After an hour the storm had ceased. And the storms of this world, too, had ceased for those who had found death in the waves, and life in the bosom of their God.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
BOOK III.
[Page 7.]—The staircase from the roof to the outer court.] See Bishop Pearce on Mark ii. 4. Matt. xxiv. 17. Shaw’s Travels, p. 210, 214. The bishop supposes the staircase to have gone immediately into the street, but Shaw says that he never observed an instance of this.
[Page 11.]—The termination of the Kedron.] The author means by this expression the point where the Kedron, after skirting Jerusalem on the east, turns off towards the Dead Sea. See what was said in the note on p. 244, vol. i. of the locality of Siloah, and its identity with Gihon. The valley of the Son of Hinnom, in which Tophet was a high place, (2 Kings xxiii. 10. Jer. vii. 31.) appears to have been on the southern side of Zion and without the city. If it had been, as some suppose, the same with the Tyropœon, which separated Acra from Zion, it would have been within the city, which is incredible, considering its pollution. What the author afterwards (p. 12) calls the valley of Siloah, appears to be the western end of the Tyropœon, at the eastern end of which was the fountain Siloah.
[Page 14.]—Sepulchres of the kings.] See in Maundrell, p. 76, the description of their still magnificent remains. “For what reason they go by this name is hard to resolve, since it is certain that none of the kings of Israel or Judah were buried here, unless it may be thought perhaps that Hezekiah was buried here, and that these were the sepulchres of the sons of David. 2 Chron. xxxii. 33.”
[Page 15.]—Golgotha.] This spot, called also Calvary, according to the common opinion of travellers, is included within the present city of Jerusalem. See the plan in Shaw’s Travels, p. 277.
[Page 16.]—Castle of Baris.] Baris בירה is an appelative, signifying a tower, (Joseph. Ant. x. 11.) used as a proper name of the castle which John Hyrcanus built, (Jos. Ant. xviii. 6.) as the royal residence. It was afterwards enlarged by Herod and called Antonia. (Jos. Ant. xv. 14.) In the text, “north-east corner of the temple” has been inadvertently substituted for north-west, which was its real position.
[Page 19.]—The crowing of the cock.] It has been asserted, on the authority of the Rabbins, (see Lightfoot on Matt. xxvi. 34.) that no cocks were kept in Jerusalem; but this appears to have been a later and groundless tradition, (Kuinoel. Matt. xxvi. 74.) to exalt the purity of the Holy City. For the same reason they said that no gardens were allowed within the walls, Lightfoot, Matt. xxvi. 36.