At present, a late traveller states that the circumference of 5. During the time of Jesus Christ, Jerusalem was adorned with numerous edifices, both sacred and civil, some of which are mentioned or alluded to in the New Testament. But its chief glory was the temple, described in a subsequent part of this volume; which magnificent structure occupied the northern and lower top of Sion, as we learn from the Psalm1st (xlviii. 2.); Beautiful for situation, the joy (or delight) of the whole earth, is Mount Sion. On her north side is the city of the great king. Next to the temple in point of splendour, was the very superb palace of Herod, which is largely described by Josephus ; it afterwards became the residence of the Roman procurators, who for this purpose generally claimed the royal palaces in these provinces which were subject to kings. These dwellings of the Roman procurators in the provinces were called Prætoria: Herod's palace therefore was Pilate's prætorium (Matt. xxvii. 27. John xvui. 28.): and in some part of this edifice was the armoury or barracks of the Roman soldiers that garrisoned Jerusalem, whither Jesus was conducted and mocked by them. (Matt. xxvii. 27. Mark xv. 16.) In the front of this palace was the tribunal, where Pilate sat in a judicial capacity to hear and determine weighty causes; being a raised pavement of mosale work (sport), the evangelist informs us that in the Hebrew language it was on this account termed Gabbatha (John xix. 13.), i. e. an elevated place. In this tribunal the procurator Florus sat, A. D. 66; and, in order to punish the Jews for their seditious behaviour, issued orders for his soldiers to plunder the upper market-place in Jerusalem, and to put to death such Jews as they met with; which commands were executed with savage barbarity." by God to persons labouring under the most desperate dis eases.13 (2.) The Pool of Siloam (John ix. 7.) was two-fold, viz. Upper and Lower. The Upper Reservoir or Pool (Isa. vii. 3.), called the King's Pool in Neh. ii. 14., probably watered the king's gardens (Neh. iii. 15.), while the Lower Pool seems to have been designed for the use of the inhabitants. Both these reservoirs were supplied from the fountain of Siloam: but which of them is to be understood in John ix. 7. it is now impossible to determine.4 On a steep rock adjoining the north-west corner of the temple stood the Tower of Antonia, on the site of a citadel that had been erected by Antiochus Epiphanes in order to annoy the Jews; and which, after being destroyed by them, was rebuilt by the Maccabaan prince John Hyrcanus, B. c. 135. Herod the Great repaired it with great splendour, uniting in its interior all the conveniences of a magnificent palace, with ample accommodations for soldiers. This citadel (in which a koman legion was always quartered) overlooked the two outer courts of the temple, and communicated with its cloisters by means of secret passages, through which the military could descend and quell any tumult that might arise during the great festivals. This was the guard to which Pilate alluded, as already noticed. (Matt. xxvii. 65.) The tower of From the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans to the Antonia was thus named by Herod, in honour of his friend present time, that city has remained, for the most part, in a Mark Antony and this citadel is "the castle" into which state of ruin and desolation; "and has never been under the St. Paul was conducted (Acts xxi. 34, 35.), and of which government of the Jews themselves, but oppressed and mention is made in Acts xxii. 24. As the temple was a fort- broken down by a succession of foreign masters-the Roress that guarded the whole city of Jerusalem, so the towermans, the Saracens, the Franks, the Mamelukes, and last by of Antonia was a fortress that entirely commanded the temple. 6. During the reigns of David and Solomon, Jerusalem was the metropolis of the land of Israel; but after the defection of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, it was the capital of the kings of Judah, during whose government it underwent various revolutions. It was captured four times without being demolished, viz. by Shishak, sovereign of Egypt, (2 Chron. xii.), from whose ravages it never recovered its former splendour; by Antiochus Epiphanes, who treated the Jews with singular barbarity; by Pompey the Great, who rendered the Jews tributary to Rome; and by Herod, with the assistance of a Roman force under Sosius. It was first entirely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and again by the Emperor Titus, the repeated insurrections of the turbulent Jews having filled up the measure of their iniquities, and drawn down upon them the implacable vengeance of the Romans. Titus ineffectually endeavoured to save the temple: it was involved in the same ruin with the rest of the city, and, after it had been reduced to ashes, the foundations of that sacred edifice were ploughed up by the Roman soldiers. Thus literally was fulfilled the prediction of our Lord, that not one stone should be left upon another that should not be thrown down. (Matt. xxiv. 2.)is On his return to Rome, Titus was honoured with a triumph, and to commemorate his conquest of Judæa, a triumphal arch was erected, which is still in existence. Numerous medals of Judæa vanquished were struck in honour of the same event. 8 The Emperor Adrain erected a city on part of the former site of Jerusalem, which he called Elia Capitolina: it was afterwards greatly enlarged and beautified by Constantine the Great, who restored its ancient name. During that emperor's reign the Jews made various efforts to rebuild their temple; which, however, were always frustrated: nor did better success attend the attempt made, A. D. 363, by the apostate emperor Julian. An earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, compelled the workmen to abandon their design. Besides the preceding edifices, Josephus mentions a house or palace at the extremity of the upper city, which had been erected by the princes of the Asmonan family, from whom it was subsequently called the Asmonaan Palace. It appears to have been the residence of the princes of the Herodian family (after the Romans had reduced Judæa into a province of the empire), whenever they went up to Jerusalem. In this palace, Josephus mentions Berenice and Agrippa as residing, and it is not improbable that it was the residence of Herod the tetrarch of Galilee when he went to keep the solemn festivals at that city; and that it was here that our Saviour was exposed to the wanton mockery of the soldiers, who had accompanied Herod thither, either as a guard to his person, or from ostentation. (Luke xxiii. 7-11.)12 There were several pools at Jerusalem (cap), two of which are mentioned in the New Testament, viz. (1.) The Pool of Bethesda, which was situated near the sheep-gate or sheep-market (John v. 2.), not far from the temple. It had five porticoes, for the reception of the sick; and it was most probably called Bethesda, or the house of mercy, from the miraculous cures there mercifully vouchsafed Jolliffe's Letters from Palestine, p. 103. Antiq Jud. lib. xv. c. 9. § 3. De Bell. Jud. lib. i. c. 21. § 1. et lib. v. c. Ibid. Ant. Jud. lib. xii. c. 5. $4. Ibad lib. xv. c. 11.54. Ibid. lib. xiii. c. 6. § 6. 10 De Bell. Jud. lib. v. c. 5. § 8. "De Bed. Jud. lib. ii. c. 15. § 1. and c. 16. § 3. Schulzii Archæologia Biblica, pp. 27-30. the Turks, to whom it is still subject. It is not, therefore, only in the history of Josephus, and in other ancient writers, that we are to look for the accomplishment of our Lord's predictions: we see them verified at this moment before our eyes, in the desolate state of the once celebrated city and temple of Jerusalem, and in the present condition of the Jewish people, not collected together into any one country, into one political society, and under one form of government, but dispersed over every region of the globe, and every where treated with contumely and scorn."16 7. The modern city of Jerusalem contains within its walls several of the hills, on which the ancient city is supposed to have stood; but these are only perceptible by the ascent and descent of the streets. When seen from the Mount of Olives, on the other side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, it presents an inclined plane, descending from west to east. An embattled wall, fortified with towers and a Gothic castle, encompasses the city all round, excluding, however, part of Mount Sion, which it formerly enclosed. Notwithstanding its seemingly strong position, it is incapable of sustaining a severe assault, because, on account of the topography of the land, it has no means of preventing the approaches of an enemy; and, on the other hand, it is commanded, at the distance of a gunshot, by the Djebel Tor, or the Mount of Olives, from which 13 Parkhurst's Lexicon voce. Bp. Pearce (and after him, Dr. Boothroyd), Jahn, Rosenmüller, Kumöel, and other modern commentators, have supposed the pool of Bethesda to have been a medicinal bath. The reader will find a brief statement, and satisfactory refutation of this notion in Dr Bloomfield's Annotations on the New Testament, vol. ii. pp. 145-156. 14 Robinson's Gr. Lexicon to the New Test. voce 2λezu. 15 For a full view of the predictions of Jesus Christ concerning the de struction of Jerusalem and their literal fulfilment, see vol. i. Appendix, No. VI. chap. ii. sect. iii. 1 Bp. Porteus's Lectures on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, vol. ii. p. 215. 994 it is seen to the best advantage.! Imposing, however, as the | from 12 to 14.000. This is, indeed, a very slender aggregate, appearance of Jerusalem is, when viewed from that moun- compared with the flourishing population which the city once tain,—and exhibiting a compactness of structure like that supported; but the numerous sieges it has undergone, and alluded to by the Psalmist (cxxii. 3.) the illusion vanishes their consequent spoliations, have left no vestige of its origi on entering the town. Nostreets of palaces and walks of nal power. "Jerusalem, under the government of a Turkish state"-no high-raised arches of triumph-no fountains to aga, is still more unlike Jerusalem, as it existed in the reign cool the air, or porticoes-not a single vestige meets the of Solomon, than Athens during the administration of Peritraveller, to announce its former military greatness or com- cles, and Athens under the dominion of the chief of the black mercial opulence: but in the place of these, he finds himself eunuchs. We have it upon judgment's record, that before a encompassed by walls of rude masonry, the dull uniformity marching army, a land has been as the garden of Eden, behind of which is only broken by the occasional protrusion of a it a desolate wilderness. (Joel ii. 3.) The present appearance small grated window. All the streets are wretchedness, and of Judæa has embodied the awful warnings of the prophet in the houses of the Jews, more especially, are as dunghills. all their terrible reality." From the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed. (Lam. i. 6.) The finest section of the city is that inhabited by the 1. UNDER THE ROMANS, Palestine was dependent on the Armenians; in the other quarters, the streets are much nar-government of Syria; and about the commencement of the rower, being scarcely wide enough to admit three camels to stand abreast. In the western quarter and in the centre of Jerusalem, towards Calvary, the low and ill-built houses (which have flat terraces or domes on the top, but no chimneys or windows) stand very close together; but in the east-were Jerusalem and Sychar or Neapolis. ern part, along the brook Kedron, the eye perceives vacant spaces, and amongst the rest that which surrounds the mosque erected by the Khalif Omar, A. D. 637, on the site of the temple, and the nearly deserted spot where once stood the tower of Antonia and the second palace of Herod. The modern population of Jerusalem is variously estimated by different travellers. The late Professor Carlyle, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, computed it at about 15,000; and Capt. Light, who visited Jerusalem in 1814, estimated it at twelve thousand. Mr. Buckingham, who was there in 1816, from the best information he could procure, states, that the fixed residents (more than one half of whom are Mohammedans) are about eight thousand: but the continual arrival and departure of strangers make the total number of persons present in the city from ten to fifteen thousand generally, according to the season of the year. The proportions which the numbers of persons of different sects bear to each other in this estimate, he found it difficult to ascertain, The Mohammedans are unquestionably the most numerous. Next, in point of numbers, are the Greek Christians, who are chiefly composed of the clergy, and of devotees. The Armenians follow next in order as to numbers, but their body is thought to exceed that of the Greeks in influence and in wealth. Of Europeans there are only the few monks of the Convento della Terra Santa, and the Latin pilgrims who occasionally visit-them. The Copts, Abyssinians, Nestorians, &c. are scarcely perceptible in the crowd; and even the Jews are more remarkable from the striking peculiarity of their features and dress, than from their numbers as contrasted with other bodies. Mr. Jolliffe, who visited Jerusalem in 1817, states that the highest estimate makes the total number amount to twenty-five thousand. Dr. Richardson, who was at Jerusalem in 1818, computed the population at 20,000 persons; Dr. Scholz, in 1821, at 18,000; and the Rev. Mr. Fisk, an Anglo-American Missionary in Palestine, in 1823, at 20,000. The Rev. William Jowett, who was at Jerusalem in December, 1823, is of opinion that 15,000 are the utmost which the city would contain in ordinary circumstances, that is, exclusive of the pilgrims, who are crowded into the convents, and fill up many spaces in the convents which are vacant nine months in the year, thus augmenting the population by some few thousands; and he is disposed to estimate the resident population at 12,000. Upon the whole, it does not appear that the number of the ordinary inhabitants of Jerusalem can be rated higher than Travels of Ali Bey, in Morocco, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, &c. between 1803 and 1807, vol. ii. p. 245. In the travels of Ali Bey (vol. ii. pp. 214-227.) there is a minute description, illustrated with three large plates, of this mosque, or rather group of mosques, erected at different periods of Islamism, and exhibiting the prevailing taste of the varius ages when they were severally constructThis traveller states that they form a very harmonious whole: the edifice is collectively termed, in Arabic, Al Haram, or the Temple. a Missionary Register for 1824, p. 503. ed. IX. LATER DIVISIONS OF PALESTINE. fifth century, was divided into three parts; viz. (1.) Palæstina Prima comprised the ancient regions of Judæa and Samaria. It contained thirty-five episcopal cities, and its metropolis was Cæsarea-Palæstina. In this division (2.) Palæstina Secunda included the ancient districts of Galilee and Trachonitis. Scythopolis or Bethshan was its capital; and it contained twenty-one episcopal cities. (3.) Palestina Tertia, or Salutaris, comprised the ancient Peræa and Idumæa, strictly so called: its metropolis was Petra, and it contained eighteen episcopal cities. Most of these bishoprics were destroyed in the seventh century, when the Saracens or Arabs conquered Palestine or Syria. 2. IN THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES, after the Latins had conquered Jerusalem from the Saracens, they established a patriarch of their own communion in that city, and gave him three suffragan bishops, whose sees were at Bethlehem, Hebron, and Lydda. They also re-established the ancient capitals, viz. Cæsarea, with a suffragan bishop at Sebaste or Samaria; Scythopolis, and afterwards Nazareth, with a suffragan bishop at Tiberias; Petra, with a suffragan bishop at Mount Sinai; and for Bostra, the suffragan-episcopal sees were established at Ptolemais or Acre, Seyde or Sidon, and Beyroot or Berytus in the northern part of Phoenicia.® 3. MODERN DIVISIONS of Palestine under the Turkish government. At present, Palestine does not form a distinct country. The Turks include it in Sham or Syria, and have divided it into pachaliks or governments. "That of Acre or Akka extends from Djebail nearly to Jaffa; that of Gaza compre hends Jaffa and the adjacent plains; and, these two being now united, all the coast is under the jurisdiction of the pacha of Acre. Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablous, Tiberias, and. in fact, the greater part of Palestine, are included in the pachalik of Damascus, now held in conjunction with that of Aleppo, which renders the present pacha, in effect, the vice roy of Syria. Though both pachas continue to be dutiful subjects of the grand seignior in appearance, they are to be considered as tributaries rather than as subjects of the Porte; and it is supposed to be the religious supremacy of the sultan, as caliph and vicar of Mohammed, more than any appre hension of his power, which prevents them from declaring themselves independent." 4 Jolliffe's Letters from Palestine, written in 1917, Lond. 1820, Svo. p. 102 up, from a careful comparison of this intelligent writer's remarks, with the The sketch of the modern state of Jerusalem, above given, has been drawn observations of Professor Carlyle (Walpole's Memoirs, p. 187.); of M. Cha teaubriand, made in 1806 (Travels, vol. ii. pp. 53. 83, 84. 179, 180.), of Ab Bey, made in 1803-1807 (Travels, vol. ii. pp. 240-245.), of Capt. Light, made in 1814 (Travels in Egypt, &c. pp. 178-187.); and of Mr. Bucking ham, inade in 1816. (Travels in Palestine, pp. 260-262.) See also Dr. Rich ardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, &c. vol. ii. pp. 238-368; Jowett's Christian Researches in Syria, pp. 238. 290., and Mr. Carne's Letters from the East, p. 62. Relandi Palæstina, tom. i. pp. 204-214. Abregé de la Geographie Sacrée, p. 41. (Paris, 1827. 12mo.) Modern Traveller-Palestine, p. 6. In the Abregé de la Geographie Sacrée (pp. 42-44.) there is an account of the Turkish Divisions of Palestine, professing to be drawn from a Turkish treatise printed at Constant nople, and somewhat different from the divisions above noticed; whic? have been preferably adopted, because they exhibit the actual government of Palestine, as described by the most recent travellers. CLIMATE, SEASONS, AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. L. Climate.-II. Seasons.-1. Seed-time.-2. Winter.-3. The Cold Season, or Winter Solstice.-4. Harvest.-5. Summer. 6. The Hot Season.-Heavy Dews.-III. Rivers, Lakes, Wells, and Fountains.-Cisterns, and Pools of Solomon.-IV. Mountains.-V. Valleys.-VI. Caves.-VII. Plains.-VIII. Deserts.-Horrors and Dangers of travelling in the Great Desert of Arabia.1 I. THE surface of the Holy Land being diversified with mountains and plains, its CLIMATE varies in different places; though in general it is more settled than in our westerly countries. From Tripoli to Sidon, the country is much colder than the rest of the coast further to the north and to the south, and its seasons are less regular. The same remark applies to the mountainous parts of Judæa, where the vegetable productions are much later than on the sea-coast, or in the vicinity of Gaza. From its lofty situation, the air of Saphet in Galilee is so fresh and cool, that the heats are scarcely felt there during the summer; though in the neighbouring country, particularly at the foot of Mount Tabor and in the plain of Jericho, the heat is intense. Generally speaking, however, the atmosphere is mild; the summers are commonly dry, and extremely hot: intensely hot days, however, are frequently succeeded by intensely cold nights; and these sudden vicissitudes, which an Arab constitution alone can endure, together with their consequent effects on the human frame, verify the words of the patriarch Jacob to his father-in-law, that in the day the drought consumed him, and the frost by night. (Gen. xxxi. 40.)4 II. Six several SEASONS of the natural year are indicated in Gen. viii. 22. viz. seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter; and as agriculture constituted the principal employment of the Jews, we are informed by the rabbinical writers, that they adopted the same division of seasons, with reference to their rural work. These divisions also exist among the Arabs to this day. A brief statement of the Besides the researches of modern travellers and the other authorities, cited for particular facts, the following treatises have been consulted for the present section, viz. Relandi Palæstina, tom. i. pp. 234-379.; Jahn, et Ackerman, Archæologia Biblica, §§ 14-21.; Schulzii Archæologia Hebraica, pp. 9.; Pareau, Antiquitas Hebraica, pp. 57-64.; and Alber, Hermeneutica Serra, tom. 1 pp. 64-72. * Harmer's Observations, vol. i. pp. 2-4. London, 1808. Of the intensity of the heat in Palestine, during the summer, some idea may be formed, when it is known that the mercury of Dr. E. D. Clarke's thermometer, in a subterraneous recess perfectly shaded (the scale being paced so as not to touch the rock), remained at one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit Travels, vol. iv. p. 190. 8vo. edit. The same vicissitudes of temperature exist to this day at Smyrna (Emer son's Letters from the Egean, vol. i. p. 94.), also in the Desert of Arabia dapt Keppel's Narrative of a Journey from India to England, vol. i. p. 140. London, 1927. 8vo.), in the Desert between Damascus and the ruins of PalByra (Carne's Letters from the Fast, p. 585.), in Persia (Morier's Second karney, p. 97. London, 1818. 4to.), and in Egypt. (Capt. Light's Travels, Dr. Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, &c. vol. i. pp. 1,192 London, 1822. 8vo.) Harmer has collected several testimonies to sarne effect, from the earlier travellers in the East. Observations on Scripture, vol. i. pp. 61-65. London, 1808. Bava Metsia, fol. 106. cited by Dr. Lightfoot, in his Hebrew and Talmu dral Exercitations on John iv. 35. (Works, vol. ii. p. 543.) 'See Golius's Lexicon Arabicum, col. 934. natural phenomena occurring in these several seasons, will enable us to form a tolerably correct idea of the climate and weather of the Holy Land. 1. SEED-TIME, by the rabbins termed yr (zero), comprised the latter half of the Jewish month Tisri, the whole of Marchesvan, and the former half of Kisleu or Chisleu, that is, from the beginning of October to the beginning of December, During this season the weather is various, very often misty, cloudy, with mizzling or pouring rain. Towards the close of October or early in November, the former or early autumnal rains begin to fall; when they usually ploughed their land, and sowed their wheat and barley, and gathered the latter grapes. The rains last for three or four days; they do not fall without intermission, but in frequent showers. The air at this season is frequently warm, sometimes even hot; but is much refreshed by cold in the night, which is so intense as to freeze the very heavy dews that fall. Towards the close it becomes cooler, and at the end of it snow begins to fall upon the mountains. The channels of the rivulets are sometimes dry, and even the large rivers do not contain much water. In the latter part of November the leaves lose their foliage. Towards the end of that month the more delicate light their fires (Jer. xxxvi. 22.), which they continue, almost to the month of April; while others pass the whole winter without fire. 2. WINTER, by the rabbins termed (CHOREP), included the latter half of Chisleu, the whole of Tebeth, and the former part of Sebat, that is from the beginning of December to the beginning of February. In the commencement of this season, snows rarely fall, except on the mountains, but they seldom continue a whole day; the ice is thin, and melts as soon as the sun ascends above the horizon. As the season advances, the north wind and the cold, especially on the lofty mountains, which are now covered with snow, is intensely severe, and sometimes even fatal: the cold is frequently so piercing, that persons born in our climate can scarcely endure it. The roads become slippery, and travelling becomes both laborious and dangerous, especially in the steep mountainpaths (Jer. xiii. 16. xxiii. 12.); and on this account our Lord, when predicting the calamities that were to attend the siege at Jerusalem, told his disciples to pray that their flight might not be in the winter. (Matt. xxiv. 20.) The cold however varies in severity according to the local situation of the country. On high mountains (as we have just remarked) it is extreme; but in the plain of Jericho it is scarcely felt, the winter there resembling spring; yet, in the vicinity of Jerusalem, the vicissitudes of a winter in Palestine were experienced by the crusaders at the close of the twelfth cen tury, in all its horrors. Many persons of both sexes perished in consequence of want of food, the intenseness of the cold, and the heaviness of the rains, which kept them wet for four successive days. The ground was alternately deluged with rain, or encrusted with ice, or loaded with snow; the beasts of burthen were carried away by the sudden torrents, that descended (as they still do) from the mountains, and filled the rivers, or sank into the boggy ground. So vehement were the rains, storms of hail, and winds, as to tear up the stakes of the tents, and carry them to a distance. The extremity of the cold and wet killed the horses, and spoiled their provisions.1 The hail-stones which fall during the severity of the winter season are very large, and sometimes fatal to man and Deast. Such was the storm of hail that discomfited the Amorites (Josh. x. 10.); and such also the very grievous hail that destroyed the cattle of the Egyptians. (Exod. ix. 18. 23, 24.) A similar hail-storm fell upon the British fleet in Marmorice bay, in Asiatic Turkey, in the year 1801,2 which affords a fine comment on that expression of the psalmist, He casteth forth his ICE like morsels; who can stand before his cold? (Psal. cxlvii. 17.) The snow which falls in Judæa is by the same elegant inspired writer compared to wool (Psal.cxlvii.16.); and we are informed that in countries which are at no great distance from Palestine, the snow falls in flakes as large as walnuts: but not being very hard or very compact, it does no injury to the traveller whom it covers.3 But, however severe the cold weather sometimes is in these countries, there are intervals even in the depth of winter when the sun shines and there is no wind, and when it is perfectly warm-sometimes almost hot-in the open air. At such seasons the poorer classes in the East enjoy the conversation of their friends, sauntering about in the air, and sitting under the walls of their dwellings; while the houses of the more opulent inhabitants, having porches or gateways, with benches on each side, the master of the family receives visitors there, and despatches his business-few persons (not even the nearest relations) having further admission except on extraordinary occasions. These circumstances materially illustrate a difficult passage in the prophet Ezekiel (xxxiii. 30.)-Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people are still talking concerning thee, by the WALLS AND IN THE DOORS of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. It appears from Ezek. xxxiii. 21. that these things were transacted in the tenth month, corresponding with the close of our December or the commencement of January. The poorer people, therefore, sat under their walls for the benefit of the sun, while those in better circumstances sat in their porchways or gateways to enjoy its genial rays. It appears, therefore, that one part of the winter is, by the inhabitants of the East, distinguished from the rest by the severity of the cold, which may be denominated the depth of their winter. 3. The COLD SEASON or Winter Solstice, by the rabbins termed (KOR), comprises the latter half of Sebat, the whole of Adar, and the former half of Nisan, from the beginning of February to the beginning of April. At the commencement of this season, the ground is frequently covered with a thick hoar-frost, and the weather is cold; but it gradually becomes warm and even hot, particularly in the plain of Jericho. Thunder, lightning, and hail are frequent. Vegetable nature now revives; the almond tree blossoms, and the gardens assume a delightful appearance. Barley is ripe at Jericho, though but little wheat is in the ear. The latter rains sometimes begin to fall in the end of this season, swelling the rising crops, with which the valleys are covered. 1 Harmer's Observations, vol. i. pp. 36-12. 4. The HARVEST, by the rabbins denominated 3 (KETSIR), includes the latter half of Nisan, the whole of Jyar (or Zif), and the former half of Sivan, that is, from the beginning of April to the beginning of June. In the first fortnight of this season, the latter rains are frequent, but cease towards the end of April, when the sky is generally fair and serene. In the plain of Jericho the heat of the sun is excessive, though in other parts of Palestine the weather is most delightful; and on the sea-coast the heat is tempered by morning and evening breezes from the sea. As the harvest depends on the duration of the rainy season, the early or autumnal rains, and the latter or spring rains are absolutely necessary to the sup port of vegetation, and were consequently objects greatly desired by the Israelites and Jews. These rains, however, were always chilly (Ezra x. 9. and Sol. Song ii. 11.), and often preceded by whirlwinds (2 Kings iii. 16, 17.) that raised such quantities of sand as to darken the sky, or, in the words of the sacred historian, to make the heavens black with clouds and wind. (1 Kings xviii. 45.) In Egypt the barley harvest precedes the summer. This may explain Jer. viii. 20. where the harvest is put first in the description,The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.3 The rains descend in Palestine with great violence; and as whole villages in the East are constructed only with palm branches, mud, and tiles baked in the sun (perhaps corresponding to and explanatory of the untempered mortar noticed in Ezek. xiii. 11.), these rains not unfrequently dissolve the cement, such as it is, and the houses fall to the ground. To these effects our Lord probably alludes in Matt. vii. 25-27. Very small clouds are likewise the forerunners of violent storms and hurricanes in the east as well as in the west: they rise like a man's hand (1 Kings xviii. 44.), until the whole sky becomes black with rain, which descends in torrents, that rush down the steep hills, and sweep every thing before them. In our Lord's time, this phenomenon seems to have become a certain prognostic of wet weather. He said to the people, When ye see THE cloud (THN Nepy)19 rise out of the west, straightway ye say, 'There cometh a shower; AND so IT IS. (Luke xii. 51.) 5. The SUMMER, by the rabbins termed sp (KYITS), comprehends the latter half of Sivan, the whole of Thammuz, and the former half of Ab, that is, from the beginning of June to the beginning of August. The heat of the weather increases, and the nights are so warm that the inhabitants sleep on their house-tops in the open air. 6. The HOT SEASON, by the rabbins called on (CHUM), or the great heat, includes the latter half of Ab, the whole of Elul, and the former half of Tisri, that is, from the begin ning of August to the beginning of October. During the chief part of this season the heat is intense, though less so at Jerusalem than in the plain of Jericho: there is no cold, not even in the night, so that travellers pass whole nights in the open air without inconvenience. Lebanon is for the most part free from snow, except in the caverns and defiles where the sun cannot penetrate. During the hot season, it is not uncommon in the East Indies for persons to die suddenly, in consequence of the extreme heat of the solar rays (whence the necessity of being carried in a palanquin). This is now commonly termed a coup-de-soleil, or stroke of the sun. The son of the woman of Shunem appears to have died in consequence of a coup-de-soleil (2 Kings iv. 19, 20.); and to The following are a few among the many allusions in the Scripture to which they were desired. Deut. xi. 14. Job xxix. 23. Prov, xvi. 15. Jer. in. 3. v. 24. Hos. vi. 3. Joel ii. 23. Zech. x. 1. "From these bountiful showers of heaven, indeed, the fertility of every land springs; but how dreadful in this country would be such a three years' drought, as was inflicted upon Israel in the days of Ahab, may easily be conceived, when it is remembered that in summer the richest soil is burnt to dust; so that a traveller, riding through the plain of Esdraelon in July or August, would in Syria, p. 306. London, 1825. 8vo.) the importance of the early and latter rains, and the earnestness with Jowett's Christian Researches in the Mediterranean, &c. p. 144. London, 1822. 8vo. "On the 8th of February cominenced the most violent thunder and hail-imagine himself to be crossing a desert." (Jowett's Christian Researches storm ever remembered, and which continued two days and nights intermittingly. The bail, or rather the ice-stones, were as big as large walnuts. The camps were deluged with a torrent of them two feet deep, which, pouring from the mountains, swept every thing before it. The scene of confusion on shore, by the horses breaking loose, and the men being unable to face the storin, or remain still in the freezing deluge, surpasses description. It is not in the power of language to convey an adequate idea of such a tempest." Sir Robert Wilson's History of the British Expedition to Egypt, vol. 1. p. 9. 8vo. edit. Hail-storins are so violent in some parts of Persia, as frequently to destroy the cattle in the fields. Kinneir's Geographical Memoir, p. 158. Harmer's Observations, vol. i. p. 45, note. The same usage still obtains at Smyrna. Egean, vol. i. pp. 96, 97. Emerson's Letters from the In our authorized version, the preposition (Bak) is rendered against thee, which is erroneous, as the context shows that the Jews were talking of or concerning the prophet, and so it is properly rendered in Psal. Lxxxvii. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Harmer's Observations, vol. i. pp. 50-53. A similar phenomenon is noticed by Homer (Пiad, lib. iv. 275–28), and also takes place in Abyssinia. Mr. Bruce, speaking of the phenomena attending the inundation of the Nile, says,-Every morning, "about nine, a sinall cloud, not above four feet broad, appears in the east, whirling vio lently round, as if upon an axis; but, arrived near the zenith, it first abates its motion, then loses its form, and extends itself greatly, and seems to call up vapours from all opposite quarters. These clouds, having attained nearly the same height, rush against each other with great violence, and put me always in mind of Elijah foretelling rain on Mount Carmel." Travel, vol. v. p. 336. 8vo. 10 The article here is unquestionably demonstrative. See Bp. Mi 'dleton's Doctrine of the Greek Article, p. 327. (first edit.) 11 Egmont and Heyman (who travelled in Palestine in the beginnin, of the eighteenth century) found the air about Jericho extremely hot, nd say that it destroyed several persons the year before they were there. The army of King Baldwin IV. suffered considerably from this circ n this fatal effect of the solar heat the psalmist alludes (Psal. royal psalmist alludes. (Psal. xxxii. 4.) If, at this season, cxxi. 6.), as he also does to the effect of the lunar rays, which a single spark falls upon the grass, a conflagration immediate in Arabia (as well as in Egypt) are singularly injurious to ly ensues, especially if there should be any briers or thorns, the eyes of those who sleep in the open air. "The moon low shrubs or woods contiguous. (Psal. lxxxiii. 14. Isa. here really strikes and affects the sight when you sleep ex-ix. 18. x. 17, 18. Jer. xxi. 14. Compare also Exod. xxii. 6. posed to it much more than the sun: indeed, the sight of a person, who should sleep with his face exposed at night, would soon be utterly impaired or destroyed." and Joel i. 19, 20.) The face of the country becomes entirely changed; the fields, so lately clothed with the richest verdure and adorned with the loveliest flowers, are converted From the time of harvest, that is, from the middle of April into a brown and arid wilderness; the grass withereth, the to the middle of September, it neither rains nor thunders. flower fudeth (Isa. xl. 6, 7.); the fountains and rivulets are (Prov. xxvi. 1. 1 Sam. xii. 17.) During the latter part of dried up; and the soil becomes so hard as to exhibit large April, or about the middle of the harvest, the morning cloud fissures or clefts. These effects are accelerated if the east is seen early in the morning, which disappears as the sun wind blow for a few days; which, being usually dry and ascends above the horizon. (Hos. vi. 4. xiii. 3.) These light producing a blight, becomes fatal to the corn and vines (Job fleecy clouds are without water (pas arupu); and to them xv. 2. Gen. xli. 6. 23. Ezek. xvii. 10. xix. 12. Hos. xiii. 15. the apostle Jude (verse 12.) compares the false teachers, who Jonah iv. 8. Psal. ciii. 15, 16.); and is particularly daneven then began to contaminate the church of Christ. In gerous to navigators in the Mediterranean Sea. This is Deut. xxxii. 2. the doctrine of Jehovah is compared to the alluded to in Psla. xlviii. 7. and Ezek. xxvii. 26. The people rain, and clouds are the instruments by which rain is dis- of the East generally term every wind an east wind, that tilled upon the earth. In arid or parched countries, the very blows between the east and north and the east and south. appearance of a cloud is delightful, because it is a token of The Euroclydon, which caused the wreck of the vessel in refreshing showers; but when sudden winds arise, and dis- which Paul was sailing to Rome, was one of these tempesperse these clouds, the hope of the husbandman and shepherd tuous east winds, aros Tupomoc, that drove every thing before is cut off. The false teachers alluded to, are represented as it. (Acts xxvii. 14.) Such winds are common in the Mediclouds; they have the form and office of teachers of right-terranean to this day, where they are called Levanters, the eousness, and from such appearances pure doctrine may term Levant meaning that country which lies at the castern naturally be expected. But these are clouds without water; extremity of that sea." they distil no refreshing showers, because they contain none; and they are carried about by their passion, as those light and fleecy clouds in question are carried by the winds.2 From the Jewish month Sivan, through the entire months of Tammuz, Ab, and the former part of Elul, corresponding with our months of May, June, July, and August, not a single cloud is to be seen; but during the night, the earth is moistened by a copious dew, which in the sacred volume is frequently made a symbol of the divine goodness. (Compare Gen. xxvii. 28. and xlix. 25. where the blessing from above is equivalent with dew, Deut. xxxii. 2. xxxiii. 13. Job xxix. 19. Mic. v. 7.) In Arabia Petræa the dews are so heavy, as to wet to the skin those who are exposed to them: but as soon as the sun arises, and the atmosphere becomes a little Warmed, the mists are quickly dispersed, and the abundant moisture, which the dews had communicated to the sands, is entirely evaporated. What a forcible description is this of the transiently good impressions, felt by many, to which the prophet Hosea alludes! (vi. 4.) Other references to the refreshing nature of the dews of Palestine occur in Psal. exxxii. 3. and Hos. xiv. 5.3 These dews fall, as in other Countries, very fast as well as very suddenly, upon every blade of grass and every spot of earth whence an active and expeditious soldiery is in 2 Sam. xvii. 12. by a beautiful figure compared to dew. But, however copious the dews are, they nourish only the more robust or hardy plants; and as the season of heat advances, the grass withers, the flowers fade, every green herb is dried up by the roots and dies, caless watered by the rivulets or by the labour of man. To appearance of the fields, during an eastern summer, the stance near Tiberias. The heat at the time was so unusally great, that as this rajons, vol. i. p. 4. many died by that as by the sword. After the battle, in their return to Ler former encampment, a certain ecclesiastic, of some distinction in the church and in the army, not being able to bear the vehemence of the heat, was carried in a litter, but expired under Mount Tabor.-Hariner's ObserCarne's Letters from the East, p. 77. A nearly similar account is Een by Mr. R. R. Madden, who travelled in the East, between the years 144 and 1927. Travels in Turkey, &c. vol. ii. pp. 197, 193. The deadly ndence of the moon is equally felt in the East and West Indies. Thus, Bengal, meat hung up, if exposed to moonlight, will not take the salt, but he moonlight, will take salt, and keep good for some time. (Extract of a and spoils speedily: whereas the same kind of meat, if kept from letter from Incha, in the Christian Observer for 1808, p. 754.) And at Deterra the moon strikes (similarly to the sun) with a coup-de-lune; so that People walk out at night with umbrellas or paralunes. Such indeed are effects of the lunar rays upon fish, as to make it part from the bones. Fan mformation communicated by the Rev. Mr. Elliott, missionary at Demerara) Dr. A. Clarke, on Jude 12. Shaw's Travels, vol. ii. p. 325. The very heavy dews which fall in the Holy Land, are noticed by almost every one who has travelled in that counWe shall adduce the testimonies of two or three. Maundrell, travel Dear Mount Hermon, in the year 1697, says, "We were instructed by xperience, what the Psalmist means by the dew of Hermon (Psal. cxxxiii. 23 sur tents being as wet with it, as if it had rained all night." (Travels Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 77.) Dr. E. D. Clarke, when on his journey Aboukir to Rosetta, in 1801, says, "We had a tent allotted to us for sgt; it was double lined; yet so copious are the dews of Egypt" (the Gate of which country is similar to that of the Holy Land), "after sunthat the water ran copiously down the tent pole." (Travels, vol. iii. p. ) Mr. Carne says, "The dews had fallen heavily for some nights, the clothes that covered us were quite wet in the morning." Letters the Fast, p. 178. farmer's Observations, vol. i. p. 6. VOL. II. D III. In consequence of the paucity of showers in the East, water is an article of great importance to the inhabitants. Hence, in Lot's estimation, it was a principal recommendation of the plain of Jordan that it was well watered every where (Gen. xiii. 10.); and the same advantage continued in later ages to be enjoyed by the Israelites, whose country was intersected by numerous brooks and streams; whence it is not more emphatically than beautifully described as a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills. And the same preference is given to this day by the Eelauts (a Tartar tribe occupying a district in the northern part of the Persian empire), who carry their flocks to the highest parts of the mountains, where the blessings of pasturage and of good water are to be found in abundance. The knowledge of this circumstance will, perhaps, impart new force to the promises made to the Gentiles by the evangelical prophet. Their pastures shall be in all high places, they shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the sun or heat smite them; for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. (Isa. xlix. 9— 11.) See also Rev. vii. 16, 17. Although RIVERS are frequently mentioned in the Sacred Writings, yet, strictly speaking, the only river in the Holy Land is the Jordan, which is sometimes designated in the Scripture as the river without any addition; as also is the Nile (Gen. xli. 1. Exod. i. 22. ii. 5. iv. 9. vii. 18. and viii. 3. 9. 11.), and, occasionally, the Euphrates (as in Jer. ii. 18.); in these cases, the tenor of the discourse must determine which is the river actually intended by the sacred writers. The name of river is also given to inconsiderable streams and rivulets, as to the Kishon (Judges iv. 7. and v. 21.) and the Arnon. (Deut. iii. 16.) 1. The principal river which waters Palestine is the JORDAN or Yar-Dan, i. e. the river of Dan, so called because it takes its rise in the vicinity of the little city of Dan. Its true source is in two fountains at Paneas (a city better known by its subsequent name of Cæsarea Philippi), at the foot of Anti-Libanus; its apparent source flows from beneath a cave at the foot of a precipice, in the sides of which are several its course, it continues to be a small and insignificant niches with Greek inscriptions. During several hours of "The very affecting images of Scripture, which compare the shortliving existence of man to the decay of the vegetable creation, are scarcely understood in this country. The verdure is perpetual in England. It is difficult to discover a time when it can be said, 'the grass withereth.' But, let the traveller visit the beautiful plain of Smyrna, or any other part of the East, in the inonth of May, and revisit it towards the end of June, and he will perceive the force and beauty of these allusions. In May, an appearance of fresh verdure and of rich luxuriance every where nects the eye; the face of nature is adorned with a carpet of flowers and herbage, of the most elegant kind. But a month or six weeks subsequently, how changed is the entire scene! The beauty is gone; the grass is withered; the flower is faded; a brown and dusty desert has taken place of a delicious garden. It is doubtless to this rapid transformation of nature that the Scriptures compare the fate of man." Hartley's Researches in Greece, p. 237. 6 Shaw's Travels in Barbary, &c. vol. ii. pp. 127-133. Morier's Second Journey through Persia, p. 121. In a few instances, the sea is called a river, as in Hab iii. 8. where the Red Sea is intended. Capt. Irby's and Mangle's Travels in Egypt, &c. pp. 287-289. |