_Jeremiah’s Prophecy._--In order to encourage the people during the
captivity, Jeremiah predicts that Jerusalem shall be again inhabited
and its borders extended. The measuring line is to go forth over
against it upon the hill Gareb (probably the later Bezetha, north-west
of the Temple) and shall compass about to Goath (this seems to be a
sweep round the north-western, western, and south-western parts of
the city); and the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes
(_i.e._, Topheth, the broad junction of the present Hinnom and Tyropœon
Valleys), and all the fields (eastward) unto the Brook Kedron (and then
northward), unto the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east shall be
holy unto the Lord (Jer. xxxi. 28). This reference again confirms the
position we have assigned to the Horse Gate.
Zechariah also describes Jerusalem in its length and breadth. It is
to be lifted up and inhabited from Benjamin’s Gate (the east gate of
the temple in Ezekiel’s plan, Ezek. xlviii. 32), unto the place of the
first gate (the first gate of the city, a gate near the north-east
corner--as the Hebrew language reads from right to left, so goes the
numbering here), unto the Corner Gate. This is from east to west; the
north and south extremes named by Zechariah are the Tower of Hananel
(same position as Antonia) and the king’s wine-presses (which we may
guess to be southward of the king’s garden).
_The Locality of the King’s Garden_ is an important point in Jerusalem
topography. M. Clermont Ganneau inclines to place it on the eastern
side of Ophel; but his reason seems to be insufficient. The great
eastern valley of Jerusalem, so commonly called the Kedron, is
divided by the fellahin of Siloam into three parts, and the middle
part--extending from the south-east angle of the Haram to the junction
of valleys a little north of Joab’s well--they call _Wady Fer’aun_,
or “Pharaoh’s Valley.” M. Ganneau believes that this signifies, in
their minds, simply the _Valley of the King_, and is equivalent
to the King’s Garden.[36] M. Ganneau might claim in his favour the
statement of Josephus that Adonijah’s feast, “by En Rogel,” took place
near the fountain that was in the king’s paradise (or park).[37] But
the paradise or park was something different from the garden, and
Josephus does not use the word paradise to describe the king’s gardens
in which Uzziah was buried, but the word _kepois_.[38] It is worth
notice also that if the Virgin’s Fountain was in the king’s park, it
was almost certainly outside the city. Again, the fact that the royal
park included within it the spring of water makes it probable that the
shaft in connection with it was on the royal property also, for the
kings would hardly allow the free use of a spring which they deemed
their own. And then, if the shaft was on the royal grounds (although
that part was still traditionally called the Fuller’s Field) it would
be natural that Isaiah should find king Ahaz walking there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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