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The Country West of Jerusalem.winv\T.VVo-WtutOn the Road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, Feb. 1, 1868.To the Editor of the Boston Journal:We had a rough night at the convent, iu the monks’ cells—beds a trifle softer than white oak planks; bedfellows more plentiful and nimble than agreeable, horses trampling inthe stable beneath, donkeys sounding their trumpets, dogs barking, lateplain—have crossed two or three | Now David comes to the throneswells of land, and now on our left reigning in Hebron, taking Jerusale hand wc look up the valley of Ajalon. from the Jebusites. He has greatThe word carries us, in thought, back to that day when Joshua led the armies of Israel, 1491 B. C., against the five kings, in the great battle of Bethharan. Down this valley came the defeated army. Our course lies across the line of their rout. Heretravelers pounding at the gate; acorn- few d tef had pasaed throapl. pany of pilgrims bound for Jerusalem L,._ T_ . • . , ■. . Kreverence for the ark. We behold him at the head of 30.000 men coming out from Jerusalem, down the hill in front of us, along the road, which we are traveling, taking the ark from Abinadab’s house to bear it to Jerusalem. We see the melancholy interstreaming through the town, shouting and singing, waking up every cur; jackals howling in the fields, niuleteer3they fled, pursued by the men who a ruption—Uzzah falling dead forstretching forth his hand to touch the ark; David leaving it in the house ofthe Jordan, just above its entrance to the Dead Sea, without wetting their f“ct—who had seen the walls of Jericho fall iu tVio ground, aud who hadtelling stories, monks drawling their ^aken by stratagem.prayers—a medley and succession ol sounds distracting to weak-nerves, and a breakfast exactly like last night’sfullordprcteacoranschurn]i.IN THE SADDLE.All the morning we have had in sight a hill higher than all others, round, cone-like, with a mast, on itsnuiuinit. it 13 11C 0,1 ci.iiOiV.iit lU.lZ.pan,the home of the prophet Samuel. Theadir-Getting clear ol the begging rabble j ^ rsd)a cap this hill Neby Samuel—thearound the convent door, and gaming „Hou8c q{ Samuel.” The sight ofthe plain of ftharon, we stn e nort l o Lbat hill brings to remembrance an-Lydda, then across the country south- othcp ^ fou bt a little east of it, east, heading toward Jerusalem. While s0Qn afterSamsou-s death, wbeu Sam.thus riding, we may take a look at ud wag a HtUc chi,d we • a HnenA. L . ------A .J M I a« I I lt;-% m s\ mm • L v « L I « r* I « 9 AJthis wonderful land, which has playedsuch a part in human affairs. Egypt is older; Assyria has been mightierapron at Shiloh, ten miles farther north. The Philistines invaded theObed-edom, which stood somewhere along this hill-side; and then three months later the second procession, carefully arranged—priests of the«e of Aaron to bear the ark, sacrifice oQeiov. ,. ,movies on, IavidtelolitePr«“f»''mg and dancing in his joy, the ’Le-vites singing Psalms, a multitudejof people all along the road singing and shouting, trumpets blowing, cymbals clashing, men and women playing on psalteries and harps.The king has had forethought to arrange the music for this joyful occasion. Zadok and Abiathar are leaders of the singing together, withtauvidfirsedweschan(wath a all teanin arms; Greece and Rome have had al,ound y. SamueL At A hek a greater advancement m arts; but, ,,0 h[li and thinohaa came downi o xnn i uw n _ 1 . .land of Israel, and were swarming Asaph, next to David, a grand composer. Over these hills rang the songstC.?8.this land of Palestine has wielded awider influence than either of those old nations.from Shiloh with the ark to the camptinof Israel. What a shout welcomedof jubilee 011 that glad day. The kingdom was united and at peace. The armies of Israel were powerful agaiust all enemies. The shepherd1*.L.boy, who feared man never but God aud the ark of God taken, the aged | always, was leader aud ruler of theod;r.T . , ,, , . iits advent! Bat what a sad day itIt is but a small territory—a mere | wg for Isracl_thirtv thousand slainpatch on the earth s surface—a littlelarger than the State of Connecticut, 1 Kli at ghiloh fainting, falling, break-1 nation; and now the ark, which hadhalf as large as New Hampshire. This Jng bi8 nec^ an(] t|ie wife of Phine-jbeen brought from Sinai by MosesrT0^ °VC1; which we are riding, from ■ hag dying ;n childbirth at the news. a»d Joshua, dearer than any sceptre Jaffa back to the mountains, is at near- Down this valley, in all probability, or crown to any modern nation, was ly the ancient boundary between 1 al- t|lc victorious pjlili3tines brought the to be, brought to the capital of the estme and Philistia. Behind, half way ark and tbe spoils of war to Ashdod. nation, to the citadel of Zion, the Irom Jaffa to llamleh, is a little clus- it was the most direct road from the i strong-hold just taken from the Jebusites, who have held it four hundredter of houses, which was known m the time of Samson as the House of Dagon.1 CD' This plaiu, yellow with daises and Si j decked with scarlet anemones, reach-battle-lield. It is a familiar story*how ijt was placed as a trophy iu the house of their God:waButheRepoclewaluritytietinintaitioditMiI sanfulW£odingaboutliras-ing away toward the south, the moun-“Dagon, his name, sea monster, upward man And downward fish; yet had his temple high Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coastfnina bounding it eastward is the ltiutl iveareu in azolus, ureaueu tnrougn tJ uuns uouuuiug it easiwaiu, is iul iauu i 0f Palestine in Gath and Askelon ”of the I hilis tines. t how Dagon was found in the 1Peyears agaiust all Israel. Once there wi it will be forever safe. Up the hill to an the summit, down the geutle eastern va j descent, a mile or more, the great pro-1 pr cession moves through the gates up toGo back a little iu history, to the time when Abraham came iino the land, 3788 years ago—according to Ichronologists. This plain was popu-nii I lous then—descendcuts of Ham, sous _ of Canaan, h o 1 d i ng it—powerfulI enough a little later to wage warwith Egypb to gain possession ofthe throne of the Pharaohs, The Philistines (it is supposed) were jp the shepherd kings who reigned from the time of Abraham till after Joseph was sold into Egypt.This plain has been at once the highway and the war path of the nations.mornin the hights of Zion.0prostrated on the ground, to the as-pebeWhat songs of Jubilee so grandtonishment of the priests, and the next as those which the King himself hasand armless—how written! None more suitable than thatmorning headlessdisease broke out in Ashdod—howinyenthe ark was sent from city to city, pestilence following it—how it was carried to Ekron, just south of Ramlehhow the men ot that town would nothave it, buttwenty-fourth Psalm of his as they cuter the gates—the great choruso oskoutinir—put it on a new cart.drawn by two cows going straight“Lift up j our heads, O ye gates,And le ve lifted up, ye everlasting doors,And the King of glory shall come iu.Wc may imagine the choir of Za-2SS,ithhisasand do *» 11 Lltiapfa£ u LulghijUli in !asstiiies have marched—Egyptians to theIN)tfE.away Irom their calves, over the plains southeast to Eethshemcsh. It was in May, lor the men of that town were iu the harvest lield reapingwheat when thev hawout a driver, coming up the road._ , . , The multitude ran to see, audaciouslyEuphrates, Assyrians and Persians. lookod into the ark aud were smjttento the Nile. W hat journeys they■ Lf God_fifty thousand of them.took to smash each other s heads!Look a moment at the map aud trace j t kirjath jeabim.the war path—up from Babylon north-1 have passed over a hill, dewest along the Euphrates 500 miles, sceuded the other slope and are at rounding the northern end of the Kirjath Jearim. You see a collectiondok asking“Who is this Kiug of gloryAnd then the chorus responding“Jehovah, strong and mighty.Kof♦ lo •9110vasacafulshsc'artocaanW(mi“c1:-“The Lord of Hosts,He is the King of glory.I*ta |great Arabian desert, turning theul,,i stone houses with flat roofs on the.southeast, coming down past Darnas- eastern side of the hill, an cus, over hills and valleys, across this i[1 ‘‘uins, grass growing in the jointsW 7 I lt;» . 1 l 1 • 1 . ii 1 t •E.olc-!1plain over the desert south of Philistia,onto theNile—1200 miles from home.Taking events in chronological order, we see first a caravan of Arabs swarthy sons of the desert—with camels,coming down from the north, bound jlhe vaNey °f Elah toAnd then the choir led bv Abiathar, I ucWasking it once more, aud the chorus to again replying— : dcthreTwenty-nine hundred and ten years] pthave rolled away since then. Here tuwis thecitv before us is the same Mount! 01 Zion. This is the same road—these a\old church tllc same ,ull8‘ ^he k is 1,0 more- jProphets and kings of Israel have higone lorever, but that song of jubilee aiis the same as then. Time nor changeO Iwill never mar its beauty nor dimin- etb\Carleton.of the walls, a delightful olive grove with tig trees here and there, and a brook at the bottom of the hill. If ,. .wc were to turn south at this point lts ^ra eurwe should not be lon$r in coming to]theplacemhifor Egypt with spices and gums. TheyfEAdtohave just purchased a likely youngTS-1 slave—a lad of 17, whose home is inHebron, 20 miles south of Jerusalem, where his father, an old inaD, is living. They purchased the lair-featured boy in Dothan, of his unnatural brethren. That caravan almost to a certainty | came along this very road which we are traveling, between Ramleh andLydda, 3597 years ago.PHILISTIA.An hour’s ride south would carry us*into the country of the Philistines, the old enemies of Israel. Had we taken dTo I our route along the sea-shore, south of iort j Jaffa, wc should have passed through Ashdod aud Askelon to Gaza, and were we from this point to strike southward, we should soon reach Ek-»ro ,ad-andSt.,,N.S.as-).•lor, :ron, Gath and Timnath.d. theJ.We see the armies of Israel, under rs in | Joshua, coming down across our path, taking possession of all the plain, andthen, as the years roll by, the Philistines recovering all their territory.Three hundred years later, in 1141■I B. C., we hear of a man in the little IK town of Zara, a short distance south.cgs, of vis—a man of long hair and mighty strength, who fell in love with a.S.where, while the ark was here in thi-£diccofItown, the armv of the Philistinescame up to invade Judea. They wereencamped, on the western bank of thebrook, while the armv of Saul stood•011 the opposite hill side. We thinkof the eiant of Hath goinir out morn-ing and evening to defv the armies of the living God, of the shepherd boy of Bethlehem meeting him. the victory*—» f m/to the lad, the fight of the panic-stricken troops of Philistia westward, all Israel in pursuit.Up this valley without doubt came King Saul, returning from the pursuit, eiaccompanied by the young champion, tl Saul’s home was at Gibeah, close bv Neby Samuel, and this was the nearest and easiest road home. Out from this village without doubt came He- p; brew maidens, “singing and dancing inwith tabrets,'’ to meet the victors. IuWe hear their song improvised for i sitlCtlihiscirscthe joyful occasion, two or three wvoices singing:giunen-jody“Saul hath slain his Thousands.”And then the whole company, behold- tl ing the youth and beauty of the shepherd boy, carried away by the great- Mness of the victory, responding in achorus: * ui“And David his ten thousands.”i)but young girl in Timnath. There is noneed to go into the details of what I There are sudden changes in the for- 11 best | followed that love affair—how he kill-! tunes of men. A half dozen years lied a lion—how a few days after,!later we see David fleeing from Saul,1 gwhile going to bring home his bride, j Aiding among these hills, going down 7- j he found a swarm of bees in the car-L •! cass, by the roadside—how he thought out a riddle which all hands tried their best to guess at the weddingsiDen-rton,tain-to the Philistines. We come down to j e:105G B. C., Samuel is in his grave, ISaul is consulting the witch at Endor! a away in the north. The Philistines I ncient feast—how lie went down to Askelon, \ lmve mustered their armies in the on, byI the )le as call.iiLCHSt-urcs!X)!—tilingLum-f andeasy ; ►ov.— Silver valu-•paid, Box m6and slew thirty Philistines, and howlP^0? marched northward, crossiug da little later he caught three hundred roati w« liav^ traveled, go-1 «foxes, fastened lighted torches to their UP through Ramleh to the plaiu of j tlt; tails, and let them loose among the ! Esdraelou, west of the sea of Gali- s wheat fields of his enemies, setting I lee, invading the dominions of Saul, oIt was military strategy, just suchjpall the plain in flames, burning up thewheat stacks, aud the vineyards—how strategy as Gen. Lee used during the dthe Philistines, in revenge, burned waL ^heu lie invaded Pennsylvania, this wife—how he pftid them back with i gliding up behind the Blue ridge,the jaw bone of an ass, wielded it as if it were a sword, cutting down a regiment of men, and all the rest ofthe wonderful story, which every bod)c1Lthrough the Shenandoah. This ridge of hills and mountains which we areanow crossing was always a wall ot a defence to Palestine. NorthwardSIT,8 Eknows by heart—his carrying off the is a gateway through whichgates of the city of Gaza 011 fiis shoul- Pa^ed the highway between the Eu-ders at midnight, carrying them j phrates and the Nile, the road downacross the country, almost to Hebron, 1 which the caravan came which carried. /»___ . 1 ■* . , T x- T^_ . 1 . 1 * 1rs,igers,ORSE.icertwenty-five or thirty miles at least how he lost his strength at last, wasdoomed to turn a millstone iu priaon and how at Gaza he went mightily to death!AJALON.While thus recalling the past wehave reached the farther edge of theJoseph to Egypt. Up that highway we see the army of Philistia moving,advancing across the piuin of Esdrae-lon to Mount Gilboa. We hear of Sauls death there. His head is brought in triumph down to Philistia and deposited, bloody, ghastly trophyiu the house of Dagon at Ashdod.esrgtu1«ctLa
Newspaper Details
Barton Orleans Independent Standard
Barton, Vermont, US
Fri, Mar 27, 1868
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GB 13 Jun 2021
Other Publications Near Barton, Vermont
Barton Orleans Independent Standard
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