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Palestine
has three lakes* or seas:--1, the Dead Sea, or Lake Asphaltites; 2, the sea of
Genezereth, or Lake of Tiberias; and 3, the sea of Merom, or Lake Semechonitis.
*
In Tractate Baba Bathra, fol. 74b, we read: "There are seven seas and
four rivers which surround (or border) Palestine, namely, the seas of Tiberias,
Sodom, Chelath, Chiltha, Sibchi, Aspamia, and the Great Sea (the Mediterranean).
The four rivers are the Jordan, the Yarmuch, Kirmion, and Pigah." It is
farther stated there that the Jordan’s sources are in the cave of Pameis, and
that it runs through the lakes of Sibchi and Tiberias, through the Salt Sea into
the mouth of Leviathan.--At the end of Talmud Yerushalmi, on Kilayim, these
seven seas or lakes are called the Great Sea, the Sea of Tiberias, Somcho, the
Salt Sea, the Chultha, Shelyith, and Apamia. But, as regards the Lake of
Chamatz, it is observed that the Emperor Diocletian had it dug, and had it
filled by the rivers which he conducted into it, wherefore it is not reckoned
among the lakes formed by nature. This reading appears to me more correct than
the first; still several corrections are necessary. Through means of literary
investigations, I correct and explain the above as follows. Chultha or Chiltha
signifies the Lake Phialo, which is called in Arabic Birkath al Ram. It is about
120 paces in circumference, and lies 10½ English
miles east of Banias, and is the actual source of the Jordan. (See Josephus,
Bell. Jud., book iii. ch. 18.) The whole country bears at this day the name
Balad al Chuli, Land of Chuli. I suppose the origin of the word to be
חול Chul (see Gen. 10:23). This, by the way, will explain a
very obscure passage in Erechin 2, where it speaks of
בחולת המחוז, or the
district Cholath, which was very stony and salty, and therefore unfruitful. The
country is likewise called Balad al Malchi; which means "the country of
salt," from the fact that the country is, so to say, covered with a crust of
salt (see Tractate Ahaloth, the end of chap. iii.); whence I conclude that the
present Chuli is derived from the ancient Chiltha or Chultha.--Sibchi is an
incorrect reading, and should be Somcho, which is the same as the sea
Semechonitis, also called Kaldayeh, which signifies "the high," identical
with the Hebrew מי מרום (Me Merom),
literally the "high waters" (Josh. 11:5). The common people call it very
erroneously ים חוילה Yam Chavila, the
Sea of Chavila.--Chelath or Shelyith is wrong, and should be
אילת Elath, which is the Red Sea (Deut. 2:8), which
bounds Palestine at the south, since the Talmud speaks here of the country in
its greatest extent.--Aspamia is also incorrect, since under this term there is
always understood Ispania, Latin Hispania, or Spain, of which I shall
speak more extensively in another place; the correct reading would be Apamia.
Even at the present day there is found, north of the village Phamia (which see),
the dry bed of an ancient lake, which the Arabs call Bacharea, which means "the little
sea." The river Al Azy, the ancient Orontes, runs through the
bed of this lake in a northerly direction.
Chamatz
Lake is south of the town of Hams or Chams, and is called Bachr Chams, "the
Great Sea," also Bachr Kadissa. It is formed by the just mentioned
Al Azy,
which runs into it, and continues its course after issuing from it. This will
explain the meaning of the passage from the Talmud Yerushalmi, quoted above,
that Diocletian had made it by causing rivers to run into it. (See also T. Yer.
Shekalim, chap. vi.)
Yalkut to Deut. 33: 23, speaks erroneously of the sea Sufni, as it should be Somcho.
ים
המלח or ים סדום
(Gen. 14:3.)
The
Salt or Dead Sea (Lake Asphaltites) is called in the Arabic language Bachr Lot
(Lot's Sea), and is 70 English miles in length, and from 15 to 20 in breadth.*
Towards the south, however, it is narrow and shoal, and about 4 miles broad, and
from 3 to 4 feet in depth. This sea is enclosed on the east and west by high
mountains and rocks; but towards the southeast there is an extensive, fair and
fruitful plain, several miles in size.
* According to Josephus, Bell. Jud., book v., chap. 5, is
this sea 580 stadia in length, and 150 in breadth.
It
is true that the water of this sea is clear and pure; nevertheless it is more
impregnated with salty matter than all other sea-waters, and is withal very
bitter, somewhat sulphurous in smell, and so acrid that no one can keep it in
his mouth. When I made the attempt to take a little of it in my mouth, the
sharp, bitter, and sulphurous taste remained perceptible more than half an hour.
Salt thrown in this water remains undissolved. 100 parts of this water contain
42 parts of salts, 24 parts bitter, salty, and sour calcareous earth, and 7
parts salty natron. The weight of this water, compared to pure distilled water,
is as 1211 to 1000. To institute several comparative experiments, I employed
water from the Dead Sea, some taken from the Mediterranean at Jaffa, and the
usual cistern (rain) water; and, on weighing them, I found that the first
compared to the second as 9 to 8, and to the latter as 9 to 7. I have, however,
to remark here, that I made these experiments in the month of April, at which
time the Dead Sea had, on account of continued rains, taken up many streams,
through which circumstance the weight of its water was much less than it usually
is, and especially in the summer months, when the evaporation condenses it more
than at other times. The water of this sea has also a peculiarity that nothing
thrown into it will sink. Even a man, unacquainted with swimming, may
confidently bathe here, for he can no more sink in this lake than in an empty
vessel.* Josephus even tells† that the Emperor Vespasian had men who could not
swim thrown into the Dead Sea with their hands even tied on their backs, and
that not one of them was drowned.
*
The Talmud therefore remarks correctly (Sabbath 108b), that a person
never was drowned in the Salt Sea.
†
Bell. Jud., book v., chap. 5.
Everything
which lies a little time in this water is covered with a crust of salt. On
living objects, however, the skin is partially peeled off. The air in the
vicinity of this sea is so impregnated with particles of salt and sulphur, that
the clothes of persons who are a short time* on its shore are covered, so to
say, with a coating of salt. Neither fish, nor worms, nor any other living
things are ever found in this sea. Even those fish which swim in the Jordan, as
it disembogues itself into this sea, perish the moment they touch it. If you
carry this water to ever so great a distance, and place fish therein, they
nevertheless die immediately. At the bottom of the Dead Sea there is found a
black, fetid slime. Every morning there ascend such strong sulphurous vapours
from this water, that they can be seen at a great distance. On a winter's day,
at the time of the rains, I was once able to observe this from the holy city
itself; for as I looked in the direction of this sea, I saw, so to say, a great
cloud rising upward from the same. Should a bird fly over the surface of the
water during the disengagement of these strong vapours, it would drop down dead
instantly. For this reason there are but few living animals seen in the whole
neighbourhood, also but few trees and plants. In the vicinity of this sea is
found a species of stone-coal; there is also a species of black bitumen met
with, which floats on the surface of the water, and is afterwards driven on
shore. The salt, which is found in large quantities in the whole adjacent
country, and especially on the seashore, cannot be used in food, because it is
extraordinarily bitter, and has, moreover, the smell and taste of saltpetre.
(See art. Salt.)
Although
the surface of this sea is 598 feet lower than the Mediterranean, and receives
the Jordan and several other minor streams, yet it never overflows its shores.
This circumstance furnishes sufficient proof that this sea must have
subterranean† outlets, either to the Mediterranean or the Red Sea.
*
This is, however, the case only in damp and foggy weather, but not when it is
hot and in sunshine.
†
These unknown outlets the Midrash expresses by saying that the Jordan passes
through the Dead Sea into the mouth of Levithan, to wit, the unknown
terminations.
The
mountains on the shores of the Dead Sea are almost perpetually encircled by the
mists ascending from its waters. These mists, which are very unwholesome, and
cause the drying up of the vital powers, producing consumption, &c., have
also the most pernicious influence on vegetation. It therefore happens that the
fruit produced on the trees of these mountains, though to outward appearance
healthy and sound, are dried up within, rotten, and filled with a carbonaceous
powder. Especially is this the case with the pomegranate and lemon; which
circumstance is no doubt referred to by Josephus, when speaking of the
Sodom-apples, which he says fall into dust on being touched. (See also Deut.
32:32.)
It
is thus that the divine curse still rests on this neighbourhood, destroyed in
consequence of the sins of its inhabitants. [It yet stands as the personified
consequence of vice, and forms the most striking contrast in what it is now to
the hopeful future promised in the thirty-sixth chapter of Ezekiel 5: 8-16,
33-36, and ibid. 47:1-12 ; the latter especially being a remarkable prophecy,
promising a complete change of the whole surface of the country, as it was and
as it now is, and which, if accomplished, must render Palestine indeed the
highway of nations and the centre of the earth,--situated, as it is, in the
midst of the great thoroughfare between the sea of India on the east, and the
Mediterranean on the west.]
The
Sea of Chinnereth. ים כנרת
(Numb. 34:11.)
This lake, called in the Arabic Bachr Tibaria, i. e. Sea of Tiberias, because this
city is situated on its western shore, is about 12½ English miles in length,
and 5 in breadth,* and lies 535 feet lower than the surface of the
Mediterranean. On the north, near the village Tanchum (which see), the Jordan
enters this lake, and leaves it again at the south, near the village Samach (כפר
צמח). It is a remarkable thing that the Jordan, which passes
through this lake its entire length, does not mingle with its waters, since its
course is clearly perceptible in the midst of the lake till it leaves it again,
and resumes its own proper course. (Compare with Bereshith Rabba, chap. 2, and
Josephus, Bell. Jud., chap. 18.)
*
Josephus (Bell. Jud., book iii., chap. 18), gives the dimensions 100 stadia in
length, and 40 in breadth.
The
environs of Chinnereth are uncommonly fertile and productive; and it forms, on
the whole, a complete contrast to the recently described Dead Sea. For instance,
in the same measure as the water of the latter is nauseous, bitter, heavy, and
salty, so is the water of Chinnereth agreeable, sweet, and light, and used,
therefore, by the inhabitants of Tiberias, as drinking water. The Dead Sea is,
moreover, as its name already indicates, dead; and is neither navigated by men
in vessels, nor inhabited by fish or other living things. The Chinnereth,
however, has all kinds of the best fish, and other species of aquatic animals;
and one sees constantly an active intercourse carried on there through means of
small vessels, in which, at times, the inhabitants of the other side of Jordan
bring wood and other articles for sale to Tiberias. And lastly, whereas on the
other district still rests the punishment sent from heaven on Sodom and
Gomorrah, and the whole environ of the sea is nothing but a frightful scene of
desolation, one sees near Chinnereth, as already stated, a fruitful country and
one truly blessed of God, extending itself before the eye, and presenting an
abundance of earthly treasures.
There
prevails a calm nearly the whole year on the Sea of Chinnereth ; when, however,
a storm does arise, which is seldom the case, it occurs very suddenly, and then,
in a few minutes, the boats which may be caught out in it are generally upset.
The force of the waves in that case is also so great, that many of the houses in
town are thereby endangered.
Waters of Merom. מי מרום
or מי
סומכי
(Joshua 11:5.)
This
little lake is called by the Arabs Bachr Chit, Wheat Sea, because much wheat is
sown in its neighbourhood; it is also called Bachr Banias, or improperly Bachr
Chuli. It is 10 English miles south of the sources of the Jordan, and is about 5
English miles long and 3¾ broad. It is only in winter, however, that this lake has water in it, which is turbid
and muddy, and in which fish are found. In summer, however, it is dried up; and
it is then a swamp overgrown with weeds, and then serves the Arabs, who come
hither with their numerous flocks, and encamp thereon during the whole summer,
as a pastureground. Many canes also grow here, among which wild beasts, &c.,
find shelter, especially serpents and wild boars. Not far from the village
Malcha, situated on its northern shore, the Jordan enters this lake. The
inhabitants of the village just named cultivate the rice plant in this vicinity,
which is the only place in Palestine where this plant grows. This rice, which is
sent to the other towns, is quite singular in its colour and flavour; it is red
in appearance, and swells in cooking to an unusual degree. The western portion
of this lake is inhabited by the Duphni-Arabs, who derive their name from the
town of Daphne (Riblah), which formerly stood in this district. (See
Riblah p.
26. )
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