HEBREW ROCK ALTARS.
By REV. H. B. GREENE,
Lowell, Mass.
THAT Palestine is a land rich in ruins is often remarked, but
little understood, even by those who have visited there and per-
haps have taken the journey from Jerusalem to Damascus. The
itinerary of the tourist and the route of the pilgrim almost
never lead to the well-preserved ruins of Bible times, or if they
do, the average dragoman knows nothing of them except that
they are ruins and the abode of poisonous serpents. So to the
question of the observant tourist or curious pilgrim the uniform
answer is given "nothing but ruins." In reality these same
ruins, whether belonging to Canaanitish, Hebrew, early Chris-
tian, Moslem or crusading times, are teeming with interest, and
will yet throw much light upon the sacred page. Jerusalem,
Bethlehem, and Nazareth are modern cities, while the places
that witnessed the struggles of the Hebrews and the work of
Christ lie beneath the surface, buried by the accumulation of
centuries. Very little of that which is ancient or historic can
be seen by the visitor. Were it not for the unchanging hills
about Jerusalem, the stony field of the shepherds about Bethle-
hem, and the never-failing fountain of the virgin at Nazareth,
there would be but little in these places to remind one of their
glorious past. On the other hand, away from these centers the
great plains are dotted with "tells" that mark former cities,
and almost every hilltop has its ruins that speak of former
inhabitants. Judging by these ruins the ancient cities must have
been far superior to the modern Arab towns. During three
spring seasons it has been my privilege to wander about all parts
of the Holy Land in search of health, knowledge, and flowers.
In these wanderings away from the beaten paths, where the
lily grows and the wild beasts roam at will, I have seen many
329
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
330 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
objects of interest not mentioned in the guidebooks, among
them some rock altars that I recently found in the border land
of Judea. These altars were probably built by the children
of Israel that upon them they might offer sacrifice to the Most
High God. The region where these stone altars exist lies
between Yalo (the ancient Aijalon), and Sara (the ancient Zorah,
the birthplace of Samson), just at the foot of the Judean moun-
tains as they merge into the plain of Sharon. From Yalo to
Sara is six and one-half miles. In passing from one village
to the other by this part of the ancient path along which the
ark of the covenant was borne from its captivity in the tem-
ple of Dagon to its resting place at Kirjath-jearim, one counts
four dirty Arab villages.
Yet three thousand years ago, the time of the event referred
to, there were nine or ten flourishing villages, each with its
local rock altar. I have examined the ruins of eight such vil-
lages, and know of others in the same neighborhood, which
time did not allow me to examine. Until within a few years no
ancient altars were known to exist in Palestine west of the Jor-
dan. After twenty-one years of work in the Holy Land the
Palestine Exploration Society reports that "the two cromlechs,
together with a rude stone monument discovered in the hilly
country of eastern Judea, are the only old stone monuments
remaining in western Palestine. As far as I can learn no report
has ever been made, in an American work, of ancient Hebrew
altars existing in any part of Palestine. The only two which
have been reported, and drawings of them given, were described
in 1886 in Germany. About twelve years ago Rev. T. E.
Hanauer, then a missionary in Jerusalem, discovered what he
thought must be an altar, located at the foot of the Sara
(Zorah) hill. He reported his find to the Palestine Explora-
tion Society, and Herr B. Schick, an authority upon all that
pertains to ancient Palestine, visited the spot and took mneas-
urements and drawings of the monument. He considered it a
Hebrew altar and probably the very one upon which Manoah
(Judges I3: 19), the father of Samson, offered sacrifice to
Jehovah. Herr Schick visited the ruins of a large village only
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
HEBREW ROCK ALTARS 331
a mile and one-half from this altar and there found another of
which he took drawings. Afterwards he published a full account
of both in the Zeitschrift des deutschen Paliastina-Vereins.
I have carefully examined and measured these two altars
(Figs. I and 2), and have discovered six others besides in this
FIG. I.
same border land of Judea. Fig. 2 gives a sketch of the altar at
Sara, together with a plan of its surface. The altar is a rock eight
feet in diameter at the base, and eight feet high. With the excep-
tion of the top it is in a state of nature. The top has been cut a
little, making two platforms of a foot in width, one platform being
a foot above the other. This rock was apparently chosen more
on account of its natural fitness as a table of the Lord than on
account of its location, for it is a half mile from the village. It
is now at the foot of the hill upon which the village stands, and
last spring was surrounded by growing wheat. When I first
saw it, I approached from the north and came upon it
suddenly"
It rose before me like a monument, with every suggestion of
an altar. If I had not been looking for it, I could not have
mistaken its use, for its every part told its story. When I
mounted upon its platform and saw the cup-shaped hollows upon
its surface, all doubt disappeared. I stood upon the platform of
an altar dedicated to Jehovah over three thousand years ago. I
give the plan of the surface The corners, instead of the sides,
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
3 32 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
indicate the points of the compass. In all there are twelve cup-
shaped hollows, ten on the surface and two below. The one at
the north corner is cut where the rock slopes off, and is quite by
itself. The one near the south corner is cut in the platform a foot
below the top of the altar. I did not measure the hollows but
FIG. 2.
should think they were from two inches to eight inches in diam-
eter. The largest hollows have drains consisting of shallow
grooves leading into them; they are represented on all the plans
by lines.
A mile and one-half to the east is a large ruin called Marmeta.
This must have been a city of a few thousand inhabitants. It is
here that the second altar described by Herr Schick is to be
found. I give its two faces (Fig. 3), for the stone seems to have
had a varied history, and its faces perhaps belong to different
periods. It is a monolith two and one-half feet square by nine
feet long. The workmanship, like all the early Hebrew stone
cutting, is crude. The stone is out of its original place and lies
upon the side of the hill. Face I is up and has seven cup-shaped
hollows, five of them connected by a slight drain with the largest.
Face II is at right angles to the first and now lies towards the
west. There is one curious feature. Cut into the surface is a
depression that looks as if it might have been cut for a door to
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
HEBREW ROCK ALTARS 333
fit in, at one period the stone perhaps being used as a threshold.
This depression is one and one-half inches deep, eight feet long,
and fifteen inches wide except at the ends, yet here are cup-
shaped hollows that correspond with those on other altars, and
even the drains are preserved. The largest hollow here is nine
FACE I. FACE II.
FIG. 3.
inches in diameter and four inches deep. Upon the surface of
this face are fourteen hollows, scattered about with no connec-
tion or order.
About five miles to the north of Sara I found upon land
that belongs to the Arab village of Der Eyub another rock altar,
smaller, but just as clearly an altar as the one first described.
Below (Fig. 4) is a plan of its surface. The chisel had no part
in shaping it (Ex. 20:25). It was against the letter of the
Mosaic law to use any tool in making an altar. This altar was
in a field covered by growing wheat. It is a part of the lime-
stone ledge that comes to the surface at that place. It is seven
feet long, about three feet wide, and three feet and one-half
high. The center cup-shaped hollow is large, being nearly a
foot in diameter and ten inches deep, perhaps showing the effect
of fire upon it. To the northwest about sixty feet, cut in the
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
334 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
same ledge, I found another cup-shaped hollow as seen in the
plan.
In the mountains to the east of Der Eyub are the ruins of a
once flourishing village. Here I found two altars, one appar-
FIG. 4.
7% feet long; 3 feet wide; 3% feet high. Center hollow II inches in diameter and
10 inches deep.
ently worn out with use and abandoned when the new one was
consecrated. Figure 5 shows the plan of the older altar.
The rock is an irregular one and does not stand out by itself,
but is one of several. The hollows are six and nine inches in
diameter, with a foot for depth. A few feet to the northwest
on another rock is another and smaller hollow, but having some
connection with the main altar.
Figure 6 gives the surface plan of the second altar in this vil-
lage. In this case the rock stands out by itself, and on two sides,
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
HEBREW ROCK AL TARS 33 5
the north and west, has been cut into shape. It is four feet high,
with three hollows in its surface, and a fourth below to the east
in a natural depression in the rock. The largest of these hollows
is six inches in diameter, all about three inches deep. The
three on the surface are connected by
drains. As in the two altars previously
described, this one has a companion
hollow to the northwest, in this case
nineteen feet distant.
In connection with this altar was a
building, a floor plan of which I give
below (Fig. 7), at the same time show-
ing the position of the cup-shaped
hollow to the northwest. This build-
ing was a large one, the rock floor
being seventeen feet square. The aver-
age size of dwellings in this village
was not over twelve feet square. The
FIG. 5.
floor was cut out of the rock,
FIG. 6.
of which the altar is a part.
This cutting is always neces-
sary in a mountain village; for everywhere the rock is present
and must be cut to form a level upon which to build. In order to
form a level floor in this building, the rock to the east was cut
four feet, and forms part of the wall on this side. In this natural
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
3 36 THE BIBLIC.AL WORLD
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
HEBREW ROCK ALTARS 337
wall are two large niches, the largest I found in any village.
They are two and one-half feet high, with the same depth. At
the bottom a lip was left to keep whatever was placed within
from falling upon the floor, while around the top was a groove,
into which lids once fitted. The rock to the north is of irregular
FIG. 8. THE TWO LARGE NICHES INDICATED IN FiG. 7.
height, but nowhere more than one and one-half feet. The west-
ern wall as it now exists is cut out of the same rock, and is a foot
high and a foot wide, with two openings of a foot each. One of
these openings leads to another floor cut out of the rock in a
manner similar to the first, but of different size and shape.
There are three other altars of which I might speak. One is
not far from the Arab village of Bet Mahsir. Another is near
the mass of ruins called by the natives S'affa, an ancient ruin not
far from Amwas of the Maccabees. These two are in every par-
ticular much like the altar at Der Eyub. The third altar (Fig. 9)
deserves just a word. It is at the foot of the hill covered by a
ruin called Chatula. Unlike the rest, it does not in shape or
size resemble an altar, being more round than square and only
two and one-half feet in diameter, with a height of but two feet.
Yet it has the four cup-shaped hollows, and seems to have been
a small altar or else part of a large one built of several stones.
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
338 THE BIBLICAL WORLDI
These are the rock altars. We have noted in regard to them
that, with the exception of the one at Marmeta, they are all of
uncut stone, which stones were chosen because nature had fitted
them to be tables of Jehovah. They are all in the valleys, not
on high places at the sum-
mits of hills. Each has upon
the face of the altar cup-
shaped hollows with drains
leading into them, these hol-
lows having the same general
arrangement in each. In the
case of four, a cup-shaped
hollow exists some feet to
the northwest which seems
to have a close relation to
the altar. Two altars being
FIG. 9.
out of place, it cannot be
known whether such a hollow
existed in their cases. In two instances a hollow exists on
the step, or on what takes the place of the step, of the altar.
That fire was used upon the altars is not clear unless we except
the large hollow in the Der Eyub altar, and the large hollows in
the altar in the mountains to the east of Der Eyub. One altar
only had a building joining it.
These being the facts, what are we to conclude in regard to
them ? It seems clear that they are real altars, and since they exist
in the territory set apart for and occupied by the tribes of Dan
and Judah, is it not fair to consider them of Hebrew origin ?
Their existence confirms the impressions made by reading the
Old Testament, that wherever the Hebrew people went, from
the time of the early patriarchs to long after the return from
Egypt, they consecrated altars for the worship of Jehovah,
which altars existed in every village, constituting a sacred spot
where the finite could commune with the Infinite. Doubtless
there existed at the same time a central place of sacrifice and
worship where, near the tabernacle and ark of the covenant,
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
HEBREW ROCK ALTARS 339
the representatives of the people gathered at the great national
feasts, and where daily burnt offerings were offered. The fact
that the altars show almost no effect of fire is not strange, for
these local altars were used mostly for the pouring out as a sac-
rifice of the blood of the animals slain. The blood thus poured
upon the altar would be conducted by the drains into the cup-
shaped hollows cut for its reception. The blood of all domestic
animals was considered sacred, and by their law must be offered
in sacrifice to Jehovah. Saul, after the defeat and pursuit of
the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon (I Sam. 14: 31-35),
seeing that the people sinned in that the blood of the animals
they killed in their hunger was not offered to Jehovah, ordered
a rock altar set apart on the battlefield that the blood might
be poured upon it. This altar of Saul was set up within a few
miles of the ones I have described. This requirement alone
would account for the presence of an altar in every town. It
was not until a later time, after the worship had centered in the
temple at Jerusalem and the sacrifices were offered up on the
Rock of Moriah, that it became lawful to slay animals for food
without offering the blood in sacrifice (Deut. 12: 21-24).
The large hollow in the altar at Der Eyub, together with the
four large hollows in the first described altar to the east of Der
Eyub, seem to show the effect of fire upon the stone. Perhaps
all the altars show the same effect, only in a less degree. We
know that the amount of fire actually used upon the altar was
very small, for often the burning was done at the side of the
altar. A portion of the thick fat of the animal offered was
often all that was burned upon the altar. The hollow on the
steps of the two altars spoken of might have been used for the
wine of the drink offering, which offering was never poured upon
the face of the altar (Num. 28:7), but on the steps or the
ground about the altar. I do not know what the hollow to the
northwest of the altars can be unless it was used as an altar of
incense. In the temple this altar stood to the west of the great
altar, as do these. Finally, in regard to the building in connec-
tion with one of the altars, is it not likely that it was used as a
feast room? It is certain that the worship did not cease with
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
340 THE BIBLICAL WORLD
the offering of sacrifice. A feast often followed, when the
people ate the principal part of the lamb or ox, if a burnt offer-
ing, of the corn (meal, or baked bread), wine, and oil, if a meat
offering. This feast was often enjoyed by the whole village
(I Sam. 9: 13), and as the private houses were too small to
accommodate the people it was the custom to build houses near
the altar for the feasts, and in which to store all things needed
for the altar service. The building described was probably for
this purpose.
This content downloaded from 139.082.096.033 on June 10, 2019 05:12:52 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
