Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-09-06

anu inc birthplace OF great DdNlu
greater Son." Leading to it is a fine
| macadamized road, constructed, like most
| of the other good roads in Palestine, in
| 1888 for the bene1t OF the German en-
| peror. Many time cid We have occa-
sion TO thank Emperor William for MAX
| ing that visit to Palestine. Before that,
/ do not suppose a new road had been
built in the country since the days of the
| Romans. about the first century A. D.,
and, In fact, / doubt II any repairs had
! been made upon any road in Palestine
since that time From the description OF
| travellers the roads must certainly have
| been wretched. At any rate, as a result
of the visit of Emperor William,
there are now good roads running to
many of the important places of Pales-
tine, among them Bethlehem.
Starting from the Jaffa gate on the
west the road follows the Valley Of Hin
nom to the southwest part OF the city.
then sweeps gracefully over the hills,
giving a beautiful view OF the surround
ing mountains and valleys. Passing the
new. railway station. which seems so
much out OF place in the midst of its
ancient surroundings; the English Eye
! hospital, which is a very important insti-
tuition in a land of flies and sore eyes;
we see on the left the Hill of the Field
| of Blood, so called because 1t is said that
| on this hillside lies the tract of land pur-
chased by the Jewish priests with the 80
! pieces of silver which the remorseful
Judas brought back and flung at their
feet. Another hill is known as the Hill
Of Evil Council, because tradition says
that on the summit of the hill was situ-
ated the country house of Caiaphas,
where the enemies Of Jesus met to plan
His death. Nearby Is a thorn tree on
which Judas is said to have hanged him
self A little farther on is the Well OF
the Magi, where the three wise men saw
reflected in the water the star which
had appeared to them in the east, but of
which they had lost sight. If you do not
believe the story you can see the star In
the well now. twinkling in the dark
water, which is irrefutable proof of its
truthfulness.
About half way between Jerusalem ana
Bethlehem on the summit of the highest
point between the two places is
MAR ELIAS,
or the Hill OF Elijah. on which Is stu
ated the Greek Catholic Convent Of Eli
jah. According to local tradition Elijah
stopped here the first night when fleeing
from the Infatuated Jezebel after his
great victory on Mount Carmel. which re-
suited in his putting to death the 4S0
prophets of Baal. The place where he
lay with a stone for his pillow. Is shown
pilgrims, and also a great boulder In
which Is deep impression said TO nave
been made by the prophets foot. Mar
Elias is about half way between Jezreel
and Beershcba. If Elijah reached 1t the
first night after leaving the presence OF
Jezebel he must have made pretty good
tine-whch he probably did. At least
think l should have done so IL had been
fleeing from q woman like Jezebel On
| the left of the road Is e well from which
| the holy family is said to have drunk
one time. The water is still fairly good.
little farther on is the Ht .sesr
FIELD OF PEAS. e- -.o.-
The story is told that one day as
Jesus was passing along the road He
saw a man sowing. lie asked the man:
| What are you sowing?' To which the
man replied CURLY; Stones" The peas
he was scattering Immediately turned 70
stones, and ever since tho field has yield
ed only stones. The basis of truth for
the tradition is the fact that in the field
there are many small round stones about
the size OF pea.
80 $40 TOMBz OF RACHEL
On the roadside about four mines from
Jerusalem and one mile from Bethlehem,
Is the tomb of Rachel This is one OF
! the known genuine sites in Palestine. You
remember the story, how when jacob
was returning from .Padan Aram with
! his family, as he came near Ephrath,
later called Bethlehem, Rachel, his be-
loved wife, died in giving birth to q son,
whom before she died she called Beno-
nj. (tho son of my sorrow) but whose
name Jacob changed to Benjamin (the
son of my right hand) Jacob buried her
where she died, and set up pillar
upon her grave" as a monument to her.
This pillar was afterwards enlarged into
a rather imposing tomb, by whom is not
known Jacob himself. you know, Is
buried in the Cave of Machpelah at
Hebron, along with Leah. his other wife.
1t seems strange that Jacob should have
had Leah, for whom he never seems to
have had any special love, buried by his
side in the Cave of Machpelah and have
left his beloved Rachel to sleep on the
roadside in her lonely grave. After he
had become settled in Hebron he might
have had her body moved there Or, at
any rate one would think that at the
edath of Jacob, Joseph, then prime
minister of Egypt, who brought his IA
theirs body to Hebron to be buried In the
Cave of Machpelah would at the same
time have had the body Of nachel, the
mother Of Joseph, moved from the road
side and buried in the family purying
ground But they did not. And there
she sleeps today in lonely grave on the
roadside, and has slept for nearly 1000
years We were quite fortunate. The
day we passed by the tomb on our way
to Bethlehem happened to be the ami
versary Of Rachel's death according to
Jewish calculations, and a number of
Jews from Bethlehem and Jerusalem
had gathered there to lament her death.
The tomb was open. We went in. Some
dozen or more Jews were sitting around
the tomb reading their Hebrew Bibles.
waiting, and some of them were actually
in tears, so said some members of our
party, though / must confess 1 did not
see the tears Considering the fact that
Rachel had been dead about 1900 years,
it seemed rather curious that the Jews
should still keep up the custom of meet
ing at her tomb, on the anniversary of
her death, and also, it is said, on every
Friday afternoon. to lament her death,
whether they actually shed tears or not.
Just before reaching Bethlehem the road
forks, the right hand fork going to He
bron and the left to Bethlehem. A few
days later we took the right hand fork
the road. on the left. This is
thought to be the well TO which David
referred. The Philistines occupied Beth
lehem. David had fed to the Cave of
Adullam. There came over him a long
ing for the water In the we'll at the
old home. such as every one of my read
ers has Drobahlv felt at times He ex-