Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

exclude the sun, no single vestige to announce its former military greatness or commercial opulence; but in the place of these, he would find himself encompassed on every side by walls of rude masonry, the dull uniformity of which is only broken by the occasional protrusion of a small grated window." "'* The following very spirited and remarkably faithful sketch of modern Jerusalem, from the pen of Mr. Buckingham, shall close these somewhat extended remarks: "Reposing beneath the shade of an olive-tree upon the brow of this hill (the Mount of Olives), we enjoyed from hence a fine prospect of Jerusalem on the opposite one. This city occupies an irregular square, of about two miles and a half in circumference. Its shortest apparent side, is that which faces the east, and in this is the supposed gate of the ancient temple, now closed up, and the small projecting stone on which Mohammed is to sit when the world is to be assembled to judgment in the vale below. The southern side is exceedingly irregular, taking quite a zigzag direction; the southwest extreme being terminated by the mosque built over the supposed sepulchre of David, on the summit of Mount Sion. The form and exact direction of the western and southern walls are not distinctly seen from hence; but every part of this appears to be a modern work, and executed at the same time. The walls are flanked at irregular distances by square towers, and have battlements running all around on their summits, with loop-holes for arrows or musquetry close to the top. The walls appear to be about fifty feet in height, but are not surrounded by a ditch. The northern wall runs over slightly declining ground; the eastern brow runs straight along the brow of Mount Moriah, with the deep valley of Jehoshaphat below; the southern wall runs over the summit of the hill assumed as Mount Sion, with the vale of Hinnom at its feet; and the western wall runs along on more level ground, near the summit of the high and stony mountains over which we had first approached the town. As the city is thus seated on the brow of one large hill, divided by name into several smaller hills, and the whole of these slope gently down towards the east; this view, from the Mount of Olives, a position of greater height than that on which the highest part of the city stands, commands nearly the whole of it

at once.

"On the north, it is bounded by a level, and apparently fertile space, now covered with olive-trees, particularly near the north-east angle. On the south, the steep side of Mount

* Letters from Palestine, p. 100.

Sion, and the valley of Hinnom, both shew patches of cultivation and little garden inclosures. On the west, the sterile summits of the hills there, barely lift their outlines above the dwellings. And, on the east, the deep valley of Jehoshaphat, now at our feet, has some partial spots relieved by trees, though as forbidding in its general aspect as the vale of death could ever be desired to be, by those who have chosen it for the place of their interment.

"Within the walls of the city are seen crowded dwellings, remarkable in no respect, except being terraced by flat roofs, = and generally built of stone. On the south are some gardens and vineyards with the long red mosque of Al Sakhara, having two tiers of windows, a sloping roof, and a dark dome at one end, and the mosque of Sion and the sepulchre of David, in the same quarter. On the west is seen the high square, castle, and palace of the same monarch, near the Bethlehem gate. In the centre rises the two cupolas, of unequal form and size; the one blue, and the other white, covering the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Around, in different directions, are seen the minarets of eight or ten mosques, amid an assemblage of about two thousand dwellings. And on the east is seated the great mosque of Al Harrem, or, as called by Christians, the mosque of Solomon, from being supposed, with that of Al Sakhara near it, to occupy the site of the ancient temple of that splendid and luxurious king."

SECTION III.

ATMOSPHERE AND PHENOMENA OF JUDEA.

From the description which has been already given of the geographical situation and local features of Judea, it is easy to see that there will be much variation in the climate, in different parts of the land. The country running along the sea-coast must have its temperature cooled, by its proximity to a large body of water; the valley of the Jordan, surrounded by high and barren mountains, must be excessively hot, while the country on the ridges of mountains, on either side the Jordan, will be frequently exposed to a chilling air. The day and night in these climates are directly opposite to each other; for while the former is excessively hot, the latter is intensely cold. See Gen. xxxi. 40. This is occasioned by

* Travels in Palestine, &c. pp. 203-205. 4to.

*

the copious precipitation of vapour which follows the setting of a vertical sun; and so abundant are these dews, that we are informed by travellers, that they have been frequently wetted to the skin by them. There is a fine and touching allusion to the early evaporation of the dew under the warmth of the rising sun, in Hos. vi. 4. The rains in Judea are very different from what they are among us. For months together they are unknown, coming down generally at stated times, in spring and autumn, called the former and the latter rain, Deut. xi. 14; Hos. vi. 3; Joel ii. 23. It not unfrequently happens that they rush down in such torrents, as to destroy soil, grain, houses, flocks and herds, Matt. vii. 25-27. Nor are snow and hail unknown in Judea. In winter the dew often assumes the appearance of hoar frost; and on eminences the snow is sometimes seen to lie for a considerable time. The hail is sometimes exceedingly large, falling in such masses as to destroy fields of corn and trees, and endanger the lives of animals. Bruce saw hail stones in Abyssinia as large as a nutmeg, † and Moses speaks of the " very griev ous hail," which destroyed the cattle of the Egyptians, Ex. ix. 18, &c.

In respect to the winds, though their general character is calm and temperate, yet are they subject to occasional visitations of cold and storm. As in other countries, they were classed by the four quarters whence they came; viz. east, west, north, and south. Hence the general name for them in Scripture is, the four winds: and when they are named individually, they are evidently distinguished by their peculiar qualities. Thus the east wind is particularly tempestuous and dangerous in the Mediterranean, and to this the Psalmist seems to allude, when he says, Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind," xlviii. 7. Isaiah also, when alluding to this wind says, "He stayeth his rough wind, in

[ocr errors]

*There are frequent allusions in Scripture to the importance of these rains, and the anxiety with which they were looked for. Job, in referring to the estima tion in which his services were held in the time of his prosperity, says, "They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide, as for the lat ter rain," ch. xxix. 23. But their importance may be more fully perceived from the description of a dearth, given by the prophet Jeremiah. The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusa fem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water: they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the ploughmen were ashamed; they covered their heads. Yea, the hinds also calved in the field, and forsook their offspring; because there was no grass," ch. xiv. 1-6. This forcible and graphic description of the horrors attendant upon a dearth of water needs no com

ment.

† Shaw's Abridgment, p. 176.

the day of the east wind," ch. xxvii. 8. Such a storm is well known to modern mariners, by the name of “ a Levanter," the Levant meaning that country which lies at the east end of the Mediterranean; and what makes it interesting to the Christian scholar is, that this very wind is the Euroclydon, or stormy north-east wind, which was so fatal to the ship in which Paul and his companions were, when sailing to Rome, Acts xxvii. 14. The east wind is also accounted, both in Egypt and Judea, very hurtful to vegetation, as being the cause of blight (Gen. xli. 6; Ezek. xvii. 10; xix. 12; Hos. xiii. 15), because of its cold and drying quality; carrying off the insensible perspiration from the extremities of plants more rapidly than it could be supplied by the general ascent of the sap; and thereby withering them in a short time. The reason of the east wind being so cold and withering, between their seed time and harvest (corresponding with our winter and spring), was, that both in Judea and Egypt it came over the mountainous tract of the whole continent of Judea and Persia, and the great desert of Diarbekr, Irak, and Arabia, before it reached the Holy Land, by which its heat and moisture were both extracted; and therefore it fixed with avidity on every plant it passed, to supply its deficiency in both these articles. But in the summer its leading feature was very different; for it was then sometimes very dry and hot; and it was from that quarter, as well as from the south, that they had the suffocating hot wind and the Samiel. Hence Jonah was exceedingly oppressed with it, ch. iv. 8. The west wind naturally came from the Mediterranean, and hence its name in Ex. x. 19 (Heb.) is, “a wind from the sea." It was for this reason, that a cloud from the west betokened a shower (Luke xii. 54.); and after a drought in the days of Elijah, a cloud like a man's hand, rising from the sea, was the sign of a hurricane of wind and rain, 1 Kings xviii. 44, 45. It would appear that thunder and lightning came also in the direction of the east and west; for our Saviour alludes to it in Matt. xxiv. 27, when he says, "As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." As for the north wind, by blowing from Lebanon and Anti-Libanus, it was a cold, drying wind. Hence Solomon says of it, that "It driveth away rain," Prov. xxv. 23. And Job tells us, that "cold and fair weather are from the north," ch. xxxvii. 9, 22. In Eccles. xliii. 17, 20, the northern storm and whirlwind are described as terrible; and even without the whirlwind, we are told, that "when the cold north wind bloweth, and the water is congealed into ice, it abideth upon

every gathering together of water, and clotheth the water as with a breastplate.' With respect to the south wind of Judea, it came from Arabia, and commonly brought heat (Job xxxvii. 17; Luke xii. 55.): but it also brought whirlwinds, Job i. 19; xxxvii. 9; Is. xxi. 1; Zech. ix. 14. And from that quarter: as well as from the east, came the hot winds and the Samiel. It would appear, from our translation, that the spouse thought the north and south winds of advantage to her garden; for she says in Cant. iv. 16. "Awake, O north wind, and come thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out:" but some render it, "Awake, O north wind (to fan the air), and retire thou (destructive) south wind:" for if the south wind blew, the excessive heat would have prevented her beloved from visiting his garden, as she wished him to do, in the end of the verse, and would have shut him up in his apartment. * We may remark, however, in general, that the south winds in Judea are moderate or destructive, according to the season. †

[ocr errors]

Tornadoes, or whirlwinds, are also referred to in Scripture, and have been often fatal to travellers, overwhelming them in columns of moving sand. The hot wind of the desert, which, when it continues for any length of time, is destructive of life, is not unknown in Judea; and it is probable that by such a blast," were so many of Sennacherib's army destroyed, as is recorded in 2 Kings xix. 7. The Arabic version has “a hot pestilential wind." It is in allusion to this phenomenon, that our Saviour is said to be "as a hiding place from the wind," Isa. xxxii. 2. But the most fatal wind to which the inhabitants of eastern countries are subject, is known by the name of the Simoom or Samiel. Travellers thus describe it: After the air has been unusually heated for several days, the sky suddenly loses its common serenity, and becomes dark and gloomy; while the sun assumes a violet colour. The approach of the wind is rapid, and is indicated by a redness in the air; and when so near as to become visible, it resembles a sheet of purple-coloured smoke, about twenty yards in breadth, and twelve feet above the surface of the earth, moving in a direct line. The only means of preservation from the noxious influence of this pestilential blast, is to lie flat, with the face upon the ground, till it is past; and this precaution is generally successful, though it sometimes happens that persons are destroyed before they have had time to make use of it. Thevenot mentions one of these winds, which, in

* Harmer's Observ. vol. i. p. 65.
+ Brown's Antiquities of the Jews, vol. ii. p. 598, &c.

« FöregåendeFortsätt »