liaawnrtrtnoaBivWll 
 
 A SOLDIER^S HANDBOOK 
 
 .LESTINE AND 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 SALIENT POINTS OF 
 rEOGRAPHY, HISTORY AND 
 PRESENT-DAY LIFE 
 
 B^ i By rev. H. SYKES, M.A. 
 
 :retary of the Palestine mission 
 
 OF THE CM.& 
 
 WITH TWO MAPS 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON 
 
 LONDON I NEW YORK : TORONTO 
 
 TSNPiJi^ ms
 
 4l 
 
 \ 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 
 •J" 
 
 
 V3S a:^^ 
 
 «-3 ^
 
 A SOLDIER'S HANDBOOK 
 
 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 SALIENT POINTS IN 
 
 THE GP:0GRAPHY, history AND 
 
 PRESENT DAY LIFE OF 
 
 THE HOLY LAND 
 
 BY 
 Rev. H. SYKES, M.A. 
 
 (Jesus College, Cambridge) 
 
 Secretary of the Palestine Mission of the 
 
 Church Missionary Society 
 
 WITH TWO MAPS 
 
 Profits during the War will be d^oted to Relief 
 Funds for Sailors, Soldiers and Prisoners of War 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON 
 LONDON : NEW YORK : TORONTO
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 Sir George Adam Smith, Principal of the 
 University of Aberdeen, to whom the ms. of 
 this booklet was submitted for comment and 
 advice, and to whom the writer is indebted for 
 valuable help and suggestions, kindly allows him 
 to make use of this extract from his letter: 
 
 "/ have read your little book on Palestine for the 
 British Soldier with great interest. I think it ad- 
 mirably planned. . . . You have managed to express 
 clearly and compactly a vast deal of information 
 on all the salient points of the geography and his- 
 tory. I do not know of anything better in so small 
 a compass on the present population ; and I es- 
 pecially admire the advice you give our soldiers on 
 their relations with them. I feel that you have said 
 all that need be said on this last subject. I am sure 
 the book will meet a want and do good." 
 
 Aberdeen, 
 
 Dec. i6, 1917 
 
 "But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is 
 a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of 
 the rain of heaven : a land which the Lord thy God 
 carethfor : the eyes of the Lord thy Cod are always 
 upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto 
 the end of the year." English Bible.
 
 X)5 
 
 PREFACE IO'7,'3 
 
 THESE few pages, in part a mere compila- 
 tion, and, in part, based on personal know- 
 ledge of the country, have been put together by 
 one who went out to Palestine as a. "Missionary 
 Crusader," so far back as 1886, and who was 
 allowed by the Turkish Government with some 
 other enemy subjects to leave the country in 
 December, 1914. 
 
 They are written for and dedicated to the 
 British Soldier who may happen to find himself 
 in Palestine. Tt is hoped they ma\'- be found 
 worthy of a corner in his haversack, and stimu- 
 late his interest in the Bible, in the Land, and in 
 his own sojourn there. Many works of great 
 interest and value have been written about the 
 country: from one of the chief of these quota- 
 tions have here and there been made. The book 
 is intentionally a little one. Though that be so, 
 considerable pains has been taken in the select- 
 ing of the information given as also in the effort 
 to make sure of its being accurate. 
 
 Two Maps, specially prepared, are added. The 
 one, of Palestine, will help the reader to follow 
 portions of the letterpress more easily. The 
 other, of the Near East, will enable him to gain 
 a right perspective of that part of the world (in 
 which the Holy Land itself lies) now coming into 
 so great prominence. 
 
 The writer would like to think that even this 
 simple booklet, after the stress and turmoil of 
 war are over, may have been the means of 
 "whetting" Palestine interest in some which 
 shall later manifest itself in Palestine study and, 
 perhaps, Palestine service. 
 
 Cambridge, Dec. 19 17
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Map of Palestine . 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 I. Palestine and its Boundaries 
 
 II. Geographical Features and Bible 
 History 
 
 A. Maritime Plain . 
 
 B. Western Mountain Range 
 
 Judaea 
 
 Jerusalem 
 
 Samaria 
 
 Esdraelon 
 
 Galilee 
 
 C. Eastern Mountain Range 
 
 Kingdom of Sihon . 
 
 Gilead 
 
 Kingdom of Og 
 
 D. Jordan Valley 
 
 E. Land of Moab 
 
 III. Palestine as divided 
 
 Twelve Tribes . 
 
 IV. Palestine and her 
 
 A world highway 
 
 V. Palestine — a world battle-grou-nd 
 
 VI. Palestine and the Crusades . 
 
 VII. Palestine — the land of God's reve 
 
 LATioN OF Himself 
 
 VIII. Ancient and modern sites 
 
 IX. The Land and the Book . 
 
 X. Present population and religions 
 
 of Palestine 
 
 XL Industries and Agriculture 
 XII. General Remarks 
 Table of Dates 
 Map of near East 
 
 pages 
 5-6 
 
 AMONG THE 
 
 frontiers —
 
 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 PALESTINE AND ITS BOUNDARIES 
 
 Palestine [Bilaad Filasteen) is to be distin- 
 guished from Syria, the country away to the 
 North of it containing the great mountain range 
 of Lebanon. Palestine stands for the Canaan of 
 Scripture. The term occurs in Ex. xv. 14, Is. xiv. 
 29, 31. Palestine then connotes what is under- 
 stood by the "Land of Promise" (Heb. xi. 9) and 
 what we speak of in these days as the "Holy 
 Land." 
 
 Its Northern boundary may be taken as a 
 line drawn eastwards from Tyre (2 Sa. xxiv. 7) 
 through the southernmost roots of Mt Hermon. 
 Hereabouts it is that the Jordan bursts into 
 being at the more important of two of its main 
 sources. The place now bears the name of 
 Banias: it is the Caesarea Philippi of the New 
 Testament, in the neighbourhood of which many 
 believe our Lord's Transfiguration to have taken 
 place (Matt. xvii.). Dan, one of the Old Testa- 
 ment extremities of the Land, is little more than 
 a mile away (Gen. xiv. 14, i Sa. iii. 20). 
 
 For the Southern boundary another line 
 may be drawn W. and E. through the Wadi 
 Ghuzzeh, south of Beer-sheba, places now so well 
 known to British troops and the British people.
 
 6 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 The Eastern boundary of the country 
 follows about the course taken by the Turkish 
 railway running southwards from Damascus to 
 Medina (begun 1901, opened 1906). Eastwards 
 of the railway stretches the great Syrian desert 
 leading to the Euphrates, Tigris and Baghdad, 
 some 600 miles away. The brooks of Arnon {A I 
 Maujib. Nu. xxi. 14, Deut. ii. 24), flowing west- 
 wards and emptying themselves into the Dead 
 Sea about midway bet-ween its N. and S. shores, 
 form the S. boundary of Eastern Palestine. 
 
 The Mediterranean, called in Scripture "the 
 Great Sea" (Jos. i. 4, Dan. vii. 2), also "the Utmost 
 Sea" (Deut. xxxiv. 2), is the country's Western 
 
 BOUNDARY. 
 
 Palestine is therefore a small country; its 
 whole length is hardly more than 180 miles, and 
 its average breadth about 55. The total area is 
 generally reckoned at some 10,000 sq. miles 
 (W. Palestine, 6000; E. Palestine, 4000), that is, 
 about one-sixth the size of England and Wales, 
 A small country, but how great its history ! 
 
 II 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES AND 
 BIBLE HISTORY 
 Geographically the Holy Land consists of four 
 strips of country: a Western and an Eastern 
 Mountain Range; the Jordan Valley con- 
 tained between them ; and the Maritime Plain. 
 This Plain borders on the Mediterranean and 
 extends up to the foot-hills of the Western range.
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 7 
 
 A. The Maritime Plain. 
 
 The Maritime Plain about Gaza and extending 
 N. to within some ten miles of Jaffa, formed the 
 country of the ancient Philistines (Jud. xiii.-xv., 
 I Sa. iv.-vi.). Gaza {Ghuzzeh) was its chief city, 
 one of the oldest in the world (Gen. x. 19). It is 
 famous for its connection with Samson (Judg. 
 xvi.), and with a beautiful N.T. incident (Ac. 
 viii.). The Crusaders were here and built a 
 church: but made more of Ascalon, a httle to the 
 north. Other cities were : Beer-sheba {Beer Saba) 
 and Gerar (Jiraar), where Abraham and Isaac 
 bargained wdth Philistine chiefs, pitched their 
 tents, dug wells, and watered their flocks (Gen. 
 XX., xxi., XX VI.: ; Ziklag, connected with David 
 (i Sa. xxvii.) ; Gath (Tel es Safi), the home of 
 Gohath (i Sa. xvii., i Ki. ii.) ; Lachish {Tel el 
 Hesy), where Joshua fought, and Sennacherib 
 encamped (Jos. x., 2 Ki. xviii., xix.) ; Ashdod 
 (i Sa. V,, 2 Chr. xxvi.), called Azotus (Ac. viii. 
 40); Ekron {AkHr), whose god was Baal Zebub, 
 the god of flies (2 Ki. i., cp. Matt. xii. 24-31). 
 
 Round about Jaffa and northwards the Mari- 
 time Plain is known as the Plain of Sharon 
 (i Chr. xxvii. 29, Is. xxxv. 2). Jaffa (Yafa) is the 
 ancient Joppa. It was here probably that Hiram 
 delivered "the timber of cedar and of fir" "in 
 floats," for the building of Solomon's temple 
 (2 Chr. ii.) : a part of Jaffa's orange gardens is 
 still called "Solomon's Harbour." Here Jonah 
 fleeing from God took ship and was cast over-
 
 8 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 board (Jonah i.-iv.) ; and here Peter had that 
 vision on the housetop, which changed his whole 
 view of Hfe (Ac. x., xi.). About t^velve miles E. of 
 Jaffa is Lydda (Lidd) where Peter raised Dorcas 
 to life (Ac. ix.). Lydd is interesting to men of 
 the Anglo-Saxon race as being the reputed scene 
 of the martyrdom of St George. Sir George Adam 
 Smith in his great work, The Historical Geography 
 of the Holy Land, informs us that a church dedi- 
 cated to this martyr had existed from the earliest 
 times and that Lydda was on that account made 
 much of by the Crusaders: he adds, "St George 
 of Lydda is St George of England." Ramleh with 
 its high observation tower and remains of other 
 crusading buildings almost adjoins Lydd. The 
 olive groves of these two places are very exten- 
 sive. Gezer [Abu Shushi) lies a little further to 
 the East: its story is connected with Joshua and 
 Solomon (Jos. xvi. 3, i Ki. ix. 15-17). 
 
 North of Jaffa is Arsiif v^Yi^ie Richard I de- 
 feated Saladin (Sep. 1191). Further N. still at a 
 distance of over thirty miles is the seaport of 
 Caesarea {Kais^rieh), a.n important Roman centre 
 in N.T. times. Stationed here was Cornelius, that 
 fine Roman soldier, " a devout man and one that 
 feared God with all his house," the story of whose 
 sending for and receiving of the Apostle Peter 
 is recorded in Acts x. Here too came another 
 Apostle, St Paul, who, after imprisonment, trial, 
 and "appeal to Caesar" was sent hence under 
 escort to Rome (Ac. xxiii.-xxviii.) . Fifteen miles 
 N. of Csesarea, passing on the way Dor {Tan-
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 9 
 
 turah, Judg. i. 27, i Ki. iv. 11), which belonged 
 to Manasseh, we come to Athlit, where "the 
 Crusading remains are numerous and sohd: 
 there is a castle, a church, and remains of a 
 mighty sea-wall" (Smith), Some twelve miles 
 further on, the Maritime Plain narrows to less 
 than 200 yards where the N.W. headland of 
 Mt Carmel (here 566 ft) abuts on the sea. It is 
 to be noticed that Carmel is a ridge, not a peak. 
 Just round Carmel point lies the port of Haifa 
 (some suggest the Achshaph of Josh. xi. i), at the 
 S. bend of the Bay of Acre. Here is the terminus 
 of the Haifa-Damascus railway, opened in 1905. 
 Acre {Akka) (Judg. i. 31 — the Ptolemais of Ac. 
 xxi.) ten miles further on forms the point of the 
 N. bend of the Bay. A branch railway connects 
 it with Haifa, quite close to which latter place it 
 crosses the Kishon (Judg. iv.,v. 21). Acrewas the 
 chief port of the Crusaders. Saladin wrested the 
 place from them in 1 187, but Richard I recovered 
 it two years later. When Jerusalem was lost to 
 the Crusaders in 1 187 it became the headquarters 
 of the Orders of the Knights Templars and of 
 the Knights Hospitallers of St John (hence the 
 name St Jean d'Acre). Since the outbreak of the 
 present war the British branch of this latter 
 Order has come into great prominence through 
 the work done by it for the sick and wounded. 
 These knights of St John were invested with 
 government control of Acre in 1229. This they 
 retained until Acre, the last place to hold out 
 against the Saracens, was lost to the Crusaders
 
 10 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 in 1 29 1. Napoleon besieged the town unsuccess- 
 fully in 1 799, mainly owing to the help given by 
 the Enghsh to the Turks. Some distance further 
 north he the ports. Tyre {Sur) and Sidon {Saida) 
 (read i Ki. v., ix,, Ezek. xxvi.-xxviii., Matt, xi., 
 XV., Mk vii.;. So much for the Maritime Plain. 
 
 B. The Western Mountain Range. 
 
 The Western Mountain Range, running paral- 
 lel with the Philistine countr\' in the Maritime 
 Plain, is "the hill country of Judaea" (Lu. i. 65) ; 
 it is now called Jabal Kuds, Its lower west- 
 ward-slopes towards PhiUstia (which seem in 
 parts almost distinct from the main range) are 
 sometimes spoken of under their Hebrew name 
 as the Shephelah — that is "low or lowland." 
 Of these slopes Sir G. A. Smith says " This is the 
 so-called Shephelah — a famous theatre in the 
 history of Palestine — the debatable ground be- 
 tween Israel and the Philistines, between the 
 Maccabees and the Syrians, between Saladin and 
 the Crusaders." The slope on the other side of 
 the range eastward towards the Dead Sea is the 
 Jeshimon of Scripture (Nu. xxiii. 28, i Sa. xxvi. 
 1-3). This is part of the Wilderness of Judah 
 (Judg. i. 16). Jeshimon means "devastation," 
 and, says Sir G. A. Smith, "no term could better 
 suit its haggard and crumbling appearance." 
 
 Jerusalem {Al Kuds esh Shareef — the holy, the 
 venerated) is situated on the top edge of the 
 more northerly part of this high hog-back of 
 Judaean mountain (at Jerusalem 2500, Hebron
 
 A Soldier's Handbook ii 
 
 3000 ft high). Jesus Christ is the outstanding 
 Figure of the Bible. To Him all its story directly 
 and indirectly leads up ; round Him its chiefest 
 interest centres. Remove Him and the Bible is 
 felt to be inadequate, incomplete. Not less, it 
 maybe said, Jerusalem is the outstanding feature 
 of Bible Geography. For one thing, the Book is 
 vastly more taken up with her than with any 
 other city. By Chronicler, Psalmist, and Pro- 
 phet the name Jerusalem is often enough used, 
 or her picture drav/n, to stand for country and 
 people together. Their history is her history, 
 and hers theirs. Then, for another thing, the life 
 of Jesus Christ was so intert\Wned with that of 
 Jerusalem in prophecy and fulfilment as to be 
 inseparable from it (read Matt. ii. i, 2, Zee. 
 ix. 9, Matt. xxi. 1-17, xxiii. 37, Lu. xiii. 33-35). 
 While the one lasts in time, so will the other. 
 
 If Salem of Gen. xiv. is one with Jerusalem, 
 as some think, then the first mention of the 
 city is significantly connected \\dth the names of 
 Abraham and Melchizedek (Heb. vii.). For the 
 circumstances under which David took the hill 
 fort Jebus, which is Jerusalem, and transferred 
 thither his capital from Hebron, where it had 
 been the preceding seven years, read 2 Sa. v., 
 I Chr. xi. Read too the beautiful story of how 
 an Eastern threshing-floor became the site of the 
 Temples of Solomon (i Ki. vi.-viii.), Zerubbabel 
 (Ezra i.-x., Neh. viii.-xiii.), and Herod the Great 
 (Mk xi.-xiii., Lu. ii., Ac. iii., xxi.). That story is 
 the tale of David and his sin ; of Joab, his com-
 
 12 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 mander-in-chief, to whom the King's word was 
 " abominable" ; of the Angel of the Lord ; and of 
 Oman the villager (2 Sa. xxiv., i Chr, xxi., xxii.). 
 It is surely a remarkable fact that, notwithstand- 
 ing all that has befallen Jerusalem and her people, 
 that threshing floor, purchased and set apart for 
 a sacred purpose, still so remains to-day, nearly 
 three thousand years after. It is here that is 
 situated the Mosque of Omar — to the Muham- 
 medan one of the most sacred spots in the world. 
 The Arabic term for this Mosque area is ^/ 
 Haram, the Inviolate. 
 
 From that time onwards, — David's repent- 
 ance and God's acceptance of his sacrifice there 
 by fire — it may be said that the O.T. history is 
 the history' of Jerusalem and that part of God's 
 people called the Kingdom of Judah. For a di- 
 vision took place. The unity, which the Twelve 
 Tribes had enjo^'ed under their first kings, Saul 
 and David and Solomon, was broken under Reho- 
 boam, Solomon's son and successor, as is related 
 for us in i Ki. xi., xii., "Judah and Benjamin 
 clave to the house of David." But henceforward 
 the Kingdom of Israel (as distinct from that of 
 Judah), formed of the Ten Tribes, existed apart 
 and independent, having its own king and capital 
 at Samaria (i Ki. xv-i. 24), until conquered and 
 its people largely deported in 722 B.C. under Shal- 
 manezer, the King of Assyria (2 Ki. xvii.). In 
 that same chapter {v. 24) we are further told that 
 the King of Assyria brought from Babylon and 
 other cities subjects of his own " and placed them
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 13 
 
 in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of 
 Israel." It is an ethnographical puzzle what has 
 become of the Ten Tribes. Do they still exist 
 apart unrecognised; did they ultimately unite 
 again with the Two Tribes ; or have they become 
 fused with the peoples among whom they were 
 transplanted ? 
 
 The Kingdom of Judah also came to its end 
 and for the same reason, faithlessness to God, " till 
 there was no remedy" (2 Chr. xxxvi. 14-17). 
 Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar, was burnt, 
 and its people deported in 587 B.C. (2 Ki. xxiv., 
 XXV., 2 Chr. xxxvi.). But owing to a decree 
 of Cyrus, King of Persia, who had conquered 
 Babylon, a number of the exiles returned to 
 Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel, 
 in 536 B.C. (2 Chr. xxxvi. 21-23, Ezra i., ii.). A 
 small Temple (Zerubbabel's) was built and the 
 Temple worship restored (Ezra iii., vi.). Later 
 still, Ezra in 457 b.c, and Nehemiah in 444 B.C. 
 and 434 B.C., did much to rebuild Jerusalem and 
 revive the national life. Nehemiah was one of 
 Jerusalem's great wall and gate builders. All 
 this is related for us in the two books, Ezra and 
 Nehemiah. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah 
 heartened and helped Zerubbabel and his people 
 (Ezra V. 1-2) ; their prophecies may also be read, 
 especially that of Haggai. 
 
 How often Jerusalem is the theme of Psalmist 
 and Prophet ! See how one describes her (Ps. 
 xlviii.) ; how another sings God's love of her (Ps. 
 Ixxxvii.) ; -with what joy and expectation her
 
 14 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 sons and daughters resort to her at the time of 
 the set Feasts (Ps. cxxii., cp. Deut. xvi.) ; with 
 what sore yet tender heart the exile bewails his 
 separation from her (Ps. cxxxvii.) ; with what 
 exultant joy another commemorates his restora- 
 tion to her ! Would you know how passionate a 
 patriot's love was for her ? Read that dirge over 
 her downfall at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 given us in the Book of Lamentations. Never 
 Briton or Belgian, Frenchman or Italian, Serb or 
 Syrian loved liis home and the city of his fathers 
 more than did that writer, whether, as tradition 
 has it, Jeremiah the prophet of the Captivity', 
 "The Weeping Prophet," as he has been called 
 (cp. Jer. ix. 1-3) ; or, as is urged by eminent 
 scholars, another, who lived a little later. If 
 ever, now, in these days of devastation and de- 
 portation, of iron yoke and cruel bondage, is the 
 time to read and understand that book. 
 
 For the N.T. histor}' of Jerusalem all the 
 Gospels and the book of the Acts -should be 
 carefully read. It is linked with our Lord's 
 Infancy, in the visit there of the Wise Men and 
 Simeon's act in the Temple (Matt, ii., Lu. ii. 
 21-38) ; with an episode of His Boyhood (Lu. ii. 
 40-31) ; with something of His life's Works (Jn 
 v., ix.) ; and much more of His Words (Matt. 
 xxi.-xxv., Mk xi.-xiii., Lu. xx., xxi., Jn ii., iii., 
 vii.-x., xii.-xvii.). At Jerusalem, too, came to 
 pass the solemn and glorious scenes connected 
 with the Saviour's Death (Matt, xxvi., xxvii., 
 Mk xiv., XV., Lu, xxii., xxiii., Jn x\dii., xix.) ;
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 15 
 
 Resurrection (Matt, xxviii., Mk xvi., Lu. xxiv., 
 Jn XX., xxi.) ; and Ascension (Ac, i.) ; all "for us 
 men and for our salvation." Perhaps there is no 
 incident in all that wonderful life, that more 
 strikingly pictures forth to us the humanness of 
 it and its kinship with ours than those tears, 
 which, as Son of man and fervent patriot, He 
 shed over Jerusalem, the city of His earthly love 
 (Lu. xix. 36-48, read too Jn xi. 35, Heb. ii., 
 iv. 14-16, v.). 
 
 The Book of the Acts continues the history 
 of Jerusalem, connecting it with the day of Pen- 
 tecost (Ac. ii.) ; with Peter and John, with Ana- 
 nias and Sapphira, with Stephen and Saul of 
 Tarsus (Ac. iii.-ix.) ; with Peter's deliverance 
 from prison (Ac. xii.) ; and with the life of 
 St Paul, in his first converse with the Apostles 
 (Ac. ix. 26-31) ; in his reporting to them about 
 his missionary work (Ac. xv.) ; and, lastly, in his 
 controversy with Jewish opponents, their en- 
 deavour to kill him, and his deliverance from 
 their hands by means of the Roman soldiery 
 (Ac. xxi.-xxiii.). 
 
 And yet once again we read of Jerusalem. 
 For Jerusalem it is that St John has recourse to 
 in name and thought, as he portrays the glory 
 and bhss of "the new Jerusalem," the goal and 
 consummation of the Christian's hope (Rev. 
 xxi., xxii.). The hill fort Jebus, after all its 
 vicissitudes of sovereignty and splendour, of 
 mock worship and ostentatious ritual (Is. i., 
 Jer. ii., iii.), of siege and servitude, gives its
 
 1 6 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 name to what Abraham, and many another 
 "by faith" hved in expectation of coming to 
 that "city wliich hath foundations, whose 
 builder and maker is God" (Heb. xi. 9, 10 
 The glory of Jerusalem (Is. Ixii.) becomes even 
 more glorious "by reaison of the glory that ex- 
 celleth." 
 
 Works almost endless have been, and no doubt 
 will be, written about Jerusalem, her history, 
 buildings, sites, etc. 
 
 Here no more than the barest references can 
 be made to one or two points that claim notice. 
 Roughly, the city consists of two hills: the 
 Eastern, with the Temple area, and the Western 
 with the great mass of inhabited buildings. 
 Until recent years tradition identified the 
 Western hill with Mount Zion. That claim is 
 now stoutly contested by eminent archaeolo- 
 gists, who urge that the true site of Zion is to 
 be found on the Eastern hill. The valley dividmg 
 these hills and running through the cit\' is known 
 in books as tlie Tyropoeon valley. The debris 
 between its bed and present ground surface is 
 some 90 feet deep in places. In this debris are 
 concealed vast remains of Herodian and pre- 
 Herodian times. Outstanding parts of these re- 
 mains are the ruins known as Robinson's Arch 
 and Wilson's Arch, each taking a span of over 
 40 ft. A buried stone under the former (near the 
 Jews' waihng place) measures 38 x 10 x 3 ft. 
 A buried comer -stone in the foundation of the 
 wall at the S.E. angle of the Temple area has
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 17 
 
 been found to weigh over 100 tons. In the grounds 
 of the Russian buildings there was to be seen, 
 before the war, a massive half-cut pillar, illus- 
 trating the way stones were shaped in the course 
 of their being quarried out of the earth. This 
 having a flaw in it was rejected and left un- 
 finished. 
 
 Jerusalem has two other main valleys. The 
 Kedron {Wadi Sttti Mariam, 2 Sa. xv. 23, Jn 
 xviii. i), to the east, divides the city from the 
 Mount of Olives. In this valley and the road lead- 
 ing out of it took place the events described in 
 Matt. xxi. 1-22, Mk xi., Lu. xix. Here again the 
 debris is some 20-30 feet deep. It has been found 
 that the S.E. wall of the Temple area rises some 
 157 feet from its sock foundation. Thus, with the 
 depth of the valley below (some 200 feet) added 
 to the height of the building that we may sup- 
 pose to have been supported by this huge wall, 
 a "pinnacle of the Temple" might well have 
 been 400 feet above the valley bed (Matt. iv. 5). 
 In this valley is Jerusalem's only spring, the 
 Virgin's spring [Ain itmm ad Daraaj): here is 
 perhaps Gihon. From this spring a rock-cut 
 tunnel carries the water to the pool of Siloam 
 (Jn ix.). This tunnel was made by Hezekiah and 
 probably 2 Ki. xx. 20, 2 Chr. xxxii. 3, 4, 30 refer 
 thereto. Some identify the Virgin's spring with 
 En Rogel of 2 Sa. xvii. 17 and i Ki. i. 9. The 
 other valley is the valley of Hinnom or Tophet 
 {Wadi Rabaabi) (2 Ki. xxiii. 10, 2 Chr. xxxiii. 6) 
 to the W. and S. of the city. This valley meets 
 
 s. 2
 
 1 8 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 that of the Kidron near Siloam where they com- 
 bine into the Wadi en Naar which runs out into 
 the Dead Sea. Near this junction is the modem 
 Beer Ayyiih (Job's well), a deep well rather than 
 spring. Some think here was En Rogel. Jeru- 
 salem has large reservoirs, inside its walls, 
 Hezekiah's or the Patriarch's pool, near the 
 Jaffa gate ; Birket Israel, near St Stephen's gate ; 
 and outside the wails, ]\Iamilla, near the Jaffa 
 gate, and Birket 'es-Sultan, situated where the 
 carriage road to the station crosses the valley of 
 Hinnom. Water too is brought to the city from 
 Bethlehem by means of an aqueduct. But the 
 city really depends for water upon its cisterns hol- 
 lowed out of the rock. It is said that those in the 
 Temple area can contain 10,000,000 gallons alone. 
 The mean rainfall for Jerusalem is 26 inches, it 
 sometimes reaches as much as 40 inches. 
 
 The ancient walls of Jerusalem are a great 
 puzzle ( I Ki. iii. i, Neh. i.-vi., xii.). In the Bishop 
 Gobat School of the Church Missionar^^- Society 
 there is to be seen scarp rock, of which Conder 
 sa3^s, "The work of the scarp is magnificent." 
 " Beyond doubt " we here see " the S. W. corner of 
 the ancient Jerusalem." Not unlikely this scarp 
 goes back to David's day. The present walls were 
 built by the Turkish Sultan, Suleiman the Magni- 
 ficent, in 1542. The stone for the building of the 
 Temple is thought to have been taken from Solo- 
 mon's quarries near the Damascus Gate. Great 
 care must be taken in visiting this dangerous 
 labyrinth. It is easy to get completely lost.
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 19 
 
 To see and understand Jerusalem and all she 
 stands for it is necessary that one dimb the 
 Mount of Olives [Jabal at Ti2r) and there try to 
 imagine some of the scenes which have affected 
 her history, and in affecting her have affected 
 the history of the world. 
 
 Another city of Judsea is Bethlehem {Bait 
 Lahm), the burial-place of Rachel (Gen. xxxv.) ; 
 the scene of the story of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 
 i.-iv.) ; the home of David (i Sa. xvi., xvii., 
 2 Sa. xxiii.) ; and the immortal birth-place of the 
 Babe of Bethlehem, "Jesus the son of David": 
 "the Word became Flesh" (Micah v., Matt, ii., 
 Lu. ii., Jn i.). South of Bethlehem is Hebron 
 {Chain). Here was Abraham's sole possession in 
 "the land of promise," and that a sepulchre 
 (Gen. xxiii.), in which were buried Sarah, him- 
 self, Isaac, Rachel, Leah and Jacob (Gen. xlix. 
 29-32). Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb, 
 Joshua's friend and fellow-spy (Jos. xiv.) : it was 
 one of the cities of refuge (Nu. xxxv., Jos. xx.), 
 and David's first capital (2 Sa. ii.-v., i Chr. xi.). 
 Hebron is still renowned for its grapes (Nu. xiii.). 
 It was in the Hebron country that the jealous 
 Saul hunted David, "as when one doth hunt a 
 partridge in the mountains" (i Sa. xxvi. 20). 
 The Wildernesses of Ziph, of En-gedi, of Paran, 
 and of Maon were all hereabouts, mostly to E. 
 and S. (i Sa. xxiii. -xx vi. ; cp. Gen. xxi. 21). 
 
 The hill country of Judaea, N. of Jerusalem, 
 ends south of Bethel {Beitin). Some four miles 
 S.E. of Bethel lay Ai, presumably a Benjamite 
 
 2 — 2
 
 20 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 city, and therefore one of the northernmost 
 points of Judaea. For the story of the battle 
 and capture of Ai by Israel read Joshua viii. 
 
 West of Ai and Bethel lay the hill-country 
 about Beth-horon {Beit Ur) and the valley of 
 Ajalon {Wadi Salman), where Joshua defeated 
 the confederacy of enemies formed against him 
 (Josh. X.). It was this victory which gave 
 Joshua the possession of Southern Palestine. 
 Notice how the invasion of the country was then 
 from E. to W. and N. to S. ; whereas now it is 
 from W. to E. and S. to N.: yet the hill roads 
 traversed are the same. Sir G. A. Smith in his 
 book has some most interesting and illuminating 
 remarks about this " valley of Ajalon " route be- 
 t\^'een the hills above and the coast land below. 
 He says " Throughout history we see hosts 
 swarming up this valley or swept down it in 
 flight." And he illustrates this from the story 
 of Joshua, of Jonathan (i Sa. xiii., xiv.), and of 
 David (2 Sa. v. 25, i Chr. xiv. 16); also from 
 Maccabaean, Roman, and Crusading history. 
 It was this road the Crusaders followed when 
 they took Jerusalem in 1099. And it was this 
 road they failed to possess and hold against 
 Saladin in the Third Crusade, ninety years later. 
 "Through the third Crusade, however, Saladin 
 firmly held the central range, and though parties 
 of Christians swept up within sight of Jerusalem, 
 their camps never advanced beyond Ajalon." 
 Ajalon is the modern Yalo. 
 
 South of Ai is Michmash {Mukhmaas), the
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 21 
 
 scene of Jonathan's exploit (i Sa. xiv.). Gibeon 
 {el J eh) lies N.W. of Jerusalem about half-way to 
 Beth-horon (Josh, ix., 2 Sa. ii., 2 Chr. i.). Nob 
 was in this neighbourhood (i Sa. xxii.), and 
 Ramah {Er Ram), Samuel's dwelling-place (i Sa. 
 vii. 15-17, viii.), perhaps his birth-place too 
 Ramathaim-zophim {Ramallah, i Sa. i. i) ; also 
 Gibeah {Tel el Fill), the home of Saul (i Sa. 
 x. 26, XV. 34). Bethany {Al Azariyeh), the home 
 of Lazarus and Martha and Mary (Lu. x., Jn xi.) 
 lay some three miles east of Jerusalem over the 
 brow of Olivet. About sixteen miles further east 
 is Jericho {Eriha) . Jericho was the Gaza of East- 
 ern Palestine. The story of its capture is found 
 in Josh, ii.-vii. Doubtless the very road leading 
 to-day from Jerusalem to Jericho is that described 
 in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lu. x.), 
 and that by which Christ Himself went " ascend- 
 ing up to Jerusalem" (Lu. xix. 28). Jericho 
 lies 800 feet below Mediterranean sea-level and 
 Jerusalem 2500 above the same level, so that 
 the way was and is, literally, a "going down" 
 to the one and an "ascending up" to the other. 
 From Bethel northwards the Western Range 
 changes its name from Jabal Kuds to Jabal 
 Nablus. Here begins that part of Palestine called 
 Samaria (Jn iv. 4, Ac. viii.). Bethel {Beitin) 
 seems to have been just outside the tribal 
 possession of Benjamin (Jos. xviii. 13), and must 
 therefore have belonged to Ephraim. It was 
 here Jacob had his wonderful dream of the 
 ladder reaching from earth to heaven (Gen,
 
 22 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 xxviii.) ; he was here again under happier cir- 
 cumstances (Gen. XXXV.). Bethel was where 
 Jeroboam set up for the Ten Tribes the counter- 
 feit worship of Jehovah (i Ki. xii., xiii.) ; it was 
 thus he has become known as "Jeroboam the 
 son of Nebat who made Israel to sin." Read how 
 Hosea and Amos, prophets of the Northern 
 Kingdom, in their prophecies denounce the idol- 
 worship there (Hos. x., xi., xii., Amos iii.-vii.). 
 Something to the N.E. of Bethel is a village now 
 called Tayyibeh, which some identify with Oph- 
 rah, Gideon's home (Jud. vi.) ; also with "a city 
 called Ephraim," whither Jesus Christ withdrew 
 after the raising of Lazarus (Jn xi. 54). About 
 ten miles N. of Bethel is Shiloh [Seilun), \vith its 
 story of Eli and Samuel (i Sa. 3). This was 
 Israel's first sanctuary in Palestine, the home of 
 "the ark of the covenant" until it was captured 
 by the Philistines (Jos. xviii. i-io, i Sa. iv.-v.). 
 Shiloh (a little E. of the present carriage road) lies 
 half-way bet^veen Bethel and Shechem. Shechem 
 [Nablus 1800 ft) was a chief city of Ephraim and is 
 sentinelled by Mt Gerizim [Jabal at Ttlr 2846 ft) 
 to the S., and by MtEbal [Jabal Islamiyeh 3077 ft) 
 to the N. (Deut. xxvii., Josh. viii.). For part 
 of the story of Shechem read ; as connected with 
 Abraham (Gen. xii.), with Jacob (Gen. xxxiii. 18- 
 xxxiv.), with Joseph (Gen. xxxvii.), and with 
 others (Judg. ix., i Ki. xii. 25). A little E. of 
 Shechem is the site of Jacob's well [Beer Yakub), 
 the scene of one of the most familiar and beautiful 
 of the incidents recorded in the Gospels (Jn iv.).
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 23 
 
 Hard by is the reputed tomb of Joseph (Jos. 
 xxiv. 32) . To the N.W. of Shechem — six miles off 
 — is Samaria {Sehastiyeh) the capital city of the 
 kings of Israel (i Ki. xvi. 24, xx., 2 Ki. i., vi., 
 vii., Ac. viii.). 
 
 Dothan [Duthaan), the scene of Joseph's sale 
 by his brethren to the Midianites, is situated in 
 the N. of this district (Gen, xxxvii.). Dothan 
 really lies in a pass between the hills on either 
 side of it. It is j ust about here that the mountain 
 range branches off into two horns — a longer and 
 a shorter. The longer trending N.W. finally 
 merges into the Carmel ridge, the abutment of 
 one end of which on the sea has already been 
 noticed. About half-way along the horn between 
 Dothan and that sea-end of Carmel, lies Megiddo 
 [Lejjun) (2 Ki. ix. 27, 2 Chr. xxxv. 22), with its 
 celebrated pass, the chief road between Galilee 
 and S. Palestine. Along that pass have marched 
 from time immemorial armies, traffickers, travel- 
 lers, backwards and forwards bet^^een Damascus 
 and Gaza, between Babylon and Egypt, be- 
 tween Asia and Africa. It is a world high-way. 
 
 Half-way between Megiddo and the sea-ward 
 point of the Carmel headland, lies the inland end 
 of Carmel ridge. This, now called el Mahrakeh 
 (1687 ft), is generally taken to have been the 
 scene of the great story of Elijah's sacrifice and 
 his discomfiture and slaughter of the prophets of 
 Baal (i Ki. xviii.). The river Kishon {al Mu- 
 katta) — rather brook or stream — flows not far 
 away. So much for the one branch of mountain
 
 24 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 from Dothan. The other, the shorter horn, pre- 
 serves the northern trend of the main range and 
 ends in Mt Gilboa (1698ft), the scene of Saul's 
 fatal battle vrith the Philistines, in v\ hich he and 
 Jonathan his son were slain (i Sa. xxix., xxxi., 
 2 Sa. i.). At the tip of this horn in the plain are 
 situated Jezreel (Zereen) with its story of Elijah, 
 Ahab, Jezebel, Naboth and others (i Ki.xviii. 46, 
 xxi., 2 Ki. ix., X.) ; also the Well of Harod [Ain 
 JaliAd), where Gideon and his 300 men, who 
 lapped of the water with their tongues, " as a dog 
 lappeth," discomfited the Midianites (Jud. \'ii., 
 viii.). Between these two horn-ridges of hill and 
 extending itself to the N. of the smaller lies The 
 Great Plain, often spoken of, though not quite 
 accurately, as the Plain of Jezreel (Hos. ii. 21, 
 22) or the Plain of Megiddo (2 Ki. xxiii . 29, 30) . It 
 is now generally known as the Plain of Esdraelon 
 [Marj ihn Amir). From Jezreel the plain slopes 
 eastwards to the Jordan valley forming the 
 valley of Jezreel (Judg. vi. 33). At this E. end 
 lay Beth-shan {Besaan, 1 Sa. xxxi.). Through the 
 plain wanders the Kishon, finding its way into 
 the sea, as already noticed, hard by Haifa, north 
 of the Carmel headland. 
 
 Other cities of the plain are Endor, where Saul 
 consulted the witch (i Sa. xxviii.) ; Shunem {Su- 
 lam), in a house of which EUsha found a welcome 
 and raised a dead child (2 Ki. iv., viii. 1-7) ; and 
 Nain {Naeen), where Christ restored the young 
 man to life (Lu. vii.). Mt Tabor (1843 ft) {Jahal at 
 Tur), a conical hill, some four miles east of Naza-
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 25 
 
 reth, closes up the plain at its N.E. corner. Here 
 was the rendezvous of Barak and Deborah 
 against Jabin and Sisera (Judg. iv., v.) : and some 
 have held that this, rather than a part of Mt 
 Hermon, was the scene of our Lord's Transfigura- 
 tion (Matt . X vii . , Mk ix . , Lu . ix . ) . Across the Plain 
 now runs the Haifa-Damascus railway under the 
 N. flank of Carmel, by Jezreel, down its valley 
 to Beth-shan, then up the Jordan valley to 
 the S. end of the Sea of Galilee. Here striking 
 east up the Yarmuk or Hieromax valley it climbs 
 to the plateau, and finds its way N. to Da- 
 mascus [Esh Shaam). At a place called Fvileh 
 in the middle of the plain the Beer-sheba branch 
 of this railway — begun about 191 3 — strikes 
 southward to Samaria. This Plain of Esdraelon 
 seems to separate Samaria, to the S. of it, from 
 Galilee, to the N. of it, and to stand apart from 
 either. Strictly speaking, however, it belongs to 
 Galilee and Northern Palestine. 
 
 At the N. border of the plain the hill again 
 crops up, and rising gradually all through Galilee 
 {Jaleel) [Jabal Jarmuk, W. of Safad, has a height 
 of over 3900 ft), loses itself in the great range of 
 Mt Lebanon (8500 ft) (i Ki. v., Is. xl. 16). The 
 city come to after an hour's climb from the 
 Esdraelon plain is the hill city of Nazareth (alt. 
 1200 ft) {An Ndsireh, Lu. ii. 4). This site of 
 holiest memory lies, actually, in a shallow hollow 
 of the hills. Many travellers have been greatly 
 struck with the beauty of the setting, and have 
 likened the whole scene to the petals of a flower
 
 26 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 of which Nazareth itself forms the centre (read 
 Matt, ii., iv,, xiii., Lu. i., ii., iv., Jn xix. 19). It is 
 impossible to say just what part of the present 
 little to\\Ti may have formed the site of the 
 Nazareth of Joseph's home and time. Equally 
 conflicting are the opinions as to where was " the 
 brow of the hill," to which His fellow townsmen 
 led our Lord "that they might cast him down 
 headlong." Perhaps the most interesting thing 
 about Nazareth is the hill top {Nebi Saeen 
 1600 ft), high above it, to the W. Here is a 
 point to which "Jesus of Nazareth," both as 
 boy and man, must have climbed again and 
 again, and the view seen to-day is the view He 
 saw. Even apart from His connection with it 
 the view is a wonderful one. Just because of 
 that connection, it becomes more than ever one 
 of the \news of the world. 
 
 Away to the N. lies Mt Hermon (9166 ft) 
 {Jahal Esh-Sheikh) (Ps. Ixxxix. 12, cxxxiii.), 
 largely snow-clad in Winter, and never even in 
 Summer quite void of some patch of whiteness. 
 Eastwards, is to be seen the top edge of the hills 
 that form the eastern rim of the cup containing 
 the Sea of Galilee, the head-crop of Tabor in the 
 foreground, while beyond and to the S.E. the 
 view extends itself across to Decapolis and Mt 
 Gilead, and parts of the far-reaching Jordan 
 valley. Southwards, the whole Plain of Es- 
 draelon with all the places already mentioned 
 lies stretched out before the eye. A wonderful 
 sight is that plain in Spring time ^\dth its greens
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 27 
 
 and golds of crops coming up and ripening 
 apace ; its manifold shades too of brown, where 
 the soil is in various stages of cultivation, or 
 "keeping Sabbath" until the year-end after 
 fruit borne the season before. Such scene once 
 beheld is never forgotten. It enables one, more- 
 over, better to appreciate something of the easy 
 fertility of the land, and to understand that, after 
 all, those who did so were not wrong in speaking 
 of it as a "land flowing with milk and honey." 
 
 Beyond Esdraelon the view dies away in the 
 far haze of the hills of Samaria. The full flank 
 of the Carmel ridge confronts the eye westward 
 leading it sea-wards to the Mediterranean and 
 to the far beyond. All these saw Christ, and so 
 gazed He over that same sea, and surely, in 
 thought, to the isles of the West and the history 
 they were one day to give birth to — history, 
 which has been in the making for us, as one of 
 the nations, from the days of Boadicea and Bede, 
 Aidan and Alfred, even unto this day ; a day than 
 which history was never more in the making, 
 for the world, for the Anglo-Saxon race, and not 
 least for Christ's own land, Palestine itself. 
 
 From Nazareth the carriage road leads N.E. 
 to the traditional Cana of Galilee {Kefr Kenna), 
 some four miles awa3^ with its beautiful stories 
 of the wedding feast ( Jn ii.) and the nobleman's 
 interview with Jesus (Jn iv.). The road ends 
 sixteen miles further on at Tiberias ( Tabariyeh) . 
 Before reaching Tiberias it passes near the horns 
 of Hattin where Saladin, in perhaps the most
 
 28 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 eventful battle of all the Crusades, defeated the 
 Christian forces (1187). The Sea is variously de- 
 scribed as " the Sea of Tiberias " {Bahr Tabariyeh) 
 (13 miles X 6), "the Sea of Galilee" (Jn vi. i), 
 "the Lake of Gennesaret" (Lu. v. i) and "the 
 Sea of Chinnereth" (Nu. xxxiv. 11). Hereabouts 
 were enacted those wonderful scenes we have 
 read or heard of so often: the stilling of the 
 storm (Matt, viii.) ; the walking on the water 
 (Mk vi.) ; the miraculous draught of fishes once 
 (Lu. v.), and again (Jn xxi.). On its western 
 shore lay "the coasts of Magdala" (Matt. xv. 
 39) and "the land of Gennesaret" (Matt. xiv. 34, 
 Mk vi. 53). About its N. shore were Bethsaida 
 (Mk vi., Lu. X., Jn i., xii.) ; for another Bethsaida, 
 not far away, at the mouth of the Jordan, see 
 Lu. ix. 10-17; cp. Jn vi. ; Capernaum (Matt. iv. 
 13, viii., xi., xvii., Mk ii., iii., Lu. iv., Jn ii., iv., 
 vi.) ; Chorazin (Matt. xi.). Places on this N. shore 
 now bear the names of Khan Miniyeh, Tabagha, 
 Tell Hum, but authorities are not agrfeed as to 
 which may have been the site of Bethsaida or 
 Capernaum. Says Sir G. A. Smith, "wherever 
 these three — Capernaum, Bethsaida and Cho- 
 razin — may have been, the well-nigh complete 
 obliteration of all of them is remarkable in this, 
 that they were the very three towns which our 
 Saviour condemned to humiliation." 
 
 Across the Sea lay the country of the Gadarenes 
 or Gergesenes with its story of the devils cast out 
 (Matt, viii., Lu. viii.) . Good hauls of fish are still 
 taken out of the lake, and its fishermen still prac-
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 29 
 
 tise the same manner of life as we read of in Jn 
 xxi. The writer once boating on the lake happed 
 thus on a little group of these on the western 
 shore ; their boat out a little from the beach, they 
 had "made a fire of coals" (sticks) ; and he par- 
 took of " the fish laid thereon and bread." As of 
 yore, storms suddenly arise and as suddenly sub- 
 side. Gahlee extends along the mountain range — 
 Mount Naphtali (Jos, xx. 7) in this part — some 
 distance northwards where were situated Kedesh 
 in Galilee and Hazor (Jos. xx. 7, Judg. iv. 2, 10). 
 In these parts Joshua fought, and at the Waters 
 of Merom {al Huleh) broke the confederacy of 
 northern kings arrayed against him under 
 Jabin, and possessed their land for Israel (Jos. 
 xi.). It is to this part of Galilee that Isaiah refers 
 in the O.T. lesson for Christmas Day (Is. ix. 
 1-7). This section of Palestine is far less well 
 known than Southern Galilee and Southern 
 Palestine; yet some are of opinion that it is, 
 perhaps, the most beautiful part of the whole 
 country. 
 
 C. The Eastern Mountain Range. 
 We turn now to another of the four strips of 
 country into which Palestine is as by nature 
 divided — the Eastern Range. That part of it 
 bordering on the E. side of the Dead Sea is 
 known to Europeans as the mountains of Moab 
 (the Abarim of Nu. xxvii. 12). The summit of 
 the range is a high plateau (more than 2500 ft 
 above Mediterranean sea level). At the N.E.
 
 30 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 corner of the Dead Sea are the points Pisgah and 
 Nebo {Nebu 2643 ft) with others, before the 
 plateau is reached. Here Balak brought Balaam 
 to curse Israel, but in vain, " How shall I curse 
 whom God hath not cursed?" For the whole 
 story read Nu. xxii.-xxiv. It was here that 
 Moses viewed afar the land promised to Abra- 
 ham; and then in a way unknown to us was 
 gathered to his fathers: all we are told is, "so 
 iMoses the servant of the Lord died there in the 
 land of Moab according to the word of the Lord, 
 and He buried him in the land of Moab... but no 
 man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day" 
 (Deut. xxxii. 48-52, xxxiv., cp. Nu. xx.). Here- 
 abouts to the N. and E. lay the kingdom of 
 Sihon, king of the Amorites, whom Israel fought 
 and whose land they took (Nu. xxi.). Heshbon 
 {Hesbaaii) was a chief town, and Medeba, still so 
 called, another (Jos. xiii. 9, 16) ; Dibon {Dehon), 
 where was found the IMoabite Stone (of date 
 900 B.C.), is much further south, near the Amon. 
 Somewhat X. of Heshbon — about the same lati- 
 tude as Jerusalem — the plateau yields to the 
 mountain which again asserts itself. Here is the 
 S. border of the land of Gilead {Jilaad) (Nu. 
 xxxii. I, Deut. xxxiv. i) or, as it is sometimes 
 called. Mount Gilead (Gen. xxxi. 21). 
 
 The southern part of Gilead at one time 
 seems to have belonged to the children of 
 Amnion. Jephthah the Gileadite fought them 
 (Judg. xi.) ; so did Joab and David (2 Sa. x.-xii.). 
 Their capital was Rabbah — "the city of waters."
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 31 
 
 The modern name of the place is Amaan, a Cir- 
 cassian colony and a station on the Damascus- 
 Medina railway, the northern section of which 
 was completed in 1906, the southern in 1908. 
 On the east of the Jordan there are many such 
 colonies of Turkish - speaking Muhammadans, 
 emigrants some of them from Russia, and others 
 introduced by the Turkish government mainly 
 perhaps to occupy waste land, act as a bulwark 
 against the roving Bedouin of the East, and 
 strengthen the military hold of the Turkish 
 government in, until recent years, these un- 
 peopled regions. Es-Salt is now the chief town 
 of this part of the country. Its latitude is some- 
 thing N. of that of Bethel, and its situation some 
 ten miles, as the crow flies, from the Jordan. 
 
 This place has been suggested, among others, 
 as the site of Ramoth Gilead. If so, we have the 
 whereabouts of another city of refuge (Jos. xx.), 
 the scene of the battle where Ahab lost his life 
 (i Ki. xxii.), and of other events (2 Ki. ix.). The 
 grapes of Salt surpass even those of Hebron. 
 Hard by Salt is Jabal Osha (3597 ft.). About 
 twelve miles to the north is "the brook " Jabbok 
 [Ez-Zerka) (Deut. iii. 16). It was somewhere to 
 the S. of this stream, flowing into the Jordan, that 
 Esau and Jacob were reconciled after twenty 
 years' separation (Gen. xxxiii.) . At some point on 
 the Jabbok's banks, just previous to this, there 
 met Jacob that Heavenly Visitant, who wrestled 
 with him "until the breaking of the day," and, 
 changing his name from Jacob to Israel, " blessed
 
 S2 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 him there" (Gen. xxxii.). North of the stream is 
 Mahanaim, the place to which Jacob came after 
 making covenant with Laban (Gen. xxxi., xxxii.) 
 and "where the angels of God met him." This 
 was the part of Gilead whither David fled during 
 Absalom '.s rebellion, and where Absalom came 
 by his death. These adventures of David with 
 an account of his friends and foes are all re- 
 corded in 2 Sa. xv.-xx. Some twenty years ago 
 the country about Salt and to the N. of it {Jabal 
 Ajlun) was in parts thickly wooded. Salt is so 
 called from the Latin word "saltus," meaning 
 wood or forest. Since that time great havoc has 
 been done to this forest; colonists have cut it 
 down to clear the ground, and much again has 
 been turned into charcoal, largely used as fuel in 
 Palestine. It should be remembered that from 
 these parts sprang that great prophet described 
 as "Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabi- 
 tants of Gilead" (i Ki. xvii.-xix.). 
 
 It is important too to notice that- this Mount 
 of Gilead, together with the eastern part of the 
 Jordan valley (also part of Gilead), formed in 
 N.T. times the Roman Province of Peraea. This 
 is "the farther side of Jordan" spoken of in Mk 
 X. I (cp. Matt. xix. i). Sir G. A. Smith says 
 "The Jews always regarded Peraea, Galilee, and 
 Judaea, as the three Jewish provinces; and 
 when the Galilean pilgrims came up to the 
 feasts at Jerusalem by Peraea, they felt they 
 had travelled all the way on Jewish soil." The 
 Jews thus avoided passing through Samaria.
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 33 
 
 Several allusions in the N.T. enable us to under- 
 stand the relation of Jews and Samaritans one 
 to another (Matt. x. 5, Lu. ix. 51-56, x. 25-37, 
 xvii. 1 1-19, Jn iv. 9). Our Lord, then, was in this 
 part of Palestine: it was here He taught the 
 sanctity of the marriage bond, blessed little chil- 
 dren, answered the young man and "beholding 
 him loved him," and spoke other sayings — all 
 these being recorded in Matt, xix., xx. 1-28, Mk 
 X. 1-45. Perhaps too some of the events recorded 
 in Lu. x,-xviii. 1-34 were part of Christ's 
 Peraean ministry. It is held, on the other hand, 
 that we can be sure about this in regard to Lu. 
 xiii. 22-xviii. 1-34 only. Even so, herein are con- 
 tained the immortal parables of the Lost Sheep 
 and Prodigal Son ; they are East Jordan sayings. 
 The mountain country of Gilead comes to an 
 end on a line level with Mt Gilboa in Esdraelon, 
 flattening out again into a plateau of much the 
 same character as that out of which it had 
 sprung near Heshbon. This plateau, N. of a 
 line drawn east from the S. end of the Sea of 
 Tiberias, formed the Bible territory of Og and 
 his kingdom of Bashan (Deut. iii.). It is now 
 called Hanran and stretches up to Damascus 
 {Esh Shaam). Golan (Deut. iv. 43) was here- 
 abouts: the country east of the Sea of Tiberias 
 is still called Jaulan. In this part of Palestine 
 lay Trachonitis, the country S, of Damascus to 
 the east of the railway, now called the Leja 
 and Jabal Druse ; Ituraea, the country E. of 
 Hermon, and S.W. of Damascus; Abilene, really 
 
 s. 3
 
 34 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 not part of Palestine, W. of Damascus (Lu. iii. i ) ; 
 and Decapolis (Matt. iv. 25, Mk v. 20), the N. 
 borderland of Gilead — that is, the country lying 
 immediately S, of the Haifa-Damascus railway 
 as it ascends eastwards up the Yarmuk valley 
 to the plateau from Samach at the S. end of 
 the Sea of Tiberias. 
 
 D. The Jordan Valley. 
 
 There still remains something to be said about 
 the fourth main di\dsion of the country. Be- 
 tween the two great hedges of mountain, one 
 west and the other east, already described, Ues 
 the deep cleft of the Jordan Valley. This the 
 Arabs call A I Ghor. It is sometimes spoken of 
 under its Hebrew name as "the Arabah." In 
 our English Bible it is generally referred to as 
 "the plain" (Deut. i. i, ii. 8, Josh. xii. i). So 
 the Dead Sea is called "the sea of the plain" 
 (Deut. iv. 49, Josh. iii. 16). This cleft varies in 
 width from four miles S. of the Sea of Tiberias to 
 fourteen about Jericho, at the N. end of the 
 Dead Sea. In the midst of this valley-cleft flows 
 the Jordan [Ash-Shareeah). Though the distance 
 is no more than sixty miles between the Sea of 
 Tiberias, from which the river issues, to the 
 Dead Sea into which it falls, the stream takes 
 a winding course, covering 200 miles at least. 
 Here, surely, is the strangest and most wonderful 
 river in the world. For one thing, it lies in the 
 most depressed spot of the earth's whole surface, 
 650 feet below the Mediterranean at the Sea of
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 35 
 
 Tiberias, double as much — 1292 ft — at the Dead 
 Sea [Bahr Lilt). For another, there is no known 
 outlet to the Dead Sea — yet the Jordan is pour- 
 ing afresh into it millions of gallons of water day 
 by day: the level of the Dead Sea remaining 
 normal, it is generally believed that this excess 
 of water disappears by evaporation. 
 
 In the Dead Sea (48 x 9 miles) nothing lives, 
 and its waters are so buoyant that it is impos- 
 sible for a man to sink in them. Naturalists tell 
 us that fishes proper to Lake Tanganyika in 
 Central Africa are found in the Sea of Galilee, 
 and birds which naturally belong to Ceylon and 
 S. India are found throughout the valley; while 
 botanists declare that plants which are charac- 
 teristic of Nubia, Abyssinia and the Sahara grow 
 here in luxuriance. The climate of the valley is 
 tropical. Perhaps this is one reason why the 
 river has never had a city on its banks. Those, 
 such as the valley has had, have been, like 
 Jericho and Beth-shan, at its outer edge. 
 
 Consider the incidents connected with Jordan. 
 Jacob and David crossed it (Gen. xxxii. 10, 2 Sa. 
 xvii. 22) ; three times its waters parted asunder 
 (Josh, iii., iv., 2 Ki. ii.) ; Naaman the leper 
 "washed and was clean" (2 Ki. v.); "the iron 
 did swim " (2 Ki. vi.) ; John the Baptist preached 
 on its banks and baptized in its waters, and 
 among those that came to him was Christ Him- 
 self, of whom he bare record " I saw the spirit 
 descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode 
 upon Him" (Matt, iii., Lu. iii., Jn i.). Comparing 
 
 3—2
 
 36 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 the Jordan with the Nile, "in influence upon the 
 imagination of man, its only competitor," Sir 
 G. A. Smith gives utterance to this fine thought: 
 " But the Nile has never been adopted by a uni- 
 versal religion... whereas still, to half the world, 
 the short thin thread of the Jordan is the symbol 
 of both great frontiers of the spirit's hfe on earth 
 — the baptism through which it passes into God's 
 Church, and the waters of death which divide 
 this pilgrim fellowship from the promised land." 
 
 Jericho {Eriha) "the city of palm trees" (Deut. 
 xxxiv. 3 — there are none now) hes at the S. end 
 of the valley at the foot of the Judaean hills. The 
 Jordan cleft at this point is at its widest. Here 
 are "the plains of Jericho" (Josh. iv. 13, v. lo), 
 with Gilgal, where Israel first set foot in the pro- 
 mised land. Jericho's is the story of Rahab and 
 the spies (Josh, ii.) ; of Joshua and "the captain 
 of the Lord's host" (Josh, v.); of trumpeting 
 priests and falling walls (Josh, vi.) ; of Achan's 
 greed and penalty (Josh, vii.) ; of water sweeten- 
 ed (2 Ivi. ii.) and deadly pottage turned to whole- 
 someness (2 Ki. iv.). Jericho's too are the N.T. 
 stories of blind Bartimaeus made to see (Lu. 
 xviii.), and Zacchaeus the pubhcan called of 
 Christ (Lu. xix.). 
 
 Somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Dead 
 Sea was that "plain of Jordan... well watered 
 everywhere" which beguiled Lot to choose "the 
 cities of the plain " and to " pitch his tent toward 
 Sodom" (Gen. xiii.). For Abraham's touching 
 prayer for those cities read Gen. xviii., and for
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 37 
 
 their awful doom read Gen. xix. It is quite un- 
 certain where the sites of Sodom and Gomorrha 
 are to be looked for. Some authorities would 
 locate them at the N. end, others at the S. end 
 of the Dead Sea. "Though the glare of their 
 catastrophe burns still the ruins it left have 
 entirely disappeared, and there remains in the 
 valley almost no authentic trace of the names 
 it has torn and scattered to infamy across the 
 world" (Smith). Even to-day for the Arabs the 
 Dead Sea is " the Sea of Lot." A surprise about 
 the Dead Sea is the brilliant blueness of its 
 colour. The first recorded battle, "four kings 
 with five," took place in this Jordan cleft, an oc- 
 casion on which Abraham proved himself right 
 loyal friend and right valiant warrior (Gen. xiv.). 
 
 E. The Land of Moab. 
 
 Moab was the tract of land situated on the 
 plateau east of the Dead Sea. At one time it 
 would seem as if that territory ran the Sea's full 
 length. More exactly, however, Moab stood for 
 the country S. of the river Arnon [Maujib), 
 already referred to, having for its capital Kir of 
 Moab or Kir-hareseth (Is. xvi.). We read of a 
 battle scene in Moab in 2 Ki. iii. Perhaps Kir 
 (Kerak) was "the hold" David repaired to (i Sa. 
 xxii. 1-4). Ruth was a Moabitess (Ruth i.). 
 Isaiah and Jeremiah have much to say about 
 Moab. In the time of the Crusaders this place, 
 Krak, was one of their Seigneuries. It is the 
 mountains of Moab which in the light of the
 
 38 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 setting sun form such a wonderful view, as seen 
 from Jerusalem, with their indescribable and 
 incredible iridescent colouring. A fiat peak just 
 S. of Amon, discernible from Jerusalem, to this 
 day bears the name of Jahal Shihaan, remi- 
 niscent, it may well be, of Sihon and his deeds 
 (cp. Nu. xxi. 26-29). 
 
 Ill 
 
 PALESTINE AS DIVIDED AMONG THE 
 TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL 
 
 Two numberings of the Children of Israel are 
 recorded: the first, that of the second year of 
 their wilderness wandering, in Nu. i. and iii. 40-5 1 ; 
 the second, thirty-nine years later, in Nu. xxvi. 
 The arrangement of the tribes when encamped 
 is found in Nu. ii., and their order when on the 
 march in Nu. ix., x. The number, service, and 
 setting apart of the Levites are contained in 
 Nu. iii., iv., viii. The apportionment of .the land 
 to each tribe may be found in Nu. xxxii., xxxiv. 
 and Josh, xiii.-xxi. Read too Gen. xlix., Dent, 
 xxxiii. For the tracing of these boundaries 
 exactly, our knowledge and data are inadequate. 
 The results arrived at by different investigators 
 do not agree: their maps vary. In a way that is 
 no more than relatively approximate, the follow- 
 ing notes will help to a general idea of the 
 position of the territory occupied by each tribe. 
 
 Simeon. Indefinite territory: really that part 
 of Judah about^nd S. of Beer-sheba.
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 39 
 
 Judah. N. boundary, Ruheen river, line of 
 railway to Beth-Shemesh {Ain Shems) (i Sa. 
 vi.), a line thence to Kirjath-Jearim [Kuryet el 
 Enah) (i Ch. xiii.) and continued along that of 
 carriage road to Jerusalem and Jericho ; W., the 
 Mediterranean Sea ; E., the Dead Sea ; S., country 
 to south of Wady Ghuzzeh and Beer Sheba. 
 Part of Jerusalem lay in Judah. 
 
 Benjamin. N. boundary, a line from Beth- 
 horon the Nether to Ai near Bethel, prolonged 
 eastward to the Jordan; W., a line joining 
 Bethhoron the Nether with Beth-shemesh (Beth- 
 shemesh is not far from where the Jaffa railway 
 leaves the plain for its climb to Jerusalem 
 through the hills); E., the Jordan; S., the line 
 of Judah's N. boundary between Beth-shemesh 
 and Jericho, as above. The greater part of Jeru- 
 salem (some think the whole) lay in Benjamin. 
 
 Ephraim. N. boundary, a line from Shechem 
 (Nablus) drawn E.S.E. to Jordan; W., a curved 
 line sea- wards joining Bethhoron the Nether and 
 Nablus; E., the Jordan; S., north boundary of 
 Benjamin. 
 
 Manasseh (half tribe of). N. boundary, a line 
 from a point on sea-coast nearer to Caesarea 
 than sea-end of Carmel to Megiddo, then turn- 
 ing south to Dothan and running out eastwards 
 at the Jordan; W., the Mediterranean Sea; E., 
 the Jordan ; S., the north boundary of Ephraim 
 and the Aujeh river above Jaffa. 
 
 Dan. N., the Aujeh river; W., the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea; E., the western boundaries of
 
 40 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 Ephraim and Benjamin; S., the Rubeen river 
 and that part of the Jerusalem railway, east 
 of where it forks S. to Beer-sheba and N. to 
 Nablus. This part of the railway runs through 
 "the valley of Sorek " {Wadi Surar, Judg. xvi. 4). 
 Here was situated Zorah [Surah, Judg. xiii., 
 xvi. 31) the home of Samson, who was a Danite. 
 Dan had territory, too, in the far N. at the 
 southern foot of Mt Hermon (Josh. xix. 47, 
 Judg. xviii.) : hence the expression "from Dan 
 to Beer-sheba." This city of Dan is either the 
 present Tel el Kadi or Banias. 
 
 Issachar. All the Plain of Esdraelon from 
 the S. end of Carmel to the valley of Jezreel, 
 and from Dothan to Tabor: also the horn of 
 mountain running northwards from Dothan to 
 Gilboa: also that part of the Jordan valley N, 
 of Manasseh's territory up to a point some six 
 miles S. of Sea of Galilee. (N.B. a strip of the 
 plain of Esdraelon at the foot of the Nazareth 
 hills belonged to Zebulon.) 
 
 Asher. A strip of country on Mediterranean 
 sea-board some ten miles broad beginning at a 
 point on sea-coast nearer to CaLsarea than sea- 
 end of Carmel and reaching up to Tyre. Asher's 
 S. boundarv^ was therefore part of Manasseh's 
 N. boundar>\ Carmel ridge seems to have lain 
 in Asher. 
 
 Naphtali. The country lying alongside and 
 east of that part of Asher N. of Mt Carmel ; it had 
 for its eastern boundary the Waters of Merom, 
 all the Jordan N. of the Sea of Galilee, the Sea
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 41 
 
 of Galilee itself and the Jordan some six miles 
 S. of the sea. A line drawn between this point 
 of the Jordan and Mt Tabor was the boundary 
 between Naphtali and Issachar. (N.B. not all 
 this was Naphtali territory.) 
 
 Zebulon. The territory of this tribe ran as it 
 were into Naphtali as above described, being 
 formed of the S.W. quarter of that Naphtali 
 territory. A strip of the N. edge of the plain of 
 Esdraelon reaching from Tabor (where Zebulon, 
 Naphtali and Issachar all joined one another) to 
 the S. end of Carmel also belonged to Zebulon. 
 Nazareth was situated in this tribe, and Tabor. 
 A city called Zebulon iSabelan) in the very 
 middle of Naphtali would be on its northern 
 boundary. 
 
 Manasseh (half tribe of). All the country to 
 the N. of Gilead, that is N. of a line drawn E. 
 from the S. end of the Sea of Galilee. 
 
 Gad. All the Jordan valley, E. of the river, 
 between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea; 
 and all Mt Gilead east of this valley. 
 
 Reuben. The country lying E. of the Dead Sea 
 between the river Amon and a line drawn some- 
 what E. or N.E. from the N. end of that sea, 
 
 Levi had specified lands apportioned out of 
 each tribe. "All the cities of the Levites within 
 the possession of the children of Israel were forty 
 and eight cities with their suburbs" (Nu. xxxv. 
 1-8, Josh, xxi.; cp. Nu. viii.). The Priests and 
 Levites had, besides, other prescribed means of 
 maintenance (cp. Lev. vi., vii,, Nu. xviii.).
 
 42 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 IV 
 
 PALESTINE AND HER FRONTIERS— 
 A WORLD HIGHWAY 
 
 Palestine possesses the three greatest of all 
 military frontiers ; the Sea on the west ; the great 
 Mountain range of the Lebanon to the north; 
 and the Desert to the east and south. This cir- 
 cumstance has largely affected her history; not 
 less, her geographical position as the old world 
 turnpike uniting Asia and Africa, whether for 
 commerce or for war. It may be added that 
 since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 
 through which Europe pours its shipping, Pales- 
 tine with Egypt sentinels the highway of traffic 
 and travel between the West and Far East — 
 India, China, Australasia. It is important and 
 interesting to notice, that from the earliest times 
 the Pharaohs and Ptolemies of Egypt recognised 
 this strategic position of Palestine, and ever 
 made it part of their policy to possess her or 
 dominate her politics. This comes out in the 
 Tel Amama tablets of 1500 B.C. Sir G. A. Smith 
 says of Gaza: "Alexander invading Egypt (b.c. 
 332), and Napoleon invading Syria (1799 a. d.), 
 had both to capture her. Napoleon has em- 
 phasised the indispensableness of Gaza, whether 
 in the invasion or the defence of the Nile valley. 
 Gaza is the outpost of Africa, the door of Asia." 
 Substitute Suez Canal for Nile valley, and world 
 politics are the same to-day that they were a 
 century, or even twenty or thirty centuries ago.
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 43 
 
 PALESTINE— A WORLD BATTLE- 
 GROUND 
 
 Belgium has been described as the "cock- 
 pit" of Europe. Palestine is the battle-ground 
 of the World. No country has resounded as has 
 she with the march of armies, the clash of 
 "weapons of war" (2 Sa. i. 27), and the din of 
 battle. Into her and through her have marched 
 Assyrians and Babylonians, Egyptians and 
 Ethiopians, Hittites and Israelites, Midianites 
 and Syrians, Greeks and Romans, Parthians and 
 Persians, Arabs and Mongols, Turks and Franks. 
 And now once again she is drawn into the vortex 
 of this world-wide war. 
 
 What city in the world has experienced the 
 like vicissitudes of Jerusalem ? Sir G. A. Smith in 
 his book, Jerusalem — from earliest times to a.d. 70, 
 reckons that in the thirty-three centuries of her 
 histor^^ " she has endured some twenty sieges of 
 the utmost severity ; almost twenty more block- 
 ades and military occupations ;... earthquakes 
 which have rocked her foundations ; . . . (and) about 
 eighteen reconstructions." Even the writer of 
 the Book of Lamentations could say of her more 
 than 500 years before Christ, "Behold and see 
 if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow" 
 (Lam. i. 12). Think of what her sufferings have 
 been in the 2500 years since !
 
 44 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 VI 
 THE CRUSADES 
 
 In 1077 Jerusalem fell to the Seljuk Turks. Up 
 to that time it had been held by the Arabs, who 
 won it from the Greek Emperor of Constanti- 
 nople in 637, under Omar, the second successor 
 to Muhammad in the Caliphate. 
 
 The preaching of the Crusades began with the 
 call of Peter the Hermit to Europe in 1095 to 
 possess the Holy Land for Christianity. 
 
 First Crusade, 1095. Europe as a whole re- 
 sponded to the cry, and scores of thousands of 
 "all sorts and conditions of men" — civihans, 
 monks, adventurers, trained armies — marched 
 across Europe for Palestine by way of Constanti- 
 nople and Asia Minor. Jerusalem was captured 
 July II, 1099; and the Latin Kingdom of Jeru- 
 salem established, which lasted until 1187. The 
 kingdom gradually included all Palestine: God- 
 frey of Bouillon, one of the chosen leaders of the 
 Crusade, was acclaimed its first King. He died 
 within a year and was buried in the Church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This church 
 was built by the Crusaders in 1103 and stood 
 intact until 1803 when a destructive fire oc- 
 curred: but parts remain which are their work. 
 The first Crusade was a great success. 
 
 The Second lasted 1144-1180. It was directed 
 against Zenghi, the Seljuk Sultan of Damascus. 
 The effort failed and Nur-ed-Din, the son of 
 Zenghi, took Antioch. Louis VII of France and
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 45 
 
 the Emperor Conrad of Germany returned to 
 Europe. 
 
 The Third Crusade (11 89-1 192) was a call to 
 retrieve the battle of Hattin, near Tiberias, 
 where Saladin defeated the Christian forces, 
 July 2, 1 187, and to recapture Jerusalem, which 
 had fallen to him the following September. 
 Richard I of England, Coeur de Lion, was the 
 leader and the leading spirit of this Crusade. 
 He retook Acre and inflicted various defeats 
 upon Saladin, but for reasons unexplained did 
 not succeed in capturing Jerusalem. He came 
 to an agreement with Saladin by which "the 
 people of the West were to be at liberty to make 
 pilgrimages to Jerusalem exempt from the taxes 
 which Saracen princes had in former times im- 
 posed." Saladin and Richard are perhaps the 
 outstanding figures of the Crusades: they were 
 great soldiers and each greatly admired the 
 other. This with the First was the most success- 
 ful of all the Crusades. 
 
 In this, the Fourth Crusade, 1203, Baldwin, 
 Count of Flanders, never got to Palestine at all, 
 but dethroning the Greek Emperor at Con- 
 stantinople became Latin Emperor in his place. 
 Real crusading ardour was giving way to other 
 motives. 
 
 Fifth Crusade, 121 6-122 1. Andrew, King of 
 Hungary, and John, titular King of Jerusalem, 
 were in this the chief actors. John dissipated his 
 strength in an unsuccessful attack upon Egypt. 
 
 Sixth Crusade. Frederick, Emperor of Ger-
 
 46 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 many, and John of Jerusalem's son-in-law, 
 though excommunicated by the Pope, started 
 on this in 1227. He accomplished by diplomacy 
 the object of his quest, obtaining from the 
 Sultan Kamil of Egypt an arrangement, by 
 which the Christians were to possess for twelve 
 years — dating from Feb. 1229 — Jerusalem (ex- 
 cept the Mosque area), Bethlehem, Nazareth, 
 and Acre with a strip of ground joming them 
 together. He had himself crowned King of 
 Jerusalem in that city. 
 
 Seventh Crusade. In 1244 the Kharezmian 
 Tartars captured Jerusalem. This Crusade was 
 preached to eject them. Louis IX (St Louis) of 
 France started off for Palestine in 1248 with this 
 object in view. He failed in an attack upon 
 Egypt en route, and left Palestine in 1254 after 
 strengthening some Christian fortresses. Ap- 
 parently he made no effort to capture Jerusalem. 
 
 Eighth Crusade. About 1250 the dynasty of 
 Sultans founded by Saladin in Egypt came to an 
 end. Another was established ; of this Bibars was 
 the third Sultan. From the first he set himself 
 to uproot the Christian power in Palestine. By 
 1268 he had taken almost every fortress but Acre. 
 This eighth and last Crusade was to withstand 
 Bibars. In 1270 St Louis again took the Cross, 
 but for some reason turned aside to Tunis, where 
 he died. Prince Edward of England (Edward I) 
 landed in 1271 at Acre with 1000 men and cap- 
 tured Nazareth. But his forces were inadequate 
 to effect anything of moment. He made a truce 

 
 A Soldier's Handbook 47 
 
 with Bibars for ten years, ten months, ten days, 
 "the last period of peace enjoyed by Christians 
 in Palestine" [Jerusalem, Sir C. M. Watson), 
 and then returned to England. Kalaun, son of 
 Bibars, took Tripoli (N. of Beyrout), an impor- 
 tant stronghold, in 1287; and his son Khalil 
 captured Acre, the last crusading foothold, in 
 1291. 
 
 Vast stores of human energy and magnificent 
 deeds of human prowess were exhibited through- 
 out this period. Remains of buildings still exist- 
 ing testify to the one, and the pages of history 
 to the other. It would seem, however, that the 
 longer the crusades went on the more mixed 
 became the motives of those who set forth on 
 these adventures. Personal quarrels and sordid 
 self-seeking sowed the seeds of distrust, dis- 
 loyalty and ultimate disintegration. Too often, 
 alas ! also the behaviour of the Crusaders towards 
 the vanquished Moslems compared most un- 
 favourably and most sadly with that of the 
 successful Moslem generals against the Chris- 
 tians. Doubtless there were some, but one fears 
 few, like Godfrey, the first and perhaps finest 
 Crusader, "whose piety and humility forbade 
 him to wear a crown of gold, when his Saviour 
 had worn one of thorns." Godfrey called himself 
 not King, but Defender and Guardian of the Holy 
 Sepulchre. The Crusaders had " a zeal of God, 
 but not according to knowledge." It may be 
 said of them also, " they knew not what manner 
 of spirit they were of,"
 
 48 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 VII 
 
 PALESTINE— THE LAND OF GOD'S 
 REVELATION OF HIMSELF 
 
 Truly Palestine is a wonderful land : wonderf u 
 because of its geographical position; wonderf u 
 because of its strange configuration of hills anc 
 tangle of valleys ; wonderful because of its strik 
 ing contrast of rocky barrenness and easy fer 
 tility; wonderful because of its chequered his 
 toiy; but most wonderful of all, because it was 
 here, of all the lands of the earth, that Almighty 
 God chose chiefly to reveal Himself to man. Hei 
 did this by His deahngs with Israel in Egypt, in 
 the Wilderness, in Canaan. Thereby He madei 
 known what manner of God He was, Merciful,! 
 Faithful, Holy, yet Jealous of His due (Ex. xxxiii., 
 xxxiv.). Thereby, too, He showed what manner 
 of men He required them and all others to be, 
 trustful, worshipful, obedient, loyal and true. 
 
 The Old Testament is God's first revelation 
 of Himself, now in deeds of Mercy and acts of 
 Judgment, and now by the Teaching of Patriarch 
 and Psalmist, of Priest and Prophet. And then, 
 at last, "when the fulness of time was come" 
 (Gal. iv. 4) God gave yet fuller revelation of Him- 
 self in the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ. " The Word became Flesh " ( Jn i.) ; 
 Jesus, the Messiah, was bom in Bethlehem and 
 nurtured in Nazareth: He taught and wrought 
 in Gahlee and Judaea, in Samaria and Penta;
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 49 
 
 at Jerusalem was crucified, rose triumphant over 
 death (i Cor. xv.), and ascended into Heaven; 
 " from thence," as the Creed teaches us, " He shall 
 come again to judge the quick and the dead" 
 (Zee. xiv., Matt, xxv., Jn v., Ac. i., Rev. xx.). 
 
 vin 
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN SITES 
 
 It is impossible to be sure that many of the 
 places, specifically pointed out as undoubted 
 sites of scenes in O.T. or N.T. history, have the 
 right to that which is claimed for them. Cer- 
 tainty can attach to hardly more than three or 
 four. The precincts of the Mosque of Omar at 
 Jerusalem are certainly to be identified with the 
 site and area of Solomon's and Herod's Temples. 
 It is generally agreed that the Mosque of the 
 KDome of the Rock covers the site either of "the 
 • Holy of Holies" or of the "Altar of Burnt 
 liOffering" of Solomon's Temple; more probably 
 jthe latter. The whole Temple area, called A I 
 \Haram, is some thirty acres in extent. The 
 Vlosque of Omar or the Dome of the Rock, called 
 Kuhhet-es-Sakhra, was built in 691 a.d. by the 
 !^iph Abd el Malak, and is universally acknow- 
 ged to be a masterpiece of architecture. The 
 'col of Siloam. already alluded to, seems another 
 -uthentic site. Again, it is generally agreed also 
 hat the site near Nablus, pointed out as Jacob's 
 /ell, is identical with the place where Christ rested 
 nd conversed with the woman of Samaria ( Jn iv.) . 
 
 S. A
 
 50 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 The place claimed for the tomb of Joseph, 
 not far from that well (cp. Jn iv. 5, Gen. 
 xlviii. 22, 1. 25, Josh. xxiv. 32); and that for 
 the cave of Machpelah, the burial place of Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, Jacob and others, under the great 
 mosque at Hebron, have much to be said in 
 their favour, but their authentication is not cer- 
 tain. Not certain too is the grotto shown in the 
 Church at Bethlehem as the birthplace of the 
 Saviour. Very, very uncertain indeed is it, that 
 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Eastern 
 Christians call it "the Church of the Resurrec- 
 tion") at Jerusalem is the actual site of the 
 Saviour's death and rising again. The best 
 authorities either entirely disagree on this 
 matter, or suspend their judgment pending 
 further information or discovery. The number of 
 other sites suggested as the scene of these two 
 stupendous events is another striking indication 
 of the utter uncertainty attaching to any parti- 
 cular one of them. 
 
 The real interest in Palestine lies not in the 
 looking for and the credulously or carelessly 
 allowing oneself to believe in such specific sites, 
 but rather in regarding the country in its great 
 natural outUnes. Jerusalem occupies the site it 
 ever did. The valley of the Kedron and that of 
 Hinnom, or Tophet, still run round three of her 
 sides. The Mount of Ohves has ever stood guard 
 over that wonderful city., and so does to-day. How 
 many, in every age, patriarchs, prophets, kings, 
 apostles, even our Lord Himself, have stood on
 
 A Soldier *s Handbook 51 
 
 that hill-top and gazed on its wonderful view ! 
 So with Mounts Ebal and Gerizim overshadow- 
 ing Nablus. The hill above Nazareth has already- 
 been alluded to. Hills, valleys, plains remain the 
 same as Abraham found and viewed them. 
 
 Having been in the country it is easy to 
 understand how the sons of Jacob at Shechem, 
 and David at Bethlehem, led and fed their flocks. 
 Christ and His disciples walked about Palestine 
 by roads that follow much the same lines to-day 
 — Jericho to Jerusalem — Jerusalem, through 
 Samaria, to Nazareth : Nazareth to Cana and the 
 Sea of Galilee. The present aspects and habits 
 of everyday life — dress, speech, food — beggars, 
 lepers, the blind by the wayside — sowing, reap- 
 ing, the summer threshing floors — shepherds with 
 their flocks, plowers with their oxen and goads — 
 asses with their sacks of grain, mules with their 
 burdens — men with their water-skins, women 
 with their water-pots — "long robes," grain 
 "well pressed down and shaken together," — "a 
 cup of cold water," "the shadow of a great 
 rock," — "the early (Dec.-Feb.) and latter (Feb.- 
 Ap.) rain," "the dew of heaven," — thistles of 
 the earth, the crackling of burning thorns — all 
 these, with a thousand other things to note, enable 
 us to understand and appreciate the imagery of 
 the Bible, and how Jesus Christ, as the prophets 
 before Him, made use of the most ordinary- 
 circumstances of everyday hfe and articles of 
 everyday use, in order to enforce spiritual truth 
 by parable, proverb and homely illustration.
 
 52 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 IX 
 
 THE LAND AND THE BOOK 
 
 The Bible is the best handbook to the Land. 
 The Land is the Land of the Book, and the 
 Book is the Book of the Land. Each wonder- 
 fully authenticates the other. Napoleon wrote: 
 "when camping on the ruins of those ancient 
 sites they read aloud Scripture every evening in 
 the tent of the General-in-chief. The analogy 
 and the truth of the descriptions were striking; 
 they still fit this country after so many centuries 
 and changes" (quoted by Sir G. A. Smith). To 
 this it may be added that given time, reverence 
 for God's word, an observing eye, a sympathetic 
 heart, not sites and scenes of the country only, 
 but habits of the people, products of the soil, 
 and nature's dealing with the land, all combine 
 to illuminate the word of Scripture and confirm 
 the truth of its wonderful story (Ps. cxix. i8). 
 Without the Bible, interest in the .Land will 
 evaporate: \\dth the Book in hand, interest in 
 each will deepen and knowledge increase. 
 
 X 
 
 PRESENT POPULATION AND RELIGIONS 
 OF PALESTINE 
 The present population of Palestine consists 
 of Jews, Christians, and Muhammadans. All 
 told it is well under a million, perhaps hardly 
 more than three-quarters of that figure. Jews 
 and Christians form, about one- third of the total.
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 53 
 
 The former are found chiefly in Jerusalem (where 
 they largely outnumber Christians and Moslems), 
 Hebron, Jaffa, Haifa, Tiberias, Safad, and 
 JeAvish agricultural colonies scattered well over 
 the countr\^ A small sect of Samaritan Jews, 
 claiming descent from the Ten Tribes, exists at 
 Nablus. They still sacrifice the Passover on 
 Mt Gerizim, holding it and not Mt Zion to be 
 the true centre of God's worship (Jn iv. 20). 
 Christians are found in all these towns, also in 
 Bethlehem., Ramallah, Gaza, Nablus, Nazareth, 
 Acre, Salt, in greater or less numbers; and (in 
 some cases not more than a family or two) in a 
 good many villages. These Christians belong 
 mainly to the Greek Orthodox Church and are 
 called "Rilm": others are Roman Catholics, 
 called "Lateen": and others still, those of 
 Protestant Churches, are called " Brtitastant" or 
 " Injiliyeen " (Gospellers) : there are besides a few 
 Coptic, Armenian and Jacobite Christians. The 
 term "Catholics" in Palestine indicates Chris- 
 tians who belong to an Eastern Church which 
 recognises the headship of the Pope of Rome. 
 
 The Muhammadans form the bulk of the 
 population, and are found practicalh^ in all the 
 towns and villages of the country. Many of the 
 villages are exclusively Muhammadan. Among 
 this native Ara.bic Moslem population are 
 colonies of immigrant Moslems from Bosnia 
 (e.g. at Caesarea) ; of Turkomans from Turkestan 
 (e.g. near Salt) ; and of Circassians from the 
 Caucasus (e.g. about Mt Tabor and East of the
 
 54 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 Jordan). Mr A. R. S. Macalister in the Ency. 
 Brit, says of the "Fellaheen," "It is by no 
 means unreasonable to suppose that there is a 
 fundamental Canaanite element in this popu- 
 lation.... New elements no doubt came in under 
 the Assyrian, Persian and Roman dominations. 
 ...The spread of Islam introduced a very con- 
 siderable Neo-Arabian infusion." 
 
 People called Druses are found on Mt Carmel 
 and in a few Galilee villages : and more largely in 
 the district called Jabal Druse, S. of Damascus. 
 Their religion — a secretive one — is distinct from 
 Muhammadanism, though it has features in 
 common with it. A small Persian community, 
 called Babis, exists at Acre and Haifa. They 
 imphcitly submit to their leader, the Baab, or 
 Door, and regard him as in some abstruse way 
 an emanation from the deity. There are three 
 well-to-do German colonies in the country ; that 
 at Jerusalem, mainly commercial; those at Jaffa 
 and Haifa, chiefly agricultural. Most oithe early 
 settlers were from Wiirtemberg, which they left 
 some 45 years ago fired wath the desire to re- 
 build the Temple: hence their name, not quite 
 lost, Templars. 
 
 Arabic is the language of the people : in places 
 like Jerusalem (especially) and Jaffa most Euro- 
 pean languages, and even others, are in daily use. 
 
 People living in the towns are called " Mada- 
 myeh" \ those in the villages, "Fellaheen" \ and 
 those in tents, styled by us Bedouin, are termed 
 "Amh."
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 55 
 
 XI 
 INDUSTRIES AND AGRICULTURE 
 
 Palestine industries, if such they are worthy of 
 being called, are neither extensive nor advanced. 
 Soap is made at Nablus and other places; glass 
 of a simple kind at Hebron; small sickles and 
 knives at Nazareth. Rush and reed mats, coloured 
 floor rugs and sacking of goat and camel hair, a 
 coarse woollen cloth for the native outer garment 
 or cloak, called "abeh," and cotton for women's 
 dresses, are woven in a good many towns and 
 villages, and even Bedouin encampments. The 
 hair rugs and sacking are more generally made 
 for home use than to be sold. Gaza was noted 
 for its rough pottery in the form of water- jars 
 and cooking-pots. The making of native sad- 
 dlery, the curing of goat-skins, whether for use 
 as water-skins (as at Hebron) or as red shoe- 
 leather, and the beating out of metal plates into 
 cooking and washing utensils, obtain in places of 
 any size. It should be stated, however, that 
 none of these native crafts are practised so 
 assiduously and brought to the same perfection 
 as at Damascus, which place is a real emporium 
 of Oriental industry and commerce. 
 
 Before the war one Jewish colony near Jaffa 
 had established a large and successful vine- 
 culture and wine-making plant. In others, in 
 Galilee, experiments were being made in the 
 rearing of silk-worms, silk-spinning, and the 
 making of perfumery. Considerable trade was
 
 56 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 done at Jaffa in oranges where the gardens 
 were very extensive and were every year being 
 extended. 
 
 The chief business of the town-bazaar or 
 village-shop is barter in things of everyday need. 
 The native is a born trader. 
 
 Palestine is essentially an agricultural and pas- 
 toral country. Wheat, barley, maize, the sesame 
 plant, lentils with other leguminous crops, and 
 various fruits — figs, water-melons, bread-melons, 
 grapes, pomegranates, mulberries, apricots, to- 
 matoes and oranges, already referred to — are 
 largely cultivated. The olive tree is to be found 
 all over the country — in some parts in great pro- 
 fusion. Before the war raisins and olive oil were 
 shipped abroad in considerable quantities. The 
 banana grov/s at Tiberias and Jericho; and the 
 date-palm at Gaza, Jaffa, and Acre, The tobacco 
 plant is mdely grown : and in years gone by the 
 cotton plant was cultivated in Galilee. The 
 rich loamy soil, where it has depth, can hardly 
 but be capable of the utmost productiveness, and 
 even the toy hand-plough (as we should regard 
 it) exacts a considerable toll of crops from the 
 unpromising hill sides. 
 
 Flocks of sheep and goats, led out of a morning 
 and back of an evening, from ever}^ village and 
 Bedouin encampment scour the country for pas- 
 turage all the year through. They supply milk, 
 sour milk (laban), cooking butter (seman) and 
 cheese, — all staple articles of food. Buffalo milk 
 (about Acre and Lake Huleh), sheep milk (by
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 57 
 
 Turcomans), and camel milk (by the Bedouin) 
 are also used. Mutton is the flesh food; beef is 
 hardly ever eaten by the natives. The native 
 bread, made in various forms, is in Palestine, 
 very hterally, "the staff of Hfe." The horses, 
 though seemingly so small and light, are full of 
 breed, and are assuredly among the finest riding 
 horses in the world. 
 
 XII 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS 
 
 It seems well and necessary to point out that 
 the people of Palestine differ much from those of 
 Egypt. They are for the most part a mountain 
 people, and have many of the characteristics of 
 mountaineers of other lands. The country too 
 has for long centuries past remained a back- 
 water of the world. The people have lived a life 
 largely apart from that of the nations. They 
 may be regarded as unsophisticated, simple, and 
 largely unversed in the arts of life, as Westerns 
 understand these things. Centuries of such 
 separated life have bred in them strong con- 
 servatism, great independence of character, and 
 innate suspicion of ways other than their own. 
 The ties of relationship engendered of a common 
 family, a common village, a common religion (be 
 it Christian or Muhammadan) are strong and 
 tenacious. Law, nature-made, custom-made, 
 village-made in regard to respect for religious 
 observance, reverence for church or mosque,
 
 58 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 veneration for old age and a markedly restrained 
 behaviour towards women, all enter into the 
 very warp and woof of their everyday life. One 
 reason for this may be that governmental 
 authority has troubled itself little with this side 
 of the people's hfe; they have therefore been 
 their own law makers and enforcers. Another 
 reason may be, that the two religions of Chris- 
 tianity and Muhammadanism existing side by 
 side have served to give such laws of tradition 
 more emphasis and lastingness than might other- 
 wise have been the case. 
 
 These facts, too, help to explain how it 
 comes about that the law of blood-feud obtains 
 to-day all through Palestine. Kinsman or clans- 
 man, though he wait long, unceasingly and 
 remorselessly^ watches the opportunity for ex- 
 acting the blood of him (or, failing the culprit 
 himself, that of a member of his family or tribe) 
 who has slain his fellow. The divisions wrought 
 among families and clans, the danger to hfe 
 incurred, and the difficulties attending recon- 
 ciliation, all arising from such blood-feuds, are 
 past belief and description. 
 
 The people of Palestine down to the veriest 
 beggar have an innate gentility of manner; even 
 the Crusaders were struck by this. Hospitality is 
 part of their very being : they give of their own 
 food without stint and therefore feel they have 
 a right to share that of others. They read charac- 
 ter quickly. They appreciate kindness, but re- 
 sent wrong, especially by the " Franj " (men
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 59 
 
 from the West), and never forget it. Not un- 
 likely, biding their time, they may seize a chance 
 to requite it. Their ideas of truth and straight- 
 forward dealing differ much from what men of 
 British race have been brought up to hold, yet 
 the native of Palestine, though making no secret 
 of having a lower standard for himself, looks for 
 this high standard in the man from the West — 
 and most especially in the " Ingleese " (English- 
 man). His ideal for you is the highest in justice, 
 fair dealing, high probity, all round. Of great 
 worth is the asset of a good name, deserved and 
 preserved. 
 
 If counsel may be given it is this. Respect the 
 native as a man with a long pedigree of history 
 behind him. Avoid the mistake of putting him 
 in the same category as the negro, or the bush- 
 man. Never outrage his laws of life, social or 
 religious. Forbear to ridicule his way of doing 
 things, remembering he has not had your advan- 
 tages. In some things 3^ou may find he can give 
 you points, so wait, watch, learn. Be kind, but 
 not familiar. Be scrupulously just. Never make 
 a promise, except you mean literally to fulfil it. 
 " Kilmeh Ingleeseyeh" — "on the good faith of 
 an Englishman" — is almost a proverb in Pales- 
 tine. Be it your whole aim to keep this reputa- 
 tion of your country and countrymen a living 
 and unsullied thing. 
 
 Bear in mind that the Moslem is not a feUow- 
 religionist with yourself, and that his inclination 
 may be to view you from the first with suspicion.
 
 6o Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 Disarm such suspicion by carefulness in points 
 the hke of those just mentioned. With the 
 Arabic-speaking Christian — be he Protestant, 
 Greek or Latin — 3^ou largely share a common 
 faith; and he will less readily misunderstand you. 
 But it is well to be on your guard therefore 
 against either ignoring him on the one hand, 
 or becoming too familiar on the other. Gain his 
 respect, he can help you ; lose it, you may come 
 to be sorry for it. 
 
 Perhaps it is not amiss to quote Lord 
 Kitchener's striking message addressed to each 
 soldier of the British Army in August, 191 4: 
 
 "You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the 
 King to help our French comrades against the 
 invasion of a common enemy. You have to per- 
 form a task which will need your courage, 3^our 
 energy, your patience. 
 
 "Remember that the honour of the British 
 Army depends on your individual conduct. It 
 will be your duty not only to set an e:i:ample of 
 discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but 
 also to maintain the most friendly relations with 
 those whom you are helping in this struggle. The 
 operations in which you are engaged will, for the 
 most part, take place in a friendly country, and 
 you can do your own countr^^ no better service 
 than in showing yourself in France and Belgium, 
 in the true character of a British Soldier. 
 
 "Be invariably courteous, considerate, and 
 kind. Never do anything likely to injure or 
 destroy property" and always look upon looting
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 6i 
 
 as a disgraceful act. You are sure to meet with 
 a welcome and to be trusted : your conduct must 
 justify that welcome and that trust. Your duty 
 cannot be done unless your health is sound. So 
 keep constantly on your guard against any ex- 
 cesses. In this new experience you may find 
 temptations in wine and women. You must 
 entirely resist both temptations and while treat- 
 ing all women with perfect courtesy, you should 
 avoid any intimacy. Do your duty bravely; 
 Fear God; Honour the King." 
 
 If such words, when they were written, had 
 meaning (and they had) for the British soldier 
 in his relations vv^ith fellow Europeans and 
 Christians in France and Flanders, how much 
 weightier that meaning when applied to inter- 
 course with strangers, be they Muhammadan 
 or Christian Asiatics. 
 
 The following words of Saladin, an Eastern 
 himself and great soldier too, addressed to his 
 son are worth quoting: " I commend you to God 
 Almighty. He is the source of all good. Do the 
 will of God, for that is the way of peace. Beware 
 of bloodshed, trust not in that, for spilt blood 
 never sleeps....! have become great as I am, 
 because I have won the hearts of men by gentle- 
 ness and kindness Never nourish ill-feeUng 
 against any man, for death spares none. Be 
 prudent in thy dealings with other men, for God 
 will not pardon unless they forgive you " {Jeru- 
 salem, Sir C. M. Watson). 
 
 Some soldiers in Palestine before Saladin's
 
 62 Palestine and Jerusalem 
 
 time came to a great teacher for advice and they 
 got this: " Do violence to no man, neither accuse 
 any falsely," or as otherwise expressed "Put no 
 man in fear, neither exact anything wrongfully." 
 So taught John the Baptist, Lu. iii. 14. How 
 fine a soldier in heart and spirit, testified to 
 by Christ and man, that of whom we read in 
 Luke vji. i-io ! 
 
 A Cambridge College has this for its motto: 
 "Prosperum iter facias" — "Good going to thee" 
 — may that be true for each reader of this little 
 book. As soldier and sojourner in Palestine, as 
 one of Anglo-Saxon stock and Christian calling, 
 in work and life, in body and soul, " To thee Good 
 Going." 
 
 DAYSPRING 
 
 For loe the world's great Shepheard now is borne, 
 
 A blessed babe, an infant full of power : 
 After long night, uprisen is the morne,. 
 
 Renowning Bethlem in the Saviour. 
 Sprung is the perfect day, 
 
 By prophets seene afarre : 
 Sprung is the mirthfull May, 
 
 Which Winter cannot marre. 
 In David's citie doth this sunne appeare : 
 
 Clouded in flesh, yet Shepheards sit we here. 
 
 Edmund Bolton (xvii. cent.).
 
 A Soldier's Handbook 63 
 
 TABLE OF DATES 
 (Some of these are only approximate) 
 
 B.C. 
 
 192 1 Abraham arrives in Palestine. 
 
 1745 Birth of Joseph. 
 
 1 57 1 Birth of Moses. 
 
 1 49 1 The Exodus of Israel from Egypt. 
 
 1 45 1 Death of Moses. Israelites enter Canaan. 
 
 1 429-1 095 Probable era of the Judges. 
 
 1095 Saul anointed King. 
 
 1015 Death of David and accession of Solomon. 
 
 1004 Dedication of Solomon's Temple. 
 
 975 Revolt of Ten Tribes from Rehoboam. 
 
 910-885 Era of Elijah. 
 
 760-700 Era of Isaiah. 
 
 721 Deportation of Ten Tribes by Shalmanezei. 
 
 586 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem. 
 
 537 Decree of Cyrus and return of Jews from 
 Babylon under Zerubbabel. 
 
 516 Dedication of Second or Zerubbabel's Temple. 
 
 458-432 Era of Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 
 332 Alexander the Great in Palestine. 
 
 167-64 Era of the Maccabees. 
 63 Romans under Pompey take Jerusalem. 
 17 Building of Third or Herod's Temple. 
 4 JESUS CHRIST born at Bethlehem. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 33 The CRUCIFIXION. 
 
 35 Conversion of St Paul. 
 
 70 Titus takes Jerusalem. 
 
 136 Emperor Hadrian rebuilds Jerusalem. 
 
 312 Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. 
 
 335 Constantine builds Church of Holy Sepulchre.
 
 64 
 
 A.D. 
 
 637 Moslems under the Caliph Omar capture 
 
 Jerusalem. 
 1093-1291 Era of the Crusades. 
 1517 Jerusalem taken by Turks. 
 1542 Present walls built by Sultan Suleiman. 
 1799 Napoleon in Palestine. 
 1830-42 Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt dominates 
 
 Palestine. 
 
 1841 Founding of C. of E. Bishopric in Jerusalem. 
 
 1842 Turkish authority restored. 
 
 1865 Founding of Palestine Exploration Fund 
 
 (2 Hinde St., London, W.). 
 1867-70 Excavations of P.E.F. at Jerusalem under 
 
 Lieut. C. Warren, R.E. 
 1871-77 P.E.F. Survey of Western Palestine. 
 1874-8 Lieut. Kitchener, R.E., Sur\'eying in 
 
 Palestine for P.E.F. 
 1917 (Dec. 9) Jerusalem taken by British troops 
 
 under Gen. Allenby. 
 
 THE BABE 
 
 Beginne from first where He encradled was 
 In simple cratch, wrapt in a Wad of Hay 
 Betweene the toylfull oxe and humble ass, 
 And in what Rags, and in how base Aray, 
 The Glory of our heavenly Riches lay, 
 When Him the silly shepherds came to see, 
 Whom greatest Princes sought on lowest knee. 
 Edmund Spenser (xvi. cent.). 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : PRINTED BV J. B. PEACE, M.A. 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
 
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