and Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand, so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib and struck him not again, and he died" (2 Sam. xx. 9-12). And here came the retribution for both these tragedies. Joab, in the hour of his despair, fled "unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold of the horns of the altar," and while there, by order of Solomon, "Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up and fell upon him and slew him" (Kings ii. 28-34). Neby Samwil, (the ancient Mixpeh, according to Robinson, Porter, and others), towers immediately above the town of El-Jib. It stands on a solitary mountain peak over 600 feet above the plain of Gibeon, and 2650 feet above the sea level. It is one of the highest points in Palestine, and commands, perhaps without exception, the finest view in the land. Before giving any account of the history of Mizpeh, the view must be explained, as this will first attract the attention and excite intense interest. Let the traveller proceed at once to the mosque on the summit of the hill, and make his way to the roof-or, better still, to the top of the minaret. There are Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives to the south-east, and further to the right, Bethlehem! Tens of thousands of pilgrims have gazed upon Jerusalem for the first time from here. Here Richard Cœur de Lion first beheld it, and, covering his face with his hands, cried aloud, it is said, as he knelt, "O Lord God, I pray Thee that I may never see thy holy city, if so be that I not rescue it from the hands of thy enemies!" may No one will need to be told which is Jerusalem, or which the Mount of Olives, or the Frank Mountain, or Bethlehem. The hills of Moab form a striking feature in the landscape, but the Dead Sea is hidden. The Jordan Valley, too, is hidden, but the Wadies leading to it may perhaps be discerned. From here, as from the Wely above Nazareth (p. 284), the smallness of the land must impress itself upon the mind of every traveller. Dr. Norman MacLeod, referring to this, says, “We saw across it. On one side was the great sea, on which sails were visible; on the other, the range of Moab, which is beyond the eastern boundary of Palestine. To the south we saw within a few miles of Hebron; while to the north we discovered the steep promontory of Carmel, plunging its beak into the sea. It is difficult to conceive that the Palestine of the Patriarchs-that is, the land from the inhabited 'south' to the great Plain of Esdraelon, which like a green strait sweeps past Carmel to the steeps above the Jordan, and separates the old historical land of Canaan from Galilee-does not extend further than the distance between Glasgow and Perth, and could be traversed by an express train in two or three hours. But so it is. The whole land, even from Dan to Beersheba, is not larger than Wales. We saw not only the entire breadth, but almost the entire length of the Palestine of the Patriarchs from the heights of Neby Samwil." Looking westward, the downs of the sea-shore may be traced for a great distance; on a mound is the site of Ashdod; to the left of that is Ekron; Ramleh and Lydda will be seen on the plain, and in the further distance Jaffa. Southward is seen Bethlehem and the Frank Mountain; below the spectator, Tuleil-el-Fûl, the Gibeah of Saul; while in the immediate foreground will be seen the Plain of Gibeon, the scene of the Beth-Horon battles. There are many places which a dragoman will point out, such as Azotus (Ashdod), whither Philip was conveyed by the spirit; Ekron, where the ark abode; Yâlo, the ancient Ajalon; and numerous other places of more or less interest. Neby Samwil, the Mizpeh of the Old Testament, was a city in Benjamin (Joshua xviii. 26), and here the great national assemblies of Israel were held in the time of the Judges. "Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh" (Judges xx. 1). any When Samuel mourned over the sins of Israel, he said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizpeh" (1 Sam. xii. 5, 6). One of the most remarkable scenes in Mizpeh was when a young man was brought hither, and "when he stood among the people he was higher than of the people from his shoulders and upwards . . . and all the people shouted and said, God save the king" (1 Sam. x. 24, 25), and Saul became their king. It was between Mizpeh and Shen that " Samuel took a stone and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto the Lord hath helped us" (1 Sam. vii. 6—12). The town was fortified by Asa (1 Kings xv. 22). Gedaliah was assassinated here (2 Kings xxv. 23—25); and when, in the time of Nehemiah, the wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt, the men of Mizpeh joined with the men of Gibeon in rebuilding one portion of the wall (Neh. iii. 7, 15, 19). The modern village has not anything of great interest for the traveller. A Mahomedan tradition makes this the birth-place of Samuel, but there is strong evidence to the contrary. They also affirm that it is the place of his burial, and with a good backsheesh they will show his sarcophagus and winding-sheet. By the Crusaders, Neby Samwîl was regarded as the ancient Shiloh (p. 247), and the present mosque, which was formerly a Latin church, was built by them. The distance from here to Jerusalem is a little under six miles, and will be traversed in less than two hours. The route descends the hill-side, passes two reservoirs cut in the rock, and enters the valley of Beit Hanîna, with a village on the left, from which the name of the valley is derived. Soon after crossing the valley, a steep ascent has to be made; the Tombs of the Judges (p. 181) are passed, and in about twenty minutes Jerusalem comes in view. |