The ancient caravan road connecting Damascus with Arabia, the modern Pilgrim Road, ran along the eastern side of the territory of the Israelites, and thus was of no service to them. In like manner the important caravan road from Gaza to Arabia touched only a small and thinly peopled tract of their country. On the other hand, the great caravan road connecting Damascus with the middle part of the Mediterranean coast and with Egypt ran right through the territory of Israel, and offered its people a variety of advantages, which they did not fail to utilize when the State
reached under Solomon the culminating point of its culture.
In the interior of the country the extensive stretch of mountains, interrupted by steep descents, presented a serious obstacle to communication. Any one who has made journeys in Palestine knows from experience how travelling is a. course of up hill and down, and how at every turn de- clivities have to be passed which it is a severe task for one’s horse to mount or to descend. For the most part, one has to ride at a walking pace; it is but rarely that valleys are encountered with a level surface where horses can gallop for any long stretch. Besides, the tract on the western side ot the Jordan is separated from that on the eastern side by the deep depression of that river. In the dry season, it is true, communication between the two parts of the country is kept up by numerous ° fords, but during the rainy season these are for the most part impassable; while, on the other hand, the winding and impetuous course of the stream makes it impossible to use it as a water- way between north and south. The only excep- tion in this respect is the broad expanse of the Lake of Gennesareth, offering great advantages to the dwellers upon its shores. ;
Nevertheless, the gradually developed high civili- zation of the Israelites led to the difficulties of communication being overcome as far as was prac- ticable, and there arose, as the Old Testament shows, a network of roads covering all the in- habited parts of the country. From this point of view, the monarchical period, from the reign of Solomon onwards, must have been of special significance; but, on the other hand, the differ- ence between the earlier and later periods must not be exaggerated. The country to which the Israelites came as settlers already possessed a certain measure of civilization. The Tel el-Amarna letters, which in so many respects have enlarged our knowledge of the pre-Israelite history of Canaan, mention, amongst other things, caravans which the Egyptian vassal-princes in Canaan were in the way of sending under escort to Egypt.* This points to the existence of routes of com- munication. We gather also from the Song of Deborah that in the period of the Judges there were roads with a brisk trattic in the Northern kingdom, for the condition of things that had supervened owing to the weakness of the Israel- ites is described in these terms: ‘The high- Ways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways’ (Jg 5°).+
ii. HEBREW TERMS FOR ‘RoAD.’—The usual Hebrew word for ‘road’ is 773 (derekh), which, from its etymology, probably means ‘ground trodden upon.’ Side by side with it we have the word nbpy (mésillah), which occurs also in the Inscription of Mesha, and whose radical meaning is undoubtedly that of a road which has been constructed by the filling up of hollows, and which is kept up by artificial methods. More poetical is the employment in Hebrew of the word mi (drah), which, on the other hand, is the usual term in Aramaic. Likewise more poetical are an (nathibh) or arn; (néthibhah) and (common in Aramaic and Arabic) Sv (shébhil). A narrow road shut in on both sides was called Sipvin (mish‘ol, Nu 2274 only); the road that ran right through a valley or led over a stream was 73D (ma'dbhar) or 772yD (ma‘barah) ; the steep road up a declivity, nby (ma‘dleh), or, down it, md (mérad).
In the figurative language of the OT the notion
* Of. Nos. 180, 189, 242, 256 in Winckler’s edition [Petrie, Nos. 254, 231, 42, 41].
+ That there were much frequented roads also in the southern portion of the land is evident from the narrative of Gn 38, where
the kédésiah takes her seat by the wayside to be seen by passers-by.
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W.&AK.Johnston, Limited, Rdinburgh & Londou