My Three Days in GileadHoenshel, Elmer U. (Elmer Ulysses)
History
My Three Days in Gilead
Hoenshel, Elmer U. (Elmer Ulysses)
Palestine -- Description and travel
Go thou thy way and I go mine;
Apart, yet ever near;
Only a veil hangs thin between
The pathways where we are;
And "God keep watch 'tween thee and me,"
This is my prayer;
He looks thy way, he looketh mine,
And keeps us near.
I know not where thy road may lie,
Or which way mine may be;
If mine will lead through parching sands,
And thine beside the sea;
Yet "God keeps watch 'tween thee and me,"
So, never fear.
He holds thy hand, he claspeth mine,
And keeps us near.
Should wealth and fame perchance be thine,
And my lot lowly be,
Or thou be sad or sorrowful,
And glory be for me;
Yet "God keeps watch 'tween thee and me,"
Both be his care;
One arm 'round thee and one 'round me
Will keep us near.
I'll sigh sometimes to see thy face,
But since this cannot be,
I'll leave thee to the care of Him
Who cares for thee and me.
"I'll keep thee both beneath my wings"--
This comfort dear--
One wing o'er thee and one o'er me;
So we are near.
And tho' our paths be separate,
And thy way be not mine,
Yet coming to the mercy-seat,
My soul will meet with thine;
And "God keep watch 'tween thee and me,"
I'll whisper there;
He blesseth thee, he blesseth me,
And we are near.
If this place were Mizpah, then here Jephthah lived; and here,
when he went out to fight against the Ammonites, he made the vow
to sacrifice whatsoever should come forth out of the doors of his
house to meet him on his return from the battle, if the Lord would
only give him the victory. The battle was fought, and Jephthah
triumphed. The glad news reached his home; and out from his house
rushed his daughter, his only child, with timbrels and with
dances, to meet her hero-father, not knowing the nature of his vow
made on the eve of the battle. Her presence caused the brave
warrior to tremble with horror and rend his clothes when he
remembered his vow. The daughter was dismayed--instead of a smile
of joy from her father she read her doom in his blanched and
contorted face. And somewhere on these hills round about the voice
of wailing arose for two months from many maidens because Jephthah
must fulfill his rash vow by sacrificing his only child. But he
did unto her according to his word; and annually thereafter for a
period of four days these hills resounded with the voice of
weeping--the weeping of the maidens of Mizpah over the sad fate of
Jephthah's daughter. (Judges 11.)
Farther on we ascend a high ridge and then begin our descent into
the southern branch of the wady of Ajlun. After winding about for
some time among the rocks and brush in the dry bed of this wady we
finally halt at Ain Jenneh, a good, strong fountain issuing from
under a great rock. We are yet in the upper reaches of the wady
and near the present village of Ajlun. Here we lunch and rest an
hour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account