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BIBLE HISTORY. 
 GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBOl. 
 ARCHilOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 ■H^ 
 
 BY THI 
 
 Rev. WM. HENRY GREEN, D.D., LL.D. 
 9« 
 
BIBLE HISTORY 
 
 LESSOJr I. 
 FEOM THE CKEATION TO THE EXODUS. 
 
 Bible history divides itself into two principal parj^s, viz. : 
 the history of the Old Testament, embracing that which 
 precedes and is preparatory to the coming of Christ, and 
 the history of the New Testament, which records that com- 
 ing itself, and that which results from it and follows after it. 
 
 The history of the preparation for Christ's coming begins 
 with the expulsion of our first parents from Eden and the 
 promise then given (Gen. iii. 15) that the seed of the woman 
 shall bruise the head of the serpent. AVhat precedes is 
 preliminary, and was needed to explain the scene in which, 
 and the circumstances under which, this progressive victory 
 or this process of redemption and recovery was to be accom- 
 plished. The narrative of the creation of the world (Gen. i. 
 1-ii. 3) provides the scene ; man's being placed in paradise 
 (ii. 4-25) and his fall (ch. iii.) supply the circumstances. 
 The original promise advances to its accomplishment, first, 
 from Adam to Abraham under a general covenant embra- 
 cing all mankind (Gen. i.-xi.), and, secondly, from Abraham 
 to Christ under a special covenant temporarily restricted to 
 a single family or nation for the ultimate benefit of all the 
 families of the earth. Gen. xii. 1-3. The history before Abra- 
 ham is divided into the antediluvian period (Gen. i.-viii.), 
 before the destruction of the world by the Deluge ; and the 
 
 postdiluvian period, from that time onward to the call of 
 
 103 
 
104 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 Abraham. Gen. ix.-xi. The history after Abraham is 
 divided into the patriarchal or pre-mosaic period, preced- 
 ing the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, during which the 
 chosen seed expanded from a family to a nation (Gen. xii.-l.) , 
 and the history subsequent to the exodus or the history 
 of Israel as the people of God. The history of the chosen 
 people is again divisible into three principal periods, viz. : 
 First, from the exodus to the death of David, or from the 
 organization of Israel as the people of God to the complete 
 establishment of the kingdom. Second, from the death of 
 David to the Babylonish exile, which continues the history 
 of the kingdom until its downfall. Third, from the Baby- 
 lonish exile to the advent of Christ, during which Israel 
 was subject to foreign domination. 
 
 During the three periods from Adam to Moses, God's 
 revelation was given to man only in an oral form, and each 
 period was distinguished by a divine covenant peculiar to 
 itself and by a specific promise of its own of increasing defi- 
 niteness. To the antediluvian period belong God's cove- 
 nant with Adam and the promise respecting the seed of the 
 woman ; to the postdiluvian period belong God's covenant 
 with Noah and the promise to Shem ; to the patriarchal 
 period belong God's covenant with Abraham and its prom- 
 ises, which were successively renewed with Isaac and with 
 Jacob, and the signal promise to Judah. Gen. xlix. 8, fF. 
 
 During the three periods from Moses to Christ, God's 
 revelation was given not only in an oral, but also in a writ- 
 ten, form* At the beginning of the first period the five 
 books of Moses, commonly called the Pentateuch, were 
 written. The rest of the history of this period, from the 
 death of Moses to the death of David, is contained in what 
 might be called a second Pentateuch, or the five books of 
 Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2d Samuel. To the close of 
 the first and the beginning of the second period — that is to 
 say, to the reigns of David and Solomon — belongs the greater 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 105 
 
 part of what may be called the third Pentateuch, or the 
 five books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the 
 Song of Solomon. The book of Lamentations, though poet- 
 ical, belongs to a later time, and may be regarded as a sup- 
 plement or appendix to the prophecies of Jeremiah. The 
 remainder of the inspired history of the former dispensa- 
 tion, extending from the death of David to the end of the 
 Old Testament, is recorded in what may be called a fourth 
 Pentateuch, viz. : 1st and 2d Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah and 
 Esther; the two books of Chronicles, which cover the same 
 period as Samuel and Kings, being supernumerary and not 
 counted in the estimate here made. The further history, to 
 the time of Christ, is contained in uninspired though authen- 
 tic writings. Near the close of the second period after 
 Moses, and in the earlier portion of the third — that is to 
 say, as the kingdoms were approaching their downfall as 
 well as in and after the Babylonish exile — we find what 
 may be called a fifth Pentateuch, completing the inspired 
 writings of the Old Testament, viz. : the four books of the 
 major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, to- 
 gether with the collection of the minor prophets, which, 
 on account of the smallness of the individual books, may 
 be reckoned one, as was usual, in fact, in all the early cata- 
 logues or lists of books of Scripture. 
 
 The history of the New Testament may be divided into 
 two principal portions or periods, in which we find a like 
 repetition as before of the two successive methods of divine 
 revelation. Fii-st, the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, during 
 which the word of God was made known orally and by 
 his own manifestation of himself in the person of his only- 
 begotten Son. Secondly, the history of the apostles and 
 of the Church which they founded, from the time of our 
 Lord's ascension, when divine revelation was continued by 
 means of inspired writings. The New Testament completes 
 itself in what may be called two Pentateuchs; the first 
 
106 PBEPABINQ TO TEACH. 
 
 group covers the history and embraces the four Gospels and 
 the Acts of the Apostles; the second group includes the 
 didactic or prophetic writings of five apostles, viz. : Paul, 
 James, Peter, John and Jude. 
 
 From the Creation to the Flood. 
 
 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth 
 in six days. The work of the first day was light; of the 
 second, the firmament ; of the third, the dry land with its 
 products ; of the fourth, the sun, moon and stars ; of the 
 fifth, fishes and birds ; of the sixth, land animals and man, 
 who was created in the image of God. All was made very 
 good ; and on the seventh day God rested from his work 
 and instituted the Sabbath in commemoration of this fact. 
 
 Man was placed in the garden of Eden and forbidden to 
 eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil upon pain 
 of death. The woman, formed to be his helper, was deceived 
 by the serpent and ate of the forbidden fruit ; she gave also 
 unto her husband with her, and he did eat. They were in 
 consequence sentenced to return to the ground from which 
 they were taken, and were driven forth from the garden lest 
 they should eat of the tree of life and live for ever. And 
 a curse was pronounced upon the tempter which involved a 
 promise to the fallen race of man : " I will put enmity 
 between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and 
 her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his 
 heel." Gen. iii. 15. This predicted struggle began in the 
 family of Adam when Cain, his first-born, " who was of 
 that wicked one" (John iii. 12), slew his brother Abel, 
 because Abel's offering of the firstlings of his flock was 
 accepted and Cain's offering of the first fruits of the ground 
 was not. It came to its climax when Christ, the seed of the 
 woman, by way of eminence, conquered Satan by his death. 
 It shall be ended when Satan shall have been bruised under 
 the feet of all of Christ's people. Rom. xvi. 20. 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 107 
 
 Cain was driven forth from the presence of the Lord a 
 fugitive for his crime. Among his descendants we find 
 criminal excesses and worldly culture — the first city, repre- 
 sentative of secular power (Gen. iv. 17), the polygamy of 
 Lamech (ver. 19), and his bloodthirsty threats of vengeance 
 (vs. 23, 24), tents and cattle, musical instruments and work- 
 ing brass and iron. vs. 20-22. Seth, who was appointed 
 instead of Abel, was the head of a pious race. In the days 
 of his son Enos men began to call upon the name of the 
 Lord. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, walked with God, 
 and was not, for God took him. Lamech piously looked for 
 a blessing in his son Noah. v. 29. Noah, the tenth from 
 Adam, was a just man, perfect in his generations, and he 
 walked with God. vi. 9. 
 
 But the sons of God, or the pious race, intermarried with 
 the daughters of men, the ungodly descendants of Cain ; 
 and wickedness so increased that God at length, in the 600th 
 year of Noah, and according to the common computation 
 1656 years after the creation of man, destroyed the world 
 by a flood. Only Noah and his family were saved in an 
 ark which he had been directed to build, and into which he 
 took some of all kinds of beasts and fowl and creeping 
 things. The Avaters prevailed for five months, at the end 
 of which time the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. 
 At the end of one year and ten days the waters had disap- 
 peared and the ground was dried. 
 
 From the Flood to the Call of Abraham. 
 
 After this violent interruption the history again proceeds 
 with Noah, the second head of the human race, in whose 
 line a fresh experimept is instituted, with many points of 
 resemblance to the preceding. As there had been a cove- 
 nant with Adam, so there is one with Noah pledging that 
 all flesh should never again be destroyed by a flood, ix, 11. 
 The blessing is renewed, Be fruitful and multiply, and re 
 
108 PBEPABINQ TO TEACH. 
 
 plenish the earth, and dominion is again granted over the 
 creatures, ix. 12. Mention is made as before of the offer- 
 ing of sacrifice ; and that of Noah as he came out of the ark 
 is accepted, as Abel's had been. viii. 20. The prohibition 
 of murder plainly looks back to the crime of Cain. ix. 6. 
 Noah transgressed also (ix. 21), as Adam had done, and 
 his son Ham is guilty of an offence which severs him from 
 the promise and leads to a fresh limitation of it to the line 
 of Shem, whose God the Lord would be and in whose tents 
 he would dwell, ix. 26, 27. The progress of mankind in 
 this period, as in the preceding, was once more away from 
 God. As that had ended with the segregation of Noah 
 and his three sons, so this with the call of Abraham, one 
 of Terah's three sons and the tenth in descent from Shem, to 
 found a new race which might be guarded from surround- 
 ing contamination, and amongst whom the way might be 
 prepared for the advent of the great Redeemer. The rest 
 of mankind were not in this instance destroyed, as by the 
 flood, but temporarily passed by, with a view, however, to 
 their future reception into the kingdom of God. Hence 
 the origin of the various nations of the world is here re- 
 corded (ch. X.) as springing from the three sons of Noah, 
 Shem, Ham and Japheth, of whom the whole earth was 
 overspread, ix. 19. This was done with a double design : 
 first, that of gradually eliminating the divergent branches, 
 in order afterward to pursue uninterruptedly the line of 
 the promise (xi. 10-26) ; and, secondly, that of declaring 
 their affiliation with the chosen seed, to whom by no right 
 of their own, but by God's special favor, the covenant of his 
 grace was temporarily, and yet only temporarily, restricted. 
 Mention is also made of the rise of the great empires of 
 Babylon and Assyria (x. 10, 11), which, aspiring to univer- 
 sal dominion, were doomed to fall with all their successors 
 before that empire which alone shall ever be truly univer- 
 sal. Dan. ii. 44. The confusion of tongues at Babel in the 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 109 
 
 days of Peleg (x. 25), the fifth from Sheni (xi. 16), is a 
 part of the process of dispersion and separation which be- 
 longs to the temporary rejection of the Gentiles. The 
 removal of this restriction was symbolized at the beginning 
 of the new dispensation by the gift of tongues on the day 
 of Pentecost, when men from many lands were brought 
 together to hear the gospel and the variety of their lan- 
 guages offered no obstruction. 
 
 This period, according to the common computation, covers 
 292 years. 
 
 From the Call of Abraham to the Exodus. 
 
 Abram, afterward named Abraham (Gen. xvii. 5), chosen 
 to be the progenitor of the peculiar people of God, w^as 
 severed from the idolatry of his father's house (Josh. xxiv. 
 2) and his faith subjected to the severest tests. He was 
 bidden to leave his country and his kindred and go into a 
 land that God would show him (Gen. xii. 1), which he did 
 in the seventy-fifth year of his age, accompanied by Sarai, 
 afterward named Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son. 
 The promise was given him, and several times repeated, of 
 the possession of Canaan, of a numerous seed, and that all 
 nations should be blessed in him. But the land was then 
 occupied by Canaanites; and though Abraham sojourned 
 unmolested and erected altars at various points, as Shechem 
 (xii. 6, 7), Bethel (ver. 8) and Hebron (xiii. 18) ; and digged 
 wells, as at Beersheba (xxi. 30, 31) ; and chastised the in- 
 vaders w^ho had carried off Lot (xiv. 13) ; and received a 
 blessing, as well as the gift of bread and wine, from Melchiz- 
 edek, king of Salem and priest of the most high God, 
 whose sacred character he recognized by paying him tithes 
 of his booty (vs. 19, 20) ; and Lot, who had chosen the val- 
 ley of Jordan as his own (xiii. 10, 11), abandoned it after 
 the destruction of Sodom (xix. 30) ; yet he never owned a 
 foot of land (Acts vii. 5) except the burying-place which 
 
 10 
 
110 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 he purchased from the sons of Heth for himself and Sarah, 
 xxiii. 13, if. 
 
 Though he had the promise of posterity, he was long kept 
 waiting for its accomplishment. He was twice in danger 
 of losing his wife (xii. 11, ff. ; xx. 2, ff. ) ; the steward of 
 his house w^as looked upon as his future heir (xv. 2, 3) ; 
 Ishmael was born to him -of Hagar, but this was not the 
 promised seed (xvii. 18, 19) ; at length, after Isaac had 
 been born, in his one hundredth year (xxi. 5), he was directed 
 to offer him up in sacrifice (ch. xxii.), but at the critical 
 moment the Lord interfered, and substituted a ram for 
 Isaac, approved Abraham's faith and spared him further 
 trials. 
 
 Kebekah was obtained from the land of his kindred as a 
 Avife for Isaac. Her elder son, Esau, was excluded from the 
 line of the covenant and the promise restricted to Jacob, who 
 fled from his brother's displeasure to Padan-aram, where 
 he served Laban twenty years and married his daughters 
 Leah and Rachel, by whom he had twelve sons. After Ja- 
 cob's return to Canaan his favorite son Joseph was sold into 
 Egypt, and subsequently raised to be chief in authority, next 
 to Pharaoh. This prepared the way for the removal of 
 Jacob, also called Israel (xxxii. 28), with his family, sev- 
 enty in all (xlvi. 27), into Egypt, 215 years after Abra- 
 ham had entered Canaan. Here they were located in the 
 fertile district of Goshen, that they might be converted from 
 a nomadic life into one of settled habitation and developed 
 into a numerous people under the shelter of the most famous 
 empire then existing in the world, and in which the science 
 of government, the useful arts and all that pertains to re- 
 finement and civilization had been carried to the highest 
 measure of perfection then attained. 
 
 As the predicted time of their return out of Egypt drew 
 nigh (xv. 13-16) providential measures were taken to effect 
 it. The multiplication of Israel exciting jealous apprehen- 
 
BIBLE IT [STORY, 111 
 
 eions (Ex, i. 10), they were subjected to hard bondage and 
 an ordinance passed that tlieir male children should be put 
 to death as soon as born. In these straits a deliverer was 
 born in the person of IMoses, who was hid by his parents for 
 three months and then exposed on the brink of the river, 
 where he was taken charge of by Pharaoh's daughter, who 
 had him trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Acts 
 vii. 22. When forty years old, he was obliged to flee into 
 Midian, and there familiarized with the desert for forty years. 
 God then appeared to him in the burning bush, and sent hii», 
 with his brother Aaron, to demand of Pharaoh that he should 
 let the Lord's people go. Upon his refusal ten successive 
 plagues were sent — water changed to blood, frogs, lice, swarms 
 of flies, murrain, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, the slaying 
 of the first-born. The passover was instituted, and Israel 
 led forth 600,000 men, besides children and a mixed multi- 
 tude (Ex. xii. 37, 38), precisely 430 years after the entry 
 into Egypt, xii. 40, 41. Pharaoh pursued them with his 
 army, but a passage was miraculously opened for Israel 
 through the Red Sea, and their pursuers were drowned. 
 
 LESSOJf II. 
 
 FROM THE EXODUS TO THE DEATH OF DAVID. 
 
 The chosen seed were now suificiently multiplied ; they 
 were next to be organized as the people of God and estab- 
 lished in Canaan. This was accomplished in four succes- 
 sive steps : 1. By the covenant at Sinai and the legislation 
 of Moses they were constituted the people of God and 
 placed under his laws. 2. They were put in possession of 
 the promised land by Joshua. -3. They were made to feel 
 their lack of unity and of a vigorous government in the 
 time of the Judges. 4. Their civil organization was com- 
 
112 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 pleted and the conquest of the land perfected under Sam- 
 uel, Saul and David. 
 
 The people, brought safely through the Ked Sea and fed 
 on manna, were first led to Sinai, where the ten command- 
 ments were proclaimed by God himself amidst awful pomp 
 (Ex. XX.), and the covenant was formally ratified between 
 him and the people through their representatives, Moses, 
 Aaron and his sons and seventy elders of Israel, xxiv. 1-11. 
 Moses then went into the mount for forty days and nights to 
 receive the law of God. The people, impatient at his long 
 delay, made the golden calf and worshiped it, whereupon 
 the Lord would have destroyed them but for Moses' urgent 
 intercession, ch. xxxii. They remained at Sinai one year 
 (Num. X. 11, 12), during which the tabernacle was built, the 
 ritual was instituted and Aaron and his sons were ordained to 
 the priesthood. Kemoving thence, they were led by a pillar 
 of cloud and fire. Transgression was severely punished in 
 repeated instances, as the fire at Taberah (xi. 1), the plague 
 following the sending of the quails (xi. 33) and Miriam's 
 leprosy for contending with Moses, xii. 10. On their arri- 
 val at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Paran, they sent twelve 
 spies to view the land, at whose report the people refused to 
 proceed, threatening to stone Moses and to go back again 
 to Egypt. They were in consequence condemned to wan- 
 der forty years in the desert, till that entire generation had 
 perished, with the sole exception of Joshua and Caleb (xiv. 
 30), who had brought a good report of the land. 
 
 During this term of their banishment they were guilty 
 of gross trangression (Ezek. xx. 13) and open idolatry. 
 Amos V. 25, 26 ; Acts vii. 42, 43. Korah and a company 
 of 250 of the tribe of Levi rebelled against the exclusive 
 priesthood of Aaron, claiming an equal right to minister 
 at the altar, and were supported in their rebellion by Da- 
 than, Abiram and others of the tribe of Reuben ; but the 
 earth opened and swallowed up the latter, with all that ap- 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 113 
 
 pertained to them, while a fire blazed forth from the Lord 
 which burned up the former with their censers in their hands, 
 and a plague broke out among the people, destroying upward 
 of fourteen thousand Num. xvi. The divine choice of Aaron 
 was shown when twelve rods were laid up before the Lord, 
 one to represent each tribe, and Aaron's rod budded and 
 brought forth almonds, ch. xrvii. 
 
 In the first month of the fortieth year the whole congre- 
 gation were again gathered at Kadesh. xx. 1. Here Miriam 
 died, and Moses and Aaron, failing to honor God before the 
 rebellious people in bringing water out of the rock, were 
 prohibited from entering the promised land. ver. 12. The 
 king of Edom refusing to sufier Israel to pass through his 
 land, a circuit was made around it, requiring them to retrace 
 their steps from the southern border of Canaan to the shores 
 of the eastern arm of the Red Sea. vs. 14, ff'. 
 
 Aaron died at Mount Hor. xx. 28; xxxiii. 38. The 
 murmurs of the people, who were discouraged because of 
 the way, were punished by fiery serpents, and a brazen 
 serpent erected upon a pole that they who looked upon it 
 might be healed, xxi. 19. Sihon, king of the Amorites, and 
 Og, king of Bashan, were subdued (xxi. 21, ff".), and their 
 territory, which lay east of the Jordan, was assigned to Reu- 
 ben, Gad and half the tribe of Mauasseh (xxxii. 33) on 
 condition of their assisting their brethren in the conquest 
 of the remainder of the land, Balak, king of Moab, hired 
 Balaam the soothsayer to come from Pethor in Mesopota- 
 mia and curse Israel, but his curse was changed to a bless- 
 ing ; and though the Moabites and Midiauites through his 
 counsel enticed the people into idolatry and crime at Baal- 
 peor, it was severely avenged by a battle in which Balaam 
 and five kings of Midian were slain, xxxi. 8. Israel now 
 encamped in the plains of Moab. Here Moses rehearsed to 
 them the whole law in the last month of the fortieth year 
 (Deut. i. 13), including the promise (^Deut xviii. 18), "The 
 
 10* 
 
114 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the 
 midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me." Comp. Acts 
 iii. 22. He then gave a charge to Joshua as his successor 
 (xxxi. 23), delivered the book of the law to the Levites to 
 be kept in the side of the ark of the covenant (vs. 24, if.), 
 pronounced a blessing upon the several tribes (ch. xxxiii.), 
 and went up the mountain of Nebo to the top of Pisgah, 
 where the Lord showed him all the promised land, and he 
 died there, one hundred and twenty years old. 
 
 2. To Joshua was committed the task of conducting 
 Israel into Canaan, subduing the land, and apportioning it 
 among the several tribes. He first sent two spies t© view 
 Jericho, where they were protected by the harlot Rahab. 
 The people were then led through the Jordan on dry land, 
 and twelve stones taken from its bed were laid up at Gilgal, 
 their first encampment in Canaan, in commemoration of the 
 miracle. Here the covenant with God was renewed by 
 circumcision, which had been neglected in the wilderness 
 (Josh. V. 5), and by the celebration of the passover, the 
 manna, thenceforth ceasing, as no longer needed. The walls 
 of Jericho were miraculously thrown down, and the place 
 pronounced accursed ^ its silver and gold and vessels of 
 brass and iron were devoted unto the treasury of the Lord, 
 and all that were in the city were devoted to destruction, 
 except Rahab and those who were in her house. At Ai 
 the people were repulsed in consequence of Achan's tres- 
 pass in the accursed thing. He had coveted and taken 
 from the spoils of Jericho, but his crime was detected and 
 punished, whereupon Ai was again assaulted and taken. 
 An altar was then erected in Mount Ebal, and the blessings 
 and curses of the law formally pronounced in the presence 
 of all the people. The inhabitants of Gibeah, by a success- 
 ful stratagem, made peace with Joshua. A combination 
 formed of five kings in the southern portion of the country, 
 headed by the king of Jerusalem, was defeated, Joshua 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 115 
 
 bidding the sun stand still and prolong the day that he 
 might complete the victory. A similar combination in the 
 north was likewise utterly routed at the waters of Merom. 
 In about six years the conquest of the entire land was 
 effected. Josh. xi. 18 ; comp. xiv. 7-10. 
 
 The territory west of the Jordan was then divided by 
 lot among nine tribes and a half, and the two tribes and 
 a half which had a portion assigned them by Moses east 
 of the Jordan returned to their inheritance. Joshua died 
 one hundred and ten years old, and, according to Josephus, 
 twenty-five years after the crossing of the Jordan, having 
 first assembled the tribes at Shechem and solemnly bound 
 them to the service of the Lord. 
 
 3. The people were now organized under the laws given 
 them by Moses, and put in possession of the land conquered 
 by Joshua. But their civil organization had not yet attained 
 its complete and final form, and the conquest of the land 
 was not thoroughly perfected. Much was left to be done 
 by each of the tribes in its own domain, in the further sub- 
 jugation or extermination of their foes ; and this in their 
 divided state it was difficult, if not impossible, to accom- 
 plish, particularly as in their repeated relapses from God 
 they were deprived of his aid and given over to the power 
 of their enemies. In their times of distress, however, they 
 repented, and God raised up special leaders or judges for 
 their deliverance. 
 
 They were thus oppressed eight years by Chushan-rish- 
 athaim, king of Mesopotamia, and rescued by Othniel ; then 
 eighteen years by Eglon, king of Moab, who was slain, and 
 Israel delivered by Ehud ; again, twenty years by Jabin, 
 king of Hazor, the captain of whose host, Sisera, was de- 
 feated by Deborah and Barak, and slain by Jael, the wife 
 of Heber the Kenite ; again, seven years by Midian, whose 
 immense host was discomfited by Gideon with three hun- 
 dred men. Gideon's son, Abimelech, slew his brothers and 
 
116 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 had himself made king of Shechem, but was himself slain 
 in the disturbauces that arose at the end of his brief reign 
 of three years. The children of Israel east of the Jordan 
 were oppressed by the Ammonites eighteen years (Judg. 
 X. 8), but were delivered by Jephthah the Gileadite, who 
 vowed that if the Lord would give him the victory, whatso- 
 ever came forth from the doors of his house to meet him on 
 his return should surely be the Lord's, and he would offer 
 it up for a burnt-offering. As he came back victorious, his 
 daughter, who was his only child, met him with timbrels 
 and dances, and he did with her according to his vow. The 
 Philistines in the west oppressed Israel forty years. A cham- 
 pion was raised up from the tribe of Dan in the person of 
 Samson to begin the work of deliverance. His birth was 
 foretold by the angel of the Lord, who directed that he 
 should be a perpetual Nazarite, and that no razor should 
 ever come upon his head. Num. vi. 5. As long as he was 
 faithful to the sacred obligation thus enjoined God endowed 
 him with superhuman strength, which he employed in mo- 
 lesting or destroying the Philistines. He judged Israel 
 twenty years. Other judges whose names are mentioned, 
 but of whom little is known, are Tola (x. 1), Jair (x. 3), 
 Ibzan (xii. 10), Elon (xii. 11) and Abdon (xii. 13), mak- 
 ing, with Eli (1 Sam. iv. 18), the entire number of judges to 
 be twelve. 
 
 The terms of these twelve judges, together with the peri- 
 ods of oppression and rest mentioned in the book of Judges, 
 amount to 450 years, as stated Acts xiii. 20. But as the 
 entire interval from the exodus to the building of Solomon's 
 temple was but 480 years, all of these periods cannot have 
 been successive. Different judges may have ruled or dif- 
 ferent oppressors may have held sway in different parts of 
 the land at the same time. The opposite phases of this 
 period are pictured in the turbulent lawlessness of the Dan- 
 ite band (ch. xviii.) and of the men uf Gibeah (xix. 22), on 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 117 
 
 the one hand, and the charming piety and peaceful domes- 
 tic life of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, the ancestors of David, 
 on the other. 
 
 4. The times of the judges had been marked by three 
 great evils, viz., declension in religion, want of unity among 
 tiie tribes and weakness before their foes. There was press- 
 ing need of a religious reformation, a strong central gov- 
 ernment and victory over their enemies. To accomplish 
 these ends three remarkable men were raised up, Samuel, 
 Saul and David. Samuel, the son of Hannah and Elka- 
 nah, was the child of prayer (1 Sam. i. 27, 28), and was 
 consecrated from his childhood to minister before Eli, the 
 priest of the sanctuary, in Shiloh (ii. 11), where God early 
 revealed himself to him. ch. iii. The Philistines gained 
 a great victory over Israel, slew the degenerate sons of Eli, 
 Hophni and Phinehas, and captured the ark of God. But 
 their idol Dagon fell and was broken before it, and plagues 
 were sent upon their cities, so that at the end of seven 
 months they were forced to send it back to the land of 
 Israel, where it remained in obscurity at Kirjath-jearim 
 until the reign of David. Samuel now induced the people 
 to put away their strange gods ; and gathering them to Miz- 
 peh for penitent humiliation before the Lord and return to 
 his service, he there discomfited the Philistines, breaking 
 their power completely for a time. vii. 13. Samuel was not 
 only himself a distinguished prophet of the Lord, but the 
 founder of a company of prophets (x. 5 ; xix. 20) or com- 
 munity of inspired men, associated under his superintend- 
 ence to oppose the prevailing corruption ; and though occa- 
 sional messages had been sent by men of God before (1 Sam. 
 ii. 27 ; iii. 1), he may be said to have been the first of that 
 continuous line of prophets which, varying greatly in num- 
 bers from time to time, never entirely ceased until the close 
 of the Old Testament (Acts iii. 24), and in which we see 
 the preliminary fulfillment of the jiromise made through 
 
118 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 Moses. Deut. xviii. 15. As the special messenger of God 
 he also assumed the right both to supersede the degenerate 
 priesthood for the time, offering sacrifices himself, though 
 not one of the family of Aaron, and to exercise the highest 
 civil authority by acting as judge. 
 
 His sons not walking in his ways, the elders of Israel so- 
 licited the appointment of a king. 1 Sam. viii. 5. Samuel 
 rightly saw in this request that they might be " like all the 
 nations" a want of confidence in the Lord who was their 
 King. X. 19 ; xii. 12. Although it was the divine intention 
 that Israel should have a kingly government, and express 
 provision had been made for it in the law of Moses (Deut. 
 xvii. 14), nevertheless, in the form in wliich the request was 
 made and in the disposition of those making it, it was a 
 virtual rejection of the Lord from reigning over them. 
 1 Sam. viii. 7. The Lord accedes to their request, but suffers 
 them in the first instance to experience in Saul what it is to 
 have a king without him, before he bestows upon them in 
 David a king after his own heart. Saul was first anointed 
 privately by Samuel (x. 1) and then chosen by lot at Miz- 
 peh. X. 21. His assumption of royalty was signalized by 
 a victory over the Ammonites, which at once gained him 
 the hearts of the people. In his second year Saul renewed 
 the war against the Philistines, who assembled an immense 
 host. The men of Israel were scattering from Saul, some 
 hiding, some fleeing, and the few that followed him were trem- 
 bling. As Samuel failed to reach Gilgal at the appointed 
 time, Saul offered the sacrifice himself, and for his presump- 
 tion in so doing was rebuked by Samuel and threatened 
 with the forfeiture of his kingdom. Saul's men were now 
 reduced to six hundred. His son, Jonathan, and his armor- 
 bearer, adventuring upon the garrison of the Philistines 
 alone, created a panic, which finally grew into an utter rout. 
 Saul was likewise victorious over Moab, Ammon, Edom and 
 other foes, and was sent against the Araalekites with the 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 119 
 
 charge that he should utterly destroy them. But he spared 
 their king and the chief of the spoil, for which fresh act 
 of disobedience Samuel plainly told him that the kingdom 
 should be rent from him and given to another. 
 
 Samuel accordingly anointed David, the youngest son of 
 Jesse the Bethlehem ite, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon 
 David and departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the 
 Lord troubled him. David, being a skillful player on the 
 harp, was sent for to relieve his gloom, but his slaying Goliath 
 and the popular rejoicing over that event awakened Saul's 
 jealousy, so that he sought his life. He threw his javelin 
 at him to kill him ; he gave him a position in the army, hop- 
 ing that he might fall in battle, but this only gave David an 
 opportunity to distinguish himself still more. Saul married 
 his daughter to him that he might more easily ensnare him ; 
 he sent assassins to his house to kill him ; he massacred the 
 priests because one of their number had furnished him sup- 
 plies ; he pursued him with an armed force into the wilder- 
 ness and mountain fastnesses, where David was repeatedly in 
 imminent danger of being captured, but escaped by provi- 
 dential interposition. Twice he had Saul in his power and 
 magnanimously spared his life, but the softening effect upon 
 the king was only temporary. At length David was obliged 
 to flee to the Philistines and put himself under the protection 
 of Achish, king of Gath, where he was when Saul perished 
 with his three sons in the disastrous battle with the Philis- 
 tines at Mount Gilboa. 
 
 David was now made king over Judah in Hebron, where 
 he reigned seven years and six months. The remaining 
 tribes attached themselves to Ishbosbeth, the son of Saul, 
 who was king in Mahanaim, and reigned there two years. 
 After his murder all the tribes submitted to David, who 
 captured Jerusalem fioni the Jebusites and established hia 
 capital there, and had tlie ark of the Lord brought thither 
 from Kirjath-jearim with great pomp. It was his purpose 
 
120 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 to have built a temple, but this was reserved for his son, 
 Solomon. He, however, gathered abundant materials and 
 resources for the work in his numerous wars, in which he 
 was everywhere successful against foreign foes. He also 
 prepared its plan (1 Chron. xxviii. 11, 12) and designated its 
 site (1 Chron. xxii. 1), which he purchased from Araunah the 
 Jebusite, and where he offered an accepted sacrifice in time 
 of pestilence. His care for the sanctuary was further 
 shown by his division of the priests into regular courses 
 (1 Chron. xxiv. 3, flf.), by his arrangements for musical per- 
 formance (1 Chron. xxv.), and by his composition of those 
 Psalms which earned him the name of the " sweet Psalmist 
 of Israel." 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. 
 
 The great stain upon David's life is the affair of Bath- 
 sheba, whom he took for his own wife, having procured the 
 death of her husband, Uriah, in battle. 2 Sam. xi. 14, 15. 
 From this time he was visited by the most serious domestic 
 calamities — the death of his infant child (xii. 16, ff.), the 
 disgrace of his daughter Tamar (xiii. 19), the murder of his 
 son Amnon by Absalom (xiii. 28, 29), and the rebellion of 
 Absalom (xv. 10), during which he was forced to flee from 
 Jerusalem and seek refuge beyond Jordan. In the battle 
 that ensued Absalom was slain ; but a quarrel arising be- 
 tween Judah and the other tribes respecting the restoration 
 of the king to his capital, a fresh revolt followed under 
 Sheba, son of Bichri, which was speedily quelled and Sheba 
 slain. In his later years his son Adonijah sought to seize 
 upon the kingdom (1 Kings i. 5, ff.), but by David's direc- 
 tion Solomon Was anointed king and established upon his 
 throne. 
 
 David died in the fortieth year of his reign (1 Kings 
 ii. 11), leaving the kingdom at the summit of its prosperity 
 and power. 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 121 
 
 LESSOM III. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF DAVID TO THE BIETH OF 
 CHEIST. 
 
 The reign of Solomon was one of peaceful splendor, and 
 contrasts strongly with the numerous wars of his father. 
 It presents a type of the kingdom of Christ in its extensive 
 sway and prosperous abundance (Ps. Ixxii.), as the reign of 
 David does of its victories and of its triumphing over all 
 opposition. Ps. ii. When offered by the Lord his choice 
 of blessings, at the beginning of his reign, Solomon chose 
 an understanding heart ; and the Lord gave him the wis- 
 dom for which he asked, and added to it riches and honor. 
 His most noted enterprise was the building of the temple, 
 which was begun in his fourth year, and finished in seven 
 years. At its dedication, which was celebrated with much 
 pomp, the cloud of the divine glory filled the house so that 
 the priests could not stand to minister because of it. He 
 also built a palace for himself, which he was thirteen years 
 in erecting, and numerous other structures, upon a scale of 
 lavish magnificence. 1 Kings vii. 2, ff. ; ix. 17, ff. This vast 
 expenditure was provided for in part by the treasures accu- 
 mulated by his father and by his lucrative foreign trade (ix. 
 26 ; X. 21-27), but it likewise imposed oppressive burdens 
 upon the people. He also contracted numerous marriages 
 with foreign princesses (xi. 1), who led him into idolatry 
 in his later years. 
 
 After a reign of forty years, Solomon was succeeded by 
 his son Pehoboam, whose insane refusal to lighten the exac- 
 tions imposed by his father led to the permanent division of 
 the kingdom. Ten tribes rebelled against the house of 
 David and chose Jeroboam king, so that from this time for- 
 ward there were the two rival, and commonly hostile, king- 
 doms of Israel and Judah. 
 
 The kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, continued 
 H 
 
122 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 two hundred and fifty-four years from the schism of Jero- 
 boam, B. C. 975, to its overthrow by Shalmaneser, king of 
 Assyria, B. C. 721. Twenty persons in all sat upon the 
 throne, or were aspirants to it. 
 
 1. Jeroboam I., the son of Nebat, who reigned twenty- 
 tv/o years ; 2. his son, Nadab, two years ; 3. conspired 
 against by Baasha, twenty-four years ; 4. his son, Elah, 
 two years; 5. conspired against by Zimri, seven days; 
 rival aspirants, 6. Tibni, who was defeated, and 7. Orari, 
 the choice of the army, who was successful, twelve years ; 
 8. his son, Ahab, twenty-two years ; 9. his sons, Ahaziah, 
 two years, and 10. Jehoram, twelve years; 11. Jehu, 
 anointed by divine command, twenty years ; 12. his son, 
 Jehoahaz, seventeen years; 13. his son, Joash, sixteen years; 
 14. his son, Jeroboam II., forty-one years; 15. his son, 
 Zachariah, six months ; 16. conspired against by Shallura, 
 one month; 17. conspired against by Menahem, ten years; 
 18. his son, Pekahiah, two years; 19. conspired against by 
 Pekah, twenty years; 20. conspired against by Hoshea, 
 nine years. There seems also to have been an interregnum 
 or period of anarchy after Jeroboam II., and another after 
 Pekah. Eight kings reached the throne by successful con- 
 spiracy and slaying their predecessors. The crown was in 
 but two instances transmitted from father to son beyond a 
 single generation, viz., by Omri to the second generation, 
 and by Jehu to the fourth, as had been particularly pre- 
 dicted. 2 Kings X. 30. All these kings were wicked, follow- 
 ing as they did in the track of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, 
 who made Israel to sin by establishing the worship of the 
 golden calves at Bethel and at Dan to prevent the people 
 from going up to Jerusalem to worship and so coming again 
 under the dominion of the house of David. This was not 
 an open renunciation of the worship of Jehovah, but the 
 calves were set up professedly as symbols of the God who 
 had brought them out of the land of Egypt. 1 Kings xii. 28. 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 123 
 
 The allusions in the prophets show that the annual feasts, 
 new moons, Sabbaths, legal sacrifices and other Mosaic reg- 
 ulations (Hos. ii. 11) remained in full force; only the time 
 of the feast of tabernacles was changed from the seventh 
 to the eighth month, and priests were ordained, not from the 
 tribe of Levi, but from the lowest of the people, vs. 31, 82. 
 
 The worst of all the kings was Ahab, the son of Oniri, 
 the builder of Samaria, who with his wife Jezebel, the 
 daughter of the king of the Zidonians, introduced the 
 open and avowed worship of heathen divinities, Baal and 
 Ashtaroth, put to death the prophets of the Lord and per- 
 petrated other deeds of violence and oppression, as the 
 murder of Naboth in order that they might seize upon his 
 vineyard, though even in this time of the grossest apos- 
 tasy there was a pious Obadiah in the very palace (1 Kings 
 xviii. 3), and there were seven thousand who had not bowed 
 the knee unto Baal. xix. 18. Elijah was sent repeatedly 
 to confront Ahab, and by the predicted drought, and the 
 miracle at Carmel of fire from heaven consuming the sac- 
 rifice, began a reaction. Ahab was slain in battle at 
 Ramoth-gilead. His son Jehoram (2 Kings iii. 2) removed 
 the image of Baal ; and Baal-worship was entirely extir- 
 pated by Jehu (x. 18, ff.), though the worship of the calves 
 remained. Elisha succeeded Elijah after his translation with 
 a like ministry of power. Communities of sons or pupils 
 of the prophets were established at such seats of idolatry 
 as Bethel, Jericho and Gilgal. The prophets Hosea, Amos 
 and Jonah were raised up in the reign of Jeroboam II., 
 under whom the ten tribes reached their highest prosperity 
 and power, but they were unable to turn back the tide of 
 corruption or to effect a genuine reformation, and the king- 
 dom hastened to its downfall. 
 
 Israel had been repeatedly and sorely pressed by the 
 Syrians, particularly in the reigns of Ahab (1 Kings, ch. 
 XX.), Jehoram (2 Kings vi. 24, ff.) and Jehoahaz. 2 Kings 
 
124 PREPARING TO TEACIL 
 
 xiii. 3. In the reign of Menahem we first read of the ad- 
 vance of the Assyrians under Pul (2 Kings xv. 19) ; in the 
 reign of Pekah, Tiglath-pileser carried captive the northern 
 portion of the kingdom and all that lay east of the Jordan. 
 2 Kings XV. 29 ; 1 Chron. v. 26. Shalinaneser, after besieg- 
 ing Samaria three years, put an end to the kingdom entirely 
 in the ninth year of Hoshea, and the people were carried 
 into Assyria ; and the finishing stroke was put to its desola- 
 tion by the subsequent introduction of heathen colonists (2 
 Kings xvii. 24), from whom the Samaritans of a later pe- 
 riod were descended. 
 
 The kingdom of Judah lasted three hundred and eighty- 
 seven years from the schism to its overthrow by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, B. C. 588. The number of monarchs in this as in 
 the other kingdom was twenty, viz. : 1. Rehoboam, who 
 reigned seventeen years ; 2. Abijah, three years ; 3. Asa, 
 forty-one years ; 4. Jehoshaphat, twenty-five years ; 5. Jeho- 
 ram, eight years ; 6. Ahaziah, one year ; 7. Athaliah, six 
 years; 8. Joash, forty years; 9. Amaziah, twenty-nine 
 years; 10. Azariah, also called Uzziah, fifty-two years ; 11. 
 Jotham, sixteen years ; 12. Ahaz, sixteen years ; 13. Heze- 
 kiah, twenty-nine years ; 14. Manasseh, fifty-five years ; 15. 
 Amon, two years ; 16. Josiah, thirty-one years ; 17. Jehoahaz, 
 three months; 18. Jehoiakim, eleven years ; 19. Jehoiachin, 
 three months and ten days ; 20. Zedekiah, eleven years. 
 
 The crown descended regularly throughout the whole line 
 from father to son with the exception, first, of the usurpa- 
 tion of Queen Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, who seized 
 the throne upon the death of her son Ahaziah and sought to 
 destroy all the blood royal. Joash was saved from the mas- 
 sacre, however, and after being concealed for six years in 
 the house of the Lord by the high priest Jehoiada was made 
 king, and Athaliah slain. The other exception is that of 
 the last four kings ; three — viz., Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and 
 Zedekiah — were brothers, the sons of Josiah. Of the 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 125 
 
 kings of Judah, three fell victims to conspiracies among 
 their own subjects, viz., Joash, Amaziah and Amon ; three 
 died in captivity, Jehoahaz in Egypt, Jehoiakim and Zede- 
 kiah in Babylon. Ahaziah was slain by Jehu, king of 
 Israel, and Josiah fell in the battle of Megiddo, fighting 
 against Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt. 
 
 In point of character the kings of Judah are divided into 
 three classes ; first, four who are commended as having 
 done that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did 
 David their father, viz., Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and 
 Josiah ; secondly, four who did that which was right in the 
 sight of the Lord, yet not like David their father, viz., 
 Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah and Jotham ; thirdly, all the rest 
 did evil in the sight of the Lord, practicing idolatry and 
 the abominations of the heathen. Kemarkable instances 
 of change for the better and the worse are afforded by the 
 case of Manasseh, who, after practicing the grossest idolatry 
 and the most revolting cruelty, repented in captivity and 
 at his restoration began to act the part of a reformer ; and 
 by that of Joash, who did that which was right in the sight 
 of the Lord while Jehoiada, the high priest, lived, but after- 
 ward fell into the practice of idolatry. In point of politi- 
 cal wisdom and prosperity, the best reigns were not uni- 
 formly those of the best kings. This double honor be- 
 longs, it is true, to Asa and his son Jehoshaphat, but the 
 reign of the pious Hezekiah was marred by great defects 
 and errors of a worldly nature, and in this respect was 
 greatly inferior to those of his grandfather Jotham and his 
 great-grandfather Uzziah, who were morally far below him. 
 The reign of Ahaz was at once the weakest and the worst, 
 if we except the four with which the history concludes, and 
 during which the power was really exercised by foreign 
 states. 
 
 Apostasy was inherent in the very existence of the king- 
 dom of Israel, but it was not so in Judah. -Though idolatry 
 11 » 
 
126 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 was encouraged in allthe ungodly reigns, and Ahaz(2 Kings 
 xvi. 10, ff.) and Manasseh (2 Kings xxi.4, ff.) especially pro- 
 faned the temple of God itself by setting up heathen altars or 
 objects of worship within its sacred precincts, yet upon every 
 return of pious princes to the throne a reformation was 
 wrought more or less thorough and effective, and the temple 
 was cleansed, repaired and restored to its legitimate use. 
 Thus by Asa (2 Chron. xiv. 8, 16), Joash (2 Chron. xxiii. 17 ; 
 xxiv. 4), Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxix. 3) and Josiah (2 Chron. 
 xxxiv. 3, 8), under the last of whom mention is made of 
 finding in the temple, after long neglect, " the book of the 
 law" (verse 15), probably the identical copy in the hand- 
 writing of Moses which had been delivered by him to the 
 Levites for safekeeping, and had from that time forward 
 been preserved in the. sanctuary. And though the ser- 
 vility of the priesthood to wicked rulers is shown in the 
 case of Urijah (2 Kings xiv. 16), and the transgressions 
 of the priests (2 Chron. xxxvi. 14) contributed to the down- 
 fall of the kingdom, there are noble instances in which 
 their power for good was shown, as in Jehoiada during the 
 usurpation of Athaliah and the former part of the reign 
 of Joash (2 Chron. xxiii. 16 ; xxiv. 2), and in Azariah and 
 his associates, who withstood Uzziah in his profane in- 
 trusion into the temple to burn incense. 2 Chron xxvi. 16, ff. 
 There was a continuous line of prophets, also, not so re 
 markably endowed as Elijah and Elisha with miraculous 
 power, for which there was not so imperative a call, yet ever 
 appearing at important crises and exerting a constant in- 
 fluence for good, as Shemaiah under Rehoboam (2 Chron xii. 
 5) ; Azariah under Asa (xiv. 1) ; Jehu (xix. 2), Jahaziel (xx. 
 14) andEliezer (verse 37) under Jehoshaphat; Isaiah (Isa, i. 
 1) under Uzziah and his successors. Yet their messages were 
 frequently neglected (2 Chron. xxiv. 9), and the prophets 
 themselves were sometimes subjected to personal ill-treat- 
 ment, as Hanani was imprisoned by Asa (2 Chron. xvi. 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 127 
 
 iO) ; Zechariah was stoned in the court of the temple (xxiv. 
 20) ; Urijah was put to death by order of Jehoiakim (Jer. 
 xxvi. 20-24), and Jeremiah was beaten and put in the stocks 
 (Jer. XX. 2), thrust into a filthy dungeon (Jer. xxxviii. 6), his 
 life repeatedly threatened (Jer. xxvi. 8 ; xxxvi. 26), and he 
 was in prison at the time of the capture of Jerusalem by 
 Nebuchadnezzar. Jer. xxxix. 14. 
 
 Shishak, king of Egypt, invaded Judah in the reign of 
 Eehoboam, and plundered the temple as well as the palace 
 of the king. 1 Kings xiv. 25. Under Asa, Zerah the 
 Ethiopian, with his immense host, was defeated (2 Chron. 
 xiv. 9, IF.), as was the formidable combination of Moab, Am- 
 nion and others, under Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. xx. Up to 
 the time of Jehoshaphat there had been constant war be- 
 tween Judah and Israel. 1 Kings xxii. 44. His ill-judged 
 and disastrous alliance with Ahab resulted in the marriage 
 of his son Jehorara with Ahab's daughter (2 Chron. xxi. 6) 
 and all the consequences of that vicious association. Un- 
 der Amaziah we again find a state of hostility existing and 
 Judah worsted before Israel. 2 Kings xiv. 12. Asa had 
 hired Benhadad, king of Syria, to attack Israel in the in- 
 terest of Judah (2 Chron. xvi. 2), and Joash had purchased 
 peace from Hazael of Syria at great cost. 2 Kings xii. 17, 
 18. But in the reign of Ahaz, Kezin of Syria and Pekah 
 of Israel united their forces against Judah, and created such 
 alarm (2 Kings xvi. 5 ; Isa. vii. 2) that, in spite of the re- 
 monstrances of Isaiah, the weak-minded monarch besought 
 the aid of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria. That ambitious 
 power, having accomplished the overthrow of the kingdom 
 of Israel, directed its designs against Judah, and Sennach- 
 erib came up with an immense host against Hezekiah, but 
 was miraculously overthrown. 2. Kings xix. 35. Hezekiah, 
 being congratulated by the king of Babylon on his recovery 
 from sickness, was guilty of the vanity and imprudence of 
 exhibiting all his treasures, whereupon he was warned by 
 
128 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 the prophet Isaiah that they should all be carried captive 
 to Babylon. 2 Kings xx. 12, ff. Palestine, lying, as it did, 
 between Babylon and Egypt, was alternately the prey of each 
 of these great powers, who were contesting the empire of the 
 world. Josiah was slain in a battle with Pharaoh-necho. 
 2 Kings xxiii. 29. His sou Jehoahaz was carried captive 
 into Egypt. In the third year of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem, taking 
 it in his fourth year, and carrying away many captives, 
 Daniel among the rest. Dan. i. 1. It is from this first de- 
 portation, B. C. 606, that the seventy years of captivity pre- 
 dicted by Jeremiah (Jer. xxv. 1, 11) are to be computed. 
 The second deportation put an end to the reign of King Jeho- 
 iachin, who was carried into captivity, together with many of 
 the better portion of the people. 2 Kings xxiv. 12. Jeru- 
 salem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in the eleventh 
 year of Zedekiah, and the mass of its inhabitants were led 
 away into exile. The wretched remnant that stayed be- 
 hind in the land of Judah were placed under the govern- 
 ment of Gedaliah, and after his murder they removed into 
 Egypt. 
 
 Cyrus, king of Persia, the conqueror of Babylon, issued 
 an edict in the first year of his reign, B. C. 536, permitting 
 the Jewish exiles to return to their own land. Accordingly, 
 42,000 of them returned under Zerubbabel, a prince of the 
 house of David, and Joshua, the high priest. After many 
 hindrances, they completed the building of the temple in 
 the sixth year of Darius, B. C. 516. Jerusalem still lay in 
 ruins, however, and its walls were not rebuilt until Ezra, 
 and after him Nehemiah, came up with fresh colonists in the 
 reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus. The incidents recorded in 
 the book of Esther took place in the reign of Ahasuerus 
 (Esth. i. 1), otherwise known as Xerxes, the son of Darius. 
 
 The Persian monarchy was overthrown by Alexander the 
 Great, who was personally favorable to the Jews. On the 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 129 
 
 partition of his empire Palestine fell under the control of 
 the Ptolemies of Egypt, who granted the Jews many priv- 
 ileges and protected them in the exercise of their religion. 
 After many fluctuations, it was finally subjected to the king 
 of Syria, who treated the Jews with great severity. An- 
 tiochus Epiphanes, in particular, plundered and polluted the 
 temple, and endeavored by the most cruel atrocities to com- 
 pel the Jews to adopt heathen customs and to engage in 
 heathen rites. Mattathias raised the standard of revolt, 
 and under his leadership and that of his noble sons Judas 
 Maccabeus, Jonathan and Simon, the Jews contended suc- 
 cessfully against the armies of Antiochus. 
 
 After cleansing the sanctuary and building a new altar, 
 the first sacrifice was offered on the twenty-fifth day of the 
 ninth month, Chisleu, B. C. 165, just three years after its pro- 
 fanation. In memory of that event the feast of dedication 
 (John X. 22) was observed upon the anniversary of this day 
 and the seven following days. 
 
 Simon was succeeded by his son John Hyrcanus, and he 
 by his son Aristobulus, B. C. 106. Dissensions arising among 
 his descendants relative to the succession, the Romans, under 
 Pompey, entered Jerusalem, B. C. 63, and established Hyr- 
 canus II., the grandson of Aristobulus, in supreme authority. 
 Under his weak government the Idumean Antipater rose to 
 power, and was by Julius Caesar advanced to the dignity of 
 procurator of Judea, B. C. 47. His son Herod the Great 
 was made king of Judea by the order of the Roman senate, 
 B. C. 40. Under his reign Christ was born. 
 
130 PBEPARINO TO TEACH. 
 
 LESSOJY IV. 
 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah announces (xl. 3), a voice crying in 
 the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. And 
 Malachi (iii. 1 ; iv. 5) predicts the mission of Elijah the 
 prophet as a messenger to prepare the way before the Lord 
 at his coming. This forerunner was the son of a priest 
 named Zacharias, who lived in the days of Herod the king, 
 and whose wife's name was Elizabeth. As he was burning 
 incense in the temple an angel appeared to him and said, 
 " Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt 
 call his name John ; and he shall be filled with the Holy 
 Ghost, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to 
 the Lord their God, and he shall go before him in the spirit 
 and power of Elias (or Elijah) to make ready a people 
 prepared for the Lord." 
 
 Six months later the angel Gabriel was sent to Nazareth, 
 to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the 
 house of David ; and the virgin's name was Mary, And 
 the angel said unto her "Fear not, Mary; for thou hast 
 found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive 
 and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He 
 shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest ; 
 and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his 
 father David, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." 
 
 A decree from Csesar Augustus that all the world should 
 be taxed required Joseph to go with Mary to Bethlehem, 
 his ancestral city. There Jesus was born, and was laid 
 in a manger, because there was no room for them in the 
 inn. His birth was announced by an angel to the shep- 
 herds, when suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host 
 were heard praising God and saying, " Glory to God in the 
 highest, and on earth peace, good- will tc ward men." When 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 131 
 
 presented in the temple in his infancy, he was recognized as 
 the Lord's Christ by the aged Simeon and the prophetess 
 Anna. Wise men from the east also came seeking him 
 who was born King of the Jews. Herod, startled by their 
 inquiry, sent them to Bethlehem, the predicted place of the 
 Saviour's birth (Mic. v. 2), charging them to return when 
 they had found the infant king, and tell him, that he might 
 come and worship him also. But being warned of God in 
 a dream, they departed into their own country another way. 
 Joseph was likewise warned to take the young child and his 
 mother and flee into Egypt. Herod, finding that he was 
 mocked of the wise men, sent forth and slew all the chil- 
 dren in Bethlehem from two years old and under. After 
 the death of Herod the parents of Jesus brought him to 
 Nazareth. When he was twelve years old, he was taken to 
 Jerusalem, to the passover ; and lingering behind when his 
 parents returned, he was found in the temple, sitting in the 
 midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them 
 questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his 
 understanding and answers. 
 
 In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, the successor of 
 Augustus, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod 
 Antipas, son of Herod the Great, being tetrarch of Galilee, 
 and Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, John the 
 Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, Repent 
 ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Great multi- 
 tudes from all quarters flocked to hear him, and were bap- 
 tized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. Jesus also, 
 being now thirty years of age, came from Nazareth, and was 
 baptized, whereupon the heavens opened and the Spirit of 
 God descended upon him like a dove, and there came 
 a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in 
 whom I am well pleased. 
 
 He was then led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, 
 where he fasted forty days and forty nights, and was tempted 
 
132 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 of the devil. Soon after, his first disciples attached them- 
 selves to him, John the Baptist pointing him out as the 
 Lamb of God to two of his own disciples, one of whom was 
 Andrew and the other probably the apostle John ; they 
 both followed Jesus. Andrew brought his brother Simon 
 Peter to Jesus, and the next day Philip and Nathanael were 
 added. On the day following he wrought his first miracle 
 at a marriage in Cana of Galilee, changing water into wine. 
 As the passover was at hand, he went up to Jerusalem, and 
 with a scourge of small cords drove out of the temple those 
 that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of 
 money. And many believed in his name when they saw 
 the miracles that he did. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, 
 came to him by night, convinced that he was a teacher sent 
 from God. As he taught in Judea, and his disciples bap- 
 tized, such crowds resorted to him as to awaken the jeal- 
 ousy of John's disciples. But John replied, I am not the 
 Christ, but one sent before him ; he must increase, but I 
 must decrease. 
 
 John the Baptist being seized by Herod and cast into 
 prison, Jesus departed into Galilee, passing through Samaria 
 on the way. Here he conversed with the Samaritan woman 
 as he sat wearied by the well of Jacob, convincing both her 
 and many who lived in Sychar that he was indeed the 
 Christ, the Saviour of the world. Arriving at Cana of 
 Galilee, he healed the son of a nobleman who lay sick at 
 Capernaum. In the synagogue at Nazareth he announced 
 himself as the Saviour predicted by Isaiah, but was so vio- 
 lently treated that he fixed his residence at Capernaum. He 
 now formally called Simon Peter and Andrew, James and 
 John, who were engaged in their occupation as fishermen, to 
 permanent discipleship, promising them that they should be 
 fishers of men, and by a miraculous draught of fishes as- 
 suring them of the abundant success which would be di- 
 vinely granted to them in their new vocation. Matthew was 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 133 
 
 also called from the receipt of custom. He now proceeded 
 to exhibit himself as the healer of all human disorders 
 and the conqueror of Satan in Capernaum and throughout 
 all Galilee, over which he made a complete tour, teaching 
 and preaching, curing the sick and casting out devils. This 
 first year of his ministry was one of unbounded popularity, 
 great multitudes even from remote parts attending him 
 wherever he went, so that on one occasion those who sought 
 his healing could only reach him by uncovering the 
 roof where he was and letting down the sick man in his 
 bed. At length, to escape the crowds, he was forced to re- 
 main outside the city in desert places, but even then they 
 came to him from every quarter. There were, however, 
 some who cherished thoughts which they did not venture 
 to express, as though he were guilty of blasphemy in 
 claiming the power to forgive sins. Matt. ix. 3. 
 
 At the next passover Jesus was again in Jerusalem, and 
 healed the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, bidding 
 him take up his bed and walk, though it was the Sabbath. 
 This profanation, as it was regarded, of this sacred day, oc- 
 curring in the very centre of pharisaic influence and au- 
 thority, gave occasion for an outburst of hostility against a 
 teacher whose extraordinary popularity excited their jeal- 
 ousy, and whose spiritual instructions were at variance with 
 their most cherished ideas. Therefore did the Jews persecute 
 Jesus and sought to slay him. The opposition which had 
 taken such a malignant form at the capital did not fail to 
 show itself likewise in Galilee, and opportunities were 
 soon afforded by his disciples plucking ears of corn on the 
 Sabbath, and his healing a man with a withered hand in 
 one of the synagogues, by his withering exposures of their 
 hypocrisy and wickedness (Luke xi. 39), by his suffering a 
 sinner to wash and kiss his feet and anoint them (Luke vii. 
 38), and even sitting at meat with publicans and sinners in 
 
 Matthew's house (Matt. ix. 11), so that the Pharisees took 
 12 
 
134 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy hirn. 
 Mark iii. 6. They applied opprobrious epithets to him 
 (Matt. xi. 19) ; they attributed his miracles to satauic influ- 
 ence (Matt. xii. 24) ; they tempted him by demanding signs 
 from heaven (Matt. xii. 38) ; they pressed him with ensnar- 
 ing questions. Luke xi. 53, 54. He was not, however, de- 
 terred from continuing his ministry. He organized his dis- 
 ciples by selecting the twelve apostles, and in the sermon on 
 the mount made explicit announcement of the laws of his 
 kingdom. He went twice with his apostles through all the 
 towns and villages of Galilee (Luke viii. 1 ; Matt. ix. 35), 
 and then clothed the apostles with miraculous pow- 
 ers, and sent them forth to preach that the kingdom of 
 heaven was at hand. Matt. x. 5; xi. 1. His miracles were 
 now more striking than before. He cured a man who had 
 had an infirmity thirty and eight yeai-s (John v. 5), and a 
 woman sick for twelve years, whom the physicians could not 
 heal (Mark v. 25, 26), and fierce demoniacs whom no man 
 could tame (Mark v. 2, ff), and the blind and the dumb 
 (Matt, ix, 27, ff.), and raised from the dead the daughter of 
 Jairus (Mark v. 42) and the son of the widow at Nain 
 (Luke vii. 15), and stilled the storm (Luke viii. 24), and 
 walked on the sea (Matt. xiv. 25), and fed five thousand 
 men with five loaves and two fishes. Matt. xiv. 20. 
 
 Our Lord's instructions bear, to some extent, the impress 
 of the opposition that he now encounters. In healing the 
 centurion's servant at Capernaum, he contrasts the faith of 
 this Gentile, with the want of it in Israel, and intimates the 
 calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews. 
 That generation refused both John the Baptist's instructions 
 and his own. Matt. xi. 16, ff. He upbraids Chorazin, Beth- 
 saida and Capernaum because they repented not. He 
 warjis his hearers that Nineveh and the queen of the South 
 shall condemn them in the judgment, and that the blood 
 of all the prophets shall be required of that generation. 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 135 
 
 He tells his disciples of the persecutions they must expect, 
 but bids theai not to fear theui who can only kill the body. 
 The parables of the barren fig tree (Luke xiii. 6), the sower 
 (Matt. xiii. 3, tf.), tlie tares (v. 24, ff.) and the net (v. 47) 
 show the different reception of the gospel by diiferent classes 
 of hearers, while those of the mustard seed (v. 31) and 
 the leaven (v. 33) declare the certainty of its progress and 
 ultimate triumph. That his popularity with the masses had 
 uot abated, appears from the freqient references to the 
 crowds that still gathered to hear him (Matt. v. 1 ; xiii. 2 ; 
 xiv. 13 ; Luke xii. 1), and the disposition of the people to 
 make him a king (John vi. 15), even though the inhabitants 
 of Nazareth were offended at his humble origin. Matt. xiii. 
 57. His true followers believed, and were sure that he 
 was Christ, the Son of the living God, though many of his 
 disciples went back and walked no more with him. John vi. 
 QQ), ff. The murderous disposition of the Jews at Jerusalem 
 was such, however,, that he did not go up to the uext pass- 
 over. John vi. 4 ; vii. 1. 
 
 The next year, which is the last of our Lord's ministry, 
 extending to the passover at which he suffered, is divided 
 by the feast of tabernacles, when he again visited Jerusa- 
 lem. The six mouths preceding this feast were spent in. 
 Galilee, which he then leaves, and does not again revisit. 
 During this time he gives further offence to the Pharisees 
 by exposing the variance betw^een their traditions and the 
 law of God (Matt. xv. 3), but continues his teaching and 
 miracles, healing great numbers (Matt. xv. 30), feeding 
 the four thousand (v. 38), and especially suggesting again 
 the extension of the gospel beyond the limits of the choseu 
 people by curing the daughter of the Syropheniciau woman 
 in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon (Matt. xv. 21, ff.), and the 
 ten lepers, of whom the only one who returned to give thanks 
 to God was a Samaritan. Luke xvii. 18. The disciples, 
 through Peter, having again solemnly professed their faith 
 
136 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 in him as the Christ (Matt. xvi. 16), he began from that 
 time forth to show unto them how that he must go to 
 Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief 
 priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the 
 third day. Matt. xvi. 21. He had made enigmatical al- 
 lusions to this before, at the very beginning of his ministry, 
 speaking to the Jews at his first passover in Jerusalem of 
 the temple of his body, which they would destroy and he 
 would raise up in three days (John ii. 19), and to Nicode- 
 mus of the Son of man being lifted up like the serpent in 
 the wilderness (John iii. 14), and in the synagogue at Ca- 
 pernaum two years later of his giving his flesh for the life 
 of the world. John vi. 51. But he now speaks of this sub- 
 ject plainly and more than once (Matt. xvii. 22, 23), and 
 tells his disciples that they too must take up their cross and 
 follow after him, expectant of the reward which they shall 
 have when the Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
 Father. Matt, xvi, 24, 27. He further coufirms them by 
 the vision of his transfiguration (Matt. xvii. 1, tf.), and of 
 Moses and Elias speaking of his decease which he should 
 accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke ix. 31,) teaching them 
 their need of stronger faith by healing a demoniac whom 
 they could not cure (Matt. xvii. 19), and of the humility 
 of a little child (Matt, xviii. 3), and of tender (v. 14) and 
 forgiving love (v. 22), and rebuking the zeal which would 
 forbid others casting out devils in his name (Luke ix. 50), 
 or would call down fire from heaven upon those who re- 
 fused to receive him. v. 55. Then sending forth seventy 
 before his face to heal and preach in every place whither 
 he himself would come, he left Galilee finally, and went up 
 to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles. John vii. 2-10. 
 
 He remained at the capital or in its vicinity for two 
 months, until the feast of dedication, teaching publicly in the 
 temple and elsewhere, and performing at least one signal 
 miracle — that of healino; a man born blind. John ix. 
 
BIBLE HISTORY, 137 
 
 His foes sought on various occasions to take him, but no 
 man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. 
 John vii, 30; viii. 20; x. 39. Officers were sent expressly 
 to apprehend him, but returned without him, saying, Never 
 man spake like this man. John vii. 47. They brought 
 cases to him as of the woman taken in adultery, tempting 
 him that they might have to accuse him. viii. 6. They 
 charged him with being a Samaritan, having a devil (vii. 
 20; viii. 48) and being mad. x. 20. They agreed that if 
 any man did confess that he was Christ he should be put 
 out of the synagogue, ix. 22. And they twice actually 
 took up stones to cast at him. viii*. 59 ; x. 31. 
 
 There was, however, a division among them about him, 
 for some said. This is the Christ (vii. 41); others. How can 
 a man that is a sinner do such miracles? ix. 16; x. 19. But 
 none of the rulers or Pharisees believed on him (vii. 48) ; the 
 only friendly voice among them was that of Nicodemus, who 
 claimed that he should not be condemned unheard, v. 51. 
 
 After the feast of dedication Jesus retired before the in- 
 creasing hostility of his enemies beyond the Jordan (John 
 X. 40), only returning as far as Bethany to raise Lazarus 
 from his grave, ch. xi. This new evidence of his Messiahship 
 so exasperated the chief priests and Pharisees that the San- 
 hedrim was called together, and a formal resolution taken 
 that he must be put to death, xi. 53. He continued to 
 teach beyond the Jordan, reciting among others the para- 
 bles of the great supper (Luke xiv. 16, if.), the prodigal 
 son (xv. 11, tf.) and the rich man and Lazarus, xvi. 19, ff. 
 When the Pharisees represented to him that his life was in 
 peril from Herod, he replied that he could not perish out 
 of Jerusalem. Luke xiii. 3L As he went to the city he 
 told his disciples once more of what should befall him 
 there, xviii. 31, ff. Nevertheless, the impression that he 
 was now on the point of setting up his kingdom led James 
 
 and John to ask for conspicuous positions (Mark x. 35, 11'.), 
 
 12* 
 
138 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 and gave occasion to the parable of the ten pounds (Luke 
 xix. 11, ff.), and after he had reached Bethany, six days 
 before the passover (John xii. 1), incited the multitude to 
 come forth to meet him and escort him into the city in jubi- 
 lant procession, xii. 13. As he came near the city he wept 
 over it in its impenitence and coming doom (Luke xix. 41), 
 which were also represented in the miracle wrought upon 
 the barren fig tree on the following day and the parables 
 of the wicked husbandmen (Luke xx. 9, ff.), the marriage 
 of the king's son (Matt. xxii. 1, ff.), the ten virgins (Matt. 
 XXV. 1, ff.) and the five talents (v. 14, ff.), his casting out 
 them that sold and bought in the temple (Luke xix. 45), 
 and his prediction of the destruction of the temple and of 
 Jerusalem. Two days before the passover he was at a sup- 
 per at Bethany, where Mary anointed him with costly oint- 
 ment, which he said was for his burial. Matt. xxvi. 8, ff. 
 Judas Iscariot bargained with the chief priests to betray 
 him for thirty pieces of silver. Then followed the pass- 
 over, the institution of the Lord's Supper, the last address 
 of Jesus to his disciples (John xiv. and xvi.) and his prayer 
 (xvii.), his agony in Gethsemane and his seizure in the 
 night by the band of soldiers led by the traitor Judas. He 
 was taken to the high priest's house, where Peter thrice de- 
 nied him. Early in the morning the Sanhedrim was sum- 
 moned, who pronounced him guilty of death. He was then 
 carried to the judgment-hall of Pilate, who finally gave sen- 
 tence that he should be crucified. His body was laid in a 
 new tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, and a watch set 
 to guard the sepulchre. On the morning of the third day 
 he rose from the dead; and when Mary Magdalene and the 
 other Mary visited the sepulchre, they found not the body 
 of Jesus, but saw two angels, who told them that he was 
 alive ; and as they went to tell the disciples, Jesus himself 
 met them. Pie further appeared to Mary Magdalene at 
 the sepulchre (John xx. 14), to Peter (1 Cor. xv. f)), to two 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 139 
 
 disciples on their way to Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 15, ff.), to 
 the apostles when Thomas was absent and again when he 
 was present (John xx 19, ff.), to seven apostles at the Sea 
 of Tiberias (John xxi 1, ff.), and to above five hundred 
 brethren at once. 1 Coi xv. 6. Finally, after being seen of 
 his disciples forty days (A.cts i. 3), he ascended in their sight 
 to heaven. 
 
 LESSOJY V. 
 THE LABOKS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 Our Lord, having satisfied the apostles of the reality of 
 his resurrection by many infallible proofs, commanded them 
 not to depart from Jerusalem till the Holy Spirit, promised 
 by the Father, should come upon them. They would thus 
 be fitted and empowered to be witnesses unto him in Jerusa- 
 lem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost 
 part of the earth. Having given them this charge, he was 
 taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. The 
 eleven, accordingly, returned from the Mount of Olives, the 
 scene of the ascension, and with the rest of the disciples, 
 amounting in all to about a hundred and twenty, continued 
 with one accord in prayer and supplication, awaiting the 
 fulfillment of the promise. Meanw^hile, they filled up the 
 number of the apostles, which had been reduced by the 
 apostasy and suicide of Judas Iscariot. Two were named, 
 who had been with the Lord Jesus from the very beginning 
 of his ministry until the day of his ascension to heaven, 
 and who therefore were competent witnesses to his resurrec- 
 tion ; of these Matthias w^as chosen by lot, which was cast 
 under divine direction. 
 
 The time for the organization of the Church of the new 
 disj)ensation had now arrived. It was the day of Pentecost, 
 
140 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 the annual commemoration of the organization of Israel as 
 the people of God under the former dispensation, when God 
 came down with solemn pomp on Sinai and proclaimed his 
 law. The Spirit of God now came down from heaven with 
 the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the house 
 where the disciples were assembled. And there appeared 
 unto them cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of 
 them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
 began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them 
 utterance. Representatives of various lands then present 
 in Jerusalem in attendance upon the feast flocked in, and 
 were amazed that, though the speakers were Galileans, every 
 man heard them speak in his own language. Thus the gos- 
 pel of the crucified and risen Saviour was at the very outset 
 proclaimed to those who had been gathered from distant parts 
 of the world, symbolic of its being ultimately preached in 
 all the world and to every creature. And the same day 
 there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 
 And all that believed were together and had all things com- 
 mon, and sold their possessions and goods and parted them 
 to all men as every man had need ; and the Lord added to 
 the Church daily such as should be saved. 
 
 The infant Church, thus divinely established, was now 
 subjected to successive trials from without and from within, 
 which, however, instead of destroying, or even weakening it, 
 vvere overruled for its enlargement and purification and more 
 complete equipment. Peter and John healed a lame man 
 at the temple and again preached Jesus and the resurrection 
 to the wondering crowds, five thousand of whom believed. 
 For thus speaking to the people they were arrested and 
 brought before the Sanhedrim, where, unabashed, they 
 repeated their testimony, that " by the name of Jesus of 
 Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the 
 dead, doth this man stand here before you whole." To the 
 command of the council that they should not speak at all, 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 141 
 
 nor teach iu the name of Jesus, they firmly and decidedly 
 refused compliance. So, when they had further threatened 
 them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might 
 punish them, because of the people; for all men glorified 
 God for that which was done. But in this popularity and 
 rapid increase and enthusiasm of the early converts there lay 
 a fresh danger to the Church, arising within its own bosom ; 
 unworthy adherents might be attracted to it and gain ad- 
 mission, whose hypocrisy might cast suspicion on the body 
 and endanger its purity. Ananias and Sapphira sought a 
 reputation for piety by a false pretence, but their sudden and 
 startling fate created a widespread and salutary awe which 
 deterred others from following their pernicious example. 
 
 Miracles of healing continued to be wrought in great 
 numbers. The sick were placed on beds and couches in 
 the streets that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by 
 might overshadow some of them, and the diseased were 
 brought from surrounding cities into Jerusalem to be 
 cured, and believers were added to the Lord, multitudes 
 both of men and women. Alarmed at the rapidity with 
 which the new faith was spreading, the high priest and his 
 associates undertook to stop it by still more summary mea- 
 sures than before. They seized the whole body of the 
 apostles and put them in the common prison. When the 
 Sanhedrim assembled in the morning to deliberate upon 
 the case, to their dismay the prisoners had disappeared. 
 They had been miraculously released, and had returned to 
 the temple to teach the people. Learning this, they had 
 them brought before them ; and exasperated by their in- 
 trepid boldness, they took counsel to slay them. Dissuaded 
 from this extreme measure by the judicious advice of 
 Gamaliel, they beat the apostles and commanded them not 
 to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they 
 departed rejoicing that they were counted worthy to sufiTer 
 shame for his name ; an ' daily in the temple and in every 
 
142 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 house they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. 
 A fresh trouble arose within the Church consequent upon its 
 rapid eulargement. It is not now corruption, threatening 
 to mar the purity of the Church, but strife between parties, 
 impairing its unity. The Grecian Jews murmured against 
 the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the 
 daily ministration. The dissension was allayed, and the 
 inadequate distribution of the benefactions of the Church 
 to the needy poor was corrected by creating the office of 
 deacon with reference to this special work. Seven deacons 
 were appointed. Among them was Stephen, whose great 
 fidelity and ability proved the occasion of a renewed out- 
 break of hostility more virulent than before. Stephen him- 
 self was its first victim. He was carried before the Sanhe- 
 drim, and false witnesses brought forward who charged him 
 with blasphemous words against the temple and the law. 
 He stated and defended his real position by reciting briefly 
 the history of the chosen people and showing that the un- 
 faithfulness of which they had been guilty in every age had 
 now culminated in the murder of Him who was predicted 
 by the prophets, and that the temple could not be God's true 
 and permanent abode. These unwelcome truths filled them 
 with rage, and they stoned him to death. It is in connec- 
 tion with this first Christian martyrdom that the earliest 
 mention is made of one who is afterward to appear in a 
 very different character and play a very prominent part in 
 the apostolic Church. The witnesses laid down their clothes 
 at a young man's feet whose name was Saul, and Saul was 
 consenting unto his death. 
 
 This martyrdom was the signal for the first act in a great 
 and bloody persecution, which, however, instead of crush- 
 ing the Church, served but to open the way for a new stage 
 in its development and growth. Hitherto it had been con- 
 fined to Jerusalem, which was its appointed place of begin- 
 ning. The time had now come for its diffusion, and the 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 143 
 
 violence of this t)ersecution was the providential means of 
 bringing this about. The disciples were scattered abroad, 
 and went everywhere preaching the word. Philip, one of 
 the seven deacons, went northward to Samaria, which may 
 be said to have occupied a position intermediate between 
 Jews and Gentiles, and preached the gospel with such suc- 
 cess that he was followed by the apostles Peter and John, 
 who labored both there and in other cities of the Samari- 
 tans. Philip was then directed to the opposite quarter, 
 southward from Jerusalem, where he met an Ethiopian 
 eunuch of great authority under Queen Candace, and 
 preached to him Jesus; he believed, was baptized, and went 
 on his way rejoicing. But it was not only by dispersed dis- 
 ciples that the gospel was thus carried into various parts. 
 An instrument of God's grace was preparing in one of the 
 persecutors themselves. Saul, who started to Damascus 
 breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disci- 
 ples of the Lord, was converted on the way, and began 
 himself to preach Jesus, first at Damascus, then at Jerusa- 
 lem, whence also he found it prudent to retire to his native 
 city of Tarsus. But the Church did not itself understand 
 that the restrictions of the old dispensation were no longer 
 operative, and that the barriers of the ccr-^monial law, 
 which had proved so serviceable in guarding God's ancient 
 people from contamination, were not now to be permitted 
 to obstruct the free diffusion of the gospel. Peter had 
 preached on the day of Pentecost that the promise was to 
 all that are afar off (Acts ii. 39), and that all the kindreds 
 of the earth were to be blessed in the seed of Abraham, iii. 
 25. But that this involved the abolition of Mosaic institu- 
 tions he had not suspected. The first lesson on this subject 
 was now given to the apostle of the circumcision. Gal. ii. 8. 
 Peter had been providentially led to Lydda and then to 
 Joppa, to which latter place Cornelius, a devout Roman 
 centurion of Caesarea, had been directed to send to him for 
 
144 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 further instruction. A special vision, teaching him not to 
 call that unclean which God had cleansed, prepared him 
 for the coming of the messengers, with whom the Spirit bid 
 him go. As he was preaching to Cornelius and his assem- 
 bled friends the Holy Ghost fell on them with his miracu- 
 lous influences, and he could not refuse to baptize them. 
 On his return to Jerusalem he was charged with having 
 broken the law by eating with men uncircumcised ; but on 
 his rehearsing the whole matter, the confession was made, 
 " Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance 
 unto life." A further step was taken in the same direction 
 when those scattered by the persecution came to Antioch 
 and preached to Greeks with remarkable success. This 
 was followed up by Barnabas and Saul, who labored there 
 for a whole year ; and the disciples were first called Chris- 
 tians in Antioch. It was thus recognized for the first time 
 that they were not a mere section of the Jews, but formed a 
 distinct body. The new name implied the admission that 
 the Church had attained to a separate and independent ex- 
 istence. Antioch was preparing to be a new centre of Chris- 
 tian radiation, but meanwhile recognized its dependence on 
 the mother-church at Jerusalem by sending supplies to the 
 needy brethren in Judea by the hands of Barnabas and 
 Saul. A fresh persecution under Herod Agrippa showed 
 how impossible it was thus to check the gospel. James, the 
 brother of John, was killed. But Peter, though impris- 
 oned, was miraculously released ; the persecutor died a mis- 
 erable death, and the word of God grew and multiplied. 
 
 The time had now come for an entirely new movement in 
 the work of spreading the gospel. Hitherto apostolic and 
 Christian labor had been confined almost exclusively to the 
 territory of Palestine. Now, by the express direction of the 
 Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul, or Paul, were set apart, and 
 sent forth by the church at Antioch upon a mission in for- 
 eign lands. They passed through Seleucia, Salamis and 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 145 
 
 Paphos in Cyprus, Perga in Pamphylia, Antioch in Pisidia, 
 Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, and then returned by the same 
 route to Perga, and thence to Attalia and Antioch, planting 
 and organizing churches everywhere. The chief opposition 
 that they encountered was from the Jews, and their princi- 
 pal converts were from the Gentiles. But were these Gen- 
 tile converts to be required to observe the law of Moses ? 
 This was affirmed by some who came down from Judea, and 
 denied by Paul and Barnabas. The question was referred 
 to the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for decision, and 
 they enjoined no ceremonial observances whatever, but sim- 
 ply required them, from prudential cousiderations, to abstain 
 from meats offered to idols, and from things strangled, and 
 from blood, as well as to keep aloof from that licentiousness 
 which prevailed to such a shocking extent among the 
 heathen. Paul and Barnabas now separated, each going in 
 a different direction. Barnabas, with Mark, sailed unto his 
 native island of Cyprus. Paul, with Silas and Timothy, 
 took a much more extensive tour than before. After passing 
 through Galatia and other parts of Asia Minor, he was led 
 by express divine direction into Europe. Entering Mace- 
 donia, he visited Philippi and Thessalonica, founding the 
 churches to which he subsequently addressed three of his 
 Epistles. Driven onward by Jewish opposition, he went to 
 Berea, Athens and Corinth, where he remained a year and 
 six months, and the results of his labors are apparent in his 
 two Epistles to the church in that city. Having thus gained 
 a permanent lodgment for the gospel in Greece, he hastened 
 back to Jerusalem and Antioch by way of Ephesus, 
 promising shortly to return to this important city. Accord- 
 ingly, after a brief delay, he directed his third missionary 
 journey mainly to Ephesus, where he remained for three 
 years, preaching in the synagogues, disputing in the schools, 
 teaching from house to house, and working miracles with 
 
 such effect that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word 
 13- 
 
146 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Great numbers 
 believed, and many abandoned the practice of magic arts, 
 and the makers of silver shrines for Diana began to fear 
 that they should lose their occupation, so mightily grew 
 the word of God, and prevailed. Having occupied this pop- 
 ulous and influential metropolis of Western Asia, Paul next 
 turned his thoughts to Rome, the capital and heart of the 
 civilized world (Acts xix. 21), where, however, he was to be 
 taken in a very different way from that he then imagined. 
 A short time was spent in revisiting the churches in Greece 
 and Macedonia, after which he returned to Miletus, where 
 he took a last affecting farewell of the elders of the Ephesian 
 church, and then persistently, in the face of entreaties and 
 prophetic warning, went bound in the spirit unto Jerusa- 
 lem. 
 
 Thus far the gospel had been spread by the active efforts 
 of the apostles and disciples, either impelled by their own 
 voluntary purpose or driven by the persecution of foes. 
 The preacher of the gospel is now to be carried to the cap- 
 ital of the Roman empire by the authorities of the empire 
 itself Paul had scarcely been a week in Jerusalem when 
 he was seized in the temple by a Jewish mob, who would 
 have put him to death if he had not been rescued by the 
 chief captain of the Roman garrison, by whose permission 
 he made his defence to the joopulace from the stairs of the 
 castle. On the following day he made another defence be- 
 fore the assembled Jewish council. As a plot had been 
 formed against his life, he was sent under guard to Csesarea, 
 the residence of the governor Felix, before whom he de- 
 fended himself again, and then once more before his suc- 
 cessor, Festus. As the latter proposed to send him back to 
 Jerusalem, he was obliged to appeal unto Caesar. Accord- 
 ingly, after a fifth defence, in the presence of KingAgrippa, 
 he was embarked as a prisoner for Rome. The vessel in 
 which he sailed was wrecked upon the island of Malta ; but 
 
BIBLE HISTORY. 147 
 
 all escaping with their lives, he was forwarded to the impe- 
 rial city. Here, being suffered to dwell by himself with a 
 soldier that kept him, he first, as had been his invariable 
 custom, endeavored to win the Jews to the acceptance of 
 the gospel. So, calling their chief men together in three 
 days after his arrival, a day was named for a conference, at 
 which he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, per- 
 suading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Mo- 
 ses and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. 
 And some believed the things which were spoken, and some 
 believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves 
 they departed, after Paul had faithfully set before them the 
 consequences of this obstinate blindness : Be it known, 
 therefore, unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto 
 the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And Paul dwelt 
 two whole years in his own hired house, and received all 
 that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God and 
 teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ 
 with all confidence, no man forbidding him. 
 
 The Church, thus gradually freed from the trammels of 
 Judaism, and planted in the chief seats of population and 
 influence, and attended by the mighty power of God, was 
 fairly equipped for its great struggle for the mastery of the 
 world. 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 LESSOJf L 
 PALESTINE, 
 
 The land which was the residence of the chosen people, 
 where our blessed Saviour dwelt and where the principal 
 events recorded in the Bible took place, is known by various 
 names. On account of its sacred associations it is called 
 the Holy Land (Zech. ii. 12), the pleasant land (Dan. viii. 9), 
 the glorious land (Dan. xi. 16), the Lord's land (Hos. ix. 3), 
 the land which the Lord sware to Abraham, to Isaac and 
 to Jacob (Gen. 1. 24), and the land of promise. Heb. xi. 9. 
 From its inhabitants at different periods it is called the. 
 land of Canaan (Gen. xi. 31), the land of the Hebrews 
 (Gen. xl. 15), the land of Israel (1 Sam. xiii. 19), and Pal- 
 estine, which is now familiarly applied to the whole coun- 
 try ; though when used in the Old Testament (Ex. xv. 14 ; 
 Isa. xiv. 29 ; Joel iii. 4), it has its original and narrower 
 sense of Philistia (Ps. Ix. 8), or the territory of the Philis- 
 tines along the south-western coast. 
 
 This land was admirably adapted by its location for the 
 purpose for which God in his providence designed it. It 
 was shut in by great natural barriers, the Mediterranean on 
 the west, the mountain range of Lebanon on the north and 
 the desert on the south and east, and the people were thus 
 secluded from the heathen states around them. Its prox- 
 imity to the seats of early civilization and to the great em- 
 pires of the old world both gave them the advantage of the 
 highest existing forms of worldly culture and provided 
 13 • 149 
 
150 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 instruments for their chastisement when they transgressed. 
 And its central position in relation to the three great conti- 
 nents of the eastern hemisphere, lying as it did upon or 
 adjacent to the main routes of trade and travel from west 
 to east, eminently fitted it to be the centre of diffusion for 
 the true religion when the time had come for the gospel to 
 be preached to every creature. 
 
 As defined in the promise to Abraham (Gen. xv. 18) and 
 to Moses (Ex, xxiii. 31), the land extended to the Euphrates 
 on the east and to the Red Sea on the south. These limits 
 were reached in the prosperous reigns of David and Solo- 
 mon (1 Kings iv. 21 ; ix. 26), but were only maintained for 
 a brief period. The territory actually assigned by Moses 
 to the tribes east of the Jordan is minutely described 
 Num. xxxii. 33-42, and the boundaries of the territory 
 west of the Jordan are given in Num. xxxiv. 2-12. This 
 cannot now be traced with perfect accuracy, since several 
 of the places named in the description can no longer be 
 identified. It may be stated in the general that it lay be- 
 tween 331° and 35|° east longitude, as reckoned from Green- 
 wich, and between Z^l° and 33^° north latitude, being thus 
 about midway between the equator and the arctic circle. 
 Kitto estimates its extreme length from north to south at 
 about 180 miles, and its extreme breadth from west to east 
 at about 100 miles, its average breadth being perhaps 65 
 miles and its area about 11,000 square miles. This would 
 make it about the size of the State of Maryland, or equal 
 to one-fourth of Pennsylvania, or one-fifth of England and 
 Wales, or two-thirds of Switzerland. But as in the case 
 of Greece, its influence upon the world has been immense, 
 notwithstanding its small extent. 
 
 In studying the geography of Palestine, we shall first 
 consider its physical features and then proceed to its civil 
 divisions and its cities. As the most important of the phys- 
 ical features of a country are its elevations, we shall in the 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 161 
 
 first instance examine the mountains and highlands. These 
 condition the existence and determine the amount of its 
 depressions, viz., the valleys and plains, which will next 
 claim attention. And these again fix its water system 
 in location, extent and the direction of its flow, which 
 brings before us its seas and lakes, rivers, streams and 
 fountains. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 In general, Palestine may be described as a mountain 
 land, or, as it is called by Moses (Deut. xi. 11), "a land of 
 hills and valleys." It is an elevated, undulating region, 
 stretching from the mountains of Lebanon on the north to 
 the Arabian desert and the mountains of Sin, an extension 
 of the Sinaitic range, on the south. This lofty plateau is 
 divided through all its extent from north to south by the 
 deep and precipitous valley of the Jordan, called by the 
 modern inhabitants El Ghor, and which, under the name 
 El Arabah, is continued all the way to the Dead Sea. Par- 
 allel to this is a broader depression along the Mediterra- 
 nean coast, which also reaches, with but a single interrup- 
 tion, from the northern to the southern limit of the country. 
 There are thus two elevated plateaus extending north and 
 south, one on the east and the other on the west of the Jor- 
 dan, and two resulting depressions, viz., the valley of the 
 river Jordan and the plain upon the sea-coast. 
 
 Reviewing the mountains more in detail, Lebanon de- 
 mands the first place, as most remarkable in itself and most 
 frequently referred to in Scripture. Moses calls it (Deut. 
 iii. 26) " that goodly mountain." The name Lebanon means 
 strictly the "white" mountain, and is given to it either on 
 account of the chalky whiteness of the limestone rock of 
 which it is chiefly composed, or because of the snow which 
 rests upon some of its summits during the greater part of 
 the year. The southern extremity of Lebanon constitutes 
 
152 PREPARING TO TEACH, 
 
 the northern boundary of Palestine. It consists of two 
 parallel ranges of mountains, commonly called Libanus 
 and anti-Libanus, though this distinction is never made in 
 the Bible, both being there included under the common 
 name of Lebanon. They run through about one degree of 
 latitude, from south-west to north-east, parallel to the sea- 
 coast and enclosing the rich and fertile valley of Ccele- 
 Syria, or, as it called (Josh. xi. 17; xii. 7), "the valley of 
 Lebanon." The mountains attain an elevation of about 
 9000 feet ; their sides are terraced and extremely product- 
 ive. The sacred writers celebrate its perennial streams 
 (Sol. Song iv. 15) ; the perfume of its plants (Sol. Song iv. 
 11 ; Hos. xiv. 6) ; its wine (Hos. xiv. 7) ; and especially its 
 cedars, which the Tyrians used for masts of vessels and 
 boxes of merchandise (Ezek. xxv. 5, 24), David for his 
 palace on Mount Zion (2 Sam. v. 11), Solomon in the erec- 
 tion of the temple, floating them by sea to Joppa (2 Chron. 
 ii. 8, 16), and the Jews after the captivity in building the 
 second temple. Ezra iii. 7. 
 
 The southern portion of the anti-Libanus range was 
 known as Mount Hermon, which, according to Dent. iii. 9, 
 the Sidonians called "Sirion" and the Amorites ''Shenir," 
 -ind also bore the name of "Sion" (Dent. iv. 45), a different 
 word in Hebrew from "Zion," the mountain in Jerusalem, 
 though this is also spelled "Sion" in the New Testament. 
 ETermon is the highest point in the range, rising to an alti- 
 tude of perhaps 10,000 feet, and covered with perpetual 
 snow. The hoary whiteness of its summit has given rise to 
 its modern name of Jebel-es-Sheikh, old man mountain, or 
 Jebel-el-telj, snow mountain. 
 
 Passing southward upon the west of the Jordan, we first 
 meet Mount Naphtali, mentioned once (Josh. xx. 7) as the 
 site of Kedesh, one of the cities of refuge. It is a spur 
 running south-west from Hermon, and is named from the 
 tribe within whose territory it lay. This falls off into the 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 153 
 
 high table-land of Zebuliin, or of Galilee, which slopes 
 gradually into the plain on the seacoast, but with a steeper 
 descent into the valley of jezreel on the south, and more 
 abruptly still toward the Lake of Gennesaret and the val- 
 ley of the Jordan. From this elevated base arises the so- 
 called Mount of Beatitudes, nearly due west from the mid- 
 dle of the lake, and Mount Tabor farther south, almost on 
 a line with the extremity of the same base. The former, 
 which derives its name from the doubtful tradition that the 
 Sermon on the Mount was delivered on its summit, is a low 
 ridge thirty or forty feet high and scarcely half a mile long. 
 Mount Tabor is in appearance a truncated cone, rising to a 
 considerable elevation and having a level plot of more than 
 a mile in circumference upon its summit, which commands 
 a view of rare extent and beauty. It is spoken of (Josh. 
 xix. 22) as one point in the boundary of the tribe of Issa- 
 char ; at this mountain Barak assembled his army before 
 his victory over Sisera (Judg. iv. 6), here Gideon's brethren 
 were slain by the Midianites (Judg. viii. 18), and tradition 
 has fixed upon it as the scene of our Lord's transfiguration. 
 South of the table-land of Nazareth runs the broad and 
 fertile valley of Jezreel, separating it from the high land 
 beyond, which extends southward to the limits of Palestine. 
 This, though forming an uninterrupted hill country, is dis- 
 tinguished (Josh. XX. 7) into the mountain of Ephraim and 
 the mountain of Judah, the former embracing the northern 
 and the latter the southern portion of it, the names being 
 derived from the tribes in whose territories it lay. At the 
 north-eastern extremity of this mountain land of Ephraim 
 we find Mount Gilboa, overlooking the valley of Jezreel 
 and the plain of the Jordan ; here Saul and his sons were 
 slain in battle with the Philistines. 1 Sam. xxxi. North 
 of this mountain, and separated from it by a branch of the 
 valley of Jezreel, lies a high ridge to which tradition has im- 
 properly given the name of Hermon, and which is in con- 
 
154 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 sequence often called Little Hermon, in distinction from 
 the true Hermon already spoken of. 
 
 At its north-western extremity the mountain of Ephraim 
 sends out a long spur reaching to the sea, the extremity of 
 which is known as the promontory of Mount Carmel. This 
 name, which signifies " a garden," was bestowed upon it on 
 account of its fertility. Hence, Isaiah, describing the glo- 
 rious changes of the future under the emblem of the desert 
 being made to bloom, says (xxxv. 2), " The glory of Leba- 
 non and the excellency of Carmel shall be given unto it." 
 This marked the southern boundary of the tribe of Asher 
 (Josh. xix. 26) ; here Elijah encountered the prophets of 
 Baal and his sacrifice was consumed by fire from heaven 
 (1 Kings xviii. 19, ff".) ; from its summit his servant saw the 
 little cloud arising out of the sea (ver. 44); and here we 
 subsequently find Elisha. 2 Kings iv. 25. Its modern 
 name is Jebel mar Elias, or the mountain of St. Elijah. 
 The order of Carmelite monks takes its name from this 
 mountain, on which convents have been erected at different 
 periods. The snowy peak of Hermon is visible from its 
 summit, though perhaps fifty miles distant. The immense 
 number of caves and grottoes, natural or artificial, which 
 here exist and afford remarkable facilities for concealment, 
 is perhaps alluded to in Amos ix. 3 : " Though they hide 
 themselves in the top of Carmel." 
 
 To the mountains of Ephraim further belong Ebal and 
 Gerizim, which rise in steep, rocky precipices frotn opposite 
 sides of the narrow valley of Shechem. The children of 
 Israel were directed (Deut. xxvii.), on their entrance into 
 Canaan, to erect an altar on Ebal, and six tribes were to 
 stand on Ebal to pronounce the curses of the law, and six 
 on Gerizim to pronounce blessings. The Samaritans built 
 a temple on Gerizim in the time of Alexander the Great, 
 and substituted " Gerizim " for " Ebal " in their copies of 
 the law in the passage above referred to. To this temple 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 155 
 
 the woman of Samaria alluded when she said (John iv. 20), 
 "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain," and to this 
 day the Samaritans turn their faces toward Mount Gerizira 
 when they pray. It was from the top of Gerizim that Jo- 
 tham propounded his parable to the men of Shechera. 
 Judg. ix. 7. 
 
 To the mountain land of Ephraim also belong the hill of 
 Samaria (1 Kings xvi. 24), on which the city of that name 
 was built; Mount Zalmon, which must have been some- 
 where in the vicinity of Shechem ; the hill Gaash, where 
 Joshua was buried (Josh. xx. 30) ; and Mount Zemaraim, 
 the scene of a victory by King Abijah over Jeroboan. 
 (2 Chron.xiii. 3), whose localities cannot now be identified. 
 
 The southern part of this elevated region, or the moun- 
 tain of Judah, includes the mountains of Jerusalem, viz : Zion, 
 which David selected for his own residence (2 Sam. v. 7), 
 and on which he erected a temporary tabernacle for the 
 ark (2 Sam. vi. 12, ff.) ; Mount Moriah, on which Solomon 
 built the temple (2 Chron. iii. 1), and where Abraham had 
 been directed to offer Isaac (Gen. xxii. 2); and the Mount 
 of Olives on the east side of the city. On the eastern 
 border of this mountain district of Judah, near Jericho, is 
 Mount Quarantaniti, so called as the reputed scene of our 
 Lord's temptation and fasting for forty days. At the foot 
 of this mountain is a spring, said to be the one which Eli- 
 sha healed by casting into it a cruse of salt. 2 Kings ii. 21. 
 
 The south-eastern portion of this high table-land was the 
 wilderness of Judah (Judg. i. 16), different portions of 
 which went by different names derived from places in the 
 vicinity, as the wilderness of Tekoah (2 Chron. xx. 20), 
 and the following, which occur in the history of David : the 
 wilderness of Engedi (1 Sam. xxiv. 1), of Maon (1 Sam. 
 xxiii. 25), of Ziph. 1 Sam. xxiii. 14. Carmel, also, where 
 Nabal resided (1 Sam. xxv.), is in this region, and must not 
 be confounded with the promontory of Mount Carmel, be- 
 
156 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 fore described. The southern extremity of the mountain 
 of Judah, where it abuts upon the wilderness, is called the 
 mountain of the Amorites. Deut. i. 7. The children of 
 Israel presumptuously undertook to enter the land by this 
 route after they had been condemned to retrace their steps 
 in the wilderness, and were in consequence smitten before 
 the Amorites. Deut. i. 43, 44. 
 
 The elevated district east of the Jordan was called in its 
 northern portion the hill of Bashan (Ps. Ixviii. 15), cele- 
 brated for its oaks (Isa. ii. 13) and for its cattle (Deut. 
 xxxii. 14; Ps. xxii. 12), which there found abundant pas- 
 turage. Farther south it was known as Mount Gilead 
 (Deut. iii. 12), and opposite the Dead Sea the range took 
 the name of the mountain Abarim (Deut. xxxii. 49), to 
 which belong Mount Nebo, a particular summit, and Mount 
 Pisgah, a portion of the range (Deut. xxxiv. 1) from which 
 Moses saw the promised land, and where he died ; also 
 Mount Peor, to which, as well as to Pisgah, Balak brought 
 Balaam when he wished him to curse Israel. 
 
 The mountains of Palestine are mostly composed of 
 limestone, in which are numerous caves, such as those in 
 which the Israelites hid from fear of the Midianites (Judg. vi. 
 2), or of the Philistines. 1 Sam. xiii. 6. Five kings of the 
 Canaanites concealed themselves in the cave at Makkedali 
 (Josh. X. 16) ; six hundred Benjamites abode in the rock 
 Rimmon four months (Judg. xx. 47) ; David and his men 
 took refuge from the pursuit of Saul in the cave Adullam 
 (1 Sam. xxii. 1) and in another in the wilderness of En- 
 gedi. 1 Sam. xxiv. 3. The cave in Machpelah was pur- 
 chased by Abraham for a burial-place (Gen. xxiii. 17), and 
 our Lord's body was laid in a tomb hewn out of the rock. 
 Matt, xxvii. 60. 
 
 The mountains of Bashan consist of a black basalt, which 
 contains no caves and is too hard to be hollowed out. This 
 explains the circumstance mentioned (Deut. iii. 4, 5) as 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 157 
 
 peculiar to Bashan, that the cities were fenced with high 
 walls, gates and bars. In the regions traversed by the 
 children of Israel previously the people dwelt largely in 
 habitations excavated from the rock, as in the Edomite city 
 of Petra. Obad., ver. 3. But in Bashan this v/as impossi- 
 ble. The only way in which they could there provide for 
 mutual defence was by living together in walled cities. 
 
 LESSOM 11. 
 PLAINS AND VALLEYS, 
 
 The valley of Jezreel has already been spoken of as 
 intersecting the highlands west of the Jordan, It lies 
 between the mountains of Galilee on the north, the moun- 
 tains of Ephraim on the south, Mount Carmel on the west 
 and Mount Gilboa on the east, and is perhaps twenty miles 
 long by ten broad. It derives its name from the city of 
 Jezreel, and is occasionally called the valley of Megiddo 
 from another town included within its limits. 2 Chron. 
 XXXV. 22. This has been the great battle-ground of Pales- 
 tine. Here Gideon gained his victory over the Midianites 
 (Judg. vi. 32 ; vii. 22) ; here the Israelites encamped prior 
 to Saul's last battle with the Philistines (1 Sam. xxix. 1); 
 here the Syrians were beaten by Ahab when they said the 
 Lord was the God of the hills, but not of the valleys (1 Kings 
 XX. 26) ; here King Josiah was slain in battle with the king 
 of Egypt. 2 Kings xxiii. 29. It was, according to Jose- 
 phus, the scene of a battle between the Jews and the Ro- 
 mans under Vespasian, and in modern times the French 
 under Napoleon here gained a victory over the Turks. 
 
 The plain along the sea-coast is divided by Mount Car- 
 mel. That portion which extends northward to the prom- 
 ontory known as the Ladder of Tyre is not particularly 
 
 14 
 
158 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 mentioned m Scripture. The other portion, extending from 
 Mount Carmel to the southern boundary of Palestine, is 
 about one hundred miles in length and from twelve to 
 twenty miles in breadth. From Carmel to Joppa or Jarn- 
 nia it was called the plain of Sharon, whose fertility and 
 beauty are frequently celebrated in the Bible. South of 
 this it was called the vale (Josh. x. 48) ; its Hebrew name, 
 Sephela, is retained in 1 Mace. xii. 38. The valley of Sorek 
 (Judg. xvi. 4), where Samson found Delilah, was probably 
 somewhere in this Philistine vale. 
 
 The plain of the Jordan (Gen. xiii. 10; called, Matt. iii. 5, 
 the region round about Jordan) is the valley through which 
 the Jordan flows. It is of varying width and mostly 
 bounded on each side by steep ascents. In the vicinity of 
 Jericho it was called the plain of the valley of Jericho 
 (Deut. xxxiv. 3), and on the east of Jordan, opposite Jeri- 
 cho, it was called the plains of Moab. Num. xx. 1. As 
 this depression continues southward from the Dead Sea to 
 the ^lanitic gulf, it was formerly thought that the Jordan 
 flowed by this channel into the Red Sea prior to the de- 
 struction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But this opinion has 
 been abandoned since the discovery of the fact that this 
 valley for a considerable distance descends northward to- 
 ward the Dead Sea, and that the level of the Dead Sea 
 itself is so i'ar below that of neighboring seas. The Val- 
 ley of Salt, where David smote the Syrians (2 Sam. xiii. 13), 
 and where Araaziah gained a victory over Edoni (2 Kings 
 xiv. 7), was south of the Dead Sea in this extension of the 
 valley of the Jordan. 
 
 Seas, Lakes and Rivers. 
 
 The Mediterranean is called the sea (Num. xxxiv. 5), the 
 great sea (vs. 6, 7), the uttermost sea (Deut. xi. 24) — i. e., 
 the hindmost sea, which is equivalent to the western sea, 
 since the face was turned to the east in naming the points 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 159 
 
 of the compass; it is also entitled the sea of the Philistines 
 (Ex. xxiii. 31), because the Philistines occupied a portion 
 of its coast. The shores of this sea from the Ladder of 
 Tyre northward are rocky and precipitous. But the greater 
 portion of the coast of Palestine is low and sandy. The 
 only good harbor is that lying north of Carmel, though 
 voyages were made to and from Joppa (Jon. i. 3) and ves- 
 sels landed at Csesarea. Acts xviii. 22. 
 
 The Jordan forms the eastern boundary of Canaan, prop- 
 erly so called, or the dividing line between Eastern and West- 
 ern Palestine. This river is formed by the confluence of 
 three or four small streams which descend from the region 
 of Mount Herraon. It flows first iFito the Lake of Merom, 
 on the banks of w^hich Joshua discomfited Jabin, king of 
 Hazor, and the kings that were with him. Josh. xi. 7. A 
 few miles below this it flows through the Lake of Gennes- 
 aret, the Sea of Galilee, or the Sea of Tiberias, as it is 
 variously called in the New Testament, where it is repeat- 
 edly mentioned in connection with events in the life of our 
 Lord ; its name in the Old Testament is the Sea of Cinne- 
 roth (Josh. xii. 3), or, with a slightly different orthography, 
 Chinnereth. Num. xxxiv. 11. This lake is about twelve 
 miles long and five broad, and is encased among beautiful 
 and verdant hills, having on the west the table-land of Gali* 
 lee and on the east the still steeper and loftier region of 
 Bashan. The waters of the lake are clear and sweet, and 
 at its northern extremity abound in fish. 
 
 Leaving this lake, the Jordan continues to flow due south 
 until it reaches the Dead Sea, called also the sea of the 
 plain, the salt sea (Deut iii. 7) and the east sea (Ezek. 
 xlvii. 18), which occupies the site of Sodom and Gomorrah 
 and the other cities of the plain, which were destroyed by 
 fire from heaven, whence its modern name among the na- 
 tives of that region is the Sea of Lot. It is about forty 
 milee long and ten broad, and receives its current desigua- 
 
160 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 tion, " the Dead Sea," from the fact that there is no verdure 
 on its shores and no life in its waters, which are acrid and 
 strongly impregnated with mineral salts. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that the Jordan lies throughout 
 its whole extent below the level of the Mediterranean. 
 The Lake of Gennesaret is 700 feet below the level of the 
 sea, and the Dead Sea 1300 feet below the same level. 
 There is thus a fall of 600 feet between them, while the 
 distance is but sixty miles in a direct line, though trebled 
 by the tortuous course of the river. The depth of the val- 
 ley of the Jordan, bordered as it is by high mountains, 
 which shelter it from cooling winds and concentrate the 
 rays of the sun, makes its climate almost tropical and its 
 harvest a fortnight earlier than in the highlands to the east 
 of it ; and the great heat in the basin of the Dead Sea pro- 
 duces an evaporation which balances the influx of the 
 Jordan. 
 
 All the streams of the land west of the Jordan flow 
 either east into this river or west into the Mediterranean, 
 and the watershed, or dividing line between those which run 
 in one direction or in the other, lies near the main route, 
 which traverses the land from south to north, and passes 
 through its principal places, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, 
 and so on to Nazareth. The line which separates the east- 
 ern from the western declivity accordingly runs not through 
 the centre of the land, but considerably nearer its eastern 
 border, making the western slope twice as long as the east- 
 ern, the latter being in the same proportion more precipi- 
 tous. The streams which fall into the Jordan are conse- 
 quently smaller than those which empty into the Mediter- 
 ranean, and partake more of the character of mountain tor- 
 rents. 
 
 The Shihor-libnath (Josh. xix. 26) mentioned in the 
 statement of the boundaries of Asher has been plausibly 
 conjectured to be the Belus of classic writers, emptying 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 161 
 
 near the town of Accho, Upon its banks, according to 
 Pliny and Tacitus, glass was accidentally discovered by the 
 melting of its sands. According to some eminent author- 
 ities, its Hebrew name denotes "the glass river." 
 
 The Kishon drains the valley of Jezreel and empties near 
 the foot of Mount Carmel. This is called by Deborah " that 
 ancient river, the river Kishon," and she speaks of its 
 sweeping away the dead bodies of Sisera's host. Judg. v. 
 21. It was by this stream that Elijah put to death the 
 prophets of Baal. 1 Kings xviii. 40. 
 
 The streams south of Carmel are more insignificant and 
 of less note. The river Kanah (Josh. xvi. 8), or " brook 
 of reeds," is only mentioned as the border line of Eph- 
 raim. The brook Besor, which runs south of Gaza, was 
 crossed by David (1 Sam. xxx. 9) in his pursuit of the 
 Amalekites who had burned Ziklag. The river of Egypt 
 (Gen. XV. 18) is the last of these streams, and marks the 
 southern border of Palestine. Its modern name is the 
 wady el-Arish. 
 
 Of the trifling streams which find their way to the Jor- 
 dan, the only ones mentioned in Scripture are the brook 
 Cherith (1 Kings xvii. 3, 5), where Elijah was fed by 
 ravens, and which Robinson identifies with the wady Kelt, 
 near Jericho ; the waters healed by Elisha (2 Kings ii. 21), 
 also in the vicinity of Jericho ; and the Kedron (John xviii. 
 1), which rises near Jerusalem and empties into the Dead 
 Sea. 
 
 On the east of the Jordan we find three principal streams. 
 The Jarmuk or Hieromax is nowhere referred to in the 
 Bible. The Jabbok separated the land of the Amorites 
 from Bashan, and subsequently the territory of Gad from 
 that of the half tribe of Manasseh ; it is first mentioned 
 in the account of Jacob's return from Mesopotamia, and 
 it was on its banks that he wrestled with the angel and pre- 
 vailed. Gen. xxxii, 12, And finally we have the Arnon, 
 
 14* 
 
162 PBEPABING TO TEACH. 
 
 which empties into the Dead Sea and separated Moab on the 
 south from Ammon on the north. 
 
 Climate. 
 
 The year is divided into two seasons, the winter, or more 
 properly the cold season, extending from October to March, 
 and the summer, or warm season, from April to Septem- 
 ber. During the latter no rain falls, but the dews are very 
 copious. Hence, "rain in harvest" is spoken of (Prov. 
 xxvi. 1) as something quite out of place, and " thunder and 
 rain in wheat harvest" were sent by miracle at the prayer 
 of Samuel. 1 Sam. xii. 17. The first rain, commonly styled 
 the early rain, fell in October, after which the winter crops, 
 principally wheat and barley, were sown. Rain was thence- 
 forward liable to occur at intervals until March and the 
 beginning of April, which was the end of the rainfall for 
 the year, and was accordingly known as the period of the 
 latter rain. Snow is not infrequent from December to Feb- 
 ruary, though in Jerusalem it rarely lies longer than a sin- 
 gle day. 
 
 The winds from the west and south-west, coming from the 
 Mediterranean, were charged with moisture, and brought 
 showers and rain (Luke xii. 54) ; the east wind, in conse- 
 quence of the desert region over which it passed, was dry 
 and withering in its effect. Hos. xiii. 15. The south wind, 
 proceeding from the warm countries of that quarter, brought 
 heat. Luke xii. 55. The hot simoom of the desert appears 
 to be alluded to (Ps. xi. 6), where " an horrible tempest" is 
 literally " a burning wind." This never blows in Palestine, 
 though it does in the neighboring desert of Arabia. 
 
 The extraordinary fertility of Palestine is celebrated not 
 only in the Bible (Deut. viii. 7-9), where it is repeatedly 
 called a land flowing with milk and honey (Ex. iii. 8), but 
 also by the classic writers of antiquity; and this is con- 
 firmed by the population which it once supported. In the 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 163 
 
 days of David this must have amounted to 400 to the 
 square mile ; t:nd according to Josephus, the population was 
 still more dense in his time. Its present condition is in 
 lamentable contrast with its former state. The land has 
 been desolated by the curse of centuries. Property has 
 been rendered so insecure by the wars which have raged 
 there, by the exactions of oppressive rulers and by the in- 
 cursions of predatory tribes, that large portions are left 
 waste and uncultivated. And by the neglect of ages the 
 soil has been allowed to be washed from the hillsides and 
 other exposed situations, until the fruitful land has actually 
 been converted into barrenness. Ps. cvii. 34. 
 
 Inhabitants and Civil Divisions. 
 
 "When Israel entered Canaan, it was held by seven na- 
 tions, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Per- 
 izzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Deut. vii. 1. In Gen. xv. 
 19-21 ten nations are spoken of, but the Kenites, Keniz- 
 zites and Kadmonites may have been subdivisions of one 
 or other of the seven already mentioned. These various 
 tribes, which were descended from Canaan, the youngest son 
 of Ham (Gen. x. 15, jff.), were not, however, the original 
 occupants of the land. We find occasional allusions to an 
 antecedent population, which from their powerful frames 
 and great stature were called Eephaim or giants. Gen. 
 xiv. 5. To these belonged the Anakim (Num. xiii. 33), the 
 Emims (Deut. ii. 10), who are described as " a people great 
 and many, and tall as the Anakims," the Horims (ver. 12), 
 the Zamzummims (ver. 20) and the Avims. ver. 23. 
 
 The Philistines, who resided in the south-western portion 
 of the land, belonged to a diffei'ent stratum of population 
 from either of the preceding. The name properly means 
 "emigrants" or "aliens." They were descended, not from 
 Canaan, but from Mizraim, another son of Ham. Gen. x. 
 14. According to Amof ix. 7, they came from Caphtor, 
 
164 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 (which has been variously identified with Cappadocia, with 
 the island of Crete and with a portion of Egypt), and seized 
 upon the territory previously possessed by the Avims (Deut. 
 ii. 23) in the region of Azza — that is, Gaza. The Philis- 
 tines are spoken of as early as the time of Abraham (Gen. 
 xxi. 34) and Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 1) in the region of Beer- 
 sheba and Gerar; also at the time of the Exodus as hold- 
 ing the direct route from Egypt to Palestine. They were 
 not conquered by Joshua, and he does not even seem to 
 have come into collision with them, as they are not men- 
 tioned in any of his battles. They are but once referred to 
 in the book of Joshua (xiii. 2, 3), and that simply as a peo- 
 ple to be subdued. In the period of the Judges they for a 
 time gained the ascendency over Israel, until their power 
 was broken by Samuel (1 Sam. vii. 13), and they were still 
 further humbled by Saul and by David. They were not 
 exterminated, however, and we hear of them in the reigns 
 of the later kings as sometimes tributary and sometimes 
 making incursions and predatory forays. They are once 
 spoken of by Zechariah (ix. 6) after the return from the 
 Babylonish exile, but from that time they vanish out of 
 history. 
 
 When Israel took possession of Canaan, two tribes and a 
 half were settled east of the Jordan, viz., Keuben on the 
 south. Gad in the middle and the half tribe of Manasseh 
 on the north. The other nine and a half tribes were 
 located west of the Jordan ; Judah, Simeon, Dan and Ben- 
 jamin w^ere in the south ; Ephraim, Issachar and the other 
 half of Manasseh were in the middle or central portion 
 of the land; Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali were in the 
 north. The tribe of Levi had no separate inheritance in 
 the land, but forty-eight cities, with their suburbs, were as- 
 signed to them in the territory of the other tribes. Josh. xxi. 
 
 This partition among the tribes was, at the time of the 
 Bchism of Jeroboam, superseded by another, or rather a 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 165 
 
 fresh division of yet greater political importance was super- 
 induced upon it, viz., that into two rival and often hostile 
 kingdoms. Ten tribes adhered to the northern section, 
 which was called the kingdom of Israel, and sometimes 
 the kingdom of Ephraim, from the preponderance of that 
 powerful tribe. Judah and Benjamin adhered to the south- 
 ern, which was called the kingdom of Judah. 
 
 Under the Romans and in the times of the New Testa- 
 ment the current division was into Judea, Samaria and 
 Galilee on the west of Jordan, and Perea on the east of 
 Jordan. The name Perea does not occur in the New Tes- 
 tament, but it is referred to as the region beyond Jordan. 
 Matt. iv. 25. 
 
 LESSOJ^ IIL 
 CITIES. 
 
 The cities, towns and villages of Palestine may be con- 
 veniently grouped in four lines from north to south, corre- 
 sponding to the main physical features of the country as 
 already described. Omitting those which are rarely men- 
 tioned in the Bible, or which are of little consequence, we 
 shall give a cursory view of the principal places situated — 
 1. On the plain along the sea-coast ; 2. On the central high- 
 lands west of the Jordan ; 3. In the plain of the Jordan ; 
 4. On the highlands east of the Jordan. 
 
 Cities near the Sea-coast. 
 
 Proceeding from the north southward, we first come to 
 three cities commonly reckoned as belonging to Phenicia 
 rather than to Palestine, viz. : 
 
 Zidon or Sidon, which was assigned to Asher, though 
 never conquered and occupied Sy that tribe. Judg. i. 31. 
 
166 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 Zarephath or Sarepta, tlie village where Elijah was nour- 
 ished by the widow. 1 Kings xvii. 9 ; Luke iv. 26. 
 
 Tyre was founded by a colony from Zidon, which in the 
 time of Joshua still maintained its original superiority, and 
 is hence called " great Ziaon " (Josh. xi. 8 ; xix. 29) ; but 
 by the days of David and Solomon, Tyre had outstripped 
 the mother city, and had become the capital of Phenicia. 
 1 Kings V. 1,6. Tyre was famous in antiquity not only for 
 its extensive trade, but for the sieges which it sustained. 
 Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, besieged it for five years 
 without being able to reduce it. Nebuchadnezzar, king of 
 Babylon, besieged it for thirteen years. Alexander the 
 Great reduced it after a siege of seven months. The city 
 has long since ceased to exist, and is, as was predicted, a 
 place for the spreading of nets. Ezek. xxvi. 5. 
 
 Accho lay across the bay from Mount Carmel. It be- 
 longed to the tribe of Asher, though it was not conquered 
 by them. Judg. i. 31. In the New Testament it is called 
 Ptoleraais, and is mentioned in the travels of the apostle 
 Paul. Acts xxi. 7. Under its modern name. Acre, it was 
 famous in the history of the Crusaders, and was held by 
 them for some time after the rest of Palestine had been 
 abandoned. 
 
 South of the promontory of Carmel we find Csesarea, 
 so called by Herod in honor of Augustus Caesar, and com- 
 monly known as Caesarea Palsestina, to distinguish it from 
 Caesarea Philippi, which lay at the foot of Mount Hermon, 
 near the sources of the Jordan, and was so called from 
 Philip, the tetrarch of that region (Luke iii. 1), who named 
 it Csesarea in honor of Tiberias Csesar. Csesarea Philippi 
 is mentioned in our Lord's history (Matt. xvi. 13 ; Mark 
 viii. 27), as he was once in its vicinity. Caesarea of Pales- 
 tine is spoken of repeatedly in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 The evangelist Philip, one of the seven original deacons, 
 resided there (Acts viii. 40 ; xxi. 8), so did Cornelius the 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 167 
 
 centurion (Acts x. 1); here Herod Agrippa came to his 
 miserable end (Acts xii. 13, fF.), and it is several times men- 
 tioned in the narrative both of Paul's travels and of his 
 imprisonment, being the residence of the Roman governors 
 of Judea. 
 
 Autipatris is the place to which Paul was sent by the 
 chief captain of Jerusalem on his way to Csesarea after his 
 arrest. Acts xxiii. 31. 
 
 Joppa or Japho (Josh. xix. 46) lay in the border of the 
 territory assigned to Dan. The cedars of Lebanon were 
 conveyed by sea to this place for building Solomon's tem- 
 ple (2 Ghron. ii. 16), and again after the exile for building 
 the second temple. Ezra iii. 7. Jonah took ship from Joppa 
 when fleeing from the presence of the Lord. Jon. i. 3. 
 Peter here restored Tabitha to life (Acts ix. 36, ff*.), and he 
 saw here the vision of the sheet let down from heaven. 
 Acts X. 
 
 Lydda or Lod (Neh. xi. 35) lay in the vicinity of Joppa, 
 on the road to Jerusalem ; here Peter restored Eneas. Acts 
 ix. 32, ff. 
 
 The neighboring Kamleh is by many regarded as the 
 Arimathea of the New Testament (Matt, xxvii. 57) and the 
 Ramathaim-Zophim of 1 Sam. i. 19, also often called Ra- 
 mah, where the prophet Samuel was born, lived and died, 
 though their identity is disputed. 
 
 Then follow the five cities of the Philistines (1 Sam. vi. 
 17), which may be traced in a circuit in alphabetical order • 
 Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, Gaza. 
 
 Cities of the Western Highland. 
 
 These are mostly situated on the crest which divides the 
 eastern from the western declivity, or the waters flowing 
 east from those flowing west, the summits having been built 
 upon because they were the most impregnable and easily 
 defensible positions. This too is the main traveled route 
 
1-68 PBEPABING TO TEACH. 
 
 from south to north. Beginning at the south and proceed- 
 ing northward, we come first to — 
 
 Ziklag, in the southern boundary of Judah, according to 
 the original apportionment (Josh. xv. 31), afterward trans- 
 ferred to Simeon (Josh. xix. 5), presented to David by 
 Achish, king of Gath (1 Sam. xxvii. 6), and sacked by the 
 Amalekites, whom David chastised in consequence. 1 Sam, 
 XXX. David was in Ziklag at the time of Saul's death. 
 2 Sam. i. 1. 
 
 Beersheba received its name from Abraham (Gen. xxi. 31), 
 and is repeatedly mentioned in the sojournings of the patri- 
 archs ; from the sacredness thus attached to it, it became one of 
 the chief seats of idolatry, and is so spoken of by the prophet 
 Amos. V. 5 ; viii. 4. It lay near the southern border of Pales- 
 tine, as did Dan near the northern ; whence the phrase "from 
 Dan to Beersheba" (Judg. xx. 1) denoted the entire land. 
 
 Hebron, called by the Canaanites Kirjath-arba or city 
 of Arba (Josh. iv. 15), was for some time the abode of 
 Abraham. Gen. xiii. 18. Here, in the cave of Machpelah, 
 Abraham and Sarah were buried, as well as Isaac and Re- 
 bekah, Jacob and Leah. Gen. xlix. 31. In the division 
 of the land it was given to Caleb as his possession (Josh. 
 xiv. 14), and was one of the cities of refuge west of the 
 Jordan (Josh. xx. 7), the other two being Shechem, in the 
 centre of the land, and Kedesh, in the north. David reigned 
 here over Judah seven years and six months (2 Sam. ii. 11), 
 and was here anointed king over all Israel (2 Sam. v. 3), 
 after which he transferred his capital to Jerusalem. It was 
 at Hebron that Absalom began his rebellion. 2 Sam. xv. 10. 
 
 Bethlehem, also called Ephrath and Bethlehem-judah, to 
 distinguish it from another Bethlehem of little note in the 
 tribe of Zebulun. Near this place Rachel was buried. 
 Gen. XXXV. 19. Here Elimelech and Naomi lived (Ruth 
 i. 1), and hither Naomi returned with Ruth after a tempo- 
 rary sojourn in the land of Moab (Ruth i. 22), and here 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 169 
 
 David was born. 1 Sam. xvii. 12. But Bethlehem is 
 chiefly distinguished as the birthplace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ (Matt. ii. 1), agreeably to the prophecy of Micah. 
 V. 2. 
 
 Jerusalem, originally called Salem (Gen. xiv. 18), and 
 during the Jebusite occupation Jebus (Judg. xix. 10), was 
 made by David the capital of his kingdom and the relig- 
 ious centre of the nation after the expulsion of the Jebusites. 
 2 Sam. V. 6-9. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Jerusalem, toward the east, lay 
 Bethany, the residence of Lazarus and his sisters (John 
 xi, 18) ; Nob, where Ahimelech the priest gave David the 
 shew-bread and the sword of Goliath (1 Sam. 21), in con- 
 sequence of which all the inhabitants of the place were put 
 to death by Saul; and Anathoth, a city of the priests 
 within the limits of Benjamin (Josh. xxi. 18), to which 
 Abiathar w^as banished by King Solomon (1 Kings ii. 26), 
 and where the prophet Jeremiah was born. Jer. i. 1. 
 
 To the west of Jerusalem lay Mizpeh, where the children 
 of Israel assembled themselves before the Lord, when they 
 went up to war against Benjamin (Judg. xx. 1 ; xxi. 1), 
 where Samuel gained his great victory over the Philistines 
 (1 Sam. vii, 10), and where Saul was chosen king (1 Sam. 
 ii. 17, ff.); Emmaus, whither our Lord walked with two 
 disciples after his resurrection (Luke xxiv. 13), and which 
 should not be confounded with another Emmaus, also called 
 Nicopolis, on the road to Lydda and Joppa, which is no- 
 where mentioned in the Old or New Testament, though it is 
 in the Apocrypha and by Joseph us ; and Gibeon, whose in- 
 habitants made peace with Joshua by a stratagem (Josh. ix. 
 3), and which was subsequently a city of the priests (Josh. 
 xxi. 17), and where the tabernacle of Moses was tempo- 
 rarily located. 2 Chron. i. 3. 
 
 Again proceeding northward from Jerusalem by the 
 main route, we come to — 
 
 15 
 
170 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 Gibeah, called also Gibeah of Benjamin and Gibeah of 
 Saul, to distinguish it from other places of this name in 
 different parts of the land. Here the crime was committed 
 in the period of the judges which led to the almost total 
 extinction of the tribe of Benjamin. Judg. ch. xix, xx. 
 Here King Saul resided (1 Sam. x. 26), and here seven of 
 Saul's descendants were executed to appease the Gibeonites. 
 2 Sam. xxi. 6. 
 
 Eamah was near Gibeah (Judg. xix. 13), and was forti- 
 fied by Baasha, king of Israel, as a border city between the 
 two kingdoms. 1 Kings xv. 17. This is not to be confounded 
 with the Ramah where the prophet Samuel lived, which 
 has not been certainly identified, though it may have been 
 the same with the modern Ramleh. 
 
 Beeroth, in the Canaanitish period subject to Gibeon 
 (Josh. ix. 17) ; the murderers of Ishbosheth, the son of 
 Saul, were natives of this place. 2 Sam. iv. 2. 
 
 Bethel, originally called Luz, where God appeared twice 
 to Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 11, ff. ; xxxv. 15), and where the ark 
 was kept temporarily. Judg. xx. 26, 27. ["The house of 
 God " (ver. 26) is properly " Bethel."] It was one of the 
 places where the prophet Samuel judged. 1 Sam. vii. 16. 
 The worship of the golden calves was set up here and at 
 Dan, in the north of the land, by Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 
 28, 29) ; the idolatry of Bethel was finally abolished by 
 Josiah. 2 Kings xxiii. 15. 
 
 Shiloh, where the ark and the tabernacle remained from 
 the time of Joshua (Josh, xviii. 1) to that of Samuel. 1 
 Sam. iv. 4. 
 
 Shechem, spoken of several times in the history of the 
 patriarchs, a Levitical city and a city of refuge. Josh. xxi. 
 21. Here Joshua delivered his last address to the people. 
 Josh. xxiv. 1. Jeroboam made it his residence after the 
 schism. 1 Kings xii. 25. In John (iv. 5) it is called Sychar ; 
 it was there that our Lord conversed with the woman of 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 171 
 
 Samaria beside Jacob's well. It was subsequently called 
 Neapolis, and in modern times this has been corrupted to 
 Nablus. 
 
 Samaria, built by Omri, king of Israel (1 Kings xvi. 24), 
 from which time it was the capital of the ten tribes, until 
 the kingdom was finally overthrown by Shalmaneser, king 
 of Assyria. 2 Kings xviii. 9, 10. 
 
 Jezreel, which gives name to the valley on the edge of 
 which it lies. Here Ahab had a palace, here was the vine- 
 yard of Naboth which Ahab coveted (1 Kings xxi. 1), and 
 here King Joram, Jezebel and the whole house of Ahab 
 were slain by Jehu. 2 Kings ch. ix., x. 
 
 A short distance westward in the valley is Megiddo, 
 where King Josiah was slain in battle with Pharaoh-necho, 
 king of Egypt. 2 Kings xxiii. 29. 
 
 Shunem, where the Philistines encamped against Saul 
 prior to his last battle (1 Sam. xxviii. 4), and where the 
 woman lived who entertained Elisha, and whose son he 
 raised from the dead. 2 Kings iv. 8. 
 
 Nain, where our Lord restored the widow's son. Luke 
 vii. 11. 
 
 Endor, where Saul consulted the woman with a familiar 
 spirit. 1 Sam. xxviii. 7. 
 
 Nazareth, where our Lord's childhood was passed. Luke 
 iv. 16. 
 
 Gath-hepher, the residence of the prophet Jonah. 2 Kings 
 xiv. 25. 
 
 Cana, where our Lord^s first miracle was wrought. John 
 ii. 1. 
 
 Kedesh, a Levitical city and a city of refuge (Josh. xxi. 
 32), and the residence of Barak. Judg. iv. 6. 
 
 Cities in the Plain of the Jordan. 
 Beginning in the north and proceeding southward we find — 
 Dan. also called Laish or Leshem, first mentioned in the 
 
172 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 life of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 14), taken possession of by a 
 party of Danites, though the proper territory of their tribe 
 lay in the south of the land. Josh. xix. 47 ; Judg. xviii. 29. 
 It was one of the chief seats of the worship of the golden 
 calves established by Jeroboam. 1 Kings xii. 29. 
 
 Csesarea Philippi, already spoken of as distinguished from 
 Csesarea Pal?estina on the coast. 
 
 Then follow several places on the shores of the Lake of 
 Gennesaret familiar from the history of our Lord's min- 
 istry — Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum (Matt. xi. 21, 23), 
 Magdala (Matt. xv. 39), Dalmanutha (Mark viii. 10), 
 Tiberias (John vi. 23), and, on the other side of the lake, 
 Gadara. Luke viii. 26. 
 
 Beth-shan, where SauFs body was fastened to the wall 
 of the town, and thus publicly exposed by the Philistines. 
 1 Sam. xxxi. 10. Its later name, Scythopolis, has been 
 thought to confirm the statement of Herodotus that the 
 Scythians once made an irruption into this region. 
 
 Bethabara, where John baptized (John i. 28), probably 
 the same as Beth-barah (Judg. vii. 24), where Gideon 
 checked the Midianites at the crossing of the Jordan. 
 
 Jericho, also called the city of palm trees (Deut. xxxiv. 
 3), was the first city taken by Joshua. Josh. ch. vi. The 
 curse pronounced on him who should rebuild the walls 
 miraculously thrown down (Josh. vi. 2S) was fulfilled upon 
 Hiel the Bethelite, 1 Kings xvi. 34. Sons or pupils of the 
 prophets were residing in Jericho in the time of Elijah and 
 Elisha (2 Kings ii. 5) ; here Elisha healed the fountain by 
 casting in salt (2 Kings ii. 21); here King Zedekiah was over- 
 taken when attempting to flee from the Chaldeans (2 Kings 
 XXV. 5) ; here our Lord was the guest of Zaccheus (Luke xix. 
 1-5) and cured the blindness of Bartimeus. Luke xviii. 35. 
 
 Gilgal was the first encampment of Israel in the promised 
 land. Josh. iv. 19. Sacrifices were offered here by Samuel 
 (1 Sam. x. 8; xi. 15) and by Saul. 1 Sam. xiii. 7-9. This 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 173 
 
 was one of the places of Samuel's judgment. 1 Sam. vii. 16. 
 Agag, king of the Amalekites, was here hewed to death by- 
 Samuel before the Lord. 1 Sam. xv. 33. Judah came to 
 Gilgal to meet King David returning after the death of 
 Absalom. 2 Sam. xix. 16. It is also mentioned in the life of 
 Elijah (2 Kings ii. 1), and was the scene of one of Elisha's 
 miracles. 2 Kings iv. 38. There was another Gilgal in the 
 vicinity of Antipatris, to which it has been supposed by 
 several scholars that some of these events are to be referred. 
 
 En-gedi lay on the western shore of the Dead Sea. David 
 concealed himself in the adjacent wilderness when pursued 
 by Saul. 1 Sam. xxiv. 1. Here Ammon, Moab and Edom 
 combined against Jehoshaphat when he gained his signal 
 victory over them. 2 Chrou. xx. 2. 
 
 The Dead Sea covers the sites of the cities of the plain 
 w^hich God overthrew by fire from heaven — Sodom and 
 Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim. Deut. xxix. 23. Zoar was 
 spared at Lot's intercession when the rest were consumed. 
 Gen. xix. 21, 22. 
 
 Kadesh-barnea was on the southern border of Palestine. 
 Num. xxxiv. 4. It was from this place the spies were sent 
 ■who brought back an evil report of the land. Num. xiii. 26. 
 Here Miriam died (Num. xx. 1) and Moses and Aaron 
 committed the trespass which excluded them from the 
 promised land. Num. xx. 12. 
 
 Cities East of the Jordan. 
 
 Beginning in the south and proceeding northward — 
 Machserus was a strong fortress east of the Dead Sea which 
 is not named in the Bible, but where, according to Jose- 
 phus, John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed. 
 
 Ramoth-gilead, a Levitical city (Josh. xxi. 38), and one 
 
 of the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan (Josh. xx. 
 
 8), the other two being Bezer in the south and Golan in 
 
 the north. Here Ahab was slain in battle by the Syrians 
 
 (1 Kings xxii. 29-34J, Joram, the son of Ahab, was 
 16* 
 
174 PREPABINQ TO TEACH. 
 
 wounded (2 Kings viii. 28), and Jehu was anointed king 
 over Israel by Elisha's direction. 2 Kings ix. 1, 2. 
 
 Mahanaim, where Jacob was met by the angels of God 
 as he was returning to Canaan from Padan-aram (Gen. 
 xxxii. 2), where Isbbosheth, Saul's son, was made king in 
 opposition to David (2 Sam. ii. 8), and whither David fled 
 when pursued by Absalom. 2 Sam. xvii. 24. 
 
 Jabesh-gilead, from which wives were taken for the rem- 
 nant of Benjamin in the general massacre of the tribe. 
 Judg. xxi. 14. It was threatened by the Ammonites and 
 relieved by Saul. 1 Sam. xi. 1-11. Its inhabitants took the 
 bodies of Saul and his sons from the scene of their shame- 
 ful exposure by the Philistines, and buried them. 1 Sam. 
 xxxi. 11-13. 
 
 LUSSOJr IV. 
 OTHEK BIBLE LANDS. 
 
 Antediluvian geography embraces the garden of Eden 
 (Gen. ii. 8, if.), with its four rivers, the Pison, which com- 
 passed the land of Havilah, the Gihon^ which compassed 
 the land of Cush,* the Hiddekel and the Euphrates ; also 
 the land of Nod (Gen. iv. 19), to which Cain was banished, 
 and the city of Enoch (ver. 17), built by him, None of 
 these can be certainly identified at the present time, except 
 the two rivers the Euphrates and the Hiddekel, which is 
 the Hebrew name for the Tigris. Dan. x. 4. 
 
 After the flood the ark rested upon the mountains of 
 Ararat (Gen. viii. 4), which is not in the Bible the name 
 of a single peak, but of the high table-land of Armenia 
 
 ^ See the margin of the English version. It is not the Ethiopia 
 known to later history which is intended, but some region now un- 
 known, which was occupied by Cush (Gen. x. 7), or a portion of his 
 descendants. 
 
OEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 175 
 
 (2 Kings xix. 37 ; Jer. li. 27), which contains the sources 
 of the Euphrates and Tigris. On the banks of the former, 
 in the lower portion of its course, lay the land of Shinar 
 (Gen. xi. 2), where the tower of Babel was built, whose 
 site was subsequently enclosed in the great city of Babylon. 
 In the days of Abraham the king of Shinar, with others, 
 invaded Canaan. Gen. xiv. 1. A goodly Babylonish gar- 
 ment is mentioned among the spoils of the city of Jericho 
 when it was taken by Joshua. Josh. vii. 21. Babylon 
 reached its greatest splendor and the height of its power 
 under Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iv. 30), by whom Jerusalem 
 was destroyed and Judah carried into captivity. Its superb 
 palaces and other structures, and the vast compass and 
 height of its walls, made it the wonder of the world. After 
 its capture by Cyrus (Isa. xlv. 1) it gradually declined 
 until it became an utter desolation. Isa. xiii. 19, ff. The 
 cities of Erech, Accad and Calneh (or Calno, Isa. x. 9), 
 which, with Babel, formed the beginning of Nimrod's king- 
 dom, were also in the laud of Shinar. Gen. x. 10. So was 
 the plain of Dura (Dan. iii. 1), where Nebuchadnezzar set 
 up his golden image. 
 
 Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, an exceeding great city 
 of three days' journey (Jon. iii. 3), lay on the eastern bank 
 of the Tigris. Rehoboth, Calah and Resen (Gen. x. 11, 
 12) were in the same vicinity. Cuthah, Ava (or Ivah), 
 Sepharvaim (2 Kings xvii. 24) and Hena (xix. 13) were 
 on or near the Euphrates, and subject to the king of 
 Assyria. 
 
 Media is in the Bible commonly associated with Persia, 
 to which it was united under Cyrus and his successors. 
 Dan. V. 28 ; Esth. i. 3. The captive Israelites were located 
 by the king of Assyria in the cities of the Medes, and by 
 Habor, the river of Gozan. 2 Kings xvii. 6. Whether this 
 is the same as the river Chebar (Ezek. iii. 15), where the 
 captives of Judah were subsequently settled, is disputed. 
 
176 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 The capital of Media was Achmetha (Ezra vi. 2), or 
 Ecbatana ; this was the royal residence of Cyrus, where, 
 accordingly, the official records of his reign were preserved,, 
 Elam was at first an independent kingdom (Gen. xiv. 1), 
 but was afterward incorporated in the Persian empire. 
 Its chief city, Shushan, near the river Ulai (Dan. viii. 2), 
 was the residence of Darius and the later Persian kings. 
 Parthians are mentioned (Acts ii. 9), along with Medes and 
 Elamites, as present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. 
 India is once mentioned in the Bible (Esth. i. 1), and it has 
 even been conjectured that China is referred to under the 
 name of Sinim. Isa. xlix. 12. 
 
 The district between the Tigris and Euphrates, north of 
 Babylonia, is known as Mesopotamia (Gen. xi. 10), or 
 Padan-aram. Gen. xxv. 20. Here was Haran (Gen. xi. 31), 
 to which Terah, the father of Abraham, removed from Ur 
 of the Chaldees, which some likewise place in this same 
 region, though others, with greater probability, seek for it 
 further south, in Chaldea proper or Babylonia. Pethor, the 
 native place of Balaam, was in Mesopotamia. Deut. xxiii. 4. 
 So was Carchemish on the Euphrates, where Nebuchadnezzar 
 gained a victory over Pharaoh-necho. 2 Chron. xxxv. 20 ; 
 Jer. xlvi. 2. 
 
 Padan-aram, literally, the plain of Aram, is a part of 
 the territory called Aram (Num. xxiii. 7), or Syria, in the 
 Old Testament, where this term is used in its widest sense 
 as extending from Lebanon to the Tigris. Hence Bethuel 
 and Laban are called Syrians because they resided in 
 Padan-aram. Gen. xxv. 20. More commonly the term is 
 restricted to the territory west of the Euphrates ; and so 
 understood, it was in the time of Saul and David divided 
 into several minor states or kingdoms, as Bethrehob, Zobah, 
 Maacah (2 Sam. x. 6), Geshur (2 Sam. xiii. 37 ; xv. 8) 
 and Damascus. 2 Sam. viii. 6. Tiphsah, on the Euphrates, 
 is spoken of (1 Kings iv. 24) as marking the eastern limit 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 177 
 
 of Solomon's dominions. Tadmor, built by Solomon in the 
 wilderness, is known in later times as Palmyra. Damascus, 
 in a fertile plain watered by the Abana and Pharpar (2 
 Kings V. 12), is at least as old as the time of Abraham. 
 Gen. XV. 2. It was subdued by David (2 Sara. viii. 6), but 
 recovered its independence under Solomon (1 Kings xi. 24), 
 and was subsequently the capital of a formidable power. 
 To this city Paul was going at the time of his conversion 
 (Acts ix. 3), and he lodged there in the street which was 
 called Straight. It was at this time subject to Aretas, an 
 Arabian knig. 2 Cor. xii. 32. Antioch, on the river Orontes, 
 was the city where the disciples were first called Christians 
 (Acts xi. 26), and from which the apostle Paul set forth on 
 his missionary journeys. Its seaport Avars Seleucia, at the 
 mouth of the river, whence Paul and Barnabas sailed for 
 Cyprus. Hamath, called by the prophet Amos (vi. 2) 
 Hamath the Great, was situated on the Orontes, about mid- 
 way between Antioch and the source of the river. The 
 entrance of Hamath, repeatedly mentioned as the limit of 
 the promised land (Num. xxxiv. 8 ; 1 Kings viii. 65), is 
 either a stream or depression by which Hamath was readily 
 reached from the sea-coast. Still higher on the Orontes 
 was Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where Jehoahaz was 
 put in chains by the king of Egypt (2 Kings xxiii. 33), 
 and the eyes of Zedekiah were put out by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 2 Kings XXV. 7. 
 
 We shall now pass from countries east of Palestine to 
 those which lay south of it. South of the territory of 
 Israel, east of the Jordan, and separated from it by the Ar- 
 non, lay the land of Moab, with its cities Kir of Moab and 
 Ar of Moab (Isa. xv. 1) ; the former was also called Kir- 
 hareseth. Isa. xvi. 7. The southern limit of Moab was the 
 brook or valley of Jared. Num. xxi. 12. Next follows the 
 mountainous district of Edom or Idumea, also called Mount 
 Seir, which extends to the northern extremity of the Red Sea. 
 
x78 'PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 Mount Hor, where Aaron died (Num. xx. 23), is one of its 
 most conspicuous summits. Its ports, Ezion-geber and Elath, 
 are first mentioned at the time of the Exodus. Deut. ii. 8. In 
 the former Solomon built his navy of ships for foreign trade. 
 1 Kings ix. 26. The latter, having been in the possession of 
 Judah from the conquest of Edom by David (2 Sam. viii. 14) 
 till its revolt in the reign of Joram '(2 Kings viii. 22), was 
 again restored to Judah and fortified by Uzziah (2 Kings xix. 
 22), though it at a later period fell into the hands of the Syr- 
 ians. 2 Kings xvi. 6. Bozrah, near its northern border (Gen. 
 xxxvi. 33 ; Isa. xxxiv. 6), and Sela (Isa. xxxiv. 6) were its 
 principal cities. Sela was taken by King Amaziah, and called 
 by him Joktheel (2 Kings xiv. 7) ; at a later time it was the 
 residence of the Nabathean king Aretas. 2 Cor. xi. 32. It 
 is the same as the Roman Petra, from which this portion of 
 Arabia received the name of Arabia Petrsea. Teman was 
 either a town or a district in the south of Edom ; the precise 
 location of Dedan is uncertain. Jer. xlix. 7, 8. Mount 
 Seir is skirted on the west by the valley which extends 
 southward from the Dead Sea to the eastern arm of the 
 Red Sea. Between this and the Mediterranean lies the 
 desolate region known as the wilderness of Paran (Gen. xxi. 
 21) ; its western portion, adjacent to the land of Egypt, was 
 also called the wilderness of Shur (Ex. xv. 22), or of Etham. 
 Num. xxxiii. 8. This was occupied by roving tribes of 
 Amalekites.and others (1 Sam. xxvii. 8), and was drained 
 by the river of Egypt (1 Kings viii. 65), which was not the 
 Nile, but the modern wady «1-Arish, and marked the 
 boundary between Egypt and Palestine. 
 
 Between the two projecting arms of the Red Sea lies the 
 peninsula of Sinai, so named from Mount Sinai, near its 
 southern extremity, where the law of God was given to 
 Israel (Ex. xix. 18), and which was an individual summit 
 in the mass of mountains collectively called Horeb. Ex. 
 iii. 1. The adjacent portion of the desert was known as 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 179 
 
 the wilderness or desert of Sinai (Ex. xix. 1, 2), between 
 which and Etham lay the wilderness of Sin. Ex. xvi. 1 ; 
 Num. xxxiii. 11. 
 
 Sheba, whose queen was attracted by the fame of Solomon 
 (1 Kings X. 1), was in Southern Arabia. It has been dis- 
 puted whether Ophir, which was so famous for its gold (Job 
 xxviii. 16), and which was visited by Solomon's vessels (1 
 Kings ix. 28), was in Arabia, Africa or India. 
 
 If we except Mesopotamia, from which Abraham removed 
 to Canaan, no Gentile land is more intimately associated 
 with the early history of the chosen race than Egypt. 
 Abraham went down thither when there was a famine in 
 Canaan (Gen. xii. 10) ; so did Jacob and his family, who 
 were settled in the land of Goshen, in that part of Egypt 
 which was nearest Palestine. On, where Joseph's father-in- 
 law was priest (Gen. xli. 45), was a city of Lower Egypt near 
 the head of the delta of the Nile. It was called Beth- 
 shemesh (house of the sun) by Jeremiah (xliii. 13), and by 
 the Greeks Heliopolis (city of the sun). Pithom and 
 Raamses were treasure-cities built by the Israelites for 
 Pharaoh. Ex. i. 11. Pi-hahiroth, Migdol and Baal-zephon 
 (Ex. xiv. 2) are mentioned in the march of Israel out of 
 Egypt, and lay near the eastern frontier. Sin (Ezek. xxx. 
 15), or Pelusium, which is called by Ezekiel the strength 
 of Egypt, lay near the eastern or Pelusiac mouth of the 
 Nile, and gave name to the adjacent wilderness of Sin. Ex. 
 xvi. 1. Tahpanhes, to which the wretched remnant of Jews 
 fled after the destruction of Jerusalem and the murder of 
 Gedaliah (Jer. xliii. 7), was upon the same branch of the 
 Nile. Pi-beseth (Ezek. xxx. 17) and Zoan, which is said 
 in Num. xiii. 22 to have been built seven years after He- 
 bron, were on a canal connecting the Pelusiac arm of the 
 Nile with the sea. Alexandria, the birthplace of A polios 
 (Acts xviii. 24), was the capital of Egypt under the Ptole- 
 mies, and was founded by Alexander the Great, whose name 
 
180 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 it bears. Both the ship in which Paul was wrecked (Acts 
 xxvii. 6) and that in which he sailed from Malta to Italy 
 (xxviii. 11) were from Alexandria. Memphis, also called 
 Noph (Isa. xix. 13), the capital of Lower Egypt, was in tiie 
 vicinity of the pyramids and ancient tombs. Hos. ix. 6. 
 Hanes (Isa. xxx. 4) is by some placed a short distance south 
 of Memphis, and by others identified with Tahpanhes, al- 
 ready mentioned. Pathros (Ezek. xxix. 14) probably de- 
 notes Upper Egypt, and No (Jer. xlvi. 25), or No-amon 
 (English version, populous No, Nah. iii. 8), was its cele- 
 brated capital, known to the Greeks as Thebes. Syene was 
 on the southern border of Egypt, whence " from Migdol to 
 Syene" designated the land throughout its entire extent. 
 Ezek. xxix. 10; xxx. 6 (in the margin of the English 
 version). Beyond Syene lay Ethiopia, which was often 
 united with Egypt under the same king. This was the 
 case under Zerah, who invaded Judah in the time of King 
 Asa (2 Chron. xiv. 9), and Tirhakah, the antagonist of 
 Sennacherib. 2 Kings xix. 9. Seba, though sometimes dis- 
 tinguished from Ethiopia (Isa. xliii. 3; xlv. 14), was more 
 commonly included under it; it denotes the so-called island 
 of Meroe, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (Isa. xviii. 1) — that 
 is to say, the tongue of land included between the two main 
 branches of the Nile. Philip baptized a eunuch of Candace, 
 queen of the Ethiopians (Acts viii. 27, fi*.), as an earnest 
 and first fruits of the promise, " Ethiopia shall soon stretch 
 out her hands unto God." Ps. Ixviii. 31. 
 
 The entire north of Africa, west of Egypt, went by 
 the general name of Libya. Libyan troops are spoken 
 of in the armies of Egypt. Jer. xlvi. 9. One of its 
 principal cities was Gyrene, from which Simon came, 
 who bare the cross of Jesus. Mark xv. 21. There was 
 a synagogue in Jerusalem composed wholly or in part 
 of Cyrenians. Acts vi. 9. Men from this city and its 
 neighborhood were present on the day of Pentecost (Acts 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 181 
 
 ii. 10), and were subsequently active in spreading the gos- 
 pel, xi. 20. 
 
 North and west from Palestine lay Asia Minor, Europe 
 and the islands of the Mediterranean and ^gean Seas. 
 
 There are twelve divisions of Asia Minor commonly recog- 
 nized. Three were on its southern coast, Cilicia, Pamphylia, 
 Lycia; three on its western, Caria, Lydia, Mysia; three 
 on its northern, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Pontus ; and three 
 in the interior, Cappadocia, Galatia, Phrygia. The apostle 
 Paul was born in Cilicia, in the city of Tarsus. Acts xxi. 
 39. Perga, in Pamphylia, was the first city in Asia Minor 
 visited by Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary jour- 
 ney (Acts xiii. 13); Attalia, six miles distant on the coast, 
 is the port at which they embarked on their return. Acts 
 xiv. 25. From Patara, in Lycia, Paul sailed for Phoenicia 
 on his way to Jerusalem. Acts xxi. 1. At Myra, as a pris- 
 oner, he entered an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy. 
 Acts xxvii. 5. Caria, Lydia and Mysia constituted the 
 Poman province of Asia, and it is in this limited sense that 
 the word Asia is used in the New Testament — e. g., Acts ii. 
 9 ; xvi. 6, 7. The seven churches in Asia (Rev. i. 4) accord- 
 ir.gly were in this region, viz. : Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, 
 Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, though the 
 last named was in Phrygia, and therefore farther inland 
 than the rest. Trogyllium, mentioned in Paul's last mis- 
 sionary journey (Acts xx. 15), and Miletus, where he took 
 final leave of the Ephesian elders (v. 17), were on the coast 
 of Lydia. Troas, from which Paul first sailed into Mace- 
 donia (Acts xvi. 8), and where he restored Eutychus to life 
 (xx. 19), was the capital of Mysia. AVhen Paul proposed 
 to go into Bithynia on his second missionary journey, the 
 Spirit suffered him not (Acts xvi. 7), it being the will of 
 God that he should pass on into Europe. The apostle 
 Peter addressed his first Epistle to the strangers scattered 
 
 throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithy- 
 16 
 
182 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 nia. 1 Pet. i. 1. Dwellers in Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 
 Phrygia and Pamphylia were in Jerusalem on the day of 
 Pentecost. Acts ii. 9. Aquila, with whom Paul abode at 
 Corinth and engaged in his occupation as a tent-maker, was 
 born in Pontus. Acts xviii. 2. Galatia, to which the apostle 
 Paul directed one of his Epistles, in its widest sense included 
 Lycaonia and Pisidia, and consequently the cities of Antioch 
 in Pisidia (Acts xiii. 14) — so called in distinction from 
 Antioch in Syria — Iconium (xiv. 1), Lystra and Derbe 
 (v. 6), visited by Paul and Barnabas in their first mission- 
 ary journey. Colosse, to which one of Paul's Epistles was 
 "written, and Hierapolis (Col. iv. 13) were in Phrygia. 
 
 Macedonia was the first country in Europe in which the 
 gospel was preached by the apostle Paul (Acts xvi. 10), he 
 having been directed thither by a special vision. He 
 landed at Neapolis and proceeded at once to Philippi, so 
 named from the father of Alexander the Great. Here he 
 met Lydia of Thyatira, and his imprisonment led to the 
 conversion of the jailer and his household. Acts xvi. 12, ff. 
 He likewise visited Amphipolis, Apollonia, Thessalonica 
 and Berea. From Berea he hastened to Greece, where he 
 visited Athens and made his defence before the court of the 
 Areopagus (Acts xvii. 15); also Corinth (xviii. 1), the 
 chief city of Achaia, where he was brought before the 
 judgment-seat of Gallio, and its seaport Cenchrea (v. 18), 
 the residence of Phebe. Kom. xvi. 1. He also preached 
 the gospel as far as Illyricum (Rom. xv. 19), which was west 
 of Macedonia and bordered on the Adriatic Sea. Paul 
 speaks (Titus iii. 12) of having resolved to spend a winter 
 in Nicopolis, probably the city of that name in Epirus, 
 south of Illyricum, though the subscription to the Epistle 
 (which is, how^ever, of little authority) refers it to a Nicopo- 
 lis in Macedonia. 
 
 Between Illyricum, on the one side, and Italy, on the 
 other, lay the Adriatic Sea; this name was sometimes 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. 183 
 
 extended to that portiou of the Mediterranean bounded 
 by Italy and Sicily on the west, Africa on the south, and 
 Greece and Crete on the east. It is in this wide sense 
 of the term that Paul and his fellow-passengers are said to 
 have been driven up and down in Adria. Acts xxvii. 27. 
 
 In Italy mention is made not only of Rome, but of 
 the places through which Paul passed in journeying toward 
 it, viz. : Rhegium, in the extreme south of the peninsula ; 
 Puteoli, near Naples, where he landed; Appii Forum, which 
 was thirty-five miles from Rome ; and The Three Taverns, 
 which was five miles nearer the imperial city. 
 
 The westernmost country spoken of in the Bible is Spain, 
 which Paul proposed to visit, though it does not appear that 
 his intention was ever carried into effect. Rom. xv. 24, 28. 
 The Tarshish of the Old Testament for which Jonah set 
 sail (Jon. i. 3), and to which Solomon traded, was probably 
 a Phoenician colony in the south of Spain. 
 
 The islands named in the Bible are Cyprus, the native 
 country of Barnabas (Acts iv. 36), and over which Barna- 
 bas and Paul passed from Salamis, on its eastern coast, to 
 Paphos, on its western ; Crete, with which many have iden- 
 tified the Caphtor of the Old Testament, from which the 
 Philistines originally came. Amos ix. 7. Here Paul left 
 Titus to labor. Tit. i. 8. In Paul's last voyage mention is 
 made (Acts xxvii. 7, 8) of the promontory of Salmone, at 
 the north-eastern extremity of the island, and of Lasea, The 
 Fair Havens and Phenice (v. 12), on its southern side. 
 The island Clauda (v. 16), a short distance south of Crete, 
 Rhodes, Coos (Acts xxi. 1), Patmos, to which the apostle 
 John was banished (Rev. i. 9), Samos, Chios (Acts xx. 15), 
 Lesbos, the capital of which was'Mitylene (v. 14), and Sam- 
 othracia (Acts xvi. 11) were in the Grecian Archipelago. 
 Paul was shipwrecked on Melita or Malta (Acts xxviii. 1), 
 and after leaving this island stopped at Syracuse on the 
 eastern coast of Sicily, v. 12. 
 
ARCHi:OLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 LESSOM L 
 
 FOOD. 
 
 The archaeology of the Bible is an account of the cus- 
 toms and usages described or referred to in the sacred 
 volume. So far as these are different from those which pre- 
 vail at the present day or amongst ourselves, a knowledge 
 of them is important for the illustration of the passages in 
 which these references occur, being sometimes essential to 
 a right apprehension of their meaning and at others adding 
 greatly to their force or beauty. Archaeology may be con- 
 veniently divided into three parts, corresponding to three 
 several spheres in which human life may be regarded as 
 moving. We may consider man in a threefold aspect, as he 
 is a member of the family or of the community or of the 
 nation. The family has its domestic and social usages, 
 which may therefore be held to constitute the first branch 
 of archaeology; the second relates to the various trades 
 and occupations practiced in the community; and the 
 third embraces the civil and political regulations belonging 
 to the nation. 
 
 The full and satisfactory discussion of these several 
 themes would require a volume. We find ourselves unable 
 to compress even the most meagre account of them into the 
 few pages that are allotted to this subject in the plan of the 
 present treatise. It will only be possible to present a few 
 
 16* 1S5 
 
186 PBEPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 topics as specimens and representatives of the whole. We 
 shall accordingly make a selection from the first branch of 
 the general subject, or domestic and social archaeology. 
 This has its two divisions, viz., internal and external. The 
 former relates to the constitution of the family itself, and 
 concerns — 1. The bond of marriage, upon which the family 
 is based. 2. The relationship which it creates of parents 
 and children, masters and servants. 3. Its varied ex- 
 periences x)f joy or sorrow, as connected with social inter- 
 course, with sickness or with death. The remaining divis- 
 ion, Avhich in contrast with the preceding has been called 
 external — and it is to this that our attention shall be exclu- 
 sively directed — is occupied with the provision made in the 
 family for the supply of the outward physical necessities 
 of its members, viz. : 1. Food ; 2. Clothing ; 3. Dwellings. 
 As to the articles of food in ordinary use among the 
 Hebrews, and the mode of their preparation, there is much 
 that is obvious and common to them with ourselves. They 
 subsisted partly, of course, upon the products of the Boil, and 
 partly upon such animal food as was accessible. Bread was 
 with them, as with us, the staff of life (Isa. iii. 1), as is shown 
 by the current phrase to " eat bread " for partaking of food. 
 Gen. iii. 19 ; xxxi. 54. It was prepared from the various 
 cereals, particularly wheat (Ps. Ixxxi. 16), which was pre- 
 ferred, and which is accordingly commonly meant when 
 " corn" is spoken of in the Bible, as Gen. xlii. 1 ; though 
 barley was also used (Judg. vii. 13 ; 2 Kings iv. 42), and 
 in case of necessity poorer and coarser grains (Ezek. iv. 9) 
 might be employed which in ordinary times were only fed 
 to cattle. Grain might be eaten in the ear in its natural 
 state, as by the disciples of Jesus, who plucked it as they 
 walked through the field (Luke vi. 1), or when newly ripe 
 it might be parched or roasted, as by the reapers of Boaz. 
 Euth ii. 14. It was mostly, however, made into cakes or 
 bread, and for this purpose was first bea<^en fine in mortars 
 
archjEology of the bible. 187 
 
 (Prov. xxvii. 22) or ground into flour (Ex. xxix. 2) in 
 the mill. Num. xi. 8. This latter was an article of ordi- 
 nary domestic use, and consisted of two millstones, the 
 nether, which was fixed (Job xli. 24), and the upper, which 
 was movable, and was turned by women (Matt. xxiv. 41) 
 or by slaves. Judg. xvi. 21 ; Lam. v. 13. Two sat facing 
 each other, one of whom grasped the handle and impelled 
 it halfway round ; then the other completed the revolution 
 In consequence of the menial character of this occupation 
 the extremes of society are indicated in Ex. xi. 5 by saying 
 " From Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne unto the maid- 
 servant that is behind the mill." And the prophet Isaiah 
 expressed the utmost degradation of the daughter of Babylon 
 by bidding her to take the millstones and grind meal. Isa. 
 xlvii. 2. The sound of the mill was daily heard in every 
 house, so that its ceasing betokened desolation (Jer. xxv. 10; 
 Rev. xviii. 22), and from its indispensable character it was 
 forbidden to take a millstone in pledge for debt. Deut. xxiv. 
 6. Larger mills were turned by asses ; and when Jesus 
 speaks of a millstone being hanged about a man*s neck and 
 his being drowned in the sea (Matt, xviii. 6 ; Luke xvii. 2), 
 the term used in the original Greek shows that it was one 
 of this larger sort which was intended. 
 
 The flour thus prepared was baked, either leavened or 
 unleavened (Gen. xix. 3 ; Ex. xii. 39), in the hot ashes or on 
 heated stone (1 Kings xix. 6) or iron plates (Lev. vii. 9) or 
 in a sort of ovens. Hos. vii. 4-6. These last were stone or 
 earthen cylinders about three feet high, in which fire was 
 made, and the dough was spread upon their heated exterior, 
 or holes dug in the ground, in which bread or cakes, or, 
 thinner still, wafers (Lev. xxix. 23), were baked on the til- 
 ing of the bottom or sides, after the fire had been drawn 
 out and the ashes swept away. What are called loaves of 
 bread were thin circular disks, which were not cut but 
 broken. Lam. iv. 4 ; Matt. xiv. 19 ; xxvi. 26. Professional 
 
188 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 bakers are not only spoken of in royal households, as that 
 of Pharaoh (Gen. xl. 1) and Saul (1 Sam. viii. 13), but there 
 were likewise public ovens (Hos. vii. 4, 6), at least in the 
 later portions of the Old Testament history ; and from the 
 mention (Jer. xxxvii. 21) of the bakers' street, it would ap- 
 pear that the usage then prevailed which is still maintained 
 in Oriental cities of appropriating whole bazaars or rows of 
 shops to certain trades or kinds of business. 
 
 Various vegetables are mentioned, as lentiles, of which 
 Jacob made pottage (Gen. xxv. 34), cucumbers, melons, 
 leeks, onions and garlic, which the children of Israel had 
 eaten in Egypt, and for which they longed in the desert 
 (Num. xi. 5), beans (2 Sam. xvii. 8), garden plants (1 Kings 
 xxi. 2), and plants growing wild which were gathered for 
 food (2 Kings iv. 39 ; Prov. xv. 17) ; likewise fruit of differ- 
 ent kinds (2 Sam. xvi. 1 ; Amos viii. 2), particularly apples 
 (Sol. Song ii. 5), pomegranates (Num. xx. 5), grapes and 
 figs (Matt. vii. 16), which were not only eaten fresh, but 
 dried as raisins, or compacted into a solid mass as cakes of 
 pressed grapes or figs. 1 Sam. xxv. 18. Grape cakes were 
 esteemed very refreshing (Cant. ii. 5), and were distributed 
 with other provisions among the people assembled at the re- 
 moval of the ark to Zion (2 Sam. vi. 19) ; tkey are also 
 mentioned among the delicacies associated with idolatry 
 (Hos. iii. 1) ; in each of these passages the English version 
 incorrectly has " bottles " or " flagons of w^ine." The word 
 " dates " occurs (2 Chron. xxxi. 5) in the margin of the 
 English Bible, though it is not the proper rendering of 
 the original term ; the palm tree, which is repeatedly spoken 
 of in Scripture (Deut. xxxiv. 3; Ps. xcii. 12), however, 
 is the date-palm, and the use of its fruit, though not ex- 
 pressly mentioned, is implied. Cant. vii. 8. Sycamore fruit 
 was gathered and eaten only by the humbler classes. Amos 
 vii. 14. Mention is also made of almonds and other species 
 of nuts. Gen. xliii. 11 ; Cant. vi. 11. 
 
ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 189 
 
 It has been made a question whether animal food was in 
 use before the flood, inasmuch as it was not explicitly con- 
 tained in the grant made to Adam (Gen. i. 29), w^iile it was 
 in that made to Noah and his descendants (Gen. ix. 3); though 
 the keeping of sheep and cattle (Gen. iv. 2, 20), clothing 
 made from skins (Gen. iii. 21) and the distinction between 
 clean and unclean animals which was recognized prior to the 
 flood (Gen. vii. 2, 8) seem to imply that it w^as made use of 
 from the earliest periods. In so warm a climate as that of 
 Palestine it was less necessary than in colder regions. And 
 the fact that meat could be kept but a short time, and the 
 whole animal had consequently to be eaten soon after being 
 killed, added to the expense and led to its being but spar- 
 ingly used, except upon the tables of the rich and great, as 
 of King Solomon (1 Kings iv. 22, 23) or Nehemiah, the 
 Persian viceroy (Neh. v. 18), or on special occasions of hos- 
 pitality (Gen. xviii. 7), festivity (Luke xv. 23) or religious 
 observance. Ex. xii. 8 ; Dent. xiv. 26 ; xv. 19, 20. The Jew- 
 ish law forbade the eating of any but clean animals. Lev. 
 xi. 2, ff"; Dent. xiv. 4, ff. These are among quadrupeds those 
 which part the hoof and chew the cud, as oxen, sheep and 
 goats, together with deer and some other kinds of game ; 
 among fish — of which they had already learned to be fond 
 in Egypt (Num. xi. 5), and which were supplied by the Sea 
 of Galilee (Matt. iv. 18), as well as brought by Tyrians to 
 the markets of Jerusalem (Neh. xiii. 16) — such only as have 
 fins and scales ; among birds all but certain prohibited species, 
 which were mostly birds of prey, or such as fed in marshes, 
 or on worms, carcasses or other impurities. Quails, doves, 
 partridges, sparrows and fatted fowl (1 Kings iv. 23), by which 
 were probably meant geese or ducks, are mentioned in the 
 Old Testament ; chickens only in the New. Luke xiii. 34 ; 
 xxii. 60. That eggs were eaten appears from Job vi. 6 ; 
 Isa. X. 14 ; Luke xi. 12. Among insects, the esculent locust 
 (Lev. xi. 22 ; Matt. iii. 4) was allowed to be eaten, as it still 
 
190 PEEPARINO TO TEACH. 
 
 is by the poorer classes in Arabia and the East, by whom it 
 is salted and cooked, or ground into flour and baked. The 
 sacrificial system further made it unlawful to eat blood 
 (Lev. vii. 26, 27 ; xvii. 10-14) or flesh in which the blood 
 remained (1 Sam. xiv. 32), and by consequence animals 
 strangled or killed by wild beasts (Ex. xxii. 31 ; Lev. xvii. 
 15) ; also those fat pieces which were customarily burned 
 upon the altar. Lev. iii. 17 ; vii. 23-25. The sinew was also 
 extracted from the thigh for a special reason. Gen. xxxii. 32. 
 
 The care of cattle is associated with the products of the 
 dairy. The milk of cows, goats and sheep (Deut. xxxii. 15 ; 
 Prov. xxvii. 27) was used in its natural state or made into 
 cheese (1 Sam. xvii. 18 ; Job x. 10) or butter, the latter de- 
 noting not merely butter in the modern sense (Prov. xxx. 
 33), but more commonly curds, of which the Orientals are 
 very fond. Judg. v. 25. Honey is often joined with milk in 
 describing the fertility and abundance of Canaan (Ex. iii. 
 8), or, as in Isa. vii. 22, those natural means of subsistence 
 which still remained when the country was ravaged and 
 agriculture suspended. Besides the honey made by bees, 
 which was often found wild (Deut. xxxii. 13 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 
 25 ; Matt. iii. 4), there was also a honey artificially prepared ; 
 at least it is the opinion of many scholars that this name 
 was also applied, as by the modern Arabs, to a sweet syrup 
 made from grape juice or from dates. Gen. xliii. 11 ; 2 Chron. 
 xxxi. 5 ; Ezek. xxvii. 17. 
 
 Oil and salt, though not themselves articles of food, were 
 used in preparing and seasoning it. Lev. ii. 4 ; Job vi. 6. 
 With allusion to its preserving quality, a " covenant of salt" 
 (Num. xviii. 19 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 5) is a perpetual covenant, 
 and the disciples of Christ are called the "salt of the earth." 
 Matt. V. 13. As it is the opposite of both insipidity and 
 corruption, the apostle directs that our speech should be 
 always " seasoned with salt." Col. iv. 6. 
 
 The drinks spoken of in addition to water and milk are 
 
ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 191 
 
 wine, strong drink (Lev. x. 9, prepared from barley, honey 
 or dates, and so called from its intoxicating properties), 
 and vinegar, which was a sour wine. Num. vi. 3 ; Ruth ii. 
 14. Wine when drunk was sometimes weakened with water 
 (Isa. i. 22) in the proportion, as the Rabbins say, of three 
 parts of water to one of wine ; sometimes it was rendered 
 more exciting by the infusion of spices. Prov. ix. 2, 5 ; 
 Cant. viii. 2. Hence an ambiguity in the expression " mixed 
 wine." Thus the wrath of God is compared to wine "full of 
 mixture" (Ps. Ixxv. 8) — i. e., with its strength increased by 
 intensifying ingredients; and it is said to be "poured out 
 without mixture " (Rev. xiv. 10) — i. e., undiluted. Wine 
 also became stronger by being left upon its lees, when it re- 
 quired to be strained to free it from dregs or insects. Isa. xxv. 
 6 ; Matt, xxiii. 24. Sour wine mingled with myrrh or other 
 bitter ingredients was sometimes given to those who were 
 executed to stupefy them and render them insensible to suf- 
 fering. Prov. xxxi. 6 ; Matt, xxvii. 34, 48. 
 
 The chief meal of the ancient Egyptians was at noon, and 
 accordingly Joseph dined at this hour (Gen. xliii. 16) ; so 
 was the principal repast throughout the Old Testament, 
 Ruth ii. 14 ; 1 Kings xx. 16. But in the New Testament 
 the Greek and Roman custom prevailed of having the 
 chief meal at night, and entertainments were generally sup- 
 pers. Mark vi. 21; Luke xiv. 12, 16; John xii. 2. The 
 primitive posture of the Hebrews, as of the Egyptians, at 
 table was sitting. Thus Joseph's brethren sat when they 
 ate with him (Gen. xliii. 33) ; Jacob invited his father to " sit 
 and eat" (Gen. xxvii. 19) ; the Levite and his father-in-law 
 ill Bethlehem-judah " sat down and did eat and drink." Judg. 
 xix. 6. David sat at meat with Saul, and when absent left 
 his seat empty (1 Sam. xx. 5, 18, 24) ; the man of God out 
 of Judah " sat at the table " in Bethel. 1 Kings xiii. 20. At 
 a later period luxurious livers adopted the fashion of reclin- 
 ing; thus Amos (vi. 4) says that they "lie upon beds of 
 
192 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches " — not for 
 sleep, as apj^ears from what follows in the very same sen- 
 tence — " and eat the lambs out of the flock and calves out of 
 the stall." And the Persian origin of this new fashion is dis- 
 tinctly intimated in the book of Esther (i. 6), where the ban- 
 quet-hall of Ahasuerus is described as containing " beds" or 
 couches. In our Saviour's day the universal custom was to 
 recline on couches, called in Greek triclinia because they, 
 usually held three persons. The knowledge of this usage 
 is absolutely necessary to explain how John could "lean on 
 Jesus' bosom " at the table (John xiii. 23 ; xxi. 20) ; for as 
 each person supported himself on his left arm, he was 
 brought into this relation to the one who lay next to him. 
 It also shows how the woman who anointed him had access 
 to his feet. Luke vii. 38. Modern Orientals sit on their heels 
 or with their legs crossed before a waiter placed upon a 
 wooden stool about a foot high, or before a round piece of 
 leather spread upon the floor and provided with rings in its 
 outer edge, so that it can be drawn together like a bag and 
 hung up after eating. It has been suggested that such a table 
 might easily be likened to a snare. Ps. Ixix. 22 ; Kom. xi. 9. 
 In the absence of knives and forks, the food was taken with 
 the fingers, which explains our Lord's expression, "He that 
 dippeth his hand with me in the dish " (Matt. xxvi. 23), as 
 well as his act of dipping the sop. John xiii. 26. Hence 
 the hands were washed before and after each meal, which 
 the Pharisees erected into an obligatory religious ceremony. 
 Matt. XV. 2 ; Mark vii. 2, fF; Luke xi. 38. Allusions to the 
 usual practice of asking a blessing or giving thanks before 
 eating occur in the case of Samuel (1 Sam. ix. 13), and re- 
 peatedly in the history of our Lord. Matt. xiv. 19. 
 
 When entertainments were given, invited guests were noti- 
 fied by servants at the proper hour (Prov. ix. 3 ; Matt. xxii. 3, 
 4) ; they were welcomed with a kiss upon their arrival (Luke 
 vii. 45), their feet were washed (Gen. xviii. 4 ; Luke vii. 44), 
 
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 193 
 
 their hair and beard anointed (Ps. xxiii. 5 ; Amos vi. 6 ; Luke 
 vii. 46), and places were assigned them at the table according 
 to their rank. Gen. xliii. 33 ; 1 Sam. ix. 22 ; Luke xiv. 8, ff. 
 As a mark of special honor choice pieces were sent them 
 by the host (1 Sara. ix. 24), sometimes double the ordinary- 
 quantity (1 Sam. i. 5), or even more. Gen, xliii. 34. As an 
 illustration of the modes of diversion sometimes resorted 
 to on such occasions may be mentioned the riddle pro- 
 pounded at Samson's wedding. Judg. xiv. 12. Excess of 
 revelry and riotous festivity were rebuked by the prophets. 
 Isa. V. 11, 12; Amos vi. 4-6. In the Greek and Roman 
 period the appliances of luxury had greatly increased, and 
 musicians and dancing-women were introduced to amuse or 
 charm the guests. Matt. xiv. 6 ; Luke xv. 25. Christians are 
 repeatedly warned against all improper indulgence. Rom. 
 xiii. 13; Gal. v. 21 ; 1 Pet. iv. 3. AVonien and children 
 were present at social entertainments (1 Sam. i. 4; John 
 xii. 3), and at sacrificial meals men-servants and maid-ser- 
 vants, Levites, strangers, the fatherless and widows were in- 
 vited. Deut. xvi. 11, 14. Eating together was a pledge of 
 friendship, and established a claim to protection. Josh. ix. 
 14 ; Ps. xli. 9 ; John xiii. 18. 
 
 LESSOJf 11. 
 CLOTHING. 
 
 Our first parents sewed fig leaves for their covering 
 (Gen. iii. 7), and the Lord made them coats of skins, ver. 
 21. The materials for clothing subsequently mentioned in 
 the Bible are wool, linen, cotton, silk and the hair of goats 
 and camels. The use of wool for this purpose even in the 
 most ancient times is implied in Abel's keeping sheep 
 17 
 
194 PBEPABING TO TEACH. 
 
 (Gen. iv. 2), which was no doubt for the sake of their fleece 
 as w^ell as of their flesh, and especially in the shearing of 
 sheep, which is expressly mentioned in the case of Laban 
 (Gen. xxxi. 19), and of Judah. Gen. xxxviii. 12. Job 
 clothed the poor with the fleece of his sheep (Job xxxi. 20), 
 and Moses speaks of woolen garments as in common use. 
 Lev. xiii. 47. The cultivation of flax is first alluded to 
 during the sojourn in Egypt (Ex. ix. 81), where it was a 
 staple article of trade and manufacture from a very early 
 period. Its use among the Hebrews is shown in the direc- 
 tion that the priests' garments should be of linen. Lev. xvi. 
 4. The "fine linen" of the Bible, such as that with which 
 Joseph was arrayed (Gen. xli. 42), and which was used in 
 the construction of the tabernacle (Ex. xxv. 4 ; xxvi. 1), 
 and which the rich man in the parable is represented as wear- 
 ing (Luke xvi. 19), was the ancient byssus, which has been 
 supposed to have been in most cases a cotton fabric, though 
 recent microscopic investigations of mummy wrappings have 
 shown that they at least exhibit the cylindrical fibre of flax, 
 and not the flat fibre of cotton. This byssus is improperly 
 translated "silk" in Prov. xxxi. 22, and in the margin in a 
 couple of other passages. Silk does occur, however, at a 
 later period (Ezek. xvi. 10, 13; Rev. xviii. 12), as an ele- 
 gant and costly material. Goats' hair was spun for the sanc- 
 tuary (Ex. xxvi. 7 ; xxxv. 26), as well as made into sackcloth 
 (Rev. vi. 12) ; and John the Baptist had his raiment of .cam- 
 els' hair. Matt. iii. 4. The mingling of diflferent materials, 
 as of linen and woolen, in the same piece was prohibited 
 (Lev. xix. 19; Deut. xxii. 11), like all other heterogeneous 
 mixtures, from a religious point of view, as a confusing of 
 what God had made distinct. Clothes were commonly made 
 by the women, as by Hannah (1 Sam. ii. 19) and Dorcas 
 (Acts ix. 39), and even, as in classic lands, by ladies of rank 
 and wealth. Prov. xxxi. 22. 
 
 There were two striking points of difference between the 
 
ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 195 
 
 Oriental dress and that which is in use among ourselves. 
 The first is its loose and flowing character as distinguished 
 from our tightly-fitting dress, so that the same suit of clothes 
 would answer for one person as well as another. The 
 second is the permanence and uniformity of Eastern fashions 
 as compared with ours, so that the best illustration of the 
 apparel in use in the days of Abraham is in some respects 
 furnished by that worn by the Arabs at the present time. 
 It hence resulted that clothing became an important element 
 of wealth, as its value was not impaired by frequent changes 
 nor by want of adaptation to any who might wish to wear 
 it. The accumulation of clothing is accordingly spoken of 
 along with that of the precious metals as indicating riches. 
 Ex. xii. 35 ; Josh. xxii. 8 ; 2 Chron. ix. 24 ; Zech. xiv. 14 ; 
 Acts XX. 33. Thus Job (xxvii. 16) combines heaping up 
 silver as dust and preparing raiment as the clay. A man 
 of property in a time of general impoverishment is described 
 as one who has clothing. Isa. iii, 6. The apostle James 
 (v. 2) denounces woe upon the rich by saying, " Your riches 
 are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten." And 
 our Lord exhorts his disciples (Matt. vi. 19), " Lay not up 
 for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust 
 doth corrupt." Comp. Josh. viL 21 ; 2 Kings vii. 8. Hence 
 we find a "keeper of the wardrobe" among the officials of 
 the royal household (2 Chron. xxxiv. 22) ; and the house 
 of Baal contained vestments enough for all his worshipers. 
 2 Kings X. 22. Guests at a royal festival were supplied 
 with garments for the occasion, which accounts for the dis- 
 pleasure of the king at seeing one present at the marriage 
 of his son who had not on a w'edding-garment. Matt, xxii. 
 12. On the return of the prodigal the servants were 
 directed to bring forth the best robe and put it on him, 
 Luke XV. 22. This explains also the frequent mention of 
 changes of raiment or presents of clothing as of peculiar 
 value. Thus the thirty changes of garments paid by Sam- 
 
196 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 SOD to the Philistines (Judg. xiv. 12), the ten changes of 
 raiment sent by the king of Syria to the king of Israel 
 (2 Kings V. 5), the presents of clothing given by Joseph 
 to his brethren (Gen. xlv. 22), by Jonathan to David (1 
 Sam. xviii. 4), by Esther to Mordecai. Esth. iv. 4. 
 
 The essential articles of dress, as in ancient Greece and 
 in the modern East, were two, viz. : the undergarment, 
 which was put on and worn next the body, and the upper 
 or outer garment, which was loosely thrown over it. These 
 belonged alike to both sexes, though with such a discrimi- 
 nation in style or in the quality of the material, and with 
 such additional articles belonging exclusively to one sex 
 or to the other, that the dress of men was readily dis- 
 tinguishable from that of women, as is implied in the pro- 
 hibition in the law that neither sex should wear the garments 
 of the other (Deut. xxii. 5), a prohibition based not only 
 on decorum, but possibly also, as has been conjectured, on 
 oppositicm to certain practices in heathen worship in which 
 such interchange was customary. 
 
 The undergarment (commonly called "coat"* in the 
 English version) was a narrow tunic or gown, mostly 
 woolen, though those of the priests were linen (Lev. xvi. 4), 
 and worn alike by young and old (Gen. xxxvii. 3; 2 Sam. 
 XV. 32), and by persons of either sex. Cant. v. 3. It com- 
 monly had short sleeves, reached nearly to the knees, and 
 was confined at the waist by a belt or girdle. As worn by 
 persons of superior rank, and particularly ladies, it some- 
 times had long sleeves and extended to the ankles; such 
 was probably the coat with which Joseph was honored 
 (Gen. xxxvii. 3), and the garment of King David's daugh- 
 ter Tamar (2 Sam. xiii. 18), improperly rendered by our 
 
 * But "garment" in 2 Sam. xiii. 18, 19 ; Ezra ii. 69 ; Neh. vii. 70, 
 72; Jude ver. 23, "robe" in Isa. xxii. 21, and "clothes" in Mark 
 xiv. 63; "coat" in 1 Sam. ii. 19 represents a different word, and in 
 Dan. iii. 21, 27, another still. 
 
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 197 
 
 translators "of many" or "divers colors," A person 
 who had nothing on but this undergarment unbelted was 
 called naked ; so Saul among the prophets, when h^ had 
 thrown off his upper garment (Eng. Ver. clothes) (1 Sam. 
 xix. 24), and Isaiah when he had loosened or thrown off his 
 dress of sackcloth (Isa. xx. 2), and Peter when his fisher's 
 coat was ungirt. John xxi. 7, While that which has now 
 been described was the only undergarment considered indis- 
 pensable and universally worn, two others are also spoken 
 of that were finer and more costly, and belonged chiefly to 
 the rich. A shirt was sometimes worn under the tunic 
 (Judg. xiv. 12, marg.), which is in Isa. iii. 23 ; Prov. xxxi. 
 24 rendered " fine linen," this being the material of which it 
 was made. There was also a " robe " or " mantle,""^ as it is 
 usually translated in our version, which was without sleeves 
 and larger than the tunic over which it was worn. This 
 formed part of the official dress of the high priest (Lev. 
 viii. 7), and was worn by Samuel in his childhood (1 Sam. 
 ii. 9) as the attendant upon Eli, as well as in his later years 
 when he was invested with high authority in both civil and 
 religious matters. 1 Sam. xv. 27 ; xxviii. 14. So, too, by 
 Ezra the priest. Ezra ix. 3, 5. It was also worn by kings 
 (Ezek. xxvi. 16), as by Saul (1 Sam. xxiv. 4) and David 
 (1 Chron. xv. 27), and by members of the royal family, 
 as Jonathan (1 Sam. xviii. 4), and king's daughters 
 (2 Sam. xiii. 18), and by nobles or men of distinction, 
 as by Job (i. 20; xxix. 14) and his three friends, ii. 
 12. Hence the high-priest (Mark xiv. 63) is said to 
 have rent his tunics — i. e., both his robe and his tunic 
 proper. To this custom of the wealthy of wearing two 
 undergarments John the Baptist has been supposed to al- 
 lude as to a needless extravagance in saying to the people 
 (Luke iii. 11) : " He that hath two coats, let him impart to 
 him that hath none," and our Lord in directing his disci- 
 
 ^ Rnt "coat" (1 Sam. ii. 19), and "cloak." Isa. lix. 17. 
 
198 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 pies when he sent them forth not to put on two coatfij. 
 Mark vi. 9. 
 
 The upper garment (in the English Version commonly 
 " garment," " raiment " or " clothes "*) was a sort of shawl, 
 or a large square piece of cloth, which was wrapped round 
 the person. It was thrown over the left shoulder and 
 brought round over or under the right arm, and fastened 
 either in front or at the right side, the pendent ends being 
 called " skirts." Hag. ii. 12 ; Zech. viii. 23. A fringe or 
 tassels were attached to the four corners by a blue cord 
 (Num. XV. 38, 39 ; Deut. xxii. 12) to remind the wearer of 
 the law and its heavenly origin. These are the " borders 
 of their garments " which were enlarged by the Pharisees 
 (Matt, xxiii. 5), and possibly also the hem or border of 
 Christ's garment touched by the woman who was healed. 
 Matt. ix. 20 ; Luke viii. 44. These upper garments were 
 used as a spread upon their couches at night, in consequence 
 of which they were not to be taken in pledge for debt. Ex. 
 xxii. 26, 27 ; Deut. xxiv. 12, 13 ; Amos ii. 8. To this our 
 Lord alludes (Matt. v. 40) : " If any man will sue thee at 
 the law, and take away thy coat," or undergarment, which 
 he might legally do, " let him have thy cloak also," the up- 
 per garment, to which he was not entitled. The inactive found 
 in the ample folds of this dress a convenient resting-place 
 for the hands. Hence the Psalmist, entreating God's active 
 interposition, beseeches him to pluck his right hand out of 
 his bosom. Ps. Ixxiv. ll.f They might also be used as a 
 
 * Also "robe" (2 Chron. xviii. 9, 29; Mic. ii. 8; Jon. iii. 6; John 
 xix, 2, 5), and "cloak." Matt. v. 40; Luke vi. 29. 
 
 t In Prov. xix. 24 ; xxvi. 15, the word rendered " bosom " proper- 
 ly means " dish," as it is correctly translated 2 Kings xxi. 13. The 
 man is too lazy to lift his hand to his mouth from the common dish, 
 out of which each took his portion with his fingers, according to 
 Oriental usage. 
 
ARCHJEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 199 
 
 pocket.* Thus Haggai speaks (ii. 12) of carrying holy- 
 flesh iu the skirt of the garment, and our Lord of good 
 measure being given into one's bosom. Luke vi. 38 ; com- 
 pare Ps. Ixxix. 12. Or the garment might be taken off and 
 spread out to receive whatever might be wrapped in it, and 
 then carried like a bag on the shoulders, as the kneading- 
 troughs at the exodus (Ex. xii. 84), the earrings taken from 
 the Ishmaelites (Judg. viii. 25), the barley given to Kuth 
 (iii. 15), where " veil " should be " upper garment," the 
 wild gourds gathered for pottage. 2 Kings iv. 39 ; compare 
 Prov. XXX. 4. It was the upper garment that Ahijah 
 snatched from Jeroboam and rent into twelve pieces (1 
 Kings xi. 30), that the adherents of Jehu laid beneath him 
 on the stairs (2 Kings ix. 13), that were put upon the ass 
 on which Jesus rode and spread in the way before him. 
 Matt. xxi. 8. The looseness of the upper garment im- 
 peded action ; hence Bartimeus cast it away in his haste to 
 go to Jesus (Mark x. 50), the workman going to the field 
 left it behind him (Matt. xxiv. 18), Jesus laid it aside to 
 wash his disciples' feet (John xiii. 4), resuming it when he 
 had finished (ver. 12), the witnesses who took part in ston- 
 ing Stephen laid it down at the feet of Saul (Acts vii. 58), 
 and the mob incensed at Paul cast it off as they threw dust 
 into the air. Acts xxii. 23. 
 
 The upper and under garment are sometimes spoken of 
 together in the same passage. Thus at the crucifixion of 
 Jesus the soldiers divided his upper garment into four parts 
 and parcelled it among them, but cast lots for the coat, or un- 
 dergarment, which was without seam, woven from the top 
 throughout. John xix. 23, 24. Peter was shown the coats 
 (or tunics) and (upper) garments which Dorcas had made 
 
 * In Prov. xvii. 23, "A gift out of the bosom," and xxi. 14, "a 
 reward in the bosom," may be one taken from or received into the 
 pocket of the dress ; or " bosom " may denote the privacy of a man's 
 thoughts, and the expression mean a secret bribe. 
 
200 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 (Acts ix. 39) ; Ezra (ix. 3, 5) rent his (upper) garment and 
 his mantle, or the undergarment worn over the tunic as his 
 robe of office. 
 
 A peculiar sort of upper garment to which the Hebrews 
 gave a special name is in our version rendered four times 
 garment (Gen. xxv. 25 ; Josh. vii. 21, 24 ; Zech. xiii. 4), 
 five times mantle (1 Kings xix. 13, 19; 2 Kings ii. 8, 13, 
 14) and twice robe. Jon. iii. 6 ; Mic. ii. 8. It appears ta 
 have been made of skin, with the hair or fur retained. Gen. 
 xxv. 25 ; compare Heb. xi. 37. Such was the garment of the 
 prophets (Zech. xiii. 4), the mantle of Elijah (1 Kings xix. 
 13), and the robe of ordinary people (Mic. ii. 8), which 
 doubtless were plain and unpretending. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, they were elegant and costly, as that imported from 
 Babylon and coveted by Achan (Josh. vii. 21), and that 
 worn by the king of Nineveh. Jon. iii. 6. 
 
 Breeches or drawers were worn by the priests (Ex. 
 xxviii. 42), but not generally by others. Some authorities 
 explain the word rendered " coats'' in the dress of the three 
 men cast into the fiery furnace (Dan. iii. 21) as meaning 
 trowsers. Others, with greater probability, think it to de- 
 note mantles, as it is in the margin. 
 
 The girdle was an important part of the Eastern dress. 
 It was used to confine the loose undergarment, which would 
 otherwise impede motion. Hence Elijah girded up his 
 loins when he ran before Ahab (1 Kings xviii. 46), and Da- 
 vid when he danced before the Lord (2 Sam. vi. 14), Ge- 
 hazi (2 Kings iv. 29) and the son of the prophets (2 Kings 
 ix. 1), when sent upon an errand by Elisha, and our Lord 
 when he washed his disciples' feet. John xiii. 4. To have the 
 loins girded is a figure consequently for vigor (Ps, xviii. 32) 
 and readiness for action. Luke xii. 35. The soldier wore his 
 dagger (Judg. iii. 16) or sword (1 Sam. xxv. 13; 2 Sam. xx. 
 8 ; Ps. xlv. 13) in his girdle or belt, which was accordingly a 
 necessary part of his equipment (Isa. v. 27 ; Eph. vi. 14), and 
 
ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 201 
 
 to gird himself was to prepare for battle. 1 Kings xx. 11 ; Isa. 
 viii. 9. Money was also carried in the belt (Matt.x. 9 ; Mark 
 vi. 8), where the word translated purse is properly girdle. 
 The girdle was made of leather (2 Kings i. 8 ; Matt. iii. 4), of 
 linen (Jer. xiii. 1), and fine linen or byssus. Ezek. xvi. 10. 
 It was sometimes very elaborately wrought or richly deco- 
 rated with gold and precious stones (compare Dan. x. 5 ; 
 Kev. i. 13), and was highly prized as an article of female 
 adornment (Isa. iii. 24 ; xlix. 18 ; Jer. ii. 32, where the 
 word rendered "attire" means properly "girdle"), and 
 given as a present (1 Sam. xviii. 4; 2 Sam. xviii. 11) or 
 made an article of trade. Pro v. xxxi. 24. It was also 
 reckoned among the insignia of office. Isa. xxii. 21. 
 
 It remains to consider what was worn on the feet and on 
 the head. Their shoes were simply sandals of wood or 
 leather fastened on by straps or thongs (Gen. xiv. 23 ; Isa. 
 V. 27), and put off on entering a room or going into a 
 sacred place (Ex. iii. 5 ; Josh. v. 15), though worn at the 
 passover (Ex. xii. 11), which was eaten as if in readiness 
 for a journey. Shoes were commonly of a paltry price 
 (Amos ii. 6 ; viii. 6), but those of ladies were often ele- 
 gant (Cant. vii. 1) and of costly material. Ezek. xvi. 10. 
 In business transactions drawing off the shoe and giving it 
 to another was the sign of the transfer of property upon 
 which it had trodden. Deut. xxv. 9, 10 ; Kuth iv. 7 ; com- 
 pare Josh. i. 3. The sandals of the wealthy were put on, 
 taken off and carried by slaves. This is hence spoken of as 
 a menial service. Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 7. 
 
 Turbans were worn by both sexes (Job xxix. 14 ; Isa. iii. 
 20 ; Ezek. xxiii. 15), especially by the rich and noble, and 
 on festive occasions (Ezek. xxiv. 17 ; Isa. Ixi. 3, where 
 *' beauty," and ver. 10, where " ornaments," properly denote 
 a head-dress). But it seems likely that people commonly 
 went without any covering on their heads other than per- 
 haps a simple band to confine the hair. When the angel 
 
202 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 summoned Peter to leave the prison (Acts xii. 8), he bade 
 him gird himself, bind on his sandals and cast his upper 
 garment about him, but said nothing about putting any- 
 thing on his head. Mourners went barefoot, and with their 
 head covered by their dress. 2 Sam. xv. 30. 
 
 The veil was regarded as indispensable to well-bred 
 ladies (Gen. xxiv. 65 ; Cant. v. 7), though in patriarchal 
 times there seems to have been more freedom in this respect 
 than subsequently. Gen. xii. 14 ; xxiv. 15 ; xxvi. 8. Of 
 female ornaments a list is given (Isa. iii. 18-24), some partic- 
 ulars of which are now obscure. The principal of them are 
 necklaces, bracelets, rings — not only on the fingers and in 
 the ears, but in the nose — mirrors of polished metal worn 
 upon the person, and gold or silver chains connecting the 
 metallic plates upon the ankles, so as to regulate the step 
 and at the same time to produce a tinkling sound. Men 
 carried a cane or stafi", and a seal-ring either upon the fin- 
 ger or on a cord suspended from the neck (Gen. xxxviii. 
 18) ; and both Joseph in Egypt (Gen. xii. 42) and Daniel 
 in Babylon (Dan. v. 29) were honored by putting a gold chain 
 about their necks. 
 
 Two foreign articles of dress are mentioned in the New Tes- 
 tament. The scarlet robe put on the Saviour in mockery 
 (Matt, xxvii. 28) was the mantle worn by Roman generals 
 and officers, and even by emperors at a later time. The 
 cloak of Paul (2 Tim, iv. 13) was worn by both sexes over 
 the tunic. It had no sleeves, merely an opening for the 
 head, and a hood which could be drawn over the head in 
 cold or wet weather. 
 
ARCHJEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 203 
 
 LJESSOJy III. 
 DWELLINGS. 
 
 It has been conjectured that in the earliest ages men con- 
 tented themselves with the rudest possible habitations, seek- 
 ing shelter in natural caverns, which they afterward im- 
 proved by art, or in booths and sheds slightly constructed 
 from boughs of trees, until they gradually learned to pro- 
 vide themselves with better and more suitable abodes. 
 Whatever may be thought of this theory, it derives 
 no support from the facts recorded in the Bible, which 
 speaks of a city as already built by Cain (Gen. iv. 7), 
 implying, of course, houses and permanent dwellings. A 
 more rational and better accredited opinion regards the 
 different styles of habitation as contemporaneous rather 
 than successive, and seeks the ground of their diversity in 
 the various grades of civilization in which men are found, 
 the nature of their occupation and the materials within 
 their reach. 
 
 The Horites, or primitive inhabitants of Mount Seir 
 (Gen.xiv. 6 ; Dent. ii. 12), are thought to have derived their 
 name from their living in the caves with which that region 
 abounds, and which, in later times, were fashioned into the 
 elegant rock-hewn structures of the city of Petra. And 
 Job (xxx. 6) speaks of miserable vagabonds dwelling in 
 caves. Xhe numerous and spacious caverns of Palestine are 
 often spoken of as affording concealment and refuge. Thus 
 Lot and his daughters took up their abode in a cave after 
 the destruction of Sodom. Gen. xix. 30. Five kings of the 
 Amorites, fleeing before Joshua, hid themselves in the cave 
 at Makkedah. Josh. x. 16. Israel, oppressed by Midian 
 (Judg. vi. 2) and by the Philistines (1 Sam. xiii. 6), Sara- 
 son, beset by foes (Judg. xv. 8), David, pursued by Saul (1 
 Sam. xxii. 1 ; xxiv. 3), prophets persecuted by Ahab (1 
 
204 PREPARING TO TEACH, 
 
 Kings xviii. 4), and godly men in other periods of persecu- 
 tion (Heb. xi. 38), sought concealment in caves. They were 
 also resorted to by lawless or distressed classes (1 Sam.xxii. 
 2) to escape the restraints or burdens of society; but they 
 were not used as places of permanent abode until they were 
 occupied for this purpose by the hermits of a later period. 
 Tradition indicates certain grottoes as the scene of our 
 Lord's nativity (Luke ii. 7), and of various other events of 
 the sacred history, but, so far as appears, without any good 
 foundation. 
 
 Booths are only spoken of as constructed for cattle (Gen. 
 xxxiii. 17), or to afford temporary shelter in case of need, 
 as in the case of Jonah before Nineveh (Jon. iv. 5), of gar- 
 deners and husbandmen (Job xxvii. 18 ; Isa. i. 8), and of 
 the entire people at the feast of tabernacles. Lev. xxiii. 42. 
 
 Nomad tribes dwelt in tents, which could easily be trans- 
 ported from place to place. Judg. vi. 5 ; Isa. xiii. 20 ; Hab. 
 iii. 7. So did soldiers under arms (2 Kings vii. 7) and 
 shepherds whose care of flocks obliged them to lead a rov- 
 ing life. Isa. xxxviii. 12. Jabal, the son of Lamech (Gen. 
 iv. 20), is said to have been the "father of such as dwell in 
 tents and have cattle." The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac 
 and Jacob lived in tents in Canaan as pilgrims and shep- 
 herds (Gen. xviii. 1 ; xxvi. 17 ; xxxiii. 18), though their 
 ancestors and relatives in Mesopotamia had houses and set- 
 tled abodes. Gen. xxiv. 10, 23. Tents were sometimes 
 covered with skins or mats, but mostly with cloths, or, as 
 they are called, curtains, woven from wool or from goats' 
 hair. Ex. xxvi. 7, 14. Those of goats' hair were black. 
 Cant. i. 5 ; iv. 1. These cloths were stretched oyer one or 
 more upright poles and fastened to the ground by cords and 
 pins. Ex. XXXV. 18 ; Judg. iv. 21 ; Jer. x. 20. Tents, 
 whether round or oblong, were divided by hangings into two, 
 or those of the better class into three, apartments, one for 
 the women and children, one for the men and one for ser- 
 
ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 205 
 
 vants or cattle. Wealthy families had separate tents for 
 women. Gen. xxiv. 67 ; xxxi. 33. The towns and castles 
 of the sons of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 16) and the villages of 
 Kedar (Isa. xlii. 11) were collections of tents or nomadic 
 encampments. 
 
 Houses were sometimes built of brick, either burned, as at 
 Babel (Gen. xi. 4), or simply dried in the sun, as those made 
 by the children of Israel in Egypt, in which straw was min- 
 gled with the clay. Ex. v. 7. The use of the latter explains 
 the fact that it was possible to dig through a wall (Ezek. 
 xii. 5, 7), and that a house neglected and exposed to the 
 vicissitudes of the weather would be reduced to a heap of 
 dirt. Dan. iii. 29. Stone was, however, regarded as the 
 nobler and better material (Isa. ix. 10), the use of which is 
 presupposed in the narrative of the tower of Babel (Gen. 
 xi. 3), as well as in the law of leprosy. Lev. xiv. 40, 42. 
 The temple (1 Kings v. 17) and palace of Solomon (1 
 Kings vii. 9) and the residences of the rich (Amos v. 11) 
 were of hewn stone, which were often very costly, so that 
 the terra " precious stones " is used both of those employed 
 in building (2 Chron. iii. 6; Isa. xxviii. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 4) 
 and of gems. 1 Kings x. 2 ; 1 Chron. xx. 2. We read of 
 marble among the materials of the temple (1 Chron. xxix. 
 2) and in the palace of Ahasuerus. Esth. i. 6. The festiv- 
 ity connected with laying the corner-stone of public edifices 
 is alluded to. Ezra. iii. 10 ; Zech. iv. 7 ; Job xxxviii. 6, 7. 
 The cement used at Babel was slime, Gen. xi. 3 — i.e., bitu- 
 men or asphaltum. Isaiah (xxx. 12) speaks of lime, and the 
 same word is rendered plaster. Deut. xxvii. 4. Mud was also 
 Used for mortar (Lev. xiv. 42, 45, where the word so trans- 
 lated means properly " dust " or " earth "). The acquaint- 
 ance of the ancient Hebrews with the structure and use of 
 the arch is directly vouched for, if this is intended, as able 
 scholars suppose, by the words improperly translated " emi- 
 nent place" (Ezek. xvi. 24) and "troop." Amos ix. 6. The 
 
 18 
 
206 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 wood-work was commonly of sycamore (Isa. ix. 10), though 
 in more elegant and costly structures olive, fir (or cypress), 
 cedar and almug trees (or sandal-wood) were employed. 1 
 Kings vi. 15,31; x. 12,27. 
 
 Houses of the better class were built in a quadrangle 
 around a central court, which was paved (Esth. i. 6) and 
 often very spacious (Neh. viii. 16), with trees and flowers 
 and a well or fountain (2 Sam. xvii. 18), and was sur- 
 rounded by a covered colonnade or portico (whence the 
 figures Ps. Ixxv. 3 ; Prov. ix. 1 ; Gal. ii. 9), which was often 
 surmounted by a gallery protected by a balustrade. 2 Kings 
 i. 2. The court was the favorite resort of the family, as 
 well as frequented for social purposes and on festive occasions. 
 Esth. i. 5 ; V. 1. The innermost apartments were assigned 
 to the women, or separate houses built for them. 1 Kings 
 vii. 8 ; Esth. ii. 3. 
 
 The roofs were flat and covered with a compact mass of 
 pebbles, plaster and other materials, or sometimes simply 
 with earth ; hence the mention of " grass upon the house- 
 tops." 2 Kings xix. 26 ; Ps. cxxix. 6. Such roofs, of course, 
 were not always impervious to rain. Prov. xxvii. 15. They 
 were required by the law to be protected by a low wall or 
 parapet. Deut. xxii. 18. The roof was used for a great 
 variety of purposes. There Kahab had the stalks of flax 
 under which she hid the spies (Josh. ii. 6) ; on it David 
 slept and walked in the cool of the evening (2 Sam. xi. 2) ; 
 to it Samuel took Saul for private conversation (1 Sam. ix. 
 25) ; Peter went thither for prayer (Acts x. 9) ; altars 
 were erected there for idolatrous purposes (2 Kings xxiii. 
 12); incense was burned there, and drink-offerings poured* 
 out (Jer. xix. 13 ; xxxii. 29 ; Zeph. i. 5) ; three thousand 
 men and women were on the roof of the temple of Dagon 
 to behold while Samson made sport. Judg. xvi. 27. We 
 read of proclaiming on the housetops (Luke xii. 3), of lam- 
 entation on the housetops (Isa. xv. 3 ; Jer. xlviii. 38), of 
 
ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 207 
 
 going to the roof to fight (Judg. ix. 51), of booths erected 
 there during the feast of tabernacles (Neh. viii. 16) ; and a 
 general excitement or commotion in a city is represented by 
 saying that the whole population had gone up to the house- 
 tops. Isa. xxii. 1. The friends of a paralytic in bringing 
 him to Jesus uncovered the roof where he was, and after 
 breaking it up let the sick man down through the tiling. 
 Mark ii. 4 ; Luke v. 19. Some have sought to accommo- 
 date these expressions to the removal of an awning stretched 
 over the court, but their proper force implies that they dug 
 through the earth or plaster of the roof and let him down 
 into the room beneath where Jesus was with the crowd. 
 They were able to reach the roof by steps leading to it 
 from the street without passing through the house, which 
 likewise explains our Lord's direction (Mark xiii. 15) : 
 " Let him that is on the housetop not go down into the 
 house." 
 
 Frequent mention is made of the " upper chamber," a 
 large and important room in the second story, sometimes 
 itself constituting all there was of a second story, being 
 built above the general level of the roof. It was in this 
 King Eglon was found when Ehud came to him. Judg. iii. 
 20. It was often appropriated to the use of guests, as the 
 chamber occupied by Elijah (1 Kings xvii. 19), the chamber 
 on the wall assigned to Elisha (2 Kings iv. 10), and the 
 guest-chamber where our Lord and his apostles partook of 
 the Last Supper. Mark xiv. 15. It was in an upper cham- 
 ber that David mourned for Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 33), 
 that Daniel thrice a day offered prayer (Dan. vi. 10), and 
 that the early disciples assembled after the ascension of the 
 Saviour. Acts i. 13. It was in an upper chamber too that 
 the body of Tabitha was prepared for interment. Acts ix. 
 37. The house in Troas where Paul preached (Acts. xx. 
 9) had a "third loft" or third story. The only other 
 buildings mentioned in Scripture of which this is expressly 
 
208 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 stated are Noah's ark (Gen. vi. 16), the structures adjacent 
 to the temple (1 Kings vi. 6, 8) and the house of the forest 
 of Lebanon. 1 Kings vii. 4, 5. 
 
 The house was entered by an outer gate, on the side-posts 
 and lintels of which passages were often inscribed from the 
 law (Deut. vi. 9 ; xi. 20), and which was opened by a por- 
 ter or maid (John xviii. 16 ; Acts xii. 18), and led into a 
 vestibule (called a porch Matt. xxvi. 71 ; Mark xiv. 68) 
 that served as an ante-room from which one could either 
 ascend by steps or winding stairs (1 Kings vi. 8) to the roof 
 or upper chamber, or pass on through a door into the court, 
 whence access was gained to the several rooms of the house. 
 The doors were commonly low (Prov. xvii. 19), though in 
 stately edifices high folding-doors were used. 1 Kings vi. 
 34 ; Ezek. xli. 24. Tenons inserted in the top and bottom 
 of the door, and moving in sockets in the lintel and sill, 
 answered for hinges. 1 Kings vii. 50 ; Prov. xxvi. 14. 
 The doors were fastened by bars or wooden bolts, which, 
 when pushed into place, were secured by pins dropping into 
 holes to which they were severally fitted. These pins could 
 be raised and the bolt withdrawn by a key from the outside. 
 Judg. iii. 25 ; Cant. v. 5. The windows were unglazed lat- 
 tices, extending nearly to the floor, and opening not merely 
 upon the court, as is almost exclusively the case in modern 
 Oriental houses, but likewise upon the street, so that the 
 mother of Sisera could watch for his coming (Judg. v. 28), 
 Jezebel be thrown into the street on the demand of Jehu 
 (2 Kings ix. 30-33), a bride could see her beloved's ap- 
 proach (Cant. ii. 9), one within the house have a full view 
 of what was passing without (Prov. vii. 6), and Daniel 
 could have his windows opened toward Jerusalem. Dan. vi. 
 10. The blank walls which Oriental houses now present on 
 their exterior are the result of long oppression, and have been 
 resorted to as a defence against espionage and unwelcome 
 intrusion. The passages above cited also show that the 
 
ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. 209 
 
 women were not restricted, as now, to apartments looking 
 out upon the garden at the back of the house. 
 
 Walls were mostly whitewashed. Matt, xxiii. 27. The 
 word rendered "untempered mortar" (Ezek. xiii. 10) pro- 
 perly means " whitewash," which the prophet declares can- 
 not hide the defects of the badly-constructed wall. In 
 palaces the interior walls were painted with more showy 
 colors and wainscoted. Jer. xxii. 14 ; 1 Kings vii. 7. The 
 " ceiled houses " spoken of in Hag. i. 4 are properly houses 
 thus wainscoted. For still greater elegance they were some- 
 times inlaid with ivory, as the ivory house of Ahab (1 
 Kings xxii. 39), those spoken of in Amos iii. 15 and the 
 ivory palaces of Ps. xlv. 8. The floors were of plaster or 
 mosaic. la cold weather fire was kindled in the court 
 (Luke xxii. 55), or in a vessel set in the centre of the 
 apartment, for which there was sometimes a cavity 
 sunk in the floor. Isa. xlvii. 14. The hearth before which 
 King Jehoiakira sat (Jer. xxxvi. 22) was such a pot 
 or pan of coals. In Eastern houses at the present day, 
 when the fire has burnt down, a frame like a table is placed 
 over the pot, and the whole is then covered with a carpet ; 
 and those who wish to warm themselves sit upon the floor 
 and thrust their feet and legs, and even the lower part of 
 their bodies, under the carpet. There were no chimneys, 
 but the smoke escaped through the windows. The word 
 translated " chimney " (Hos. xiii. 3) means a " lattice." In 
 the houses of the rich there were sometimes distinct apart- 
 ments for summer and for winter. Judg. iii. 20 ; Amos iii. 
 15. The "boiling-places" spoken of (Ezek. xlvi. 23, 24) 
 were probably kitchens. 
 
 The furniture of dwellings varied then, as now, of course, 
 with the wealth and taste of the owner. In the room pro- 
 vided for Elisha (2 Kings iv. 10) there was a bed, table, 
 stool or chair, and candlestick or lamp-stand. A raised 
 platform at the end or on the sides of the room with cush- 
 
 18 » 
 
210 PREPARING TO TEACH. 
 
 ions and pillows (Ezek. xiii. 18) * or a low bedstead (Ps. vi 
 6; Amos iii. 12), which in the houses of the rich was oftei: 
 inlaid with ivory (Amos vi. 4) and supplied with costly 
 coverings (Prov. vii. 16), answered the double purpose of a 
 seat by day and of a bed at night. Chairs were more 
 usual among the ancient Israelites (Prov. ix. 14) and Egypt- 
 ians than in the East at present. 
 
 The population dwelt both in walled cities, which were 
 often strongly fortified, like those of Bashan, which were 
 " fenced with high walls, gates and bars " (Deut. iii. 5), and 
 in unwalled towns and villages. Lev. xxv. 29, 31 ; 1 Sam. 
 vi. 18 ; Ezek. xxxviii. 11. The streets, as in Eastern towns 
 in modern times, were doubtless for the most part narrow 
 and crooked, though the principal avenues were broader 
 (Nah. ii. 4 ; Cant. iii. 2) ; and one street in Damascus bore 
 the name of "Straight." Acts ix. 11. The vast size of 
 Babylon and Nineveh, which is called a city of three days' 
 journey (Jon. iii. 3), is accounted for by the existence of 
 gardens and large open spaces within the city limits. The 
 mire of the streets (Isa. x. 6 ; Zech. ix. 3) implies that they 
 were commonly unpaved, though, if Joseph us is to be cred- 
 ited, Solomon paved the roads leading to Jerusalem with 
 black stone — a process which would probably be extended 
 to the principal streets of the city itself. He further states 
 that Jerusalem was paved with white stone by direction of 
 Herod Agrippa. Open spaces near the gates were used for 
 markets (2 Kings vii. 1), for tribunals of justice (2 Sam.xv. 
 2 ; Job V. 4; xxix. 7), for the transaction of business (Gen. 
 xxiii. 10; Ruth iv. 1, 11 ; Prov. xxxi. 23) and for public 
 assemblies.. 2 Chron. xxxii. 6 ; Neh. viii. 1. 
 
 * Literally, " Woe to the women that sew pillows to all hand-joints," 
 the soft appliances by which false prophets lull the people to an easy 
 security being represented by an over-refinement of luxury which 
 would place pillows not only under the arms and elbows of those who 
 recline or lean upon them, but under the very wrists and knuckles.