CHAP. Samaritans. herds were feeding, as of old1; nor in the simple garb of the shepherds of Samaria was there any thing to contradict the notions we may entertain of the appearance formerly exhibited by the sons of JACOB. The Jews of the twelfth century acknowledged that the Tomb of JOSEPH then existed in Sichem, although both the city and the tomb were the possession and the boast of a people whom they detested. "The town," says Rabbi Benjamin2, "lies in a vale, between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, where there are above a hundred Cuthaans3, who observe only the law of Moses, whom men call Samaritans. They have priests, of the lineage of Aaron who rests in peace; and those they call Aaronites, who never marry but with persons of the sacerdotal family, that they may not be confounded with the people. Yet these priests of their law offer sacrifices and burnt-offerings in their congregations, as it is written in the law; Thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim.' They therefore affirm that this is the (1)“ And ISRAEL said unto JOSEPH, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in SHECHEM?" Genesis xxxvii. 13. Lond. 1783. (2) See the translation by Gerrans, p. 69. (4) Deut. xi. 29. by Jewish Writers; from See Josephus, Antiq VI. House of the Sanctuary; and they offer burnt- CHAP. offerings, both on the Passover and on other festivals, on the altar which was built on Mount Gerizim, of those stones which the Children of Israel set up, after they had passed over Jordan. They pretend that they are descended from the tribe of Ephraim; and have among them the Sepulchre of Joseph the Just, the son of our father Jacob, who rests in peace according to that saying, 'The bones also of Joseph, which the Children of Israel brought up with them out of Egypt, buried they in SHECHEM.""-Maundrell, the only English writer who has visited Napolose, is more explicit than the earlier Christian pilgrims, concerning this place; but he was principally occupied in discussions with a Samaritan priest, concerning the difference between their text and the Hebrew, and in identifying the two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim, between which the city stands. He notices, however, the Tomb of Joseph; still bearing its name, unaltered, and venerated even by the Moslems, who have built a small temple over it. Its authenticity is (5) Josh. xxiv. 32. (6) "We saw on our right hand, just without the city, a small mosque, said to have been built over the sepulchre purchased by Jacob of Emmor the father of Shechem. (Gen. xxxiii. 19.) It goes by the name of Joseph's Sepulchre, his bones having been here interr'd, after their transportation out of Egypt. (Josh. xxii. 32.)" Journ. from Aleppo to Jerus. p. 62. Oxf. 1721. CHAP. not liable to controversy; since tradition is, in this respect, maintained upon the authority of sacred Scripture; and the veneration paid to it, by Jews, by Christians, and by Moslems, has preserved, in all ages, the remembrance of its situation'. Having shewn upon a former occasion, that tombs were the origin of temples, it is not necessary to dwell upon the utter improbability of their being forgotten among men who approached them as places of worship. The Tomb of JOSHUA was also visited by Jewish pilgrims in the twelfth century. This is proved by the Hebrew Itinerary of Petachias, who was contemporary with Benjamin of Tudela; and its situation, marked by him with the utmost precision, is still as familiar to the Jews of (1) "In Sichem verò relata fuerunt ossa Joseph ex ÆGYPTO.", Eugesippus, P. iii. Evμμ. L. Allat. Col. 1653. (2) See Vol. II. of these Travels, c. ii. p. 75. octavo edit. Venet. 1746. (4) "Non licet R. Petachiam seculo xii. statuere antiquiorem, sed illud potiùs consequitur, R. Benjaminem et R. Petachiam fuisse coævos." Introd. in Petach. Itin. ab J. Christoph. Wagenseilio. Ibid. 1161, 1162. (5) "Mons. Gaasch valdè excelsus est, atque in eo conditus Obadias Propheta. In hunc montem præaltum, per gradus fit ascensus, qui, ibi incisi sunt, atque in medio montis sepultus est Josua filius Nun, et, juxta eum, Caleb Jephunne filius. PROPE HORUM MONUMENTA FONS SCATURIT, E QUO AQUA OPTIMA PER MONTEM MANAT, IPSISQUE SEPULCHRIS, BASILICA EGREGIE ADJICIUNTUR." Petachia Itiner. Ibid. 1205, 1206. VI. Palestine as the place where the Temple of CHAP. Solomon originally stood. It was, in fact, in the midst of a renowned cœmetery, containing also the sepulchres of other Patriarchs; particularly of one, whose synagogue is mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela, as being in the neighbourhood of the warm baths of Tiberias. These tombs are hewn in the solid rock, like those of Telmessus in the Gulph of Glaucus, and are calculated for duration, equal to that of the hills in which they have been excavated. may also be worthy of notice, that, when writers of the age of Benjamin and Petachias are speaking of the immediate receptacles of embalmed bodies, as relics held in veneration by the Jews, they refer to SOROI constituting integral parts of mountains; which have been chisseled with a degree of labour not to be conceived from mere description. These are It monuments on which a lapse of ages effects no change they have defied, and will defy, the attacks of time, and continue as perfect at this hour as they were in the first moment of their completion. Thus we are informed in sacred Scripture, according to the Septuagint Version, (6) Benjaminis Itinerarium, cap. 10. Helmst. 1636. VI. CHAP. that, when Joseph died, "they embalmed him, and he was put ‘év Tŷ Zópo' in Egypt;" that is to say, in one of those immense mono-lithal receptacles to which alone the Antients applied the name of ΣΟΡΟΣ: they were appropriated solely to the burial of men of princely rank; and their existence, after the expiration of three thousand years, is indisputably proved, by the appearance of one of them in the principal Pyramid of EGYPT. Therefore, when our English Translators render the Hebrew or the Greek appellation of such a receptacle by our word coffin, necessarily associating ideas of a perishable box or chest with the name they use, it is not surprising to find it stated by Harmer, in his Observations on Scripture, as an extraordinary fact, that the remains of distinguished persons in the East were honoured with a coffin, as a mark of their rank; whereas, says he, "with us, the poorest people have their coffins :" or that other authors should deride, and consider as preposterous, the traditions mentioned by Jewish Rabbins, which, at this distance of time, (1) Gen. L. 26. In the English Version, the words are, "He was put in a coffin.” (2) See Harmer's Observations on Scripture, vol. III. p. 69, 70. Lond. 1808. |