Conder says, “We heard a curious tradition at Ascalon. A tomb had been opened by the peasantry, near the ruin, some thirty years ago. Under a great slab, in the eastern cemetery, they found a perfectly preserved body, with a sword by its side, and a ring on its finger. The dead eyes glared so fiercely on the intruders that they let fall the slab; and as one of the party soon after died, they came to the conclusion that it was a _Nebi_ or Prophet whom they had disturbed, and the place has thus become surrounded with a mysterious sanctity.”
In the days of David’s grandson the kingdom of the Israelites divided in two, and began the new phase of its existence as the parallel monarchies of Israel and Judah. The disruption, it may be said, was owing to the fact that Ephraim envied Judah, and Judah vexed Ephraim. Naturally, the split, when it came, took place along a line between these two powerful tribes and right athwart the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was torn asunder--Jericho and Bethel going to the northern kingdom, while other towns went to the south. Jerusalem continued to be a capital, but it was now the capital of the kingdom of Judah only; and Shechem was chosen as the capital of the northern kingdom, which was called Israel.
But these northern monarchs had their pleasant summer residences as well, corresponding to Windsor or Versailles. One of these was Samaria, another was Tirzah, a third was Jezreel.
The Samaria of the present day is a large and flourishing village of stone and mud houses, standing on the hill of the ancient Samaria. The most interesting ruins now to be seen there are those of Herod’s colonnade to the west of the modern village. The colonnade seems to have surrounded the whole city with a kind of cloister, which was 60 feet wide, and the pillars 16 feet high. The city of Samaria of the Old Testament has disappeared. But the kings of Israel were buried here, and the ancient tombs may yet perhaps come to light.
Tirzah, famous for its beauty, is the only Samaritan town mentioned among the royal cities taken by Joshua. Conder finds it in the present mud hamlet of Teiasir. It was delightfully situated on a plateau where the valleys begin to dip suddenly towards Jordan.