Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/337

Rh By this passage entered many an Eastern invader, "coming up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan." But we are just now more interested in following the track of pilgrims than of conquerors. By this road the tribes went up to Jerusalem to the Passover. Not only was it the avenue of communication between Jerusalem and Jericho, but between the tribes on the two sides of the Jordan. It was the road which would be taken by those who crossed the Jordan to come up to the annual feasts. As we begin the ascent, we recall the scenes two thousand years ago, when the Jews thronged up these mountain steeps, singing as they went the Songs of Degrees: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help"; "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee: Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces"; "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever"; "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore."

These festivals, by bringing the tribes to the capital, strengthened the national as well as the religious feeling, and, in a double sense, made them one people. In those days there were none of the resources of modern civilization to bring the ends of a country together — no railroads coursing through the valleys and over the mountains, no telegraphs to flash signals from tribe to tribe. The tribes were as widely separated as nations are now. Those on the opposite sides of the Jordan were as far asunder as England and France are to-day, separated by the British Channel. But at the annual feasts the people came, not only from