The guide called attention to the village of Shafut, a little distance from the route, and said it was supposed by some to occupy the site of the ancient Mizpeh. A little farther along on the other side of the road was a rounded hill, which has been identified by some writers as the site of Nob, mentioned several times in the Old Testament. Beyond it is Tuliel-el-Ful (Hill of Beans), where once stood Gibeah, the scene of several important incidents described in Judges, Samuel, and other books of the Bible. Doctor Bronson said it was quite probable that the meeting of David and Jonathan took place in the valley between these two points, and the scriptural account certainly carries out his theory.
They passed Er-Ram, which corresponds to the Ramah of Benjamin (1 Kings xv. 17), and was formerly a populous city, but is now a miserable village. As they rode along, one of the boys recalled the murder of the descendants of Saul, and the devotion of Rizpah, who spread sack-cloth on the rocks, and watched by the bodies of her sons all through the summer days to prevent their being devoured by birds.
"Yes," responded Fred; "and don't you remember the picture we saw at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia representing the scene?"
Frank remembered it perfectly, and said the painting and the engravings that have been made of it would now have a renewed interest for him since he had looked upon the spot where the incident happened.
As they passed Ramah, Fred referred to the passage in the Book of Judges where Deborah is said to have dwelt under a palm-tree "between Ramah and Bethel, in Mount Ephraim." Very naturally he asked if they were near Bethel.
"We are not far from it," answered the Doctor, "though it is not on our road. The village of Betin, the ancient Bethel, is a couple of miles from our route, and can be reached most easily from Bireh. There is nothing of consequence to be seen there, and it is only for its historic associations that the place is worth visiting. It is a village of three to four hundred inhabitants, and they are no better than the average of the people we have thus far met.
"There is another biblical site, too, a little off our road," the Doctor continued; "I refer to Seilun, the ancient Shiloh.
"In spite of the completeness of its description the site of Shiloh was unknown for centuries, and was only identified in the last forty years. It is described in the Book of Judges as being 'on the north side of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.' Exactly in such a position there is a mass of ruins covering a considerable extent, and it is now agreed by biblical students that they are the ruins of Shiloh.
"Now that I have told you what it was, perhaps you can say why Shiloh was famous?"