Palestine

The land inhabited by the Israelites seemed from its position to have been predestined to form a meeting- point in the world’s lines of communication.

On the western side its situation brought it into connexion with the Mediterranean coasts; on the south-west the country was closely bound to Egypt, that land of ancient civilization ; on the south to Arabia, which was traversed by richly laden caravans; while on the north there were approaches from the coast by the Merj ‘Ayytn (‘the entering in of Hamath,’ Nu 348, Jos 13°, and often), and by the S.E.

side of Antilibanus, to the cultured lands beyond, and further to the great empires of the Euphrates. It was only on the east that an insurmountable barrier to com- munication was presented by the cheerless desert. l’or the Israelites themselves, however, these ad- vantages of situation had not the significance that might have been expected.

The seacoast with its harbours, some of which were poor enough, was (apart from the period referred to in Gn 491%) in the hands of the Phcenicians and the Philistines, to whom thus belonged the important points at which. the caravans coming from Damascus or Arabia unloaded their goods for further transport by sea.

Consequently the Israelites, when they sought to take a share in international commerce, found themselves compelled to make the distant port of ‘Ezion-geber the starting-point of their shipping trade. It was not till the latest period of Jewish history that they got Joppa into their hands, a possession afterwards supplemented by the harbour of Czsarea, which had been repaired by Herod.

The ancient caravan road connecting Damascus with Arabia, the modern Pilgrim Road, ran along the eastern side of the territory of the Israelites, and thus was of no service to them. In like manner the important caravan road from Gaza to Arabia touched only a small and thinly peopled tract of their country.

On the other hand; the great caravan road connecting Damascus with the middle part of the Mediterranean coast and with Egypt ran right through the territory of Israel, and offered its people a variety of advantages, which they did not fail to utilize when the State ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN OT) reached under Solomon the culminating point of its culture. In the interior of the country the extensive stretch of mountains, interrupted by steep descents, presented a serious obstacle to communication.

Any one who has made journeys in Palestine knows from experience how travelling is a course of up hill and down, and how at every turn de- clivities have to be passed which it is a severe task for one’s horse to mount or to descend. For the most part, one has to ride at a walking pace; it is but rarely that valleys are encountered with a level surface where horses can gallop for any lon. stretch.

Besides, the tract on the western side o the Jordan is separated from that on the eastern side by the deep depression of that river.

In the dry season, it is true, communication between the two parts of the country is kept up by numerous fords, but during the rainy season these are for the most part impassable; while, on the other hand, the winding and impetuous course of the stream makes it impossible to use it as a water- way between north and south, The only excep- tion in this respect is the broad expanse of the Lake of Gennesareth, offering great advantages ta the dwellers upon its shores.

Nevertheless, the gradually developed high civili- zation of the Israelites led to the difficulties of communication being overcome as far as was prac- ticable, and there arose, as the Old Testament shows, a network of roads covering all the in- habited parts of the country.

From this point of view, the monarchical period, from the reign of Solomon onwards, must have been of special significance; but, on the other hand, the differ- ence between the earlier and later periods must not be exaggerated. The country to which the Israelites came as settlers alrea ssessed @ certain measure of civilization.

The Wel ei-Aiuaine letters, which in so many respects have enlarged our knowledge of the pre-Israelite history of Canaan, mention, amongst other things, caravans which the Egyptian vassal-princes in Canaan were in the way of sending under escort to Egypt.* This points to the existence of routes of com- munication.

We gather also from the Song of Deborah that in the period of the Judges there were roads with a brisk traffic in the Northern kingdom, for the condition of things that had supervened owing to the weakness of the Israel- ites is described in these terms: ‘The high- ways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways’ (Jg 5°). ii. HEBREW TERMS FOR ‘ROAD.’—The usual Hebrew word for ‘road’ is 7737 (derekh), which, from its pected 8 probably means ‘ground trodden upon.

’ Side by side with it we have the word nbpy (mésillah), which occurs also in the Inscription of Mesha, and whose radical meaning is undoubtedly that of a road which has been constructed by the filling up of hollows, and which is kept up by artificial methods. More poetical is the employment in Hebrew of the word mk (6rah), which, on the other hand, is the usual term in Aramaic. Likewise more poetical are an} (nathibh) or 13n} (néthibhah) and (common in Aramaic and Arabic) ‘:3¥ (shébhil).

A narrow road shut in on both sides was called Siyyp (mish'6l, Nu 22™ only); the road that ran right through a valley or led over a stream was 73yD (ma'‘dbhar) or 7732yD (ma‘badrah) ; the steep road up a declivity, aby> (ma‘dleh), or, down it, 19 (mérad), In the figurative language of the OT the notion * Of. Nos. 180, 189, 242, 256 in Winckler’s edition (Petrie, Nos. 254, 231, 42, 41).

+ That there were much frequented roads also in the southern portion of the land is evident from the narrative of Gn 88, where the kédéshah takes her seat by the wayside to be seen by passers-by.

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w &T CLARK 28 | | oe SSS er _| 46 48 W.&AK Johnston Limited Edinburgh, ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN OT) ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN OT) 369 of ‘road’ or ‘way’ plays a prominent part, a circumstance probably connected not with the increase of communication but with recollections of the nomadic pre-historic period of Israel’s history.

In the desert the discovery of the right path is often a question of life, for the wanderer who fails to find a well of water or who stumbles upon an enemy’s quarters speedily falls a prey todeath. In this way the language of the OT is to be understood when it speaks of a wa to life and one to death (Pr 6” 1017 12% 1412 212°, Jer 218), or of a way that perishes (Ps 1°), or that is shut up (Job 198).

When God means to destro a nation He closes up its way with a wall* or wit thorns (Hos 2°@)), His law teaches Israel the right way, from which, however, the people con- stantly wander (Jer 31, cf. Is 2%). He who follows the example of another walks in his ways (1 K 15% and often). Illustrations of similar usages might be multiplied indefinitely.

The same figurative mode of expression prevails also in the Koran, whose first hearers must have been familiar with the importance of path-finding to the Bedawin. iii. VARIOUS KINDS OF ROADs.—In many pas- sages of the OT the word ‘way’ or ‘road’ un- doubtedly stands for a simple bridle-path. It is the latter that is the initial stage in the process whereby men and beasts tread the same ground ear after year.

Thus the very old Pilgrim Road Sam Damascus to Arabia consists merely of a number of parallel tracks without any artificial construction, and recalls the passages in the ancient Arab poets where such roads are compared to striped cloths from S. Arabia.

On the hills of Palestine the hard limestone soil forms a firm foundation for the roads, which for long stretches require nothing more in the way of construction, eal present no inconvenience to the traveller ex- cept at spots where the winter rains have washed down accumulations of stones. The existence of artificially formed roads is not necessarily implied in the passages where chariots or waggons are spoken of.

According to the OT, the great plain between the hills of Samaria and Galilee was the roper home of chariots of war, which could move . with ease (Jg 4°, cf. 2K 9”). But besides this we hear also of vehicles traversing the hill- country proper—e.g. Gn 45% (from Hebron to Egypt), 1S 6 (from ‘Ekron by way of Beth-shemesh to Kiriath-jearim), 2S 6 (from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem), 2S 15!

, 1 K 15, Is 22'8, Jer 17% (from and to Jerusalem), 1 K 12'8 (from Shechem to Jerusalem), 1K 22” (from Ramoth-gilead to Samaria), 2 K 7% (from Samaria to the Jordan), 2 K 5%: 2 (from Damascus to Samaria), 2 K 10}: (from Jezreel to Samaria, cf. 977"). With refer- ence to Gn 452” Robinson (BRP? i. 214 f.) declares that the road from Hebron to the south cannot ossibly have been traversed by wagyons, and Pose he assumes that they must have made a circuit by the Wddy el-Khaltl.

In like manner he asserts that the road between Hebron and Jerusalem must have been impracticable for aay: thing on wheels. But in that case the OT «ould not have spoken at all of vehicles travelling from and to Jerusalem, for none of the roads leading to the capital are a whit better than the Hebron road. Nor can it well be doubted that the chariots which Absalom collected in connexion with his projected rebellion (2S 15!) were procured at Hebron.

As a matter of fact, there is no ground for Robinson’s remark if one keeps in mind that the light two- wheeled chariots of war and the clumsy ox-waggons (1 5 6) could travel not only on perfectly primitive *The method of blocking a road by means of a wall (173) formed of loose stones is described by Guthe in Mitteil. u. Nachrichten des deutschen Pat. Vereins, 1896, p. 9