March 25th.
Daybreak
You should have been out with me on the promontory which overhangs the lake, to see the day break along the eastern mountains. At first it was intensely dark, but by-and-by it began to soften low down and far to the north. Then suddenly the note of a lark rang out, silvery and joyous, as if from the very midst of the stars. In rapid succession bird after bird rose up, hymning their early matin, until the whole “marble vault of heaven” was vocal with invisible choristers. One by one the stars faded out before the growing day, and every moment the scene shifted and changed from bright to brighter — from glory to glory, throwing down dark shadows from the eastern cliffs upon the broad bosom of Gennesaret. At length the first rays of the sun gleamed on the snowy head of Hermon, revealing deep wrinkles, which the storms of a thousand generations have drawn across his stern, cold brow. It was the very perfection of this style of beauty, nor do I understand how any one can call it tame. Doubtless time and season, pleasant company, good health, and cheerful spirits, add immensely to the effect of such a scene. In the glare and burning heat of midsummer, a weary traveler, with eyes inflamed, might see nothing to admire; but I have never thus visited it.
Interest of Gennesaret
To me Gennesaret and its surroundings are ever fair, and always invested with unparalleled interest Here our blessed Lord dwelt with men, and taught the way of life. Here he preached in a ship, slept in the storm, walked on the waves, rebuked the winds, and calmed the sea. Here is Magdala, Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida, with its desert place, where five thousand hungry souls were fed with miraculous bread; and Gergesa, where devils went from men to swine, and both together into the sea. Here he opened his mouth, and taught, with authority, that divine sermon on the mount; and on one of these solitary summits Moses and Elias, in shining robes, came down from heaven to converse with him in the glory of his transfiguration. And not least, from this shore he selected those wonderful men who were to erect his kingdom, and carry his gospel to the ends of the earth. Is there another spot on the globe that can compare with this?
Tiberias
Its History
This supposition becomes the most probable when we remember that it was quite a modern town when our Lord frequented this region, having been built and named by Herod about the time of his advent. Seventy years afterward Josephus found it an important city, and no other in Galilee is so often mentioned by him. Almost every other city was destroyed by Vespasian and Titus, but this was spared, and rewarded for its adherence to the Romans by being made the capital of the province. John, writing many years after these events, would naturally mention both the city and the lake, and call the latter by its then most familiar name, Tiberias. But the other apostles wrote before these events had taken place, and therefore do not speak of Tiberias at all.
Is it not somewhat strange that our Savior never entered Tiberias?
Not Certain If Visited by Jesus
This is not quite certain, for he undoubtedly visited many places which are not mentioned by any of the evangelists; and if the tradition respecting the site of the present old church has any foundation in-fact, he did actually enter it, and even after his resurrection. It is my opinion, however, that he never came to Tiberias, and for several reasons, which, by the aid of Josephus, we are able to discover. He tells us that Herod, in order to people his new city, brought many strangers, and people called Galileans, and many not even freemen, but slaves (Ant. 18, 2, 3).
In short, Herod gathered up all classes, and compelled them to settle in Tiberias. This was not a population with which our Lord and his disciples would choose to associate. Josephus further states that to make this place habitable was to transgress the ancient laws of the Jews, because “many sepulchers were here to be taken away in order to make room for the city of Tiberias, whereas our law pronounces that such persons are unclean for seven days.” Jesus, therefore, could not enter this city without becoming ceremonially unclean, and we know that both he and his disciples scrupulously avoided any such violation of the law of Moses. He never visited Tiberias, and thus the silence of the evangelists in regard to it is explained.
Tiberias Built on a Cemetery
This piece of history suggests one or two other remarks. It is nearly certain that Tiberias was built, in part at least, upon the cemetery of a neighboring city then in ruins; for without such a city whence came the many sepulchers spoken of? And that this city was ancient, and long since deserted, is evident from the fact that these sepulchers had no owners to be outraged by their demolition. The people who once used that cemetery had totally disappeared from the vicinity before Tiberias was erected. We may also determine with certainty that this former city was south of the present one, for there is no place for it on the north, or in any other direction but south. This confirms the idea that the ruins between Tiberias and the baths are the remains of a city more ancient than that built by Herod. The remark of Josephus about the sepulchers also shows that the present town occupies the site of Herod's city. The face of the hill on which the northern part of it stands is 'covered with a very peculiar kind of tombs, and apparently as old as the rock itself. Many of them were wholly destroyed when the wall was built, for they extend under it, and into the city itself, while the whole hill side north and northwest of it is crowded with them — the forsaken graves of an extinct city and race.
Ruins of an Ancient City
What was the name of this more ancient city must ever remain a matter of mere conjecture. It was many times larger than the modern town, for it covered the plain and side of the mountain quite down to the baths, and was a city of palaces, and temples, and splendid edifices, as the remains abundantly show. Perhaps it was Hammath itself, named from the hot baths, great and rich, from their celebrity in olden time. Perhaps it was Chinneroth, from which the lake took its most ancient, as it has derived its modern name from its successor. Perhaps — but it is idle to multiply suppositions of this kind.
Tiberias a Rabbinical City
It would be tedious to enter minutely into the history of this city and its varied fortunes; nor is this necessary. Reland, and Burckhardt, and Robinson, and Wilson, and Kitto have done this at large. Ever since the destruction of Jerusalem, it has been chiefly celebrated in connection with the Jews, and was for a long time the chief seat of rabbinical learning. It is still one of their four holy cities. Among the Christians it also early rose to distinction, and the old church, built upon the spot where our Lord gave his last charge to Peter, is a choice bit of ecclesiastical antiquity. Though we need not accept this age or origin, still I am not so sure as Dr. Robinson is, that, because the arch of its vault is slightly pointed, its “antiquity must necessarily he limited to the time of the Crusaders at the earliest.” If not greatly mistaken, I have seen such arches far older than the twelfth century. But the entire subject of the arch is yet to be properly developed, and until this is done the unlearned must not be too positive. Let that pass. The present city is situated on the shore, at the northeast corner of this small plain. The walls enclose an irregular parallelogram, about one hundred rods from north to south, and in breadth not more than forty. They were strengthened by ten round towers on the west, five on the north, and eight on the south. There were also two or three towers along the shore to protect the city from attack by sea. Not much more than one-half of this small area is occupied by buildings of any kind, and the north end, which is a rocky hill, has nothing but the ruins of the old palace.
Tiberias Its Filth
The earthquake of 1837 prostrated a large part of the walls, and they have not yet been repaired, and perhaps never will be. There is no town in Syria so utterly filthy as Tiberias, or so little to be desired as a residence. Being six hundred feet below the level of the ocean, and overhung on the west by a high mountain, which effectually shuts off the Mediterranean breezes, it is fearfully hot in summer. The last time I was encamped at the baths the thermometer stood at 100̊ at midnight, and a steam went up from the surface of the lake as from some huge smoldering volcano. Of course it swarms with all sorts of vermin. What can induce human beings to settle down in such a place? And yet some two thousand of our race make it their chosen abode. They are chiefly Jews, attracted hither either to cleanse their leprous bodies in her baths, or to purify their unclean spirits by contact with her traditionary and ceremonial holiness.
The Lake. Size. Depression
The lake itself is too well known to need much description. It is an irregular oval, with the large end to the north. I cannot make it more than fourteen miles long, and nine wide from Mejdel to Wady Semak. It is about six hundred feet lower than the Mediterranean; and this great depression accounts for some of its remarkable phenomena. Seen from any point of the surrounding heights it is a fine sheet of water — a burnished mirror set in a framework of rounded hills and rugged mountains, which rise and roll backward and upward to where Hermon hangs the picture against the blue vault of heaven.
Cause of Depression
This profound basin owes its origin, I suppose, to volcanic agency at some remote epoch in geological chronology. But it is not necessary to maintain that the whole of it was once an active crater. Perhaps no part of it was, though it is surrounded by vast regions of trap rock. It may, therefore, have been a gigantic crater, with waves of burning lava instead of water. The lake is fed mainly by the Jordan; but, besides this, there are the great fountains of Fûlîyeh, el Mudowera, 'Ain et Tiny, and Tabiga; and in winter the streams from wadies Haman, er Rŭbŭdiyeh, 'Amûd, and Leimŭn, from the west and northwest; and Sulam, Tellaiyeh, Jermaiah, Shŭkaiyif, and Semak on the east. During the rainy season these streams pour an immense amount of water into the lake, and raise its level several feet above its present mark.
Effect of Rain
The effect is seen particularly along the southern end, and at the outlet of the Jordan.
The old story, told by Tacitus and others, that the Jordan flows directly through the center without mingling with the lake, has no other foundation than the fancy of those who repeat it. The water is sweet and wholesome, and the fish abundant and of an excellent quality. They are, however, but little troubled by either hook, net, or spear.
Absence of Boats and Fishermen
By the way, this reminds me that in all our rambles around this most Biblical of lakes, I have constantly missed two pictures with which it has ever been associated in fancy's tablet — the little ships and the fishermen. The absence of the former is easily explained. The few semi-savage Arabs who now frequent this shore have no occasion for ships. But why are there no fishers about Gennesaret? There are fish enough in these waters, as we have frequently seen.
Arab Dread of the Sea
The Arabs, particularly the Bedawin and the peasant, have an invincible dread and repugnance to the sea, nor can they be tempted to trust themselves upon its treacherous bosom. Some of their favorite proverbs are intended to express this national aversion. If the lake were covered with boats, they would travel all round its shores on the slow-paced camel rather than sail directly across to our city. As there is no demand for boats, the very art of building them is lost. You could not find a carpenter on this whole coast who has either the materials, the tools, or the skill to construct one, or even to mend it if broken. They have no more use for boats than for well-made roads; both disappeared together when the Arabians conquered the country, and both will reappear together as soon as a more civilized race rises to power.
Want of Patience
The cause for the absence of fishermen is likewise found in the character and habits of these Arabs. You could never persuade a genuine son of the desert to sit or stand all day holding a rod over the water with a string and hook at the end of it. If you put it into his hands all ready baited, you would soon hear “Yŭkta’ amrû,” as he flung the whole apparatus in the lake. Those who dwell in the cities and villages along the coast of the Mediterranean have partially departed from these primitive habits, and learned from Greeks and Franks the piscatory art; but even they have no enthusiasm for it. Out here it is held in utter contempt.
How do you account for the fact that so many of the apostles were chosen from this class of fishermen? It could not have been accidental.
Apostles – Why Fisherman?
Nothing in the kingdom of Christ is accidental or the result of caprice, least of all the vital matter of its first teachers and founders. There was, no doubt, an adaptation, a fitness in the occupation of these men to develop just those attributes of character most needed in the apostolic office. There are various modes of fishing, and each calculated to cultivate and strengthen some particular moral quality of great importance in their mission. Thus angling requires patience, and great perseverance and caution. The line must be fine; the hook carefully concealed by the bait; and this, too, must be such as is suited to the capacity and taste of the fish you seek to catch. A mistake in any of these things defeats the object. If the hook is too big, or not well covered, the bait too large, or not adapted to the taste, of course you take nothing, or bring up a useless crab. There may he deceptive nibbles, but nothing more. So, also, the line must not alarm them, nor will it do to dash the hook in impatiently. And the man must not put himself forward; he should not be seen at all.
Hand-Net
Then there is fishing with the hand-net. This is beautiful and picturesque. You see it to best advantage along the coast from Beirut to Sidon. The net is in shape like the top of a tent, with a long cord fastened to the apex. This is tied to his arm, and the net so folded that, when it is thrown, it expands to its utmost circumference, around which are strung beads of lead to make it drop suddenly to the bottom. Now, see the actor: half bent, and more than half naked, he keenly watches the playful surf, and there he spies his game tumbling in carelessly toward him. Forward he leaps to meet it. Away goes the net, expanding as it flies, and its leaded circumference strikes the bottom ere the silly fish is aware that its meshes have closed around him. By the aid of his cord the fisherman leisurely draws up the net, and the fish with it. This requires a keen eye, an active frame, and great skill in throwing the net. He, too, must be patient, watchful, wide awake, and prompt to seize the exact moment to throw.
Drag-Net
Then there is the great drag-net, the working of which teaches the value of united effort. Some must row the boat, some cast out the net, some on the shore pull the rope with all their strength, others throw stones and beat the water round the ends, to frighten the fish from escaping there; and as it approaches the shore, every one is active in holding up the edges, drawing it to land, and seizing the fish. This is that net which “gathered of every kind”; and, when drawn to the shore, the fishermen sit down and “gather the good into vessels, but cast the bad away” (Matt. 13:47-4847Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. (Matthew 13:47‑48)). I have watched this operation throughout a hundred times along the shore of the Mediterranean.
Bag-Net
Again there is the bag-net and basket-net, of various kinds, which are so constructed and worked as to enclose the fish out in deep water. I have seen them of almost every conceivable size and pattern. It was with some one of this sort, I suppose, that Simon had toiled all night without catching anything, but which, when let down at the command of Jesus, enclosed so great a multitude that the net broke, and they filled two ships with the fish until they began to sink (Luke 5:4,94Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. (Luke 5:4)
9For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: (Luke 5:9)). Peter here speaks of toiling all night; and there are certain kinds of fishing always carried on at night.
Night Fishing
It is a beautiful sight. With blazing torch, the boat glides over the flashing sea, and the men stand gazing keenly into it until their prey is sighted, when, quick as lightning, they fling their net or fly their spear; and often you see the tired fishermen come sullenly into harbor in the morning, having toiled all night in vain. Indeed, every kind of fishing is uncertain. A dozen times the angler jerks out a naked hook; the hand-net closes down on nothing; the drag-net brings in only weeds; the bag comes up empty. And then, again, every throw is successful, every net is full and frequently without any other apparent reason than that of throwing it on the right side of the ship instead of the left, as it happened to the disciples here at Tiberias (John. 21:6).
It is wholly unnecessary to apply these things to the business of fishing for men in the great seas of sin. That we may leave to the commentator and the preacher. No one occupation of humble life — not even that of the shepherd — calls into exercise and develops so many of the elements necessary for the office of a religious teacher as this of fishing.
The Fisher’s Coat
Not necessarily so. Here, in this hot climate, however, it is common to fish with nothing but a sort of shawl or napkin tied round the waist. The fisher's coat which he girt about him was the short 'abâyeh which they now wear, and which they very often lay aside while fishing. They can doff and don it in a moment. When worn, it is girt tight about the loins with the zunnar; and Peter did this when hastening to meet the Lord.
As to “ships,” they have all disappeared; and there is but one small boat on the lake, and this is generally out of repair. The owner has been here, and told the servant that he will take us for a short sail this evening. We will go to Mejdel, and then you will have completed the entire circuit of this “sacred sea.”
March 26th.
Sail on Gennesaret
What a charming sail on Gennesaret we had last night! I would not have missed it for any consideration.
It was indeed delightful, especially the row back after sunset, while twilight was fading into the solemn mysteries of night; and how prettily the stars came out, twinkling so sociably at us, like old friends! These very stars thus gazed with their loving eyes upon Him who made them, when he sailed over this same lake eighteen hundred years ago. Mystery of mysteries! The God-man, the Divine Logos, by whom all things were made which are in heaven and which are on earth, did actually sail over this identical sea in a boat, and by night, as we have done; and not stars only, but angels also beheld and wondered, and still do gaze, and ever will, desiring “earnestly to see those things” (Luke 10:2424For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. (Luke 10:24))
The Incarnation of Jesus
This is not fancy, but fact; and shadowy indeed must be his faith in whose breast these sacred shores awaken no holier emotions than such as spring from common earth and ordinary lakes. He must be of those who have eyes but see not, ears but hear not, and hearts that cannot comprehend. Shame on us all, that we can frequent the haunts and the home of Him who came from heaven to die for our redemption with little reverence and less love. We would not plead for apocryphal relics or fabulous caverns. It is wise and well to refuse all homage to such cunning fabrications. But surely it is unnatural, if not impious, to withhold or restrain those emotions which the scenes we are contemplating are calculated to awaken, which they will inspire in every mind having faith enough to invest the Gospel narratives with reality and life. Depend upon it, the eye that looks unmoved on these shores is in the head of a practical infidel.
Localities of the Gospel Teaching
I have always supposed that the Gospel narratives would be more interesting and better understood, and that the instructions of our divine Teacher would fall with more power upon the heart, in the places where they were first delivered, than when read or heard on the other side of the world; and to a limited extent I find this to be true. Still there is a sense of vagueness which I cannot dissipate. I regret this the more because it is so different from what I anticipated. It is a favorite theory of mine, that every true book has a birthday and a home; so has every prophet and religious teacher; and we not only have a right to subject their recorded history and instructions to the test of time and place, to ascertain their authenticity and truthfulness, but, if they are genuine, such scrutiny will greatly illustrate and emphasize their meaning. Nor is it irreverent to apply these tests to the life and teachings of Him who spoke as man never spoke — as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Can we not do something toward gathering and concentrating the scattered rays of light which the wanderings about the home of our Lord have struck out?
Agreement of Place and Narrative
Perhaps; at any rate we can try, and without the slightest apprehension that the record may prove a forgery. Everything will be found in most perfect agreement with all ascertained facts of chronology, topography, and history. The references to time are not very numerous or significant, but they agree most beautifully with the assumed age of our Lord's advent. When there is occasion to allude to matters in which this idea is involved, it is done with the utmost simplicity and naturalness. As an example — one of many equally pertinent — take the demand about the tribute-money, and the answer of Jesus, “Render ... unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's” (Luke 20:2525And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. (Luke 20:25)). We have examined the “image and superscription” of this Roman penny on the very spot where the tax-gatherer sat, and with the evidences scattered all around us that these lordly Romans were actually here. History, the treasured coin, and these prostrate ruins, unite in proving that the teacher Jesus, the caviling Pharisees, and the tax-gathering Romans were all here, and the entire incident is admirably illustrated and confirmed.
Minute Accuracy
The references to topography are very numerous, and entirely satisfactory. We need only mention Nazareth, and Cana, and Capernaum, and Chorazin, and Bethsaida, and the regions around this lake. Everything is natural, and in accordance with ascertained facts, even to the omission of this city of Tiberias in the list of places visited by our Lord. There is also a sort of verbal accuracy at times, which it is always pleasant to meet. Thus Jesus is said to go down from Cana to Capernaum; and we now know that the latter place is not only the lowest, but actually six hundred feet lower than the Mediterranean Sea. And so, also, in the appeal to a city “set on an hill”; if he pointed to Sated, as he probably did, nothing could be more emphatic. This town is seen from an immense distance, and cannot be hid. And if not Safed, there are many other towns all about the region where the remark was made, and a reference to any one of them was perfectly natural and emphatic.
Manners
The allusions to manners and customs are still more numerous than those to the topography of the land, and they agree most perfectly with the supposed age of the world and character of the people.
Out-Door Life
It is implied in almost countless ways that those with whom our Lord associated on these shores were accustomed to out-door life. They meet on the mountain to hear him preach; they follow him into a desert place of Bethsaida to be fed; they spend whole days there without any apparent provision for either shelter, sleep, or food; they are found in the open court of houses or on the shore of the lake at all times, etc., etc. Now all the specifications are here, just as they should be — the mountain, the desert place, the shore, the open court, the climate so warm as to lead the people into the open air, the present habits of the people — everything in exact accord with the Gospel narratives. The inhabitants not only go forth into the country as represented in the New Testament, but they remain there, and sleep in the open air, if occasion require, without the slightest inconvenience.
Crowds of Women and Children
Again the incidental mention of women and children in the great assemblies gathered around Jesus is true to Oriental life, strange as it may appear to those who read so much about female seclusion in the East. In the great gatherings of this day, at funerals, weddings, festal, and fairs, women and children often constitute the larger portion of the assemblies.
Attractions of “a Prophet”
I have seen hundreds of these gatherings in the open air; and should a prophet now arise with a tithe of the celebrity of Jesus of Nazareth, there would quickly be immense assemblies about him “from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan” (Matt. 4:2424And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. (Matthew 4:24)). Bad, and stupid, and ignorant, and worldly as the people are, their attention would be instantly arrested by the voice of a prophet, and they would flock from all parts to see, hear, and be healed. There is an irresistible bias in Orientals of all religions to run after the mere shadow of a prophet or a miracle-worker. A grand fraud was enacted in Lebanon a few years ago, in order to raise the wind to build a church. The water that burst out while the workmen were digging the foundation, it was published abroad, would restore the blind to sight; and quickly multitudes of these unfortunate people, from all parts of Palestine and Syria, and even ship-loads from Egypt, hastened to the spot, to bathe their sore or sightless eye-balls in the wonder-working water. I myself saw long files of blind leading the blind, marching slowly and painfully on toward the blessed stream, and it was not until great suffering and loss that the insane multitude could be restrained from making the worse than useless pilgrimage. Such are Orientals of this day; and to know what was the character, in these respects, of those to whom Christ preached, we need only study that of the people around us. In nothing does the East of this day throw more light upon New Testament history than just on this point, and it is certainly one of much importance.
Instructions addressed to such a people, assembled in the open country or on the sea side, would naturally, almost necessarily, abound in illustrations drawn from country life and from surrounding objects. No others would so seize upon their attention, be so readily comprehended, or so tenaciously remembered.
Out-Door Imagery
Accordingly, we hear the divine Teacher exclaim at Shechem, Lift up your eyes to the fields, already white to the harvest. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:3838Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:38)). Thus, too, He speaks of the vineyards; of the good branches purged; of the dry ones gathered for the fire; of the penny-a-day laborers standing in the market waiting to be hired, and of their receiving their wages at the close of each day. Such things as these we now see constantly, daily, and to the minutest shade of verbal accuracy. Again, the sparrows that chatter on every man's house teach lessons of filial trust in the providential care of our heavenly Father; and lilies, more gloriously arrayed than Solomon, rebuke undue solicitude as to wherewithal we shall be clothed. Then we have the leaven and its lesson; the mustard-seed, with its prophetic promise to the Church; the sower's four sorts of soil, and their diverse results; the good seed, and the tares of the enemy; the fig-tree, with its promise of spring, and its threatenings to the fruitless. Or, descending from the land to the lake, we have the fishermen, their ships, their nets, and their occupation, so suggestive to apostles and preachers, who must he fishers of men. We need not enlarge this list — every reader of the New Testament can add to it from his own recollection; but it is important to remark, that all these allusions are perfectly natural and appropriate to the country, the people, the Teacher, the age, and every other circumstance mentioned or implied in the evangelical narratives. We have the originals still before us. The teachings and illustrations of our Lord would have been out of place in any other country except this. They could not have been uttered anywhere else.
Character of the Jew
There is one aspect of Christ's character, and one class of allusions in his public teaching, which deserves special consideration. Our Lord was most emphatically a religious teacher and reformer, and, of course, we expect to find constant reference to the manners and morals, the superstitions and religious ceremonies of the people; and so there is, and with wonderful correspondence to the existing state of things in this same land. Contemplate, then, the man Jesus, the Teacher, the Reformer, as he stood on the shores of this lake eighteen hundred years ago. Who and what he was to the men of that age! He was a Jew. But what was it to be an ordinary Jew of Nazareth in the year thirty of our era? In very many respects just what it is to be one now in this Tiberias or in Safed — to be intensely and most offensively fanatical; to regard one's self as pre-eminently holy, the special favorite of God, and to despise all others; to be amazingly superstitious; to hold obstinately and defend fiercely an infinite number of silly traditions and puerile fables; to fritter away the whole life and power of religion in a rigid observance of trifling ceremonies. The common Jew of Tiberias is self-righteous, proud, ignorant, rude, quarrelsome, hypocritical, dishonest, selfish, avaricious, immoral; and such, in the main, were his ancestors eighteen centuries ago. We know this, not so much from the New Testament as from Josephs, that special pleader and grand apologist for his nation.
Jesus More Than Man
Now, here is a problem for the skeptic: How comes it that there is nothing of this Jew in Jesus? How could “the model man” — ay, the perfect pattern for all ages and all lands — how, I say, could he grow, develop, and ripen in Nazareth? Who taught him the maxims of the Sermon on the Mount? Whose example of charity, kindness, and compassion did he copy? How did he alone, of all Jews, nay, of all mankind, conceive, propound, and practice perfectly, a purely spiritual religion? That he did all this, is undeniable, and it is for those who find in Jesus of Nazareth nothing but a common Jew to explain the wonderful phenomenon.
Unlike Other Jews
Again, Jesus grew up from his youth to manhood among a people intensely mercenary. This vice corrupted and debased every relation of life. Here, again, Josephus not only agrees with the writers of the New Testament, but goes far beyond them. We can fill up the outlines of his picture from the everyday life and manners of the people about us. Everybody trades, speculates, cheats. The shepherd-boy on the mountains talks of piasters from morning till night; so does the muleteer on the road, the farmer in the field, the artisan in his shop, the merchant in his magazine, the pasha in his palace, the kady in the hall of judgment, the mullah in the mosque, the monk, the priest, the bishop — money, money, money! the desire of every heart, the theme of every discourse, the end of every aim. Everything, too, is bought and sold. Each prayer has its price, every sin its tariff. Nothing for nothing, but everything for money — at the counter of the merchant, the divan of the judge, the gate of the palace, the altar of the priest. Now our Lord was an Oriental, and grew up among just such a people; but who can or dare say that there is the faintest shadow of this mercenary spirit in his character? With uncontrolled power to possess all, he owned nothing. He had no place to be born in but another man's stable, no closet to pray in but the wilderness, no place to die but on the cross of an enemy, and no grave but one lent by a friend. At his death he had absolutely nothing to bequeath to his mother. He was as free from the mercenary spirit as though he had belonged to a world where the very idea of property was unknown. And this total abstinence from all ownership was not of necessity, but of choice; and I say there is nothing like it, nothing that approaches it, in the history of universal man. It stands out perfectly and divinely original.
No Temporal Advantages for His Followers
And, finally, Jesus was the founder of a new religion; and the desire and effort of all merely human minds would be to secure its acceptance by connecting discipleship with personal pleasure or temporal advantage. Milton makes the devil say to Jesus,
“If at great things thou would at arrive,
Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap.”
And this temptation no man under such circumstances ever did or could resist. But Christ, from the first, took this position above the human race, and to the end retained it without an effort. He divorces his gospel from any alloy of earth. Money, property, and all they represent and control, have nothing to do with membership in his society, with citizenship in his kingdom. The very conception of the idea was divine. Not only is it not human, but it is every whit contrary to what is human. He could not have borrowed it, for he was surrounded by those who were not able to comprehend the idea — no, not even the apostles, until after the day of Pentecost. As to the multitude, they sought Jesus, not because they saw the miracles and were convinced, but because they ate and were filled. And so it always has been, and is now, in this same country. In this matter our missionary experience is most painful, and I hope somewhat peculiar. It would not be charitable — possibly not just — to say to every applicant, You seek us, not because you have examined our doctrines and believe them, but for the loaves and fishes of some worldly advantage which you hope to obtain; and yet it is difficult for me at this moment to recall a single instance in which this was not the first moving motive.
Mercenary Spirit of the People
Nor does this apply to converts to Protestantism merely, but to all sects, and to all religious changes among the people. Religion is, in fact, a species of property, valued, not for its truth, but for its available price in the market. And thus it was in the time of our Savior, and he knew it. He knew that the multitude followed him for the loaves and fishes; that they sought to make him king that they might revel in ease, luxury, and power; that they crowded about him to be healed as people now do around our physicians; that one called him master to obtain a decision in his favor against his brother in regard to the estate, as many join the missionaries the better to press their claims in court. The determination to make religion, or the profession, of it, a meritorious act, deserving temporal remuneration or personal favor, is almost universal. It was so in the time of Christ. According to the parable, some will even claim admittance into heaven because they had eaten and drunk in his presence; and, still more absurd, because he had taught in their streets. Now, however ridiculous such pretensions may appear to men in the Western World, I have had applications for money in this country, urged earnestly, and even angrily, for precisely the same reasons. Our Lord founded the parable, even to its external drapery and costume, not on fancy, but on unexaggerated fact.
Worldliness of the Apostles
How utterly loathsome must have been such a spirit to the unworldly heart of Jesus! and yet it was ever manifesting itself even in his chosen apostles. Here, again, Christ is our divine example. Hateful as was this earthly, groveling spirit, yet how patiently he bears with it! It is related of Dr. Chalmers that a certain man visited him several times as a religious inquirer, and when he imagined that he had awakened sufficient interest in his behalf, he cautiously let out the fact that he was in want of money; but no sooner was his object apparent than the wrath of the good doctor burst out in a furious tempest, and he almost kicked the mercenary wretch out of his house. If the doctor had been a missionary in this country, and had adopted the same summary mode with those who sought his presence from precisely the same motives, he might just as well have remained at home in his mother's nursery for all the good he would have effected here. But Christ did not thus dispose of the matter. He treated it as one, and only one, of the radical corruptions of religion which it was his mission to reform; and in attempting it he manifested the same divine wisdom and forbearance which characterize his whole course. He had to deal with it, even to the day of his death, in his chosen friends. They were constantly thinking of the temporal kingdom, and of seats of honor and power in his royal divan. Nor need we start and stare in amazement, as at some rare and monstrous development of selfishness. There are not half a dozen men in Syria who do not believe, or at least feel, that the assumption of the evangelical costume, for example, does, ipso facto, entitle the persons to share the temporalities of those by whom they have been discipled. This is neither slander nor exaggeration, and in numberless Gases where this claim was denied even in the kindest possible manner, they have been offended, and forsook at once both the teacher and the gospel.
Origin of the Spirit
I have sought earnestly and painfully for the cause of this odious element in the religious character of Orientals. Customs so deeply rooted, and so general, and yet so manifestly base, must have their origin in powerful influences acting steadily and universally upon society. Close observation and long reflection lead me to the conclusion that there are, and have been from remote ages, several causes, all tending to connect religion indissolubly with man's selfish interests and his temporal affairs. They may all be traced, perhaps, to the constitution of civil society. There are two conditions in which men must seek and find some other security for property, liberty, and life, than what can be derived from government — under absolute despotism and in lawless anarchy. Where either of these prevails, man instinctively resorts to religion (or superstition) for an asylum; and not in vain.
Religion a Check to Despotism
Rarely is a tyrant so daring as to trample under foot the sanctions and safeguards of firmly-rooted religious rights; and when any one has been mad enough to attempt such a violation, it has generally cost him his life. Even unbridled and ferocious anarchy is held in restraint, and ultimately subdued, by the sanctities and sanctions of religion. Now, the East has very generally been cursed with one or other, or with both of these tyrannies, and is at this hour. Hence the people have resorted, and do resort, to Religion for assistance and safety, and have designedly made her spread her protecting robes over the entire interests of society, temporal as well as spiritual. They have at length come to regard it mainly as a means to obtain and maintain the safety of person and property; and that religion which secures to its followers the greatest amount of relief and prosperity is the best. Hence, they are ready to embrace a new faith for a few piasters, for relief from a trifling tax, or for any other earthly advantage; and, naturally enough, they change back again with equal facility if disappointed, or if better prospects and promises solicit them. In this they are merely making that use of religion which they understand and think most valuable; nor do they feel ashamed of thus dealing with it. It is a legitimate use of the precious commodity. To us, who have always lived under a form of government where our temporal rights and privileges have been guarded by law, this is a monstrous perversion, and we cannot adequately appreciate the pressure which has crowded these people into such mercenary ways.
Religion the Guardian of Civil Rights
It is a fact, that to this hour Religion is made to throw her shelter around the separate existence and the temporal rights of the various classes and tribes that dwell in this country. They depend upon it, and employ it without scruple on all occasions. Even European influence in their behalf is mainly based upon it, and, to a certain extent, increases the evil. One nation protects the Maronites because they are Papists; another the Greeks as such; a third the Greek Catholics; a fourth the Druses, etc., through the whole list. True it is that in thus dealing with those tribes they do but avail themselves of customs inwrought into the very constitution of society and from remote antiquity. I know not when to date their beginning.
Temporal Elements in Judaism
The divinely established economy of the Hebrews contained this element largely developed. The Hebrew commonwealth (or church) was a religious corporation which guaranteed to every faithful member of it extensive worldly advantages. The letter of its promises is almost wholly temporal; and if we glance back at the history of this land from Abraham to this day, we shall find that religion has been inseparably interwoven with the secular affairs of the people. This important fact accounts, in a great measure, for the present phenomena in regard to it. By a process short, natural, and certain to be adopted by corrupt human nature, religion has been made the servant of man's mercenary desires and evil passions.
Opposition of Jesus
This miserable and fatal perversion Jesus of Nazareth alone, of all religious teachers, earnestly and honestly attempted to thoroughly correct. He laid the ax to the root of this old and corrupt tree. He revealed a pure spiritual religion, and established a kingdom not of this world; but, alas! his followers either could not or would not maintain it. They slid quickly down from his high position into bondage to the beggarly elements of this world, and nothing, apparently, but a second revelation of the same divine power can lift the gospel once more out of the mire of this pit into which it has fallen. He who is Truth — who came into the world to bear witness to the truth, divinely accomplished his mission. With the world and all its solicitations and comprehensive entanglements beneath his feet, he tolerated nothing in his kingdom but truth. This cut up by the roots the vast systems of clannish and state religions, founded on fables, and upheld by falsehood, force, and hypocrisy. He spurned with indignation the traditions of priests and the cunning adjustments of politicians. He would have nothing but truth for doctrine, nothing but honest faith in the disciple. To understand how vast the number of superstitions, lying vanities., idle fancies, vain ceremonies, abominable deceptions, and foul corruptions which had overgrown religion in his day, it is only necessary to examine that which claims to be religion in this same country at the present moment. And should this divine Truth again visit the land, with fan in hand, he would scatter to the four winds, from the great threshing-floor of his indignation, the mountains of chaff which have gathered there for ages, and he would hurl the thunderbolts of his wrath against a thou and hypocritical deceivers of mankind.
Rules of Christ
Oh, how radical, profound, and far-reaching are the simplest laws of Christ, and how prodigious the revolution they contemplate and require! “Swear not at all.” Why, the whole Arab race must quit talking altogether. They cannot say simply Yea, yea — Nay, nay. “Lie not one to another.” Impossible! everything, within, without, and about you, is a lie. “Do to others as ye would that they should do to you.” This precept seems to want a not somewhere or other. “Salute no man by the way.” Absurd! we must manufacture compliments as fast as possible, and utter them with grace and gravity to friend and foe alike. But why multiply any further comparisons and contrasts? The subject is inexhaustible, and enough has been said or hinted to prove that Jesus did not borrow the lessons he taught. They are not from man, of man, nor by man, but they are of God.
Gnats
Shut the tent door, and put the candle outside, or we shall be overwhelmed by a deluge of gnats. This is one of the plagues of this filthy city. Once, when encamped on this very spot, they came in such incredible swarms as literally to cover up and extinguish the candle. In five minutes their dead carcasses accumulated on the top so as to put it out. It seemed to me at the time that Tiberias might be rendered absolutely uninhabitable by this insignificant, almost invisible enemy. Has it never occurred to you that the writers of the Bible were very indifferent to those sources of annoyance which travelers now dwell upon with such vehement and pathetic lamentation? Gnats, for example, are only mentioned once, and then not as an annoyance, but to introduce and give point to a severe rebuke upon pharisaical scrupulosity: “Ye blind guides, which strain at [or out] a gnat, and swallow a camel” (Matt. 23:2424Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Matthew 23:24)). And certainly no comparison could better express the absurdity and hypocrisy of their conduct.
As another instance of this indifference to small annoyances, I cannot but think just now of the flea. These most troublesome creatures are only mentioned by David in his complaint to Saul: “After whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea?” (1 Sam. 24:1414After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. (1 Samuel 24:14)).
The Flea
“For the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains” (1 Sam. 26:2020Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains. (1 Samuel 26:20)). True; but the reference is very emphatic. There are at this moment myriads of men, women, and children, chasing these nimble creatures through all the mysteries and hiding-places of their manifold garments. Still, it is remarkable that such an omnipresent source of vexation should not be more frequently mentioned, and the more so, as in this matter the Bible differs entirely from all Oriental writings. The Arabs, in their poetry, fables, stories, and general literature, not only mention the flea, but with every possible term of dislike and malediction. The Bedawin, though filthy to a proverb, and patient ad nauseam of other vermin, have the greatest dread of the flea, and whenever they appear in their camp they break up and remove to another. Indeed, it is quite in the power of fleas to compel an evacuation. I have seen places where Arabs had been encamped literally swarming with them, as though the very dust had turned to fleas. One could not stand a moment on such a spot without having his legs quite black with them; and, beyond a doubt, if a person were bound and left there, he would soon be worried to death. An Arab proverb informs us that the king of the fleas holds his court in Tiberias. It is fortunate that etiquette does not oblige us to frequent it.
The Centipede
I was somewhat startled to find myself this morning in close proximity to a more formidable species of vermin than either gnats or fleas. While seated on a dilapidated sepulcher, an immense centipede crawled out cautiously, and made directly for my hand, which I quickly gave, and with it a smart stone, to add emphasis to the salutation. Are these ugly creatures really dangerous. I am surprised to find them stirring so early in the spring, though Tiberias is hot enough for them or for anything else. The bite of the centipede is not fatal, but is said to be extremely painful, and very slow to heal. The Arabs say that it strikes its fore claws into the flesh, and there they break off and remain, thus rendering the wound more troublesome. I never saw a person bitten by them, but their mere appearance makes one's flesh creep. While the locusts were passing through Abeîh, they started up a very large centipede near my house, and I was greatly amused with its behavior. As the living stream rolled over it without cessation for a moment, it became perfectly furious; bit on the right hand and the left; writhed, and squirmed, and floundered in impotent wrath; and was finally worried to death. During this extraordinary battle its look was almost satanic.
Donkeys
How sweetly the day draws to a close around this warm and delightful lake! and there come the droves of cattle and donkeys down from the green hills where they pasture! I have seen no place where there are so many, or at least where they are brought home together, and in such crowds. Last night the thought struck me as they were entering the gate, and away I hurried after them, to see whether these Tiberian donkeys were as wise as those Isaiah mentions. True to life, no sooner had we got within the walls, than the drove began to disperse. Every ox knew perfectly well his owner, his house, and the way to it; nor did he get bewildered for a moment in the mazes of these narrow and crooked alleys.
The Master’s Crib
As for the asses, they walked straight to the door, and up to their master's “crib,” without turning to bid good-night to their companions of the field. I followed one company clear into their habitation, and saw each take his appropriate manger, and begin his evening meal of dry tan. Isaiah says in all this they were wiser than their owners, who neither knew nor considered, but forsook the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 1:3-43The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. (Isaiah 1:3‑4)). These “cribs” of Isaiah are, I suppose, the “mangers” of the New Testament, in one of which the infant Redeemer was laid?
It is so understood by the Arabs, so translated in their Bible, and I doubt not correctly. It is common to find two sides of the one room where the native farmer resides with his cattle fitted up with these mangers, and the remainder elevated about two feet higher for the accommodation of the family.
The Manger
The mangers are built of small stones and mortar, in the shape of a box, or rather of a kneading-trough; and, when cleaned up and whitewashed, as they often are in summer, they do very well to lay little babes in. Indeed, our own children have slept in them in our rude summer retreats on the mountains.
Treatment of the Ass
As to the donkey, he is a slandered and much abused animal. He is poorly fed, hard worked, overloaded, and beaten without reason or mercy. Their saddles are so ill-shaped, so hard, and so ragged, that they wound the back and shoulders; and the rough ropes which bind on the burdens lacerate the flesh wherever they come in contact with it. No wonder, therefore, that he has a gaunt frame, a tottering gait, ears which slouch heavily round his head, and a stupid and woe-begone stare out of hopeless eyes. But when young and unbroken, they are as lively and playful as kittens; and when well fed, the male is, without exception, the most pugnacious brute on earth. Dogs full of fire and fight as Dandy Dinmont's varieties of pepper will yet sometimes be at peace, but two fat male donkeys can never be brought together, night or day, in summer or in winter, without instant war.