March 6th.
KŭDes
The existing remains of this city of refuge show that it was once a place of importance, but I know very little of its history.
It has one, however, and sufficiently ancient too. Barak lived here, and to this spot he and Deborah gathered that brave band of Naphtalites who routed the army of Sisera in the plain of Esdraelon (Judges 4:10-1710And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him. 11Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh. 12And they showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. 13And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon. 14And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. 15And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. 16But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left. 17Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. (Judges 4:10‑17)).
Formerly Cydessa
This is also the Cydessa, or Kedasa of later days, and Josephus often mentions it under one or other of these names. To it Titus retired with his army from Giscala, which lies over yonder to the southwest a few miles. Josephus says it was a “strong Mediterranean village of the Tyrians, which always made war with the Jews,” — a statement which needs qualification, as do many others of that historian. There seems to be no propriety in calling it a Mediterranean village at all, unless because its inhabitants at that time were from the sea-coast of Tyre.
Unhealthy and Insecure
We may perhaps infer from this notice that the population, even in those olden times, was as fluctuating as in our days, and possibly owing to the same cause — the extreme unhealthiness of the site. In another place the Jewish historian says that Cadesh lies between the land of the Tyrians and Galilee. It was, therefore, a border town, and subject to all the vicissitudes of such unfortunate localities. And it is remarkable that, so far as the circumstances of the country admit of such a thing, it is still a border town, insecure, and often deserted.
Remains of Architecture
The remains of its architecture bear witness to its varied fortunes. The hill on which the modern village stands was once fortified, and adorned with edifices very different from these wretched huts of mud and rubbish. Broken columns and handsome capitals indicate the presence of Greek artists; but the sarcophagi, and the ruins of large buildings on the plain down east of us, are certainly Jewish or Phoenician. They are, however, different from those at Maron, Yaron, Tell Ham and other places in Galilee. The sarcophagi are very large, and some are double — a variety I have seen nowhere else in this country. The immense door-Toots, twenty feet high, are doubtless of Jewish origin, and probably belonged to synagogues erected about the beginning of our era, possibly as late as the third century, at which period this region was crowded with Jews in peaceful and prosperous circumstances. In the mountain cliffs southwest of the village are many rock tombs, and altogether the marks of antiquity are numerous, and quite equal to the demands of her story.
Plain of Zaanaim
Have you noticed the pretty plain sloping down to the northeast? Though on this elevated platform, so high above the Midi, it is wet and marshy in winter; and it is this, I suppose, that makes Kŭdes so unhealthy. It may be that “plain of Zaanaim which is by Kedesh” (Judg. 4:1111Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh. (Judges 4:11)), on which the Kenites pitched their tents; if, indeed, the allon in that verse should not be translated terebinth instead of “plain.” This is one of the passages relied on to determine the signification of that word, but it does not do it. There is a fine plain here, “by Kedesh,” and therefore Heber may have pitched there; tent-dwellers, as he was, prefer the margin of such rich pastures. The Septuagint renders it oak, not terebinth, and Zaanaim it translates into robbers: So Heber pitched by the oak of the robbers.
The Terebinth
This very region, however, will favor those who wish to appropriate allon to the terebinth, for there are more of these trees on the hills between this and Mais el Jebel than in all the country besides. Ibrahim Pasha had them grafted with the pistachio from Aleppo, where that species abounds which bears the nut of the market. The peasants, however, destroyed the grafts, lest their crop of oil from the berries of these trees should be diminished, and thus this attempt at agricultural improvement was defeated.
It is very evident that Kŭdes and Zaanaim will never settle the controversy about the allon; so far as they are concerned, it may be a plain, or a terebinth, or an oak.
True enough; for there are magnificent oaks not far off, while the plain and the terebinths are in full view. And, finally, it is evident from Joshua 19:3333And their coast was from Heleph, from Allon to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb, and Jabneel, unto Lakum; and the outgoings thereof were at Jordan: (Joshua 19:33), that Allon Zaanaim was the proper name of one and the same place; and this is a matter of importance, as it gives us another point in the boundary of the tribe of Naphtali, for which any one who tries to run that line will be devoutly thankful.
ILLUSTRATION
I have directed Salim to take a guide and go across the country to Kefi Bur'iam, where we are to spend the coming night. We will make a detour to the south, and visit Safed. Our route lies along the base of these cliffs, and we shall soon descend into the Muaddŭmîyeh, one of the wildest wadies of Naphtali. It comes down from Jish, and, indeed, from far above and beyond it westward, and its terrible cliffs are full of caves and crevices, the favorite home of hawks and eagles. And there goes a flock of stout, compact, iron — gray pigeons, “flying as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows” (Isa. 60:88Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? (Isaiah 60:8)).
The Dove
Is this the dove, and these clefts in the rock the windows referred to by the prophet?
The Hebrew word is the general name for the Columba family, of which there are many varieties in this country. Ezekiel, speaking of the destruction of the Jews, says, “They that escape of them shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys” (Ezek. 7:1616But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. (Ezekiel 7:16)); or, as it should be, I think, the heights or lofty cliffs. The doves do not ordinarily fly in “clouds,” but this variety does; and supposing pigeons, and not turtle — doves to be intended, we have before us both the windows and the clouds which suggested the figures of the text. When traveling in the north of Syria many years ago, I noticed in certain villages tall square buildings without roofs, whose walls were pierced inside by numberless pigeon — holes. In these nestled and bred thousands of these birds.
ILLUSTRATION
They are very strong, swift of wing, and extremely wild.
Its “Windows”
Their foraging excursions extend many miles in every direction, and it is curious to notice them returning to their “windows” like bees to their hives, or like clouds pouring over a sharp ridge into the deep wady below. I then supposed it was to such pigeon — houses full of windows that Isaiah referred, and it may have been so, but I have never seen them in Palestine. Perhaps the pigeons would not occupy them in this region, as there are in all directions natural windows in lofty cliffs where they can find a safer and more congenial home.
Nests “in the Hole’s Mouth”
This would agree with their habits, as implied in Jeremiah's exhortation to Moab: “O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth” (Jer. 48:2828O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth. (Jeremiah 48:28)). Both Isaiah and Ezekiel speak of the mourning of the doves (Isa. 59:1111We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. (Isaiah 59:11); Ezek. 7:1616But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. (Ezekiel 7:16)).
Is there anything peculiar in their note in this country?
It is always mournful. The reference is to the turtle-dove, I suppose. Their low, sad plaint may be heard all day long at certain seasons in the olive-groves, and in the solitary and shady valleys among these mountains; I have, however, been more affected by it in the vast orchards round Damascus than anywhere else — so subdued, so very sorrowful among the trees, where the air
ILLUSTRATION
sighs softly, and little rills roll their melting murmurs down the flowery aisles. These birds can never be tamed. Confined in a cage, they droop, and, like Cowper, sigh for
Feeling to the Wilderness
“A lodge in some vast wilderness — some boundless contiguity of shade”; and no sooner are they set at liberty than they flee, as a bird, to their mountains (Psa. 11:11<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? (Psalm 11:1)). David refers to their habits in this respect when his heart was sore pained within him: “O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness” (Psa. 55:6-76And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. 7Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. (Psalm 55:6‑7)). And there you will meet these timid birds far away from the haunts of cruel hunters, of whose society, they are peculiarly suspicious.
To what does Nahum allude when he says, “And Huzzah shall be led away captive; she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering on their breasts?” (Nah. 2:77And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts. (Nahum 2:7)).
Tabering on the Breast
The prophet is probably not responsible for all this English; but I suppose that Huzzah is another name for Nineveh, who was to go into captivity, led by her maidens tabering on their breasts as doves do, for it was the mourners, and not the doves, who tabered. There is foundation, however, in the manners of our bird for the comparison. When about to utter their plaintive moan, they inflate the throat, and throw it forward until the neck rests upon the bosom. Thus they “taber” on their breasts. Now, if you have ever read the Thousand Nights, you will readily recall the favorite mode of introducing the great ladies who figure in those gorgeous and luxurious scenes. They are preceded by troops of “high-bosomed beauties” — “a temptation to the servants of God” — bearing tabrets and other instruments, upon which they discourse soul-melting music. In the present case, these “high-bosomed” damsels, with tabrets resting on their breasts, sang sorrowful strains before their captive queen.
Wings of Silver and Feathers of Gold
David speaks of a dove whose wings were “covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold” (Psa. 68:1818Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68:18)). I have seen none that could have suggested these comparisons. He refers to a kind found at Damascus, whose feathers, all except the wings, are literally as yellow as gold; they are very small, and kept in cages. I have often had them in my house, but their note was so very sad that I could not endure it; besides, they kept it up by night as well as by day. Nothing can exceed the plaintiveness of their midnight lamentation.
Solomon repeatedly mentions the eyes of the dove: “Behold, thou art fair, my love; thou hast doves' eyes” (Song of Sol. 1:1515Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes. (Song of Solomon 1:15)). And again: “Thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks, which” [singularly enough] “are as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead” (Song of Sol. 4:11Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead. (Song of Solomon 4:1)). That is, her locks (not the doves' eyes) were jet, glossy black, like the Syrian goats; but all Oriental poets are fond of doves' eyes. The bride, also, repeats the compliment to her beloved, and even exaggerates it:
ILLUSTRATION
“His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set” (Song of Sol. 5:1212His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. (Song of Solomon 5:12)). There is a luxurious, delicious haze and indistinctness about such poetic extravagances which captivate the Oriental imagination. Nor is the comparison wholly extravagant. Doves delight in clear water-brooks, and often bathe in them; and then their liquid, loving eyes, “fitly set” within a border of softest skyey blue, do look as though just washed in transparent milk.
Emblem of the Holy Spirit
To the millions who devoutly sing of the
“Heavenly Dove,
With all his quickening powers,”
no other symbol either in or out of the Bible suggests so much precious instruction and spiritual comfort as this sweet bird of ours. Pure and gentle, meek, loving, and faithful, the appropriate emblem of that Holy Spirit that descended from the opened heavens upon our blessed Lord at his baptism — O may that heavenly Dove
“Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.”
Our pleasant discourse has brought us up from the depths of Muaddŭmîyeh to this poor village of Alma. Whether it be known to sacred history or not, its site is certainly that of a very ancient town. There is nothing of interest in the village itself; but those black tents which dot the hill side bring to mind the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, who left their original home in the desert, entered Palestine with Israel, and settled first at Jericho, and then in the wilderness of Judah.
Heber the Kenite
Some time after this, Heber severed himself from his brethren, came north, and pitched, his tent at Zaanaim — plain, oak, or terebinth — near Kŭdes. There is a curious tradition of this thing lingering among the dwellers hereabouts, though confused, and mixed up with incredible fables. An old Metāwely sheikh once greatly amused me with his version of the story. It is not worth telling, but it is nevertheless worthy of note that such a tradition is still kept alive in this very neighborhood, and it suggests the question whether these Arabs here may not sustain some remote relation to Heber and his heroic wife.
We are coming out upon a very naked and desolate country. It seems quite incapable of cultivation.
The path lies along the dividing ridge between the HAM and the great wady Leimûn, and such places are always barren. But if the peasants cannot grow corn, they find coin.
Ancient Coin
When I last traveled this road, some children had just discovered a large deposit of silver coin of the Seleucidæ, kings of Antioch, on the mountain a short distance ahead of us, and the whole country was in an uproar about it.
Safed
I purchased some of the coin for the worth of the silver, which was a fraction less than a dollar. But there is Safed directly before us, with its castle rising conspicuous in the center. As our visit is not to the people, but to see the town and the magnificent prospect from the castle, we shall proceed at once to it. When I was here in 1833, the walls were entire, and the interior was a prison for political offenders against the recently established authority of Mohammed Ali. Not being of that class, I could not then gain admittance, but since that time I have often visited it and the whole is perfectly familiar to me. Let us tie our horses in this interior fosse, and climb to the top. You observe that the shape of the hill is a well-described oval, and the wall corresponds to it. The bottom of the outer ditch is now a very flourishing vineyard, and the entire circuit is not far from half a mile. The wall is mostly modern, but built on one more ancient, portions of which can be seen on the east side. The interior summit rises about a hundred feet higher than this wall, and was a separate castle, strongly defended. By creeping under these broken vaults, you obtain a sight of the true antiquities of Safed. Here are beveled stones, as heavy, and as aged in appearance as those of the most celebrated ruins in the country; and they prove that this has been a place of importance from a remote age.
Is Safed mentioned in the Bible?
The City Set on an Hill
It has been identified with the Bethulia of the Maccabees, but erroneously, of course. The fables of the rabbis do not deserve notice. Maundrell, Jowet, and others, throw out the hint that this was the city set on a hill, which could not be hid (Matt. 5:1414Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (Matthew 5:14)); and if that greatest of sermons was preached on the horns of Hŭttîn, or near them, as tradition affirms, and if any particular city was referred to, there would be plausibility enough in the suggestion. These ancient parts of the castle render it all but certain that there was then a city or citadel on this most conspicuous “hill” top; and our Lord might well point to it to illustrate and confirm his precept. The present Hebrew name is Zephath, and may either refer to its elevation like a watch-tower, or to the beauty and grandeur of the surrounding prospects. Certainly they are quite sufficient to suggest the name. There lies Gennesaret, like a mirror set in frame-work of dark mountains and many faced hills. Beyond is the vast plateau of the Hauran, faintly shading with its rocky ranges the utmost horizon eastward. Thence the eye sweeps over Gilead and Bastian, Samaria and Carmel, the plains of Galilee, the coasts of Phenicia, the hills of Naphtali, the long line of Lebanon, and the lofty head of Hermon — a vast panorama, embracing a thousand points of historic and sacred interest. Safed is truly a high tower on which to set the watchmen of Zion. My aneroid makes it 2,650 feet above the Mediterranean. Tabor looks low, and Hŭttîn seems to be in a valley.
For the history of this town you may consult Robinson, Wilson, or any of the tourists who enter into such matters.
Now a Holy City of the Jews
The important fact about it is, that, although now one of the four holy cities of the Jews, it has become such only within the last five hundred years.
The rabbis, therefore, know very little about its ancient story, and nothing is more unsatisfactory than their confused and contradictory fables about it. I am of opinion that the castle is that Seph. which Josephus fortified in Upper Galilee. It is mentioned in immediate connection with the rock Aehabari or Akhbera, that gigantic cliff down there to the south of us about five miles. (See Wars, b. 2, ch. 20, v. 6.)
There are no antiquities in the present town of Safed, and therefore we will take a survey of its immediate surroundings, and then prosecute our ride.
I once came directly here from Khan Minieh, at the northwest corner of the lake, and without a guide. From our present stand-point it seems so near that one is tempted to pitch pebbles into it; and this castle has the same deceptive appearance from below.
Rock Akhbera
I thought I could come directly up to it, but soon got entangled in rocky wadies, and after immense fatigue, found myself, at the end of two hours, looking off from the great rock Akhbera. This terrific precipice cannot be less than five hundred feet in perpendicular height, and it is traversed by interior passages, partly natural, partly artificial, quite to the top, with many windows in its face looking out upon the dizzy depth below. It was a famous den of robbers in the olden time, but is now surrendered to bats, owls, and eagles. At its base is a fountain called Ain Kehâly, and a single hut marks the site of an ancient town, with the Hebrew name of Hŭkŭb. The village of Kehâly lies in the wady above Akhbera, and beyond it the valley turns southwest, and unites with the Leimûny, which drains this broad and profound basin between us and that wooded mountain west of Safed, called Jebel Zebûd, and also Jermuk, from a village on its western slope. The great wady 'Amûd joins the Leimûny lower down, and the united stream issues, through a wild gorge, on to the plain of Gennesaret, and runs directly to the lake, without any connection with the Rubudîeh. The maps of this neighborhood are generally very inaccurate.
The main source of the Leimûny is the fountain called 'Ain et Jin, which rises in a rocky glen high up the side of Jebel Zebûd. It is a good millstream, but at certain seasons it entirely intermits, and hence the name Jin, because its irregularities are supposed to be occasioned by these capricious spirits.
Meron-Meroz?
It flows near Meron or Marōn — as it is differently pronounced — which you can just see on the slope of Zebûd, about two hours to the west of us. I identify it with the Meroz so bitterly cursed by Deborah, and I reach this conclusion thus: Barak resided in Kŭdes, from which we have just come. In his march to Tabor he would naturally pass under this Maxim, and would summon the inhabitants to join his expedition. They refused, probably with contempt and insult; hence the terrible imprecation in Deborah's triumphal ode: “Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty” (Judges 5:2323Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. (Judges 5:23)). It is rather a curious coincidence, if not an actual corroboration of this idea, that the Jews of this day have a tradition that Deborah actually passed by the place on her march with Barak to Tabor, and bathed in the fountain of Marōn; and hence they call it Deborah's fountain. The names Meroz and Martin, or Meron, are almost identical, and the change of the final nun to zayn, in transcribing, might easily be made. The undoubted antiquity of Marōn, and its position on the direct road from Kŭdes to Tabor, lend additional probability to what I admit is, after all, only a fair guess.
I have a somewhat similar hypothetical identification of this Beerieh or Beria, on the north of Safed, with the site of those Beerites whom Joab summoned to aid him against Sheba, the son of Bichri, as we read in 2 Samuel 20:1414And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. (2 Samuel 20:14). This would he on his route to Abel, and there is no other Beer in all this region. Upon the same grounds, I suppose that the great host under Jabin, king of Hazor, that came to fight against Joshua at the waters of Merom, may have assembled at this place. Josephus thus speaks about this matter: “So the kings that lived about Mount Libanus, who were Canaanites, and those Canaanites that dwelt in the plain country, with auxiliaries out, of the land of the Philistines, pitched their camp at Beeroth, a city of Upper Galilee, not far from Cadesh.” Now there is no other Beeroth in Upper Galilee. This is evidently an ancient site; and Hazor, the capital of Jabin's kingdom, is at Hazere, some ten miles to the northwest, as I believe. If Jabin assembled his vast army there he would naturally march this way to Merom. The mountain immediately above Beerieh takes its name from the village, but the ridge southeast of it is called Jebel Canaan. May not this name have been given to it from the fact that the grand army of the Canaanites pitched their camp there on that most memorable occasion? If those circumstances render the identification satisfactory, we are now looking upon one of the most ancient sites known to history. The fact that it is at present a small village, in humble dependence upon its younger and more prosperous neighbor, forms no objection. The land abounds in such examples. Hazor itself is utterly extinct.
This town of Safed wears a fresher and more lively air than any other in this region. To what is that to be ascribed?
Earthquake of 1837
It is, in fact, the newest. Not a house in it is twenty years old. The whole town was dashed to the ground in half a minute by the earthquake in 1837, and these buildings have all been erected since that catastrophe.
Jews in Safed
The prosperity of Safed is entirely owing to the constant influx of foreign Jews, drawn hither by the sanctity of the place. The population may be about five thousand, more than half of them Jews — a strange assemblage from most of the nations of Europe. I have no heart to enter into their history, or dwell on their absurd superstitions, their intense fanaticism, or their social and domestic institutions and manners, comprising an incredible and grotesque melange of filth and finery, Pharisaic self-righteousness and Sadducean licentiousness. The following is a specimen of the puerilities enjoined and enforced by their learned rabbis: A Jew must not carry on the Sabbath even so much as a pocket handkerchief, except within the walls of the city. If there are no walls, it follows, according to their perverse logic, that he must not carry it at all. To avoid this difficulty here in Safed, they resort to what they call Erŭv. Poles are set up at the ends of the streets, and strings stretched from one to the other. This string represents a wall, and a conscientious Jew may carry his handkerchief anywhere within these strings. I was once amused by a devout Israelite who was walking with me, on his Sabbath, toward that grove of olive-trees on the north of the town where my tent was pitched. When we came to the end of the street the string was gone, and so, by another fiction, he supposed he was at liberty to go on without reference to what was in his pocket, because be had not passed the wall. The last time I was here they had abandoned this absurdity, probably to avoid the constant ridicule it brought upon them.
A profane and most quarrelsome fellow once handed me his watch to wind just after sunset on Friday evening. It was now his Sabbath, and he could not work. Thus they still tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and teach for doctrines the commandments of men, making void the law of God by their traditions. It was such perverse traditions as these that our Lord rebuked when he declared that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
And now, free from this singular place, we must descend into this profound wady Leimûn, around whose upper expansions are seated half a score of villages, with hard names not necessary to repeat. Our path leads directly under Kŭditha, that wretched hamlet of black basalt immediately before us. It was utterly destroyed by the earthquake of 1837.
As we are in the center of that awful catastrophe, I should like to hear some account of it.
These terrible calamities have often occurred in this country, and are frequently alluded to in the Bible. At the giving of the law, “Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Exod. 19:1818And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. (Exodus 19:18)). Then “the earth shook,” sings Israel's great poet; “even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.” The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs ( Psa. 68:8; 114:4,68The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. (Psalm 68:8)
4The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. (Psalm 114:4)
6Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? (Psalm 114:6)). On that memorable day when Jonathan overthrew the Philistines, “the earth quaked, so it was a very great trembling” (1 Sam. 14:1515And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling. (1 Samuel 14:15)). And when the Lord appeared to Elijah, a “strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks ... and after the wind an earthquake” (1 Kings 19:1111And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: (1 Kings 19:11)). Isaiah also threatens Ariel, the city where David dwelt, with this awful judgment; and Amos says he was with the herdmen of Tekoa “two years before the earth quake” (Amos 1:11The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. (Amos 1:1)); to which Zechariah refers when he says, “Yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah” ( Zech. 14:55And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5)). And so, too, our blessed Lord and his apostles familiarly allude to these dreadful visitations of God. Indeed, a large class of poetic imagery and prophetic commination is based upon them. They give point and emphasis to the most alarming threatenings of divine indignation, and, so far as my knowledge goes, they are, in this land of heavy stone houses, by far the most awful of all. Before them the very “knees of terror quake.” When He arises to shake terribly the earth, all hearts fail, all faces gather blackness. Courage is of no avail; the fly, just as the feeble and timid do. Why, our narrative will abundantly show.
The Shock – January 1, 1837
It was just before sunset on a quiet Sabbath evening — January 1, 1837 — when the shock occurred. A pale, smoky haze obscured the sun, and threw an air of sadness over the closing day, and a lifeless and oppressive calm had settled down upon the face of nature. These phenomena are, however, not very uncommon in this country, and may have had no connection with the earthquake. Our native church at Beirût were gathered round the communion-table, when suddenly the house began to shake fearfully, and the stone floor to heave and roll like a ship in a storm. “Hezzy! Hezzy!” (“Earthquakes earthquake!”) burst from every trembling lip as all rushed out into the yard. The house was cracked from top to bottom, but no further injury was sustained. The shock was comparatively slight in Beirût, but still many houses were seriously shattered, and some on the river entirely thrown down. During the week succeeding this Sabbath, there came flying reports from various quarters of towns and villages destroyed, and lives lost; but so slow does information travel in this country, especially in winter, that it was not until eight days had elapsed that any reliable accounts were received. Then letters arrived from Safed with the startling intelligence that the whole town had been utterly overthrown, and that Tiberias, and many other places in this region, had shared the same fate. Some of the letters stated that not more than one in a hundred of the inhabitants had escaped.
Effects at Tyre and Sidon
As soon as these awful facts had been ascertained, collections were made at Beirût to relieve the survivors, and Mr. C– and myself selected to visit this region, and distribute to the needy and the wounded. Passing by Sidon, we associated with ourselves Mr. A– and two of his sons to act as physicians. In Sidon the work of destruction became very noticeable, and in Tyre still more so. We rode into the latter at midnight over her prostrate walls, and found some of the streets so choked up with fallen houses that we could not pass through them. I shall retain a vivid recollection of that dismal night while life lasts. The wind had risen to a cold, cross gale, which howled through shattered walls and broken windows its doleful wail over ruined Tyre. The people were sleeping in boats drawn up on shore, and in tents beside them, while half-suspended shutters and doors unhinged were creaking and banging in dreadful concert. On the 17th we reached Rumaish, where we met the first real confirmation of the letters from Safed. The village seemed quite destroyed. Thirty people had been crushed to death under their falling houses, and many more would have shared the same fate if they had not been at evening prayers in church. The building was low and compact, so that it was not seriously injured.
At Jish
After distributing medicine to the wounded and charity to the destitute, we went on to Jish. Of this village not one house remained; all had been thrown down, and the church also, burying the entire congregation of one hundred and thirty-five persons under the ruins. Not one escaped except the priest, who was saved by a projection of the arch over the altar. The entire vaulted roof, with its enormous mass of superincumbent stone and earth, fell inward in a moment, and of course escape was impossible. Fourteen dead bodies lay there still unburied.
Effects of Earthquake at Safed
On the morning of the 18th we reached Safed, and I then understood, for the first time, what desolations God can work when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Just before we began to ascend the hill, we met our consular agent of Sidon returning with his widowed, childless sister. Her husband, a merchant of Safed, had been buried up to the neck by the ruins of his house, and in that state remained several days, calling in vain for help, and at last perished before he could be reached and set free. As we ascended the hill, we saw large rents and cracks in the earth and rocks, and, though not so large as a chasm at Jish which I examined in the morning, still they gave fearful indications of what was to be expected. But all anticipation, every imagination was utterly confounded when the reality burst upon our sight. I had all the while refused to give full credit to the reports, but one frightful glance convinced me that it was not in the power of language to overdraw or exaggerate such a ruin.
Dreadful Scenes
We came first to the Jewish half of the town, which contained about four thousand inhabitants two years before when I was there, and seemed like a busy hive of Israelites; now not a house remained standing. The town was built, as its successor is, upon the side of the mountain, which is so steep that the roofs of the houses below formed the street for those above; when, therefore, the shock dashed all to the ground, the highest fell on the next below, that upon the third, and so on to the bottom, burying each successive row of houses deeper and deeper under accumulated masses of rubbish. From this cause it happened that many who were not instantaneously killed perished before they could be rescued, and others were rescued five, six, and even seven days after the earthquake, still alive. A friend of mine told me that he found his wife dead, with one child under her arm, and the babe with the nipple in its mouth: it had died of hunger, trying to draw life from its dead mother. Parents heard their little ones crying, Papa! Mamma! fainter and fainter, until hushed in death, while they were struggling to free themselves, or laboring with desperate energy to throw off the fallen rocks and timber from their dying children. O God of mercy! my heart even now sickens at the thought of that long black winter's night, which closed around the wretched remnants of Safed in half an hour after the overthrow — without a light or possibility of getting one, four-fifths of the population under the ruins, dead or dying, with frightful groans, and shrieks of agony and despair, and the earth trembling and shaking all the while, as if affrighted at the horrible desolation she had wrought.
The Chaos
Most hideous spectacle, may I never see its like! Nothing met the eye but a vast chaos of stone and earth, timber and boards, tables, chairs, beds, clothing, and every kind of household furniture, mingled in horrible confusion; men everywhere at work, worn out and woe-begone, uncovering their houses in search of the mangled bodies of lifeless friends, while here and there were companies of two or three each, bearing away a dreadful load of corruption to the tomb. I covered my face, and passed on through the wretched remnants of Safed. Some were weeping in despair, others laughing in callousness still more distressing; here an old man sat alone on the wreck of his once crowded house; there a child at play, too young to realize that it had neither father nor mother, nor relative of any name in the wide, wide world. They crowded round us with loud lamentations, as if kindness unsealed the flood-gates of their sorrow — husbands without wives, wives without husbands; parents childless, and children without parents, and not a few left the solitary remnants of large families. The people were scattered abroad above and below the ruins, in tents of old boards, old carpets, mats, brush, and earth, while some poor creatures, wounded and bruised, were left among the tottering walls, exposed to a horrible death from the loose and falling stones above them.
Sights of Suffering
As soon as our tent was pitched and our medicines and stores opened, we set out to visit the sufferers. But I have no heart to recall the sights and scenes of that morning: bodies crushed and swollen out of all human shape, and in every stage of mortification, dying hourly without hope of relief; they were crowded into old vaults, where the air was tainted beyond endurance. Very soon we returned, and commenced arrangements to erect a temporary hospital, without which it was useless to attempt anything for the sufferers. On this we all labored incessantly, and by the 19th it was ready for their reception. Having collected them in it, and distributed medicines and clean bandages in abundance, we placed them under the care of a native doctor hired for the purpose, and then left for Tiberias. It was most refreshing to breathe once more the pure air of the open country, free from the horrible sights and scents of Sated. Nor shall I soon forget that pleasant ride to Tiberias, particularly in the evening, and along the shore of the lake. Gennesaret lay like infancy asleep. The sun settled quietly down behind the hills of Nazareth, and the full moon shone kindly through the hazy atmosphere on lake and land, faintly revealing the scenes where the Savior of the world had wandered, and preached, and healed all manner of disease.
Tiberias
The destruction of life in Tiberias had not been so great as at Safed, but the houses and walls of the city were fearfully shattered. About six hundred perished under the ruins, and there were scenes of individual suffering not exceeded by any in Sated. Many of the wounded had been carried down to the hot baths, where we visited them. They informed me that at the time of the earthquake the quantity of water at these springs was immensely increased, and that it was so hot that people could not pass along the road across which it flowed. This, I suppose, was fact; but the reports that smoke and boiling water were seen to issue from many places, and flames of fire from others, I believe were either fabrications or at least exaggerations. I could find no one who had actually seen these phenomena, though all had heard of them.
On the 22nd we left Tiberias, and reached Nazareth in the night, having distributed medicines and clothes at Lubieh, Sejera, Kefr Kenna, and Reîneh. In all these villages, except Kefr Kenna, the earthquake had been very destructive, while in others on either side of us no injury had been sustained.
Earthquake in Divers Places
This erratic and apparently capricious course led one of my companions to remark that it was the exact fulfillment of our Lord's words in Matthew 24:77For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. (Matthew 24:7): “There shall be ... earthquakes, in divers places.” There may be something in the geological formation of these plains and mountains which occasioned these extraordinary exceptions; but whether we can or cannot explain the phenomenon, the fact is certain that some villages were entirely destroyed, and others close to them suffered no injury. And though the present earthquake is in no way referred to in that prophecy of our Lord, yet similar occurrences in ancient times may have suggested, or rather may have rendered the reference appropriate. At Nazareth our mission terminated, and we returned by the ordinary route to Beirut, having been absent eighteen days in the middle of winter, with bright, clear weather, so that even on the mountains we were able to sleep in the tent without inconvenience.
I have somewhere seen it stated that these terrible judgments, instead of softening the heart and working reformation in the life, produce effects the very reverse.
Hardening Effects
In this case it did so to an extraordinary degree. It was frightful to witness the intense selfishness and hideous rascality developed. The survivors in the surrounding villages left their friends to die amid their own crumbling houses, and hurried to Safed to strip the dead and plunder the living. Ibrahim Pasha sent a detachment of troops from Acre to protect the poor Jews from robbery and murder, but they themselves were utterly callous in regard to their fellow-sufferers. It is scarcely credible, and yet it is fact, that after we had labored night and day to build the hospital, we had to carry the wounded to it ourselves, or pay their surviving friends exorbitant prices to do it. So far as my experience goes (and wars, pestilence, cholera, and earthquakes have given me many opportunities to observe), the people will not learn righteousness when such judgments are abroad in the land.
Maron-Burial Place of Rabbi Hillel
But, to banish these painful pictures, let us turn to our present whereabouts. Over yonder, to our left, is Martin, one of the sacred places of the Jews. Dr. Wilson has given an extended account of the great rabbis whose sepulchers are believed to be there. The most celebrated is Hillel, the grandfather of Gamaliel. His tomb is a chamber cut in solid' rock, like multitudes of others in this country, only larger, being twenty-five feet square, and having thirty loculi or niches for the dead. There are several real sarcophagi in this room, with enormous lids. It is curious that the whole room is often flooded with water. The far-famed and truly infamous festival of “burning” is celebrated at these tombs. I never witnessed this extraordinary performance, and never will. Professor Hacket gives a graphic account of it. The apartment over the graves was lighted up by many lamps, and around the court were stalls filled with people, their beds, and their traveling equipments. The pilgrims gave themselves up to intoxication, singing, dancing and clapping of hands; while some, more warlike, kept up an exhibition of sword-play. After dark the crowd filled the court, stalls, gallery, and corridor, almost to suffocation.
Feast of Burning
A pillar supporting a stone trough stood at one corner of the gallery, and near it a vessel with oil, in which the articles to be burned were first dipped. At a given signal, a man with a blazing torch mounted the stairs to the gallery, and all were now intent with expectation. The first article burned was a costly shawl, the offering of a rich Jew from Joppa, who had paid about seventy-five dollars for the privilege of opening the ceremony. As the shawl began to blaze, the multitude raised a shout that made the welkin ring; men clapped their hands, and the women shrieked out the zulghŭt — a shrill tremulous cry, which one hears only in this country.
Offerings
Other offerings — shawls, scarfs, handkerchiefs, books, and so forth — were brought forward, dipped in oil, and consumed; while from time to time, as an article was seen to be of special value, or burned with uncommon brilliancy, the spectators broke forth into renewed expressions of delight. Thus this work of drunken madness went on until our informant was obliged to leave. It is, in fact, kept up all night, accompanied with scenes of such gross and indecent revelry, that all respectable Jews express the deepest regret and reprobation of the whole affair. I have never been able to ascertain the origin or real significance of this most absurd festival. It is, of course, intended to honor the great rabbis whose tombs are supposed to be there, and is also connected with some vague ideas of merit, by which the donors will derive benefit from the prayers or intercessions of these saints, an error found among all Oriental sects in one form or another. But enough of such folly and extravagance. Here we have something more satisfactory, or at least more substantial. This deep pit on our right is probably an extinct crater. It is difficult to imagine what else it can be, and, as the entire region is volcanic, the thing is not in itself improbable.
Jish or Giscala
You village above and ahead of us is Jish, the modern representative of that Giscala where dwelt John, the arch-enemy of Josephus; and here stood that church whose roof fell in and buried the congregation alive while at their evening prayer. A road takes off northwest to Yalta, which is about an hour and a quarter in that direction. It is too far out of the way, or I would take you thither, for there are many ancient remains about it well worth seeing.
Ruins of a Church
The most remarkable are the ruins of a church, and, as it differs from anything you will meet in the country, I will describe it. The length is eighty-six feet, the width fifty-three, with a double extension southward quite peculiar: the first twenty feet broad, and the length of the church; the other thirteen feet wide and fifty-five long. This is a sort of portico, supported by six columns. There were three doors in the west end, and a double row of columns extended from the wall in front of the doors to the altar; the architecture is Corinthian, and I noticed the Greek cross on some of the capitals; the entrances have posts eight feet high, and all of single blocks, standing on end like those of the old synagogues at Kŭdes,
Maron, and other places in this region. This may also have been originally a synagogue, or it may have been a church of the “Lower Empire,” or both may have been built out of the ruins of a heathen temple more ancient than either. The remains lie about the hill, and are stuck into the embankment of their water tank. I measured one stone fourteen feet long, curiously carved after the Jewish or Phœnician style. There are also many large sarcophagi in the neighborhood, which certainly are neither Greek nor Roman. This is no doubt the Iron given to Naphtali (Josh. 19:3838And Iron, and Migdal-el, Horem, and Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages. (Joshua 19:38)), and was in olden time a place of much importance. Beyond it is Bint Jebel', the capital of this district; and farther north is 'Ain Atha, the Beth-Anath of the same tribe. This whole region is crowded with ancient sites, most of which, however, are unknown to history, either sacred or profane.
Kefr Bur’iam
And here is Kefr Bur'iam, and it has taken us three hours and a quarter to come from Safed; the distance, however, is not more than nine miles.
We have still to examine the antiquities of this village. This edifice among the houses is tolerably perfect, and the style of architecture is wholly peculiar. These sheaf-like carvings on the columns and cornices are neither Roman nor Greek. In its present form it probably was a synagogue of the second or third century. An old villager tells me that he remembers when there was a row of columns above those now seen, but the earthquake of 1837 threw them down, and all those along the north end of the edifice.
Ruins
The other ruin, some thirty rods north of the village, is entirely prostrate, except the front entrance. This consists of two large upright posts supporting an entablature of a single stone more than ten feet long, richly ornamented with Jewish sculpture, and bearing a long inscription in Hebrew character, which, however, gives us no important information either as to the author, the age, or the character of the temple.