Our dragoman had agreed to furnish horses, tents, board, and military escort for the journey at six dollars a day per capita. The escort is indispensable, for he who goes down to Jericho without a guard “falls among thieves,” and, though it is only a question of time when the traveler is robbed, whether prior to the tour or afterward, yet, for the sake of convenience, theformer is preferable. He is robbed before the journey by the government, which insists that every pilgrim must pay for its protection; he is robbed on the journey by the organized banditti of the Ghôr, whose depredations the government winks at, if it does not connive with the thieves themselves.
It was ten o’clock A.M. when the caravan moved. Happily for the social amenities their society afforded and the smiles of joy their presence never failed to impart,we were joined by the talented and amiable wife and daughter of a distinguished New Yorker,[245] who was making the tour of Palestine. Mounted on their swift Arabian horses, and tilting their long burnished spears, the Arab guard led the way, followed by the ladies on gentler horses, while the heavy-laden mules, carrying tents, baggage, and cuisine, brought up the rear. On our right lay the Valley of Jehoshaphat, with its monumental tombs; on our left were the terraced slopes of Olivet, green with verdure and bright with flowers; while before us rose the rugged Hill of Offense. Crossing the shoulder of the Mount of Olives, the path sweeps abruptly to the east, and, after winding round the head of the small valley that furrows the hill-side, descends eastward past the place where the Redeemer paused to weep over Jerusalem, and just beyond skirts the town of Bethany. Descending between rough and barren hills, we entered a rocky glen,and in half an hour came to the fountain of El-Haud, the “waters of Enshemesh,”[246] marking the boundary-line between Judah and Benjamin. It is the halting-place of caravans, and its cool, sweet water, flowing into a stone trough beneath a Saracenic arch, is alike refreshing to man and beast in a region so waste and arid. Continuing down the glen for more than an hour, we turned to the left, and soon began the ascent of a wild ravine, the sides of which are limestone, streaked in graceful curves with dikes of porphyry. As the farewells of cultivation, and half rebuking Nature for her general sterility, a stray flower peeped above the rocks, and a stunted tree stood in silent desolation on the hill above. Gradually ascending over chalky hills, our path lay through the bleak Wilderness of Judea. At noon we reached the summit of the central ridge between Enshemesh and Jericho. Neither pen can describe nor pencil sketch the forbidding aspect of this dreary spot. The hills are broken into a thousand rugged,barren peaks, and in color are a mixture of yellow and of a dull red and white. The intervening valleys are dry and stony, and on all that blighted soil there is neither shrub, flower, blade of grass, nor any living thing to relieve the dreariness of the accursed scene. Fit abode for the devil and his angels, the counterpart of Pandemonium,it was hither the Spirit led the suffering Son of God to encounter the Evil One.[247]
For twenty centuries this region has borne a thievish character, and the lapse of time has not changed its reputation. As in the days of our Lord, it is still infested with robbers, who, from their undiscovered dens, or from behind some craggy bluff or beetling cliff, level their long gun at the unwary traveler. Suggested by the dangers of the route, the desolation of the spot, and the remains of an ancient caravansary, tradition has identified it as the scene of the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” Hard by the roadside are broken walls, fragments of an arch, and deep vaults, said to mark the site of that inn to which the“certain man was brought who went down to Jericho and fell among thieves.”[248]
Resuming our journey, we began rapidly to ascend, and soon came upon portions of an old Roman road dating back to the reign of Herod the Great. Winding downward amid chalky hills and through narrow rocky defiles, we at length reached the brow of that sublime gorge through which the brook Cherith flows. Like a silver thread, the stream is seen flowing between banks bright with oleanders. It is here Elijah was fed by the ravens while the famine raged in Palestine. Rising like massive walls five hundred feet high on either side, the mountains cast their deep shadows into the profound chasm below. In their precipitous sides the anchorites have burrowed their solitary cells, and on the loftier crags the Syrian eagle builds his eyrie. Increased by the sombre foliage of the stunted shrubbery clinging to the rocks, there is a solemn grandeur in this mountain gorge, reflecting the sturdy character and rugged life of the great prophet of Tishbeh. Skirting the very verge of the cliff, the winding path descends five hundred feet to the bottom of the glen, where the white rocks reflect the heat like the blast of a furnace. Bearing the Arabic name of El-Kelt, we soon reached the verdant banks of the prophetic brook. The waters are clear, cool, and sweet, butin early autumn, as in the time of Elijah, the stream becomes dry, and as then,so now, the black-winged raven croaks in its flight over the deep ravine.[249] The Cherith flows through the Valley of Achor over the Plain of Jericho, and, meandering as it advances, is lost amid the shrubbery surrounding the castle of Rîha. Refreshed by its delicious waters, we ascended the northern bank of the streamlet, and were soon in the Vale of Achor,where Achan was stoned to death.[250]
RAVEN.
Like the enchantment of a mirage, the Plains of the Jordan, green and well-watered, now burst upon our view, and beyond appeared the trans-Jordanic mountains. Following the sinuous banks of the Kelt, we reached the foot of the descent late in the afternoon, and, turning northward, pitched our tents near the Fountain of Elisha. The sun had gone down behind Mizpeh and Gibeon; the shadows of Quarantania lay darkly on the plain; the bleating flocks on the distant hill-side had gathered round the shepherd of the Ghôr; the stars came out one by one from their empyrean abode, and we lay down to slumber amid the ruins of ancient Jericho.
Two cities, neither identical in site nor history, have bornethe name of Jericho—one belonging to the age of the prophets, the other founded by Herod the Great and visited by our Lord. The remains of the former consist of six mounds of rubbish and two noble fountains, located half a mile from the foot of the mountain pass. These mounds vary in height from ten to forty feet, and in like proportions in their circumference. Around their bases and on their sides and summits are the débris of old buildings, such as heaps of hewn stone and fragments of pottery, and within them are the entombed dwellings and palaces of the ancient city, remaining for future excavations to uncover. Situated on this magnificent plain, the walls and towers of the older Jericho attracted the attention of the Israelites, who from the mountains on the other side of the Jordan looked down with delight upon this,the first city of Canaan which they had seen.[251] Hither came the spies to “search out the country;” here lived the friendly Rahab, who secreted the two Israelites under the “stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof;”to the west are the mountains whither she sent them to elude pursuit;[252]and around these mounds stood the walls which were miraculously thrown down.[253] Dooming the city to perpetual destruction and infamy for the gross idolatry of the inhabitants, Joshua pronounced a curse upon him who should attempt to rebuild it,which 550 years thereafter was singularly fulfilled in the days of Ahab.[254] Here the embassadors of David, whom Hanun, king of the Ammonites, so shamefully treated, were ordered to remain“till their beards were grown.”[255] Subsequently to the reconstruction of the city by Hiel,it became the seat of the famous school of the prophets.[256] From it Elijah and Elisha passed over the plain to the Jordan, and, crossing the river by a miracle, the former was translated, and the latter, returning to the city,reluctantly consented that fifty of the sons of the prophets should ascend the mountains of Moab to search for Elijah.[257] Delighted with its pleasant situation, and desiring to make it their permanent abode, the young prophets requested Elisha to heal the fountain and restore fertility to the land; and after the miracle, the effects of which are apparent to this day,the successor of the renowned Tishbite left Jericho for Bethel.[258]
The fountain which the prophet healed is now called ’Ain es-Sultân, and gushes forth from the base of a double mound. The water is cool and sweet, and, after pouring into a large semicircular reservoir, flows in random streamlets to the Jordan. Less than three miles to the northwest is the more copious fountain of ’Ain Dûk, supplied from two springs bursting out of the southern bank of Wady en-Narwaimeh. The water is conducted by an aqueduct along the base of Quarantania to sugar-mills half a mile distant from ’Ain es-Sultân; but, as the mills are now in ruins, this fine stream performs no higher work than to water a few gardens of cucumbers in the vicinity of its source and along its course.Around these springs are strewn the remains of the celebrated Castle of Doch, in which Simon Maccabæus was murdered by his son-in-law Ptolemy.[259] Abandoning the site of the ancient city, Herod the Great founded the Jericho of the New Testament on the banks of the Cherith, a mile and a half to the south.Around it were the palm-groves and balsam-gardens which Antony presented to Cleopatra, and which the Idumean farmed of the Egyptian queen.[260] Selecting it as one of his royal cities, Herod adorned it with a palace, a hippodrome, and other magnificent buildings. Here he entertained Cleopatra in a sumptuous manner, and here he terminated his life.From this palace he was borne, amid unrivaled funeral pomp, over the southern plain, and up to the wild pass of Nukb el-Kuneiterah, to be interred on the summit of Herodium, in the splendid mausoleum which he himself had constructed at great expense during his reign.[261] More than thirty years after the death of this royal monster, Jericho was visited by Christ, in his frequent tours from the Land of Moab to Judea. Here resided the rich publican Zaccheus, with whom Jesus lodged; by the side of some of its thoroughfares blind Bartimeus sat, whom the compassionate Savior restored to sight;and from scenes so tender he ascended to Jerusalem, to make his triumphal entry into the Holy City.[262]
Not two miles to the southeast is the Arab town of Rîha. It is small and filthy, and contains a few hovels occupied by from fifty to one hundred inhabitants, who are guilty of the sins of Sodom. Within a rude court-yard is the only reservoirof the village, and near it stands a rough stone tower thirty feet square and forty high. It is the barrack of the Turkish garrison, stationed here for the protection of the government lands, for the defense of the peasants of the Ghôr, to collect the taxes imposed upon the miserable villagers, to punish offenders, and to serve as the escort of travelers en route for the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Though bearing the name of Jericho, it is more probably the site of ancient Gilgal. In view of the silence of historians on the point, it is impossible now to decide whether Gilgal was the name of a city or the designation of a tract of land, though the former is more in harmony with the scriptural account of the place.Accepting Josephus as authority, Gilgal was ten stadia, or less than a mile and a half, from Jericho, and fifty stadia, or more than six miles, from the Jordan.[263] The old Tower of Rîha coincides in its location with this description, and may be regarded as indicating with sufficient accuracy the scene of so many memorable events. Few names in sacred history recall scenes more thrilling and momentous than Gilgal.Removing the twelve monumental stones from the bed of the Jordan, Joshua caused them to be placed here as the memorial of the miraculous dividing of the river;[264] around them the Israelites first pitched their tents within the Promised Land;[264]here they rolled away the reproach of Egypt by the renewal of the rite of circumcision;[265]here they kept the Passover for the first time in Canaan;[266]here Joshua saw, in a day-vision, the captain of the Lord’s host “standing over against him with his sword drawn in his hand;”[267]and here the tabernacle was first set up in Palestine, where it remained till removed to Shiloh.[268]Four centuries later Samuel held his court nigh unto this ruined tower, and offered sacrifices for the people then assembled.[269]Here Saul of Gibeah was made King of Israel,[270]and two years thereafter, upon the very spot of his coronation, he lost his kingdom by acting “foolishly.”[271]After the death of Absalom the tribe of Judah assembled here to hail the return of David.[272]And here, in the reign of Jehoram, Elisha healed the poisoned pot,[273]restored Naaman to health, and cursed Gehazi with leprosy for his cupidity.[274]