Let us take a closer view of the village along the eastern slope of the Samaritan mountain. This group of houses is the modern representative of the splendid city where stood King Ahab's ivory palace, where Elijah delivered his flaming messages, where Elijah dwelt, and where long afterward Herod the Great held his court. This was the city, too, where Philip the Evangelist, when driven out of Jerusalem by the persecuting Saul, preached the Gospel of Christ, and founded his first Christian Church outside the pale of Judaism. Do you see in the foreground some steps leading dowm from the road? That is the entrace to the Pool of Samaria, where the chariot of the slain King Ahab was washed, and foretold by Elijah and narrated by the writer of Second Kings. Mean and insignificant as this village is, it has a past of deep interest.
From Mount Gilboa we turn to the southwest, and in what was once the tribe-land of Ephraim, we come to the Hill of Samaria, for two hundred years the captial of the Israelite Kingdom. The wise and powerful King Omri selected this site, purchased the hill from its owner, Shener, and named after him the city of Samaria, which he built upon its eastern slope. Omri's capital was well chosen for the site is a commanding one. The hill rises above all its surroundings, and, most important for a capital city, it was almost impregnable against ancient methods of warfare. From this summit upon every side is a magnificent view, and there still remains an ancient road winding its way around the mountain.
