[172] To which place, according to the tenets of the Talmudic Jews, the offerings are confined, and since the destruction of which they have been discontinued.
[174] Modern critics and travellers appear to confirm this statement relating to the peculiar pronunciation of the three letters by the Samaritans.
[177] Jesus is thus called in the Talmud.
[181] After the slaughter of the Jews of Jerusalem by the crusaders, the few that were saved from destruction were dispersed in all directions. Those persons who mourned over these unhappy circumstances were called "mourners of Jerusalem," and are mentioned under that title more than once by Benjamin. We find these mourners even among the Caraites about 1147. We read in several ancient Jewish writers of the danger incurred by the Jews who visited Jerusalem while it remained in the power of the Christians. Pethachia found only one Jew at Jerusalem, whereas Benjamin speaks of 200. A numerous congregation was again to be met with there about 1190; but about 1216 great discord prevailed among them in consequence of the pretensions of the different congregations.
[183] It may be observed that most of the richer stuffs, the siclatons, &c., used in the west of Europe during the middle ages, came from the east, which accounts for the number of dyers mentioned by the traveller.
[185] The "House of Abraham" is still shown to travellers, about an hour's ride from Hebron, the site being occupied by the ruins of a small convent.
[186] Joshua, xv. 44. It is the Bethogabris of the Greek and Latin writers, and supposed to be the Eleutheropolis of the early Christian fathers.
[189] The rocks of Jonathan, mentioned (1 Sam. xiv. 5) as being between Gibeah and Michmash, and which formed a narrow path between the two places, were also seen by Robinson and Smith. "Directly between Jeba and Mukhmâs are two conical hills, not very high, which are probably the scene of Jonathan's romantic adventure against the Philistines, recorded in 1 Sam. xiv."
[191] The Azotus of the ancient geographers.
[192] The Esdraela of the Greeks, called by the historians of the crusades Gerinum and Zarain.
[196] During the middle ages Jews were not unfrequently employed as astrologers by the Arabian princes. R. Isaac, the son of Baruch (A.D. 1080), appears, among others, to have rendered services of this kind to Almohammad. King Alphonso of Castile also entertained Jews who were proficients in astrology. The surname [Hebrew: חוזה], astrologer, was borne by Abraham in Tiberias. Eliezer, author of an astrological book of chances, lived in 1559. We also find mention of Joseph, astrologer of Seifeddin, sultan of Mosul; R. Isaac, an astronomer of the twelfth century in France; and Salomon, an astronomer in Nineveh.