Page images
PDF
EPUB

6

near the highway of the Fuller's field,' and had a trench, or conduit. (Is. vii. 3, xxxvi. 2; 2 Kings xviii. 17.) . . . We are also told that there was an upper out-flow of the waters of Gihon' on the west of the city. (2 Chr. xxxii. 30. The Hebrew is followed here, which the English version does not fully express.)"

[ocr errors]

'Taking these two circumstances together, the Upper Pool and the upper out-flow, or watercourse, of Gihon, it seems most probable that this reservoir is intended, and that it anciently had some connexion with the fountain of Gihon in the neighbourhood. . . . Nowhere else in or around Jerusalem are there traces of other ancient reservoirs, to which the names of the Upper and Lower Pool can be applied with any like degree of probability."

LOWER POOL.-" This name is mentioned only by Isaiah; and without any hint of its locality. I venture to give it to the large pool lower down on the west side of the city. . . . The probable identity of this pool with the Lower Pool of Isaiah, rests upon its relative position in respect of the Upper Pool just described; and upon the fact, that no other reservoir is anywhere to be found, to which this Scriptural name can so well be applied."

...

"This reservoir is situated in the valley of Hinnom, or Gihon, southward from the Yâfa gate. . . . The pool was formed by throwing strong walls across the bottom of the valley; between which the earth was wholly removed; so that the rocky sides of the valley are left shelving down irregularly, and form a narrow channel along the middle. . . A road crosses on the causeway at the southern end; along which are fountains erected by the Muslems, and once fed by the aqueduct which passes very near. They were now dry. . . . .

"This reservoir was probably filled from the rains, and from the superfluous waters of the Upper Pool. It lies directly in the natural channel by which the latter would flow off; but is now in ruins."-ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. i. pp. 352, 481-486.

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small]

BETHANY-ANATHOTH-GIBEAH OF SAUL-MICHMASH-GIBEONEPHRATH, OR BETHLEHEM-WELL OF BETHLEHEM.

BETHANY.

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha"

"Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs (i. e. about two miles) off: and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother."--John xi. 1, 18, 19. (See whole chapter.)

1" Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabasterbox of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he sat at meat."-Mat. xxvi. 6. (Mark xiv. 3.)

"And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you; and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him... And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments in the way, and he sat

upon him. And many spread their garments in the way,

and they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry; and seeing a fig-tree afar off, having leaves, he came if haply he might find anything thereon." - Mark xi. 1-15. (Matt. xxi. 18.)

"Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment."-Johnxii. 1-3.

"And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were sore displeased And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there." Matt. xxi. 15-17.

...

"And he led them out as far as to Bethany. And he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped

1 For the evidences that the three Evangelists are recording the same event, see "TOWNSEND on the New Testament," vol. i. p. 387, &c

him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy."Luke xxiv. 50-52.

"It was on one of the last days of our stay at Jerusalem, that we rode out to Bethany. Passing along the wall from the Damascus gate to that of St. Stephen's, we then descended and crossed the bridge in the (valley,) and followed the camel road which ascends the Mount of Olives at the back of the village of Siloam, and crosses the ridge at a lower spot some distance south of the summit. It then winds north around the head of a (valley) running off south-east, and after crossing another lower ridge, passes on towards Jericho. Here, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, in a shallow (valley,) lies the village of Bethany; we reached it in three quarters of an hour from the Damascus gate. This gives a distance of a little less than two Roman miles from the eastern part of the city; corresponding well to the fifteen furlongs of the Evangelist.1

66

Bethany is a poor village of some twenty families; its inhabitants apparently are without thrift or industry. In the walls of a few of the houses are marks of antiquity,-large hewn stones . . . but they have all obviously belonged to more ancient edifices, and been employed again and again in the construction of successive dwellings, or other buildings."- ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. ii. pp. 100, 101.

In

"Of the village of Bethphage no trace exists. coming from Jericho our Lord appears to have entered it before reaching Bethany; and it probably therefore lay near to the latter, a little below it towards the east." -ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. ii. p. 103.

ANATHOTH. ('ANATA.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"LIFT up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.”—Isaiah x. 30.

1 John xi. 18.

1

"The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin."-Jeremiah i. 1.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand: therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.”—Jeremiah xi. 21—23; xxix. 27.

...

"And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum, thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, Buy me thy field that is in Anathoth. So Hanameel. . came to me in the court of the prison, . . and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine,.. and I bought the field, . . and weighed him the money, . . and I subscribed the evidence and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. . . And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch . . . in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison. And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Take these evidences, and put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Houses, and fields, and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, . . . Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land,

[ocr errors]

1 Anathoth was one of the four cities of the tribe of Benjamin, given to the priests to dwell in.-Joshua xxi. 18.

« PreviousContinue »