THE SAMARITAN WOMAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16738, 20 May 1922, Page 3

THE SAMARITAN WOMAN.

MYSTERY SURROUNDING ri£a, SOLVING THE SECRETS OF THE HOLY LAND (“ New York Herald.’’) Members of the Palestine Exploration Fund, an organisation which is interested in solving the secrets of the Holy Eand, have announced that it is about to begin new explorations in Palestine, mainly with the object of discovering at last the long sought home of the Samaritan Woman. Xo more romantic quest ever has been initiated. The gentle “ Woman of Samaria,'* an appealing symbol of the curiousitv of her sex, has stood out trom among all her sisters of the Bible relations as the one most interesting of them all. Perhaps this has been because of the mystery surrounding her, tor all we know of this question asking woman, who was a figure in one of the most compelling incidents that fill the iife of Chrisrt, is gleaned from the simple description of St John “ She came out of Samaria.” They stood at the Well of Jacob— Christ and the Woman. The woman tv ho had come to draw water for her lord or master, asked, that question which in its answer brought forth the most comforting precept of all Christianity. She wanted to know how it could be that the Man before her could display a confidence in her, the daughter of an almost enemy people. Tt is His answer to this Woman of Samaria that has since taught a whole world that t lie re can he no enemies among those who have faith. WOMAN DISAPPEA RED AG ATX. BUT LEFT IMPRESS OX WORLD From this conversation the woman disappeared into the mistery from which she had emerged. She left he*impress, however, .upon all after history. Her footsteps have been followed through all time since her departure from the well—yet the modern scientific world, seeking out the secrets that are buried in Palestine, have longpd in vain to find her actual footsteps, to follow them to her home, to trace them, perhaps, from the well to the Temple of Baal, where she might have retreated to ask indulgence ’for her speaking to the Stranger from Jerusalem. Or she might have been one of the bevy of maidens attached to the Palace of Ivory, stiH standing in her time in all its magnificence, a splendid memory of Ahab. son of Omrt. To find the home of this woman of Samaria means more to the curious and the scientists than merely the discovery of an interesting woman’s abiding place. There is good reason to believe, many scholars think, that the Thirtytwo Lost Books of the Bible are buried in the ruins of that ancient city of Syr bar, of which there never has been found a dependable trace. f Part of Samaria ha 9 been excavated, and much valuable material helping to fill out the gaps in early Palestine history has been discovered. But only the surface of this mysterious, secret laden land has been scratched. The last attempts at excavation were made in 1914, and were halted by the coming of the war. Previous to that the Palestine Exploration Fund had con ducted a systematic exploration in 1880. which was halted by an order from the Sultan of Turkey It always has bi'en very difficult to investigate in Palestine. The Turks? did not welcome expeditions from the universities of Europe and America, with their strange instruments and the picks and shovels. The Mohammedans do not believe in digging beneath the surface of the ground for any other purpose than mining or cultivation. They have a superstitious antagonism to any probing for the secrets of the pa.st. M ere it not for the many centuries of refusal by the Sublime Porte to permit extensive excavations in Palestine many mysteries of the Bible now might have been cleared up—Solomon's Temple might have been restored, am’, the Temple of Baal in Samaria might have been faithfully rebuilt after its ancient design to serve, perhaps, as a museum for the preservation of the Thirty-two Lost Books which many believe are buried in its vinicit.v WHERE TO BEGIN DIGGING. Now the Sultan no longer governs Palestine. The British hold a mandate over it. and there is no difficulty in obtaining permission for exploration. The question has been, however, where to begin the new investigations. Samaria has been decided upon- and it is the home of the Samaritan Woman, her home city, her haunts and her civilisation, the grave explorers *eek to uncover. Of course they will come upon the ruins of the lost city of Sychar. Tt is here they hope to find the books of the Bible that have disappeared. We have, for instance, only two chapters of Haggai and only three of Zephania. Yet there is ample evidence that both these writers were prolific. Both, it is thought, wrote many. Jacob’s Well, where the Sannaritnn woman met Christ, has been discovered. It still stands, a ruined wall surrounding it, at the food of Mount Gerisim. Above it is one of the ruined arches of an old temple built there no doubt, in honor of Jacob, who gave the weli to the people of Samaria. A few rough steps lead up to the crumpled stones against which once leaned the beautiful hand maidens of the ancient kingdom. come to get water for their masters and to gossip with each other aver the latest news from Jerusalem or of the vagaries of their capricious mis.fcre ir was on thetse steps Christ sat when ♦•he Samaritan Woman came with her 3**6 » **4 was on these steps she stood when she heard from the Stranger those magic words. “ T that speak unto thee am He ’’— the Messiah! For many years it was thought that the city of Sychar. mentioned as the home of the Samaritan Woman, ha I been the ruined city under the site of the present village of Nablus. Ex plorers have at different periods and under great dangers and inconveniences dug down under this modern Nablus and have uncovered the ruins of an ancient city The walls of a temple now stand revealed. It was here undoubtedly the Palace of Ivory, built by Ahab m commemoration of a victory over the hosts of the Assyrians, stood. Part of its walls now are uncovered and stretch along the road-

John spoke in his chronicle of the meeting between Christ and the woman. Indeed, these ruins under Nablus have been identified recently as the remnant of the old city of Sychem, one of the capitals of Ahab, and tile direct object of the assault of i Ben Hadad and his thirty-two kings 1 of Assyria--who all were overthrown |by the mighty King of Samaria. It j is the similarity of the names that has } been confusing to explorers, j On a great rock, a part, no doubt, lof the buttress gate to the city of J Sychem, uncovered in 1914, but never * studied until quite recently, the an!cient Samaritan figures which quite plainly spell Sychar have been deciphI ered, with following figures which are directions to the traveller seeking the city of Sycher to travel a mile further to the east. This would he only half a mile from the Well of Jacob. Near this spot- there now is a village called Askar, at the foot of a high 'mound. On the crest % of the mound, and cropping out here and there on its slopes, there are remnants of t-cwers and shaped stones which indicate clearly that the little hill is the tomb of a lost city—r-a tomb which Sultan and neighbourhood natives never would allow disturbed. It is here in this mound the Palestine Exploration Fund men hope to find the home of the Samaritan Woman and to find too the lost books of the Bible and perhaps the original tablets o.i which were written the Five Books of Moses. A W hen the explorers come to their new work in Samaria they will seek traces also of another woman whose history is an interesting incident of Bible times one who was as far dif-' ferent from the Woman of Samaria mentioned by Jesus as the night is from day. This was Jezebel, cruel wife of Ahab, she whose name has come down to us as a term of contepupfc for the woman who paints her face to bide its lack of the purities of the sold that it should reflect. But aside from the literary remains it is impossible to open one of the many ruin-mounds of Palestine without discovering relics of all the civilizations which have found place on its soil. The New Testatment leaves much to he desired as to details of the life of Jesus, and just as there were found in far off Egypt some of the “Savings of Jesus.” the Login, so in Sychar may be discovered some memorials of ITis dav No doubt it was in the house of His beautiful questioner He was received during His stay in the town.