Chapter II: Palestine (5)

“I, Mesha, am the son of Chemosh-Gad, king of Moab, the Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father. And I erected this stone to Chemosh at Korcha, a (stone of) salvation, for he saved me from all despoilers, and made me see my desire upon all my enemies, even upon Omri, king of Israel. Now they afflicted Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will afflict Moab. In my days (Chemosh) said, (Let us go) and I will see my desire on him and his house, and I will destroy Israel with an everlasting destruction. Now Omri took the land of Medeba, and (the enemy) occupied it in (his days and in) the days of his son, forty years. And Chemosh (had mercy) on it in my days; and I fortified Baal-Meon, and made therein the tank, and I fortified Kiriathaim. For the men of Gad dwelt in the land of (Atar)oth from of old, and the king (of) Israel fortified for himself Ataroth, and I assaulted the wall and captured it, and killed all the warriors of the wall for the well-pleasing of Chemosh and Moab; and I removed from it all the spoil, and (offered) it before Chemosh in Kirjath; and I placed therein the men of Siran and the men of Mochrath. And Chemosh said to me, Go, take Nebo against Israel. (And I) went in the night, and I fought against it from the break of dawn till noon, and I took it, and slew in all seven thousand (men, but I did not kill) the women (and) maidens, for (I) devoted them to Ashtar-Chemosh, and I took from it the vessels of Yahveh, and offered them before Chemosh. And the king of Israel fortified Jahaz and occupied it, when he made war against me; and Chemosh drove him out before (me, and) I took from Moab two hundred men, all its poor, and placed them in Jahaz, and took it to annex it to Dibon. I built Korcha, the wall of the forest, and the wall of the city, and I built the gates thereof, and I built the towers thereof, and I built the palace, and I made the prisons for the criminals within the walls. And there was no cistern in the wall at Korcha, and I said to all the people, Make for yourselves, every man, a cistern in his house. And I dug the ditch for Korcha by means of the (captive) men of Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the road across the Arnon. I built Beth-Bamoth, for it was destroyed; I built Bezer, for it was cut (down) by the armed men of Dibon, for all Dibon was now loyal; and I reigned from Bikran, which I added to my land, and I built (Beth-Gamul) and Beth Diblathaim and Beth-Baal-Meon, and I placed there the poor (people) of the land. And as to Horonaim, (the men of Edom) dwelt therein (from of old). And Chemosh said to me, Go down, make war against Horonaim, and take (it. And I assaulted it, and I took it, and) Chemosh (restored it) in my days. Wherefore I made ... year ... and I ...”

In 1881 Major Conder, aided by Lieutenant Mantell, was sent out to begin the systematic survey of Eastern Palestine. The country at that time was very much disturbed; but the party crossed the Jordan into Moab, and for two anxious months laboured at very high pressure. After measuring a base-line and connecting their triangulation with that west of the river, they worked over 500 square miles in detail. And even after attention was drawn to their presence they were able to extend their work over a considerable area, and they came back from the desert with their hands full of valuable results.

One of the most remarkable discoveries was the abundance of menhirs, dolmens, and stone-circles. They are numbered by hundreds, whereas in Judea and Samaria there are none, and in Galilee only half a dozen. Dr Merrill and Herr Schumacher found them abundant also in the Jaulan and the rest of the Hauran. According to Herr Schumacher, an examination of many specimens in Eastern Jaulan makes it apparent (1) that the dolmens are always built on circular terraces, which elevate them about 3 feet above the ground; (2) that in most cases they are formed by six upright and two covering slabs; (3) that the major axes of the dolmens all run east and west; (4) that the western end of the dolmens is broader than the eastern; (5) that the western end is often distinguished by headings, one on each corner of the top slab; and (6) that they vary in size from 7 to 13 feet in length. He finds it difficult to avoid the conclusion that these dolmens were built originally as burial places. The covered chamber, elevated above the ground, and shut in by slabs, was the first beginning of a sarcophagus; and the body was laid facing the rising sun, with its head in the west. On the other hand Major Conder, who finds in Moab many rude stone monuments of a different kind, bids us remember that stones may be placed on end for more than one purpose. After examining seven hundred examples in Moab and Gilead, he has come to the conclusion that the sepulchral theory is often quite untenable, though we cannot deny that bodies were buried in such stone chambers sometimes. In many cases in Moab it was certain that no mound of earth had ever covered the stones; there was nothing but hard rock to be found, and sometimes the structure was not large enough to cover even the body of a child. We must turn to local superstitions in order fully to understand the use of trilithons and dolmens. Wild as are the legends, they preserve, in Conder’s opinion, what was once the religion of the dolmen-building tribes. After making measured drawings of about a hundred and fifty dolmens in Moab, it seemed to him that the purpose of the builders was to produce a flat table-like surface, which they perhaps used as an altar. True that the dolmens are often more numerous in a confined area than we should expect altars to be, but we must not forget the story of Balaam and Balak, in which seven altars are built on the same mountain top, and again seven more on a neighbouring mountain top. Then, as to the absence of such monuments in Judea and Samaria, Conder suggests that they may very probably have once existed, and may have been purposely destroyed. Israel was commanded to “smash” the _menhirs_ of the Canaanites, to “upset” their altars, and to destroy their images. These commands Josiah, the zealous king of Judah, is recorded to have carried into practice.

Who built these structures? They are very likely the surviving work of Canaanite tribes. Herr Schumacher assigns those of the Hauran to the same period as the subterranean cities.

There is a curious archæological note in Deuteronomy, which speaks of the bedstead of Og, the king of Bashan, a bedstead 9 cubits long by 4 cubits wide. The passage had very much exercised the ingenuity of commentators, and some of them supposed it to refer to a sarcophagus of basalt. The Bible indeed speaks of a bedstead of iron; but basalt is a material which resembles iron in appearance, and which is actually known by the name of iron among the Arabs, while a stone coffin might allowably be spoken of as a bed or bedstead. But Conder says there is no basalt at Rabbath, and thinks it doubtful if Og was likely to be buried in a sarcophagus at all. He is disposed to render the words as Og’s _strong throne_, instead of “iron bedstead.” A memory of Irish dolmens suggested to him a possible connection between Og’s throne and some rude stone monument which tradition might have indicated as a giant’s seat, just as in Ireland dolmens are the “beds of Grain and Diarmed,” and connected with legends of giants. It was, therefore, very striking to find a single enormous dolmen standing alone in a conspicuous position near Rabbath Ammon, and yet more striking that the top stone measured 13 feet (or very nearly 9 cubits of 16 inches) by 11 feet in extreme breadth.

If we look for a coffin or a bedstead rather than a dolmen, it is very striking to find that parallels exist both for bedsteads and coffins of the same gigantic dimensions. Dr Erasmus Wilson, describing the coffins and mummies found at _Deir-el-Bahari_, says that, “the coffin of Queen Nefertari is gigantic in stature, measuring with its feathered crest 13 feet long. It is made of cloth-board and modelled into the shape of a statue, resembling, with arms crossed upon the chest, one of those architectural columns which are denominated Caryatides.” Still more remarkable is the bedstead of the Babylonian god Bel, described by Mr George Smith in his account of the “Temple of Bel.” After some description of the principal buildings, he says, “In these western chambers stood the couch of the god, and the throne of gold mentioned by Herodotus, besides other furniture of great value. The couch is stated to have been 9 cubits long and 4 cubits broad (15 feet by 6 feet 8 inches).” These are exactly the dimensions assigned to Og’s bedstead.

Before leaving Moab it was Major Conder’s privilege to stand where Moses stood, and view the landscape on all sides. There can be no doubt about the identification of Mount Nebo. It was ascertained by Canon Tristram; it has been confirmed by Conder, who finds the field of Zophim close by; and Sir Charles Warren discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Nebo at its foot. Moreover, it retains the name _Neba_, and from the summit you obtain the celebrated “Pisgah view” (Deut. xxxiv. 1-3). Naphtali, Gilead, Ephraim, and Manasseh, Judah, and the Negeb, or “dry land” south of Hebron, are all in sight, with the plains of Jericho “unto Zoar.” But, according to Conder, the Mediterranean Sea is not visible from Nebo, being hidden throughout by the western watershed of Judea and Samaria. Dr Tristram says, in his “Land of Moab,” “Carmel could be recognised, but we never were able to make out the sea to the north of it; and though it is certainly possible that it might be seen from this elevation, I could not satisfy myself that I saw more than the haze over the plain of Esdraelon.” But even if the waters of the “great sea” in the Bay of Haifa could be seen distinctly from Mount Nebo, the fact would hardly be relevant, for Deut. xxxiv. points rather to the sea south of Joppa. It is sufficient, however, that from no other summit can you get so extensive a prospect as from Mount Nebo.

Conder’s work was abruptly stopped. Even when the party went out in 1881 there was great excitement in the East. A Moslem Messiah was expected to appear in the year 1300 of the Hegira, and the war in Egypt was brewing. The British Government had served Conder with a notice that any expedition he might take out would be at his own risk, and they could not be responsible for the consequences. After fifteen months, during which the work was carried on at great risks, the Sultan heard that English captains were surveying the land, and sent orders for them to cease. In the same year Mr Rassam’s researches in Mesopotamia were stopped. Finally, Conder and his party left Syria on a steamer crowded with refugees from the Alexandria massacres.

[_Authorities and Sources_:--“East of the Jordan.” By Selah
Merrill. London: Bentley & Son, 1881. “Across the Jordan.” By
Gottlieb Schumacher. Bentley & Son, 1886. “The Jaulan.” By G.
Schumacher, Bentley, 1888. “Abila,” “Pella,” and “Northern
Ajlun.” By G. Schumacher. London: Palestine Exploration
Society, 1888, 1889. “Palestine.” By Major Conder. London:
George Philip & Son, 1889. “Heth and Moab.” By Major Conder.
Bentley & Son, 1883. “The Land of Moab.” By Rev. Canon
Tristram. London: John Murray, 1873. “Unexplored Syria.” By
Burton and Drake. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1872.]