\ RECORD OF
' \CAV\TION AND
DISCOVERY IN
PALESTINE
CUFTON BARBY LtVY
235 East 45th St
Uew Ysrk, N, V-
RABBI L EOWAAD KICV
BIBLE SIDE-LIGHTS
FROM THE MOUND OF GEZER
A Record of Excavation and
Discovery in Palestine
By
R. A. STEWART MACALISTER
M.A., F.S.A
Director of Excavations, Palestine Exploration Fund
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
“ Tbou bast made of a dip an heap ; of a defenced dtp a rutn."
—Isaiah xxv. 2
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
153—157 FIFTH AVENUE
1906
*1>S
wo
m6
Sutler and Tanner , 7V Sehvood Printing ll'oris, Fro me, and London
CONTENTS
Prologue
CHAPTER I
Gezer—Its Site and History
CHAPTER II
The Horites
CHAPTER III
The Iniquity of the Amorite
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
IV
PAGE
The Home of Rebekah
• «
. 83
CHAPTER
V
The Golden Calf
• •
. 109
CHAPTER
VI
Achan’s Spoil
•
. 121
CHAPTER
VII
The Death of Samson
• •
. 127
CHAPTER
VIII
The Citt Walls
* ♦
. 141
CHAPTER
IX
The Craftsmen of Judah
• •
. 149
vi
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER X
The Rebuilding of Jericho . . 165
CHAPTER XI
The Maccabean Conquest . . 175
Epilogue.197
APPENDIX
The Previous Work of the Palestine
Exploration Fund .... 203
Index .225
Index of Scripture References . . 231
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece —
The Trench across the Western
End of the Mound
FACING
PAGE
Fig. 1. The Mound of Gezer at the Con*
elusion of the Excavation . 7
„ 2. General View of a Section of the
Excavation .... 8
„ 3. Scarab of Amenhotep III . 10
„ 4. A “ Brazen Serpent ” . .10
„ 5. One of the Boundary Inscriptions 23
„ 6. Two Modern Gezerites . . 27
„ 7. Assyrian Contract Tablet (first
face) . . . . .33
„ 8. Assyrian Contract Tablet (second
face) ..... 33
„ 9. Cave-dwellers’ Pottery . . 45
IX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig.
10.
The “ High Place ” of the Cave-
FACING
PAGE
dwellers ....
46
99
11.
“ Crematorium ” of the Cave-
dwellers ....
50
99
12.
Standing Stones of the High
Place of Gezer
50
9i
13.
Altar found at Taanach .
55
99
14.
The Seventh Stone in the High
Place .....
59
99
15.
The Laver ....
65
99
16.
The Sacred Cave
69
99
17.
Skeleton of a Girl sawn asunder
73
99
18.
Sacrificed Infant buried in a Jar
73
99
19.
Figure of the “ Two-horned
Astarte ” .
96
99
20.
Baking Oven ....
96
99
21.
‘Ain Yerdeh, the principal Spring
near Gezer ....
85
99
22.
Waterpots found in ancient Cis¬
terns .
86
X
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PACINO
PAGE
Fig.
23.
Stone Trough from a Cistern
Mouth ....
88
JJ
24.
Large Jar from a Granary at
Gezer .....
90
9)
25.
Diagram of a Gezerite House,
Restored ....
92
JJ
26.
Lamp in Form of a Bird
92
9 9
27.
Stone Quern ....
98
99
28.
Corn Grinder ....
98
99
29.
Bronze Spear-heads, etc.
100
99
30.
Gold Earrings....
103
99
31.
Limestone Seal
103
99
32.
Stone Amulets
103
99
33.
Figure of the Cow Divinity
104
99
34.
Bronze Pin and Brooches .
104
99
35.
A “ Household God ”
106
99
36.
The “ Tongue of Gold ” .
106
99
37.
Foundations of a House showing
Column Bases
136
99
38.
Portion of the two City Walls .
141
99
39.
Bastion of Bacchides
142
XI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PACINO
PAGE
Fig.
40.
The same Bastion, with a corner
removed to expose the Solo¬
monic Tower
144
»
41.
Jarhandle Stamps .
157
99
42.
Foundation Sacrifice
169
99
43.
Lamp and Bowls, a symbol of
Foundation Sacrifice
171
99
44.
The Imprecation of Pampras .
171
99
45.
Votive Altar ....
176
99
46.
The Castle of Simon Maccabaeus
192
91
47.
Syrian Bath Establishment at
Gezer.
196
Xll
PROLOGUE
A N objection to the work of the
^ Palestine Exploration Fund has
not infrequently been stated in words
such as these: “ However interesting the
researches of the v Society may be to
geographers or anthropologists, the plain
Bible student, who is not concerned with
abstract science, derives little or no benefit
from them; and they do not help him
to an explanation of any difficulties that
may meet him in his reading.”
This objection might very simply be
answered by pointing out the far-reaching
interdependence of facts, which make it
B.S. i i
PROLOGUE
impossible to assert definitely that any
given scientific truth, stored up in the
Quarterly Statement of the Society, will
not at some time prove of importance
even to the non-scientific reader. But
another answer is offered in the following
chapters, in which an attempt is made
to show that, while recording scientific
facts as fully and accurately as possible,
the Society and its officers are by no
means blind to the immediate claims of
the Bible student. One single under¬
taking of the Palestine Exploration Fund
—the recently closed excavation of Gezer
—is adopted as a text on which to base
the essay, and a series of Biblical inci¬
dents or passages are chosen and studied
with special reference to the light which,
it is claimed, the results of the excavation
have thrown upon them.
PROLOGUE
It need scarcely be said that this is not
the final memoir on the Gezer excava¬
tions. That work is in active prepara¬
tion ; but publication is necessarily de¬
layed by the magnitude of the task. Ten
thousand descriptions of specific objects,
three thousand drawings, five hundred
photographs, and about two hundred
plans have to be classified, and a selection
from them prepared for press, before the
labour is complete. This book is merely
an earnest—a few sheaves selected from
a great harvest.
3
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
FTC. 1.-THE MOUND OF GEZER AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE EXCAVATION.
(The Mound is the ridge in the background. The Threshing Floor of the Modern Village is in the middle, to the left.)
CHAPTER I
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
f\N the boundary line separating the
^ foot-hills of the Judean moun¬
tains from the fertile maritime plain,
which was occupied during nearly the
whole of the Old Testament history by
the Philistines; and about five miles
south-east of the modern town of Ramleh;
there rises a long low mound, rendered
conspicuous by a modern two-storey house
erected on its summit. This is the mound
which conceals the ruins of the ancient
town of Gezer (see fig. 1).
If the reader could have visited the
hill any time between June, 1902, and
7
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
August, 1905, save when the winter rains
or summer heats made work impossible,
he would have viewed some such scene
as is represented in fig. 2. At the bottom
of a deep trench, cut straight across the
hill, would be a crowd of labourers, some
with picks loosening the earth, others
with peculiar adze-like hoes scraping it
into baskets; while a ceaseless proces¬
sion of boys and girls, filing backwards
and forwards, carried away the baskets
thus filled, and emptied their contents on
to a rapidly growing “ dump-heap.” He
would notice that the area in which the
work was carried on was all subdivided
into small compartments by low walls,
crossing one another rather irregularly,
exactly as is shown in the figure. These
little compartments, he would learn, are
the floors of rooms, and the low walls
8
gHr$§ f p.; *
gfrifH
KM 1 . .
, KA n
■r®P > ^ w||
*•-*, . J j^f" >» ' r , v
tt&JjLtM'* ^Sl" i|
M? TEj
Jv ^ V..,
SL*« #: Ibk W
Fill. 2.—GENERAL VIEW OF A SECTION OF THE EXCAVATION.
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
are the foundations of partitions. As
he watched, possibly the foreman might
bring for his inspection a small object of
interest that had just been found by one
of the labourers when sifting the earth
before basketing it away: it might be a
scarab of Amen-hotep III (see fig. 3),
adding its testimony to that of the
other objects already found among the
houses, which experience had taught the
excavator were to be assigned to the date
of that monarch—say about 1450 b.c.
If the visitor should return a day or
two later, he would find a change. The
labourers would still be at work in the
same pit; but the walls would have
completely disappeared. If he should
ask the cause of this, he would be told
that after they had been carefully meas¬
ured, planned, and, if of special interest,
9
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
photographed, they had been removed,
in order to find what was underneath
them. And if he should remain by the
pit a certain length of time, he would see,
as the work advanced, one stone appearing
here and another there, till gradually a
second series of walls, in style resembling
the first but of a plan entirely different,
would be exposed before him. So the
process would continue from day to day
and from week to week, till at last the
rock at the core of the hill was reached.
When the entire rock surface at the
bottom of the pit was exposed, a second
pit was begun, unless under the accumu¬
lated earth a rock hewn cave or cistern
were discovered, which would of course
require to be emptied.
The history of the growth of the great
mound of earth—in some places as much
10
BRAZEN SERPENT.
(<
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
as forty feet in depth—which to-day
covers the rock and marks the once
flourishing and important city of Gezer,
is the same here as in the other ancient
cities of Palestine. Defence was a neces¬
sity in the times when every city was
a unit whose hand was against all its
neighbours — a state of society re¬
flected in the record of the Canaanite
cities, each with its own king, which
Joshua subdued, and even more prom¬
inently in the Tell el-Amama Tablets.
The city therefore, like that used as an
illustration in Matthew v. 14, was set on a
hill when it was founded, the steeper
and more unscaleable the hill the better.
Sanitary precautions are but little heeded
even in the modern Orient, and there is
no reason to believe that there was any
restraint in the ancient cities against
ii
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
flinging rubbish of all sorts into the
narrow winding causeways by which they
were intersected. It was nobody’s busi¬
ness to clear away garbage, which was
thus allowed to accumulate and to decay.
The houses were built of rude stones,
hardly if at all dressed, and cemented
together with mud. This mud the rains
of winter would little by little wash out
of the crevices into the adjacent streets.
By these and similar processes the level
of the streets would from year to year
become perceptibly raised. Moreover,
badly built huts, such as formed the
majority of the habitations in the city,
could not be expected to stand for any
considerable length of time; they fell
before long into ruin, sometimes suddenly.
A very remarkable illustration of this was
found in the Austrian excavations of
12
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
Tell Ta‘anuk (the Taanach of Deborah’s
Song, Judges v. 19). The ruins of a fallen
house were unearthed, and under them
were the remains of the persons who had
been killed by the accident. They were
a Canaanite mother and her five children,
aged from about sixteen to about four.
From the knife in the mother’s hand, and
the food-vessels round about, she had
evidently been preparing the domestic
meal when the tragedy took place. On
her skeleton were her ornaments and
amulets still in their places, and on the
wall was fixed the image of the goddess
whom the ill-fated family had regarded
as their patron.
It may seem strange that no attempt
was made by the contemporaries of this
household to uncover and remove the
bodies ; but so it was. This leads me to
13
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
notice that it was not the rule completely
to clear away the ruins of a house when
it decayed and fell. The loose debris
may have been taken up to use again, but
the foundations, which must have been
partly concealed by the accumulation of
rubbish in the streets, were allowed to
remain. The new house was built over
the ruins of the older habitation, and with
no reference to its plan. No town coun¬
cil existed to make regulations affecting
the permanence of thoroughfares; the site
of the city was apparently a common, not
subdivided into allotments under private
ownership; so that the builder of a new
house might even block up or divert a
street, if it so pleased him.
If a dweller in a European city could
return to earth and revisit his old home,
say two hundred years after his death,
14
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
he would be perplexed by the change of
architectural style that had taken place
in the meanwhile. He would, however,
find the churches and other ancient
public buildings more or less as he remem¬
bered them; and with these as land¬
marks he would before long recognize
the thoroughfares to which in his life¬
time he had been accustomed, though
probably there would hardly be a single
house that had not been rebuilt, or at
least radically altered. The case of a
resident in an ancient Palestinian city,
returning in the same manner, would
be different. No unwonted architectural
developments would meet his eye; he
would find his great-great-grandchildren
occupying huts exactly similar to those in
which he and his contemporaries had
dwelt. But it would strike him at first
15
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
sight that the city-crowned hill was a
trifle higher than in the days when his
daughter used daily to climb it with her
waterpot from the spring in the valley;
and as soon as he entered the city gate
he would be hopelessly bewildered. In
his day the city had been a maze of narrow
crooked causeways and blind alleys, which
however he knew perfectly. On his
return he would find a new labyrinth, to
which he had no clue, substituted for the
old. And even if by some chance there
were a palace, or other building of a more
permanent character, which had lasted
from the city of his recollection, it would
give him no help towards finding his way
through the entirely altered lanes that
surrounded it.
In dealing with the remains of an ancient
city such as Gezer, therefore, we may
16
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
think of the different series of founda¬
tions, one above the other, as being like
a set of bookshelves. The analogy is not
quite perfect, for the change of level
did not take place over the whole city
at the same time, except in the not infre¬
quent case of its being totally destroyed
by an enemy and afterwards entirely
rebuilt. For practical purposes, how¬
ever, the bookcase illustration serves
very well. In the top shelf will be
written, for those who have eyes to read
them, the records of the last inhabitants.
The history, manners, customs, and be¬
liefs of their immediate predecessors
find illustration in the shelf next below.
So we proceed to the bottom shelf,
where we learn what we may regarding
the ancient people who were the first
to dwell on the site we are examining.
B.S.
17
2
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
Let us now apply these principles to
Gezer, and endeavour, so far as the
material at our disposal permits, to recon¬
struct its history. At the outset, how¬
ever, an important question presents
itself ; namely, how do we know that the
mound in which we are digging is the
veritable site of the city with which it has
been identified?
Fortunately we are able to assert the
identity of our mound and Gezer with an
assurance that would be highly indiscreet
in the case of many other identifications
of Biblical sites that have been suggested
from time to time. The discovery of
Gezer is due to the distinguished French
Orientalist Professor Charles Clermont-
Ganneau, and its story is one of the most
interesting of the romances of modern
archaeology.
18
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
The site of this famous ancient city had
been forgotten in modern times, and the
guesses that had been made at its identi¬
fication were random and futile. One day
Professor Clermont-Ganneau happened to
be engaged in the study of Mujir ed-Din,
a mediaeval Arab historian. He came
upon a passage describing a raid made by
certain Bedawin on the coast-plain of
Palestine, and their subsequent sup¬
pression by the governor of Jerusalem.
The historian stated that the governor’s
lieutenant had preceded him, starting from
the town of Ramleh; that some hours
later, the governor, following his lieu¬
tenant from Ramleh, advanced as far as
“ the Mound of Jezar,” and on arriving
there heard the shouts of the combatants
at Khuldeh. The thought at once struck
the scholar that Jezar exactly represented
19
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
the Hebrew Gezer, the Arabic soft J
taking, as usual, the place of the Hebrew
hard G; and the question occurred to him
whether the site of the lost city were not
to be found in the place thus designated.
He was obliged to postpone the inves¬
tigation of the question till an opportun¬
ity should arise for visiting the district,
as no map till then published showed
“Tell el-Jezar” marked upon it, though
the other two places mentioned, Ramleh
and Khuldeh, were indicated. In the fol¬
lowing year Professor Clermont-Ganneau
was in the Holy Land, and commenced
his research. The conditions of the
problem were that the site to be found
must be between Ramleh and Khuldeh,
and within earshot of the latter place.
Inquiry at these two known points very
soon enabled Professor Clermont-Ganneau
20
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
to find the mound, which still preserved
its traditional name among the local
peasantry; and the scholar’s practised
eye at once saw that this mound was the
rubbish heap covering a large and im¬
portant city. His previous investigations
had shown him that if Gezer were situated
in the region indicated by the Chronicle
of Mujlr ed-Dln, it would answer all the
geographical requirements that the various
known events in the history of the city
impose. He felt justified therefore in
announcing that the long-lost site had at
last been recovered.
The announcement was met with some
scepticism. It was remarked by the
president of the French society before
which Professor Clermont-Ganneau made
his statement, that if some inscription
were forthcoming, mentioning the name
21
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
of the city, the identification would com¬
mand more respect. The discoverer very
naturally replied that such a demand
was unreasonable; for in any case Pales¬
tine had proved a country remarkably
poor in ancient inscriptions, and the
chance that such an inscription should
be preserved at the very place where it
was required was exceedingly remote.
But the mound of Gezer has a peculiar¬
ity, which it displayed throughout the
whole period of the excavation recently
closed. It is essentially a mound of sur¬
prises ; and it commenced, even at that
early period in the history of its investiga¬
tion, to display this pleasing character¬
istic. In 1874 Professor Qermont-Gan-
neau was once more in Jerusalem, and
he became known to the inhabitants as
a collector and investigator of antiquities.
22
M * * '
Iffe'jgU
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
A peasant from the neighbourhood where
the mound is situated brought him a paper
on which he had rudely copied an inscrip¬
tion cut on a rock in the district. As
might be expected, the unlettered copyist
was unable to make an accurate or even
an intelligible transcript; but the French
scholar took a note of the place in order
to examine the original whenever occasion
should arise. In due time he visited the
inscription, which was cut on a rock out¬
crop about three quarters of a mile east
of the foot of the hill of Gezer (see fig. 5).
It proved to be in two languages; one
part in Greek reading:
OF ALKIOS
—this being probably the name of the
governor under whose auspices the in¬
scription was engraved; the other part
in Hebrew, reading:
23
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
THE BOUNDARY OF GEZER.
Subsequently other inscriptions were
found, apparently marking out an en¬
closure of land surrounding the hill, and
affording the unhoped-for corroboration
of the identification suggested three years
before.
It is not too much to say that of few
Biblical sites is the identity so definitely
assured as is that of Gezer. We may
therefore without hesitation return to
the point where we digressed, and trace
out the history of Gezer, knowing that
it is in very truth the history of the mound
now kndwn as Tell el-Jezar.
The name of the city does not appear
in the Biblical record until the time of
Joshua. For the long stretch of history
anterior to the Israelite conquest we
24
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
must rely on extra-Biblical sources.
These are very meagre, and do not carry
us back further than Thothmes III, that
is, about 1500 b.c. Yet the excavation
has revealed that behind this date there
stretches for Gezer a further period of
some 1,500 years, concerning the life of
which written history is absolutely silent.
For it cannot have been much later
than 3000 b.c. when a primitive race of
men first realized that the bare rocky hill
(as it then was) would be a suitable
dwelling-place. This tribe was a cave¬
dwelling race, and the hill already had
many natural caves hollowed in it, which
were capable of being added to or enlarged
if required, even with primitive tools,
owing to the softness of the limestone.
Water, the first necessity of life, was in
abundance. The three primitive modes
25
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
of livelihood—hunting, pasturing, and
agriculture—could be practised here bet¬
ter than in many places; for the rocky
hillsides west and south of Gezer afford
cover to a great variety and quantity of
game; they also bear a scanty but
sufficient crop of vegetation, and are to¬
day in the spring-time black with herds
of the native sheep and goats; and the
fields north and west of the hill are of
extraordinary fertility. Further, for de¬
fence—another prime necessity in early
days—the hill is admirably fitted. It is
steep and not easy to climb; and being
fairly high it commands a wide prospect,
so that the approach of enemies can be
seen and prepared for.
For perhaps five hundred years this
primitive race occupied the hill; then
they were driven out by a stronger and
26
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
more civilized people. This was the first
of the successive waves of Semitic immi¬
gration which have ever since been beat¬
ing on Palestine. Canaanites, Israelites,
Arabs—all probably much alike in body,
in mind, in habits, and in language—
have successively inhabited the mound
through the centuries. The modern in¬
habitants, typical specimens of which are
shown in fig. 6, must greatly resemble
their ancient predecessors in general
appearance.
At about the same time the influence
of a nation, yet greater than the Early
Semites, began to make itself felt in
Gezer. This was Egypt, then at the
height of the glories of her “ Middle
Empire.” Many scarabs and other ob¬
jects, referable to this period, were found
in the lower strata of the mound, showing
2 7
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
that intercourse of some kind was carried
on between its inhabitants and the great
empire of the Nile. But, so far as they
have been discovered, the monuments of
Egypt itself remain silent regarding any
event accounting for this intercourse,
and its nature must for the present be
regarded as obscure.
Gezer was [captured by Thothmes III,
and the bare record of the fact, in the
inscription which that king left behind
in the Temple of Karnak, is the earliest
written reference to the city that has
yet been found. More interesting is the
information to be gleaned from three
letters found among the great collection
of tablets recovered some years ago at
Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, which, as has
so often been said, constitutes the “ For¬
eign Office ” correspondence of Kings
28
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
Amen-hotep III and IV, about 1450 b.c.
From these we learn that Gezer, like the
rest of the Palestinian cities of the time,
was under the suzerainty of the Egyptian
Pharaoh, being governed by a “ king ”
named Yapakhi, who was answerable to
the Egyptian monarch. Three letters
from the collection were written by
Yapakhi himself, and consist of petitions
addressed to the king for assistance against
the nomadic tribes that were a constant
menace to safety in those days—as indeed
they still are in some districts—who were
pressing hard on the inhabitants of the
city. There are letters, on the other
hand, written from other cities (such as
Jerusalem), which make complaints against
Gezer, and accuse it of being disaffected
towards the Egyptian overlord. Abd-
khiba, king of Jerusalem, is especially
29
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
bitter. He complains that the Gezerites,
leagued with the men of Lachish, have
invaded his own territory and done him
much injury. As the best means of
revenging his personal wrongs, he en¬
deavours to turn the Pharaoh’s atten¬
tion towards the hostile city, and invokes
the strong arm of Egypt against it.
The records are again silent for about
200 years—a silence broken only by the
solitary mention of Gezer on the famous
“ Israel ” stele of Meren-Ptah—and the
written history recommences with the
books of Joshua and Judges. There is
no record of a formal siege of Gezer at the
time of the Israelite conquest; but the
king of Gezer and a detachment of men
came to the assistance of Lachish when
Joshua was besieging the latter city,
and paid for their interference with their
30
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
lives (Josh. x. 33). When the land was
divided among the tribes, Gezer was
allotted to the Levites (Josh. xxi. 21)
dwelling in the tribe of Ephraim (Josh,
xvi. 3); but as was the case in several of
the strong cities of Palestine, the conquest
was partial only: the Ephraimites drave
not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer 1
(Josh. xvi. 10; Judg. i. 29).
In the days of David the Philistines,
that mysterious people of whom we have
heard so much and know so little, first
appear on the scene in connexion with
Gezer. It would appear as though the
city were at the time actually in their
possession, for, in 1 Chronicles xx. 4, we
read of a fight at Gezer between the men
of David and the Philistines; and in
1 The Biblical quotations throughout this
book are taken from the Revised Version.
3i
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
1 Chronicles xiv. 16, Gezer is mentioned
as the terminus of the pursuit of the Philis¬
tines by David after the battle of Rephaim.
Probably he stopped the pursuit at this
point because the fugitives had reached
their own territory.
The Canaanites, however, still lingered
on in Gezer till the reign of Solomon.
When Solomon celebrated his marriage
with the daughter of the king of Egypt,
the Pharaoh went up and took Gezer, and
burnt it with fire, and slew the Canaanites
that dwelt in the city, and gave it for a
portion unto his daughter, Solomon's wife
(1 Kings ix. 16). This incident teaches us
that Solomon’s dominion did not extend
westward so far as Gezer, as the Pharaoh
would hardly have treated a possession
of his ally and son-in-law in such a fashion.
If it be asked why the Pharaoh destroyed
32
ASSYRIAN CONTRACT TABLET (FIRST FACE). FJLU. 8.-ASSYRIAN CONTRACT TABLET (SECOND FACE).
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
the city, the answer probably would be
that Gezer had too easily commanded the
great coast-line trade route from Egypt
to Babylon, and probably the Canaan-
ites had from time to time compelled
caravans to pay toll to the city as they
passed.
We must here notice two interesting
objects discovered at Gezer, as they are
so far the only known written documents
yet discovered that bridge the gap between
Solomon’s repair of the city and the
events in which Simon Maccabaeus was
the principal actor. These are a pair of
contracts relating to the sale of property,
drawn up in Gezer in the Assyrian lan¬
guage and character, and written on clay
tablets. Both are unfortunately imperfect;
but enough remains to enable us to deter¬
mine their purport. The first (figs. 7,8),
B.S.
33
3
GEZER— ITS SITE AND HISTORY
which is dated 649 b.c., 1 relates to the sale
of the estate of one Lu-ahe by two men, Mar-
duk-eribaandAbi-eriba: theestate included
the slave Turiaa and his family, but the
rest of the inventory is lost. The vendors
give a guarantee that the persons sold
shall be free from certain specified diseases
for a hundred days, and from other de¬
fects for all time. An assurance is given
of the completion of the transaction, and
a definite agreement concluded, that
any action in a court of law regarding
it would be void. One interesting fact
that we learn from this tablet is given us
by the list of witnesses, which includes
the name of the governor of Gezer, Hur-
wasi. This is an Egyptian name, and it
indicates that the handing over of Gezer
as a dowry to Solomon’s wife did not
1 Or perhaps 651.
34
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
necessarily imply handing it over to
Solomon. It was the wife’s dowry, the
revenues from which were set apart for
her maintenance and well-being, the
equivalent of the “ money ” of Laban’s
daughters which they complained that
their father had quite devoured (Gen. xxxi.
15). It remained in the hands of the
Egyptian princess, and the Egyptians took
care that it did not pass out of their
grasp after her death. Thus we explain
the existence of an Egyptian governor of
the city in 649 b.c.
The second tablet is even more frag¬
mentary. It preserves the name of
Nethaniah, a Hebrew resident, and relates
to the sale by him of a field. It is about
two years later than the first tablet.
The chief interest in these two tablets
lies in the evidence they give of an Assyrian
35
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
occupation of Gezer in the time of Ma-
nasseh: evidence that may ultimately
be found to have some bearing on the
story of the capture of Manasseh himself
by the Assyrian captains (2. Ghron.
xxxiii. 11). This occupation was so strong
that even Egyptians and Hebrews con¬
formed to the procedure and adopted the
language and legal forms of the Assyrian
garrison.
A word may be said regarding the
history of the city in post-exilic times.
It had varying fortunes during the wars of
the Jews and the Syrians, being captured
about the year 160 b.c. by Bacchides,
the Syrian general, and fortified and held
by him for a year; and afterwards recap¬
tured by Simon Maccabaeus, the great high
priest, who fortified it and built for him¬
self a dwelling-place]within its walls. The
36
GEZER—ITS SITE AND HISTORY
discovery of this dwelling-place was one
of the rewards of the excavation.
The history of Gezer in the Roman,
Crusader, and Arab periods, interesting
though it be, does not fall within the
scope of this book.
37
THE HORITES
CHAPTER II
THE HORITES
Chedorlaomer . . . smote . . . the Horites in
their mount Seir (Gen xiv. 6).
The Horites also dwelt in Seir aforetime, but
the children of Esau succeeded them (Deut. ii. 12).
As he did for the children of Esau, which dwelt
in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before
them (Deut. ii. 22).
nT'HE three verses quoted at the head-
ing of this chapter embody the
tradition that in the land of Edom there
dwelt, before the Semitic descendants
of Esau, a race known as Horites.
Of this people nothing is known, and
the genealogies in Genesis xxxvi. 20,
which give the sons of Seir the Horite and
the dukes that came of the Horites , throw
4i
THE HORITES
no light upon them. The only fact that
we can learn about them is derived from
their name, which is supposed to mean
“ cave-dwellers,” and which thus gives
a hint as to the level of their civilization.
It was hardly to be expected that ex¬
cavations conducted at Gezer, west of
the Jordan, would have any light to
throw on a race so definitely located east
of the Dead Sea. That this was the case
was one of the many surprises which the
mound proved to have in store. Of course
it must be understood at the outset that
it is not claimed that actual remains of
the Horites themselves were unearthed
in the excavation; but that the race
to be described in this chapter was con¬
nected with and was similar to them in
race and civilization is highly probable.
The primitive race whose remains were
42
THE HORITES
unearthed at Gezer were a small but
muscular people. It is curious in this
connexion that in Deuteronomy ii. 12
they seem contrasted with the Emim and
Anakim, who were accounted Rephaim ,
or giants: the passage appears almost
to imply that the Horites were not in¬
cluded under this classification. Certainly
the aborigines of Gezer were not giants,
their average height being but an inch
or two over five feet.
They dwelt in caves, hollowed in the
soft rock of the mountain—some wholly
natural, others partly enlarged, others
apparently entirely artificial. These caves
were irregular chambers (occasionally
groups of chambers, two or three in
number, connected by narrow doors) from
twelve to thirty feet, more or less, across.
Usually they were entered by a door in
43
THE HORITES
the roof, from which a rock-cut flight of
steps led down to the floor of the cave.
In a few cases some attempt had been
made to carry off rain-water by a channel
round the mouth of the entrance, but in
the majority it must have run in unchecked
throughout the rainy season, and formed
large pools on the floor of the cave. In
one cave a cistern had been cut for the
purpose of collecting and storing the rain¬
water that thus penetrated. There was
not the slightest attempt at decoration
of any sort on the cave walls.
The furniture of the caves was of the
simplest and most primitive description.
Of course objects made of wood, skins, or
other perishable substances, have neces¬
sarily disintegrated long ago, and nothing
can be said about the articles in these
materials that may have been in use.
44
FIG. 9.—cave-dwellers’ pottery.
THE HORITES
The pottery (fig. 9) was of the rudest
possible description, moulded by hand and
sometimes decorated with roughly painted
red or white lines. Metal seems to have
been unknown. Knives and other cutting
implements of flint were employed, and
fine examples were sometimes to be
found ; the majority, however, were but
roughly flaked. An important item in
the furniture of these primitive dwell¬
ings was a quantity of smooth round
stones, which probably served a variety of
purposes. One would be used as a pot¬
ter’s palette, and was still stained with the
red paint that had been ground upon it
for applying to the vessels to be decorated.
Others, found to be smooth on one side,
would have been used for polishing or
rubbing. Others, again, may have been
used for hearth or heating stones; and
45
THE HORITES
others were probably stored for missiles
in case of wild beasts, or other undesirable
intruders, finding their way into the cave.
The religion of the cave-dwellers is a
difficult and obscure subject. Our prin¬
cipal information on this question comes
from a pit about the middle of the mound.
Here the rock-surface was found to be
completely covered with saucer-like inden¬
tations (fig. 10), between eighty and ninety
in number, and with a few larger vats.
Underneath this rock-surface were two
large caves. Of these, one, which bore
evident marks of having been cut out
with flint tools, was an extensive cham¬
ber approached by a staircase. It was
divided into two parts by a partition,
and was well adapted for the per¬
formance of the mysteries of religious
medicine men, or whatever equivalent
46
THE HORITES
of these functionaries existed among
the primitive race we are describing.
The other cave is yet more interesting.
It is a low irregular excavation, in the
roof of which is a funnel-shaped per¬
foration. A broad shallow channel is
cut in the upper surface of the rock
leading into this perforation. Within
this channel an animal might be placed
for slaughter, the blood being allowed
to trickle through the hole in the
roof of the cave. The cave was
probably regarded as the habitation of
earth-gods, to whom the blood was poured
out as a sacrifice. The pouring out of
blood as well as other liquids as offer¬
ings is a familiar idea: a well known
instance is David’s pouring out the water
of Bethlehem unto the Lord (1 Chron.
xi. 18 ); the blood of the sacrificed
47
THE HORITES
bullock was to be poured out beside the
altar (Exod. xxix. 12); and Jeremiah,
in vii. 18, and again xliv. 17, refers to
the pouring out of drink offerings to
various divinities.
It is a curious and suggestive fact that
in the cave, underneath this orifice, were
found a number of pig bones. This
seems to indicate that the cave-dwellers
sacrificed the pig in their religious rites—
a fact that has some bearing, probably,
on the aversion with which this animal
was regarded by the Semites who suc¬
ceeded them in the occupation of the
country. The swine was unclean (Lev.
xi. 7), and Isaiah speaks with horror of
eating swine’s flesh (lxv. 4) and sacrificing
swine’s blood (lxvi. 3).
The cave-dwellers disposed of the dead
by cremation. In this they were sharply
48
THE HORITES
distinguished from the Semites who fol¬
lowed them; among the Arabs of to¬
day the notion of burning the body of the
dead is abhorrent. (“ May God burn the
sinners who burn the dead, ” said an old
Arab to me inside the great columbarium
at Beit Jibrin, on being informed of the
purpose of the loculi in its sides). Burn-
the dead is only twice mentioned 1 in the
Old Testament, and each time in very
special circumstance—in the case of the
bones of Saul (1 Sam. xxxi. 12), which
were burnt to save them from indignity;
and in Amos vi. 10, where there is a refer¬
ence to burning after a plague. But the
cave-dwellers had set aside a cave as a
place for cremating the bodies of their
1 Excluding penal and sacrificial cases, such
as that of Achan (Josh. vii. 25), or human
victims offered as a burnt sacrifice.
B.s. 49 4
THE HORITES
deceased companions. Like most of the
other caves, it is irregular and low-
roofed, and has a flight of rock-cut steps
giv ing access to it. Its entrance is shown
in fig. 11. It is distinguished from the
others, however, by a chimney, at the
foot of which were lying heaps of cal¬
cined ashes when the cave was first opened.
The greater part of the surface of the
floor was strewn over with ashes of human
bodies, mingled with very rude pottery
of the cave-dwellers’ types.
Thus the excavations enable us to form
for the first time what not improbably is a
fair conception of the Horites—a race
which seems to have been little more
than a name even to the Biblical writers.
5o
THE INIQUITY OF THE AMO RITE
CHAPTER III
THE INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
The iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full
(Gen. xv. 16).
TN his address at the Annual Meeting
of the Palestine Exploration Fund,
on 14 July, 1905, Professor George Adam
Smith, reviewing the results of the ex¬
cavation of Gezer, said that they were
“not more illustrative in anything than
“ in the exhibition they afford of the
“ primitive religious customs which Israel
“ encountered upon their entry into Pales-
“ tine, and which persisted in the form
“ of idolatry and the moral abominations
“ which usually accompanied this up to
53
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
“ the very end of the history of Israel
“ upon the land.”
One of the most important discoveries
made during the three years’ campaign
was that of the High Place of Gezer, the
largest early Palestinian sanctuary yet
unearthed. It enabled us to form a clear
picture of the nature and disposition of
these shrines; and from the discoveries
made within its precincts it is easy to
understand why, in an age of greater
enlightenment, the worship of the High
Place was so fiercely denounced.
The essential features of the High Place
would be:—
(1) The Altar;
(2) The Standing Stones and Asherah ;
(3) The Laver for ceremonial washings;
(4) The Sacred Gave;
(5) The Depository for refuse;
54
INIQUITY OF THE AMO RITE
and to some extent all of these were illus¬
trated by the discoveries at Gezer.
(1) The Altar. Nothing at all re¬
sembling a stone altar was discovered
within the precincts of the sanctuary;
but it is not necessary to suppose that
the altar was a permanent structure. It
is evident from all we can learn or deduce
from the hints given us about early
worship that simplicity was aimed at,
and that the primitive altar was a mere
heap of earth, or at most a pile of stones.
The altars erected to Jehovah by the
Israelites, before the centralization of
worship at the Temple, were of this
elementary description. Exodus xx. 24
prescribes that altars should be made of
earth, or if of stone, that the stone
should not be hewn.
In the Austrian excavation of Taanach,
55
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
an extraordinary altar was discovered of
baked earth , ornamented with figures of
animals in relief (fig. 13). Nothing like
this has been found at Gezer, or indeed
anywhere else; but it indicates the
material of which the Gezer altar prob¬
ably was made. 1
Some distance to the south of the great
row of pillar-stones presently to be de¬
scribed, there was a bank of earth, about
11 feet in length, through which it was
excessively difficult to cut, as the earth
seemed to have been baked very hard;
for a long time it resisted the picks of the
workmen. Embedded in this earth bank
were a number of human skulls, much
injured and broken ; the rest of the bodies
1 The accompanying illustration is from a
photograph kindly put at the disposal of the
Palestine Exploration Fund by Dr. Sellin, the
director of the excavation at Taanach.
56
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
were not to be found. It is not impos¬
sible that this bank was actually the
earthen altar of the High Place of Gezer.
That a Canaanite altar should consist
of a heap of human heads covered with
earth is a new idea, though it is not
inherently improbable; for it is evident
from the excavations that the Canaanites
showed an Aztec-like disregard of the
value of human life. With the skulls were
deposited a number of cow-teeth.
(2) The Standing Stones (fig. 12) form
one of the most imposing monuments that
survive from ancient Palestine. They are
eight in number, but there have been ten,
the stumps of two which have been broken
remaining at the north end. They stand
in a line due north and south, and range
in height from 10 feet 6 inches to 5 feet
5 inches.
57
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
They are unhewn blocks, simply set
on end and supported at the base by
smaller stones. Commencing with the
southernmost, we may describe in order
their most interesting characteristics.
The first is a gigantic pillar which
cannot be encircled by less than four
people clasping hands. The second is
comparatively insignificant, being the
smallest of the whole series. It may,
however, have been the most sacred of
all the stones—possibly because it was
the oldest. The indication that suggests
this is the existence on its top of certain
smooth spots, that look exactly like the
worn places polished by the kisses of
devotees on stones in the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, and other places of pil¬
grimage in Palestine and elsewhere. The
kissing of the images or other represen-
58
INIQUITY OF THE AMO RITE
tations of the divinity, such as these pillar-
stones will presently be shown to be,
was and is a rite common to almost all
heathen worships. Compare all the knees
which have not bowed unto Baal , and every
mouth that hath not kissed him , in 1 Kings
xix. 18, and the reference in Hosea xiii. 2
to the kissing of the calf-images in the
Israelite shrines.
The third and fourth stones are com¬
parable, but inferior, in size to the great
block with which the series commences.
The fifth and sixth are comparatively small
and insignificant. The seventh (fig. 14),
which is rather larger, is of greater interest.
It is the only stone of the row which
differs in its composition from the rest.
The other pillars were hewn from the local
rock: this stone displays characteristics
that show that it must have come from
59
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
some other site. A groove has been cut
on its face, apparently to prevent a rope
by which it was dragged from slipping.
From the nature of the rock, it is possible
that this stone came from Jerusalem; in
that case it was probably a sacred stone
that stood in the corresponding High
Place of the Jebusites, which was cap¬
tured, perhaps in a successful raid, and
set up in the Gezer temple as a war-
trophy. In this connexion it is interest¬
ing to recall the fact that the evidence of
the Tell el-Amarna tablets indicates a
hostility between Gezer and Jerusalem
at the period of this temple; and that
later, King Mesha of Moab boasts, in
his triumphal inscription, of having set
up just such a trophy. The passage
on the inscription of Mesha is obscure,
but the interpretation which seems
60
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
most probable runs thus: “ The king of
“ Israel built for himself Ataroth, and
“ I fought against the town and took
“ it, and put to death all the people of
“the town, and I removed thenee the
“ altar-hearth (?) of Dodah (name of a
“ god ?), and I dragged it before Ghemosh
“ (the Moabite god) in Kerioth.” Later
he says “Ghemosh said to me, Take
“Nebo against Israel: and I went by
“ night and fought against it... and I took
“thence the altar-hearths (?) of Jehovah
“ and I dragged them before Ghemosh.”
These passages seem to indicate a custom
of seizing some heavy stone furniture of
the holy place of a conquered town, and
erecting it in the sanctuary of the con¬
queror. Some such custom may also
explain the strange advice of Hushai to
Absalom, and the latter’s equally strange
61
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
acceptance of the advice (2 Sam. xvii.
13, 14). It is possible, therefore, that
the stone shown in figure 14 once stood
in the High Place of the Jebusites, which
would no doubt have been on the Moriah
where Solomon afterwards built the
Temple. If with this may be identified
the “land of Moriah” of Genesis xxii. 2
(which is, of course, open to doubt),
it is quite admissible to believe that at
the foot of this stone in its original
position the author of Genesis located the
attempted sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham.
The eighth stone of the series is more
shapely than the rest, and is peculiar in
that it stands in a hollowed stone socket.
It is flanked by the stumps of the two
broken pillars. These three stones are
divided from the remainder by a wide in¬
terspace, no doubt with intention. Ten,
62
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
seven and three are all numbers that
seem to have had a certain sanctity among
the Western Semites, and cases illus¬
trating this are not wanting in the Old
Testament. We cannot enlarge on this sub¬
ject at present, but must content ourselves
here with referring to the article ‘ ‘ N umber ’ ’
in Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible. It can¬
not be an accident that the ten stones of
our High Place are divided into two groups
containing seven and three respectively.
The erection of pillars like these as
symbols and representatives of the divinity
was a custom common to all Semitic
races, not excepting, in their early stages
of development, the Hebrews themselves.
Jacob erected such a pillar in consecrating
a place where the Lord had appeared to
him, and specially named it the House of
God (Gen. xxviii. 22). Even in the Temple
63
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
of Solomon there were two sacred pillars,
named Jachin and Boaz (1 Kings vii. 21);
and Hosea, picturing the Israelite cap¬
tivity, says the children of Israel shall abide
many days without king , and without
prince , and without sacrifice , and without
pillar, and without ephod, or teraphim
(Hos. iii. 4). Special charges were laid on
the Israelites to destroy the pillars of the
Canaanites whom . they supplanted [break
in pieces their pillars : Exod. xxiii. 24),
and the erection of a pillar to Jehovah
was forbidden in the Deuteronomic
legislation (xvi. 22).
There can be no doubt that with the
pillar there was associated an Askerah,
whatever that may exactly have been.
Without occupying space here in the
profitless discussion of a very obscure
subject, we may content ourselves with
64
FIG. 15. —THE LAVER.
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
noting that the most generally received
theory is that it was a wooden pillar erected
as a representative of a sacred tree. For
details regarding the asherah reference
may be made to the article on the subject
in Hastings’ Bible Dictionary. The Old
Testament contains numerous references
to the asherah (in the Authorized Version
under the name “ grove ”). Thus, Gideon
cut down the asherah beside the altar of
Baal (Judg. vi. 25, 28); and in summing
up the sins of the Israelites which led to
the captivity, the author of the Book
of Kings includes their setting up pillars
and asherim upon every high hill and
under every green tree (2 Kings xvii. 10),
an illustration, by the way, of the tree
worship from which the asherah is com¬
monly supposed to have taken its origin.
(3) The exact position of the asherah
b.s. 65 5
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
in the Temple of Gezer with respect to
the supposed altar and the row of pillar-
stones is a subject of uncertainty; for,
of course, being made of timber, it would
have long since perished in the damp
climate of Palestine, if indeed it were not
destroyed by some reformer. It was at first
thought that a square block of stone beside
the row of pillars (fig. 15), with a rectangular
hollow cut in the top, was the socket in
which the asherah stood. This may have
been the case; but the probability is at least
equal that this block was a laver intended
for ablutions. On the whole the supposed
socket appears rather too large 1 to have
contained a wooden post of any likely size.
The practice of ceremonial ablution was
1 The stone block measures 6 feet 1 inch by
5 feet by 2 feet 6 inches, and its socket 2 feet
10 inches by 1 foot 11 inches by 1 foot 4 inches.
66
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
a necessary preliminary to taking part
in religious worship among the Semites,
and is maintained by the modern Muham¬
madans as it was by the Hebrews in
their own worship. 1 A similar laver was
found in the Semitic temple recently
investigated by Professor Petrie in the
Sinai Peninsula, but in this case the brim
was narrow. In the Gezer example the
brim of the receptacle is broad, probably
to allow of a person sitting upon it to
wash his feet.
(4) The Sacred Cave was situated just
east of the northern end of the row of
pillar stones, and it is probable that the
existence of this cave was the cause which
led to the choice of the site on which the
High Place was established. The cave
originally consisted of two separate cham-
1 Exod. xxx. 18-21, cf. Heb. ix. 10.
6 7
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
bers, each of them at one time residences
of cave-dwellers, with independent en¬
trances and probably with no internal
communication between them. When dis¬
covered, however, the smaller cave was
found to have been carefully closed by large
blocks placed against the door inside,
so that it was turned into a secret cham¬
ber. A narrow crooked tunnel was then
opened between the two chambers. This
tunnel was just wide enough to “ wriggle ”
through: it was short, so that any
sound made in one chamber was distinctly
audible in the other; but it bent in the
middle, so that it was not possible to see
through it. This arrangement is evidently
well suited for the giving of oracles, a boy
being sent to the inner chamber before
the inquirer was admitted to the outer.
Far less credulity than is displayed by the
68
ENTRA
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
Russian pilgrims to-day in the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, at the ceremony
of the Holy Fire, would persuade the
inquirer that in the boy’s voice coming
from the mouth of the narrow tunnel
he actually heard the voice of the god.
Of course oracle-giving, in one form or
other, was an essential function of shrines
over the whole ancient world. Even in
Solomon’s temple provision was made
for an oracle (1 Kings vi. 16), though
the exact details of this case are not
recorded. (See the plan, fig. 16.)
The story of Saul’s visit to the witch of
En-Dor is recalled to the memory by
this cave. If the reader will turn to the
narrative in 1 Samuel xxviii. 7-25, and
study the story carefully, he will perceive
that during tKe whole seance (if we may
use the modernism) Saul saw nothing, but
69
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
entirely relied on the woman’s vague de¬
scription for the identification of Samuel:
an identification which his overwrought
condition made it easy for him to accept.
He heard a voice, however: it has often
been suggested that this may have been
a case of ventriloquism practised by the
pythoness (such as seems to be indicated
by Isaiah viii. 19), but she may also have
had a confederate stationed in some such
secret chamber as has been found at
Gezer. Indeed, she herself may have
played the part; for the sentence in verse
21, and the woman came unto Saul (after he
had fainted on hearing the denunciation),
suggests that during his interview with
the supposed spirit of Samuel he was alone.
How far the Lord may have made use for
His own purposes of the pretended power
of the sorceress (like the “ lying spirit ”
70
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
of 1 Kings xxii. 22) we cannot here inquire.
(5) Lastly, there was a bell-shaped pit,
resembling an ordinary cistern, a little
to the east of the sacred cave and appar¬
ently a little outside the temple precincts.
In this pit was found a great number of
bones of human beings, cows, sheep, goats,
and deer, in a confused heap. In all
probability this was the receptacle into
which the refuse from sacrifices was cast.
Such a receptacle was a necessity where-
ever victims were sacrificed in worship.
Of the nature of the High Place worship
Isaiah has preserved for us a vignette,
in lvii. 5 and the following verses:
Are ye not children of transgression, a
seed of falsehood, ye that inflame yourselves
among the oaks, under every green tree:
that slay the children in the valleys, under
the clefts of the rocks ? Among the smooth
7i
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
stones of the valley is thy portion; they, they
are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured
a drink offering, thou hast offered an obla¬
tion. Shall I be appeased for these things?
Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou
set thy bed: thither also wentest thou up
to offer sacrifice. And behind the doors
and the posts hast thou set up thy memorial:
for thou hast discovered thyself to another
than me, and art gone up; thou hast en¬
larged thy bed, and made thee a covenant
with them; thou lovedst their bed when thou
sawest it. Here we have a succinct pic¬
ture, obviously based on the ordinary rites
of the High Place. We see the situation
of the sanctury, on the hill-top ; the tree
worship ; the worship of stones, and their
anointing (just as Jacob anointed the
stone of Beth-el [Gen. xxviii. 18, compare
xxxv. 14], and as in a similar manner
72
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
the second stone of the Gezer row of
pillars may have been anointed); the sacri¬
fice of children; and the general atmosphere
of licentiousness pervading the whole
worship. All of these are illustrated by
the Gezer High Place. We have already
sufficiently alluded to the tree and stone
worship, and of the last of the above
features it is necessary to say no more
than that the character of numerous
images left there, evidently as votive
offerings, testified to the immoral char¬
acter of the worship.
There remains the sacrifice of children,
on which a few words must be said. All
round the feet of the columns, and over the
whole area of the High Place, the earth
was discovered to be a regular cemetery,
in which the skeletons of young infants
were buried. These infants were never
73
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
more than a week old. They were de¬
posited in large jars, and with them were
placed smaller jars, possibly for food for
the use of the little victim in the other
world. Two at least of the skeletons
showed marks of fire (fig. 18).
We have here evidence of the widespread
custom of devoting the firstborn; a part of
the practice whereby the firstfruits of man,
of beast, and of the field, were sacred to the
divinity. 1 Abraham felt an impulse to
sacrifice Isaac (Gen. xxii. 1), and Mesha,
king of Moab, on an occasion of emergency,
sacrificed his eldest son (2 Kings iii. 27).
That the ancestors of the Hebrews, like
the other Semites, practised this custom
may be regarded as certain, though in their
earliest legislation the savagery of the
1 See Exodus xxii. 29, 30; xxiii. 19.
74
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
human sacrifice is modified by the substi¬
tution of an animal victim (Exod. xiii. 13,
which also prescribes substitution in the
, case of an animal which it was not lawful
to sacrifice), or by dedication to temple
service, as in the case of Samuel. The
sacrifice by fire of children to Molech is
prohibited in Leviticus xviii. 21 under
pain of death (cf. Lev. xx. 2); but this
law was disregarded by Ahaz (2 Kings
xvi. 3) and Manasseh (2 Kings xxi. 6).
The futility of such sacrifices is eloquently
emphasized by Micah (vi. 7): and they
were finally ended by Josiah (2 Kings
xxiii. 10).
Outside the High Place other dis¬
coveries were made throwing a lurid
light on the iniquity of the Amorite.
One of these may be briefly alluded to
here: a cistern at the bottom of which
75
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
were fourteen skeletons, one of them that
of a young girl who had evidently been
sawn asunder (fig. 17). The skulls of two
other girls, who had been decapitated, were
found at the mouth of the same cistern.
Evidently some savage tragedy here took
place, though of its precise nature we
are ignorant. It recalls the tradition of
the death of Isaiah, generally supposed to
be alluded to in Hebrews xi. 37; and
the treatment of the Ammonites by David
(1 Ghron. xx. 3).
In an enclosure close to the standing
stones was found a bronze model of a
cobra (fig. 14), which may have been a
votive offering. It recalls the story of the
brazen serpent of Moses to whose worship
Hezekiah put an end (2 Kings xviii. 4).
Possibly this object of worship was simi¬
lar in appearance. Another very remark-
76
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
able “ find ” made within the precincts of
the High Place was the unique figure of
the “ two-horned Astarte, ” one of the
first representations of this mysterious
goddess to be found (fig. 19. ) x
In closing this chapter, which is neces¬
sarily nothing more than a brief outline
of a very wide subject, we may fittingly
conclude with another quotation from the
speech of Professor G. A. Smith, to
which we referred at the beginning:—
“ We realize through this work what
“ the purer religion of Israel had to con-
“ tend with through all the centuries. I
“ may say that we realize to a large extent
“ for the first time what it had to fight
1 For Astarte-worship, illustrated at Gezer by
a large number of terra-cotta plaques bearing
the figure of the goddess in relief, compare such
passages as 1 Sam. vii. 3, 4,1 Kings xi. 33.
77
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
“ with, what it had to struggle against
“ all that time. We have been told
“ that Monotheism was the natural off-
“ spring of desert scenery and of desert
“life. But it was not in the desert
“ that Israel’s Monotheism developed
“ and grew strong and reached its pure
“ forms. It was in this land of Palestine,
“ of which Gezer, with its many cent-
“ uries and its many forms of idolatry,
“ is so typical an instance. When we
“contemplate all these systems, we are
“surely the more amazed at the sur-
“ vival, under their pressure and against
“ their cruelty, of so much higher a spiri-
“ tual and an ethical religion. Surely it is
“ only a divine purpose, it is only the
“ inspiration of the Most High which
“ has been the cause. When we look at
“ these things that are seen, surely we are
78
INIQUITY OF THE AMORITE
“more able to appreciate than ever we
“ have been the clear vision which the
“ prophets of Israel had of the things that
“ are unseen, and all their valour and per-
“ sistence in pushing the consideration
“ of these upon their countrymen. Surely
“ we understand more than we did why
“ Ezra and Nehemiah were so eager and
“zealous to raise the fence of the Law
“ against the heathenism which was bear-
“ ing in upon Israel from all sides, and
“ which overcame all other Semitic re-
“ ligions. And surely, last of all, we can
“ recognize and appreciate the valour of
“the Maccabees who fought against the
“last tide of heathenism, and brought
“ Israel through it pure, constant, and
“ with her Law untouched—that Israel
“ out of which Christ our Lord was born,
“ and out of which our religion has grown.”
79
B.S.
81
6
THE GOLDEN CALF
CHAPTER V
THE GOLDEN CALF
This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee
up out of the land of Egypt (Exod. xxxii. 4, mar¬
ginal reading).
TTTHEN Moses delayed to come down
** from the mount, the impatient
people applied to Aaron, his brother, for
guidance. That a new covenant was
being made for them they were aware,
but “ the manner of their god ” was as un¬
known to them at the moment as it was,
centuries afterwards, to the mixed multi¬
tude of Babylonians and Guthahites and
Sepharvites that the king of Assyria
established in the despoiled land of Sa-
[109
THE GOLDEN CALF
maria (2 Kings xvii. 24). If we take the
account of Exodus as we find it, it appears
that the stringent law of the Ten Words
had not yet been publicly taught to the
people, or at any rate that they had not
comprehended its public announcement.
Exodus xx. 18, 19 seems to show that
they were too bewildered and terrified by
the theophany to realize the meaning of
anything they might hear. Moses was
on his way down, with the tables in his
hands, when he discovered what had
taken place in his absence.
Aaron accepted the responsibility—
indeed such a responsibility had been
expressly delegated to him, according to
Exodus xxiv. 14; and in ignorance, it
would appear, that henceforth the use of
symbolic images was to be forbidden, he
made a calf of gold, round which, as he
IIO
THE GOLDEN CALF
proclaimed, a feast of Jehovah —not of
any foreign or traditional cow-divinity
—was to be held. The ceremonies evi¬
dently partook of the character of one of
the merry-making vintage or s harvest fes¬
tivals common in all primitive societies
—a day of feasting and merry-making,
not unmixed with license.
In view of the spiritual development
to which the worship of Jehovah was,
by divine guidance, ultimately led, it is
not easy at first sight to believe that
this act of Aaron and his followers was not
a mere lapse into idolatry, such as stained
Solomon, Ahaz, and other later leaders
of the people; but rather an outburst of
the natural religious feelings and traditions
of the as yet untaught tribes, who, in wor¬
shipping their own god, were following the
immemorial observances of their Semitic
hi
THE GOLDEN CALF
kinsmen. To an untutored pastoral or
agricultural community the strongest force
familiar in the daily routine of life is
the strength of a powerful young bull, and
it seems clear that, half symbolically,
half materially, the primitive Semites
pictured their tribal divinity under some
such bodily form.
It might have been expected that the
sharp judgment which the error of Aaron
and the people incurred would have
eradicated these traces of natural religion
from their minds; yet, so tenacious is
religious conservatism, a strikingly parallel
incident took place some three hundred
years later. Jeroboam, fearing lest his
successful revolt against the house of
Solomon should be counteracted by influ¬
ences brought to bear on his subjects at
Jerusalem, the central shrine of the united
112
THE GOLDEN CALF
monarchy, resolved to erect shrines in¬
side his own territory in order to divert
the stream of worshippers from the land
of his rival. One of these he placed at
Dan, probably with the intention of set¬
ting up an attraction as far removed from
Jerusalem as the limits of his kingdom
permitted. The other he established at
Beth-El, thereby not only reviving an
important holy place that had long been
traditionally connected with the worship
of Jehovah, but erecting a barrier on the
high road to Jerusalem which could not
fail to intercept pilgrims who might still
desire to visit the authorized centre of
the national religion (1 Kings xii. 25-33).
Now these shrines were in no sense
heathen temples. The feasts and sacri¬
fices were modelled on those of Jerusalem
(1 Kings xii. 32), and the shrine was, in
113 8
B.S.
THE GOLDEN CALF
its way, as much a place of Jehovah-
worship as was that of Jerusalem ; but
the central object of adoration at each
shrine was a calf of gold, exactly like the
symbolical representation of Jehovah that
Aaron had made in the wilderness.
These passages seem to show that how¬
ever lofty and spiritual the conception of
Jehovah may have been to the prophets,
yet the common people of Israel retained
a materialistic conception of Him, derived
from an age-long tradition, which it
needed the cleansing fires of the captivity
wholly to destroy; and that from time
to time leaders pandered to this popular
conception, in order to secure popular
favour.
It is an interesting fact in this con¬
nexion that one of the commonest types
of objects found in the excavation was a
114
THE GOLDEN CALF
pottery model of a cow, generally rudely
formed, but always recognizable (fig. 33). A
good example is shown, in the accompany¬
ing figure. It is impossible to explain the
prevalence of such models otherwise than
on the hypothesis that they had a religious
significance, and were the god-figures of the
families who dwelt in the houses where
they were found.
The worship at these shrines included
sacrifice, incense-burning (1 Kings xiii. 1),
and kissing the images of the deity (Hos.
xiii. 2), just as we have seen that the
standing stone in the High Place of Gezer
was probably kissed. The shrines them¬
selves were probably not unlike that of
Gezer: in the denunciation of Hosea
(x. 1-6) altars and pillars are enumerated
with the calves.
It is often supposed that these calves
ii5
THE GOLDEN CALF
were modelled on the sacred bulls wor¬
shipped in Egypt; but this cannot be so.
In the first place, the Egyptian bull was
always a living incarnation of the deity,
never a dead image; it was not worshipped
for itself, but for the god that quickened
it. In the second place, Aaron could not
have said that an Egyptian god had spoiled
Egyptian territory. In the third place,
Jeroboam would not have done anything
so impolitic as to introduce a foreign god
upon Israelite soil at so critical a moment
of his career.
The prophets of Israel had more to
contend against than the influences of
foreign worship, so graphically portrayed
in the passage we have already quoted
from Professor G. A. Smith. Our wonder
at the prophets and their teaching is the
more increased when we realize that they
116
THE GOLDEN CALF
came from, and were sent to, a people who
had formed no higher conception of their
Deity than that of a Being endowed with
the strength and even the form of a bull-
calf.
AGHAN’S SPOIL
CHAPTER VI
ACHAN’S SPOIL
A goodly Babylonish mantle, and two hundred
shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels
weight (Josh. vii. 21).
^T^HESE articles are enumerated as
having been stolen from the spoil
of Jericho by Achan.
Of the first, the Babylonish or Shinar
mantle, we can say nothing, such an
article being too perishable to last. The
most natural and probable conjecture
is that it was a cloak decorated with
the embroidery for which Babylon was
famous. Nor is there any definite inform-
121
ACHAN’S SPOIL
ation about the two hundred shekels’
weight of silver.
Of the gold “ wedge ” more of interest
can be said. The Hebrew word trans¬
lated “ wedge ” literally means “ tongue.”
Now, in a stratum which was approx¬
imately contemporary with Joshua two
gold ingots were found; one of them a
bar whose weight was not far from fifty
shekels 1 —the weight of the ingot stolen
by Achan. Its shape was long, narrow,
and slightly curved; it might well be
described as a “ tongue,” and it is pro¬
bably similar to Achan’s prize (see fig. 36).
It may be guessed with reasonable
likelihood that into such tongue-like bars
1 That is the heavy Babylonian shekel of
252f grains. Fifty such shekels would be 12,633J
grains. The actual weight of the ingot is 860
grammes, or 13,244 grains.
122
ACHAN’S SPOIL
trade gold was beaten for commerce;
possibly with such bars the various com¬
mercial negotiations in which the patri¬
archs took part were transacted.
The original ingot from Gezer has, of
course, with the rest of the antiquities,
been delivered over to the Turkish author¬
ities in accordance with Ottoman law.
A gilt cast is, however, to be seen in the
museum of the Palestine Exploration
Fund in London.
123
THE DEATH OF SAMSON
THE CITY WALLS
CHAPTER VIII
THE CITY WALLS
The cities are great and fenced up to heaven
(Deut. i. 28).
"XTOTHING illustrates the size and
^ strength of the Canaanite cities
so much as a study of the walls with
which they were fenced ; and in examining
the city walls of Gezer it is easy to under¬
stand why the spies, accustomed to the
simple camp life of the desert, were ap¬
palled by the prospect of attacking a
people so powerful.
Gezer was surrounded by two great
walls, not, however, of the same date,
the one having been built outside the line
141
THE CITY WALLS
of the other when the latter had fallen into
disuse and ruin (fig. 38). This took place
about 1450 b.c., so that the outer city
wall is the more interesting for us at
present, concerned as we are now with the
illustrations of the Biblical history afforded
by the excavation. The older wall be¬
longs to a period that the Biblical history
of Palestine does not directly touch.
Even in its present ruined form the
outer city wall is an imposing structure.
In places it still stands to a height of
from 10 to 14 feet, and these can hardly
be regarded as being much more than
the underground foundations. The outer
face of the city wall, towering above the
hill on which the city was built, may well
have seemed impregnable to the messen¬
gers of Moses.
Nor would they feel any more encour-
142
THE CITY WALLS
aged when they contemplated the breadth
of this massive structure. It is 14 feet in
thickness. When complete, two ordinary
cars could have been driven abreast
round its top with the greatest ease.
At intervals round the outer walls of
Gezer there are towers, thirty in number.
These towers, as a study of the masonry
shows, were inserted in the wall after the
original structure was built, and prob¬
ably indicate a refortification of the city.
It is not unlikely that they belong to
the restoration by Solomon mentioned in
1 Kings ix. 16.
In this connexion it is interesting to
notice that there is one part of the wall
itself which is of similar masonry to
these supposed Solomonic towers. It
almost appears as though the wall had
here been breached and repaired, and
143
THE CITY WALLS
that to strengthen it the towers had at
the same time been built. It is quite
within the bounds of probability that
here Pharaoh breached the city wall when
he captured Gezer, and gave it for his
daughter’s wedding portion.
Later, in the Book of Maccabees (1 Macc.
ix. 52) we learn that Bacchides, the general
of the Syrian army, fortified the city.
His fortification has been found in a series
of six great bastions built at intervals
along the walls. These bastions encase
and strengthen the older towers, as is
shown in the accompanying photographic
plates (figs. 39, 40).
This short description has been in¬
cluded in the present work to show
that we may often expect to find, in the
actual buildings unearthed, tangible traces
of the direct influence of recorded historical
144
FIG. 40 . -THE SAME BASTION, WITH A CORNER REMOVED TO EXPOSE THE SOLOMONIC TOWER.
THE CITY WALLS
events. By excavation we can be brought
into personal contact with Biblical heroes,
and can see and touch structures which
they built and inhabited.
B.S.
1 45
io
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
CHAPTER IX
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
The records are ancient. These were the potters
and the inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah : there
they dwelt with the king for his work (1 Chron.
iv. 22, 23).
T N the last chapter we briefly illus-
trated how excavation can illustrate
the Biblical history. In this we shall
bring forward a striking instance of the
light it throws on the Biblical text and
its interpretation.
The second, third and fourth chapters
of 1 Chronicles, containing the genealogy
of the tribe of Judah, have long been recog¬
nized as a passage of peculiar difficulty.
149
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
The names seem to have suffered in copy¬
ing, and their mutual connexion is not clear.
Moreover, some of the names being those
of cities—Hebron, Ziph, Eshtemoa, Gedor
and the rest—it had become a matter of
agreement among critics, unable to ex¬
plain these as genealogies of men, that
the passage is rather to be treated as a
genealogy of tribes and communities;
and that when, for example, we read in
chapter ii. 42 “ Mareshah, the father
“ of Hebron,” we are not to understand a
genealogical relationship between two men,
but a statement that the town of Hebron
was inhabited by a colony from the town
of Mareshah at some unknown period of
history. This interpretation, though gen¬
erally received as being the most satis¬
factory, is involved in an inextricable
tangle of anachronisms and discrepancies;
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
and it was admitted that for the full
understanding of these difficult chapters
more light from the monuments must be
awaited.
Though desired, this light was hardly
expected; yet it has come from recent
excavations, and we now know something
definite of the proper names mentioned
in the genealogy. We know that the
names are those of men, not of cities;
we know the period at which they lived;
we know that the genealogy is a definite
record of physical relationship, not a
vague catalogue of migrations of com¬
munities ; and we are in a position to
check the successive errors of copyists,
which have made the passage obscure.
These errors exist, but they are by no
means so wide and far-reaching as had
been supposed.
151
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
The section on which a bright light has
been thrown is more especially 1 Chron.
iv. 16-23. The sources which are at our
disposal for correcting the Hebrew text
are two-fold—the Greek version, com¬
monly called the Septuagint, which was
made from a Hebrew text earlier than that
which we now possess; and a series of
jar-handles bearing names and devices
stamped upon them, which have been
discovered in recent excavations.
It is impossible here to enter fully into
the technical details of the corrections of
scribal errors in this passage which these
independent sources of information enable
us to make. They have been fully dis¬
cussed in a paper by the present writer,
“ The Craftsmens’ Guild of the Tribe of
“ Judah,” published in the Palestine Ex¬
ploration Fund Quarterly Statement for
152
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
1905, pp. 243, 328. Their nature can
best be shown by exhibiting the passage
in parallel columns, showing the render¬
ings of the existing Hebrew text, and the
corrected text; alterations in the latter
are indicated by italics.
Hebrew Text Corrected Text
And the sons of
Jehallelel; Ziph, and
Ziphah, Tiria, and
Asarel. And the sons
of Ezrah ; Jether, and
Mered, and Epher, and
Jalon: and she bare
Miriam, and Shammai,
and Ishbah the father
of Eshtemoa. And his
wife the Jewess bare
Jered the father of Ge-
dor, and Heber the
father of Soco, and
Jekuthiel the father of
Zanoah. And these are
the sons of Bithiah the
daughter of Pharaoh,
And the sons of
Jerahmeel ; Ziph, and
Ezrahi Tiria, and Asarel.
And the sons of Ezrah ;
Jether, and Mered, and
Epher, and Jalon : and
Ezrah had another wife
whose name was Miriam,
and Miriam bare Sham¬
mai, and Skebaniah the
father of Eshtemoa.
And his wife Ha-Jehu-
dijah bare Jered the
father of Gedor, and
Hebron the father of
Soco, and Jekuthiel the
father of Zanoah. And
these are the sons of
153
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
which Mered took. And
the sons of the wife of
Hodiah, the sister of
Naham, were the father
of Keilah the Garmite,
and Eshtemoa the
Maacathite. And the
sons of Shimon ; Am¬
non, and Rinnah, Ben-
hanan, and Tilon. And
the sons of Ishi; Zo-
heth, and Ben-zoheth.
The sons of Shelah the
son of Judah; Er the
father of Lecah, and
Laadah the father of
Mareshah, and the
families of the house of
them that wrought fine
linen, of the house of
Ashbea; and Jokim,
and the men of
Cozeba; and Joash,
and Saraph, who had
dominion in Moab, and
Jeshubi - lehem. And
the records are ancient.
These were the potters,
and the inhabitants of
Netaim and Gederah:
the scarabaeus, which
they adopted in apostasy.
And the sons of the
wife of Hodiah, the
sister of Naham, were
Dalilah the father of
Keilah, and Shimon the
father of Amnon, and
Menahem the father of
Keilah the Garmite, and
Eshtemoa the Maa¬
cathite. And the sons of
Shimon; Amnon, and
Rinnah, Abd-kadad,
and Tilon. And the
sons of Ishi; Zoheth,
and Ben-zoheth. The
sons of Shelah the son
of Hodiah ; Er the
father of Lecah, and
Laadah the father of
Micah, and the families
of the house of Obed-
Thebez, of the house of
Ashbea, and Jokim, and
the men of Cozeba, and
Joab son of Seraiah
who had dominion in
Moab and returned to
Beth-Lekem. And the
154
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
there they dwelt with records are ancient,
the king for his work. These were the potters,
and the inhabitants of
Netaim and Gedor:
there they dwelt with
the king on his pro¬
perty.
It may fairly be claimed that of these
two columns the corrected text is the
more coherent. A genealogical tree can
be constructed from it, which is an im¬
possibility in the case of the uncorrected
text: see the Quarterly Statement , 1905,
p. 333, where the relationship between the
persons mentioned is tabulated. The
following names have been found on the
seals and jar-handles above mentioned :
Ziph, Ezrah, Shebaniah, Hebron, Soco,
Menahem, Abd-Hadad, and Micah. Of
the two long passages inserted in the text,
one (“ and Ezrah had . . . Miriam ”) is
155
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
a conjectural emendation of my own, to
fill up a gap whose existence has long
been recognized: the other (“Dalilah . . .
“ Menahem ”) is inserted from the Greek
version. Specially striking is the light
thrown on the obscure reference to “ Bith-
“ iah daughter of Pharaoh, ” which has
been a puzzle to every generation. No one
could explain what connexion Bithiah had
with the genealogy, and how a Hebrew
person of no apparent importance came
to marry an Egyptian princess. It is now
suggested that this passage was an obscure
way of hinting that the persons mentioned
adopted the “ scarabaeus ” for their coat
of arms, for we have found it on their
seals. The scarabaeus is an Egyptian
religious emblem, and this is what the
chronicle means by the “ Daughter of
‘ ‘ J ehovah [the meaning of Bithiah] daughter
156
AND THE POTTER S NAME.
(The handle in the centre bears the name of Hebron, the other two of Soco.)
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
“ of the king of Egypt.” It is an allusive
method of description in accordance with
Hebrew methods of expression. And to
establish the connexion yet more closely,
in the case of four potters we find not only
the name as it appears in the list (ex¬
actly in two ; in the other two the copyists
of the genealogy have introduced slight
modifications) and the scarab, but also the
words “ for the king ” on the seal stamped
on the jar-handle, recalling the sentence
with which the passage quoted closes
(fig. 41). But for a further analysis of
the corrections proposed, and their justi¬
fication, reference must be made to the
paper already alluded to, where also the
following deductions are set forth:—
(1) That the genealogy is that of a
family called from an ancestor named
Menahem the Menuhoth, who owned as
i57
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
their ultimate founder Caleb, son of
Jephunneh, and who are mentioned in
1 Chronicles ii. 52, 54.
(2) That they inhabited a region south
of Hebron, and there followed various
crafts, principally pottery-making (1 Chron.
iv. 14, 23).
(3) That the family was first brought
to the notice of the king of Judah in the
early part of the reign of Joash: one of
their number, Memshath (written Mare-
shath), who lived in that reign being the
first of the clan whom we find under royal
patronage. It is suggested that he first
attracted notice in connexion with the
work of the restoration of the Temple
under Joash (2 Kings xii. 4-16).
(4) That Shebaniah son of Ezrah was a
person of considerable importance in the
days of Uzziah, and was steward of the
158
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
royal estates at Carmel mentioned in
2 Chronicles xxvi. 10.
(5) That under the righteous kings,
Amaziah, Jotham, and Uzziah, the hea¬
thenish symbol used as a coat of arms by
the family was suppressed in public
documents. And that in the name Abd-
Hadad we can trace the influence of
Ahaz, who was introducing the worship
of Hadad and the other gods of Syria
just about the time when this person
was bom, according to the chronological
scheme deduced from the pedigree (2
Chron. xxviii. 23).
(6) That in the days of Hezekiah a
raid of the wild, semi-barbarous tribe of
Simeon took place on the territory of this
family (1 Chron. iv. 39), and that they
were compelled to seek another home.
That they chose the south of Moab or
i59
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
the north of Edom, and, driving out in
their turn the worn-out remnant of the
Amalekites, they settled there, and lived in
a sort of semi-independence (ib. iv. 22).
(7) That after the return from the
captivity they were established in Beth-
Lehem, and under the name of Pahath-
Moab (i.e. “ the governor of Moab”)
assumed a position of considerable im¬
portance under Ezra and Nehemiah
(Ezraii. 6, viii. 4,x. 30; Neh.iii. 11,vii. 11,
x. 14).
Here then are seven statements all
recorded in, or legitimately to be deduced
from, the Biblical history; but they were
isolated, and no one without a clue would
have thought of connecting them. This
clue was missing. A small basket-full of
jar-handles, with their potters’ names
stamped upon them, was unearthed by
160
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
excavation and collected together. The
stamp of a potter may be interesting as
an archaeological curiosity; it may de¬
light a philologist or a palaeographer by
displaying a peculiar name or a peculiarly
shaped letter, but it can hardly be ex¬
pected to teach us much of historical
value. Yet how precious seems the
historical message of these humble jar-
handles ! We gather from them that the
genealogies in the Book of Chronicles are
just what they pretend to be—a record
of the lives and relationships of human
beings—and do not call for explanation
by means of the ingenuity that has
been expended upon them. They have
taught us that one of the most difficult
and obscure passages in the whole Bible
is not, after all, seriously corrupt—such
errors as it contains being no more than
161
B.S.
ii
THE CRAFTSMEN OF JUDAH
what we might expect from a document
founded, in the first instance, on “ ancient
records ” which were probably tom and
partly illegible, and transmitted to us by
a long chain of copyists; and they have
enabled us to correct these errors. They
have given us the links whereby we can
connect a number of scattered Biblical
passages, seemingly independent of one
another; and have brought into historical
view men, in their own day of importance
and influence, whose very names later
generations had forgotten.
162
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
CHAPTER X
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho :
he laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram
his firstborn, and set up the gate thereof with the
loss of his youngest son Segub (1 Kings xvi. 34).
'T'HE above is the rendering of the
A Revised Version of this passage.
The Authorized Version, which reads
“ in Abiram ” and “ in Segub,” if not so
definitely intelligible in English, is closer
to the language of both the Hebrew and
the old Greek version.
The expression is ambiguous—perhaps
purposely so—but it is open to the inter¬
pretation that these sons were offered by
Hiel as a sacrifice, to avert any ill-luck
165
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
there might be lingering about the accursed
site, and to secure good fortune for the
inhabitants of the new city. Indeed, it is
just possible that the meaning of the
Hebrew particle, translated “ in ” by
King James’ translators, and “in the
“loss of” by the revisers, here means
“on,” “upon,” and that the statement
is more definite than appears at first
sight:—
Upon Abiram his firstborn he founded it,
and upon Segub his youngest he set up
its gates.
With this interpretation we have, as
has often been suggested, an instance of the
wide-spread custom of offering victims,
human or animal, at the foundation of a
building. The custom was observed by
the Aztecs of Mexico; it is still found
among various tribes in Africa, Borneo,
166
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
Oceania, and India; even in Christian
countries of Europe it is not unknown, as
witness the legends of the infant walled
up in Liebenstein Castle, and the church
on Iona, built over the living body of
Columba’s companion, Oran. In coun¬
tries where the advance of civilization has
made human sacrifice impossible, animal
sacrifice even yet takes its place, and
examples of dogs having been buried
under church walls are not unknown,
just as in Muslim countries the sacrifice
of a sheep accompanies the commence¬
ment of any important building.
The reason underlying the superstition
no doubt is either the propitiation of
earth-spirits, or the hope that the spirit
of the victim will itself become a guardian
of the spot. But as just hinted there
may have been a special reason in the case
167
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
of Jericho. A tradition must have been
preserved that when Israel entered the
promised land Joshua had solemnly cursed
the site of this, the first city captured by
him; had set it apart as a place to be
unoccupied and utterly devoted; and
had indicated the sacrifice offered by
Hiel as the penalty which infraction of
the tabu would involve (Josh. vi. 26).
If it can be shown that foundation
sacrifices were offered in Palestine as
well as in the other countries above men¬
tioned, it may be regarded as confirmatory
of this interpretation of Joshua’s prophecy
and Hiel’s fulfilment of it. And the
necessary evidence is now forthcoming
from Gezer, with a remarkable confirma¬
tion from the German excavations at
Megiddo.
In a very ancient house at Gezer, built
168
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
into a space left vacant at the corner, was
found the skeleton of an aged woman,
having two food vessels deposited with her-
(fig. 42). The position of the skeleton relative
to the walls left no doubt that they were
placed there at the same time, and that
the woman was buried under the house in
order to bring luck to its dwellers. The
bones showed that the whole of the victim’s
right side had been crippled and distorted
by some rheumatic affection : it appears
as though she had been selected for im¬
molation because she was a useless mem¬
ber of the community.
In another house, belonging to a rather
later date, was found outstretched in the
middle of a chamber the skeleton of a
man. Here again bones and walls evi¬
dently belonged to the same period. Here
again a useless member of the community
169
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
seems to have been sacrificed, for the
man had lost his left hand.
In the German excavations of Megiddo
there was found under a tower the skele¬
ton of a young girl, perhaps some fifteen
years of age, deposited in such a way as
to leave no doubt that it was essentially
connected with the foundation of the
building.
That these cases are not very common
seems to show that the human victim
was not offered, in Palestine, on every
occasion, but only under exceptional cir¬
cumstances such as those of Jericho. We
cannot find a trace of the practice else¬
where in the Bible.
Infant victims were also offered—more
often indeed than older children or adults.
Numerous cases were found of infants,
buried in jars, underneath or in the corners
170
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
of the houses. With some a symbol of the
sacrifice is deposited—a bowl which
probably contained blood or grape juice,
typical of blood; and a lamp, typical of
fire. This is interesting, for in later
epochs, when human sacrifice had fallen
into disfavour, the human victim was
omitted altogether, and the lamps and
bowls alone took its place, as a symbolic
reminiscence of the more savage rite (fig.
43).
The Vikings of the North Sea used
to sprinkle their galleys with human
blood ; and, in unconscious remembrance
of the custom, we still break a bottle of
wine over a ship at her christening. The
ancient Semites believed that human
blood must wet the foundations of a house
to give it stability and prosperity; and, in
unconscious remembrance of the belief,
171
THE REBUILDING OF JERICHO
the modern peasant of Egypt buries the
bodies of children who have not survived
their birth inside the walls of his house.
The discoveries at Gezer and Megiddo link
these modern customs with the curse that
Joshua pronounced and Hiel incurred.
173
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
CHAPTER XI
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
In those days he encamped against Gazara, and
compassed it round about with armies: and he
made an engine of siege, and brought it up to the
city, and smote a tower and took it. And they
that were in the engine leaped forth into the city ;
and there was a great uproar in the city; and
they of the city rent their clothes, and went up
on the walls with their wives and children, and
cried with a loud voice, making request to Simon
to give them his right hand. And they said. Deal
not with us according to our wickednesses, but accord¬
ing to thy mercy. And Simon was reconciled unto
them and did not fight against them: and he put
them out of the city, and cleansed the houses wherein
the idols were, and so entered into it with singing
and giving praise. And he put all uncleanness
out of it, and placed in it such men as would keep
the law, and made it stronger than it was before,
and built therein a dwelling-place for himself
(1 Macc. xiii. 43-48).
'T'HOUGH not within the compass of
the Old Testament canon, and
*75
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
therefore rather outside the limits set in
this book, the discoveries bearing upon
the incident graphically described in the
above extract have been so remarkable
that they cannot well be passed over in
silence.
The events which led up to this capture
of Gezer (Gazara is its Greek form) may
be briefly summarized. Antiochus IV
began his reign over Syria in 175 b.c.
Greek influences in custom and religion
had been insidiously affecting the upper
classes in Palestine, despite the opposition
of the Puritan party. A remarkable
votive altar, found at Gezer, bearing on
one side a dedication to Heracles, and on
the other side the name Jehovah in its
Greek form, is a tangible witness to this
fact (fig. 45). Antiochus endeavoured to
foster these foreign tendencies through the
176
FIO. 45 . -VOTIVE ALTAR.
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
instrumentality of Joshua (or Jason, as
he called himself), the renegade brother
of the High Priest, who through Anti-
ochus’ influence himself obtained that
office. In b.c. 171 he was supplanted by
another paganising Jew, Menelaus; his
endeavour to reinstate himself was
treated by Antiochus as a revolt, and
was followed by the spoliation of Jerusa¬
lem, the profanation of the Temple, and
the active persecution of all who endeav¬
oured to maintain the ancient Jewish
rites and worship. An order was issued
that in every village a heathen altar was
to be set up. This order was resisted
at the village of Modin, not far from
Gezer, by Mattathias, an aged member
of the priestly family. He slew both the
royal commissioner and the first Jew who
endeavoured to worship at the altar
177
B.S.
12
THE MACGABEAN CONQUEST
which was erected. Immediately, under
the leadership of Mattathias, a revolt
broke out through the country. On the
death of Mattathias, in b.c. 166, the leader¬
ship passed to his son Judas, surnamed
Maccabaeus (a word of uncertain meaning),
who headed the Jews for the five follow¬
ing years in their resistance to the pagan
tyrant. We cannot follow at length his
fortunes in the struggle, nor those of
his brother Jonathan who succeeded him
after his death at Elasa in b.c. 161; but
it is in point for our present purpose to
notice that at the beginning of the latter’s
leadership the city of Gezer, together with
sundry other strongholds, was occupied
and fortified by Bacchides, the general of
the Syrian army. Soon after, the first
war came to an end, and for four years
there was peace, during which, how-
178
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
ever, the heathen retained hold of
Gezer.
In b.c. 153 war was renewed, the imme¬
diate cause being Jonathan’s partisanship
in a dispute for the now vacant Syrian
throne. It would lead us too far from our
subject to retell the story of the compli¬
cated military and diplomatic events of
the next ten years; let it suffice to say
that at the end of this period Jonathan
found himself a prisoner in the hands of
Tryphon, an officer of Alexander Balas,
whose claims to the throne of Syria
Jonathan had originally espoused.
Simon, Jonathan’s last surviving bro¬
ther, took his place as leader of the Jews.
He had already distinguished himself
by the capture of Joppa and Beth-zur;
now he had only to meet and repulse
Tryphon, in the first year of his leadership,
179
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
to end the war. That done, he set him¬
self to strengthen the country and to
expel any foreign influences that might
weaken it, strategically or morally. With
this in view, he first paid attention to the
heathen garrison still in Gezer, and the
passage at the head of this chapter is the
story of its capitulation. His son John
he left as governor of the city ; he himself
went to Jerusalem to take office as High
Priest. In 135 he, with two of his sons,
was murdered by his own son-in-law, who
aimed at supremacy; but the messengers
sent to Gezer to add John to the victims
were themselves slain, and John suc¬
ceeded to the High Priesthood.
A passing reference in a letter written
by the Roman Senate to John, preserved
by Josephus, 1 is the only literary indica-
1 Antiquities of the Jews XIII. ix. 2.
180
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
tion we have of the restoration of Gezer
to the Syrian power, a fact illustrated,
however, by the excavations, to which
it is now time to turn.
As a specimen of the process of excava¬
tion, and of the “ trial and error ” methods
that, in interpreting results, have to be
followed, I shall cast the account of the
discoveries bearing on these historical
events into a narrative, rather than into
a descriptive, form, such as has hitherto
been adopted in this book.
In the summer of 1904 the work was
concentrated on the ancient cemeteries
round the hill. These, of course, produced
the richest “ plunder,” and in consequence
the bakhshish account was high. But the
Syrian peasant is never satisfied. One or
two of them hit on the scheme of hold¬
ing back from a handful of beads or
181
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
similar objects a few specimens, to pro¬
duce whenever a day should come on
which luck did not favour them, thereby
ensuring that their wages would receive
a regular increment every day.
This, of course, was utterly destructive
of any scientific record of the contents of
the tombs. It is, however, difficult to
train new and untried workmen, and a
labourer that knows his business properly
is not to be lightly dismissed. I therefore
established a “ penal settlement ” for the
culprits; that is to say, I set them to
trace the fine of the city wall, a task
which would give me the information I
required, and which there was every
reason to suppose they would find com¬
paratively profitless. Part of this work
was done by means of trenches and part
by tunnels.
182
THE MACGABEAN CONQUEST
One day the wall, which was being
traced along the south side of the mound,
from east to west, and which had been
followed for nearly six hundred feet,
came to a sudden stop. The gap might
have been at a gateway, or else a ruined
section; I was not perfectly satisfied
with either explanation, and in any case
it raised a question to be investigated.
The men were therefore transferred to
the west end of the wall, which had
already been found in one or two places,
and instructed to follow it eastward.
Once more they came to a stop. There
was thus a space in the middle of the
south side, about three hundred feet in
length, in which not a trace of the wall
could be found. Trenches were cut at
right angles across the line of the wall
at various points in this gap, to search
183
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
for stones or foundations; but in every
case they gave no result.
At the eastern termination of this gap
the end of the wall butted against
the end of a building, of which two or
three courses only were exposed in the
tunnel. At the foot of this building
there seemed to be a causeway of stones.
The masonry was much better than any¬
thing else on the mound, and on that
account my first idea was that it could
not be of the same date as the rude walls
of which, at all periods, the ancient city
was built. It appeared to be a castellated
structure, with projecting towers; and I
felt inclined to identify it with the Crusa¬
ders’ castle of Mont Gisart, which was
erected on this hill, but of which no re¬
mains have yet been found.
As soon as the work on the tombs was
184
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
finished, it became an obvious duty to
follow the clue thus offered: to expose
this building, whatever it might be, com¬
pletely ; and at the same time to try and
find what had become of the city wall.
An area was therefore marked out in the
usual way, including the gap in the wall
and the castellated structure, and the
digging commenced.
A very short time was enough to dispose
finally of the Crusader castle theory : the
associated antiquities could not possibly
have been used by mediaeval European
knights. After a little further work it
was found that south of and facing
it were the foundations of a precisely
similar, but much more ruinous, castellated
wall, and that between these ran a pave¬
ment of cobble-stones, mounting up to
the city. It now became clear that this
185
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
carefully built structure was a large gate,
spanning a road leading into the town,
which road passed over the line of the
city wall; but still there was no trace of
the wall itself.
At the same time a fresh puzzle pre¬
sented itself. Some ten feet north of the
line where the wall should have been, was
a second wall, parallel with it. This I sup¬
posed at first to be the inner, older city
rampart, which is found everywhere in the
mound inside the outer wall; but I was
not satisfied with this theory. The wall
was thinner than usual; the foundations
did not go down deep enough; and
it was difficult to explain the com¬
plete destruction at this point of the
later outer wall, and the comparatively
uninjured condition of the much more
ancient inner. And when a totally un-
186
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
expected gate made its appearance, in
the inner wall, elaborately built of well
squared stones, with an independent cause¬
way of its own leading out of the city,
and associated with late pottery, the
problem became even more exacting.
It was about a month after the excava¬
tion at this spot began that the solution
of these problems presented itself to me.
The practice of publishing a periodical
account of the excavations has been
deprecated by some writers, apparently
on the ground of the incompleteness and
want of finality which must necessarily
characterize each individual report. But
this trifling demerit does not outweigh
the advantages of the practice. Not
only is it the obvious duty of the Society
to keep the subscribers informed of the
progress of the works to which they
187
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
contribute, but the excavator himself
receives a most valuable mental stimulus
from the mere process of putting a con¬
nected account of his discoveries on
paper. In the case of the perplexing
discoveries just mentioned, their true
meaning was revealed to me when, on a
quiet November evening in the camp, I
was drawing a plan of them for the follow¬
ing number of the Quarterly Statement.
The following train of argument pre¬
sented itself to my mind:—
(1) Here are two gates, side by side,
each leading in and out of the city:
query, what is their mutual connexion ?
(2) They are obviously contemporary,
for both are associated with Maccabean
pottery, and are on the same archaeological
level.
(3) Therefore, as both are of Maccabean
188
THE MACGABEAN CONQUEST
date, the wall in which is the second gate
cannot be the ancient inner city wall, for
that was covered up and forgotten long
before the Maecabean period.
(4) Therefore the wall in which this
gate is found, though on the line of the
inner city wall, is independent of it—a
fact also indicated by its narrower pro¬
portions. As it is obviously north of the
line of the outer wall, it is independent of
that also. Therefore it cannot be a city
wall at all. This conclusion is also in¬
dicated by the intrinsic improbability of
two contemporary city gates being so
close together.
(5) If this wall be not a city wall, it
must belong to some important building,
such as a castle; and that castle must
have been under the control of some
person who had the right of passing
189
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
through it into and out of the city at
any time. Such a person can only have
been the military governor of the city.
(6) Here then we are led to a gover¬
nor’s castle of the time of the Maccabees.
This irresistibly recalls the “ house ” built
by Simon after his capture of the city.
Is it not likely that Simon would have
adapted this castle, rather than build
another, had it been already in existence
when he took the city ? and that a
governor later than Simon would have
adapted Simon’s own building ? It is
most improbable that two governors’
castles belonging to the same period
should exist in the one city.
Thus I was led to the conclusion, quite
unexpected when I began, that I had
actually before me the dwelling-place
of Simon Maccabaeus. Viewing the wall
190
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
in this new light, one difficulty was
solved at once—it was clear what had
become of the 300 feet of the outer city
rampart. Simon’s siege-engine had begun
the damage—and it was a striking fact
that, just where the wall was ruined, a
natural terrace in the hill-side made this
the most suitable place round the whole
hill for manipulating a battering ram—
and the breach had been completed in
the course of building the castle. Evi¬
dently it was resolved to fill the breach,
not with a length of blank wall, but with
a citadel; and the stones were removed
from the length of superseded wall to
supply materials for the new structure.
This conclusion was, of course, as yet
only a probable working hypothesis,
which, like the Crusader castle idea,
might with further research have to be
191
THE MAGGABEAN CONQUEST
abandoned. The first thing to do, evi¬
dently, was to look for the inner city wall,
in order to demonstrate its existence
apart from the wall that had now become
so interesting. This was done: a deep
trench was dug, and the ruins of the
inner wall were found far below and
quite distinct from the wall in question.
Then it remained to clear out the castle,
chamber by chamber, in order to see
whether evidence of the theory were
forthcoming. The result was at first
disappointing. It soon became clear that
the castle had been looted thoroughly
before it was ruined and covered over,
and it seemed as though it were going
to remain obstinately silent about its
former occupier.
But once more the unexpected hap¬
pened. The evidence was found, not by
192
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
the careful workmen in the chambers, but
by one of the basket-girls, whose quick
eye fell upon some marks on a fragment
of stone lying on a little heap beside the
outer wall. She brought it to me, and
I saw that it was a Greek inscription,
rudely scratched in an almost illegible
cursive hand. Several hours of patient
study were required before the writing
could be deciphered.
But the labour was well repaid. This
little block of limestone, a fragment of a
larger building stone, with its rough
scribble upon it, proved of thrilling
interest. It called up the picture of
Simon, with his victorious Jewish follow¬
ing, marching against the city and besieg¬
ing it; of the panic-stricken Syrians—
isolated now, after the repulse of Tryphon
—crowding on the wall, cringing for
B.S.
i93
13
THE MACGABEAN CONQUEST
their lives to the great High Priest. The
strokes of the battering ram once more
rang on the walls, the tower fell, and the
men in Simon’s siege-engine leaped into
the city. The zealous leader proceeded
not to sack, but to purify the city.
Heathen families were turned out of their
houses, that household gods might be
sought for and destroyed; idols were
overturned, and the city subjected to
a general purging. The pagan Syrians
were dispossessed, and their places taken
by those “ who would keep the law.”
Of course the Syrians did not take
this spoliation tamely; yet feeling them¬
selves too weak and unsupported, they
feared to resist the conqueror. But one of
them, Pampras by name, did more than
harbour resentful feelings. He endeav¬
oured to wreak his revenge on Simon in
194
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
secret by the methods of magic. Just as
witches in old time—and even to-day in
remote regions—revenge themselves on
enemies by maltreating an image of them,
in the expectation that the injury will be
transferred to the living person, so Pam-
pras thought he would blast Simon by
arranging that a curse against him should
be built into the very walls of his house.
He managed to get access to one of the
building stones, scratched his imprecation,
and departed satisfied (fig. 44). The stone
was duly built into the wall, and it was
this stone that I held in my hand. The
inscription ran:—
(Says) Pampras : may fire pursue Simon’s palace !
Here we have the first contemporary
reference to any of the Maccabees, and
the missing proof that the building was
i95
THE MACCABEAN CONQUEST
actually the castle that Simon built and
John his son inhabited (fig. 46).
When the Syrians recaptured Gezer,
they probably razed the fortress of their
arch-enemy. Certainly it was found
plundered and ruined to the foundations.
Over part of it was found built a very
remarkable bath system, consisting of
seven chambers containing basins, a fur¬
nace for heating water, and also rooms
set apart for plunge and even douche
baths. The floors were all paved with
cement, and a drain was provided for
carrying the waste water away (fig. 47).
This later Syrian occupation, however,
did not last long. By the time of Christ,
about a hundred years later, the site of
the ancient city of Gezer was finally
ruined and deserted.
196
'431
K. 4
. m
K,
r*y"
■
Kgl s »
Bv .
FIG. 47. -SYRIAN BATH ESTABLISHMENT AT GEZER C. 100 B.C.
EPILOGUE
T N the very last week of the excavation,
when the permit was on the point of
expiry, a few graves of a very remarkable
cemetery were discovered. The stature
of the bodies in the tombs was unusual
for Palestine, where men of great height
are exceptional: in one case the stature
would have been anywhere remarkable.
We seemed almost on the point of coming
into contact with the Philistine giants
whom David’s men slew at Gezer. 1 But
the Government permit expired, and we
were regretfully compelled to leave this
suggestive field of work unexamined.
1 1 Chron. xx. 4.
197
EPILOGUE
Palestine exploration is as yet in
its infancy. The labours of Robinson,
Tobler, Wilson, Conder, Clermont-Gan-
neau, Schumacher—to name but a few—
have given us a topographical foundation
on which to work; but we are only
beginning to learn what surprises await
us under the surface. It is true that till
now there has been but one “ Moabite
Stone ” ; but assuredly there are others
awaiting the spade of the excavator.
In one sense, however, it is to be
feared that the end of Palestine Explora¬
tion is in sight. Those great foes to
science, the wealthy collector and the
curio-hunting tourist, after doing irrepar¬
able injury to Egypt by raising a brood
of unscrupulous dealers and marauding
natives, have in recent years turned their
attention to Palestine, and already the
198
EPILOGUE
damage done to ancient tombs and other
remains in the country is incalculable.
Every day pages are being torn from
the book of history which is written in the
ancient remains of the country—pages
whose contents we shall never know, and
which so long as the world lasts will never
be replaced. The work of exploration
and recording must be done now. Even
while the reader peruses these words,
some ignorant native may be breaking
into a tomb, in search of saleable gold and
glass, and so disfiguring an inscription
that would settle some vexed Biblical
problem. Wanting this inscription the
problem may remain unsolved to the end
of time.
As soon as a new permit can be obtained
from the Imperial Ottoman Government,
it is hoped that the work of excavation
199
EPILOGUE
in Palestine will be resumed. Surely the
Palestine Exploration Fund should not
plead in vain for support in aid of its
efforts to preserve some record of these
precious, fast-perishing relics—relics of a
past that appeals to all who value the
Bible as a volume of literature, as the
record of a history, or as the Word of
God!
200
THE PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
PALESTINE EXPLORATION
FUND
APPENDIX
THE PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
1865. On 22 June, 1865, a public
meeting was held in Willis’s Rooms,
London, under the presidency of the
Archbishop of York, at which it was re¬
solved to constitute a Society to be called
“ The Palestine Exploration Fund ” for
the scientific investigation of the Holy
Land. The chairman, in his opening
address, indicated that there were three
guiding principles which were essential
to the success of the project. These
were—
(1) That the work undertaken must be con¬
ducted on strictly scientific principles;
203
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
(2) That the Society should as a body abstain
from controversy;
(3) That the Society was not to be a specifically
religious Society.
In other words, that every possible
precaution should be taken to ensure the
accuracy of the recorded observations in
every department of the Society’s work;
that the Society as a body should take
no responsibility for the deductions and
arguments of individual contributors; and
that it should take no part in religious
controversies. These principles have been
carefully observed by the Fund in all its
undertakings.
The leading spirit in the foundation
of the new Society was Mr (afterwards
Sir George) Grove, the versatile and in¬
defatigable contributor to Smith’s Bible
204
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
Dictionary , and editor of the great Diction¬
ary of Music and Musicians.
1865-6. No time was lost in sending
out an exploring expedition, which left
for Palestine in the end of the year of the
Society’s foundation. The leader was
Captain (afterwards Sir Charles) Wilson,
whose recent death all interested in the
purposes of the Palestine Exploration
Fund must deplore. Captain Wilson had
already (1864) distinguished himself in
Palestinian research by his detailed study
of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and
by his great survey map of Jerusalem,
prepared at the time when the Baroness
Burdett-Coutts had proposed a scheme
for bringing water to the Holy City. In
this first expedition of the Society a
considerable amount of preliminary work
was done: including the preparation of
205
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
the first authoritative sections of the
surface of the country; a reconnaissance
of its central region; the investigation of
the synagogues at Tell Hum (Capernaum)
and other places in Galilee; the settlement
of some geographical questions previously
unsolved or disputed; the measurement
and delineation of a large number of
churches, castles, mosques, etc.; and cer¬
tain excavations at Damascus, Shechem,
and Jerusalem.
1867. In the following year it was
resolved, as the centre of interest in
Palestine is, naturally, Jerusalem, to de¬
spatch a party to determine all that could
be discovered touching the vexed ques¬
tions of Jerusalem topography. This
expedition was under the direction of
Lieutenant (now Sir Charles) Warren.
It occupied three years, from 1867 to
206
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
1870. If Warren’s expedition did not
accomplish all that was expected of it—
for the controversies which it was hoped
once for all to settle are still acute—it
nevertheless revolutionized most of the
theories that till then were held respect¬
ing the ancient topography of the city.
Warren’s work formed the foundation on
which all who devote themselves to the
inexhaustible subject of Jerusalem must
base their own investigations.
During these years was found the
Moabite Stone, one of the greatest arch¬
aeological discoveries ever made in any
country; the stone tablet from Herod’s
temple, with a Greek inscription warning
Gentiles against entering the sacred en¬
closure, was also discovered.
1870-1. These years were distinguished
by the adventurous journey made across
207
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
the Desert of the Exodus by two dis¬
tinguished Arabic scholars, Professor Pal¬
mer, afterwards murdered in the Sinaitic
Peninsula, and Mr Tyrwhitt Drake, who
died in 1874 at the early age of twenty-
eight from the malaria of the Jericho
valley, where he was at the time engaged
in the service of the Society. In this
journey, which the travellers accomplished
alone and disguised as natives, a con¬
siderable number of the stations referred
to in the history of the wanderings of
the Israelites were located, and other
important discoveries and observations
were made.
A word must here be given to the
labours of M. Clermont- Ganneau, now
Professor of the Institut de France, who
at that time was in Jerusalem in the
French Diplomatic Service, and who did
208
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
much valuable work on behalf of the
Palestine Exploration Fund in the early
seventies. The results of this work have
been collected by the Society into two
handsome volumes, so that it is un¬
necessary to allude to them here at length ;
we must not, however, omit to notice his
identification of the site of Gezer, with
the recent excavation of which the present
book is more directly concerned.
1872-80. In 1872 the magnum opus ,
to which all the preceding work was to a
certain extent preliminary, was seriously
begun. This was a detailed ordnance
map of the whole country. It occupied
the full attention of the Fund for many
years. The survey party was first com¬
manded by Captain Stewart and Mr
Tyrwhitt Drake; but the former was
invalided almost at the beginning, and
209
B.S.
14
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
the latter died, as already mentioned,
in 1874. Their places were taken by
Colonel’Conder, whose name is a household
word among all interested in Biblical
researches; and Lieutenant Kitchener, now
Lord Kitchener of Khartoum. The work
was temporarily interrupted by a murder¬
ous attack made on the party by the
natives of Safed in June, 1875; but it
was shortly afterwards resumed, and the
map was completed in 1880, eight years
after its commencement. In the following
years seven large quarto volumes were
published, containing all the archaeo¬
logical, zoological, and other observations
made during the survey. We cannot here
pause to analyse or describe the scope of
the work; it will be sufficient to quote
the words of Sir Walter Besant, the
late secretary of the Fund: “ Nothing
210
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
“ has ever been done for the illustration
“ and right understanding of the his-
“ torical portions of the Old and New
“Testaments, since the translation into
“ the vulgar tongue, which may be com-
“ pared with this great work.”
1881 . In 1881 the companion survey
of Eastern Palestine was commenced by
Colonel Conder. The political conditions,
however, were at the time unfavourable
to such work in that region, and it was
soon found necessary to abandon the
undertaking, the results of which, so far
as they had gone, were published in 1883.
Some important identifications, including
that of Kadesh, were made during the
few weeks in which Colonel Conder was
allowed to work in the country east of
Jordan.
1883 - 4 . Though, as is perhaps natural,
2X1
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
topography and archaeology have been
the principal fields in which the Society
has worked, it has never been forgetful
that there are other equally important
fields which come within its scope. One
of these branches of investigation is the
geology of the country, and with this in
view a party, under the leadership of
Professor Hull, was sent out in 1883.
The complex geology of the district be¬
tween the Dead Sea and the Gulf of
Akabah was for the first time system¬
atically worked out by this expedition.
1885 - 90 . For the five years from
1885 to 1890 the Society continued to
publish in the Quarterly Statement regular
reports and investigations, contributed
by residents in Palestine and others,
though no formal expedition was under¬
taken. Among the contributors may be
212
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
mentioned Dr Schumacher, well known
for his detailed surveys of different dis¬
tricts in Palestine ; Canon Tristram, the
late eminent naturalist; Dr Merrill, United
States Consul at Jerusalem, and leader
of an American survey expedition, which
independently did good work east of the
Jordan; and Dr Conrad Schick, who
for over fifty years resided in Jerusalem,
and made a close study of all its many
problems.
Among the discoveries of these years
may be mentioned that of a reservoir, by
many identified with the Pool of Beth-
esda, and the famous “ Alexander ” sar¬
cophagus at Sidon.
1890-92. Hitherto the work of the
Palestine Exploration Fund had mainly
consisted of surface observations, accom¬
panied here and there by comparatively
213
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
insignificant excavations. 1 The year 1890
marks an era in the history of its work.
In this year for the first time it obtained
an Imperial firman for excavating one
of the four or five hundred tells , or
mounds of rubbish, in which the cities of
the Israelites and of the other ancient
races of Palestine lie concealed. The
selection fell on Tell el-Hesy, the Biblical
Lachish ; and the director chosen was Dr
Flinders Petrie, the eminent excavator of
Egypt. Dr Petrie held the firman for a
few weeks only, during which time he
determined the main details of the strati¬
fication of the mound, and laid down the
principles on which objects found in
Palestinian mounds may be dated. He
was succeeded in the work by Dr Fred-
1 Excepting, of course, Warren’s work at Jeru¬
salem.
214
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
erick Bliss, who till 1901 was the repre¬
sentative of the Society.
The excavation of the site of Lachish
first revealed what a wealth of material was
awaiting the spade of the digger in the
mounds of Palestine. Beside the un¬
earthing of many individual objects of
interest—chief among which was the
famous cuneiform tablet, the first to be
found in Palestinian soil—the main lines
were determined on which the investiga¬
tion of an ancient Palestinian city must be
carried out.
1894-97. After the completion of
the work at Lachish the Society again
turned its attention to Jerusalem, and
Dr Bliss, with the assistance of Mr Archi¬
bald Dickie as architect and draughtsman,
worked there for three years. The work
was not so richly supported as Warren’s
215
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
work had been, in the early years of
enthusiasm; but still a large amount of
systematic research was carried on, and
many important discoveries were made,
chief among which was the course of
Nehemiah’s wall, and the church built by
the Empress Eudocia over the Pool of
Siloam.
1898 - 1900 . In 1898 Dr Bliss, assisted
by the present writer (who succeeded
Mr Dickie as architect), commenced an
important series of excavations in the
Hill Country of Judaea. Four mounds
were partially excavated, including the
probable sites of Azekah, Gath, and
Mareshah (the city of the prophet Micah).
An immense amount of material was
unearthed; among the most important
was the first Canaanite High Place ever
found, and an inscription of Arsinoe.
216
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
1902 - 5 . In 1901 Dr Bliss resigned
his connexion with the Fund. In 1902,
after the completion of the memoir on the
previous season’s excavation, the examina¬
tion of Gezer, identified some thirty years
before by M. Clermont-Ganneau, was
commenced under the author’s direction.
It is unnecessary here to describe this
work, as some of its principal results are
detailed in the preceding pages.
During this period of activity, the work
of the Society had continued to profit
by the labours of investigators other than
its official representatives. The Quarterly
Statement of these years contains a most
valuable series of papers and descriptions
of new discoveries. We may mention, as
a small selection from this mass of mate¬
rial, the brilliant articles on archaeological
subjects by M. Clermont - Ganneau ; Dr
217
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
Masterman’s researches and observations
on the level of the Dead Sea ; Mr Balden-
sperger’s accounts of the daily life of the
modern inhabitants ; Mr Hanauer’s col¬
lections of folklore ; the late Dr Glaisher’s
papers on meteorology; the description
of the wonderful painted tombs at Beit
Jibrin, found by Drs Thiersch and
Peters; and Miss Gladys Dickson’s re¬
markable discovery of the tomb of Nicanor
of Alexandria, an eminent benefactor to
Herod’s temple.
In an appendix to this book will be
found a classified list of all the publications
issued directly by the Palestine Explora¬
tion Fund, or under its auspices ; so that
the reader who may wish to learn further
details concerning the results of any of
the researches that have been briefly
summarized in this chapter will know
218
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
where to find the information he is
seeking. In the present work we have
confined ourselves to one task only—the
recent exploration of Gezer—and have
considered it entirely from the point of
view of the Bible reader. Even from this
standpoint much that might be said
has, from considerations of space, been
omitted. For the present we have passed
over in silence all the lessons the mound
has to teach regarding the general history
of civilization, art and religion.
A S a pendant to the foregoing brief account
of the activities of the Palestine Ex¬
ploration Fund, we subjoin a classified and
priced catalogue of the works that have been pub¬
lished directly by itself or under its auspices, in
which the results of the researches of its officers,
219
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
supporters and contributors, are set forth in
full:—
I. History of the Society and Record
of its Work and Progress.
The Quarterly Statement. Issued
quarterly to subscribers from
April, 1869. (2s. 6d. each part).
Index to the Quarterly Statement, 1869-
92. (2s.).
Besant, Sir Walter, Thirty Years'
Work. (3s. 6d.).
Our Work in Palestine. (Out of
print).
The City and the Land ; Seven Lec¬
tures on the Work of the
P.E.F. (3s. 6d.).
Harper, The Bible and Modern Dis¬
coveries. (7s. 6d.).
II. Wilson’s Expedition.
Published in letters issued to sub¬
scribers. (Out of print).
III. Warren’s Expedition to Jerusalem.
Warren, Underground Jerusalem. (Out
of print).
- The Recovery of Jerusalem. (Out
. of print).
Jerusalem volume in the Survey Me¬
moirs. (Out of print).
220
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
IV. Palmer and Drake’s Exploration.
See The Quarterly Statement for 1872.
Palmer, Desert of the Exodus.
V. Ganneau’s Researches.
Clermont-Ganneau, Archaeological
Researches in Palestine. (2 vols.
£5 5s.).
VI. The Survey of Western Palestine.
Map of Western Palestine, 1 inch to
the mile. (26 sheets and port¬
folio, £3 3s.; single sheets, 2s.).
For smaller Maps founded on the
Survey see the official list issued
by the Society.
Relief Map, § inch to the mile.
(£13 13s.).
Smaller Relief Map, 6| miles to the
inch. (£6 6s.).
Memoirs of the Survey of Western
Palestine. (3 vols. 4to. Out of
print).
Name Lists in Memoirs of the Survey
of Western Palestine. (1 vol. 4to.
Out of print).
Special Papers in Memoirs of the Sur¬
vey of Western Palestine. (1 vol.
4to. (Out of print).
221
PREVIOUS WORK OF THE
Jerusalem in Memoirs of the Survey of
Western Palestine. (1 vol. 4to.
Out of print).
Tristram, Flora and Fauna of Pales¬
tine. (£3 3s.).
Conder, Tent Work in Palestine. (6s.).
Armstrong, Names and Places in
the Old and New Testaments, and
their Modern Identification. (6s.).
VII. The Survey of Eastern Palestine.
Conder, The Survey of Eastern Pales¬
tine. (£3 3s.).
- Heth and Moab. (6s.).
VIII. The Geological Survey.
Hart, Fauna and Flora of Sinai.
(£2 2s.).
Hull, The Geology of Palestine. (£1 Is.).
- Mount Seir. (Out of print).
IX. The Tell-el-Hesy Excavation.
Petrie, Lachish. (Out of print).
Bliss, A Mound of many Cities. (6s.).
X. Dr Bliss’ Excavations at Jerusalem
and in Judaea.
Bliss and Dickie, Excavations at Jeru¬
salem. (12s. 6d.).
Bliss and Macalister, Excavations in
Palestine. (£2 10s.).
222
PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND
XI. Dr Schumacher’s Surveys.
Schumacher, Across the Jordan. (Out
of print).
- The Jaulan (6s.).
- Abila, Pella, and Northern Ajlun.
(6s.).
XII. Miscellaneous Works on Palestinian
History and Antiquities.
Conder, The Tell A mama Tablets.
(5s.).
- Syrian Stone Lore. (6s.).
Warren, The Ancient Cubit. (5s. 6d.).
Conder, Judas Maccabaeus. (4s. 6d.).
Besant and Palmer. The City of
Herod and Saladin. (7s. 6d.).
Conder, The Latin Kingdom of Jeru¬
salem, 1099-1291 a.d. (7s. 6d.).
Beha ed-Din, The Life of Saladin. (9s.).
The Library of the Palestine Pilgrims’
Text Society. (13 vols. £10 10s.).
Le Strange, Palestine under the Mos¬
lems. (16s.).
Thiersch and Peters, Painted Tombs
at Marissa. (£2 2s.).
The Office and Museum of the Palestine
Exploration Fund are at 38, Conduit Street,
London, W.
223
INDEX
Ablution, Ceremonial, 66
Abd-Khiba, 29
Accumulation of Debris,
10 , 11
Achan, 49, 121
Ahaz, 75, 111, 159
Alkios, 23
Altar, 55 ; at Taanach, 55 ;
Votive, from Gezer, 176
Altar-hearths, 61
Amaziah, 159
Amulets, 104
Anointing of stones, 72
Antiochus IV, 176
Arabs, 27, 37
Asherah, 64
Assyrian Occupation of
Gezer, 35
Astrate, Worship of, 77 ;
two-homed, 77
Azekah, 216
Bacchides, 36, 144, 178;
bastion of, 144
Baths, Syrian, 196
Besant, Sir Walter, 210
Beth-El, 113
Bethlehem, 160
Bithiah, daughter of
Pharaoh, 156
Bliss, Dr. Frederick, 215
Boundary Inscriptions of
Gezer, 23
Brazen Serpent, 76
Bread, 102
Calf, Golden, 109-117 ;
Origin of Worship, 112 ;
Shrines of, erected by
Jeroboam, 113
Camel Food, 93
Canaanites, 27 ; Condition
of society among, 11
Capture of Gezer by
Thothmes III, 28; by
Solomon’s father-in-law,
32, 144; by Simon
Maccabaeus, 180; by
the Syrians, 181, 196
Cave-dwellers, 25, 41-50 ;
their physical characters,
43; their habitations,
43 ; furniture, 44 ; pot¬
tery, 45 ; flint knives,
225 15
B.S.
INDEX
45 ; religion, 46 ; sacri¬
fices, 47 ; disposal of the
dead, 48
Children, sacrifice of, 73,
170
Cisterns, 84
Clermont-Ganneau, Prof.
Charles, 18,19,21, 22, 208
Conception of Deity among
the Israelites, 114
Conder, Col., 210
Contract tablets from
Gezer, 33
Contrasts between Euro¬
pean and Palestinian
Cities, 15 ; between
ancient and modern
Palestine, 86, 97
Copyists, Errors of, 151;
materials for their cor¬
rection, 152
Corn-grinders, 102
Cow-figures from Gezer,
115
Cremation, 48
Crusaders, 37, 184
Dan, 113
David, 31
Destruction of Antiquities
in Palestine, 198
Dowry of Wives, 34
Drake, Mr. Tyrwhitt, 208,
209.
Eastern Palestine, survey
of, 211
Egypt, influence of, 27;
the bull divinity of, not
identical with the golden
calf, 116
En-Dor, witch of, 69
Ephraimites, 31
Evil Eye, 104
Excavation, methods of,
8, 181 ; of Megiddo, 168,
170; of Taanaeh (see
Taanach); of Lachish,
214 ; at Jerusalem, 206,
215; in Judaea, 216; of
Gezer, 217
First-born, devotion of, 74
Foundation sacrifices, 166;
in Palestine, 168
Gath, excavation of, 216
Genealogies in 1 Chron.,
149
Geological Survey work in
Palestine, 212
Gezer, position of, 7 ; cap-
tines of (see Capture) ;
High Place at, 54 ; ex¬
cavation of, 217
Golden Calf (see Calf)
Granaries, 93
Grove (see Asherah)
Grove, Sir George, 204
226
INDEX
Herod’s temple, inscrip¬
tion of, 207
Hezekiah, 159
Hiel, 165
High Place, at Gezer, 54 ;
sacred cave in, 67 ; wor¬
ship in, described by-
Isaiah, 71
Holy Sepulchre, Church
of, 58, 69
Horites, 41-50; con¬
trasted with Rephaim,
43
Household gods, 13, 98,
105
Houses, Palestinian, 95
Hurwasi, 34
Hushai, his advice to
Absalom, 61
Identification of site of
Gezer, 18, 209
Implements, bronze, 103
Isaac, sacrifice of, 62, 74
Israelites, 27 ; their con¬
ception of Deity, 114
Jachin and Boaz, 64
Jacob, 63, 72
Jarhandles, inscriptions
on, 162-5, 160
Jericho, 165
Jeroboam, 112
Jerusalem, excavations at
(see Excavations)
Joash, 158
Joshua, 24, 30
Josiah, 75
Jotham, 169
Judaism, Pagan influences
upon, 176
Judasa, excavations in
(see Excavations)
Karnak, inscription at, 28
Kissing of stones and
images, 58
Kitchener, Lord, 210
Laban, 84, 94, 98, 104
Laehish, 30 (see also
Excavation)
Laver, 66
Maccabees, Revolt of, 177
(see also Simon Mac-
cabaeus)
Magic, sympathetic, 195
Manasseh, 36, 75
Mareshah, excavation of,
216
Meat, preparation of, 101
Megiddo (see Excavation)
Memshath, 158
Meren-Ptah, state of, 30
Mesha, King of Moab, 60,
74
Methods of excavation
(see Excavation)
227
INDEX
Moabite stone, 60, 207 Pillars, 57 ; meaning of
Molech, 75 63; erection of, for¬
bidden, 64
Nethaniah, 35 Position of Gezer, 7
Numbers, Sacred, 63 Pottery, 100
Presents given to Rebekah,
Objection to work of
Palestine Exploration
Fund answered, 1 Querns, 103
Oracles, 68, 69
Ornaments, 104 Raid of Simeonites, 159
Ovens, baking, 102 Rebekah, 83-106
Refuse of sacrifices, re-
Pahath-Moab, 160 eeptacle for, 71
Palace of Simon Macca- Rephaim, 43
baeus, 36, 181 Romans, 37
Palestine Exploration
Fund, objection to work Sacred numbers, 63
of, answered, 1 ; museum Sacrifice among cave-
of, 123 ; Quarterly State- dwellers, 47 ; of swine,
merit, 2, 152, 155, 188 ; 48 ; of Isaac, 62, 74 ; of
history of, 203-219; children (see Children);
foundation of, 203 ; con- refuse of, 71; foundation,
stitution of, 203 ; pub- 166 ; human, symbolie-
lications of, 219-223 ; ally represented, 171
office of, 223 Samson, 127-138
Palmer, Professor, 208 Saul, 49, 69
Pampras, imprecation of. Sawing asunder, 76
194 Seals, 104
Petrie, Professor Flinders, Seir, 41
67, 214 Semitic immigrants, 27
Philistines, 31, 128; Sepulchre (see Holy
triumph song of, 128 ; Sepulchre)
temple of, its structure, Serpent, brazen, 76
129 ; tombs of, 197 Shebaniah, 158
228
INDEX
Simeonites, raid of, 159
Simon Maccabaeus, 33, 36,
179 (see also Capture,
Palace)
Smith, Professor G. A.,
53, 77, 116
Solomon, 32, 111, 143
Stewart, Captain, 209
Stones, standing (see
Pillars)
Superstitions, 104,105,195
Survey of Western Pales¬
tine, 209; of Eastern
Palestine, 211 ; Geolog¬
ical, 212
Swine, sacrifice of, 48
Symbolical representation
of human sacrifices, 171
Syrians, capture of Gezer
by (see Capture)
Taanach, ruin of a house
at, 13, 105 ; altar found
at, 55
Tablets, contract, from
Ge^er, .33
Tell el-Amama letters, 11,
28, 60
Tell el-Hesy (see Lachish)
Tell el-Jezar, 19, 24 (see
also Gezer)
Thothmes III, 25, 28
Tombs, Philistine, 197
Tongue of gold, 122
Towers, 143
Trophy, pillar stone set up
as, 60
Troughs, 91
Uzziah, 159
Walls, city, 141-145
Warren, General Sir
Charles, 206
Water, methods of draw¬
ing and carrying, 88
Wedge of gold, 122
Wells, 85
Western Palestine, survey
of, 209
Wilson, General Sir
Charles, 205
Witch of En-Dor, 69
Women, separation of, 97
Writing, 33, 101
Yapakhi, King of Gezer, 29
229
INDEX OF SCRIPTURE
REFERENCES
Gen. xiv. 6
PAGE
PAGE
. 41
Lev. xi. 7 .
. 48
xv. 16
. 53
xviii. 21 .
. 75
xxii. 1
. 74
xx. 2
. 75
2 .
. 62
Deut. i. 28 .
. 141
xxiv. 16 j
85
ii. 12 . .
41, 43
24 .
83
22 . .
. 41
28 .
97
xvi. 22 .
. 64
47 .
92,
104
xxviii. 54, 66
. 104
57 .
97
Joshua vi. 26 .
. 168
xxviii. 18
72
vii. 21.
. 121
22
63
25. .
. 49
xxix. 3 .
85
x. 33 . .
. 31
xxx. 14 .
105
xvi. 3 . .
. 31
xxxi. 15 .
35
10. .
. 31
19 .
98
xxi. 21.
. 31
xxxv. 4 .
105
Judges i. 29
. 31
14
72
v. 19 . .
. 13
xxxvi. 20
41
vi. 25, 28 .
- 65
Exod. xiii. 13 .
75
xvi. 24
. 128
xx. 18, 19
110
26 .
. 129
24 .
55
29 .
. 137
xxiii. 24
64
30
. 127
xxiv. 14
110
1 Sam. vii. 3, 4
. 77
xxix. 12
48
xxviii. 7-25
. 69
xxx. 18-21
67
xxxi. 12 .
. 49
xxxii. 4
109
2 Sam. xvii. 13, 14
. 62
231
INDEX
PAGE
1 Kings vi. 16 . 69
vii. 2 . . . 137
21 . . 64
ix. 16 . 32, 143
xi. 33 . . 77
xii. 25-33 . 113
xiii. 1 . . 115
xvi. 34 . . 165
xix. 18 . . 59
xxii. 22 . .70
2 Kings iii. 27 . 74
xii. 4-16 . . 158
xvi. 3 . 75
xvii. 10 . .65
24 . . 110
xviii. 4 . . 76
xxi. 6 . 75
xxiii. 10 . .75
1 Chron. ii. 52, 54 .158
iv. 14-23 . 149,
152, 158, 160
39 . . 159
xi. 18 . . 47
xiv. 16 . .32
xx. 3 . . 76
4 . 31, 197
2 Chron. xxvi. 10 .
PAGE
. 159
xxviii. 23
. 159
mcnriii. 11
. 36
Ezra ii. 6 .
. 160
viii. 4
. 160
x. 30 . . .
. 160
Neh. iii. 11 . .
. 160
vii. 11
. 160
x. 14 .
. 160
Isa. viii. 19
. 70
lvii. 5 .
. 71
lxv. 4 .
. 48
lxvi. 3
. 48
Jer. vii. 18
. 48
xliv. 17
. 48
Hosea iii. 4
. 64
x. 1-6 .
. 115
xiii. 2 .
. 115
Amos vi. 10
. 49
Micah vi. 7
. 75
1 Mac. ix. 52 .
. 144
xiii. 43—48
. 175
Matt. v. 14 . ■
. 11
Heb. ix. 10 . .
. 67
xi. 37 . .
. 76
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