Monday, March 19th.
How delightful to be again in the open country! Acre is a positive prison — to both soul and body. It seems to me that to read the Bible to best advantage one must be in the fields. When God would talk with Abraham, “he brought him forth abroad” (Gen. 15:55And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15:5)); and abroad we must go to meet and “hold converse” with the Lord our Maker.
The Bible – a Country Book
There is more in your thought than would be likely to strike the careless ear. The Bible is not a city book; its scenes are mostly laid in the country — its themes suggested by, and its illustrations drawn from the same source; there most of it was thought, felt, spoken, acted, and even written. We are scarcely introduced to city life at all for the first three thousand years of Bible chronology. The Pentateuch was composed in tents during Israel's long sojourn in the wilderness, and ever after, the reader of the Holy Book is led forth to dwell in tabernacles with patriarchs, or in deserts with prophets and apostles. The poets also, and sweet singers of Israel, commune almost exclusively with Nature, her scenes and her scenery: from thence they draw their imagery, if not their inspirations.
Our Lord’s Love of the Country
The same is eminently true of our blessed Saviour; and he who would bring his spirit most happily into communion with this divine Teacher, must follow him afield, must sit on the mountain side and hear him preach, must stand on the shore of Gennesaret and listen to the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth, must walk with him from village to village, and witness his miracles of healing mercy, and his tears of divine compassion. To reproduce and vitalize all this, we need the country, and best of all, this country; and if our Biblical studies “smell of the dew of herbs and of the breath of morning,” rather than of the midnight lamp, I would have it so. They will be in closer correspondence thereby with the original masters, and more true also to the actual circumstances under which they have been prosecuted.
Voices of Nature
We do, in fact, read, and study, and worship in Nature's holy temple, where God hath set a tabernacle for the sun, and made a way for the moon, with her starry train, to walk by night. In this many-aisled temple, eye, and ear, and heart, and every spirit avenue and sense of body share in the solemn worship. Oh! I do ever delight to linger there, and listen to hear the “piping wind” wake up the echoes that sleep in the wadies, and the softer melodies of brooks which run among the hills; and I do so love the flock-clad fields, and woods with singing birds, and vales full to the brim and running over with golden light from the setting sun, streaming down aslope through groves of steadfast oak and peaceful olive; and at early morn to breathe the air with odors loaded, and perfumes from countless flowers, sweet with the dewy baptism of the night. A thousand voices call to prayer, and praise ascends like clouds of incense to the throne eternal.
Galilee
Thus let it be today. We are going up to Galilee, where Immanuel the God-man, lived and toiled for thirty years. It were no idle superstition to take off the shoe of worldliness and sin as we enter this sacred temple where he so often sat, and taught those lessons of divine wisdom which 'we seek to study and explain.
Do you think it safe, or even Christian, to surrender one's mind to that reverential mood which men call hero-worship for want of a more appropriate name?
Hero-Worship
A very difficult and comprehensive question. The prompting principle of hero-worship is far too closely intertwined with the inner sanctities of man's moral nature ever to be eradicated. There are spiritual “high places” where men will ever continue to rear altars and burn incense. It is absurd to ignore their existence — might possibly be sacrilegious utterly to overthrow them. We may moralize, philosophize, and even theologize as we please, and still men will go on all the same to erect monuments, and build temples, and make pilgrimages to the birthplace, the home, and the tomb of prophet, poet, and hero. And if kings, nobles, and ministers of the gospel crowd to the place where Shakspeare was born, or died, or lies buried, and there weep and pray, and tremble and faint in seraphic ecstasy, should we wonder that the less cultivated and less sophisticated will do the same thing for the sacred prophet and the holy seer of antiquity?
Sacred Shrines
It is absurd to tolerate, admire, and even participate in the one, and yet condemn the other. Can we surround Plymouth Rock with reverential sanctities, because our forefathers landed there some two hundred years ago, and at the same time ridicule the Oriental who approaches Sinai with awe, or makes long pilgrimages to Mecca, or to Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Tiberias, and a score of other places where holy men lived, wrought mighty miracles, and revealed to man the mysteries of God and eternity, and where they often sealed their testimony with their blood? I, at least, cannot be so unjust and ridiculously partial. Still, the entire tendency should be closely watched. There is no end to the absurdities into which it will beguile the credulous or the imaginative. A candid and close comparison of ancient Bible customs with those things in our day which we call superstitions, will disclose the rather startling fact that the latter have their counterpart in the former. Thus Jacob had a remarkable vision; the place was ever afterward holy, and was consecrated by religious rites. Moses put off his shoes before the burning bush, and so does the Oriental wherever the presence of God has been manifested, or is supposed still to be in any special manner. The chapel of the “burning bush” is never visited with sandaled foot. The Jews were forbidden to enter certain sacred places, to touch certain holy articles, or even to look upon certain things invested with peculiar sanctity. And thus, at this day, every sect and religion has the counterparts of all these things.
Transference of Sanctity
The external instruments connected with working miracles had, in ancient times, transferred to them, in imagination, a portion of the sanctity and reverence due to him who used them, or to that divine power which was transmitted through them. This applied not only to the staves, robes, and mantles of prophets while living, but to the same things, to their bones also, and even to their very grave-stones, when dead. The same thing exists to this day, and even in an exaggerated form. Elisha took up Elijah's mantle and smote Jordan, saying, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah” He afterward sent Gehazi to lay his staff on the dead son of the Shunammite. It is now very common to bind on, or wrap round the sick, some part of the robes of reputed saints, in the belief that healing virtue will be communicated from it. The same faith, or rather feeling, led the people to bring out their sick into the streets, that even the shadow of Peter might overshadow some of them (Acts 5:1515Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. (Acts 5:15)). And so “from the body of Paul were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19:1212So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. (Acts 19:12)).
Relics
Even that wonderful superstition about relics, and the miraculous powers of dead saints' bones, is not without an antecedent reality in Bible history upon which to hang its stupendous absurdities. We read in 2 Kings 13:2121And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. (2 Kings 13:21), that people carrying a dead man to his grave, being frightened by a company of Moabites, threw the body hastily into the sepulcher of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood up on his feet. This train of comparison might be indefinitely extended, and the remark abundantly substantiated by facts, that there is scarcely a superstition among this people around us but what may have its origin traced far back to Bible times. And, moreover, when met with in those oldest records, it is frequently not at its birth or first institution that we see it, but as a custom whose origin is concealed in the twilight of remote antiquity. Now, up to a certain point, the feeling out of which this grows is natural, irresistible, and therefore innocent, if not even commendable. To one who really believes the evangelical narratives, for example — to whom the records are facts and not fables, — the region we are about to enter will inevitably be invested with a sacredness which applies to no other on earth. It must be so.
Reverence for Places
If any one visits these localities without being conscious of such reverence, it is simply, only, and in every case, because a latent unbelief has transferred the stupendous facts into the category of dreamy myths. No man can believe that here the Creator of the universe, his Lord and his Redeemer, really lived, and taught, and wrought miracles, and yet experience no other feelings than such as ordinary places awaken. Least of all can they do so, to whom that man of sorrows and acquainted with grief is the one altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand. Love, — pure, warm, absorbing love, will invest these things with a sacredness, a preciousness beyond expression. It would argue a strange stupidity indeed, if we could walk over those acres once pressed by his sacred feet, and climb the mountains where he so often retired to meditate and pray, without emotion. We are in no danger of enacting such a piece of irreverence.
Entrance to Galilee
We study today no common lesson of earth's geography. Everything is interesting, and may be important. Let us, therefore, suffer nothing to pass unquestioned. You may begin with this large tell on our right. It stands at the very threshold of that country from which our Lord was called a Galilean. The modern name is Birweh, from this village above it. It is one hundred and twelve feet high, and eight hundred and eighty-eight paces round the base, and one hundred and eighty-six paces across at the top. It was once walled and entirely covered with buildings, and was probably designed to command the entrance into Galilee through this fine valley. The village shows signs of Phoenician or Jewish origin. It may have been a frontier castle, held by the latter to prevent the Canaanites of Acre from penetrating into the interior.
CabûL
That large village in the center of Wady es Sh'ab is Damûn, and farther south, toward Abellîn, is er Ruaise; above it is Tŭmra, and higher still is Cabûl, — the same name as that which Hiram gave to the cities which Solomon presented to him (1 Kings 9:1313And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. (1 Kings 9:13)). The whole twenty cities, I suppose, were in this neighborhood. If this is the Cahill on the border of Asher, then this Wady es Sh'ab may be the Jiphthah-el mentioned in immediate connection with it (Josh. 19:2727And turneth toward the sunrising to Beth-dagon, and reacheth to Zebulun, and to the valley of Jiphthah-el toward the north side of Beth-emek, and Neiel, and goeth out to Cabul on the left hand, (Joshua 19:27)). It is impossible, however, now to draw any geographical lines from such uncertain points of departure. Josephus spent some time in Cahill before he was shut up in Jotapata (See Life, paragraphs 43, 45). I have never passed through it, but am told that there is nothing about it remarkable. Over the hill beyond Cabal is the rock Jefat, which Mr. Schulz identifies with Jotapata, and I think correctly. I have visited it from Cana of Galilee, from which it is distant about two miles, up Wady Jefat to the northwest.
This great Wady es Sh'ab, called also Halazûn, inclines somewhat to the southeast; and yonder is Maiar, high up on the southern side of it.
Mejdel KerûM
Our path turns to the left through this gap, and ascends to the plain of Mejdel Kerûm. Notice these lofty mountains on the north of this olive-planted plain. Can you tell which way the water is drained off?
It must be down the gap through which we have entered the plain, but it is so level as to puzzle the eye.
Dr. Robinson says it has no proper outlet; which is scarcely correct, since it is drained off southwest into Wady es Sh'ab, and southeast below Rameh by the Wady Sulemiyeh. This Mejdel Kerûm is rather pretty, with its white dome over some Moslem saint or other. The ruins of Gabera lie over that hill to the southeast about three miles; it was celebrated in the wars of Josephus, and was then an important town of Galilee. Here on our left are Deir el Asad and el Ba'any close together: they have large remains of antiquity about them — more, indeed, than are to be found in most of these Galilean villages. We have now a rather blind path along the base of these northern mountains for a mile due east to Nehf, below which is the regular road up the valley to Seijur. Both these are ancient sites.
Sheep From Euphrates
What a prodigious flock of sheep is wending this way down the valley! Whence do they come, and what brings them along this unfrequented route?
Several months ago they started from the plains around and south of the head-waters of the Euphrates, and they are now on their way to Acre, and other towns along the coast. The East is, and has ever been, the land of sheep, as the Mississippi valley is of swine. Job had 14,000 sheep (Job 13:1212Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay. (Job 13:12)), and Solomon sacrificed 120,000 at the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:6363And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. (1 Kings 8:63)). Nor will these numbers seem incredible when examined and compared with what now exists in this country.
The Land of Sheep
Every year sheep are brought down from the north in such multitudes as to confound the imagination. In 1853 the interior route was unsafe, and all had to be passed along the seaboard. During the months of November and December the whole line of coast was covered with them: they came from Northern Syria and from Mesopotamia; and their shepherds, in dress, manners, and language, closely resemble those of Abraham and Job, as I believe.
How Driven
At a distance the flocks look exactly like droves of hogs going to Cincinnati; their progress is quite as slow, and their motions are very similar. The shepherds “put a space between drove and drove” (Gen. 32:1616And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. (Genesis 32:16)), and then lead on softly, as Jacob's shepherds did, and for the same reason. If they over-drive them the flock dies; and even with the greatest care many give out, and, to prevent their dying by the wayside, are slaughtered and sold to the poor, or are eaten by the shepherds themselves.
The flocks are also constantly thinning off as they go south by selling on all occasions, and thus the whole country is supplied. How vast must be the numbers when they first set out from the distant deserts of the Euphrates! Indeed, those northern plains literally swarm with sheep, and hence the supply never fails. When these flocks have to he watered in a region where wells are scarce, it is no wonder that there should be great strife, as we often read of in patriarchal history (Gen. 13:7; 26:20-217And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. (Genesis 13:7)
20And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. 21And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. (Genesis 26:20‑21)). Our road passes south of Rameh through these large olive orchards, planted among rocks, and left, in many places, to be choked with a dense jungle of oak and other bushes. And now we turn square round the base of this lofty mountain southward, into the pretty and well-watered Wady Sulemia (or Sulamy, as it is pronounced here). It has fine fountains, and we shall come upon some half-a-dozen mills at least, hid away in the romantic ravine below our path. These green hills are full of Arab tents at this season, and you can now hear the shouts of these wild men at their lagging flocks, and also their singular call to the camels scattered over the country. Here, too, game abounds, and on every side of us the red-legged partridge is calling responsive to its fellows; it is thus they welcome in the coming twilight.
El Mughar
Our path now bends round to the east, having the broad wady Sulemia on our right, and el Mughar is just before us.
An Arabic Welcome
Here comes our friend G– J– to meet us with his warm Arabic welcome.
Ahlan! Ahlan we Sablan! Most happy to see you. Brother wrote that you were coming, but I had begun to despair of seeing you.
This interminable rain detained us prisoners in your house at Acre. But first of all, let us find a place for our tent. I have made a vow to avoid all fellaheen houses.
I cannot promise you very comfortable quarters, but, such as they are, you are most welcome to share them.
No, no; thank you. I am not to be caught that way. It is well enough for you, perhaps, but I should not sleep a minute; and, besides, our baggage would get full of fleas, to annoy us for a week to come.
As you like; but there is not a level place in all the village large enough for the tent.
Encampment on House-Top
You can pitch on the roof of the house.
That will do admirably; and it will also enable us to keep off the villagers, who have gathered round us like bees.
Well, this is something new. Are you sure we shall not break through and smother, or crush to death the family below?
No, I am not. It trembles rather suspiciously, but our friends assure us there is no danger.
Salim must find some sheltered place for our horses, or they will be unfit to ride tomorrow. Poor things, they are shivering in this cold mountain wind.
And now all our inquiries about friends, family, and politics are answered, my dear G-, I wish to get acquainted with your present whereabouts. It is all new territory to me, and somewhat savage. You ought to make large gains to remunerate you for this rough-and-tumble life among these fellaheen.
I do not find it disagreeable. I am busy all day long; the place is healthy, the people respectful and easily managed, and the proceeds of this farming operation quite satisfactory. We are nearly through with oil-pressing, and, although the crows have destroyed many thousand piasters worth of olives, we shall still make a handsome profit.
Olive Culture
The orchards, I see, are very extensive.
Altogether too large for the population; and so, also, there is far more arable land than they can cultivate. There are thousands of olive-trees so completely enveloped with thorny jungle that we cannot gather even what grows on them.
Improvements
If this jungle were cleared away, and the land properly dressed, we should at once double the crop. I am doing something at it, but these people are so lazy that but slow progress is made; in fact, they are afraid to increase the number of bearing trees, lest their taxes should also be raised upon them. Thus a bad government paralyzes all desire to improve.
What are these people?
Druses and Greek Christians; and the same mixture of sects prevails in Rameh and other places.
This Rameh seems to be a large and important village.
About the same size as el Mughar. They are very anxious that I should farm their village also, but I have already quite as much on my hands as I can manage.
This is undoubtedly the Ramah of Naphtali, and this ruin above your village, called 'Ain Hazûr, is the En-Hazor, I suppose, given by Joshua to the same tribe (Josh. 19:3737And Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor, (Joshua 19:37)).
Indeed! I did not know that our place was mentioned in the Bible.
El Mughar is not, but 'Ain Hazûr is. What do you call this broad wady south of you?
Are there any ruins of this name in the wady?
Yes; they lie between this and Deir Hanna, that castle to the southwest, which you must have seen as you came toward our village, but they are in considerable.
They are undoubtedly the remains of that Salamin which was fortified by Josephus. Is this wady ever called Rŭbûdîyeh?
There is a ruined village of that name in it, an hour and a half to the southeast of us, and between that and the lake it takes the name of the village. What is that place on the opposite ridge of this wady?
It is 'Ailabûn; and over the hill beyond is another called Sabăna.
Where is 'Arraby? According to Josephus, it must be somewhere in this region.
It is west of Deir Hanna, on the southern side of the wady. You ought to ride over to this Deir. The castle built by the Dahar family of Acre is still inhabited, and is worth visiting. There was an ancient ruin there, from which it took its name Deir. Farther west is Sukhnîn.
That is Sogane, several times mentioned by Josephus. Is not Yâkûk in this neighborhood?
East of us, and directly above the plain of Gennesaret.
The similarity of name suggests that it is the site of the Hukkok given to Naphtali (Josh. 19:3434And then the coast turneth westward to Aznoth-tabor, and goeth out from thence to Hukkok, and reacheth to Zebulun on the south side, and reacheth to Asher on the west side, and to Judah upon Jordan toward the sunrising. (Joshua 19:34)), but I think this doubtful. I see not how any border line of that tribe could be drawn through Yâkûk, unless, indeed, the territory of that great tribe reached far down the Lake of Tiberias.
Do you find much trouble in conducting your agricultural speculations among this people?
Dishonesty of the Natives
The greatest difficulties arise from dishonesty of the agents or wakkeels. Though I am on the ground, and watch everything closely, yet these men rob me right and left. I lose most by the peculations of those who oversee the gathering of olives; and in the time of threshing, unless I look strictly at the operations in person, I would be robbed of a large part of my harvest. The emirs and sheikhs, who commit this oversight to their servants, and the government, that deputes officers to gather its portion from the public lands, of course suffer still more severely.
Government Officers
No doubt; and yet the system followed by the present government for gathering up the produce of the country seems to be very ancient. Most of the kings of Judah and Israel engaged largely in agriculture. Besides arable lands fur tillage, they had vine-yards, and olive-yards, and flocks, and camels, and asses; and they had agents like your wakkeels, and doubtless just as dishonest and oppressive. In 1 Chronicles 27:25-3125And over the king's treasures was Azmaveth the son of Adiel: and over the storehouses in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages, and in the castles, was Jehonathan the son of Uzziah: 26And over them that did the work of the field for tillage of the ground was Ezri the son of Chelub: 27And over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite: over the increase of the vineyards for the wine cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite: 28And over the olive trees and the sycomore trees that were in the low plains was Baal-hanan the Gederite: and over the cellars of oil was Joash: 29And over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite: and over the herds that were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai: 30Over the camels also was Obil the Ishmaelite: and over the asses was Jehdeiah the Meronothite: 31And over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagerite. All these were the rulers of the substance which was king David's. (1 Chronicles 27:25‑31) we have a full list of these gentlemen appointed by David:
Store-Houses in the Fields
Jehonathan was over the store-houses in the fields. In the Hûleh, and on the great plains of Askelon and Gaza, I saw large low huts built in the open country to store away the produce directly from the threshing-floors, thence to be carried home, as occasion required. Such, I suppose, were David's store-houses in the fields. Then follows a list of wakkeels over vineyards, over olive-trees, and even over the sycamores, whose fruit is now generally given to the poor.
It seems to me to remit, as a necessary deduction, that the reigning power in this country always pursued the ruinous policy of confiscating lands and property, and retaining them in their own hand, very much as the Turkish government does now; and this is the reason why we find so many places mentioned as deserts in the Bible history.
Government Lands
The excuse for this agricultural policy on the part of the government in ancient times no doubt was, that the amount of money circulating among a people entirely agricultural or pastoral was small; the king must therefore necessarily take his taxes in kind, and depend for a large portion of his revenues upon the produce of the royal domains. But the Turkish government is pressed by no such necessity. The whole oppressive and ruinous system, by which large tracts of fertile territory are converted into deserts, ought to be abolished, and the government lands sold to those who cultivate the soil.
Boaz
Your remark about stealing from the threshing floors suggests the reason why Boaz slept on his that night when he was visited by Ruth (Ruth 3:77And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down. (Ruth 3:7)). As he was evidently a man of property, who employed many reapers, and did not work himself, it must have been some urgent reason that could induce him to sleep in the open field among his workmen.
No doubt it was because he could not trust his servants; and what he did must be done now. The owner, or some faithful agent, has to remain at the floor day and night.
Oxen Goring
We encountered a drove of cattle today, some of which were fighting furiously; and the herdsman, endeavoring to part them, was in danger of being pushed over and gored to death by one of the belligerents. I had previously imagined that the cattle of this country must have greatly degenerated since the days when Moses thought it necessary to ordain that the ox which gored a man should be stoned, and his carcass thrown away; and if he killed any one, and was previously known to be vicious, the owner also should be put to death, because he did not keep him in (Ex. 21:28-3228If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. 29But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. 30If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. 31Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. 32If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. (Exodus 21:28‑32)). Danger from this source has not ceased, especially among the half-wild droves that range over the luxuriant pastures in certain parts of the country.
Law of Moses
And the law is still more in place which ordained that, “if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide” (Ex. 21:3535And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide. (Exodus 21:35)). If this admirable statute were faithfully administered, it would prevent many angry and sometimes fatal feuds between herdsmen, and at the same time would be a very fair adjustment of the questions of equity that grow out of such accidents.
Humanity of Its Minute Regulation
Josephus very justly boasts of the wisdom and humanity of their great lawgiver, shown in minute regulations of this nature; and he gives as instances not only these ordinances which we have noticed, but also another, of the necessity for which I had a very practical intimation this afternoon. Founding his remark upon Ex. 21:33,3433And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein; 34The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his. (Exodus 21:33‑34), he says, “Let those that dig a well or a pit be careful to lay planks over them, and so keep them shut up; not in order to hinder any persons from drawing water, but that there may be no danger of falling into them” (Josephus, 4, 8, 37).
Open Wells
I came near falling into an uncovered well this afternoon, when peering about an old ruin; and such accidents are not uncommon. A friend of mine lost a valuable horse in that way; and, according to the Mosaic law, the owner of the pit should have paid the price of the horse (Ex. 21:3434The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his. (Exodus 21:34)). I have been astonished at the recklessness with which wells and pits are left uncovered and unprotected all over this country. It argues a disregard of life which is highly criminal. I once saw a blind man walk right into one of these unprotected wells; he fell to the bottom, but, as it was soft sand, he was not so much injured as frightened.
March 20th.
You are a late riser, my dear G–. I have had a long ramble over your domains, enjoying the bright morning and the charming scenery. The prospect over the hills, and down the broad wady Sulamy, and the ravine of Rŭbŭdîyeh to the lake, is exquisitely beautiful. But much land lies waste that might be tilled, and it is sad to see so many olive-trees entangled in jungles of thorns and bushes.
Much of this is owing to causes which we were discussing last night, but still more to the laziness of the people. A few are tolerably industrious, but the majority are far otherwise.
Laziness of Natives
Laziness seems to have been a very prevalent vice in this country from days of old, giving rise to a multitude of popular proverbs, which the wise man has preserved in his collection. Indeed, there is scarcely any other subject so often mentioned, or so richly and scornfully illustrated by Solomon as this. His rebuke of the sluggard, drawn from the habits of the ant, is very appropriate and suggestive (Prov. 6:6-116Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 9How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6‑11)). We need not now “consider her ways” in general, for all the world is or may be familiar with them. There are some circumstances, however, mentioned in this passage, which must have been suggested by actual life in this country.
The Ant
Thus the fact that the ant will faithfully and perseveringly work without guide, or overseer, or ruler, is very striking. When I began to employ workmen in this country, nothing annoyed me more than the necessity to hire also an overseer, or to fulfill this office myself. But I soon found that this was universal and strictly necessary. Without an overseer very little work would be done, and nothing as it should be. The workmen, every way unlike the ant, will not work at all unless kept to it and directed in it by an overseer, who is himself a perfect specimen of laziness.
Overseers
He does absolutely nothing but smoke his pipe, order this, scold that one, and discuss the how and the why with the men themselves, or with idle passers-by, who are strangely prone to enter earnestly into everybody's business but their own. This overseeing often costs more than the work overseen. Now the ants manage far better. Every one attends to his own business, and does it well.
Improvidence
In another respect these provident creatures read a very necessary lesson to Oriental sluggards. In all warm climates there is a ruinous want of calculation and forecast. Having enough for the current day, men are reckless as to the future. The idea of sickness, misfortune, or the necessities of old age exercise but little influence; they are not provident “to lay up for a rainy day” or dreary winter. Yet all these occasions come upon them, and they wake to want and pinching poverty. Now the ant provideth her meat in summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. All summer long, and especially in harvest, every denizen of their populous habitations is busy. As we walk or ride over the grassy plains, we notice paths leading in all directions from their subterranean granaries; at first broad, clean, and smooth, like roads near a city, but constantly branching off into smaller and less distinct, until they disappear in the herbage of the plain. Along these converging paths hurry thousands of ants, thickening inward until it becomes an unbroken column of busy beings going in search of, or returning with their food for future need; there is no loitering or jostling; every one knows his business, and does not intermeddle with others. No thoroughfare of largest city is so crowded or better conducted than these highways to the ant-hills. They are great robbers, however, and plunder by night as well as by day; and the farmer must keep a sharp eye to his floor in harvest, or they will abstract a large quantity of grain in a single night.
Herodotus on Ants
Speaking of ants, what could have induced Herodotus to write that absurd story about the ants in India, “larger than a fox and less than a dog,” which dug up gold, and tore to pieces those who came to gather it, and much more to the same purport?
As to Herodotus, he was a most courageous retailer of anecdotes, and used the privilege of great travelers without reserve. That Pliny should quote this fable is truly surprising. — See Herodotus, 170.
“How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?” (Prov. 6:99How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? (Proverbs 6:9)). Up, drowsy fool! no longer fold your hands in idleness, or the day of poverty will overtake you, as surely as a man who steadily travels on will come to the end of his journey. Though you see it not, yet the time of want draws near, direct and sure, and stern as an armed man who comes to bind and plunder (Prov. 6:1111So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. (Proverbs 6:11)).
Solomon’s Dislike of Sloth
It is curious to notice how intensely Solomon hated this vice, and in how many ways he gave expression to his abhorrence and contempt of the sluggard. Thus, “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting” (Prov. 12:2727The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious. (Proverbs 12:27)). The most good-for-nothing fellow may be roused by the excitement of the chase to endure the fatigue of hunting, but, when this violent stimulus is past, he is too indolent even to roast the game he has taken with so much toil. Again, “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing” (Prov. 13:44The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. (Proverbs 13:4)). Thus, too, “he is brother to him who is a great waster” (Prov. 18:99He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. (Proverbs 18:9)), and “he coveteth greedily all daylong,” and hath nothing, for “his hands refuse to labor” (Prov. 21:25-2625The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor. 26He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not. (Proverbs 21:25‑26)). “The way of the slothful is as an hedge of thorns” (Prov. 15:1919The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain. (Proverbs 15:19)): it pricks, lacerates, and entangles the miserable wretch. Slothfulness produces a sickly timidity, and is ever fruitful and expert in raising idle objections and imaginary dangers. “There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets” (Prov. 22:1313The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. (Proverbs 22:13)). He “will not plow by reason of the cold” (Prov. 20:44The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4)); and as plowing and sowing cannot be carried on until the winter rains commence, he neglects altogether to sow his fields, “therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.” I have often pitied the farmer when plowing in the cold rains and pitiless winds, and it requires more decision of character than belongs to a sluggard to bear up against them; he therefore retreats into his hut, kindles a little fire, and dozes away his time by the side of it, enveloped in pungent smoke. Nor will he be roused: “A little more sleep, a little more folding of the hands.” As the door on his hinges, so the sluggard on his bed rolls back and forth with many a creak and weary groan. He will put forth more arguments for his base conduct than seven men that can render a reason.
Illustration of Laziness
Our Arab anecdotes go far beyond Solomon. A favorite illustration of extreme laziness is the case of a man that would not turn his head over on his pillow, though the muddy water leaking through the roof fell plump into his eye! But that description in Proverbs 24 is the one which strikes me as most appropriate to my poor fellaheen:
The Field of the Sluggard
“I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down” (Prov. 26:30-31).
Yes, that is true to nature, and to actual life in all its details. The stone terraces and garden walls soon tumble down when neglected; and this, beyond any country I have seen, is prolific in thorns and thistles. All your vineyards in this region are covered with them, and so thousands of your valuable olive-trees are completely choked up with briers and thorns, and their owners are too shiftless and indolent to clear them away.
Olive Pressing
As you are a large manufacturer of olive oil, I must embrace the opportunity to examine into this operation today.
We are nearly through pressing for this year, but there is one mŭtrûf still in operation down by the brook Sulamy, to which we can walk after breakfast. Does it not injure the quality of the oil to keep the olives so long?
Not materially, if proper care be taken to prevent heating and fermentation. Our olives are now quite black, and a person unacquainted with the matter might think them altogether spoiled; and yet, as you will see, the oil is clear and sweet, and the yield is equally good.
The M’aserah
What is the difference between a mŭtrûf and a m'aserah?
The m'aserah is worked by hand, and is only used for the olives which fall first in autumn, before the rains of winter raise the brooks which drive the midriff. The olives for the m'aserah are ground to a pulp in circular stone basins by rolling a large stone wheel over them. The mass is then put into small baskets of straw-work, which are placed one upon another, between two upright posts, and pressed by a screw which moves in the beam or entablature from above, like the screw in the standing-press of a bookbinder, or else by a beam-lever. After this first pressing, the pulp is taken out of the baskets, put into large copper pans, and, being sprinkled with water, is heated over a fire, and again pressed as before. This finishes the process, and the oil is put away in jars to use, or in cisterns, to be kept for future market.
The MŭTrûF
The mŭtrûf is driven like an ordinary mill, except that the apparatus for heating up the olives is an upright cylinder, with iron crossbars at the lower end. This cylinder turns rapidly in a hollow tube of stone-work, into which the olives are thrown from above, and beaten to a pulp by the revolving crossbars. The interior of the tube is kept hot, so that the mass is taken out below sufficiently heated to cause the oil to run freely. The same baskets are used as in the m'aserah, but the press is a beam-lever, with heavy weights at the end. This process is repeated a second time, as in the m'aserah, and then the refuse is thrown away.
Well, these midriffs are about as filthy as any place I ever explored, and the machinery is rude and clumsy in the extreme.
European Machinery
Mr. B– told me recently that he had started a midriff at Nablus, with European machinery, on quite a new plan, and that the work was done much cheaper and more expeditiously; the oil was clearer, and there was a gain of about thirty per cent in the quantity. Certainly a little science applied to the matter would greatly improve this important branch of Syrian agriculture. The m'aserah is, however, the machinery used from the most remote times, as we know from the basins, and wheels to crush the olives, still found in the ruins of old towns. The huge stones upon the tops of the upright posts prove conclusively that the ancients knew nothing of the screw, but employed beam-presses, as in your midriffs.
Beam-presses are also employed in the m'aserah to this day, and I think the use of screws is quite modern.
Have you any process for clarifying the oil?
None whatever, except to let it gradually settle on the lees in the cisterns or large jars in which it is kept.
Certain villages are celebrated all over the country for producing oil particularly clear and sweet, and it commands a high price for table use.
Berjah, for example, above Neby Yunas, Deir Mîmâs in Merj Aiun, and et Tîreh in Carmel. But the process there is very different. The olives are first mashed as in the mŭtrûf, and then stirred rapidly in a large kettle of hot water. The oil is thus separated, and rises to the top, when it is skimmed off without pressing. The refuse is then thrown into vats of cold water, and an inferior oil is gathered from the surface, which is only fit for making soap.
Treading Out Olives
Not that I know of. And it could only be done when the olives have been kept until they are very soft, as mine are at present.
I have heard it said that the blight, which has nearly destroyed the grapes all over this country for the last few years, and which has ruined the vineyards through the south of Europe, has also attacked the olives this year. Have you noticed anything of the kind in your orchards. There have been, perhaps, more withered olives than usual, but I do not think it was from this blight. They do not show the same symptoms. The olive dries up without developing, and falls off; but there is none of that whitish mold, nor that offensive smell of corruption which the grape-blight occasions.
Grape Blight
The vineyards in this region are utterly ruined, and the people have cut them down and sowed the land with grain. This great calamity acts very mysteriously. The vines blossom and the young grapes set as usual, but, soon after, a silvery gray mold spreads over them, and as they enlarge they corrupt, with a very peculiar and offensive odor. Whole vineyards are thus ruined. There is this also strange about it: one year it attacks the vines raised on poles and running on trees, and those lying on the ground escape; the next year it is the reverse. Some vineyards, exposed to the winds, are wholly destroyed; others, sheltered from them, are uninjured. And again this is reversed. Hitherto no explanation has appeared to account for the calamity itself or for its eccentricities.
Origin of Such Visitations
Moses and the prophets assign such visitations, without hesitation, to the displeasure of God. Moses says expressly that God would thus punish the inhabitants for their sins: “Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit” (Deut, 28:39-40). And the sacred penmen often speak of blasting and mildew as chastisements sent directly from God. It seems very natural to refer like judgments in this same land, and upon a people whose moral and religious character so closely resemble those to whom the threatenings were first addressed, to the same source. The people themselves do, in fact, thus trace them back — “For the greatness of our sins,” is the universal proverb.
Palestine Typical in Its Physical Structure
Can it be mere imagination that there is somewhat peculiar in the providential dispensations experienced in this land? I think not. Certainly in olden times there was much that was peculiar. God so made this land of Canaan that its physical conformation should furnish appropriate types and emblems, through which spiritual mysteries and invisible realities should be developed, and so pictured to the eye and the imagination as to affect the heart of man. These mountains point to heaven, this sunken Sea of Death to still lower depths. The valleys, the plains, the brooks and fountains, from the swellings of Jordan to the waters of Siloah, that go softly from under the altar of God, all were so made and disposed as to shadow forth dimly, but all the more impressively, divine revelations needful for universal man. There are no other groupings of natural objects so significant; no other names on earth can be substituted in our spiritual vocabulary for these, and what they formerly taught they teach now, and ever will, to all coming generations. It is this which invests even the physical features of Palestine with an interest and an importance which can belong to no other land. Jordan is much more than a mere river of water, Zion infinitely dearer than any ordinary mass of rock; in a word, the divine Architect constructed this country after a model, unfolding in itself, and unfolding to the world, the dark mysteries of the life that is, and of that which is to be — of redemption and heaven, of perdition and hell.
And in Its Ordinary Providences
And these physical features are still preserved unchanged, to teach the same great truths to every successive generation. So God's more direct and daily providences toward this country and its inhabitants are made to repeat the same lessons that were addressed to ancient tribes, and their significance then expounded by divine teachers. Thus it is that blighting and mildew come, as they came of old, we know not how; God sends them. Thus come famine and dearth, when “the heaven that is over thy head is as brass, and the earth that is under thee as iron” (Dent. 28:23-24); and the Lord sends the burning sirocco with its rain of powder and dust, and summons his great army of locusts, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, to devour. Thus, too, even in our day, he rises at times to shake terribly the earth, and overwhelm the cities of the guilty.
There is much more than a mere fortuitous conjunction of accidents in these and a hundred other items which might be mentioned. I can scarcely lift my eye without lighting upon something which repeats those lessons which God himself here taught to generations long since dead and gone.
Mallows
These poor women who are cutting up mallows by the bushes to mingle with their broth, are only doing that which want and famine, divinely sent, compelled the solitary to do in the days of Job (Job 30:44Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. (Job 30:4)). And again: those men who have cleared away the earth, and are laying the ax at the very roots of that tree, in order to hew it down for firewood, are repeating the formula by which the Baptist teaches, that in the kingdom of heaven “every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire” (Luke 3:99And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Luke 3:9)).
Value of Trees
Your fellaheen value trees only as they bear good fruit: all others are cut down as cumberers of the ground; and they cut them from the very root, as John had seen them in his day.
Ovens
And yet once more: this man, with his load of dry weeds and grass, is going to remind us, at his tannûr, of the “day that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble” (Mal. 4:11For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1)). And we should further learn, from this operation, that “if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matt. 6:3030Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? (Matthew 6:30)).
Briers and Thorns
This lad who is setting fire to these briers and thorns is doing the very act which typified to Paul the awful state of those apostates whom it was impossible to renew again unto repentance. Oh, may we not be like that ground which “beareth thorns and briers-rejected, and nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned” (Heb. 6:88But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:8)).
Burning Over Ground
He finds it difficult to set the thorns on fire, for it is too late in the season. Before the rains came this whole mountain side was in a blaze. Thorns and briers grow so luxuriantly here, that they must be burned off always before the plow can operate. The peasants watch for a high wind, and then the fire catches easily, and spreads with great rapidity. It is really a beautiful sort of fireworks, especially seen at night.
Burning Ground
This practice of burning over the ground is very ancient in other lands besides this, and as there are neither fences nor habitations in the open country to he injured by the fire, there is no danger in it. Every schoolboy will remember what Virgil sings about it:
“Long practice has a sure improvement found,
With kindled fires to burn the barren ground.
When the light stubble, to the flames resigned,
Is driven along, and crackles in the wind.”
Yes, but these Arab peasants would think the poet but a stupid farmer, to puzzle himself with half a dozen speculations about the possible way in which this burning is beneficial; as, whether the “hollow womb of the earth is warmed by it,” or some “latent vice is cured,” or redundant humors “driven off; or that new breathings” are opened in the chapt earth, or the very reverse —
“That the heat the gaping ground constrains,
New knits the surface, and new strings the veins;
Lest soaking showers should pierce her secret seat,
Or freezing Boreas chill her genial heat,
Or scorching suns too violently beat,” and so on.
The Arab peasant would laugh at the whole of them, and tell you that two very good reasons not mentioned by the poet were all-sufficient: That it destroyed and removed out of the way of the plow weeds, grass, stubble, and thorn-bushes; and that the ashes of this consumed rubbish was a valuable manure to the land.
Scripture Allusions
David has a terrible imprecation against the enemies of God in the Psalm 83, based upon this operation, perhaps: “As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountain on fire, so persecute them with thy tempests, and make them afraid with thy storms.” The woods of this country are almost exclusively on the mountains, and hence the allusion to them. I have known several such catastrophes since I came to Syria, and am always reminded by them of this passage.
In Nehum 1:10 the prophet has a striking comparison, or rather double allusion to thorns and fire. Speaking of the wicked, he says — “For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.” Now these thorns, especially that kind called bellan, which covers the whole country, and is that which is thus burned, are so folden together as to be utterly inseparable, and being united by thousands of small intertwining branches, when the torch is applied they flash and flame instantly, like stubble fully dry; indeed, the peasants always select this bellan, folden together, when they want to kindle a fire from their matches.
There is another allusion to the fire among thorns, which you, as a farmer in this neighborhood, must have occasion to notice. Moses says — “If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field be consumed therewith, he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution” (Ex. 22:66If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. (Exodus 22:6)).
Fire Spreading
Yes, we are obliged to charge our nâtûrs, or watchmen, as harvest-time advances, to guard with the utmost care against fire. The reason why Moses mentions its catching among thorns only, I suppose, is because thorns grow all round our fields, and actually intermingle with the wheat. By harvest-time, they are not only dry themselves, but are choked up with tall grass dry as powder. Fire, therefore, catches in them easily, and spreads with great rapidity and uncontrollable fury; and as the grain is dead ripe, it is impossible to extinguish it.
Laws Against Fire Raising
When I was crossing the plain of Gennesaret in 1843, during harvest, I stopped to lunch at 'Ain et Tiny, and my servant kindled a very small fire to make a cup of coffee. A man, detached from a company of reapers, came immediately and stood patiently by us until we had finished, without saying what he wanted. As soon as we left, however, he carefully extinguished our little fire; and upon inquiry I found he had been sent for that purpose. Burckhardt, while stopping at Tiberias, hired a guide to the caves in Wady el Hamâm, and says that this man was constantly reproving him for the careless manner in which he threw away the ashes from his pipe. He then adds, “The Arabs who inhabit the valley of the Jordan invariably put to death any person who is known to have been even the innocent cause of firing the grass; and they have made it a public law among themselves, that, even in the height of intestine warfare, no one shall attempt to set his enemy's harvest on fire.” The ordinance of Moses on this subject was a wise regulation, designed to meet a very urgent necessity. To understand the full value of the law, we must remember that the wheat is suffered to become dead ripe, and as dry as tinder, before it is cut; and further, that the land is tilled in common, and the grain sown in one vast field, without fence, ditch, or hedge, to separate the individual portions. A fire catching in any part, and driven by the wind, would consume the whole, and thus the entire population provisions in half an hour.