Two Maps of Palestine.

CONVERSATION V.

THIRD PERIOD OF SACRED HISTORY.

WHEN the class had assembled, at the time appointed for the next exercise, the teacher unrolled the same map which he had used on the preceding evening. The readers of this book will recollect that this map was divided by a line in the middle, into two parts, which were considerably but not exactly alike, and that only the first part was used in the last Conversation. The teacher commenced the exercise by explaining the last half of this map. The reader will find it at the beginning of the fourth Conversation.

Teacher. You see, as I believe I explained to you at the last exercise, that this sheet contains two maps, bch of the same countries; for you see that both have the same seas and rivers.

Roger. Yes, but they are painted differently, and they have different towns and countries marked upon them. Teacher. Yes. Now can any of you tell the reason of this?

Samuel. I suppose that the maps were made for different times.

Teacher. How? What do you mean by that?

Samuel. Why, this map (pointing to the one upon the left hand) is divided into tribes; and it shows how the country was, when all the tribes were there but after the ten tribes were carried away, and the country was settled by others, it was probably divided differently, just as it is

:

Description of the Maps.

upon this map, (pointing to the one upon the right hand.) Teacher. Yes the first map represents the country East of the Mediterranean Sea, as it was in the time of the twelve tribes of Israel, when it was called Canaan. The second shows the same country as it was afterwards, in the time of Christ. You will observe that there are several great divisions upon this second. The first you see here, (pointing to the blue spot) upon the southern part, West of the Red Sea.

Samuel. Is not this the same that was inhabited by Judah and Benjamin ?

Teacher. It is, pretty nearly. It was upon this that the Jews principally settled, upon their return from Babylon. The capital city is Jerusalem, which you see here, (pointing to Jerusalem.) This is the most important part of the map. Directly North of it, you see a large yellow spot it is called Samaria. John, can you tell me who were the former inhabitants of this part of the country?

John. I can tell by looking upon the other map-(after looking) the tribes of Issachar, Manasseh, and Ephraim. Teacher. And what became of these tribes?

John. They were carried away with the ten tribes, and never returned.

Teacher. Yes: but they were not all carried away: some were left, and other persons came in and settled among them. There was a large city, called Samaria, in this country, which was the capital. The people who lived here tried to prevent the Jews from building the temple, when they returned from Babylon; and there was always after, a great enmity between the Jews and the Sa

maritans.

John. Were there any wars between them?

Teacher. None mentioned or alluded to in the Bible. There was, however, a great hatred between them. Will

Provinces in Palestine.

you find, John, (giving him a Bible) the 4th chapter of John, and read the 9th verse?

John. (Reading.) "Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? (for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.)"

Teacher. This verse shows you what was the feeling between these nations. I shall explain to you presently why Christ was in Samaria at this time. North of Samaria you see a red spot: it is Galilee. It was in this ince that the Saviour spent a great part of his life upon the earth. You see East of it a sea. Roger, can you read the name of it?

Roger. The sea of Galilee.

prov

Teacher. Yes it was also sometimes called the lake of Gennesaret. These three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, are the most important, and in fact the only important parts of the map. There are one or two countries more North and South, and there is all the country beyond Jordan, called sometimes Perea.

I must not, however, spend any more time in describing the map, but must go on with the history of Christ. At the time of his birth, you know, the Jews were under the Romans, and Herod was the king whom the Roman emperor had put over them. He reigned at Jerusalem.

John. Was Christ born at Jerusalem ?

Teacher. No. His parents lived in Galilee, in a place called Nazareth. You see it here, (pointing to Nazareth upon the map.)

Samuel. Were they not Jews?

Teacher. Yes. You remember I told you Christ was to come from the tribe of Judah.

Samuel. Why then were they living so far from Judea? Teacher. I do not know. But it was a fact that many

Christ's parentage and birth.

Herod.

Jews became scattered after the captivity, over all the surrounding country, so that there were some in almost all the cities and large towns. I do not know what was the particular reason why Joseph and Mary were settled in Nazareth.

Christ, however, was not born in Nazareth; he was born in Bethlehem, which you see here, (pointing to the map,) just South of Jerusalem, where his parents had gone to pay a tax to the Romans.

Roger: Did his parents carry him then home to Nazareth?

Teacher. No. Herod the king, who was here at Jerusalem, heard that the Jews expected a king to be born among them about that time, and he heard too, in a very singular way, which you can read in the 2d chapter of Matthew, that a child which had just been born in Bethlehem was probably the one.

Samuel. Did the Jews expect a king?

Teacher. Yes: Christ is often called in the Bible a king; but it does not mean that he was to be the head of a nation and an army, but only that he was to reign in the hearts of all holy men. The Jews, however, expected that the Saviour promised in the Old Testament was coming to deliver them from the Romans, and to make them a separate and independent nation, as they were in the time of David and Solomon.

Now Herod heard of this, and began to be afraid that he was going to lose his kingdom.

John. What did he do?

Teacher. He sent to Bethlehem, and had all the young children there killed, in hopes to kill Christ among the others.

Roger. And how did Christ escape ?

Teacher. God sent his angel to tell Joseph of the dan

Christ's childhood and youth.

ger, before Herod's messengers arrived; and Joseph took Mary and the child, and fled into Egypt, where they were safe.

John. Where was Egypt?

Teacher. Do you not recollect to have ever heard of it before?

John. (Thinking.) Yes, Sir; it was where the children of Israel were in bondage, down somewhere here, (pointing to the South West corner of the map.) Why is it not put down?

Teacher. Because this map does not extend far enough to take it in. We might find it by looking at one of the other maps.

Roger. How long did they stay in Egypt?

Teacher. Until they heard that Herod was dead; and then they ventured to return home to Nazareth, here in Galilee, (pointing to the map,) where they lived until Christ was about thirty years of age.

Samuel. I thought our Saviour went to Jerusalem when he was twelve years old.

Teacher. So he did, but he returned immediately; so that during all the early part of his life he lived in Galilee. There is very little account of him during this time in the Bible.

Samuel. Did he not begin to preach and to work miracles before he was thirty years old?

Teacher. No. He began but about two or three years before his death. I shall not describe his journeys particularly after this. He used to spend most of the time in travelling about Galilee, only once every year, at the celebration of the passover, that great feast which I have already described to you, he went to Jerusalem, where he had many interesting adventures. In these journeys he