Chapter VI: Part 6

The numerous flocks of sheep and goats which were being led in to be folded for the night formed a striking object in the landscape, and recalled to mind a question which has perplexed many eastern travellers. Our Lord, speaking of His coming to judgment, says, “And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them from one another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.”[243] But the sheep and the goats are invariably brought in together. I had failed to find any instance in which they were divided. This, of all others, was the place to seek an explanation. It was given me by a shepherd who was leading his flock past the spot where I stood. The division is made not in the evening when the flocks are folded, but in the morning as they are taken out to pasture. The goats travelling much more quickly than the sheep and thriving upon a much scantier vegetation, are driven up to the mountain tops where they pick their food from amongst the rocks and stones. The sheep are kept upon the lower slopes, where the grass is more abundant and the pasturage richer. It is thus not to the night of death when “like sheep they are laid in the grave,”[244] but the resurrection morning to which the illustration points and when the final separation shall be made. In this case, as in so many others the seeming discrepancy arises from our imperfect acquaintance with the facts. A more complete knowledge not only removes the apparent difficulty, but brings out a deeper meaning in the sayings of Him whose “words are spirit and are life.”

We cannot leave Nazareth without reflecting on the silence of Scripture respecting our Lord’s residence here. Of the thirty-three years of His earthly life twenty-eight were spent in this secluded valley; yet the history of those years is an almost total blank. A journey to Jerusalem is the only incident recorded. “The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him.... He was subject unto His parents.... He increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”[245] This is all we know—no more. Imagination, working upon Apocryphal legends and obscure hints, has endeavoured to fill in the vague outline with biographical details. But the attempt is unwarranted, even if it be not irreverent. It is impossible for us to lift the veil which hides these years of mysterious growth and silent preparation. When “the day of His showing unto Israel” had come, He emerged from His obscurity; and we shall trace His footsteps on the shores of the neighbouring lake, the world’s great Teacher, revealing God to man, and man to himself.

It was at CANA OF GALILEE, the home of Nathanael,[246] that our Lord worked His first miracle, “and manifested forth His glory.”[247] There are two villages near Nazareth, still bearing a similar name, each of which has been regarded as the scene of the manifestation. Kefr Kenna, a small village about an hour and a half to the north-west, and Kana-el-Jelil at double the distance. The former is the traditional site. The claims of the latter are supported by the deservedly high authority of Robinson, and its name is absolutely identical with that of the Biblical narrative. It is perhaps impossible to decide in which of the two it was that

“The modest water, awed by power divine,
Confessed the God, and blushed itself to wine.”

With the exception of a fountain, apparently of the Roman period, said to have been the place from which the water was drawn, there is nothing in either of them to connect itself with the miracle. In the wedding festivities at Nazareth, of which I have already spoken, the bride was brought from near Kefr Kenna. The innumerable guests who thronged the house for a week, served to illustrate and to account for the inadequacy of the supplies provided for a similar festivity in the time of our Lord.

THE LAKE OF GENNESARETH.

ONE of the most interesting passages in the writings of Josephus is that in which he narrates the history of his campaign against the Romans on and around the Lake of Gennesareth. Having spoken of the clear, cold waters of the lake, the innumerable ships and boats which floated upon it, and the prosperous towns and villages which lined its banks, he proceeds to describe the fertile plain from which it takes its name. “The country also that lies over against this lake hath the same name of Gennesareth; its nature is wonderful as well as its beauty; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there; for the temper of the air is so well mixed, that it agrees very well with those several sorts, particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, flourish there in vast plenty; there are palm-trees also, which grow best in hot air; fig-trees also and olives grow near them, which yet require an air that is more temperate. One may call this place the ambition of nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together; it is a happy contention of the seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men’s expectation, but preserves them a great while; it supplies men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits as they become ripe together, through the whole year; for besides the good temperature of the air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain. The people of the country call it Capharnaum.”[248]

The traveller who visits the Lake with this passage in his mind, and expects to find its descriptions realised is doomed to disappointment. The population has disappeared. To the stir of busy life a mournful silence has succeeded. A single filthy ruinous town—Tiberias—half-a-dozen wretched villages, and the black tents of the Bedouins, are the only human habitations on the banks. Where Herod, Josephus, and Titus could, without difficulty, collect fleets of from three hundred to five hundred vessels, I only found three small fishing-boats, and these so dilapidated that their owners dared not launch them except in a perfect calm. The soil is fertile and productive as ever, but labour is wanting to break up the fallow ground, to cast in the seed, or to reap the harvest.

But there is a sense in which this mournful silence and solitude are felt to be not inappropriate. There is nothing to distract our thoughts from that Divine Presence which here abode in human form. One great memory lingers undisturbed amongst these hills and valleys. The bustle of modern life and the squalid misery and degradation of the eastern peasantry would equally clash with the sacred, tender associations of the spot where “most of His mighty works were done,” most of His “gracious words” were spoken. The stage is empty, and there is nothing to prevent our peopling it with hallowed memories of Him who spake as “never man spake,” who was Himself “the way, the truth, and the life.”

The contrast between the silence of Scripture as to our Lord’s life at Nazareth and the ample details which it gives of His life here is very striking. To mention them all would be to quote the larger part of the first three gospels and some of the most striking incidents of the fourth. He “dwelt in Capernaum” which was “His own city.”[249] On the shores of the lake He called Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew to be His disciples.[250] In the villages and towns around it “most of His mighty works were done.”[251] In a mountain overlooking it, from a boat upon it, and in a town on its banks, He taught the people in His most memorable discourses.[252] Over its waters He often sailed, on them He walked, hushed its storm to a calm, and rescued His faint-hearted disciple who was sinking beneath them.[253] In a desert place on its shore he twice fed the assembled multitudes.[254] But space is wanting to enumerate all the mighty deeds and gracious words of which this hallowed spot was the scene, and which culminated in that affecting interview when He manifested Himself to His disciples after His resurrection and restored Peter to the place from which he had fallen in the apostolic band.[255]

In the Old Testament the lake is known as the sea of Chinneroth, or Chinnereth, from a city which stood on its north-western shore.[256] Gennesareth is probably a Grecised form of the earlier name, though its etymology (_a garden of riches_) suggests a very suitable derivation. By this name or by that of the Sea of Galilee it is commonly known in the New Testament. John, writing after the city of Tiberias had risen to importance as the capital of Galilee, speaks of it as “the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias,”[257] a fact which is not without importance as fixing the date of his gospel.

The road from Nazareth to Tiberias leads over the low ridge which bounds the valley on the north-west, across a broken table-land, and through the village of Kenna, already spoken of as the traditional site of Cana in Galilee. Sefurieh, the ancient Sepphoris, is passed. It played an important part in the heroic but unsuccessful resistance of the Jews to the Romans under Titus, and hither the Sanhedrim retired after the fall of Jerusalem. The battle-field of Hattin is likewise distinctly seen, where the last great battle was fought between the Crusaders and Saladin, issuing in the total destruction of the Christian army and the establishment of the Moslem power in the East. The hills which enclose the lake soon come into view, but the lake itself is not seen till we reach the summit of the steep descent which leads down to Tiberias, a thousand feet below us. The clear, blue, placid waters lie in a deeply depressed basin nearly seven hundred feet below the level of the sea. Some geologists have supposed it to be the crater of an extinct volcano. More careful investigation, however, proves that this is a mistake. It is but a part of that long line of depression which, starting from the sea level near the Lake Huleh, sinks down along the whole Ghor or valley of the Jordan, till at the Dead Sea it has reached the unparalleled depth of thirteen hundred feet.

The lake is about thirteen miles in length by about six or seven in breadth at the widest part. The mountains on the eastern side rise to a height of two thousand feet, but they are flat and monotonous, destitute alike of colour and of foliage. The scenery has neither the bold outline of the Swiss lakes, nor the rich verdant loveliness of our own. The tamer parts of Windermere, stripped of their glorious mantle of forests, the grey hill-sides bleak and bare, would give a not unapt illustration of the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

We do not read that our Lord ever entered Tiberias. The reason is doubtless to be found in the fact that it was practically a heathen city, though standing upon Jewish soil. Herod, its founder, had brought together the arts of Greece, the idolatry of Rome, and the gross lewdness of Asia. There was a theatre for the performance of comedies, a forum, a stadium, a palace roofed with gold in imitation of those in Italy, statues of the Roman gods, and busts of the deified emperors. He who “was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” might well hold himself aloof from such scenes as these.

Modern Tiberias is a village of about two thousand inhabitants. A large proportion of these are Jews, who regard it as one of their holy places and have here a rabbinical school. It is filthy and squalid beyond even the average of eastern towns. From the swarms of vermin with which it is infested the Arabs have a proverb that “the king of the fleas lives at Tiberias.” Wilson says that on spending a night here he was literally covered with them and plucked them from his coat by handfuls. In common with other places in the valley of the Jordan it suffers severely from earthquakes. In the great shock of January, 1837, the Turkish walls which surround the town were shattered, and in many places laid prostrate. As under the present government nothing is ever repaired, the fortifications remain in the dilapidated condition in which they were left nearly forty years ago.

Northward from Tiberias the hills on the western side slope gently down nearly to the edge of the lake. The strip of shore is of extraordinary fertility. Though now uninhabited and uncultivated, it is easy to believe that the glowing descriptions of Josephus were in no degree exaggerated. In about an hour after leaving Tiberias we find the hills gradually recede, leaving a broad open plain—that of Gennesareth. The only sign of human habitation is a cluster of mud hovels near the water’s edge. There are a few remains of other buildings, one of which seems to have been a watch-tower (_Migdol_). A palm-tree rises from the centre of the village and a few thorn bushes cluster round it. The modern name Mejdel reminds us that this was MAGDALA, the place where our Lord came ashore after feeding the multitude on the opposite bank,[258] and the home of Mary Magdalene.[259] Into the disputed questions as to her history we do not enter here. We know how great a debt of gratitude she owed to her Lord, who had delivered her from demoniacal possession in its most aggravated form; and how fondly and devotedly she attached herself to His service, ministering to Him of her substance, waiting at His cross, present at His entombment, watching at His sepulchre, and first to welcome her risen Lord when He had burst “the bonds of death” and “led captivity captive.” As we stand amongst these crumbling ruins and squalid hovels we cannot but reflect upon the fact that through her the name of this spot has passed into all the languages of Christendom, is commemorated in the noblest ecclesiastical edifice of modern France, and holds a conspicuous place in our military history as that of the almost impregnable stronghold of a bloodthirsty Abyssinian tyrant.

Every step we took in this district, hallowed by so many sacred associations, seemed to furnish a fresh commentary on the discourses of our Lord. Every detail in the parable of the sower passed under our view—the hard pathway running through unenclosed fields upon which the seed fell without finding entrance, the soil choked with thorns through which the tender blades were struggling, the thin, shallow coating of earth resting upon the rock beneath, and the luxuriant growth of the rich deep loam bringing its return of a hundredfold to the sower.[260] The edge of the lake is fringed with thickets of oleander in full bloom. The turf carpeted with an incomparable profusion of wild flowers, the variety and splendour of which surpassed all that I had seen elsewhere, covered the earth with a mantle of beauty with which “Solomon in all his glory” could not vie.[261] Here and there is a fisherman who has cast off his “fisher’s coat” and stands “naked” in the water “casting his nets,” or drawing them ashore, or examining his haul, choosing the good, rejecting the worthless.[262]

Many travellers have spoken of the sudden and violent storms to which the lake is liable. This is common to all lakes surrounded by mountains. But the danger is greatly increased here by the depression of the surface below the sea level. Gusts of wind rush down from the mountains into the rarefied air below, and raise storms of extraordinary suddenness and fury. One of these I experienced which illustrated many of the details of New Testament history. I had taken a boat on a bright, cloudless morning, to explore the eastern shores and the point where the Jordan enters the lake. There was not a ripple on the water, not a perceptible current in the air. Almost without warning the wind rose, the waves, crested with foam, began to break over the sides of the boat. I was sitting on a cushion or “pillow” on the flat, raised stern “in the hinder part of the ship” and watched the crew “toiling in rowing.” But all their efforts were vain. They were unable to make any way for “the wind was contrary.” At length one of them jumped overboard, and partly swimming, partly wading, towed the vessel ashore close to the site of Capernaum.[263] Walking thence to our camp at Khan Minyeh we passed the probable site of Bethsaida (_the house of fish_). Here we found the fishermen washing, drying, and mending their nets.[264]

At the end of a glen which ran westward from our camp is the mountain which tradition asserts with some probability to be that of the Beatitudes, and high above it, visible from every point for miles around, is the city of Safed—“a city which is set on a hill and cannot be hid.”[265]

The hills do not rise direct from the lake but stand at a little distance from it, leaving a strip of shore, of varying breadth, at their feet. But there is one striking exception to this rule. On the eastern bank, near to Khersa, the ancient Gergesa, is a steep, almost precipitous descent coming down into the lake itself with no intervening space between. It was here, in the very place which the narrative indicates, that the “herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea.”[266]

Into the disputed questions as to the topography of the northern and north-western shore we have not space to enter. A volume might be written summing up the various arguments adduced as to the sites of Capernaum, Chorazin, and the Bethsaidas, without arriving at a conclusive and final result. The balance of probability seems to me to incline in favour of the identification of the fountain of Tabigah with that of Capharnaum described by Josephus. Capernaum as the chief town of the district would stretch for some distance along the shore. The ruins of Tell Hum are not so far distant from the fountain but that they might have formed part of the city or its suburbs. And nowhere else have remains been found the character and extent of which would indicate the site of a commercial centre and great military station which we know Capernaum to have been. The similarity of name is likewise an important point. _Tell_ is a mound of ruins; _Kefr_, or _Capher_, is a village. Tell Hum would thus be the ruined mound of the ancient Capher Nahum, or village of Nahum. Without presuming to dogmatize on the subject, the balance of probabilities seems to favour the view that it was here that our Lord took up His abode on leaving Nazareth, so that it was called “His own country.”

Amongst the ruins of Tell Hum, the most interesting and important are those of a synagogue apparently of the Roman period. It was built of white marble, with finely carved Corinthian columns, and sculptures of the seven-branched candlestick, the paschal lamb, and the pot of manna. If Tell Hum be indeed the site of Capernaum this ruined synagogue becomes invested with an interest absolutely unique, for it is the only edifice now remaining which we can, with any probability, associate with the personal history of our Lord. It was here that “He taught on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at His doctrine: for His word was with power.” Here, too, He cast out the unclean spirit who acknowledged Him as “the Holy One of God,” and, amid the murmurs of the Pharisees, healed the man with a withered hand.[267] Whilst the ruins are unmistakably those of a Jewish synagogue, the Corinthian columns seem to indicate a Roman element and feeling at work in the construction. It is thus, at least, a plausible conjecture that this is the very edifice referred to by “the elders of the Jews” when pleading on behalf of the centurion they said, “he loveth our nation, and he hath built us the (τὴν) synagogue.[268]” Captain Wilson, cautious and careful almost to excess as he is, says, “If Tell Hum be Capernaum, this is without doubt the synagogue built by the Roman centurion, and one of the most sacred places on earth.” It was in this building that our Lord gave the well-known discourse in John vi.; and it was not without a certain strange feeling, that on turning over a large block, we found the pot of manna engraved on its face, and remembered the words, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.”[269]

But we must leave, though reluctantly, this hallowed spot with its inexhaustible treasures of sacred associations. As we do so the words of McCheyne rise to our lips:

“How pleasant to me thy deep blue wave,
O Sea of Galilee;
For the glorious One who came to save,
Hath often stood by thee.

“It is not that the wild gazelle
Comes down to drink thy tide;
But He that was pierced to save from hell,
Oft wandered by thy side.

“Graceful around thee the mountains meet,
Thou calm, reposing sea;
But, oh, far more! the beautiful feet
Of Jesus walked o’er thee.

“O Saviour, gone to God’s right hand,
But the same Saviour still;
Graved on thy heart is this lovely strand,
And every fragrant hill.”

GENNESARETH TO THE SOURCES OF THE JORDAN.

WE climb the steep ascent which rises to the north of Khan Minyeh with frequent halts, and casting many a “longing, lingering look behind;” for we know that when we turn the crest of the hill we shall have lost sight of the lake on whose waters we have sailed, round whose shores we have wandered, with such profound interest. The district upon which we are now to enter, though the scene of many memorable events, is yet barren of Scriptural associations as compared with the region we have left. The tribes of the extreme north played a conspicuous part in Jewish history under the Judges. But with the establishment of the Kingdom the chief, almost the sole, interest is concentrated in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, of Ephraim and Manasseh. The records of the tribe of Dan are especially meagre. It contributed only one great name to Jewish history—that of Samson—and he belonged to the original settlement of the Danites in the south-east on the borders of the plain of Sharon. The statement in Judges xviii. 30, 31, seems to imply that even at this early period the children of Dan had separated themselves from the commonwealth of Israel and established a political and religious organization of their own which lasted down to “the captivity of the land.” This may account for the remarkable omission of all mention of the tribe not only in the genealogical tables of 1 Chronicles ii.-xii., but also in the enumeration of “all the tribes of the children of Israel” in Revelation vii. 4-8.

The contrast between what the country once was and what it is now, which has so often been referred to already, is most striking in the district upon which we are now entering. Dr. Porter says: “On reaching the brow of the long ascent, where the lake lies far below us, with the green valleys radiating from it, and the rich plateaux spreading out from the top of its high banks, we cannot refrain from sitting down to gaze upon that vast panorama. A mournful and solitary silence reigns over it. Nature has lavished on it some of her choicest gifts; but man has deserted it. In the whole valley of the Jordan, from the lake Hûleh to the sea of Galilee, there is not a single settled inhabitant. Along the whole eastern bank of the river and the lakes, from the base of Hermon to the ravine of Hieromax—a region of great fertility, thirty miles long by seven or eight wide—there are only some _three inhabited villages_! The western bank is almost as desolate. Ruins are numerous enough. Every mile or two is an old site of town or village, now well-nigh hid beneath a dense jungle of thorns and thistles. The words of Scripture here recur to us with peculiar force—‘I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.’”[270]

BRIDGE OF JACOB’S DAUGHTERS.
_From a Sketch by T. Jenner, Esq._
]

Leaving the hilly country which lies on the northern side of the Lake of Gennesareth, we enter a broad open plain through which the Jordan meanders on leaving Lake Hûleh, the WATERS OF MEROM of Scripture. About two miles south of the lake is an ancient bridge called Jisr Benat Yakûb (_the Bridge of Jacob’s Daughters_). The exact meaning of the name is unknown. It seems to have originated in an erroneous tradition that the patriarch crossed the river at this spot when returning from his sojourn in Mesopotamia, and met his brother Esau here. But no reason is assigned for his daughters being introduced in connection with it. It was formerly a post of considerable importance, being the point at which the main road from Egypt and Jerusalem turned westward to Damascus. Century after century invading armies or caravans of peaceful traders have passed to and fro along this route; but none of them have left results so deep and lasting as when, eighteen hundred years ago, Saul of Tarsus, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, ... journeyed to Damascus,”[271] little thinking, as he crossed this bridge, that he should return to preach the faith he now sought to destroy.

Of Lake Hûleh little was known until it was explored by Mr. Macgregor in his canoe voyage on the Jordan. It is a triangular sheet of water, about four and a half miles in length by three and a half in its greatest breadth, surrounded by an impenetrable morass covered with tall canes and papyrus reeds, through which, as the Arabs declare, it is impossible even for a wild boar to make its way. It could not be surveyed from the shore, and until Mr. Macgregor’s adventurous expedition no boat had ever floated on its waters. The additions which he has made to our knowledge of the hydrography of the district are of the highest value; and his vigorous narrative of the difficulties he surmounted, and the perils he escaped amongst the wild Bedouins of the district is familiar to all our readers.

It was in this hot, seething, pestilential, but fertile plain that Joshua, after the subjugation of central and southern Palestine, fought his third and last great battle with the hosts of Canaan. Jabin, king of Hazor, rallied round him all the chiefs who had not yet yielded.[272] They came from “the plains south of Chinneroth,” the Jordan valley south of the sea of Galilee, the Jebusite from the fortress of Benjamin, the Hittite and the Amorite from the far south, to “the Hivite under Hermon,” in the north. “And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the Waters of Merom to fight against Israel.” It was doubtless the multitude of their horses and chariots, a force not possessed by Israel, which induced them to select this long plain as their battle-field. Suddenly Joshua and his men fell upon them from the heights above, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them and chased them far to the west, across the hills and valleys of Galilee, where their horses and chariots could only encumber them, right across the land to Zidon, utterly destroying them in the long pursuit, houghing their horses, and burning their chariots. Northward and eastward, too, Joshua chased the Hivites even to the valley of Mizpeh, the plain of Cœle-Syria, which extends to the entering in of Hamath. So utter was the rout, so complete the victory, that no cities attempted further resistance, as they had done in the south. Hazor, the capital, and probably the stronghold of king Jabin, was the only place which Joshua burned with fire when he turned back from the pursuit. The whole land was now secured to Israel to the base of Lebanon, and the four northern tribes were settled in their allotted possessions.

Soon after passing the northern end of the lake the snowy summit of Hermon, which has been previously visible at intervals for some days, comes full into view, and forms a fine feature in the landscape. A cool, refreshing breeze flows down from its glittering heights, and is doubly welcome in the sultry plain over which we are toiling. The contrast between the near and the distant landscape is very striking. The plain of Hûleh might be a portion of tropical Africa. Droves of black, hairless buffaloes wallow in the swamps. The Gawarineh Arabs, almost black and quite naked, live in reed huts like many negro tribes, and twist their hair into a tuft like the inhabitants of the Gold Coast. The intense heat produces a semi-tropical vegetation. But we have only to turn our eyes to the northern horizon to see a long stretch of snow as bright, and clear, and cold as that of Switzerland.

We cross a fine old Roman bridge which spans the picturesque gorge of the Hasbany, and soon reach a remarkable mound or _tell_, from the foot of which gushes out a stream of water so broad and deep that we may almost call it a river. This is one of THE SOURCES OF THE JORDAN. The mound above it is called the Tell-el-Kadi (_the Mound of the Judge_), a rare instance of a name being retained not in sound but in meaning. “Dan” in Hebrew, like “Kadi” in Arabic, means judge; and here stood the CITY OF DAN. The history of the conquest is graphically told in the book of Judges.[273] The tribes, finding their territory on the borders of Sharon too strait for them, sent spies northward, who reported that “the land was very good, a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth.” The Zidonian colonists, far from their mother city, were leading lives of luxury and licentiousness; “they dwelt carelessly, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything.” The warlike Danites burst upon them, stormed their city of Laish, conquered the whole territory, and transferred the head-quarters of the tribe to their new home. The exquisite fertility and beauty of the country justifies the report of the spies. But, like Lot under a similar temptation, they seem to have succumbed to the evil influences around them, and to have sunk down into a condition of semi-heathenism from which they never emerged. The mounds of ruins which mark the site of the city show that it covered a considerable extent of ground. But there remains no record of any noble deed wrought by the degenerate tribe, and, as we have seen, their name disappears from the roll both of the natural and of the spiritual Israel.

The other main source of the Jordan rises at the town of Banias, about four miles from Tell-el-Kadi. At the foot of a limestone cliff is a large cave, formerly dedicated to the god Pan, from which the modern Arabic name of the town is derived. Several niches and dedicatory tablets, with Greek inscriptions, cut in the face of the rock yet remain. Masses of fallen rock and débris obstruct the entrance and bury the actual fountain-head. From beneath these a stream rushes forth in wonderful strength and volume. As at Tell-el-Kadi, it is a river at its source. Only a few yards from the spot at which it emerges from its rocky birth-place, I plunged in, and found myself out of my depth, in a current so strong that it was difficult to swim against it. The torrent rushes on over a rocky bed fringed with oleanders, past the ruins of the ancient city, and soon is joined by its sister-stream from Tell-el-Kadi. The Hasbany then falls into it a few miles above Lake Hûleh. The united waters from this point take the familiar name of the Jordan, to pursue their impetuous course till they are lost amid the arid shores of the Dead Sea.

The situation of Banias is one of unusual beauty. Robinson speaks of it as “unique; combining in an unusual degree the elements of grandeur and beauty. It nestles in its recess at the southern base of the mighty Hermon, which towers in majesty to an elevation of seven thousand or eight thousand feet above; whilst the abundant waters of the glorious fountain spread over the terrace luxuriant fertility, and the graceful interchange of copse, lawn, and waving fields.” All travellers are struck by the park-like character of the surrounding district. Trees of great size and beauty stand in clumps upon the green turf. Innumerable rivulets and waterfalls give vivacity to the scene, and justify the epithet of Dean Stanley, who calls it “a Syrian Tivoli.” Massive remains of Roman fortifications give to the modern village an air of venerable dignity. The ruined castle of Es-Subeibeh, on the peak of Hermon just above the town, is incomparably fine. Its situation, its extent, and the magnificent views which it commands over the fertile plains of the Upper Jordan on the one side, and the gorges of Hermon on the other, are perhaps unsurpassed in the world.

Banias does not appear in Scripture under its present name. Robinson suggests that it is the “Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon,”[274] up to which the conquests of Joshua extended in this direction. For us its chief interest is found in the fact that it was the CÆSAREA PHILIPPI which formed the northern limit of our Lord’s ministry, and the neighbourhood of which was the scene of His transfiguration.[275] The monkish legend which placed it at Tabor is now universally abandoned. The secluded valleys and gorges which run from the very suburbs of the town amongst the spurs of Hermon afford a fitting theatre for this wonderful manifestation. It was in sight of the mighty mass of the venerable mountain that He proclaimed Himself to be the rock upon which His church should be built. Surrounded by the temples of Syrian, Greek, and Roman deities, with which the region was profaned, He declared that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. It was amongst these solemn solitudes that the voice was heard from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son: hear Him.”

There was deep significance in the time and place at which this manifestation of Divine glory was made. It was, as we have seen, the northern limit of His earthly ministry. It was, too, at the close of His last missionary journey. Henceforward His face was “steadfastly set to go up to Jerusalem,” for “the time was come that He should be received up.”[276] He now commenced that pilgrimage southward of which the cross was the foreseen goal. Step by step along the road by which we have travelled He pressed onward, each step bringing Him nearer to “the decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem;” of which “Moses and Elias spake with him” as they “appeared in glory.”[277]

The thoughts and feelings excited by a visit to Palestine, find apt expression in the words of two authors, widely separated from each other in time and in character. The first is a crusader, Sir John Mandeville, deeply imbued with the credulity and superstition of the Middle Ages. Writing more than five centuries ago, he says in the Prologue to his ‘Voiage et Travaille’: “Forasmuch as the land beyond the sea, that is to say, the Holy Land, which men call the land of promise or of behest, passing all other lands, is the most worthy land, most excellent, and lady and sovereign of all other lands, and is blessed and hallowed with the precious body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; in which land it pleased him to take flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, to environ that Holy Land with his blessed feet; and there he would, of his blessedness, shadow him in the said blessed and glorious Virgin Mary, and become man and work many miracles, and preach and teach the faith and the law of Christian men unto his children; and there it pleased him to suffer many reprovings and scorns for us; and he that was king of heaven, of air, of earth, of sea, and of all things that are contained in them, would only be called king of that land, when he said ‘Rex sum Judeorum,’ that is to say, I am king of the Jews; and that land he chose before all other lands, as the best and most worthy land, and the most virtuous land of all the world.... See, now, how dearly he bought man, that he made after his own image, and how dearly he redeemed us for the great love that he had to us, and we never deserved it of him; for more precious goods or greater ransom might he not put for us, than his blessed body, his precious blood, and his holy life, which he enthralled for us; and he offered all for us, that never did sin. Oh! dear God! what love had he to us his subjects, when he that never trespassed, would for trespassers suffer death! Right well ought we to love and worship, to dread and serve such a Lord, and to worship and praise such a Holy Land, that brought forth such fruit, through which every man is saved, unless it be his own fault. Well may that land be called delectable and a fruitful land, that was made moist with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; which is the same land that our Lord promised us in heritage.”[278]

The second is a writer living in our time and expressing the critical and sceptical tendency of modern thought—M. Renan. He says: The scientific mission, having for its object the exploration of ancient Phœnicia, which I directed in 1860 and 1861, led me to reside on the frontiers of Galilee, and to travel there frequently. I have traversed in all directions the country of the Gospels, I have visited Jerusalem, Hebron and Samaria; scarcely any important locality of the history of Jesus has escaped me. All this history, which at a distance seems to float in the clouds of an unreal world, thus took a form, a solidity which astonished me. The striking agreement of the texts with the places, the marvellous harmony of the gospel ideal with the country which served it as a framework, were like a revelation to me. I had before my eyes a fifth gospel, torn, but still legible, and henceforward, through the recitals of Matthew and Mark, in place of an abstract being, whose existence might have been doubted, I saw living and moving, an admirable human figure.[279]

The superstitious crusader and the cold sceptical critic thus agree in attesting the influence exerted upon them by “those holy fields.” The devotion of the one is kindled as he visits the earthly abode of the incarnate deity. The intellect of the other is convinced as he traces the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth. To many of the readers of this volume it may not be granted to gaze upon the spots hallowed by memories of patriarchs and prophets, and apostles, and of our Lord himself. But all may reach “the better country, that is, a heavenly,” of which the earthly Canaan was but a type; all may share the vision and the blessedness of “the New Jerusalem,” “the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

INDEX.

Abner, reputed Tomb of, 36.

Abraham, 33, 40, 90, 136, 143.

Absalom, 38, 48, 89, 124.

Aceldama, 126.

Adullam, Cave of, 47.

Ahab, 161, 170, 177.

Ajalon, the Valley of, 22, 80.

Anathoth, 134.

Andromeda and Perseus, 11.

Apples of Sodom, 69.

Arabs, the, 13, 46, 168, 175, 215.

Araunah the Jebusite, 118.

Armageddon, 178.

Balaam and Balak, 64, 77.

Banias, _Cæsarea Philippi_, 217.

Barak, 172.

Barzillai, the Gileadite, 48.

Bazaars, Eastern, 159.

_Beeroth_, Bireh, 135.

Benjamin, 131.

_Bethany_, El-Azarîyeh, 83.

_Bethel_, Beitîn, 135.

Beth-horon, 23.

Bethlehem, 41, 51.

Bethsaida, 205.

_Bethshan_, Beisan, 168.

_Beth-shemesh_, Ain-shems, 21.

Boaz, 46.

_Cæsarea_, Kaisariyeh, 165.

_Cæsarea Philippi_, Banias, 217.

Caleb, 36.

Calvary, 101.

_Cana of Galilee_, Kefr Kenna (?), 193.

Capernaum, 196, 205.

Carmel, 169, 177.

Chedorlaomer, 33.

_Cherith_, Wady Kelt, 82.

Chimham, 49.

Chorazin, 205.

Christ at Bethany, 83;
upon the Mount of Olives, 88;
Resurrection, 102;
the Lord Issa, 117;
Garden of Gethsemane, 123;
at Beeroth, 135;
at the Well of Jacob, 144;
at Nain, 185;
at Nazareth, 193;
the Transfiguration, 219.

Constantine, 102, 106, 119.

Corruption, Mount of, 124.

Crusaders, the, 197.

_Dan_, City of, Tell-el-Kadi, 216.

David, 25, 36, 46, 51, 64, 74, 91, 131, 176.

Dead Sea, the, 42, 59.

Deborah, 172.

Deutsch, Dr. Emmanuel, quoted, 84, 118.

Dorcas, 12, 14, 18.

Dothan, 167.

Ebal, Mount, 143.

_Ekron_, Akir, 21.

_Elah_, Valley of, Wady-es-Sumt, 25.

El Aksa, Mosque of, 97, 116.

Eli buried at Shiloh, 141.

Elijah, 74, 80, 82, 177.

Elisha, 70, 74, 80, 168.

El Muhrakah, 177.

_Emmaus_, Amwâs, Nicopolis, 21;
Kulônia, 26.

Endor, 175, 185.

_En-gannim_, Jenin, 169.

Engedi, 63.

Esdraelon, Plain of, 169.

Eshcol, Valley of, 31.

Ezekiel, Vision of, 56.

Fergusson, Mr., quoted, 111, 118.

Figs, Plucking the first, 140.

Galilee, 181.

Gennesareth, Chinneroth, the Lake of, 195.

George, St., of England, 18.

Gerizim, 91, 143.

German Colony at Jaffa, 17.

Gethsemane, Garden of, 120, 123.

_Gibeon_, Geeb, 22.

Gideon, 173.

Gilboa, 169, 173.

_Gilgal_, Er Riha, 74.

Gomorrah, 65.

Grove, Mr., quoted, 67.

Hebrews, Epistle to the, 107.

_Hebron, Kirjath-Arba_, El Khulil, 30, 33, 91.

Helena, The Empress, 52, 101, 126.

Hermon, 182, 190.

Herod Agrippa, 167.

Herod the Great, 65, 91, 160, 165, 196, 198.

Hezekiah, Pool of, 99.

Hinnom, Valley of, 126.

Isaac, 35, 90.

Isaiah, the Prophet, 133.

Jacob, 35, 136, 143, 210.

James, St., Tomb of, 124.

Jehoshaphat, Valley of, 96, 124.

Jericho, 77.

Jeroboam, 144.

Jerusalem, First sight of, 26;
Mount of Olives, 87;
misery of, 87;
St. Stephen’s Gate, 88;
name, 89;
plan of, 90;
Valley of Jehoshaphat, 96;
Armenian Convent, 96;
Mosque of Omar, 96, 109, 116;
Golden Gate, 97, 108, 119;
Church of Holy Sepulchre, 98;
Via Dolorosa, 106;
Temple, 107;
Robinson’s Arch, 111;
Wailing Place, 112;
Pool of Bethesda, 115;
Temple Substructions, 117;
Mount Moriah, 117;
View from Scopus, 132.

_Jezreel_, Zerin, 169.

John the Baptist at Machærus, 64.

Jonah, 12.

_Joppa_, Jaffa, 11.

Jordan, Valley, 59;
Fords, 69;
Banks of, 73;
Sources, 216.

Joseph, 145, 167.

Josephus, quoted, 39, 78, 81, 97, 166, 173, 196, 198.

Joshua, 22, 80, 90, 134, 214, 152.

Josiah, King, 176.

Kana-el-Jelil, 194.

Kedron, the, 54, 84, 87, 96, 106.

Khans, Eastern, 50, 82, 209.

_Kirjath Jearim_, Abu Gosh, 23.

Kishon, River, 172, 177.

Kulônia, _Emmaus_, 26.

Lot in the Plain of Sodom, 65, 136.

Lydda, Lod, 18, 21.

Lynch, Lieutenant, Exploration of, 60, 68, 73.

McCheyne’s “_Sea of Galilee_,” 208.

Macgregor, Mr., “Rob Roy,” 208, 213.

Machpelah, 34;
arrangement of Tombs at, 39.

_Magdala_, Mejdel, 201.

Makaur, Callirhoe, _Machærus_, 64.

Mamre, 34, 40.

Mandeville, Sir John, 219.

Mar Saba, the Convent of, 54.

Martyr, Justin, of Nablus, 152.

Mary, the Mother of our Lord, 51, 186.

Maundrell, quoted, 59, 145.

Mediterranean, the, 13.

Melchizedec, 90, 98.

_Merom_, Waters of, Lake Hûleh, 198, 210.

Mills, Mr., quoted, 153, 154.

_Mizpeh_, Neby Samwil, 134.

Mohammedans, 78, 96, 103, 119, 146.

Mons Quarantania, 81.

Montefiore, Sir Moses, Almshouses, 115.

Moses, 78, 80.

Nablus, _Shechem_, _Sychar_, 149.

Nain, 185.

Napoleon Bonaparte at Jaffa, 14.

Nativity, Church of the, at Bethlehem, 51.

Nazareth, 185.

Nebo, Mount, 78.

Olives, Mount of, 83.

Omar, The Mosque of, 96, 109, 116.

Palestine Exploration Fund, 6, 107, 112, 120, 155, 208.

Passover at Nablus, the, 151.

Paul the Apostle, 167.

Peter the Apostle, 13, 18.

Pharaoh Necho, 176.

Philistines, the, 25, 48.

Porter, Dr., quoted, 149, 150, 161, 186, 210.

_Protevangelion_, the, 189.

Rachel’s Tomb, 29.

_Ramah_, _Arimathea_, Ramleh, 18, 98, 133.

Renan, M., quoted, 220.

Richard Cœur de Lion, 18, 133.

Robinson, Dr., quoted, 21, 98, 145, 186, 217.

Romans, the, 65, 181.

Ruth, the Moabitess, 43, 47.

Safed, Mount, 205.

_Samaria_, Sebaste, 160, 171.

Samaritan Pentateuch, the, 153.

Samaritans, the, 145, 152.

Samuel, the Prophet, 134, 142.

Saul, King of Israel, 36, 175, 185.

Scopus, the hill, 132.

Sepulchre, Church of the Holy, 101.

Sharon, Plain of, 14, 18, 165.

Sheba, Queen of, 112.

Sheep and Goats, Dividing of, 193.

_Shechem_, Nablus, 144, 149, 160.

_Shiloh_, Seilûn, 74, 140.

_Shunem_, Sôlem, 182.

_Siloam_, Silwan, 125.

Simon the Tanner, at Joppa, 12.

Sodom, 65, 69.

Solomon, 14, 30, 41, 64, 91, 112, 117, 125, 167.

Stanley, Dean, quoted, 39, 52, 67, 116, 150, 190, 217.

Strangford, Lady, 92.

Tabernacle, Plan of the, 154.

Tabor, 182.

Tekoa, 47.

Tell Hum, _Capernaum_ (?), 207.

Temple, Site of the, 117.

_Thebez_, Tûbâs, 167.

Tiberias, Lake and Town of, 195, 198.

_Tirzah_, Talûza, 167.

Titus Vespasian, 196, 197.

Transfiguration, Mount of, 219.

Tristram, Canon, quoted, 63, 67.

Van de Velde, quoted, 149, 150, 181.

Wales, Prince of, at Machpelah, 39;
at Nablus, 154.

Warren, Captain, 87, 108, 120.

Wilson, Captain, 112, 207.

Wilson, Dr., 39, 169.

Zacharias, Tomb of, 124.

Zaretan, 79.

Zidonians, the, 217.

Zion, Mount, 127.

Zizyphus Spina Christi, 69.

INDEX TO SCRIPTURE REFERENCES.

GENESIS.

PAGE

xi. 3 65
xii. 4-7 143
xii. 8 135
xiii. 136
xiii. 10 65, 69
xiii. 18 33
xiv. 64
xiv. 10 65
xiv. 14 34
xvi. 12 165
xviii. 1-8 40
xviii. 1, 2, 16, 33 34
xix. 27, 28 34
xix. 28 40
xxiii. 2-20 34
xxiii. 17 39
xxv. 8, 9 35
xxviii. 10-19 136
xxxiii. 18-20 143
xxxiii. 19 38
xxxv. 16-20 30
xxxv. 27-29 35
xxxvii. 1-14 35
xxxvii. 12-28 168
xlviii. 7 30
xlix. 11, 12 32
xlix. 27 131
xlix. 29-33 35
l. 1-13 35
l. 25, 26 38, 144

EXODUS.

xiii. 19 38
xiv. 21 79
xxv. 10-22, 29 156
xxvi. 15-25 156
xxxvii. 1-8, 16 156
xxxviii. 3 156
xl. 12, 22-25, 30 156

LEVITICUS.

xxvi. 31-34 210

NUMBERS.

ii. 11-27 156
xiii. 22-27, 31, 33 136
xiii. 33 36
xiv. 6-24 36
xxii. 24 78
xxiv. 78
xxiv. 21, 22 64
xxxii. 1 77
xxxii. 12 36
xxxii. 20-28 79
xxxiv. 11 197

DEUTERONOMY.

ii. 17 197
xi. 29, 30 144
xxvii. 12, 13 144
xxxii. 14 77
xxxiii. 12 131
xxxiii. 18-24 182
xxxiv. 3 77
xxxiv. 1-3, 7 78
xxxiv. 5, 6 79

JOSHUA.

iii. 16 79
iv. 74
v. 74
vi. 80
vi. 26 77
vii. 80, 82
viii. 80
viii. 33 144
ix. 3-15, 17 22, 23
ix. 17 135
x. 1 90
x. 6, 7 22
x. 8-27 23
xi. 214
xi. 2 197
xi. 17 218
xiv. 6-15 36
xv. 9, 60 23
xv. 13 36
xviii. 1 74
xviii. 14-28 23
xx. 7 181
xxi. 11 33
xxiv. 32 38, 144

JUDGES.

i. 16 77
iii. 13 77
iv., v. 173
v. 23. 178
vi., vii., viii. 175
ix. 7-20 144
ix. 50 167
xvii. 43
xviii. 216
xviii. 30, 31 209
xix. 43
xxi. 15-23 141
xxi. 19 140

RUTH.

i. 20, 21 45
ii. 4, 14, 17 46
iii. 7, 15 46
iv. 1-12 46

1 SAMUEL.

i-iii. 142
v. 2 14
vi. 12, 13 21
vi. 21 23
vii. 1, 2 23
vii. 5-16 135
x. 8 74
x. 17-24 135
xi. 15 74
xvi. 7, 11, 12, 18, 23 46
xvii. 25
xvii. 12, 28, 34-37, 42 46
xxii. 1, 3, 4 47
xxiii. 29 64
xxiv. 64
xxvi. 20 48
xxviii. 3-25 185
xxviii., xxxi. 176

2 SAMUEL.

I. 176
ii. 2-11 36
iii. 22, 39 36
iv. 12 37
v. 6-8 91
v. 9 91
ix. 11 49
xi. 21 167
xv. 10 38
xv. 30 88
xvii. 27-29 48
xviii. 18 124
xix. 15 74
xix. 31-40 49
xxiv. 18-25 118

1 KINGS.

ii. 7 49
ii. 11 36
ix. 11 181
x. 4, 5 112
x. 27 91
xi. 4-8 125
xii. 1, 25 144
xii. 26-33 136
xiii. 1-5 136
xiv. 17 167
xv. 20 197
xv. 21 167
xvi. 6, 8, 15, 23 167
xvi. 23, 24 160
xvi. 29-xxii. 40 171
xvi. 34 77
xvii. 1-7 82
xviii. 177
xviii. 21 178
xx. 160
xxi. 1-19 161
xxii. 31-34 161

2 KINGS.

ii. 1-14, 19-22 80
ii. 22 81
iv. 8-37 185
v. 12 70
vi. 2-5 70
vi. 8-18 169
vi. 24-vii. 20 160
ix. 27 169
x. 171

1 CHRONICLES.

ii.-xii 209
iii. 1-4 36
viii. 12 18
xi. 4-6 91
xi. 16-19 48
xiii. 5 23

2 CHRONICLES.

ii. 16 12
iii. 1 118
x. 1 144
xx. 7 33
xxviii. 15 77
xxxv. 22-25 176

EZRA.

ii. 33 18
iii. 7 12

NEHEMIAH.

xi. 35 18
xiii. 28 153

PSALMS.

xxii. 12 77
xxxiv. 7 169
xlvi. 4 41
xlix. 14 193
lxv. 12, 13 41, 190
lxviii. 27 132
lxxviii. 60 142
lxxxiv. 2, 3 116
cxxxii. 6 23
cxliv. 1 46

ECCLESIASTES.

ii. 4-6 30

SONG OF SOLOMON.

i. 10 169
i. 14 64
ii. 1 14
vi. 4 167

ISAIAH.

v. 1, 2 32
vi. 11-13 17
x. 28-34 133
xxviii. 1, 2 161
xxxii. 15, 17 56
xxxiii. 9 14
xxxv. 2 14
xli. 8 33
lxv. 10 14

JEREMIAH.

iv. 7 17
vii. 12 142
ix. 11 17
xii. 5 73
xxvi. 6 142
xxvi. 9 17
xxxiii. 10 17
xxxiv. 22 17
xli. 17 49
xlix. 19 59
l. 44 59

EZEKIEL.

xxxix. 18 77
xlvii. 1-12 56

HOSEA.

ii. 22 170
iv. 15 74
ix. 15 74
xii. 11 74
xiii. 16 161

AMOS.

iv. 4 74
v. 5 74

JONAH.

i. 3 12

MICAH.

i. 6 161
v. 2 51

ZECHARIAH.

xi. 2 77

MATTHEW.

i. 5 80
ii. 5, 6 51
ii. 14 38
iv. 13, 18-22 197
iv. 18-22 205
v. 197
v. 14 205
vi. 28, 29 202
vii. 197
viii. 23-27 197
viii. 28-32 205
ix. 1, 9 197
xi. 20-24 197
xiii. 197
xiii. 3-9 202
xiii. 47, 48 202
xiv. 12 161
xiv. 15-21 197
xiv. 25 197
xv. 32-39 197, 201
xvi. 13-28 219
xvii. 1-13 219
xix. 1, 2 81
xxi. 18, 19 140
xxi. 33 32
xxiii. 35 124
xxv. 32 193
xxvi. 3 92
xxvii. 7 126
xxvii. 25 115
xxvii. 31, 32, 39, 41, 48, 55, 59, 60 105
xxvii. 39, 40, 51 107
xxvii. 56-61 201
xxviii. 1 201

MARK.

i. 16-21 205
i. 21-27 206
iii. 1-5 206
iv. 197
iv. 35-39 205
iv. 37-41 197
v. 1-13 205
vi. 29 161
vi. 48 197
ix. 2-13 219
x. 1 81
xi. 12-14 140
xii. 1 32
xiii. 1, 2 107
xv. 20, 21, 29, 31, 36, 40, 46, 47 105
xv. 29, 30, 38 107
xv. 40 201
xvi. 1-11 201
xvi. 3, 4 127

LUKE.

ii. 40, 52 193
ii. 42-50 135
iv. 28, 29 186
iv. 29 190
iv. 31-36 206
vii. 1-5 207
vii. 1-15 185
viii. 2, 3 201
viii. 22-25 205
viii. 23-25 197
viii. 26-33 205
ix. 30, 31 80
ix. 28-36, 51 219
x. 13-15 197
xiii. 6-9 140
xviii. 35-43 81
xix. 1-28 81
xix. 42 87
xx. 9 32
xxii. 39 88
xxiii. 26, 49, 53 105
xxiii. 45 107
xxiv. 2 127
xxiv. 10 201
xxiv. 13-35 21, 26

JOHN.

ii. 1-11 194
iv. 144
iv. 9-23 120
iv. 46-54 194
v. 1-9 115
vi. 19 197
vi. 24-71 197
vii. 37, 38 117
vii. 42 51
xi. 1 197
xi. 25 84
xviii. 3 123
xviii. 28 105, 106
xix. 3 106
xix. 20 104
xix. 25 201
xix. 17, 41, 42 105
xx. 1-18 201
xxi. 197
xxi. 2 193
xxi. 7 202
xxi. 7, 8 205

ACTS.

iii. 1-11 108
vi. 16 38
viii. 1-25 161
viii. 40 167
ix. 1-3 213
ix. 30 167
ix. 32-39 18
ix. 36-43 13
x. 1-18 13
x. 1-24 167
xi. 11 167
xii. 19 167
xvi. 167
xviii. 22 167
xxi. 8, 16 167
xxiii. 23, 33 167
xxv. 167
xxvi. 167

PHILIPPIANS.

iii. 5 132

HEBREWS.