Rambles in Bible Lands

Front matter

RAMBLES m BTBLE LANDS PRINTED AND BOUND BY GALL AND INGLIS i-UTTON PL.ACB EDINBURGH The Mosque of Omar.— p. 42. RAMBLES IN Bible Lands IGlltb BY EEV. EICHAED NEWTON, D.D., Author of "The Safe Compass," "The King's Highway," cte. ~Jh. a n b o n : Gall and Inglis, 25 Paternoster Square: AND EDIXMURGM Xlst of Jllustrattons. FACE MOSQUE or OMAR, ... ... ... ... Frontispiece ARAB BOY, ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 ARAB WATER-CARRIER, ... ... ... ... 9 THE PYRAMIDS, ... ... ... ... ... 12 JERUSALEM, ... ... ... ... ... ... 30 JEWS' WAILING PLACE, ... ... ... ... 34 THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE,... ... ... 38 ABSALOM'S PILLAR ... ... ... ... ... 52 GETHSEMANE,... ... ... ... ... ... 64 THE PLAIN OF JORDAN, ... ... ... ... 72 THE DEAD SEA, ... ... ... ... ... 80 BETHLEHEM, ... ... ... ... ... ... 87 HEBRON, ... ... ... ... ... ... 94 JACOB'S WELL, ... ... ... ... ... 108 SHECHEM, ... ... ... ... ... ...

PAOE Chapter I. — The Voyage across the Ocean — A Visit to Pisa, with its Leaning Tower, and to the City of Cairo, .... 1 Chapter II. — The Pyramids and their Lessons — Incidents at the Pyramids— The Fatal Run— The Good Melican Man— The Battle of the Sheiks, 11 Chapter III. — From Port Said to Jaffa — Landing — Arrangements for our Journey — History and Description of Jaffa — House of Simon the Tanner — The First Day's Journey — Encampment at Ramleh, 21 Chapter IV. — Arrival at Jerusalem — First Impressions — Sketch of its History — The Jews' Wailing Place, the first place visited, . 30 Chapter V. — Jerusalem continued — The Church of the Holy Sepulchre — The Mosque of Omar — The Via Dolorosa — The Pool of Bethesda, 38 Chapter VI. — Round about Jerusalem — The Valley of Hinnom — Isaiah's Tree — The Pool of Siloam — Absalom's Pillar — The Garden of Gethsemane — The Mount of Olives, .... 51 Chapter VII. — From Jerusalem to the Dead Sea — Bethany — The Road to Jericho — The Brook Cherith — Jericho — Elisha's Fountain — The Plains of Jericho — The Jordan — The Dead Sea, . 65 Chapter VIII. — From the Dead Sea to Jerusalem — The Wilderness of Judea — The Convent of Mar Saba — Bethlehem — The Pools of Solomon — Hebron and Abraham's Oak, ..... 83 Chapter IX. — From Jerusalem to Bethel — The Last Look at Jerusalem — The Meeting-place of David and Jonathan — The City of Nob — Gibeah of Saul — The Scene of Rizpah's Devotion — Ramah— Shiloh— Bethel, 99 Chapter X. — From Bethel to Jenin — Meeting a Hail-storm — Jacob's Well — Nablus and Mount Gerizim — Samaria — Dothan — Jenin, . 106 Chapter XI. — From Jenin to Mount Carmel — The Plain of Esdraelon — The Mountains of Gilboa — Little Hermon — Shunem — Nain — Endor — Mount Tabor — Nazareth — A Sunday at Nazareth — Mount Carmel, CONTENTS.

VI PAGE Chapter XII. — From Nazareth to Capernaum — Cana of Galilee — The Mount of Beatitudes — Tiberias — The Sea of Galilee and its Ruined Cities, .......... 138 Chapter XIII. — From Capernaum to Damascus — A Desolate Country — Ain Melahah — A Relishable Draught — Banias — Mount Hermon — Damascus, 150 Chapter XIV. — From Damascus to Baalbek — Last View of Damascus — Ain Fijeh — The Gorge of the Barada — A Night Scene in the Mountains — An Oriental Entertainment — A Snow Storm on the Mountains — Damascus — Its Situation — Its Age — Its Ruins — A Sabbath in the Temple of Jupiter, . . . . .171 Chapter XV. — From Baalbek to Beirut — The Village of Ain Ata — Starting for the Cedars — The Grove of Cedars — The Points of Interest about Lebanon — The Descent to Lebanon Range — Beirut— Old Tyre, 1S1 Chapter XVI. — From Beirut to Smyrna — Tripoli — Laodicea — Antioch — Alexandretta — Messina — Tarsus — Cyprus — Rhodes — Patmos .... 196 Chapter XVII. — The Seven Churches of Asia Minor — Ephesus — Smyrna — Pergamos — Thyatira — Sardis — Philadelphia — Laodicea, 216 Appendix. — Nineveh, Preface.

Preface

. VIII looked at them, and will receive different impressions respecting them. And thus, though the theme of the present volume is an old one, yet, like " the Book of books," to which it relates, our interest in it is ever new. I can say in truth, that of all the journeys ever made in a life now getting to be one of some length, the journey made up of these " Rambles through Bible Lands " has been to me by far the most interesting and profitable. And while, on the one hand, those who have had a per sonal experience of the power and preciousness of the truth which the Bible teaches, need no external evidences of the divine origin of that blessed book ; yet, on the other, to those who are doubtful about it, there is nothing like a journey through the Holy Land to establish confidence in the great fact that the Bible is what it claims to be, and that it never could have been written in any other land than that with which its history is connected.

And next to a personal inspection of that land, the testimony of others as to its geography and history may be useful to the same end. This is strikingly illustrated in the following incident : — THE BIBLE ON TENTER-HOOKS. In a village in Yorkshire, England, lived two men who w7ere cloth manufacturers. One was named Walsh and the other Stetson. Walsh was an unbeliever. It was a favourite opinion of his that the Bible was "all made up." He could never believe that it was written where it professed to be, and by the men said to have written it. But Stetson was an earnest Christian. Walsh was part owner of a factory, and one year he had set his heart on making a very large and fine piece of cloth. He took great pains with the carding, spinning, dyeing, weaving and finishing of it. In the process of manufacture, it was one

PREFACE.

. IX day stretched out on the tenter-hooks to dry. It made a fine show, and he felt very proud of it. The next morning he arose early to work at it ; to his amazement, it was gone. Some one had stolen it during the night. After weeks of anxiety and expense, a piece of cloth answer ing the description was stopped at Manchester, awaiting the owner and proof. Away to Manchester went Walsh, as fast as the express train would carry him. There he found many rolls of cloth which had been stolen. They were very much alike. He selected one which he felt satisfied was his. But how could he prove it? In doubt and perplexity he called on his neighbour Stetson. "Friend Stetson," said he, "I have found a piece of cloth which I am sure is the one which was stolen from me. But how to prove it is the question.

Can you tell me how ? " " You don't want it unless it's really yours 1 " " Certainly not." "And you want proof that is plain, simple, and such as will satisfy yourself and everybody 1 " " Precisely so." "Well, then, take Bible proof." " Bible proof ! Pray, what is that ? " " Take your cloth to the tenter-hooks on whieh it was stretched, and if it be yours, every hook will just fit the hole through which it passed before being taken down. There will be scores of such hooks, and if the hooks and the holes just come together right, no other proof will be wanted that the cloth is yours." " True. Why didn't I think of this before 1 " Away he went, and, sure enough, every hook came to its little hole, and the cloth was proved to be his. The tenter hooks were the very best evidence that could be had.

Some days after this, Walsh met his friend again. "I say, Stetson," said he, "what, did you mean, the other day, by calling the tenter-hooks ' Bible proof ' ? I'm sure if I had as good evidence for the Bible as I had for my cloth, I never should doubt it again." X

PREFACE.

. "Yon have the same, only better, for the Bible." "How so?" " Put it on the tenter-hooks. Take the Bible and travel with it ; go to the place where it was made. There you find the Red Sea, the Jordan, the Lake of Galilee, Mount Lebanon, Hermon, Carmel, Tabor and Gerizim ; there you find the cities of Damascus, Hebron, Tyre, Sidon and Jerusalem. Every mountain, every river, every sheet of water mentioned in the Bible, is there, just as the Bible speaks of it. Sinai, and the desert, and the Dead Sea are there. The holes and the hooks come together exactly. The best guide-book through that country is the Bible. It must have been written there on the spot, just as your cloth must have been made and stretched on your tenter-hooks. That land is the mould in which the Bible was cast, and when you bring the land and the book together, they fit to perfection."

Walsh felt the force of this argument, and he gave up his infidelity, and began to read the Bible with an interest he never had felt in it before. May God bless this book, and make it useful to every reader, in strengthening his faith and deepening his interest in that best of all books — the Bible ! Richard Newton. RAMBLES In Bible Lands.

Chapter I. The Voyage Across The Ocean

A VISIT TO PISA, WITH ITS LEANING TOWER, AND TO THE CITY OP CAIRO. We left home for our journey through the Holy Land in the middle of January. At that season of the year it would be most natural to expect a long and stormy voyage. But in this we were agreeably disappointed. We met with no storms. The weather was pleasant all the way over. There was no day when we could not comfortably walk up and down the deck of the vessel, and on the tenth day after leaving New York we landed safely at Liverpool. The good ship that carried us over the ocean was the steamer " Cuba." When I took my first walk on the deck of this vessel, after leaving New York, I looked round to find something to write about to my young friends at home. Very soon I saw something that suggested two good lessons. There were three or four large compasses fastened to the deck of the vessel, and then there was another compass about twenty feet overhead, fastened to the mast of the vessel.

You know that the mariner's compass is a little piece of steel, called a needle, which is set on a sharp iron pivot, fixed in a box which has a glass cover to it. This needle has the wonderful power, which God has given it, of always pointing to the north. And this is what enables the sailor to steer his vessel all over the ocean when he is out of sight of land. And when I saw the sailor looking at these compasses so often, I thought how careful sailors are to find out how to steer their vessel! They teach us a very good lesson here. You might think that one compass would be enough on board a ship. But here were three or four compasses on the deck of this same vessel. You may ask, " What do they want so many for?" The reason is that some times a compass gets out of order, and then if there were no other near, the vessel might be steered wrong, and so lose her way or get into danger.

But when there are several compasses, if one gets wrong, the others will show it, and so the sailor is able to keep his vessel in the right course. What a lesson we may learn from this ! The Bible is our compass. It points out the way that we must go if we wish to get to heaven. If we are only careful to find out how it points, and then to follow its pointing, it will guide us through all the dangers that are around us, on the sea of life, and bring us safely home to heaven at last. This is a good lesson to learn from the sailors. And then there is another good lesson taught us by that compass fastened up on the mast. It hangs up there in such a way that you can tell in a moment, from looking at it, tlie way the needle points. But what is that compass, so high up On the mast, put there for ?

For a very good reason. You see these steamers are built of iron. And iron attracts or draws the needle of a compass near to it, so that it cannot always be depended on. But that compass up the mast is out of the reach of the iron. There is nothing to disturb its needle. The sailor can depend on it, therefore, with more certainty. And w7hen I saw the captain stand on deck and look to that compass up on the mast to see if he was going right, then it seemed to me we were taught this lesson — We must look up to heaven for guidance if we wish to do right. It is not enough for the sailor to have a compass on deck. He must have one up aloft, and he must look carefully to that if he would be sure of going right. And this is just the way in which we must act. When we read our Bibles, we are like the sailor looking at his compass on deck.

It is right for us to do this ; but then there is something more for us to do _ for if we trust to our own understanding of the Bible, we shall be sure to get wrong. This is like having nothing but a compass on deck. But if we pray earnestly to God to help us to understand what we read in our Bibles, then we are like the sailor when he looks to the compass up aloft for guidance. This is the only way for us to get on in safety. Then let us read the Bible diligently every day, for this is our compass. But when we do this, let us look up to God in prayer that we may understand what we read. If we do this we shall be sure to go right, and get safe to the heavenly harbour at last. Remember how carefully the sailor watches his compass, and how earnestly he looks aloft for his surest guidance, and let us imitate his example in these respects.

We made a very short stay in England. I will not stop now to tell about that. Hurrying over to France, we passed rapidly through that country, and then along down the western coast of Italy. I will only stop to speak of one visit that we made in the course of this journey. This was at the city of Pisa, with its celebrated Leaning Tower. The steamer in which we were sailing stopped for a day at the city of Leghorn. As we had nothing to do till the steamer started again, we concluded to spend the day in visiting the old city of Pisa, which is only half an hour's ride by the railway from Leghorn. This town of Pisa contains some very interest ing buildings. Of these the most curious one is the leaning tower. Almost everybody has heard of this famous tower. It is seven hundred years old, having been built nearly three hundred years before Columbus discovered America.

It is 179 feet high, and is built of solid marble. There are six high storeys in it, each of which is supported by a circular row of marble columns. There is a flight of stone stairs inside the tower leading to the top of it; and these stairs contain 294 steps. The tower is built near a large church to which it belongs, and is used as the bell-tower of the church, or instead of a steeple. On the top of it are a number of bells, the largest of which is said to weigh 12,000 pounds. But the most curious thing about this tower is, that instead of standing straight up, as towers generally do, it leans over on one side, just as if it were going to fall. This is what has given it the name it bears B — the leaning tower of Pisa. And it leans not a little either. If a straight line were let down on the leaning side from the top of the tower to the bottom, it is said there would be a difference of about 13 feet between the top and the bottom.

I mean by this that the top of the tower leans over thirteen feet from where it would be if it were straight. This is a great deal for such a high tower to lean. But perhaps some of you may be ready to ask, " How came this tower to lean so ? " Ah ! that is a question which a great many people have asked. Every one who visits the tower asks this question. But it is much easier to ask it than to answer it. The fact is, nobody is able to answer it. There is no one living now who can tell how the tower came to lean as it does. Some think that the foundation of the tower has sunk on one side, and this is the reason why it leans. Others think that it was built from the beginning to lean, just as it does now, and that the builder wanted to see how much he could make a tower to lean without falling over.

Which of these opinions is the right one I cannot pretend to say ; but one thing is very certain, the towrer does lean. The tower in Pisa is a leaning tower. Well, but what good will it do to see this tower ? or what use can be made of it by writing about it? While I was looking at that leaning tower, it led me to think a good deal about that Tower that does not lean. Jesus is spoken of in the Bible as such a tower. David calls Him his " high tower." Ps. xviii. 1. And it is interesting to think of some of the points of differ ence between this tower of Pisa and the Tower of which the Bible tells us, or between the tower that leans and the Tower that does not lean. The first difference between them is in their position. The one leans, while the other is straight. It is a very curious thing to come and look at a leaning tower ; but if we had to live on it we should find it very awkward.

It would make us feel very unsafe all the time. When I got to the upper part of this tower, I would not have gone round the w7alk on the outside, where there was no railings between the columns, for all the wealth in Pisa. It seemed as though one would certainly slip off and fall down ; and this is a very uncomfortable feeling to have on a tower. But when we come to Jesus, the Tower of which the Bible tells us, we need have no fear of this kind. This Tower is straight. Those who get on it are safe. Jesus puts His everlasting arms under them, and spreads His sheltering wings over them. He becomes their keeper, and this is what makes them safe. Tlie second difference between these two towers is in their age. The tower of Pisa was built seven hundred years ago. That is a long time to look back to.

But it is nothing compared to the age of the Bible Tower. This never had a beginning. If any one had gone to Pisa more than seven hundred years ago, he would have found no leaning tower there then. But there never was a time when this Tower of the Bible did not exist. Jesus says of Himself that He was " set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." Prov. viii. 23. And the apostle tells us that " He was in the beginning with God." John i. 2. Tlie third difference between the towers is in the length of time they will last. I cannot tell how long the tower in Pisa will last. But it looks very old. It is very old. Time and the weather have done it much harm. Many of the stones are very much worn away. One of these days it must fall ; and then there will be no leaning tower in Pisa.

But Jesus, the Tower of the Bible, does not grow old. Time makes no difference with Him. He is the " same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." And then the fourth difference between these towers is in their uses. The tower in Pisa is only of use for two things ; one is to ring bells on ; the other is to look at. No one lives on it. No one ever thinks of going to it for shelter or defence, for help or comfort. But how different is it with Jesus, the blessed and glorious Tower, about which we read in the Bible ! Jesus is a tower for His people to live in. And He not only gives life to those who come to Him, but pardon and peace, protection and shelter, help and comfort, and every blessing they need to make them happy, both while they live in this world and when they come to die. Let us all get on this Bible Tower, and we shall find that the words of the hymn will then be true in reference to us, for — " There, safe we shall abide ; There sweet will be our rest, And every longing satisfied, With full salvation blest."

After leaving Leghorn we went to Naples, and from there to Messina, on the island of Sicily. There we took another steamer and sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to the celebrated town of Alexandria. While stopping here we took a donkey-ride through the town, and went to see the famous "Pompey's Pillar" and "Cleopatra's Needle." These are two well-known columns, which have stood there for more than eighteen hundred years. The next day we started by the railroad, and after an in teresting ride through the northern part of Egypt and across several branches of the Nile, we came to the city of Cairo. This city is situated on the Nile, that famous river about which we read so much in the Bible. It was in this part of Egypt that the Land of Goshen was situated, which Pharaoh gave to Joseph, for his father Jacob, and his brethren with their families, to live in.

And it was here, when the children of Israel had increased greatly, and another Pharaoh arose who "knew not Joseph," that they were made the slaves of the Egyptians, and were compelled to do such hard work for their masters in making bricks and building cities for them. And you see the people in this country making bricks to-day, in just the same way in which the Israelites used to make them. We read in the 5th chapter of Exodus that they used straw in making bricks ; and when Pharaoh took away their straw, and still required them to make the same numbsr, or "tale of bricks," as before, they were in great trouble. I passed by a brick-field one day, and saw some men making bricks. They had a lot of clay on one side, and a quantity of straw cut up into short pieces on the other. Then they would take a hand ful of straw and mix it up with the clay before it was put into the boxes or moulds which were to give it the proper shape and size.

The straw is put into the clay to make it hold together better, just as our plasterers put hair into their mortar for the same purpose. These bricks are not burnt as ours are, but only dried in the sun. When I saw those men at work, it made me think about the Israelites ; and I felt how true the Bible history is in all the accounts which it gives us ! It was on this river Nile, perhaps not far from where we stayed, that Jochebed, the mother of Moses, lived, and where she hid her child for three months ; and here, when she could not hide him any longer, that she made the ark of bulrushes and laid it "in the flags by the river's brink." It was here, too, that God sent Pharaoh's daughter to find the floating baby, and then to adopt him as her own child ; so that Moses became the "son of Pharaoh's daughter."

It was only about six miles from Cairo that Joseph became acquainted with the young woman whom he married, " Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah, priest of On." Gen. xli. 45. That was the most famous place of learning in the world then. That was the place where Moses went to school and received his education. There it was that he became " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." Acts vii. 22. How wonderfully God orders things so as to prepare men for the work he has for them to do ! Moses would not have been fitted to be the deliverer and ruler and lawgiver of the Israelites unless he had had all that learning and wisdom. When he was born, if any one had told his mother that her son was to have such an education, she would no doubt have said that it was impossible. It was so to her, or to her husband ; but nothing is impossible with God.

This city of Cairo is a very large city. It contains about four hundred thousand people. And they are the strangest looking people you ever saw. Some of the streets are so narrow that a person may stand in the middle, and by reaching out his arms almost touch the houses on both sides at once. But narrow as they are, they are crowded with people, buying and selling in them ; and with donkeys and camels, hurrying along with great loads of different things. I saw a great many things here that reminded me of what we read about in the Bible, and that furnish very interesting illustrations of those things. There are two especially of which I wish now to speak. The pictures of them are taken from photographs bought at Cairo. The first is a picture of a young Arab boy. He has a red Fez cap on his head, a long white mantle over his shoulders, and a long rod, or staff, in his right hand.

He is what we would call a runner. There are great numbers of them in the streets of Cairo. They are straight, strong, good looking boys. When people ride in carriages here — not through the crooked and narrow streets of which I have spoken, but others that are newer and wider — they have one of these boys to run before the carriage. As he does this, he keeps waving his rod and calling to the people to get out of the way. Perhaps you will not wonder at this so much when told ARAB BOT. that even the widest streets here are what we should call narrow. None of them have any sidewalks or stone pave ments. The streets are full of people, all in the middle ; and as the wheels of a carriage roll along without making any noise, either the driver would have to walk his horses, or else he would be all the time running over somebody.

And when I saw one of these runners hurrying on before a carriage, I was reminded of what we read in the Bible about the prophet Elijah. You remember, on one occasion, when there had been no rain in the land of Israel for more than three years, Elijah prayed to God to send rain. After praying he sent his servant to the top of Mount Carmel to see if there was any sign of its coming. Presently he said that he saw " a little cloud like a man's hand " rising from the sea. Then Elijah sent word to the king to get into his chariot and hasten home, before the rain should stop him. He did so; and we read in 1 Kings xviii. 46, " And the hand of the Lord wason Elijah ; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel." Here we have, in the customs of these people to-day, a striking illus tration of this incident in the history w7hich the Bible gives us.