By Rev. D. URQUHART.
IT was only last summer that I realized the identity of a certain word in the Song of Solomon with the name of a Jewish residential village on the Plain of Rephaim, near Jerusalem. The name of the village is Talpioth. I had often read and heard of Talpioth, and I visited it as soon as I could after my first arrival in Palestine. I had paid a promised visit one afternoon to the Greek Colony, and from there directed my steps to Talpioth, my first view of which revealed its gardens and roofs bathed by the tints of an Oriental sunset sky. The first person I met at the border of the village was young Naphtali, the official “shomer” or watchman, astride an Arab thoroughbred horse. Far from being offended at my mention of Christ and the New Covenant, he invited me to his house, where I was introduced to his wife and her mother. That was my first, but not by any means my last, visit with Naphtali and his little circle. They have since gone to South America, and I pray the Lord to bless them, and make them choosers of “that good part.” Of my other experiences in Talpioth I shall only mention one. One day, when on mission-work bent, I noticed the name of a man of learning on a brass plate at the door of a residence. Hoping for the best, I rang the bell, and, the servant not being at home, I was confronted with his wife. She was not a virago, but was rather more than emphatic. The gist of what she said was that to seek the conversion of civilized Jews, as if they were savages of the South Seas, was an insult to their intelligence. However, I did not render railing for railing, but said as much about the Saviour as the circumstances permitted. I don’t know how that woman fared next year, when Arabs entered Talpioth, that “unwalled village,” to kill and to plunder, but her husband, at least, began to show an interest in Christianity, and that is all I am able to record about them.
But, now, I began by remarking that it was only last Summer that I learned the significance of the name Talpioth. Last Summer, I made the acquaintance of several American Jewish students. I had conversations with them about vital subjects, and, while they did not show much desire to receive the gospel, they showed great interest in the Land of Palestine. One of the places they inquired about eagerly was the Wailing Wall. After explaining that this was all that was to be seen of the Western Wall of the Temple area, and making various remarks, I went on to speak of the Tower of David. When I got home to my room, I was still thinking of the Tower of David, and I opened my Hebrew Bible to look at the words in Song of Solomon, ch. 4, v. 4,—“Thy neck is like the Tower of David, builded for an armoury,” etc. It was the word for “armoury” that arrested my attention at once, and thrilled me. That word was none other than “Talpioth,” a word which none of us used in Palestine except when referring to the place I have mentioned. Every time I went from the “Gate of the Friend” to Talpioth, I passed the Tower of David. Although the embattlements of the modern Tower of David are of the period of the Crusades rather than David or Solomon yet, there are the traditions and associations. Well, Christ is the Head, and His Body the Church is ministered to, by Him, through the Neck, which means His word, His Prophets and Apostles and ministering servants, under the influence of the same Holy Spirit. So “Thy neck is like the Tower of David builded for an armoury.”
Now, the Jews are convinced that it is impossible to convert any of their race, and that if any profess to be converted to Christianity, they are not sincere in their profession. More than one Jew set himself out to prove this to me, quoting instances for support. But I simply tell them that conversion must be unreal and insincere, if God the Holy Ghost has not wrought a change of heart. And oh, are any people so exclusive as the Jews, and so proud of their ancestry? I betrayed some sorrow for the attitude of a young Jew one day, and he said to me, with the irritable frankness of a man to his friend,—“I don’t like being pitied. I have the blood of kings in my veins.”
A member of a Jewish family, which I sometimes visit, said to me recently, “Do you quote the meaning of the Hebrew Bible in your sermons?” On my answering in the affirmative, he said “That is good, because your King James version was translated with Christian prejudice, and cannot do justice to the Hebrew.” I at once said, “Let me tell you that the men who translated the Hebrew Bible into English not only knew Hebrew well, but also were conversant with Rabbinical commentators.” And I gave them the names of Jewish commentators consulted in England, and also, by Luther, in Germany. My Jewish friend had been inclined to think that our Authorised Version was largely influenced by the Vulgate. But I assured him that our beautiful Authorised Version translation is finer than any modern translation can be, and is not at variance with the oracles of Adonai in the Hebrew. Christ emphasised the principal thing when He said of the Scriptures, “They testify of me.”
When I called on another Jewish family I found them busy preparing their home for the feast of the Passover. Among other topics of conversation, especially with the father, the subject of “faith” occurred, and when I explained the Christian view of faith, he said, “Jews have no faith. We have traditions and culture, and we have the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the heart of the Jews.” He admitted that it is to Christianity we owe the existence of civilization to-day. His wife joined in to say that if Christians were sincere and practised their beliefs, and the same were true of the Jews, it would be a better world, and there would be no war to-day. In agreeing with this I touched on truths commonly believed by orthodox Christians, emphasising the eternal truths of the Messiah, and salvation through Him. When, in course of conversation, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah was mentioned, I remembered the tune called “Leoni” which is suitable for the second version of Psalm 143. When I hummed it, one of the sons said it was like Ha-tikvah (the Hebrew National Anthem). I disagreed and said it was more like synagogue music, and the father, after asking me to hum it a second time, said, “Ah, yes, it is like the tune the cantor uses on Friday evening for ‘Yigdal Elohim.'” For the benefit of those who do not know Hebrew, let me say that the Hebrew word for God is Elohim, just as the Arabic word is Allah; and Yigdal Elohim means, “May God be great,” and is the beginning of a well-known Hebrew prayer. God shall be great in His dealings with His ancient people, whether in salvation for believers or judgment for rejectors of the Messiah. There have already been almost two thousand years of rejection and judgment. Hitler, in “Mein Kampf,” ascribes the continued existence of the Jewish people to the way in which they have developed the instinct of self-preservation as the chosen people, and to an infinitely tenacious will to live. But Hitler is notoriously one of those who have helped forward the affliction of the people who said to Pilate—”His blood be on us and on our children.” And the real reason for the impossibility of utterly destroying the Jews is that God’s promise regarding them must be fulfilled. As surely as they rejected Christ as a nation, so surely shall they, as a nation, accept Him and pay eager homage to Him, saying,— “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” That blessed time cannot be extremely distant, although at present one may feel faced with a wall of adamant. The gracious influence of the Holy Spirit can overcome every obstacle, when the time comes for Him to work. That set time shall be marked, not by a boasting in their race, but by an exalting of the Lord Jesus Christ,—”The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.”