The Book-City\u2014Jos_15:15<\/p>\n
One of the towns taken by the Israelites in the course of their war for the conquest of Canaan, was Kirjath-sepher. It is historically famous as the strong city, for the capture of which Caleb, in whose lot it lay, held forth the hand of his daughter Achsah as the prize\u2014which prize was won by his gallant nephew Othniel, afterwards a judge in Israel. But a still higher interest\u2014not very obvious to the general reader\u2014lurks in this city, and that merely in its name. Kirjath-Sepher means \u201cthe Book-City.\u201d<\/p>\n
To those who like to look back into ancient things, this name\u2014found at a date so remote\u2014excites the most intense curiosity, and suggests a thousand questions. While scholars are disputing whether any literature\u2014or any but the scantiest\u2014existed at a date so ancient, we come quietly upon a great fact lurking in a name. We read here, in this name, not only of a book, but of a book-city\u2014a city distinguished in some way or other for its connection with literature. It is difficult to conceive that it was so earned for any other reason than because it was either eminent for books or archives, or for its being the resort of men who were conversant with literature\u2014such, whatever it was, as existed in that age. In some sort, then, it was a place of literature. Was it a place of libraries, of archives, of academies? Either alternative implies the presence of such literature as the age afforded among the Canaanites \u2014and at least proves that they were not an illiterate people. The Targum calls the place Kirjath-Arche\u2014or the city of the archives, in which were laid up the public records of the Canaanites. This is not unlikely. We know that there were in a later age special cities in which the archives of kingdoms were deposited, and it might be particularly desirable in a dominion of small states like those of Canaan, that the public records, in which all had an interest, should be deposited in one place.<\/p>\n
This Kirjath-Sepher is again, undoubtedly, the same which is further on called Kirjath-Sannah (Jos_15:49). Thus Sannah means, in Arabic, and in the old Phoenician or Canaanitish dialect, law, doctrine, manner of life, and is applied by the Moslems to the secondary law of the Koran, answering to the Jewish Mishnah. The Greek translators render it by the \u201ccity of letters.\u201d it seems, therefore, that the one name denotes the general character of the town as a city of books, and the other the nature of these books, or the objects to which they tended, which were indeed, the objects of all ancient literature.<\/p>\n
Think as we will\u2014reason as we will\u2014it remains clear that if there was a city called the Book-City, there must have been books of some kind or other. By the dear love we bear to books, which place within our grasp the thoughts and knowledge of all ages and of all climes, we exult in this inevitable conclusion. Let us not, however, form any large ideas of the collections of books which the Book-City contained. The mere fact that a city was distinguished by its very name for the possession of books, implies that books were rare and uncommon. It is not for qualities or possessions common, but rare, that cities or persons acquire a name. There was no Bodleian or Advocates\u2019 Library\u2014no British Museum; a small closet or a box might perhaps contain all the manuscripts which the Book-City possessed. But whatever their quality or number, they were precious in the eyes of the Canaanites: and in ours, this bundle of books, and their appreciation of its value, do them far more honor than all their chariots of iron. What a treasure they would have been to us now! What stores of ancient knowledge they would have opened! What light would have been thrown upon many dark matters, all the more important from their connection with the early history of our sacred books! We should have been able to read them, had they been preserved, and their value to us would have been beyond all price. We can feel this\u2014we see this at a glance. How much more, then, would this have been the case had the books which comprise our Bible been lost, though known to have existed. How we should have grieved over that loss. How, sensible we should be of their unutterable value\u2014how highly we should estimate the privilege of being acquainted with the high knowledge they comprise. But we have these books in our hands; all the treasures of human and spiritual knowledge which they contain, lie as an open page in the hands of our very children\u2014here are books as old, and books far more precious, than any the Book-City of the Canaanites contained. Some are sensible of its value\u2014some devote all their days to the study of it\u2014and to many every word of the Sacred Volume is more precious than gold. But these are few in number compared with the thousands by whom this volume, so accessible to all, and so worthy of all our thoughts, is neglected like any common thing, or to whom it is as a sealed book. In the contemplation of this far more rich possession, we may soothe our regrets at the loss of the library of Kirjath-Sepher.<\/p>\n
But, after all, what did become of these books? When Caleb acquired the city, did he preserve or destroy them? It does not seem to us likely that he would treat with much respect books which, however ever precious they might be to us, in our day, for the illustration of ancient history and ethnography, would in his eyes, exhibit much that was profane and abominable. The whole had probably the flavor of idolatry, and much must have had reference to the superstitious rites and acts to which the Canaanites were addicted; and these things, however interesting they may be as materials of antiquarian investigation into matters long since extinct, are received differently as living and actual things. At the present day, a nobleman will give large sums for a collection of the very broadsides and chap-books, with which at the time of their publication, one or two centuries ago, a gentleman would have scorned to soil his fingers. Besides, the collection very probably included records and covenants respecting the ancient arrangements of estates and territories, which a conquering people could have no interest in preserving, but had a very obvious interest in destroying. So it is by no means unlikely likely that old Caleb threw the entire bundle of books that formed the library of Kirjath-Sepher into the fire. We may, the rather think so, as, although the name of Kirjath-Sepher is a perfectly intelligible one in Hebrew, the conqueror evidently regarded it with no favor, for he hastened to change its name to Debir, by which it was afterwards known. Yet we should not like to press too much on this. For even the new name seems to have some analogy to the old reputation of the place. Debir means a \u201cword,\u201d or \u201coracle,\u201d and is applied to that most secret and separated part of the temple\u2014the holy of holies\u2014in which the a ark of God was placed, and where his oracles were delivered from between the cherubim. It is, therefore, not unlikely that this, equally with the old name, although in another form, communicates the fact that Debir had been some particularly sacred place or seat of learning among the Canaanites, and the repository of their books and records. It is, indeed, quite possible that it was not, at a later day, without some regard to the old reputation of the place as a seat of ancient learning, that it was made a city of the priests. The town appears to have lain a few miles to the west of Hebron, but no trace of it has yet been discovered.<\/p>\n
Autor: JOHN KITTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Book-City\u2014Jos_15:15 One of the towns taken by the Israelites in the course of their war for the conquest of Canaan, was Kirjath-sepher. It is historically famous as the strong city, for the capture of which Caleb, in whose lot it lay, held forth the hand of his daughter Achsah as the prize\u2014which prize was … Continue reading ““173. THE BOOK-CITY\u2014JOSHUA 15:15””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}