Imatges de pàgina
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again: Thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks, which (singularly enough!) are as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead. That is, her locks (not the doves' eyes) were jet, glossy black, like the Syrian goats; but all Oriental poets are fond of doves' eyes. The bride also repeats the compliment to her beloved, and even exaggerates it: His eyes are as the eyes of doves, by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. There is a luxurious, delicious haze and indistinctness about such poetic extravagances which captivate the Oriental imagination. Nor is the comparison wholly extravagant. Doves delight in clear water-brooks, and often bathe in them; and then their liquid, loving eyes, "fitly set" within a border of softest skyey blue, do look as though just washed in transparent milk.

To the millions who devoutly sing of the

"Heavenly Dove,

With all his quickening powers,"

no other symbol either in or out of the Bible suggests so much precious instruction and spiritual comfort as this 2 Song v. 12.

Song iv. 1.

HEBER THE KENITE--ANCIENT COIN.

419

sweet bird of ours. Pure and gentle, meek, loving, and faithful, the appropriate emblem of that Holy Spirit that descended from the opened heavens upon our blessed Lord at his baptism-O may that heavenly dove

"Kindle a flame of sacred love

In these cold hearts of ours."

Our pleasant discourse has brought us up from the depths of Muaddŭmîyeh to this poor village of Alma. Whether it be known to sacred history or not, its site is certainly that of a very ancient town. There is nothing of interest in the village itself, but those black tents which dot the hillside bring to mind the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-inlaw, who left their original home in the Desert, entered Palestine with Israel, and settled first at Jericho, and then in the wilderness of Judah. Some time after this, Heber severed himself from his brethren, came north, and pitched his tent at Zaanaim- plain, oak, or terebinth-near Kŭdes. There is a curious tradition of this thing lingering among the dwellers hereabouts, though confused, and mixed up with incredible fables. An old Metawely sheikh once greatly amused me with his version of the story. It is not worth telling, but it is nevertheless worthy of note that such a tradition is still kept alive in this very neighborhood, and it suggests the question whether these Arabs here may not sustain some remote relation to Heber and his heroic wife. We are coming out upon a very naked and desolate country. It seems quite incapable of cultivation.

The path lies along the dividing ridge between the Hûleh and the great wady Leimûn, and such places are always barren. But if the peasants can not grow corn, they find coin. When I last traveled this road, some children had just discovered a large deposit of silver coin, of the Seleucidæ kings of Antioch, on the mountain a short distance ahead of us, and the whole country was in an uproar about it. I purchased some of the coin for the worth of the silver, which was a fraction less than a dollar. But there is Safed directly before us, with its castle rising conspicuous in the centre. As our visit is not to the people, but to see the town and

the magnificent prospect from the castle, we shall proceed at once to it. When I was here in 1833, the walls were entire, and the interior was a prison for political offenders against the recently established authority of Mohammed Ali. Not being of that class, I could not then gain admittance, but since that time I have often visited it, and the whole is perfectly familiar to me. Let us tie our horses in this interior fosse, and climb to the top. You observe that the shape of the hill is a well-described oval, and the wall corresponds to it. The bottom of the outer ditch is now a very flourishing vineyard, and the entire circuit is not far from half a mile. The wall is mostly modern, but built on one more ancient, portions of which can be seen on the east side. The interior summit rises about a hundred feet higher than this wall, and was a separate castle, strongly defended. By creeping under these broken vaults, you obtain a sight of the true antiquities of Safed. Here are beveled stones, as heavy, and as aged in appearance, as those of the most cel ebrated ruins in the country; and they prove that this has been a place of importance from a remote age.

Is Safed mentioned in the Bible?

It has been identified with the Bethulia of the Maccabees, but erroneously, of course. The fables of the rabbis do not deserve notice. Maundrell, Jowet, and others throw out the hint that this was the city set on a hill which could not be hid; and if that greatest of sermons was preached on the horns of Huttîn, or near them, as tradition affirms, and if any particular city was referred to, there would be plausibility enough in the suggestion. These ancient parts of the castle render it all but certain that there was then a city or citadel on this most conspicuous "hill" top; and our Lord might well point to it to illustrate and confirm his precept. The present Hebrew name is Zephath, and may either refer to its elevation like a watch-tower, or to the beauty and grandeur of the surrounding prospects. Certainly they are quite sufficient to suggest the name. There lies Gennesa

ret, like a mirror set in frame-work of dark mountains and

1 Matt. v. 14.

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