Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-04-11
PALESTINE As 1T IS.
Land Chosen of God to Teach Human
Race,

Land Chosen Of God to Teach Human
Race.
OF peculiar timeliness, because of
widespread American interest in the
future Of Palestine. is q communica-
ton to the National Geographic 80
ciety from Viscount James Bryce,
former British Ambassador to the
United States.
The historic Holy Land, released
from deadly Noslem domination, may
take its place among the prosperous
and even populous" civilized states
Of today, he states, If administered by
"a government which should give
honest administration, repress brigan-
dage, dinfuse education, irrigate the
now desolate, because sunscorrhed,
valley Of the lower Jordan by water
drawn from the upper course Of the
river"
A part of Viscount Bryce's commu-
nication follows: Palestine Ii tiny
little country. Though the travellers
handbooks prepare him to find it small.
it surprises him by being smaller than
he expected. Taking it as the region
between the Mediterranean on the west
and the Jordan and Dead Sea on the
east, from the spurs Of Lebanon and
Hermon on the north to ths desert at
Beersheba on the south, it is only 10
miles long and from so to go broad
that is to say, 1t Is smaller than New
Jersey.
"Of this region large parts did not
really belong to ancient Israel. Their
hold on the southern and northern dis
tricts was slight while in the south
west wide and rich plain along the
Mediterranean was occupied by the
warlike Philistines, who were some
times more than a match for the He
brew armies. Israel had, In fact,
little more than the hill coun-
try, which lay between the Jordan 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 Jer-
usalem, upon Philistine enemies only
25 miles OF, on the one side, and look
ed across the Jordan to Moabite ene-
mics about as far of, on the other.
Nearly all the events in the history
of Israel that are recorded in the Old
Testament happened within q terri
tory no bigger than the state Of Con-
necticut whose area Is 4,S00 square
miles; and into hardly any other coun-
try has there been crowded from the
days of Abraham till our own 80 much
history-that Is to say, 80 many events
that have been recorded and deserve
to be recorded in the annals Of man
kind.
Nor is it only. that Palestine IL
really small country. The traveller
constantly feels as he moves about
that it is small country. From the
heights few miles north of Jerusalem
he sees, looking northward, far-off
summit carrying snow for eight months
in the year. It is Hermon, nearly. TO-
900 feet high-Hermon, whose foun-
tains feed the ri ',rs Of Damascus.
"But Hermon is outside the terri
tory of Israel altogether, standing in
the land of the Syrians; so, too. It Ii
of Lebanon. We are apt to think Of
that mountain pass as within the coun-
try, because it also Is frequently mem
toned in the Psalms and the Prophets:
but the two ranges Of Lebanon also
rise beyond the frontiers Of Israel, ly-
ing between the Syrians Of Damas-
Gus 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 were the limits within which
took place all 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 suf-
feed for so many striking incidents
and for the. careers of so many fam
Gus men,"