"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.

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.

"The place is very retired, and no one would imagine that so famous a town was in its vicinity."

"Of the village of Bethphage no trace exists. In 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. ('ANÂTA.)2

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

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

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

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, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and.. in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south ; for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord." -Jeremiah xxxii. 6, &c. ; see whole chapter.

[1 Kings ii. 26; 1 Chron. xxvii. 12; Ezra ii, 23; Jer. xxix. 27.]

"'Anâta is situated on a broad ridge at the distance of one hour and a quarter from Jerusalem (towards the north). There can be no question that this is the ancient Anathoth, the birth-place of the prophet Jeremiah.

"'Anâta seems to have been once a walled town and

...

a place of strength. Portions of the wall remain, built of large hewn stones, and apparently ancient; as are also the foundations of some of the houses. One of our party found the fragments of a column or two among the ruins. The houses are few, and the people seemed poor and miserable. The village lies where the broad ridge slopes off gradually towards the S.E. On this side are tilled fields; and we had passed several others in our way. The grain was still standing; the time of harvest not having yet come. Fig-trees and olive-trees are also scattered around. From the vicinity of 'Anâta a favourite species of building-stone is carried to Jerusalem; and we met several troops of donkeys loaded in this manner with the materials of future dwellings, a hewn stone being slung upon each side of the poor animal. Larger stones are transported on camels."

The author of "Narrative of a Mission to the Jews," mentions that he saw camels carrying stones into Jerusalem, for the building of the Protestant Church on Mount Zion. "We were told that they were brought from a quarry a few miles north of Jerusalem, near a village called Anâta, the ancient Anathoth, where Jeremiah was born."-pp. 129, 130.

"From this point there is an extensive view over the whole eastern slope of the mountainous tract of Benjamin, including also the valley of the Jordan and the northern part of the Dead Sea. The region before us was that alluded to by the prophet Isaiah, near the end of the tenth chapter, where the approach of Sennacherib towards Jerusalem is described; and from the spot where we now stood, several of the places there mentioned were

visible. Thus Ramah, on its conical hill, and Gibeah -ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. ii.

were before us.

pp. 109, 110.

GIBEAH OF SAUL, GIBEAH OF BENJAMIN, OR GIBEATH.

(JEBA.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"... The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel

...

...

And the children of Israel . . . encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin ... And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed . . . of the Israelites that day, twenty and two thousand men. And the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day . . And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed. . . . of the children of Israel again, eighteen thousand men . . . Then all the children of Israel . . . went up, and came unto the house of God,' and wept . . And . . . inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother? . . . And the Lord said, Go up. . . And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin, on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people and kill, as at other times, in the highways.... And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee and draw them

1 At Shiloh, near to Mizpeh, where the Israelites then were.