174 EXCURSION TO HEBRON. member the Saviour's words, "When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice."* On In the evening we visited the Consul, who had invited the Governor of Jerusalem to meet us. The Turk occupies the house said to have belonged to Pontius Pilate. He came in, attired in full Eastern costume, a handsome young man, attended by three servants, one of whom carried his pipe. The servants remained in the room, near the door, and kept their eye on their master. occasion of a slight motion of the hand, one of them stepped forward and took the pipe, and then resumed his place as before, watching his master's movements, as if to anticipate his wishes. This is the custom which we observed in Egypt + as illustrating Psalm cxxiii, “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters-so our eyes upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us." He was very affable, and seemed highly entertained with examining our eye-glasses and watches. He drank wine with us also, probably to shew how liberal a high-born Mussulman can be. In the evening we planned an excursion to Hebron, and next day (June 13) set out by 7 a. M., accompanied by the Consul and his lady, Mr. Nicolayson, and Mr. George Dalton. Some were mounted on mules, and some on horses; the saddles, as usual, broad and uncomfortable. Crossing the Vale of Gihon, we turned due south, and travelled over the fine plain of Rephaim. About three miles from the city, we came to a well, where tradition has fixed the scene of Matt. ii. 10. It is one of the few beautiful traditions associated with sacred places. The tradition is, that the wise men, who for some time had lost the guidance of the star which brought them from their country, sat down beside this well to refresh themselves, when one of their number saw the reflection of the star in the clear water of the well. He cried aloud to his companions, and “when they saw the * John x. 4. A traveller once asserted to a Syrian shepherd, that the sheep knew the dress of their master, not his voice. The shepherd, on the other hand, asserted it was the voice they knew. To settle the point, he and the traveller changed dresses, and went among the sheep The traveller, in the shepherd's dress, called on the sheep, and tried to lead them; but "they knew not his voice," and never moved. On the other hand, they ran at once at the call of their owner, though thus disguised. * See p. 89. Ps. cxxiii. 2. BETHLEHEM-RACHEL'S SEPULCHRE 175 star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." This well may perhaps be the fountain of Nephtoah.* We passed the Convent of Elijah; for the monks suppose that the prophet fled this way to Beersheba,† and under a neighbouring tree, they pretend to show the mark left by his body as he lay asleep on the rocky ground, though it is hard stone. From this point we obtained our first sight of Bethlehem, lying about three miles to the south upon a considerable eminence, and possessing at a distance a peculiarly attractive appearance. We meant to visit it in returning, and therefore at present contented ourselves with a distant view of the place where the memorable words were spoken by the Angel, "Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy; unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." About a mile and a half further to the south we came to a tomb, built like the whited sepulchres of the East, but believed to be Rachel's Sepulchre. The tomb is no doubt modern, erected probably by the Mahometans; but the spot may justly be regarded as the place where Rachel died and was buried, "And there was but a little way to come to Ephrath (i. e. Bethlehem Ephratah); and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour-and Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem; and Jacob set a pillar upon her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day." The Jews frequently visit it; and many (as Benjamin of Tudela says they used to do in his days) have left their names and places of abode in Hebrew inscribed upon the white plaster in the interior walls. To the west of the tomb, on the face of a hill, stands a large and pleasant-looking village called Bet-Jalah, inhabited, we are told, entirely by Christians. May this not be the ancient Zelzah, "by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin," where Saul was told that his father's asses had been found? In other passages of Scripture** the place is called Zelah, from which the modern name might easily be formed by prefixing the common syllable "Bet" (that is, "house"), and softening the sibilant letter. If so, then this is the spot where they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan-" in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father." ⚫ Josh. xv. 9. † 1 Kings xix. 4. Mic. v. 2 Gen. xxxv. 16, 19, 20. **Josh. xviii. 28. 2 Sam. xxi. 14. Luke ii. 10 Leaving Bethlehem about half a mile to the east, and proceeding still in a southerly direction, we came down in a short time to the valley, where lie the three large and singular reservoirs, called Solomon's Pools. They are situated at a short distance from one another, each on a different level, so that the water flows from the upper into the middle pool, and from the middle into the lower pool, from which it is conveyed by a stone aqueduct round the hills to Bethlehem, and from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. The walls of the pool are of solid masonry covered over with cement. Close by is a Saracenic fort with high walls and a battlement, perhaps originally intended to protect the pools. Under the shade of its walls we left our mules, and proceeded to measure the pools with a line as accurately as the ground would admit. The result was as follows: 1. The Upper or Western Pool. Length of north side, of south side, 389 feet 380 229 236 25 425 feet. 158 250 At all the corners there are flights of steps descending into them. The water is pure and delightful, and each of the pools was about half full. Of the great antiquity of these splendid reservoirs there can be no doubt, and there seems every probability that they are the work of Solomon. This pleasant valley being so near the spot where his father David fed his sheep, would be always interesting to the king; but the only reference to the pools in Scripture, appears to be in Ecclesiastes, where he describes the manner in which, forsaking the fountain of living waters,-"the God that appeared unto him twice," he sought every where for cisterns of earthly joy. "I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits. I made me pools of ROAD TO HEBRON-SIPHEER. 177 water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forta trees."* It is highly probable, that, besides other purposes, these cisterns were intended to water rich gardens in their vicinity; and in the lower parts of the valley, at present covered with ripe crops of waving grain, there would be a splendid situation for the gardens, and orchards, and nurseries of fruit-trees, which The Preacher describes. In Josephus and in the Talmud, this place is called Etham. The former says concerning it, "There was a certain place about fifty furlongs distant from Jerusalem (more than six miles) which is called Etham; very pleasant it is in fine gardens, and abounding in rivulets of water. Thither Solomon used to ride out in the morning." Beautiful insects, especially very large dragon-flies, with fine variegated wings, were fluttering round the water. We refreshed ourselves at a fountain close by, on the north-west corner of the upper pool, to which we descended by steps. This is said by tradition to be "the spring shut up, the fountain sealed," to which the church is compared in the Song. It was usual in former times to cover up the well's mouth for the sake of the precious living water. In the fields around the reapers were busy at barley-harvest. It was somewhere near this very spot that Naomi found them reaping as she returned from the captivity of Moab, "they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley-harvest," || and some of these fruitful fields may have been the field of Boaz, where Ruth gleaned after the reapers, in the same manner as the Syrian women were doing when we passed. After leaving the pools, the road conducted us for some time over very rocky hills. The rude mountain track was generally lined with fragrant shrubs and wild flowers, the pink, the cistus, of a fine lilac colour, the oleander, in great profusion and very tall. Among the trees the Balut or evergreen oak was by far the most frequent, and occasionally our well-known honeysuckle hung its flowers over some bush or shrub, reminding us of home. On many of these hills we could distinctly see that the brushwood had usurped the ancient terraces made for the vine. We came to a considerable valley, cultivated to some extent, at the extremity of which, where the ground begins to rise again, is a village called Sipheer. Can this be a remnant of the name of KirjathAntiq. viii. 7. 3. * Eccl. ii. 5, 6. Song iv. 12. + See also 2 Chron. xi. 6. 178 VALLEY OF HEBRON. Sepher, the city smitten by Othniel, when he gained Achsah, Caleb's daughter?* Perhaps this valley may be the field which she asked from her father; but we had no time to search for the upper and the nether springs that once watered it. Other travellers have found sepulchral caves there. Ruins occasionally met our eye, chiefly on eminences, the remains no doubt of the towns and villages of Judah. On our left one ruin was called 'Bet-hagar," that is, "house of stone," another "BetImmer," with an ancient pool still remaining. About an hour from Hebron, there is a large, and evidently much frequented fountain, named Ain-Derwa. Many camels were drinking out of the troughs, and our horses and mules were glad to join them. This is possibly “the well of Sirah," at which Abner was refreshing himself when Joab's messengers found him and treacherously brought him back to Hebron to be slain.† We had now spent nearly eight hours on the road, riding very leisurely. About two miles from the town we entered the Valley of Hebron, the way running through vineyards which make the approach very pleasant. Fig-trees and pomegranates in great abundance were every where intermixed with the vines, and the hills above were covered with verdant olive-trees. The vines were in great luxuriance, and the flowers just forming into the grape, so that the delightful fragrance diffused itself far and wide. "The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell." In many of the vineyards we saw the towers, built for protection and for other uses, and frequently referred to in Scripture. We encamped about four o'clock on a verdant plot of ground opposite the northern portion of Hebron, pitching our tents under some fine olive-trees. Beauty lingers around Hebron still. God blesses the spot where he used to meet with Abraham his friend. It lies in a fine fertile valley, enclosed by high hills on the east and west. The houses are disposed in four different quarters, which are separated from each other by a considerable space. The largest portion is to the S. E. around the Mosque, the houses running up the eastern slope. The ruins of ancient houses are still higher up. The fourfold division of the town gives it a singular appearance, while the cupolas on the houses, and the vigorous olive-trees that Josh. xv. 16. + Song ii. 13. † 2 Sam. iii. 26. Isa. v. 2. Matt. xxi. 33. |