DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0302
THE ROCK OF HOREB.
285
ducts, for fruit it is better than the rich valley of
the Nile. Sitting under the shade of a fig-tree,
the superior pointed out to me a rent in the moun-
tain opposite, which he said was caused by an
earthquake, that had swallowed up two friends
and servants of Moses of whom I had never heard
before; and who were so swallowed up for dis-
obeying the orders of their earthly master.
The superior, unused to such a task as he had
imposed upon himself, here completely gave out,
and I left him panting under the shade of his fig-
tree, while I went on to the valley of Rephidim ;
ifnd, passing another garden, came to the rock of
Horeb, the stone which Moses struck with his rod,
and caused the waters to gush out. The stone is
about twelve feet high, and on one side are eight
or ten deep gashes from one to three feet long, and
from one to two inches wide, some of which were
trickling with water. These gashes are singular
in their appearance, .though probably showing only
the natural effect of time and exposure. They
look something like the gashes in the bark of a
growing tree, except that, instead of the lips of the
gash swelling and growing over, they are worn
and reduced to a polished smoothness. They are,
no doubt, the work of men's hands, a clumsy arti-
fice of the early monks to touch the hearts of pi-
ous pilgrims; but the monks of the convent, and
the Greek pilgrims who go there now, believe in it
with as much honesty and sincerity as in the cru-
cifixion.
Will the reader forgive me if I say that the
285
ducts, for fruit it is better than the rich valley of
the Nile. Sitting under the shade of a fig-tree,
the superior pointed out to me a rent in the moun-
tain opposite, which he said was caused by an
earthquake, that had swallowed up two friends
and servants of Moses of whom I had never heard
before; and who were so swallowed up for dis-
obeying the orders of their earthly master.
The superior, unused to such a task as he had
imposed upon himself, here completely gave out,
and I left him panting under the shade of his fig-
tree, while I went on to the valley of Rephidim ;
ifnd, passing another garden, came to the rock of
Horeb, the stone which Moses struck with his rod,
and caused the waters to gush out. The stone is
about twelve feet high, and on one side are eight
or ten deep gashes from one to three feet long, and
from one to two inches wide, some of which were
trickling with water. These gashes are singular
in their appearance, .though probably showing only
the natural effect of time and exposure. They
look something like the gashes in the bark of a
growing tree, except that, instead of the lips of the
gash swelling and growing over, they are worn
and reduced to a polished smoothness. They are,
no doubt, the work of men's hands, a clumsy arti-
fice of the early monks to touch the hearts of pi-
ous pilgrims; but the monks of the convent, and
the Greek pilgrims who go there now, believe in it
with as much honesty and sincerity as in the cru-
cifixion.
Will the reader forgive me if I say that the