possess the land, whither ye go to possess it. Also that you may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers, &c.

The like condition was also annexed to the enjoying of the land conquered, and the possession thereof, so long as the heavens are above the earth; h For if ye keep diligently, saith he, all these commandments which I command you, to do, that is, to love the Lord your God, &c. then will the Lord cast out all these nations before you, and ye shall possess great nations and mightier than you. And here, though it be manifest, that by reason of the breach of God's commandments, and their falling away from the worship of his all-powerful majesty, to the idolatry of the heathen, the conditional promises of God were absolutely void, as depending upon obedience unperformed; yet I cannot mislike that exposition of Melancthon; for, saith he, Ostendit promissionem præcipuam non esse de hoc politico regno; "He sheweth that his chief promise is not of a civil king"dom.” To which agrees that answer which St. Jerome made to a certain heretic, in his epistle ad Dardanum, who accused St. Jerome, that he overthrew the reputation of the Jews' story, and brought the truth thereof in question, by drawing it altogether into an allegory, and ad illam duntaxat viventium terram quæ in cœlis est, that is, "only to "that land of the living which is in heaven." Quoniam tota Judæorum regio adeo angusta sit ambitu, ut vix longitudinem habeat 160 milliarium, latitudinem vero 40, et in his etiam regiones, loco, urbes, et oppida sunt plurima, nunquam a Judæis occupata, sed tantum divina pollicitatione promissa; "Because the whole country of the Jews "is so narrow in compass, that it scarce hath 160 miles in "length, and forty miles in breadth; and in these are coun"tries, places, cities, and many towns which the Jews never

66

possessed, but were only granted by divine promise." In like manner the same father speaketh upon Isaiah, touching the blessings promised unto Jerusalem; where he hath these words: De quo discimus Hierusalem nequaquam in Pa

66

66

læstina regione petendam: quæ totius provinciæ deterrima est, et saxosis montibus asperatur; et penuriam patitur sitis: ita ut cælestibus utatur pluviis, et raritatem fontium cisternarum extructione soletur: sed in Dei manibus, ad quam dicitur, Festinaverunt structores tui; "From whence," saith he, "we learn that Jerusalem is not to be sought in "that region of Palæstina, which is the worst of the whole province, and ragged with craggy mountains, and suffer"eth the penury of thirst; so as it preserveth rain-water, "and supplieth the scarcity of wells, by building of cisterns: "but this Jerusalem is in God's hands, to which it is said, Thy builders have hastened." So far St. Jerome. Where also, to prevent mistaking, he thus expoundeth himself; Neque hoc dico in suggillationem terræ Judææ, ut hæreticus sycophanta mentitur: aut quo auferam historiæ veritatem : quæ fundamentum est intelligentiæ spiritualis, sed ut decutiam supercilium Judæorum: qui synagogæ angustias latitudini ecclesiæ præferunt. Si enim occidentem tantum sequuntur literam, et nm spiritum vivificantem, ostendant terram promissionis lacte et melle manantem; "Neither,” saith he," say I this to disgrace the land of Judæa, (as the "heretical sycophant doth belie me,) or to take away the "truth of the history, which is the foundation of spiritual

66

understanding; but to beat down the pride of the Jews, "which enlarge the straits of the synagogue further than "the breadth of the church; for if they follow only the killing letter, and not the quickening spirit, let them shew "the land of promise flowing with milk and honey."

66

By this it may also be gathered, howsoever it be unlikely, (seeing the west bound in the place, Deut. xi. 24. had his truth in the literal sense,) that Euphrates or Perath, which is made the east bound, should be taken only in a spiritual sense, yet nevertheless that Jerome's opinion inclineth to this, as if this Perath were not to be understood for Euphrates; and that the promise itself was never so large, much less the plantation and conquest of Israel.

And now for a more particular description of this Holy Land, because Asher, Nephtalim, and Zabulon held the

northernmost part, and were seated in Phoenicia, I will begin with these three, taking Asher for the first; of which tribe yet before I speak, I must admonish the reader touching the names of places in this and the other tribes to be mentioned, that he remember that many names, by reason of the divers fancies of translators, are diversely expressed; so that to the unskilful they may seem diverse, when they are one and the same; the reason of this diversity (as by those learned in the Hebrew I am taught) is, partly, because the ancient editions of the Hebrew want vowels, the old translators imagined other vowels than now the Hebrew editions have; and partly, because the ancients expressed or omitted divers consonants, otherwise than the latter think fit.

SECT. III.

The tribe of Asher.
§. I.

The bounds of the tribe of Asher.

THE Asherites, descended of Asher, the son of Jacob by Zelpha, the handmaid of Lea, were increased while they abode in Egypt to the number of 41,500 and odd persons, all men above twenty years of age, and able to bear arms at the time when they were mustered by Moses at mount Sinai; all which number perishing in the deserts, there remained of their issues, besides women and children, 53,400 bodies fit for the wars, which passed the river of Arnon into the plains of Moab; and, after the conquest of Canaan, had for their portion that part of Phoenicia, from Zidon and the fields of Libanus, unto Ptolomais Acon along the sea-coast, containing thirty English miles, or thereabouts; and from the midland sea to the east border, some twelve miles; though k Antoninus makes it somewhat larger. This part of Canaan was very fruitful, abounding in wine, oil, and wheat, besides the balsamum, with other pleasant and profitable commodities; according to that prophesy, Asser pinguis panis; concerning Asher, his bread shall be fat; and he shall give pleasures for a king1.

§. 2. Of Zidon.

THE first city seated on the north border of the territory of Asher was Zidon, which Joshua calleth the great Zidon, both for strength and magnitude. The Greeks and Q. Curtius make Agenor the founder thereof; and m Justin derives the name from the abundance of fish found on those shores; whereof it hath been called Zidona. But that it was far more ancient, n Moses, Joshua, and Josephus witness, the same being founded by Zidon, the eldest of Canaan's sons; and so strong it was in Joshua's time, as neither did himself attempt it, neither could the Asserites, or any of their successors, master it; but it continued all the time of the judges and kings, even unto the coming of Christ, a city interchangeably governed by their own princes or other magistrates; though, according to the warnings and threats of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremy, Ezekiel, and Zachary, it was often afflicted, both by the enemies sword and by the pestilence.

Zidon is seated on the very wash of the Phoenician sea, which is a part of the Mediterranean or midland sea. It hath to the north the city of Berythus and the river Leontis; and to the south, Sarepta or Sarphat, which standeth between it and Tyre; the distance between which two great and famous cities, to wit, Zidon and Tyre, is 14,000 paces, saith P Seiglerus; but Vadianus makes it 200 furlongs, and so doth Weissinbury, in his description of the Holy Land, both from Strabo; which 200 furlongs make twenty-five miles. This difference of distance, as well between these two known cities, as all the rest, make it over-difficult to devise any new scale to the map and description of the Holy Land.

What kings it had till Agenor's time, there is no memory; the story which Zeno the philosopher, who was a Zidonian, wrote thereof, being by time consumed and lost. It seemeth to be more ancient than Tyre, which was also

m Justin. 1. 18.

Gen. x. Joseph.

0 Isa. xxiii. Jer. xlvii. Ezek. xxviii.

and xxxii. Zach. ix.

P Palæst. Seig. f. 19. Vadian. Phoen. f. 278. Strab. 1. 16.

r

built by the Zidonians. For as 9 Strabo noteth, Homer, speaking of Zidon, neglecteth the memory of Tyre, because it was but a member of Zidon, and a city subject to the kings thereof; though it be true, that in after-times it contended with Zidon for primacy, and became far more renowned, opulent, and strong. From Zidon had Solomon and Zorobabel their principal workmen, both in timber and stone, for the building of the temple. For as it flourished in all sorts of learning, so did it in all other mechanical arts and trades; the prophet Zachary calling them the wise Zidonians The city was, both by nature and art, exceeding strong, having a castle or citadel on the north side, standing upon an unaccessible rock, and compassed by the sea; which, after the citizens became Christians, was held and defended by the knights of the Dutch order: and another castle it hath on the south side, by the port of Egypt, which the Templars guarded. It also sent many other colonies, besides that of Tyre, into places remote; as unto Thebes and Sephyra, cities of Boeotia in Greece.

S

Strabo and Pliny give the Zidonians the invention of t glass, which they used to make of those sands which are taken out of the river Belus, falling into the Mediterranean sea, near Ptolomais or Acon; and from whence the Venetians fetch the matter of those clear glasses which they make at Murana; of which St. Jerome and Pliny: Zidon insignis artifex vitri, Zidon vitrariis officinis nobilis; "Zidon a "famous glass-maker, or a skilful worker in glass-houses."

They were in religion idolaters, (as the rest of the Canaanites,) worshippers of Baal and u Astaroth; which idols,

9 Strab. 1. 16.

r Zach. ix. 2.

s Plin. 1. 5. c. 9.

It seems that even in Joshua's time they practised glass-making; whence Junius for misbrephoth maiim, which, ad verbum, is as much as combustiones aquarum, reads fornaces vitrarias, Josh. xi. 8. as it seems, because these furnaces were where there was store of water, either for the moving of the bellows by the force

of the water, or for other necessary uses. But there are others that take them for salt-pits, and others again for hot-baths.

u The form of Astoreth (or Astarte) seemeth to have been a sheep; for, Deut. vii. 13. the word in the plural number signifieth sheep; and this may confirm Augustine's opinion, that Astarte was Juno; for the form of her husband, Jupiter Hammon, was a ram.

RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. II.