oath that he knew not the prophet's hiding-place. Reassured by the prophet, he goes, tells the king, and prophet aiid ruler meet. Haughtily the king accuses the prophet of being the cause of all the ill the nation is suffering from, while as sternly as before the fearless Elijah hurls back the charge, and distinctly tells him it is for his sin of following Baal. To j^^t the matter to the test, Elijah proposes that all the prophets of Baal, the male deity (450 strong), and those of the Venus, the female deity (400 strong), shall assemble on Carmel in presence of all Israel. Ahab complies. He — one of those careless. THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 393 fashionable kings — thought it a small matter which god he worshipped, and probably thought victoiy would be on the side of the biggest battalions. But Elijah goes dee|)er ; he appeals to the j9eop/e. Kuler and priests are beyond conviction ; the ])eople have to be aroused from their apathy and sin : the prophet appeals from court and priests to the masses, and their sense of right. 'Why halt ye between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow Him ; if Baal, follow him.' The masses are silent ; they want a leader ; they want con- viction. This meeting is a sifting, and, like worldly men, who always dislike to be forced to decide, they prefer to halt between the two opinions. The strange scene goes on ; the altar to Baal is built ; the savage rites, the wild cries, the bloody sacrifices, are of no avail. Elijah taunts them, in the blazing heat of noon, that their god may be otherwise engaged — too busy, or too care- less to attend to them ! And now eveninof draws on. The solitary ^^I'opbet calls the people to greater attention. He alone repairs the altar of the Lord, which false priests have thrown down. He typifies the unity of the nation by the twelve stones. Water, at his request, is poured on the burnt offering — not once, but again and again ; and then follows the prayer to the covenant God of Abraham, of Isaac, and Israel, and the fire from God is the answer. At the evidence of power, the people fall on their faces and profess the Lord. No longer do 394 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, they hesitate, but do the will of the one man. Here we see a popular religious revolution — the prophet and people against court and priests. The stern order rings out, ' Let not one escape.' These worn-out priests are brought down to the brook Kishon and slain. The person of the king is not touched. Elijah tells his servant to 'go up.' Seven times he does this, and the seventh time sees the cloud ' arisinof out of the sea as small as a man's hand.' From one of the near tops of Carmel the servant would command a most extensive view, and chiefly seaward and looking west, from which the Syrian rain-clouds come, he would look over towards the distant island of Cyprus, and see the small cloud rising over that land — a cloud which foretold the coming rain even as it does now."^ * See ' Quarterly Statement,' Julj^, 1889, G. Schumacher : 'The first point to consider is, where was the place where Elijah stood when he said to his servant, " Go up now, look towards the sea" (1 Kings xviii. 43)1 Verse 42 states that it was on "the top of Carmel." It is beyond doubt that by " the top of Carmel " that place is meant now called " El Muharka " (or El Mahrakah), the burning-place situate on one of the most conspicuous summits of Mount Carmel, which, from its geographical position, just above the Kishon river and the Tell el Kussis — the adopted (Baal) priest's hill — with its unique view over the whole surrounding country and the sea, in every point answers the biblical descrip- tion of the Elijah miracle. From this point the Mediterranean Sea can be seen in two directions, viz., looking south-west and north ; between those two views some near heights and the entire range of Carmel intercept the view. 'Now Elijah told his servant, ''•Go up noic, look towards the sea," which indicates that he went a little forwards on to one of those heights, and considering that all the sudden storms and heavy rains in our neighbourhood come from the west and south- west, I would call the direction whence the rain-clouds " arose out of the sea " (as seen from El Mahrakah) the west-south-west. * The monks of Mount Carmel have now widened and rebuilt THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 393 And while the prophet spoke the heavens grew black with clouds and winds, and there was a great rain ! How true this description is the wTiter can testify from his own experience in 1875, while on Carmel. Bright hot sunshine, and not a cloud ; suddenly he saw quite a small patch far away over distant sea. Almost before he had realized it, the whole sky was dark with clouds ; he had barely time to reach his tent and call all his men before the storm of wind and tropical rain was down. In spite of all efforts tents were blow^n down, while the whole landscape was blotted out with the darkness of the storm. Trees only a few yards away were hardly to be seen from the gloom and the sheets of rain ; the whole coast-line was blotted out. An hour after the heavy clouds rolled away, inky black in their depths, and distant Acre stood out like a pearl against the gloom. Sunshine came again, and all was still. It is satisfactory to be able to say that the site of this great gathering and sacrifice of the altar is 2^1'obably the place now" called El Mahrakah (' the place of burning or * sacrifice '). It is a peak, and forms the south-eastern extremity of the main range of Carmel. This peak is a semi-isolated top, with a cliff some forty feet high, looking south-east. Beneath is a small plateau the chapel on the Mahrakah summit, ^yl]ich, with its Avhitewashed roof, shines out conspicuously. The traveller coming from Jaffa or Nabliis, from the East of Jordan or Galilee, from Safed, 'Acca, or Tyre, finds this monument on the top of Mount Carmel a guiding point for his journey.' 396 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. with olive-trees, and a huge, dry reservoir ; below the plateau is a well cut out of the rock. From the summit of the cliff, westwards, a wonderful view is got of the Great Sea; northwards, Hermon, and part of the Lebanon chain ; while to the east Nazareth, Tabor, Nain, Shunem, all lie below. From the earliest times tradition has asserted that an ancient altar stood here. Tacitus mentions it : * A moun- tain known as Mount Carmel, on the top of which A GOD is worshipped under no other title than that of the place, and according to the ancient usage ivitliout a temjole or even a statue,' etc. Mahrakah, the plateau, would give space for the multitude ; the well would give water to be poured on the altar ; and 1,400 feet below is the Kishon, where the priests were slain. Only from the very summit can the sea be seen, and Elijah's com- mand to his servant was ' Go up, and look towards the sea.' Tliat sea cannot be seen from the plateau on which it is most probable that the altar stood. To sum up : no other point on the Carmel range fulfils the conditions required, even if we leave out of consideration the Arabic tradition. It is venerated by Jews, Christians, Moslems, Druses, and Bedawin, as the site of the miracles of Elijah, and no other site has been suggested except one, called Tell el Kiissis (' the hillock of the priest '). This name is applied to a shapeless mound near the river-bank. Tliis knoll lies between the ridge and the plain ; it may have had some connection with the miracle, for it is THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 397 hard to believe that Ahab's chariot could have ascended to Mahrakah, and the advice, ' Make ready thy chariot ' — in other words, * Send orders for it to be ready ' — shows, I think, that the place where the chariot stayed was not at the place of the altar up the hill. This advice was probably given because the prophet knew that this storm would swell the Kishon, and render it impassable for chariots. On one occasion the writer arrived at the ford on the Kishon, close to this place ; a sudden storm compelled him to halt for half an hour, and then the stream was so big that with considerable danger and difficulty he crossed. Then across the Plain of Esdraelon to Jezreel went Ahab, The roads must have been in better condition then than now, even though the chariots were rough, or to drive from the Kishon to Jezreel would be no enviable task. Elijah, now excited and inspired by the Lord, girds up his loins and runs before Ahab to Jezreel. You may see the ' girding ' now. Whenever any difficult or lengthened journey has to be done, the loose skirt is gathered up, one end tucked tightly into the girdle, leaving legs and thigh bare and free for work, for runnino- or fordingf. And so like an Eastern Sais, or forerunner, the prophet set out. In Syria this is little seen now, but nobles still use them in Egypt. When, years ago, the writer was the guest of the late Khedive, two Sais ran throuofh Cairo in front of his carriage, calling out in Arabic : ' Out of the way I' 398 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. * Out of the way '.' ' Guard yourself !' etc. With rod in hand, these men would use it freely over camel or ass, or even foot-passenger, who happened to be in the way. From Carmel to the entrance to Jezreel would be nearly twenty miles. It shows the splendid physical strength of this stern Bedawy prophet Elijah. Ahab had probably been accom- panied by his own servants on his outward journey, for we know that the kings had men to run before their chariots ; probably, in the confusion caused by the slaughter of the priests, these men were no longer available. Like all men, Elijah is a strange compound of courage and timidity, for when Jezebel hears the news she sends a message which strikes terror into the heart of this prophet, who so short a time before has been so fearless. And so to Beersheba, the southern limit of the land, he flies ; leaves his servant there while he goes a day's journey further into the wilderness ; and then, ex- hausted by fatigue, heat, and wanting food and water, he crawls to a juniper-tree — not a ' tree ' in reality, but 'retem,' the desert-shrub, which grows in the Sinai Desert. It is really a broom-bush, its usual size about that of an English gooseberry- bush ; but yet in that dreary desert a most grate- ful shade for tlie head, as the writer has often proved in long foot wanderings in that same weary land. Wearied out, tired of life, physically ex- hausted, the poor prophet prays for death. The sting is, he finds that he is human — 'not better than my fathers.' He had been more than man had THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 399 he not been elated by his victory over the priests of Baal. He now, however, finds he is but man, after all. By the goodness of God he is not left to die. An anofel shows him a cake baked on the hot stones — just as Bedawin still do to-day — and a cruse, or jar of water. After refreshing sleejD, he is told to go to Horeb, ' the mount of God.' No note of his route, but in any case the way is long and difficult. There, in those grand granitic solitudes, the disappointed prophet is taught. He thought there would be at once some grand national repentance of Israel when they saw his victory over the priests of Baal, and so now despondency prevails after the high excitement, and in despair he cries : ' I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life !' (1 Kings xix. 14). Not far from the Convent of Sinai you come to the top of the ravine, where stands a ruined arch- way ; near it, a natural trough in the rock, which collects rain-water ; further on, two ruined chapels, one dedicated to Elijah, the other to Elisha. In the inner chapel, at the right hand of the altar, is a grotto, said to be the very cave in which the prophet hid. The whole ruins and rocks are scribbled with names — Moslem as well as Christian. The whole of this portion of Sinai is called by the monks ' the Mount of Elias.' Such is but mere tradition. Strengthened by a vision, the proj)het is told now to take another long journey to the wilderness of Damascus. God has still work for him to do : to anoint Hazael king over Syria, and 400 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Jehu kinof over Israel. Jehu was one of Ahab's guards, afterwards commander-in-chief And further, he is to anoint Ehsha to take his own place. At Abel-meholah (* the meadow of the dance '), in the Jordan Valley — probably about eiofht miles from Bethshean — Elisha the future prophet lives. Elijah had thought that he was the only worshipper. God knows and sees His own, thouQfh man cannot. Seven thousand had not bowed the knee to Baal, nor had their mouth kissed him. The Mohammedans, on begin- ning their prayers, bring their thumbs together, kissing them three times. They cannot kiss the hand of the unseen god in token of lowly sub- mission, so kiss their own hand instead. In this sense we must understand the passage : A heathen, seeing an image of Serapis, raised his hand to his mouth, and pressed a kiss on it with his lips, Elisha's father must have been a man of wealth, for there w^ere twelve yoke of oxen ploughing, two by two, and Elisha the last. He obeys the call at once, bids farewell to father and mother, slays his own yoke of oxen, and roasts the flesh with the ploughing instruments. His old life is henceforth dead to him. He gives food to the people and de- parts, and serves Elijah as servant. He gave up all and became a servant. Ahab is besieged in Samaria by the King of Syria. He agrees to the most humiliating con- ditions : his treasures, wives — nay, even his children — may go to the victor. A true coward at heart, THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 401 he only finds this ready acquiescence to the re- quests of the invader useless, for the new terms are that not only even everything belonging to him- self, but everything belonging to his people the invader cares for, is to be given up. Ahab cannot, dare not attempt this, A council is called, and the people of stouter heart advise a message : That all the invader had first asked for he will do ; but to the increase of terms. No ! In true Eastern language, the invader sends back a boasting and insulting message, while the only wise thing re- corded of Ahab is his answering speech : ' Tell him. Let not him that girdeth on his armour boast himself as he that putteth it ofiJ",' While feasting and elated with drink, Benhadad is given the reply, and he at once orders an assault. In the other camp, some nameless prophet of the Lord came to Ahab that he may know that the Lord He is God indeed. He will deliver the multitude of the Syrian army into his hand (1 Kings xx, 13). How long-suffering, how patient, are the wa3^s of the Almighty ! The way is pointed out to Ahab, and he is to begin the assault. He is to have two hundred and thirty-two of the princes — the young men of the 'provinces, not the courtiers, mark — and seven thousand of the people ; that is, all there are. The sortie goes out. The drunken invader asks who these can be, and being told, says : ' If they come for peace, take them alive ; if for war, take them alive' (1 Kings xx. 18). Really the thing is too trivial — he need give no other order. Not 26 402 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the first soldier who had committed the fatal error of despising his adversary. His army is defeated. He and his horsemen only escape, while his chariots and their horses are the spoil of the victor. With wise advice to prepare again, the prophet dis- appears. The surviving courtiers of Benhadad try to find a reason for the defeat of their king. They venture an old assertion, ' that the God of Israel is a God of the hills' (ver. 23). They propose a battle in the plain, but they have really wise advice to give nevertheless. In brief, they say, ' Take away the kings, and put captains in their places !' (ver. 24). What they really said was : ' Don't- let us have orna- mental soldiers for our leaders, but let us have men who have seen war !' Happy would it have been for many a nation if advisers so sage had always been listened to. In this case, however, these advisers left out one element, and that was the Lord God. Their king follows their advice, and musters his army at Aphek, now Fik, on the great eastern highroad to Damascus — the military road, really, between Israel and Syria. Fik is in the Jaulan, about six miles to the east of the Sea of Galilee ; north of it is a fine plain. It shows an increase of courage on the part of Israel that they go out to meet the invader, and do not wait till he attacks them at their capital. Aphek, in Bible times-, was the most important place across the Sea of Galilee. Tiberias and Aphek (Fik) are within sight of each other. Ancient authorities describe THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 403 it as a ' laro'e villagfe,' or as ' a great castle.' Israel had but a tiny force to oppose the huge array of the Syrians. For seven days the armies watched each other, and on the seventh battle was joined ; and because the Syrians had said that the God of Israel was but a ' god of the hills ' (1 Kings xx. 23), they are shown that His arm was as powerful on this fertile plain. They are defeated with great slaughter, and the remnant flies to the city of Aphek, the walls of which city fell, and slew to the amount of 27,000 (Chap. xx. 30). It has been suggested that as this is a volcanic region, the fall of the wall may have been due to that cause, the fugitives being hurl died up under the wall for protection ; but no details are given. Benhadad fled into the city, and then from chamber to chamber while the pursuit was hot. The defeated king has clever servants, who, professing great submission, go to the King of Israel, who receives Benhadad ; and we now hear that Israel had in the last reign lost cities to the Syrians. These are to be restored, and Ahab is to have some quarter of Damascus given him, and the Jewish king consents to these terms. A prophet, by an acted riddle, shows him how shortsighted his policy has been, and the victor goes back to Samaria heavy-hearted and much dis- pleased. Peace brings its troubles to Ahab as well as war. A restless, weak man, having kingdom and palaces, he yet craves for a simple vineyard because it happens to be near his palace. He wants this 26 — 2 404 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. vineyard for a garden of herbs, and when refused, hke a spoilt child, this king takes to his bed, frets, sulks, and refuses food ! What a picture the sacred historian draws in a few words ! We know the sad story of Jezebel's crime and the murder of Naboth ; and immediately the king hears of the murder he rises from his bed, and takes possession of his vineyard ! Why should he so much value a vineyard ? and why want a garden of herbs ? One reason why Ahab liked to spend part of the year at Jezreel probably was that there, owing to the cool breezes sweeping across the plains of Esdraelon from the sea, it was a more agreeable residence than Samaria ; as well as the other reason already suggested, that, owing to the level ground about, he could indulge in chariot -driving. This vineyard would be surrounded by a high wall, built of stone, with pleasant shade of olive and fig, pomegranate and vine, with tiny rills of rippling water, raised either from wells by artificial means, or from some strong S23ring brought by conduits to the place. The garden of herbs would be spikenard and saffrons, rosemary, and other scented ^^lants, of which Easterns are so fond ; and here in the shade the king longed to while away his hours. Jezreel, now called Zer'in, is situated just at the foot of Gilboa. The place is well supplied with water ; there is a good spring called 'Ain Meiyiteh (' the spring of the dead woman '), and a well called Bir es Suweid (' the blackish well') exists north of the town. Sir Charles Wilson estimates the number of cisterns THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 405 found here to be quite three hundred. Rock-cut wine-presses are found to the east of the ruins, and it was on that side probably that the old vineyards existed. It could never have been a very large place, but the spur or knoll at the northern edge gives fine views in every direction. Numerous caves or storing-places for wheat exist, for, exposed as it was in early times to raids, the people hid their crops. It is a dreary spot now : mounds of rubbish, a few miserable huts, thickets of high, ugly thistles and rank weeds. Half-starved dogs were quarrelling over garbage when I was there, while never in my life did I experience such blood- thirsty flies and fleas! While sketching amongst these tumbledown huts, much to the disgast of my men, and amidst the growls of the few wretched women about, I stumbled quite by accident upon a fragment of antiquity. There was an open door- way, with upright lintels of stones with some almost defaced carving on them. Entering the vault — for such it was, owing to the fact that a range of huts were built over the to]3 — I found courses of large stones well chiselled. The place was used as a stable for oxen and goats, and was inches deep in filth. With the aid of candles, one saw that this vault extended for some distance under the heaps of rubbishy huts. An old Fellahin became so angry at my intrusion, that, not being backed up by my men, who hated the filthy place, I was compelled to give up any further search. 4o6 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Elijah pronounces a terrible doom for the guilty queen and king, and by the ramparts of the city, on the mounds outside the gate where offal was shot, this proud queen is to be eaten of dogs ! Any- thing more degrading for an Eastern, and a queen, too — anything more dreadful than such a fate, it would be impossible to pronounce. And here again mark what a vacillating man Ahab was ; he does be- lieve the prophet, though he cannot bring his mind to serve the God of that prophet. He hugs his sins too hard ; but now, with rent clothes and dust upon his head, he ' went softly.' No longer the high proud gait of a king, but the humble step of a sinner. And he receives a gracious message, that so far his repentance is accepted, and the evil is postponed. The same story ever runs through the sacred page — the 'willingness of God to forgive ; to the deepest sinner the way is open. War continues between Syria and Israel — a campaign of three years. Then Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, wishing to heal the breach be- tween the two Jewish kingdoms, visits Ahab, who sees his chance of wresting Ramoth Gilead from the King of Syria — that great stronghold across the Jordan — the key of the country which is now called Jerash. He therefore proposes a joint expedition, to which Jehoshaphat agrees, but is not satisfied unless a prophet of ' the Lord ' is found. He evidently has no confidence in the priests of the calf-worship. Micaiah is named, Ahab adding, ' I hate him.' The false king THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 407 had before this cahed Ehjah ' his enemy.' Who- ever reproved him for his sins he hated. The prophet is brought up from prison, and there in the open place or ' threshing-floor/ close to the gate of Samaria, sat the two kings in their royal robes — a picture of Eastern life, even of to-day, for this was to be a religious ceremony. This expedition was to be blessed by the priests of Baal. It recalls what the writer has witnessed in Cairo. There in the open space under the citadel, in a small w^ooden building, sat in raised chairs the late Khedive and his sons, surrounded by a glittering staff of officers and officials, consuls of foreign nations as well, while defiling in front went the procession of priests and dervishes and the sacred camel, bearing the carpet for the tomb of Mohammed at Mecca, So now in similar state sat these two kings. This ' open space ' was that probably near ' the pool ' and the now ruined Church of St. John at Sebustieh, the modern re- presentation of Samaria ; and now before them defile the 400 priests, one of whom was more officious or daring than the rest, for he is named Zedekiah. He was the son of Chenaanah, and had fixed horns of iron on his head, audaciously claiming for Ahab the prophecy of Deut, xxxiii. 17 : ' His horns are the horns of the wild ox. With them shall he push the people, all of them.' Of all dangerous things a perverted text is the worst and most misleading, and false priests have ever tried to wrest Scripture. Micaiah is brought 4o8 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. before the court. He knows the falseness of Ahab's nature, and ironically he repeats the cry of the priests ! But when abjured in the name of the Lord God, then he tells the king the truth, and relates the vision of the evil spirit. We see a similar strange story related of Job, how Satan is alloAved to tempt men. The prophet is led back to prison with orders from the king to the governor that his lot is to be made very bitter. The prophet appeals to the people, and is led away, and now again Ahab shows his cowardliness and guile. He is to be disguised, while his ally is to keep his robes. None but a coward would have susfofested this, and his nature must have been well under- stood by the King of Syria, for he had given orders to his captains to bend all their energies to capture or kill Ahab only. The royal robes of Jehoshaphat soon attract attention, and these captains assail him, and he cries out. Did he cry to God ? Anyhow his life is spared. The cowardly Ahab does not escape. An arrow, shot ' at a venture,' but directed surely by the hand of God, smote him in the chest, between the breast- plates. Immediately he requests his driver to carry him out of the battle, but in vain, for the combat increases in fury, and all that long day he is * stayed up in his chariot,' his life-blood ebbing away. The battle was for the Syrians, and at sunset the host of Israel dissolves. The dead king is brought to Samaria ; the town dogs, those filthy scavengers of Eastern cities, lick up his THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 409 blood, as the chariot is being washed by the ' pool.' Of the old city of Ahab little or nothing remains, for the existing ruins are of that city afterwards built by Herod, but the steep approach is doubtless the same, and that great reservoir by the ruins of the Church of St. John is probably the very pool where the harlots were wont to wash themselves. The rows of columns so often de- scribed on this site have nothing to do with the Samaria of Ahab; they are the ruins of that city built by Herod, and called Sebustieh. Of these columns there are more than one hundred. The hill is all terraced, and is 600 feet above the valleys which surround it. Rubbish abounds, show- ing how important the city once was. There is, however, one fragment of antiquity which most travellers overlook — remains of a tower or wall, built of large stones of rude masonry, the walls sloping 4IO THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. inwards to give strength. This fragment looks westward, and at sunset, sitting at its base, you see the distant waters of the Great Sea, and the coast near Csesarea. The ground is rich in mosaics, bits of which the writer has often picked up while walking over the fields. One of his men pointed out to him, close to his feet, a fine gem, a stone very beautifully engraved, with a Greek god upon it ; while the natives of the wretched village frequently brought him gems and curios they had found in jDloughing. There are few places which would so well repay a thorough exploration with the spade as this site, which, as a rule, travellers just ride through and then depart. The present inhabitants are rough and difficult to get on with, and carry out the character of its old inhabitants. Ahab's '■ ivory house ' was probably a shrine or chamber to Baal. The Assyrian black obelisk mentions ' Ahab of Jezreel.' He, with Benhadad of Syria, had fought against Assyria. Their forces are given as 10,000 footmen and 2,000 chariots. They were defeated. At first sight this appears to contradict Scripture, as Benhadad there is spoken of as Ahab's enemy ; but Benhadad had made ' a covenant ' with Ahab, and probably the reason Ahab gave such easy terms of peace to Benhadad was that they were allied against the King of Assyria in those three years of peace between Israel and Syria of which we read. Then Syria probably made peace with Assyria, hence Ahab's anger with Benhadad, THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 41 1 Jehoshaphat was a pious king, and sought to cleanse his land, especially from the foul sins of the cities of the ^^lain. His fault was joining himself to the ungodly kings of Israel, who worshipped Baal at this time. A vassal kingf now reig-ned in Edom. The reason this remark is made is that Jehoshaphat built shijDs at Ezion-Geber. Had Edom been governed by an independent or native ruler, this would have been impossible, for Ezion-Geber was in the territory of Edom, close to Eloth, where Solomon's navy was built. The whole gulf is now called Akabah. The account in Second Chronicles gives us more details. The ships were broken by a storm, because Jehoshaphat had joined himself to Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, who inherited all the craft of his father. An offer to build a second navy was declined. The chapter closes with the death of the good King of Judah — who, happy fate for an Eastern, especially for a Jew — was buried in the city of David. It is to be hoped that some day these unknown tombs may be found. At present many suggestions have been made as to the probable position. Nothing is yet proved. There is an evil-doing king in Samaria, who follows the example of his father and mother in their sinful worship, and the book closes with the pregnant remark that his sins provoked the Lord God of Israel ' to anger.' CHAPTER VIII. THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. The story of Ahaziah's life is continued. He has to face a rebellion, for Moab, across the Jordan, refuses to pay the tribute of lambs and rams. At this juncture the king falls from his lattice. We must remember that Eastern houses are entirely different in plan to Western. We often sacrifice the comfort of the inside of the house for the sake of its outward appearance. Easterns think nothing of the outside : the lattice window or balcony is the only thing which breaks the bareness of the plain walls outside. This lattice, made of crossed slats of wood, projects outwards, and gives air as well as affords to the inmates a view of the street or country. The ' upper chamber ' would imply that it was from the harem, or women's compart- ment, that the king fell. He was so forgetful of God that he sends to Ekron — that Philistine town — to inquire of Baalzebub, ' the lord of flies' (that is, the god who was able to avert the plague of flies). A gem has been found in which the god is represented as a human figure THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 413 with four wings like those of a fly. Sending to this god would imply that what Ahaziah feared was mortification of his body, and that he would be tormented with flies. His messengers are met by Elijah, and fear to go. Returning to the king, they tell him the message and his doom. Soldiers are sent, only to be destroyed by fire from heaven. Again, and the third time, the captain of the band averts the same fate, by praying to Elijah to spare him and his men. Elijah then goes to the king, and personally delivers the word of Jehovah. From the history of kings and wars, the historian now turns aside to give us the history of the last days of Elijah and his servant, or follower, Elisha. The journey to Bethel follows. The sons of the prophets foretell that Elijah is to be taken away ; it stays not their march. At Jericho the same thing happens. The faithful follower refuses to leave his beloved master, though the fifty prophets content themselves with watching ' afar oflp,' dread- ing that what is about to happen may involve themselves in some position of danger. Then follows the strange smiting of the waters, their division, and the two pass over ; then come the chariots of fire. The mantle of the old proj)het performs for his successor the same miracle, and the sons of the prophet acknowledge that he is the properly appointed successor of the Tishbite. Still, they think it wise to search the barren mountains and valleys, which form such a barrier on the west of Jordan. So for three days fifty men search the 414 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. ground. Finding nothing, they return to Jericho. The men of the city describe its position as ' pleasant,' but that the water ' is naught,' and so the land was ' barren.' Was this Jericho on the site of that old city destroyed by Joshua, and now represented by the mounds near the foot of the Judean hills ? for it is there that the traditional spring issues forth. Or was it that modern Jericho, close to Eriha (the Jericho of the Crusades), where now the Russians have built an inn and some villas with gardens surrounding them, like an oasis in the plain, having repaired the ruined aqueduct which brought water in old daj^s from that spring under the hill ? Elisha went to the spring-head, and there cast in the salt which healed the w^aters. An inspired man, he went straight to the root of the evil, reformed that, and then the stream was pure. There are but two strong springs which now issue from these hills ; the one called ' Duk ' would seem to be too far off to be the one mentioned. The traditional spring is called by the Arabs ' 'Ain Sultan,' or the spring of the Sultan, and it brings life to the thirsty plain ; for, remember, though the Jordan runs so near, that river fertilizes nothing. It in flood time only ' overflows its banks,' and does not overflow the country or plain as does the Nile. All cultivation depends on these two ' springs ' — that of Duk and 'Ain Sultan. At Bethel Elisha was insulted by the youths of the village. All Easterns Call unmarried men ' children.' It shows THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 415 how sparsely poj^ulatecl was the wild country near Bethel, that bears should be existing there. From Bethel, across the plain of Esdraelon, the prophet goes to Carmel, and from thence returns to the capital city of Israel, Samaria. Israel still worshipped the calves of Eg^q^t, though the fouler worship of the obelisk type of Baal had been destroyed. And now details are given of the revolt of Moab, So serious was this that the two sections of Jews for the moment joined hands. They felt too weak for a direct attack, and so went through the then tributary country of Edom, and its vassal king accompanied them in their circuitous march of seven days through his barren country. The host suffers greatly from want of water. Directed by God, Elisha tells them to make trenches, and promises they shall be filled. The command seems very cruel, that every fenced city is to be destroyed, every good tree, all fountains to be stopped, and all good land made worthless. Every Eastern invader seems to have acted on those lines, and one can see in Palestine to-day how well the Moslems and others carried out principles like these. Moab is defeated, and the order obeyed. And then follows a tragic story. In the last extremity the King of Moab offers his eldest son a burnt-offering to Chemosh on the walls of Kir-haraseth. This act roused his people to a final struggle against Israel, and 'they. de- parted,' and * returned to their own land.' Read- ing between the lines, we can see that the con- 4i6 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. federate army failed to take the capital city of Moab, that they were really defeated in sonie sortie of the besieged. And now we can turn to one of the most valuable of modern discoveries. Kir-hara- seth — now called Kerak — is situated in a country quite alpine. Deep gorges and precij^ices are everywhere. Its height above sea-level is 3,070 feet ; the rock basalt. Wady Kerak has a preci- pice 1,8 00 feet deep. From the earliest times this strong position must have been selected as a fortress. It stands on a sort of peninsula, separated from the main land except at the neck. Two wadies, from 1,000 to 1,350 feet, with steeply scarped or rugged sides, flank it north and south. These unite about a mile to the west of the city. The platform on which Kerak is built is commanded by higher hills, for they are 3,400 feet. The size of the 23latform of the city, which is tolerably level, by nature or art, measures 800 to 1,000 yards on each face of the triangle. The wall has a smoothly-sloped facing, and fills up any irregularities in the native rock, which is scarped a considerable way down. There have been originally only two entrances to Kerak — one to the north-west, the other on the further side — and both entrances were tunnels in the side of the cliff, emerging on the platform of the town. To an enemy, Kerak is utterly inaccessible except by the winding paths at the western and north- east sides, and one road (the east) is cut to a great depth below the angle of the wall, so any enemy THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 417 approaching by this rock-hewn ditch would be at the mercy of the garrison. Deep wells gave water, while huge reservoirs stored it. Fine springs exist in the valleys below. The distance of Kerak from Jerusalem is about fifty miles as the crow flies. This descriiDtion, taken from Canon Tristram,* will enable the reader to understand the Bible statement that the slino-ers went about Kir-haraseth and * smote it ' ; that is, from that higher ridge they might harass the people on the wall. But they could not take the city, so * they left the stones thereof A history of these events, written by a Moabite historian, was found in 18 6 8; for it was then that the famous ' Moabite Stone ' was discovered. A series of most unfortunate blunders on the part of its discoverer (the Rev. F. A. Klein), with other causes, led the Arabs to attemj)t its destruction. They lit a fire under it, then threw cold water on it when it was red hot, and so smashed it into pieces. But a squeeze of the whole had before this been obtained by M. Ganneau; the fragments were, however, collected, some by French explorers, and others by the English, and finally very few pieces are missing. Some years ago the writer had the good fortune to attend a meeting of the Palestine Fund Committee, held in Jerusalem Chambers, Westminster Abbey, when Dean Stanley proposed that, in the interests of Biblical knowledge, those fragments belonging to the Palestine Fund be given to the French Government, so that in the * 'The Land of Moab,' pp. 65-78. 27 41 8 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Louvre this priceless relic might be set up, and restored as far as possible. That resolution was carried, and small copies of this inscrip- tion can be obtained at the offices of the Fund. The number of letters on the stone was a little over 1,000, the number preserved 669 ; the probable date of the stone was about 900 B.C. According to the opinion of Count de Vogue, it was inscribed in the second year of the reign of Ahaz, King of Israel, so it is older than Homer, and is probably written in the same characters used by David in the Psalms, and by Solomon in his correspondence with Hiram, King of Tyre. The size of the stone was about three and a half feet by two feet. M. Ganneau and Dr. Ginsburg thus translate the inscription : 1. I am Mesha, son of Chemosh-gad, King of Moab, the Dibonite. 2. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I have reigned after my father. 3. And I have built this sanctuary for Chemosn, in Karchah, a sanctuary of 4. Salvation ; for he saved me from all aggressors, and made me look upon all mine enemies with con- tempt 5. Oniri was King of Israel, and oppressed Moab during many days, and Chemosh was angry with his 6. Aggressions. His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will oppress Moab. In my days he said : THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 419 7. Let us go ; and I will see my desire upon liim and his house ; and Israel said, I shall destroy it for ever, Now Omri took 8. The land of Medeba, and occupied it in his day, and in the days of his son, forty years ; and Chemosh had mercy on it in my time. 9. And I built Baal-meon, and made therein the ditch ; and I built Kiriathaim. 10. And the men of Gad dwelled in the country of Ataroth from ancient times, and the Kinsf of Israel fortified Ataroth. 11. I assaulted the wall and captured it, and killed all the warriors of the city, 12. For the well-pleasing of Chemosh and Moab ; and I removed from it all the spoil, and offered it 13. Before Chemosh, in Kirjath ; and I placed therein the men of Siran and the men of Moch- rath. 14. And Chemosh said to me, Go, take Nebo, against Israel ; and I 15. Went in the nio'hfc, and fouo^ht aofainst it from the break of day till noon ; and I took it, 16. And I killed in all seven thousand men ; but I did not kill the women and 17. Maidens, for I devoted them to Ashtar- Chemosh ; and I took from it 18. The vessels of Jehovah, and I offered them before Chemosh, and the King of Israel fortified 19. Jahaz, and occu^^ied it when he made war 07 0 420 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. ai^ainst me, and Chemosh drove liim out before mo. And 20. I took from Moab two hundred men in all, and placed them m Jahaz, and took it, 21. To annex it to Dibon. I built Karchah, the wall of the forest, and the wall 22. Of the hill. I have built its gates, and I have built its towers. I have 23. Built the palace of the king, and I made the prisons for the criminals within 24. The wall ; and there were no wells in the interior of the wall of Karchah. And I said to all the jDeople : 2 5. Make you every man a well in his house. And I du2f the ditch for Karchah with the chosen men of 26. Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the road across the Arnon. 27. I took Beth-Bamoth, for it was destroyed ; I built Bezer, for it was cut down 2 8. B}'' the armed men of Dibon : for all Dibon was now loyal. And I reigned 29. From Bikran, which I added to my land; and I built 3 0. Beth-Gamul, and Beth-Diblathaim, and Beth- Baalmeon, and I placed there the poor 31. People of the land. And as to Horonaim, the men of Edom dwelt therein, on the descent from of old. 32. And Chemosh said to me. Go down, make war against Horonaim, and take it. And I assaulted it, THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 421 33. And I took it; for Chemosh restored it in my days. Wherefore I made 84. . . . year . . . and I . . . Briefly let us examine some of the statements of the Moabite Stone.* * Mesha is evidently the warrior king mentioned in the second book of Kings. At one time he was a vassal kinsf to Israel, lie liberated his country. He was contem^^orary with Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jehoram, kings of Israel. After David's conquest of Moab the Jewish rulers treated the country with great severity. Moab, not larger than an English county, had to furnish a tribute of a hundred tliousand rams, and one hundred thousand lambs with their wool. * When Ahab was slain in battle, Mesha took advantaofe of the confusion, and rebelled. * Ahaziah made no attempt to reconquer the land, but Jehoram formed the league already spoken of,, and by the south end of the Dead Sea the confederate army marched to the attack. The Moabites met the invaders, but were driven back. The fuofitives took refuo^e in Kir-haraseth, the frontier stronghold of Moab. We have already seen how the king tried to break through, and how he sacrificed his son. We note, too, that the King of Moab showed especial anger towards Edom. With seven hundred men he tried to break throuo'h to attack the Kino- of Ed^ni. Did o o * Full details are given in the work by the Rev. James King, Lecturer for the Palestine Exploration Fund, ' Moab's Patriarchal St HP,' from which these extracts are taken. 422 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. he afterwards succeed ? For Amos ii. 1, says : " For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the King of Edom into lime." ' We now see good reasons why the kings of Judali and Jerusalem did not make a direct attack. Moab had seized and fortified the towns on the northern frontier. * Chemosh-gad : Chemosh was the god of Moab ; Gad, the Canaanite god of fortune, * The Dibonite (the city Dibon), now Dhiban, three miles north of the River Arnon. Mesha jDrobably belonged to this place. So, probably, this was the reason this stone was set up there. Dibon is spoken of by the prophets as a high place. Dr. Tristram says : " Dibon is a twin city upon two adjacent knolls, the ruins covering not only the top, but the sides to their base.* The hills are limestone, not basalt (this shows the Moabite Stone was brought there, it being of basalt)." * The erection of stones to commemorate victories was common. Samuel and David did so, the latter putting u'p a memorial when he returned from smiting the Syrians in the Valley of Salt. The meaninof of Chemosh is unknown. Some identify him with Mars, others with Saturn. Ancient coins represent Chemosh as standing on a cippus between burning torches, holding a sword in the right, and a lance and shield in the left hand. * * The Land of Moab,' pp. 133, 133. THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 423 * Mesha then describes the cities he built, and the land that he recovered. A few may be men- tioned : ' Karchah, sometimes called Korcha. The word means baldness. Isaiah and Jeremiah so apply the word. It is possible they had heard of this monu- ment, and so made a play upon it. "■ On all their heads shall be haldness, and every beard cut off" (Isa. XV. 2). As much as to say, The King Mesha boasts of Korcha. The time will come when his subjects shall have Korcha (baldness) on all their heads. ' At Ipsambul, or Abu Simbal, Upper Egypt, some Moabite prisoners are represented. One or two have the hair shaven off, and whiskers cut off. Probably the royal citadel stood on a bare height near Dibon. ' Omri is mentioned as King of Israel. He was a successful warrior. It was he who bought the hill of Samaria. '' His son succeeded him," thus runs the inscription. We know it agrees with the Bible, for Ahab came to the throne. ' Omri took the land of Medeba (" quiet waters "), a town of great antiquity in Moab, mentioned in Num. xxi. It was a sanctuary of the Moabites in the days of Ahaz (see Isa. xv. 2). The ruins show that it was a place of great im- portance. Some columns are still standing. There is a huge reservoir ; roads and streets can be traced ; a hill near is full of caves ; and there are also remains of a large temple. 424 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. * Baal-meon was built and its ditch made, * This place is about two hours' distance from Medeba. It was a town of ancient Moab, and afterwards belonged to Reuben. In the days of Hezekiah it was a place of considerable imj^ortance, it being- mentioned as one of the four towns formino; the glory of Moab. The ruins are vast. Its name now, Main. Three miles south-west of Medeba. The ruins occupy four hills. There are founda- tions, lines of streets, old arches, wells and cisterns innumerable. Curious cave dwellings are near. ' Kiriathaim was builded. * This town is two hours' march from Baal-meon. It was one of the ancient cities of Moab taken by Reuben, now called Ktireiyat. Extensive ruins, but featureless. This was probably the place from which Balaam saw the tents of Israel. 'A statement is then made that the men of Gad dwelt in Ataroth, and in Numbers we read that Gad asked for the town of Ataroth. Here we have a wonderful confirmation of Bible statements. The King of Israel had fortified Ataroth, but Mesha took the town, put to death all the warriors ; but the inhabitants, with the spoil, were offered to Chemosh. The present name is Attarus. There stones lie in heaps ; lines of foundations, caverns, and circular cisterns. * Siran and Mochrath are then mentioned. Siran is not to be found in Scripture ; it is, however, probably " Sibmah " of Joshua, also in the later prophets. THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 4:5 * Mochrath is not a Bible name, but its meaning- is moiming, and Shachrath means dawn. So it is probably the Zareth-shahar of Joshua (Chap, xiii. 19). ' Nebo : a town of Moab, as well as a mountain in Moab. * The women and maidens were not killed, but devoted to Ashtar-Chemosh. * Ashtar was a Phoenician god, the masculine to Astarte. It is probable that Ashtar-Chemosh corresponds to the Greek AjDhrodite, and the bearded Venus, Amathusia. ' " I took from it the vessels of Jehovah." Here we see that the sacred name of the true God was commonly known to the heathen. ' " The Kinfv- of Israel fortified Jahaz." Here we see that Israel were successful. Why they left Jahaz does not appear ; the site is unknown ; it was j^robably in the highland plain. ' Mesha then says he built Karchah and Aroer. ' This latter place is represented by 'Ar'air, a desolate place with cisterns and wells, fulfilling the denunciation of the prophet Jeremiah (Chap, xlviii. 19).^ ' Then he claims that he made a road across the Arnon. This river runs through a tremendous gorge. Traces of a Roman bridge are to be found, and other ruins. ' Beth-Bamoth does not occur in the Bible, but Jeroboam made a Beth-Bomoth ("a house of high places") (1 Kings xii. 31). 426 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. ' Bezer : a town north of Moab. Bezer and its suburbs belonged to Beuben, and was one of the three cities of refuge across Jordan. ' Bikran was added to his land ; the position is unknown. * Beth-Diblathaim and Beth-Baalmeon are named as habitations where the poor were placed. ' The first-named means the " double house of fiofs," and is thouafht to be the Almon Diblathaim (Numb, xxxiii. 46) of the Israelites, one of their last stations before crossing Jordan. * Horonaim of Edom is then mentioned. This was a city of Moab, south of Arnon. It is spoken of by Jeremiah and Isaiah. It would seem that Mesha, having defeated the Israelites, now turned toward Edom, and was again successful. * The inscriptions at this jDoint are mutilated, and so the inscription on the Moabite Stone is brought to a conclusion. * This inscribed stone is really 150 years older than any previously known inscription, for the Assyrian tablets and coins date 750-650 B.C., while the Moabite Stone dates from 890 to 900 B.C. ' Ahab being slain by the Syrians gave Moab a chance. Mesha took that chance. His revolt was successful, and perfect harmony exists between the Bible and the stone. It is clear that though the Moabites were defeated at first, yet they gained the victory in the end. The very fact that Israel asked aid of Jehoshaphat, and that the united kings went such a long circuit, shows how power- THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 427 ful the revolt was. And the end is also clear, that the Israelites had to return to their own land ivithout takinof Kir-haraseth. ' In conclusion we may remark that the in- scriptions on this stone make no mistake in the geography of the land.' From the history of wars, and the deeds of kings, the Bible now gives an account of the doings of the prophet Elisha and some women. Women were despised in the East, yet in the Bible story we often find many great events hang upon their agency. Then we have the miracle of the oil, which pays the poor widow's debts, and following that the story of the rich woman of Shunem, a small villaofe still existinof on the Esdraelon Plain, who presses her hospitality upon the prophet. Her husband agrees, and they build a small room on the wall. This ' chamber on the wall ' is a common thino* of to-day — a tiny room, built out and supported by wooden struts, it is cool and quiet, being away from any noise of the house. Its furniture was then, as now, simj)le ; little is wanted in that Eastern land of sunshine. The woman declines any court influence, but the prophet knows that she, like every Eastern woman, desires a son. He is promised. The promise seems too good to be true, for the woman says, ' Do not lie unto thy handmaiden.' The child is born. Years go on ; he ]Dlays about in the fields at Shunem. 428 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. And then at harvest-time in that open j^lain — no shelter then, and certainly not now — the child gets sunstroke. He has been with the reapers. He says, poor boy ! ' My head, my head 1' He is brouo'ht to his mother. On her knees till noon he lies, and then dies. Here is a great touch of truth : it is not the mid-day sun that is so dangerous, but the morning sun, or afternoon one, for then the sun, striking the nape of the neck, causes sunstroke — the mid- day sun strikes the top of the head, and is not dangerous. The mother asks for an ass and one man to go to Elisha. From Shunem you look westward across the plain of Esdraelon, and see the ridge of Carmel rising quite clear. It would be a ride of ten or twelve miles ; and so, like an Eastern woman of to- day— the man-servant running behind the ass — the mother set out. She bids her servant slack not the speed, and the road being level, she would soon reach Carmel. The prophet sends his servant. The keen-eyed Elisha recognises the woman when afar off. The servant asks, ' Is it well V and the answer comes, * It is well.' Here custom remains just the same ; an Eastern will to-day answer, ' It is well,' though in the next breath he will tell you of death. But when she got to the prophet all the mother's love went out, and in bitterness of soul she cast herself at Elisha's feet. He orders Gehazi off at once, with the command. If you meet any man, ' salute him not ;' if any salute you, ' answer him not.' THE SECOND BOOK OF KIXGS. 429 Why ? Because all Eastern salutations are so very lengthy. The hands are clasped, the neck is kissed — first one side and then the other — and a lono- time passes in the congratulations and questions. It is no unusual thing for half an hour to be spent in this way. At the intercession of Elisha the child is restored to life. From Shunem the prophet went on his way, probably down the valley of Jezreel, and past Bethshean to Gilgal. An ignorant student had gathered some wild gourds, and put them in the pot of pottage, ignorant that these gourds were deadly. Those who have seen the Bedawln of to-day gathering any scanty green thing to put in their pottage can easily understand how those delicious-looking gourds, the colocynth, growing to the vine which flourishes in the Jordan Valley, also in the Judean and Sinai deserts, would be taken as good for food. True, the Bedawin know better than to eat this gourd. But this student was ignorant. While eating, the bitter taste told them of the mistake, and Elisha put meal in the pot and they came to no harm. Another miracle is then recorded : the twent}^ loaves of barley feed one hundred men. These loaves were probably just like the barley loaves eaten by Bedawin of to-day, about the size of a woman's shut hand, hard as iron, and requiring to be pounded between stones, or soaked for days, before a Western can manage to eat them. The story of Naaman, the Syrian soldier, is full of interest. We can but glance at the conduct of the 430 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. little maid, which reflects honour both on Naaman's wife and the cajDtive. For she must have been kindly treated, or she would not have felt so kindly disposed towards her master. Those who have seen leprosy in the East can understand what an awful scourge it is. Those who have read of Father Damien can understand, too, how the will of a strong man can yet enable him to do his daily work. Naaman seems to have exjDected that the prophet would either mesmerize him (for he thought he would ' wave his hand over the place '),'^ or cure him at once by some other means. The story ends with the terrible punishment befalling Gehazi. One of the saddest sights of to-day are the lepers in ■ Palestine. Thanks to Christian effort, they now do have better homes : but it is a livinsf death. Then the miracle of the iron head of the axe follows, and now another invasion by Syria is projected. This ' war ' must have been a series of raids ; it is only through the insight of the prophet that the King of Israel saved himself from capture by those flying colum'ns. Dothan, by a forced night-march, is sur- rounded by Syrian troops. Dothan still bears the Biblical name. It is very rich pasture-land — an upland plain. Toll Dothan is a smooth hill, on which are ruins ; at its base a fine spring. There are two wells ; fragments of potter}^. Dothan derives its name from ' well-pits,' or * two wells,' An ancient road, with massive pavements, runs north * Or, 'strike his hand.' The margin reads, 'move up and iovvn ' (2 Kings v. 11). THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 431 and south. There are also numerous cisterns hewn out of the rock, bottle-shaped, v/ith narrow neck or mouth. Dothan was on the highway from Gilead to Egypt, and still caravans pass this place. They go by Jezreel and enter Samaria by Wady Dothan, and so on to Ramleh, to Gaza, and Egypt. The route is not so much used of late years. Since the opening of the Suez Canal the traffic between Syria and Egypt is carried on by the short water-way via Jafta and Port Said. Even cattle are now sent from Jaffa to Alexandria in steamers, and so the old caravan route is becoming deserted. Then, too, the moving sands of the desert shore are fast destroying the road. One of the latest explorers of this route was the late Crown Prince of Austria, who at one time thought it would be possible to construct a railway on the old road, but found the shifting sands would destroy it. The prophet's servant was stricken with terror Avhen he saw the armed host of the enemy, but his eyes being opened, he saw that the mountains were full of the hosts of God. BKndness strikes the Syrians, who are led to Samaria, which is but twelve miles away. Then, their eyes being opened, they see that they are entrapped into the very heart of the land. By wise hospitality these enemies are converted into friends. They had eaten and drunk, and there- fore Eastern custom forbade their attacking Israel, and so these ' hands,' or raids, of Syrians came no 432 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. more. The liill-passes round Dothan show that they at one time were strongly fortified to protect the country from these Syrian raids. Soon serious war follows, and the capital, Samaria, is besieged by the Syrians. The famine waxed sore. The ' kab of dove's dung ' was, most pro- bably, a name given to a small despised and cheap bean, to which was given the nickname of ' dove's dung,' from its shape, and which now fetched a huge price. The Hebrew word translated ' dove's dung ' bears out this explanation. The terrible sufferings of the besieged people are shown in a sad story only equalled by one which Josephus tells of in the final siege of Jerusalem. The King of Israel, blind to his own sins, tries to lay all blame on Elisha, and his chief courtier, or prime minister, sneers at the hopeful prophecy, that the next day there will be such a profusion of corn that fine flour, as well as barley, will be cheap. The leprous men who sat at the entering in of the gate — i.e., outside the city — discover the flight of the Syrians. Even to-day the traveller can see outside the gate the lepers sitting. Quite recently, at Jerusalem, this has been stopped, and an additional refuge for these afflicted people is built near the Siloam village. The allusion to the Hittites shows that this nation was still existing even in those days, and it also shows how loose was the discipline of this army ; indeed, all Eastern armies were but an armed mob or militia, judging from the monuments. The Egyptian armies, or parts of them, were THE SECOND BOOK OF KIXGS. 433 trained to march in step and keep close forma- tion. The lepers return and shout to the guardians of the gate. After some debate two chariots are sent out to test the truth of the story, and the jDrophecy of the prophet comes true — the spoil is so great. And then out of the city pour the famished inhabitants till that captain who had charge of the gate is trodden down in the mad rush and crushed to death. That g-ate was, probably, near the ruins of the large Pool of Samaria — where the dogs licked the blood of Ahab — and one can picture the people rushing down the steep hill road to the Syrian camp. By the passes, and across the plain leading to the fords of Jordan, the Syrian host had fled, casting away everything that could impede their flight. The Shunemite woman whose son Elisha had restored to life was now a widow, and the prophet, still mindful of her care for him, tells her of an approaching famine, and so for seven years she departs and sojourns on the lowlands of Philistia. This would show how partial the famine was. On her return she finds that, according to Eastern custom, her land had been confiscated by the villao^e ruler. At this moment she sees the kins' in converse with Elisha's servant, for the kino^ is curious to hear of all Elisha's deeds. This incident, again, is quite in accordance with all Eastern cus- toms even to-day, for the very poorest can get access at times to royalty. When the king hears ■ 28 434 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the widow's story, gratitude to the prophet induces him to order the restoration of her land, as well as all its past income. This trait of warm-hearted justice coming from such a bad king shows how faithfully the Bible records were kept. Though it may seem strange to our ears that kings and nobles are represented as talking to servants and poor people, yet we must remember that books were unknown, and the daily papers had no exist- ence, so the great ones of the earth were compelled by force of circumstance to get news by small-talk and gossip, just as the poor Arab of to-day depends on the talks over the camp-fire, or the chat in the bazaars. So great now was Elisha's reputation that on his going to Damascus the sick King of Syria sends presents to him, and begs to know if his sickness is mortal. The name of the officer sent is Hazael. We see with what honour the prophet is treated, for this Hazael is the commander-in- chief, and he takes quite a royal present of forty camels and their loads to this poor prophet. Elisha saw from Hazael's face the black thought in his heart, for murder was seething there, and though he indignantly says, ' Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing ?' (2 Kings viii. 13) yet he goes back, and with a wet cloth suffocates his royal master and usurps the throne. The King of Judah had taken to wife the daughter of Ahab, and her evil influence kept him in the bad path of idol-worship. Joram has THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 435 to face a rebellion in Edom. Moab had succeeded in casting off the yoke, thrust out their vassal king, and put a native prince upon the throne, Joram goes to Zair (* little '). The site is un- certain, though probably east of the Dead Sea. The Hebrew word much resembles Zoar. The invader was surrounded, but by a night attack he cut his way through ; and that was all, for immediately his captain of chariots forsook him, as did the peoj^le, and Edom re-established her independence. While this trouble on the eastern frontier was going on, a new revolt breaks out in the west. Surely and steadily the empire founded by David is breaking up, for Libnah (' whiteness ') raises the standard of revolt. Major Conder thinks Libnah is unknown. 'Arak el Menshiyeh, a hill covered with ruins, six and a half miles west of Beit Jibrin, is suggested by Canon Tristram. It is an important position, with some ruins and many cave dwellings. Joram is buried in the royal tombs. Joram and Ahaziah tried to weld toofether the broken fragments of the Jewish kingdom by uniting their forces to attack the old enemy, the King of Syria — the usurper king, the murderer of his master. He, it appears, had come up to attack Ramoth-Gilead, that fortress which protected the frontier beyond Jordan. Joram is wounded in battle, and goes back to the summer palace at Jezreel, hoping to be restored to health ; and his ally goes to visit him, leaving, it would seem, the 28 — 2 436 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. armies in charge of Jehu. Elisha sends a young" man to secretly anoint that captain as King of Israel. A fearful duty is cast upon him of avenofino^ the blood of the servants of the Lord. When the soldiers are told, they make a hasty throne of their garments on the top of the stairs, and trumpets proclaim Jehu king. This military revolt shows that the army was disaffected, and probably chafing at the absence of the royal leaders. Giving commands that none are to leave the city, Jehu starts in his chariot up the valley from Bethshean. The watchmen of Jezreel see a company coming from the Jordan fords. The alarm is given, and horsemen sent out to inquire the news. They meet Jehu, and he refuses to reply to their questions, and haughtily they are told to go behind his array. The watchman on the tower reports to the king that he recognises the driving^ of the leadino- chariot to be that of Jehu, whose furious pace was well known. The invalid king and his ally, each in his chariot, go out to meet the company, eager for news. Egyptian and Assyrian sculptures enable us to picture Jehu. He would be standing erect in his two-wheeled chariot, armed with the formidable bow carried by captains and kings, and when the usual Eastern salutation comes from Joram, * Is it peace ?' he answers, in truly Eastern custom, by another ques- tion, * How can it be peace ?' The King of Israel sees the danger, warns his ally, and tries to escape ; but with full strength the arrow is discharged. THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 439 Under his arms and throuo-h his heart ofoes the fatal shaft. We now see the retribution of Ahab's sin. Jehu and his captain, Bidkar, had both been in the bodyguard of Ahab when that king went down to Naboth's vineyard, and now these men, who had witnessed the crime, are the appointed agents in the retribution. And here, too, we see that Jezebel's and Ahab's crime had been even greater than the account in the First Book of Kings led us to expect. Not only had Naboth been slain, but all his sons, so that there never should be any question of descendants of Naboth claiming their own inheritance. The dead king is cast into the field of Naboth, while Jehu pursues Ahaziah, who had gained ground in the meantime ; but in his excitement, though he had taken the direct road to Samaria and Jerusalem, yet there w^ould only be the few miles of level driving between Jezreel and * the wa}'' of the garden house ' — that is, Jenin, or En-gannim, which is situated at the southern edge of the great plain — really on the last spur of the hills which rise behind it — a lovely site now, where there is a thriving little town, a strong spring running through it, surrounded by pleasant gardens of orange and palm trees. From thence the road would be too steep for rapid chariot driving, so Ahaziah had to turn westwards along the edge of the plain ; but 'in the ascent of Gur' (' the lion's whelp ') he is overtaken and smitten. ' Gur ' has not been identified ; but it would seem that the chariot was overtaken where the rouofh hill 440 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. country began. The wounded king is taken on to Megiddo. Nothing definite in the Bible fixes this place ; many guesses as to its position have been made. Dr. Robinson's and Canon Tristram's suggestions that Lejjun is the true site fit in, I think, best with the Biblical account.* It must have been near Taanach. See Judg. v. 1 9 : * Then fought the kings of Canaan, in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo.' From other references to it we see that it connnanded one of the gorges lead- ing to the Sharon Plain. Now, at Lejjun there is a small stream, ancient ruins, with large fragments of marble and granite sculptures. In short, Megiddo was the fortress of the western portion of the plain, and Ahaziah would naturally, finding he could not escape up the hills by En-gannim, seek to take refuo-e in that western fortress. He does o reach it, only to die, and then in a chariot is taken to Jerusalem. Jehu had returned to Jezreel. Jezebel — whose name, * chaste,' belied her nature — haughty to the last, paints her eyes with the black antimony, ' kohl,' used from the earliest times by Egyptian women, to give their eyes the almond shape so languishing and amorous ; * tired her head,' probably putting on a ' diadem ' and a veil, which then, as now, is worn by Eastern women to conceal all the fiice except the eyes, and which veil, in the case of rich women or queens, is made of such fine muslin as really not * It is witli great diffidence that I venture to doubt Major Conder's identification of Megiddo. THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 441 to hide the face, and contrasting with the blackened eyebrows and eyehds, really makes an ordinary face appear beautiful. Did she hope even then to fire the heart of Jehu? The history of many an Eastern queen might lead her to hope that the conqueror would take her to wife, though her sharp tongue compared him to Zimri, who, successful in his revolt, had but a short reign of seven days. From her summer balcony on the palace w^all looked down the queen. Jehu's only answer is, ' Who is on my side V Two or three of her attendant eunuchs look out ; the action was enough, and the order rang out, ' Throw her down !' Under the trampling of Jehu's chariot-horses the queen is crushed to death, while he goes into the palace to feast. What a savage picture, full of brutality ! His feast over, he remembers she was a king's daughter, and orders her burial ; but the wdld dogs had eaten up the body except hands and feet — which beasts always refuse to eat — and the skull. Brutal, savage as the whole picture is, it is full of touches of truth ; and not till all is over does Jehu recall the prophecy he had heard when captain of the guard, and see that the death of Jezebel was in accordance with the word of the Lord. A detailed account of Jehu's vengeance on Ahab's sons, and on the priests of Baal, follows, but on him was cast the spell of that Egyptian worship of Apis, which ever had such a fatal hold on Israel's rulers. He failed altogether to acknowledge the Lord God, and so judgments pressed upon the land. The decay of Israel's 442 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. power is accelerated, and all the borders of Israel are ravaged by Hazael, of Syria. All the east of Jordan is smitten ; Moab is lost, Edom is lost, and now all that fertile country east of the Sea of Galilee is at the mercy of the invader. Jehu is buried in Samaria. Elijah had said that Jehu and Elisha were to finish the work he had left undone. Stranofe combination! One was known as the man who drove furiously ; the other had a double portion of his master's spirit. Jehu, a soldier, had a strong sense of right. He had heard the judgment pro- nounced on the house of Ahab, and when made king felt he was the one appointed to assert the justice of God. He esteemed himself ' a scourge of God,' and gave full play to all his bloody instincts ; but nothing in the Bible is said to gloss over his ferocity. In the most brutal characters is often to be found a hatred of hypo- crisy ; but ' Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of God.' He swept away Baal worship, but clave to calf worship, and so the nation went on its down- ward course. The story of two women occupies the next chapter. Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, hearing of the death of her son, Ahaziah, and the other princes, moved by the lust of power, destroys all the seed royal. As queen-mother she had had sole power while Ahaziah had been absent at Jezreel, and, like her mother Jezebel, she hesitated at no steps — not even murder — to gain her ends. The sister of Ahaziah, Jehosheba — the only THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 443 instance of a princess marrying a high-priest — saved the Httle prince Joash, and hid him and his nurse in a bedchamber of the jDalace six years. All this time the murderess reigned. Jehoiada, the high-priest, had meanwhile gained over all the captains of the guard, and when his plans were ripe, delivered over to them the shields of David and the spears, so as to connect the young prince with his great forefather ; and then brought out the young lad, crowned him, anointed him, and placed him on a throne or platform, the people clapping their hands and shouting, * God save the king !' The wicked queen had been quite ignorant of all. She saw the destruction of all her j^lots, and could only cry, ' Treason ! treason 1' forgetful that she had been guilty, and in the foulest manner, of treason, v/hile this plot was but to restore the rightful heir. She is taken out of the temple and slain. The young king is brought to the palace, and sits on the throne of the kings. The people rejoice, and the city is quiet. Few rebellions w^ere marked with so little bloodshed. Athaliah, like her mother — whom she so resembled — was slain at the walls of her palace. At seven years of age, Jehoash began to reign. The good influence of the high-priest, Jehoiada, led him to be a righteous king for some years. He instituted a general subscription to repair the tem23le, and provided that the priests should not spend the money on themselves. A money-box is made, and all moneys collected at stated times, 444 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. which money went to pay the workmen, who are said to have ' dealt faithfully.' Hazael, that great captain, took Gath. This city and fortress was the key of Philistia, east of the Egyptian road ; so, to have reached this from Syria, Hazael must have crossed the Plain of Esdraelon, then through the passes to the lowlands of the seaboard. Then ' Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.' There- fore he must have turned from the west and, ascend- ing the hill country of Judea, threatened the Holy City. Now Jehoash shows his want of faith in Jehovah. He buys off the invader by giving him the gold and ' hallowed things ' in the house of the Lord. The bribe is taken; but his subjects, despising his weakness, slew him at Millo, the Tower of the City of David, which Solomon had repaired. Silla would be the valley below Millo. Amaziah, his son, succeeds him. In Israel the same sad story of Apis worship goes on, and Hazael oppresses that land. In his trouble, their king turns to Jehovah, and once more help is sent. ' A saviour ' delivers Israel from the hands of the Syrians. Note, even now, how the people of Israel 'dwelt in their tents.' So ungrateful are they, however, that they still cling to the false worship. We can see to what an extremity the once proud nation is reduced when we read that they had only fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen. What a contrast to the days of David and Solomon ! They had been trampled on like the dust of a threshinar-floor. THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 445 In the next j:eign the fragile peace between Israel and Judah is broken, and then the story changes to the last days of the old prophet Elisha, He, sick unto death, is visited by the king, whose one thought is not of the d3ang man, but of the lost horsemen and chariots of Israel. Told to shoot arrows through the window, the king obeys. He is told it is the arivDW of victory, and that Syria shall be defeated at Aphek — that old battle-field across Jordan on the ex- treme frontier — so that the capital should not suffer the indignity of invasion and blockade. The weak king stays his hand too soon, and Syria is only to be defeated three times. Older enemies, too, press on the border, for Moabite bands raid every year — probably at harvest time. And so till quite recently did the Bedawin of Moab, whom the writer has seen foraging the fertile lands. A dead man is raised to life by being brought to Elisha's sepulchre and touching his bones. All these days Hazael makes war, and successful war, on Israel ; and but for the compassion of God, would have destroyed them. But when the sceptre dropped out of the hands of this great captain, his son lost the cities his father had taken. Two words are pregnant with meaning. The Lord did not cast out Israel from His presence ' as yet.' The doom was delayed ; but it was coming with slow but sure footsteps. The wickedness of the people would bear fruit. It was their own lusts which 446 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, destroyed tLem. We know the rise of this Hazacl, who was such a bitter enemy of Israel, an instrument in the hands of Jehovah to jDunish that nation. So cruel was he that Amos i. 3 says : * He threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.' Doubtless the ruthless trampling of his horses and chariots is here meant. We meet with his name on a black marble obelisk now in the British Museum, which was found in Nimrud. On that Hazael, Benhadad, and Jehu of Israel are said to have been tributaries of Shalmaneser, King of Assyria. Jehu's tribute is spoken of : ' gold, pearls, precious oil.' In Assyrian monuments we read that Hazael led the Syrians in confederacy with the Hittites, Hamathites and Phcenicians against Assyria, and that in the Antilibanus the Assyrian slew sixteen thousand of his warriors and took eleven hundred chariots. Three years after the Assyrians invaded Syria, and Hazael submitted to them. Following this the Assyrian Empire had internal troubles, and then Hazael invaded Gilead, and held Israel in subjection — and later on, took Gath, * setting his face ' towards Jerusalem. The son of Joash, Amaziah, now ascends the throne of Judah, twenty-five years old when he began his reign. It lasts for twenty-nine years ; he follows the good example of his father ; but the people are so wedded to false worship that they still sacrifice in the high-places. When he saw that his rule was settled, then he executed justice THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. /^^y Oil the murderers of his father, and attempted to recover rule over Edom. In the Valley of Salt (the 'Arabah) he slew ten thousand of his foes, and by assault captured Sela, and changed its name to Joktheel (' subdued by God '). Here he acknowledges that this stronghold could only have fallen by the hand of Jehovah, for Sela (•' the rock '), the ancient capital of Edom, was con- sidered impregnable. Petra, such is its name now, is well known, though difficult of access, in consequence of the turbulence of the Bedawin who inhabit the ruins. Professor Palmer was one of those fortunate enough to see it, and describes it thus : ' The mountains of Edom consist mainly of a range of porphyritic rock, which forms the back- bone of the country. . . . The country is extremely fertile, and presents a favourable contrast to the sterile region on the opposite side of the 'Arabah. Goodly streams flow through the valleys, which are filled with trees and flowers, while on the up- lands to the east rich pasture-lands and cornfields may everywhere be seen. With a peaceful and industrious population it might become one of the wealthiest, as it certainly is one of the most jDicturesque, countries in the world ; and were there now as great facilities for transport as there were in ancient times, the power and commercial im- portance of Edom might be once more revived. . . . The gifts of nature are lavished in vain, and what little corn the half-savage Fellahin can pro- 448 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. duce serves scarcely any other purpose than to excite the cupidity of the Bedawin. The inherit- ance of Esau, which was " the fatness of the earth, and the dew of heaven from above " (Gen. xxvii. 39), has become " a desolation " and a " curse." The first approach is by a small wind- ing wady — the pass 1,400 feet, and the moun- tain 4,000 feet, above sea-level.' After describing in detail the approach, Palmer goes on : * We entered the Sik, a narrow passage about two miles long, which winds through the mountain between high and precipitous cliffs. Emerging from this, we come into a more open country amongst lime- stone hills. Here several tombs are excavated in the white limestone, and amongst them also are a few detached monolithic monuments resembling that known as the Tomb of Absalom at Jerusalem. . . . Night was bitterly cold. Camp 4,700 feet above sea-level. Severe storm of snow and sleet. There are some rude -stone houses, a running stream and some cornfields, and then we come to the commencement of the rock-hewn tombs and dwellings of Petra. * One excavation in the limestone is a temple with Corinthian columns. The scenery romantic and beautiful. A narrow passage runs between high perpendicular cliffs of the richest hue. This Sik ravine is spanned by an arch, quite out of reach, which anciently carried an aqueduct from the heights above. Beneath your feet trickles a clear sjDarkling brook, and the whole entrance is THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 449 filled with oleanders, while creepers hang in luxu- riant green festoons from the walls. The more you advance the narrower and grander the gorge becomes. Half-way down it on the left-hand side are some square cuttings in the wall, evidently intended for tablets. . . . Near the end of the Sik, at the point where it takes a sharp turn, you come suddenly upon the Khazneh, which in beauty of form and colouring surpasses all the other tombs and temples. The facade is of a deep but delicate rose colour, and that of the uncut rock around it varies from every shade of red to chocolate. In front is an open space filled with flowering oleanders, and covered with a carpet of soft green grass.'* Many other tombs, temples, and inscriptions are described, one a ' Sinaitic inscription.' Ruined houses ; and a fort on the top of a ravine overlooks the valley, apparently to defend the only part not protected by some diflftcult mountain pass. Pass- ing on, the ravine widens, and you enter a street of dwellings, temples, and cisterns, all cut out of the rock, not so elaborate in their details as those in Wady Miisa, but apparently of older date. At every point are staircases made in the small clefts, and sometimes in the face of the rock, most of them leading to platforms on * high places,' designed for sacrificial purposes. The whole ravine is full of oleanders, and carpeted with the softest grass. It terminates abruptly in a narrow cleft, at the * ' The Desert of the Exodus,' vol. ii., pp. 430-470. 29 4SO THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. top of which is a temple. Some remains here are undoubtedly Horite. Who that pasiios through this goodly but desolate land, and regards the vestiges of perished orrandeur in these rock-hewn cities, can recall with- out emotion the solemn words of prophecy : ' Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts ot the rocks, that boldest the height of the hill : though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the easfle, I will brinsf thee down from thence, saith the Lord. Also Edom shall be a desolation : everyone that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof (Jer. xlix. 16, 17). The Sela of Amaziah's day probably did not have these grand temples ; in fact, we know that many were erected long afterwards, but the ground was the same, and so no wonder the king attributed his success to God, and called the place ' Subdued by God,' which name it retained for eighty years longer. Happy for him and for his people had he been content with this victory, for his forces must have been small. However, puffed up with pride, he sends a message of war to the King of Israel (it is quite true that 2 Chronicles xxv. enables us to understand what was the real cause of enmity between these two kinofs — but we must not anti- cipate). Amaziah challenges the King of Israel * to look one another in the face ' (2 Kings xiv. 8). THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 451 The King of Israel answers by a parable, in which he compares Judah to a thorn-bush, and his own kingdom to a cedar-tree. At Beth- shemesh, now 'Ain Shems (here once again we see how the meaning of the old Hebrew name is carried on by the Arabic Beth-shemesh, ' house of the sun ;' 'Ain Shems, ' the spring of the sun '), the armies met. Why Israel should attack at this place, which is twelve miles west ot Jerusalem, on the low hills near the plain of Sharon, was probably because Israel felt that the north road to Judah was too hilly for chariots ; therefore from Samaria the Israelite army would go through the passes on the lowlands to ground where chariots could act. Amaziah is defeated, and nothing appears to jDrevent the invader from marching up the hill-country to Jerusalem, which is caj^tured, and the north-west 23ortion of the wall broken down. This would be the wall nearest to the territory of Israel. The treasures of the house of the Lord are taken away. Hostages are also taken to Samaria, though Amaziah* must have been left as a vassal king, for we read that fifteen years after the King of Israel dies, and then Amaziah has to face an internal revolt ; flying to Lachish, the most south-westerly town on the Philistine border. This is no safe refuge, and he is slain there. The dead body is said to have been brought ' uj)on horses,' not in a chariot, to Jerusalem, and buried in the Tombs of * Josephus says that Joash compelled the peoi^le to open the gates of Jerusalem by threatening to kill Amaziah otherwise. 29—2 452 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. tne Kings. Azariah, or Uzziah, has one gleam of success : he retakes Elath, that old station in Edom, near Ezion-Geber, now known as Akabah, and rebuilds the town. Jeroboam II. of Samaria ao^ain makes Israel powerful, for he reconquers from the Syrians all that country from Hamath and Damascus to the Dead Sea ; which is said to be in accordance with a prophecy of Jonah, the son of Amittai, of Gath- hepher (' the wine-press of the well '), now El Meshhed, two miles from Seffurieh, the old Sep- phoris. Why, or when, or to whom this prophecy was delivered we have no means of knowino-. The book in the canon of the Old Testament w^hich bears his name does not touch upon the condition of the kings or people of Israel. The story goes back to ' Uzziah,' or ' Azariah.' We are briefly told he was smitten with leprosy. Later on another historian gives the reason ; here only the fact is related. The history of Samaria is then continued — a record of evil-doings, of plots, rebel lions, and murder. The conspirator reigns one month, when he, too, is conspired against. From Tirzah, that ' pleasant ' place, where Zinn^i burnt Omri in his palace, the new usurper Menahem goes up, takes the capital, Samaria, and crowns himself king. He, probably, had been commander-in-chief of the troops stationed at Tirzah, and may have marched from thence in the first place only desiring to avenge his master's death. Later on he smites Tiphsah. Was this the Tiphsah on the Euphrates, THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 453 the border city on the north-eastern frontier in the days of Solomon ? Or was it the ' Khurbet Tafsah,' six miles south-west of Shecliem, suggested by Major Conder ? It is difficult to believe that this new king was so powerful that he was at once enabled to overrun and recover all that territory between Tirzah and that extreme border city on the Euphrates, and the words of the text would lead us to think that it must have been a city not far from Samaria. But, on the other hand, the invasion by Pul, King of Assyria, so quickly follows that able writers have suggested that Menahem neglected to apply for * confirmation in his kingdom ' to the Assyrian king (for the black obelisk before spoken of shows that Jehu paid tribute), and that this invasion was in answer to the attack on Tiphsah. Pul is the first Assyrian king mentioned in Scripture (about B.C. 770). He attempted to extend the Assyrian Empire westvrard, and had attacked Babylonia, Syria, and made repeated attempts to conquer Egypt. This last great empire was really the reason of all the after-attacks on Palestine, the Assyrians being compelled to take Palestine if they were to have their flank secure while marching to attack Egypt. Palestine was the Belgium of the Old World, just as the present was the ' cock-pit ' of Europe in the wars of Napoleon the First. Herodotus says Semiramis of Babylon was wife of Pul. ' No Assyrian records mention Pul. Berosus, however, mentions a Chaldsean king of that name reigning at this exact time. 454 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Asshur-Cush was King of Nineveh, but Pul being" master of the Assyrian portions of the empire nearest to Palestine, the Jews called him " King of Assyria." Dr. G. Smith considered that Pul was the Babylon name of Tiglath Pileser, and the " Porus," in the astronomical canon, who began to reign at Babylon b.c. 731 — the very year in which the cuneiform records date Tiglath Pileser's over- throw by Chinzir, King of Babylon, whom the canon makes the immediate predecessor of Porus (a name identical with Pul). The last year of Porus in the cuneiform canon is also the last year of Tiglath Pileser.''* Men ahem paj^s a heavy tribute of 1,000 talents of silver to buy off the invader, and compels every wealthy man in Israel to contribute fifty shekels to make up the amount — a war-tax indeed ! Pekahiah, his son, succeeds to the throne, and has but a short reign of two years — a military revolt, headed by his commander-in-chief, slays him in his palace in Samaria. Two aides-de- camp remain faithful, as well as fifty men of hi:5 especial bodyguard — all Gileadites. How often do we find in the history of Israel that men from Gilead remained faithful to their trust when the fickle Israelites on this side Jordan changed with every wind that blew ! In the rexgn of Pekah, son of Pekahiah, Tiglath Pileser, King of Assyria, came up. The list of towns conquered and the names of provinces show what a large extent of territory was now lost. * Canon Faussett, 'Bible Cyclopseclia.' THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 455 Ijon ('ruin') — its position in the hills of Naphtali, a store city — was captured in the da3\3 of Asa by Benhadad, The exact site is doubtful ; El Khiam has been suggested, north of Banias. The name is still preserved in a little plain near El Khiam, called Merj 'Ayun (' the meadow of springs '). Abel- beth-Maacah, a city in the extreme north, was an important city, for it is said to have had * many daughters ' — i.e., inhabitants (2 Sam. xx. 19), now called Abl, a village six and a half miles w^est of Banias ; also called ' Abel on the Waters.' There is a good stream of water here,, and some ruins on the top of a conical hill. The Derdarah from Ijon falls from the western slope of the mound, and from the mountain near gushes the powerful stream of Ruahing. Janoah, now Yanuh, in the mountains of Naphtali. Then Kedesh, of Naphtali, a city of refuge ; now the village of * Kades,' west of Lake Huleh. The site is on a high ridge, jutting out from the western hills, well watered, surrounded by plains. There are ruins of a temple of the sun. The hill on wdiich the buildings stand has an artificial ap- pearance. It probably was partly levelled and filled out in places to make it regular. In the days of Josephus it was populous, hostile to the Jews, and fortified. The place is rich in antiquities of all kinds ; the tombs and sarcophagi are espe- cially fine. Hazor {' enclosed '), now Jebel Hadireh ('the mountain of i\\Q fohV), fortified by Solomon. A hill close by, now called Tell Hara, is found to 436 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. be covered with ruins. Here are remains of an ancient fortress ; a city with its walls and towers is still to be traced on the eastern slope ; broken glass and pottery abound. This is probably the site of Hazor. Gcililee, a ' circle ' or ' circuit ' around Kedesh, bounded on the v/est by Acre — i.e., the plain of Acre to the foot of Carmel. The Jordan, the Sea of Galilee, Lake Huleh, and the spring at Dan, were the eastern border, while the northern reached from Dan westwards to Phoenicia. The ;30uthern border ran from the base of Carmel to Mount Gilboa, then to Bethshean to Jordan. It was divided into Upper and Lower Galilee. Naphtali : Joshua calls it the ' hill country of Naphtali.' It is chiefly mountainous. * The soil is rich, full of trees ' (Josephus). Even now its forests and ever-varying scenery are amongst the finest in Palestine. At this moment the Arabs •call it ' the land of good tidings.' It and northern Israel was that part called ' Galilee of the Gentiles,' from the number of heathen inhabitants. The people of all these places were carried captives to Assyria. This Tioflath Pileser is mentioned on tvv'o cylinders now in the British Museum. He was probably a usurper, as no mention is made of hi3 father or ancestors. One old Vv^-iter says he was originally a gardener. Assyrian inscriptions tell of the tribute paid to him by Menahem of Samaria ; also by Ahaz. Then they go on to relate how he defeated a large army under Azariah (Uzziah) ; THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 457 then that from twelve to fourteen years he warred with Pekah and Rezin :* that he besiesfed Kezin's capital for two years, at the end of which he took and slew him. He took Damascus, Syria, and Gilead, and the numerous s'^bs in his name show that he built a palace at the south-east corner of Nimrud. These slabs were intentionally defaced, and Esarhaddon used them in building his palace. Unheeding the fate of Israel, Judah still wor- shipped idols, and now Judah is attacked both by Syria and Israel, though the latter must have been a very weak state after the great loss of territory already spoken of Another Ahaz comes to the throne of Judah. He plunges deep into all idolatry, even making his own son pass through the fire to Moloch. Every abomination is practised. Jerusalem is be- sieo-ed, but not taken, thouo-h Elath is. One readino- says ' the Syrians dwelt there,' while another says ' Edomites.' Troubles v/ere on all the borders of the land ; so now Ahaz sends an embassy to the King of Assyria asking for his assistance, and sends that king, as a subsidy, all the gold and silver from the House of the Lord, as well as all his own treasures. He gets the help he asks for. Damascus falls to the Assyrians, who carry the people off to Kir, and slay Rezin. Kir (' a wall') was in Armenia, on the river Kur, a stream which flows into the Caspian. It was from Kir that the Syrians originally came, and to this old * Josephus says llczin took Elath, while Pekuh besieged Jerusalem. 458 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. region Tiglath Pileser removes them back. To Damascus Ahaz goes to ^Day homage to the conqueror. While there he sees an altar, and orders the priest Urijah to make one like it. The order is carried out, and on Ahaz returninsf to Jerusalem he offered sacrifices on this altar. Doubt- less it was the Assyrian altar ; moreover, it was a formal recognition of the gods of Assyria, which all subject nations were required to put up as a token of submission. Tiglath Pileser in his inscriptions mentions that before he left Damascus all the subject kings there made tribute and submission ; and moreover, too, he mentions the names of Ahaz of Judah and Pekah. Ahaz cuts in pieces the vessels of the Temple to please the Assyrian king ; and turns the ' covered place,' so that all wor- shippers must * go round ' the Temple. Everything of Assyrian and Babylonian worship he imitates, even necromancy (Isa. viii. 19) ; every unlawful worship he follows eagerly, and, dying, is not buried in the royal tombs, but in the ' city ' of David. In Judah the famous Hezekiah reigns, but the story goes on with the fate of Israel. The new king there, unwarned by the loss of territory his father had suffered, offends the King of Assyria by not sending the usual yearly tribute ; he in- creases his offence by secretly trying to get So, King of Egypt, to be his all}''. He is taken cap- tive and put in prison, while Samaria is besieged, taken, and Israel carried captive to Assyria. Thus ends the kingdom of Israel and its last king, THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 455 Hoshea. ' So ' of Egypt is the Shebek of the hieroglyphics. Sargon, in the Assyrian inscrip- tions, says : ' Samaria I looked at, I captured ; 27,2 80 men (or families) who dwelt in it I carried away. T appointed a governor over them, and continued the tribute of the former people.' He adds that he transported prisoners from Babylon to the * land of the Hittites.' This land was Samaria, and the inscription agrees with the Bible statement. The captives frotn Samaria are taken to Halah, a town of Media ; to Habor, now called the Khabour. This river adjoins the Euphrates. On its banks the captives were located. The river Gozan, now called the Kizzel-Ozan, rises in Kur- distan, falls into the White River, and thence into the Caspian. The region through which it flows is most fertile. Then in full are details given of the sins of Israel, and their punishment, because the kings of Israel made the peoj^le * sin a great sin.' Thus ends the northern kingdom of the Jews. Then we are told of the people who are jolaced in Samaria from Babylon, from Cuthah — probably mountaineers from Chuzistan, the region between Elam and Media. Therefore the Samaritans were called Cutha3ans by the Jews. Avva : a town in Assyria. Hamath : the valley of the Orontes. Sepharvaim : this had been conquered by the Assyrians. The gods of these people had been worshipped by the Israelites. The town was built on both sides of the Euphrates (or the canal) ; <-6o THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. hence it was called ' the two Sipparas.' ' Aim ' marks the dual form. It w^as the seat of sun- worship. Then comes a curious story how lions devastated the country ; and these colonists say it is because they know not * the manner ' of the god of the land. A captive priest is sent to instruct them. He taught them how to fear the Lord ; but they made gods of their own (2 Kings xvii. 23). Those from Babylon served Succoth-benoth, the Babylonian goddess of love. Cuth-nergal : a human -headed lion with eagle's winofs. Hamath-Ashima (the idol of Hamath) : a goat with short hair ; the Egyptian form of Pan. Avites made Nibhaz : which was a dog-headed human figure, like the Egyptian Anubis. And also Tartak, which was worshipped under the form of an ass ; this god is supposed to be of Persian origin, meaning the Prince of Darkness. The Sepharvites burnt their children to Adram- melech, ' the burning power of the king,' the male power of the Sun, while Anammelech was the female deity — gods similar to Moloch, of whom representations remain showing a human body with ox head, arms outstretched to receive the babe — the figure having previously been made red- hot. People are represented as beating drums to drown the screams of the unhappy victim. Such were the gods worshipped in the land where Jehovah at one time reiofned ! THE SECOND BOOK OF KIXGS. 461 Hezekiah begins with a thorough reformation. The high places, the pillars (obelisks or menhirs) are broken down ; the Asherah cut down (showing that it was of wood) ; and then the brazen serpent made by Moses — which had become an object of worship — is broken in pieces, and called Nehushtan, * a piece of brass.' See here a condemnation of relic worship ! Hezekiah refuses to give tribute to Assyria, or to be his vassal. The Philistines felt his power, for he smote them even to Gaza, taking not only the outlying tower, but the citadel. Then follows a recapitulation of the events which had happened in Samaria, and again the direct thread is taken up. A new Assyrian king has arisen. Sennacherib invades the land. The forti- fied cities fall before him. Hezekiah, alarmed, sends a humble embassy to the invader, who is at Lachish. This border city of Judah and Philistia being on the direct road to Egypt, shows that the Assyrian must have come by way of Sharon Plain, and that he was trying to clear his flank before attacking Egypt. Hezekiah sends large treasure, even cutting off the gold from the door- posts of the Temple. In vain, for with a large army two Assyrian officers come up to Jerusalem. Stand- ing by the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field, the pool called ' Gihon,' within sight and hearing of Zion, and where now stands the citadel, under the very wall of which runs the old road, the officers called out r.nd g-ave their 462 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. haughty message. Tauntingly they ask, ' Why do you trust in Egypt ? That power ever betrays any that trust in it.' This was truth. Rab-shakeh artfully suggests that the people of Jerusalem are not followino- the true God. He offers to make a wager on the part of his master with Hezekiah. The Assyrian will give 2,000 horses if the Jews can find men to ride them. When asked to speak in Aramaic, so that the Hebrews on the wall may not understand, Rab-shakeh replies that he is told to let all the people know what will befall them, and then he tries to excite a rebellion against Hezekiah, promising the inhabitants of Jerusalem that he will give them a land in which they can live in peace, and riches ; he relates how Sennacherib had conquered other lands, and asks in scornful accents how, if none of the gods of other nations could save them, shall ' the Lord deliver Jerusalem out of my hand ' ? A very subtle speech, full of ability, is concluded amidst profound silence, while the Jewish officers return to Hezekiah with rent clothes, in despair at the words they have heard. That king, too, on receiving an account of this speech, rent his royal robes, and put on the garments of a pauper, sending the priests and scribes to inquire of Isaiah, who, in the name of the Lord, promises to send a ' blast ' on the in- vader. The Assyrian orator returns to his master, who is now at Libnah, having taken Lachish. Libnah was in the low ground of Judah. Its site THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 463 is unknown ; it is thought to be a ruin-covered hill five miles north-west of Beit Jibrin. Doubtless, Rabshakeh took back with him the army he had arrayed before Jerusalem. We see, too, that the Assyrian king had been alarmed by the advance of Tirhakeh — the Tehrak of the Egyptian monu- ments— who would naturally try to help Hezekiah, for all knew Egyi^t was the goal of these Assyrian invaders. They attacked Jerusalem because they dared not leave such a strong fortress on their flanks ; hence, too, their attack on Lachish and Libnah. Sennacherib sends a haughty and argu- mentative letter to Hezekiah, who sjDreads it before the Lord in the Temple, whereupon Isaiah sends a message of comfort. Amidst the multitude of similes which this message contains, one shows that the houses of that time were much as they are now — ' the grass on the house-tops,' which is soon withered. Poor houses are made with earth roofs, which are stamped and rolled down. When rain falls on them the grass grows uj), to be burnt up as soon as the rainy season passes away. And then the warning, ' I will put my hook in thy nose,' etc. This was no mere figure of sj)eech, but a warning, that as the Assyrians did to captive nations, so they should be treated in turn by their conquerors. The slabs of Assyria show us very frequently captives dragged at the feet of a king or officer, who holds a cord in his hands, which is attached to a hook in the nose or lips of the captive ! No arrow is to be shot at the Holy 464 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. City, no shield or bank raised against it. This ' bank ' was the common method of attackino- a fortress, and all ancient siesfes were conducted in the same fashion. A huge bank of earth and stones was constructed, so that from its summit arrows and stones could be shot over the wall and drive away the defenders there, while the wall was being undermined by the men who worked under their shields. That very night the Assyrian army was destroyed. This destruction, most probably, was at Libnah, for note the preceding promise (2 Kings xix. 32). It could not have been on that plain south of Jerusalem, called the Plain of Rephaim ; possibly that might have been the camp of the Assyrian army under Rabshakeh, but Sennacherib himself never came near the city. What was it that destroyed the army? Egyptian priests told Herodotus that it was an army of mice. What says the Bible ? Isa. xxxvii. 7 says God would ' send a blast upon him.' Then we are told an angel or messenger smote the army. This messenger in the seventh verse is called a ' blast.' Jeremiah calls the ' blast ' a ' destroying wind.' The Arabic version of the Scriptures says ' hot pestilential wind.' History is full of disasters to armies caused by this ' bL^st,' which is really what we call the ' simoon,' or ' Khamseen.' Cambyses' whole army was swallowed up by one. Ten thousand people died in one day in Cairo in 169 6 from this wind, and in Constantinople in 1714 300,000 people died of 't ; and camped down so THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 465 near to the sandy coast of Philistia as Sennacherib was, the ' Khamseen ' would blow with the greatest force. The late Crown Prince of Austria well describes the misery of travelling on that coast, so subject to these '■ blasts.' We may note that in Egyptian signs the mouse signified ' ruin,' and it was this, probably, that misled the old historian. Hezekiah has a sore sickness, but a sign is given him that he will recover — the shadow on the sun- dial returning backwards ten steps — a miracle — and therefore impossible to explain. This sun- dial was set up by Ahaz — a Babylonian method of measuring time, which Ahaz probably saw when he went to Damascus. What did an Assyrian army look like ? We can see from the Assyrian scul2:)tures. ' The host is in array, for scouts in the van bring tidings of the approach of a hostile army from the southward. The light-armed troops are slingers and archers. They are dressed in short embroidered tunics, with their hair surrounded by bands. Like the Saxon bowmen, the archers draw their arrows to the ear. Their weapons are hand- somely decorated. The heavy infantry carry spears and shields ; on their heads they wear helmets of burnished brass. Cross-belts support small arms at the side, and shining discs of metal cover their breasts. They stand in regular ranks, file behind file. To-morrow, when the host of Judah makes its onset, the first rank kneeling, the second stooping, will form with their spears a bristling hedge, and 30 466 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. from behind the bowmen wiU discharge their arrows. But the strength of the host is in the swarming cavahy and chariots. The horses are spirited steeds from Arabia and Armenia. The riders sit upon decorated saddles, clad in armour, with helmets and lances. The chariot bands are the chivalry and flower of Asshur. The coursers are caparisoned with purple silk and embroidered cloth ; from their heads hang plumes and heavy tassels. As they hurry to and fro, flashing behind them with gold and jasper, with ivory and enamel, roll the formidable vehicles. The warriors within — the veterans of many wars — are clad from head to foot in steel. Embossed upon their shields are the heads of lions ; lofty standards of precious stuffs, embroidered, hang over their plumed helmets ; and all along the line hover pennons of scarlet. In the rear are the rams and other warlike engines, the ladders for escalading, the steel tools for the mines, already battered and blunt with hard service before the fenced cities of Judah. In tents of costly and gaudy stuff's, the concubines and eunuchs of the great king and the Ninevite nobles outnumber even the soldiers. Everywhere, from fertile Jericho to the sea-coast of old Philistia, range the foragers, and, innumer- able as a locust swarm, the beasts, collected for burden and provision, consume the pastures. Here and there some great officer, the chief cupbearer, or the insolent Rabshakeh, or perhaps even Senna- THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 467 cherib himself, goes by in his canopied chariot, attended by stately bodyguards.'* Berodach-baladan of Babylon sends an embassy. He wishes to inquire of the great wonder of the sundial ; but it was also because he, too, was a revolter against the Assyrian rule. He really wished to get Jerusalem and Egypt to join him. This view is fully borne out by in- scriptions. It is difficult to understand how Hezekiah could have so much treasure to show these foreign ambassadors after the huge sum he gave the Assyrian king. Various explanations have been offered. The captivity in Babylon is foretold, and the historian just glances at the public works of Hezekiah (of which we shall see more hereafter). And then a new king — son of this pious sovereign — comes to the throne, and, as it is so often even in these days, he is the direct opposite to his father. Everything that is said of Manasseh shows that he did more evil than all the kings who had gone before him : he was the Nero of Palestine, a worshipper of idols, and slayer of innocent blood. Dying a tyrant, he is buried in a garden. And so the sad record goes on — Jew. fighting against Jew. They were up to the very last their own worst foes. A little gleam of light only serves to make the darkness more profound. Josiah — a mere child — reigns. When twenty-six years old he wishes to restore the house of the Lord, and gives the * 'The Story of the Nations' : The Jews, Hosmer, pp. 49, 52. 30 — 2 468 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. necessary orders. And now a great sensation consequent on the discovery of a roll of the law. To such a depth had Israel fallen that this one roll is hailed as so great a discovery. The scribe reads it. The king is appalled ; he rends his garments, seeing how far the nation had departed from the law of God ; seeing, too, that they held their land on conditions, none of which they had kept. They were to serve the Lord ; they had served idols : they were to love the Lord God ; they loved their own foul ways. The Magna Charta from God by which they held the land they for ages had broken in every par- ticular; and God could not lie ! Disaster and woe, destruction of the kingdom, and captivity of the nation must follow ; for Moses had fore- told all that would come if they did evil. And they had done it. No wonder, then, that dis- may reigned throughout all the court. ' Our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of the book.' They would read how in old times, when Israel was in extremity, they sent to a woman — a prophetess, Deborah — and she showed them a way of deliverance. So now they send to a woman, Huldah, hoping for the same good fortune. In vain ; she returns an answer for- bidding any hope. The cup of iniquity is full. One only thing, that the king, because of his humility, is to die in peace. The list of reformations wrought by Josiah only serves but to show what a depth of iniquity Judah THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 469 had wallowed in. Asherah burnt ; high places de- stroyed ; houses and chariots of the sun burnt ; abominations without end cast out ; the false priests slain ; and a Passover kept, such as had never been known — all brought about by reading the roll of the law ! But ' too late ' was written by the finger of God. Generation after generation had sinned, and now the punishment was close at hand. The disaster to the Assyrian army had encour- aged Egypt, so now Pharaoh Necho delivers his counter-stroke. He, it appears, had no wish to attack Josiah, but that king, for some reason not given, tries to stojo Necho, but in vain. At Megiddo, that old battle-field, he is slain ; and again the curious expression comes in, ' when he had seen him.' The Judean army could not for a moment stand in open ground before those serried ranks of Egyptian archers, which are so frequently depicted on the monuments. The son of Josiah has but a short reign of three months — sufficient to show the evil that was in him. When at Riblah, in Hamah, he is put in bonds, or chains, b}^ Necho. Now, Piblah was on the highroad between Palestine and Babylon, and the place or headquarters of the Egyptian monarch. It is still called Pibleh — on the right bank of the Orontes, thirty miles north-east of Baalbec. Some few house and other ruins, surrounded by a vast and fertile plain, make it an admirable camp- ing-ground for a host. It is really a centre from which roads diverge to the Euphrates, Nineveh, or 47 o THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. by Palmyra to Babylon, The southern roads, leading to Lebanon, to Palestine, or Egypt, mark it as a fine strategic position. A huge fine is put on Judah ; and the younger brother of Jehoahaz is put on the throne, bound as vassal to furnish all the Egyptian king demands, while the prisoner dies in Egypt. Once more the Israelites are under Egyptian bondage, soon to be replaced by one more bitter. * But a day of the Lord was at hand for Pharaoh as well as for the kings of Judah.' Nebuchadnezzar then came up. The King of Judah becomes his servant ; fickle, ever, he rebels. Then freebooting bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, Ammon, all gather round the dying ' lion of the tribe of Judah.' Herodotus speaks at this time of Scythian domination. All was anarchy ; so waifs and strays of the different nations conquered by the Assyrians band together, and in time Nebuchadnezzar welds them into a new empire, for he is the conqueror of Egypt. At Carchemish the Egyptian king is routed, ' and the King of Egyjjt came not again any more out of his land ' (2 Kings xxiv, 9). An army detached by the King of Babylon now comes and besieges Jerusalem, the king of the invaders following later on. When he appears all go out and surrender — princes, warriors, craftsmen, all the chief men of the land. All are carried away — the poorest of the agricultural class only are left — the captives are transported to Babylon, and a new vassal king set up. THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 47 1 But a few short years of an evil reign, and then, bhnd to all the past, the king rebels against Babylon, whose army comes up, encamps, builds forts, and estabhshes a close blockade. Famine follows. Then a breach is made in the city wall, and the men of war ' fled by night ' by a gate near the king's garden on the south-east side — probably the Dung Gate is meant. The king hoped to get to the 'Arabah, and so escape to Edom and the desert ; and though he did get as far as the plains of Jericho, yet he is overtaken, and carried to Biblah, where Nebuchadnezzar has his headquarters. There his two sons are slain, and his own eyes put out. Babylonian inscriptions show how this brutal act was done, for the pictures show a kneeling captive, arms bound behind his back, while in front stands the executioner holding in his hand an iron instrument with two prongs or forks, which when heated red-hot, are thrust into the eyes of the victim. Such are the tender mercies of the heathen. The proud city has fallen. The inhabitants suffer every cruelty so common to conquered cities. The walls are made heaps of rubbish. Slaughter of old and young, and violation of women, take place in the upper city Zion, as well as in the lower. We have but to read the Lamentations of Jeremiah to see what awful . sufferings the inhabitants had to endure : ' For these things I weep ; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water . . . my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.'* Zede- * See the five cha,pters of Lamentations. 472 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. kiah, the last King of Judah, is carried captive to Babylon. A fickle, faithless, cowardly man, he had sworn by God to be faithful to Nebuchad- nezzar. Had he kept his oath, he w^ould have been secure on the vassal throne ; but, puffed up, he leagues with EgyjDt. When the dread of Assyrian invasion is upon him he releases all his slaves and bondmen ; when he has a hope of success he enslaves them again ; and when he fled from Jerusalem it was with muffled face. His fate was dire. With eyes put out and in prison, he probably, too, had to do menial work. Nebuzar-adan, ' captain of the guard,' is sent by the Babylonian king to burn the Temple, the palace, and all the great houses. The walls are broken down ; the people are led captive, except the very poor, and they are the agricultural labourers. The Temple has been plundered of everything valuable before its destruction. The chief officers are taken to Riblah before the king ; they are judged and put to death ; and for the few who are left in the land Gedaliah is made governor. His father had saved Jeremiah from death, and he himself was a man who feared God. At Mizpeh he is stationed with a Chaldean guard. Confidence is restored ; the poor of the land gather round him. Fugitives from Moab and Edom come to gather the summer fruits. He exhorts the people to be true to the Babylonian king. He recognises that it is in- deed true that the word of the Lord has called that king 'my servant Nebuchadnezzar.' But THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 473 Ishmael comes and eats bread with him. GedaHah has been warned that this man has been sent to assassinate him. His noble nature cannot beheve it. The traitor eats with him, and then, regardless of all faith, all tradition, slays his host — an in- famous deed, especially to an Eastern, Fearing vengeance, the murderers take Jeremiah and fly into Egypt. It will be interesting to follow them. Jeremiah xli. gives full details. After the murder, Ishmael takes the people, ' even the hinges daughters' (Jer. xli. 10), and tries to escape to Ammon. The captives are rescued by Johanan, but Ishmael with eight men escapes to Ammon ; fearing vengeance from Babylon, Johanan sets out for Egypt, The party halts at the ' habita- tion of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem.' This would be the khan, or guest-house of Chimham, son of Barzilla, that old chief who had given David help when he fled from Absalom, and who was, on David's return, treated as a great friend by that king ; so, evidently out of gratitude, David had given Chimham some of his own patrimony at Bethlehem. The grateful stranger in return builds a khan at the place, and the remnant of the Jewish people halt there. They hope to find a safe refuge in Egypt. They had carried Jeremiah with them, and that prophet warns them that Egypt is no abiding refuge for them, for that ' my servant Nebuchadnezzar ' shall follow them there, shall smite the land of Egypt, and ' burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.' They listen not, but 474 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. go to Tahpanhes. Jeremiah then takes great stones and hides them in the brick-kiln which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, teUing the people that Nebuchadnezzar will erect his throne upon the very place where the stones are hid. Now, this Tahpanhes was on the north-east border of Egypt, easily reached from Bethlehem, What has modern discovery to say about this ? W. M. Flinders Petrie, that most able and fortunate of recent Egyj^tian explorers, thus relates his discovery of Tahpanhes, now called Defenneh, in 1888 :* ' In the sandy desert bordering on Lake Men- zaleh, some hours distant on the one hand from the cultivated Delta, and on the other hand from the Suez Canal, stand the ruins of the old frontier fortress of Tahpanhes, or Defenneh. That such a place should have been selected may seem strange at first sight, but it was the advanced post to guard the great highway into Syria ; and when we look at the details of its position, the advantages of it are evident. All traffic taking the northern route by Kantara, which was more fertile and convenient than that by the Wady Tumilat, must have skirted the southern shore of Lake Menzaleh, or of the swampy and canalized region which may have occupied that site in ancient times. The edge of the desert was the only suitable route within reach of the Pelusic branch of the Nile for water- ing. This line is now the caravan road, and there * See " Egyptian Fund Eeports." THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 475 can be no doubt but that men have gone down into Egypt along this hne from the dawn of history. . . . The first evening that I arrived there I saw that the brick ruins in the midst of the plain were of a large building of the twenty- sixth dynasty, and I heard, to my surprise, that it was known as the " Kusr el Bint el Yehudi," or " The palace of the Jew's daughter." The earliest ruins found here are a part of the foundation of a building of red bricks, remaining beneath the pavement or platform in front of the entrance. In olden times, Ionian troops were stationed there, in the line from which danger was most to be feared, namely, the highroad from Assyria. The settlement outside the camp is probably, then, the civil quarter, apart from the garrison in the camp, which would easily hold 20,000 men. From it Nekau made his great expedition against Assyria. Then, for the first time, did a body of Greeks come in contact with the Syrians and Babylonians, and the Jews must have heard in the sj)eech of their conqueror's troops the tongue with which they were afterwards to become so familiar. The slaying of Josiah, the deposition of Jehoahaz, the setting up of the tributary, Jehoiakim, and the removal of Jehoaz into Egypt, marked the first period of intercourse between Jews and Greeks : '' The children also of Noph and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of thy head " (Jer. ii. 16). ' The intercourse, however, was soon to be increased. Three years later Nebuchadnezzar in- 476 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. vaded Judea, and all who fled from the war would arrive at Tahpanhes in their flight into Egyj)t, and most likely stop there, . . . Such refugees would necessarily reach the frontier fort on the caravan road, and would there find a mixed and mainly foreign pojDulation — Greek, Phoenician and Egyptian. ... ' The last and greatest migration to Tahpanhes is that fully recorded by Jeremiah. As these Jews Avere fugitive and rebellious subjects of Nebuchadnezzar's own kingdom, it is most probable that he would avenge their last rebellion and flight from Judea by taking captive all whom he could. This, indeed, was contemplated by Jeremiah : " Such as are for captivity to captivity " (xliii. 1 1),' We may note the name. * The palace of the Jew's daughter.' No such name is known any- where else in the whole of Egypt. This is the one town in Egyj)t to which the ' king's daughters ' of Judah came, and probably this is the one building which would be allotted to royal persons who came with a large body of the more im- portant inhabitants of Judea as political refugees. ' Jeremiah was told to take great stones and hide them in mortar in the brickwork (or pavement) which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes ' (Jer. xliii. 9), etc. This brickwork, or pavement, at the entry of Pharaoh's house has long been a puzzle, but as soon as the plan of the palace began to be uncovered, the exactness of the description was manifest. A great open- THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 477 air platform of brickwork was found, which W. M. Fhnders Petrie describes in detail. Then a raised causeway was found six feet nine inches above the great pavement. Here, doubtless, the ceremony described by Jeremiah took place. Some years before this, an Arab sold to the Bulak Museum three cylinders of terra-cotta, bearing an inscrip- tion of Nebuchadnezzar, an ordinary text referring to his constructions in Babylon, such as would be used for foundation memorials. These were said to come from the Isthmus of Suez, and they apparently belong to some place where Nebuchad- nezzar had ' set up his throne ' and ' spread his royal pavilion.' As he only passed by the Syrian road, and Defenneh would be the only stopping- place on that road in the region of the isthmus, all the inferences point to them having come from Defenneh. Digging showed the place had been destroyed by fire ; much pottery and many objects of the greatest interest were also found. One little trifle, to show how sudden must have been the destruction, was that in the kitchen a strainer was found with fish-bones still in it, also uncorked bottles of wine. W. M. Flinders Petrie's full account is most fascinating, and can be read in the books published by the Egyptian Exploration Fund, an ofi'shoot or sister societ}^ to the Palestine Exploration Fund. It is impossible to read his account without being filled with wonder and delisfht at the confirmation it afibrds of the prophecy of Jeremiah. 478 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. The captive king, Jehoiachin, whom Nebuchad- nezzar had deposed in his first invasion of Judah, was existing in prison in Babylon while all these events had occurred. In prison he had made acquaintance and friendship with Evil Merodach, who, during the seven years that Nebuchad- nezzar had lived with the ' beasts,' was ruler over the land. When his father was restored to sanity he found that this son had exulted in the calamity of his father, so he was put in prison, and it was there he met the captive King of Judah. When Evil Merodach came to the throne he remembered his fellow-prisoner, brought him out of prison, made him the chief of the captive kings of other nations who were in Babylon, and remained his friend to the end of his life. We have traced now the Jew from Abraham — * God's friend ' — through Jacob, and the captivity in Egypt ; seen their deliverance through Moses ; a conquering race under Joshua ; a mighty kingdom under David and Solomon — seen how, through neglecting God, they split up, and stejD by step descended both in power and in every virtue that makes nations great, till it seems that no religion, no faith, is left in the mass of either rulers or people. A few steadfast souls hold up the torch of God and give warning after warning with no avail. The nation is given up to sin ; the canker-worm of foul idolatry eats up the heart, and the race and city is swathed in fire and blood. The Chronicles will THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 479 give us more detail, and enable us to understand more fully some of the causes of this awful decline, but will not effect the facts of the rise and the fall. We will briefly press on to the con- clusion. CHAPTEK IX. THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. The book opens with a genealogical table begin- ning with Adam, and tracing the descents down- wards. With that we have nothing- to do, but will endeavour to identify the towns and districts named in the first eight chapters. Some names are passed because there is at present no clue to their position. Commencing from Chap. i. 43, we find Dinhabah, Bela's capital in Edom : not known. Avith, the city of Bedad : not known. Pai, or Pau : not known. We then pass to Chap. ii. 23. Geshur (' a bridge ') : part of Bashan ; the north-east corner bordering on Syria. Aram (' highlands ') : the country from the Sea of Galilee to Euphrates, a north part of Mesopo- tamia. The towns of Jair : Jair took the Argob, now called el Lejjah, and called the encampments after his own name. Kenath, now Kunawat : a ruined town east of Bashan, on the west side of the Hauran Mountains. THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 481 It overlook^ a vast region, and is surfounded by a cluster of cities, all within a distance of from half an hour to two hours from it. Nothing could be more appropriate than the Biblical phrase, * Kenath and her daughters.' The ravine here is deep. On the hill are ruins consisting of large bevelled stones. Some very fine temples in partly ruinous condition. The number of ruined buildings of all kinds is very considerable. A fine antique head was here found. It is of colossal size, and was photographed by Dr. Selah Merrill * — probably a head of Astarte ; and parts of an altar, in which the features of Baal and Astarte are finely cut. Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake secured this, and the fragment is now in England in the Anthropological Institute. On another fragment of an altar was carved a bullock's-head ; on the right side are a grape-leaf and a cluster of grapes. In the top of the bullock's-head was a fire-box. This relic is now in America. Caleb Ephratah : supposed to be the same as Bethlehem Ephratah. Then verse 5 5. Jabez is not identified, but Deir Abu Kabus, between Eshtaol and Ashnah, has been suggested, in south of Judah. The Tirathites : ' the singers. Shimeathites : * those repeating in song what they have heard.' Suchathites : * dwellers in tents.' The Kenites : a, Midianite people. Jethro is * 'East of Jordan,' pp. 40-42. 31 4S2 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. called a prince of Midian. The present city Medinah appears to carry on the name of Midian. Jethro had his flocks kept by his daughters, and Arabs in the desert follow his example. Zorathites : inhabitants of Zorah ( ?). Now Sur'ah, in the low hills. The house of ' Rechab ' (' wild ') : ' Bedawy riders ' — they were ascetics. Their rule against wine, against houses, sowing or planting, kept them from the idolatries of the Phoenicians. They were simply Arabs like the Wahabees, of whom Pal- grave speaks,^* Then Chap. iv. 14. Valley of Charashim ('craftsmen') : Kh. Hirsha(?), The ruins twelve and a half miles south-east of Lydda. Then ver. 19. Maachathite : unknown ; named with Zobath and Tob. Joash and Seraph : unknown. Jashubi-lehem : probably a place near Chozeba. Jerome says it was to it, or to Bethlehem, that Naomi and Buth returned after the famine. Then ver. 2 3 says : ' Potters and those that dwelt among plants and hedges.' R.V. says : ^ The inhabitants of Netarim and Gederah ;' the last word means ' sheepcote.' There is a village Jedireh north of Jerusalem. Moladah : one of the uttermost cities of Judah, towards the coast of Edom, Bobinson thinks it * ' Central Arabia,' Palgrave. THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 4S3 Tell el Milh, thirteen miles east of Beerslieba. There are ruins and two wells. Hazar-Shual : not known. Bilhah, also called Baalah : unknown. Ezem and Tolad : unknown. Bethuel : a su2f Quested site is the small villao^e of Beit Aula, five miles west of Halhul. Hormah : the S'baita described in early chapters. Ziklag : possibly 'Asluj, a heap of ruins south of Beersheba. Beth-Marcaboth (' house of the chariots ') : not known, but in the extreme south of Judah. Hazar-Susim (' the village of horses ') : probably the .ruin Susin on the caravan road to Egypt, ten miles south of Gaza. Bethbiri : site unknown ; a town of Simeon in the extreme south. Shaaraim (' two gateways ') : mentioned in the group of towns allotted to Judah as being in ' The Valley,' probably now the ruins of Sau'eh, west of Beit 'Atab (the rock Etam).* Etam : thought to be Urtas, near Bethlehem. A spring near this is called 'Ain 'Atan. Ain : thought to be the same as 'Ain Bimmon, but doubtful. Tochen : unknown. Ashan : thought to be represented by the ruins of 'Aseileh, three and a half miles from Bimmon. * Entering in of Gedor ' : between Southern * • Names and Places,' G, Armstrong. 31 — 2 484 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Judah and Mount Seir. The inhabitants, Bedawin or Hamites, were destroyed by Simeonite chiefs, a body of whom went also to Mount Seir, the moun- tain range of Petra, and destroyed the Amalekites. Chap. V. 8 then mentions Aroer and Nebo, and Baal-meon, all previously described. Salcah, now Salkhad : a large town east of Bashan, standing on a hill, with a strong castle which commands the Euphrates road. The town and ruins are two to three miles in circumference. Sharon : a synonym for the Mishor, east of Jordan ; not to be confused with Plain of Sharon. Hagarites, with Jetur, Naphish, and Nobab : in East Gilead, some branch of Ishmaelites, as seen from the great plunder of cattle. ' Baal-hermon, Senir, Mount Hermon,' these are but different words for the same mountain — Hermon. Halah, a province. Habor, the river Khabour. ' Gozan,' the river Kizzil Ogan, which rises in Kurdistan. Chap. vi. 57 mentions — Libnah : unknown. Jattir : now 'Attir, ten miles south of Hebron. Eshtemoa : now Semu a, seven miles south of Hebron. A large stone (Hajr el Sakhain) stands on the north road to the village, a distance of 3,000 cubits — the Levitical extent of suburbs and the boundary of the village possessions to this day.* * Canon Fausset, ' Bible Cyclopaedia.' THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 485 * Hilen,' or Holon : possibly Beit 'Alam, in the mountains of Judah. Debir : also called Kirjath SeiDlier. Bethshemesh : described in previous chapters. Geba : * Jeb'a,' near Michmash. Alemeth, now 'Almit : a ruined village, three and a half miles north-east of Jerusalem. Anathoth : 'Anata, three miles north-east of Jerusalem. Jezar : Tell Jezar. Jokmeam : not known ; another name for Kib- zaim (Joshua xxi. 22). Gath Rimmon : not known. Aner : possibly ' Ellar,' in the hills south-west of Plain of Esdraelon. Bileam : the name still exists in Wady Bel'ameh, near Jenin. Golan, in Bashan : the name has been recovered in the Jaulan, where stands a large village. A stream runs west ; the ruins extensive — one a ruin of a Crusading church. Dr. Merrill thinks Wady 'Allan represents the ancient Golan.* Golan was a city of refuge, east of Jordan ; also a Levitical city. Ashtaroth : a Levitical city (one of the capitals of King Og), thought to be Tell Ashtarah ; a mound 1,551 feet above sea-level, 80. feet above the surrounding plain, which is very fertile. The base of the hill is large. There are remains of a wall; on the south-west some cyclopean remains, con- * Dr. Merrill, ' East of Jordan,' p. 325. 486 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, sisting of two lines formed of immense unhewn blocks of stone starting from a point in the plain about twenty-five yards from the base of the hill, running thence and w^ the side of the mound, till they meet the Avail already mentioned around the summit, at the point in the plain where these walls commence. They turn towards each other at right angles, and space is left for a great gate. This may have been the entrance to a castle, and the massiveness of the entrance shows it was a place of unusual strength.^' Kadesh : possibly Tell Abu Kadeis, near Lejjun, on the south-west of the Plain of Esdraelon. Daberath : thought to be the present village of Deburieh, under Mount Tabor. Ramoth : now the village Kameh, south of the Plain of Esdraelon. Anem : probably the village 'Anin, west of the Plain of Esdraelon. Mashal : the name is preserved in Wady Maisleh, eight miles north-east of Acre ; many ruins about. Abdon: now Kh 'Abdeh, ten miles north of Acre. Hukok : not identified. The village of ' Yerka,* eight and a half miles from Acre, is proposed by Van de Velde. Rehob : not known.- Kedesh : in Galilee — ' Kades.' Hammon : the present ruins of Hima, eleven miles south-east of Tyre, are suggested, but two other sites close by have been also suggested, * Schumacher, ' Across the Jordan,' p. 209. THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 487 Kirjathaim : the ruins of El Kureiyat, between Madeba and Dibon, are thought to represent it. Rimmon : thought to be the En Rimmon of Nehemiah xi. 29 ; now Kh. Umm er Rumamln. Tabor is then mentioned, after that the other side of Jordan. Bezer : in the wilderness, unknown. One of the six cities of refuge. * Kiisr el Besheir,' near Dibon, is suggested by Professor Palmer. Jahzah : unknown. Kedemoth and Mephaath : both unknown. Ramoth in Gilead : a strong city in Mount Gilead, apparently not far from the northern border ; for it became the prey of the kings of Damascus in Solomon's time. Baslian w^as ruled by a governor who resided here ; it is commonly thought to be Es Salt. But Major Conder points out that chariots were employed in a battle near this city (1 Kings xxii. 29-33), by an army which had come down the valley of Jezreel to encounter another army advancing from Damascus. Chariots could never have been driven over the rugged ridges of Jebel 'Ajlun. No general commanding chariots would attempt to reach Es Salt. The Jews consider Jerash to be the place. The ruins there are the most perfect, beautiful, and extensive, east of Jordan. The ruins have been little dis- turbed ; columns remain in situ ; upwards of three hundred are still standing amid fallen temples and other splendid monuments. Its situation is beautiful, and lies on both sides of a stream which 488 'THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. flows through the city from north to south. The main street is about one mile in length ; a wall surrounded the city, and in many parts it is still quite perfect. The ruts worn by the chariot-wheels are still to be seen. The grandest temple is that of the Sun ; its columns are forty feet high and six feet in diameter. It was a city of refuge. Mahanaim : Mahneh has been suggested. Major Conder gives many reasons why he considers that site not satisfactory, and he thinks that ' on the' plain east of Es Salt, where there is fine arable land,' the lost site will be found.* Heshbon, now Hesban : twenty miles east of Jordan. The ruins stand on a low hill, and are a mile in circuit ; a shapeless mound of hewn stones, a great pool, a ruined fort, numerous caves, here exist. In Cant. vi. 1 3 the eyes of the Shulamite are likened to the * fishpools of Heshbon,' by the gate of Bath- rabbim. The bright pools in the stream which runs beneath Hesban on the west are probably intended. The plateau on the edge of which the city stands is reached from this stream by an ancient road, which at the top of the ascent passes through a sort of passage cut in the rocks, about ten feet high and four yards broad. This entry to the site is known as * The Gates,' and these ' Gates,' looking down on the fishpools, may perhaps be those noticed in the * Song of Songs ' under the name Bath-rabbim (chap. vii. 4) ('daughter of great ones'). A fine view to the south is obtained from the ruins. '=' • Heth and Moab,' pp. 173-181. THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 489 Jazer : probably the large ruin, Beit Zer'ch, near Heshbon. In Chap. vii. 2 8 we note : * Naaran ' : five miles north of Jericho are ruins of a town called Kh. el Aujeh el Tahtani, which are suggested as the site. The other towns mentioned in this chapter have been spoken of in previous chapters. Chap. viii. 6. Manahath : probably the village Malhah, three miles south-west of Jerusalem. Ono (ver. 12) : now the village Ivefr 'Ana, five miles north of Lydda. Lod, often called Ludd : now Lj^dda, on the plain of Sharon, near Ramleh and Jaffa. Chap. ix. 2. Nethinims, the word meaning ' given ' : they were servants of the Temple. Shilonites (ver. 5) : descendants of Shelah, Judah's youngest son. Netophathites (ver. 16) : inhabitants of Neto- phah ; possibly the ruin Umm Toba, north of Bethlehem, and near the edge of the desert of Mar Saba. Kohathites (ver. 32) ('assembly'): these were judges and rulers. In Chap. X. we get a detailed account of the battle between Saul and the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, which has been described in the First Book of Samuel. Chaj^ter xi. gives an account of the taking of 490 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, Jebus, of David's many adventures, and a list of his guard. Then a description is given of the vt^arriors who came to David at Ziklag. There were bowmen, also expert slingers, able to use either hand. Then Gadite warriors who could use the sword and buckler. Such daring warriors were they, that when Jordan was in flood they swam the river. Here a touch of great accuracy ought to be noted. Speaking of Jordan the text says, ' alt his banks ' were overflowed. It is usually said by travellers that there are but two. This is a mistake ; there are three, and very distinct : first the bed of the river when low, then a bank when high, and a third bank when the river overflows, which is in the barley harvest, caused by the snow melting on Mount Hermon — so the river is highest in hot weather ! It never overflows on to the Jordan Plain, as does the Nile, and the last ' bank ' is a jungle of trees and bushes, in which hide wild boar and many other beasts, and these banks are frequented by clouds of water-fowl. Those who have stood on the banks of Jordan at flood-time can understand what strong, jDowerful swimmers these men of Gad must have been to cross such a rapid torrent as the river then is. Men of Benjamin and Judah go to the ' hold.' David is uncertain how these men of his own tribe will behave, but, like a brave man, goes out alone to meet them. If they are friends, well, his heart will be knit to them : if foes, he leaves his cause THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 491 to God. Touched by his confidence and his bravery, Amasai, chief of the band, tells him they are friends. Others gather round him, till he has a host. Then follows a list of the warriors who came to Hebron to make David king. We note that all are said to be * men of war,' ' able to keep rank,' therefore drilled men. As usual with Easterns, a feast was proclaimed, which, again, as usual, lasted three days. It shows the piety oi David at this time, that he at once consults how the ark is to be brought back. The story of its return is acj-ain related. The commencement oi David's palaces, and how he got cedar timber from Hiram, is then related. Then follows the account of the festival, and the reception of the ark ; a universal dole of meat, wine, and bread is given to every man and Avoman in Israel (1 Chron. xvi. 3, 'And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread and a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine'), and David composes the 105th Psalm. Then, remembering that he, the king, is dwelling ' in an house of cedars,' and that the ark is still kept in a tent, David proposes to Nathan his idea that he ought to build a temple. He is, however, told that his son is to build ' an house.' * Hiram was a great builder ; " he had built temples to Melkarth and Astarte or Ashtoreth, which he roofed with cedar cut in Lebanon." . . . Hiram saw it was best to be on good terms with David, so he sent an embassy to the Israelite king 492 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. with a present of cedar trees recently felled in Lebanon, and an offer of the services of numerous carpenters and masons to superintend the erection of the palace, and if need were, aid in its con- struction. . . . Phoenicia had at all times to be " nourished " in a great measure from Palestine (Acts xii. 20). Esdraelon and Sharon produced a superabundance of wheat and barley, whereof the natives were glad to dispose, and the highlands of Samaria and of Judah bore oil and wine far beyond the wants of their inhabitants : to Phoenicia it was a boon to obtain a market for her inexhaustible stores of timber, and it relieved her labour market to furnish her neighbour for a number of years with an army of wood-cutters, stone-cutters, car- penters and masons. It was as skilled artisans that the Phoenician labourers were welcomed by the Israelitish king, whose subjects had small ex- perience in those useful arts which Phoenicia had already for ages carried to a high state of per- fection. . . . Hiram, the " master workman," was one of those universal geniuses who are common in the infancy of art and astonish later times by their manifold and versatile powers. It is not said that he drew out the plan of Solomon's temple, or that for his palace . . . but considering the total inex- perience of the Israelites in architectural works of any pretension, and the fact that the Phoenicians had been long accustomed to build palaces and construct temples, it may at least be suspected that the builders employed by Solomon to adorn THE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 49^ his capital with magnificent edifices drew their in- spiration from Phoenician sources. . . . Altogether the Jewish temple, though modelled in some respects upon the *' Tabernacle of the Congrega- tion," must be regarded as essentially a Phoenician building, at once designed by Phoenicians and the work of Phoenician hands.'* In Chapter xviii. w^e have details of war. Hadarezer of Zobah is smitten. ' Seven thousand horsemen ' are taken from him ; the second book of Samuel says seven hundred. Edom is conquered. A silly prince of Ammon insults David's ambas- sadors, and then, seeing that war is inevitable, tries to get a huge army of chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia and Syria. They meet the advancing forces of David at Medeba, now called Medeba. Level plains stretch for miles. The ruins are on a hill. Lines of roads and streets are to be traced. There are ruins of a large temple, also a huge reservoir, of beautiful workmanship, built on the same principle as Solomon's pools. Details of the battle are given, and Israel is victorious. Rabbah is taken. David in an evil moment orders Joab to number the people ; and though that old friend protests, he yet has to obey.t The * 'Pha3nicia,' 'The Story of the Nations,' G. Eawlinson, pp. 91-98. t In 1 Chron. xxi. 1 it is said, ' Satan provoked David to number Israel;' in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, 'the Lord in anger moved David to number the people.' It would seem that the nation and the king, elated by their great conquests, thought that it was by their own power and might that victory came to them — they forgot the Lord. Hence their punishment — God vermiited Satan to tempt David. 404 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. number given of warriors is huge. Immediately it is done David sees his sin, and here his fine character comes in. When a choice is given him he says : ' Let me fall now into the hands of the Lord.' The story of Oman and his threshing- floor is given, and preparations are made by David for the temple, which he is not to build because that ' thou hast shed blood abundantly.' A solemn charge to his son is then given, and details planned for the work and the temple services — arrangements also made by which the great levy of men and officers are to be guided in the face of all the people, their princes and officers, David explains all his desires ; j^at terns of everything are given to Solomon, who is urged to be ' strong and of good courage ;' and the First Book of Chronicles ends in a grand psalm of praise. CHAPTER X. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. Solomon on his throne waxed great. There is nothing surprising at the sudden greatness of Israel under David and Solomon. Many a great Eastern empire has risen as quickly, and as quickly fallen. We see it even in our own day with the Mahdi. Solomon begins well. He gathers all the con- gregation to Gibeon, that high hill north of Jeru- salem, to the tabernacle, the ark beinsf still in a tent at Jerusalem. He asks for wisdom to judge the people, and his prayer is granted. Riches and honour are added ; but the king's next step is a wrong one. He gathers chariots and horsemen — for which he gives a large price, buying them from Egypt — from Syria and from the Hifctites (2 Chron. i. 17). The details of Temple building and modern discoveries have already been given in the First Book of King's. His reiofn was one of great magnificence and splendour; but he exhausted the nation, who revolted at his death. Rehoboam, his son, had still that desire for building, and the cities of defence he erected are named. While he served the Lord he pros^^ered ; but, like his father, 496 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, women were his bane (2 Chron. xi. 23). The punishment comes from Egypt : Shishak plunders Jerusalem. So when the Temple was but thirty years old it was plundered. In the next reign war breaks out between the two sections of Israelites. Abijah stands on Mount Zemaraim, which has not been identified, and harangues the people. Jeroboam tries that old device of Israel, an ambus- cade. But on Judah crying to the Lord, Israel is defeated ; the historian adding that Judah was successful * because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.' Abijah follows the evil example of Solomon. His story is said to be written by Iddo, elsewhere called a ' seer,' who prophesied aofainst Jeroboam. Tradition asserts that this ' seer ' was ' the man of God ' who denounced calf worship at Bethel. In Asa's reign the land is quiet, therefore the king proposes to the people that they should build * cities,' with * walls,' 'towers,' 'gates,' and 'bars' (2 Chron. xiv. 7).. This would prove that up to this date Judah had few ' cities,' properly so called. It will help us to understand the Old Testament more per- fectly if we have clear ideas on this matter. Collections of houses were called ' villages,' or ' cities,' according as they were or were not sur- rounded by walls. Leviticus says, houses ' which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country' (Chap. xxv. 31). In Esther (Chap. ix. 18, 19), Jews of the villages that dwelt in the unwalled towns are distinguished THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 497 from the Jews that were at Shushan. Towns were of two kinds : ' towns ' proper, and the dependent towns, called ' daughters ' — ' Ekron with her daughters ' ; * Ashdod with her daughters and her villages,' etc. * Cities ' and ' fenced cities.' The former had merely a boundary wall ; while the latter had walls of great strength and height, and had gates and bars. Villages were called in the early days ' Hazar,' and so Hazar-shual. Towns were, as a rule, built on the summit of hills, as all ruins testify. They were surrounded by high walls, hence the expression ' walled up to heaven.' These fortified towns had parapets, bul- warks, or towers. They had esj)ecially strong towers at the gates. A watchman ' stood on the tower in Jezreel ' (2 Kings ix. 17); and Asa says (2 Chron. xiv. 75) : ' Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and towers, gates and bars.' For additional security a ditch was made or cut out of the rock outside the w^all. Such a ditch can be seen at Jerusalem on the western side to-day. There it is scarped out of the rock. Gates in Bashan were made of stone. Burck- hardt speaks of Kuffer, where the gates of the town, nine or ten feet high, ' are of a single piece of stone.' ' Gates of brass ' are spoken of, and also of iron. Acts xii. 1 0 relates, ' when they were past the first and second ward they came unto the iron gate that leadeth into the city.' Now, this means that the 32 498 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. large two-leaved wooden gate was entirely covered with brass or iron, which was riveted on the wood. This may be seen even now in many an Eastern city. Locks and bars were always of a massive character. The locks and bars to be seen to-day in many an old convent, as at Sinai, or in that strange Coptic quarter outside old Cairo — a town in itself with walls and gates, each strong and massive, with bolts and bars, and very narrow streets — the whole enabling any visitor to under- stand what an Eastern ' fenced city ' was in early times. Some of these ' streets ' are so narrow that two people can barely pass. Asa increases his army. Danger must have threatened. It comes now from the side of Egypt ; but an Ethiopian king, Zerah, is mentioned as coming with a huge host. The invader comes to Mareshah — this was one of those cities on the edge of the hill country, facing and commanding the plain, though not actually on the plain. The most famous of these cities was that known to the Greeks as Eleutheropolis, now Beit Jibrin, and a mile to the south of this is Khtirbet Merash, the Mareshah spoken of It commanded one of the passes, and was fortified by Rehoboam. Its ruins now are not extensive, as the materials were used in building Beit Jibrin. Rawlinson relates that at this time a king called Azerch-Amen reigned in Ethiopia. Others think it was Osorkon II., who reigned in right of his wife. He was probably an Ethiopian, and ruled over both Egj^pt and Ethi- THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 499 opia. The reason for the mvasion was Asa refusing to continue the tribute Shishak had im- posed on Rehoboam. The ' Valley of Zephathah/ where the armies met, is thought to be Wady Safieh — the leading valley, which passes Beit Jibrin two and a half miles north-east of Mare- shah. * Asa cried unto the Lord.' His prayer was heard, the huge host was defeated, and the pursuit was so hot that they could not reform their array. Smitten to Gerar, twenty-six to thirty miles distant across the plain — Gerar now is represented by ruins called Umm Jerrar, six miles south of Gaza, a pastoral region — the fugitives took the direct sea-board route to Egypt. All the cities round about Gerar were smitten also. The region to this day abounds in ruins on the low hills which crop up from the plain. We see that it was a pastoral region, for sheep, camels, and tents in abundance were the spoil. Fine meadows still exist in the valley hereabouts. We find modern Bedawin mud huts, and fields enclosed with mud walls, while here and there fragments of ancient pillars and some beautiful groups of palms are all that remain. The country is in the hands of the Terabin Bedawin ; their black tents now dot the landscape, over which range their numerous herds. A prophet, Azariah, goes to meet the victorious king. He utters both a promise and a warning (Chap. XV. 2). If they serve the Lord they shall prosper ; if not, they shall be forsaken. All the 32 — 2 500 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. past troubles of the nation are recalled. It was not possible to go in or out with peace. The king 'takes courage.' The idols are destroyed. At a great gathering he attempts a reformation of the people by law. Those who will not serve the Lord are to be put to death ! His confidence in God is but of short duration. The King of Israel builds Ramah, which commands the northern road, and in a fright Asa sends to the old enemy, Syria, to buy help. They weaken Israel on his further border ; but Hanani, another prophet, might well recall to Asa's memory how, by trusting in God, he had been enabled to defeat the huge array of Ethiopians and Zubims (2 Chron. xvi. 8), and now he was afraid of his brother Israel. As usual, when a man has done wrong, and is reminded of it, he flies into a rage, and the ' seer ' is put in prison, and some of the people — probably those who did trust in God — are oppressed. In great adversity and trial Asa was pious. Success ruined him. Stricken with illness, the chronicler relates that ' he sought not to the Lord,' * but to the physi- cians '! The sacred writer evidently had a poor opinion of the doctors of that time. Asa's funeral appears to have been conducted on Egyptian principles, for we read of ' sweet odours ' and * sj)ices,' and also note that ' apothecaries ' were distinct from doctors or physicians. Jehoshaphat ' strengthened himself against Israel.' This would be on his northern frontier — the cities on that side, which belonged to him, he THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 501 garrisoned ; and those cities Asa had taken from Ephraim he garrisoned also. In short, what he did was to fortify the passes north. A man of letters, he wishes to see knowledge increase ; he therefore sends princes and Levites to teach the book of the law to the people. Here we have State religious instruction commanded ; the king was blessed with peace. .Philistines and Arabians bring him presents. He builds palaces, and cities of store for his armies. A volunteer corps is formed by several leaders, so that his armed force is great. And then comes the fall. He makes friendship with a bad and wicked man. A feast given by Ahab so influences him that he listens to a proposal to join hands. He is ' per- suaded.' The outcome of this feast is that the nation is draofo-ed into war, and the man who has proposed this dangerous expedition is afraid of his own life, and coolly proposes that his guest shall take the post of danger. How infatuated was Jehoshaj^hat ! The rest of the story has been told in the Second Book of Kings. Jehoshaphat goes back to his home in peace. His false and cowardly friend is dead. He is met by a prophet, and unlike his father Asa, he listens, and again he institutes a reformation. Judges are especially admonished, and told to remember that they represent the justice of God. Eastern judges have ever been open to the charge of venality ; they are now warned to have no respect of persons, nor to take gifts. An ecclesiastical court is 502 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. formed. A priest is to take cognizance of religious matters, and an officer of the king's household the other matters. Chapter xx. relates how that Moab, Amnion and others now attack Judah — it would seem the 'others' were Syrians. This mixed host is assembled in the south, near Engedi, 'Ain Jidy, in that district called Husaseh (' pebbles '). Jehoshaphat, alarmed, proclaims a fast. All gather to ask help ' of the Lord.' No trust now in foreio^n armies. So complete is the gathering that even women and children are included. This would be novel, and not according to precedent. They are told to go to the. ' cliff of Ziz,' or ' ascent,' or pass. The name Hazezon Tamar still survives in a valley called Husasah, a table land near 'Ain Jidy, at the ' end of the brook.' This ' ascent ' would be by a watercourse which runs west. The ' wilder- ness of Jeruel ' would be what is now called wilderness of Judea. Near Tekoa, on the edge of the wilderness south of Jerusalem, the host of Israel is gathered — a religious host, who go out to war with songs of praise ; and then immediately this hostile array of peoples, these invaders, who are strangers in custom and speech, disagree, and they, friends only in that they wished to attack Judah, fight one another. History is full of similar cases. When Judah come to the watch-tower in the wilderness, they only see a field of slain. First Amnion and Moab quarrelled with those of Mount Seir, and when THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 503 they had destroyed these, they quarrelled with one another. Their boasted band of unity proved to be a rope of sand. The watch-tower in the wilder- ness was doubtless one of those outlying towers which can to-day be seen in ruins in Bashan, where they exist in j)lenty. ' The circumference one yard from the base is sixty-eight feet. It has thirty- seven layers of stone in it ; the one with the other would be about a foot high each. The walls are four feet thick ; the height of the door is five feet five inches, and its width three feet three inches. A central column of cylindrical stones supports a stone loft of the height of fourteen feet, and a spiral staircase, the stones of which project from the wall and are much worn, ascends to the loft.' Such was the watch-tower in the wilderness. Great spoil is gathered ; and then Judah assembles in the Valley of Berachah (' blessing '). Near Tekoa a wady called El 'Arriib — an open, well-watered valley, well fitted for a large gathering — exists, and in this wady a ruin called Breikut ; this is the sug- gested site. It is on the road from Bethlehem to Hebron. In the homeward triumphal march Jehoshaphat marches at the head of the people, praising God. They go to the Temple with sound of harp and trumpet ; and so the realm has peace. That Jehoshaphat was well read in the books of Moses we see from the tenth verse of Chap, xix., where he recalls the early history of Israel. He foolishly joins himself to the King of Israel, and together they plan a navy ; but it was not to be 504 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. successful because of his wicked ally, and therefore the ships are broken up by some storm, and the plan comes to an end. The bright beam of success which lighted on Judah now gives place to gloom, for Jehoram, who succeeds to the throne, had for wife a daughter of Ahab, who, like her father, was one who did evil in the eyes of the Lord. This new king had many brothers, and their father gave them portions. Revolt soon rears its head again. Restless Edom takes the field, and though Jehoram marches against them with all his chariots, yet they compass him about, and only by a desperate effort made at night is he able to break through the blockade. He for the moment saves his life ; but the Edomite rebellion succeeds, as well as that of Libnah. He is warned that because of his sins he will suffer from a terrible disease, and the prophecy is ful- filled, and then trouble comes on the frontiers. The Philistines and the Arabians, joined with the Ethiopians, come up and take the palace, his sons, and his wives, and he dies in great suffering, unlamented. The history of the monu- ments shows us that the Philistines were allied to Egypt. Ahaziah, his youngest son, comes to the broken and plundered kingdom. As related in 2 Kings, Chaps, viii. and ix., he is an ally of Jehoram in the attack on Ramoth Gilead. The historian lightly passes over the story of Jehu, and only notes that Ahaziah ' was hid in Samaria,' and there slain. 2 Kings ix. 27 says THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 505 Megiddo, which place was in the kingdom of Samaria. The escape of the child Joash follows, and the death of Athaliah, who, like her daughter, would appear to have been slain by horses ; we now see the reason why a collection was made to restore the house of God : its treasures had been broken up and plundered to enrich the altars of Baalim. Sad that so good a beginning should end so sin- fully, but no sooner is the high-priest dead, his great protector and adviser, than * princes ' give him bad advice, and groves and idols are worshipped again. Reproved by a ' seer,' the king orders the prophet to be stoned to death, which sin is done, and worse, for it is committed in the courts of the temple. Forgotten were all the kind actions of the victim's father, who dies with these words on his lips : ' The Lord look upon it and requite it ' ; and before the year has closed a host of Syrians come up, capture the city, and take the nobles and their riches to Damascus. To show how truly this was the hand of God, the Syrian army was but a small body, and the greater host of Judah was delivered into their hands. These invaders leave the king upon his tottering throne ; his servants conspire against him, and he is slain. His successor slays the conspirators, but not their children, in this respect obeying the law of Moses. Wishing to recover Edom, he prepares for war, so gives a large sum of money to hire 100,000 warriors from Israel (2 Chron. xxv. 6) ; 5o6 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. he, however, listens to the voice of a prophet, who tells him to trust in God alone. Then follows the account of the victory over Edom in the Valley of Salt. War is ever cruel, but these wars seem especially so. When we read of ten thousand captives being hurled from the rocks we shudder. And now the clue is given to the sudden enmity between Judah and Israel : those allies who were sent back were not satisfied with their wages ; what they had hoped for was plunder, and plunder they would have, so on their return march they attacked and plundered the cities of Judah, their own ally. Bethhoron (2 Chron. xxv, 13) being mentioned shows that they went by that old road to the Sharon Plain, and from thence to Samaria. The fortresses of the north road were too strong for them. Blind, mad, the King of Judah must have been. He had conquered Edom by the power of God, and now, victorious, he worships the gods of Seir ! A prophet is sent to re- buke him. He is answered with haughty insolence : ' Art thou made of the king's council ?' With a parting warning of his coming fate, the prophet leaves him. He challenges the King of Israel, is utterl}^ defeated, and Jerusalem again is plundered. With lost prestige he flies to Lachish, but is slain by conspirators. Uzziah succeeds to the throne ; he wages successful war. It is thought worthy of notice that he is able to break down the walls of Jabneh, now Yebnah, of Ashdod (Chap. xxvi. 6). THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 507 The Azotus of the New Testament is Esdiid, a mere mud village of to-day. He fortifies cities about Ashdod, because it had a commanding position on the road to Egypt. The Philistines and Arabians, a mixed tribe, lived in Gar-Baal — a place lying between Palestine and the Arabian peninsula, which has not been identified — also the Mehunims, supposed to be the plural of Maon, in the wilder- ness, south of Jeshimon. The Ammonites, east of Jordan, give tribute even to the borderland of Egypt. His rule extends ; he builds towers to the gates of Jerusalem ; strengthens also the weak point of the wall — the angle. Towers in the desert he builds also to keep the wandering tribes there in check ; digs wells for his cattle in the lowlands ; his husbandmen and vine-dressers in the mountains are cared for ; and here is a great touch of local truth, for crops and vines were best grown and cul- tivated on the ridges of the hill-country. Carmel especially (' the park '), that most fertile range — fertile then as now — receives his care. His soldiers are well armed ; he has ' cunning men,' strangers, doubtless, who invent engines of war ; the cata- pult for arrows and big stones is no stranger now ; no longer do the sons of Judah propose, as in the days of David, to ' pull down ' the walls of a city ' by ropes.' He is strong, and then he sins, for he went into the Temple to burn incense. The high-priest and the attendant priests bravely with- stood him. It was for the sons of Aaron, not for 5o8 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. the king. In great anger Uzziah persists, and immediately leprosy arises in his forehead. The priests, when they saw it, thrust him out. He was willing to go. This terrible disease still exists in Palestine. The writer, on one of his visits to Pales- tine, travelled in company with a French medical man sent by his Government to study this appalling disease in the land of its birth. Many and curious were the facts collected ; one must suffice. The Enoflish resident medical man told how that more than once some man would come to him who had been driven out with curses from his village, the inhabitants of which declared that he showed signs of leprosy. A medical examination of the closest nature failed to show any spot or blemish, and obtaining a certificate to that effect, the man would go back to his village, only to be driven out again by its residents, and ere long that man did show the leprous sign, and became a complete leper. What enabled those ignorant people to detect the very first signs of the disease none could tell. To this day certain cities are appointed in which lepers may dwell, and not far from Siloam village quite lately a row of cottages has been built by the charitable as homes for the sufferers. It is much to be regretted that they are allowed to marry, and so perpetuate this awful scourge. This account of 2 Chronicles 16-21 enables us to understand what in the account in 2 Kings xv. 3-5 is so mysterious. ' That he did right ' and THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 509 then that ' the Lord smote the king.' His son, Jotham * built the high gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much,' The wall in Ophel was doubtless part of the wall of the city in the time of Herod. Josephus relates that the old wall of Jerusalem, on reaching the place called Ophla (or Ophel), joined the eastern porch of the Temple. Sir Charles Warren, after sinking a great number of shafts, has arrived at the following facts : A great wall still exists, though buried in rubbish, joining the Haram wall at the south-east angle. It was evidently built for purposes of forti- fication, for it is fourteen feet thick. As the stones below a depth of thirty feet are not squared, and as this is the case all along, it is apparent that the wall was not built till long after the building of the sanctuary wall at the south-east angle. No sign of any gate was discovered. It is not built in the rock like the Haram wall, but on the hard layer of clay resting on the rock. The wall was traced (and a plan taken) for 700 feet from the first tower. It then terminated within a few feet of the surface in a rocky knoll, having been probably taken away in detail by the Fellahin. There are several towers projecting from the wall, one of which is very remarkable, as it projects more than any of the rest, standing upon scarped rock, and having another wall leading from it going down towards the Kedron. It may possibly be the 5IO THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. ' tower that lieth out.' It is also remarkable that many of the stones in this wall are polished, remind- ing us of the ' polished corners of the Temple.' Observe, too, that if all the rubbish were taken away there would be this great wall of Ophel, standing out above the valley even now forty feet to sixty feet high. Yet the upper stones of the wall do not appear to be in situ. The wall, then, is in its present form a reconstruction. Whose ? It is more modern than the Haram wall. If Solomon built the latter, did Manasseh build this wall ? If Agrippa, who built the Ophel wall ? Some remains of a great wall were also found, lead- ing apparently to the eastern jamb of the Triple Gate, which Sir Charles Warren thinks may have been a recess running from the Ophel wall. On the slope of the 0])hel hill a great many curious things were come across. Among these were lamps, a good deal of pottery, stone weights, dishes, etc. Here, too, was found a very curious little seal, with the Hebrew inscription, ' Haggai, the son of Shebaniah ;'* its date may be possibly 500 B.C. A cavern was found in this hill, in which was a copper lamp -stand, perhaps of the Byzantine period. The cavern is cut out of the rock, and consists of two chambers. Round one of them are cut vats, mangers, or troughs. It was last used for a stable, but as the earth was eleven feet deep, it is obvious that this was not its original * Copies of this seal can be obtained at the offices of the Palestine Exploration Fund. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 511 purpose, and it is more likely to have been, as Sir Charles Warren suggests, a fuller's shop. Tradi- tion tells us St. James was thrown from the outer wall at the Temple enclosure, and that a ' fuller took the club with which he pressed the clothes, and brought it down on the head of the just one.' In the earth above the cave is a drain which is, of course, more modern than the cave. Here were found glass and pottery, supposed to be early Christian. This takes us, for the antiquity of the ' fuller's shop,' a very long time back. '^ Chap, xxvii, relates that * cities also in the mountains, and in the forests castles and towers, were built.' These strongholds were doubtless erected to command the passes. For three years the Ammonites pay heavy tribute, as he wages successful war against them. Then we get more details of the new king Ahaz, who forsakes the Lord and w^orships the foul idols of the heathen. He offers sacrifice in Hinnom, burns his children to Moloch ; t and so a judgment comes upon him. The agent chosen is Syria. * 'Onr Work in Palestine,' pp. 144, 147. t ' The principal sacrifice %vaA children. This horrible custom was grounded in part on the notion that children were the dearest possession of their parents, and in part, that as pure and innocent beings they were the offerings of atonement most certain to pacify the anger of the Deity. . . . The image of metal was made hot by a fire kindled within it, and the children, laid in its arms, rolled from thence into the fieiy lap behjw. The parents stopped the cries of their children by fondling and kissing them, for the victim ought not to weep, and the sound of complaint was drowned in the din of flutes and kettledrums. 512 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Then the King of Israel destroys his army, and carries to. Samaria spoil and a vast body of captives. There is still, however, a body of men in Israel who grieve over this internecine war. A prophet makes a touching appeal to the people (Chap, xxviii. 12-15), and to the pojDular voice the army is obliged to submit. The captives are clothed, shod, and fed, taken to Jericho, then released. Probably this was because Jericho, far east, had escaped the invasion, and also because it would be so easily reached from Samaria, either by going along the Jordan Plain, or at Bethshean, crossing the easy fords and going along the eastern bank, recrossing at the Jericho fords. Anyhow, the cap- tives would be spared the harassing march through the hill-country on the north road. Edom from the south-east. Philistines from the west seize the opportunity to invade Judah. The latter take some cities in the low country, the well-known Beth-Shemesh, Ajalon, and Gederoth (' sheepcotes '). Tristram suggests the modern Guderak, two miles south-east of Ekron. Conder Mothers, according to PlutaT'cb, stood by without tears or sobs; if they wept or sobbed they lost the honour of the act, and their chiMren were sacrificed notwithstanding. . . . The pure cult of Judaism — the one hope of the world — contracted a we 1-nigh indelible stain from the proselytizing efforts of Jezebel and Athaliah, and their furious persecutions : the heavenly light passed under a thick black cloud, and it required prolonged convulsions through the whole of the East, the downfall of Israel and Judah, and the long purgation of the Captivity, to undo the effects brought about " with a light heart " by a royal bigot and his cruel daughter and grand-daughter.' — G. Rawlinsoo, ' Story of the Nations,' pp. 113, 114, 117. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 513 suggests Katrah. Shocho and its villages, thought to be Khurbet Shuweikeh, on the brink of the Valley of Elah. Timnah, now Tib nab, where there are ruins south of the Valley of Sorek. Gimzo and its villages, now Jimzu, a mud village on the side of a low hill, just at the entrance into the plain east of Lydda. On the east side are cisterns ; on the west, by the roadside, a well. It is surrounded by olive and cactus hedges. Israel is now brought very low. Tiglath Pileser is no real help, though he accepts great treasure Fatally blind, Ahaz thinks that because Syria is so successful it must be its gods ! So he sacrifices to them also, thinking they will help him. The act ruined him and the kinofdom of Israel. Once more a good king comes to the throne, and light breaks out. The nation is strengthened, for Hezekiah sets out in real earnest to effect a reformation. He tells his people plainly that because of the sins of their fathers and their own they have ' trouble ' and are a ' hissing.' Their fathers have fallen by the sword ; their own wives, their sons and daughters, are in captivity. He appeals to them to sanctify themselves. They sing praises with gladness and worship, but the priests are found too few ! The nation that had been the es2:)ecial favourite of Jehovah now has too few priests who know how to worship Him ! Hezekiah now seeks to re-weld the broken frag"- ments of the empire. He sends proclamations to 33 514 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES, all Israel, begging them to come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, and pray that God in His mercy may turn away the evils from their land. This pious effort is only laughed to scorn, and the rulers of Israel, blind to the signs of the times, see in this religious effort but a political device to join the peoples together. The opposing tribes cannot sink their own private greeds for the general welfare, and but few accept the call. No spirit of devotion to Jehovah, no national patriotism, exist, and the one last chance of a regeneration of the nation slips away. The dreaded invader comes. Sennacherib attacks the fenced cities. The delay gives Hezekiah breathing-time. With wise forethought he knows that a large in- vading army cannot exist outside Jerusalem if water — that all-potent factor in the East — is denied it. Taking counsel of his princes and mighty men, they stop the waters of the fountains outside the city walls, and especially ' the brook that ran through the midst of the land.' The marginal reading is most important, * the brook that overflowed' Here I will quote the Rev. W. F. Birch. ' Heavy rain would make a stream in any valley, but in this case why stop only one ? Now, the Virgin's Fount in the Kidron Valley is partly an intermittent spring ; it overflows at irregular intervals. The recent discovery of Schick's aqueduct, which carried these waters to the mouth of the Tyropoeon Valley, showed, however, that THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 515 the waters from Gilion, even in the time of Ahaz, were not allowed to overflow down the Kidron, while the flowing along the aqueduct certainly did not answer to flowing " through the midst of the land." Nevertheless the brook has been overflow- ing almost every year. Major Conder says* (under head Bir Eyub) : " The rising of the waters is held as a feast by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who may be seen walking beside the water, or sitting in the valley in numbers on a bright winter day when the water is flowing." After heavy rains the water from the lower strata of rock finds an outlet up the shaft of the well. Sir Charles Warren discovered one entrance to three stair- cases, a little north of the well, one of them lead- ing to a semi-natural cistern in the rock, where a natural cleft was also visible. This staircase had evidently been cut into at a later date, but in its original form it had once been built up by a cross- wall, and at the bottom of the wall a hole or duct was left six and three-eighths by four inches, and on the northern side a stone plug to fit, and twelve inches long, was found in it. Why ? Here is the VERY PLUG Hezekiah put in when Sennacherib in- vaded Judah. Talk of the Bible not bearinof historical criticism ! Afterwards the 'plug was no longer needed, when the 1,800 feet aqueduct from the cistern was made down the Kidron. * It seems to me that the above staircases must have been made by the Jebusites, and that this * 'Memoirs, Jerusalem,' p. 371. 33—2 5i6 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. source of water is to be identified with En-roorel. Dr. Thomson* points out the fittest place and time for Adonijah's conspiracy, viz., near Joab's Well, when the hrook was overflowing, so that the holiday- makers there would find themselves entrapped into the rebellion ere they were aware of it.'t Three sites have been proposed : ( 1 ) The Virgin's Fount, i.e., Gihon ; (2) The Pool of Siloam ; (3) Joab's Well. After examining these three, the Rev. W. F. Birch continues : ' The ancient Jebusite, by the contrivance of the " Gutter " (the scene of Joab's exploit), secured for his city an unfailing supply of water ; so now he probably made En-rogel. It is probable that in prehistoric times water used after heavy rains to issue from the ground near Joab's Well, just as it does now by means of the well, and to flow in a voluminous stream down the valley towards the Dead Sea. When, in after-times, but before the Israelite invasion, the Jebusites found the supply from Gihon ("Virgin's Fount") insufficient for their wants, this father of civil engineers prospected for water in the valley, near the present site of Joab's Well. ... So he cut in the rock, about seventy-five feet north of the well, the entrance to a staircase, dis- covered by Sir Charles Warren, which, after descend- inof six feet to the west, divides into a northern and a southern branch ; the northern staircase soon divides into two others. Not finding water, both * ' The Land and the Book,' pp. 658, 659. t January, 1889, 'Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement,' p. 40. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 517 were abandoned when the southern staircase gave indications that the excavators were reaching water. Soon a strong stream issued forth : " the brook was overflowing- in the midst of the land." ... It was really an artesian well. En-rogel i:)robably means " the spring of searching out." It was found inconvenient to go down for water through the long dark staircase and passage ; accordingly, from the surface of the valley a shaft was excavated to the roof of the grotto, through which shaft the water-pots could be let down by a cord into the cistern below. ■' W 'fr ^ TS^ *?? ' Joab's Well itself may have been dug in the reign of Solomon, and deepened at a later date. It was certainly made after En-rogel. On Senna- cherib's invasion " much people was gathered to- gether, who stopped all the fountains and the brook that overflowed through " (or in) "■ the midst of the land." Now, at last, Hezekiah reaped the fruit of the Jebusite's forethought. Covering uji the entrance to Gihon, he was able himself from within the city of Jerusalem to draw its waters by means of the " Gutter." Similarly it ^vas easy to conceal all traces of En-rogel ; but to stop " the brook that overflowed " proved in the end to be a work of extreme difficulty and extraordinary magnitude. At first, at a distance of forty-four feet from the grotto or cistern, he blocked up the rock-cut passage by '' a masonry wall three feet thick, and composed of cut stones set in a hard black mortar, aj^parently 5 1 8 THE BIBLE A ND MODERN DISCO VERIES. mixed with oil. At the bottom a hole or duct was left, six inches and three-eighths by four inches, and on the northern side a stone plug to fit, and twelve inches long, was found in it."* ' Probably, at the same time, Hezekiah closed the shaft in the roof of the grotto with the "white stone " (see Warren). All this was easy enough, but when the heavy rains came on it would seem that the waters still issued from the surface, escaping either throuoj'h some natural fissure in the rock below the soil, or because the shaft above the grotto or the staircase was not water-tight. The blocking up of the staircase (or, rather, its continuation to the grotto) by a second wall seems to imply that suspicion lighted on the last-named passage. How- ever this might be, the attempt was of no use ; the brook still continued as of old to overflow. Yet Hezekiah and his people were not easily to be thwarted ; if the brook would flow, it should cer- tainly not overjioiv. * At an immense expenditure of labour a spacious aqueduct (six feet high and from three feet six inches to four feet broad) was cut under the western side of the Kidron Valley, starting from the grotto, which was practically the source of the waters, and extending at least 1,800 feet down the ravine.' (This is a work yet to be followed up by the Palestine Exploration Fund.) ' Now, at last, the brook was stopped. Buried as * Sir Charles Warren, 1870. See ' Letters,' pp. 141-153. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 519 it was, forty or fifty feet out of sight, and beyond hearing, the Assyrians could never have found it. * A further attempt seems to have been made to continue this tunnel (or aqueduct) on the same scale northwards. Apparently, the staircase was used for carrying out the drippings ; but why the last eighty-six feet of it {i.e., of the staircase, which here is really a passage with a slight fall) were not utilized in this extension is at present unintelligible. OjDerations were began at a point eighty-six feet from the grotto, and after lowering the floor about nine feet, a new tunnel was continued north for 148 feet, generally about three feet nine inches wide and six feet high, and then the work was abandoned. 'Still, from the southern end of this 148 feet length a passage was cut to the grotto, apparently to enable the water tricklinof throug-h into the 148 feet tunnel to flow into the Q-rotto. ' The smaller dimensions (it is only about three and a half feet high), and the irregular course of this connecting-link, seem to indicate that it was made without much care. At the point of junction (eighty-six feet from the grotto) the old staircase has partly been cut away by this later work, so that the roof of the passage is fifteen feet high. From this point the Ihik runs directly under the older passage, and comes out into the grotto nine feet below the other, and six feet to the west of it, * If Joab's Well had been already dug, it, too, must have been stopped by Hezekiah. If it was not already made, then the excavating of the great 520 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. aqueduct must have deprived the people of Jerusa- lem of their greatest treat. After Sennacherib's departure they must have looked back with many regrets to the happy days when they used to disport themselves among the trees, by the banks of the overflowing brook. And never afterwards, until the exit from the grotto was blocked up (which the presence of some large stones in the tunnel, and at the bottom of the cistern or grotto, seems to indicate was done), or until Joab's Well was either made or re-opened, did the lower valley of the Kidron again present the bright and festive scene which must probably have been of almost yearly occurrence since Jerusalem was first in- habited, and certainly since the day that the clever Jebusite presented to his city the famous En- rogel.'^ ' The following points are established : * 1. The 'Ain (spring) in the word " En-rogel " proves that at or near this spot there was a source and supply of living ivaters. ' 2. The living waters prove that the rock was (porous or) pierced by nature or art, so that the waters could pass through. * 3. The rock having been thus pierced, proves that there would be an overflowing brook at times, then as now. ' 4. The great depth and size of the tunnel prove , * The Rev. W. F, Birch goes on to give proof of all these state- ments. The reader is referred to his article in the ' Quarterly Statement,' January, 1889. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 521 that it was intended to hide and convey away from the enemy a large volume of water. ' As Hezekiah is distinctly asserted to have stopped " the overflowing brook," and no one else apparently had both the necessity and ability for doing so, the conclusion is inevitable that Hezekiah made the long aqueduct owing to the invasion of Sennacherib. In other words, 2 Chron. xxxii. 4 must refer to this aqueduct. * To sum up : ( 1 ) The staircase, called En-rogel, leading to the grotto, was made by the Jebusites at a date antecedent to Joshua's invasion ; and (2) Hezekiah, on Sennacherib's invasion, j9^^^ in the lolug, and afterwards made the long aqueduct, thus stopping the brook that overflowed.' Even now Dr. Thomson says : ' I have seen the water sfushinof out like a mill-stream some fifteen rods south of the well, and then the whole valley was alive with people bathing in it and indulging in every species of hilarity.'* Even now, to make the Kidron an artificial lake, all that would be necessary ' is a great dam across the ravine close to " the spring of the Fig " (near the end of the aqueduct). An average annual rainfall of twenty-two inches will do the rest.' This work does not attempt to deal with pro- phecy, but I think it is impossible not to recall as one reads this that ' vision of the waters ' in Ezek. xlvii. 1. Here the prophet sees ' tuaters gushing out from under the threshold of the house * 'The Land and the Book,' Thomson, p. COO. 522 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. eastwards.^ The vision continues, the waters are ' ankle-deep,' ' knee-deep ;' and then, * waters to swim in,' * a river that I could not pass over.' Trees grow on its banks ; the waters go to the salt sea. They heal that stagnant sea. Engedi shall be a place to ' sj^read nets upon,' because the * waters issued out of the sanctuary.' Is it too much to say that the prophet's vision relates to what has been shown to be even possible, taking things as they now are ? In 1880 another discovery was made here. A boy playing Avith other lads fell as he was wading up the aqueduct. On rising to the surface he noticed what looked like letters on the rocky wall of the channel. Herr Schick was told. Squeezes were taken. Savans from all lands visited the place, and this was found to be the inscription :^^ * Behold the excavation ! Now this is the further side (or the history) of the tunnel. While the excavators were lifting up the pick, each towards his neighbour, and while there were yet three cubits to the mouth (of the tunnel), the excavators were hewing. Each came to his neigh- bour at a measure's length .... in the rock on high, and they worked eagerly at (the) castle they had excavated (?). The excavators worked eagerly each to meet the other, pick to pick. And the w^aters flowed from their outlet to the pool, for a * Professor Sayce, 'Fresh Light,' pp. 87-88. . THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 523 distance of a thousand cubits, from the lower part (?) of the tunnel (which) they excavated at the head of the excavation here.' * The inscription is the oldest Hebrew record of the kind yet discovered. It is an early contem- poraneous specimen of the language of the Old Testament, written in that ancient form of the Phoenician alphabet already known to us from the Moabite Stone and a few leofends on seals. ' The form of the alphabet, however, belongs to an even older period than that of the Moabite Stone. Therefore the age of this inscription is greater than that of the Moabite Stone. '"^ We may note that ' the pool ' is spoken of — the Bible says ' the brook that overflowed,' and the modern Pool of Siloam is simply called ' The Pool. To pass to another and quite a recent discovery : Isa. viii. 6 says : ' Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son.' Here again I quote the Pev. W. F. Birch :"'' * Five years ago, relying upon the topographical and historical accuracy of the Bible, I predicted with the utmost confidence that a careful search on the eastern side of Ophel would result in the discovery of an aqueduct, which in the time of Ahaz conveyed water from the Virgin's Fount (Gihon) to the mouth of the Tyropa3on Valley. * Professor Sayce, ' Fresh Light,' p. 88. t 'Quarterly Statement,' January, 1889. 524 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. . . . On the plan I marked several spots for ex- amination. The Committee put the matter in Herr Schick's hands.* He sank three shafts : one and two gave ambiguous results ; " No. 3, at twenty feet the rock was found, and to our great joy the rock-hewn channel also {i.e. the conjectural, not the known one) ; it is one foot ten inches wide, four feet three inclus deep, both sides cut down perpen- dicularly . . . On the top of the sides there were grooves, seven inches deep and eight and a half inches broad, to take the covering slab, which was no longer in its place." ' As the present use of the present rock-hewn tunnel is to convey water from the Virgin's Pool to the Tyropseon Valley, so the past use of the newly-found aqueduct was to do the same, before the rock-hewn tunnel was made or even thought of. The discovery of this aqueduct seems to be most valuable, because : '1. It gives us a glimpse of the wonderful accuracy of the sacred records, since a brief notice in Isaiah has enabled us to recover an aqueduct dis- used for 2,600 years, whose very existence was denied by historical critics. ' 2. The terms Shiloah, Siloah, and Siloam, can now, without any difficulty whatever, be applied to one spot at the south of Ophel. * 3. Once more Ophel, west of the Virgin's Fount, is found to be the site of the city of David, for the * 'Quarterly Statement,' 1886, p. 197 for Report. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 525 waters of Shiloah {i.e. aqueduct) must, as Tlirupp* pointed out, have flowed from the city of David, and this (Schick's) aqueduct can only have led from the very same source as the Siloam tunnel does at the present day, viz., from the Virgin's Fount — i.e., Gihon (2 Chron. xxxii. 30). * 4. There is no longer any room whatever for doubt as to the date of the Siloam tunnel ; every difficulty has been removed. It was certainly Hezekiah's work.t The same may also be said of the inscription. * 5. In my opinion Schick's aqueduct is to be attributed to Solomon, * 6. By this discovery an impetus ought to he given to excavation ivorh at Jerusalem. '■ An unknown quantity, too, has been eliminated from the j)i'oblem of discovering the sepulchres of David . . . but a search (on a line east and west) on the eastern side of Ophel must, in my opinion, reveal traces of the city wall ; and a further search based on this would, I believe, be rewarded by most .astonishing results — viz., the discovery of ancient tombs which must be royal. Perseverance, however, and money, too, will probably be needed to recover the sepulchre where David's dust " rests in hope " (if Matt, xxvii. 5 3 admit of it) ; the magnificent catacombs where Solomon " lies in his glory " ; the loculus (bed) of Asa, " filled with * •Jerusalem, p. 140. t Quarterly Statement,' 1883, p. 106. 526 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. divers kind of spices " — in short, the one intacfc monument of the kings of Judah.'* The remaining chapters of the second book of Chronicles but recapitulate the account of the closing days of the monarchy and the nationality of Judah. The reasons of the terrible fate which befell the Holy City, its Temple and people, are given by the inspired writer : 'And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending ; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place. ' But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy ' (2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16). ' It is a fearful thought that Israel was subjected to a Babylonian captivity of seventy years because it counted the covenant of God a dead document instead of a living power. It is a more appalling- question : What must be in reserve for those nations which will not have the law of God written in their hearts ; which choose to follow their own lower instincts ; which say to the Holy Spirit, *' Depart from us " ? But as tkere was a light in that thick darkness, so there is in this. The covenant of God cannot fail ; the purpose of God * The reader is refen-ed to the whole paper by the Kev. W. F. Birch ; it is most able. THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. 527 must be accomplished. There must come a day when God shall be known as the Father of all the families of the earth, and when they will not refuse to be His children.'*' * Maurice, * The Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament ' pp. 443, 444. NOTE TO PAGE 160. The discovery of the underground cities enables us to see the point of the promise Moses made to Israel : ' Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed ' (Deut. vii. 20). Also"^ : ' And I sent the hornet before you, •which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites ; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow ' (Josh. xxiv. 12). Therefore we can see that when the Amorites retired to these underground cities, which they would consider impregnable, clouds of hornets were sent to drive them out. The hornet makes its nest in various ways, some species placing them underground, some suspending them from trees. The Talmudical writers speak of the terrible power of the hornet, and say four could destroy a horse, and one kill a man, provided he was stung in the forehead. The sting is very severe indeed, exceeding in virulence that of the wasp, to which it is closely allied. The Talmudists say that these hornets killed the people by stinging them in the eye. Sir Dighton Probyn once gave me an account of a circum- stance which occurred to his celebrated regiment, ' Probyn's Horse,' during the Sepoy mutiny in India. He was feeling for the enemy, and had ordered his troopers to scour a wood some distance away, he remaining on some high ground. He noticed soon after the leading files had entered the wood that a panic had set in, for the men were seen to be spurring their horses in hurried retreat. He concluded that they had come suddenly upon a large force of the enemy, and therefore it would probably be a desperate fight. When some of the leading troopers got near him he found they were being attacked by clouds of wasps or hornets. Some trooper had noticed a nest and thoughtlessly pricked it with his lance, whereupon the enraged insects sallied out and defeated the regiment. GENEKAL INDEX. ABARIM, 173 Abdon, 486 Abel-beth-maacah (Abl), 331, 384, 455 Abel-meholah ('Ain Helweh), 236, 346, 400 Abel-cberamim, 24'2 Abel-sbittim (Kefrein), 165, 168 Abrabam's route, 5 Absalom's tomb, 330 Abu Ghosh, 198 Abu Shusheh, 310 Abu Simbal. Representations on the tomb at, 73, 179 Acco, 226 Achshaph (Kefr Yasif), 202, 209 Achzib (ez Zib), 226 Adam, The city (Tell Damieh), 183 Adullam, 209, 284 Ahlab (el Jish), 226 'Ai (et Tell, Kh. Haiyan ?), 178, 186, 188, 194 Ain, 483 'Ain Diik, 184 'Ain Hawarah, 118 'Ain el Jem'ain, 234 'Ain Meiyiteh, 404 'Ain Sultan, 414 Ajalon (Yalo), 227 Akrabbim, 227 Alemeth, 485 Aleppo, 5 Altars, 341, 344, 363 Alush, 127 Ammah. 303 Anab, 207 Anathoth ('Anata), 344, 485 Anem, 486 Aner, 485 Aphek ('Afka?), 211 Aphek (Belled el Foka?), 261 Aphek (Fik), 209, 226, 402 Aphek (Jebel Fukii'a), 292 Aphik, 226 Apple of Sodom, 23 Aqueducts, 523 'Arabah, 149 Arabah and the lowlands, 206 Arabs of Petra, 213 Arad (Tell Arad), 222 'Arak el Menshiyeh, 435 Aram, 480 Araunah, 336 Argob (el Lejjah), 5, 158 'Arish, el, 348 Arnon, 152 Aroer ('Ar'air), 241 Aroer ('Ar'arah), 294 Aruboth, 345 Arumah (el 'Orma), 239 Ashdoth Pisgah (Springs of Moses), 173, 208 Ashkelon ( Askalan), 223, 246 Ashtaroth, 485 Aslu], 291 Atad, The threshing-floor, 73 Athach, 295 Ashan, 483 Attara, 254 Atuma, Land of, 101 Avith, 480 Avva, 459 'Ayun, Abu Meharib, 249 'Ayun Kara, 249 Azekah, 200, 279 Azotus (Esdud), 507 BAAL-BERITH, 238 Baal-gad, 206 Baal-hazor (Tell 'Asur), 319 Baal of Judah, 311 Baal-perazim, 309 Baal, Prophets of, 392 Baal-zephon, 106 Badiet et Tib, 140 34 530 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Bahurim ('Almit), 304, 324 Bahr Bela Mi, 36 Bamoth Baal (Wady Jideid), 152, 167 Bashan, 347 Bashan, Hills of, 5 Bastinado, The, 87 Bealoth, 347 Bedawin, 300 Beer, 152 Beer - Lahai - Roi ('Ain el Muweileh), 19, 142 Beeroth (el Bireh), 198, 239 Beersheba, Arabic inscription, 27, 29 Beit Jibrm, 498 Beit Zer'ah, 156 Beni Hassan, 62, 74, 75, 87 ; re- presentations and inscription at, 205 Beni Kedem, 234 Bered, 19 Berothai, 313 Besor, The brook, 293 Betah, 313 Beth-anath ('Ainitha), 226 Beth-aven, 188, 273 Beth-barah (Makht 'Abarah), 236 Beth-bin, 483 Beth-car, 267 Beth-rehob (Hunin), 253 Bethel (Beitin), 6, 7, 10, 188, 231 The stone at, 37 Yiew from, 21 Beth-horon, the upper and lower, 199, 368 Beth-jeshimoth ('Ain Sueimeh), 165, 208 Beth-marcaboth, 483 Beth-merhak, 321 Bethshean, 346 Beth-shemesh ('Ain Shems), 226, 264, 345 Beth-shittah (Shutta), 236 Bethuel, 483 Bezek (Bezkah), 219 Bezek (Kh. Ibzik), 271 Bezer, 171, 487 Bileam, 485 Bilhah, 483 Bir, 5 Bir es Suweid, 404 Bithron, 303 Bitumen pits, 11 Blood feud, 67 Bochim (Weepers), 227 Boundary between Egypt and Palestine, 18 Bozez, 274 Bozrah, 161 Brick-making, 90 Bricks, Sun-dried, 134 Egyptian, 97 Brook Kedron, 321, 383 Brook of Egypt, 14 Bubastis, 79 riABXjL, 367 • V Caleb Ephratah, 481 Canaan, Land of, 6 Canaanitish Towns, 82 Canal of Seti, 89, 95, 106 Caravan route to Egypt, 431 Carmel (Kiirmu.1), 279 Cave of Machpelah, 33, 48, 178 Chapel on Sinai, 399 Chariots, 69, 369 Chemosh, 375 Chephirah (Kefireh), 198 Chun, 313 Cities of the Plain, 20 City of Brass, 185 City, Underground, 160 Commissariat stations, 347 Cor-ashan, 295 Coronation stone, 37 Cotton Grotto, 350 Cressets of fire, 107, 128 Cromlechs, 154 Cuneiform inscriptions, 229 Cuthah, 459 DABERATH, 486 Damascus, 5 Damieh, Fords of, 6, 355 Dan (Tell el Kady), 253, 336,384 Dan-jaan (Danian), 336 David's tomb, 342 Dead Sea, Depression of, 22 Dead Sea, rock salt, 24 Debir, 40, 206, 220, 485 Delta, The, 63, 94, 109 Delta, Cities of the, 64 Dhiban, 375 Dinhabah, 480 Dog River tablets, 483 Dophkah, 127 Dor (Tautuia). 203, 210, 224, 346 Dothan, The pit at, 54 GENERAL INDEX. 531 Do than, 430 Dung Gate, 431 EAST Country, The, 33 Eastern Customs, 38 East Sea, 21 Ebenezer (Deir Aban), 2(31 Ed, Altar of, 216 Edar, Tower of, 47 Ed Deir, 270 Edom, 149 Edrei (ed Der'aah), 159 Eglon (Tell 'Ajlan), 19(3 Egypt, River of, 14, 15 Egypt, The Israelites leaving, 103 Egyptian Sea, 106 Ekron ('Akir), 211, 263 Elah, Valley of (Wady es Sunt), 279, 283 Elam, 11 Elijah, 389, 394 Elim, 118 Elou-beth-hanan (Beit Anan), 345 Eloth, 411, 452 Eleutheropolis, 498 Embalming, Egyptian customs of, 72 Endor, 232, 292 En-ganuim, 439 Engedi ('Ain Jidy), 11, 238, 502 En-hakkore, 249 En-mishpat, 145, 146 En-rogel, 306, 323 Ephes-dammim (Beit Eased), 280 Eshcol, 145 Esek, Well of, 35 Eshtaol (Eshu'a), 245 Eshtemoa (Semua), 484 Etam, Rock (Beit 'Atab), 247 Etam (Urtas V), 483 Etham, 104 Wilderness of, 100, 111, 112, 113 Euphrates, River, 11 Ezem, 483 Ezion-Geber, 151, 369, 373, 411 FAKARIS, 327 Female Children, Scarcity of, 92 Ferry-boat, 329 Field of the Terebinth, 49 First Sallier Papyrus, 84 r^AASif, Hill of, 214, 228 ^ Gad, 334 Galeed, 39 Galilee, 5, 456 Gallim (Beit Jfila ?), 290 Gargah, el, 119 Gates, 497 Gath-hepher, 452 Gath-rimmon, 485 Gath (Tell es Safi), 263 Gaza (Guzzeh), 249 Geba (Jeba), 272, 384, 485 Gederah, 482 Gederoth, 512 Gedor (Jedur), 208 Gennesareth, 5 Gerar (Umm el Jerrar), 24 Geshur, 319, 480 Gezer, 310, 367 Gezer (Tell Jezar), 201, 225 Ghizeh, Representations on the tombs at, 73 Giah, 303 Gibbethon (Kibbieh), 385 Gibeah of Benjamin, 253 Gibeah (Tell el Fill), 266, 269, 270 Gibeon (el Jib), 196, 302 Gihon, Pool of, 341, 342, 461 Gilboa (Jelbon), 292 Gilead, 335 Gilgal (Tell Jiljnlieh), 184 Giloh (Jfila), 320 Gimzo, 513 Gob, 333 Goiim (Jeljulieh), 210 Golan in Bashan (Jaulan), 172, 485 Goshen, The Land of, 70, 77, 109 Gozan, 484 River, 459 Great Sea, 21 Gudgodah, 150 Gulf of Akabah, 11 Gulf of Suez, 107 Gutter, The, 336, 516 HABOR (Khabour), 459, 484 Hachilah, Hill of (el Kolah). 287 Haggai's Seal, 510 ■ Hajr el Mansiib, 37 Hajr el Sakhain, 484 Halah, 459, 484 Hamath (Hama), 211, 314, 459 34—2 532 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCO VERIES. Hammon (Hima), 486 Haram Wall, 509 Haran, 3, 4, 11 Hareth, Forests of (Kharas), 285 Harosheth (el Harithiyeh), 230 Hathirah, el, 16 Havilah, 278 Havilah on the way to Shur, 33 Havvoth Jair, 240 Hazav-Shual, 483 Hazar- Siisim, 483 Hazeroth, stone enclosures, 141 Hazezon Tamar, 502 Hazor, 206, 230, 367, 455 Hazor (Hadireh), 202 Hebron (el Khillil), 48, 298 Helam, 316 Heliopolis, 63, 110 Helkath, 226 Hepher, 209, 345 Hermon, 5 Heropolis, 70 Heshbon (Hesbfin), 153, 488 Hesy el Khattatin, 132 Hilen or Holen, 485 Hobab, 13 Holy of Holies, 193 Holy Place, 193 Hormah (S'beita), 146, 150, 208, 222, 295, 483 Houses, Ancient and Modern, 463 Hukok, 486 TBLEAM (Yebla), 224 -I Idol Worship, 374, 460 Ije Abarim, 151 li'on (el Khiam), 383, 455 Ismaila, 104 Ism Allah, 249 TABBOK River (The Zerka), 6, Jabesh Gilead (W. Yabis), 256-270 Jabez, 481 • Jacob, Death of, 71 Jacob's entry into Egypt, 74 Jacob's Well, 42 Jahaz (Miihatet el Haj), 153 Jahzah, 487 Jai, 255 Jair, Towns of, 347, 480 Janoah (Y/inuh), 455 Jarmuth (Tell Yarmuk), 196 Jashubi-lehem, 482 Jattir ('Attir), 294, 48 Jazer, 156, 335, 489 Jebel Attaka, 107 Jebel Halal, 142 Jebel Hammam Farun, 119 Jebel Muksheih, 106 Jebel Musa, 135 Jebel Neby Harim, 149 Jebel Osh'a, 238 Jebel Serbal, 130 Jebus, 306 Jehu, 441 Jericho (Eriha), 184, 186, 414 Jeruel, Wilderness of, 602 Jerusalem besieged, 471 Jeshimon, 152, 167 Jezebel, 387, 440 Jezreel (Zer'in), 404 Joab's Well, 516 Jogbehah (Jubeihat), 238 Jokmeam, 485 Jokneam of Carmel (Tell Keimun), 210, 346 Jordan, River, 182 Jorfs, 134 Joseph, Death of, 74 Joseph in Egypt, 56 Jotbath, 150 Judah, 502 KAB, el. Tablet at, 64 Kadesh-Barnea (Ain Kadi's), 11, 19, 141, 147, 148 Kadesh of the Hittites, 11, 82 Kadesh (Tell Abu Kadeis),^486 Kantara, 474 Karkor, 238 Kassassin, 103 Kedemoth, 487 Kedesh in Galilee (Kades), 455, 486 Keilah (Kh. Kila), 286 Kenath, 480 ' Khamseen ' Wind, 127 Kh. Erma, 265 Kh. Hora, 295, 222 Kh. Shufa, 255 Kh. Tafsah, 453 Kh. Zuheilikah, 291 Kibroth-Hattaavah (Erweis el Ebeirig ?), 139, 141 Kir, 457 Kirateh, 161 Kirbeh, el, 327 Kir-haraseth (Kerak), 415 Kirjathaim, 487 GENERAL INDEX. 533 Kirjath Jearim (Kh. Erma), 198, 252, 311 Kirjath Sepher, 206 Kitron (Seffurieh), 225 Kuriet el 'Enab, 265 Kurm Dhiban, 241 Kfirn Silrlubeb, 215, 355 Kusr el Bint el Yehudi, 475 LACniSH, 481 Ladder of Tyre, 347 Laish (Tell el Kady), 253 Lake of Huleh, 205 Lake Menzaleh, 474 Lake Timsab, 104 Land of Goshen, 206 Lasharon (Sarona), 209 Lebanon, 5 Lebonah (Lubban), 261 Lejjah, el, 5 Lejjun, 440 Lentils, favourite dish, 34 Lepers, 508 Letopolis, 110 Libnah, 435, 462, 484 Lod, 489 Lo-debar, 314 Lowland and the Arabah, 206 Lubban (sour buttermilk), 232 M AACAH, 315 Machpelah, Cave of, 299 Madon (Madun), 202, 209 Maghara, 122 Mahaneh-dan (W. Mutluk), 245 Mahanaim, 39, 40, 302, 326, 488 Mahrakah, el, 394 View from, 396 Makkedah (el Mughfir), 200 Makaz, 345 Mamre, 11, 22 Manahath, 489 Maon (Tell M'ain), 287 Marah, Waters of ('Ay tin Miisa), 110, 111, 115 Mareshah (Kh. Merash), 498 Mashal, 486 Masonry of the Haram Wall and the Mosque at Hebron, 57 Masons' marks, 353, 357 Mattaneh (Wady Waleh), 152 Mareighat, el, 169 Markha, el, 125 Mearah (Mugharah), 211 Medeba, 493 Megiddo, 210, 225, 346, 367, 440, 469 Memphis, Linen found at, 61 Menhirs, 37, 39, 46, 169 Mephaath, 487 Merom, Waters of, 205 Meshed, el, 452 Michmash (Mukhmas), 272 Midian, 233, 482 Midian, Land of, 93 Migdel, 106 Millo, 239, 308, 367, 378, 444 Minnith (Minyeh), 168, 241 Mizpah of Gilead, 39, 40 Mizpeh, Land of, 205 Mizpeh of Benjamin, 254, 384 Mizpeh of Moab (Suf), 284 Moab, Plains of, 165 Moabite Stoues, 417 Moladah, 482 Moloch, 375, 457, 511 Moreh, Hill of, 293 Moreh, Terebinths of, 189 Moserah (Jebel Moderah), 149 Moses, Birth of, 92 Mount Ebal, 190, 194 Mount Gerizim, 31, 191, 194 Mount Halak, 206, 208 Mount Heres (Batn Harosheh), 227 Mount Hermon, 484 Mount Hermon. Snow on, 490 Mount Hor, 146, 148, 150 Mount Moriah, 30, 192, 364 Mount of Elias, 321, 399 Mount Seir, 11, 149, 484 Mount Zalmon, 239 Mount Zemaraim, 496 Mugheir, 3 Mukhnah, el, 42, 239 NAARAN, 489 . Nagb Buderah, 124 Nagb Haw a, 135 Nahaliel (Wady Zerka M'ain, 152 Nahalol ('Ain Mahil), 225 Naioth, 281 Nakbl, 17 Naphtali, 456 Nawamis, 140 Nebo, View from, 174 Nebo. Neba, 169, 173 Neby Samwil, 197, 254 ' Negeb, 145, 206 Nob, 282, 385 534 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCO VERIES. Nobah (Kun^wat), 238 OAK of Meonenim, 239 Og's bedstead, 163 Ono, 489 Ophel, Wall in, 509 Ophir, 370 Ophrah (et Taiyibeh), 273 Oreb, Rock of, 236 'Osh el Ghurab, 237 PAi, or Pau, 480 Papyrus of the ^Twelfth Dynasty, 8 Paran, el (Nakhl), 11 Paran, Wilderness of, 27 Peniel, 40 Penuel, 237 Peor, Clifeof, 167, 168 Peor, Cliff of, view from, 168 Petra, 148, 150, 447 Pharpar River, 5 Phoenician workmen, 350, 354 Pi-hahiroth, 106 Pillar, The, 191 Pisgah, 173 Pithom and Rameses, 91, 94, 109 Pi thorn (Tell el Maskhiita), 96 Pool of Gibeon, 197 Pool of Samaria, 407, 433 Pool of Siloam, 516 Q UAILS, 127 RABBATH AmMON, 317 Rachal, 294 Rachel's Tomb, 4S Rahah, er, 135 Ramah (er Ram), 231, 383 Ramath Lehi, 249 Ramathaim-Zophim, 257 Rameses, Land of, 70 Rameses, 103 Rameses II., Conquests of, 83 Ramoth, 486 Ramoth in Gilead (es Salt), 171, 172, 240, 487 Ramoth in the South, 294 Ras Siifsafeh, 136 Rechab, House of; 482 Red Sea, Way of the, 27, 93 Red Sea, 106, 111 Rehoboth (Ruheibeh), 35 Rehob, 226 Rephaim, 309 Rephaim, Plain of, 464 Rephidim (Wady Feiran), 129, 131, 132 Retem, The Shade of the Desert, 26, 398 Riblah, 469 Rimmon, 487 Rimmon Rock (Riimmon), 254 River of Egypt, 348 Roads, Ancient, in the Desert, 69 Robinson's Arch, 354, 370 Rude-stone Monuments, 316 Rude-stone Monuments at Suf, 40 SAFtjT, 156 Salcah (Salkhad), 162, 208 Salt Sea, The, 21 Samaria, 386 Sarepta, 205 Seal, The use of the, 61 Sea of Chinneroth, 208 Sea of the Plain, 21 Sea of Reeds, 111 Sebustieh, 409 Secu, or Sechu (Kh. Shuweikeh) 282 Seffurieh, 452 Sell el Dibleh, 221 Seirah, 229 Sela-hammahlekoth (Wady Ma- laki), 288 Sela, Joktheel, 447 Seneh, 274 Sepharvaim, 459 Sephoris, 452 Serabit el Khadim, 122 Shaalbim (Selbit), 227 Shaalim, 268 Shaaraim (Kh. Saireh), 281 Shaaraim, 483 Shalishah, 268 Shamir, 240 Sharon, east of Jordan, 484 Shebarim, 187 Shechem, 6 Shepherd, Dress of the, 52 Shepherd's Plain, 48 Shihor (Wady el 'Arish), 211 Shiloh (Seilfm), 256, 260 Shimron-Meron, 209 Shimron (Semunieh), 202 GENERAL INDEX. 535 Ships on the Lower Jordan and Dead Sea, 24 Shocho, 513 Shunem (Solam), 292, 427 Shur, Desert of, 17, 278 Shur, Fountain in the way to, 18 Shur, The way of, 7 Shur, The Wilderness of, 112, 113, 114 Siaghah, 173 Siddim, Vale of, 11 Siloam inscription, 522 Siloam, Pool of, 342 Silwan, 340 Sin, Wilderness of, 125 Sinai, Desert of, 7, 136 Siphmoth, 204 Sirah ('Am Sareh), 304 Sitnah, Well of, 35 Slime, or bitumen pits, 11 Socoh (Kh. Shuweikeh), 279, 345 Sodom and Gomorrah, Destruc- tion of, 22 Solomon, Death of, 377 Sorek, Valley of (W. Surar), 250 Springs of Elisha, 184 Stone Circles, 141 Straw, Crushed, 98 Succoth in Egypt, 100, 103 Succoth (Dar'ala), 42, 237, 355 Suez Canal, Making of the, 88 Suf, 41 TAANACii (T'annuk), 346 Tabbath, 236 Tadmor, 368 Tahpanhes (Defenneh), 474 Tahtim Hodshi, 335 Tale of the Two Brothers, 57 Talluza, 381 Tanis of Pharaoh, 109 Tanis, Present state of, 101 Tappuab, 209 Tai'shish, 374 Teiasir, 381 Tekoa (Teku'a), 319 Telaim, 278 Tell el Kebir, Mode of attack, 13 Tell el Kussis, 396 Tell el Maskhuta, Temple found at 95 Tell'eiZahrah, 346 Tell Jemmeh, 25 Tell es Sarem, 184, 346 Tells in the Jordan Valley, 185 Temple, Site of the, 355 Temple, Solomon's, 493 Thebes, Linen found at, 61 Thebes, Representations at, 58, 62, 69, 83, 90, 179 Thebez (Tiibas), 239 Tibbath, 313 Timnah, 513 Timnath Heres (Kefr Haris), 228 Timnath-Serah (Kefr Karis), 214 Timnath (Tibnah), 245 Tiphsah, 452 Tirza, 381 Tirz.ib, 211 Tob, Land of (Taiyibeh), 241 Tochin, 483 Tolad, 483 Towns, 497 Tuweil edh Dhiab, 237 U MM jAt)ZEH, 156 XTr of the Chaldees, VALLEY OF ACIIOR (Wadv Kelt), 187 Valley of Berachah, 503 Valley of Charasbim, 482 Valley of Jezreel, 346 Valley of Salt, 447 Valley of Zephathah, 499 Vessels of Brass, 355 Villages, 497 Virgin's Fount, 514 W ADY 'AjLtjN, 327 Wady 'Arabah, 151 Wady el 'Ain, 19 Wady el 'Allan, 172 Wady el 'Arisb, 15 Wady el Bif, 36 Wady el Hebeibeh, 139 Wady es Sheikh, l;-}3 Wady Far'ah. 6 Wady Gharandel, 118 Wady Hamr, 120 Wady Kelt, 38 J Wady Mahneh, 327 Wady Mojib, 152, 334 Wady Mokatteb, 129 Wady Musa, 449 Wady,Nasb, 122 Wady Shellal, 123 Wady Sheri'ab, 25 Wady Subeikeh, 120 Wady Sudur, 115 536 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Wady Seileikat, 327 Wady Suweinit, 272 Wady Taiyibeh, 120, 124 Wady Tumilat, Mounds in, 95, 104, 474 Wady Useit, 119 Wady Werdan, 117 Wady Yabis, 389 Wagons, 69 Watch-Tower, 503 Weaning of Children, 25 Well of Hagar, 19, 32 Well of Harod ('Ain Jalud), 234 Wells in the Desert, 25, 20, 35 Wells of Moses, 110 yuKiN, 287, 290 ^AANANNIM, 231 ^ Zagazig, Monuments at, 78 Zair, 435 Zared, Yalley of, 151 Zarephath, 390 Zartanah, 346 Zeboim, 273 Zelah, 333 Zephath (S'beita ?), 142, 146, 209, 222 Zererah (Tell Sarem), 236 Zidon (Saida), 205, 206 Ziklag, 291, 483 Zion, 308 Ziph, Wilderness of (Tell Zif ), 286 Ziph, Wood of, 287 Ziz, CliflE of, 502 Zoan, Field of, 101 Zoan in Egypt, 15, 48, 55 Zoar, Identification of, 22, 24 Zoheleth, 340 Zophim, Field of (Tal'at es Safa), 166, 167 Zorah (Sur'ah), 245, 482 LIST OF PRINCIPAL BOOKS CONSULTED. (1.) The Publications of the Palestine Exploration Fund, viz. : The Quarterly Statements. Memoirs of the Survey of Western Palestine. Volume of Special Papers. Jerusalem. Volume. The Old and New Testament Maps. The Recovery of Jerusalem. Our Work in Palestine. Twenty-one Years' Work in Palestine. Syrian Stone Lore. j Tent Work in Palestine. • By Major Conder. Heth and Moab. ) Names and Places. By George Armstrong. Across the Jordan. "4-d tt ou^ i,^., a f i.1 T 1 - i By Herr Schumacher. Survey 01 the Jaulan. j -^ Mount Seir. By Professor Hull. (2.) The Publications of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society. The Holy Places visited by Antoninus Martyr. The Pilgrimage of the Holy Paula. Procopius on the Buildings of Justinian. El Mukaddasi. The Bordeaux Pilgrim. The Abbot Daniel. The Norman-French Description of Jerusalem and Country. The Travels of Nazir I Khusrau. Arculfus de Locis Sanctis. Joannes Phocas de Locis Sanctis. (3.) The Publications of the Egyptian Exploration Fund. (4.) Other Publications : History of Jerusalem. By Walter Besant and Prof. E. H. Palmer. Primer of Bible Geography. ^ -o tv/t • n ;i Handbook to the Bible j^^ ^^J°^ ^^^-^^^^^ Ordnance Survey of Sinai. Ancient Egyptians. By Sir G. Wilkinson. Desert of the Exodus. By Professor Palmer. 538 THE BIBLE AND MODERN DISCOVERIES. Life and Times of Abraham. By Eev. H. C. Tomkins. Art in PWcia. j^^ ^^^'"^^ ^^^ ^^^P^^^- Josephus. The Holy City. By Canon Williams. Land of Israel. 1 t^ -r. n m • j. Land of Moab. r^^"^' ^^^^^°^ Tristram. Eesearches in Palestine. By Robinson. By-Paths of Bible Knowledge. History of Judah and Israel. By Dr. Edersheim. Egypt. By Dr. Ebers. Egypt. By McCoan. Cities of Egypt. By E. S. Poole. Holy Land. By Hepworth Dixon. The Holy Land. By Canon Tristram. Haifa. By Laurence Oliphant. Dictionary of the Bible. By Dr. Smith. Bible Cyclopaedia. By Canon Pawcett. Land and the Book. By Dr. Thomson. Land of Midian. ]-c o • -d • u ^ -d j. Mecca and Medinah. j ^^ ^'"^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^'^^^^ Kadesh Barnea. By Dr. Trumbull. Hebrew Migrations. By Dr. Baker Greene. Sinai Photographed. By Eev. C. Foster. Prophets and Kings of Old Testament. By Eev. Pro- fessor Maurice. Life and Letters of Eev. Charles Kingsley. Palestine Explored. By Eev. James Neil. East of Jordan. By Dr. Selah Merrill. Travels in Syria. By Burckhardt. Sinai and Palestine. 1 -r "n Qf i Lectures on the Jewish Church. /-^^ ^^^"^ Stanley. Phoenicia : Story of the Nations. By Professor G. Eawlinson, M.A. The Jews ,, ,, ,, By Hosmer. Chaldea ,, ,, ,, By Eagozin. Caravan Eoute between Egypt and Syria. By Crown Prince Eudolph. Travels in the East. By Crown Prince Eudolph. The Monuments of Upper Egypt. By Marriette Bey. Ancient History from the Monuments. By Henry S. Palmer. Eob Eoy on the Jordan. By John Macgregor. The Land of Gilead. By L. Oliphant. THE END. BILLING AND SONS, PBINTEItS, GUILDFORD. A Desc7-iptive List of the Books Published by Alexander P. PVatt London LONDON ALEXANDER P. \\ k 'Y T 2 PATERNOSTER S(^)UARE 1890 Tabic of Contents of this Catalogue. PAGE Across the Jordan. G. Schumacher... ... ... ... 9 Altaic Hieroglyphs and Hittite Inscriptions. Major Conder Archaeological Mission of M. Clermont-Ganneau, The Bible and Modern Discoveries, The. Henry A. Harper . Board School Laryngitis. Greville MacDonald Diseases of the Nose, A Treatise on. Greville MacDonald Flora and Fauna of Palestine, The. Canon Tristram ... 9 Flora and Fauna of Wady Arabah, The. Chichester Hart 12 Geology of Palestine and Arabia Petrcea, The. Prof. E. Hull 8 Health: A Journal of Domestic and Sanitary Science ... 14 Heth and Moab. Major Conder ... ... ... ... 7 Jaulan, The. G. Schumacher ... ... ... ... 9 Terusalem. .Sir Charles Warren and Major Conder ... 8 Memoirs, The. {See Survey of Western Palestine) Mount Seir. Prof. Edward Hull 8 Name Lists. {See Survey of Western Palestine) Names and Places in the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha. G.Armstrong ... ... ... .. 10 Names and Places in the New Testament. G. Armstrong 10 Nasal Obstruction. Greville MacDonald ... Nasal Respiration. Greville MacDonald ... Our Work in Palestine. W. Besant... Pella. G. Schumacher (Quarterly Statement ... .Satchel Guide, A .Special Papers. {See Survey of Western Palestine) .Survey of Palestine, The .Survey of Western Palestine, The Syrian .Stone Lore. Major Conder ... Tent Work in Palestine. Major Conder Twenty-one Years' Work in the Holy Land. W. Besant Books on ^iiJcstine. The Com mi t tee of the Palestine Exploration Fund have appointed Mr. JVatt their Publisher and the Sole Agent for the sale of their books to the general public. These books (of which a detailed account will be found below) are ab- solutely unrivalled by any works on the Holy Land, ancient or modern ; even by those maltose nwst valuable portions are those taken from the work of the Society. It must never be forgotten that no single traveller, however well equipped by previous study, can conpete with a scientific Books on ^ale^rine. body of explorers, working on well- defined lines, well instructed as to the places and methods of examination, and provided with the instrnments required for the conduct of their wo7^k. The following enumeration of the officers who have worked for the Society in the field will show the character and authority of these names, and the weight which such names lend to the work in hand. Col. Sir Charles Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.AI.G., LL.D., F.R.S., R.E. Ordnance Surveyor of Jerusalem and the Peninsula of Sinai ; afterwards of the Intelligence Department, Consul-General of Anatolia, and now Director of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain. Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., R.E. In command of the Excavations at Jerusalem, Governor of Griqualand West, Instructor in Surveying at Chatham, late Head of the Metropolitan Police, Governor of the Straits Settlement. Book0 oil pale0tine. Major Anderson, C.M.G., R.E. Who accompanied Sir Charles (then Captain) Wilson to Jeru- salem. Died 1879. Major Conder, R.E. Surveyor of Western Palestine and portion of Eastern Palestine, Author of the books detailed below : now on the Staff of the Ordnance Survey. Lieut.-Col. Kitchener, C.B., C.M.G., R.E. Who accompanied Major Conder, and completed alone the Survey of Western Palestine. Late Governor of Suakim. Captain Mantell, R.E. Who accompanied Major Conder in the Eastern Survey. Edward Henry Palmer, M.A. Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic, Cambridge ; Fellow of St, John's College, Cambridge. Explorer of the Desert of the Exodus, Translator of the Koran, and Author of many valuable Oriental works. Murdered by Arabs, 1882. C. p. Tyrwhitt Drake, F.R.G.S. Who accompanied Palmer in his journey across the Desert, Burton in his wanderings about North Syria, and Conder in the Survey of Western Palestine. Died in Jerusalem, 1875. His literary remains were collected and published (Bentley & Son) in the following year. Charles Clermont-Ganneau. For many years attached to the French Consulate, Jerusalem ; now Professor of Sinaitic Archaeology at the Sorbonne. Edward Hull, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. Professor of Geology, Dublin. C'hief of the Geological Expedi- tion to the Valley of Akabah in 1883. Book0 on Palestine. Conrad Schick. Who has resided for a great many years at Jerusalem, and is as well acquainted with the city and with the question at issue as any person in the world. Gottlieb Schumacher, C.E. Of Haifa. A young German engineer who has recently done excel- lent work for the Society. Rev. Greville Chester. This traveller has made several minor expeditions for the Society. Among them are journeys to the Island of Ruad (the Phoenician Aradus), across the neck of country between the Suez Canal and Gaza to the seaboard bordering North Svria, &c. The following are the Works Pub- lished for the Society by Mr. IVatt: Henry A. Harper, Author of " Illustrated Letters to my Children," "Walks in Palestine," &c., &c. The Bible and Modern Discoveries. With Map, Index, and Illustrations. In i vol. Demy 8vo, i6s. The man who could write such a book as the above must possess three necessary qualifications. He must have travelled in Palestine — not, that is, gone on a tour, but actually travelled in the old sense, which did not mean lying down in one place at night and going on again in the morning. Next, he must possess an intimate knowledge of the book to be illustrated. The third qualification necessary for one who should add a new commentary capable of being read and understood by all, is the power of writing popularly and vividly. All three qualifications appeared to the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund to be possessed by the Author of Boofe0 o:\ Palesitine. this work. Mr. Henry A. Harper has been a traveller, not a tourist. Not once, but twice his feet have lingjered over these holy fields. He is an artist who has painted the lands of Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt. He has a profound knowledge of the Bible, and a deep love for every portion of it ; his reading is not limited to St. Paul on the one hand, noi to the book of Job on the other. He knows every part of the Bible. And, finally, he has shown in his "Letters to my Children from the Holy Land " how well he can illustrate with pen and pencil the scenes of the Bible. In this new work, therefore, the Author has attempted a thing hitherto untried, //t' /las taken the smred hisforv as related in the Bible, step by step, and has retold it with explanations and illustrations draivn from modern research and from personal observation. He has, in short, written a book w hich it is hoped will prove that long-desired popular connection of scientific ex- ploration with the subject which exploration was intended to illustrate. Major Conder, R.E. Tent Work in Palestine. In i vol. 8vo. Illustrated. 6s. A popular account of the Survey of Western Palestine, freely illustrated by drawings made by the Author himself. This is not a dry record of the sepulchres, or a descriptive catalogue of the ruins, springs, and valleys, but a continuous narrative full of observations upon the manners and customs of the people, the Biblical associations of the sites, the Holy City and its memories, and is based upon a six years' experience in the country itself. No other modern traveller has enjoyed the same advantages as Major Conder, or has used his opportunities to better purpose. Heth and Moab. In i vol. 8vo. Illustrated. 6s. Under the above title Major Conder provides a narrative, as bright and as full of interest as " Tent Work," of the Expedition for The Survey of Eastern Palestine. How the party began by a flying visit to North Syria in order to discover the Holy City (Kadesh) of the children of Heth ; how they succeeded in their search, and what they saw ; how they fared across the Jordan, and what discoveries they made there, will be found in this volume. l5ojkvJ oil iBalc0rme. Syrian Stone Lore. In i vol, 8vo. Illustrated. 6s. This volume, the least known of Major Conder's works, probably on account of its somewhat unattractive title, is, none the less the most valuable to the Biblical student. It attempts a task never before approached— the reconstruction of Palestine from its monuments. It shows, in fact, all that 7ve should knotv of Syria if there were no Bible at all, and it illustrates the Bible from the monuments which remain. Altaic Hieroglyphs and Hittite Inscriptions. In I vol. 8vo, 5s. This book is an attempt to read the Hittite inscriptions. It is not yet possible to say how far the Author has succeeded. It is certain, however, that he has, as yet, seen no reason to change his views since the publication of the work. Sir Chas. Warren and Major Conder. Jerusalem. Illustrated, with a Portfolio of 50 Sheets of Designs and Plans. In i vol. 4to, ;^5 5s. This great work, which is also included in that entitled, " The Survey of Western Palestine " [see page 13), is certainly by far the most important book on the subject that has ever appeared. It includes the whole of the discoveries made in and around the Holy City from the Ordinance Survey in 1865, until its publication in 1885. It also contains a brief history of the city, an account of its jiionuments, &c. Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., etc. The Geology of Palestine and Arabia Petrasa. With Illustrations and Coloured Maps. In I vol., uniform with the "Jerusalem" volume and "The Survey of Western Palestine." 4to, ;i^i is. Mount Seir. Illustrated. In i vol. 8vo, 6s. This book is a popular, brightly written account of a bold and adventurous journey across Sinai, up the Valley of the .•\kabah, and round the shores of the Dead Sea, &.C., during the Geological Expedition. L^ooku oil i3iile0tine. Gottlieb Schumacher, C.E. Across the Jordan. Maps and Illustrations. In I vol. 8vo, 65. This book is the history of a short Survey undertaken by Herr Schumacher for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the little known and deeply interesting country of the Hauran. The Jaulan. Containing 144 Ilkistrations, as well as Plans and Coloured Maps. In i vol. 8vo, 6s. This is the record of a journey for the survey of a district hardly ever trodden by ICuropeans, and full of strange and in- teresting monuments. Pella. With Map and 24 Illustrations. In I vol. Paper covers, 2s. 6d. A Survey, of Fahil, the ancient Pella, first home of the Chris- tians after their retreat from Jerusalem. All these books by Herr Schumacher are most valuable and interesting. They treat of portions of country little known, rarely visited, and never before surveyed. Herr Schumacher plans and sketches the ruins with ability and carefulness. .All three volumes are strongly recommended. Canon Tristram, F.R.S. LL.D., etc. The Flora and Fauna of Palestine. With 20 Full-page Illustrations, of which 13 are coloured by hand. In i vol. 410, ^3 3s. This noble work — also included in the series entitled, ' ' The Survey of Western Palestine" {set' page 13) — contains a com- plete catalogue of all the vertebrate Fauna, including the fresh- water fishes ; the most singular portion of the I^alestine Fauna, the terrestrial and fluviatile mollusca, and phanerogamic plants and the ferns. The Hebrew names, so far as known {i.e., every Hebrew name found in the Bible), and the vernacular Arabic names are given ; the authority and original description of every species is given in reference, and the geographical area of each species, which in every case has been carelully worked out. Short accounts are given of the most interesting and conspicuous species, and the fishes of the Sea of Galilee are very fullv described. 10 Boohs on ^alesrinr. Walter Besant. Our Work in Palestine. In i vol. 8vo, 3s. 6d. (Third Thousand.) This book, published in 1871, ran tlirough 10,000 copieb, but is now out of print (though a lew copies may remain), and is now quite out of date. It has been superseded by Twenty-one Years' Work in the Holy Land. Containing over 50 Illustrations. In i vol. 8vo, 3s. 6d. This httle work, written by one who is a complete master of the subject in all its details, is designed to answer a question often put — Why the Palestine Exploration Fund Society has no resume of its work for popular use ? This volume endeavours to give such a resume ; it points out in general terms the Biblical gains resulting from the work of the Society ; and it shows also in general terms what remains to be done. George Armstrong. Assistant Secretary to Palestine Exploration Fund. Names and Places in the Old and ISiew Testament and Apocrypha. In i vol. 8vo, 6s. This is a book which has been very often asked for, and has never yet been supplied. It is absolutely indispensable for everv one who pretends to a minute study of anv portion of the Bible. The index to the Old Testament sites includes upwards of 1,150 names of places in the Holy Land, Mesopotamia, Edom, the Desert of Sinai, and Egypt, being, it is believed, all thote that are mentioned in the Old Testament and Apocrypha. The index to the New Testament sites contains 162 names, with references to Josephus (Whiston's), in addition to those in the New Testament. Of these names 144 are known, 10 un- certain, and 8 not identified. Names and Places in the New Testament. Published separately. Paper covers, is. 6d. For description see above. 25ool\0 on i^alcsri'nc* n The Quarterly Statement. Published in January, April, July, and October, of each year. Each part 2s. 6d. Cloth cases for binding four parts, is. 6d. This journal commenced in March, iSSg, and has been con- tinued without a break to the present time. It is an invalualjle repository of discovery and researcli recorded from day to day ; not only in presenting finished results, but the unfinished work in progress. Here may be read Conder's letters written in the field, the reports of Palmer, Drake, Kitchener, Clermont- Ganneau, and others, with notes by occasional travellers ; speculative and controversial papers, and all kinds of essays and papers on subjects connected with the Holy Land. It is a monument of Palestinian research. Unfortunately, a complete edition is very rare, and is worth a great deal. It is issued free to subscribers, and is priced at 2s. 6d. to the public. It was edited from 1869 to 1888 by Mr. Walter Besant, and is now edited by Dr. Chaplin, for many years Medical Officer in Jerusalem. The Survey of Palestine Consists of the following three volumes, uniform in size and appearance with the work en- titled, " The Survey of Western Palestine." For price and other particulars see below. The Survey of Eastern Palestine. This Sur- vey, commenced by Major Conder, and stopped by order of the Turkish Government, consists of 500 square miles. The country is full of interest, and abounds with ruins of places IJiblical and Classical. Among these ruins are most wonderful fields of dolmens and stone circles. Major Conder has made drawings of these. They are also Special Surveys of all the most important ruins in the district surveyed. The map of the Survey, reduced to the scale of one-third, will be added to the volume. All Major Conder's drawings and plans, numbering more than 350, have been engraved. The Memoirs supplied by Major Conder have been printed under his supervision. Among them are descriptions, with plans and drawings, ofHeshbon, Amman (Rabboth Ammon), 'Arak el Emir (the Castle of Hyrcanus), tlie Persian building formerly considered a Byzantine Church, and other interesting remains. This volume is now ready, and bemg issued to subscribers. 12 Bookd on Palestine. The Archaeological Mission of M. Clermont- Ganneau. More than ten years have elapsed since these drawings were placed in the hands of the Committee by M. Clermont-Ganneau. They are most exquisitely drawn by M. I.ecomte, and are chiefly of architectural value. It is most desirable that they should no longer be withheld from the world. The only possible way of publishing them is by subscription in this manner. The blocks are 484 in number. Of these about 12 have already been published, the whole of the rest having remained locked up, inaccessible to any one but the members of the Committee. The letterpress will be descriptive of the plates, and not longer than is necessary. M. Clermont-Ganneau will supervise the whole. This volume will be issued shortly. The Flora and Fauna of the Wady Arabah. Mr. Chichester Hart accompanied Professor Hull in his Geo- logical Expedition as naturalist. This volume is the outcome of the journey. It contains — A. An Analysis of the Flora and Fauna of Sinai, with general remarks on its botany and that of the Dead Sea Basin. By H. Chichester Hart. B. Insecta. C. Mollusca. D. Reptilia. E. Aves. F. Mammalia. As regards the Illustrations to this volume it is enough to state that they will be in the same style and equal to those in Canon Tristram's Flora and Fauna of Palestine. These three volumes are not sold separately. The edition is limited to 500 copies, and the type will be dis- tributed immediately after printing. The subscribers to the first edition (250 copies) of the "Survey of Western Palestine," are entitled to receive these volumes at the reduced price of £■] 7s. Xo copies will be disposed of under the price of £■] ys. the set The first 250 subscribers are entitled to the reduction in price, whether they be subscribers to the first work or not ; but the price will be ^12 12s. to all subsequent subscribers, unless they are subscribers to the " Survey of Western Palestine." ^n Illustrated Circular giving ftn-ther particulars will be sent, post free, on application. Sooltd on Pfllcitine. 13 The Survey of Western Palestine. Less than 20 sets of this magnificent work now remain. The price of these has been fixed at 25 guineas each. The set will never be reprinted, with the exception of the two volumes " Flora and Fauna " and " Jerusalem." It consists of the follow- ing in seven uniform volumes. 4to. The Memoirs. Being the Notes taken in the Field by Major Conder, D.C.L.. R.E., and Colonel Kitchener, C.M.G., A.D.C.R. E. , re-written and arranged after their return. With hundreds of illustrations of tombs, ruins, &c. , drawn expressly for these volumes, and not to be found anywhere else. 3 vols. The Name Lists. Transliterated from the Arabic with translation by Major Conder, R. E. , and edited by Professor E. H. Palmer, i vol. The Volume of Special Papers. Consisting mostly of reprints of important papers froni the ' ' Quarterly State- ment," by Col. Sir Charles Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G,, F.R.S.. D.C.L., LL.D.. R.E. ; Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., R.E. ; Major Conder, D.C.L., R.E. ; M. Clermont-Ganneau, Mr. Greville Chester, &c. i vol. The Flora and Fauna of Palestine. With many Illustrations (hand-painted). By Canon Tristram, LL.D., F. R.S. I vol. This volume may be had separately. For further particulars see page 9. The Jerusalem Volume. With a Portfolio of 50 Plates. By Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., and Major Conder, D.C.L. , R.E. i vol. This volume may be had separately. For price and all particulars see page 8. The Maps. All Ilhistrated Circular giving all information about the above 7vill be sent, post free, on application. 14 Sl^ctiical Books. Medical Publications. Greville MacDonald, M.D. Lond. A Treatise on Diseases of the Nose, with Chromolithographs, numerous Woodcuts, and Plates. In I vol. Post 8vo. Cloth extra. Ready ear/y in Febrttary. Nasal Obstruction, in Relation to Throat and Ear Disease. In i vol. Demy 8vo, with two plates, 5s. 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For particulars see " Health." " Health " is written in plain and non-technical language, and in a thoroughly popular style, thus adapting itself for the instruction of all classes in sanitary and health science. Si e.ucljel (Bufoe, €h. 15 That " advice gratis is never valued," is an old sayinc; ; but there is one proof that the remark is nor always true. This is shown by the success of " Our Letter Box," which is a depnrt- ment of " Health " wherein space is devoted every week to the publication of correspondence on health matters. Here, also, queries from readers relating to general, sanitary, and medical matters will find their replies. A Satchel Guide. For the Vacation Tourist in Europe. Roan flexible. Small 8vo, 6s. Thoroughly revised throughout, and printed from entirely new plates, and furnishing a compact Itinerary of the British Isles, Belgium and Holland, Germany and the Rhine, Austria and Italy, Switzerland and France. 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