April 1932
176
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
e JEWISH WORLD . . . B y J. A. V a u s
Samaritans Observe Annual Passover
Pharaoh’s Daughter’ s Tomb I r w a s Mr. Futterer’s privilege, while exploring Palestine, to stand upon the ruins o f the ancient city of Jericho, whose walls fell before the presence of the golden ark. From these ruins, one can see the Mount of Temptation to the west, the
Beersheba, or “ W e ll o f the. Oath” e e r s h e b a - —what a history this place has had 1What a treat for one to set foot on that sacred soil where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob often came to “the well o f the oath” ! In the Bible narratives, we frequently
or a p er io d of about 2,650 years, the Samaritans of Palestine have observed the annual Passover sacrifices. In com mon with the Hebrews and others, they date their calendars from the creation.
It is a matter of fixed belief with t h e m t h a t the Messiah will yet appear at the expiration of 6,000 years from creation; they do not, however, consider that Messiah will be any greater a personage than Moses. It is generally known that the Samaritans are in possession o f one of the very oldest known man uscripts o f the Pentateuch. It was the writer’s priv ilege to observe and to make a cinema film of the Samaritan observance of the Passover, and at that time there were also pres ent about 500 Jews from Tel Aviv. T h e Samaritans com mence their religious de votions in tents about fourteen days before the actual sacrifice, d u r i n g which time their women all remain in their tents. A fter the initial prepar ations, seven young men stand in a circle, each with
read, “ from Dan to Beer- Sheba,” without realizing perhaps t h a t Beersheba lies at the southern ex tremity o f the Promised Land, while Dan is lo cated on the e x t r e m e north.
Here Abraham, the fa ther o f many nations, made a covenant o f place w i t h K i n g Abimelech; here Ishmael was cast out from under the roof of Abraham’s tent, on the weaning of Isaac; here Is aac blessed Jacob instead o f Esau; here also the test came to Abraham when he was sent to Mount Moriah to offer up his own son, Isaac. It was here that Elijah fled from wicked Jezebel, when he was on his way to Sinai; and pos sibly it was here also that Joseph and Mary came with the child Jesus when they fled into Egypt. In spite of the lapse o f 4,000 years, Beersheba, “the well of the oath,” is still in existence, and its cooling waters still prove refreshing to the weary traveler. Dead Sea Tourist Resort O n t h e northwest shore of the Dead Sea, there is soon to be erected a big modern tourist hotel and bathing resort. This work, it is claimed, is to be under taken by a British syndicate now in charge o f the process of extracting minerals from the Dead Sea. The total value o f these rare minerals is said to run into billions of dollars. There is no place in Palestine where an American tourists’ hotel is more necessary than at the Dead Sea, which offers a con venient halfway stopping point between various points o f interest. When it snows in Jerusalem, one may drive to the Dead Sea in an hour’s time and enjoy summer weather. The reason for this is that the Dead Sea is the lowest place on the earth, being 1,300 feet below the level o f the Med iterranean Sea. It is estimated that daily about six mil lion tons o f water flow into Jhe Dead Sea from the Jordan River, and yet though the Dead Sea has no visible outlet, it does not get appreciably higher. ..The proposed hotel will occupy a site about ten miles from Mount Nebo, from whence Moses viewed the Promised Land.
BEERSHEBA, OR “ WELL OF THE OATH”
avowed place where Christ was tempted of Satan, who offered Him the kingdoms of the world if He would worship him. Professor Garstang, who has carried on extensive excavations in Palestine, re cently unearthed a tomb which he claims to be that o f Hatsheput, the daughter of Pharaoh who saved the baby Moses from Pharaoh’s death decree. Professor Garstang has also discovered what is considered &s the best sculptured head o f Christ yet unearthed. He is said to have unearthed a part o f .the Jericho wall. In it were discovered the bones o f the two sons of wicked Hiel, who, according to tradition, once tried to rebuild Jericho, and were overtaken by death in accord with Joshua’s curse in 1 Kings 16:34. Seaplanes on Lake Galilee T h e London-India Air Mail Line sea planes on their way to India now drop into Lake Galilee, take passengers over about 700 miles o f desert, and then drop into the Euphrates River. This is one way o f escaping the danger of being waylaid by the fierce Wahabi Bedouin tribes who make frequent raids on the Transjordan border, and plunder all in their path. As Mesopotamia is the cradle of the hu man race, the new airway may be the medns of encouraging more tourists to make this trip.
a lamb and a drawn knife. A t a given signal, the lambs are slain with the utmost dispatch and are then prepared and roasted in a fire and eaten at the hour o f midnight. The remainder, including the bones and so forth, are then burned as described in the Levitical law (Ex. 12). The Samaritans are neither o f pure He brew blood nor o f uncontaminated worship. Josephus says that, when the Jews were in prosperity, the Samaritans claimed that they were allied to them in blood; but when they saw them in adversity, they de clared that they had no relationship to them, but were descended from the Assy rians. . Conditions in Shechem, after the lapse o f nearly 2,000years, are but little altered from what they were in our Lord’s time, and one can still hear the Samaritan women say in almost the same words as that of the Sa maritan woman o f our Saviour’s time, “ Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” [N o te : The material found in the above current events has been furnished by Rev. A. F. Futterer. It represents in part ex tracts from his book, “ Palestine Speaks,” which may be secured from the Biola Book Room.]
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