This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
View text chunked by:
[459]
Notwithstanding which, there is a fountain by Jericho, that runs
plentifully, and is very fit for watering the ground; it arises near the
old city, which Joshua, the son of Naue, the general of the Hebrews, took
the first of all the cities of the land of Canaan, by right of war. The
report is, that this fountain, at the beginning, caused not only the blasting
of the earth and the trees, but of the children born of women, and that
it was entirely of a sickly and corruptive nature to all things whatsoever;
but that it was made gentle, and very wholesome and fruitful, by the prophet
Elisha. This prophet was familiar with Elijah, and was his successor, who,
when he once was the guest of the people at Jericho, and the men of the
place had treated him very kindly, he both made them amends as well as
the country, by a lasting favor; for he went out of the city to this fountain,
and threw into the current an earthen vessel full of salt; after which
he stretched out his righteous hand unto heaven, and, pouring out a mild
drink-offering, he made this supplication, - That the current might be
mollified, and that the veins of fresh water might be opened; that God
also would bring into the place a more temperate and fertile air for the
current, and would bestow upon the people of that country plenty of the
fruits of the earth, and a succession of children; and that this prolific
water might never fail them, while they continued to he righteous. To these
prayers Elisha 1
joined proper operations of his hands, after a skillful manner, and changed
the fountain; and that water, which had been the occasion of barrenness
and famine before, from that time did supply a numerous posterity, and
afforded great abundance to the country. Accordingly, the power of it is
so great in watering the ground, that if it do but once touch a country,
it affords a sweeter nourishment than other waters do, when they lie so
long upon them, till they are satiated with them. For which reason, the
advantage gained from other waters, when they flow in great plenty, is
but small, while that of this water is great when it flows even in little
quantities. Accordingly, it waters a larger space of ground than any other
waters do, and passes along a plain of seventy furlongs long, and twenty
broad; wherein it affords nourishment to those most excellent gardens that
are thick set with trees. There are in it many sorts of palm trees that
are watered by it, different from each other in taste and name; the better
sort of them, when they are pressed, yield an excellent kind of honey,
not much inferior in sweetness to other honey. This country withal produces
honey from bees; it also bears that balsam which is the most precious of
all the fruits in that place, cypress trees also, and those that bear myrobalanum;
so that he who should pronounce this place to be divine would not be mistaken,
wherein is such plenty of trees produced as are very rare, and of the must
excellent sort. And indeed, if we speak of those other fruits, it will
not be easy to light on any climate in the habitable earth that can well
be compared to it, - what is here sown comes up in such clusters; the cause
of which seems to me to be the warmth of the air, and the fertility of
the waters; the warmth calling forth the sprouts, and making them spread,
and the moisture making every one of them take root firmly, and supplying
that virtue which it stands in need of in summer time. Now this country
is then so sadly burnt up, that nobody cares to come at it; and if the
water be drawn up before sun-rising, and after that exposed to the air,
it becomes exceeding cold, and becomes of a nature quite contrary to the
ambient air; as in winter again it becomes warm; and if you go into it,
it appears very gentle. The ambient air is here also of so good a temperature,
that the people of the country are clothed in linen-only, even when snow
covers the rest of Judea. This place is one hundred and fifty furlongs
from Jerusalem, and sixty from Jordan. The country, as far as Jerusalem,
is desert and stony; but that as far as Jordan and the lake Asphaltitis
lies lower indeed, though it be equally desert and barren. But so much
shall suffice to have said about Jericho, and of the great happiness of
its situation.
1 This excellent prayer of Elisha is wanting in our copies, 2 Kings 2:21, 22, though it be referred to also in the Apostolical Constitutions, B. VII. ch. 37., and the success of it is mentioned in them all.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.