Coming from the “Church of the Annunciation” at the hour of vespers, I witnessed a scene here as novel as it was interesting. From twenty to thirty maidens were waiting to fill their long earthen pitchers from the crystal spring. Attired in a style as neat as it was elegant, they wore close-fitting jackets of different colors, long pointed veils of perfect whiteness, and head-dresses of silver coins. Their forms were straight and symmetrical, their features regular and handsome, their hair full and black, their eyes dark and lustrous, and their complexion of a soft brunette. Waiting their turn to the fountain, they laughed and chatted merrily together, and, gracefully poising the pitcher on head or shoulder, they seemed to regard the labor a delight rather than a task. Celebrated for their beauty, an old writer ascribes it to the special favor of Mary.
The only other great event connected with our Lord’s life in Nazareth, and which could have had “a local habitation and a name,” is his sermon in the synagogue, and the subsequent attempt of his townsmen to thrust him from the brow of the hill. Unwilling that any site should perish, the Latins pretend to have identified the one and the other. That which is shown as the site of the former may possibly be correct, but the “inventors of sacred places” have displayed less discrimination in the selection of the latter than in their choice of other localities. Selecting it for its precipitous appearance, as it overhangs the Plain of Esdraelon, the monks have designated a rugged mountain two miles to the southeast from Nazareth as the “Mount of Precipitation.” But while the height and steepness of this mountain might have answered the murderous purpose of the Nazarenes, yet it is too distant to be in keeping with the letter of the text. With his accustomed minuteness, St. Luke gives a simple narration of the facts of that premeditated tragedy:“And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereupon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.”[626] The lofty hill to the west of the town corresponds, in its relative location, to that of the city, and is more in harmony withthe inspired narrative. With Nazareth at its base, covering its lower spurs and creeping up its ravines, it rises to the height of 500 feet. Its sides are steep and covered with white limestone rocks, and, though not smooth, it is not sufficiently uneven to arrest one’s fall. Once started downward by a violent push, no human power could resist the force or avert the catastrophe. Desiring to test the difficulty of the descent, I found it impossible to descend with safety except by placing my feet in the fissures of the rocks. With a meekness which was the more remarkable because of its exalted purpose, the Master suffered the infuriated mob to hurry him through the crowded streets, and up through one of the ravines, to the brow of the hill, where, by a display of his wondrous power, he released himself from their grasp, and, “passing through the midst of them, went his way.”
From the summit of this hill not only is one of the noblest views in Palestine obtained, but it is the best place for pious reflection. Reaching the highest point in half an hour, we found thereon the ruined wely of Neby Isma’il, and around it were growing the beautiful amaranth and other kinds of Syrian flowers. The wind blew strongly from the sea, which, together with a hazy sky, lessened the enjoyment of the hour; but the wide and glorious prospect was before us. There was Tabor, with its oaken groves; the “Mountains of Gilead,” with the brown plateau of Pella; the Plain of Esdraelon, with its graceful undulations and memorable cities; the Hills of Samaria, green and rolling; the long range of Carmel, crowned with its wealthy convent, and casting its deep shadow into the Bay of Haifa, where the navies of Europe were riding at anchor; the Plain of ’Akka, where “Asher dipped his foot in oil, and yielded royal dainties;” the wide sea, “dotted with many a sail;” the intervening hills, all wooded and sinking down in gentle slopes into winding valleys of the richest verdure; the Plain of El-Buttauf, and the Crusaders’ Castle of Seffurieh; the long ridges of the Galilean Hills running up toward Safed, “the city set upon a hill;” and rising above them all in grandeur was Hermon, with its mighty dome of snowy whiteness sparkling in the sun like a crown of glory.
Contracting the scope of the vision, the wandering eye returned and rested on the immortal village, quietly nestling at the mountain’s base. It is Nazareth! How the sacred associationsthrong the mind! How the imagination is tempted to picture scenes which must have occurred, but which are not recorded! The theme is too divine for fancy. The same infinite wisdom is displayed in what is not written as is manifested in what is recorded. Lift not the veil that the Father has drawn over the thirty years of seclusion of his Son, nor attempt to be wise above that which is written. It is enough that in this mountain village lived Mary and Joseph; that here they loved and were betrothed; that by its spring, or in its fields, or in her quiet home, ere came the marriage-day, “Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named 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 came in unto her and said Hail! thou art highly favored; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women;” that twice after the annunciation Mary ascended from her native vale, and, crossing these same hills, she journeyed southward into Judea—once to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and again to give a Savior to the world;and that, after the presentation in the Temple, hither the holy family returned to the duties and enjoyments of private life.[627] With one solitary allusion, the silence of thirty years remains unbroken as to the life of Jesus prior to his public ministry. Subject to his parents, here he resided, treading these streets, wandering over these hills, and from this commanding summit beholding the same panorama which now is before us. The imagination pictures his childhood as lovely, his youth retiring and meditative, his manhood studious, youthful, and devout. Here were spent the years of preparation, and from a city without a history he went forth on the most benevolent mission that ever fell to the lot of man—to teach the sublimest truths, to illustrate the purest character, to die as no other man could die, and to establish a kingdom of righteousness, truth, and peace. Only twice is he known to have returned to the “city where he had been brought up;”once when rejected by his townsmen,[628] and again when he was met with the taunt,“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Simon, and Judas? and are not his sisters with us?”[629] Unable to do many “mighty works there because of their unbelief,” he abandoned Nazareth forever, and, choosing Capernaum as his “adopted city,”he was received with joy by the delighted people.[630]
CHAPTER XIV.
Phœnicia.—Its Extent and Fertility.—Origin of the Phœnicians.—Their Commerce.—Their Learning.—Departure from Nazareth.—Cana of Galilee.—First Christian Wedding.—Beautiful Vale of Abilîn.—Plain of Accho.—City of ’Akka.—Names.—Metropolis of the Crusaders.—Their Destruction.—Gibbon.—The Moslem Nero.—Napoleon’s Defeat.—Road to Tyre.—Summer Palace.—Excavations.—Wild and dangerous Pass.—Antiquity of Tyre.—Three Tyres.—Stupendous Water-works.—Continental Tyre.—Sins and Judgments.—Glory departed.—How Prophecy was fulfilled.—Insular Tyre.—Tyre of the Crusaders.—Cathedral.—Tomb of Hiram.—Wonderful Temple.—Sarepta.—Zidon.—Gardens.—Ancient Glory.—Wars.—Harbor.—Citadel.—Tombs.—Interesting Discoveries.—Ornaments.
Historically, the Holy Land is divided into three great sections—Palestine, Philistia, and Phœnicia. The latter is that long maritime plain stretching for 120 miles from the Promontory of Carmel on the south to the River Eleutherus on the north. Not exceeding 12 miles in its greatest width, it is washed by the Mediterranean on the west, and is bounded on the east by a mountain barrier,through which there is but one practicable pass from the “Ladder of Tyre” to the island of Aradus.[631] In addition to numberless streams, it is watered with the Rivers Kishon, Leontes, Aulay, Tamyras, Lycus, Adonis, Hadîsha, and Eleutherus. Deriving its Greek name from “a palm,” as significant of its richness, it is still fruitful where cultivated; and though only occasionally that celebrated tree is seen, yet groves of oranges and lemons environ its modern towns. While in its gardens are produced apricots, peaches, almonds, figs, dates, the sugar-cane, and grapes, which furnish excellent wine, its mountain slopes are covered with oaks, pines, acacias, tamarisks, and the majestic cedar. Divided into sections by bold promontories projecting far into the sea, its general surface is undulating, and its shore-line is indented with small bays, near which stood those renowned cities which have given celebrity to the whole plain.
Originally settled by the descendants of Sidon, the son ofCanaan,[632] Phœnicia was included in the promise to Abraham; but, either from inability or unwillingness to expel its powerful and wealthy traders, it was only nominally possessed by his posterity. The grandeur of that promise, the sublime purpose of Jehovah as to the material greatness of his chosen people, together with the religious mission of the Jews, demanded such a maritime possession. Had they had the advantages of a powerful navy and of a vast commerce, Palestine would have been the leading power on earth, and would have held the first rank among the mighty nations of antiquity. It is one of those stupendous facts which illustrate the infinite wisdom of Providence, and the relations of the Promised Land to all the world, that, as Palestine has given to mankind a religion, Phœnicia is the primeval seat of commerce and letters. From their splendid cities of Tyre and Sidon the Phœnicians launched out upon the hitherto unknown Mediterranean, and, having planted colonies on the islands of Cyprus and Rhodes, they sailed into Greece. Emboldened by success, and charmed with the excitement of a new life, they turned to the northwest, and, having visited Sicily, Sardinia, and the northern coast of Spain, they passed through the Straits of Gibraltar, occupied the Isle of Gades, penetrated as far northward as Britain, and returning, they stretched southward from the Straits and founded Carthage, the formidable rival of Rome,and the only one that threatened her destruction.[633] It is a thought as beautiful as it is true, that, while holding commercial relations with all the nations on the shores of their native sea, and on the western coasts of Europe and Africa, and trafficking, by their caravans, with Persia, Arabia, and Asia, their intercourse with those distant nations was marked by the blessings of the arts of peace rather than by the calamities of war. Attaining the summit of their power and glory in the reign of Solomon, how changed would have been the moral aspects of the earth had those early mariners been Jews, disseminating a knowledge of the true God wherever they planted a colony, and illustrating a pure worship wherever they sold their “Tyrian purple.” Celebrated for their knowledge of architecture and of various mechanic arts, and also for their learning, it was from one of these Phœnician cities that Cadmus went forth, about 15 centuries B.C., and laid the foundationof Grecian literature, the pride of succeeding ages, and the glory of modern scholarship. Nowhere upon the globe can be found a tract of land so small as this, where have originated three such powerful agents for “weal or woe” to mankind, and which, still operating, are affecting the opinions and moulding the characters of men in all lands.
So intimately blended are the events of sacred and profane history connected with all that region extending from the Hills of Nazareth to the Mediterranean, and from the Promontory of Carmel to the mulberry groves of Sidon, that the traveler scarcely realizes the transition from Palestine to Phœnicia. Reluctantly leaving those scenes sacred to the life and deeds of our Lord, we found ourselves, at the close of the day, in the midst of new associations, dating back to the earliest authentic records. Stopping for a moment at the Fountain of Seffurieh, around which Guy de Lusignan gathered the heroic Crusaders on the night previous to the fatal battle of Hattîn, we ascended the hill of ancient Sepphoris, and, crossing the beautiful plain of El-Buttauf, came to the ruins of Cana of Galilee. Situated seven miles to the north from Nazareth, it occupies a tongue of land extending into the plain, bounded on either side by a small ravine, and behind the town rises a rocky, barren hill.The home of Nathaniel the apostle,[634] and the residence of the bride of St. John, here was celebrated the first Christian wedding on record; and, being present as a guest,here the Savior performed his first miracle,[635] when