The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-02-11

idPluiSS iliS oUul, WHICH, Will liiC iiSaFSiiy
Canaan and the Celestial City in view.
ne deseends into the shadoWy of valley OF
death, crosses in safety the Jordan and
passes triumphantly home"
The Land of Moab included the south
ern part of this territory from Edom to
the mountains of Gilead. When first
taken by Moses, he took as some of the
spoil 675 900 sheep, 1900 beeves and
afterwards Moab paid as tribute to Israel
200, 900 lambs and rams and this would
not surprise you if you were to see the
country-its ruins. etc. Some of the ruins,
as of Rabbath Ammon, are immense,
hundreds of beautiful granite and marble
columns streW the ground, some of them
90 feet long and IS or 20 feet.in circum-
ference. One very unique building near
the river must have been designed for a
tomb or, perhaps was the repository of
the ''lron bedstead," of Og, the giant
king of Bashan " (Deut. I'D
The gateway on the north. where it is
thought Miah fell, is a wonderful piece
OF workmanship A writer said he saw
eamels feeding among the ruins fulfilling
the prophesy of Ezekiel-''I willmake Rab-
Rabbath stable for camels "'(Ezk. $3.50
OF Heshbon, the royal city of Sihon, king
of Amorites, but little is known and little
remains. Her famous fish-pools are In
ruins, her wall lie in the dust; and she
indeed presents condition to justify
lSalah's plan,ive language, 81 will water
thee with nv tears, O, Heshbon." Elsa.
500 Near Rabbath Ammon, in 1874 was
found the remains of a temple
and among the ruins was found
Of
relecvo." The hair was parted in the
middle and hung in ringlets over the
sides of the face, resting gracefully on the
shoulders. This figure, it is thought rep
resented Ashtaroth, the queen of the
heans, and consort of Baal, the favorite
goddess of the old Phonicians, whose first
settlement, long anterior to the founding
of frye or Sidon, were east of the Dead
Sea and in this neighborhood.
RQbboth Moab, the Acropois of the
Greeks, became the capital of Moab after
the Amortes took possession of that por
ton of the territory lying north of the
river Arnon. The old Roman road from
Petia, running north passes through it
along which may still be seen some of the
milestone giving the distance in Roman
numerals to unknown places. MANY of
the streets are clearly defined. The gate.
ways are plainly marked, some beautiful
columns are still standing, and half buried
in rubbish are the remains of tombs,
temples, theatres and other edlfces, show
ing the extent and grandeur of the city
that was "laid waste and brought to
silence in night" lisa. 1871 "The
road to the Arnon," along which the
children of Israel must have Travelled when
they came up out of Egypt NAV still be
traced from to the city in the midst
of the river" Gosh. 1900 and in places
the ruts may still be seen, worn bv
chariot wheels in its solid bed A gre at
deal more could be written of Moab, but
will now write the "Prison of John Bap-
fist, the stern prophet of the Wilderness
1t is the place of greatest interest to the
Christians in all this land, the lonely
fortress and castle of MachaertN 1t is
mentioned by both Pliny and Strabo as
among the strongest Notifications of the
Jews, and where John the Baptist was
beheaded.
About midway between Wady Zerka
on the north and the river Arnon on the
south. two of the deepest, widest gorges
that cut their way down to the Dead Sea
from the east. on bold spur of the noun
tains that projects westward from the
mainland and appears to overhang the
sea four thousand feet below, are the
ruins of this celebrated fortress. The
spar IS two miles long. The place natur-
ally strong, was rendered almost invulner.
able by numerous walls, bitches and
towers, the remains of which are scattered
over the ridges. The fortress was circu-
lar, about one thousand feet In circum-
ference, the walls of which can still be
traced, and, as described by Jewish histo-
rlans, were of great strength, and one
hundred and sixty cubits high. The val.
ley which formed the natural defences of
this fortress are of great depth. so deep.
that the eve could not reach the bottomt -
Within the citadel was the royal palace.
the place of Johns imprisonment and
martydom. The palace according to
Josephus, was of towering height and
vastly beautiful" the ascent to which,
from the tower city, was by a secret Stair
case, which also communicated with great
cisterns cut in the sides of the mountain,
one of which is 90 feet long, 20 feet wide,
and 80 deep, hewn out of solid rock, with
steps leading down to it on the north.
Among the remains of the castle are
seen two vaulted dungeons, 80 feet long
and 20 wide, near the wall on the south;
in one of which the forerunner of Christ
was likely beheaded. A writer on VISIT
ing the place says, sit was with peculiar
emotion we hunted among the rubbish of
ages for some memento of the place, and
when we found the mouth piece of an old
earthern water jar, we could not but think
that perhaps the parched lips of the martyr
might once have touched that piece of
potter clay. Very sad, indeed, to visit
the scene of such painful events"
Josephus gives a full description of
Machaerus and its eventful history Jew
ish wars WHO, and the place in every
particular answers the description. It
was built by Alexander, son of Hyrcanus
l., but afterward enlarged and strengthen
ed by Herod the Great, who. to protect
his Arabian frontier, made it the most
formidable fortress east of the Jordan.
To this castle Herod Antipas brought
Herodia, his brother Philips wife, having
first parted from his own wife, the
daughter of Afetas, King of Arabia, with
whom he had lived long time. John
was at the same time preaching and bap-
tiZinp i'm the nelohhorhood He fold