Excerpt from The Holy Land and the Bible, Vol. 1 of 2: A Book of Scripture Illustrations Gathered in Palestine I visited Palestine with the intention of gathering illustra tions of the sacred writings from its hills and valleys, its rivers and lakes, its plains and uplands, its plants and animals, its skies, its soil, and, above all, from the pictures of ancient times still presented on every side in the daily life of its people. Nothing is more instructive or can be more charming, when reading Scripture, than the illumination of its texts from such sources, throwing light upon its constantly recurring Oriental imagery and local allusions, and revealing the exact meaning of words and phrases which otherwise could not be adequately understood. Its simple narratives, its divine poetry, its pro phetic Visions, its varied teachings, alike catch additional vivid ness and force when read with the aid of such knowledge. The Land is, in fact, a natural commentary on the sacred writ ings which it has given to us, and we study them as it were amidst the life, the scenery, and the local peculiarities which surrounded those to whom the Scriptures were first addressed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.