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W I L M E T T E L I F-E December 9, 1927 From Jernsalem to Nazareth Great Journey REV. F. C. STIFLER TEW OF WONDERFUL SCENERY Jacob's Well of High Interest to Tourist-Finds Nazareth Is Overchurched Herewith is presented the ninth article of the series by the Rev. Francis Carr Stifler, pastor of Wilmette Baptist church, describing his recent tour of the Holy Land. He tells of the magnificent scenery on m o t o r trip from Jerusalem to Nazareth. I j' II f:. -~~-'~ ' By REV. FRANCIS CARR STIFLER ~--------------~ 1 F ulll' I IJ r~tul;l udg,':-. ChrPtlirk~ at a ~ittin~·. ' and rememla.T all h(' n:ad. · h(~ "·ould t'Yl'll t.IH·n not Ita n .· an l'Xperit·nn· read tlw_ .Hook:-. uf ~a mtu:l. h.mgs and I (Illite :'O iniorming as to traYcl in a hig comiortahle automubilt· undt·r a rompeh'tt t guide, from Jcrtt:-alem to Xazarcth in a day. Jt i:' that trip about whirh 1 wish this week. The road is splt:nclitl. Its foundations were laid by tJlc l~omans, its latest surface by Englishmen, and our wonderful America made the car that smoothed out what humps were left. _Tn all. t}tc jour:I'-'Y was hut t·ighty nules. \\ c left Jerusalcm at nine o'clock. Our first sto1> was RamaJt:a:1. 1 almost thought we were in Amerit·a. Jbmallah is the place from ·which mo!'lt nf th~ successful Palbtinian J cws in .-\mt·nca han· come. Al:lny have also . rt·turrwd and · brou~ht the fla,·or of "The States" hack with them. The tll\\"11 has clcanliucss and \·arid\· oi huilding :and methods oi mcrl"han.iising that suggt·st at least Goph~r Prairit· ,.r Tonncn·illc. A Quaker school f'"·r ho~·~ is located th('re. From the beautiiul \"t·randa of this school we ~ot our parting g-limpse of thf' :\lt. of Oli,·es. to .. write · Town of Beeroth lnterestinr ti,,n all the place~ that we saw. But nnt far from l~amaJiah was oi con!'uming- intcrt·st. It was a to\\·n (·aile< I Bt·croth. I h·n>, so traditi~n has i_t. tht· cara\·an returning to Nazareth trom the Ff'ast at .lt·rusalcm. stOJ)pt·d and !\lary found that Jesus had hcen ldt hehind. She found him talkin~ with the theo1ogiral profc!'sors in tht· '1\·rnplt'. Our journey took u~ through thC' mo:O.t ma~nificcnt scenery till at length we came to Jaroh's well. 'fhis is a not lH'r of the LHHJUC~tioned spots of Rihle History. Just before we reached the spot, I left the car. hurried over thC' field and up the hilt to get the proper sunli~ht for tlw picture T had waited for for <la~·s. It was a Shep_her<l lc:tding- his sh<"C'p. There' I had him. Thl're were sheep and goats. hlark and whitf'. and the shrpherd in the van. !\fy pirturl' wa" prettv much a failure .a" a pirturr of a slwplwrd :trHI his sll(·t·p. hut I <li~rn,·.:n·d that in the hack~romHl T had ~ft. Ehat wiH·n· th<· ~:unaritan' worshipp<'<l. tlH' walk1l endo..;ure amnnd laroh\ wrll tlJt.: white dome of the Tortlh of Jos(·pl~ :ttHI tht· l"illage of Sn·har from which t:.e women · ranw ·and talke<f with J(':-us at tlw wt.·ll. Fh·e ~unda,· school k..: . . nn in onf' picture! . Drink at Jacoh's Well It i~; rc~n·ttcd that zealous churchtlH·n fed the need of building sanctu<ni<·" over e\·<:r~· ~arrerl !\pOt. \Vith (.l!H: It would weary you if I should mt.·n - THE PICTUREs-Hut is Nazntth, so promintnt in Biblt history (top)Ar.abic childrtn btfort church of Jostph's workshop in Nazartth (ltft ctnttr) -J udgmrnr Hall in Samaria (bonom) -Church of Annunciation .;and Mary's Wrll. N.uurth (lowu right). jn~t a ru~ti(· shelter ncar at hand for pil~rim cori1fort, Jacob's \Veil would tdl it:\ ~torv so much better. But none the less. the well is there and a kindly old . Monk is in char~c. He t·tTen·~t us a drink of it!' sparkling water in a sih·er cup. \Vc took little bottlt·s of it ,,·ith us just for sentiment's sake-ami we thought long, long thoughts. \Ve lunched that day in .Nablous. which is modern Shechem. This city was the hardest hit in all the land lH· the eartlutuake of July 11, less thai1 four weeks hdore we rC"ached there. More than thirty people lost their lives and more than half the town was utterly destroyed. J Iistory repeats itself and Nature nen:r \'iolates her laws f,,r countless times this narrow valtcv hetwc<.·n l\lt. Ehal and :\h. Geraziti1 ha.; het·n shakt·n with the trt"mors of olcl eartl . The ;lH·rage crit ic;al American had he been with us, would sav that he had no fond memories of N·ablous. 'l,he hotel was decitlt.·dly primitive. 'l'hc hrl':td was gray and sour. 'rlw umutton" was tough goat meat. The butter was from the same soun·e. the flies were thick, the waiters stupid, the heat terrific, but Pollyanna reminds me that I ate there at that table the most tldicious grapes I C\'t·r had. They \Hre a:-; large as plums and with a rtdclish skin as thin and ddic,tc as t i~~m· pap~r. :uul each delicious grape was either sc<:dlcss or with but a single tin~· se<:d. l\1 av t'\'(·n· tllt:morv fade from Kahlous except .the sn·n~·rv and the grapes! · Our m·xt stop w:t:; the cit\' of ~a maria. To J,!('t tht.·rc our ,·a·r 11ad to .nwcl rwart·t· to Jh:rpendH.·uJ;..:.r than I suppos(.·d a '.ar would .L!'o. And e\·cn t.hen we climhed hv foot 200 fe(·t iurtlH'r. · Sarna ria wa~ the dazzling rt't!al center of Ahah's court huilt by his fathcr, Omri. Here h·zt·hd df'monstrat<·d how low wom;.mkincl can sink. A~ain't this citv came Bcnhadad twi,·c nnl~· to he n·ptils('fl, and again to hold his sit·gc for thn-c y(·ars, ag-ain only to rl'tire in cO!.fusion. F.\·f'ntnallv Augustus Caesar gave the site t~ I fermi who fortified and adorned it in honor of his patron. fn 1901 Harvard archaeolo~ists beg-afl their f'Xcavation hert". The ruins that tlwy have unearthed gave us our mo~t rewardinJ;! opportunity to stmly the (Continued oa.t 1)agc 59)