[Page 222].—See Maundrell, p. 87. Clarke, 4. 419. The building now called Rachel’s tomb is evidently very modern.
[Page 226].—Respecting the hospitality exercised at Jerusalem at the time of the Passover, see the commentators on Matt. xxvi. 18. Surenhusius Mishna. 4. 467. “Mercede non elocabant incolæ Hierosolymis domos ad festa accedentibus, sed gratis concedebant.” Lightfoot. Among the ten wonders, the Rabbins reckon that “no man did ever say to his fellow, I have not found a bed in Jerusalem to lie in.” Lightfoot’s Works, i. 951. Hasselquist, p. 103, mentions with surprise the little inconvenience produced in Cairo by the entrance of the caravan of Mecca, containing 100,000 persons.
[Page 228].—On the tenth of the month.] Exod. xii. 3. it is commanded that the lamb should be taken on the tenth of the month, and kept till the fourteenth; but the Jewish authors are not agreed whether this referred to that Passover exclusively, or was to be a perpetual rule. See Lightfoot’s Works, i. 952.
[Page 232].—The Galileans obstructed by the Samaritans.] Josephus (Ant. xx. 5. Bell. Jud. ii. 12. 3.) relates an instance in which the Galileans, passing through Samaria, were attacked by them and several persons killed. Comp. Luke ix. 52. Samaria was the shortest way from Galilee to Jerusalem; the journey required three days, Jos. Vit. 52.
[Page 234].—Searching for leaven.] This part of the paschal ceremonies was not ordained by the Mosaic law. See the Rabbinical authorities collected by Lightfoot, Works, i. 963.
[Page 237].—The temple rose above the rest of the city.] The hill of Acra had been reduced in height by Simon, (Ant. Jud. xiii. 6. 6.) that the temple might be higher than all the surrounding buildings. This and the solidity of its construction made it an almost impregnable fortress in the war with the Romans.
[Page 231].—Josephus (Bell. Jud. vi. 9.) makes a calculation of the number of persons present at the Passover from the number of lambs killed. They were 256,000; and as each was to be eaten (Exod. xii.) by not fewer than ten persons, and usually was so by more, he reckons that 2,700,000 persons must have been in Jerusalem. In Bell. Jud. ii. 14. he reckons all the inhabitants at the time of the Passover at 3,000,000.
[Page 239].—Papyrus.] The process of preparing the papyrus is here described after Pliny, N. H. xxx. 12. A drawing of the plant, on a large scale, may be seen in Hayter’s Report on the Herculaneum MSS. The book of Jesus the son of Sirach was evidently written by a Jew of Palestine, (xxiv. 10. l 25.) who had seen the high-priest Simon, son of Onias, (ch. l.) probably the second; the author may have lived a short time before the commencement of the cruelties of Epiphanes, or about 180 B. C. (Eichh. Einl. 4. 36. seq.) According to the same author, the translation was made by his grandson a little more than a century before Christ. Ib. p. 41.
[Page 240].—Travellers coming from a heathen land.] John xviii. 28. The law imposes no such purification; but it was agreeable to the spirit of the times to require it. (Acts x. 28.) Perhaps the purifications of Paul (Acts xxi. 24.) may have reference to this. The Rabbins speak of intercourse with idolaters as equal to Levitical uncleanness, from which every one must be purified before the Passover. John xi. 55.
[Page 241].—The word Jehoshaphat signifies Jehovah judgeth; and it is very doubtful whether in this passage any place so denominated was intended, and not rather some spot, which, by being the scene of Jehovah’s judgment, would deserve this name. “Judæi arbitrantur ultimo tempore quando Hierusalem fuerit instaurata, sævissimas gentes Gog and Magog contra Dei populum esse venturas et in valle Josaphat quæ ad orientalem portam templi sita est, esse sævituras.” Hieron. in Joel. iii. 12. There is in the valley, through which the Kedron runs, a sepulchre, which is now shown to travellers as that of Jehoshaphat, (Maund. p. 103) but without any warrant from antiquity. It appears, however, that a great many sepulchres were excavated in the rocks which form the eastern side of this valley. See Clarke, 4. 333. 349. It is still the most earnest desire of the Jews to be buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat.