NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page 7.—The staircase from the roof to the outer court.] See Bishop Pearce on Mark ii. 4. Matt. xxiv. 17. Shaw’s Travels, p. 210, 214. The bishop supposes the staircase to have gone immediately into the street, but Shaw says that he never observed an instance of this.
Page 11.—The termination of the Kedron.] The author means by this expression the point where the Kedron, after skirting Jerusalem on the east, turns off towards the Dead Sea. See what was said in the note on p. 244, vol. i. of the locality of Siloah, and its identity with Gihon. The valley of the Son of Hinnom, in which Tophet was a high place, (2 Kings xxiii. 10. Jer. vii. 31.) appears to have been on the southern side of Zion and without the city. If it had been, as some suppose, the same with the Tyropœon, which separated Acra from Zion, it would have been within the city, which is incredible, considering its pollution. What the author afterwards (p. 12) calls the valley of Siloah, appears to be the western end of the Tyropœon, at the eastern end of which was the fountain Siloah.
Page 14.—Sepulchres of the kings.] See in Maundrell, p. 76, the description of their still magnificent remains. “For what reason they go by this name is hard to resolve, since it is certain that none of the kings of Israel or Judah were buried here, unless it may be thought perhaps that Hezekiah was buried here, and that these were the sepulchres of the sons of David. 2 Chron. xxxii. 33.”
Page 15.—Golgotha.] This spot, called also Calvary, according to the common opinion of travellers, is included within the present city of Jerusalem. See the plan in Shaw’s Travels, p. 277.
Page 16.—Castle of Baris.] Baris בירה is an appelative, signifying a tower, (Joseph. Ant. x. 11.) used as a proper name of the castle which John Hyrcanus built, (Jos. Ant. xviii. 6.) as the royal residence. It was afterwards enlarged by Herod and called Antonia. (Jos. Ant. xv. 14.) In the text, “north-east corner of the temple” has been inadvertently substituted for north-west, which was its real position.
Page 19.—The crowing of the cock.] It has been asserted, on the authority of the Rabbins, (see Lightfoot on Matt. xxvi. 34.) that no cocks were kept in Jerusalem; but this appears to have been a later and groundless tradition, (Kuinoel. Matt. xxvi. 74.) to exalt the purity of the Holy City. For the same reason they said that no gardens were allowed within the walls, Lightfoot, Matt. xxvi. 36.
Page 19.—Confines of Judah and Benjamin.] See Reland, 840. It is sometimes spoken of in Scripture as included in the territory of Benjamin; Judges i. 21. Sometimes of Judah; Josh. xv. 63. The Rabbins say that the boundary line passed through the temple. Josephus (Ant. v. 1. 22.) reckons it to belong to Benjamin.
Page 20.—A beautiful plain.] “Jerusalem is surrounded by precipices on the south-east, east, and west, having only a small level towards the south, and a larger one to the north, which forms the summit of the mountain over which is the road to Jaffa.” Travels of Ali Bey, ii. 240.
Page 21.—Absalom’s pillar.] A monument, in part of the valley of Jehoshaphat, which passes by the name of the pillar of Absalom, is represented by Pococke, vol. ii. p. 22. It is cut out of the rock, and the front is adorned with Ionic columns. It is probably a sepulchre of much later origin.
Page 23.—Modes of threshing.] See Russell’s Aleppo, i. p. 76. Lowth on Isaiah, xxviii. 27, 28. Fragments to Calmet, No. xlviii.
Page 25.—Anathoth.] “Civitas sortis Benjamin, sacerdotibus separata, in tertio ab Ælia milliario: de qua Hieremias propheta.” Hieronymus in locis.
Page 28.—Elisama had neither kindred nor even acquaintance in Anathoth.] The author appears to have forgotten what he had said, vol. i. p. 16.
Page 28.—Emmaus.] This is not the Emmaus mentioned Luke xxiv. 13., but a town afterwards called Nicopolis. See Reland, 146. The Emmaus of the gospel history was a village, and nearer to Jerusalem. Rama, too, must not be confounded with the town of this name now called Ramla, about three leagues from Joppa, on the road to Jerusalem. Pococke, ii. 4. The ruins of Modin are said to be still visible on the top of a high mountain to the south of the road from Joppa to Jerusalem, (Richardson, ii. 26.) but I am not aware that any modern traveller has explored them.
Page 31.—Lydda.] It is still known by the name of Loudd. It lies about a league east-north-east of Rama, and in the same fertile plain. Poc. ii. 4.
Page 31.—Ono.] See Lightfoot’s Works, ii. 320. Reland, Cat. sub. voce. It was three miles from Lydda. 1 Chron. viii. 12. From a passage quoted by Lightfoot it appears to have abounded in figs. Sharon was a continuation of the great plain of Sephela mentioned before. The whole coast of Palestine, from Carmel to the limits of Egypt, is level. “Pro campestribus in Hebræo Saron ponitur. Omnis regio circa Lyddam, Joppen, et Jamniam apta est pascendis gregibus.” Hieronym. ad Jes. lxv. 1 Chron. xxvii. 29. Reland, 370.
Page 32.—The servants were treated as the chief persons.] The genius of the Mosaic law was considerate of the comfort of servants, who were to join in the festive meal made upon the unsacrificed portions of the free-will-offerings, Deut. xii. 18. and in the feast of Pentecost, Deut. xvi. 11. But I am not aware of any direct authority for representing it as a Jewish custom to make a feast for the servants, in which they were treated as the chief persons. Yet it is not probable that our Lord (Luke xii. 37.) would have represented the master as girding himself and waiting on the servants whom he wished to reward for their fidelity, if such a thing were wholly unknown. Bishop Pearce, in his note on this passage, explains it of the custom of the bridegroom’s waiting on the company as a servant, which he says was common not very long since in our own country. It would still remain to be explained how the servants came to be included in the company on which he waited. The Roman Saturnalia, however, may show that such an inversion of the customary relations of life was not altogether foreign to ancient manners.
Page 34.—Flight of locusts.] Blumenbach’s Nat. Hist. Art. Gryllus migratorius. The epitome of Livy, lib. lx. mentions a pestilence as breaking out in Africa, about this time, in consequence of the putrefaction of a vast swarm of locusts. According to other accounts nearly a million of persons perished. Oros. v. 11. Prid. Conn. An. 125. Of their devastations, see Shaw, 187. who illustrates almost every particular in the description of Joel, from his own experience. Hasselquist, 444. Bryant’s Plagues of Egypt, p. 133-152.
Page 36.—Joppa.] The author supposes this name to be derived from the Hebrew יפה beautiful. Under the name of Jaffa, this port is celebrated in the history of the middle ages, and in that of the late war. Josephus speaks of the badness of the anchorage, (Bell. Jud. iii. 8. 3.) and modern travellers confirm the account.
Page 37.—One of the towers of Jerusalem can be discerned.] Ιόππη—ἐν ὕψει ἱκανῶς, ὤστε ἀφορᾶσθάι φασιν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, την τῶν Ιουδάιων μητρόπολιν. Strabo, lib. xvi. 759. This circumstance is not confirmed by modern travellers. Pococke, ii. 3. “Joppa stood upon and under a hill, from whence, as Strabo relates, but impossible to be true, Jerusalem might be discerned; having an ill haven, defended on the south and west with eminent rocks, but open to the fury of the north.” Sandys, p. 118. Yet Josephus relates, (Bell. Jud. v. 4.) and in this he could hardly be mistaken, that the sea was visible from one of the towers of Jerusalem.
Page 39.—Grecian story of Andromeda.] “Est Joppe ante diluvium, ut ferunt condita: ubi Cephea regnasse eo signo accolæ adfirmant, quod titulum ejus, fratrisque Phinei veteres quædam aræ cum religione plurima retinent. Quinetiam rei celebratæ carminibus ac fabulis servatæque a Perseo Andromedæ clarum vestigium, belluæ marinæ ossa immania ostendunt.” Pomp. Mela, i. 11.
Page 40.—A Nazarite.] See Lightfoot on Luke i. 15. 1 Cor. xi. 14. Jennings’s Jew. Ant. i. 415. Mich. Mos. Law, § 143.
Page 41.—Maresa.] See Josephus, Ant. xiii. 10. 2. Its capture by Judas Maccabæus is mentioned, Ant. xii. 7. ad fin. It was at Maresa that Asa defeated the Ethiopians. 2 Chron. xiv. 10. Jerome and Eusebius place it at two miles from Eleutheropolis. Cellarius, iii. 13. p. 359.
Page 41.—Destruction of Samaria.] See Jos. Ant. xiii. 10. 3. Prid. Conn. An. 109. Antiochus Cyzicenus, who commanded the Egyptian auxiliaries, had fallen into an ambuscade, and lost many of his men. Callimander, whom he had left in command, was defeated and killed.
Page 43.—Gazera.] This place, called also Gezer, or Gadara, (to be distinguished from Gadara in the Peræa mentioned in the New Test.) is several times spoken of by Josephus in connection with Joppa. Ant. xiii. 9. Reland, 778, 801. Strabo mentions it in connection with Ascalon and Ashdod, xvi. p. 759. It was the western boundary of the portion of Ephraim. The root of the word (גדר) denoting an enclosed place, gave rise to several names of towns; among others the Phœnician Γάδειρα, Cadiz.
Page 44.—The five cities of the Philistines.] Gath, Ekron, Ascalon, Gaza, and Ashdod, (Azotus.) Jos. Ant. vi. 1.
Page 44.—Eleutheropolis.] Though scarcely mentioned in the times of the Old or New Testament, it became afterwards a place of considerable importance, and the episcopal see of Palestina prima. Epiphanius was born there. Reland, 749.
Page 45.—Institution of genealogists.] Michaelis supposes that the שטרים (called officers in our translation, Josh. xxiii. 1, 2.) mentioned Exod. v. 10. were the genealogists of the Israelites. Mos. Law, § 51. Of the division into families (משפחות), houses of the fathers (בתי אבות), and heads of the houses (ראשיבתאבות), see Numb. i. 2. Jos. vii. 14. 16. 17. Mich. § 46. Lowman, Heb. Gov. chap. v. Thus in the affair of Achan, first the tribe of Judah is taken, then the family of Zerah, then the house of Zabdi, and lastly the individual Achan. Josh. vii. 16. The political institutions of the Jews, the right to landed property, &c. all depended on birth; and the keeping of accurate genealogies was of the very first necessity. Josephus, c. Ap. i. 7. describes the means which were taken to preserve the registers and to repair any mutilations or imperfections which might have been occasioned by political disturbances.
Page 46.—Their number was seventy-one.] There were twelve princes and fifty-eight heads of families. Num. xxvi. The supreme ruler for the time being, under Jehovah, would naturally preside. Whether the princes and heads were elective is doubtful. See Lowman, p. 77. The assembly of Israel at Shechem by Joshua, (xxiv. 1, 2.) is an example of such a Diet as the text mentions.
Page 48.—Lachish.] Rehoboam is said (2 Chron. xi. 9.) to have built Lachish, but it is evident from the connection that this means fortified: for he is said to have built Hebron and other cities, which were in existence long before. So when Solomon is said to have built Tadmor or Palmyra, the meaning probably is not that he founded, but that he fortified and garrisoned it. Michaelis, Mos. Law, § 23.
Page 48.—The grove of terebinths.] In the valley of Elah. 1 Sam. xvii. 2, 3. Dr. Clarke, iv. 421. describes it as being three miles from Bethlehem, on the road to Jaffa.
Page 56.—Aduffes.] The Aduffe (a word which through the Spanish and the Arabic appears to be connected with the Hebrew תף) is formed of a circle of metal, over which a skin is stretched, and hung with bells at the circumference. Mich. Mos. Law, § 197, note. Russell’s Aleppo, i. 152. where it is called Diff.
Page 56.—Jewish army.] In the times of the Maccabees the Jews, who had frequently served in the armies of the Grecian kings, appear to have adopted the Grecian armour and discipline, as far as they could. But we have few details of their military system in Josephus or the Apocrypha. Their triumphs had been celebrated from early times with dance, song, and sacrifice, and continued to be so under the Maccabees, 1 Macc. xiii. 51. iv. 34. Jos. Ant. xii. 7. 5. Judith xv. xvi. and probably in this respect, mutatis mutandis, they imitated the heathens. So at least our author presumes.
Page 57.—Military engines.] The battering ram (כר) (Ezek. xxi. 22.) and other engines (xxvi. 9.) are said to have been used by the Babylonians, and the use of them might be learnt by the Jews. Uzziah is said (2 Chron. xxvi. 14.) to have constructed machines for throwing darts and stones. Calmet, Mil. des Héb. Diss. i. 237. Under the Maccabees they appear to have been in common use. 1 Macc. xiii. 43.
Page 59.—New moon.] Of the annunciation of the new moon and the fraud of the Samaritans, see Lightfoot, Works, i. 950. “The Bairam,” or feast which succeeds the fast of Ramadan, “is announced at Aleppo by the castle guns, as soon as a declaration on oath has been made of the appearance of the new moon. The person who bears this testimony commonly comes from one of the villages.” Russell, i. 189.
Page 60.—Sid or Ijar.] See the note, vol. i. p. 260, respecting the Jewish calendar.
Page 61.—Being cut off from the people.] It is probable that in all cases where this is denounced as the punishment for violations of the Levitical law, it was supposed that they were committed presumptuously; and the omission of purification from forgetfulness would not have entailed the punishment. Mich. Mos. Law, § 249. Comp. 2 Chron. xxx. 18. “Quidquid de pœnâ excisionis statuendum fuerit, certius nihil est quam eam nec a Talmudicis nec a Karæis inter humanas aut forenses pœnas censeri, sed pro divinitus tantum infligencâ accipi.” Selden de Synedr. p. 95. This is not probable.
Page 62.—Touching a grave.] According to the law respecting impurities contracted by this means, (Num. xix. 19.) there should have been a purification on the third day.
Page 64.—Share of the priests.] See Deut. xviii. 1-5. Lev. vii. 28-38. Num. xviii. 8-20.
Page 66.—Removal of the Nazarite’s vow.] Numb. vi. 13-21. comp. Acts xxi. 24. Reland, Ant. Heb. 287. Id. 328. of the sacrifices which might or might not be eaten. Of the court of the Nazarites, Lightfoot, Works, i. 1092. As these sacrifices were expensive, it appears to have been a usual act of pious benevolence, to “be at charges” for poorer Nazarites. So Josephus (Ant. xix. 6.) relates, that Agrippa, on his coming again to his government, caused many Nazarites to be shaved. If the Apostle Paul’s vow was really a Nazarite’s, which many doubt, it should seem as if it sometimes extended only to seven days, the term during which, according to the original law, he remained unclean by funereal defilement, while his vow was upon him.
Page 78.—Gazith.] According to Reland, Ant. Heb. p. 104, half of this hall was in the court of the priests, half in the Chel. (See vol. i. p. 253.) The reason for this division was, that the court of the priests was within the precincts of the sanctuary, in which no one was allowed to sit, except kings of the family of David. The Sanhedrim sat therefore in the part which was not in the court of the priests. See Maimon. de Æd. Templi, vii. 6. Lightfoot, Works, i. 2005. It is said to have been built by Simeon Ben Shetach, a little later than the time of John Hyrcanus.
Page 79.—The Sanhedrim.] When Moses found the burden of judging the people too great for him, (Numb. xi. 16.) he appointed seventy men, elders of the people, to assist him. In the succeeding times of the judges and kings, the traces of this institution disappear; but after the captivity a great council (Synedrium) was formed, on the model and consisting of the same number as this, uniting the political functions of the diet and the juridical duties of Moses’s judges. Lowman, Heb. Gov. ch. ix. Mich. Mos. Law, § 50. Seventy was a favourite number, Jos. B. J. ii. 20. 5.
Page 80.—Scrutiny of the priests.] Reland, Ant. Heb. 184. Maim. de Rat. ad. Templi. c. vi.
Page 82.—Clad in black.] Josephus (Bell. Jud. v. 5. 7.) says, those who were excluded from the priesthood for bodily defects, wore common garments.
Page 83.—Sacerdotal robes.] Lightfoot, Works, i. 2049. Of the position of the vestry, see Reland, 104. The girdle was hollow like a purse: this is what is meant by being like a serpent’s skin.
Page 85.—The unction was imputed to him.] “Sacerdotes gregarii semel modo in solitudine adspersi fuere, uti Judæi tradunt, sic ut vi unctionis illius vel adspersionis posteri eorum consecrati censerentur.” Reland, Ant. Heb. 148.
Page 90.—Behold thou delightest in the truth in secret things.] Such is the turn which the author gives to the words, which in our version are rendered, “Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” The whole connection is unfavourable to this interpretation, for David is evidently praying for moral purity. “Truth in the reins” is, probably, sincerity in virtue; and wisdom, in the book of Proverbs, is often used in the same sense. It may be observed here, once for all, that the author appears to put into the mouth of the old man of the temple, his own opinions respecting the typical nature of the ordinances and sacrifices of the law. Into this much controverted question the translator does not consider himself called upon to enter. Every reader will judge according to his own interpretations of the language of Scripture.
Page 99.—Carrying the shewbread into the sanctuary.] Reland, Ant. Heb. 225. who, however, represents only eight priests as engaged in this office. So Lightfoot, Works, i. 1082.
Page 100.—The nightly watch of the priests and Levites.] Maim, de Æd. Templi, c. viii. Fasc. Hist. et Phil. Sacr. vi. 69. Lightfoot, i. 941.
Page 101.—Casting lots.] Lightfoot, i. 942. Reland, 198.
Page 102.—Sloping ascent to the altar.] The altar of burnt-offering was not to be ascended by steps, (Exod. xx. 26.) but by an inclined plane. Of the men of the station (אנשי מעמד), see Reland, p. 186. Of the priests who resided constantly in Jerusalem. Lightfoot, i. 917.
Page 103.—The sun had risen.] It is commonly supposed that nine in the morning and three in the afternoon were the hours respectively of morning and evening sacrifice, as they were the two principal hours of public prayer. Lewis, Ant. i. 501. Josephus, however, represents the morning sacrifice as offered, πρωὶ, which, according to the common use of the word, (Larch. Herod, ii. 173.) must mean in the earliest of the morning, and this was the time of private morning prayer. Jos. Ant. v. 8.
Page 109.—The sacerdotal order is the most exalted in the world.] The priesthood was the Jewish aristocracy. Ὥσπερ δὴ παρ’ ἑκάστοις ἄλλη τίς ἐστι εὐγεναιας ὑποθεσις, οὕτως παρ’ ἡμῖν ἡ τῆς ἱερωσύνης μετουσία τεκμηρίον ἡστι γένους λαμπρότητος. Jos. Vit. i.
Page 111.—Only a sixth part.] “Quælibet sacerdotum curia dividebatur in familias septem, ex quibus unaquæque unum hebdomadæ diem obibat altaris munia.” Crenius, Fasc. Hist, et Phil. Sacr. vii. 795.
Page 116.—Jehovah our righteousness.] “Laudant qui in scriptis Rabbinorum Messiam Jovam nuncupari contendunt, Echa R. ad Thren. i. 16. fol. 59. 2. Quodnam est nomen regis Messiæ? R. Abba f. Cahana dixit, Jova est nomen ejus, sec. Jer. xxiii. 6. יהוה צדקנו (ubi tamen hoc nomine symbolico Israelitæ insigniuntur et Jer. xxxiii. 15. Hierosolymæ id ipsum nomen tribuitur) quod dixit R. Levi, Bonum est civitati si nomen habet quod rex et regi si nomen habet quod Deus ejus, sec. Ezech. xlviii. 35. Etiam Justi qui Dei favore perfruuntur, Dei nomine insigniuntur, Bava Bathra, fol. 75. 2. Tria sunt quæ nomine ipsius Dei veniunt, nimirum Justi, Jes. xliii. 7. Messias, Jer. xxiii. 6. Hierosolyma, Ezec. xlviii. 35. Quo autem sensu Messias in Rabbinorum scriptis nuncupetur Jehovah Zidkenu docet R. Albo in Sepher Ikkarim (v. Schoettgen. Hor. Heb. ii. 200.) Scriptura nomen Messiæ vocat Jehovah Zidkenu, quia mediator Dei est, per quem justitiam a Deo accipiemus. Kimchi: Israelitæ vocabunt Messiam hoc nomine Jehovah Zidkenu, quia temporibus ejus justitia Dei nobis firma et stabilis erit, quæ nunquam recedet.” Kuinoel ad Joh. i. 1.
Page 125.—Covert of the sabbath.] See Lightfoot, i. 2028. 2 Kings xvi. 18.
Page 125.—Distance of Jericho from Jerusalem.] Ἀπέχει δὲ Ἱεροσολύμων μὲν σταδιόυς ἑκατὸν πέντήκοντα, τοῦ δὲ Ιορδάνου ἐξήκοντα. Jos. Bell. Jud. iv. 8. The view from the Mount of Olives is described by most travellers in the Holy Land.
Page 128.—The Therapeutæ.] Philo, who is the only ancient author who speaks of the Therapeutæ, says, (de Vit. cont. Op. 892.) that there were many of them in all parts of Egypt; but that their favourite residence was a hill near the lake Mareotis. The Therapeutæ were, according to him, the contemplative Essenes. Op. 889. They were great allegorists; Ἐντυγχάνοντες τοῖς ιἑρωτάτοις γράμμασι, φιλοσοφοῦσι, την πάτριον φιλοσοφίαν ἀλληγοροῦντες. They were called Therapeutæ, ἄπο τοῦ θεραπεύειν τὸ Ὀν, p. 890. The account of the Essenes and the other Jewish sects, the Pharisees and Sadducees, may be seen in Philo, Op. 876. Joseph. Bell. Jud. ii. 8. Ant. xiii. 5. xviii. 1. or Prideaux, Conn. An. 107. who has translated great part of what Josephus says.
Page 132.—A dreary waste.] “After some hours travel you arrive at the mountainous desert into which our blessed Saviour was led, to be tempted by the devil. A most miserable, dry, barren place it is, consisting of high rocky mountains, so torn and disordered as if the earth had here suffered some great convulsion, in which its very bowels had been turned outward. On the left hand, looking down in a deep valley as we passed along, we saw some ruins of small cells and cottages, which they told us were formerly the habitations of hermits, retiring hither for penance and mortification. And certainly there could not be found in the whole earth a more comfortless and abandoned place for that purpose. From the top of these hills of desolation, however, we had a delightful prospect of the mountains of Arabia, the Dead Sea, and the plain of Jericho.” Maundrell, p. 80. The reader will observe with what propriety this region has been chosen for the scene of the parable of the good Samaritan. See Buckingham, 292.
Page 134.—Valour of the Essenes.] Philo (Op. 877.) represents them as holding war in the utmost abhorrence, and never fabricating any instrument which could be employed in it. Josephus praises (Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 10.) the constancy which they displayed in the Roman war, but it was in enduring torture. He speaks of them, however, as carrying swords for their defence against thieves; and Philo mentions that the Therapeutæ united for mutual protection, if their settlements were attacked. Op. 893.
Page 138.—Oasis of the Essenes.] It is placed in this neighbourhood on the authority of Pliny, who represents them as living near the Dead Sea, on the western side, but at such a distance as to avoid the effects of the pestilential effluvia. N. H. v. 17.
Page 138.—The books of doctrine and the names of the angels.] Συντηρήσειν ὁμοίως τάτε τῆς αἱρέσεως αὐτῶν βιβλία καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὀνόματα. Jos. Bell. Jud. ii. 17. Thus rendered by Prideaux, “to preserve with equal care the books containing the doctrine of their sect, and the names of the messengers by whose hands they were written and conveyed to them.”
Page 140.—Seated themselves at table.] This was the primitive custom of the Jews, (as of the heroic times of Greece, Athen. lib. i. p. 11.) See Gen. xxvii. 19. 1 Sam. xx. 5. 24, Amos ii. 8. is the first passage of Scripture in which the recumbent posture is mentioned.
Page 141.—No women were to be seen.] “Gens sola, et in toto orbe præter ceteras mira sine ullâ feminâ, omni venere abdicatâ, sine pecuniâ, socia palmarum. In diem ex æquo convenarum turbâ renascitur, large frequentantibus quos vita fessos ad mores eorum fortunæ fluctus agitat. Ita per seculorum millia, incredibile dictu gens æterna est in qua nemo nascitur.” Plin. N. H. v. 17.
Page 149.—The garden of God, the plain of Jericho.] See the description in Josephus, B. J. iv. 8. Huds. Ὡς οὐκ ἀν ἁμαρτεῖν τινα ἔιποντα, θεῖον εἶναι τὸ χωρίον, ἐν ᾧ δαψιλῆ τὰ σπανιώτατα καὶ καλλίστα γεννᾶται. Other particulars respecting the city and the region which surrounds it may be found in Reland, 829. Most modern travellers to the Holy Land also describe it. See Maundrell, p. 80. seq. Pococke, ii. 31. Epiphanius describes Jericho as having a circuit of twenty stadia. It is generally supposed that the village of Rihhah, about three miles from the Jordan, marks the site, as it evidently bears the name of Jericho. But Rihhah has no ruins, such as might have been expected on the site of so considerable a city. Hence it has been thought that the ancient Jericho stood nearer the mountains, at a place where many broken shafts and other traces of buildings are visible, and at the distance of six miles from the Jordan. Buckingham, 295.
Page 158.—Chiefly inhabited by priests.] This circumstance serves still further to illustrate the local propriety of the parable of the good Samaritan.
Page 161.—Bethabara.] Βηθαβαρὰ בית עברה denotes a place of passage. John i. 28. Engeddi was called, from its palms, Hazazon Thamar, 2 Chron. xx. 2. It was a large village. Pliny, who calls it the second town in Judæa after Jerusalem, (v. 17.) must have confounded it with Jericho. It was about three hundred stadia from Jerusalem.
Page 161.—Balsam shrubs.] Pliny N. H. xii. 25. ii. 672. Hard. “Omnibus odoribus præfertur balsamum, uni terrarum Judæa concessum, quondam in duobus tantum hortis utroque regio, altero jugerum xx non amplius, altero pauciorum. Opes Judæis ex vectigalibus opobalsami crevere, quod in his tantum regionibus gignitur. Est namque vallis quæ continuis montibus velut muro quodam ad instar castrorum clauditur. Spatium loci ducenta jugera nomine Hierichus dicitur. In ea sylva est et ubertate et amœnitate insignis; palmeto et opobalsamo distinguitur. Arbores opobalsami formam similem piceis arboribus habent, nisi quod sunt humiles magis et in vinearum morem excoluntur. Hæ certo anni tempore balsamum sudant” Justin, xxxvi. 4. The balsam tree appears to be a native of Arabia Felix, (see Bruce’s Travels, v. 19-24.) and, according to Josephus, the queen of Sheba brought it into Judæa, Λέγουσι δ’ ὅτι καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὀποβαλσάμου ῥιζαν, ἥν ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἡμῶν ἡ χώρα φέρει, δόυσης ταῦτης τῆς γυναικὸς ἔχομεν. Ant. viii. 6. Various ancient authors describe the shrub. See Dr. T. M. Harris’s Nat. Hist, of the Bible, published at Boston, N. A. Beneath the desolating sway to which Palestine is subject, the balsam has disappeared from the plain of Jericho. Pococke, 32. Volney, Voy. en Syrie, ii. 187. Arabia now supplies what is imported under the name of Balsam of Mecca. Hasselquist, 293.
What is now called the rose of Jericho is a species of thlaspi, according to Pococke. Mariti describes it as a small plant, having a number of stems which diverge from the earth; they are covered with few leaves but loaded with flowers, which appear red in the bud, but turn paler as they expand, and at length become white entirely. The flowers, he says, have a great resemblance to those of the elder, but have no smell. This can hardly be the plant of which Wisdom says, (Eccles. xxiv. 14.) “I was exalted like a palm-tree in Engaddi, and a rose plant in Jericho.”
Page 162.—The Dead Sea.] Of the ancient geographers, Strabo has given the fullest account of the Dead Sea, but strangely confounding it with the lake of Sirbonis, (xvi. p. 763. 4.) He particularly mentions the tradition of the country, that the cities had been destroyed by an earthquake and an eruption of sulphur and fire. It is not surprising that where there was so much to astonish, imagination should have exaggerated even the real wonders of the scene. What is mentioned in the text is agreeable to the observations of the latest travellers, except that it does not appear that those dark clouds of smoke rise from the surface, which the author has described, p. 133. What has given rise to the account has probably been the exhalations which often hang in a dense cloud over the stagnant waters. Volney, i. 182. 3. Irby and Mangles, p. 447. By far the most accurate account of the Dead Sea, is that which is given by the authors last referred to, in their unpublished Travels in Syria. Hitherto it had scarcely been explored by an European traveller on the southern side, and consequently its extent, in that direction, had been very much overrated. Including what they call its back-water, a shallow bay forming a prolongation of it on the south, (p. 454) it cannot exceed, they say, thirty miles at the utmost, though the ancients have assigned to it a length of from seventy-five to eighty. Nor is it possible that it should anciently have extended much further than it now does; because at the distance of about eight or ten miles to the south of the present limit of the backwater, a range of cliffs completely closes the valley of the Ghor, (p. 454.) This is therefore the utmost extent that the lake can have had in ancient times.
The saltness and bitterness of the water mentioned in the text does not arise from a mixture of naphtha and asphaltes, but from the large quantities of the muriates of magnesia, soda, and lime, which it contains, amounting to a fourth part of the weight, according to Dr. Marcet’s analysis. Phil. Trans. 1807, p. 296. Hence the great specific gravity of the water, which has been exaggerated as if the human body could not sink in it. Tac. Hist. v. 6.
Page 162.—Apples of Sodom.] Wisdom x. 7. (where, however, the land is only described as “bearing fruit that never comes to ripeness.”) Tac. Hist. v. 7. Jos. Bell. Jud. iv. 8. “Poma Sodomitica, are the fruits of the Solanum Melongena, Linnæi; these I found in plenty about Jericho, in the vales near Jordan, not far from the Dead Sea. It is true they are sometimes filled with a dust, yet this is not always the case, but only when the fruit is attacked by an insect (tenthredo) which turns all the inside into dust, leaving the skin only entire, and of a beautiful colour.” Hasselquist, p. 287.
Page 164.—Ceremonies of circumcision.] These are described from the practices of the modern Jews; see Buxtorf. cap. ii. p. 79.
Page 166.—Every guest found in the fore-court a splendid caftan.] Comp. Matt. xxii. 11. the parable of the wedding garment; it has been reasonably concluded that so severe a punishment would not have been inflicted on the man who was not in a wedding garment, if it had not been offered to all the guests.
Page 167.—Mashal.] This name the Hebrews gave to those sententious and figurative maxims of moral wisdom of which the Proverbs of Solomon are a specimen. See Lowth, Prel. 24. Samson’s wedding affords an example of such “wit-trials” as are here described, Judges xiv.
Page 176.—Reckoning of the days from the Passover.] See Maimonides, ap. Cren. Fasc. vi. 477.
Page 179.—The Galileans.] Josephus (Bell. Jud. iii. 3.) describes the extent and the fertility of Galilee. Lightfoot, Works, vol. ii. p. 78, has collected from the Rabbins several instances of the false pronunciation of the Galileans. Wetstein on Matt. xxvi. 73. The contempt in which they were held by the learned inhabitants of Jerusalem is sufficiently known from the New Testament.
Page 184.—Insult offered to Hyrcanus by the Pharisees.] This circumstance is related by Josephus, (Ant. xiii. 10.) The reason alleged by the Pharisees, if it were their real motive, was honourable to them. Οὐ γάρ ἐδοκει λοιδορίας ἕνεκα θανάτῳ ζημιοῦν· ἄλλως τε καὶ φύσει πρὸς, τὰς κολάσεις ἐπιεικῶς ἔχουσιν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι.
Page 186.—Azereth.] See Lightfoot, “of the Pentecost, עצרת,” Works, vol. ii. p. 970. Josephus, Ant. iii. 10. 6. This name is given to other festivals in Scripture, but never to this, except by the Rabbins. It is not said in Scripture that the law was given on this day, but it is inferred by calculation of the time. The Israelites came out of Egypt on the fifteenth of Nisan, and they reached the foot of Sinai on the new moon of the third month from their departure, (Exod. xix. 1.) adding the fifteen remaining days of Nisan to twenty-nine of Siv, the first day of Sivan would be the forty-fifth from their departure. Five days more elapsed, (Exod. xix. 3. 7, 8. 11.) before the law was actually given. Jennings’s Jew. Ant.
Page 195.—Rama.] This, which signifies high, was a name borne by so many places in Palestine, that it is difficult to discriminate them. Reland, p. 581, 964, supposes that the Arimathea of the New Testament was near Lydda. 1 Macc. i. 34.
Page 197.—Lebona.] Now Leban, on the road from Jerusalem to Naplosa. Maundrell, p. 63.
Page 199.—Sichem.] Of its position see Buckingham, p. 63. Reland makes Sichem or Sichar (John iv. 5.) to be ten miles from Shiloh, and forty from Jerusalem, p. 1007. The town of Neapolis, called by the inhabitants Mabortha, (Jos. Bell. iv. 8.) was built so nearly on the site of Sichem, that it is generally spoken of as the same. The name is retained in the modern Naplosa or Nablous. Dr. Clarke bears testimony to the romantic beauty of the situation, (iv. 268.) Maundrell, p. 62, supposes that the city may have anciently extended nearer to Joseph’s well, as a mile seems a great distance to come to draw water. Mr. Buckingham, however, says that there are traces of sepulchres between the well and the city, which must have been without the walls. Travels, p. 543.
Page 200.—Moreh.] Like Mamre, it was celebrated for its terebinths, (Deut. xi. 30.) and the two places have sometimes been confounded together.
Page 203.—The Samaritans.] A remnant of this people, escaping the persecutions of the emperor Justinian, (Gibbon, viii. 323.) has still continued to inhabit Sichem, and to celebrate their festivals on mount Gerizim. Basnage, vii. c. 25, 26. Had the despot effected his purpose of exterminating or converting them, Revelation would have been deprived of the evidence which their copy of the Pentateuch furnishes of the general integrity of the Mosaic writings. This invaluable document was first brought into Europe about 1640 A. D. About forty of them still remain at Naplosa. Jowett’s Christian Researches, p. 425. No ancient authority supports the Samaritan reading of Gerizim for Ebal, Deut. xxvii. 4. Josh. viii. 30. Had the Jews corrupted the reading out of hatred to the Samaritan worship, they would have made Gerizim the Mount of Cursing, Deut. xxvii. 12.
Page 204.—Well may Shechem be called Sychar.] שכר, Sicar, signifies in Hebrew to be intoxicated, and שקר to lye. Isaiah xxviii. 3. The Jews, even in their most serious compositions, delighted in this play on words. Isaiah x. 30.
Page 206.—Samaria.] Dr. Richardson’s Travels (ii. p. 414) contain the fullest account which any modern traveller has given of the present state of Samaria. There are still many magnificent remains of the buildings erected by Herod when he raised it from its ruins and named it in honour of Augustus, Sebaste. Jos. Ant. xv. 8. 5. The historian relates its destruction by Hyrcanus, Ant. xiii. 10. 4.
Page 206.—A tribe of wandering shepherds.] Compare the picture of the Bedouin Arabs in Volney (Voyage en Syrie, i. 235, 239, 40.) Clarke, vi. 248. and of the Turkmans, Russell, i. 388.
Page 211.—Route of the Tyrian commerce.] The remains of this paved road leading towards Tyre are still distinctly visible along the coast. See Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 197.
Page 211.—Megiddo.] Called Μαγδόλος by Herodotus, ii. 159. in his narrative of the victory of Pharaoh Necho.
Page 211.—Turris Stratonis.] It is uncertain from, whom this town received its name. Herod occupied ten years in restoring and beautifying it, and forming the harbour; and gave it, in honour of Augustus, the name of Cæsarea. Jos. Ant. xvi. 5. Bell. Jud. i. 21. It was called Καισάρεια Σεβαστή (Augusta) and ἐπι τῇ θαλασσῇ, to distinguish it from Cæsarea Philippi or Paneas, near Dan. It was to Cæsarea Augusta that Paul was sent when his life was threatened by the Jews. Acts xxiii. 23. From the account of Josephus it should seem as if it had had no harbour before Herod formed one; for he observes, that the whole coast from Dan to Joppa was without a harbour. Bell. Jud. i. 21.
Page 213.—The purple dye.] The manner of making it is fully described by Pliny, N. H. lib. ix. 60. seq. “Two shell-fish were employed to furnish it, the murex and the purpura; the former gave a dark blue colour; the latter a brighter tint, approaching to scarlet. The liquor is contained in a sort of pouch, which occupies the middle part of the shell; the shells are carefully broken, so as to preserve the part entire; they are sprinkled with salt, and the mucilage which they form is put into a leaden caldron and heated; the fleshy particles are gradually drawn off and the liquor left pure. The purple tint was given by the mixture of the two juices.” Swinburne’s Travels in Sicily, ii. 64, 65.
Page 213.—Acco.] It received the name of Ptolemais from one of the kings of Egypt. In the middle ages, when it became celebrated in the history of the crusades, it resumed its original name, slightly altered, and is now called Acre. It lies on the northern side of the promontory of Carmel. See Maundrell, p. 54.
The Τυρίων κλίμαξ, which, according to Josephus, (Bell. Jud. ii. 10.) was one hundred stadia north of Ptolemais, appears to have been the White Cliff in which the chain of Antilibanus terminates, and it probably derived its name from the road described by Egmont and Heyman, ii. 232. Maundrell erroneously places it to the north of Berytus, (p. 35.) It is so steep, says Mr. Buckingham, (p. 58) as “in some places to render steps necessary:” hence the name κλίμαξ.
Page 215.—Lebanon.] “Præcipuum montium Lebanum erigit, mirum dictu tantos inter ardores opacum fidumque nivibus.” Tac. Hist. v. 6. לבן signifies in Hebrew white. Libanus and Antilibanus are described by Strabo, xvi. 755. Reland, lib. i. c. 47. The part of the chain Antilibanus, which was called Hermon by the Israelites, was called Sirion by the Sidonians, and Shenir (the Sannir or Sannin of the Arabs) by the Amorites, Deut. iii. 9. They are sometimes distinguished from each other (Cant. iv. 8.) as different points of the same mountain chain. Some geographers have placed another Hermon in Galilee, near Tabor, (see Reland’s and Pococke’s maps) from Ps. lxxxix. 12. where, however, Tabor and Hermon seem to be conjoined, as having each witnessed a signal display of Jehovah’s power. Josh. xi. 17. Judges iv. See Lightfoot, ii. 369.
Page 215.—Dan.] Josephus (Ant. v. 3. viii. 8.) speaks of Dan as situated in the great plain of Sidon, and near Libanus and the source of the Lesser Jordan. Lightfoot and Reland suppose that the Lesser is the Jordan before it reaches the lake Samochonitis. This seems not probable.
Page 218.—Tyre.] In the description of Tyre, v. 6, the islands of Chittim are Greece, Macedonia, Italy, and its dependent islands, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, &c. Comp. Gen. x. 4. Dan. xi. 30. 1 Mace. i. 1. viii. 5. It is not wonderful that the Jews, knowing chiefly the southern parts of Greece, Italy, Gaul, and Spain, which are so deeply indented by the sea, should call them isles. Box, of extraordinary size, was produced in Corsica, Plin. N. H. lib. xvi. 28. The prophet here describes some extraordinary luxury in the equipment of a Tyrian vessel, not the ordinary construction of their ships. V. 7. Elisha is Hellas, Greece. Laconia was celebrated for its purple as well as many of the islands adjacent to the Peloponnesus: