“... The land that floweth with milk and honey...."“Thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee." (Deut. 6:3; 8:10)EU 6:3{EU 8:10{
As we read the words, what a lovely picture seems to rise before our mental vision; a picture of green fields, murmuring brooks, and flowery banks! and though many parts of Palestine once fertile and well cultivated, are now barren and desolate, still throughout the great plain of Esdraelon, the high lands of Galilee, and the country around Mount Carmel, during the months of spring, every field and grassy band looks like a rich and many-colored carpet, the number and variety of wild flowers is so great.
“Near Carmel,"writes a traveler, who visited the land during the summer season," a collector of rare and beautiful plants would find ample interest and occupation; for, perhaps, there is not another spot on the face of the globe where flowering plants of the mountains, valleys, and sea-shore are to be found in greater beauty and perfection."Lovely even now! What must the Land of Promise have been when the Blessing of Jehovah rested upon it; when dark-eyed Jewish children played in its fields and vineyards; when the song of grateful praise to the God of Israel arose from the courts of the Temple! We can form but a faint idea, nor yet of what it will be, when God's long-loved, but now scattered people are again brought to that land of which God said so long ago to Abraham, "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates." (Gen. 15:1818In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: (Genesis 15:18).)
"Thou land of the cross and the glory,
Whose brightness at last will shine
Afar through the earth—what a story
Of darkness and light is thine!
He died as a Lamb—as a Lion
He spares thee, nor can forget
His desolate Exile of Zion;
He waits to be gracious yet.”
From every ruin, where the wild rose unfolds its petals, from every silent plain where the lily in queen-like beauty rears its head, from every valley where the sweet-smelling Cistus grows, a voice seems to whisper, “He waits to be gracious yet.”
The Cistus is perhaps one of the most beautiful of the many wild flowers of Palestine; it also grows freely in Arabia, and the Greek Islands and even in the South of England it has not altogether refused to grow and bloom. Its beautiful blossoms are in form not unlike those of the Wild Rose, but much larger and more varied in color. As it grows in rocky places, and upon dry, sandy soil, it is sometimes called the Rock Rose. A name which may remind us of that which is built upon the Rock, Christ—His Church— which, nourished by His grace, blooms in the wilderness of this world “a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.”
The colors of the Rock Rose are too suggestive to pass unnoticed. Its five petals are of a pure white, but they spring from a blood-red center, which, in its turn, encloses a disc of bright yellow. And will not each to whom it shall be given to be hereafter arrayed in white robes, delight to own that they owe it all to the precious Blood of Christ?
“All that we are, as saints on earth,
All that we hope to be,
When Jesus comes, and glory dawns;
We owe it all to THEE.”
How beautiful the early morning is in every Eastern land! Yet nowhere, perhaps, more so than in Palestine, where village life goes on much as it did two or even three thousand years ago. The people of the East are early risers, and even before sunrise, the sound of the millstone may be heard from almost every dwelling. The women are grinding corn between two large stones by pushing the upper one backwards and forwards. “Two women grinding at the mill," is as frequent a sight in Bible lands to-day as it was when the Savior was on earth. The corn must be ground, kneaded, rolled into thin, flat cakes and baked before the first meal of the day, which is seldom later than between six and seven o'clock. Water for household use must also be fetched from the nearest well or spring.
The women usually go to the well in groups, each one carries her water-jar or pitcher upon her head, and walks with a quick, firm step. Husband-men and farm laborers are also astir early; each man carries the tools he will require for his work; they are very simple, we might be inclined to call them clumsy. But something not unlike a large wooden key is dangling from the shoulder of almost every man we meet. The home may be a very poor one, all it may contain may be a few mats and cooking utensils, but, before leaving the dwelling, the door will be carefully locked; on returning it will be opened by putting the key into a hole left in the large wooden lock. The Eastern custom of carrying the key upon the shoulder, will help us to understand such verses as Isaiah 22:2222And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. (Isaiah 22:22), “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon His shoulder; so He shall open and none shall shut; and He shall shut and none shall open." Also Rev. 3:77And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; (Revelation 3:7), "He that hath the key of David; He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.”
We should hardly think at first sight, that there could be any connection between the lovely blossoming cistus, making as it often does "the wilderness and solitary place glad" with its beauty, with the dark, resinous gum called "Labdaram," used in medicine, and to be found in every druggist's shop in our busy towns, and great cities, but it comes from Palestine and Arabia, and is collected from the branches of the Rock Rose.
It is about seven miles from Nazareth to Tabor. The ride over the hills is always an interesting one, but never more so than in the early spring, when trees and flowers combine to make the whole country seem one lovely garden. The carob or locust-tree, the ibex, the hawthorn, the laburnum, and the terebinth tree, grow in almost countless numbers; every now and then the scene is varied by an orchard of dark olive-green figs, or pomegranates just bursting into bloom, while the almond trees are covered with a profusion of pink and white blossoms. Underfoot, the wealth of flowers forms a pleasing contrast to the bright green of the grass among which they grow. Flags, anemones of different colors, hyacinths, buttercups, dasies, yellow broom, dandelions, wild mignonette, wild cucumbers, flowering thistles, and many lovely flowers grow in great abundance, and fill the air with their perfume.
The white narcissus is to be seen everywhere, and is a great favorite with the people of Palestine; large bunches of its sweet-smelling blossoms are often carried by men as well as women when walking in the streets, or market-places, and all alike seem to enjoy its delicious perfume. The Myrtle, with its dark green leaves, and star-like flowers, is common alike on the hill-slopes, and in the gardens, and we linger, almost lovingly, for its very name seems to be a link with a Bible-story many of us learned to love when we were quite children.
Esther, was, as we know, the beautiful Jewish Queen, who was in the wonder-working ways of God, raised to the throne of Persia; but the name she bore in her childhood, and early womanhood was not Esther (a star), but Hadassah (a myrtle). She was not born in the land of Palestine. Many years before her birth, God had allowed the King of Babylon to carry His disobedient and backsliding people, Israel, away as captives to Babylon, which was at one time a province of the great Persian empire.
Esther was an orphan, and her life might have been a sad and lonely one, had it not been for the kindness of her cousin Mordecai, a godly Jew, who held some humble position in the court of the great monarch, Ahasuerus, who is believed to have been the Xerxes of history. He was probably much older than Hadassah, or Esther; who became his adopted daughter, Both knew and served the God of Israel, and we may be sure that when his daily duties were ended, and Mordecai was free to return to his humble home, perhaps a little way from the noise and bustle of the great city, they would often speak of their own land so far away; and of the beautiful Temple, of their God at Jerusalem.
Hadassah was beautiful in person, and appears to have been not only pleasing in her manners, but gentle and gracious in disposition.
The Queen Vashti had, as we know, incurred the anger of her hasty and self-willed husband, by her refusal to allow her great beauty to be by his unreasonable command, gazed upon by the princes and nobles of his vast empire, as they drank the red wine from golden goblets. Justice was on her side, for the law of Persia forbade any woman to appear at such feasts as the King was then holding. But it is quite possible that he had himself drank deeply, at that moment he thought of nothing, perhaps remembered nothing but that he was the greatest of sovereigns. None should dare to cross his will, or disobey his royal mandate. Vashti should be queen no longer, the crown royal should be taken from her; the remaining years of her life must be lived almost as a prisoner, in “the house of the women.”
An interval of from three to four years followed, during which the King was engaged in wars; many of them cruel and unjust; some of his own words, found not very long ago, as an inscription upon one of the ruined walls of his palace at Shushan, declare, "I will sweep across Greece like a whirlwind, I will overthrow it like a raging flood"; cried the haughty King. The Greeks, however, held their own with wonderful courage, and remained unconquered even by the overwhelming numbers of the Persian army.
Angry and disappointed, the King returned to Shushan, and was once more in his beautiful palace, more haughty and over-bearing than ever. It was then—acting on the advice of his seven chief princes, who were, history tells us, the heads of the seven noblest families in Persia, and were the only persons allowed to enter the royal presence uncalled, or to speak to the King on almost equal terms—the proclamation went forth that the most beautiful maidens in Persia were to be gathered together. The one who pleased the King best was to be his chosen Queen instead of Vashti.
The report of Esther's beauty may have reached the palace for she was commanded to be one of the number and had no choice but to obey. Space will not allow us to follow her story, step by step; but we know that she did not forget her own people; her conduct in the palace was marked by the same gentle, unselfish spirit she had shown while under the roof of Mordecai; and, when raised to the throne of Persia, she was still a true-hearted, noble woman; one upon whom the God of Israel put high honor; for, in His hand, she was the instrument by which the destruction of the whole Jewish nation, planned, as it had been by the wicked Haman, was averted.
You and I, dear young sisters in Christ, enjoy greater light, and have many more privileges than were Queen Esther's; Let us then seek “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." (1 Peter 3:44But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. (1 Peter 3:4).)
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