Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-11-08

Jews. The result WaS a mixed or mon
grei race. The Jews have always been
jealous Of the purity of their blood.
They are to this day, you know. You
can tell a Jew wherever you see him.
The Jews do not inteTmarry with the
people Of other races. The fact that
some Jews intermarried with these As
syrian colontsts caused the Jews TO re-
gard them as reneSades and to look
down upon them as people TO be de-
spiSed
On ..s return Of the Jews from the
Babyloniau captivity the Sanaritans
yoU renlembe-, refused TO help them re-
| huIld the walls of Jerusalem and the
temple, and threw all sorts of obstacles
in the way of their rebuilding. On the
contrary, the Samartans established a
sanctuary Of their own and erected
temple on Mount Gerizim, as we saw
last week This was about 500 B. C., in
the interbiblical period.
SAMARITAN CLAIMS.
They claim that Mount Gerizim is
Mount hIoriah, on which Abraham Of
fered up Isaac. The fact that the plain
in front Of IL is called Moreh lends col
OF to this claim. Besides. the account
states that "on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes and beheld the place
afar off, Genesis, 22:4D that is, it was
hams home, and Il is commended by the
Samaritaps that Jerusalem was not
three days Journey from Hebron. The
SamaTitans claim also that here is where
Abraham met Melchizedek and that
from this event the mountain was call
cd Ar-Geriziul, which means the noun
tain OF the most high. Lest 1t be thought
that these claims of the Samaritans are
too preposterous for serious considers-
ton II should be stated that such au-
thorities as DR.. William NJ. Thomson,
author of The Land and the Book,
Dean STANLEY, and repre- sentatives of thu
Palestine Exploration society support
their claims and locate these events on
Mount Gerizim. As conclusive and ire
futabie proof of their claims the Sa-
maritans show on Mount Gerizim an
ancient thorn tree covered with the
ra gs of pilgrims as the site of the
thicket il not the very tree, in which
the ram was caught. Despite this ev-
idence, (?l however, and despite the
high authorities to the contrary, l must
say that ] agree very strongly with the
Jews and with the Christian world gem
orally that Jerusalem is the place where
Abraham Offered up Isaac, and where
he met Mclchizedek. The rock on Mount
Moriah. which is still there, enclosed in
The Mosque Of Omar, seems exactly tit
ted for such an event To the OBJECTION
that Jerusalem is not three days jour
ney from Hebron reply:
/ Travel in the east is much slower
than in the west. Distances must be
measured by a mans walk, not horses
trot, and certainly not by locomotives
speed.
?. In the days of Abraham they did
not have the fine carriage roads now
running from Jerusalem to Hebron.
That was quilt in the year 1898 A. D.,
not 1000 E c. The roads in Abrahams
time were very rough, and travel over
them must have been very slow.
8. 1t is distinctly stated that Abraham
was dwelling when this incident occurr-
ed not in Hebron. but in Beersheba,
some miles farther away to the south
west and that he returned to Beersheba
afterwards Genesis, 21:21, 50 81: %:
1s) Considering the distance from Beer
sheba to Jerusalem and the roads they
had to travel. together with their means
of travel, it is not at all surprising that
II was a three days journey.
STANDING QUARREL.
At any rate. the question of the proper
place Of worship. whether in Jerusalem
or on Mount Gerizim, constituted a
standing quarrel between the Jews and
was the meaning of the remark made
by the woman at the we'll to Jesus:
our fathers worshpped in this noun
tain; and We say, that in Jerusalem is
the place where men ought TO wor-
ship.'' CJohn 400 Which is right? So
bitter was this quarrel and .also the
quarrel growing out of the intermar-
rage of the Samaritans that the Jews
would have mo dealings with the Sa-
4.aN Co
maritans seem to have fully recipro-
Gated the feelings of the Jews toward
them. They did not tamely submit to
be despised by the Jews. They had not
learned the Christian spirit, to love their
enemies, 10 return love for hatred, good
for evil. kindness for injury. They re-
turned hatred for hatred. evil for evil,
injury for injury. They followed the in
junction in Exodus to give "eye for eye.
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot
for foot burning for burning, wound
for wound stripe for stripe" EXODUS
q "a, 25). And they did II with all their
might They did everything they could
against the Jews. They would light
false beacon fires on the mountains to
deceive them. They scattered dead
mems bones in the temple at Jerusalem.
And so there was the bitterest sort of
feeling between the Jews and the Sa
maritans. The Jewish writer, the son
of Sirach, said, "A foolish people dwell
in Shechem." There was the intensest
prejudice between them. which the pref
udices between the white and negro
races IN America rothe castles in In
dia may serve to. illustrate, but COM
pared TO which these are very feeble.
THE GOOD SAMARITAN.
And now / think We can better I'M ,
derstand and appreciate that wondrous-
ly beautiful parable of the Saviour
about a certain man who was going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he
fell among robbers who both stripped
him and beat him and departed, leaving
him half dead" A priest came by and !
saw the poor man lying there. But he I
was in a hurry. He did not care to be |
bothered with the man. SO he passed |
by OH the other side" far from the |
man as he could get. So also a Levite |
But a certain Samaritan. as he jour |
neyed. came where he was. and when he |
saw him, he was moved with compass |
sion, and came 10 him, and bound up |
his wounds, pouring on them oil and |
wine; and he set him on his own beast |
and bought him to an inn. and took ]
care of him" Luke 1888, 3D. 1t was ,
something as II a man were going down !,
from Nashville to Memphis or Atlanta |
to Savannah and fell among robbers. !