The middle mountain of the three which guards the plain of Esdraelon on the East is the Hill Moreh, called in modern times Little Hermon. We see it in the distance beyond the level plain, here cultivated with care. In the foreground you look down upon the home of a farmer and his fmaily; perhaps the possessor of some of the fields in the distance. The house is built of clay and probably contains but one room. The corner of the only window is seen upon the right. Notice the wall bounding the court in front of the house. In some such home as this, not far away at Nazareth, our Lord may have lived during his youth and early manhood.
Let us cross the Plain of Esdraelon. On its eastern border we find three mountains; the northern Mount Tabor; the middle one "The Hill of Moreh" in the Old Testament; often called in modern times "Little Hermon"; the greatest of the three on the south, Mount Gilboa. We are now looking upon Mount Tabor from the summit of the Hill of Moreh or Little Hermon. That village in the middle of the view is Nain, here, on one of his journeys, Jesus raised to life the only son of a widow. Beyond the village over the plain we see the rounded summit of Mount Tabor, the most symmetrical and beautiful in form of all the hills in this land of many hills and mountains.
We looked upon the Hill Moreh of Little Hermon from a distance. Let us now stand upon its summit beside yonder Arab and from it look northward over the plain of Esdraelon. We can see dimly in the distance the white buildings of a town upon the mountain. That town is Nazareth, the home of Jesus during nearly thirty years. The hills around Nazareth look out upon the storied plain of Esdraelon; and from yonder hilltops the Boy Jesus must have often gazed upon this plain and the mountains surrounding it, recalling the battles of the Israelite history that were fought upon this famous field.
The largest of the three mountains on the east of the plain of Esdraelon, is Mount Gilboa, which now stands before us, seen from the summit of the Hill Moreh, our view looking southward. Notice the village in the plain between the two mountains. This is Shunem, the home of the rich woman who befriended the prophet Elisha, and was rewarded in having her boy restored to life.
We come now to Jerusalem, the city of the great king, the joy of the whole earth in the eyes of the ancient Israelites. Here a whole group of mountains will claim our attention; for Jerusalem stands upon mountains and is surrounded by mountains. We begin with Mount Zion, the largest of its hills. Here is the traditional site of the original city, seen from the new tower over Jaffa gate. You note an ancient and in places half-ruined castle, standing upon the wall. This, according to tradition, is the tower of David, the site of the ancient Jebusite fortress, which David, stormed and took in the opening of his reign. You can see how steep is the ascent from the valley below. Up those rocks swarmed David's warriors; they climbed the wall and smote down the Jebusite defenders. When once the city had been taken, David strengthened its fortifications and made it his capital. That grove of trees surrounded by a wall is in the court of the Armenian Monastary. Those walls have been destroyed and rebuilt many times. The present wall was built by the Sultan Solyman the Magnificent, in the sixteenth century.
We climb up the staircase from the underground recesses, and standing upon the Temple platform, one looks across the Valley of the Kedron to the Mount of Olives. This is a range of hills, having four summits on the east of the city. Our views include the middle of the range, the part most interesting. That prominent building on the hillside with its onion-shaped dome, is a Russian Church; and the tower on the summit of the hill is also a Russian building. You can perceive three roads up the hill, that on the left is the highway to Jerusalem and Jericho, in Christ's time haunted by robbers - as you remember in the parable of "The Good Samaritan"; and even now it is not safe for travelers who are alone. That lower path on the right may be the one over which Christ rode on his traditional Garden of Gethsemane where our Saviour bowed in prayer on the night before his cross. These old olives may be the descendants of the tree whose leaves rustled over him in his agony.
There is a record in the Gospel of John which gives to these twin mountains an interest deeper than any of the Old Testament events, and, for the sake of that story, we look once more at Mount Gerizim from the base of Mount Ebal. Do you see a village yonder, at the foot of Mount Gerizim? That is the modern Askar, the ancient Sychar. Do you perceive beyond it another small enclosure? Within that wall is Jacob's Well, dug by the ancestor of the Israelites thirty-five hundred years ago, and still giving forth its water. Over yonder road, winding around the mountain, walked Jesus and his disciples one morning; and he sat weary beside the well while his disciples came to this village to obtain food for their breakfast. Waiting by the well he met a woman from the neighboring village, bearing her water-jar upon her shoulder; a woman, bright, quick-witted, and of deep, spiritual insight, although her past had been guilty. He saw her traits of mind and heart, and engaged her in conversation, while above them both loomed the summit of Mount Gerizim. That old well is there today, and every traveler receives a drink from its cool depths.
We have come now to the exact center of western Palestine, half-way between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. Here we find the ancient city of Shechem, lying between the twin mountains, Ebal and Gerizim. From the foot of Mount Gerizim, we are looking over the city of Shechem northward to the slopes of Mount Ebel. The story of this place begins with Abraham who pitched his tent and built his altar here, at his first tarrying place in the land of promise before the city was founded; Jacob who came here a century and a half later found a little village established and had a war with its inhabitants. From its central location and its abundant supply of water the city grew and has ever been one of the most important places in the land. Here Rehoboam came to be crowned king, and here took place the revolution that tore the twelve tribes apart into two nations.
In our last view we looked at Mount Ebal from the foot of Mount Gerizim from the slope of Mount Ebal. Again we see the city of Shechem, but from its opposite side, the north. The tower which was in the foreground in our last view is now far in the background on the right and scarcely visible. Shechem is the home of that ancient people, the Samaritans, who reject all the Bible except the five books of Moses, and have lived apart for nearly twenty-five centuries. They look upon Mount Gerizim just as the Jews looked upon Mount Moriah, for upon it stood their temple. You remember the words of the Samaritan woman to Jesus; "We worship in this mountain, but ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Let us climb yonder mountain and look at its summit."
To this Samaritan reading his Bible, this spot, the summit of Mount Gerizim, is the most sacred place in the world. Here, he believes, Abraham built his altar for the sacrifice of his son Isaac; an event which the Jews claim took place on Mount Moriah at Jerusalem. Here stood the ancient Samaritan temple, and on this mountain is held every year the Samaritan passover, according to the exact ritual in the Book of Exodus, even to sprinkling the blood on the doors, no longer observed by the Jews.
