The Rand-McNally Bible Atlas Part 29

We have now to fix the most important =Places= in Palestine. We locate them by their arrangement in the Natural Divisions, and name an event for which each place is remembered.

I. =Places in the Sea-Coast Plain.= [These may const.i.tute one lesson, if desired.] 1. _Gaza_, where Samson pulled down the idol temple upon the Philistines and himself. This lies on the Mediterranean, directly in line west of the middle point of the Dead Sea. 2. _Joppa_, the seaport of Palestine, from which the prophet Jonah started on his voyage. This lies nearly half way between Gaza and Mount Carmel. 3. _Caesarea_, where Paul made his defense before King Agrippa, and was a prisoner for two years. This is a little more than half way between Joppa and Mount Carmel. 4. _Tyre_, the city which sent ships to all lands; a little further north of Mount Carmel than Caesarea is south of it. As each place is named, locate it on the board, and mark it by an initial letter.

II. Another lesson may include the most important =Places in the Mountain Region=. 1. _Beersheba_, the home of Abraham; opposite the lower bay of the Dead Sea. 2. _Hebron_, where the patriarchs were buried; opposite the middle of the Dead Sea, and in line with Gaza. 3.

_Bethlehem_, where David and Jesus were born, 6 miles south of Jerusalem. 4. _Jerusalem_, the capital of Palestine, where David reigned, and where Jesus was crucified; directly in line with the northern end of the Dead Sea. 5. _Bethel_, 10 miles north of Jerusalem, where Jacob saw the vision of the heavenly ladder. 6. _Shechem_, between the twin mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, where Jesus talked with the woman of Samaria. 7. _Nazareth_, where Jesus spent his boyhood; directly in line with the southern end of the Sea of Galilee.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LESSON V.]

III. =Places in the Jordan Valley.= Two of these are near the northern end of the Dead Sea. 1. _Jericho_, west of the Jordan, where the walls fell down before the Israelites. 2. _Bethabara_, east of the Jordan, where Jesus was baptized. Two more are near the northern sh.o.r.e of the Sea of Galilee. 3. _Capernaum_, where Jesus lived during his ministry, and wrought many miracles; on the northwestern sh.o.r.e of the sea. 4.

_Bethsaida_, where Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves; on the north of the sea. 5. The last is at the source of the river Jordan, _Dan_, the most northerly town in Palestine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LESSON VI.]

IV. =Places in the Eastern Table-Land.= There are not many in this section, because few events of Bible history took place there. 1.

_Machaerus_, where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded; opposite the northern part of the Dead Sea. 2. _Penuel_, on the brook Jabbok, where Jacob wrestled with the angel. This is about midway between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. 3. _Mahanaim_, where David wept over Absalom's death. This is about half way between Penuel and the Sea of Galilee. 4. _Caesarea Philippi_, at the foot of Mount Hermon, where Jesus taught his disciples.

It may be desirable not to give these places in a single lesson, but to divide it into two, or even four sections, and give one at a session. In that case, with each lesson all the places already located should be reviewed, together with the events a.s.sociated with them. If the places can be marked upon the board in bright red chalk, they will be prominent.

LESSON VI. PROVINCES.

Review from the beginning, as usual. 1. Lines. 2. Waters. 3. Names. 4.

Distances. 5. Natural Divisions. 6. Mountains. 7. Places.

In this lesson we are to learn the Provinces, or parts of the country, in the time of Christ. We do not take the division by tribes; as that is more difficult to learn, and not often referred to in history. At the time when Christ was among men, Palestine was divided into five Provinces, though two of these were under one ruler.

I. Draw the boundary line of =Judaea=, and write its initial, J. This was the southern province, and the largest. [Review the names of the places contained in it.] Its people were the Jews, or men of the tribe of Judah, and its princ.i.p.al city was Jerusalem.

II. North of Judaea was the province known as =Samaria=, having Shechem as its princ.i.p.al city. Its people were the Samaritans, with whom the Jews had no dealings. In Christ's day Judaea and Samaria were under one government. It contained the twin mountains Ebal and Gerizim.

III. North of Samaria was =Galilee=, where Jesus lived during most of his life. Its people were also Jews, but were called "Galileans" by the Jews in Jerusalem; and in Christ's time it was under the rule of Herod, who slew John the Baptist. Notice the mountains and towns situated in it. Mountains: Lebanon and Gilboa; towns: Nazareth, Capernaum and Dan.

IV. On the east of the Jordan, and south of the Sea of Galilee, was the province of =Peraea=, a word which means "beyond"; so named, because it is "beyond Jordan." Here Jesus taught at one time during his ministry, and blessed the little children. The places which we have noticed in it are Machaerus, Bethabara, Penuel and Mahanaim; and its mountain, Nebo.

This province, in Christ's day, was also ruled by King Herod.

V. The province north of Peraea and east of the Sea of Galilee is not named in the New Testament. We will call it by its Old Testament name, =Bashan=, a word meaning "woodland." It was ruled by a brother of Herod, named Philip, whose t.i.tle was "tetrarch"; hence it is sometimes called "Philip's Tetrarchy." The mountain we have noticed in it is Hermon, and the two places, Bethsaida, and Caesarea Philippi, or "Philip's Caesarea,"

to distinguish it from the other Caesarea, by the sea-sh.o.r.e.

At the close of the lesson, review once more from the very beginning of the series; then erase the map, and, pointing to the places on an "invisible map," call for their names from the cla.s.s. There can scarcely be too much reviewing of these leading facts, in order to impress them on the scholar's memory.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARCHES IN THE TEMPLE AREA.]

THE MEASURES OF THE BIBLE.

THE student of the Bible meets with some difficulty in adapting the names of weights, measures and coins, to the standards now in use, and finds that the authorities are not agreed upon the precise signification of the Bible terms used in relation to these subjects. These difficulties and discrepancies arise from three facts: 1. The Oriental mind has never been accustomed to the exactness of our systems of measurement. Among eight cubit measures found on the Egyptian monuments, no two were precisely alike. 2. The models or standards of weights and measures referred to in Hebrew history were long ago lost, and it is not easy to reproduce them. 3. The Jews adopted the measurements of peoples among whom they were dispersed, yet often retained the names of such of their own as were nearest to them in amount, so that at different periods in Bible history the standard was different. The same word may refer to different measurements at different times. We have adopted in this section the measurements of F. R. and C. R. Conder in "The Hand Book of the Bible," except where other authorities are specified.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SMALLER MEASURES OF LENGTH.]

I. =Smaller Measures of Length.= 1. The lowest dimension, as in our own table of linear measure, was the Barleycorn. 2. Two barleycorns laid endways made the Finger-breadth (Hebrew, Atzbah), two-thirds of an inch.

3. Four finger-breadths made the Palm (Heb., Tupah), 2-2/3 inches. 4.

Sometimes the Hand-breadth and Palm are the same; elsewhere, the hand-breadth (Heb., Zereth) is double the palm, or 5-1/3 inches. 5.

Three palms made the Span (Heb., Sit), 8 inches, the width of the outspread hand, from the end of the thumb to that of the little finger.

6. Four palms made the Foot (Heb., Regal), 10-2/3 inches. 7. Six palms made the Cubit (Heb., Ameh), 16 inches (Conder), or the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, when held in a straight line.

The cubit, however, varied (just as the pound with us varies in troy and avoirdupois weight), as indicated in the expressions "the cubit of a man" (Deut. 3:11), "a great cubit" (Ezek. 41:8), etc. In the length of the cubit, authorities vary from 15 to 21 inches. We have adopted the general opinion, and place it, conjecturally, at a foot and a half, or 18 inches.

II. =Larger Measures of Length.= The cubit (reckoned more precisely at 16 inches) is here regarded as the unit of measurement. 1. The Fathom was 6 or 6-1/2 feet. 2. The Reed (Heb., Keneh; compare our word _cane_) was 4 cubits, according to Conder, but 6 cubits according to other authorities, thus varying between 5-1/3 feet and 8 feet. 3. The Furlong (named only in the New Testament) was a Greek measurement (Stadium), of 606-3/4 feet, or 53-1/4 feet less than our furlong. 4. The Mile (Matt.

5:41) was 1,618 yards. The Hebrew mile is not referred to in the Bible, but was of two kinds, "the small mile" (Heb., Mil), being about 1,000 cubits, or about a quarter of our mile; and "the long mile," twice as far. 5. The Sabbath Day's Journey is stated by Conder at 2,000 cubits, or half an English mile; but by most other writers at seven-eighths of our mile. 6. The Day's Journey was variable, from 10 to 30 miles; generally about 20 miles. So most authorities decide, but Conder gives it at 4-3/4 miles.

III. =Dry Measures of Capacity.= 1. The Cab (2 Kings 6:25), 96 cubic inches, or 675 thousandths of a quart. 2. The Omer (Exod. 16:36) contained 172-8/10 cubic inches, or about 2-1/2 quarts. 3. The Seah (in Greek, Modios) was the ordinary household measure of quant.i.ty, translated, generally, "measure" in our Bibles, but in Matt. 5:15 "bushel." It contained six times as much as the cab, or a little over a peck; according to Conder, 1.012 pecks; according to the Revised Version (Matt. 13:33, marginal note), a peck and a half. 4. The Ephah (Exod.

16:36) contained 3 seahs, or 10 omers; about three-quarters of a bushel.

5. The Cor contained 10 ephahs, or 7-1/2 bushels. The cor is also called "the homer" (Isa. 5:10), which is to be carefully distinguished from the omer, which contained one-hundredth of its quant.i.ty. The two words are not alike in the Hebrew. It will be noticed that the omer, the ephah and the cor (or homer) formed a decimal scale of measurement.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DRY MEASURES.]

IV. =Liquid Measures of Capacity.= 1. The Auphauk (not named in the Bible) was the smallest, containing 6 cubic inches, or 675 thousandths of a gill. 2. The Log (Lev. 14:10), four times as large as the auphauk, was "six egg-sh.e.l.ls full," 24 cubic inches, or a little more than half a pint (675 thousandths). 3. The Hin (Exod. 29:40) contained 12 logs, or a little over a gallon. 4. The Seah (see above, under Dry Measures) contained twice as much as the hin. 5. The Bath, containing 3 seahs or 6 hins, contained 1,728 cubic inches, or 6.036 gallons. Besides these, the New Testament names two Greek measures, the Metretes (John 2:6, "firkins"), equivalent to 10-1/3 gallons; and the Choenix (Rev. 6:6, "measure"), about a pint and a half.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LIQUID MEASURES.]

V. =Measures of Weight.= (From the Oxford Teacher's Bible.) 1. The Gerah, "a bean," weighed a little less than half of a dram avoirdupois (.439 dram). 2. The Bekah, 10 gerahs, weighed about a quarter of an ounce (4.39 drams). The word means "half," _i. e._, of a shekel. 3. The Shekel, "weight," used as a silver coin, 2 bekahs, weighed 8.9 drams. 4.

The Maneh (Greek, Mina), 60 shekels (Conder says 50 shekels, which would agree with paragraph VI., below), 2 lbs. 1 oz. 5. The Talent, "circle,"

meaning "an aggregate sum," 50 manehs, weighing 102 lbs. 14 ozs. The weights are of lower degree than those in common use at present, because in the early times money was weighed, and not counted, and exact weighing was necessary with gold and silver.

VI. =Measures of Value.= Two systems of money are referred to in the Bible: the Hebrew, or that in use in Old Testament times and lands; and the Roman, which was used during the New Testament period. In the Hebrew system the weights referred to in paragraph V. were used in silver as measures of value. 1. The Gerah (Exod. 30:13) was the lowest, and was worth 2-3/4 cents. 2. The Bekah, 10 gerahs (Exod. 38:26), was worth 27-37/100 cents, or about 2 cents more than our quarter of a dollar. 3.

The Shekel, 2 bekahs, was worth 54-3/4 cents, or about 5 cents more than half a dollar. 4. The Maneh, or Mina, 50 shekels (Luke 19:13, "pound"), $27.37-1/2. 5. The Talent of Silver, 60 manehs, $1,642.50. 6. The Talent of Gold was nearly twenty times as valuable, being estimated at $26,280.

7. So the Shekel of Gold was worth, in the same proportion of weight with the ordinary shekel of silver, $8.75. It is to be remembered that a given amount of coin in those times would purchase ten times as much as now.

[Ill.u.s.tration: This is a copper coin, a quarter-gerah, worth about half a cent; was made about the time of Alexander the Great, B.C. 325.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A silver coin, three-quarters of a shekel, called a _righia_, used especially for paying the temple tax. It was worth about 40 cents.]

The Greek and Roman coins are chiefly referred to in the New Testament.

The smallest was the Lepton (Mark 12:42, "mite"), worth a fifth of a cent. 2. The Quadrans (Mark 12:42, "farthing"), 2 mites, or less than half a cent. 3. The a.s.sarion (Matt, 10:29, "farthing"), four times the quadrans, or 1-3/5 cents. Notice that two coins, one worth four times as much as the other, are both translated "farthing" in our version. 4. The Denarius (Matt, 22:19, "penny"), 10 times the a.s.sarion, or 16 cents. It was the latter which in Christ's time bore the face of the Roman emperor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 1

The smallest copper coin in use among the Jews, the _lepton_, called in Hebrew _chalcous_, "copper money." The widow's mite was of this coin.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 2

The denarius, or penny, bearing the face of the emperor Tiberius.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BETHANY.]