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VILLAGE OF JURMAH.

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lower down the hill, we entered a large cave, having seven vaults hewn out in it, containing many places for dead bodies, all empty. At the entrance lay four singularly carved stones, probably intended for lids of the sarcophagi. Some of the

Jews of the place were absurd enough to assert, that this village, Marona, is the Shimron-meron of Joshua x11. 20, and they called the channel of a small winter-torrent close by "the waters of Megiddo." They proved the former merely from the likeness in the name, and the latter from the circumstance of Kedesh, Megiddo, and Taanach, all occurring in the history of Barak's expedition against Sisera, and then occurring along with Shimron-meron in Joshua xII. 20, 22. The village itself is poor and wretched, adorned by a solitary palmtree. It belongs to the Maronite Christians, who have such respect for the chief man among the Jews there that they give full protection to all his brethren.

We now ascended an hour higher up the mountain to Jurmah. The road was wild and beautiful, and the atmosphere at this elevation pure and delightful. The myrtle-trees were in full blossom, and the whole way was lined with shrubs and evergreens, till we reached the village. It is situated upon a level brow of the hill just where the view opens out towards the Lake of Galilee. Here we had been directed to inquire for the house of Rabbi Israel. We found him sick and in bed, but his family and the other Jews of the place received us very kindly. About fifteen reside here, principally Russians, who had left Saphet on account of the unsettled state of the country. The table was spread with a clean white cloth; bread, cheese, milk, and a kind of spirit, were produced, and we were pressed to partake. We conversed in Hebrew and German, and before leaving had some conversation regarding the pardon of sin. We felt it deeply interesting to partake of Jewish hospitality in one of the villages of the land of Israel, and they seemed friendly and not at all of fended by our words. From the door of the house, they point ed out Bet-jan, a village half an hour from this, in which several Jewish families had taken refuge; and told us of a village three hours farther up the mountain, called Bukeah, where twenty Jews reside, and where they cultivate the ground like Fellahs. If this be true, it is the only instance we heard of in which the Jews till the ground in Palestine.

Descending the hill, we returned to Saphet in time to visit

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282 RETURN TO SAPHET-SEPHARDIM SYNAGOGUES.

the synagogues of the Sephardim. On our way we met an old Jew, carrying his prayer-book in his hand, in the same manner as our old Scottish peasants carry their Bibles to church. O that Israel had the same light upon the Word of God, that the Holy Spirit has granted to many of our peasants in Scotland!

The synagogues of the Sephardim are both within a small court, in which fig-trees are planted; and both are clean, white-washed, and well lighted up. Here we got into con verse with the same interesting young Jew who had followed us from Tyre. When we were speaking on Psalm xxxII, the blessedness of being forgiven, he said, "But I obtained forgiveness long ago, by taking four steps in this holy land." And referring to Isaiah LIII, he said, “Yes, it applied to Messiah, who is now sitting at the gate of Rome among the poor and the sick"'—a singular legend which exists in the Talmud, and is one of the ways by which the Jews evade the force of that remarkable prophecy. Whenever any entered into converse with us in the synagogue, they were forbidden by the frown and authority of elder Jews. At last they cut off all further debate by beginning the public prayers. The same young Jew afterwards meeting Mr M'Cheyne in the street, and observing a strong staff in his hand, requested him to give him a present of it. He made his request in Hebrew

תן לי המטה הזה ואם הגוים יבאו אני אכה אותם

בעץ הזה

"Give me this staff, and if the Arabs come, I will smite them with it." It was strange to hear this youth speaking the language of his fathers on their own mountains.

This evening, we heard that a party of Bedouins had come down upon the little village of Mijdel, on the border of the Lake of Galilee, and plundered the villagers of all their goods and cattle. This news spread fresh alarm through Saphet. (July 14.) We spent a pleasant Lord's day. We sat in the open air enjoying "the shadow of a cloud," and the cooling breeze that swept over the hill. In the forenoon, beneath the shade of an olive-grove, with Mount Naphtali full in view, we read together the Epistle to the Philippians, and worshipped. In the afternoon we joined again in social worship on the southern brow of the hill among the Mahometan tombs, with the Lake of Galilee at our feet. While walking

1 isa. XXV. 5.

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down the face of the hill, we came upon a cave where the Jews had thrown aside, from religious scruples, leaves of Hebrew Books, and many MSS. written on parchment rolls, in which some defect had been found. This cave was amidst the flat gravestones that whiten that part of the hill. On the tombs, few of the inscriptions were interesting. Almost all ran in the same terms, beginning generally with the common formula, viz. the two letters, D, that is, "Here is buried;"

איש תם וישר,and then the individual's name and character

"A man perfect and upright." One quaint inscription quoted the words of the prophet Habakkuk, and applied them to a dead rabbi, as one whom even the inanimate objects would lament, For the stone shall cry out of the wall; and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.'

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In returning to our dwelling in the afternoon, a Jew constrained Mr Calman to go into his house. It turned out that the man was intoxicated, and that he was a Russian who had become a Jew. Such cases of apostacy on the part of professing Christians sometimes occur. Mr Calman knew two others who had become Jews in a similar manner.2

It was here that we first observed the 2, "Eruv," a string stretched from house to house across a street, or fastened upon tall poles. The string is intended to represent a wall, and thus by a ridiculous fiction the Jews are enabled to fulfil the precept of the Talmud, that no one shall carry a burden on the Sabbath-day, not even a prayer-book or a handkerchief, or a piece of money, except it be within a walled place. How applicable still are the words of Jesus, " In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."3

In the evening, our servant Antonio, a simple kind-hearted lad, read with us in the Italian Bible. He was much struck with Christ's words on the cross, "Dio mio, Dio mio, perche m' hai lasciato,' 99 66 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" He had for several nights, at the end of the day's journey, sat down alone to read a little. Mr Calman began to address the muleteers; but one of them, when he heard how the Sabbath ought to be sanctified, said, "He did not like that,

1 Hab. II. 11.

There is a singular instance in the history of our own Church, recorded by Wodrow, of one Fr. Borthwick, who was accused of Judaism.

3 Matt. xv. 9.

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SAPHET AS A MISSIONARY STATION.

for it was the only day he had for fantasies," that is, amusements.

Thus our last evening in Saphet came to a close. We could not help desiring that the time would come when our beloved Church should be permitted to establish a Mission here. When the Deputation was unbroken, we had often spoken together upon the subject, and had always turned toward this spot as probably the most desirable situation in Palestine for a Mission to Israel; and now that we had visited it, our convictions were greatly strengthened. The climate of Saphet is very delightful even in the heat of summer. The thermometer immediately before dawn stood at 58° F.; at 8 o'clock, 64°; at noon, 76° in the shade. The mountain air is pure, and the hills are finely exposed to every breeze that sweeps by. A Mission established in Galilee would have this great advantage, that the head-quarters might be at Saphet in summer, where the cool atmosphere would enable the missionary to labour without injury to health, and at Tiberias in winter, where the cold is scarcely felt. There is no missionary at present resident in either. The missionaries at Jerusalem visit both places occasionally, but by no means frequently. The Jews of Saphet have intimate communication with those of Jerusalem, and of the coast, so that all the motions of our English brethren at Jerusalem, and even our movements as we travelled through the land, were well known to them. They are also quite accessible to the efforts of a kind and judicious missionary, though many of them were shy to us, because they had been warned from an influential quarter to have no dealings with us. Still the Sephardim were quite willing to hear; and all were friendly. In the village, where no external influence had been used, they were kind and attentive. They here have little or no employment, and have therefore abundant leisure to read and discuss. They are also in deep affliction, "finding no ease, neither has the sole of their foot rest," a state of mind more favourable than carnal ease for affording opportunity to press upon them the truths of the gospel.

If it were thought advisable to engage converts in agricultural pursuits, it would be much more easily accomplished here than in any other part of the land. They might settle in a village among the mountains, and till the ground, or train the vine, like the Jews at Bukeah of whom we heard.

DEPARTURE FROM SAPHET,

285

The Jews both of Saphet and Tiberias are most interesting, from the very circumstance of their extravagant devotion and bigotry. They have a peculiar love for these two places, being two of their four holy cities, and many of their saints being buried near. They say that Jeremiah hid the ark somewhere in the hill of Saphet, and that Messiah will come first in Galilee. This notion is probably derived from Isaiah, "Galilee of the nations, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." That remarkable prophecy was fulfilled when our Lord Jesus, the great light of the world, came and dwelt beside the lake of Galilee ;2 and who can tell whether He may not choose the same favoured spot to make light spring up again on them who sit in the region and shadow of death? If the Spirit of God were poured down upon Saphet, it would become a city that might shine over the whole Jewish world. "A city set on a hill cannot be hid." Such were our feelings upon the spot in 1839. The blast of war has passed over the country since then, and the reins of government of Syria have been wrenched from the hand of Mehemet Ali, and transferred to the feeble grasp of the Sultan. At present (1842), the country is said to be so unsettled, that no missionary would be safe in Saphet or any where in the interior of Galilee. But if tranquillity was restored, the desirableness of the place as a missionary station would be as great as ever.

by six Many We pro

(July 15.) We were up before the sun, and, o'clock took leave of our Jewish host and his family. Jews saluted us as we passed through the town. ceeded south, with the Lake of Galilee fully in view, and descended into a deep valley, with a remarkable range of high and precipitous rocks, composed of reddish sandstone, on the left hand. In the bottom was a fresh stream of running water, issuing from a copious well, the oleander blossoming all around. The name of the valley was called Wady Hukkok. It may be the spot mentioned in Joshua, "The border of Naphtali went out to Hukkok, and reached to Zebulun on the south side."3 The name has evidently been given in reference to its steep precipitous sides. It seems probable that the border of Naphtali ended at tl's point."

1 Isa. IX. 1, 2.

66

2.Matt. IV. 13.

The root "P" signifies to cut or engrave.

3 Josh. XIX. 34.

■ The difficult prophecy in regard to Naphtali's portion in Deut. xxx111. 2

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