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OADS AND TRAVEL (IN OT)
ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN OT) 369
of ‘road’ or ‘way’ plays a prominent part, a circumstance probably connected not with the increase of communication but with recollections of the nomadic pre-historic period of Israel’s history. In the desert the discovery of the right path is often a question of life, for the wanderer who fails to find a well of water or who stumbles upon an enemy’s quarters speedily falls a prey to death. In this way the language of the OT is to be understood when it speaks of a wa to life and one to death (Pr 6% 1017 12% 1412 2116, Jer 21°), or of a way that perishes (Ps 1°), or that is shut up (Job 198). When God means to destroy a nation He closes up its way with a wall* or with thorns (Hos 2°). His law teaches Israel the right way, from which, however, the people con- stantly wander (Jer 31, cf. Is 2%). He who follows the example of another walks in his ways (1 K 156 and often). Ilustrations of similar usages might be multiplied indefinitely. The same figurative mode of expression prevails also in the Koran, whose first hearers must have been familiar with the importance of path-finding to the Bedawin.
ili. VARIOUS KINDS OF ROADS.—In many pas- sages of the OT the word ‘way’ or ‘road’ un- doubtedly stands for a simple bridle-path. It is the latter that is the initial stage in the process whereby men and beasts tread the same ground year after year. Thus the very old Pilgrim Road from Damascus to Arabia consists merely of a number of parallel tracks without any artificial construction, and recalls the passages in the ancient Arab poets where such roads are compared to striped cloths from 8. Arabia. On the hills of Palestine the hard limestone soil forms a firm foundation for the roads, which for long stretches require nothing more in the way of construction, and present no inconvenience to the traveller ex- cept at spots where the winter rains have washed down accumulations of stones. The existence of artificially formed roads is not necessarily implied in the passages where chariots or waggons are spoken of. According to the OT, the great plain between the hills of Samaria and Galilee was the proper home of chariots of war, which could move here with ease (Jeg 4°, cf. 2K 9°). But besides this we hear also of vehicles traversing the hill- country proper—e.g. Gn 45% (from Hebron to Egypt), 1S 6 (from ‘Ekron by way of Beth-shemesh to sath iouaim), 2S 6 (from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem), 28 15!, 1 K 1, Is 228, Jer 17” (from and to Jerusalem), 1 K 12!8 (from Shechem to Jerusalem), 1K 22” (from Ramoth-gilead to Samaria), 2 K 74 (from Samaria to the Jordan), 2 K 5% 2 (from Damascus to Samaria), 2 K 10" (from Jezreel to Samaria, cf. 9°"). With refer- ence to Gn 452” Robinson (BRP? i. 214f.) declares that the road from Hebron to the south cannot
ossibly have been traversed by waggons, and Retice he assumes that they must have made a circuit by the Wady el-Khalil. Yn like manner he asserts that the road between Hebron and Jerusalem must have been impracticable for any- thing on wheels. But in that case the OT could not have spoken at all of vehicles travelling from and to Jerusalem, for none of the roads leading to the capital are a whit better than the Hebron road. Nor can it well be doubted that the chariots which Absalom collected in connexion with his projected rebellion (2 S 15!) were procured at Hebron. — As a matter of fact, there is no ground for Robinson’s yemark if one keeps in mind that the light two- wheeled chariots of war and the clumsy ox-waggons (1 S 6) could travel not only on perfectly primitive
* The method of blocking a road by means of a wall (7}3) formed of loose stones is described by Guthe in Mitteil. wu. Nachrichten des deutschen Pal. Vereins, 1896, p. 9.
EXTRA VOL.—24
roads, but even along unbeaten ground.* Of course the progress under such conditions was often very slow, and the journey was attended with incon- yeniences and dangers such as are expressly alluded to in 2S 68.
But, although a number of the roads mentioned in the Bible are nothing more than primitive natural tracks, it is a well established fact, on the other hand, that the Israelites had also artifi- cially constructed roads. It is a circumstance of special importance from this point of view that the Moabite king Mesha records in his Inscription (1. 26) how he caused the road along the Arnon to be constructed (nbo9 *nvy), For it may be inferred that what was done by this prince would also be done by the Israelite monarchs of the same period. A testimony in favour of this may be found in the very word 7p (mésillah) noticed above. It is also expressly said in Dt 19° that the roads leading to the three Cities of Refuge are to be kept in good repair (727). In Sir 21! the writer says figura- tively, ‘The way of sinners is made smooth with stones.’ Contrariwise, Job (30!) speaks of a tear- ing up or destroying (on) of the road, which like- wise presupposes one that has been artificially formed. The expression ‘the king’s highway’ (aden 373) used for the great trunk-road of the country (Nu 20", cf. v.19 75pp) appears to point to the fact that it was especially the kings who saw to the repairing of the roads, a procedure which was natural even on military grounds.t We are not, of course, to think of such roads as possessing any special excellence ; they were probably similar in character to the ‘Sultan’s roads’ as these existed in Palestine down to recent years. Accordingly, when kings went upon a journey, people were sent out to prepare the roads, for instance by removing loose stones from the surface (ef. Is 40° 5714 62”, an Diod. Sic. ii. 13). It is also related by Josephus that Vespasian took workmen along with his army, whose duty it was to remove inequalities in the roads, and to cut down any bushes that might be in the way.t On the other hand, it is improbable that the Israelites built any bridges, as there is no word in the OT (nor even 2 Mac 12°) which can be proved to mean ‘ bridge,’ and none of the existing remains of ancient bridges over the Jordan are earlier than the Roman period. Any one who wanted to cross the Jordan had to avail himself of the fords, unless he followed the example of Jonathan the Maccabee (1 Mac 9%) and swam over.§ In desert regions a ‘waymark’ (rx gtyyuin, or WHA tamrtir) was set up for the guidance of travellers (Jer 31?!), a practice which is also men- tioned frequently by the ancient Arab poets. But milestones were first introduced by the Romans; the Israelites reckoned distances by the number of days’ journey (Gn 30° 31°5,1 K 19%, 2 K 3°), and appear in general to have had no measure for long stretches of road.||