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Show The Holy Land 225 chapel, and the terraced hills and fields and vineyards. The vil lage was in ruins. Moving south from Baalbeck, the Silvers drove to Damascus, capital of Syria, just east of the Anti-Liban range and sixty miles from the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps the oldest major city with a continuous existence in the world, Damascus was fifty miles southeast of Beirut. On the edge of an oasis with beautiful gar dens and groves, Damascus had been a great trading center for millennia. The city was filled with mosques and schools, bazaars, and craft shops. Madelyn was struck by the contrasts: the beautiful mosque and a tattered little boy wandering near by trying to follow a goat. The narrow streets and large luxury cars. Boys playing raucous game of "head ball," as she called it, within sight of an old woman weeping, as she was told, for sons taken into the army. There are many references to Damascus in the Old Testament. Madelyn saw the house of Ananias, the early Christian who, according to Acts 9:10-20 and 22:12-16, had a divine revelation and met Paul who had been transformed by his vision on the road to Damascus. Ananias healed promptly and baptized Paul. Damascus was celebrating Ramadan with Syrian banners, pil lar decorations, wall paintings, and festive costumes. The streets were crowded with people from nearby villages. During the ninth month of Islamic calendar, Muslims are enjoined to fast from dawn until sunset of each day. The faithful make up for it ing and drinking at night. A cannon-shot at 6 A.M. by eat stops the indulging; at 7 P.M. another cannon-shot signifies that the fasting is over for the day. Smokers greatly miss being able to smoke. When the month is over, rejoicings and feasts go on day and night. Madelyn and Harold observed this pattern in Damascus. On the roads outside Damascus the Silvers saw many pil grims on their way to Mecca. Outside Damascus were huge fields of grain; camels and donkeys were carrying burdens and nourishment. Madelyn was delighted to see shops with men working in silver-like the silver work heralded in ancient trade documents. Others were making saddles and working with leather. |
