While excavations have been made with more or less success in all the notable sections of the land, those of chief interest to the biblical scholar are in and about the holy city. There shafts have been sunk through the débris one hundred and twenty-five feet below the present surface of the ground. In those researches the foundation stones of the walls of the temple area were laid bare; Phœnician jars were found, on which are Phœnician characters; a subterranean passage was uncovered, a secret passage for troops from the citadel to the temple in times of danger; old aqueducts were brought to light; the ancient wall on Mount Ophel was traced hundreds of feet; the first wall on Mount Zion, and the probable site of the second wall, on which so much depends touching both the Temple and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, were discovered. The explorer has confirmed the historical statement of the glories of the temple of God, one thousand feet long and two hundred feet high, the grandest structure ever dedicated to divinity.
In their explorations they found fragments of earthenware at a depth of ninety feet, belonging to the city of the Jebusites, B.C. 1500; they uncovered pavements, one of mezzah stone, and between the pavements rubbish twenty feet deep,and under a second pavement was found Haggai’s seal, bearing the Hebrew inscription, “Haggai, son of Shebaniah,” B.C. 500. And in those depths of the ages were found lamps, dishes, stone weights, and a Phœnician jar, standing upright where the workmen of King Hiram of Tyre left it 3,000 years ago, and beautiful vases of black ware covered with crimson glaze. They were rewarded for their patient toil by uncovering immense columns, broken arches, vast vaults, the bases of great towers, and large water tanks, four hundred feet long, subterranean passageways, with their steps in situ, and strong triple gates; they exhumed the lower courses of Solomon’s city wall, seven hundred feet long and whereon are painted Phœnician characters in red paint, still bright, and they brought to light a stone cross inscribed, “The light of Christ shines forth for all.” For these magnificent results we are indebted to two Americans, Robinson and Barclay, and to two Englishmen, Warren and Conder.
In my visits to the holy city I experienced a keen regret that I was not treading the streets trodden by Christ and his apostles. They are hidden beneath the accumulated rubbish of ages. As I walked the crooked, neglected lanes of modern Jerusalem I felt I was treading upon the buried temples and palaces and avenues of Solomon’s glorious reign which await a resurrection by the spade, when the crescent goes down and the cross goes up. The regret I had experienced was relieved when I stood upon Mount Moriah, whose summit remains in its form and aspect as when Jesus “walked in Solomon’s Porch;” or when I crossed the little stone bridge which spans the Kedron, so often pressed by his weary feet; or when I sat on the slopes of Olivet and “beheld the city” which in its former majesty and glory rose before his divine vision.
Until the uncivilized and uncivilizing Turk is driven from the holy city, and until Christendom owns that religious metropolisof the world, and until the archæologist can pursue his noble work unmolested, two questions will remain in dispute—the site of Calvary and the site of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Greeks and Latins claim that both are within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a claim which rests upon the traditions of centuries, but which can never be substantiated beyond a doubt until the second wall of the Jerusalem of Christ can be definitely traced. Both English and American explorers of to-day place Calvary on the ridge over the Grotto of Jeremiah, north of the city and near the Damascus Gate. From immemorial time this has been called the “Hill of Execution;” it resembles the human skull, and the Jews esteem it accursed, and exclaim as they pass it, “Cursed be he who destroyed our nation by aspiring to be king thereof.” And to the west of the hill, two hundred yards north of the Damascus Gate, on one side is a lane leading to St. Stephen’s Church, and opposite is an arched gateway of stone, with wooden door, which opens into a garden, and in the garden is the tomb. The tomb has never been finished, yet it has been occupied; its construction is Herodian, about the time of Christ; it has been occupied for only one burial; it is a Jewish tomb and designed for one of wealth and influence; it has been used for Christian worship, and upon its walls can now be traced faintly a frescoed cross with the sacred monograms.
Interesting and remarkable as are the recoveries thus far made, a larger future awaits the archæologist. There are venerable traditions which point to hidden vaults and subterranean passageways beneath ancient Jerusalem wherein were secreted during the last and fatal siege of the city the Ark of the Covenant, the autograph copy of the Pentateuch, and the sacred vessels of the temple which were brought back from Babylon, and these traditions have been confirmed bythe excavations of the present day. And there is good reason to believe that St. Matthew’s gospel in Hebrew, together with some of the apostolic letters, were deposited in a place of security when the storm of persecution burst upon the Church in Jerusalem. A few inscriptions have been found and translated, illustrative of the Scripture record. A tablet has been recovered on which is an inscription in Greek—the characters are monumental in size—which is a notice to strangers not to pass through the sacred inclosure of the temple: “No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the temple inclosure; whoever is caught will be responsible to himself for his death, which will ensue.” This recalls the episode recorded in Acts xxi, 26, when St. Paul, after his purification, was accused of introducing into the temple the Gentile Trophimus of Ephesus, which caused a riot, that was quelled by the intervention of the Tribune, who rescued Paul. In the Pool of Siloam there was discovered an inscription, the letters of which closely resemble those on the Moabite stone. On this tablet, twenty-seven inches square, is recorded in six lines a commemoration of the completion of the tunnel, which is a third of a mile long and connects the Virgin’s Fount with the Pool of Siloam, and dates back to the reign of Solomon. And at Bethphage a stone was uncovered on which are frescoes representing the raising of Lazarus and the triumphal procession in honor of our Lord, and strong arguments are adduced that on this stone the Saviour rested when he sent his disciples to the city. These are but intimations of the future, when biblical research can be carried forward unhindered by the greed of the Turk or the fanaticism of the Jew.
While we wait patiently for the incoming of that better day, Jerusalem is attracting the attention of all peoples. Palestine is still the “high bridge” of the nations, over which the commerce of the world must pass from west toeast. The old saying of Scripture is still true: “I have set Jerusalem in the midst of the nations,” and for some wise purpose it is destined to be the religious metropolis of the world. Sixty thousand people dwell within her walls; eight thousand Turks hold the city and rule it with an iron hand. They have neither patriotism nor honor; they are robbers in the disguise of government officials. Forty-two thousand Jews have come from Spain, Poland, and the ends of the earth, who are paupers, and who divide their time between wailing over their departed glory and living on the charity of others. Ten thousand Christians are denizens of the once proud city, who stand guard over the “sacred places” and are the thrift and hope of the place. Four thousand orthodox Greeks and four thousand orthodox Latins watch each other with a jealous eye, and are ready for the fray whenever the “Silver Star of Bethlehem is stolen.” The Arminian Christians are merchant princes; the Syrians live on the venerable past; the Copts and Abyssinians are few and poor; and the four hundred Protestants represent the brain, the heart, the enterprise, the piety, and the charity of modern Jerusalem. They are American and Scotch Presbyterians, German Lutherans, and Anglican Episcopalians. They have founded hospitals, organized schools, built churches, created a healthful literature, and are the energy of public opinion. While many are waiting for the restoration of the Jews these noble Protestant Christians are preparing the way for the coming of the Lord, when Jerusalem shall be rebuilt and made holy and once again be the joy of the whole earth.
NORTHERN PALESTINE.
