The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-05-08
PALESTINE AS 1T is.
Land Chosen of God to Teach Human
Race.

Of peculiar timeliness, because of
widespread American interest in the
future of Palestine, is communica-
tion to the National Geographic So
ciety from Viscount James Bryce,
former British ambassador to the
United States.
The historic Holy Land, released
from deadly Moslem domination, may
take it's place among the "prosper-
Gus and even populous" civilized
states of today, he states, if admin
istered by "a government which
should give honest administration,
repress brigandage. diffuse education,
irrigate the now desolate, because
sunscorched, valley of the lower Jor-
dan by water drawn from the upper
course of the river"
A part of Viscount Bryce's commu-
nication follows: "Palestine is a
tiny little country. Though the trav-
eler's handbooks prepare him to find
it small, it surprises him by being
smaller than he expected. Taking it
as the region between the Mediter-
ranean on the west and the Jordan
and Dead Sea on the east, from the
spurs of Lebanon and Hermon on
the north to the desert at Beersheba
on the south, it is only 10 miles long
and from so to 60 broad-that is to
say. it is smaller than New Jersey.
"Of this region large parts did n&
really belong to ancient Israel. Their
hold on the southern and northern
districts was slight, while in the
southwest a wide and rich plain
along the Mediterranean was occu-
pied by the warlike Philistines, who
were sometimes more than a match
for the Hebrew armies. Israel had,
in fact, little more than the hill
country, which lay between the Jor-
dan on the east and the maritime
plain on the west. King David, in
the days of his power looked down
from the hill cities of Benjamin, just
north of Jerusalem, upon Philistine
enemies only 25 miles off, on the one
side, and looked across the Jordan
to Moabite enemies about as far off,
on the other.
"Nearly all the events in the his
tory of Israel that are recorded in
the Old Testament happened within a
territory no bigger than the State OF
Connecticut whose area is 4,S0O
square miles; and into hardly any
other country has there been crowd
ed from the days of Abraham till
our own so much history that is to
say. so many events that have been
recorded and deserve to be recorded
in the annals of mankind.
''Nor is it only that Palestine is
really small country. The traveller
constantly feels as he moves about
that it is a small country. From the
heights few miles north of Jerusa-
lem he sees, looking northward, a
far-off summit carrying snow for 8
months in the year. 1t is Hermon,
whose fountains feed the rivers Of
Damascus.
"But Hermon is outside the terri
tory of Israel altogether, standing in
the land of the Syrians; so, too, it is
of Lebanon. We are apt to think of
that mountain pass as within the
country, because it also is frequently
mentioned in the Psalms and the
Prophets; but the two ranges of Leb-
anon also rise beyond the frontiers
of Israel, lying between the Syrians
of Damascus and the Phoenicians Of
the west. Perhaps it is because the
maps from which children used to
learn Bible geography were on a
large scale that most of us have
failed to realize how narrow we're
the limits within which took place ali
those great doings that fill the books
of Samuel and Kings. Just in the
same way the classical scholar who
visits Greece is surprised to find that
so small a territory suficed for so
many striking incidents and for the
careers of so many famous men,"