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diff --git a/40285-0.txt b/40285-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..391ddbd --- /dev/null +++ b/40285-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8499 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40285 *** + +[Illustration: Cover] + + + + +THE SYRIAN CHRIST + + +BY + +ABRAHAM MITRIE RIHBANY + + + + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +The Riverside Press Cambridge + +1916 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY + +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY ABRAHAM MITRIE RIHBANY + + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + +_Published October 1916_ + + + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +This little volume is sent forth in the confident hope that it may +throw fresh light on the life and teachings of Christ, and facilitate +for the general public the understanding of the Bible. As may be +readily seen, from its perusal, the present work is not intended to be +a commentary on the Bible, nor even an exhaustive study of the subject +with which it deals. That it leaves many things to be desired is very +evident to the author, who fears that his book will be remembered by +its readers more by the things it lacks than by the things it contains. + +Yet, from the cordial reception with which the opening chapters of this +publication (which made their first appearance in the _Atlantic +Monthly_) met from readers, of various religious affiliations, the +author has been encouraged to believe that his aim has not only been +clearly {vi} discerned, but thoroughly approved. The books which +undertake the systematic "expounding of the Scriptures" are a host +which no man can number, nor is there any lack of "spiritual lessons +drawn from the Bible." Therefore, as one of the Master's fellow +countrymen, and one who has enjoyed about twenty years of service in +the American pulpit, I have for several years entertained the growing +conviction that such a book as this was really needed. Not, however, +as one more commentary, but as an Oriental guide to afford Occidental +readers of the Bible a more intimate view of the original intellectual +and social environment of this sacred literature. So what I have to +offer here is a series of suggestions, and not of technically wrought +Bible lessons. + +The need of the Western readers of the Bible is, in my judgment, to +enter sympathetically and intelligently into the atmosphere in which +the books of the Scriptures first took form: to have real intellectual, +as well as spiritual, fellowship with those Orientals who sought {vii} +earnestly in their own way to give tangible form to those great +spiritual truths which have been, and ever shall be, humanity's most +precious heritage. + +My task has not been a light one. It is comparatively easy to take +isolated Bible texts and explain them, treating each passage as a +detached unit. But when one undertakes to group a large number of +passages which never were intended to be gathered together and treated +as the kindred thoughts of an essay, the task becomes rather difficult. +How far I have succeeded in my effort to relate the passages I have +treated in this book to one another according to their intellectual and +social affinities, the reader is in a better position to judge than I +am. + +It may not be absolutely necessary for me to say that infallibility +cannot justly be ascribed to any author, nor claimed by him, even when +writing of his own experiences, and the social environment in which he +was born and brought up. + +However, in Yankee, not in Oriental, {viii} fashion, I will say that +_to the best of my knowledge_ the statements contained in this book are +correct. + +Finally, I deem it necessary before I bring this preface to a close to +sound a note of warning. So I will say that the Orientals' extensive +use of figurative speech should by no means be allowed to carry the +idea that _all_ Oriental speech is figurative. This manner of speech, +which is common to all races of men, is only _more extensively_ used by +Orientals than by Occidentals. I could wish, however, that the learned +theologians had suspected more strongly the literal accuracy of +Oriental utterances, and had thus been saved at times from founding a +huge doctrinal structure on a figure of speech. + +Notwithstanding all this, the Gospel and the Christian faith still live +and bless and cheer the hearts and minds of men. As an Oriental by +birth, and as an American from choice, I feel profoundly grateful that +I have been enabled to render this modest service to the Churches of +{ix} America, and to present this book as an offering of love and +homage to my Master, the Syrian Christ. + +ABRAHAM MITRIE RIHBANY + +BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. + + + + +{xi} + +CONTENTS + + +PART I. THE SYRIAN CHRIST. + + I. Son of the East + II. Birth of a Man Child + III. The Star + IV. Mystic Tones + V. Filial Obedience + VI. Feast and Sacrament + VII. The Last Scene + + +PART II. The Oriental Manner Of Speech. + + I. Daily Language + II. Imprecations + III. Love of Enemies + IV. "The Unveracious Oriental" + V. Impressions _vs._ Literal Accuracy + VI. Speaking in Parables + VII. Swearing + VIII. Four Characteristics + + +{xii} + +PART III. BREAD AND SALT + + I. The Sacred 'Aish + II. "Our Daily Bread" + III. "Compel Them to come in" + IV. Delaying the Departing Guest + V. Family Feasts + + +PART IV. OUT IN THE OPEN + + I. Shelter and Home + II. Resigned Travelers + III. The Market Place + IV. The Housetop + V. The Vineyards and the Fields + VI. The Shepherd + + +PART V. SISTERS OF MARY AND MARTHA + + I. Woman East and West + II. Paul and Woman + III. Jesus and his Mother + IV. "A Gracious Woman" + + +PART VI. + + Here and There in the Bible + Index + + + + +{3} + +PART I + +THE SYRIAN CHRIST + + + + +THE SYRIAN CHRIST + +CHAPTER I + +SON OF THE EAST + +Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the spirit of God, seer, teacher of +the verities of the spiritual life, and preacher of the fatherhood of +God and the brotherhood of man, is, in a higher sense, "a man without a +country." As a prophet and a seer Jesus belongs to all races and all +ages. Wherever the minds of men respond to simple truth, wherever the +hearts of men thrill with pure love, wherever a temple of religion is +dedicated to the worship of God and the service of man, there is Jesus' +country and there are his friends. Therefore, in speaking of Jesus as +the son of a certain country, I do not mean in the least to localize +his Gospel, or to set bounds and limits to the flow of his spirit and +the workings of his love. + +Nor is it my aim in these chapters to imitate {4} the astute +theologians by wrestling with the problem of Jesus' personality. To me +the secret of personality, human and divine, is an impenetrable +mystery. My more modest purpose in this writing is to remind the +reader that, whatever else Jesus was, as regards his modes of thought +and life and his method of teaching, he was a Syrian of the Syrians. +According to authentic history Jesus never saw any other country than +Palestine. There he was born; there he grew up to manhood, taught his +Gospel, and died for it. + +It is most natural, then, that Gospel truths should have come down to +the succeeding generations--and to the nations of the West--cast in +Oriental moulds of thought, and intimately intermingled with the simple +domestic and social habits of Syria. The gold of the Gospel carries +with it the sand and dust of its original home. + +From the foregoing, therefore, it may be seen that my reason for +undertaking to throw fresh light on the life and teachings of Christ, +and {5} other portions of the Bible whose correct understanding depends +on accurate knowledge of their original environment, is not any claim +on my part to great learning or a profound insight into the spiritual +mysteries of the Gospel. The real reason is rather an accident of +birth. From the fact that I was born not far from where the Master was +born, and brought up under almost the identical conditions under which +he lived, I have an "inside view" of the Bible which, by the nature of +things, a Westerner cannot have. And I know that the conditions of +life in Syria of to-day are essentially as they were in the time of +Christ, not from the study of the mutilated tablets of the archæologist +and the antiquarian, precious as such discoveries are, but from the +simple fact that, as a sojourner in this Western world, whenever I open +my Bible it reads like a letter from home. + +Its unrestrained effusiveness of expression; its vivid, almost flashy +and fantastic imagery; its naïve narrations; the rugged unstudied +simplicity of its parables; its unconventional (and {6} to the more +modest West rather unseemly) portrayal of certain human relations; as +well as its all-permeating spiritual mysticism,--so far as these +qualities are concerned, the Bible might all have been written in my +primitive village home, on the western slopes of Mount Lebanon some +thirty years ago. + +Nor do I mean to assert or even to imply that the Western world has +never succeeded in knowing the mind of Christ. Such an assertion would +do violent injustice, not only to the Occidental mind, but to the +Gospel itself as well, by making it an enigma, utterly foreign to the +native spirituality of the majority of mankind. But what I have +learned from intimate associations with the Western mind, during almost +a score of years in the American pulpit, is that, with the exception of +the few specialists, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for +a people to understand fully a literature which has not sprung from +that people's own racial life. As a repository of divine revelation +the Bible knows no geographical limits. Its spiritual truths are {7} +from God to man. But as a literature the Bible is an imported article +in the Western world, especially in the home of the Anglo-Saxon race. +The language of the Scriptures, the mentality and the habits of life +which form the setting of their spiritual precepts, and the mystic +atmosphere of those precepts themselves, have come forth from the soul +of a people far removed from the races of the West in almost all the +modes of its earthly life. + +You cannot study the life of a people successfully from the outside. +You may by so doing succeed in discerning the few fundamental traits of +character in their local colors, and in satisfying your curiosity with +surface observations of the general modes of behavior; but the little +things, the common things, those subtle connectives in the social +vocabulary of a people, those agencies which are born and not made, and +which give a race its rich distinctiveness, are bound to elude your +grasp. There is so much in the life of a people which a stranger to +that people must receive {8} by way of unconscious absorption. Like a +little child, he must learn so many things by involuntary imitation. +An outside observer, though wise, is only a photographer. He deals +with externals. He can be converted into an artist and portray the +life of a race by working from the soul outward, only through long, +actual, and sympathetic associations with that race. + +From the foregoing it may be seen that I deem it rather hazardous for a +six-weeks tourist in that country to publish a book on the _life_ of +Syria. A first-class camera and "an eye to business" are hardly +sufficient qualifications for the undertaking of such a task. It is +very easy, indeed, to take a photograph, but not so easy to relate such +a picture to the inner life of a race, and to know what moral and +social forces lie behind such externals. The hasty traveler may easily +state what certain modes of thought and life in a strange land mean to +_him_, but does that necessarily mean that _his_ understanding of such +things is also the understanding of the _people_ of that land +themselves? + +{9} + +With the passing of the years, this thought gains in significance with +me, as a Syrian immigrant. At about the end of my second year of +residence in this country, I felt confident that I could write a book +on America and the Americans whose accuracy no one could challenge. It +was so easy for me to grasp the significance of certain general aspects +of American life that I felt I was fully competent to state how the +American people lived, what their racial, political, and religious +tendencies were, what their idioms of speech meant, and to interpret +their amorous, martial, dolorous, and joyous moods with perfect +accuracy and ease. But now, after a residence of about twenty-four +years in America--years which I have spent in most intimate association +with Americans, largely of the "original stock"--I do not feel half so +confident that I am qualified to write such a book. The more intimate +I become with American thought, the deeper I penetrate the American +spirit, the more enlightened my associations become with American +fathers, mothers, {10} and children in the joys and sorrows of life, +the more fully do I realize how extremely difficult, if not impossible, +it is for one to interpret successfully the life of an alien people +before one has actually _lived it_ himself. + +Many Westerners have written very meritorious books on the thought and +life of the East. But these are not of the "tourist" type. Such +writers have been those who, first, had the initial wisdom to realize +that the beggars for _bakhsheesh_ in the thoroughfares of Syrian +cities, and those who hitch a woman with an ox to the plough in some +dark recesses of Palestine, did not possibly represent the deep soul of +that ancient East, which gave birth to the Bible and to the glorious +company of prophets, apostles, and saints. Second, such writers knew, +also, that the fine roots of a people's life do not lie on the surface. +Such feeders of life are both deep and fine; not only long residence +among a people, but intimate association and genuine sympathy with them +are necessary to reveal to a stranger the hidden {11} meaning of their +life. Social life, like biological life, energizes from within, and +from within it must be studied. + +And it is those common things of Syrian life, so indissolubly +interwoven with the spiritual truths of the Bible, which cause the +Western readers of holy writ to stumble, and which rob those truths for +them of much of their richness. By sheer force of genius, the +aggressive, systematic Anglo-Saxon mind seeks to press into logical +unity and creedal uniformity those undesigned, artless, and most +natural manifestations of Oriental life, in order to "understand the +Scriptures." + +"Yet show I unto you a more excellent way," by personally conducting +you into the inner chambers of Syrian life, and showing you, if I can, +how simple it is for a humble fellow countryman of Christ to understand +those social phases of the Scriptural passages which so greatly puzzle +the august minds of the West. + + + + +{12} + +CHAPTER II + +BIRTH OF A MAN CHILD + +In the Gospel story of Jesus' life there is not a single incident that +is not in perfect harmony with the prevailing modes of thought and the +current speech of the land of its origin. I do not know how many times +I heard it stated in my native land and at our own fireside that +heavenly messengers in the forms of patron saints or angels came to +pious, childless wives, in dreams and visions, and cheered them with +the promise of maternity. It was nothing uncommon for such women to +spend a whole night in a shrine "wrestling in prayer," either with the +blessed Virgin or some other saint, for such a divine assurance; and I +remember a few of my own kindred to have done so. + +Perhaps the most romantic religious practice in this connection is the +_zeara_. Interpreted literally, the word _zeara_ means simply a visit. +In its social use it is the equivalent of {13} a call of long or short +duration. But religiously the _zeara_ means a pilgrimage to a shrine. +However, strictly speaking, the word "pilgrimage" means to the Syrians +a journey of great religious significance whose supreme purpose is the +securing of a blessing for the pilgrim, with no reference to a special +need. The _zeara_ is a pilgrimage with a specific purpose. The +_zayir_ (visitor to a shrine) comes seeking either to be healed of a +certain ailment, to atone for a sin, or to be divinely helped in some +other way. Unlike a pilgrimage also, a _zeara_ may be made by one +person in behalf of another. When, for example, a person is too ill to +travel, or is indifferent to a spiritual need which such a visit is +supposed to fill, his parents or other close friends may make a _zeara_ +in his behalf. But much more often a _zeara_ is undertaken by women +for the purpose of securing the blessing of fecundity, or consecrating +an approaching issue of wedlock (if it should prove to be a male) to +God, and to the patron saint of the visited sanctuary. + +{14} + +Again the word "pilgrimage" is used only to describe a visit by a +Christian to Jerusalem, or by a Mohammedan to Mecca, while the _zeara_ +describes a visit to any one of the lesser shrines. + +The happy journey is often made on foot, the parties most concerned +walking all the way "on the flesh of their feet"; that is, with neither +shoes nor sandals on. This great sacrifice is made as a mark of +sincere humility which is deemed to be pleasing to God and his holy +saints. However, the wearing of shoes and even the use of mounts is +not considered a sinful practice on such occasions, and is indulged in +by many of the well-to-do families. The state of the heart is, of +course, the chief thing to be considered. + +In the fourth chapter of the Second Book of Kings we are told that "the +Shunammite woman" used an ass when she sought Elisha to restore her +dead son to her. In the twenty-second verse (the Revised Version), we +are told, "And she called unto her husband, and said, {15} Send me, I +pray thee, one of the servants, and one of the asses, that I may run to +the man of God, and come again.... Then she saddled an ass, and said +to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slacken me not the riding, +except I bid thee. So she went, and came unto the man of God to mount +Carmel." + +Fasting and prayer on the way are often pronounced phases of a _zeara_. +However, wine-drinking by the men in the company and noisy gayety are +not deemed altogether incompatible with the solemnity of the occasion. +The pious visitors carry with them presents to the abbot and to the +monks who serve the shrine. A silver or even gold candlestick, or a +crown of either metal for the saint, is also carried to the altar. The +young mother in whose behalf the _zeara_ is undertaken is tenderly +cared for by every member of the party. She is "the chosen vessel of +the Lord." + +The _zûwar_ (visitors) remain at the holy shrine for one or two nights, +or until the "presence" is revealed; that is, until the saint {16} +manifests himself. The prayerfully longed-for manifestation comes +almost invariably in a dream, either to the mother or some other worthy +in the party. How like the story of Joseph all this is! In the first +chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, the twentieth verse, it is said of +Joseph, "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the +Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, +fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived +in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou +shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their +sins." + +In this manner the promise is made to the waiting mother, who "keeps +these things, and ponders them in her heart." + +The promise thus secured, the mother and the father vow that the child +shall be a _nedher_; that is, consecrated to the saint who made the +promise to the mother. The vow may mean one of several things. Either +that a sum of {17} money be "given to the saint" upon the advent of the +child, or that the child be carried to the same sanctuary on another +_zeara_ with gifts, and so forth, or that his hair will not be cut +until he is seven years old, and then cut for the first time before the +image of his patron saint at the shrine, or some other act of pious +fulfillment. + +The last form of a vow, the consecration of the hair of the head for a +certain period, is practiced by men of all ages. The vow is made as a +petition for healing from a serious illness, rescue from danger, or +purely as an act of consecration. In the eighteenth chapter of the +Book of Acts, the eighteenth verse, we have the statement: "And Paul +after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of +the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and +Aquila; _having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow_." It was +also in connection with this practice that Paul was induced by the +"brethren" at Jerusalem to make a compromise which cost him dearly. +{18} In the twenty-first chapter of Acts, the twenty-third verse, we +are told that those brethren said to Paul, "We have four men who have a +vow on them; them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges +for them, that they may _shave their heads_." + +The last service of this kind which I attended in Syria was for a +cousin of mine, a boy of twelve, who was a _nedher_, or as the word is +rendered in the English Bible, a Nazarite. We assembled in the church +of St. George of Sûk. The occasion was very solemn. A mass was +celebrated after the order of the Greek Orthodox Church. Near the +close of the service the tender lad was brought by his parents in front +of the Royal Door at the altar. While repeating a prayer, the priest +cut the hair on the crown of the boy's head with the scissors, in the +shape of a cross. The simple act released the child and his parents of +their solemn vow. + +"Twentieth-century culture" is prone to call all such practices +superstitions. So they are to a large extent. But I deem it the +higher {19} duty of this culture to _interpret_ sympathetically rather +than to condemn superstition in a sweeping fashion. I am a lover of a +rational theology and a reasonable faith, but I feel that in our +enthusiasm for such a theology and such a faith we often fail to +appreciate the deep spiritual longing which is expressed in +superstitious forms of worship. What is there in such religious +practices as those I have mentioned but the expression of the +heart-burning of those parents for the spiritual welfare and security +of their children? What do we find here but evidences of a deep and +sincere yearning for divine blessings to come upon the family and the +home? Thoughts of God at the marriage altar; thoughts of God when the +promise of parenthood becomes evident; thoughts of God when a child +comes into the world; thoughts of God and of his holy prophets and +saints as friends and companions in all the changes and chances of the +world. Here the challenge to modern rationalism is not to content +itself with rebuking superstitions, but to give {20} the world deeper +spiritual visions than those which superstitions reveal, and to compass +childhood and youth by the gracious presence of the living God. + +In a most literal sense we always understood the saying of the +psalmist, "Children are a heritage from the Lord." Above and beyond +all natural agencies, it was He who turned barrenness to fecundity and +worked the miracle of birth. To us every birth was miraculous, and +childlessness an evidence of divine disfavor. From this it may be +inferred how tenderly and reverently agreeable to the Syrian ear is the +angel's salutation to Mary, "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the +Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women!--Behold thou shalt +conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son."[1] + +A miracle? Yes. But a miracle means one thing to your Western +science, which seeks to know what nature is and does by dealing with +secondary causes, and quite another thing to {21} an Oriental, to whom +God's will is the law and gospel of nature. In times of intellectual +trouble this man takes refuge in his all-embracing faith,--the faith +that to God all things are possible. + +The Oriental does not try to meet an assault upon his belief in +miracles by seeking to establish the historicity of concrete reports of +miracles. His poetical, mystical temperament seeks its ends in another +way. Relying upon his fundamental faith in the omnipotence of God, he +throws the burden of proof upon his assailant by challenging him to +substantiate his _denial_ of the miracles. So did Paul (in the +twenty-sixth chapter of the Book of Acts) put his opponents at a great +disadvantage by asking, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible +with you, that God should raise the dead?" + +But the story of Jesus' birth and kindred Bible records disclose not +only the predisposition of the Syrian mind to accept miracles as divine +acts, without critical examination, but {22} also its attitude toward +conception and birth,--an attitude which differs fundamentally from +that of the Anglo-Saxon mind. With the feeling of one who has been +reminded of having ignorantly committed an improper act, I remember the +time when kind American friends admonished me not to read from the +pulpit such scriptural passages as detailed the accounts of conception +and birth, but only to allude to them in a general way. I learned in a +very short time to obey the kindly advice, but it was a long time +before I could swing my psychology around and understand why in America +such narratives were so greatly modified in transmission. + +The very fact that such stories are found in the Bible shows that in my +native land no such sifting of these narratives is ever undertaken when +they are read to the people. From childhood I had been accustomed to +hear them read at our church, related at the fireside, and discussed +reverently by men and women at all times and places. There is nothing +in the {23} phraseology of such statements which is not in perfect +harmony with the common, everyday speech of my people. + +To the Syrians, as I say, "children are a heritage from the Lord." +From the days of Israel to the present time, barrenness has been looked +upon as a sign of divine disfavor, an intolerable calamity. Rachel's +cry, "Give me children, or else I die,"[2] does not exaggerate the +agony of a childless Syrian wife. When Rebecca was about to depart +from her father's house to become Isaac's wife, her mother's ardent and +effusively expressed wish for her was, "Be thou the mother of thousands +of millions."[3] This mother's last message to her daughter was not +spoken in a corner. I can see her following the bride to the door, +lifting her open palms and turning her face toward heaven, and making +her affectionate petition in the hearing of a multitude of guests, who +must have echoed her words in chorus. + +In the congratulations of guests at a {24} marriage feast the central +wish for the bridegroom and bride is invariably thus expressed: "May +you be happy, live long, and have many children!" And what contrasts +very sharply with the American reticence in such matters is the fact +that shortly after the wedding, the friends of the young couple, both +men and women, begin to ask them about their "prospects" for an heir. +No more does a prospective mother undertake in any way to disguise the +signs of the approaching event, than an American lady to conceal her +engagement ring. Much mirth is enjoyed in such cases, also, when +friends and neighbors, by consulting the stars, or computing the number +of letters in the names of the parents and the month in which the +miracle of conception is supposed to have occurred, undertake to +foretell whether the promised offspring will be a son or a daughter. +In that part of the country where I was brought up, such wise +prognosticators believed, and made us all believe, that if the +calculations resulted in an odd number the birth would be a son, but +{25} if in an even number, a daughter, which, as a rule, is not +considered so desirable. + +Back of all these social traits, and beyond the free realism of the +Syrian in speaking of conception and birth, lies a deeper fact. To +Eastern peoples, especially the Semites, reproduction in all the world +of life is profoundly sacred. It is God's life reproducing itself in +the life of man and in the living world below man; therefore the +evidences of this reproduction should be looked upon and spoken of with +rejoicing. + +Notwithstanding the many and fundamental intellectual changes which I +have undergone in this country of my adoption, I count as among the +most precious memories of my childhood my going with my father to the +vineyard, just as the vines began to "come out," and hearing him say as +he touched the swelling buds, "Blessed be the Creator. He is the +Supreme Giver. May He protect the blessed increase." Of this I almost +always think when I read the words of the psalmist, "The earth is the +Lord's and the fullness thereof!" + +{26} + +Now I do not feel at all inclined to say whether the undisguised +realism of the Orientals in speaking of reproduction is better than the +delicate reserve of the Anglo-Saxons. In fact, I have been so +reconstructed under Anglo-Saxon auspices as to feel that the excessive +reserve of this race with regard to such things is not a serious fault, +but rather the defect of a great virtue. My purpose is to show that +the unreconstructed Oriental, to whom reproduction is the most sublime +manifestation of God's life, cannot see why one should be ashamed to +speak anywhere in the world of the fruits of wedlock, of a "woman with +child." One might as well be ashamed to speak of the creative power as +it reveals itself in the gardens of roses and the fruiting trees. + +Here we have the background of the stories of Sarah, when the +angel-guest prophesied fecundity for her in her old age; of Rebecca, +and the wish of her mother for her, that she might become "the mother +of thousands"; of Elizabeth, when the "babe leaped in her womb," {27} +as she saw her cousin Mary; and of the declaration of the angel to +Joseph's spouse; "Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a +son." + +Here it is explained, also, why upon the birth of a "man-child," +well-wishers troop into the house,--even on the very day of +birth,--bring their presents, and congratulate the parents on the +divine gift to them. It was because of this custom that those +strangers, the three "Wise Men" and Magi of the Far East, were +permitted to come in and see the little Galilean family, while the +mother was yet in childbed. So runs the Gospel narrative: "And when +they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his +mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened +their treasures, they presented unto him gifts,--gold, frankincense, +and myrrh."[4] + +So also were the humble shepherds privileged to see the wondrous child +shortly after birth. "And it came to pass, as the angels were gone +away from them into heaven, the {28} shepherds said one to another, Let +us now go to Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which +the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found +Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger."[5] + +In the twelfth verse of the second chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, +the English version says, "And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall +find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Here the +word "clothes" is somewhat misleading. The Arabic version gives a +perfect rendering of the fact by saying, "Ye shall find a _swaddled_ +babe, _laid_ in a manger." + +According to general Syrian custom, in earliest infancy a child is not +really clothed, it is only swaddled. Upon birth the infant is washed +in tepid water by the midwife, then salted, or rubbed gently with salt +pulverized in a stone mortar especially for the occasion. (The salt +commonly used in Syrian homes is coarse-chipped.) Next the babe is +sprinkled with {29} _rehan_,--a powder made of dried myrtle +leaves,--and then swaddled. + +The swaddle is a piece of stout cloth about a yard square, to one +corner of which is attached a long narrow band. The infant, with its +arms pressed close to its sides, and its feet stretched full length and +laid close together, is wrapped in the swaddle, and the narrow band +wound around the little body, from the shoulders to the ankles, giving +the little one the exact appearance of an Egyptian mummy. Only a few +of the good things of this mortal life were more pleasant to me when I +was a boy than to carry in my arms a swaddled babe. The "salted" and +"peppered" little creature felt so soft and so light, and was so +appealingly helpless, that to cuddle it was to me an unspeakable +benediction. + +Such was the "babe of Bethlehem" that was sought by the Wise Men and +the shepherds in the wondrous story of the Nativity. + +And in describing such Oriental customs it may be significant to point +out that, in certain {30} localities in Syria, to say to a person that +he was not "salted" upon birth is to invite trouble. Only a _bendûq_, +or the child of an unrecognized father, is so neglected. And here may +be realized the full meaning of that terrible arraignment of Jerusalem +in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Ezekiel. The Holy City had +done iniquity, and therefore ceased to be the legitimate daughter of +Jehovah. So the prophet cries, "The Lord came unto me, saying, Son of +man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and say, Thus saith the +Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity are of the land of +Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. And as +for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born--neither wast thou washed +in water to supple[6] thee; _thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled +at all_. No eye pitied thee, to do any of these things for thee, to +have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to +the loathing of thy person, in the day thou wast born." + + + +[1] Luke i: 28, 31. + +[2] Gen. xxx; 1. + +[3] Gen. xxiv: 60. + +[4] Matt. ii: 11. + +[5] Luke ii: 15-16. + +[6] "Cleanse" in the Revised Version. + + + + +{31} + +CHAPTER III + +THE STAR + +How natural to the thought of the East the story of the "star of +Bethlehem" is! To the Orientals "the heavens declare the glory of +God," and the stars reveal many wondrous things to men. They are the +messengers of good and evil, and objects of the loftiest idealization, +as well as of the crudest superstitions. Those who have gazed upon the +stars in the deep, clear Syrian heavens can find no difficulty in +entering into the spirit of the majestic strains of the writer of the +eighth Psalm. "When I consider thy heavens," says this ancient singer, +"the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast +ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of +man, that thou visitest him?" Deeps beyond deeps are revealed through +that dry, soft, and clear atmosphere of the "land of promise," yet the +constellations seem as near {32} to the beholder as parlor lamps. "My +soul longeth" for the vision of the heavens from the heights of my +native Lebanon, and the hills of Palestine. It is no wonder to me that +my people have always considered the stars as guides and companions, +and as awe-inspiring manifestations of the Creator's power, wisdom, and +glory. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament +sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto +night sheweth knowledge."[1] + +So great is the host of the stars seen by the naked eye in that land +that the people of Syria have always likened a great multitude to the +stars of heaven or the sand of the sea. Of a great assemblage of +people we always said, "They are _methel-ennijoom_--like the stars" (in +number). So it is written in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, +the sixty-second verse, "And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye +were _as the stars of heaven for multitude_; because thou wouldst not +obey the {33} voice of the Lord thy God." According to that great +narrative in Genesis, God promised Abraham that his progeny would be as +the stars in number. In the fifteenth chapter, the fifth verse, it is +said, "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward +heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said +unto him, So shall thy seed be." In speaking of the omniscience of God +the writer of the one hundred and forty-seventh Psalm says, "He telleth +the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is +our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite." + +But the numberless lights of the firmament were brought even closer to +us through the belief that they had vital connection with the lives of +men on the earth. I was brought up to believe that every human being +had a star in heaven which held the secret of his destiny and which +watched over him wherever he went. In speaking of an amiable person it +is said, "His star is attractive" (_nejmo jeddeeb_). Persons {34} love +one another when "their stars are in harmony." A person is in +unfavorable circumstances when his star is in the sphere of +"misfortune" (_nehiss_), and so forth. The stars indicated the time to +us when we were traveling by night, marked the seasons, and thus +fulfilled their Creator's purpose by serving "for signs, and for +seasons, and for days and years." + +In every community we had "star-gazers" who could tell each person's +star. We placed much confidence in such mysterious men, who could +"arrest" an absent person's star in its course and learn from it +whether it was well or ill with the absent one. + +Like a remote dream, it comes to me that as a child of about ten I went +out one night with my mother to seek a "star-gazer" to locate my +father's star and question the shining orb about him. My father had +been away from home for some time, and owing to the meagerness of the +means of communication in that country, especially in those days, we +had no news of him at all. During that afternoon {35} my mother said +that she felt "heavy-hearted" for no reason that she knew; therefore +she feared that some ill must have befallen the head of our household, +and sought to "know" whether her fear was well grounded. The +"star-arrester," leaning against an aged mulberry tree, turned his eyes +toward the stellar world, while his lips moved rapidly and silently as +if he were repeating words of awful import. Presently he said, "I see +him. He is sitting on a cushion, leaning against the wall and smoking +his _narghile_. There are others with him, and he is in his usual +health." The man took pains to point out the "star" to my mother, who, +after much sympathetic effort, felt constrained to say that she did see +what the star-gazer claimed he saw. But at any rate, mother declared +that she was no longer "heavy-hearted." + +In my most keen eagerness to see my father and his _narghile_ in the +star, at least for mere intellectual delight, I clung to the arm of the +reader of the heavens like a frightened kitten, {36} and insisted upon +"seeing." The harder he tried to shake me off, the deeper did my +organs of apprehension sink into his sleeve. At last the combined +efforts of my mother and the heir of the ancient astrologers forced me +to believe that I was "too young to behold such sights." + +It was the excessive leaning of his people upon such practices that led +Isaiah to cry, "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let +now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, +stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. +Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall +not deliver themselves from the power of the flames." + +Beyond all such crudities, however, lies the sublime and sustaining +belief that the stars are alive with God. The lofty strains of such +scriptural passages as the nineteenth Psalm and the beautiful story of +the star of Bethlehem, indicate that to the Oriental mind the "hosts of +heaven" are no mere masses of dust, {37} but the agencies of the +Creator's might and love. So the narrative of the Nativity in our +Gospel sublimates the beliefs of the Orientals about God's purpose in +those lights of the firmament, by making the guide of the Wise Men to +the birthplace of the Prince of Peace a great star, whose pure and +serene light symbolized the peace and holiness which, in the "fullness +of time," his kingdom shall bring upon the earth. + +The presentation of a child at the temple, or the "admittance of an +infant into the Church," is one of the most tender, most beautiful, and +most impressive services of my Mother Church--the Greek Orthodox.[2] +It is held for every child born within that fold, in commemoration of +the presentation of Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem. As Luke tells us +(11:22), "And when the days of her purification according to the law of +Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him +to the Lord." + +{38} + +The purification period "according to the law of Moses" is forty +days.[3] Until this is "accomplished," the mother is not permitted to +enter into the house of worship. As a general rule the baptismal +service, which takes place any time between the eighth day and the +fortieth day after birth, is held at the home. On the first Sabbath +day after the "forty days," the mother carries the infant to the door +of the church during mass, where the robed priest, who has been +previously applied to for the sacred rite, meets the mother and +receives the child in his arms. After making the sign of the cross +with the child at the door, the priest says, "Now enters the servant of +God [naming the child] into the Holy Church, in the name of the Father, +and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen." Then the priest walks into +the church with the child, saying, in its behalf, "I will come into thy +house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship +toward thy holy temple."[4] As he {39} approaches the center of the +church, he says again, "Now enters the servant of God," etc. Then +standing in the center of the church, and surrounded by the reverently +silent congregation, the priest says again, in behalf of the child, "In +the midst of the congregation will I praise thee, O Lord."[5] Again, +in front of the Royal Gate (the central door in the _anastasis_, or +partition which screens the altar from the congregation) the priest +says for the third time, "Now enters the servant of God," etc. After +this the priest carries the infant through the north door, which is to +the left of the Royal Gate, into the _mizbeh_, which corresponds to the +"holy place" in the ancient temple. Here he walks around the _maideh_ +(altar of sacrifice), makes the sign of the cross with the child, and +walks out into the midst of the congregation, through the south door. +In this position the priest utters as his final petition the words of +the aged Simeon (Luke 11:29), "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant +depart in peace, {40} according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen +thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; +a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." +Then he delivers the child back to its mother. Female children are +presented in front of the Royal Gate, but are not admitted into the +_mizbeh_. + + + +[1] Ps. xix: 1-2. + +[2] See the author's autobiography, _A Far Journey_, p. 4. + +[3] Lev. xii: 2-4. + +[4] Ps. v: 7. + +[5] Ps. xx: 22. + + + + +{41} + +CHAPTER IV + +MYSTIC TONES + +I love to listen to the mystic tones of the Christmas carol. The story +of the "star of Bethlehem" is the medium of transmission of those +deeper strains which have come into the world through the soul of that +ancient East. I love to mingle with the social joys of the Christmas +season and its spirit of good-will, the mystic accents of the ancient +seers who expressed in the rich narratives of the New Testament the +deepest and dearest hopes of the soul. + +I leave most respectfully to the "Biblical critic" the task of +assigning to the narrative of the Nativity its rightful place in the +history of the New Testament. My deep interest in this story centers +in those spiritual ideals it reveals, which have through the ages +exercised such beneficent influences over the minds of men. And I +believe that both as a Christian {42} and as an Oriental, I have a +perfect right to be a mystic, after the wholesome New Testament fashion. + +In the second chapter of St. Luke's Gospel the story of the Nativity is +presented in a most exquisite poetical form. The vision of humble +shepherds, wise men, and angels, mingling together in the joy of a new +divine revelation, could have been caught only by a deep-visioned +spiritual artist. Had this fragment of religious literature been +discovered in this year of 1916, its appearance would have marked a +significant epoch in the history of religion. It is the expression of +a sublime and passionate desire of the soul for divine companionship +and for infinite peace. + +"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, +keeping watch over their flocks by night. + +"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the +Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. + +"And the angel said unto them, Fear not; {43} for, behold, I bring you +good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. + +"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is +Christ the Lord. + +"And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in +swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. + +"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host +praising God, and saying, + +"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." + +When the angel delivered his message to the effect that God had visited +his people in the person of the new-born Christ, then the humble, +unlettered shepherds heard the heavenly song, which gave God the glory, +and prophesied peace and good-will for all mankind. Could there be +anything more profoundly and accurately interpretative of the deepest +hopes of the human soul than this picture? Even the uncouth shepherds, +being living souls, could realize that when the divine and the {44} +human met heaven and earth became one, and peace and good-will +prevailed among men. What encouragement, what hope this vision holds +out even to the humblest among men! What assurance that heaven with +all its treasures of peace and love is so near to our dust! + +"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you glad +tidings." The shepherds looked up to heaven through the eyes of all +mankind. It was the upward look of a world-old hope. No soul ever +looked up to heaven with different results. The divine response always +is, "Fear not, for I bring you good tidings!" No soul ever needs to +dwell in doubt and fear. No soul ever needs to be lonely and forlorn. +Heaven has nothing for us but "good tidings of great joy." The higher +powers are near at hand, and the soul of man may have invisible +companions. + +Again we learn from this New Testament passage that in the visit of the +shepherds and the Wise Men to the holy child both were equally blest. +Both those who were steeped {45} in the wisdom of that ancient East and +the simple-minded sons of the desert stood at the shrine of a holy +personality as naked souls, divested of all artificial human +distinctions. There were no "assigned" pews in that little shrine. +All those who came into it by way of the heart received a blessing, and +went away praising God. Here we have a foregleam of that longed-for +kingdom of God--the home of all aspiring and seeking souls, regardless +of rank and station. + + "There is no great and no small + To the soul that maketh all: + And where it cometh, all things are; + And it cometh everywhere." + + +The Christmas carol is dear to the human heart because it is a song of +spiritual optimism. To pessimism the heavens are closed and silent; +the world has no windows opening toward the Infinite. Pessimism cannot +sing because it has no hope, and cannot pray because it has no faith. + +And I deem it essential at this point to ask, {46} Whither is the +spirit of the present age leading us? Are we drifting away from the +mount of vision? There seems to be but little room in this vast and +complex life of ours for spiritual dreams and visions. The combination +of our commercial activities and the never-ceasing whir of the wheels +of our industries close up our senses to the intimate whisperings of +the divine spirit. We see, but with the outward eye. We hear, but +with the outward ear. Our inward senses are in grave danger of dying +altogether from lack of exercise. The things of this life are too much +with us, and they render us oblivious to the gracious beckonings of the +higher world. Let not the lesser interests of this life close our +hearing to the angel-song which never dies upon the air. The star of +hope never sets, and God's revelations are from everlasting to +everlasting. + + + + +{47} + +CHAPTER V + +FILIAL OBEDIENCE + +Of Jesus' life between the period spoken of in the narrative of the +Nativity and the time when he appeared on the banks of the Jordan, +seeking to be baptized by John, the New Testament says nothing. One +single incident only is mentioned. When twelve years old, the boy +Jesus went with his parents on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Annual +pilgrimages to the great shrines are still very common in Syria. The +Mohammedans go to Mecca, the Christians and the Jews to Jerusalem. But +there are many other and more accessible sanctuaries which are +frequented by the faithful in all those communions. However, a visit +to any other sanctuary than Jerusalem and Mecca is called _zeara_, +rather than a pilgrimage.[1] The simple record of Jesus' pilgrimage to +Jerusalem with his parents is that of a typical {48} experience. In +writing about it I seem to myself to be giving a personal reminiscence. + +In the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the forty-first verse, it +is said: "Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of +the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to +Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled +the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in +Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, +supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and +they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they +found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him." + +In Syria male children are taken on a pilgrimage or _zeara_, and thus +permitted to receive the blessing, which this pious act is supposed to +bring upon them, as soon as they are able to make the journey. Full +maturity is no essential condition. I went with my parents on two +_zearas_ before I was fifteen. At the {49} present time there is no +definite rule, at least among Christians, as to how many days should be +spent at a sanctuary. Pilgrims usually "vow" to stay a certain number +of days. In ancient Judaism, "the feast of the passover" occupied +eight days, and it was that number of days which Mary and Joseph +"fulfilled." + +According to Luke, on their return journey to Nazareth Jesus' parents +went a day's journey before they discovered that he was not with them. +This phase of the story seems to have greatly puzzled the good old +commentator, Adam Clarke. "Knowing what a treasure they possessed," he +observes, "how could they be so long without looking on it? Where were +the bowels and tender solicitude of the mother? Let them answer this +question who can." + +Clarke did not need to be so perplexed or so mystified. For one who +knows the customs of the Syrians while on religious pilgrimages knows +also that the experience of the "holy family" was not at all a strange +one. The whole mystery is cleared up in the saying, {50} "And they +sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance." Kinsfolk and +acquaintances travel in large groups, and the young pilgrims, such as +the twelve-year-old Jesus, are considered safe so long as they keep in +close touch with the company. On such journeys, parents may not see +their sons for hours at a time. The homogeneous character of the +group, and the sense of security which faith gives, especially at such +times, present no occasion for anxiety concerning the dear ones. + +The saying of Luke that Joseph and Mary "went a day's journey" before +they discovered that Jesus was not in the company must, it seems to me, +include also the time consumed in their return journey to Jerusalem to +seek their son. Perhaps they discovered his absence about noontime +when the company halted by a spring of water to partake of the _zad_ +(food for the way). At such a time families gather together to break +bread. And what I feel certain of also is that the boy Jesus must have +been with his parents when they first {51} set out on their homeward +journey early in the morning from Jerusalem, and that he detached +himself from his kinsfolk and returned to the holy city shortly after +the company had left that place. No Syrian family ever would start out +on a journey before every one of its members had been accounted for. +The evangelist's omission of these details is easily understood. His +purpose was not to give a photographic account of all that happened on +the way. It was rather to reveal the lofty spiritual ideals which led +the boy Jesus to return to the temple, where he was found by his +anxious parents "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing +them, and asking them questions." + +In this brief but significant record of all the filial graces which +Jesus must have possessed one only is mentioned in the second chapter +of the Gospel of Luke, where it is stated that he went down to Nazareth +with his parents "and was subject unto them." + +This seemingly casual remark is full of {52} significance. With us in +Syria, _ta'at-el-walideen_ (obedience to parents) has always been +youth's crowning virtue. Individual initiative must not overstep the +boundary line of this grace. Only in this way the patriarchal +organization of the family can be kept intact. In my boyhood days in +that romantic country, whenever my father took me with him on a "visit +of homage" to one of the lords of the land, the most fitting thing such +a dignitary could do to me was to place his hand upon my head and say +with characteristic condescension, "Bright boy, and no doubt obedient +to your parents." + +As regards the grace of filial obedience, I am not aware of a definite +break between the East and the West. But there is a vital difference. +To an Oriental who has just come to this country, the American youth +seem to be indifferent to filial obedience. The strong passion for +freedom, the individualistic sense which is a pronounced characteristic +of the aggressive Anglo-Saxon, and the economic stress {53} which ever +tends to scatter the family group, and which the East has never +experienced so painfully as the West has, all convey the impression +that parental love and filial obedience are fast disappearing from +American society. But to those of us sons of the East who have +intimate knowledge of the American family, its cohesion does not seem +to be so alarmingly weak. The mad rush for "business success" is +indeed a menace to the American home, but love and obedience are still +vital forces in that home. The terms "father," "mother," "brother," +and "sister," have by no means lost their spiritual charms in American +society. The deep affection in which the members of the better +American family hold one another and the exquisite regard they have for +one another command profound respect. + +But the vital difference between the East and the West is that to +Easterners filial obedience is more than a social grace and an evidence +of natural affection. It is a _religious_ duty of far-reaching +significance. God commands {54} it. "Thou shalt honor thy father and +thy mother" is a divine command. The "displeasure" of a parent is as +much to be feared as the wrath of God. This sense permeates Syrian +society from the highest to the lowest of its ranks. + +The explanation of the origin of sin in the third chapter of Genesis +touches the very heart of this matter. The writer ascribes the "fall +of man," not to any act which was in itself really harmful, but to +disobedience. Adam was commanded by his divine parent not to eat of +the "tree of knowledge of good and evil"; but he did eat, and +consequently became a stranger to the blessings of his original home. + +This idea of filial obedience has been at once the strength and +weakness of Orientals. In the absence of the restraining interests of +a larger social life this patriarchal rule has preserved the cohesion +of the domestic and clannish group, and thus safeguarded for the people +their primitive virtues. On the other hand, it has served to +extinguish the spirit of {55} progress, and has thus made Oriental life +a monotonous repetition of antiquated modes of thought. + +And it was indeed a great blessing to the world when Jesus broke away +from mere formal obedience to parents, in the Oriental sense of the +word, and declared, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father in +heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." + + + +[1] See above, p. 14. + + + + +{56} + +CHAPTER VI + +FEAST AND SACRAMENT + +Of Jesus' public ministry and his characteristics as an Oriental +teacher, I shall speak in later chapters. Here I will give space only +to a portrayal of the closing scenes in his personal career. The +events of the "upper room" on Mount Zion, and of Gethsemane, are +faithful photographs of striking characteristics of Syrian life. + +The Last Supper was no isolated event in Syrian history. Its fraternal +atmosphere, intimate associations, and sentimental intercourse are such +as characterize every such gathering of Syrian friends, especially in +the shadow of an approaching danger. From the simple "table manners" +up to that touch of sadness and idealism which the Master gave that +meal,--bestowing upon it the sacrificial character that has been its +propelling force through the ages,--I find nothing which is {57} not in +perfect harmony with what takes place on such occasions in my native +land. The sacredness of the Last Supper is one of the emphatic +examples of how Jesus' life and words sanctified the commonest things +of life. He was no inventor of new things, but a discoverer of the +spiritual significance of things known to men to be ordinary. + +The informal formalities of Oriental life are brimful of sentiment. +The Oriental's chief concern in matters of conduct is not the +correctness of the technique, but the cordiality of the deed. To the +Anglo-Saxon the Oriental appears to be perhaps too cordial, decidedly +sentimental, and over-responsive to the social stimulus. To the +Oriental, on the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon seems in danger of +becoming an unemotional intellectualist. + +Be that as it may, the Oriental is never afraid to "let himself go" and +to give free course to his feelings. The Bible in general and such +portions of it as the story of the Last Supper in particular illustrate +this phase of Oriental life. + +{58} + +In Syria, as a general rule, the men eat their fraternal feasts alone, +as in the case of the Master and his disciples at the Last Supper, +when, so far as the record goes, none of the women followers of Christ +were present. They sit on the floor in something like a circle, and +eat out of one or a few large, deep dishes. The food is lifted into +the mouth, not with a fork or spoon,--except in the case of liquid +food,--but with small "shreds" of thin bread. Even liquid food is +sometimes "dipped up" with pieces of bread formed like the bowl of a +spoon. Here may be readily understood Jesus' saying, "He that dippeth +his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me."[1] + +In his famous painting, The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci presents an +Oriental event in an Occidental form. The high table, the chairs, the +individual plates and drinking-glasses are European rather than Syrian +appointments. From a historical standpoint, the picture is misleading. +But Da Vinci's great {59} production was not intended to be a +historical, but a character, study. Such a task could not have been +accomplished if the artist had presented the Master and his disciples +as they really sat in the "upper room"--in a circle. He seats them on +one side of the table, divides them into four groups of three each--two +groups on each side of the Master. As we view the great painting, we +feel the thrill of horror which agitated the loyal disciples when Jesus +declared, "Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me."[2] +The gestures, the sudden change of position, and the facial expression +reveal the innermost soul of each disciple. This is the central +purpose of the picture. The artist gave the event a European rather +than an Oriental setting, in order to make it more intelligible to the +people for whom it was intended. + +But the appointments of the Great Supper were genuinely Oriental. The +Master and his disciples sat on the floor and ate out of one or {60} a +few large, deep dishes. In Mark's account of that event[3] we read: +"And when it was evening he cometh with the twelve. And as they sat +and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you shall +betray me, even he that _eateth_ with me." The fact that they were +_all_ eating with him is shown in the statement, "They began to be +sorrowful, and to say unto him, Is it I? And he said unto them, It is +one of the twelve, he that dippeth with me in the dish." + +The last sentence, "He that dippeth with me in the dish," has been +construed to mean that it was Judas only (who was sitting near to +Jesus) who was dipping in the dish out of which the Master was eating. +This is altogether possible, but by no means certain. The fact is that +according to Syrian customs on such occasions each of the few large +dishes contains a different kind of food. Each one of the guests is +privileged to reach to any one of the dishes and dip his bread in it. +From this it may be {61} safely inferred that several or all of the +disciples dipped _in turn_ in the dish which was nearest to Jesus. The +fact that the other disciples did not know whom their Master meant by +his saying that one of them should betray him, even after he had said, +"He that dippeth with me in the dish," shows plainly that Judas was +eating in the same fashion as all the other disciples were. + +Therefore the saying, "He that dippeth with me," etc., was that of +disappointed love. It may be thus paraphrased: "I have loved you all +alike. I have chosen you as my dearest friends. We have often broken +bread and sorrowed and rejoiced together, yet one of you, my dear +disciples, one who is now eating with me _as the rest are_, intends to +betray me!" + +And that forlorn but glorious company who met in the upper room on +Mount Zion on that historic night had certainly one cup out of which +they drank. At our feasts we always drank the wine out of one and the +same cup. We did not stay up nights thinking about {62} microbes. To +us the one cup meant fellowship and fraternal communion. The one who +gives drink (_sacky_) fills the cup and passes it to the most honored +member of the company first. He drinks the contents and returns the +cup to the _sacky_, who fills it again and hands it to another member +of the group, and so on, until all have been served once. Then the +guests drink again by way of _nezel_. It is not easy to translate this +word into English. The English word "treating" falls very short of +expressing the affectionate regard which the _nezel_ signifies. The +one guest upon receiving the cup wishes for the whole company "health, +happiness, and length of days." Then he singles out one of the group +and begs him to accept the next cup that is poured as a pledge of his +affectionate regard. The pourer complies with the request by handing +the next cup to the person thus designated, who drinks it with the most +effusive and affectionate reciprocation of his friend's sentiments. It +is also customary for a gracious host to request as a {63} happy ending +to the feast that the contents of one cup be drunk by the whole company +as a seal of their friendship with one another. Each guest takes a sip +and passes the cup to the one next to him until all have partaken of +the "fruit of the vine." + +I have no doubt that it was after this custom that the disciples drank +when Jesus "took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to +them: and they _all_ drank of it."[4] + +No account of fraternal feasting in Syria can be complete without +mention of the _z[i-breve]kreh_ (remembrance). To be remembered by his +friends after his departure from them is one of the Syrian's deepest +and dearest desires. The _z[i-breve]kreh_ plays a very important part +in the literature of the East, and expresses the tenderest spirit of +its poetry. The expressions "I remember," "remember me," "your +remembrance," "the remembrance of those days" and like phrases are +legion among the Syrians. "O friends," cries the Arabian poet, {64} +"let your remembrance of us be as constant as our remembrance of you; +for such a remembrance brings near those that are far away." + +Rarely do friends who have been feasting together part without this +request being made by those of them who do not expect to meet with +their friends again for a time. "Remember me when you meet again," is +said by the departing friend with unspeakable tenderness. He is +affectionately grateful also when he knows that he is held in +remembrance by his friends. So St. Paul pours out his soul in grateful +joy for his friends' remembrance of him. "But now when Timotheus came +from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and +charity, and that _ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring +greatly to see us, as we also to see you_."[5] + +This affectionate request, "remember me," signifies, "I love you, +therefore I am always with you." If we love one another, we cannot +{65} be separated from one another. The _z[)i]ikreh_ is the bond of +fraternity between us. + +Was not this the very thing which the Master meant when he said, "This +do in remembrance of me"?[6] The disciples were asked never to allow +themselves to forget their Master's love for them and for the world: +never to forget that if his love lived in their hearts he was always +with them, present at their feasts, and in their struggles in the world +to lead the world from darkness into light. "This do in remembrance of +me," is therefore the equivalent of "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto +the end of the world."[7] + +"Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus +loved."[8] The posture of the "beloved disciple," John,--so +objectionable to Occidental taste,--is in perfect harmony with Syrian +customs. How often have I seen men friends in such an attitude. There +is not in it the slightest infringement of the rules of propriety; the +act was as natural {66} to us all as shaking hands. The practice is +especially indulged in when intimate friends are about to part from one +another, as on the eve of a journey, or when about to face a dangerous +undertaking. They then sit with their heads leaning against each +other, or the one's head resting upon the other's shoulder or breast. + +They talk to one another in terms of unbounded intimacy and +unrestrained affection. The expressions, "My brother," "My eyes," "My +soul," "My heart," and the like, form the life-centers of the +conversation. "My life, my blood are for you; take the very sight of +my eyes, if you will!" And lookers-on say admiringly, "Behold, how +they love one another! By the name of the Most High, they are closer +than brothers." + +Was it, therefore, strange that the Master, who knew the deepest secret +of the divine life, and whose whole life was a living sacrifice, should +say to his intimate friends, as he handed them the bread and the cup on +that {67} momentous night, "Take, eat; this is my body"; and "Drink ye +all of it; for this is my blood"? Here again the Nazarene charged the +ordinary words of friendly intercourse with rare spiritual richness and +made the common speech of his people express eternal realities. + +But let me here call attention to Da Vinci's master-stroke which +changes for a moment John's posture and relieves the Last Supper of a +feature which is so objectionable to Occidental taste. The artist +seizes the moment when Peter pulled John from Jesus' breast by +beckoning to the beloved disciple "that he should ask who it should be +of whom he spoke" (the one who should betray him). John remains in the +attitude of loving repose; he simply lifts his body for an instant, and +inclines his head to hear Peter. + +The treachery of Judas is no more an Oriental than it is a human +weakness. Traitors can claim neither racial nor national refuge. They +are fugitives in the earth. But in the Judas episode is involved one +of the most tender, {68} most touching acts of Jesus' whole life. To +one familiar with the customs of the East, Jesus' handing the "sop" to +his betrayer was an act of surpassing beauty and significance. In all +my life in America I have not heard a preacher interpret this simple +deed, probably because of lack of knowledge of its meaning in Syrian +social intercourse. + +"And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son +of Simon."[9] At Syrian feasts, especially in the region where Jesus +lived, such sops are handed to those who stand and serve the guests +with wine and water. But in a more significant manner those morsels +are exchanged by friends. Choice bits of food are handed to friends by +one another, as signs of close intimacy. It is never expected that any +person would hand such a sop to one for whom he cherishes no friendship. + +I can never contemplate this act in the Master's story without thinking +of "the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." To the one {69} who +carried in his mind and heart a murderous plot against the loving +Master, Jesus handed the sop of friendship, the morsel which is never +offered to an enemy. The rendering of the act in words is this: +"Judas, my disciple, I have infinite pity for you. You have proved +false, you have forsaken me in your heart; but I will not treat you as +an enemy, for I have come, not to destroy, but to fulfill. Here is my +sop of friendship, and 'that thou doest, do quickly.'" + +Apparently Jesus' demeanor was so cordial and sympathetic that, as the +evangelist tells us, "Now no man at the table knew for what intent he +spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the +bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need +of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor."[10] + +Thus in this simple act of the Master, so rarely noticed by preachers, +we have perhaps the finest practical example of "Love your enemies" in +the entire Gospel. + +{70} + +Is it therefore to be wondered at that in speaking of Judas, the writer +of St. John's Gospel says, "And after the sop Satan entered into him"? +For, how can one who is a traitor at heart reach for the gift of true +friendship without being transformed into the very spirit of treason? + +Again, Judas's treasonable kiss in Gethsemane was a perversion of an +ancient, deeply cherished, and universally prevalent Syrian custom. In +saluting one another, especially after having been separated for a +time, men friends of the same social rank kiss one another on both +cheeks, sometimes with very noisy profusion. When they are not of the +same social rank, the inferior kisses the hand of the superior, while +the latter at least pretends to kiss his dutiful friend upon the cheek. +So David and Jonathan "kissed one another, until David exceeded." +Paul's command, "Salute one another with a holy kiss," so scrupulously +disobeyed by Occidental Christians, is characteristically Oriental. As +a child I always felt {71} a profound reverential admiration for that +unreserved outpouring of primitive affections, when strong men "fell +upon one another's neck" and kissed, while the women's eyes swam in +tears of joy. The passionate, quick, and rhythmic exchange of +affectionate words of salutation and kisses sounded, with perhaps a +little less harmony, like an intermingling of vocal and instrumental +music. + +So Judas, when "forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master, and +kissed him,"[11] invented no new sign by which to point Jesus out to +the Roman soldiers, but employed an old custom for the consummation of +an evil design. Just as Jesus glorified the common customs of his +people by using them as instruments of love, so Judas degraded those +very customs by wielding them as weapons of hate. + + + +[1] Matt. xxvi: 23. + +[2] Matt. xxvi: 21. + +[3] Revised Version, xiv: 17-20. + +[4] Mark xiv: 23. + +[5] 1 Thess. iii: 6. + +[6] Luke xxii: 19. + +[7] Matt. xxviii: 10. + +[8] John xiii: 23. + +[9] John xiii: 26. + +[10] John xiii: 28, 29. + +[11] Matt. xxvi: 49. + + + + +{72} + +CHAPTER VII + +THE LAST SCENE + +Perhaps nowhere else in the New Testament do the fundamental traits of +the Oriental nature find so clear an expression as in this closing +scene of the Master's life. The Oriental's _dependence_, to which the +world owes the loftiest and tenderest Scriptural passages, finds here +its most glorious manifestations. + +As I have already intimated, the Oriental is never afraid to "let +himself go," whether in joy or sorrow, and to give vent to his +emotions. It is of the nature of the Anglo-Saxon to suffer in silence, +and to kill when he must, with hardly a word of complaint upon his lips +or a ripple of excitement on his face. He disdains asking for +sympathy. His severely individualistic tendencies and spirit of +endurance convince him that he is "able to take care of himself." +During my early years in this country the reserve of Americans in times +of sorrow {73} and danger, as well as in times of joy, was to me not +only amazing, but appalling. Not being as yet aware of their inward +fire and intensity of feeling, held in check by a strong bulwark of +calm calculation, as an unreconstructed Syrian I felt prone to doubt +whether they had any emotions to speak of. + +It is not my purpose here to undertake a comparative critical study of +these opposing traits, but to state that, for good or evil, the +Oriental is preëminently a man who craves sympathy, yearns openly and +noisily for companionship, and seeks help and support outside himself. +Whatever disadvantages this trait may involve, it has been the one +supreme qualification that has made the Oriental the religious teacher +of the whole world. It was his childlike dependence on God that gave +birth to the twenty-third and fifty-first Psalms, and made the Lord's +Prayer the universal petition of Christendom. It was also this +dependence on companionship, human and divine, which inspired the great +commandments, {74} "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy +heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." + +Now it is in the light of this fundamental Oriental trait that we must +view Christ's utterances at the Last Supper and in Gethsemane. The +record tells us that while at the Supper he said to his disciples, +"With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I +suffer,"[1]--or, as the marginal note has it, "I have heartily +desired," and so forth, which brings it nearer the original text. +Again, "He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, +verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." "This is my +body ... This is my blood ... Do this in remembrance of me." We must +seek the proper setting for these utterances, not merely in the upper +room in Zion, but in the deepest tendencies of the Oriental mind. + +And the climax is reached in the dark hour of Gethsemane, in the hour +of intense suffering, imploring need, and ultimate triumph in {75} +Jesus' surrender to the Father's will. How true to that demonstrative +Oriental nature is the Scriptural record, "And being in an agony he +prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of +blood falling down to the ground."[2] + +The faithful and touching realism of the record here is an example of +the childlike responsiveness of the Syrian nature to feelings of +sorrow, no less striking than the experience itself. It seems to me +that if an Anglo-Saxon teacher in similar circumstances had ever +allowed himself to agonize and to sweat "as it were great drops of +blood," his chronicler in describing the scene would have safeguarded +the dignity of his race by simply saying that the distressed teacher +was "visibly affected"! + +The darkness deepened and the Master "took with him Peter and the two +sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith +he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry +{76} ye here, and watch with me."[3] Three times did the Great Teacher +utter that matchless prayer, whose spirit of fear as well as of trust +vindicates the doctrine of the humanity of God and the divinity of man +as exemplified in the person of Christ: "O my Father, if it be +possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as +thou wilt!"[4] + +The sharp contrast between the Semitic and the Anglo-Saxon temperament +has led some unfriendly critics of Christ to state very complacently +and confidently that he "simply broke down when the critical hour +came." In this assertion I find a very pronounced misapprehension of +the facts. If my knowledge of the traits of my own race is to be +relied on, then in trying to meet this assertion I feel that I am +entitled to the consideration of one who speaks with something +resembling authority. + +The simple fact is that while in Gethsemane, as indeed everywhere else +throughout his ministry, Jesus was not in the position of one {77} +trying to "play the hero." His companions were his intimate earthly +friends and his gracious heavenly Father, and to them he spoke as an +Oriental would speak to those dear to him,--_just as he felt_, with not +a shadow of show or sham. His words were not those of weakness and +despair, but of confidence and affection. The love of his friends and +the love of his Father in heaven were his to draw upon in his hour of +trial, with not the slightest artificial reserve. How much better and +happier this world would be if we all dealt with one another and with +God in the warm, simple, and pure love of Christ! + +As the life and words of Christ amply testify, the vision of the +Oriental has been to teach mankind not science, logic, or +jurisprudence, but a simple, loving, childlike faith in God. +Therefore, before we can fully know our Master as the cosmopolitan +Christ, we must first know him as the Syrian Christ. + + + +[1] Luke xxii: 15. + +[2] Luke xxii: 44. + +[3] Matt. xxvi: 37-38. + +[4] _Ibid._ 39. + + + + +{81} + +PART II + +THE ORIENTAL MANNER OF SPEECH + + + + +CHAPTER I + +DAILY LANGUAGE + +The Oriental I have in mind is the Semite, the dweller of the Near +East, who, chiefly through the Bible, has exerted an immense influence +on the life and literature of the West. The son of the Near East is +more emotional, more intense, and more communicative than his +Far-Eastern neighbors. Although very old in point of time, his +temperament remains somewhat juvenile, and his manner of speech +intimate and unreserved. + +From the remote past, even to this day, the Oriental's manner of speech +has been that of a worshipper, and not that of a business man or an +industrial worker in the modern Western sense. To the Syrian of +to-day, as to his ancient ancestors, life, with all its activities and +cares, revolves around a religious center. + +Of course this does not mean that his religion {82} has not always been +beset with clannish limitations and clouded by superstitions, or that +the Oriental has always had a clear, active consciousness of the +sanctity of human life. But it does mean that this man, serene or +wrathful, at work or at play, praying or swearing, has never failed to +believe that he is overshadowed by the All-seeing God. He has never +ceased to cry: "O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou +knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought +afar off. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand +upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot +attain unto it!"[1] + +And it is one of the grandest, most significant facts in human history +that, notwithstanding his intellectual limitations and superstitious +fears, because he has maintained the altar of God as life's center of +gravity, and never let die the consciousness that he was compassed +about by the living God, the Oriental {83} has been the channel of the +sublimest spiritual revelation in the possession of man. + +The histories of races are the records of their desires and rewards, of +their seeking and finding. The law of compensation is all-embracing. +In the long run "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."[2] +"He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which +soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."[3] In the material +world the Oriental has sown but sparingly, and his harvests here have +also been very meager. He has not achieved much in the world of +science, industry, and commerce. As an industrial worker he has +remained throughout his long history a user of hand tools. Previous to +his very recent contact with the West, he never knew what structural +iron and machinery were. As a merchant he has always been a simple +trader. He has never been a man of many inventions. His faithful +repetition of the past has left no gulf between him and his remote +ancestors. {84} The implements and tools he uses to-day are like those +his forefathers used in their day. + +The supreme choice of the Oriental has been religion. To say that this +choice has not been altogether a conscious one, that it has been the +outcome of temperament, does by no means lessen its significance. From +the beginning of his history on the earth to this day the Oriental has +been conscious above all things of two supreme realities--God and the +soul. What has always seemed to him to be his first and almost only +duty was and is to form the most direct, most intimate connection +between God and the soul. "The fear of the Lord," meaning most +affectionate reverence, is to the son of the East not "the beginning of +wisdom" as the English Bible has it, but the _height_ or _acme_ of +wisdom. His first concern about his children is that they should know +themselves as living souls, and God as their Creator and Father. An +unbeliever in God has always been to the East a strange phenomenon. I +never heard of atheism or of an atheist before {85} I came in touch +with Western culture in my native land. + +My many years of intimate and sympathetic contact with the more varied, +more intelligent life of the West has not tended in the least to lessen +my reverence for religion nor to lower my regard for culture. Culture +gives strength and symmetry to religious thought, and religion gives +life and beauty to culture. And just as I believe that men should pray +without ceasing, so also do I believe that they should strive to make +their religious faith ever more free and more intelligent. + +Yet the history of the Orient compels me to believe that the soil out +of which scriptures spring is that whose life is the active sympathy of +religion, regardless of the degree of acquired knowledge. When the +depths of human nature are thoroughly saturated with this sympathy, +then it is prepared both to receive and to give those thoughts of which +scriptures are made. Industry and commerce have their good uses. But +an industrial and {86} commercialistic atmosphere is not conducive to +the production of sacred books. Where the chief interests of life +center in external things, religion is bound to become only one and +perhaps a minor concern in life. + +The Oriental has always lived in a world of spiritual mysteries. +Fearful or confident, superstitious or rational, to him God has been +all and in all. "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous +altogether. In keeping of them there is great reward."[4] The son of +the East has been richly rewarded. He is the religious teacher of all +mankind. Through him all scriptures have come into being. All the +great, living religions of the world originated in Asia; and the three +greatest of them--Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism--have come +into the world through the Semitic race in that little country called +Syria. The perpetual yearning of the Oriental for spiritual dreams and +visions has had its rewards. He sowed bountifully, he reaped +bountifully. + +{87} + +Note the Syrian's daily language: it is essentially Biblical. He has +no _secular_ language. The only real break between his scriptures and +the vocabulary of his daily life is that which exists between the +classical and the vernacular. When you ask a Syrian about his business +he will not answer, "We are doing well at present," but "_Allah mûn +'aim_" (God is giving bounteously). To one starting on a journey the +phrase is not "Take good care of yourself," but "Go, in the keeping and +protection of God." By example and precept we were trained from +infancy in this manner of speech. Coming into a house, the visitor +salutes by saying, "God grant you good morning," or "The peace of God +come upon you." So it is written in the tenth chapter of Matthew, "And +as ye enter into the house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let +your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return +unto you." + +In saluting a day laborer at work we said, "_Allah, yaatik-el-afie_" +(God give you health {88} and strength). In saluting reapers in the +field, or "gatherers of the increase" in the vineyards or olive groves, +we said just the words of Boaz, in the second chapter of the Book of +Ruth, when he "came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, The Lord +be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee." Or another +Scriptural expression, now more extensively used on such occasions, +"The blessing of the Lord be upon you!" It is to this custom that the +withering imprecation which is recorded in the one hundred and +twenty-ninth Psalm refers: "Let them all be confounded and turned back +that hate Zion: let them be as the grass upon the housetops which +withereth afore it groweth up: wherewith the mower filleth not his +hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go +by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name +of the Lord." + +In asking a shepherd about his flock we said, "How are the blessed +ones?" or a parent about his children, "How are the preserved ones?" +{89} They are preserved of God through their "angels," of whom the +Master spoke when he said, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these +little ones; for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always +behold the face of my Father."[5] Speaking of a good man we said, "The +grace of God is poured upon his face." So in the Book of Proverbs,[6] +"Blessings are upon the head of the just." + +Akin to the foregoing are such expressions as these. In trying to rise +from a sitting posture (the Syrians sit on the floor with their legs +folded under them), a person, using the right arm for leverage, says, +as he springs up, "Ya _Allah_" (O God [help]). In inquiring about the +nature of an object, he says, "_Sho dinû_?" (what is its religion?) And +one of the queerest expressions, when translated into English, is that +employed to indicate that a kettleful of water, for example, has boiled +beyond the required degree: "This water has turned to be an infidel" +(_kaffer_). It may be noticed here {90} that it is not the old +theology only which associates the infidel with intense heat. + +So this religious language is the Oriental's daily speech. I have +stated in my autobiography that the men my father employed in his +building operations were grouped according to their faith. He had so +many Druses, so many Greek Orthodox, Maronites, and so forth. + +The almost total abstinence from using "pious" language in ordinary +business and social intercourse in America may be considered +commendable in some ways, but I consider it a surrender of the soul to +the body, a subordination of the spirit of the things which are eternal +to the spirit of the things which are temporal. In my judgment, the +superior culture of the West, instead of limiting the vocabulary of +religion to the one hour of formal worship on Sunday, and scrupulously +shunning it during the remainder of the week, should make its use, on a +much higher plane than the Orient has yet discovered, coextensive with +all the activities of life. + + + +[1] Ps. cxxxix: 1-6. + +[2] Gal. vi: 7. + +[3] 2 Cor. ix: 6. + +[4] Ps. xix: 9, 11. + +[5] Matt. xviii: 10. + +[6] x: 6. + + + + +{91} + +CHAPTER II + +IMPRECATIONS + +Again, the Oriental's consideration of life as being essentially +religious makes him as pious in his imprecations and curses as he is in +his aspirational prayer. Beyond all human intrigue, passion, and +force, the great avenger is God. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, +saith the Lord."[1] "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no +God with me: I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; neither is +there any that can deliver out of my hand."[2] + +By priests and parents these precepts have been transmitted from +generation to generation in the Orient, from time immemorial. We all +were instructed in them by our elders with scrupulous care. Of course +as weak mortals we always tried to avenge ourselves, and the idea of +_thar_ (revenge) lies deep in the Oriental nature. But to us our +vengeance was nothing {92} compared with what God did to our "ungodly" +enemies and oppressors. + +The Oriental's impetuosity and effusiveness make his imprecatory +prayers, especially to the "unaccustomed ears" of Americans, +blood-curdling. And I confess that on my last visit to Syria, my +countrymen's (and especially my countrywomen's) bursts of pious wrath +jarred heavily upon me. In his oral bombardment of his enemy the +Oriental hurls such missiles as, "May God burn the bones of your +fathers"; "May God exterminate your seed from the earth"; "May God cut +off your supply of bread (_yakta rizkak_)"; "May you have nothing but +the ground for a bed and the sky for covering"; "May your children be +orphaned and your wife widowed"; and similar expressions. + +Does not this sound exactly like the one hundred and ninth Psalm? +Speaking of his enemy, the writer of that psalm says, "Let his days be +few, and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, +and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually {93} vagabonds, +and beg; let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. +Let there be none to extend mercy unto him; neither let there be any to +favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in +the generation following let their name be blotted out." + +The sad fact is that the Oriental has always considered his personal +enemies to be the enemies of God also, and as such their end was +destruction. Such sentiments mar the beauty of many of the Psalms. +The enemies of the Israelites were considered the enemies of the God of +Israel, and the enemies of a Syrian family are also the enemies of the +patron saint of that family. In that most wonderful Scriptural +passage--the one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm--the singer cries, +"Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me, ye bloody +men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy +name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am I not +grieved with those that rise against thee? _I hate them with perfect +hatred: {94} I count them mine enemies._" Yet this ardent hater of his +enemies most innocently turns to God and says in the next verse: +"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: _and +see if there be any wicked way in me_, and lead me in the way +everlasting." + +This mixture of piety and hatred, uttered so naïvely and in good faith, +is characteristically Syrian. Such were the mutual wishes I so often +heard expressed in our neighborhood and clan fights and quarrels in +Syria. When so praying, the persons would beat upon their breasts and +uncover their heads, as signs of the total surrender of their cause to +an avenging Omnipotence. Of course the Syrians are not so cruel and +heartless as such imprecations, especially when cast in cold type, +would lead one to believe. I am certain that if the little children of +his enemy should become fatherless, the imprecator himself would be +among the first to "favor" them. If you will keep in mind the juvenile +temperament of the Oriental, already mentioned, and his habit of +turning to {95} God in all circumstances, as unreservedly as a child +turns to his father, your judgment of the son of Palestine will be +greatly tempered with mercy. + +The one redeeming feature in these imprecatory petitions is that they +have always served the Oriental as a safety-valve. Much of his wrath +is vented in this manner. He is much more cruel in his words than in +his deeds. As a rule the Orientals quarrel much, but fight little. By +the time two antagonists have cursed and reviled each other so +profusely they cool off, and thus graver consequences are averted. The +Anglo-Saxon has outgrown such habits. In the first place the highly +complex social order in which he lives calls for much more effective +methods for the settling of disputes, and, in the second place, he has +no time to waste on mere words. And just as the Anglo-Saxon smiles at +the wordy fights of the Oriental, the Oriental shudders at the +swiftness of the Anglo-Saxon in using his fists and his pistol. Both +are needy of the grace of God. + + + +[1] Rom. xii: 19. + +[2] Deut. xxxii: 39. + + + + +{96} + +CHAPTER III + +LOVE OF ENEMIES + +The preceding chapter makes it very clear why Jesus opened the more +profound depths of the spiritual life to his much-divided and almost +hopelessly clannish countrymen, by commanding them to love their +enemies. He who taught "as one having authority, and not as the +scribes," knew the possibilities and powers of divine love as no man +did. It is in such immortal precepts that we perceive his superiority +to his time and people and the divinity of his character. His +knowledge of the Father was so intimate and his repose in the Father's +love so perfect that he could justly say, "I and my father are one." + +"Ye have heard," he said to his followers, "that it hath been said, +Thou shalt love thy neighbor [in the original, _quarib_--kinsman] and +hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them +that curse you, do {97} good to them that hate you, and pray for them +which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the +children of your father which is in heaven."[1] + +Here we have the very heart and soul of the Gospel, and the dynamic +power of Jesus' ministry of reconciliation. Yet to many devout +Christians, as well as to unfriendly critics of the New Testament, the +command, "Love your enemies," offers a serious perplexity. An +"independent" preacher in a large Western city, after reading this +portion of the Sermon on the Mount to his congregation, stated that +Jesus' great discourse should be called, "The Sarcasm on the Mount." +Is not love of enemies beyond the power of human nature? + +This question is pertinent. And it is an obvious fact that we cannot +love by command; we cannot love to order. This mysterious flow of soul +which we call love is not of our own making; therefore we cannot _will_ +to love. Such a discussion, however, falls outside the scope {98} of +this publication. What I wish to offer here is a linguistic +explanation which I believe will throw some light on this great +commandment. + +The word "love" has been more highly specialized in the West than in +the East. In its proper English use it means only that ardent, amorous +feeling which cannot be created by will and design. In the West the +word "love" has been relieved of the function of expressing the less +ardent desires such as the terms "to like," "to have good-will toward," +and "to be well-disposed toward" imply. + +Not so in the East. The word "like," meaning "to be favorably inclined +toward," is not found either in the Bible or in the Arabic tongue. In +the English version it is used in two places, but the translation is +incorrect. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Deuteronomy the seventh +verse, "If the man like not to take his brother's wife," should be +rendered, "If the man _consent_ not"; and in the fourth chapter of +Amos, the fifth verse, "For this liketh you, O ye children of Israel," +is in the original, "For this ye {99} _loved_, O ye children of +Israel." In any standard concordance of the Bible, the Hebrew verb +_Aheb_ (to love) precedes these quotations. + +So to us Orientals the only word which can express any cordial +inclination of approval is "love." One loves his wife and children, +and loves grapes and figs and meat, if he likes these things. An +employer says to an employee, "If you _love_ to work for me according +to this agreement, you can." It is nothing uncommon for one to say to +a casual acquaintance whom he likes, "I must say, _Sahib_ [friend], +that I love you!" I know of no equivalent in the Arabic for the +phrase, "I am interested in you." "Love" and "hate" are the usual +terms by which to express approval and disapproval, as well as real +love and hatred. + +The Scriptural passages illustrative of this thought are not a few. In +the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the thirteenth verse, +it is said, "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I +hated." God does not "hate." The two terms here, "loved" and {100} +"hated," mean "approved" and "disapproved." It is as a father approves +of the conduct of one of his children and disapproves that of another +of them. Another example of this use of the word "hate" is found in +the twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, the fifteenth verse: "If a man +have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him +children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be +hers that was hated: then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to +inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved +firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first-born: +but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by +giving him a double portion of all that he hath." Here it is safe to +infer that the writer meant to distinguish between the wife who was a +"favorite" and the one who was not. There could be no valid reason why +a husband should live with a wife whom he really hated when he could +very easily divorce her, according to the Jewish {101} law, and marry +another. In such a case the husband was simply partial in his love. +The hatred which is felt toward an enemy and a destroyer does not apply +here. + +Another Scriptural passage which illustrates the free use of the word +"love" is the story of the rich man in the tenth chapter of St. Mark's +Gospel. Beginning with the seventeenth verse, the passage reads: "And +when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and +kneeling to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may +inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me +good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the +commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not +bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother. And he +answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my +youth. _Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him_, and said unto him, One +thing thou lackest"; and so forth. Apparently the brief conversation +with the young man {102} showed Jesus that his questioner was both +polite and intelligent, so the Master liked him. Stating the case in +Western phraseology it may be said that the young Hebrew seeker was an +agreeable, or likable man. + +Quite different is the import of the word "love" in such of the +Master's sayings as are found in the fifteenth chapter of St. John's +Gospel: "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye +in my love. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I +have loved you." Here the term "love" is used in its truest and purest +sense. + +From all this it may be seen that when the Great Oriental Teacher said +to his countrymen, who considered all other clans than their own as +their enemies, "Love your enemies," he did not mean that they should be +enamored of them, but that they should have good will toward them. We +cannot love by will and design, but we certainly can will to be well +disposed even toward those who, we believe, have ill will toward us. +He who really thinks this {103} an impossibility gives evidence not of +superior "critical knowledge," but of being still in the lower stages +of human evolution. + +But I have something more to say on this great subject. Whether used +in a general or a highly specialized sense the word "Love" speaks +indeed of the "greatest thing in the world." + +When the Master of the Art of Living said, "Love your enemies," he +urged upon the minds of men the divinest law of human progress. Yet +compliance with this demand seems, to the majority of men, to be beyond +the reach of humanity. When you are admonished to love your enemies, +you will be likely to think of the meanest, most disagreeable human +being you know and wonder as to how you are going to love _such_ a +person. But the Master's law far transcends this narrow conception of +love. Its deeper meaning, when understood, renders such a conception +shallow and childish. It is to be found, not in the freakish moods of +the sensibility, but in the realm of permanent ideals. + +{104} + +There are in the world two forces at work, love and hatred. Hatred +destroys, love builds; hatred injures, love heals; hatred embitters +life, love sweetens it; hatred is godlessness, love is godliness. The +supreme question, therefore, is, not as to whether there are unlovable +persons in the world or not, but rather, which one of these two forces +would you have to rule your own life and the life of humanity at large, +love or hatred? Which nutrition would you give your own soul and the +souls of those who are near and dear to you, that of hatred, or that of +love? Can it be your aim in life to aid that power which injures, +destroys, embitters life and estranges from God, or the power which +heals, builds up, sweetens life and makes one with God? + +You say you have been injured through the malicious designs of others, +you are pained by the injury, and a sense of hatred impels you to +avenge yourself. But what formed such designs against you, love or +hatred? Hatred! You enjoy, idealize, adore the love of those who +{105} love you. The designs of love give you joyous satisfaction, and +not pain. You know now by actual personal experience that the fruits +of hatred are bitter, and the fruits of love are sweet. Is it your +duty, therefore, to give your life over to the power of hatred, and +thus increase its dominion among men and multiply its bitter, poisonous +fruit in the world, or to consecrate your life to the power of love, +which you idealize and adore, and whose fruits are joy and peace? + +This, therefore, is the Master's law of love: Give your life and +service to that power which merits your holiest regard and engages your +purest affections, regardless of the "evil and the undeserving." +Recognize no enemies, and you shall have none. The only power which +can defeat the designs of hatred is love. The foams of hatred and +fumes of vengeance are destined to pass away with all their possessors; +only love is permanent and sovereign good. + +The man of hatred is destined, sooner or {106} later, to lose his +nobler qualities, his own self-respect and the respect of others, and +to occupy the smallest and most undesirable social sphere. Therefore +love, and do not hate! Exercise good will toward those even who have +injured you. + +You may not be able to reach and redeem by your generous thoughts and +designs such persons as have injured you, but a hundred others may +learn from you the law of redeeming love. Let your children grow to +know you as a man of love. Let your employees and fellow citizens +think of you as a man of peace and good will, a builder and not a +destroyer. Let your fireside be ever cheered by the music of love. +When the shadows of night fall and you come to enter into the unknown +land of sleep, let loving thoughts be your companions; let them course +into the deepest recesses of your nature and leaven your entire being. +Be a man of love! Love even your blind and misguided enemies! + + + +[1] Matt. v: 43-45. + + + + +{107} + +CHAPTER IV + +"THE UNVERACIOUS ORIENTAL" + +The Oriental's juvenile temperament and his partial disregard for +concrete facts have led his Anglo-Saxon cousin to consider him as +essentially unveracious. "You cannot believe what an Oriental says." +"The Orientals are the children of the 'Father of Lies.'" "Whatever an +Oriental says, the opposite is likely to be the truth"; and so forth. + +I do not wish in the least to undertake to excuse or even condone the +Oriental's unveracity, any more than to approve of the ethics of +American politicians during a political campaign. I have no doubt that +the Oriental suffers more from the universal affliction of +untruthfulness than does the Anglo-Saxon, and that he sorely needs to +restrict his fancy, and to train his intellect to have more respect for +facts. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to say that a {108} clear +understanding of some of the Oriental's modes of thought will quash +many of the indictments against his veracity. His ways will remain +different from the ways of the Anglo-Saxon, and perhaps not wholly +agreeable to the latter; but the son of the East--the dreamer and +writer of scriptures--will be credited with more honesty of purpose. + +It is unpleasant to an Anglo-Saxon to note how many things an Oriental +says, but does not mean. And it is distressing to an Oriental to note +how many things the Anglo-Saxon means, but does not say. To an +unreconstructed Syrian the brevity, yea, even curtness, of an +Englishman or an American, seems to sap life of its pleasures and to +place a disproportionate value on time. For the Oriental, the primary +value of time must not be computed in terms of business and money, but +in terms of sociability and good fellowship. Poetry, and not prosaic +accuracy, must be the dominant feature of speech. + +There is much more of intellectual inaccuracy than of moral delinquency +in the Easterner's {109} speech. His misstatements are more often the +result of indifference than the deliberate purpose to deceive. One of +his besetting sins is his _ma besay-il_--it does not matter. He sees +no essential difference between nine o'clock and half after nine, or +whether a conversation took plate on the housetop or in the house. The +main thing is to know the substance of what happened, with as many of +the supporting details as may be conveniently remembered. A case may +be overstated or understated, not necessarily for the purpose of +deceiving, but to impress the hearer with the significance or the +insignificance of it. If a sleeper who had been expected to rise at +sunrise should oversleep and need to be awakened, say half an hour or +an hour later than the appointed time, he is then aroused with the +call, "Arise, it is noon already--_qûm sar edh-hir_." Of a strong and +brave man it is said, "He can split the earth--_yekkid elaridh_." The +Syrians suffer from no misunderstanding in such cases. They _discern_ +one another's meaning. + +{110} + +So also many Scriptural passages need to be _discerned_. The purpose +of the Oriental speaker or writer must be sought often beyond the +letter of his statement, which he uses with great freedom. + +In the first chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, the thirty-second and +thirty-third verses, it is said, "And at even, when the sun did set, +they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were +possessed of devils. And _all the city_ was gathered together at the +door." The swiftness with which the poor people in Eastern communities +bring their sick to a healer, be he a prophet or only a physician, is +proverbial. Because of the scarcity of physicians, as well as of money +with which to pay for medical attendance, when a healer is summoned to +a home many afflicted persons come or are brought to him. The peoples +of the East have always believed also in the healing of diseases by +religious means. When a prophet arises the first thing expected of him +is that he should heal the sick. Both the priest and the physician +{111} are appealed to in time of trouble. To those who followed and +believed in him Jesus was the healer of both the soul and the body. +But note the account of the incident before us. The place was the city +of Capernaum, and we are told that "_all the city_ was gathered +together at the door" of the house where Jesus was bestowing the +loving, healing touch upon the sick. Was the _whole city_ at the door? +Were _all_ the sick in that large city brought into that house for +Jesus to heal them? Here we are confronted by a physical +impossibility. An Anglo-Saxon chronicler would have said, "Quite a +number gathered at the door," which in all probability would have been +a _correct_ report. + +But to the Oriental writer the object of the report was not _to +determine the number_ of those who stood outside, nor to insist that +each and every sick person in Capernaum was brought into the humble +home of Simon and Andrew. It was rather to glorify the Great Teacher +and his divine work of mercy, and not to give a photographic report of +the attendant {112} circumstances. The saying, "Quite a number +gathered at the door," may be correct, but to an Oriental it is +absolutely colorless and tasteless, an inexcusably parsimonious use of +the imagination. + +Take another Scriptural passage. In the seventeenth chapter of St. +Matthew's Gospel, the first verse, we read: "And after six days Jesus +taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an +high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; and his face did +shine as the sun." "After six days" from what time? In the preceding +chapter a general reference to time is made in the thirteenth verse, +where it is said: "When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, +he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man +am?" But here no definite date is given. Chapter sixteenth ends with +those great words, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and +whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a +man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and {113} lose his own +soul?" The two last verses of this chapter promise the speedy coming +of the Kingdom. + +"After six days" from what time? Well, what does it matter from what +time? Do you not see that the object of the record is to give a +glimpse of what happened on that "high mountain" where the light and +glory of the unseen world were reflected in the face of the Christ? + +The intelligent lay reader of the New Testament cannot fail to notice, +especially in the Gospels, gaps and abrupt beginnings such as "In those +days"; "Then came the disciples to Jesus"; "And it came to pass"; and +many similar expressions which seem to point nowhere. The record seems +to be rather incoherent. Yes, such difficulties, which are due largely +to the Oriental's indifference to little details, exist in the Bible, +but they are very unimportant. The central purpose of these books is +to enable the reader to perceive the secret of a holy personality, +whose mission was, is, and forever shall be, to emancipate the soul of +man from the {114} bondage of a world of fear, weakness, sin, and +doubt, and lead it onward and upward to the realms of faith, hope, and +love. This purpose the Scriptures abundantly subserve. + + + + +{115} + +CHAPTER V + +IMPRESSIONS _vs._ LITERAL ACCURACY + +A Syrian's chief purpose in a conversation is to convey an impression +by whatever suitable means, and not to deliver his message in +scientifically accurate terms. He expects to be judged not by what he +_says_, but by what he _means_. He does not expect his hearer to +listen to him with the quizzical courtesy of a "cool-headed Yankee," +and to interrupt the flow of conversation by saying, with the least +possible show of emotion, "Do I understand you to say," etc. No; he +piles up his metaphors and superlatives, reinforced by a theatrical +display of gestures and facial expressions, in order to make the hearer +_feel_ his meaning. + +The Oriental's speech is always "illustrated." He speaks as it were in +pictures. With him the spoken language goes hand in hand with the more +ancient gesture language. His profuse gesticulation is that phase of +his life which first {116} challenges the attention of Occidental +travelers in the East. He points to almost everything he mentions in +his speech, and would portray every feeling and emotion by means of +some bodily movement. No sooner does he mention his eye than his index +finger points to or even touches that organ. "Do you understand me?" +is said to an auditor with the speaker's finger on his own temple. In +rebuking one who makes unreasonable demands upon him, a Syrian would be +likely to stoop down and say, "Don't you want to ride on my back?" + +One of the most striking examples of this manner of speech in the Bible +is found in the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Acts. Beginning +with the tenth verse, the writer says: "And as we tarried there [at +Cæsarea] many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named +Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound +his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall +the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall +{117} deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." Now an Occidental +teacher would not have gone into all that trouble. He would have said +to the great apostle, "Now you understand I don't mean to interfere +with your business, but if I were you I would n't go down to Jerusalem. +Those Jews there are not pleased with what you are doing, and would be +likely to make things unpleasant for you." But in all probability such +a polite hint would not have made Paul's companions weep, nor caused +him to say, "What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am +ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name +of the Lord Jesus." + +It is also because the Syrian loves to speak in pictures, and to +subordinate literal accuracy to the total impression of an utterance, +that he makes such extensive use of figurative language. Instead of +saying to the Pharisees, "Your pretensions to virtue and good birth far +exceed your actual practice of virtue," John the Baptist cried: "O +generation of vipers, who hath warned {118} you to flee from the wrath +to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: and think +not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say +unto you that God is able _of these stones_ to raise up children unto +Abraham." + +Just as the Oriental loves to flavor his food strongly and to dress in +bright colors, so is he fond of metaphor, exaggeration, and +positiveness in speech. To him mild accuracy is weakness. A host of +illustrations of this thought rise in my mind as I recall my early +experiences as a Syrian youth. I remember how those jovial men who +came to our house to "sit"--that is, to make a call of indefinite +duration--would make their wild assertions and back them up by vows +which they never intended to keep. The one would say, "What I say to +you is the truth, and if it is not, I will cut off my right +arm"--grasping it--"at the shoulder." "I promise you this,"--whatever +the promise might be,--"and if I fail in fulfilling my promise I will +pluck out my right eye." + +{119} + +To such speech we always listened admiringly and respectfully. But we +never had the remotest idea that in any circumstances the speaker would +carry out his resolution, or that his hearers had a right to demand it +from him. He simply was in earnest; or as an American would say, "He +meant that he was right." + +Such an Oriental mode of thought furnishes us with the background for +Jesus' saying, "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it +from thee. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from +thee."[1] + +To many Western Christians, especially in the light of the Protestant +doctrine of the infallibility of the letter of the Bible, these sayings +of Christ present insurmountable difficulties. To such the question, +"How can I be a true disciple of Christ, if I do not obey what he +commands?" makes these misunderstood sayings of Christ great stumbling +blocks. Some time ago a lady wrote me a letter saying that at a +prayer-meeting which she attended, the minister, after {120} reading +the fifth chapter of Matthew, which contains these commands, said, "If +we are true Christians we must not shrink from obeying these explicit +commands of our Lord." + +My informant stated also that on hearing that, she asked the preacher, +"Suppose the tongue should offend, and we should cut it off; should we +be better Christians than if we did endeavor to atone for the offense +in some other way?" The preacher, after a moment of perplexed silence, +said, "If there is no one here who can answer this question, we will +sing a hymn." + +The best commentary on these sayings of Christ is given by Paul in the +sixth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. This is precisely what the +Master meant: "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of +unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that +are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of +righteousness unto God." Cutting or mutilation of the body has nothing +to do with either passage, nor indeed with the Christian life. The +amputation of an {121} arm that steals is no sure guaranty of the +removal of the desire to steal; nor would the plucking out of a lustful +eye do away with the lust which uses the eye for an instrument. + +With this should be classed also the following commands: "Whosoever +shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." "If +any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have +thy cloak also; and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with +him twain."[2] + +The command to give the coat and the cloak to a disputant, rather than +to go to law with him, will seem much more perplexing when it is +understood that these words mean the "under garment" and the "upper +garment." The Orientals are not in the habit of wearing a coat and a +cloak or overcoat. In the Arabic version we have the _thaub_ ("th" as +in "throw") and the _rada'_. The _thaub_ is the main article of +clothing--the ample gown worn over a shirt next to the body. The +_rada'_ is the cloak worn {122} on occasions over the _thaub_. The +Scriptural command literally is, "To one who would quarrel with thee +and would take thy _thaub_, give him the _rada'_ also." It may be +clearly seen here that literal compliance with this admonition would +leave the non-resistant person, so far as clothes are concerned, in a +pitiable condition. + +The concluding portion of this paragraph in the fifth chapter of St. +Matthew's Gospel--the forty-second verse--presents another difficulty. +It says, "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow +of thee turn not thou away." Of all those whom I have heard speak +disparagingly of this passage I particularly recall a lawyer, whom I +knew in a Western State, whose dislike for these words of Christ +amounted almost to a mental affliction. It seems to me that on every +single occasion when he and I discussed the Scriptures together, or +spoke of Christianity, I found him armed with this passage as his most +effective weapon against the innocent Nazarene. "What was Jesus +thinking of," he would say, "when he {123} uttered these words? What +would become of our business interests and financial institutions if we +gave to every one that asked of us, and lent money without good +security to every Tom, Dick, and Harry?" + +The thought involved in this text suffers from the unconditional manner +in which it is presented, and which gives it its Oriental flavor. +Seeing that he was addressing those who knew what he meant, the writer +did not deem it necessary to state exactly the reason why this command +was given. It seems, however, that when Jesus spoke those words he had +in mind the following passage: "And if thy brother be waxed poor, and +his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and +a sojourner shall he live with thee. Take thou no interest of him or +increase, but fear thy God: that thy brother may live with thee. _Thou +shalt not give him thy money upon interest_, nor give him thy victuals +for increase."[3] According to this legal stipulation, an Israelite +could not {124} lawfully charge a fellow Israelite interest on a loan. +Therefore, "as a matter of business," the money-lenders preferred to +lend their money to the Gentiles, from whom they were permitted to take +interest, and to "turn away" from borrowers of their own race. And as +the teachers of Israel of his day often assailed Jesus for his +non-observance of the law, he in turn never failed to remind them of +the fact that their own practices did greater violence to the law than +his own liberal interpretation of it in the interest of man. + +From all that I know of Oriental modes of thought and life I cannot +conceive that Jesus meant by all these sayings to give brute force the +right of way in human life. He himself drove the traders out of the +temple by physical force. These precepts were not meant to prohibit +the use of force in self-defense and for the protection of property, +but were given as an antidote to that relentless law of revenge which +required "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." The Master does +not preach a gospel {125} of helplessness, but enjoins a manly attitude +toward peace and concord, in place of a constantly active desire for +vengeance and strife. + +Again let me say that an Oriental expects to be judged chiefly by what +he means and not by what he says. As a rule, the Oriental is not +altogether unaware of the fact that, as regards the letter, his +statements are often sadly lacking in correctness. But I venture to +say that when a person who is conversing with me knows that I know that +what he is saying is not exactly true I may not like his manner of +speech, yet I cannot justly call him a liar. + +A neighbor of mine in a Mount Lebanon village makes a trip to Damascus +and comes to my house of an evening to tell me all about it. He would +not be a Syrian if he did not give wings to his fancy and present me +with an idealistic painting of his adventure, instead of handing me a +photograph. I listen and laugh and wonder. I know his statements are +not wholly correct, and he knows exactly how I feel about it. We both +are aware, however, that {126} the proceedings of the evening are not +those of a business transaction, but of an entertainment. My friend +does not maliciously misrepresent the facts; he simply loves to speak +in poetic terms and is somewhat inhospitable to cross-examination. +Certainly we would not buy and sell sheep and oxen and fields and +vineyards after that fashion, but we like to be so entertained. Beyond +the wide margin of social hospitality and the latitude of intellectual +tolerance, I am aware of the fact that in all the flourish of metaphor +and simile, what my visitor really meant to say was either that his +trip to Damascus was pleasant or that it was hazardous, and that there +were many interesting things to see in that portion of the world; all +of which was indubitably true. + +While on a visit to Syria, after having spent several years in this +country, where I had lived almost exclusively with Americans, I was +very strongly impressed by the decidedly sharp contrast between the +Syrian and the American modes of thought. The years had worked many +{127} changes in me, and I had become addicted to the more compact +phraseology of the American social code. + +In welcoming me to his house, an old friend of mine spoke with +impressive cheerfulness as follows: "You have extremely honored me by +coming into my abode [_menzel_], I am not worthy of it. This house is +yours; you can burn it if you wish. My children also are at your +disposal; I would sacrifice them all for your pleasure. What a blessed +day this is, now that the light of your countenance has shone upon us"; +and so forth, and so on. + +I understood my friend fully and most agreeably, although it was not +easy for me to translate his words to my American wife without causing +her to be greatly alarmed at the possibility that the house would be +set on fire and the children slain for our pleasure. What my friend +really meant in his effusive welcome was no more or less than what a +gracious American host means when he says, "I am delighted to see you; +please make yourself at home." + +{128} + +Had the creed-makers of Christendom approached the Bible by way of +Oriental psychology, had they viewed the Scriptures against the +background of Syrian life, they would not have dealt with Holy Writ as +a jurist deals with legislative enactments. Again, had the unfriendly +critics of the Bible real acquaintance with the land of its birth, they +would not have been so sure that the Bible was "a mass of +impossibilities." The sad fact is that the Bible has suffered violence +from literalists among its friends, as from its enemies. + +For example, in their failure to heal a sick lad[4] the disciples came +to Jesus and asked him why they could not do the beneficent deed. +According to the Revised and the Arabic versions, the Master answered, +"Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith +as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove +hence to yonder place, and it shall remove." Colonel Robert Ingersoll +never tired of challenging the Christians {129} of America to put this +scripture to a successful test, and thus _convince_ him that the Bible +is inspired. In the face of such a challenge the "believer" is likely +to feel compelled to admit that the church does not have the required +amount of faith, else it could remove mountains. + +To one well acquainted with the Oriental manner of speech this saying +was not meant to fix a rule of conduct, but to idealize faith. In +order to do this in real Syrian fashion, Jesus spoke of an +infinitesimal amount of faith as being capable of moving the biggest +object on earth. His disciples must have understood him clearly, +because we have no record that they ever tried to remove mountains by +faith and prayer. It would be most astounding, indeed, if Christ +really thought that those disciples, who forsook all and followed him, +had not as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, and yet said to them, +"Ye are the light of the world. Ye are the salt of the earth." + +Of a similar character is the Master's saying, {130} "It is easier for +a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter +into the kingdom of God,"[5] which has quickened the exegetical genius +of commentators to mighty efforts in "expounding the Scriptures." +Judging by the vast number of persons in this country who have asked my +opinion, as a Syrian, concerning its correctness, and the fact that I +have myself seen it in print, the following interpretation of this +passage must have been much in vogue. + +The walled cities and feudal castles of Palestine, the explanation +runs, have large gates. Because of their great size, such gates are +opened only on special occasions to admit chariots and caravans. +Therefore, in order to give pedestrians thoroughfare, a smaller opening +about the size of an ordinary door is made in the center of the great +gate, near to the ground. Now this smaller door through which a camel +cannot pass is the eye of the needle mentioned in the Gospel. + +{131} + +I once heard a Sunday-School superintendent explain this passage to his +scholars by saying that a camel could pass through this eye of a +needle--meaning the door--if he was not loaded. Therefore, and by +analogy, if we cast off our load of sin outside, we can easily enter +into the kingdom of heaven. + +Were the camel and the gate left out, this statement would be an +excellent fatherly admonition. There is perhaps no gate in the +celestial city large enough to admit a man with a load of sin strapped +to his soul. However, the chief trouble with these explanations of the +"eye-of-the-needle" passage is that they are wholly untrue. + +This saying is current in the East, and in all probability it was a +common saying there long before the advent of Christ. But I never knew +that small door in a city or a castle gate to be called the needle's +eye; nor indeed the large gate to be called the needle. The name of +that door, in the common speech of the country, is the "plum," and I am +certain the {132} Scriptural passage makes no reference to it whatever. + +The Koran makes use of this expression in one of its purest classical +Arabic passages. The term employed here--_sûm-el-khiat_--can mean only +the sewing instrument, and nothing else. + +Nothing can show more clearly the genuine Oriental character of this +New Testament passage and that of the Teacher who uttered it, than the +intense positiveness of its thought and the unrestrained flight of its +imagery. I can just hear the Master say it. Jesus' purpose was to +state that it was extremely difficult "for them that trust in riches to +enter into the Kingdom of God."[6] To this end he chose the biggest +animal and the smallest opening known to his people and compared the +impossibility of a camel passing through the eye of a needle with that +of a man weighted down with earthly things becoming one with God. + +The Master's rebuke of the scribes and pharisees, {133} "Ye blind +guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel,"[7] expresses a +similar thought in a different form and connection. There is no need +here to puzzle over the anatomical problem as to whether the throat of +a Pharisee was capacious enough to gulp a camel down. The strong and +agreeable Oriental flavor of this saying comes from the sharp contrast +between the size of the gnat and that of the camel. So the Master +employed it in order to show the glaring contradictions in the precepts +and practices of the priests of his day, who tithed mint and rue, but +"passed over judgment and the love of God." + +One of the most interesting examples of Oriental speech is found in the +eighteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, the twenty-first verse: +"Then came Peter and said to him, Lord how oft shall my brother sin +against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, +I say not unto thee, until seven times; but, until seventy times +seven." Did Jesus {134} really mean that an offender should be +forgiven four hundred and ninety times? Would it be to the interest of +the offender himself and to society at large to forgive an embezzler, a +slanderer or a prevaricator four hundred and ninety times? Is not +punishment which is guided by reason and sympathy, and whose end is +corrective, really a great aid in character-building? Let us try to +interpret this passage with reference to certain scenes in Jesus' own +life. In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, the twenty-first verse, we +read: "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how +that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders +and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the +third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Lord: +this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, _Get +thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence to me_: for thou savourest +not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." + +In the second chapter of St. John's Gospel, {135} the thirteenth verse, +we are told: "And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to +Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and +doves, and the changers of money sitting: _and when he had made a +scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple_, and the +sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew +the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things +hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise." + +The forgiving "seventy times seven" did not apply, as it seems, in +these cases. In the very chapter from which this saying comes,[8] the +Master gives us two superb examples of certain and somewhat swift +retribution for offenses. In the fifteenth verse, he says: "Moreover, +if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go tell him his fault +between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy +brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two +more, that in the mouth {136} of two or three witnesses every word may +be established. And if he neglect to hear them, tell it unto the +church; but if he neglect to hear the church, _let him be unto thee as +an heathen man and a publican_." + +The parable of the "certain king" and the "wicked servant" follows +immediately the "seventy times seven" passage. "Therefore is the +kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account +of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto +him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not +to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, +and all that he had, and payment be made. The servant therefore fell +down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I +will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with +compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same +servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him +an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, {137} and took him by the +throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell +down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and +I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into +prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw +what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord +all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said +unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because +thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy +fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? _And his lord was wroth, +and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was +due unto him_. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, +if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their +trespasses." + +Now as a matter of fact the lord of the wicked servant did not forgive +him seventy times seven, but "delivered him to the tormentors" for his +first offense. Will the heavenly Father do {138} _likewise_? Do we +not have irreconcilable contradictions in these Scriptural passages? + +No doubt there are difficulties here. But once the +"seventy-times-seven" passage is clearly understood, the difficulties +will, I believe, disappear. In harmony with his legalistic +preconception, Peter chose the full and sacred number "seven" as a very +liberal measure of forgiveness. Apparently Jesus' purpose was to make +forgiveness a matter of disposition, sympathy, and discretion, rather +than of arithmetic. To this end he made use of an Oriental saying +which meant _indefiniteness_, rather than a fixed rule. This saying +occurs in one of the most ancient Old Testament narratives, and, most +fittingly, in a bit of poetry:[9] + + "And Lamech said unto his wives: + Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; + Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: + For I have slain a man for wounding me, + And a young man for bruising me: + If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold + Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." + +{139} + +In both Testaments the meaning of the saying is the +same--indefiniteness. It is one of that host of Bible passages and +current Oriental sayings which must be judged by what they _mean_, and +not by what they _say_. The writer of the eighteenth chapter of +Matthew grouped those seemingly contradictory passages together, +because they all dealt with forgiveness. That they must have been +spoken under various circumstances is very obvious. The object of the +admonition concerning the trespassing brother (verses 15-17) is to +encourage Christians to "reason together" in a fraternal spirit about +the differences which may arise between them, and, _if at all +possible_, to win the offending member back to the fold. And the +object of the parable of the "wicked servant" is to contrast the spirit +of kindness with that of cruelty. + + + +[1] Matt. v: 29-30. + +[2] Matt. v: 39-41. + +[3] Lev. xxv: 35; Revised Version. + +[4] Matt. xvii: 19. + +[5] Matt. xix: 24. + +[6] Mark x: 24. + +[7] Matt. xxiii: 24. + +[8] Matt. xviii. + +[9] Gen. iv: 23; Revised Version. + + + + +{140} + +CHAPTER VI + +SPEAKING IN PARABLES + +Teaching and conversing in parables and proverbs is a distinctly +Oriental characteristic. A parable is a word picture whose purpose is +not to construct a definition or to establish a doctrine, but to convey +an impression. However, the Oriental makes no distinction between a +proverb and a parable. In both the Hebrew and the Arabic, the word +_mathel_ signifies either a short wise saying, such as may be found in +the Book of Proverbs, or a longer utterance, such as a New Testament +parable. In the Arabic Bible, the wise sayings of the Book of Proverbs +are called _amthal_, and the parabolic discourses of Jesus are also +called _amthal_. This term is the plural of _mathel_ (parable or +proverb). This designation includes also any wise poetical saying, or +any human state of fortune or adversity. Thus a very generous man +becomes a _mathel bilkaram_ (a parable of generosity); and a man {141} +of unsavory reputation becomes a _mathel beinennass_ (a saying or a +by-word among the people). In the forty-fourth Psalm, the fourteenth +verse, the poet cries: "Thou makest us a by-word among the nations, a +shaking of the head among the people." A fine illustration of the +_mathel_ as a poetical saying, although not strictly allegorical, is +the opening passage of the twenty-ninth chapter of the Book of Job, +where it is said:-- + + "And Job again took up his parable and said, + Oh that I were as in the months of old, + As in the days when God watched over me; + When his lamp shined upon my head, + And by his light I walked through darkness; + As I was in the ripeness of my days, + When the friendship of God was upon my tent; + When the Almighty was yet with me, + And my children were about me; + When my steps were washed with butter, + And the rock poured me out rivers of oil!"[1] + + +Where in human literature can we find a passage to surpass in beauty +and tenderness this introspective utterance? + +{142} + +Parabolic speech is dear to the Oriental heart. It is poetical, +mystical, sociable. In showing the reason why Jesus taught in +parables, Biblical writers speak of the indirect method, the picture +language, the concealing of the truth from those "who had not the +understanding," and so forth. But those writers fail to mention a most +important reason, namely, the _sociable_ nature of such a method of +teaching, which is so dear to the Syrian heart. In view of the small +value the Orientals place upon time, the story-teller, the speaker in +parables, is to them the most charming conversationalist. Why be so +prosy, brief, and abstract? The spectacular charm and intense +concreteness of the parable of the Prodigal Son is infinitely more +agreeable to the Oriental mind than the general precept that God will +forgive his truly penitent children. How romantic and how enchanting +to me are the memories of those _sehrat_ (evening gatherings) at my +father's house! How simple and how human was the homely wisdom of the +stories and the parables which were spoken on {143} those occasions. +The elderly men of the clan loved to speak of what "was said in the +ancient days" (_qadeem ezzeman_). "_Qal el-wathel_" (said the parable) +prefaced almost every utterance. And as the speaker proceeded to +relate a parable and to reinforce the ancient saying by what his own +poetic fancy could create at the time of kindred material, we listened +admiringly, and looked forward with ecstatic expectation to the _maana_ +(meaning, or moral). Oral traditions, the Scriptures, Mohammedan +literature, and other rich sources are drawn upon, both for instruction +in wisdom and for entertainment. + +In picturing the condition of one who has been demoralized beyond +redemption, the entertaining speaker proceeds in this fashion: "Once +upon a time a certain man fell from the housetop and was badly injured. +The neighbors came and carried him into the house and placed him in +bed. Then one of his friends approached near to the injured man and +said to him, 'Asaad, my beloved friend, how is your condition [_kief +halak_]?' The much-pained man {144} opened his mouth and said, 'My two +arms are broken; my back and one of my legs are broken; one of my eyes +is put out; I am badly wounded in the breast, and feel that my liver is +severed. But I trust that God will restore me.' Whereupon his friend +answered, 'Asaad, I am distressed. But if this is your condition, it +will be much easier for God to make a new man to take your place than +to restore you!'" + +One of the most beautiful parables I know, and which I often heard my +father relate, bears on the subject of partiality, and is as follows:-- + +"Once upon a time there were two men, the one named Ibrahim, the other +Yusuf. Each of the men had a camel. It came to pass that when Yusuf +fell sick he asked of his neighbor Ibrahim, who was about to journey to +Alappo, to take his camel with him also, with a load of merchandise. +Yusuf begged Ibrahim to treat the camel in exactly the same manner as +he did his own, and promised him that if God kept him alive until he +came back he would repay him both the good deed, and the cost of the +{145} camel's keep. Ibrahim accepted the trust, and took his journey +to Alappo, with the two camels. Upon his return Yusuf saw that his own +camel did not look so well as Ibrahim's. So he spoke to his friend: +'Ibrahim, by the life of God, what has happened to my camel? He is not +as good as your camel. O Ibrahim, did you care for my camel as you did +for your camel?' Then Ibrahim answered and said, 'By the life of God, +O Yusuf, I fed, and watered, and groomed your camel as I did my camel. +God witnesseth between us, Yusuf, this is the truth. But I will say to +you, you my eyes, my heart, that when night came and I lay me down on +my cloak to sleep between the two camels, I placed my head nearer to my +camel than to yours.'" + +It was the desirableness to Orientals of this type of speech which +prompted the writer of the Gospel of Matthew to say of Jesus, "And +without a parable spake he not unto them."[2] This utterance itself is +characteristically {146} Oriental. As a matter of fact, Jesus _did_ +often speak to the multitude _without_ parables. But his strong +tendency to make use of the parable, and its agreeableness to his +hearers, seemed to the Scriptural writer to be a sufficient +justification for his sweeping assertion. + +Of the New Testament parables some are quoted in this work in +connection with other subjects than that with which this chapter deals. +I will mention here a few more of these sayings as additional +illustrations of the present subject, and with reference to the +allusions to Oriental life which they contain. + +In the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, we have the parable of the wheat +and the tares: "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed +good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed +tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung +up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also." + +The tare (_zewan_) is a grain which when ground with the wheat and +eaten causes dizziness {147} and nausea, a state much like seasickness. +For this reason this plant is hated by the Syrians, although they use +tares very extensively as chicken feed. Wheat merchants are likely to +sell _kameh mizwen_ (wheat mixed with tares) in hard times, because +they can buy it for less money than pure wheat. I do not believe there +is a family among the common people of Syria which has not suffered at +one time or another from "tare-sickness." Having tasted the gall of +this affliction a few times myself, I do not at all wonder at the +Syrians' belief that tares must have come into the world by the Devil. +And what I still remember with both amusement and sympathy are the +heartfelt, withering imprecations which the afflicted ones always +showered upon the seller of the "tarey wheat." When the food had taken +real effect and the staggering, nauseated members of a family felt +compelled to allow nature to take its course, the gasps and groans +punctuated the ejaculations, "May God destroy his home!" "May the gold +turn into dust in his hands!" {148} "May he spend the price of what he +sold us at the funerals of his children!"--and so forth. + +Do you feel now the force of the allusion to the tares in the parable? +"So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst +not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? +He said unto them, An enemy hath done this." + +Enemies are of course always disposed to injure one another, and in an +agricultural country like Syria harm is often done to property for +revenge. So the scattering of tares for this purpose in a newly sown +wheat-field is not utterly unnatural or unthinkable. But the reference +in the parable is to a belief which is prevalent in some districts in +Syria, to the effect that in spite of all that the sower can do to +prevent it, the tares do appear mysteriously in fields where only wheat +had been sown. Some evil power introduces the noxious plant. Once I +listened to a heated controversy on the subject between some Syrian +landowners and an American missionary. The landowners clung to the +belief {149} that tares would appear in a field even if no tare seed +was ever planted in that field, while the son of the West insisted that +no such growth could take place without the seed having first been +introduced into the field in some natural way. The fight was a draw. + +"The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them +up? But he said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up +also the wheat with them." + +The attempt is often made to pull up the hated tares from among the +wheat, but in vain. The concluding admonition in the parable may well +be taken to heart by every hasty reformer of the type of a certain +regenerator of society, who, when asked to proceed slowly, said, "The +fact is I am in a hurry, and God is not!" + +In the same chapter (Matt. XIII) occurs the parable of the "leaven." +"The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid +in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." The setting +of this short {150} parable in Syrian life is given in another +chapter.[3] But I mention it here in order to give my comment on a +rather strange interpretation of the parable which came recently to my +knowledge. In the course of a conversation I had with a prominent +Baptist minister not long since, he stated to me that certain +interpreters assert that the leaven in this parable meant the +corruption which has come into the Christian Church, etc. My friend +was anxious to know whether to my knowledge the Syrians associated +leaven with corruption. + +This interpretation echoes an ancient idea of leaven of which modern +Syrians have no knowledge. They hold the leaven in high and +reverential esteem.[4] To them it is the symbol of growth and +fecundity. In many of the rural districts of Syria, upon approaching +the door of her future home the bride is given the _khamera_ (the lump +of leaven) which she pastes on the upper doorsill and passes under it +into the house. As she performs the solemn act her {151} friends +exclaim, "May you be as blessed and as fruitful as the _khamera_!" + +However, it is a well-known fact to readers of ancient records that in +the earliest times bread was entirely unleavened. When the Israelites +were roaming tribes they ate and offered to Jehovah unleavened bread. +The Arab tribes of to-day on the borders of Syria eat no leavened +bread. They believe that it tends to reduce the vitality and endurance +of the body. Perhaps the real reason for preferring the unleavened +bread is that it is much easier to make, and dispenses with taking care +of the lump of leaven between bakings, which is not so convenient for +roaming tribes to do. The use of unleavened bread for so many +generations among the Israelites constituted its sacredness, and it was +the conservatism of religion which still called for unleavened bread +for the offering, even after leavened bread had become universally the +daily food of the people. + +So to the ancients the fermentation in the process of leavening was +considered corruption. {152} It was something which entered into the +lump and soured it. The New Testament use of the word "leaven" as +meaning corruption is purely figurative, and signifies influence, or +bad doctrine. It was in this sense that Jesus used the word when he +said to his disciples:[5] "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the +Pharisees and of the Sadducees"; and again:[6] "Take heed, beware of +the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." The fact +that the disciples did not understand at first what the Master meant +shows that to the general public "leaven" and "corruption" were not +synonymous terms. Had they been, it is certain that Jesus never would +have said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven." + +The fifteenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel contains the parables of the +lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. The parable of the +lost sheep is discussed in another chapter.[7] The parable of the lost +coin portrays a very familiar scene in the ordinary Syrian home. "What +{153} woman," says the Master, "having ten pieces of silver, if she +lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek +diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth +her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I +have found the piece which I had lost." + +The candle spoken of here is a little olive-oil lamp--an earthen +saucer, with a protruding lip curled up at one point in the rim for the +wick. How often have I held that flickering light for my mother while +she searched for a lost coin or some other precious object. The common +Syrian house has one door and one or two small windows, with wooden +shutters, without glass.[8] Consequently the interior of the house is +dimly lighted, especially in the winter season. The scarcity of money +in the hands of the people makes the loss of a coin, of the value of +that which is mentioned in the parable (about sixteen cents), a sad +event. The {154} little house is searched with eager +thoroughness--"diligently." The straw mats, cushions, and sheepskins +which cover the floor are turned over, and the earthen floor swept. +The search continues, with diligence and prayerful expectations, until +the lost coin is found. The Arabic Bible states that the gladdened +woman "calls her _women_ neighbors and friends (_jaratiha +wesedikatiha_), saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece +which I had lost." The singling out of the _women_ neighbors is +significant here. As a rule the loss of a precious coin by a woman +calls her husband's wrath upon her, regardless of whether the coin had +been earned by her or by him. The _women friends_ have a keen +fellow-feeling in such matters. They keep one another's secrets from +the men, and rejoice when one of their number escapes an unpleasant +situation. + +The total meaning of this parable is plain as it is most precious. +Through this common occurrence in a Syrian home, Jesus impresses upon +the minds of his hearers, as well as upon {155} the consciousness of +all mankind, the infinite worth of the human soul, and the Father's +love and care for it. "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the +presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." + +The parable of the prodigal son follows immediately that of the lost +coin. "A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his +father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And +he divided unto them his living." The first thing in this parable to +challenge the attention is the father's quick compliance with the +request of his son. "And he divided unto them his living." The custom +of a father dividing his property among his grown sons before his death +prevails much more extensively in the East than in the West. As a rule +neither the law nor custom gives legal standing to a will. Sometimes +the father's wishes with regard to how his property should be divided +after his death are carried out by his sons. But as a general rule the +father who does not divide his property legally between his sons before +his {156} death leaves to them a situation fraught with danger. +Litigation in such cases is very slow and uncertain. + +It was such a situation, no doubt, which led the man referred to in the +twelfth chapter of Luke, the thirteenth verse, to say to Jesus, +"Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. +And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?" +And we may easily infer what Jesus thought of that particular case from +his saying which follows immediately his answer to this man. "And he +said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life +consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." So +the father of the prodigal son acted normally when he divided his +substance between his two sons. + +"And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and +took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance +with riotous living." The singling out of the younger son for this +adventure comports with {157} a highly cherished Oriental tradition. +The elder son, who was the first-born male child in this household, +could not very well be made to commit such an act. In a Syrian family +the _bikkr_ (the first-born son) stands next to the father in the +esteem, not only of the members of his own household, but of the +community at large. He cannot be supposed to be so rash, so unmindful +of his birthright, as to break the sacred family circle, and to waste +his inheritance in riotous living. + +"And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; +and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a +citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. +And he would fain have been filled with the husks that the swine did +eat; and no man gave unto him." + +To be a swineherd, or a "swine-shepherd," is the most contemptible +occupation an Oriental can think of. It is no wonder at all to me that +the Gospel writers make the destination of the "legion" of devils which +Jesus cast out of the {158} man "in the country of the Gadarenes," a +herd of swine.[9] You cannot hire a Syrian to make a pet of a "little +piggie." If he did, he would be called "_Abu khenzier_" (pig man) for +the rest of his life, and transmit the unenviable title to his +posterity, "even unto the third and fourth generation." + +The word "husks" in the English version is not a correct rendering of +the original term. The marginal note in the Revised Version reads, +"the pods of the carob tree." The Arabic version says simply _kherrûb_ +(carob). The carob tree is very common in the lowlands of Syria. It +is a large tree of dense foliage, and round, glossy, dark-green leaves. +The pods it bears measure from five to ten inches in length, are flat, +and largely horn-shaped. I do not know why the English translators of +the Bible called those pods "husks." They are sold in almost every +town in western Syria for food. Children are very fond of _kherrûb_. +Some of the pods contain no small amount of sugar. In my boyhood {159} +days, a pocketful of _kherrûb_, which I procured for a penny, was to me +rather a treat. The older people, however, do not esteem _kherrûb_ so +highly as do the children. The bulk of it is so out of proportion to +the sugar it contains that its poverty is proverbial in the land. Of +one whose conversation is luxuriant in words and barren of ideas it is +said, "It is like eating _kherrûb_; you have to consume a cord of wood +in order to get an ounce of sweet." By eating these pods, the poor +people seem to themselves "to have been filled" while in reality they +have received but little nutrition. Therefore _kherrûb_ is generally +eaten by animals. + +It may be observed that the saying in the parable, "and he would fain +have been filled with _kherrûb_ that the swine did eat: and no man gave +unto him," simply describes the prodigal's poverty. For as a +"swine-shepherd" the "_kherrûb_ that the swine did eat" was certainly +very accessible to him. The purpose of the passage is to draw the +contrast between the rich parental home which the prodigal had +willingly {160} left and the extremely humble fare on which in his +wretched state he was compelled to subsist. + +The return of the prodigal son to his father's house, impoverished but +penitent, the affectionate magnanimity of the father toward his son, +and the spreading of the feast in honor of the occasion, are acts of +humility and generosity which cannot be said to be exclusively +Oriental. But the command of the father to his servants, "Bring hither +the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry," brings out +the idea of the _zebihat_ (animal sacrifice) with which the West is not +familiar. + +The ancient custom, whose echoes have not yet died out in the East, was +that the host honored his guest most highly by killing a sheep at the +threshold of the house, upon the guest's arrival, and inviting him to +step over the blood into the house. This act formed the "blood +covenant" between the guest and his host. It made them one. To us one +of the most cordial and dignified expressions in {161} inviting a +guest, especially from a distant town, was, "If God ever favors us with +a visit from you, we will kill a _zebihat_!" + +In his great rejoicing in the return of his son, the father of the +prodigal is made to receive him as he would a most highly honored +guest. "The fatted calf"--and not only a sheep--is killed as the +_zebihat_ of a new covenant between a loving father and his son, who +"was dead and is alive again; was lost, and is found."[10] + +The parable of the "treasure hid in a field"[11] alludes to a very +interesting phase of Syrian thought. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is +like unto a treasure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found, +he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and +buyeth that field." + +I cannot refrain from quoting again in this connection the famous +commentator, Adam Clarke. Speaking of this parable, he says: "We are +not to imagine that the _treasure_ here {162} mentioned, and to which +the gospel salvation is likened, means a _pot_ or _chest_ of money +hidden in the field, but rather a gold or silver _mine_, which he who +found out could not get at, or work, without turning up the field, and +for this purpose he bought it. Mr. Wakefield's observation is very +just: 'There is no sense in the _purchase_ of a field for a _pot_ of +_money_, which he might have carried away very _readily_ and as +_honestly_, too, as by overreaching the owner by an unjust purchase.' +... From this view of the subject, the translation of this verse, given +above, will appear proper--a _hidden treasure_, when applied to a _rich +mine_, is more proper than a _treasure hid_, which applies better to a +_pot of money_ deposited there, which I suppose was our translator's +opinion; and _kept secret_, or _concealed_, will apply better to the +subject of his discovery till he made the purchase, than _hideth_, for +which there could be no occasion, when the pot was already _hidden_, +and the place known only to himself." + +I have inserted here this double quotation, {163} italics and all, in +order to show how when the real facts are not known to a writer the +temptation to play on words becomes irresistible. In this exposition +the simple parable is treated as a legal document. Every word of it is +subjected to careful scrutiny. "Hid" is converted into "hidden," and +"concealed" is summoned to supplant "hideth," in order to make the +"treasure" mean a vast deposit of gold ore, and get the poor Syrian +peasant into the mining business. + +The facts in the case, however, stand opposed to this explanation. I +am absolutely safe in saying that every man, woman, and child in Syria +understands that this parable refers simply and purely to a treasure of +gold and silver which had been buried in a field by human hands. The +entanglement of the commentator just quoted in the literary fault of +the parable is inexcusable. + +The New Testament writer might have said, not that the man in the +parable _found_ the treasure, but that he was _led_ by certain {164} +signs _to believe_ that a treasure lay hidden in the field. However, +this is not the Oriental way of stating things, nor should the speaker +in parables be denied the freedom of the poet and the artist to +manipulate the particulars in such a way as to make them serve the +central purpose of his production. + +I could fill a book with the stories of hidden treasures which charmed +my boyhood days in Syria. I have already put into print[12] a detailed +account of my personal experience in digging for a hidden treasure, +which will clearly show that the securing of such riches is not always +so easy to diggers as the quotation just cited would make one believe. +In order to show the attitude of Syrians in general toward this +subject, I will quote the following from my own personal account:-- + +"In Syria it is universally believed that hidden treasures may be found +anywhere in the land, and especially among ancient ruins. This {165} +belief rests on the simple truth that the tribes and clans of Syria, +having from time immemorial lived in a state of warfare, have hidden +their treasures in the ground, especially on the eve of battles. + +"Furthermore, the wars of the past being wars of extermination, the +vanquished could not return to reclaim their hidden wealth; therefore +the ground is the keeper of vast riches. The tales of the digging and +finding of such treasures fill the country. There are thrilling tales +of treasures in various localities. Gold and other valuables are said +to have been dug up in sealed earthen jars, often by the merest +accident, in the ground, in the walls of houses, under enchanted trees, +and in sepulchers. From earliest childhood the people's minds are fed +on these tales, and they grow up with all their senses alert to the +remotest suggestions of such possibilities." + +The writer of the parable did not need to explain the situation to his +Oriental readers. The mere mention of a "hidden treasure" was {166} +sufficient to make them know what the words meant. His supreme purpose +was to impress them with the matchless worth of the kingdom of heaven +which Christ came to reveal to the world. + + + +[1] Revised Version. + +[2] Matt. xiii: 34. + +[3] See page 198. + +[4] See page 199. + +[5] Matt. xvi: 6. + +[6] Mark viii: 15. + +[7] See page 308. + +[8] See the author's autobiography, _A Far Journey_, chap. 1, entitled +"My Father's House." + +[9] Matt. viii: 32; Mark v: 13; Luke viii: 33. + +[10] For the reason why the mother of the prodigal is not mentioned in +the parable, see pages 207 and 334. + +[11] Matt. xiii: 44. + +[12] _Atlantic Monthly_, December, 1915. This story, with other +essays, will soon appear in book form. + + + + +{167} + +CHAPTER VII + +SWEARING + +Perhaps the one phase of his speech which lays the Oriental open to the +charge of unveracity is his much swearing. Of course this evil habit +knows no geographical boundaries and no racial limits. However, +probably because of their tendency to be profuse, intense, and positive +in speech, the Orientals no doubt have more than their legitimate share +of swearing. But it should be kept in mind that in that part of the +world swearing is not looked upon with the same disapproval and +contempt as in America; swearing by the name of the Deity has always +been considered the most sacred and solemn affirmation of a statement. +It is simply calling God to witness that what has been said is the +sacred truth. Thus in the twenty-first chapter of the book of Genesis +Abimelech asks Abraham, "Now therefore swear unto me here by God that +thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor {168} with my son, nor with my +son's son." "And Abraham said, I will swear." + +St. Paul employs this type of speech in a milder form, after the New +Testament fashion, in the opening verse of the twelfth chapter of his +Epistle to the Romans, where he says: "I beseech you, therefore, +brethren, _by the mercies of God_, that ye present your bodies a living +sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable +service." In the opening verse of the ninth chapter of the Epistle to +the Romans, Paul succeeds in an elegant manner in dispensing with +swearing altogether, when he says: "I say the truth in Christ, I lie +not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." + +Generally speaking, however, the custom of swearing after the manner of +the Old Testament has undergone no change in Syria since the days of +Abraham. Swearing is an integral element in Oriental speech. +Instinctively the speaker turns his eyes and lifts his hands toward +heaven and says, "By Allah, what I have {169} said is right and true. +_Yeshhedo-Allah_ [God witnesseth] to the truth of my words." In a +similar manner, and as in a score of places in the Old Testament, the +maker of a statement is asked by his hearer to swear by God as a solemn +assurance that his statement is true and sincere. + +The Mohammedan law, which is the law of modern Syria, demands swearing +in judicial contests. The judge awards the accuser--that is, the +plaintiff--the right to lead the defendant to any shrine he may choose, +and cause him to swear the _yemîn_ (solemn oath) as a final witness to +his innocence. By this act the plaintiff places his adversary in the +hands of the Supreme Judge, whose judgments are "true and righteous +altogether." A false oath is supposed to bring awful retribution upon +its maker and upon his posterity. + +Of such importance is this mode of speech to Orientals that the +Israelites thought of Jehovah Himself as making such affirmations. In +the twenty-second chapter of Genesis we have the words, "By myself have +I sworn, saith the {170} Lord." Further light is thrown on this point +by the explanation given to the verse just quoted in the sixth chapter +of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is said, "For when God made +promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by +himself." + +I have no doubt that this thought of God swearing by himself sprang +from the custom of Oriental aristocrats of sealing a vow, or solemnly +affirming a statement, or an intention to do some daring deed, by +saying, "I swear by my head"--an oath which, whenever I heard it in my +youth, filled me with awe. Thus, also, in the sixty-second chapter of +Isaiah we have the words, "The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and +by the arm of his strength." + +Among the Mohammedans, swearing "by the most high God" and "by the life +of the Prophet" and "by the exalted Koran" in affirmation of almost +every statement, is universal. The Christians swear by God, Christ, +the Virgin, the Cross, the Saints, the repose of their dead, the Holy +City, the Eucharist, {171} Heaven, great holidays, and many other +names. A father swears by the life of a dear child, and sons of +distinguished fathers swear by them. "By the life of my father, I am +telling the truth," is a very common expression. The antiquity of this +custom is made evident by the passage in the thirty-first chapter of +Genesis and the fifty-third verse: "And Jacob sware by the fear of his +father Isaac." However, the word "fear" does violence to the real +meaning of the verse, which the Arabic version rescues by saying, "And +Jacob swore by the _heybet_ [benignity, or beautiful dignity] of his +father." He swore by that which he and others loved, and not feared, +in his father. + +But what must seem to Americans utterly ridiculous is the Oriental +habit of swearing by the mustache and the beard, which is, however, one +phase of swearing by the head. To swear by one's mustache, or beard, +means to pledge the integrity of one's manhood. "I swear by this," is +said solemnly by a man with his hand upon his mustache. Swearing by +the {172} beard is supposed to carry more weight because, as a rule, it +is worn by the older men. To speak disrespectfully of one's mustache +or beard, or to curse the beard of a person's father, is to invite +serious trouble. + +The sacredness of the beard to Orientals goes back to the remote past +when all the hair of the head and the face was considered sacred. +Growing a beard is still esteemed a solemn act in Syria, so much so +that, having let his beard grow, one cannot shave it off without +becoming a by-word in the community. To speak of the scissors or of a +razor in the presence of one wearing a beard, especially if he be a +priest, or of the aristocracy, is considered a deep insult to him. +Such unseemly conduct seldom fails to precipitate a fight. In 2 +Samuel, the tenth chapter, fourth verse, we have the record of Hanun's +disgraceful treatment of David's men, whom he had thought to be spies. +"Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of +their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their +buttocks, {173} and sent them away. When they told it unto David, he +sent to meet them, because the men _were greatly ashamed_: and the king +said, Tarry at Jericho _until your beards be grown_, and then return." + +It is because of this ancient conception of the hair that the Syrians +still swear by the mustache and the beard, although the majority of +them know not the real reason why they do so. + +I remember distinctly how proud I was in my youth to put my hand upon +my mustache, when it was yet not even large enough to be respectfully +noticed, and swear by it _as a man_. I recall also to what roars of +laughter I would provoke my elders at such times, to my great dismay. + +Here it may easily be seen that swearing in the Orient had so lost its +original sacredness and become so vulgar, even as far back as the time +of Christ, that He deemed it necessary to give the unqualified command, +"Swear not at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by +the earth, for it is his footstool: neither by {174} Jerusalem, for it +is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, +because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your +communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these +cometh of evil." This was perhaps the most difficult command to obey +that Jesus ever gave to his countrymen. + + + + +{175} + +CHAPTER VIII + +FOUR CHARACTERISTICS + +Of the other characteristics of Oriental speech, I wish to speak of +four before I bring this part of my book to a close. + +The first, the many and picturesque dialects. The entire absence of +the public school, the scarcity of other educational institutions, as +well as of books and periodicals, and the extreme slowness of +transportation, have always tended to perpetuate the multitude of +dialects in the speech of the Syrian people. The common language of +the land is the Arabic, which is divided into two types--the classical +and the common, or the language of learning and that of daily speech. +The classical language is one, but the common language is a labyrinth +of dialects. Each section of that small country has its _lehjah_ +(accent), and it is no exaggeration to say that each town within those +sections has a _lehjah_ of its own. Certain letters of the {176} +alphabet are also sounded differently in different localities. Thus, +for an example, the word for "stood" is pronounced _qam_ in certain +localities, and _aam_ in others. The word for "male" is pronounced +_zeker_ by some communities, and _deker_ by others. + +That such a state of things prevailed also in ancient Israel and in New +Testament times is very evident. In the twelfth chapter of the Book of +Judges we have the record of a fight between the Gileadites and the +Ephraimites, in which we find the following statement: "And the +Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it +was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go +over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If +he said, Nay; then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said +Sibboleth: _for he could not frame to pronounce it right_. Then they +took him, and slew him." + +This simple means of identification might be used in present-day Syria +with equal success. + +{177} + +In the fourteenth chapter of St. Mark's Gospel we have another striking +illustration of this characteristic of Oriental speech, in Peter's +experience in the palace of the high priest. In the fifty-third verse +it is said: "And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him +were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. +And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high +priest." The record continues (verses 66-71): "And as Peter was +beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high +priest: and when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, +and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, +saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went +out into the porch.... And a little after, they that stood by said +again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, +_and thy speech agreeth thereto_.[1] But he began to curse and to +swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak." + +{178} + +Poor Peter! the more he swore and cursed the more clearly he revealed +his identity. His cowardice might have concealed him, but for his +dialect. He spoke the dialect of Galilee in the city of Jerusalem, and +so far as the identification of his person was concerned, even a +certificate from the authorities of the town of his birth, testifying +to his being a native of Galilee, could not have so effectively served +that purpose. + +The second characteristic is the juvenile habit of imploring "in season +and out of season" when asking a favor. To try to exert "undue" +influence, virtually to beg in most persuasive tones, is an Oriental +habit which to an American must seem unendurable. Of the many +illustrations of this custom which fill my memory I will relate the +following incident, which I once heard a man relate to my father. + +This man had bought, for six hundred piasters, a piece of land which +had been given as a _nezer_ (vow) to our Greek Orthodox Church. After +he had given his note for the {179} sum and secured the deed, it +occurred to him that the price was too high, and, being himself a son +of the Church, that he ought to secure the land for four hundred +piasters. So, as he stated, he went to Beyrout, the seat of our +bishop, where he stayed three days. By constant petitioning, he +secured the privilege of interviewing the bishop four times on the +subject. With great glee he stated that at the last interview he +refused to rise from his seat at the feet of that long-suffering +ecclesiastic until his petition was granted. + +One of the most striking examples of this characteristic is the parable +of the unrighteous judge, in the eighteenth chapter of Luke. "There +was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and +there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him saying, Avenge me +[the original is "do me justice"] of mine adversary. And he would not +for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not +God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will {180} +avenge her, _lest by her continual coming she weary me_." + +Here is a case--by no means a rare exception in that country--where a +judge rendered a verdict against his own best judgment in sheer +self-defense. And I must say that, knowing such Oriental tendencies as +I do, especially as manifested by widows, I am in deep sympathy with +the judge. + +Yet it was this very persistence in petitioning the Father of all men +which gave mankind the lofty psalms and tender prayers of our +Scriptures. It was this persistent filial pleading and imploring which +made Israel turn again and again to the "God of righteousness" and say, +"We have sinned," and ask for a deeper revealing of his ways to them. +Job's cry, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him," may not be the +proper language of modern etiquette, but it certainly is the language +of religion. In the very parable just quoted, Jesus recommends to his +disciples the insistence of the widow as a means to draw the +benediction of heaven upon {181} them, and to secure for them +justification at the hands of the righteous judge. Honest seekers +after spiritual gifts should not be averse to imitating this Oriental +trait. They should never be afraid to come to their Father again and +again for his gracious blessing, or refrain from "storming the gates of +heaven with prayer." + +The third characteristic of Oriental speech is its intimacy and +unreserve. Mere implications which are so common to reserved and +guarded speech leave a void in the Oriental heart. It is because of +this that the Orientals have always craved "signs and wonders," and +interpreted natural phenomena in terms of direct miraculous +communications from God to convince them that He cared for them. +Although Gideon was speaking with Jehovah Himself, who promised to help +him to save his kinsmen from the Midianites, he asked for a more +tangible, more definite sign. We are told in the sixth chapter of +Judges, thirty-sixth verse: "And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt +save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken, behold, I will put a +{182} fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there be dew on the +fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that +thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken. And it was +so." But Gideon, still unsatisfied, speaks again in childlike +simplicity and intimacy; "Let not thine anger be kindled against me, +and I will speak but this once: let me make trial, I pray thee, but +this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and +upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night." + +It is not at all uncommon for old and tried friends in Syria to give +and ask for affectionate assurances, that they do love one another. +Such expressions are the wine of life. Especially when new confidences +are exchanged or great favors asked, a man turns with guileless eyes to +his trusted friend and says, "Now you love me; I say you love me, don't +you?" "My soul, my eyes," answers the other, "you know what is in my +heart toward you; you know and the Creator knows!" Then the request is +made. {183} One of the noblest and tenderest passages in the New +Testament, a passage whose spirit has fed the strength of the Christian +missionaries throughout the ages, is that portion of the twenty-first +chapter of St. John's Gospel where Jesus speaks to Peter in this +intimate Syrian fashion. How sweet and natural it sounds to a son of +the East! "So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, +son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" How characteristic also is Peter's +answer, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee." Then came the +precious request, "Feed my lambs." Three times did the affectionate +Master knock at the door of Peter's heart, till the poor impetuous +disciple cried, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I +love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." + +The fourth characteristic of Oriental speech is its unqualified +positiveness. Outside the small circles of Europeanized Syrians, such +qualifying phrases as "in my opinion," "so it seems to me," "as I see +it," and the like, are {184} almost entirely absent from Oriental +speech. The Oriental is never so cautious in his speech as a certain +American editor of a religious paper, who in speaking of Cain described +him as "the _alleged_ murderer of Abel"! Such expressions, also, are +rarely used in the Bible, and then only in the New Testament, in which +Greek influence plays no small part. Thus in the seventh chapter of +his second Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul, in giving his opinion on +marriage said, "_I suppose_, therefore, that this is good for the +present distress," and so forth. I am not aware that this form of +speech is used anywhere in the entire Old Testament. + +The language of the Oriental is that of sentiment and conviction, and +not of highly differentiated and specialized thought. When you say to +him, "I think this object is beautiful," if he does not think it is so, +he says, "No, it is not beautiful." Although he is expressing his own +individual opinion, he does not take the trouble to make that perfectly +clear: if an object is not beautiful to him, it _is not_ beautiful. + +{185} + +From an intellectual and social standpoint, this mode of speech may be +considered a serious defect. So do children express themselves. But +it should be kept in mind that the Oriental mind is that of the prophet +and the seer, and not of the scientist and the philosopher. It is the +mind which has proven the most suitable transmissive agency of divine +revelation. + +When the seer beholds a vision of the things that are eternal, he +cannot speak of it as a supposition or a guess, or transmit it with +intellectual caution and timidity. "Thus saith the Lord." "The word +of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, prophesy." When we speak +of the deepest realities of life, we do not beset our utterances with +qualifying phrases. True love, deep sorrow, a real vision of spiritual +things transcend all speculative speech; they press with irresistible +might for direct and authoritative expression. + +Take for an example Jesus' matchless declaration: "The Spirit of the +Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the {186} gospel +[glad tidings] to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, +to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the +blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the +acceptable year of the Lord."[2] How would this great utterance sound +if given in the nice, cautious language of an "up-to-date" thinker? +What force would it carry if put in this form, "It seems to me, +although I may be entirely mistaken, that something like what may be +termed the 'Spirit of the Lord' is upon me, and I feel that, in my own +limited way, I must preach the Gospel"? + +Of course reckless, dogmatic assertions from the pulpit are never wise +nor profitable. Ultimately, whether in the realms of science or +spiritual experience, the facts are the things which will count. +Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the modern pulpit suffers to a +large extent from overcautiousness. By many ministers the facts are +evaluated more in an intellectual than in a spiritual sense. Hence +that {187} cautiousness in utterance which is seriously threatening the +spirit of prophecy and the authority of real spiritual _experience_ in +the religious teachers of the present day. Legitimate intellectual +caution should never be allowed to degenerate into spiritual timidity, +nor the knowledge of outward things to put out the prophetic fire in +the soul. There is, no doubt, much food for thought in the following +legend. It is said of a preacher, who was apparently determined not to +make "rash statements," that in speaking to his people on repentance he +had this for his final word: "If you do not repent, as it were, and be +converted, in a measure, you will be damned, to a certain extent." The +congregation that has such a preacher is damned already! And I +perceive some difference between such a preacher and Him who says, +"Verily, I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little +children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."[3] + +This seeming weakness in Oriental speech {188} and in the Bible is in +reality tremendous spiritual strength. Through our sacred Scriptures +we hear the voices of those great Oriental prophets who spoke as they +saw and felt; as seers, and not as logicians. And it was indeed most +fortunate for the world that the Bible was written in an age of +instinctive listening to the divine Voice, and in a country whose +juvenile modes of speech protected the "rugged maxims" of the +Scriptures from the weakening influences of an overstrained +intellectualism. + + + +[1] See also Matt. xxvi: 73. + +[2] Luke iv: 18. + +[3] Matt. xviii: 3. + + + + +{191} + +PART III + +BREAD AND SALT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SACRED 'AISH + +To an Oriental the phrase "bread and salt" is of sacred import. The +saying, "There is bread and salt between us," which has been prevalent +in the East from time immemorial, is equal to saying, "We are bound +together by a solemn covenant." To say of one that he "knows not the +significance of bread and salt" is to stigmatize him as a base ingrate. + +A noble foe refuses to "taste the salt" of his adversary--that is, to +eat with him--so long as he feels disinclined to be reconciled to him. +Such a foe dreads the thought of repudiating the covenant which the +breaking of bread together forms. In the rural districts of Syria, +much more than in the cities, is still observed the ancient custom that +a man on an important mission should not eat his host's bread until the +errand is made known. The covenant of "bread and salt" should not be +entered into {192} before the attitude of the host toward his guest's +mission is fully known. If the request is granted, then the meal is +enjoyed as a fraternal affirmation of the agreement just made. So in +the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis we are told that +Abraham's servant, who had gone to Mesopotamia, "unto the city of +Nahor," to bring a wife of his master's kindred to his son Isaac, +refused to eat at Laban's table before he had told his errand. With +characteristic Oriental hospitality the brother of Rebekah, after +hearing his sister's story, sought Abraham's faithful servant, "and, +behold, he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, Come in, thou +blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without? for I have +prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the +house.... And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, _I +will not eat, until I have told mine errand_."[1] The errand having +been told, "the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of +gold, and raiment, and {193} gave them to Rebekah.... _And they did +eat and drink_, he and the men that were with him."[2] + +Of all his enemies, the writer of the forty-first Psalm considered the +"familiar friend" who went back on his simple covenant to be the worst. +"Yea," he cries, mournfully, "mine own familiar friend, in whom I +trusted, which did eat my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." + +As the son of a Syrian family I was brought up to think of bread as +possessing a mystic sacred significance. I never would step on a piece +of bread fallen in the road, but would pick it up, press it to my lips +for reverence, and place it in a wall or some other place where it +would not be trodden upon. + +What always seemed to me to be one of {194} the noblest traditions of +my people was their reverence for the _'aish_ (bread; literally, "the +life-giver"). While breaking bread together we would not rise to +salute an arriving guest, whatever his social rank. Whether spoken or +not, our excuse for not rising and engaging in the cordial Oriental +salutation before the meal was ended, was our reverence for the food +(_hirmetel-'aish_). We could, however, and always did, invite the +newcomer most urgently to partake of the repast. + +At least once each year, for many years, I carried the _korban_ (the +bread offering) to the _mizbeh_ (altar of sacrifice) in our village +church, as an offering for the repose of the souls of our dead as well +as for our own spiritual security. Bread was one of the elements of +the holy Eucharist. The mass always closed with the handing by the +priest to the members of the congregation of small pieces of +consecrated bread. The Gospel taught us also that Christ was the +"bread of life." + +The _'aish_ was something more than mere {195} matter. Inasmuch as it +sustained life, it was God's own life made tangible for his child, man, +to feed upon. The Most High himself fed our hunger. Does not the +Psalmist say, "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of +every living thing"? Where else could our daily bread come from? + + + +[1] Verses 30-33. + +[2] Verses 53-54. The word "drink," which is frequently used in the +Bible in connection with the word "eat," does not necessarily refer to +wine drinking. The expression "food and drink" is current in Syria, +and means simply "board." An employer says to an employee, "I will pay +you so much wages, and your food and drink" (aklek washirbek). The +drink may be nothing but water. + + + + +{196} + +CHAPTER II + +"OUR DAILY BREAD" + +I have often heard it said by "up-to-date" religionists in this country +that the saying in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily +bread," was at best a beggar's lazy petition. It has been suggested +that those words should be omitted from the prayer, because they +pertain to "material things." And at any rate we can get our daily +bread only by working for it. + +Yes; and the Oriental understands all that. But he perceives also that +by working for his daily bread he does not _create_ it, but simply +_finds_ it. The prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread" is a note +of pure gratitude to the "Giver of all good and perfect gifts." The +Oriental does not know "material things" as the Occidental knows them. +To him organic chemistry does not take the place of God. He is, in his +totality, God-centered. His center of gravity is the altar and not the +factory, and back {197} of his prayer for daily bread is the momentum +of ages of mystic contemplation. The Oriental finds kinship, not with +those who go for their daily bread no farther than the bakery, but with +the writer of this modern psalm:-- + + "Back of the loaf is the snowy flour, + Back of the flour the mill; + Back of the mill is the wheat and the shower + And the sun and the Father's will." + + +It is not my purpose to exaggerate the piety and moral rectitude of the +Oriental. I am fully aware of the fact that he is lamentably lacking +in his efforts to rise to the height of his noblest traditions. +Nevertheless, those who know the Oriental's inner life know also that +from seed-time until harvest, and until the bread is placed upon the +family board, this man's attitude toward the "staff of life" is +essentially religious. In the name of God he casts the seed into the +soil; in the name of God he thrusts the sickle into the ripe harvest; +in the name of God he scatters his sheaves on the threshing floor and +grinds his grain at the mill; and in the name of {198} God his wife +kneads the dough, bakes the bread, and serves it to her family. + +In my childhood days "kneading-day" at our house was always of peculiar +significance to me. I had no toys or story-books to engage my +attention, and it was with the greatest interest that I watched my +mother go through the process of kneading. Her pious words and actions +made kneading a sort of religious service. + +After making the sign of the cross and invoking the Holy Name, she drew +the required quantity of flour out of a small opening near the bottom +of the earthen barrel in which the precious meal was stored. It was +out of such a barrel that the widow of "Zarephath which belongeth to +Zidon" drew the "handful of meal" she had, and made of it a cake for +Elijah, for which favor the fiery prophet prayed that the widow's +barrel of meal "shall not waste." + +Then my mother packed the flour in the shape of a crescent on one side +of the large earthen _maajan_ (kneading basin) which is about thirty +inches in diameter. She dissolved the {199} salt in warm water, which +she poured in the basin by the embankment of flour. Then with a "God +bless" she took out the leaven--a lump of dough saved from the former +baking--which she had buried in flour to keep it "from corruption," +that is, from overfermentation. This leaven she dissolved carefully in +the salt water, and by slowly mixing the meal with this fluid, she +"hid" the leaven in the meal. It was this process which Jesus +mentioned very briefly in the parable of the leaven in the thirteenth +chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto +leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the +whole was leavened." + +The kneading done, my mother smoothed the surface of the blessed lump, +dipped her hand in water, and with the edge of her palm marked a deep +cross the whole length of the diameter of the basin, crossed herself +three times, while she muttered an invocation, and then covered the +basin and left the dough to rise. The same pious attitude was resumed +{200} when the raised dough was made into small loaves, during the +baking, and whenever the mother of the family put her hand into the +basin where the loaves were kept, to take out bread for her family's +needs. + +Does it now seem strange, unnatural, or in any way out of harmony with +the trend of her whole life, for such a woman to pray, "Give us this +day our daily bread"? Shall we receive the gifts and forget the Giver? +However circuitous our way to our daily bread may be, the fact remains +that we do feed on God's own life. "The earth is the Lord's and the +fullness thereof." + +The use of iron stoves was unknown to the Syrians in my childhood days; +and this modern convenience is now used only by some of the well-to-do +people in the large cities. The rank and file of the people, as in the +days of ancient Israel, still bake their bread at semi-public ovens, a +few of which are found in every village and town. This baking-place is +mentioned often in the Bible, but the word "oven" in the English +translation is somewhat misleading. It {201} is so because the +_tennûr_ (translated "oven" in the Bible) is unknown to the +English-speaking world, if not to the entire Occident. The _tennûr_ is +a huge earthen tube about three feet in diameter and about five feet +long; it is sunk in the ground within a small, roughly constructed hut. +The women bake their bread at the _tennûr_ in turn, certain days being +assigned to certain families. The one baking comprises from one +hundred to two hundred loaves. The fuel, which consists of small +branches of trees, and of thistles and straw, is thrown into the +_tennûr_ in large quantities. It is to this that Jesus alludes in the +passage, "If then God so clothe the grass which is to-day in the field, +and to-morrow is _cast into the oven_, how much more will he clothe +you, O ye of little faith?" + +When I recall the sight of a burning _tennûr_, I do not find it +difficult to imagine what the old theologians meant by the "burning +pit." The billows of black smoke, pierced at intervals by tongues of +flame issuing from the deep hole, convert the chimneyless hut into an +active {202} crater. No one who has seen such a sight can fail to +understand what the prophet Malachi meant when he exclaimed, "For, +behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, +yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble."[1] And no one who +has seen that little hut, virtually plastered with the blackest soot, +can fail to understand the full meaning of that passage in the fifth +chapter of the Book of Lamentations, the tenth verse, which says, "Our +skin was black like an oven, because of the terrible famine." + +A large baking is a source of pride as well as a means of security. A +Syrian housewife is proud to have the oven all to herself for a whole +day. It is a disgrace--nay, a curse--to have a small baking, or to buy +bread in small quantity, "one weight" at a time. One of the terrible +threats to Israel, recorded in the twenty-sixth chapter of the Book of +Leviticus, the twenty-sixth verse, is this: "When I have broken the +staff of your bread, ten women shall {203} bake your bread in one oven, +and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat +and not be satisfied." My mother often admonished us to be thankful +that we were not like those who had to buy their bread by weight--that +is, in small quantities. + +But this saying, "and they shall deliver you your bread again by +weight," may mean also the weighing of the portions delivered to the +various members of the family, in order that no one may receive more +than any other, and that the scanty supply of food may be more +carefully doled out. However, probably because no real famine ever +occurred in Syria within my memory, I never knew of the actual +resorting, within the family circle, to such severe restrictions in the +distribution of the daily food. A similar practice, however, prevails +among the Arab tribes in sharing their meager supply of water, while +traveling in the desert. In order to insure equality, a pebble is +placed in the bottom of a small wooden cup into which the water is +poured. The draught {204} which each traveler receives at long +intervals is "the covering of the pebble," that is, only the quantity +of water needed just to cover the pebble in the cup. + + + +[1] Mal. iv: 1. + + + + +{205} + +CHAPTER III + +"COMPEL THEM TO COME IN" + +The hospitality of Orientals is proverbial the world over. And while +some Westerners have an exaggerated idea of Oriental generosity, the +son of the East is not unjustly famous for his readiness to offer to +wayfarers the shelter of his roof and his bread and salt. The person +who fails to extend such hospitality brings reproach, not only upon +himself, but upon his whole clan and town. + +But whether hospitality is extended to strangers or to friends, it is +the man who entertains, and not the woman. The invitation is extended +in the name of the husband alone, or, if the husband is not living, in +the name of the eldest son. In the case of a widow who has no male +children, a man relative is asked to act as host. The man of the house +should not allow a wayfarer to pass him without offering him a "morsel +of bread to sustain his heart." So did {206} Abraham of old extend +hospitality to the three mysterious strangers who came upon him "in the +plains of Mamre," as stated in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis, the +second and following verses, "And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, +lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them +from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, My +Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray +thee, from thy servant; ... and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and +comfort ye your hearts: after that ye shall pass on." + +How natural and how truly Syrian all this sounds! Sarah was not at all +slighted because Abraham did not say, "Sarah and I will be glad to have +you stop for lunch with us, if you can." On the contrary, she was +greatly honored by not being mentioned in the invitation. + +We have another striking illustration of this Syrian custom in the +parable of the prodigal son, in the fifteenth chapter of St. Luke's +Gospel. Here we are told that, when the wayward {207} boy returned to +his father's house, desolate but penitent, it was the father who ran +out to meet the son and "fell on his neck, and kissed him." It was the +father who said to his servants, "Bring forth the best robe, and put it +on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring +hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry." I +know well that the mother of the prodigal could not have been less +affectionate nor less effusive in her welcome to her poor son than his +father was. But in harmony with the best traditions of the East, and +without the least intention of slighting the good mother, the record +takes no notice of her. + +It should be stated here that the prominent mention in the Gospels of +Mary and Martha as Jesus' friends and entertainers is due to the fact +that to those women the Master was not merely a _guest_, but a _saint_, +nay, the "promised One of Israel." As such Jesus was a privileged +personage. Yet--and it is not at all strange in view of Oriental +customs--Jesus took with him none of his women friends and disciples on +such {208} great occasions as the Transfiguration and the Last Supper. + +To extend hospitality in genuine Syrian fashion is no small +undertaking. Brevity on such occasions is the soul of stinginess. +Oriental effusiveness and intensity of speech are never more +strenuously exercised than at such times. The brief form of the +American invitation, "I should be pleased to have you dine with us, if +you can," however sincere, would seem to an Oriental like an excuse to +escape the obligation of hospitality. Again, the ready acceptance of +an invitation in the West would seem to the son of the East utterly +undignified. Although the would-be guest could accept, he must be as +insistent in saying, "No, I can't," as the would-be host in saying, +"Yes, you must." + +Approaching his hoped-for guest, a Syrian engages him in something like +the following dialogue, characterized by a glow of feeling which the +translation can only faintly reveal:-- + +"Ennoble us [_sherrifna_] by your presence." + +{209} + +"I would be ennobled [_nitsherref_] but I cannot accept." + +"That cannot be." + +"Yea, yea, it must be." + +"No, I swear against you [_aksim 'aleik_] by our friendship and by the +life of God. I love just to acquaint you with my bread and salt." + +"I swear also that I find it impossible [_gheir mimkin_] to accept. +Your bread and salt are known to all." + +"Yea, do it just for our own good. By coming to us you come to your +own home. Let us repay your bounty to us [_fadhlek_]." + +"_Astaghfero Allah_ [by the mercy of God] I have not bestowed any +bounty upon you worth mentioning." + +Here the host seizes his guest by the arm and with an emphatic, "I +_will not_ let you go," pulls at him and would drag him bodily into his +house. Then the guest, happy in being vanquished "with honor," +consents to the invitation. + +Do you now understand fully the meaning {210} of the passage in the +fourteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel? "A certain man made a great +supper, and bade many ... and they all with one consent began to make +excuse.... And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the +highways and hedges, and _compel_ them to come in, that my house may be +filled."[1] So also did Lydia, "a seller of purple, of the city of +Thyatira," invite the apostles, who had converted her to the new faith. +In the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Acts, the fifteenth verse, Paul +says, "And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, +saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my +house, and abide there. _And she constrained us_." + +In the interior towns and villages of Syria the ancient custom still +prevails that, when a stranger arrives in a town late in the day, he +goes and sits in the "open space" (_saha_). While not designed to be +so, this open space corresponds to the village common. In the English +Bible it is called "the street." Streets, however, {211} are unknown +to Syrian towns. Sitting in the _saha_, the stranger is the guest of +the whole village. The citizen who first sees such a wayfarer must +invite him to his home in real Syrian fashion. Failing in this, he +brings disgrace, not only upon himself, but upon the whole town. It is +needless to say that no people ever rise to the height of their ideals, +and that failure to be "given to hospitality" occurs, even in the East. + +In the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Judges we have the record of a +stranger who sat in the _saha_ of a certain village, but was not +offered the usual hospitality very readily. This man was a Levite, +and, with his wife, servant, and a couple of asses, was on his way from +Bethlehem "toward the side of Mount Ephraim." "And the sun went down +upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin. And +they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he +went in, he sat him down in a street of the city; for there was no man +that took them into his house to lodging. And, behold, there came an +old man from {212} his work out of the field at even.... And when he +had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the +city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest +thou? And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehem-Judah toward +the side of Mount Ephraim ... but I am now going to the house of the +Lord; and there is no man that receiveth me to house." + +And in order to add to the shame of the inhospitable village the +stranger adds, "Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; +and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid [the +wife], and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no +want of any thing." What a rebuke to that community! + +"And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants +lie upon me; _only lodge not in the street_. So he brought him into +his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their +feet, and did eat and drink." + +The old man saved the name of the town. + +{213} + +One of the noblest and most tender utterances of Job is the +thirty-second verse of the thirty-first chapter. Here the afflicted +patriarch, in pleading his own cause before the Most High, says, "The +stranger did not lodge in the street, but I opened my doors to the +traveller." + +Syrian rules of hospitality make it improper for a householder to ask a +guest who has suddenly come to him such a question as "Have you had +your lunch?" before putting food before him. The guest, even though he +has not had the meal asked about by the host, considers it below his +dignity to make the fact known. Upon the arrival of such a visitor, +the householder greets him with the almost untranslatable words, +"_Ahlan wa sahlan_." Literally translated, these words are "kindred +and smooth ground"; which, elucidated further, mean, "You have come not +to strangers but to those who would be to you as your kindred are, and +among us you tread smooth and easy ground." And even while the guest +is being yet saluted by the man of the house in the {214} protracted +manner of Oriental greeting, the good wife proceeds to prepare "a +morsel" for the wayfarer, whatever hour of the day or night it may +happen to be. The food then is placed before the guest and he is +"compelled" to eat. + +There is in the eleventh chapter of St. Luke's Gospel a parabolic +saying which is uncommonly rich in allusions to Syrian home life. +Beginning with the fifth verse we read: "And he said unto them, Which +of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say +unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his +journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him; and he +from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, +and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee?" + +Here we have a man to whom a guest comes at midnight; he must set +something before him, whether the wayfarer is really hungry or not. +The host happens to be short of bread, and he sets out to borrow a few +loaves. Owing to the homogeneous character of life in the East, {215} +borrowing has been developed there into a fine art. The man at the +door asks for three loaves. Three of those thin Syrian loaves is the +average number for one individual's meal. It was for this reason that +the Master used this number in the parable, and not because that was +all the bread the occasion required. For obvious reasons, the host +needed to put before his guest more than the exact number of loaves +necessary for one adult's meal. Perhaps because he is very sleepy, the +man "within" runs counter to the best Syrian traditions in his answer. +His excuse--that because the door is shut he cannot open it and +accommodate his friend--has been a puzzle to a host of Western readers +of the Bible. Could he not have opened the door? Or, as a certain +preacher asked in my hearing, "Could it be possible that the man, +because of fear of robbers in that country, had a sort of combination +lock on his door which could not be easily opened?" The simple fact is +that in Syria as a rule the door of a house is never shut, summer or +winter, until bedtime. The words of my {216} father and mother to me +whenever they thought that I had "remained wakeful"--that is, "stayed +up"--longer than I should after they had gone to bed,--"Shut the door +and go to sleep,"--still ring in my ears. What the man "within" meant +was, not that he could not open the door, but that at such a late hour, +_after the door had been shut_, it was no time to call for such favors +as the neighbor asked for. + +"And my children are with me in bed." From this it may be inferred +easily that individual beds and individual rooms are well-nigh unknown +to the common people of Syria. The cushion-mattresses are spread side +by side in the living room, in a line as long as the members of the +family, sleeping close together, require. The father sleeps at one end +of the line, and the mother at the other end, "to keep the children +from rolling from under the cover." So the man was absolutely truthful +when he said by way of an excuse, "My children are with me in bed." + +In the remaining portion of this parable, as in that of the unrighteous +judge, Jesus {217} emphasizes, by commending to his disciples, the +Syrian habit of importuning. "I say unto you, though he will not rise +and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity +he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." Again, the Master +gives dignity and elevation to the common customs of his people by +using them as means of approach to high spiritual ideals, when he says, +"And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall +find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." + + + +[1] Verses 16-23. + + + + +{218} + +CHAPTER IV + +DELAYING THE DEPARTING GUEST + +The best rules of Syrian hospitality require that when a guest from a +distant town makes it known what day he expects to take his leave, the +host should do his best to trick his visitor into forgetfulness of the +time set, or devise some other means to delay his departure as much as +possible. On the day he wishes to depart, the wayfarer says to his +host, "Your exceeding bounty has covered me, far above my head; may God +perpetuate your house and prolong the lives of your dear ones. May He +enable me some day to reward you for your boundless generosity. And +now I who have been so immersed in the sea of your hospitality [_baher +karamek_] beg you to permit me to depart." Then the host, confessing +his unworthiness of such praise and manifesting great surprise at the +sudden announcement, begs his guest to "take no thought of departing." +The {219} guest insists that he "must go," even though he could stay. +The host says, "Stay, I pray you [_betrajjak_], until you partake of +our noon meal; then you may depart." After the noon meal the host +says, "I beg you to consider that the day is already far spent, and +your journey is long, and the road is dangerous for night travel. +Tarry until the morrow, and then go." The same performance takes place +on the morrow, and perhaps another morrow, until the guest prevails. + +In the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Judges, in the story of the +Levite mentioned above, we have a fine example of a generous Syrian +host. His words are so much like those I often heard spoken in Syria +on such occasions that it makes me feel homesick to read them. The +ancient Bethlehemite was entertaining his son-in-law, who had stayed +with them three days, the traditional length of such a visit in the +East. So the record says: "And it came to pass on the fourth day, when +they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the +{220} damsel's father said unto his son-in-law, Comfort thine heart +with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way. And they sat down, +and did eat and drink both of them together; for the damsel's father +had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, +and let thine heart be merry. And when the man rose up to depart, his +father-in-law urged him: therefore he lodged there again. And he rose +early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel's +father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until +afternoon,[1] and they did eat both of them. And when the man rose up +to depart, ... his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said unto him, +Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: +... lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you +early on your way, that thou mayest go {221} home. But the man would +not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed." + +When an honored guest takes his departure, as a mark of high regard his +host walks with him out of town a distance the length of which is +determined by the affectionate esteem in which the host holds his +visitor. At times we walked for a whole hour with our departing guest, +and desisted from going farther only at his most urgent request. So in +the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Genesis we are told that +Abraham's guests "rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and +Abraham went with them _to bring them on the way_." The English +phrase, however, "to bring them on the way," falls far short of +expressing the full meaning of the term _shy-ya'_. + +Pilgrimages to holy places and fraternal feasts--such as are enjoyed on +betrothal occasions, weddings, baptisms of children, and great +holidays--are practically the only occasions the common people of Syria +have to bring them together. On such occasions the guests {222} are +invited in families; therefore the number of those who come to the +feast is never exactly known in advance. The food is served in large +quantities, but not in such great variety as in the West. The table +appointments are very simple. There are no flowers, no lace doilies, +nor the brilliant and sometimes bewildering array of knives, forks, and +spoons which grace an American host's table on such festive occasions. +The guests sit close together on the floor, about low tables, or trays, +and eat in a somewhat communistic fashion from comparatively few large +dishes. If twenty guests are expected, and thirty come, they simply +enlarge the circle, or squeeze closer together. Their sitting so close +to one another makes the "breaking of bread together" for these friends +more truly fraternal. + +In the third chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, the twentieth verse, the +writer speaks of the large concourse of people who followed Jesus and +his disciples into a certain house. He tells us that "the multitude +cometh together again, so that they _could not so much as eat bread_." +{223} The cross-reference in the Bible points to the sixth chapter of +the same Gospel, the thirty-first verse, where it is said, "For there +were many coming and going, and they _had no leisure so much as to +eat_." My opinion is that the two occasions are not the same, +therefore the reference is incorrect. The first passage alludes to the +fact that although, owing to the very simple table appointments among +the common people of Syria, only _little space_ is required for one to +eat his dinner, the crowd was so dense that not even such space was +available. The second passage points to the fact that the Master's +audience was a stream of people "coming and going" so that _his +disciples_ had not leisure enough to eat. The preceding verse and the +first half of the verse just quoted say: "And the apostles gathered +themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they +had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye +yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while." The remainder +of the verse gives the reason why Jesus {224} felt so concerned about +his fatigued and hungry disciples, by saying, "For there were many +coming and going, and they [the disciples] had no leisure so much as to +eat." The Syrian feels satisfied even on ordinary occasions when he +can secure one or two loaves of the thin bread he habitually eats, and +a few olives, or some other modest delicacy, for what the Americans +would call a "lunch." He needs neither a table nor even a "lunch +counter" to facilitate his eating. He can perform that essential +function sitting down on the floor with his legs folded under him, +standing up, or even walking, as well as seated at a table. In view of +all this there is no little significance in the saying of the Gospel +writer, "And the multitude cometh together again, so that they _could +not so much as eat bread_." + +In several places in the Gospels reference is made to Jesus' "sitting +at meat."[2] The marginal note in the Revised Version gives the word +"recline" as the real equivalent of the {225} original Greek term which +is rendered "sit" in the text. This, no doubt, is correct, so far as +the original text is concerned, but the reference is to a Greek and not +to a Syrian custom. The Greeks were in the habit of reclining on +couches while eating, and it is not at all improbable that certain +wealthy Orientals imitated this custom in the time of Christ, as +certain wealthy Syrian families of the present time imitate European +customs. But I fail to find, either within my own experience, or in +the traditions and literature of Syria, that reclining at the table was +ever countenanced as at all a proper posture; certainly never among the +common people of which the Master was one. To sit erect on the floor +at the low table, with the legs either folded under the body, or thrown +back as in the act of kneeling, is the seemly (_laiyik_) posture, which +is ever sung in Arabic poetry. In this we were instructed from +childhood. On unusual occasions, such as those of sorrow or great joy, +friends might rest their heads on one another's shoulders, or breasts, +as John did at the Last {226} Supper, but these are rare exceptions. +Good breeding and "reverence for the food" require the sitting erect at +meat. + +Certain commentators have found the reference to the habit of reclining +at meat very serviceable in explaining Mary's act of anointing Jesus' +feet with nard, as he sat at supper at her home in Bethany. In the +twelfth chapter of the Gospel of John, the third verse, it is said: +"Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and +anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair." A +similar incident is mentioned also in the seventh chapter of Luke, the +thirty-sixth and following verses:[3] "And one of the pharisees desired +him that he would eat with him. And he entered into the pharisee's +house, and sat down to meat. And behold, a woman which was in the +city, a sinner; and when she knew that he was sitting at meat in the +pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster cruse of ointment, and +standing behind at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his {227} feet +with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed +his feet, and anointed them with the ointment." The explanation is +that it was convenient for the woman to wash and anoint Jesus' feet in +this manner, because he was _reclining_ on a couch. + +What I am certain of is that the couch or any elevated seat is not at +all necessary in such cases. Whenever an Oriental indulges in the +practice of washing his feet he sits on the floor, as is his custom, +and lifts the feet into the basin of water. This is the only way I +ever knew in my old home, and it is no less effective than is the more +"scientific" way of the West. King James's Version renders the passage +a little more difficult by giving greater definiteness to the woman's +position at Jesus' feet. While the Revised Version says, "And standing +behind at his feet," the older Version says, "And stood behind _him_," +etc. Yet even here the couch affords no greater advantage than the +floor, because by folding the legs under the body, the feet are +partially visible under the knee joints {228} and could be touched from +behind, and in the case of a kneeling posture, the feet may be easily +reached from that direction.[4] However, it should be borne in mind +here that the real significance of the entire passage is to be found, +not in the woman's physical but spiritual act. It was her spirit of +love and devotion to the Master, and, in the case of her who was a +"sinner," her profound repentance and deep humility in touching Jesus' +feet in this manner, which immortalized her act in the Scriptures. To +the Orientals the feet are unclean in a ceremonial sense; they are not +"honorable" members of the body; therefore to touch them in an act of +devotion marks the deepest depth of humility. It was in this sense +that Jesus humbled himself as an example to his disciples by washing +their feet. + +But objections may be made to the foregoing explanation on the ground +that reclining at meat is mentioned in one of the most ancient books +{229} in the Old Testament, and which cannot be ascribed to the +influence of Greek thought. In the sixth chapter of the Book of Amos, +the third and fourth verses, it is said, according to the Revised +Version: "Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of +violence to come near; that lie upon beds of ivory, and _stretch +themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and +the calves out of the stall_." To some writers there is here a direct +reference to the habit of reclining on couches while eating. But a +careful study of the passage will show that its construction does not +warrant such a conclusion. The passage cannot be made to read, "Ye ... +that stretch themselves upon their couches _and eat_." The Hebrew word +_weaukhalim_ may mean, in this connection, "while eating," or, "and the +eaters,"--those that eat. The rendering of the Arabic, which is a +close kin of the Hebrew, is, "Ye ... who lie upon beds of ivory, and +who are stretched on cushions [_fûrsh_], _and who eat lambs_," and so +forth. Here it may easily be seen that the {230} passage gives the +theory of reclining at meat no real support, and the table customs of +Syria past and present oppose any effort to force the passage to yield +such a meaning. In his scathing condemnation of those who rolled in +luxury and forgot God and his people, the prophet mentioned +contemptuously the ease and the feasting of those whose life should +have been more productive of good. He might have said, "Ye who lie on +couches, and sing idle songs, and drink wine," as fittingly as, "Ye who +lie on couches, and who eat lambs and calves." + + + +[1] The more accurate rendering of this sentence in the Revised Version +is, "And tarry ye until the day declineth." In the hot season a good +excuse to delay a departing guest is to beg him to wait until the cool +late afternoon, "The decline of the day [_assar_]." + +[2] Matt. xxvi: 7, 20; John xii: 2. + +[3] The Revised Version. + +[4] As has already been mentioned, the common people of Syria wear no +shoes in the house. + + + + +{231} + +CHAPTER V + +FAMILY FEASTS + +Of the feasts which are considered more strictly family affairs, I will +speak of two which live in my memory clothed with romantic charms. The +one is that which we enjoyed at the "killing of the sheep." As a rule +every Syrian family fattens a sheep during the summer season. The +housewife feeds the gentle animal by hand so many times during the day +and so many during the night, until he is so fat that he "cannot rise +from the ground." No person is expected to speak of this sheep or +touch him without saying, "The blessing from God" (be upon the lamb). +Oh, if I could but feel again the thrilling joy which was always mine +when, as a small boy, I sat beside my mother and rolled the small +"morsels" of mulberry and grape-leaves, dipped them in salted bran +water, and handed them to my mother to feed the "blessed sheep"! + +{232} + +Early in the autumn came the time for "killing." Wherever my father +was, he came home, for the father of the household must kill the sheep. +As a rule the blood of the animal was shed upon the threshold--a custom +which echoes the ancient Semitic practice of thus honoring the +household god. Now, however, perhaps for sanitary reasons, the sheep +is killed a short distance from the door. The solemnity of the act +robbed it for us of its cruelty. On the day of "killing" we sharpened +the knives, crushed the salt in the stone mortar, and fed the sheep +only sparingly. As the day began to decline the animal was "led to the +slaughter," and laid gently on the ground, as the ancient sacrifice was +laid before the Lord. My father, holding with his left hand the +animal's head, made the sign of the cross with the knife on the +innocent throat, and, in the name of God, slew the sheep. + +The fact that many householders in a community "kill the sheep" on the +same day makes the occasion a reproduction of the night of the {233} +exodus from Egypt. In the twelfth chapter of the Book of Exodus, the +third and sixth verses, Jehovah speaks to Moses concerning Israel, +saying, "In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every +man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an +house.... And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same +month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill +it in the evening." + +With a few intimate friends we feasted at the killing of the sheep, and +then cut the red meat in small pieces "the size of a fledgeling's +head," fried it in the fat, and sealed it in glazed earthen jars for +our winter use. + +The other most joyous feast was that of the _Marafeh_--the carnivals +which precede the Great Lent. For about two weeks before Lent begins, +the Christians of the East give themselves over to feasting. The dish +which is a great favorite on this occasion is called _kibbey_. It is +made of meat and crushed wheat. The meat is "beaten" in a stone +mortar, with a {234} large wooden masher, until it is reduced to a very +fine pulp. Then the crushed wheat, soaked in cold water, is mixed with +the meat, together with a generous supply of spices and salt. The +whole mixture is then "beaten" together so thoroughly that when rightly +done it resembles a lump of dough. + +The writer of the Book of Proverbs, with characteristic Syrian +intensity, alludes to the process of _kibbey_-making in one of his +assaults upon "the fool." In the twenty-second verse of the +twenty-seventh chapter he says, "Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a +mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart +from him." + +Be that as it may, the craving of a Syrian for _kibbey_ (and I fully +know whereof I speak) makes the craving of a Bostonian for baked beans +and fish-balls for a Sunday breakfast pale into insignificance. + +During _Marafeh_ friends and neighbors feast together until the last +night that precedes the beginning of Lent. The feast of that night is +one {235} of family solemnity, upon which no outsiders may intrude. +The members of the family come together to eat the last feast and drink +their cup of wine before entering upon the solemn period of +self-denial, fasting, and prayer. As at the ancient sacrificial +feasts, all the members of the family must be present. It was this +very custom which afforded Jonathan the excuse to send his beloved +friend David away from King Saul's court, and thus save him from the +murderous design which that monarch had against the son of Jesse. So +it was when the suspicious Saul asked his son, "Wherefore cometh not +the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor to-day?" Jonathan +answered Saul, "David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem: +and he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in +the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there."[1] + +On that solemnly joyous evening my mother spreads the feast, and with +most tender and pious affections my parents call their sons and {236} +daughters to surround the low table. My father pours the wine. To us +all the cup is symbolic of sacred joy. Holding the cup in his hand, my +father leans forward and says to my mother, "May God prolong your life +and grant you the joy of many returns of this feast!" And to us, "May +your lives be long; may we be granted to drink the cup at your +weddings; may God grant you health and happiness and many future +feasts!" We all answer, "May your drinking be health and happiness and +length of days!" My mother, after wishing my father the blessings he +wished for her, and imploring the Most High to bless and keep him "over +our heads," drinks next. Then the wine is passed to every one of us. +"Drink ye all of it" is my father's command; for who can tell whether +the family circle shall remain unbroken until the Easter festival? Not +a trace of the feast is kept in the house until the morrow. What is +not eaten is burned or thrown away, for on the next day no meat, eggs, +or milk is permitted to the faithful. Wine also is not supposed to be +indulged in {237} during Lent, until the Easter bell heralds the +tidings of the Resurrection. + +So did the Master speak to his disciples on the eve of his suffering. +In the twenty-sixth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel we read, "And he +took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye +all of it.... But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this +fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my +Father's kingdom." + +Thus from the simplest conception of bread as a means to satisfy +physical hunger to the loftiest mystic contemplation of it as a +sacramental element, the Orientals have always eaten bread with a sense +of sacredness. "Bread and salt," "bread and wine," "Christ the bread +of life," "For we, being many, are one bread," "Give us this day our +daily bread," these and other sayings current in the Bible and in +Oriental speech all spring from the deepest life of the ancient East. + +And the sacredness of this common article of food has been of most +inestimable value to {238} Oriental peoples. In the absence of other +means of social cohesion, and the higher civil interests which bind men +together, it has been a great blessing indeed to those much-divided +Orientals to find peace and security in the simple saying, "There is +bread and salt between us." + + + +[1] 1 Sam. xx: 27-29. + + + + +{241} + +PART IV + +OUT IN THE OPEN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SHELTER AND HOME + +Some one has said that the ancient Israelites called God a "shelter" +and a "refuge," and not a "home," because for the most part the Syrians +lived out of doors. All the habitation an Israelite needed was a +shelter from the storm and a refuge from the enemy. Hence the prayer +of the Psalmist: "For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong +tower from the enemy,"[1] and the prophecy of Isaiah, the fourth +chapter and the sixth verse, according to the Revised Version: "And +there shall be a pavilion for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, +and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain." + +The assertion that the Syrian, both ancient and modern, lives for the +most part out of doors is substantially correct. The long and rainless +summers, the almost exclusively agricultural {242} and pastoral life of +the people, outside the few large cities, and the primitive modes of +travel, enable the Syrian to live his life out in the open. His +one-story house, consisting of one or two rooms very simply furnished, +conveys the impression that it is only an emergency shelter. Yet that +artless structure and the living "close to nature" have proved so +agreeable and so satisfactory to the people of the East as to defy the +forces of evolution. Certainly the continuance of that simple +environment, "from age to age the same," indicates that in the +universal scheme of things evolution is not altogether compulsory. Man +can, if he chooses, stand still, and live somewhat comfortably by +simply repeating the past. + +To the Oriental life is neither an evolution nor an achievement, but an +inheritance. To his passive yet poetical mind the ancient landmarks +possess enchanting sentimental value. The thought of the same modes of +life linking fifty centuries together appeals powerfully to his +imagination. It spells security, and establishes {243} confidence in +the laws of being, at least to old age. + +However, it should not be inferred from the foregoing that the Syrian +thinks lightly of his humble home. No; he is a passionate lover of it, +and associates with it the deepest joys and sorrows of life. But he +does not have for his abode the two designations "house" and "home," +which prevail in the West. The Hebrew word _bayith_ and the Arabic +_bait_ mean primarily a "shelter." The English equivalent is the word +"house." The richer term, "home," has never been invented by the son +of Palestine because he has always considered himself "a sojourner in +the earth." His tent and his little house, therefore, were sufficient +for a shelter for him and his dear ones during the earthly pilgrimage. +The word which is translated "home" in about forty places in the +English version of the Bible does not differ in the original from the +word "house," which is found in about three thousand five hundred +passages in the Bible. The terms "tent," "house," "place of +residence," {244} and the phrases, "to go to his kindred," "to return +to his place," etc., are all translated "home," and "go home." + +To the Oriental the word "house" is very precious. It means the place +of safe retreat (malja). And it is this word which he uses in speaking +of God as his protector. It means more than "shelter." It is a place +of protection and comfort. The word "refuge" is a more suitable +equivalent. In that contentious East we always thought of a safe +refuge in time of trouble. Every family of the common people +"belonged" to some powerful lord who was its refuge in time of danger. +He was strong, rich, compassionate. He protected his own. How much +stronger, richer, and more compassionate, therefore, is the Lord of +Hosts! The needy and much terrified Oriental discovered long ago the +frailty of all earthly shelters. The King of Kings and the Lord of +Hosts was his never-failing refuge. The trustful contemplation of God +as an ever-present helper has steadied the faltering steps of countless +generations. "The {245} Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my +deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and +the horn[2] of my salvation, and my high tower."[3] "God is our refuge +and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we +fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried +into the midst of the sea."[4] + +Is it not really worth while to fear and to suffer, if by so doing one +is brought so close to God? The writer of the one hundred and +nineteenth Psalm had the world in his debt when he turned his inward +vision toward the Most High and prayed:[5] "It is good for me that I +have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. The law of thy +mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." And who +can estimate the debt which humanity owes to the Sufferer of Calvary? + + + +[1] Ps. lxi: 3. + +[2] The "horn" symbolizes strength. + +[3] Ps. xviii: 2, 3. + +[4] Ps. xlvi: 1, 2. + +[5] Ps. cxix: 71, 72. + + + + +{246} + +CHAPTER II + +RESIGNED TRAVELERS + +Traveling by the "Twentieth Century, Limited," is fast transit; but, +excepting in case of a wreck, the trip is devoid of incident. The +mechanical perfection of the conveyance, and the infallibility of the +time-table reduce journeying to transportation. There is no girding of +the loins, no pilgrim's staff, no salutations by the way and no +wayfarer's song. The journey is not humanized by the tender care for +the camel, the mule, and the ass, nor are the hunger and thirst +satisfied by the breaking of bread beside the lonely springs of water. + +The terrors and triumphs of St. Paul in his "journeyings often, in +perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own +countrymen, in perils by the heathen, ... in weariness and painfulness, +in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, ... in cold and +nakedness,"[1] are all to the {247} modern Western traveler echoes of a +remote past. + +But such are still the common experiences of the sons of the East. One +of the heroic wedding songs which was much in vogue in my boyhood days +was this (addressed to the bride): "Thy father, O beauteous one, +journeyed to Damascus alone!" Previous to the introduction of the +railway train, which now runs between Beyrout and Damascus, the journey +from my home town to the latter city consumed two days. In those days, +as is still the case in many parts of Syria, men traveled in large +groups for mutual protection from the "hidden dangers of the way," and +he who journeyed to the ancient city alone was proclaimed hero. My +memories of the tales of adventure which I heard the men relate are +very thrilling. Tales of encounters with robbers, battles with snakes +and wild beasts, suffering from the insufficiency of "the food for the +way" (_zad_) and the thirst occasioned by the early "failure," that is, +the {248} drying up, of springs of water which had been thought to be +still flowing. + +Only those who have traveled under such circumstances can fully +appreciate the promise given in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, the +eleventh verse, "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy +thy soul in drought, and make fat[2] thy bones: and thou shalt be like +a watered garden, and like a spring of water, _whose waters fail not_." + +This recalls forcibly to my mind the occasions when in our travels in +the late summer we would stand at the parting of two roads and wonder +which one to take. The opinion of the more experienced men in the +party, that the spring of water on one of those roads was likely to be +dry in that season of the year, always turned our steps in the other +direction. In that thirsty land such a possibility could not be safely +ignored. In those long summer days, when the mouth of the traveler on +the dusty roads of Syria "turns bitter from the thirst," the arrival +{249} at a spring which had "failed" is almost a tragic experience. +Hence it is that the "springs of water" are one of the precious +promises of the Bible, and their failure was one of the fearful threats. + +It was indeed a call to his disciples to make the great renunciation +when Jesus sent them out to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom +which was "at hand," with the command, "Provide neither gold, nor +silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither +two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves."[3] So far as the comforts +and protection that earthly things can give, those disciples were sent +out perfectly helpless. The Master's programme for those disciples is +just the antithesis of that which an ordinary Oriental traveler follows. + +No traveler in the interior of Syria ever starts out on a journey, be +it short or long, without _zad_. True, Syrian generosity to a wayfarer +is to be depended upon, but the traditions of the country are that +self-respect requires that a {250} traveler shall provide himself with +_zad_, and shall accept hospitality only as a last resort. The best +etiquette requires that when a traveler is invited to another's table, +he should take out his _zad_ and place it before him. The host, on the +other hand, positively refuses to allow his chance guest to eat of his +own _zad_. The host removes the _zad_ from the table, and either adds +to it and gives it to the guest upon his departure or gives him a new +_zad_. Without scrip, the traveler seems to himself to be utterly a +dependent, a beggar, and not a guest. + +"Put up a few loaves for _zad_," is the first thing said when a person +is about to start out on a journey. The thin loaves are folded into +small bundles, which may contain such delicacies as ripe black olives, +cheese, boiled eggs, and figs conserved in grape molasses, and wrapped +up in a large napkin, which the traveler ties around his waist, with +the bread on the back. The bread is often carried in a leather bag +(_jerab_). This is the "scrip" and "wallet" of the Gospel command. On +a long {251} journey, say of a day or more, the thin bread dries up and +breaks into small pieces. A dry and crumby _zad_ indicates a long +journey. The Gibeonites certainly "did work wilily" when they used +their dry and broken bread as a means to deceive Joshua. Although they +were Israel's near neighbors, by carrying dry crumbs in their bags and +saying to Joshua upon their arrival at his camp, "This our bread we +took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth +to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy,"[4] made +him and "the princes of the congregation" believe that the wily +travelers had come from a distant country. The English translation, +however, by using the word "mouldy" introduces a foreign element into +the text. In the dry climate of Palestine the bread does not get +_mouldy_ on a journey, but it dries up and crumbles into small +fragments, as every Syrian knows. The Arabic version has it, "This our +bread ... is now dry and in crumbs [_fetat_]." + +{252} + +"Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses." The +original text has "girdles" instead of "purses." While traveling in +the East we always carried our money in the girdle and only a few coins +in the purse. The girdle of the present day is a stout woolen or +cotton belt, which is called, in the vernacular Arabic, _kummer_. It +is worn under the sash, and the longest specimen of it measures about +five feet. It is double to the length of about thirty inches. The two +folds are very securely sewed together at the edge, and only a small +opening provided near the buckle, through which the money is inserted. +The double part, containing the money, is first fastened around the +waist by means of a short leather buckle, then the single part is wound +over it. It may be seen here that in case of an encounter with +robbers, the money cannot be snatched from its owner until he is +completely subdued by his antagonist. + +The common people of Syria speak of the _kummer_ as of a man's +financial strength. There are practically no "bank accounts." "How is +{253} the _kummer_?" means, "How do you stand financially?" To tap the +_kummer_ cheerfully indicates good circumstances. It is joy and glory +for a youth when he reaches the age when he may have a _kummer_. The +thrill of satisfaction which that possession gives still lingers with +me. It was as much of a sign of maturity and independence for me to +tap that Scriptural girdle which I wore, when I had money in it, as to +swear by my newly sprouting mustache. It was my treasure! + +From all this it may be noted that the Master's command, "Provide +neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your girdles," meant, not only +to carry no money on their missionary journey, but to seek and _horde_ +no money. An Oriental's girdle is his bank. + +The part of the command which says, "Neither two coats," means two +changes of clothing. The thing sought here, however, as well as in the +saying, "Neither shoes," is not the abandonment of the necessary +wearing apparel, but willing self-denial. + +{254} + +"Nor yet staves." The staff, or the "stick of travel," is the symbol +of journeying in Syria. There, _Elkeina el'asa_ (rested the staff) +means we reached the end of our journey. _El'asa_ (staff) occupies a +significant place in Syrian lore. It is difficult for me to imagine a +Syrian starting on a journey without an _asa_. The Israelites were +given explicit directions concerning their preparations for the journey +on the eve of their exodus from Egypt. They were told[5] to eat the +lamb of the passover "with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, +_and your staff in your hand_." + +In our travels in Syria the staff was to us a most valuable support in +climbing the steep hills, crossing the streams of water, battling with +snakes and ferocious dogs, and with highway robbers. "The staff is a +companion" is a current saying in the land. The disciples were +commanded in this manner to detach themselves from the material +interests of this world, and to give themselves wholly to the preaching +{255} of the kingdom. In their need and in their weakness they were to +be rich and strong through their vision of the eternal realities. + +In the tenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, Jesus' commission to the +disciples contains the command, "And salute no man by the way." It +would seem strange, indeed, that those messengers of peace and +good-will, who were being sent out to spread the leaven of friendliness +and good cheer in the world, should be enjoined by their Master to +salute no man by the way. But when it is known in what manner the +Orientals salute one another on those weary journeys, the Gospel +restriction will not seem so very strange. Wayfarers in the East do +not content themselves with the severely brief Western salutation, "How +d' you do; nice day," and then pass on. The Oriental salutation is a +copious flow of soul, whose intimacy and inquisitiveness are quite +strange to the mentality of the West. + +When the ways of two travelers converge, or the one overtakes the +other, and they decide to _yatrafeko_ (be companion the one to the +other) {256} and "wear away the road in friendly speech," the +salutation runs as follows:-- + +"_Allah y'atek el'afieh_ [May God give you health and strength]." + +"_Allah y'afie imrak_ [May God refresh and strengthen your life]." + +"Whence has your excellent presence [_heth-retek_] come, and whither +are you facing?" + +"From Nazareth have I come, and am facing towards Damascus." + +"What is the precious name?" + +"Your humble servant Mas'ud, son of Yusuf of the clan of Ayyub [Job]." + +"_Wann'am, wann'am_ [All honor, all honor]!" + +"_Wann'am_ to your excellent presence, and your respected clan!" + +"What are your years?" + +"My years, friend, are four and thirty." + +"May your life be long and happy!" + +"May Allah lengthen your days!" + +"What children have you?" (It is taken for granted that a man of that +age has been long since married.) + +{257} + +"Three sons in the keeping of God." + +"Long life to them and health and happiness!" + +"What men does your clan count?" + +"We turn out _seb'een baroody_ [seventy shotguns]." + +"_Seb'een baroody_! Valiant men. What enemies have you in your native +town?" + +"Our chief enemy is the clan of Haddad. They turn out one hundred +_baroody_, but whenever the iron gets hot [that is, whenever a fight +occurs] we shatter their forces." + +Thus the mutually complimentary conversation and the searching of +hearts continue until each of the travelers is thoroughly informed +concerning the personal, domestic, and social affairs of the other. +The trade, the income, the profession, the cares and anxieties, and +even the likes and dislikes of each are made known to the other before +their ways part. + +Hence the Master's command, "Salute no man by the way." Surely the +intention was not to be rude and unfriendly to fellow travelers, {258} +but to be completely absorbed by the glorious message of the Gospel. +The command was given because "the king's business required haste." +Even an Oriental must quicken his pace when his mission is "to seek and +to save that which was lost." + + + +[1] 2 Cor. xi: 26, 27. + +[2] The Arabic and the Revised Versions: "make strong." + +[3] Matt. x: 9, 10. + +[4] Joshua ix: 12. + +[5] Exod. xii: 11. + + + + +{259} + +CHAPTER III + +THE MARKET PLACE + +I cannot think of the market place in the East without at the same time +thinking of the camel caravan. In many parts of Syria, the arrival of +the caravan makes the market. _El-habbet_ (the grain) is the chief +commodity, and the camel is the chief carrier. In very recent years +the railway train has to a certain extent taken from the camel his +ancient occupation, but it has by no means completely supplanted the +"ship of the desert." + +The coming of camel caravans from the "land of the east" to our Lebanon +town, laden with the "blessed grain," is one of my most enchanted +memories of outdoor life in Syria. The sight of a train of camels, +with their curved necks bridging the spaces between them, suggests to +the beholder an endless line. It is not at all surprising to me to +read the assertion of the writer of the seventh chapter of the Book of +{260} Judges, where he speaks of the Midianites and Amalekites, that +"their camels were without number, as the sand of the sea-side for +multitude." It seems to me that it does not require more than a train +of one hundred camels to convey the idea of endlessness. + +At the first glimpse of the approaching caravan we boys would swarm to +the _saha_ (the open space) of the town. There the caravan unloads, +and awaits the buyers of wheat. It makes me long for my early years +when I read in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis the +story of Abraham's servant when he journeyed to Mesopotamia. "And the +servant took ten camels of the camels of his master and departed.... +And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of +water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to +draw water." It is decidedly thrilling to hear the cameleer say, _ich, +ich, i--ch--ch!_ and pull at the halter of his camel to make him +"kneel." And, with a friendly roar, the great beast drops, first +forward on his huge, thick, {261} hardened knees, then comes down on +his haunches, and then, swaying in all directions, like an island +shaken by an earthquake, rests his enormous body on the ground. + +"At the time of the evening [in the late afternoon], even the time that +women go out to draw water," the camels are led to the fountains to be +watered. The ancient writer's reference to "the time that women go out +to draw water" is to a Syrian as definite as the reference to a Swiss +clock. _Wakket elmeliah_ (the time to fill the jars) is in the early +morning and the late afternoon. For obvious reasons the women choose +the "cool of the day" for carrying their heavy jars of water from the +fountain to the house. The Syrian women have faithfully kept this +custom from before the days of Abraham. And it is in the cool of the +day that the cameleers also deem it best to water their precious +animals. The women always view this event with disfavor. The thirsty +camels completely drain the pond into which the surplus water of the +slender fountain flows, and which the {262} housewives put to other +household uses than drinking. No doubt the ancient Israelitish women +in certain sections of Palestine grumbled when the cameleers drew +heavily out of the wells on which the home-makers depended entirely for +their water supply. + +But to us boys the occasion was festive. By bribing the cameleers with +gifts of grapes, figs, raisins, or any other sweets, for which the +craving of the Bedouins is proverbial, we were allowed to mount the +camels and lead them to the water. It may be true, as some scholars +assert, that the swaying walk of the camel first quickened the measured +song of the Arab, but my first camel ride was anything but poetical. I +had, upon the arrival of the caravan, smuggled from our store of +raisins two large pocketfuls, the one with which to bribe the Bedouin +to give me a ride, the other to eat while on the camel's back, like a +gay rider. As I climbed confidently on the wooden saddle of the +kneeling beast, the Arab, who was already devouring the raisins, stems +and all, by the handful, gave {263} the familiar signal, _tshew, +tshew_, and instantly the thirsty camel rose and flew toward the +fountain. I felt as if my brain was being torn off its base. I lost +the sense of direction, and seemed to myself to be suspended between +earth and heaven, tossed by violent winds. I screamed; but the Bedouin +would not let me down until I promised him the other pocketful of +raisins. + +In Syria the _sûk_ (market place) is more than a place of exchange of +commodities. It is rather an occasion of varied business and social +interests. The Oriental knows no business without sociability. His +_dekkan_ (store) is a gathering-place for friends, and a business +transaction with him, especially in the interior of the country, is +almost always preceded by a friendly visit with the customer. So the +market is a place where the dignitaries of the town meet and exchange +salutations and discuss various interests. The social nature of such +occasions is indicated in Jesus' warning to his disciples, "Beware of +the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and _love salutations +in the {264} marketplaces_."[1] Apparently those teachers of Israel +were very frequent visitors at the markets, where men of all classes +paid them the homage which their calling, if not their person, merited. +In the past the Arab markets were also significant conventions of +literary men, especially poets. Discussions of all sorts of subjects +are carried on at the market. So it was in Athens in Paul's time, +where he "disputed ... in the market daily with them that met with +him."[2] And, of course, the children love to gather in the market +place, play their pranks, and watch the interesting activities of their +elders. It was to such a crowd of youngsters that Jesus likened the +fickle and peevish men of his time. In the eleventh chapter of St. +Matthew's Gospel, the sixteenth verse, he says, "But whereunto shall I +liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the +markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto +you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not +lamented." + +{265} + +To my youthful mind the chief charm of the market place was the +_keyyal_ (measurer). The strong man who measured the wheat will live +in my memory as long as life endures. He it is who gives the "good +measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." In Syria the +custom is that every measure must run over. Friendship must forever be +mixed with business. Liquid measures, also, of such things as milk and +oil, must run over a little into the vessel of the buyer, for "with +what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."[3] + +After the price has been agreed upon, the sturdy cameleer spreads his +ample cloak on the ground and pours the golden grain in a heap upon it. +The _keyyal_ kneels by the little hillock of wheat, and, naming the +Holy Name, thrusts the _midd_ (a wooden measure) into the precious +wheat. The grain is sacred; therefore, the language of the _keyyal_ +must be pious. As he tosses the first measure into the buyer's bag, or +the skirt of his cloak, he says, "Blessing!" that {266} means "One"; +"From God" means "Two." Then the counting is continued in the ordinary +language--three, four, and so on. + +After it is first thrust into the heap of wheat, the _midd_, about half +full, is whirled around on its bottom, lifted slightly from the ground +and dropped several times. The _keyyal_, constantly repeating the +number of the _midds_ he has already measured, "lest he forget," pours +the wheat into the measure with his hands, packs it down with his +palms, and all his strength. He whirls the _midd_ round again, shakes +it, presses it, and again heaps the wheat, pyramid-like, above the rim. +The circular shower of the golden grain falls gently over the edges. +The artful _keyyal_ pours small handfuls of wheat with his right hand +into his left, which is formed into a funnel over the apex of the +heaped _midd_, until the point is "as sharp as a needle's." Then with +swift deftness, which elicits the admiration of the spectators, he +lifts the heaped measure and tosses it into the bag, without allowing a +single grain to fall outside. + +{267} + +With what telling effect and rich simplicity does the Master allude to +this custom of measuring grain in the Eastern markets. In the sixth +chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, the command and the promise are, "Give, +and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken +together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom." But the +word "bosom" here somewhat weakens the sense of the text. I do not +know why the English translators used it in place of the original word +"lap." The Oriental does not carry grain in his _bosom_, but in the +skirt of his ample garments, much as a woman carries things in the fold +of her apron. Again the word "lap" is used here in another and a more +significant sense. It is the symbol of plentifulness; just as the +"bosom" is the symbol of affection. The generous measure, even though +it be poured into one's bag, as a _blessing_, may be said to be given +into his _lap_. + +Here again, as in many other Scriptural passages, Jesus gives the ideal +spiritual touch to the common things of life. Here an ordinary {268} +act is made the symbol of the fullness of the spiritual life. He whose +life is like the divine Parent's life--a perpetual outgoing and an +everlasting gift--shall never lack anything. Men will be taught by his +generosity how to be generous themselves, and the divine Giver will +give him of the fullness of his own life. There is no void which the +divine life cannot fill, no need which it cannot meet, and no hunger +which it cannot satisfy. + + + +[1] Mark xii: 38. + +[2] Acts xvii: 17. + +[3] Matt. vii: 2. + + + + +{269} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HOUSETOP + +While a caravan of camels needs no other means than its own majestic +appearance to herald its arrival into a town, muleteer merchants shout +their wares from the housetop. Upon the arrival of a muleteer into the +_saha_ of the town with a load of lentils, potatoes, apricots, or any +other commodity, he "drops the load" from the animal's back onto the +ground, and goes upon the roof of the nearest house and proclaims his +wares at the top of his voice, in prolonged strains. To reach the flat +earthen roof of the one-story Syrian house needs no extension ladder. +It is so easily and quickly reached by the few rough stone steps in the +rear of the house that Jesus, in speaking of the incredibly swift +coming of the "end" in the twenty-fourth chapter in St. Matthew's +Gospel, says, "Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take +any thing out of his {270} house." So sudden was to be the +consummation of the Eternal's design, "because iniquity shall abound, +and the love of many shall wax cold," that even the short distance +between the housetop and the ground could not be safely traversed by +those who cared for earthly possessions. + +The ease with which the roof of an ordinary Syrian house is reached +accounts also for the carrying of the man who was "sick of the palsy" +upon the housetop. The account in the second chapter of St. Mark's +Gospel, the third and fourth verses, runs, "And they came unto him, +bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they +could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof +where he was; and when they had broken it up [the Arabic, "broken +through"], they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." + +This account describes perfectly the process of making an opening in a +Syrian roof. + +In St. Luke's Gospel, however, the statement {271} is:[1] "And when +they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the +multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the +_tiling_ with his _couch_ into the midst before Jesus." The coloring +here is decidedly Roman and not Syrian. The writer of Luke was a Latin +Christian. He related the incident in terms which were easily +understood by his own people. The Syrians never covered their roof +with tiles nor slept on couches. Mark's account speaks of uncovering +the _roof_ and letting down the _bed_. The Syrian roof is constructed +as follows: The main timbers which carry the roof covering are laid +across, horizontally, at intervals of about two to three feet. +Crosswise over the timbers are laid the _khasheb_ (sticks long enough +to bridge the spaces between) quite close together. Over the _khasheb_ +reeds and branches of trees and thistles are laid, and the whole is +covered with about twelve inches of earth. The dirt is rolled down by +a stone roller and made hard enough to {272} "shed water." In many +houses during the summer season an opening, called _qafa'a_, is made in +the roof for the purpose of letting down the grain and other provisions +which are dried in the sun on the housetop. The space between the +timbers admits easily the large basket called _sell_, which is as big +around as a bushel basket. + +Now, those who let down the palsied man either made an entirely new +opening in the roof, or simply extended the _qafa'a_ enough to admit +the unfortunate man in his folded quilt or thick cushion, tied by the +four corners. And it was this which Jesus commanded him to carry, when +he said to him, "Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk." From the +foregoing it may be seen that a couch could not have been so easily let +down through the roof, nor _carried_ by the newly healed man. + +Sleeping on the housetop in the summer season is an Oriental custom the +advantage of which the Occident has just "discovered." To use the +roofs of high buildings in American cities as sleeping quarters is a +"new" suggestion of {273} that genius known as the "social reformer." +To the ancient East, "there is nothing new under the sun." However, to +dwell on the housetop is an expression which symbolizes desolation. +Nevertheless the writer of Proverbs says:[2] "It is better to _dwell_ +in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide +house." + +From the housetop the muleteer merchant shouts his wares; from the +housetop men call one another for various purposes; from the housetop +the _nowateer_ (men appointed by the municipality to watch the +vineyards) proclaim the names of trespassers; and from that elevation +the special orders of the governor of the district are proclaimed to +the populace. By night or by day, whenever we heard a voice calling +from a housetop, we instinctively listened most intently in order to +catch the message. The voice of the crier is so much like a distant, +prolonged railway whistle that in my first few years in America, +whenever I heard {274} such a sound, especially in the night, I +listened involuntarily, expecting to hear a message. + +How often must Jesus have heard the free and full voice of the crier +from the housetop! How it must have appealed to him as the very +antithesis of the whisperings of fear, cowardice, and doubt, may be +realized from his command to his disciples. In the tenth chapter of +St. Matthew's Gospel we read Christianity's declaration of +independence. Here the antagonism of the world is portrayed with +complete fullness. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of +wolves." "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." "Fear +them not ... for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; +and hid, that shall not be known." In the face of all hatred and +danger and death the Master's command to those who carried the +world-transcending message, the supreme treasure of time and eternity, +was, "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye +hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetop." + +{275} + +In the rainless Syrian summer the housetop is used for various +household purposes. The grass which grows on the earthen roof, +especially on its thick edges, withers early in the season. To this +the Scripture alludes in several places where it speaks of the enemies +of Israel as being "like the grass upon the housetops, which withereth +afore it groweth up." In some cases the whole roof is plastered with +clay mortar and used for drying grain, fruits, and vegetables. Also in +the summer season the housetop is used for holding wedding festivities +and funeral gatherings, which almost all the adult inhabitants of the +town are supposed to attend. With solemn brevity does the prophet +Jeremiah refer to this custom in the forty-eighth chapter, and the +thirty-eighth verse. The more accurate rendering of the Revised +Version is: "_On all the housetops_ of Moab and in the streets thereof +there is lamentation every where." + +The custom of praying on the housetop, which has come down from the +time when the Syrians worshiped the "hosts of heaven," still {276} +survives in the East. In the first chapter of the Book which bears his +name, the prophet Zephaniah threatens with the awful retribution of +Jehovah those who indulged in this practice. "I will also stretch out +mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I +will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place ... and _them that +worship the host of heaven upon the housetops_." This custom survives +in Syria, although much less extensively than in the past, and it is +"the God of the whole earth" that is worshiped, and not the host of +heaven. With much reverential regard I still remember an old neighbor +of ours, a devout Maronite, a man who really feared God and worked +righteousness, whose habit was to say his evening prayer upon the +housetop. + +Of all the rich treasures of our Scriptures, few perhaps are more +precious and dearer to Christian hearts than the record of Peter's +vision while in the city of Joppa, and which is so intimately +associated with that low, flat, earthen Syrian roof. The tenth chapter +of the Book of {277} Acts hints at the broader and more profound spirit +which had begun to agitate the inner life of the "very small remnant" +of expectant souls in Israel. The wider horizon which the Christ of +God had revealed to his Jewish disciples had engendered serious doubts +in their minds with regard to the exclusive claims of Judaism to the +blessings of the Messianic kingdom. The spirit of the Beatitudes and +the Parables was resistlessly pressing the claims of all the eager +Gentiles to a share in those blessings. No doubt the soul of Peter, +the ultra-conservative disciple, was rent in twain and wavered in its +allegiance between the old claims of a "chosen people" and the new +vision of a universal kingdom founded on purity of heart and hunger and +thirst after righteousness. + +It would seem that while in such a state of mind, and after the +Oriental custom, "Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the +sixth hour;[3] and he became very hungry, and {278} would have eaten: +but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven +opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a +great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth; +wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild +beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a +voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, +Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And +the voice spake unto him the second time, What God hath cleansed, that +call not thou common." + +Peter obeyed. That Oriental, who was not afraid of the mystic +revelations of God's designs took the lesson to heart. Presently we +see this conservative Jew again at the home of Cornelius, the Roman, +and hear him interpret his own vision. "Of a truth," he said to the +Roman soldier, "I perceive that God is no {279} respecter of persons: +but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is +accepted with him." Here we have the sure basis of Christian unity and +the unshaken foundation of a human commonwealth. "Other foundation can +no man lay." When all the sects and nations who profess to be the +followers of Jesus Christ respond to this Scriptural summons, and give +decent burial to their divisive creeds, however "authoritative" they +might think them to be, then will the world have valid reason to expect +swords to be beaten into ploughshares, and to hope for the coming of +God's kingdom upon the earth. + + + +[1] Luke v: 19., + +[2] Prov. xxi: 9. + +[3] The noon hour, according to Oriental calculation: Timepieces are +set at twelve, at sunset. Six o'clock is the hour of midnight and +midday. The time kept by Western peoples is known in Syria as +_affrenje_. So the laborers who came to work at "the eleventh hour," +as it is mentioned in Matthew, the twentieth chapter, and the ninth +verse, came one hour before sunset. + + + + +{280} + +CHAPTER V + +THE VINEYARDS AND THE FIELDS + +From time immemorial the vine and the fig tree have been the Oriental's +chief joy. Together with their actual value they possessed for him a +sacred symbolic value, especially the vine. The fullness and sweetness +of their fruits symbolized the joys of the kingdom of heaven. The +mystery of the wine cup, which the world has so sadly vulgarized, +remains very sacred to the Oriental. Christ used "the fruit of the +vine," or, as the Arabic version has it, the _yield_ of the +vine,--meaning the wine, and not grapes,--as the visible means of +spiritual communion. In the fifteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel the +Master says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." This usage was no +doubt extant in the East before Christ. The vine, as a symbol of +spiritual as well as physical family unity, is spoken of in the Old +Testament. Israel's was Jehovah's vine. "Thou hast brought a vine out +of Egypt" is the {281} plaintive cry of the writer of the eightieth +Psalm: "thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparest +room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the +land.... Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from +heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; and the vineyard which thy +right hand hath planted." + +We always thought and spoke of the Church as "the vine which God has +planted." The chanting of the foregoing words of the Psalmist by our +priest of the Greek Orthodox Church, with his hand uplifted over the +solemnly silent congregation, remains one of the most beautiful +memories of my youth. We spoke also of the family as a vine. One of +the tenderest passages in the whole Bible is the third verse of the one +hundred and twenty-eighth Psalm: "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine +by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about +thy table." + +"They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and +none shall make them {282} afraid,"[1] is Micah's vision of peace and +security. To a Syrian in America the reading of this passage is +strongly conducive to homesickness. To sit in the luxuriant shade of +the fig tree was a daily blessing to us in the summer season. It must +have been in that season of the year that Jesus first met Nathanael. +In the first chapter of St. John's Gospel we read: "Jesus saw Nathanael +coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is +no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus +answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, _when thou +wast under the fig tree, I saw thee_." + +I have no doubt that Nathanael's habit of sitting under the fig tree +was one of the characteristics which made him "an Israelite indeed." + +The wine press is an ancient landmark in Syrian life, and one of the +most picturesque features of the Scriptures. The word "press" is +likely to be misleading in this mechanical age. The grapes are not +_pressed_ by any mechanical {283} contrivance, but are trodden with the +feet. Therefore, to the Orientals the wine press is _ma'sara_ +(squeezing place). The grapes are thrown in a heap in a stone-flagged +enclosure about the size of an ordinary room, and trodden by the men in +their bare feet. Much gayety characterizes the _ma'sara_ season. The +work is carried on day and night until all the grapes which had been +gathered by the various families for the _ma'sara_ are converted into +wine and molasses. The quaint songs and stories which I always loved +to hear the "treaders" exchange, as they walked back and forth over the +grapes, come to me now like the echoes of a remote past. And as I +recall how at the end of a long "treading" those men came out with +their garments spattered with the rich juice of the grapes of Lebanon, +the words of Isaiah--"Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy +garments _like him that treadeth the wine fat_?"[2]--breathe real life +for me. + +But in this age of rampant microbiology I {284} introduce this subject +with at least an implied apology. The picture of men treading grapes +in this manner and under such circumstances will not, I fear, appeal +strongly to the æsthetic sense of my readers. Nevertheless, all the +Scriptural wine, including the cup of the Last Supper, was produced in +this way. To the Orientals the mystic fermentation and the fire purify +the juice of the vine. The precious juice runs from the wide, +stone-flagged enclosure into deep wells, where it is allowed to become +_rawook_ (clear juice). The fresh _rawook_ is considered a delicious +drink. One of Job's bitter complaints against those who oppressed the +poor was that those unfortunates were made to "tread the wine presses, +and _suffer thirst_."[3] Having been allowed thoroughly to settle, the +juice is then heated according as to whether the wine is to be "sweet" +or "bitter." The longer the juice is boiled the sweeter the wine. +Sweet wine is called _khemer niswani_ (woman wine); the men, as a rule, +preferring the "bitter" wine. In {285} making molasses of the grape +juice, fine white clay is scattered over the grapes before they are +trodden, in order to hasten and insure a perfect settling of all the +coarse organic matter while the juice is in the "clearing wells." + + +I often wonder whether it is because the memories of youth grow more +romantic with the passing of the years, that the agricultural life of +the Orient seems to me more poetical than that of the Occident, or +whether it really is more enchanting. It seems to me that tools +possess more charms than machinery does, and handwork of the more +instinctive type is much more interesting than the carefully studied +and designed task. The life of the American farmer is too intelligent +to be romantic. There is so much in him of the agricultural college +and the farm journal. No awful mysteries haunt his scientifically +treated fields. Insect powders and the daily weather report and the +market "quotations" arm him with forethought, and make of him a +speculating merchant. The constant {286} improvements of agricultural +implements place a wide and ever-widening gulf between the American +farmer and his forefathers. + +Not so with the Syrian farmer. To this man life is not an evolution, +but an inheritance. If the men who tilled Abraham's fields in Hebron +should rise from the dead to-day, they would find that the four +thousand years of their absence from the earth had effected no +essential changes in the methods and means of farming in the "land of +promise." They would lay their hand to the plough and proceed to +perform their daily tasks, as though nothing had happened. A very few +European ploughs are being tried in certain sections of Syria, but that +is all. + +The Syrian sower goes forth to sow with his long, primitive plough on +his right shoulder, the yoke hanging from the left shoulder and the +leather bag of seed strapped to his back. In his left hand he carries +his long, hard, strong goad--the same as the one with which "Shamgar, +son of Anath, slew of the Philistines six hundred men." Through this +simple instrument he keeps {287} in touch with his pair of oxen, or +cows, which pace leisurely before him. The plough, which consists of +two wooden beams joined together, measures about twelve feet in length. +The quantity of wood in the Syrian plough makes plain the meaning of +the passage in the story of the prophet Elisha, son of Shaphat. In the +nineteenth chapter of the First Book of Kings, the nineteenth verse, we +have the account of Elijah's first meeting with his successor Elisha, +when he was ploughing in the field, "with twelve yoke of oxen before +him, and he with the twelfth." So, when Elijah cast his mantle upon +him, the son of Shaphat "took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, _and +boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen_, and gave unto the +people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and +ministered unto him." + +At the forward end the long plough is hooked to the yoke, and at the +rear end joined to a cross-piece, whose upper extremity forms the +_cabousa_ (handle); and the lower holds the iron ploughshare. When he +puts "his hand to the {288} plough," he simply grasps the _cabousa_ +with his right hand while he wields the goad with his left. The +uneven, stony ground and the lightness of the plough compel him to +maintain a firm hold on it, and to look ever _forward_. In the ninth +chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, the sixty-second verse, Jesus makes +excellent use of this point when he says, "No man, having put his hand +to the plough, and _looking back_, is fit for the kingdom of God." + +The parable of the sower, in the thirteenth chapter of St. Matthew's +Gospel, is a faithful picture of the environment of the farmer in the +region of Galilee and Mount Lebanon. That primitive farmer does not +sow his seed by means of "drills" in symmetrical rows. Out of his +leathern seed bag he takes generous handfuls of grain and, "in the name +of the bounteous God," he casts the blessed seed into the soil, and +then "covers it" by ploughing. The bridle paths which wind through the +fields, and the still narrower footpaths which the wayfarers make +through those fields every season in {289} taking "short cuts" on their +weary journeys, provide ample chance for "some seeds" to fall "by the +wayside," and be devoured by the fowls of the air. In certain sections +of the country where I was brought up the "stony places" are the rule +and the "good ground" the exception. So the seeds which "fell upon +stony places" came up quickly "because they had no deepness of earth; +and when the sun was up, they were scorched." There is another reason +for this than the shallowness of the soil. The almost utter lack of +rain in that country from April to October leaves no chance for seed +cast into shallow soil to live long. + +"And some fell among the thorns; and the thorns sprang up, and choked +them." For this the Syrian farmer himself is largely to blame. He +preserves the thorns for cattle feed and for fuel. Certain kinds of +thorns, especially _bellan_, are used as fuel for summer cooking, which +is done out of doors, and for baking at the _tennûr_.[4] Other thorns +are harvested, after the barley and {290} wheat harvests, threshed, and +stored for winter feed. In the sixth verse of the seventh chapter of +the Book of Ecclesiastes the writer says, "For as the crackling of +thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool." The threshing of +thorns is referred to in the Book of Judges,[5] where it says, "When +the Lord hath delivered Zabah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will +tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers." +But here again the English translation fails to give an exact rendering +of the text, although the marginal note replaces the word "tears" by +the word "thresh." The Arabic version says, "I will _thresh_ your +flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness _with the threshing +boards_," which is an exact picture of the treading of the oxen as they +drag the threshing board over the thorns upon the threshing floor. + +When a boy it was a great delight to me to wander in the wheatfields +when the grain had just passed the "milk stage" and had begun to {291} +mature and harden. It is then called _fereek_, and is delicious to +eat, either raw or roasted. I could subsist a whole day by plucking +the heads of wheat, rubbing them in my hand and eating the fat, soft, +fragrant grain. From time immemorial wayfarers in the East have been +allowed to trespass in this manner, provided they carried no more grain +away than that which they ate. In the twenty-fifth verse of the +twenty-third chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy the reading of the +Revised Version is, "When thou comest into thy neighbor's standing +corn, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt +not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing corn." It was the +indulgence in this practice by the disciples, on the Sabbath, which +formed the basis of the Pharisees' protest to Jesus to the effect that +his followers dishonored the sacred day. In the sixth chapter of St. +Luke's Gospel, the first verse, the Revised Version rendering of the +text is, "Now it came to pass on a sabbath, that he was going through +the grainfields and his disciples plucked the {292} ears, and did eat, +rubbing them in their hands." The protest of the guardians of Israel's +law, and Jesus' answer in the verses which follow, give us another +revelation of the Master's central thought and motive as a religious +teacher; namely, that man's legitimate needs take precedence of all +ecclesiastical formalities. + +I do not believe any account of agricultural life in Syria should omit +mentioning the plague which above all others strikes terror into the +heart of the Eastern tiller of the soil. In his prayer at the +dedication of the temple, Solomon mentions "blasting, mildew, locust, +and caterpillar."[6] Of all those unwelcome visitors, the locusts are +the most abhorred. I will give my impression of this pest in a +quotation from my autobiography:[7] + + +One of the never-to-be-forgotten phenomena of my early years, a +spectacle which the most extravagantly imaginative American mind cannot +picture, was the coming of the locusts into our part of the country. +If my memory serves me well, I was about twelve years old when my +father {293} and all his men, together with all the male population +over fifteen, were impressed by the governor of our district to fight +the devastating hosts of Oriental locusts. No one who has not seen +such a spectacle and the desolation those winged creatures leave behind +them can appreciate in the least degree the force of the saying of "The +Lord God of the Hebrews" to Pharaoh, "If thou refuse to let my people +go, behold, to-morrow I will bring the locusts into thy coasts."[8] +For a few weeks before they deluged our district the news came with the +caravans that the locusts were sweeping toward our region from the +"land of the south." We youngsters did not know why our elders were so +terror-stricken when they heard of it, until the scourge had come and +gone. + +It was a few weeks before the time of the harvest when the clouds of +locusts enveloped our community. They hid the sun with their +greenish-yellow wings, covered the trees and the ground, the walls and +roofs of the houses, and dashed in our faces like flakes of snow driven +by the wind. The utter hopelessness of the task which confronted our +people and seemed to unite all classes in despair, assumed in my sight +a very comic aspect, and converted the calamity into a holiday. It was +so amusing to me to see our sedate aristocrats and old men and women +join the youth {294} and the common laborers in shouting, beating on +tin cans, firing muskets, setting brush on fire, striking at the cursed +insects with their hands, stamping them with their feet, and praying +God to send "a strong wind" to drive the enemy of man away. Every +_mutekellif_ (payer of the toll-tax) had to fight the locusts for so +many days or hire a substitute, + +I do not clearly remember whether it was the beating on tin cans and +howling of the people or the prayed-for "strong wind" that drove the +merry locusts away. What I do remember is that when they did go away +they left the land almost stripped clean of every green thing. + +It was no vain threatening when the writer of Deuteronomy warned +Israel, saying, "If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord +thy God,, to observe to do all his commandments.... All thy trees and +fruit of thy land shall the locust consume."[9] + + + +[1] Mic. iv: 4. + +[2] Is. lxiii: 2. + +[3] Job xxiv: 11. + +[4] See page 201. + +[5] Judges viii: 7. + +[6] 1 Kings viii: 37. + +[7] _A Far Journey_, page 109, etc. + +[8] Exod. x: 40. + +[9] Deut. xxvii: 15, 42. + + + + +{295} + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SHEPHERD + +"I am the good shepherd" is one of Jesus' most tender, most +compassionate sayings. The first sixteen verses of the tenth chapter +of St. John's Gospel, from which this saying comes, should be joined to +the twenty-third Psalm. Notwithstanding the fact that John's words are +tinged with Greek thought, as descriptive of shepherd life in the East, +those two portions of Scripture belong together. + +The various phases of shepherd life in Syria are indelibly printed in +my memory. Our mountain village home was situated on the upper slope +of a rather steep hill, at the base of which a thin stream flowed over +its rocky bed. Across the narrow ravine, on the lower slope of another +hill, just opposite our home, there were three sheep and goat folds. +There for years I watched the shepherds and their flocks go out and +come in, morning and evening, from early {296} spring until late +autumn, when the shepherds dismantled the folds by removing their +thorny fences, pulled down their rude bowers, and led their flocks to +the "lowlands," where they spent the short winter season. The wailing +of Isaiah, in the twelfth verse of the thirty-eighth chapter (Revised +Version), "My dwelling is removed and is carried away from me as a +shepherd's tent," reminds me very strongly of the easy removal and +complete disappearance of that temporary shelter, which I so often saw +torn down and carried away. + +While at work in the fields cutting stone for my father's building +operations in various parts of Mount Lebanon, the shepherds were all +around us. In those days I watched the shepherd lead his flock "into +the waters of rest," or the restful, refreshing waters, which the +English version renders "still waters." I watched him as, by +inarticulate, deep, guttural sounds, whistling, certain characteristic +words which the flock seemed to understand, and the flinging of pebbles +or "smooth stones," such as those {297} with which David smote Goliath, +he guided, I might say invited, the "blessed creatures," into every +nook and corner among the rocks where there was pasture. It was this +solicitous watchfulness of the shepherd which the writer of the +twenty-third Psalm had in mind when he said, "The Lord is my shepherd, +_I shall not want_." In the heat of the day the shepherd made his +flock "to lie down" in the pasture ground, and the "blessed ones," as +the shepherd always calls his sheep and goats, would fold their nimble +legs and lie down, singly and in small groups, a surpassing picture of +contentment, trustfulness, and peace. They seemed to realize that +although they were in the wilderness they had nothing to fear. For the +loving shepherd, with his strong and heavy staff, was in their midst to +ward off all danger from them. + +The opening verses of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John contain +most significant allusions to the sheepfold. "Verily, verily, I say +unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but +climbeth up some other {298} way, the same is a thief and a robber." +Here the reference is to the fold of the dry season, such as those I +have already mentioned. The winter sheepfold is a roofed stone hovel +called _merah_. It has one low door and no windows; therefore, by +climbing up the fold, "some other way" the robber could secure no +booty. The roofless fold is called _hedherah_ and is built of rough +stones (such as are used in New England stone fences) to the height of +five feet. Above the stone construction rises a high _seyaj_ (hedge) +of thorny branches, securely fastened between the stones. It is this +hedge which is especially designed to prevent the "thief and robber" +from climbing into the sheepfold. + +"But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To +him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth +his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out." The shepherd's rude tent +is located near the door. There also his faithful dog lies. The word +"porter" in the text refers more, perhaps, to a Greek than Syrian +custom. However, in case of {299} large flocks, the under-shepherd, or +the "helper," who guards the door, answers to the "porter." + +The calling of the sheep or goats by name should not be taken +literally. The animals are not named as persons are. The shepherd +_knows_ all the members of his flock by certain individual +characteristics, and realizes the fact quickly when one of them is +lost. The more prominent ones are given adjectival names, such as the +"pure white," the "striped," the "black," the "brown," the +"gray-eared," etc. But it should be borne in mind that the saying, +"And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out," indicates +the tender love of the shepherd for his flock, but not that the animals +answer to their names. They are never trained to do that. He "leadeth +them out," not by calling their names, but by giving certain sounds +which they recognize. + +"And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the +sheep follow him: for they know his voice." I find that the strong +emphasis which commentators in general place {300} upon the shepherd's +going _before_ the flock carries the impression that he does so +_invariably_. So far as I know, this is not absolutely correct. _As a +rule_, the shepherd goes before the flock, but not infrequently he is +seen behind it. The shepherd walks behind, especially in the evening +when the flock is on its way to the fold, in order that he may gather +the stragglers and protect them from the stealthy wolf. The shepherd +often walks by the side of the flock, at about the middle of the line. +In case of large flocks the shepherd goes before, and the helper behind. + +One of the great delights of my boyhood days was the sight of the +"returning flock" every evening on the pebbly road on the side of the +hill close by our house. I go up on the housetop at dusk. As soon as +I hear the swishing roar of the multitude of little sharp hoofs on the +stony road, which is like the sound of an approaching hailstorm among +the trees, then I know that the "blessed ones" are near. The long line +of horny and hornless heads sweeps down the slope {301} of the hill +like an army on a "double-quick." With his strong, protecting staff in +hand, the stalwart, tender, ever-watchful shepherd appears at the end +of the line, and like an overshadowing Providence _guides_ his beloved +flock safely over the little stream and into the fold. + +The effective, and, I might say, unerring, guidance of the shepherd is +especially shown when he leads his flock in the "narrow paths." In +Syria as a rule the fields are not fenced. The pastures and the +planted fields are separated by narrow footpaths, and here and there by +low stone walls, which are intended, however, more for landmarks than +for fences. The fields are the forbidden ground. In transferring his +flock from one pasture to another, the shepherd must not allow any of +his animals to stray from the beaten path into the fields. For if he +does, he will not only have to pay damages to the owners of the fields, +but will ruin his own reputation as a shepherd. In my home town we had +a shepherd who was widely famed for his skill in leading his flock in +the narrow paths. Sa'ied, who {302} supplied our community with goat's +milk during the summer, was often known to guide a flock of about one +hundred and fifty head of goats (which are much more unruly than sheep) +without a helper, in a narrow path or over a stone wall, for a +considerable distance, without allowing a single one of them to set +foot on the forbidden ground. The flock obeyed him because they _knew +his voice_ as that of their good shepherd. + +It was no doubt such shepherds as Sa'ied that lent the writer of the +twenty-third Psalm his telling figure. It was the faithful guidance of +such earthly shepherds that led the ancient singer to meditate upon the +Lord's faithfulness to his own, and to utter his faith in the line, "He +leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." The +fields of temptation lie on either side of the narrow path of rectitude +and life. The Lord will protect and lead in the right path all those +who know Him and hear His voice. + +Another enchanting picture of Syrian pastoral {303} life is the +gathering of the flock. The shepherd seeks and gathers his sheep for +the purpose of transferring them to a richer pasture, or, at the end of +the day, to lead them back to the fold. He stands in the midst of the +far-scattered flock and gives certain sounds, which are to the sheep +what the notes of a bugle are to an army. His trained right arm, whose +long range and precision are proverbial, sends the pebbles whirring in +all directions, and thus "turns back" the more heedless of the flock. +It was this which the Psalmist had in mind when he said, "He restoreth +my soul." The Arabic phrase _yeriddo nefsee_, means, "he turns back my +soul," and refers to the action of the shepherd in turning the course +of his sheep toward himself. The faithful shepherd never proceeds to +lead his flock away until he is assured that all his dumb companions +are gathered together. + +With what pathos does the prophet Ezekiel portray this pastoral scene +when he speaks of the infinite compassion of the divine shepherd of +Israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps! In the {304} thirty-fourth +chapter, the eleventh verse, the promise to scattered Israel is, "For +thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, will both search for my +sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the +day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out +my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have +been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out +from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring +them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by +the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will +feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel +shall their fold be; there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat +pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.... I will seek +that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away." + +The climax of the shepherd figure, as it is used in the tenth chapter +of the Gospel of John, is reached in Christ's saying, "I am the good +{305} shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep," and +in the twenty-third Psalm, in the passage, "Though I walk through the +valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with +me: thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." Only those who have heard +the howling of a faithful shepherd at the approach of a wild beast to +the flock can clearly realize how literally true is this saying of +Christ's: "The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." + +Of all the shepherds I have known or have known about in my native +land, the commanding figure of one--Yusuf Balua'--rises most +prominently before me. I never want to forget old Yusuf. He was over +sixty when I first knew him. He was every inch a shepherd, having +known no other vocation in all his life. I knew that elemental man in +the "lowlands," where I spent two winters with my father, who was +called thither to erect several farmhouses for the lord of the land. +Yusuf, as he himself expressed it, "revered" my father; therefore, I +{306} was always welcome to visit Yusuf at his cave in the rocky gorge, +and to roam with him and his flock whenever my duties as my father's +helper permitted. + +The flocks are kept in the "lowlands" until after the "time of birth," +which comes in March; then they are led up into the mountains. It was +during that blessed time of birth, and while with Yusuf, that I first +beheld the original of that infinitely tender picture which is drawn in +the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, the eleventh verse, and which is also +Christ's most appealing picture. "He shall feed his flock like a +shepherd," says the prophet; "he shall gather the lambs with his arm, +and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with +young." The text is very effectively improved by the marginal note +which says, "and shall gently lead those that _give suck_." It was +that which Yusuf Balua' was doing once when I happened to be with him. +His roughly hewn figure stands now before me, with three newly born +lambs held close to his bosom, and their {307} wilted heads resting on +his massive arm. He walked gently before the anxious, slowly moving +mothers, which came close behind him, emitting low, humming sounds, +through which Nature poured out her compassionate heart. + +"Let me carry one of them," I begged Yusuf. "No, my boy, not the +helpless ones," answered the tender friend. "They need the shepherd's +care now. Besides, the mothers don't know you and they would fear." +But they knew _his_ voice and followed him! + +Oh, if we will but know and trust and follow our heavenly Shepherd, as +the sheep trust and follow theirs! + +But I must not lose sight of what I have called the climax of the +shepherd figure in the Gospel and the Psalms; namely, the shepherd's +interposing with his own life between the flock and the wolf. The +wolf, the hyena, and the leopard are the flock's most formidable foes. +During his long life Yusuf fought many battles with those ferocious +beasts, but never lost a hoof to them in all those encounters. On more +{308} than one occasion he followed the hyena to his lair, and, by his +characteristic howling, flinging his deadly stones with his sling, and +striking with his heavy staff on the rocks, compelled the beast to +abandon his prey. Whether the unfortunate sheep was yet alive or +whether it had died, Yusuf, as a good and faithful shepherd, always +carried it back to the fold. Does not the prophet Amos assure Israel +of their Shepherd's infinite care for them in an allusion to the +faithful seeking by the earthly shepherd for even a fragment of his +lost sheep? "Thus saith Jehovah," cries Amos; "As the shepherd +_rescueth out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear_; +so shall the children of Israel be rescued."[1] To this care and +devotion of the shepherd, Jesus also alludes in his parabolic saying in +which he speaks of his having "come to save that which was lost." "How +think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone +astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the +mountains, {309} and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be +that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that +sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it +is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these +little ones should perish!"[2] + +When I think of that deep, rocky gorge where Yusuf wintered with his +flock, and the many similar valleys which the Syrian shepherds have to +traverse daily; when I think of the wild beasts they have to fight, of +the scars they bear on their bodies as marks of their unreserved and +boundless devotion to their flocks, I realize very clearly the depth of +the Psalmist's faith when he said, "Though I walk through the valley of +the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me: thy rod +and thy staff, they comfort me." + + + +[1] Amos iii: 12. Revised Version. + +[2] Matt. xviii: 12-14. + + + + +{313} + +PART V + +SISTERS OF MARY AND MARTHA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WOMAN EAST AND WEST + +Perhaps on no other subject do the Orient and the Occident diverge more +widely than on that of the status of woman. So far as they really +differ, and as they imagine that they differ in their regard for woman, +the Orientals and the Occidentals form two distinct human types. + +From the beginning of their history, the Teutonic races, especially the +Anglo-Saxons, have been characterized by their high regard for woman. +This trait of the dwellers of north-western Europe so impressed the +Latin Christian missionaries, when they first visited those peoples, +that they described them as having "such high regard for woman to the +extent that adultery was unknown among them." And while the concluding +phrase of this historical testimony does not describe the present state +of Anglo-Saxon society with absolute correctness, {314} the statement +as a whole seems to me to be a substantially correct description of +present Anglo-Saxon life. Among the peoples of north-western Europe, +and especially among their descendants in America, woman enjoys man's +highest regard. + +On the other hand, "the Oriental view of woman" has always been +considered by those Western peoples to be very contemptuous. We always +hate most deeply that vice which is the opposite of our strongest +virtue. We are most likely to exaggerate and to condemn mercilessly +any deviation from that which we ourselves consider to be the sacred +path of duty. Respect for woman being one of his strongest virtues, +the Anglo-Saxon is lashed to fury by what seems to him to be the +Oriental's utter disrespect for the mother of the race. + +As I have already stated in other connections in this work, my object +is neither to accuse the Oriental nor to excuse his moral failures. My +aim is rather to interpret him to my Western readers and to determine, +if possible, to what {315} extent he really is a transgressor of the +normal rules of behavior toward woman. My intimate knowledge of life +in both hemispheres and my affectionate regard for the good qualities +of both the Orientals and the Occidentals lead me to venture to be a +reconciler of their differences. They certainly misunderstand one +another, especially with reference to the domestic and social relations +of the sexes. Time was when the various races hugged their prejudices +close to their own hearts and really enjoyed ridiculing one another. + +But "the hour cometh and now is" when the peoples of the earth are +beginning to realize that righteousness and truth, kindness and good +manners, are the exclusive possessions of no one race. The peoples of +the earth are beginning to realize that a mutual sympathetic +understanding between the various races is an asset of civilization, +and a promoter of the cause of that human commonwealth for which all +good men pray and hope. Therefore, as one who owes much to both the +East and the West, {316} I deem it my duty to do what I can to promote +such a sympathetic understanding, without doing violence to the truth. + +What is an obvious fact, and which can by no means be ignored, even by +the most zealous special pleader, is that the Eastern woman is far from +being the equal of her Western sister, either in culture or in domestic +and social privileges. Perhaps in no other country does woman enjoy +these blessings to the extent to which the American woman enjoys them. +Woman as man's intellectual companion, as a promoter of ideals, as a +factor in domestic and social evolution, the Orient has never known. +The Western type of woman is now partially represented in my native +land by a minority of cultivated women, but their number is +comparatively very small. + +The Oriental social code (if the simple social usages in that part of +the world may be termed such) gives man the precedence. To give woman +the social and domestic prominence, the little attentions and +courtesies which she {317} enjoys in America, is to the Orientals not +only unnecessary, but uncomplimentary to both sexes. + +It is perhaps for lack of such attentions and courtesies, more than for +anything else, that the Occidentals consider the Oriental woman to be +the slave of her husband. And, conversely, because of his giving the +precedence to woman in all the courtesies and comforts of life, the +Orientals, _both men and women_, consider the Occidental to be the +slave of his wife. How often have I heard Syrians say, "An _affrenjee_ +[that is, a European] is quite a man until his wife whispers something +to him. Then he becomes her slave; he does just what she tells him." + +The Oriental's indifference to those fine points of behavior toward +woman does not spring from the fact that he considers her to be +intrinsically his inferior, and consequently his slave. I never had +the slightest reason, nor the faintest suggestion, either by example or +precept, to believe that my mother was in any way {318} my father's +inferior. "Thou shalt honour thy father _and_ thy mother" is a +commandment which was born of the deepest life of the East. I can +think of no circumstances in Eastern life which compel a Syrian to +think of his mother, sister, and wife in other than terms of equality +in all essentials with the male members of the family.[1] + +In my judgment it is the Oriental's deportment, rather than his real +intentions, which condemns him in the sight of Occidentals for his +attitude toward woman. It is perhaps hazardous to undertake to +differentiate between character and conduct, between the motive and the +method by which that motive is put into action. It is customary, +however, to say of a person that "his heart is in the right place, but +he does not know how to act." I venture to say that {319} this +characterization fits the case of the average Oriental. His heart is +in the right place. His natural endowments are good. He is +quick-witted, kind, generous, pious, obedient to parents, and a lover +of his home. So far as all these fundamentals are concerned, I find no +great difference between the Easterners and the Westerners. + +However, compared with his Western cousin, the son of the Near East has +only a slight acquaintance with the _art_ of living. The working-out +of details with the view of creating harmony has always seemed to him +vanity and vexation of spirit. His intense desire for simple, +spontaneous, easy living has always refused to be encumbered by +exacting standards. In this respect he is a boy in man's clothing. +For an example, the home to him is little more than a shelter. The +riches of the home are not the artistic appointments, but human +associations. Architectural schemes, interior decorations, books, +musical instruments, living by the clock, and other Western glories are +to the Oriental {320} dispensable luxuries. The one-room or two-room +house, very simply furnished, is the essential part of the home. Why +then should one be burdened with more? The "color scheme," the harmony +or contrast of wall-paper with picture frames and carpets, and the +thousand and one articles of useful and ornamental furniture which +crowd the American home and make the "servant-girl problem" well-nigh +insoluble, are to the average Oriental a delusion and a snare. His +table appointments are also very simple. To him the "one thing +needful" is enough food to sustain life. He has no "cook-book." The +varieties of cake and pie, and the multitude of side dishes which load +the American table, do not appear on the Syrian's bill of fare. One +dish of cooked cereals, or meat and rice or some other wholesome +combination, and a few loaves of bread, satisfy his hunger. His modest +stores of grape molasses, figs, and raisins, which he visits at +irregular intervals, satisfy his craving for sweets, and his home-made +wine gives color and gayety to his feasts. + +{321} + +The same simple rules govern the Oriental's social activities. Whether +as an individual or as a domestic and social being, he hates to be +standardized. To him formalities have no claim upon those who are true +friends and social equals. Spontaneous living must not be too closely +yoked with etiquette, nor native wisdom with technical culture. "_Meta +weck'at elmahabbet artafa' ettekleef_" (when love occurs formalities +cease) is one of the Oriental's ancient and cherished maxims. From +early childhood the Americans are taught to observe, even within the +family circle, the niceties of "Please," "Thank you," "Pardon me," "I +beg your pardon," "May I trouble you," and so forth. To a son of the +East such behavior is altogether proper among strangers, but not among +those who really _love one another_. Between husband and wife, parent +and child, brothers and sisters, and true friends such formalities +appear to Easterners not only superficial, but utterly ridiculous. For +such persons the most essential thing is that they should love one +another. As {322} lovers they have a right to _demand_ favors from one +another. The commands of love are sweet; they must not be alloyed with +tiresome formalities. + +Of course this "friendliness" of the Oriental is not altogether an +unmixed blessing. He relies too much upon his good intentions, which +his conduct does not always show. Judged, not only by Western +standards, but by the standards of the cultivated minority of his own +people, he is found wanting. It is not always easy for him to be +familiar without being vulgar, and to distinguish between the +legitimate claims of friendship and intrusion upon the exclusive rights +of others. His plea always is that he means well, which is generally +true. "His heart is in the right place." + +Now I believe it can be easily seen that the Easterner's attitude +toward woman, which now rises to the height of religious reverence, now +verges on contempt, is to be traced to his uneven, juvenile temperament +and lack of culture, and not to the fact that he despises her. {323} +So long as he respects her "in his heart" and is ready to defend her at +whatever cost, he considers the fine points of conduct toward her after +the American fashion to be simply dispensable little details. Nor does +his attitude toward woman differ essentially from his attitude toward +the male portion of mankind. He has one vocabulary for both sexes, +with the inclination to be more respectful toward the gentler sex. + +So woman in the East is not considered a slave by the man, and there is +a multitude of wife-ruled husbands. The family system, however, is +patriarchal. The man is recognized as the "lord of the household." +The venerable father of a family is supposed to rule, not only over the +women of the household, but over his grown sons, his younger brothers, +and even the men of his clan who are younger than himself. But such an +authority is often purely formal. The higher the level of culture in +the home, the more freedom and equality exists among the members of the +family. In cultivated Syrian {324} homes the women are free and highly +and uniformly respected by the men. Such women have no reason to envy +even the happiest American women. + + + +[1] My statements apply particularly to the Christian women of Syria, +who enjoy greater domestic and social privileges than the Mohammedan +women. However, notwithstanding the serious limitations which orthodox +Mohammedanism imposes upon women, it would be sheer injustice to the +better class of Mohammedans to be stigmatized as enslavers and debasers +of woman. + + + + +{325} + +CHAPTER II + +PAUL AND WOMAN + +Perhaps nowhere else is the Syrian attitude toward woman so clearly +stated as in the teachings of St. Paul. The great Apostle deals with +the fundamentals of this subject, and speaks freely of both the +privileges and the limitations of woman in the Christian East. + +In the third chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, the twenty-eighth +verse, Paul says, "There is neither male nor female: for ye are all one +in Christ Jesus." And this equality is not to be understood to be +limited to the bestowal of church rites upon men and women alike. It +embraces the essential points of conduct of the male and female members +of the household toward one another. Fidelity to the marriage vow is +to be equally observed by both husband and wife. This the Apostle +urges upon his fellow believers, not as a superior authority, {326} but +as a friend. In the seventh chapter of the First Epistle to the +Corinthians, the fourth verse, he says, "The wife hath not power over +her own body, but the husband; and _likewise_ also the husband hath not +power over his own body, but the wife." In the fourteenth verse of +this same chapter, the equal potency of the spiritual influence of both +the husband and the wife is also recognized. "The unbelieving +husband," says the Apostle, "is sanctified by the wife, and the +unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband." In the fifth chapter +of the Epistle to the Ephesians, the "Apostle to the Gentiles" rises to +the noblest height of Eastern thought concerning woman and reveals +Christianity's conserving and sanctifying power. Beginning at the +twenty-fifth verse, he says: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ +also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify +and cleanse it, ... that he might present it to himself a glorious +church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it +should be holy and without blemish. {327} So ought men to love their +wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. +For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth +it, even as the Lord the church." + +This is precisely what the marriage union in the East always meant to +us. By this sacred bond the husband and the wife are made "one flesh." +That the Oriental has not definitely succeeded in making his daily +conduct always conform to his highest ideals and to the noble precepts +of the Gospel is evident, and not at all strange. Here he has +succeeded no better than his Anglo-Saxon superior has in conforming his +conduct to the command, "Love your enemies." My point is that down +deep in the Syrian heart the spirit of Paul's words abides. It serves +the son of the East in time of trouble as his quick and tender +conscience. The real trouble with him has been his aversion to +strictly systematic living. He does love his wife as he loves himself, +but in reality he does not fully know how to love himself. + +{328} + +Paul, on the other hand, does not ignore the conventional limitations +which Eastern traditions impose upon woman. He recognizes the +patriarchal government of the family. In the chapter just quoted, the +Apostle says: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto +the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is +the head of the Church." Much trouble may be avoided by the unfriendly +critics of Paul and Christianity in general, if such critics would keep +in mind the conditional nature of this command. Whether as a Syrian or +as an American I do not believe in subjecting the wife to the husband, +nor the husband to the wife. Domestic life should be based on perfect +coöperation of husband and wife, in spiritual as well as in +administrative matters. Toward this goal the Americans have made the +greatest advance. However, Paul's command can by no means be justly +construed as giving the husband unlimited tyrannical authority over the +wife. "The husband is the head of the wife, _even as Christ is the +head of the {329} Church_." The church is not the slave of Christ, but +his beloved bride. So the supremacy here is that of loving care and +consideration. Therefore, the fact that the traditions of the East +give the man conventional supremacy over the woman has never meant to +us sons of that land that our mothers and sisters were abject slaves. +And it should be borne in mind that the women of Syria are not always +so submissive as those traditions would lead a Westerner to believe. I +might say that in the majority of cases the man finds it no easy task +to make his formal authority over the woman of real effect. The +heartfelt complaints of discouraged husbands, that "not even all the +angels of heaven can subdue a woman," are not unfrequently heard in the +land of the Bible. + +Perhaps the part of Paul's teaching which seems to Westerners to seal +the fate of woman is that found in the eleventh chapter of the First +Epistle to the Corinthians. Here the Apostle declares: "For a man +indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and +glory {330} of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. Neither was +the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." + +I think any serious Bible student will easily realize that as a good +shepherd Paul must have felt that he should not travel much faster than +the weakest of his flock. In the passage just quoted he stoops low for +the purpose of accommodating the prejudices of _certain_ Orientals. +And in so doing he contradicts his own saying, "There is neither male +nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus," and the great passage +in the first chapter of Genesis, the twenty-seventh verse, "So God +created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; _male +and female_ created he them." + +The Eastern man has from time immemorial decreed that woman's social +privileges should be limited, because of his fear for her. In such an +unstable social order as that which has existed in the East for ages +woman is constantly exposed to danger. Woman-stealing was very +prevalent in ancient times, and is still practiced {331} among the +Arabian tribes which hover on the eastern borders of Syria. In modern +Syria such practices no longer exist, but their faint echoes are still +heard in times of tribal fights. On such occasions the cry is heard +(and I often heard it myself), "You dogs, to-day we shall take your +women booty [_nesbee hereemekûm_]." + +It is because of these ancient fears, and not from a desire on the part +of the man to enslave her, that the social privileges of the woman in +the East are so limited. The duty to protect always carries with it +the right to discipline. And the greater the danger, the more strict +the discipline. The weaker men of the clan, because they need to be +protected, are also in subjection to the "men of counsel" (_ahil erry_) +and to the stronger fighters. + +And it may be easily inferred that in such circumstances woman's charms +are a danger to her. She must be secluded, as among the Mohammedans, +or simply limited in her social intercourse, as among the Christians, +in order to hide those charms from the curious stranger. {332} For +this reason also she must be heavily veiled when she goes out, as among +the Moslems, or at least have her head covered always, as among the +Christians. So when Paul said, "Every woman that prayeth or +prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head,"[1] he simply +gave wise recognition to an ancient social custom. A more liberal +course on his part would have marked Paul as a violent disturber of +venerable traditions. + +The chief charm of an Oriental woman is her _hishmat_ (modesty). But +modesty in a stricter sense than that accepted in the Occident. +Feminine timidity (_jubn_) is very extensively sung by the Arabian +poets. A charming woman, especially a maiden, is she who is timid, +shy, retiring, of a few words. "She has a mouth to eat, but not to +speak," is a high tribute paid to a maiden. For a woman to take a +leading part in conversation in the presence of men is boldness. I do +not know how they manage to do it, but, _as a rule_, in the presence of +men the women of {333} Syria exercise marvelous control over their +organs of speech. + +Do you understand now why Paul says, in the fourteenth chapter of his +First Epistle to the Corinthians, the thirty-fourth verse, "Let your +women keep silence in the Churches: for it is not permitted unto them +to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience"? To Oriental +ears, as perhaps to Puritan ears of the good old type, such words are +poetry set to music. They do not degrade, but honor woman by not +making her common. + +It would, perhaps, throw further light on the Easterners' regard of +woman as a sacred being when it is known why they call the wife +_hûrmat_. This term is derived from _heram_--a consecrated and wholly +sacred object. _Heram_ is the name of the Mohammedans' most sacred +shrine of Mecca. The wife is the husband's most sacred possession, +therefore she is called _hûrmat_. The plural of this is _harem_, a +term which to Westerners has a most obnoxious connotation. But not so +to Orientals. In the West {334} _harem_ simply means sensuality and +polygamy in their worst form. In the East it means simply and purely +the women of a household, or of a clan, whether it be Christian or +Mohammedan. It does not necessarily mean plurality of wives. A man's +mother, wife, sisters, and daughters constitute his _harem_; for they +are all sacred to him. + +Now it will not be difficult to understand, I believe, why it is that +the man in the East takes precedence of the woman in all social +affairs, and why the sexes are segregated at public feasts and on other +similar occasions. It is for the same reason that we find no women +disciples at the Last Supper. In the parable of the prodigal son, the +father meets the returning penitent, the father bestows "the best robe" +on the son, the father orders the feast, and doubtless presides over +it. So it was also when Abraham entertained the angels, and Zacchæus +entertained Jesus--the man was the entertainer. However, in these two +cases the women might have acted as hostesses,--because the {335} +guests were holy persons. We have a striking example of the freedom +which is permitted to women in such cases in the story of Mary and +Martha. They entertained Jesus, first because apparently they had no +parents living, and their brother was young, and second because Jesus +was no mere guest, but a holy person.[2] + +Notwithstanding all these social conventions, however, the mother has a +right to demand from her children the same loving obedience which they +accord to their father. They must honor their father and their mother +alike. Upon coming home from a journey I always saluted my parents by +kissing their hands, as a mark of loving submission. According to +custom, I saluted my father first, and my mother second, but in the +same identical manner, and invoked their _radha_ (good pleasure) toward +me, with religious reverence. I always knew that to disrespect and +disobey my mother was not only bad manners, but a sin. So obnoxious +has disobedience to parents been to the respectable {336} families of +the East that the ancient Israelites made it a capital crime. In the +twenty-first chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy the stipulation of the +law is: "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not +obey the voice of his father, or the voice of _his mother_, and that, +when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then shall +his father _and_ his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the +elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say +unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, +he will not obey our voice.... And all the men of his city shall stone +him with stones, that he die."[3] Needless to say that this cruel +punishment is no longer inflicted upon rebellious sons in the East. +The record, however, indicates the joint authority of the husband and +wife over their own children, and the public approval of it. + +But there is more to be said about _radha-elwalideen_ (the parents' +good pleasure). I do {337} not know whether the words "good pleasure" +convey the real significance of the word _radha_, which as it pertains +to parents is one of the most sacred terms in Oriental speech. The +_radha_ of a parent is a benediction which includes complete +forgiveness to the child of all offenses and indicates the parent's +spiritual satisfaction with his offspring. To secure the parent's +expressed _radha_ at the hour of death is equal to a sacrament. I can +think of no human experience that can be more impressive, more tender, +and more deeply religious than that of an Oriental imploring a dying +parent to assure him of his or her _radha_ before the end came. The +weeping son grasps the hand of his dying parent, and, leaning over +tenderly to catch the faint utterances, says: "Father,[4] bestow your +_radha_ upon me; forgive me and bless me, so that Allah also may +forgive and bless me; your _radha_, father!" If the departing parent +is still able to speak, he looks up toward heaven and says: "You have +my _radha_, my dearly beloved {338} son; and may Allah bestow his holy +_radha_ upon you and bless you and the work of your hands. May the +earth produce riches for you, and heaven shower benedictions upon you; +pray for me, my dearly beloved." But if the departing father or mother +is no longer able to utter words, the repeated pressing of the hand and +the turning of the eyes upward indicate the parent's response to the +petition of the son or daughter. The refusal of a parent to grant his +_radha_, which is most rare, is to an Oriental a haunting horror. + +In ancient Israel the deathbed blessing was bestowed with special +emphasis upon the first-born son because with it came the heritage of +the patriarchal office. Thus, when Isaac bestowed his last blessing +upon his tricky son Jacob, he said:[5] "God give thee of the dew of +heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let +people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy +brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down {339} to thee." And what +is also most touching in this story is poor Esau's agony when he +discovered that the blessing to which he was the rightful heir had gone +to his brother. "And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one +blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau +lifted up his voice and wept."[6] + + + +[1] 1 Cor. xi: 5. + +[2] See page 207. + +[3] Verses 18-21. + +[4] The same also is asked of the mother. + +[5] Gen. xxvii: 28, 29. + +[6] Gen. xxvii: 38. + + + + +{340} + +CHAPTER III + +JESUS AND HIS MOTHER + +One of the perplexing passages in the New Testament is that found in +the fourth verse of the second chapter of St. John's Gospel, where +Jesus says to his mother, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" That +it has been very difficult for many devout readers of the Bible to +reconcile this passage to the Master's gentleness and goodness is very +well known to me. On numerous occasions I have been asked to give my +interpretation of this saying in the light of the status of woman in +the East, and to state whether, in my opinion as a Syrian, Jesus could +have meant to be harsh and disrespectful to his mother. Before +undertaking to give my own view of this passage, I wish to present two +interpretations of it which I have heard certain American preachers +give. One of those preachers who was proud to call himself "a free +lance" stated in my hearing that on the {341} occasion when Jesus spoke +these words "he simply lost his temper." The redeeming feature of this +comment, in my opinion, is its brevity. It is short, but neither sweet +nor to the point. The other interpreter (or interpreters, for I do not +recall where and when I heard this), assuming that the station of woman +in the East was very low, stated that by addressing his mother in a +seemingly harsh manner, Jesus infringed no rule of propriety. Having +already stated at considerable length the "Oriental view of woman," I +deem it necessary here simply to say that the foregoing interpretation +rests on a misconception of the facts. + +In trying to throw some light on this passage I will say that, +notwithstanding its seeming harshness in the English translation, I +find no real reason to believe that in uttering it Jesus indicated that +he was angry, or that he meant to be disrespectful to his mother. This +somewhat impersonal form of address to a woman is very common in the +East. It _might_ be so spoken as to mean disrespect, but as a rule, +and {342} according to the Oriental manner of speech, it is dignified +and in good taste. At present the term _hûrmat_ is more extensively +used in such cases in Syria. Among the nobility and the educated +minority of the people the word _sitt_ (lady) is employed in addressing +a woman. However, this impersonal form of address is employed by a man +when speaking to a woman who is a stranger to him. The correct form +is, "O woman," the same which Jesus used in saying to the "woman of +Canaan," in the fifteenth chapter of Matthew, the twenty-eighth verse, +"O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." In +the same manner the Master assured the woman who had "a spirit of +infirmity,"[1] "Woman,[2] thou art loosed from thine infirmity." A +superb example of this Oriental usage is found in the fourth chapter of +St. John's Gospel, the twenty-first verse, in Jesus' conversation with +the Samaritan woman. With solemn dignity he says to her: "Woman, {343} +believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, +nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.... But the hour cometh, and +now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit +and in truth." + +From the foregoing examples it may be easily seen that the form of +Jesus' address to his mother could not be considered disrespectful. +Therefore the difficulty which the text offers springs from the fact +that it represents Jesus as speaking to his own mother as he would +speak to a woman _who was a stranger to him_. Why did he do that? The +answer to this question depends partially on thorough knowledge of +Oriental thought and largely on acquaintance with the theology of St. +John's Gospel. + +As every Bible scholar knows, the purpose of this Gospel is to present +Jesus to the world as the incarnation of the Logos--the Word. Here the +Master is spoken of, not as the prophet of Galilee, but as the One who +came down from heaven. Therefore the Son of God was by virtue of this +supernatural character above all {344} earthly connections. His mother +was only human, only finite. On the occasion of his addressing her as +a stranger she is represented as interfering with him as he was about +to work a miracle. Such a thing, according to St. John's Gospel, was +beyond her understanding. Consequently as a _divine_ being speaking to +a _human_ being, Jesus said to his earthly mother, "Woman, what is mine +and what is thine?" This is the original form. The English +translation, "Woman, what have I to do with thee," is good, although +the more refined attitude of the West toward woman makes the expression +seem rather harsh. Stated in simplest terms the Oriental understanding +of these words is, "Leave me alone." In Jesus' case the further +implication of the passage is that, as Mary's vision of spiritual +things was not Jesus' vision, even though he was her son in the flesh, +she was not competent to exercise authority over him, seeing that he +was a divine being. In a higher sense she was a stranger to him. + +With real consistency the writer of the Fourth {345} Gospel clings to +this view of Jesus' divinity to the end. In the nineteenth chapter we +find the Master speaking from the cross. He speaks, not as a human +sufferer, but as a triumphant heavenly being. He addresses his mother +in the same manner as he did at the marriage feast in Cana of +Galilee--"Woman." In the twenty-fifth verse it is said: "Now there +stood by the Cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary +the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his +mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his +mother, Woman, behold thy son!" In this lofty yet tender manner the +Master committed his loving mother to the care of his beloved disciple. + +The excellent qualities of a man are credited by Orientals largely to +_haleeb el-omm_ (the mother's milk) and the mysterious influences of +the prenatal period. Aside from its nutritive qualities, _el-redha'_ +(suck) is supposed to possess certain mystic influences which tend to +fashion the possibilities of character. Whenever a man, {346} +especially a youth, speaks "words of wisdom," his admiring hearer is +likely to exclaim, "Precious was the milk that nourished thee!" Among +the choice blessings which Jacob asked for Joseph the patriarch did not +forget to include the "blessings of the breasts, and of the womb."[3] +Nothing can be loftier to an Oriental than the passage in the eleventh +chapter of St. Luke's gospel, the twenty-seventh verse. Jesus is +represented in the preceding verses as disputing triumphantly with his +theological adversaries. His trenchant periods, "Every kingdom divided +against itself is brought to desolation.... He that is not with me is +against me," and his simple yet profound reasoning that a human heart +which is not filled with the spirit of God is bound to become the abode +of evil spirits, deeply stir his hearers. So the text tells us, "A +certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, +Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou hast +sucked!" + +{347} + +The most solemn occasion on which I heard this expression used in my +native land was that when the great Patriarch of Antioch visited our +town in Mount Lebanon. Upon his arrival at the priest's house, where +he was entertained, the waiting multitude, including the governor of +the district, stood with bowed heads to receive the prelate's +benediction. I shall never forget that scene. Standing in the door, +our revered and beloved patriarch seemed to us to be a visitor from the +celestial sphere, full of truth and grace. As he lifted his right arm +and imparted his blessing to the silent assemblage, a woman of our +church, a mother, who was almost overcome with emotion, advanced toward +the spiritual ruler, and with her face and open palms turned toward +heaven, exclaimed, in the vernacular Arabic, "Blessed be the inwards +that bore you, and the breasts you sucked!" Whereupon the +distinguished visitor bestowed a special blessing upon the humble +suppliant, to the great satisfaction of the profoundly affected +multitude. + + + +[1] Luke xiii: 12. + +[2] The English translation changes the form, "O woman" to "Woman" +arbitrarily. + +[3] Gen. xlix: 25. + + + + +{348} + +CHAPTER IV + +"A GRACIOUS WOMAN" + +To the East woman is known only as wife and mother, and, of course, as +the home-maker. The statement, "Woman's place is in the home," is +never a matter of dispute in that part of the world. In the home are +to be found both "woman's rights" and woman's duties. Education, +literary pursuits, "club life," and civic endeavors are no vital +interests to the Eastern woman, nor to her husband to any appreciable +extent. Marriage is a religious union. The highest and most sacred +duty of the husband and wife is to beget many children, bring them up +"in the fear of the Lord," and be such good example to them, as to +enable them to live a pious life, and to transmit their good heritage +to the unborn generations. Marriage of inclination, preceded by a +period of courtship as in the West, is very rare in the East. The +reason of this has {349} been hinted in the preceding chapters. Lack +of education and social and political stability necessitates the +curtailing of woman's social privileges, for her own safety. These +limitations are especially narrow in the case of "maidens," or +"virgins"; that is, unmarried young women. They are not supposed to +participate in social functions as their mothers do, nor to form +friendships with young men, even among their near relatives. The +contracting of a marriage is not so much an individual as it is a +clannish affair. The young people may, or may not be acquainted with +one another. Among Christians, the young man may frequent the home of +his future wife's parents, and even converse with her now and then, but +only in the presence of other members of the family. "Going with a +young lady" is unknown to the East, and is a feature of Western life +which Orientals generally condemn. The marriage is agreed upon by the +families or clans of the contracting parties, because the family or +clan is involved in the conduct and affected by the {350} reputation of +each one of its members. The shame of a woman is a burden to all her +kindred. Interclannish marriages form alliances and impose defensive +and offensive obligations. Whenever a woman of one clan, who is +married into another, is cruelly treated by her husband, her own +clansmen are supposed to rise and defend her, else they become a byword +in the community. + +This difference of procedure between the East and the West in +contracting a marriage does not seem to result in a decidedly marked +difference in domestic happiness. In both the East and the West, the +perfectly happy and the perfectly unhappy marriages are rare. In both +hemispheres the large majority of married people soon learn that +domestic happiness depends in no small measure on adherence to the +well-known rule: "In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in +all things charity." As I have already stated, the Oriental does not +know the art of living as the Occidental does, yet the Easterner enjoys +as much home happiness {351} as those Occidentals who are on the same +level of culture with him. + +Women in the East are classified, not with reference to education and +social interests or the lack of them, but with reference to virtue and +its opposite. A happy husband says, "I lift my head high [_arfa' +rasy_] because of my wife. Her _siett_ [reputation] is like musk in +fragrance. She is _taj rasy_ [a crown to my head]." So also speaks +the writer of the Book of Proverbs, in the twelfth chapter, and the +fourth verse: "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that +maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones." In both the East and +the West the opinion is accepted that "as a jewel of gold in a swine's +snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion."[1] + +The Orient and the Occident diverge considerably in their description +of feminine charms in poetry and literature. Here I find the Orientals +to be very inconsistent. Their strong aversion to the free mention of +women in {352} conversation and to her sharing of social privileges +equally with the man, contrasts very sharply with their license in +describing her charms in their poetry. A most perfect specimen of this +poetry in the Bible is Solomon's Song. Its Oriental freedom in +describing the "beloved spouse," renders it practically unfit for +public use. Its poetical charms are exquisite, and its passion is +pure, but judged by Western standards, the faithfulness of its realism +appears licentious. It is exhilarating to read the poet's lines in +which he calls his "fair one" to go with him into the fields and +vineyards. + + "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. + For, lo, the winter is past, + The rain is over and gone; + The flowers appear on the earth; + The time of the singing of birds is come, + And the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land; + The fig tree ripeneth her green figs, + And the vines are in blossom, + They give forth their fragrance. + Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. + O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, + In the covert of the steep place, + Let me see thy countenance, + +{353} + + Let me hear thy voice; + For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely."[2] + + +In the opening verses of the fourth chapter the poet's vision of his +"love" is also beautiful. + + "Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; + Thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil: + Thy hair is as a flock of goats, + That lie along the side of mount Gilead. + Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn + Which are come up from the washing; ... + Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, + And thy mouth is comely." + + +All this is beautiful and perfectly acceptable to both the East and the +West. Not so the opening lines of the seventh chapter. The Revised +Version modifies the original text. King James's Version gives the +lines just as Oriental poetry past and present would render them. The +rendering of the second verse by the Revised Version, "Thy body is like +a round goblet," and, "Thy waist is like an heap of wheat," renders the +words meaningless. However, the modesty of the revisers is to be +commended. + +{354} + +Arabic poetry is full of such passages, which abound also in Syrian +vernacular songs, which are sung with perfect propriety among all +classes. In discussing such a subject as this one can hardly resist +the temptation to judge. To me the more chaste way of the West in +poetizing feminine charms is far superior to the altogether too free +realism of the East, which I do not feel at all inclined to defend. +Yet I would not be loyal to good conscience if I did not offer an +explanation in behalf of the land of my birth. Ever since I began to +read Arabic poetry, for which I developed great fondness, to the +present day, I do not remember that its descriptions of feminine +loveliness ever really suggested to me licentious thoughts. The +general effect of such delineations upon me was of the same sort as +that which the sketching of love scenes by a great novelist produces. +Its charms were those of the poetic art, and not those of the seductive +feelings of sordid passion. + +To us _'aroos esshi'ar_ (the bride, or spouse of the poet) is purely an +imaginary creature. It is {355} the poet's spirit of inspiration +objectified in a female form. He does not describe a woman, but an +angelic creature whose body and soul are both pure. Only the very +commonplace versifier gets demoralized and infects his reader with the +same feeling. The true poet soars far above "the things that perish," +and is perfectly safe to follow. His infatuation is known as _el howa +el'adhry_ (pure, or aspirational love). Here, then, without the +slightest attempt to excuse his phraseology, I find at least a partial +justification for the Eastern poet, and for the writer of Solomon's +Song. + +The simple, eloquent, and fully inclusive description of the "virtuous +woman," in the thirty-first chapter of the Book of Proverbs, is rather +a composite than an individual picture. It expresses the Syrian's +noblest idea of the true wife and the real home-maker:-- + + +Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. + +The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall +have no need for spoil. + +{356} + +She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. + +She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. + +She is like the merchant's ships; she bringeth her food from afar. + +She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her +household, and a portion to her maidens. + +She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruits of her hands +she planteth a vineyard. + +She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. + +She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out +by night. + +She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. + +She stretcheth out her hands to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her +hands to the needy. + +She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household +are clothed with scarlet. + +She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and +purple. + +Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of +the land. + +She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the +merchant. + +Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to +come. + +{357} + +She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of +kindness. + +She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread +of idleness. + +Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he +praiseth her. + +Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. + +Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the +Lord, she shall be praised. + +Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in +the gates. + + +Here we have the real "Oriental view of woman," and a glorification of +virtue, loyalty, industry, wisdom, kindness, and charity, unsurpassed +in its beauty and simplicity. I have said that this remarkable picture +is rather composite than individual. Yet the true, diligent, and +virtuous Syrian wife and mother comes near being the ideal woman of the +ancient Scriptural writer. His question, "Who can find a virtuous +woman?" does not mean that such a woman cannot be found; nor his +saying, "For her price is far above rubies" mean that women are bought +and sold in the market. The {358} sense of the writer can be +adequately expressed by saying, "Happy is he who hath a virtuous woman, +for her worth is far above all earthly riches." But for the existence +of women approaching his ideal, this writer could not have given the +world his picture of the "virtuous woman." + +I feel that no detailed commentary on these verses is needed. The +virtues here enumerated are universally cherished. I will, however, +call attention to the Oriental features of this great passage. In +saying that "the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her," the +writer shows that the good wife is by no means a despised creature in +the Syrian home. She is loved and trusted as her husband's +life-partner, and exerts no inconsiderable influence upon him. The +value of such a wife's counsel in the estimation of her husband and +friends is also indicated in the saying, "She openeth her mouth with +wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." "She seeketh wool, +and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands," or, as the Arabic +version {359} has it, "with willing hands." The flax is now rarely +found in Syria. Wool and silk cocoons are spun into thread by means of +the spindle, woven on hand looms, and made into garments by the women, +especially in the rural districts. This verse should be joined to +verse nineteen, which says, "She layeth her hands to the spindle, and +her hands hold the distaff." The Revised Version says, "She layeth her +hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle." In explaining +this passage some commentators speak of the spinning wheel, and of the +distaff, as the dictionary defines it: "A rotating vertical staff that +holds the bunch of flax or wool in hand-spinning." But this is not the +"spindle" which is intended in the passage before us. The Syrian +spindle (_meghzel_) which a woman may carry wherever she goes, is a +small instrument. It consists of a smooth wooden pin, or stem, about +the size and shape of a long wooden pen holder. This is inserted at +its thick end into a hole of a hemispherical "top" or whorl, which is +the exact shape of the crown of a small {360} mushroom. It is this top +which the English translation calls "distaff." A small brass hook +fastened to the end of the stem, which protrudes slightly above the +whorl, completes the spindle. In spinning a quantity of wool is wound +on a small wooden or wire frame into which the woman inserts her left +hand, the frame passing over the fingers and held inside the palm next +to the thumb, thus leaving the thumb and all the fingers free. The +spinner fastens the hook of the spindle to the bunch of wool and twirls +the spindle swiftly at its lower end, between the thumb and the middle +finger of the right hand, and then draws the thread deftly with the +fingers of both hands. When the twisted thread is about the "length of +an arm," the spinner unhooks it without breaking it off, winds it on +the stem of the spindle, just below the whorl, then fastens it again to +the hook close to the raw material. The operation is thus continued +until the bunch of wool is converted into a "spindleful" of thread. + +The spindle as it is mentioned in the passage {361} under +consideration, and in this peculiarly constructed language, symbolizes +diligence and industry. "She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her +hands hold the distaff" is equivalent to saying "She is never idle," or +as the Syrians say, "Her spindle is never out of her hands." + +As a general rule spinning in Syria is done by the older women. It is +often used as an occasion for diligent spinners "to get together." I +recall very clearly the palmy days of my grandmother as a spinner, and +some of the delightful spinning sociables she enjoyed with her peers. +It was a delight to me to watch those good women lay their hands to the +spindle. It is always delightful to watch an expert at his work. They +worked with the ease and inerrancy of instinct. They spun while +walking, talking, eating (informally) or even disputing. The only +thing about the useful industry which I hated heartily as a boy was +that when I came close to the feminine spinners the flying hairs from +their whirling spindles fell on me, and "made my flesh creep." + +{362} + +Again the virtuous woman "Considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the +fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." Here the language of the +Scriptural writer is figurative. It refers to a good wife's thrift. +She saves the coins she earns and treasures them in the well-known +_kees_ (money bag) in a corner of the clothes chest, where heirlooms +and other precious objects are stored. In time of need she surprises +her husband by the substantial sum of money she places in his hands, +which enables him to buy a field or plant a vineyard. + +"She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household +are clothed in scarlet." The marginal note greatly improves the +translation by saying "double garments" instead of "scarlet." The +Arabic version says _hillel_--that is, full, or substantial, garments. +The snow is always dreaded by the common people of Syria. With it come +no sleighbells and no skating. It is a time of stress (_dhieq_). The +snow "blocks the roads and cuts a man off from his neighbor." At such +a time, because {363} of lack of fuel and adequate clothing, many of +the people suffer. So the writer of Proverbs praises the "virtuous +woman" very highly when he says, "She is not afraid of the snow for her +household," because by her foresight and unremitting care she has amply +provided for their comfort. + +"Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of +the land." The Syrian husband of the good old type does not buy his +wearing apparel "ready-made" at the clothier's. His garments are made +by his wife. When he sits with the elders of the community in the +market place or at the gate of the town where those dignitaries +converse on matters of public interest, and speak parables and tell +stories, his neat appearance bespeaks the diligence and loving care of +his wife. "Verily his wife is a costly jewel," is the likely remark of +such a fortunate man's admirers. How true also to the nobler instincts +of the East are these words in this poetical description of the +virtuous woman. "Her children arise up, and call {364} her blessed; +her husband also, and he praiseth her." + +The closing words of this Oriental writer who lived long before the +advent of "modern culture," reveal him as one of woman's truest friends +and wisest counselors. "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a +woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the +fruits of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." +This is the true "Order of Merit." + + + +[1] Prov. xi: 22. + +[2] Revised Version; ii: 10-14. + + + + +{367} + +PART VI + +HERE AND THERE IN THE BIBLE + + + + +HERE AND THERE IN THE BIBLE + +During the time when the earlier chapters of this book were being +published in the "Atlantic Monthly," requests came to the author from +readers of those chapters for his comments on certain Scriptural +passages which did not appear in them. Some of the passages suggested +by those interested readers, I have considered in other parts of this +publication. The other passages thus suggested, and others which +presented themselves to the author during the progress of this work, +but which for some reason or other he could not include in the +preceding chapters, will now be considered, without the attempt to make +of this portion of the book a coherent whole. + + +"And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over +all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: and I will +make thee swear by the Lord, the God of {368} heaven, and the God of +the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters +of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my +country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac."[1] + +In the East the general custom is that the "speaking concerning a +damsel" in behalf of a young man is entrusted to the most distinguished +of his male relatives. Sometimes women are included in the mission. +They approach the young woman's father and clansmen in a very dignified +and formal manner, and, if possible, secure the "promise" for their +son. It is only in rare instances that this significant undertaking is +entrusted to one who is an alien to the groom's family (_ghareeb_) and +who acts as an ambassador. Abraham was compelled to assign this duty +to his trusted servant, because the patriarch had no relatives in +Canaan. His demand from his servant to put his hand under his master's +thigh and {369} swear by the God of heaven and earth that he would do +as he was asked is characteristically Oriental. The custom of calling +upon God to "witness" a promise or a covenant between two individuals +or clans is still extant in Syria. The placing of the hand under the +thigh, however, is no longer done, but the habit of placing the hand +under the girdle (_zinnar_) for the same purpose is generally +practiced. However, it is the one who makes the request who puts his +hand under the girdle of the one from whom the favor is asked. _Eedy +tahit zinnarek_ (my hand is under your girdle) means I come to you with +the fullest confidence to do such and such a thing for me. In the +eastern parts of Syria this practice is highly valued. Putting one's +hand under another person's girdle is almost the equivalent of entering +"under his roof" for protection from a pursuing enemy. If at all +possible, the favor must be granted. I have no doubt that this custom +is a survival in a different form of that of placing the hand under the +thigh in making a solemn promise. + +{370} + +Abraham's experience upon the death of his wife with "the children of +Heth" and with "Ephron son of Zohar," presents an interesting picture +of Oriental courtesy. In the twenty-third chapter of Genesis, +beginning with the third verse, the record reads, "And Abraham stood up +from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a +stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a +burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight." The +burying-places in the East are clannish or church possessions. The +Orientals, now as in ancient times, dread "a lonely grave." It is +always expected that a worthy stranger be offered a burying-place for +his dead in a sepulcher of the community where he happens to be, as +that he should be offered the hospitality of a home. So we read, "And +the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my +lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our +sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his +sepulchre." + +{371} + +That was noble of the children of Heth; they upheld the noblest +Oriental tradition by their generous act. So also did Joseph of +Arimathea when he took Jesus' body, "wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, +and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock."[2] + +Abraham, however, who expected to be a permanent dweller in Canaan, +wished to have a burying-place of his own. So the aged patriarch said +again to the Hittites (verse 8), "If it be your mind that I should bury +my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son +of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, +which is in the end of his field." But Ephron would not be outdone in +courtesy by his kinsman; at least he would not be accused of having +omitted the nice formalities of such an occasion. "Nay, my lord," he +said to Abraham (verse 11), "hear me: the field give I thee, and the +cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my +people give I it thee: bury thy dead." + +{372} + +To me this sounds "very natural." Ephron meant simply to be courteous. +It is an Oriental custom to avoid a business transaction whenever a +question of hospitality is involved, although it is not expected that +the gift would be received as offered. The language on such occasions +is purely complimentary. An Oriental offers to give you anything you +may admire of his personal possessions, but as a rule you are not +expected to accept the offer. Ephron did not really mean that he would +give his field to Abraham without money and without price, but he would +have Abraham know that he was ready to befriend him in his sorrow, and +not to deal with him simply as a customer. The patriarch acknowledged +the kindness by bowing himself down before the Hittites, but would not +accept the field as a gift. Thereupon Ephron quoted the price of the +field to the father of Israel in a truly characteristic Syrian fashion, +by saying (verse 15), "My lord, hearken unto me: a piece of land worth +four hundred shekels of silver, what is that betwixt me and thee? +{373} bury therefore thy dead." The gentle hint accomplished its +purpose, "and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named +in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of +silver, current money with the merchant." + + +In speaking of the haste in which the Israelites were compelled to +leave Egypt, the writer of the Book of Exodus says,[3] "And the people +took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being +bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders." In the thirty-first +verse it is said that Pharaoh "called for Moses and Aaron by night, and +said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people." As a rule the +Syrian housewife kneads the dough in the evening in order that it may +"leaven" during the night and be ready for baking early the next +morning. The saying, "And the people took their dough before it was +leavened," is meant to show that they departed before the early {374} +morning hours. Apparently the Israelites had wooden kneading-troughs +such as at present the Arabs in the interior of Syria still use. The +Syrians use earthen basins.[4] What is called kneading-trough in the +Bible resembles a large chopping-bowl, but is heavier and not so +perfectly round as the chopping-bowl which is commonly used in the +American home. In this basin the bread is also kept after it is baked. +In the thirty-ninth verse it is said, "And they baked unleavened cakes +of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not +leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, +neither had they prepared for themselves any victual." The "cakes" are +known to the East as _melleh_; this is the word the Arabic Bible uses. +The _melleh_ is a round cake or loaf about fifteen inches in diameter +and about three inches thick. It is baked, unleavened, on the +_redhef_; that is, hot pebbles. The fire is built over an especially +prepared bed of small stones; when these are {375} thoroughly heated, +the _melleh_ is placed upon them and covered with the live coals until +it is baked. The shepherds in the mountains of Syria bake the _melleh_ +very often and think there is no bread like it in delicious flavor and +sustaining quality. + +It was such a "cake" which Elijah fed upon on his way to "Horeb the +mount of God." In the nineteenth chapter of the First Book of Kings, +the fourth verse, we are told that Elijah "sat down under a juniper +tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is +enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my +fathers." It is of no small significance that the legend states that +the Lord answered Elijah's prayer in terms of food. The prophet was +both tired and hungry, so when he "lay and slept under a juniper tree, +behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. +And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a +cruse of water at his head." We have no record that Elijah after he +had eaten {376} of the _redhef_ cake, which was provided, no doubt, by +the shepherds in that region for the _nasik_ (hermit), ever longed for +death. + + +In the sixth chapter of the Book of Judges, the eleventh verse, begins +the story of Gideon, the "mighty man of valour," who delivered Israel +out of the hands of the Midianites. "And there came an angel of the +Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto +Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the +wine-press, to hide it from the Midianites." + +It is a prevailing belief in the East that spirits and angelic visitors +appear especially under trees and by streams of water. Huge oaks are +often found in burying-grounds and in front of houses of worship. "Rag +trees" also may be seen in many localities in Syria. A rag tree +(_shajeret-omm-shrateet_) is a supposedly sacred or "possessed" tree, +generally an oak, on whose branches the people hang shreds of the +garments of afflicted dear ones for the {377} purpose of securing +healing power for them. When the angel visited him, Gideon, we are +told, was threshing wheat by the wine-press. The more correct +rendering of the Revised Version and of the Arabic is, "Gideon was +beating out wheat in the wine-press." As I have already stated,[5] the +grapes are squeezed by being trodden in a large stone-flagged +enclosure, which is about the size of an ordinary room. As the harvest +time comes early in the summer, long before the wine-making season, +Gideon could use the clean floor of this enclosure to beat out wheat, +with a fair chance of escaping being discovered by his oppressors, the +Midianites. He was not "threshing." He was beating with a club the +sheaves he had smuggled, before threshing time came when the Midianites +exacted their heavy toll from oppressed Israel. Threshing is done with +the threshing-board (_nourej_), which is called in the Bible the +"threshing instrument." The _nourej_ resembles a stone-drag. It +consists of two heavy pine planks joined {378} together, and is about +three feet wide, and six feet long. On its under side are cut rows of +square holes into which sharp stones are driven. It is these sharp +stones which Isaiah, refers to when he says, "Behold, I will make thee +a new sharp threshing instrument _having teeth_; thou shalt thresh the +mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff."[6] +The sheaves are scattered on the threshing-floor about a foot deep; the +thresher attaches the threshing-board to the yoke and sits on it, with +his goad in his hand. As the oxen which "tread the corn" drag the +heavy board round and round, the sharp stones cut the sheaves. In +three days the "threshing" is ready to be sifted. The finely cut +sheaves are thrown up into a heap and tossed up in the air with large +wooden pitchforks. The breeze blows the chaff and straw away, leaving +the heap of the golden grain in the center of the threshing-floor to +gladden the eyes of the grateful tiller of the soil. To this "purging" +of the threshing-floor--that {379} is, the freeing of the wheat from +the chaff and straw--Luke alludes in the third chapter, the seventeenth +verse, where he says, referring to the Christ, "Whose fan is in his +hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat +into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable." +The reference to the burning of the chaff is meant to show its +comparative worthlessness. I am not aware that the Syrian farmer +always takes the trouble to burn the chaff, which is not easy to gather +after the wind has carried it away from the threshing-floor and +scattered it over acres of ground. The coarser part of it, which falls +near the floor, is gathered and saved to be used in making the clay +mortar with which the houses are plastered, and also sun-dried brick. +We always went to the threshing-floor and secured a few bagfuls of +chaff which we used in the annual plastering of the floor of our house. + +Among the chief joys of my boyhood days were those hours when I was +permitted to sit {380} on the threshing-board and goad the oxen which +carried me round and round over the glistening, fragrant sheaves. I +often bribed the owner to grant me the precious privilege; and even now +I should in all probability prefer threshing after this manner to an +automobile ride. + + +In the seventh chapter of the Book of Judges we have a description of +the simple process by which Gideon's army, with which he attacked the +Midianites, was selected. The very honest record states that out of +thirty-two thousand men whom Gideon had first mobilized only three +hundred stood the final test. That test was very simple. In the fifth +verse it is said, "So he brought down the people unto the water: and +the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his +tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every +one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them +that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three {381} +hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees +to drink water." The three hundred constituted Gideon's army. + +Bowing down upon the knees while drinking from a stream or a bubbling +spring (_fowwar_) is the prevailing custom in Syria. This kind of +drinking is called _ghebb_; that is, the sucking in of the water with +the lips. But to strong and wary men this is disdainful. Such a +prostration betokens lassitude; besides it is not always safe for one +to be so recklessly off his guard while traveling, and to render +himself an easy prey to lurking robbers. Therefore the men of strength +and valor (_shijaan_) upon approaching the water assume a squatting +position, lift the water with the hand to the mouth and lap it quickly +with the tongue. This manner of drinking indicates strength, +nimbleness, and alertness. + + +One of the most reprehensible Syrian habits is the mocking of those +afflicted with diseases, or any sort of physical defects. I have no +{382} doubt that the afflicted of Palestine flocked to Jesus to be +healed by him as much for the purpose of escaping the shame of the +affliction as of securing bodily comfort. "There comes the one-eyed +man [_'awar_]"; "there goes the limping man [_afkah_]"; "the half dumb +[maybe one who stutters] is trying to discourse"; "the hunch-back is +trying to class himself with real men"; "the diseased head [_akkra'_] +is approaching, give way." These and other stigmatizations are very +extensively current in the East. In the story of Elisha[7] it is said, +"And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the +way, there came forth little children ["young lads," Revised Version] +out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald +head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, +and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she +bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them." + +What those children really said to Elisha {383} was, "Go up thou +_akkra'_." The _akkra'_ is one who is afflicted with a disease of the +scalp, a malady not uncommon among the poor people of Syria. Complete +baldness of the head is spoken of also as _qara'_. It was this perhaps +which the ill-mannered children noticed in the itinerant prophet. His +cursing of the lads "in the name of the Lord" was no less an Eastern +characteristic than their mocking of him. + +As to the coming of the hungry bears out of the wood and devouring or +tearing forty-two of those children, all I can say is that such +narratives, which filled my childhood days, are deemed by Syrian +parents to be the best means to teach the children not to be naughty. + + +In the opening verses of the fourth chapter of the Second Book of Kings +we have the record of Elisha's kindness to a poor widow. "Now there +cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto +Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that +thy servant did fear the Lord: and the {384} creditor is come to take +unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What +shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she +said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. +Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even +empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt +shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all +those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she +went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who +brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, +when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a +vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil +stayed." + +The belief in the miraculous increase of certain products, especially +oil and wheat, is prevalent in Syria. In almost every community +stories of such occurrences are told. Godly men and women, largely of +the past, are said to have {385} seen such wonders, and to have spoken +of them to many before their death. Such blessings are supposed to +come especially on the blessed night of Epiphany.[8] In the locality +where I was brought up, the miracle of "increase" was said to happen in +this wise: In some holy hour the cover of the jar of oil is thrown off +by some unseen power and the oil begins to flow out of the mouth of the +jar. The person who is fortunate enough to see such a sight must show +neither fear nor surprise, but in the spirit of deepest prayer he must +bring empty vessels and receive into them the increase. If he should +fear or manifest surprise, the blessed flow would immediately cease, +but if he receives the blessing in a spirit of gratitude and prayer the +flow continues until all the vessels that can be brought are filled. +But only godly men and women can see such a sight. Among the noble +traditions of our clan is the story of one godly man of the Rihbany +stock who witnessed the "miracle of increase" in his own storehouse. +The flow of {386} the blessing stopped, however, when his wife, who +went into the storehouse to see why he was there so long, came in and +threw up her hands in surprise at the strange occurrence. From +childhood I heard this enchanting story, but I never felt deeply +curious to investigate it until after I had gone to the American +mission school in my native land. Then I sought the son of the "godly +man" and begged him to tell me all that he knew about it. He assured +me of his firm conviction that the miracle did happen in their +storehouse when he was too young to see such wonders, and that his +father and mother both saw it and spoke of it on occasions. At the +time I became interested in the study of the origins of such +narratives, both those good parents were dead. + +But why allow shallow curiosity to weaken one's faith in the great +spiritual principle which underlies all such beliefs? Attach all such +pious tales to the Oriental's foundation belief that all good comes +from God, and they become intelligible and acceptable. His +intellectual {387} explanations are faint attempts to grasp the great +mystery of divine providence, to explain the ways of the Great Giver. +If you do not attempt to make an infallible creed of these spiritual +imaginings, they will serve as well as any intellectual devices to urge +upon the mind the truth that ultimately "every good and every perfect +gift cometh from above." Whether the resources were a few loaves and +fishes, or thousands of loaves and fishes, it was God who fed the "five +thousand," and it is he who feeds all the millions of his children +through the annual miracle of increase in all the fields and vineyards +of the world. + + +In his heart-stirring prayer, which begins with, "Out of the depths +have I cried unto thee, O Lord," the writer of the one hundred and +thirtieth Psalm says, "My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that +watch for the morning: I say more than they that watch for the +morning." The Revised Version's rendering, "More than watchmen wait +for the {388} morning," limits the sense of the text, and, +consequently, fails to express fully the phase of Eastern thought to +which the Psalmist alludes. I have no doubt that the ancient poet +meant that his longing for the manifestation of God was as keen as the +longing of _el-mûtesehhid_ for the dawn. This term comes from _sûhad_ +(sleeplessness). Eastern poetry is full of references to the _sûhad_, +either from fear or other intense feelings like sorrow or love. In a +land of tribal feuds and where wild beasts abound, the night is full of +terror. _El-mûtesehhid_ "wrestles" with the night, keenly observes the +stars which mark the night watches, and restlessly watches for the +advent of the day to dispell his haunting fears. The Arabian poet +exclaims, "Oh, the night's curtains which are like the waves of the sea +are fallen upon me, to afflict me with every type of anxiety. It seems +that the Pleiades [which marked the march of the night] have been +arrested in their course by being tied with hemp ropes to an adamant!" + +It is not the watchman only that is meant {389} here. He might watch +keenly for the morning in times of fear, but the reference is to all +those who watch for the morning in times of _sûhad_--a state which +Orientals readily understand. The Psalmist would have that confidence +and cheer in the presence of the Lord which come to the restless +watcher of the night with the dawning of the day; that inward calm and +peace which only the presence of God in the soul can give. + + +"Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the +Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring +thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their +shoulders."[9] + +The reference in these lines is to the custom of carrying the children +in the East. The habit of carrying the children on the shoulders is, I +believe, unknown to the West, but is universal in the East. In early +infancy the little ones are carried in the arms. (The Revised Version +{390} prefers the word "bosom.") As soon, however, as the child is old +enough to sit up alone, it is carried on the shoulder. The mother +lifts the child and places it astride her right shoulder, and +instinctively the little one clings to her head, where there is no +dainty hat to hinder. The custom is so familiar to the mothers that +often one sees a mother spinning or knitting with the child astride her +shoulder. + +As is well known, the message in the lofty strains of the later Isaiah +is the glad tidings of the restoration of scattered and oppressed +Israel. It is a prophecy born of Israel's ever-lasting hope that God +will not cast off his own forever. So the prophet assures Israel in +the name of the Lord that he will lead the alien peoples, not only to +let Israel return to its own home, but to carry the children of the +"chosen people" in their arms and on their shoulders, as do the +servants of aristocratic parents. The prophet's hope of the +restoration of his own people appears in the succeeding verse clothed +{391} in language which Oriental aristocrats love to use. It is the +phraseology of earthly glory and a narrow vision of national destiny, +which the New Testament liberates and enlarges. Says Isaiah: "And +kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing +mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their faces toward the earth, +and lick up the dust of thy feet." Our world still has many grave +faults, but it has certainly progressed since the days of Isaiah. + + +In the third chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, the eleventh verse, John +the Baptist, in paying his tribute to the coming Messiah, says: "I +indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after +me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall +baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." The same thought is +expressed in the somewhat different presentation in the third chapter +and sixteenth verse of Luke's Gospel, where it is said, "the latchet of +whose shoes I am {392} not worthy to unloose." I have already stated +elsewhere that to the Syrians the feet are ceremonially unclean; +therefore it is very improper for one to mention the feet or the shoes +in conversation, without first making ample apology by saying to his +hearer, _Ajell Allah shanak_ (may God elevate your dignity); that is, +above what is about to be mentioned. In the presence of an aristocrat, +however, no apology is sufficient to atone for the mention of such an +unclean object as the shoes. Therefore, when one says to another, in +pleading for a favor, "I would carry your shoes, or bow at your feet," +he sinks to the lowest depth of humility. So when some of those who +came to him to be baptized thought that John the Baptist was the +Promised One of Israel, he humbled himself in Oriental fashion by +saying that he was not worthy to carry the shoes of the coming +Deliverer, or even to touch the latchet with which those shoes were +tied to the ankles. In this last expression, the sandals, rather than +the shoes, are meant. + +{393} + +The three evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, speak of the woman who +was healed from a long illness by touching the hem or border of Jesus' +garment. Luke's version is found in the eighth chapter, and the +forty-third verse, and is as follows: "And a woman, having an issue of +blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, +neither could be healed of any, came behind him, and touched the border +of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus +said, Who touched me? ... Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that +virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, +she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him +before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she +was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good +comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." + +The belief that holy persons and holy things impart divine power to +those who trustfully and reverently touch them is not exclusively an +{394} Oriental possession. The Orientals, however, have always +believed this doctrine. The woman mentioned in the Gospel followed a +custom which no doubt antedated her own time by many centuries. The +practice is followed by Orientals of all shades of religious opinion. +As a son and adherent of the Greek Orthodox Church in my youth, I +always considered it a great privilege to touch the hem of the priest's +garment as he passed through the congregation, elevating the Host. To +me the act was a means of spiritual reinforcement. I never would pass +the church building without pressing my lips to the door or to the +cornerstone of the sanctuary. Virtue, as I believed, came out of those +sacred objects into me. The interpretation of the details of such +records as the passage which is before us can be easily pressed too +far. Such Gospel pictures should be sought for the general impression +they make upon the mind, and not subjected to minute critical analysis +as the reports of a scientific expedition. Jesus' reported saying, +"for I perceive that virtue is {395} gone out of me," refers perhaps to +the belief that holy persons impart virtue or spiritual power to those +who come in touch with them. Whatever really happened in Palestine +nineteen hundred years ago, this belief is well founded. Whomsoever +and whatsoever we love and reverence becomes to us a source of power. +Many indifferent and merely curious persons touched Jesus, but nothing +happened; for the _garment_ possesses no healing virtues. But when an +afflicted woman came to him with dearest hope and deepest prayer, the +mere touch of his person reinforced her strength and revived her +spirits. The Master indicated plainly that the healing power was not +in the garment when he said to the woman, "Daughter, be of good +comfort: _thy faith_ hath made thee whole; go in peace." + + +In the story of the crucifixion[10] we read: "And as they led him away, +they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, +and on him they laid the cross, that {396} he might bear it after +Jesus. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, +which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus, turning unto them, +said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, +and for your children.... For if they do these things in a green tree, +what shall be done in the dry?" + +The saying with which the passage ends is current in Oriental speech in +various forms. Of one who is greedy and voracious it is said (when the +thing he eats is not very tempting), "If his tooth works so effectively +in the bitter, what would it do in the sweet?" And, reversing the +Scriptural saying, "If the dry is so palatable to him, how much more +must the green be!" Again, "If one is not good to those that are his +kin, what must he be to strangers?"--and so forth. + +Jesus' saying to the women who followed him, "Daughters of Jerusalem, +weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and your children," +facilitates the understanding of the closing sentence {397} of the +passage. He admonishes them not to lament the state of one who, though +condemned, is utterly innocent, but the state of those who are so hard +of heart, so devoid of human sympathy as to condemn one so innocent. +With amazement he exclaims, "For if they do these things in a green +tree, what shall be done in the dry?" If they deal so cruelly with a +good and innocent person, what must be their attitude toward a real +culprit. + + +The mention in the Gospel of the crowing of the cock recalls to my mind +a very familiar Oriental expression. The shrill sound of the wakeful +fowl always served us in the night as a "striking clock." We always +believed that the cock crew three times in the night, and thus marked +the night watches. The first crowing is at about nine o'clock, the +second at midnight, and the third about three in the morning. The +common people of Syria house the chickens in a small enclosure which is +built, generally, immediately under the floor of the house. It has one +{398} small opening on the outside, which is closed at night with a +stone, and another opening on the inside, through which the housewife +reaches for the eggs. So "the evening crow," "the midnight crow," and +the "dawn crow" can be very conveniently heard by members of the +household. And how often, while enjoying a sociable evening with our +friends at one of those humble but joyous homes, we were startled by +the crowing of the cock, and said, "Whew! it is _nissleil_ [midnight]." +The hospitable host would try to trick us into staying longer by +assuring us that it was the evening and not the midnight crow. + +Now some "enlightened" critics assert that "in fact the cock crows at +any hour of the night." Well, the critics are welcome to their +"enlightenment." For us Syrians of the unsophisticated type the cock +crowed only three times, just as I have stated, and thus marked for us +the four divisions of the night. + +The New Testament makes definite reference to the "evening crow" and +the "dawn {399} crow." As a rule the cock crows three times (separated +by short intervals) at the end of each watch of the night. We are told +that after the Last Supper, the Master and his disciples "went out into +the mount of Olives," where Jesus said to them, "All ye shall be +offended because of me this night.... But Peter said unto him, +Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto +him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before +the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice."[11] This refers to +the "evening crow," for the entire scene falls in the early evening. +And so it was that when Peter did deny his Master in most earnest +terms, "he went out into the porch; and the cock crew."[12] Again, +while Peter was still being questioned as to whether he was not one of +Jesus' followers, "he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not +this man of whom ye speak. And the second time the cock crew."[13] + +{400} + +The other passage[14] refers to the "dawn crow." "Watch ye, therefore: +for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at +midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning." + + +In speaking of the speedy and mysterious "coming of the Son of man," in +the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, Jesus alludes to the grinding at +the handmill--a very common Syrian custom. The portentous saying in +the forty-first verse is: "Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the +one shall be taken, and the other left." + +The _jaroosh_ (handmill, literally, "grinder") has always been +considered a necessary household article in Syria.[15] Our family +possessed one, which, however, was shared by the families of my two +uncles. The _jaroosh_ consists of two round stones--an upper and a +nether--from eighteen to twenty inches in diameter, and about four +inches in thickness. It is a portable {401} article. The two stones +are held together by a wooden pin which is securely fastened in the +center of the nether stone, and passes through a funnel-shaped hole in +the center of the upper stone. A wooden handle is inserted near the +outer edge of the upper stone. As a rule a strong woman can grind a +small quantity of wheat at this mill alone. But as coöperation tends +to convert drudgery into pleasant work, the women grind in pairs. The +mill is placed on a cloth--something like a bed-sheet--or on a +sheepskin. The two women sit on the floor, exactly opposite, and of +necessity close to each other, with the mill between them. They both +grasp the wooden handle and turn the upper stone with the right hand, +while they feed the mill through the funnel-shaped hole with the left +hand. The circular shower of coarse flour falls from between the +stones onto the cloth or skin below. + +At present the handmill is rarely used in Syria for grinding wheat into +flour, which is now ground by the regular old-fashioned, {402} +waterwheel flouring mills. The _jaroosh_ is used in the Lebanon +districts and in the interior of Syria for crushing wheat into +_bûrghûl_. The wheat is first boiled and then thoroughly dried in the +sun on the housetop. Just before it is poured into the mill the wheat +is dampened with cold water, so that while it is being crushed it is +also hulled. The _bûrghûl_ is one of the main articles of food among +the common people; it is especially used for making the famous dish, +_kibbey_.[16] The whole season's supply of a family is ground in one +or two evenings. The occasion is usually a very gay one. The +neighbors gather around the mill, the men help in the grinding, and the +telling of stories and singing of songs make of what is ordinarily a +hard task a joyous festival. + +The foregoing makes evident the meaning of the passage as used by the +evangelist. "The coming of the Son of man," that great consummation of +all things in the advent of the Kingdom, which the faithful disciples +of Christ {403} hoped and prayed for, was to be so swift and so +mysterious that only the fully awake and watchful could have a share, +in it. No one could tell who would be included in the Family Kingdom. +For even those, who in this world sat as close together as "two women +grinding at the mill," were not certain of being taken together. +"Watch, therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."[17] +It is vain to deny that this watchfulness, this expectation of the +sudden and mysterious coming of the Kingdom, has been a mighty factor +in the development of the Christian Church. + + +Among my correspondents who have been readers of my articles in the +"Atlantic Monthly," are those who are interested to know the attitude +of the Syrian Christians in general toward the creeds and dogmas of the +Church as they are known and accepted in the West, and also whether I +would not enlarge the scope of this publication so as to include {404} +in it a discussion of certain doctrines which claim to have firm +Scriptural basis. + +As may be very readily seen, these questions involve the study of a +complexity of subjects which the original plan of this book was never +intended to compass. Again the author feels that it would be +inexcusable boldness on his part to enter a field of thought which +noted scholars and historians have thoroughly explored, and to pretend +to discuss issues which only such scholars have a right to discuss. +However, in compliance with the requests of those interested readers I +will contribute my mite to the vast literature of a very old subject. + +As is well known to church historians, the Syrian Christians of the +Semitic stock have had very little to do with the development of the +"creeds of Christendom." Theological organization has been as foreign +to the minds of the Eastern Christians as political organization. They +have always been worshippers rather than theologians, believers rather +than systematic {405} thinkers. Their religious thinking has never +been brought by them into logical unity, nor their mysticism into full +metaphysical development. + +The Oriental has been a lender in religion and a borrower in theology. +The course of religion ran from the East to the West, the course of +theology ran from the West to the East. Had it been left to itself, it +is certain that the Christianity of Palestine never would have built up +such a massive structure of doctrine as the Athanasian Creed. Wherever +the great doctrinal statements of our religion may have +originated,--whether in Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, or +Alexandria,--their essential parts were Greek and Roman, and not +Oriental. + +The Christian Church had its simple origin with a group of Jewish +followers of Jesus Christ in Palestine, but it had its marvelous +expansion and organization among the "Gentiles." In Palestine the +faith of the Church may be said to have been instinctive, but {406} +among the Gentiles and under Greek and Roman influences that faith +became highly reflective. Faith in God the Father, and in his Son (by +anointing) Jesus Christ, and love of the brethren, constituted the +simple creed of the Palestinian Christians. + +It is not within my power, nor do I deem it necessary here, to trace +the steps by which this simple faith was transformed into a ponderous, +learned, and authoritative creed, whose essentials were finally fixed +in the early years of the fourth century. It is sufficient for the +purpose of this sketch to state that when the great doctrines which +were wrought by the Ecumenical Councils were thus fixed, sealed with an +"anathema," and backed up by imperial and ecclesiastical power, the +churches which refused to accept them had but a very slender chance to +live. The intention of those beneficent ecclesiastics and politicians +who controlled the actions of the Councils was to do away with the +schismatic spirit in the Church and to have "one flock and one +shepherd." + +{407} + +Thus it may be readily realized that it was not very long after the +crucifixion when the subtle mentality of the Greek and the organizing +genius of the Roman began to assume control of the thought and practice +of the Syrian churches. Excommunication, exile, and martyrdom swept +away in course of time all obstacles out of the way of the +"authoritative creed"; simple faith in Christ was forced to be +hospitable to intricate scholastic statements of doctrine, and "love of +the brethren" gave way, as a bond of union, to ecclesiastical +authority. When the ambitious ecclesiastics of Rome and Constantinople +finally brought about the great schism which divided Christendom into +two bodies, known as the Eastern and the Western, or the Greek and the +Latin churches, the churches of Syria aligned themselves with either +the one or the other. The creeds became to those churches party +slogans and means of division and hatred, and thus Christ was +"divided," and those who claimed to be his followers, in both the +Orient and the Occident, {408} took up the cry, "I am of Paul; and I of +Apollos; and I of Cephas." So the doctrines of the Syrian churches of +every name are essentially those of the two great Roman Catholic and +Greek Orthodox communions. + + +In answer to the second question I will say that I have refrained from +doctrinal discussion in the present work; first, because so many of the +speculative doctrines of Christendom have very little to do with the +New Testament; second, because the central purpose of this publication +is simply and purely to give the Oriental background of certain +Scriptural passages, whose correct understanding depends upon knowledge +of their original environment. I have deemed it unnecessary even to +follow in the footsteps of the "higher critics" and inquire into the +"genuineness" and "non-genuineness" of some of those passages. For the +purpose of this work every Scriptural passage which reflects a phase of +Eastern thought and life is "genuine." The aim of the author is {409} +that this book shall be as free from labored arguments as the simple +statements of the Gospel themselves. + +There is perhaps no phase of human thought which the Christian churches +have not used in the advancement of their divisive creeds and pet +speculative doctrines. There is an untold number of doctrinal +documents which are now lying in the libraries of the world as +repositories of moth and dust. They are of the earth earthy. The idea +of universal brotherhood and human solidarity which is agitating the +minds of men of all races and countries at the present time, is leading +the Christian bodies back to the simple faith of Jesus of Nazareth, and +causing them to heap contempt upon their technical subtleties and +forced uniformities of intellectual belief. At least Protestantism is +beginning to be sympathetically aware of its own precious heritage, and +to feel the urging of its own genius. Free and coöperative +individualism is winning signal victories over the unnatural authority +of creed in the Protestant {410} bodies, and the bondage of the letter +is giving way to the freedom of the spirit. The Gospel of Christ is +triumphing over the theories _about_ Christ, and spiritual +self-fulfillment by becoming Christ-like is crowding out of existence +all theories of magical salvation. The creed of the theologians +consists of many "articles"; the creed of Christ only of two,--"Love +the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." + +I prefer Christ's creed. + + + + +THE END + + + +[1] Gen. xxiv: 2-4. + +[2] Matt. xxvii: 59, 60. + +[3] Exod. xii: 34. + +[4] See page 198. + +[5] See page 283. + +[6] Is. xli: 15. Revised Version. + +[7] 2 Kings 11: 23-24. + +[8] See my autobiography, _A Far Journey_, page 94. + +[9] Is. xlix: 22. + +[10] Luke xxiii: 26-31. + +[11] Mark xiv: 27-30. + +[12] Mark xiv: 68. + +[13] Mark xiv: 71, 72. + +[14] Mark xiii: 35. + +[15] See Deut. xxiv: 6. + +[16] See page 233. + +[17] Matt. xxiv: 42. + + + + +{413} + +INDEX + + +Admittance of an infant into the Church, 37-40. + +Agricultural life, in America, 285; in Syria, 286-94. + +_'Aish_, the sacred, 194. + +American and Syrian modes of thought, contrast between, 126, 127. + +American farmer, lack of romance in his life, 285. + +American life, interpretation of, 9, 10. + +American mind, attitude toward conception and birth, 22. + +American women, highly regarded by men, 314; cultivation and privileges +of, 316. + +American youth, seem to be indifferent to filial obedience, 52, 53. + +Angels as heavenly messengers, 12. + +Anglo-Saxon, the, and the Oriental, as they appear to each other, 57; +the reserve of, 72, 73; uses deeds rather than words in his quarrels, +95; curtness of, 108; has high regard for woman, 313. + +Anointing the feet, 226-28. + +Arabic, the language of the Syrians, 175; poetry, 354. + +Athanasian Creed, 405. + +Atheism unknown among the Orientals, 84, 85. + +Athens, 264. + + + +Baking of bread in Syria, 200-02. + +Baldness, 383. + +Baptism, 38, 221. + +Barrenness, 20. + +Basins for kneading, 198, 374. + +Beard, swearing by the, 172, 173; the sacredness of the, among +Orientals, 172. + +Bears, 382, 383. + +Bed, letting down the, 270-72; taking up the, 272. + +Bethlehem, star of, 31, 36, 37, 41. + +Betrothals, 221. + +Bible, the, cast in Oriental moulds of thought, 4; reads like a letter +from Syria, 5, 6; characteristics of, 5, 6; as a repository of divine +revelation, knows no geographical limits, 6; as literature, an imported +article in the Western world, 7; misunderstood through misunderstanding +of Syrian life, 11; critics of, 41, 119, 128; inaccuracy of statement +in, 110-14; metaphors and exaggerations of, 119-25; many passages of, +to be judged by what they mean rather than by what they say, 139; the +positiveness of speech of, 184, 188; prominent mention of Mary and +Martha as Jesus' entertainers in, 207, 335; the words _home_ and +_house_ in the translation of, 243; purpose of St. John's Gospel, +343-45. + +_Passages cited or expounded_: + +Acts x, p. 277-79; xvi: 15, p. 210; xvii: 17, p. 264; xviii: 18, p. 17; +xxi: 10-13, p. 116; xxi: 23, p. 18; xxvi: 8, p. 21. + +Amos iii: 12, p. 308; iv: 5, p. 98; vi: 3-4, p. 229. + +1 Cor. vii: 4, 14, p. 326; vii: 26, p. 184; xi: 5, p. 332; xi: 7-8, p. +329; xiv: 34, p. 333. + +2 Cor. ix: 6, p. 83; xi: 26-27, p. 246. + +Deut. xxi: 15-17, p. 100; xxi: 18-21, p. 336; xxiii: 25, p. 291; xxiv: +6, p. 400; xxv: 7, p. 98; xxv: 15, p. 100; xxviii, 15, 42, p. 294; +xxviii: 62, p. 32; xxxii: 39, p. 91. + +Eccles. vii: 6, p. 290. + +Ephes. v: 22-23, p. 328; v: 25-29, p. 326. + +Exod. x: 40, p. 293; xii: 3, 6, p. 233; xii: 11, p. 254; xii: 34, p. +373; xii: 39, p. 374. + +Ezek. xvi: 1-4, p. 30; xxxiv: 11-13, 16, p. 304. + +Gal. iii: 28, p. 325; vi: 7, p. 83. + +Gen. i: 27, p. 330; iii, p. 54; iv: 23, p. 138; xv: 5, p. 33; xviii: +2-3, 5, p. 206; xviii: 16, p. 221; xxi: 23, p. 167; xxii: 16, p. 169; +xxiii: 3-6, p. 370; xxiii: 8-9, p. 371; xxiii: 11, p. 371; xxiii: +15-16, p. 372; xxiv: 2-4, pp. 367, 368; xxiv: 10-11, p. 260; xxiv: +30-33, p. 192; xxiv: 53-54, pp. 192, 193; xxiv: 60, p. 23; xxvii: +28-29, p. 338; xxvii: 38, p. 339; xxx: 1, p. 23; xxxi: 53, p. 171; +xlix: 25, p. 346. + +Hebr. vi: 13, p. 170. + +Is. iv: 6, p. 241; xxxviii: 12, p. 296; xl: 11, p. 306; xli: 15, p. +378; xlvii: 13-14, p. 36; xlix: 22-23, pp. 389-91; lviii: 11, p. 248; +lxii: 8, p. 170; lxiii: 2, p. 283. + +Jerem. lxviii: 38, p. 275. + +Job xiii: 15, p. 180; xxi: 32, p. 213; xxiv: 11, p. 284, xxix: 1-6, p. +141; xxxi: 32; p. 213. + +John i: 47-48, p. 282; ii: 4, p. 340; ii: 13-16, pp. 134, 135; iv: 21, +23, p. 342; x: 1-4, pp. 297-99; x: 1-16, p. 295; x: 11, p. 304; xii: 2, +p. 224; xii: 3, p. 226; xiii: 23, p. 65; xiii: 26, p. 68; xiii: 28-29, +p. 69; xv: 5, p. 280; xv: 9, 12, p. 102; xix: 25-26, p. 345; xxi: +15-16, p. 183. + +Joshua ix: 12, p. 251. + +Judges vi: 11, p. 376; vi: 36-40, pp. 181, 182; vii: 5-6, p. 380; vii: +12, p. 260; viii: 7, p. 290; xii: 5-6, p. 176; xix: 5-10, pp. 219-21; +xix: 14-21, pp. 211, 212. + +1 Kings viii: 37, p. 292; xix: 4, p. 375; xix: 19, p. 287. + +2 Kings 11: 23-24, p. 382; iv: 1-6, pp. 383, 384; iv: 22, 24-25, p. 14. + +Lament. v: 10, p. 202. + +Lev. xii: 2-4, p. 385; xxv: 35, p. 123; xxvi: 26, p. 202. + +Luke i: 28, 31, p. 20; ii: 8-14, pp. 42, 43; ii: 12, 15-16, p. 28; ii: +22, p. 37: ii: 29, p. 39; ii: 41, p. 48; ii: 44, p. 50; ii: 51, p. 51; +iii: 16, p. 391; iii: 17, p. 379; iv: 18, p. 186; v: 19, pp. 270-71; +vi: 1-11, p. 291; vi: 38, p. 267; vii: 36-38, p. 226; viii: 33, p. 158; +vii: 43-48, p. 393; ix: 62, p. 288; x: 4; p. 255; xi: 5-7, p. 214; xi: +8-9, p. 217; xi: 11, 23, 27, p. 346; xii: 13-15, p. 156; xiii: 12, p. +342; xiv: 16-23, p. 210; xv: 8-16, pp. 152-57; xv: 20-23, pp. 206, 207; +xviii: 2-5, p. 179; xxii: 15, p. 74; xxii: 19, p. 65; xxii: 44, p. 75; +xxiii: 26-31, p. 395. + +Mal. iv: 1, p. 202. + +Mark 1: 32-33, p. 110; ii: 3-4, p. 270; iii: 20, p. 222; v: 13, p. 158; +vi: 31, p. 223; viii: 15, p. 152; x: 17-21, p. 101; x: 24, p. 132; xii: +38, pp. 263, 264; xiii: 35, p. 400; xiv: 17-20, p. 60; xiv: 23, p. 63; +xiv: 27-30, 68, 71-72, p. 399; xiv: 53, 66-71, p. 177. + +Matt. i: 20-21, p. 16; ii: 11, p. 27; iii: 7-9, pp. 117, 118; iii: 11, +p. 391; v, p. 120; v: 29-30, p. 119; v: 34-37, pp. 173, 174; v: 39-41, +p. 121; v: 42, p. 122; v: 43-45, p. 97; vii: 2, p. 265; viii: 32, p. +158; x: 9-10, p. 249; x: 12-13, p. 87; x: 16, 22, 26-27, p. 274; xi: +16-17, p. 264; xiii: 24-30, pp. 146-48, 288; xiii: 33-35, pp. 149, 199; +xiii: 34, p. 145; xiii: 44, p. 161; xv: 28, p. 342; xvi: 6, p. 152; +xvi: 13, p. 112; xvi: 21-23, p. 134; xvi: 25-26, p. 112; xvii: 1, p. +112; xvii: 19, p. 128; xviii: 3, p. 187; xviii: 10, p. 89; xviii: +12-14, pp. 308, 309; xviii: 15-17, pp. 135, 136, 139; xviii: 21-22, p. +133; xviii: 23-35, pp. 136, 137; xix: 24, p. 130; xx: 9, p. 277 n.; +xxiii: 24, p. 133; xxiv: 17, p. 269; xxiv: 41, p. 400; xxiv: 42, p. +403; xxvi: 7, 20, p. 224; xxvi: 21, p. 59; xxvi: 23, p. 58; xxvi: 27, +29, p. 237; xxvi: 37-39, p. 76; xxvi: 49, p. 71; xxvi: 73, p. 177; +xxvii: 59-60, p. 371; xxviii: 20, p. 65. + +Mic. iv: 4, p. 282. + +Prov. x: 7, p. 89; xi: 22, p. 351; xii: 4, p. 351; xxi: 9, p. 273; +xxvii: 22, p. 234; xxxi: 10-31, pp. 355-57; xxxvii: 22, p. 234. + +Psalms v: 7, p. 38; viii: 3-4, p. 31; xviii: 2-3, p. 245; xix, p. 36; +xix: 1-2, p. 32; xix: 9, 11, p. 86; xx: 22, p. 39; xxiii, pp. 73, 295; +xxiii: 1, p. 297; xxiii: 3, pp. 302, 303; xxiii: 4, pp. 305, 309; xli: +9, p. 193; xliv: 14, p. 141; xlvi: 1-2, p. 245; li, p. 73; lxi: 3, p. +241; lxxx: 8-9, 14-15, p. 281; cix: 8-13, pp. 92, 93; cxix: 71-72, p. +245; cxxviii: 3, p. 281; cxxix: 5-8, p. 88; cxxx: 1, 6, p. 387; cxxxix: +1-6, p. 82; cxlv: 16, p. 195; cxlvii: 4-5, p. 33. + +Rom. vi: 13, p. 120; ix: 1, p. 168; ix: 13, p. 99; xii: 1, p. 168; xii: +19, p. 91. + +Ruth ii: 4, p. 88. + +1 Sam. xx: 27-29, p. 235. + +2 Sam. x: 4-5, p. 172. + +Sol. ii: 10-14, pp. 352, 353; iv: 1-3, p. 353; vii: 1-9, p. 353. + +1 Thess. iii: 6, p. 64. + +Zeph. i: 4-5, p. 276. + +Birth, of Jesus, 12; a miracle, 20; attitude of Syrian mind toward, +20-25; attitude of American mind toward, 22, 24; of man-child, 27-29; +customs at, 28. _See_ Nativity. + +Blood Covenant, the, 160. + +Books on the East, 10. + +Borrowing and lending, 122-24, 215. + +_Bosom_, in the translation of the Bible, 267. + +Bread, unleavened, 150; not to be eaten until errand is known, 191, +192; considered to possess mystic sacred significance, 193; the +"life-giver, " 194; offering of, 194; of life, Christ, 194; "our daily +bread, " 196, 197; the Oriental's attitude toward, is religious, 197; +the process of mixing, 198-200; the process of baking, 200-02; bought +by weight, 203; always eaten with a sense of sacredness, 237, 238; +carried on a journey, 250, 251; does not mould in Syria, 251. + +Bread and salt, 191-95, 238. + +_Bûrghûl_, an article of food, 402. + +Burning pit, the, 201. + +Burying-places in the East, 370, 371. + +"Business success, " 53. + + + +Cakes of the Bible, 374-76. + +Cameleers, 260-63, 265. + +Camels, caravans of, 259, 260; the watering of, 261, 262; riding on, +262, 263. + +Caravans, 259, 260. + +Carnivals, 233. + +Carob tree, the, 158, 159. + +Carrying children on the shoulder, 389-91. + +Chaff, 379. + +Childlessness, evidence of divine disfavor, 20, 23. + +Children, a heritage from the Lord, 23, 24; presentation of, at the +temple, 37; owe obedience to both mother and father, 335, 336; carrying +on the shoulder, 389-91. + +Christ. _See_ Jesus. + +Christian Church. _See_ Church. + +Christians, oaths of, 170, 171; Syrian, of the Semitic stock, have had +little to do with the development of creeds, 404; creed of the +Palestinian, 406. + +Christmas, 41. + +Christmas carol, 41, 45. + +Church, spoken of as the vine which God has planted, 281; the origin +and the expansion and organization of, 405; division of, 407, 408. + +Churches, of Syria, 407, 408; the Greek and the Latin, 407; the Roman +Catholic and the Greek Orthodox, 408. + +Clarke, Adam, and Jesus pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 49; on the parable of +the treasure hid in the field, 161, 162. + +Clocks in Syria, 277 n. + +Clothing made at home in Syria, 363. + +_Coat_ and _cloak_, the words, 121, 253. + +Cock crow, 397-99. + +Coin, lost, parable of the, 152-55. + +Coming of the Son of man, the, 400-03. + +Conception, attitude of the Syrian mind toward, 20-25; attitude of the +American mind toward, 23, 24. + +Constantinople, 405, 407. + +Corruption, fermentation considered to be, 151, 152. + +Couches, reclining on, 227-30; sleeping on, 271, 272. + +Courtesy, example of Oriental, 370-73. + +Creed-makers of Christendom, 128. + +Creeds, 403, 404, 407, 409, 410. + +Crier from the housetop, 273, 274. + +Critics, of the Bible, 41, 119, 128; of Paul and Christianity, 328; +higher, 408. + +Crowds, 222-24. + +Crowing of the cock, 397-99. + +Crucifixion, the story of the, 395-97. + +Culture gives strength and symmetry to religious thought, 85. + +Curses. _See_ Imprecations. + +Curtness of the Anglo-Saxon, 108. + + + +Da Vinci, Leonardo, his painting of The Last Supper, 58, 59, 67. + +Dependence of the Oriental, 72, 73. + +Dialects of the Oriental's speech, 175-78. + +"Dipping in the dish, " 58, 60, 61. + +Disobedience, 54, 335, 336. + +Distaff, the, 359, 360. + +Dough, 373. + +Drawing water, 261. + +_Drink_, the word as used in the Bible, 193 n. + +Drinking, at feasts, 61-63, 236, 237; manner of, 380, 381. + + + +Eating, 58-61, 222-24. + +Ecumenical Councils, 406. + +Eleventh hour, the, 277 n. + +Elijah, 375. + +Elisha, the story of, 382, 383; his kindness to a poor widow, 383, 384. + +Enemies, love of. _See_ Love. + +Evolution, not altogether compulsory, 242. + +Exaggeration, Oriental fondness for, 118. + +"Eye-of-the-needle" passage, the, 130-32. + + + +Faith, of the Oriental, 21; Syrian idealization of, 129; early +Palestinian, 406. + +Familiar friend, the, 193. + +Family, spoken of as a vine, 281. + +Farmer, the American, 285; the Syrian, 286-94. + +Fasting, 15. + +Feasts, fraternal, in Syria, 56-69, 221; family, 231-38. + +Fecundity, a gift of the Lord, 20; leaven a symbol of, 150. + +Feet, washing and anointing, 226-28; unclean in a ceremonial sense, +228, 292. + +Fermentation, considered to be corruption, 151, 152. + +Fig tree, and the vine, the Oriental's chief joys, 280; sitting under, +281, 282. + +Filial obedience, 51-55, 335, 336. + +Flocks of sheep and goats, and their folds, 295, 296; returning, 300; +the shepherd's guidance of, 301, 302; the gathering of the, 303. + +Folds, sheep and goat, 295-98. + +Forgiveness, 133-39. + +Forty days, the purification period, 38. + + + +Garment, cure effected by touch of, 393-95. + +Gathering of the flock, the, 303. + +Gentiles, the, 405, 406. + +Gesticulation of the Oriental, 115-17. + +Gethsemane, the kiss in, 70, 74, 76. + +_Ghebb_ (sucking of the water with the lips), 381. + +Gideon, the story of, 376, 377; his army, 380, 381. + +Girdle, the Syrian, 252, 253; placing the hand under, 369. + +Goad, the Syrian, 286, 288, 378. + +Goatfolds, 295-98. + +Goats, the calling of, by name, 299. + +God, called shelter and refuge, 241, 244, 245; the Oriental's belief +that all good comes from, 386, 387. + +Good pleasure, 335-39. + +Gospel. _See_ Bible. + +Gracious woman, a, 348-64. + +Grain, measuring, 265-67; threshing, 377-80. + +Greeks, their custom of reclining at meals, 225. + +Green tree, 396, 397. + +Grinding wheat, 400-03. + +Guest, at the feast, 62; sudden arrival of, 213-16; delaying the +departing, 218-21; departure of, 221; invited in families, 221, 222; +sit on the floor, 222; and _zad_, 250. + + + +Hair, cutting the, release from vow, 17, 18. + +Handmill, 400-03. + +_Harem_, the, 333, 334. + +_Hate_, the word, in the Arabic tongue, 99; in the Bible, 99, 100. + +Hatred and love, 104-06. + +Hidden treasures, 161-66. + +Holidays, 221. + +Home, no word for, among the Syrians, 241, 243; the word in the +translation of the Bible, 243. + +Honoring father and mother, 335. + +Horn, symbol of strength, 245 n. + +Hospitality, of Orientals, 205; extended by the man, not the woman, +205-07, 334, 335; Syrian fashion of extending, 208-13; compulsion to +accept, 210, 214; Syrian rules of, 213-21; to the traveler, 249, 250. + +Host, the man, not the woman, acts as, 205-07, 334, 335; the urging of +hospitality by, 208-21; bringing the guest on the way, 221; and _zad_, +250. + +_House_, Syrian use of the word, 241-44; the word in the translation of +the Bible, 243; the word precious to the Oriental, 244. + +House, the Syrian, 242, 269. + +Housetop, the shouting of wares from, 269, 273; easily reached, 269, +270; making an opening in, 270-72; the construction of, 271; sleeping +on, 272; to dwell on, 273; calling from, 273, 274; used for household +purposes, 275, 402; praying on, 275-79. + +_Hûrmat_, term for _wife_, 333; term for _woman_, 342. + +Husband and wife, according to St. Paul, 326-29, 358. + +Husks, 158. + +Hyenas, 307, 308. + + + +Imploring, Oriental habit of, 178-81, 217. + +Importunity, Oriental habit of, 178-81, 217. + +Imprecations, 88, 91-95, 146. _See_ Swearing. + +Impressions _vs._ literal accuracy, 115-39. + +Inaccuracy, intellectual, of the Oriental, 108-14. + +Increase, the miracle of, 384-87. + +Indefiniteness, effect produced by, 138, 139. + +Individualism, 409. + +Infant, the, in Syria, 28, 29; admittance of, into the church, 37-40. + +Ingersoll, Robert, 128. + +Inheritances, division of, 155, 156. + +Interpretation, sympathetic, a duty of present-day culture, 19. + +Isaiah, 36. + + + +_Jaroosh_ (handmill), 400-02. + +Jerusalem, arraignment of, 30; Jesus goes on pilgrimage to, 47-51. + +Jesus Christ, a man without a country, 3; belongs to all races and all +ages, 3; as regards his modes of thought and life and his method of +teaching, was a Syrian of the Syrians, 4; never out of Palestine, 4; +story of his birth, 12; goes on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 47-51; filial +obedience of, 51-55; closing scenes in his personal career, 56, 72; his +command to his countrymen to love their enemies, 96; and the +money-lenders, 123-25; tendency of, to use parables, 146; his command +in regard to swearing, 173, 174; his words to Peter, 183; entertained +by Mary and Martha, 207, 335; the anointing of his feet, 226-28; +sending his disciples forth, 249; his injunction, "Salute no man by the +way, " 255, 257; his first meeting with Nathaniel, 282; on dishonoring +the sacred day, 291, 292; and his mother, 340-45; his conversation with +the Samaritan woman, 342; as the incarnation of the Logos, 343-45; cure +effected by the hem of his garment, 393-95; the crucifixion of, 395-97; +conversation of, with Peter after the Last Supper, 399; the Gospel of +Christ is triumphing over the theories about, 410; his creed, 410. + +John, "leaning on Jesus' bosom, " 65-67. + +John the Baptist, 391, 392. + +Joseph, story of, 16. + +Journeys. _See_ Traveling. + +Judas, the treachery of, 67-71. + +Judicial contests, swearing in, 169. + + + +_Keyyal_ (measurer), 265, 266. + +_Kherrûb_ (carob), 158, 159. + +_Kibbey_, a dish of meat and crushed wheat, 233, 234, 402. + +Killing of the sheep, the, 231-33. + +Kiss, Judas's, 70, 71. + +Kissing, among men, a Syrian custom, 70, 71; of the hands of parents, +335. + +Kneading done in the evening, 373. + +Kneading-day, 198-200. + +Kneading-troughs, 374. + +_Kummer_ (girdle), 252, 253. + + + +Lambs, newly born, carried by shepherd, 306, 307. + +Language, daily, of the Syrian, is Biblical, 87-90; abstinence from +"pious, " in America, 90. _See_ Speech. + +_Lap_, in the Bible, 267. + +Last Supper, the, 56-69, 74; in harmony with Syrian life, 56, 57; +painted by da Vinci in Occidental form, 58, 59; appointments of, were +Oriental, 59-69; no women at, 207, 334; conversation of Jesus and Peter +after, 399. + +Leaven, parable of the, 149, 199; held in esteem by the Syrians, 150; +the meaning _corruption_ figurative, 152; use of, in making bread, 199. + +Lent, 233-38. + +Leopards, 307. + +Levite, the story of the, 211, 212, 219-21. + +Life, of a people, cannot be studied from the outside, 7-11; to the +Oriental an inheritance, 242. + +_Like_ ("to be favorably inclined toward"), not in the Bible or the +Arabic tongue, 98; in English version of the Bible, 98. + +Literature, difficult to understand if it has not sprung from the +people's racial life, 6; the Bible as, 7. + +Loaves, parable of the three, 214-17. + +Locusts, 292-94. + +Lord's Prayer, the, 196. + +Love, of enemies, 96-106; not of our own making, 97; meaning of, in the +West, 98; meaning of, in the East, 98-102; speaks of the greatest thing +in the world, 103; and hatred, 104-06; assurances of, 182. + + + +Man-child, birth of, 27-29. + +_Marafeh_, feast of the, 233-37. + +Market-place, Syrian, and the caravan, 259; a place of sociability as +well as business, 263, 264; measuring grain in, 265-68. + +Marriage in the East, 348-50. + +Marriage wishes, 23, 24. + +Martha, not at the Last Supper, 207, 208, 335. + +Mary, not at the Last Supper, 207, 208, 335; Jesus and, 340-45. + +Maternity, pilgrimage for, 12-16. + +_Mathel_, meaning of, 140. + +Mattresses, 216. + +Measure, the generous, 265-68. + +Measurer, the, 265-68. + +Mecca, 47. + +_Melleh_ (cakes), 374, 375. + +Merchants, muleteer, 269, 273. + +Metaphor, Oriental fondness for, 118. + +_Midd_ (a wooden measure), 265, 266. + +Miracles, 20, 21, 384-87. + +Mocking of the afflicted, 381-83. + +Modesty the chief charm of the Oriental woman, 332. + +Mohammedans, pilgrimages of, 47; oaths of, 169, 170; position of women +among, 318 n., 331. + +Molasses, the method of making, in the East, 285. + +Money-lenders, 123-25. + +Mortar, 379. + +Mother, claiming same obedience as father, 335, 336; Jesus and his, +340-45; the mother's milk, 345-47. + +_Mouldy_, in translation of the Bible, 251. + +Mount Zion, meeting in the upper room on, 56-69. + +Muleteer, merchants, 269, 273. + +Mustache, swearing by, 171-73. + +Mysticism, 41, 42. + + + +Nativity, narrative of the, 37, 41-44. + +Nazarite (_nedher_), 16, 18. + +_Nezel_, 62. + + + +Oaks, 376. + +Oaths. _See_ Imprecations, Swearing. + +Obedience, filial, 51-55, 335, 336. + +Oil, miraculous increase of, 384-86. + +Open space, the, in Syrian villages, 210. + +Optimism, 45. + +Oriental, the, and the Anglo-Saxon, in each other's eyes, 57; not +afraid to "let himself go, " 57, 72; dependence of, 72, 73; craves +sympathy, 73; the vision of, 77; his manner of speech, 81; has not +achieved much in the material world, 83; his supreme choice has been +religion, 84; always conscious of God and the soul, 84; does not know +of atheism, 84, 85; has always lived in a world of spiritual mysteries, +86; his imprecations, 91-95; considers his personal enemies to be the +enemies of God, 93; more cruel in words than in deeds, 95; the +unveracious, 107-14; intellectual inaccuracy of, 108; expects to be +judged by what he means, not by what he says, 115, 125; his speech is +always illustrated, 115; fond of metaphor and exaggeration, 118; does +not maliciously misrepresent, 126; use of parables and proverbs, a +characteristic of, 140; makes no distinction between a parable and a +proverb, 140; his contempt for swineherds, 157, 158; his tendency to +swear, 167-74; the dialects of his speech, 175-88; his habit of +imploring, 178-81; the intimacy and unreserve of his speech, 181-83; +the unqualified positiveness of his speech, 183-88; bread and salt to, +191-95; his understanding of the prayer "Give us our daily bread, " +196, 197; religious attitude of, toward bread, 197; bread-making of, +198-204; hospitality of, 205-17; his table appointments, 222, 320; life +is an inheritance to, 242; the word _house_ precious to, 244; his +method of salutation, 255-58; knows no business without sociability, +263; his reputed lack of regard for women, 314, 315; gives man the +precedence, 316, 317; his manner rather than intentions toward woman at +fault, 318, 319, 322, 323; has only comparatively slight acquaintance +with the art of living, 319; his life simple and without exacting +standards, 319, 320; his social activities simple, 321; hates to be +standardized, 321; abhors formalities in the family circle, 321, 322; +the family system of, patriarchal, 323, 328; his attitude toward woman +according to St. Paul, 325-33; limits woman's social privileges because +of fear for her, 330, 331; his descriptions of feminine loveliness, +351-55; his description of the virtuous woman, 355-64; example of +courtesy of, 370-73; his belief that all good comes from God, 386, 387; +his belief in the efficacy of touch to impart divine power, 394; has +been a leader in religion and a borrower in theology, 405. _See_ +Syria, Syrians. + +Oven, of the Bible, 200-02. + +Overcautiousness in the pulpit, 186, 187. + + + +Palestine, 405. + +Parable, of the prodigal son, 142; 152, 155-61, 206, 207; to picture +demoralization beyond redemption, 143, 144; on partiality, 144, 145; of +the wheat and the tares, 146-49; of the leaven, 149, 199; of the lost +sheep, 152, 308; of the lost coin, 152-55; of the treasure hid in the +field, 161-66; of the unrighteous judge, 179, 180; of the three loaves, +214-17. + +Parables, speaking in, 140-66; and proverbs, Oriental makes no +distinction between, 140; fondness of Oriental for, 140, 141; +sociableness of, 142. + +Parents, honoring and obeying, 51-55, 335, 336. + +Passover, feast of the, 49. + +Path, the beaten, 301, 302. + +Patron saints as heavenly messengers, 12. + +Paul, his statements concerning the Syrian attitude toward women, +325-33. + +Pebble, the covering of the, 203, 204. + +Personality, secret of, an impenetrable mystery, 4. + +Pessimism, 45. + +Peter, his experience in the palace of the high priest, 177, 178; Jesus +and, 183; his vision, 276-79. + +Pilgrimage, meaning, to a Syrian, 13, 14; the _zeara_, 13-17, 47, 48; +of Jesus to Jerusalem, 47-51; still common in Syria, 47; occasion of +union among the common people, 221. + +Place of residence, the term, 243. + +Plough, the Syrian, 286-88. + +Poetry, dominant feature of Oriental speech, 108; description of +feminine loveliness in, 354, 355. + +_Porter_, in translation of the Bible, 298. + +Positiveness of speech, Oriental fondness for, 118, 132, 183-88. + +Prayer, 15; the Lord's, 196. + +Prayers of the Scriptures, due to persistence in petitioning, 180. + +Praying on the housetop, 275-79. + +Presentation of child at temple, 37. + +Prodigal son, parable of the, 142, 152, 155-61, 206, 207. + +Pronunciation of the Syrians, 176-78. + +Protestantism, 409. + +Proverbs, use of, an Oriental characteristic, 140; and parables, +Oriental makes no distinction between, 140. + +Psalms due to persistence in petitioning, 180. + +Purification period, 38. + +Purse, the, 252. + + + +_Rada'_ (cloak), 121, 122. + +_Radha_ (good pleasure), 335-39. + +Rag trees, 376. + +Rationalism, modern, 19. + +Rebecca, 23, 26. + +Reclining at meals, 224-30. + +_Refuge_, use of the term, 241, 244. + +Religion, gives life and beauty to culture, 85; the course of, has been +from the East to the West, 405. + +Religions, the three greatest, have originated in Syria, 86. + +Remembrance, 63-65. + +Reproduction, attitude of Eastern peoples toward, 25, 26; attitude of +Anglo-Saxons toward, 26. + +Retribution, 133-39. + +Revenge, idea of, lies deep in Oriental nature, 91. + +Rome, 405, 407. + +Roof. _See_ Housetop. + + + +St. John's Gospel, the purpose of, 343-45. + +Sacrament, feasts and, 56-71. + +Salt, used at births, in Syria, 28; bread and, 191-95, 238. + +"Salted, " 28-30. + +Salutation, the Oriental method of, 255-58. + +Sarah, 26. + +Scribes and pharisees, rebuke of, 132, 133. + +Scrip, the, 250. + +Scriptures, spring from soil whose life is active sympathy of religion, +85. + +Scriptures, the. _See_ Bible. + +Sermon on the Mount, the, 97. + +"Seventy times seven, " 133-39. + +Sheep, lost, parable of the, 152, 206-08; the killing of the, 231-33; +the calling of, by name, 299; the return of, at evening, 300; guided by +the shepherd, 301, 302; the gathering of, 303; their trust in their +shepherd, 307. + +Sheepfolds, 295-98. + +_Shelter_, use of the term, 241, 244. + +Shepherd, solicitous watchfulness of, 296, 297, 299; his tent and dog, +298; going before the flock, 299, 300; the guidance of, 301, 302; the +good, 304, 305; carrying newly born lambs, 306, 307; rescuing from wild +beasts, 307-09. + +Shepherd life in Syria, 295-309. + +Shoes, 228 n., 292. + +Signs and wonders, 181. + +Sin, origin of, 54. + +Sitting at meals, 58, 224-30. + +Sleeping, on couches, 271; on the housetop, 272. + +Sleeplessness, 388, 389. + +Snow in Syria, 362, 363. + +Sociability, no business without, 263. + +Sociableness of parabolic speech, 142. + +Solomon's Song, the realism of, 352-55. + +"Sop, " the, handed to Judas, 68-70. + +Sower, the Syrian, 286-94. + +Sowing in Syria, 288, 289. + +Speech, Oriental's, his manner that of a worshipper, 81, 185; his +daily, 81-90; imprecations, 90-95; intellectual inaccuracy of, 108; +always illustrated, 115; full of metaphor and exaggeration, 118-39, +372; its positiveness, 118, 132, 183-88; parabolic, 140-66; swearing, +167-74; the many and picturesque dialects of, 175-78; habit of +imploring, 178-81; its intimacy and unreserve, 181-83. + +Spindle, the Syrian, 359-61. + +Spinning in Syria, 358-61. + +Spiritual visions, little room for, in modern life, 46. + +Springs of water, 248, 249. + +Staff, the Syrian, 254. + +Star of Bethlehem, 31, 36, 37, 41. + +Star-gazers, 34, 35. + +Stars, Oriental attitude toward, 31, 32; multitude likened to, 32, 33; +of persons, 33, 34; belief that they are alive with God, 36. + +Stoves, 200. + +"Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, " 133 + +Streets, 210-13. + +Superstitions, 18-20. + +Swaddle, the, 28, 29. + +Swearing, 167-74. _See_ Imprecations. + +Swineherds, 157. + +Syria, life in, to-day, the same as in the time of Christ, 5, 6; life +of, must be studied from the inside, 8, 10, 11; pilgrimages still +common in, 47; events on Mount Zion and in Gethsemane illustrative of +life in, 56-71; belief in regard to tares in wheat-field, common in, +148; hidden treasures in, 164, 165; sitting and reclining at meals in, +224-26; traveling in, 247-58; the market-place in, 259-68; caravans in, +259, 260; drawing water in, 261; measuring grain in, 265-68; the +housetop in, 269-77; the vineyard and the fig tree in, 280-82; making +wine in, 282-84; agricultural life in, 286-94; shepherd life in, +295-309; status of woman in, _see_ Oriental, Woman; marriage in, +348-50; the process of spinning in, 359-61; snow in, 362, 363; grinding +wheat in, 400-03. _See_ Oriental, Syrians. + +Syrian and American modes of thought, contrast between, 126, 127. + +Syrian churches, 407, 408. + +Syrians, attitude toward miracles, 21; attitude toward conception and +birth, 22; customs of, at birth, 28; attitude of, toward the stars, +31-36; their custom of kissing, 70; life revolves around a religious +center to, 81, 82; their daily language is Biblical, 87-90; have no +secular language, 87; mixture of piety and hatred characteristic of, +94; expect to be judged by what they mean, not by what they say, 115; +love to speak in pictures, 115-17; their use of figurative language, +117; their regard for leaven, 150; the dialects of, 175-78; hospitality +of, 205-30; family feasts of, 231-38; their use of the words _shelter_, +_house_, _refuge_, 241-45; live for the most part out of doors, 241, +242; have no word for _home_, 243; lovers of their homes, 243. _See_ +Oriental, Syria. + +_Sûhad_ (sleeplessness), 388, 389. + + + +Table appointments, 222, 320. + +Tares, 146-49. + +Tare-sickness, 147. + +_Tennûr_, for use in baking, 201. + +_Tent_, the term, 243. + +_Thaub_ (gown), 121. + +Theology, the course of, has been from the West to the East, 405. + +Theories about Christ, 410. + +Thigh, placing the hand under, 367-69. + +Thorns, 289, 290. + +Threshing, 290, 377-80. + +Threshing-board, 290, 377-80. + +Tiles, 271. + +Timepieces in Syria, 277 n. + +Touch, divine power imparted by, 393-95. + +Tourists, books by, 8, 10. + +Traitors, 67. + +Traveling, in America, 246; in the East, 247-58. + +Treading, the grapes, 283, 377; the grain, 290, 378. + +Treasure hid in a field, parable of, 161-66. + +"Treating, " 62. + + + +Unleavened bread, 150. + +Unrighteous judge, parable of the, 179, 180. + +Unveracity of the Oriental, 107-14. + + + +Vengeance, Oriental idea of, 91. + +Vine, and the fig tree, the Oriental's chief joys, 280; symbol of +spiritual as well as physical family unity, 280; the church as a, 281; +the family as a, 281. + +Vineyard, blessings for the increase of, 25. + +Vows, 16-18, 49. + + + +Wakefield, Mr., quoted, 162. + +Wallet, the, 250. + +Washing the feet, 226-28. + +Watching for the dawn, 387-89. + +Wedding songs, 247. + +Weddings, 221. + +Wheat, measuring, 265-67; plucking and eating, 291; threshing, 377-80; +miraculous increase of, 384; the grinding of, 400-03. + +Wild beasts, 307-09. + +Wills, 155. + +Wine, the method of making, in the East, 282-84, 377; sweet and bitter, +284. + +Wine cup, the mystery of, 280. + +Wine-drinking, 15, 237. + +Wine press, 282, 283, 377. + +Wise Men, the, 27, 37, 44. + +Wolves, 307. + +Woman, with child, 26; East and West differ greatly in status of, 313, +314; Anglo-Saxon regard for, 313; reputed Occidental contempt for, 314, +315; culture and privileges of the American, 316; the Oriental +indifferent to fine points of behavior toward, 316, 317; the Oriental +does not consider man superior to, 317-19; Christian and Mohammedan, in +Syria, 318 n., 331; explanation of the Oriental's attitude toward, 318, +319, 322; in home of cultivated Syrian, 323, 324; Syrian attitude +toward, according to St. Paul, 325-33; of Syria, not always submissive, +329; her social privileges in the East limited because of fear for her, +330, 331, 349; a reason for veiling, in the East, 332; modesty the +chief charm of Oriental, 332; why called _hûrmat_, 333; the _harem_, +333, 334; reason for man's precedence of, in social affairs, 334, 335; +her place is in the home, 348; classified with reference to virtue and +its opposite, 351; the Oriental's descriptions of, 351-55; the +virtuous, description of, 355-64. + +_Woman_, as a term of address, 340-45. + +Woman-stealing, 330, 331. + +Wrestling in prayer, 12. + + + +Yusuf Balua', 305-09. + + + +_Zad_, 249-51. + +_Zeara_, the (pilgrimage to a shrine), 12-17, 47-48. + +_Zûkreh_ (remembrance), 63, 65. + + + + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS + +U. S. A. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Syrian Christ, by Abraham Mitrie Rihbany + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40285 *** |