Palestine: its Holy Sites and Sacred Story. By John Tillotson. Ward, Lock, and Tyler. 1871.
The history of the Jews, in the form in which we have it in the Old St. Clair Testament, is a medley. The absence of chronological arrangement in the books, the positive inversion of the order of events within the limits of the same book—sometimes the brief account of some reigns, the interruption of the story by long episodes, the want of any means of correlating the prophets with the monarchs in whose reigns they prophesy, combine to confuse the reader; and in addition to this, the history is absent altogether for the 400 years immediately before Christ. As a consequence, the Bible history is but little studied by young people, and for a hundred lads who can readily run through the list of sovereigns from Egbert to Victoria, or Clovis to Napoleon, there is hardly one who can distinctly enumerate the succession of the kings of Israel and Judah. The Bible history seems far off and shadowy, and needs to be made near and real; it is passed over for lighter literature, and needs to be invested with the charms of a story; Palestine geography is neglected, while its relations with the sacred story are close and living, and a graphic description of the physical features of the country should always accompany an account of the events which occurred in it. In those parts where the Biblical narrative is detailed and connected through a few chapters—as in the history of the patriarchs, or that of David and Solomon, of Elijah and Elisha—it is read with interest by the young; so that if we give continuity to the entire account, we may expect to create interest in the entire book. We are therefore indebted to those who reduce the elements to order, and present us with a connected history of Palestine, like the history of any other country, as Dean Stanley has done in his 'Lectures on the Jewish Church,' and Milman in his 'History of the Jews.' Those works, however, are learned and expensive, and Stanley's book still wants the concluding volume; so that a cheap popular history for young people was a desideratum. The author of the present volume has long held a position in general literature, and in this history of Palestine, as well as in the Bible Dictionary which preceded it, he shows so much knowledge of Biblical matters, and so much talent in dealing with them, that his death, which took place before a copy of this book could be placed in his hands, will be much regretted by many. In the preparation of his book he has no doubt availed himself of the labours of his predecessors; though at the same time he has put himself into his work, and his fine, healthy, genial, and sympathising spirit is exhibited in every chapter. In critical and scientific matters many will disagree from some of his conclusions, as, for instance, when he accepts Ussher's chronology, places Job earlier than Abraham, makes the bed of the Dead Sea the site of Sodom, attributes Ecclesiastes to Solomon, and ignores a deutero-Isaiah. It is better, perhaps, that these questions should not all be discussed—nor without discussion be decided adversely to common belief—in a book intended for young people: else the author here and there shows his capacity to weigh the evidence on both sides of a disputed matter. For the same reason, it is well, perhaps, that while the natural and human sides of marvellous events are made prominent, the question of the supernatural is not formally discussed, but the very language of the Old Testament is often quoted and left to make its own impression. In addition to the Old Testament, the writer makes considerable use of Josephus, and sometimes borrows from tradition, though more sparingly than does Stanley. His style is more simple than Stanley's, his language more homely; he writes in the present tense, and so gives the events a dramatic interest; he makes old acts and practices understood by running references to that which is analogous in modern society, and finishes a portrait or a description with an apt quotation or proverb. In historical parallels and allusions, the book abounds. For instance, with reference to Abram's position in idolatrous Chaldæa, when John Knox, bound as a galley slave, was wearily tugging at the oar in French waters, he is said to have seized on a wooden image of the Virgin. 'This a mother of God!' quoth he, 'she is fitter for swimming than for being worshipped;' and so he flung her into the river. Abram was more discreet. One day, when his father was away from the atelier, he took a strong hammer and knocked half the idols to pieces. When Terah returned and inquired the cause, Abram told him the gods had fallen to fighting as to which was the greatest, and in the battle had reduced themselves to the sight he saw; Terah, who would not give up his faith in their vitality, was forced to silence (p. 14). With regard to Israel's passage of the Red Sea, at low tide the sea may be forded at Suez, as Napoleon and his officers forded it on horseback; yet the tide comes in with a mighty flood, such as well-nigh overwhelmed Napoleon and his officers when re-crossing to Suez (p. 52). When Saul took a yoke of oxen and hewed them in pieces and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, 'Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen!' the challenge spread, with extraordinary rapidity from family to family, from tribe to tribe. Like the fiery cross of the old Highlanders, the signs were borne along, and the people responded with one consent:—
'Fast as the fatal symbol flies,
In arms the huts and hamlets rise;
From winding glen, from upland brown,
Then poured each hardy tenant down:
Nor slacked the messenger his pace—
He showed the sign, he named the place;
And pressing forward like the wind,
Left clamour and surprise behind.' (P. 110.)