HARVEST AMONG THORNS-ROBBERS. 537 Gennesaret is now pre-eminently fruitful in thorns. They grow up among the grain, or the grain among them, and the reaper must pick the "harvest out of the thorns," as Job says the hungry robber shall do with that of the foolish, whose habitation he suddenly cursed.1 Do you suppose that Job refers to gleaning out that which grows thus among thorns? They would certainly take all the rest first, and so this threat would imply that the robbers would make thorough work of it, and leave nothing behind them, not even that which grew among the thorns. There is another explanation possible. The farmers, after they have threshed out the grain, frequently lay it aside in the chaff in some private place near the floor, and cover it up with thorn-bushes to keep it from being carried away or eaten by animals. Robbers who found and seized this would literally take it from among thorns, and the disappointment to the "silly one" would be aggravated by the reflection that he had gathered and threshed it, and needed only a day of wind to make it ready for storing in his granary. These farmers all need the exhortation of Jeremiah, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.2 They are too apt to neglect this; and the thorns, springing up, choke the seed, so that it can not come to maturity. And now here is the 'Ain et Tîny (Fountain of the Fig), concerning which Dr. Robinson has discoursed largely, and about which we shall have something to say by-and-by. Does it take name from these wild fig-bushes growing in the cliff above it? Probably. There may have been, and I suppose were, such there in the days of Josephus; they are always found at such places. The Jewish historian, however, does not mention this fountain, at least not under this name. According to the parable of our Lord, we may know that summer is nigh from this fig-tree, For his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves.3 True; but in this sheltered spot, six hundred feet below the level of the ocean, summer comes on very early. The 1 Job v. 5. 2 Jer. iv. 3. 3 Matt. xxiv. 32. translator of my Josephus pauses to expound, in a note upon his assertion that fig-trees here yield fruit ten months in the year, that most difficult passage in Mark xi. 13, where our Saviour is said to have sought figs on a tree near Jerusalem at the time of the Passover, and found only leaves. The explanation is, that they were old leaves which he saw, and old figs that had remained on all winter which he expected to find, for he supposes that in Gennesaret figs must have remained on the trees all winter through. But, whatever may be the true solution of the difficulty, this will not pass, for fig-leaves are among the very earliest to fall in autumn, and no old leaves could have been found on a tree on Olivet in the month of April, though fresh ones certainly might. Have you met with any thing in this country which can clear away the apparent injustice of seeking figs before the proper time for them? There is a kind of tree which bears a large green-colored fig that ripens very early. I have plucked them in May, from trees on Lebanon, a hundred and fifty miles north of Jerusalem, and where the trees are nearly a month later than in the south of Palestine; it does not, therefore, seem impossible but that the same kind might have had ripe figs at Easter, in the warm, sheltered ravines of Olivet. The meaning of the phrase, The time of figs had not yet come, may be that the ordinary season for them had not yet arrived, which would be true enough, at any rate. The reason why he might legitimately (so to speak) seek fruit from this particular tree at that early day, was the ostentatious show of leaves. The fig often comes with, or even before the leaves, and especially on the early kind. If there was no fruit on this leafy tree, it might justly be condemned as barren, and hence the propriety of the lesson it was made to teach, That those who put forth in profusion only the leaves of empty profession are nigh unto cursing. The objection that this tree did not belong to our Saviour, and therefore he had no right to take the fruit, is answered by a reference to the Mosaic law in such cases. Josephus BARREN FIG-TREES-'AIN ET TINY. 539 thus expounds it: "You are not to prohibit those that pass by, when your fruits are ripe, to touch them, but to give them leave to fill themselves full of what you have." And the custom of plucking ripe figs, as you pass by the orchards, is still universal in this country, especially from trees by the road side, and from all that are not inclosed. And after the "feast of the cross," which occurs in September, the figs that remain on the trees are common property, and the poor have permission to enter the orchards and gather all they can find. This singular custom seems to have come down from remote antiquity, and is in beautiful correspondence with the spirit of more than one of the precepts of Moses. Are barren fig-trees still found, and does their fruitfulness depend greatly upon careful culture, as may be inferred from the parable in Luke xiii. 6-9? There are many such trees now; and if the ground is not properly cultivated, especially when the trees are young -as the one of the parable was, for only three years are mentioned they do not bear at all; and even when full grown they quickly fail, and wither away if neglected. Those who expect to gather good crops of well-flavored figs are particularly attentive to their culture-not only plow and dig about them frequently, and manure them plentifully, but they carefully gather out the stones from the orchards, contrary to their general slovenly habits. But here come our mules, and we will go on with them to Tabiga, where it will be more safe to spend the night than at this solitary 'Ain et Tîny. Take notice, in passing, that this Fountain of the Fig comes out close to the lake, and on a level with the surface, and therefore could not have irrigated the plain of Gennesaret. Our path is in the channel of the ancient canal which conveyed the water from Tabiga westward to this plain. The bold bluff above, with its artificial Tell, was once occupied by a castle, built, I suppose, to command this pass round the lake, and also the road to Jub Yûsuf and Jisr Benat Yacobe. It is called Arreîmeh, and, when occupied as a fort, no one could pass this way out permission from its commander. with It has taken us just fifteen minutes from 'Ain et Tîny to these great fountains of Tabiga; and while the servants are pitching the tent and preparing dinner, we may ride on half an hour farther, to the site of Tell Hûm. These Arabs seem never to leave this shore, for I always find just such an exposé of semi-black, semi-naked urchins to stare and grin at me: Dr. Robinson also mentions them. Traces of old buildings extend nearly all the way along the shore from Tabiga to Tell Hûm, to which we must descend over these heaps of lava boulders which encumber the shore and the fields. Whatever we may conclude with regard to Tell Hûm, it is evident that there was once a large town at this place. The shapeless remains are piled up in utter confusion along the shore, extend up the hill northward for at least fifty rods, and are much more extensive and striking than those of any other ancient city on this part of the lake. With two exceptions, the houses were all built of basalt, quite black, and very compact. Like all such ruins, the stones were rudely cut, but, like them also, they are preserved entire, and will remain so for thousands of years. The stone of this temple, synagogue, church, or whatever it may have been, is a beautiful marble cut from the mountains yonder to the northwest, where it is seen in place, and very abundant. I think, with Dr. Robinson, that the edifice was a synagogue, of the same age as those of Kŭdes, Kefr Bŭriam, Marone, and other places of Galilee; the work, however, is more massive, and in a higher style than at any of the above-named places. The site of this building was much more exposed when I was here many years ago than it is at present, and I found more columns, entablatures, cornices, and other fragments laid bare than can be seen now. Some of them were of a beautiful pale pink or rose-colored marble. These Arabs have piled up the ruins into a few rickety huts for themselves and their cattle; but when I was here in 1848 there was not a human being in sight, and very probably he who comes here next spring will find it equally solitary. How luxuriantly every thing grows about it! These net SHORE OF GENNESARET. 541 tles and thistles are the largest, sharpest, and most obstinate we have yet encountered. They will be still more so two months hence; and nowhere else will you see such magnificent oleanders as at the head of this lake. I saw clumps of them here twenty feet high, and a hundred in circumference, one mass of rosy-red flowers—a blushing pyramid of exquisite loveliness. What can be more interesting? A quiet ramble along the head of this sacred sea! The blessed feet of Immanuel have hallowed every acre, and the eye of divine love has gazed a thousand times upon this fair expanse of lake and land. Oh, it is surpassingly beautiful at this evening hour. Those western hills stretch their lengthening shadows over it, as loving mothers drop the gauzy curtains round the cradle of their sleeping babes. Cold must be the heart that throbs not with unwonted emotion. Son of God and Saviour of the world! with thee my thankful spirit seeks communion here on the threshold of thine earthly home. All things remind me of thy presence and thy love. "There's nothing bright above, below, From flowers that bloom to stars that glow, Some feature of thy Deity." And I am thankful that God, manifest in the flesh, selected this lonely, lovely shore for his dwelling-place, and sanctified it by his mighty miracles and deeds of divine mercy. I would not have it otherwise; and most sweet is it at this calm and meditative hour, "For twilight best Becomes even scenes the loveliest." There is something spirituelle in the coming on of evening, Earth's many children to repose; While round the couch of nature falling, Gently the night's soft curtains close." As you seem to run into the poetic, listen to another lay, such as your soft muse in silk slippers never sang. |