bitumen which is found either floating on its waters, or lying on the shore, hath been often noticed; and the death-like appearance which it every where presents, by the baneful influence of saline effluvia on vegetation, naturally reminds the traveller of those awful judgments that were the cause of its formation: while the constant influx of the waters of Jordan and other streams into that extensive lake, without increasing its geographical limits, is an additional example of the law of evaporation, which restores to the clouds what had descended from them in dews and rains. Dr. Shaw notices this difficulty, and satisfactorily removes it. "Such a quantity (of water,” says he, " as the 6,090,000 tons formerly mentioned) daily received from Jordan without increasing the limits of that sea, has made some conjecture, that it is absorbed by the burning sands; and others, that it is carried off through subterraneous cavities, or that it has a communication with the Serbonic Lake: but if the Dead Sea is, according to the general computation, 72 miles long and 18 broad, by allowing, according to Dr. Halley's observation, 6914 tons of vapour for every square mile, there will be daily drawn up in clouds, to refresh the earth with rain or dew, 8,960,000 tons, which is near one third more than is brought into it by this river:"—and which of course may be applied to the quantity discharged by the other streams of less note which surround the lake.a It is worthy of remark, that a phial of the water of Jordan, analysed at the same time, contained no salt; and thereby refuted the infidel objection as to the excessive saltness of the Dead Sea being occasioned by the salt brought down the river Jordan, and deposited in that lake.-London Philosoph. Transact. for 1807, part ii. art. 16. a See a map of the Dead Sea and the country adjacent, in Lightfoot's Chorographical Decad, on Mark, ch. ii. sect. 3; and Tacitus's account of this singular lake in his Historiar. v. 6. SECT. II. The Jewish Capital: Jerusalem, when founded; in what tribes situated; the different gates in the city wali, viz. the sheep-gate, fish-gate, old-gate, valley-gate, dung-gate, gate of the fountain, gate of Ephraim, gate of Benjamin, prison-gate, water-gate, horse-gate, gate of Miphkad. Mountains within the city will: Mount Zion, Moriah, Acra, Bezetha. Some of the public buildings and streets. Present state of Jerusalem. JERUSALEM is thought to have been founded by Melchizedec about the year of the world 2023, and called Salem, which signifies peace. After his death it was possessed by the Jebusites 847 years, and called from them Jebus ; when it was taken by David, and made the capital of his kingdom, under the name of Jebussalem, or (euphonæ gratiâ,) Jerusalem. In this state of eminence it continued 477 years, when it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. During the 70 years' captivity it lay waste after which it arose from its ashes, and continued 562 years, till it was destroyed by Titus. It did not belong to any one tribe, but was partly in the tribe of Judah and partly in the tribe of Benjamin, and the distinguishing line went through the very court of the temple; for the whole of the court of the Gentiles on the east, the whole of the court of the women, the east end of the court of Israel, and of the priests, and the south-east corner of the altar, were in the tribe of Judah, and the rest of the altar, and all the rest of the 500 cubits space that lay to the west, belonged to Benjamin. It is natural to think, that when it became the capital of the kingdom, and the place where the temple was built, every mean would be used to render it impregnable and accordingly, high walls, massy gates, b a 1 Chron. xi. 4. Lightf. Chorog. Cent, of the Land of Israel, ch. 21. and towers of observation and annoyance, were the most natural and effectual measures adopted. But we do not hear distinctly of these till after the return from the captivity, when Nehemiah recorded the portions which cach of them repaired. This document is therefore deserving of our attention, both as on account of the then circuit of the city, and as settling the situation of the gates and streets which are mentioned in Scripture. Let us accompany, therefore, Nehemiah in his description, and notice the various objects which present themselves. He begins" with the sheep-gate, which, from the subsequent account, and its proximity to the temple, whither the flocks of sheep for sacrifice were driven, was evidently placed on the south side of the city, and near to the south-east corner of that side: it is therefore called by Jeremiah "the gate of the corner;" and in John v. 2, it is represented as in the neighbourhood of Bethesda, which we know to have been in that direction.-Travelling from this sheep-gate along the side of the south wall, and with our faces to the west, we come next to the fish-gate, between which were the two towers of observation named Meah and Hananeel. The The old-gate was also on the south side of the city, but farther west than the fish-gate; and "the broad wall,” mentioned verse 8th, appears to have been near the south-west, and so named from the lowness of the ground in that quarter, which required the wall to have a wide foundation, in order to raise it to the height of the rest. These, then, were the gates on the south side of the city. The valley-gate is understood to have been on the west side of the city, and not far from the southwest corner, where "the tower of the furnaces," mentioned verse 11th, evidently were. The dung-gate1 was d a Neh. iii. 1. с on the west side of the city also, and a thousand cubits farther north than the valley-gate. And the gate of the fountain was on the west side also, but farther north than the dung-gate: it had its name from Gihon, or the place where Siloam took its rise; and which, after winding round the south-west corner, and the whole south side of the city, entered the city wall in the southeast corner, to form the pool of Siloam, or Bethesda, and then retired towards the brook Kidron. It was beyond this gate of the fountain, and lying more towards the north, that the wall of the pool of Siloah, by the king's gardens, the wall opposite the stairs that led to the city of David, the wall opposite the sepulchres of David, the king's pool, and the house of the mighty, or the armoury, mentioned in verses 15, 16, evidently were. This last place is said to have been "at the turning of the wall," in verse 19: so that we are now come to the north-west corner. Although it is needless to mention who the persons were who repaired the wall in Nehemiah's time, since they are distinctly set down by him in the chapter we are considering, we may notice the person who seems first to have placed towers of observation and annoyance upon it: this was Uzziah, king of Judah, who, in 2 Chron. xxvi. 9, is said to have "built towers in Jerusalem, at the corner-gate, and at the valley-gate, and at the turning of the wall; and to have fortified them." We have now, therefore, traversed the south and west sides of the city wall, and proceed to the north. But on the north side of the city we do not read of any gate, for between "the turning of the wall," mentioned in verses 19, 20, and "the turning of the wall," in verses 24, 25, that is to say, along the whole length of the north side of the city, a Verse 15. VOL. II. Lightf. Chorograph. Cent. of Israel, ch. 25. 3 D although several are spoken of as building over against their houses, no gate is mentioned: but it is natural to think that there were several, although Nehemiah has not here mentioned them. Indeed, we have an account given of two others elsewhere, which were probably in that wall. Thus, when Nehemiah purified the city of Jerusalem, in ch. xii. 39; and long before that, when Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, we are told that "he brake down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner-gate, 400 cubits." And Jeremiah' speaks of another gate, called the "gate of Benjamin:" it is probable, therefore, that these gates were in the north wall; for the portions of Ephraim and Benjamin lay in that direction, only that the gate of Benjamin lay most to the east, and was therefore said to be by or near the house of the Lord. At the north-east corner was "the tower which lay out from the king's house, near the court of the prison ;" near which last place, it is probable that the prisongate, mentioned in Neh. xii. 39, was situated.-And on the east side of the city, we read of three gates: the first of which, exactly opposite the east gate of the temple, and at the foot of Moriah, was the water-gate, near which the waters of Etam, which were employed in the temple service, passed, to empty themselves into the brook Kidron. Beyond the water-gate, the wall which inclosed Ophel led to the horse-gate, which was also on the east side of the city, but farther south. In 2 Chron. xxiii. 15, we read of Queen Athaliah being slain," when she was come to the entering of the horse-gate, by the king's house; but that was a different gate from the one we are now considering: for it evidently lay within the city, somewhere between Zion a 2 Kings xiv. 13. • Neh. iii. 25. b Ch. xxxvii. 13. xxxviii. 7. < Jer. xx. 2. * Verse 28. |