God and Christ in Irenaeus 1st Edition

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 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

General Editors
Gillian Clark Andrew Louth
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

THE OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES series includes scholarly volumes on

the thought and history of the early Christian centuries. Covering a wide range of Greek,
Latin, and Oriental sources, the books are of interest to theologians, ancient historians, and
specialists in the classical and Jewish worlds.
Titles in the series include:
Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem
Daniel Galadza (2017)
The Roman Martyrs
Introduction, Translations, and Commentary
Michael Lapidge (2017)
Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness
in Early Christian Writings
Jennifer Otto (2018)
St Theodore the Studite’s Defence of the Icons
Theology and Philosophy in Ninth-Century Byzantium
Torstein Theodor Tollefsen (2018)
Gregory of Nyssa’s Doctrinal Works
A Literary Study
Andrew Radde-Gallwitz (2018)
The Donatist Church in an Apocalyptic Age
Jesse A. Hoover (2018)
The Minor Prophets as Christian Scripture in the Commentaries of
Theodore of Mopsuestia and Cyril of Alexandria
Hauna T. Ondrey (2018)
Preaching Christology in the Roman Near East
A Study of Jacob of Serugh
Philip Michael Forness (2018)
Augustine’s Early Thought on the Redemptive Function of Divine Judgment
Bart van Egmond (2018)
The Idea of Nicaea in the Early Church Councils, AD 431–451
Mark S. Smith (2019)
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

God and Christ

in Irenaeus
ANTHONY BRIGGMAN

1
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

3
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 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

For Kate
optima puellula in mundo
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

Acknowledgments

This book would not have come to be if I had not come to Candler School of
Theology six years ago. So, it is right for me to first thank Jan Love, Candler’s
Dean, for taking a risk and hiring this one-time adjunct professor. Beyond
giving me a chance to prove myself, Jan with Ian McFarland, then Associate
Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs, approved a Teaching and Research
Grant that funded a portion of the research for Chapter 1. Chapter 5 and a
portion of Chapter 3 were written during a semester’s leave funded by the
Emory University Research Committee. I am grateful for the financial support
of these grants, but also for the encouragement that came with them.
During the course of pursuing this research, I have learned what it means to
be a member of faculty. Beyond the establishment of treasured friendships,
I have been the beneficiary of wise counsel and considerable encouragement.
Candler’s most senior faculty have been unfailingly generous in these ways,
and their words have formed and shaped my thinking on matters too
numerous to mention. I think especially of my emails and conversations
with Carl Holladay, Luke Timothy Johnson, Carol Newsom, David Pacini,
and Philip Reynolds. Two of my colleagues, Philip Reynolds and Jonathan
Strom, left their intellectual fingerprints on this book when they solved a
mystery that had baffled me for well over a year (you can read about it in my
essay on theological speculation in Chapter 1). Colleagues beyond Emory
also read that essay on theological speculation and assured me I had not lost
my mind: I’m grateful for the time (and the psychological support) given by
Mark DelCogliano and Jackson Lashier.
I must thank Tom Perridge at Oxford University Press for first inviting me
to submit a proposal for this book and then for awaiting a good one. Karen
Raith ably managed the production process, kindly kept in touch, and
patiently awaited the receipt of certain very late forms. Christine Ranft’s
copyediting process brought the text into fine form. I am very pleased to
have this study join my first in Oxford Early Christian Studies. Gillian Clark
and Andrew Louth continue to direct the series as well as ever, ensuring its
vitality and continuing significance.
This book is much better—and far more useful—thanks to the diligence of
three of my doctoral students. Grayden McCashen sought out all the refer-
ences in the Index Locorum. Micah Miller spent hours checking and format-
ting the pages that follow, as well as constructing the Bibliography and the
General Index. Amanda Knight saved the day. I am deeply grateful to each
of them.
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viii Acknowledgments
Portions of Chapters 1 and 4 have appeared previously in press, in earlier
forms, as “Irenaeus’ Christology of Mixture,” JTS 64.2 (2013): 516–55;
“Irenaeus on Natural Knowledge,” CHRC 95.2 (2015): 133–54; “Literary
and Rhetorical Theory in Irenaeus, Part 1,” VC 69.5 (2015): 500–27; and
“Theological Speculation in Irenaeus: Perils and Possibilities,” VC 71.2
(2017): 175–98.
Writing a book places particular pressures and stresses upon one’s family.
I’ve found that pressure and stress reveal character, and I am ever grateful to
have married a woman with the character of my wife. Kelly is our family’s
North Star: her ideals and convictions keep us true. I don’t know where I’d be
without her, but I know this book wouldn’t be done. Over the course of writing
this study our daughter, Kate, grew from a precocious four-year-old, who
“graded” papers and read books under my desk, into the most intelligent, kind,
loving, and funny ten-year-old I have ever known. She is the best little girl in
the whole world. This book is dedicated to her.
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Contents

Abbreviations xi

Introduction 1
1. Prolegomena 9
1.1. Rhetorical Education 10
1.1.1. Hypothesis (ὑπόθεσις) 11
1.1.2. Œconomia (οἰκονομία) 23
1.1.3. Fiction (πλάσμα and μῦθος) 29
1.1.4. Section Conclusion 32
1.2. Theological Speculation 33
1.2.1. The Current Narrative 35
1.2.2. Critique and New Reading 39
1.2.3. Section Conclusion 51
1.3. Natural Knowledge 52
1.3.1. Angelic or Angelic and Human Knowledge? 54
1.3.2. Natural Knowing or Knowing Aided by God? 58
1.3.3. Ratio: Natural Reasoning or the Divine Word? 63
1.3.4. Section Conclusion 69
1.4. Chapter Conclusion 69
2. God 71
2.1. God is Infinite 72
2.1.1. Transcendence 79
2.1.2. Incomprehensibility 80
2.1.3. Immanence 87
2.2. God is Simple 90
2.3. God is Spirit 99
2.4. Chapter Conclusion 102
3. Word-Son 104
3.1. Reciprocal Immanence 107
3.2. Logical Foundation of Reciprocal Immanence 115
3.3. Divine Production 121
3.4. Chapter Conclusion 136
4. Christological Union 139
4.1. Stoic Mixture Theory 140
4.2. Appropriation of Mixture Theory in Early Christianity 146
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x Contents
4.3. Mixture in Irenaeus 152
4.3.1. Mixture’s Union 153
4.3.2. Mixture of Body and Soul 155
4.3.3. Mixture Christology 163
4.4. Chapter Conclusion 179
5. Christ and his Work 181
5.1. Security, Incorruptibility, Adoption 181
5.1.1. Section Conclusion 186
5.2. Revelatory Activity 186
5.2.1. Section Conclusion 203
5.3. Chapter Conclusion 204
Conclusion 205

Bibliography 211
Index Locorum 223
Scripture Index 228
General Index 229
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Abbreviations

ACW Ancient Christian Writers

AH Against Heresies
ANF The Ante-Nicene Fathers
ATR Anglican Theological Review
BICS Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London
ETL Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses
FotC The Fathers of the Church
Greg Gregorianum
HTR Harvard Theological Review
JECS Journal of Early Christian Studies
JrnRel Journal of Religion
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
LCL Loeb Classical Library
NRT Nouvelle Revue Théologique
NTS New Testament Studies
NV Nova et Vetera
PA Philosophia Antiqua
PG Patrologia Graeca
PO Patrologia Orientalis
PPS Popular Patristics Series
Prf Proof of the Apostolic Preaching
ProEcc Pro Ecclesia
RevEA Revue des Études Anciennes
RevEAug Revue d’Études Augustiniennes
RevEG Revue des Études Grecques
RevSR Revue des Sciences Religieuses
RevUO Revue de l’Université d’Ottawa
RSR Recherches de Science Religieuse
RTAM Recherches de Théologie Ancienne et Médiévale
SC Sources Chrétiennes
SLI Studies in the Literary Imagination
SP Studia Patristica
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xii Abbreviations
ST Studia Theologica
VC Vigiliae Christianae
ZAC Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum
ZNW Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und Kunde der Alteren
Kirche
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Now the splendor of God gives life; therefore, those who see God partici-
pate in life. And for this reason the one who is uncontainable and
incomprehensible and invisible renders himself visible and comprehen-
sible and graspable, in order that he may give life to those who grasp and
see him. For just as his greatness is inscrutable, so also is his goodness
ineffable; by which, having been seen, he bestows life on those who see
him. For it is not possible to live without life, and the means of life comes
from participation in God, and participation in God is to see God and to
enjoy his goodness.
Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.20.5
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 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

Introduction

I never planned to write this book. Toward the end of working on my first
book, Irenaeus of Lyons and the Theology of the Holy Spirit, I found myself
thinking more and more about Ronald Heine’s seminal article on early
Christology, “The Christology of Callistus.”¹ Heine spends considerable time
analyzing the Roman Monarchian use of Stoic mixture theory—namely,
blending (κρᾶσις)—to explain the union of the divine and human in the
person of Christ. This caught my attention, for Irenaeus too refers to the
Christological union as a mixture, but no one had ever investigated its
significance. So, upon sending to Oxford the proofs of the first book, I began
reading Irenaeus again. I soon decided that I had something to say about
Irenaeus’ Christological appropriation of mixture theory. Still more, my sense
that there was something amiss in scholarly construals of Irenaeus’ doctrine of
God and his understanding of the person of Christ had solidified. Around this
time the exigencies of tenure were made clear to me, and another book on
Irenaeus was born.
When it comes to the history of Christian thought, Irenaeus is most famous
as the greatest opponent of Gnosticism in the early Church. Until the finds of
Nag Hammadi, Irenaeus’ corpus represented the greatest cache of informa-
tion about Gnostic thought we possessed. For that reason his polemic has
received considerable attention and at times his polemical significance has
overshadowed his importance as a theologian. But a focus on his polemical
significance was not the only thing that discouraged nuanced analysis of his
theological account. For his theological ability and even intelligence have been
impugned for generations.
The coherence of Irenaeus’ thought was first questioned by Hans Wendt in
1882.² Wendt argued that Irenaeus maintained two incompatible strains of
thought with regard to the original state of humanity: one that involved
the notion of a continual growth and increase toward perfection in which the
Fall plays a positive role, and another that involved the notion of an original

¹ Heine, JTS 49 (1998: 56–91). ² Wendt (1882).

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2 God and Christ in Irenaeus

perfection lost at the Fall.³ Many have followed Wendt’s evaluation of Irenaeus’
thought, including Adolf von Harnack⁴ and, most importantly, Friedrich
Loofs.⁵ The discernment of incompatible lines of thought in Irenaeus’ work
became the logical grounds for Loofs’ source-critical division of Against Heresies
which led him to regard Irenaeus as a mere compiler of the ideas that came
before him.⁶ Irenaeus, according to Loofs, “was as a theological writer much less
important” than we had supposed.⁷
Loofs’s theory and evaluation did not go unchallenged for long. A few years
later D.B. Reynders wrote, “Adverses haereses is the fruit of a great work . . . If
it lacks a little order and if it repeats itself, it is neither without unity nor
without erudition nor without method . . . Irenaeus has taken a position (on
the problem of God, the world, and knowledge) too firm and too perceptive
to be something other than the spontaneous expression of his psychology.”⁸
Over the succeeding decades other studies followed, each substantiating the
coherence of Irenaeus’ thought and the unity of his work.⁹ Consensus
shifted rapidly, so much so that Aloys Grillmeier could soon write, “Irenaeus
scholarship has once again come back to recognizing the inner unity of the
theology of the Bishop of Lyons.”¹⁰ But it was left to Philippe Bacq to
conclusively establish the unity of Irenaeus’ writing, as well as the harmo-
nious existence of the two debated strains of thought, in his analysis of the
fourth book of Against Heresies.¹¹
Still, the failure to recognize the intellectual unity as well as the plan of
Irenaeus’ polemical and constructive argumentation contributed to a low
regard for his intellectual ability in general.¹² Within three decades of Wendt’s
initial evaluation, Paul Beuzart concluded that Irenaeus “n’est pas de tout
premier rang comme penseur mais dont l’influence a été extrêmement grande

³ Wendt (1882: 21–6, 29). These lines of thought were first raised by L. Duncker, who
discussed the image and likeness of God in Irenaeus, but affirmed the internal consistency of his
logic (1843: 99–104).
⁴ von Harnack (1901, vol. 2: 269–74, esp. 274 n. 1). ⁵ Loofs (1930: 1–4).
⁶ A. Benoît has noted the parallel between the rise of the source-critical and form-critical
treatments of Scripture and the application of these approaches to Irenaeus (1960: 38). Though
Benoît critiqued the merit of Loofs’s approach (1960: 33–5), H.-I. Marrou has shown that Benoît
himself failed to grasp the unity of Irenaeus’ thought (RevEA 65 1963: 452–6).
⁷ Loofs (1930: 432). ⁸ Reynders, RTAM 7 (1935: 5–27, here 26–7).
⁹ F.R.M. Hitchcock soon offered a stringent critique of Loofs’s methodology and conclusions
(JTS 38 1937: 130–9, 255–66). G. Wingren then proposed a harmonious reading of the two lines
of thought previously assessed as irreconcilable (1959: esp. 26–32, 50–4, 52 n. 33, on p. 27 n. 78).
A. Rousseau aligned himself with Wingren and declared, “If one wants to have some chance of
getting back to the thought of a writer, one ought not first seek to discover in him borrowings and
plagiarisms—as if it would suffice to make then a simple subtraction so that the residue thus
obtained represents the contribution belonging to the author!” (SC 152 1969: 190).
¹⁰ Grillmeier (1965; 2nd ed. 1975, vol. 1: 98).
¹¹ Bacq (1978), see esp. his appendix devoted to AH 4.37–9, pp. 363–88, which includes a
discussion of past scholarship on this issue, pp. 364–9.
¹² As may be seen in Loofs’s evaluation, related above.
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

Introduction 3
dans l’ordre practique.”¹³ Such opinions took hold quickly. The narrative was
so fixed by the middle of last century that Johannes Quasten wrote in his
standard Patrology, “The whole work suffers from a lack of clear arrangement
and unity of thought. Prolixity and frequent repetition make its perusal
wearisome. . . . Evidently he did not have the ability to shape his materials
into a homogenous whole.”¹⁴ A few years later Philip Hefner wrote, “Irenaeus’
use of terms in this treatise is so fluid, at points even ambiguous, and the man’s
naïveté at times so great, that any interpreter must be cautious in applying
sharp distinctions and sophisticated schematisms to Irenaeus’ theological
work.”¹⁵ More recently, Denis Minns, who stands in this tradition of inter-
pretation, described Irenaeus as “unwitting” and “naïve.”¹⁶
Yet, just as the failure to recognize the intellectual unity and plan of
Irenaeus’ argumentation often led to a low regard for his intellectual ability,
the recognition of its intellectual unity and plan led to a renewed appreciation
for his theological account. So it was that six years after Bacq Hans Urs von
Balthasar said, “Irenaeus’ work marks the birth of Christian theology. With it,
theology merges as a reflection on the world of revealed facts, a reflection
which is not just a tentative, partial approximation but achieves the miracle of
a complete and organized image in the mind of faith.”¹⁷
But while a few undertook nuanced and subtle investigations into aspects of
Irenaeus’ theology,¹⁸ other narratives besetting the scholarly imagination
continued to discourage investigation into the most fundamental of theologic-
al articles. Irenaeus, it was said, strictly opposed theological speculation¹⁹ and
had little interest in philosophical reasoning.²⁰ As a result, scholarship on

¹³ Beuzart (1908: 169). ¹⁴ Quasten (1950, vol.1: 289).

¹⁵ Hefner, JrnRel 44 (1964: 294–309, here 304). ¹⁶ Minns (1994, repr. 2010: xi, 69).
¹⁷ Von Balthasar (1984, vol. 2: 31).
¹⁸ E.g., Fantino (1986) and Fantino (1994), as well as Behr (2000).
¹⁹ Von Harnack (1901, vol. 2: 233 n. 3, 263); Bonwetsch (1925: 62); Audet Traditio 1 (1943:
15–54, esp. 51–3); Grant HTR 42 (1949: 41–51, esp. 46–7); Grant (1952: 79–81); Schoedel, VC 13
(1959: 22–32, esp. 23–4, 30); and Schoedel, JTS 35 (1984: 31–49). J. Daniélou’s opinion both
instantiated and advanced this narrative: “In this particular sector of theology (viz., the Trini-
tarian relations), however, it must be admitted that the Gnostics, even if they are bad theologians,
are at any rate more of theologians than Irenaeus, who for the most part refuses to step outside
the biblical formulas. It was not here that his interest lay, but in the theology of the Word as
Revealer, the subject of which he is the great Doctor” (1973: 357).
²⁰ Much of the impetus for, and possibly the beginning of, this narrative lies in G. Bardy’s
declaration that Irenaeus is not a philosopher: “[Irenaeus] ne combat pas la sagesse profane; il
se contente de la dédaigner” (1928: 36). The standing of this narrative in the second and
third quarters of the last century may be illustrated by reference to the similar opinions of
W.R. Schoedel and R.M. Grant. According to Schoedel, Irenaeus’ acquaintance with higher
philosophy was confined to doxographical material and possibly a Peripatetic source, conclud-
ing: “But beyond that there seems to have been little or no direct philosophical influence upon
him. In any event Irenaeus was himself conscious of little interest in philosophy” (VC 13 1959:
32). Grant likewise asserts: “Irenaeus’ sole purpose in discussing early Greek philosophy is to
show that Gnostic ideas are derived from it. . . . Only when he does not recognize an idea as
philosophical can he accept it” (1965: 365). Twenty years later Grant’s evaluation of Irenaeus
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

4 God and Christ in Irenaeus

Irenaeus’ conceptions of the divine being and the person of Christ is remark-
ably thin for one identified as the “father of western theology.”²¹
Indeed, Irenaeus’ conception of the divine being—his theology proper—has
not a single book devoted to its analysis. Jules Lebreton offered an enduring
discussion in his Histoire du Dogme de la Trinité.²² In the third quarter of the
last century contributions by Robert M. Grant, William Schoedel, Richard
Norris, and W.C. van Unnik illuminated key aspects of Irenaeus’ account.²³
Since that time, substantial treatments can be found only in articles by Richard
Norris and Michel René Barnes, as well as Jackson Lashier’s Irenaeus on the
Trinity.²⁴ No scholar has ever attempted to produce a synthetic analysis that
takes into consideration the themes addressed by each of these studies.
There has, moreover, never been a book in English devoted to Irenaeus’
conception of the person of Christ. The only book in any language that comes
close to having such a focus is Albert Houssiau’s La Christologie de Saint
Irénée.²⁵ Houssiau observed that previous studies of Irenaeus’ Christology
focused upon the problems related to his theology of salvation rather than
Christology proper. His objective was to provide a counterbalance by focusing
his work on Irenaeus’ conception of the person of Christ. He succeeded,
providing the best study of Irenaeus’ Christology to date. But even Houssiau’s
volume spends more than half its pages focusing on the Christological
accounts of Irenaeus’ opponents; as a result many central themes receive
only a cursory examination.
Because of the states of these questions we do not possess a thorough or
even certain understanding of Irenaeus’ doctrines of God and the person of
Christ. Neither are we able to grasp Irenaeus’ account of the standing of the
Word-Son in relation to God the Father, nor fully comprehend his attribution
of divinity to Jesus Christ, nor recognize how central aspects of his account
of the economic activity of Christ are grounded upon his understanding of
the divine being. But that is not all, for Richard Norris’s fears have come to

remained constant: “In his opinion truth is to be found only within the church. An instructive
passage shows his dislike of philosophical learning. In natural science ‘many things escape our
knowledge, and we entrust them to God; for he must excel over all. What if we try to set forth the
cause of the rising of the Nile? We say many things, some perhaps persuasive, others perhaps not
persuasive: what is true and certain and sure lies with God’ [2.28.2]” (Grant with Tracy 1984: 50).
Not all accepted this reading, especially as the century progressed. For instance, C. Stead wrote,
Irenaeus “has, I suspect, more philosophical talent than is easy to detect in his surviving
work . . . But when philosophical methods are used, they are ably handled, and one regrets the
disappearance of other works known to Eusebius, especially the treatise arguing that God is not
the author of evil” (1994: 90).
²¹ Grant (1952: 102). ²² Lebreton (1928, vol. 2: 540–75 esp.).
²³ Grant, HTR 42 (1949: 41–51); Schoedel (1972: 88–108); van Unnik (1979: 33–43); Schoedel
(1979: 75–86); and Norris (1979: 87–100).
²⁴ Norris (2009: 9–36); Barnes, NV 7 (2009: 67–106); Lashier (2014: esp. 70–91).
²⁵ Houssiau (1955).
 OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 30/11/2018, SPi

Introduction 5
pass: the neglect of these matters has allowed “serious distortions” to creep
into contemporary appreciations of these facets of Irenaeus’ theology.²⁶
The most “serious distortion” pervading these discussions of Irenaeus’
theology is the minimization of the metaphysical dimension of his thought.
We see this minimization in descriptions of Irenaeus’ theology as economic or
in characterizations of his theology as unconcerned with the Trinitarian
relations and even modalistic—descriptions which have become so common
within certain scholarly circles as to be banal.²⁷ The most recent, and perhaps
the most direct, example of this minimization of the metaphysical comes from
the pen of Michael Slusser.
Slusser argues that Richard Norris—one of the few to highlight the meta-
physical dimension of Irenaeus’ theology—was incorrect to emphasize the
philosophical basis of Irenaeus’ account of the unity and transcendence of
God. According to Slusser, Norris’s “philosophical angle of approach” suggests
Irenaeus was looking for a “metaphysical solution” in the conflict with his
Gnostic opponents, and thus “obscures Irenaeus’ real agenda, which goes
beyond metaphysics and portrays God in terms of love and will. . . . (Irenaeus)
appeals, rather, to a divine initiative that overrides the insuperable metaphys-
ical obstacle constituted by God’s incomprehensibility and magnitude.”²⁸
Slusser is correct to argue that Irenaeus did not simply author a metaphys-
ical response to his Gnostic opponents.²⁹ But he is incorrect to minimize the
importance of metaphysics to Irenaeus’ response and to characterize meta-
physics as an obstacle that Irenaeus had to overcome by emphasizing the
divine economy.³⁰ Far from being an obstacle that must be overcome by the
economy, metaphysics is the foundation for key elements of Irenaeus’ account
of the divine economy. This is the fundamental insight into Irenaeus’ thought
that lies at the origin of this investigation.
The purpose of this study is to elucidate the metaphysical dimension of
Irenaeus’ thought, namely, his understanding of the divine being, his account
of the standing of the Word-Son in relation to God the Father, his conception
of how the divine Word-Son is united to humanity in the person of Christ
(which ironically depends upon Stoic physics), and the manner in which he
grounds central aspects of his account of the economic activity of Christ upon
his understanding of the divine being and the divinity of the Word-Son.

²⁶ Norris (1979: 89).

²⁷ I document these characterizations of Irenaeus’ theology in Chapter 3, footnotes 2–4.
²⁸ Slusser (2012: 133–9, here 135).
²⁹ This is not to suggest that Norris wholly neglects the economic aspect of Irenaeus’ thought;
he does not.
³⁰ Slusser’s perspective suits the ubiquitous characterization of Irenaeus’ theology as econom-
ic in orientation. The upcoming chapters will challenge that description of Irenaeus’ theology. In
so doing, I agree with Lashier who recently authored his own challenge to this reading of
Irenaeus (2014).
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 ARAB WOMEN AND CHILDREN
(Photo. The Photochrome Co. Ld.)

To the women fall all work and drudgery about camp. We have seen
that they make and pitch the tents. They are the water-carriers, and
many a weary tramp they have, returning exhausted, with the
sweating girbies on their backs. If the fountain or cistern is very far
off, they may have donkeys on which to bring the precious liquid, in
“bottles” of partially tanned goat-skins. They, of course, do the
cooking, and must hold themselves in readiness at every moment to
obey their lords’ behests. When the tribe moves on, they must pack
all the goods, strike the tents, and put everything in place, ready for
the camels to carry. Their lazy masters, meantime, are lounging in
whatever shade there may be, changing their position as the sun
moves, “drinking”—i.e. smoking—tobacco, indulging in coffee with
the sheikh, or yawning over some tale told for the hundredth time.
But when a ghazzu, or “raid,” is projected, then all is stir and
excitement among them. Each man girds on his weapons, mounts
his riding-camel, and eagerly pushes forward in search of plunder.
The degradation of the women is completed by the practice of
polygamy and the freedom of divorce. The husband may in a
moment of displeasure simply utter the formula of divorce, and his
wife ceases absolutely to belong to him. No particular disgrace
attaches to the divorced wife, who easily finds a place in the harîm of
another. But the husband whose wife has run away from him smarts
for long under the indignity. The mother of daughters is despised; but
she who bears many sons is held in reverence, as one who has
contributed to the honour of the family, to the strength and dignity of
the tribe.
The wealth of the Beduw consists, like that of Abraham and the
patriarchs, in flocks and herds. The true representatives, indeed, of
Abraham, that grand old sheikh, are not to be sought among the
pale-faced slaves of Talmud and Rabbi, huddled together in the
close, unhealthy towns of Western Palestine; but in the dark-
skinned, free-spirited children of the desert. They roam over wide
tracts, wherever vegetation is found, and water to allay thirst, that
haunts the wilderness like the shadow of death. The humbler men
and youths take charge of the flocks, “leading them forth” to
pastures, alas, not often green; and conducting them every second
or third day to the watering. Here one may see any day a
reproduction, true even to minor details, of the strife between the
herdsmen of Isaac and Abimelech. To the stranger’s eye the
confusion of flocks at the watering is complete. In reality there is
mingling, but no confusion. When the shepherd sees that his
charges are satisfied, he simply steps apart and makes his own
peculiar cry, when they at once leave the throng and follow him, for
“they know his voice.” A stranger they will not follow although he
copy their shepherd’s call never so skilfully, for “they know not the
voice of strangers.”
The scenes at desert wells are not always so peaceful. Mr. Doughty
tells a gruesome tale of a band of wild outriders from the Yemen
quarter who, after a long hot ride, reached a little pool. The first man
sprang forward, and filling a vessel, put it to his lips. He never drank.
The second man, with an awful oath, plunged his sword in his
fellow’s heart, seized the vessel, and raised it to drink, when he also
fell, bleeding to death under a sword-cut from the man who followed
him, and who in a similar frenzy of thirst would not wait until his
comrade drank. Then the leader of the band exercised his authority.
The fierce fellows were placed in a row, and water was handed to
them in turn. What a man of iron that commander must have been.
To every camp is attached a number of dogs, that belong in a
general way to the community. They are ferocious brutes, and it is by
no means safe for a stranger to approach them alone. They seem to
be asleep most of the day, and awake most of the night. They are
trusty guardians of the flocks during the dark hours, from beasts of
prey, their voices of challenge giving the herdsmen due warning of
their enemies’ approach.
Among the nobler sort these “houses of hair” are the very homes of
open-hearted hospitality. In speaking of the Druzes we saw that the
practice of hospitality was associated with religious ideas long
prevalent in Arabia. The particular idea seems to be more clearly
recognised by the Beduw. When, in the slant beams of dying day,
the weary traveller draws near, the Bedawy sees in him a guest sent
by God, and so he is called Daif Ullah—“guest of God,” who for sake
of God must be bountifully dealt with. For, are not all men “guests of
God,” spending the brief hours of life’s fleeting day under the blue
canopy of His great tent, sharing together His hospitality? With such
an one the Bedawy will cheerfully share the last food in his
possession. For, did not God give the food? and did not He send the
guest? His bounty will not fail in what is needful for the morrow. How
might two guests sit together in the great Host’s tent, one eating and
the other hungry? Hence we have the Arabian proverbs: “Loaf for
loaf, and your neighbour dies not of hunger”; and “He who has bread
is debtor to him who has none.” Thus do we find in the nobler
phases of desert life a fine reflection of the Christian principle, so
well realised by the Apostle Paul, who felt himself debtor to every
one who knew not the light and joy of the Gospel as he did. The
bread of life must be received and dispensed in the generous spirit
of Oriental hospitality.
 ARABS AT HOME
(Photo. The Photochrome Co. Ld.)

It is curious that the Arab should feel himself relieved from all
obligation if he meet the stranger in the open; while if the latter can
but touch the most distant peg or cord of the tent, he is absolutely
safe. To provide for the security of his guest is a point of highest
honour with the Arab; and his comfort is considered before anything
else. He is made “master of the house” while he stays. The owner
will not sit down unless the guest invites him; nor will he eat until the
guest is satisfied. To eat under the same roof, or from the same dish,
constitutes a bond of brotherhood. The host is responsible for the
safety of his guest, as far as his authority or ability extends: the
guest is bound in every way to consider the honour and credit of his
host. The protection of the stranger may even anticipate his arrival at
the tent. If in peril, he may take shelter under the name of some
powerful sheikh. When he utters this name, it becomes the duty of all
to assist him in reaching his protector’s dwelling. Any injury done to
him is an outrage upon the man, who, thus invoked, becomes his
patron and avenger. So in the name of the Lord are deliverance and
safety found (Prov. xviii. 10, etc.). The guest may claim
entertainment for three days and three nights. The host may require
him to stay so long. If he stay beyond this period, the stranger may
have to do some work—a provision, probably, against idlers and
hangers-on. The guest may abide continually in the “house” of his
host only by becoming identified with the family through marriage or
adoption (Psalm xxiii. 6).
The guest is expected to show appreciation of the viands supplied in
ways not open to one in polite society. In drinking coffee, for
example, he should noisily draw it in with his breath, smack his lips,
and declare its excellence. But he must offer no payment for his
entertainment. This would be regarded as insult. The Arab eats not
in the morning; the guest departs with a simple “good-bye.” He has
had no more than his right; presently his host will enjoy the like
kindness at his own or some other brother’s hand. The recognition of
this obligation to the needy stranger must often have been the very
condition of life to wanderers in waste lands.
A fuller discussion of many interesting usages connected with
hospitality will be found in the writer’s article “Hospitality,” in
Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, vol. ii. pp. 427 f.
Save among the pests that lurk in solitary places, ready to spring
upon the lonely traveller unawares, to whom no life is sacred that
stands between them and plunder, who seem to find a diabolical
pleasure in the mere sight of blood, one need not greatly fear for his
life in any encounter with the Beduw. They may take all he
possesses, and even his clothes, wounding him if necessary to this
end; but they do not willingly take life, leaving the disposal of this to
Him who gave it.
Like the “bruisers” at home, the Arabs have a code of honour in
regard to hostile encounters; but it refers not to the manner of the
blow and the part where it falls. It has to do with the weapon. To
strike a man with the fist, or with a blunt instrument of any kind, is to
put a heavy insult upon him. On the other hand, to strike with a sharp
weapon, or smite with the edge of the sword, may be criminal, but it
involves no disgrace.
As between man and man, and tribe and tribe, the lex talionis is in
full force. The tribe is not regarded as an aggregate, but as an
organic unity, of which each man is a member, as the hand is of the
body. If the hand do one an injury, satisfaction is found in
punishment through the foot or any other member. Even so, if a
tribesman inflict an injury on one of a neighbouring tribe, and the
particular offender eludes the avenger, any member of his tribe may
be taken in his place. Injury for injury, blood for blood, is the stern
law. The offender’s tribe may confess that wrong has been done,
and offer to compound with the injured for a sum of money. The
amount in such cases is fixed in solemn conclave by delegates of
the different tribes, and the value is represented by a number of
camels or other animals. If these are accepted, the feud is at an end.
But among the aristocracy of the Beduw, the nobler sort, such
compounding for blood is esteemed dishonourable. Then the whole
tribe, and the wider circle of those with whom they claim relationship,
become a staunch confederacy for defence of the manslayer, and for
mutual protection against the enemy. Thus the absence of “cities of
refuge” is made good to the fugitive; the usages of hospitality come
in to relieve the gloom of dark, relentless passion. For the manslayer,
if he can but penetrate the tent and eat bread there, may claim
sanctuary from the “avenger of blood” himself. Even the father, who
thirsts to avenge the blood of a beloved son, will let him depart, and
neither pursue nor permit him to be pursued until the space of two
days and a night has passed.
The sheyûkh—“the chiefs” who administer justice among the Beduw
—are renowned for their integrity and for the equity of their
decisions. They scorn bribes. Stories are often told of the disputes of
townsmen who, rather than appear before the corrupt courts of the
land, where each must lose whoever wins, have submitted their case
to arbitration by sheyûkh el-Beduw, in whose judgment both parties
at once acquiesced. In cases where blows have been given, no
progress can be made until a balance of injuries has been struck.
Only when the least injured has suffered in person or in goods so as
to equalise the injuries will the case be heard and adjudicated upon.
The deliverance of the sheyûkh carries with it the moral weight of the
whole tribe. He who disregards it practically passes on himself
sentence of outlawry.

ARAB HORSEMAN
The devotion of the Arab to his steed has been sung in many
tongues and in many lands. His mare is the first care of the Bedawy;
more to him than either wife or child, save perhaps his firstborn son,
when green food is scarce, and at evening the camels are brought to
be milked, the mare first drinks from the foaming vessel; wives and
children share what she leaves. On his robber raids he rides out
upon his camel, the mare being led, saddled and ready, by his side.
In the hour of peril he will commit himself to her fleet limbs; and not
once nor twice in the course of his roving life the Arab will owe safety
and all else to the speed of his four-footed friend. Tenderly cared for
at other times, her every want anticipated, when the moment of trial
comes she will fly off like the wind; and the distances often covered
ere fatigue stays her career would seem fabulous in European ears.
The fondness of the Arab for the horse frequently becomes a craze,
leading him into the ridiculous. If a man is too poor to own a horse,
e.g., he will take a bone of the noble animal and preserve it in his
tent! Again, a horse may be the property not of one or two, but of
many. It is considered as consisting of so many parts, which are
bought by different parties. Each is thus entitled to say, with an
approach to truth, that he owns horse-flesh. The owner of a good
horse never willingly parts with it. If pressed by necessity, he may
allow another to become part proprietor. Even then he will hardly sell
outright. The man who has the rasan (“halter”) feeds the horse, and
in return enjoys the use of it. Thus it was with a beautiful mare, half
of which, with the rasan, was owned by the present writer. The other
partners were a native Christian gentleman, a rich Moslem merchant
in Acre, and the pasha of the province.
We have referred to the religious connection of certain Arab
customs. From this it might be inferred that they are a religious
people. This is strictly true. Nominally they are Moslems; but their
religious knowledge is scanty at best, and their thinking far from
clear.
They believe in the existence of God; they are taught to consider
themselves His special favourites. All non-Moslems are regarded as
His enemies and theirs. But of the moral character of God they have
hardly the glimmering of an idea. They will “thank God” as heartily for
success in a robber-raid as for recovery from sickness. One must
know something of the character of God before he can understand
what sin is, and why God abhors it. But the Allah of the Moslem,
capricious in his choice of favourites, is very indulgent towards the
frailties and failings of those who confess him and his prophet. It is
futile to seek to identify Allah with the God of Christianity. His name
is for ever on the lips of his devotees. The most trivial expressions
they confirm by appeal to Deity, and that with equal glibness whether
they be true or false. Some isolated articles of faith they have, and
certain rites, such as circumcision, which are religious in their origin,
but they have nothing which can properly be called a religious
system. The mind of the Orient, indeed, while singularly fruitful in
ideas, is deficient in the elements essential to the thinking of ideas
together. It is mystical, reflective, analytic, but it lacks the power of
synthesis. There are no great Arabic philosophers, in our meaning of
the term. Their “philosophers” are gifted men, whose wit flashes forth
in sparkling epigram, in wise discriminations and sage counsels for
the conduct of life. For systematic treatment of the problems of being
and well-being we search among them in vain. Even what by
courtesy we call the “system” of Islâm is not an organic unity, but
rather an aggregation of ideas around the great central dogma. For
the hints as to systematic treatment of the revelation in Jesus Christ
found in the Epistles of St. Paul—for even here there is hardly
anything beyond hints—we are indebted not to his Hebrew training,
but to his Gentile learning, and especially to his acquaintance with
Roman Law. While the Oriental mind has been prolific in originating
thought, the great task of synthesis has been given specially to the
mind of the West.
Give to a rude, untutored people the simple idea of the unity of God,
without any conception of His moral character, together with the
further idea that they are His peculiar favourites, and you have
prepared the way for a descent not to be thought of without a
shudder. If, after long generations, we find this people one “whose
heart is not right with God,” “whose mouth is full of cursing and
deceit,” our wonder may be, not so much that they are fallen so low,
as that they have preserved their nobler institutions and maintained
themselves as well as they have done against the tides of corruption.
And there are signs of a yearning among them for better things. Let
one authentic story suffice.
External influences affecting the Beduw are few and slight. Peddling
Jews from Damascus, Safed, Tiberias, Jerusalem perambulate their
country by times; but their trade is almost entirely confined to the
barbarous ornaments worn by the women. The Moslem pilgrimage
which yearly passes through their territory is doubtless a power for
evil, fortunately limited in its effects to the districts more immediately
adjoining the great Hajj road. Once in a while, however, some of the
men may journey to esh-Shâm (Damascus), city of wonder and
beauty to their uncultured minds, returning with strange tales as to its
greatness, and confused ideas of its streets, orchards, and musical
waters. One such had visited this “earthly paradise,” the Arab’s
dream of splendour and pleasure. He, however, was most of all
impressed with what he saw of worship in the great mosque. The
effect upon his own spirit was deep, and this he conveyed to his
fellows in the solitudes when he returned. It stirred the slumbering
necessity in all their hearts for communion with God. At sunset he
drew them up upon the sand, and, standing before them, he imitated
as well as he could the movements of the worshippers he had seen,
and in these he was followed by his friends. Ya Allah! he said, mitl
ma bikûlu fî esh-Shâm; and his fellows responded in turn, Wa
azwad, wa azwad, wa azwad. “O Allah! just as they say in
Damascus.” “And more, and more, and more”! The tale may seem
ludicrous, if not absurd; but it has also a pathetic aspect. Does it not
seem like a cry from the hearts of men in darkness, yearning for light
on the Godward road? Are we not debtors to such as they?
 CHAPTER XI
Ride to Jerash—Magnificent ruins—Circassian colonists—
History—Preservation of buildings—East of Jordan—Sûf
—A moonlight scene—Down to the Jabbok.

JERASH, GATEWAY
Our Bozrah guide was first in the saddle, and, starting out along the
valley, he led the way towards Jerash; from this point, however, his
office was a sinecure, the road being well marked. We followed the
winding path through wooded vale and over wooded hill until we
reached a height overlooking rich, cultivated flats, to which we
descended by a rocky track, leaving for a time the woodland behind
us. Here we found a road on which some labour had been
expended, passing between fields partly surrounded by stone walls.
Going forward, we met a cart of antique shape, drawn by a team of
oxen, guided by a sturdy Circassian, who was seated in front. The
cart was long, narrow, and deep; the axles were wide, and the
wheels low. It resembled those still to be seen in many country
districts on the continent of Europe. The type may have been
introduced into this country by the German colonists. These carts are
the only wheeled vehicles used as yet by agriculturists in Palestine,
of whom, next to the Germans, the Circassians are perhaps the most
successful. We spoke to the driver, but received for reply only a bow,
and sundry gestures by which he manifestly sought to make himself
agreeable, from which it could also be inferred that he knew no
Arabic. Our way led round the left shoulder of a little hill, and down a
gentle incline, when, suddenly, almost the whole extent of the ruins
on the southern bank of the stream came into view. Men and animals
were gladdened by the cheerful sound of flowing water. Just where
the road turns sharply to the right towards the ancient city gate, we
struck an irrigation channel, full of clear, cool water. After a general
scramble for the refreshing liquid, in which riders and horses seemed
to mingle indiscriminately, spectacles, etc., being dropped into the
stream and duly fished up again, we assumed a more dignified
attitude, and prepared to enter the city. On the height to the right
were several empty sarcophagi and burial caverns. We traversed the
whole length of the city on the northern side of the valley, and
pitched our tents under the cliffs just outside the boundary, beyond a
copious fountain, over which remains of Greek buildings are still
standing. It was yet early afternoon, and most of us were at once
drawn forth to see the splendid ruins.
Jerash, or, as it was anciently called, Gerasa, stands in Wady ed-
Deir, on either side of a perennial stream which flows into the Jabbok
a few miles to the south, and one of the sources of which is the
fountain above mentioned, at the north-west corner of the city. All the
principal buildings of which anything noteworthy remains are on the
southern bank of the brook. The ground rises quickly from the bed of
the stream, some fifty to a hundred feet, and then slopes gradually
backward. Upon this higher part, almost all the magnificence of the
old city was gathered. From north-west to south-east runs the
famous street, paved throughout, and lined on either side its whole
length with fine columns, many of which are standing, capitals and
architrave being in parts almost perfect still.
Of Jerash we may say generally, it is the best preserved of all the
ruined cities east of Jordan. The ruins are weather-worn and beaten
with the storms of centuries; earthquakes have shaken down many
once splendid buildings, but there were no traces of the destroying
hand of man. The Circassians have now supplied this lack. One
fears that much of value and interest has already perished under
their hammers, as they sought materials to build their houses. This
points the urgent necessity to have the ruins thoroughly explored,
and measures taken at once to secure what is worth preserving.
Passing along the street from the north-west, we first saw a small
theatre to the right, now sadly ruined. A little farther forward, on the
same side, stands what must have been by far the finest building of
all, as it still is the most imposing ruin. This is known as the Temple
of the Sun. Situated on an elevated terrace, it is approached by a
broad stairway, which leads to the portico. This consists of three
rows of columns of magnificent proportions and artistic
workmanship. Originally fourteen in number, the greater part are still
in position. Of the principal building, the area is now blocked up with
fallen stones. The temple stands in the middle of a court, once
surrounded by a colonnade, and measures some eighty feet by
seventy. The position commands a fine view of the city. In the near
neighbourhood to the south and west are traces of columns, arches,
etc., which may have belonged to smaller temples. There are also
remains of a church. But all are so buried beneath their own ruins
that it is impossible now to speak of them with certainty. On the other
side of the road are remains of baths and of a basilica. The pillared
street terminates in a circular area surrounded by columns, of which
nearly all are standing; many still supporting pieces of the architrave.
 JERASH, TEMPLE OF THE SUN
Beyond this, on rising ground, close to the ancient city wall, are the
ruins of a large theatre and temple. The rows of stone seats in the
former are well preserved. The slopes in front are literally heaped
with great stones and pieces of colossal columns, while the amount
of building underground seems almost equal to what is seen above.
The acoustics of these theatres are perfect. Once, with some friends,
I made trial of that at Gadara; the lowest articulate sounds were
audible throughout the entire building. A little to the east of the
temple, a road leads off directly to the south, passing under a
triumphal arch, dating, probably, from the time of Trajan. To the west
of the road, just inside the triumphal arch, lay the Naumachia (for
mock sea-fights), without which these cities would seem to have
been incomplete. Westward, outside the city wall, are great numbers
of sarcophagi. This, apparently, was the chief ancient burying-
ground. Nowhere, not even at Gadara where these are numerous,
have I seen so many stony receptacles of the dead lying exposed.
All have been opened long ago, many of the lids being broken, no
doubt, in the feverish search for hidden treasure.
Turning back, we walked the whole length of the street, noting the
remains of a tetrapylon near the southern end, and of another not far
from the northern end, in each case traces of the ruined arches
being distinguishable. The ancient gateway to the north is blocked
up, but a passage is cut through the great mound of stones which
once formed the wall; and along this a considerable volume of water,
caught in the higher reaches of the valley and led captive hither,
passes, to turn the picturesque old mill below. Above the city, on the
southern bank of the stream, are numbers of sarcophagi, many of
them adorned with sculptured wreaths, roses, and heads in relief.
There are traces of what must have been a large and fine building,
with broken columns and sculptured stones. Several mutilated Greek
inscriptions are to be seen among the ruins. In the cliffs north-east of
the stream, above the spot where our camp was pitched, are several
large natural caverns, which do not seem to have been used for any
other purpose than the sheltering of flocks. Beyond the city wall, to
the north-east, however, are many sepulchral caves, some of those
visited being hewn out of the living rock.
The northern bank of the stream is now occupied by a colony of
Circassians, whose neatly-built and plastered houses, each with a
walled court in front, contrast most favourably with those of any of
the native peasants in Palestinian villages. The houses were built for
the most part of ordinary materials, very few of the sculptured stones
from the ancient city being employed. This may be accounted for by
the fact that few public buildings of any importance stood on this side
of the stream. Since then these settlers have gone farther afield, to
the peril, as we have seen, of what lends Jerash its attractions for
us. Entering the town from the north, we find the fountain arched
over, from which the main supply of the colony is obtained; beautiful,
clear, cool water it is. In the lower ground to the right are vestiges of
a temple, around which the colonists have fine gardens. Turning up
to the left, for a long distance the city wall is almost intact. Within the
wall, to the south-east, are prostrate columns and sculptured stones,
marking the site of a building of no little splendour, but whether
palace or temple, it is impossible to say.
Outside the wall are scanty remains which may indicate the position
of an ancient church. Judging by the magnificence of many of the
sarcophagi found here, this may have been the burying-ground of
the greater ones. Just below, by the wayside, at the entrance to the
modern village, lies the Circassian graveyard. The graves are of the
ordinary Moslem type—little mounds with a protuberance at each
end, supposed resting-places for the angels. Here, however, the
Circassians seem to expend but little care. The whole place was
overgrown with rank grass, nettles, and thistles. The stream which
divides ancient from modern Jerash is lined with oleanders, whose
luxuriant growth in many places quite hides the rippling waters. Just
where it passes beyond the boundary of the town it plunges in foamy
streaks over a high cliff into a romantic ravine, whence issues the
music of a water-mill.
Of the Circassians who now occupy the place, we learned that only
some six years before they had come hither. The Turk, finding it hard
to control these brave, free-spirited people among their native
mountains, has been carrying out gradually the policy of expatriation,
adopted wholesale by ancient conquerors in these regions.
Removed from the associations of childhood and the inspiring
memories that haunt the scenes around them in their highland
homes, required to work hard for the mere necessities of life, their
rulers hope to make docile subjects out of these once turbulent
clans. Colonies are scattered over all Syria and Palestine. One large
village is occupied by them on the heights between Tiberias and
Tabor. Old Kuneitera, in the Jaulân, is awakening to new life at their
touch. In their agricultural enterprises they are protected by their
reputation for absolute fearlessness, unwavering resolution in
avenging an injury, and skill in the handling of their weapons. Roving
Bedawy and robber peasant alike stand in wholesome dread of their
keen blade and unerring bullet. They can thus reckon with certainty
on reaping what they have sown, and enjoying the fruits of their
labours. They scruple not, therefore, to put hard work into the soil.
Gathering the stones from the surface, they form walls along the
boundaries of their fields. Their implements, although antiquated, are
yet an improvement on those employed by the ordinary fellahîn. The
qualities that protect them from thief and robber also secure them in
great measure against the unjust exactions of a corrupt Government,
and guarantee them entire immunity from outrage at the hands of the
soldiery, to which the miserable peasants have so often to submit.
Of the history of Jerash but little is known. Josephus places it in the
Decapolis, and in his day it must have been a city of some
importance. It was one of the chief cities in the Roman province of
Arabia. In the days of Bozrah’s splendour, Jerash must also have
been a wealthy commercial centre, Arabian and Egyptian caravans
probably passing this way to the north. Baldwin II., in 1121, is said to
have marched against Jerash, but already in the thirteenth century
the city is described as deserted. Why, we cannot tell.

JERASH, STREET OF COLUMNS

To the west of Jordan there are very few ancient sites where remains
of any consequence are to be seen. The few half-buried pillars of
Herod’s colonnade at Samaria and the ruined synagogue at Tell
Hûm are about the most important, outside the discoveries made in
Jerusalem. The most famous sites are marked only by pottery-
strewn heaps, or stretches of shapeless ruins. These are
insignificant when compared with the massive walls and stately
columns with artistic adornments that meet one everywhere on the
east of Jordan. The west, more open to influences from without, has
suffered heavily under the many changes it has experienced.
Ancient structures were carried off bodily to form new buildings of a
more temporary character. These soon perished, the old materials
being thus scattered or buried under the debris and dirt. Several
causes have contributed to the better preservation of the cities east
of Jordan. The land has been much more secluded from foreign
influence, and, since the days of the Mohammedan conquest, can
hardly be said to have been in contact with the outside world at all.
The inhabitants, being chiefly dwellers in tents, have had no
occasion to employ ancient materials for the building of houses. The
peasants who do occupy stone houses have usually found all the
shelter they required in the durable structures of basalt, which are so
numerous, ready to their hands. A company, moving to village or
town, simply swung back the stone doors, opened the stone
shutters, swept out the rooms, and took possession, finding thus
much finer houses than they could have constructed for themselves.
If they did require to build, the smaller stones of the ruins around
served their purposes admirably, and the remains of the larger
buildings, spared through centuries by storm and earthquake,
secured immunity from attack.
Sûf, reputed Mizpah, the famous meeting-place of Jacob and Laban,
where he fled with his wives, children, and possessions, lies only
about an hour to the north-west of Jerash. On the occasion of a
second visit to the district, I passed through this village. It stands on
the south-west lip of the wady, which here is of considerable depth.
The houses are of the common type, built of white limestone and
mud. It is inhabited by Moslems. When I saw it, a large weather-
worn, goats’-hair tent was pitched in the middle of the village, where
the youth of Sûf assembled to learn verses of the Korʾân from the
lips of the Khatîb—probably the only man in the village who knew
how to read and write. The numerous dolmens in the vicinity point
back to a very high antiquity.
On the same occasion I enjoyed the exquisite pleasure of seeing the
beautiful ruins of Jerash under the mellow beams of the moon. It was
a sight never to be forgotten. The kindly light, hiding all that was
defective, seemed to reveal only what was fair, throwing its delicate
splendours over tall column and massive wall, until the ancient city
seemed to stand before us in all its ancient magnificence; and one
could almost imagine, through the quiet night, the echoing footfall of
the Roman guard along the pillared street.

JERASH, GENERAL VIEW

Our road lay through the triumphal arch and down Wady ed-Deir to
the Jabbok. Just on the point of starting we were treated to another
entertainment by our friend the cook. From this point southward he
was quite familiar with the country, but he feigned first ignorance and
then fear, in order to secure a convoy from Jerash. For sake of
peace and pleasantness we had almost yielded to his importunity,
but the man he brought forward was so exorbitant in his demands,