In the primitive ages of the world there were no public
inns or taverns. In those days the voluntary exhibition of hospitality
to one who stood in need of it was highly honourable. The glory of an
open-hearted and generous hospitality continued even after public inns
or caravanserais were erected, and continues to this day in the east,
Job xxii, 7; xxxi, 17; Gen. xviii, 3–9; xix, 2–10; Exodus ii, 20; Judges
xix, 2–10; Acts xvi, 15; xvii, 7; xxviii, 7; Matt. xxv, 35; Mark ix, 41;
Rom. xii, 13; 1 Tim. iii, 2; v, 10; Heb. xiii, 2. Buckingham in his
“Travels among the Arab Tribes,” says, “A foot passenger could make his
way at little or no expense, as travellers and wayfarers of every
description halt at the sheikh’s dwelling, where, whatever may be the
rank or condition of the stranger, before any questions are asked him as
to where he comes from, or whither he is going, coffee is served to him
from a large pot always on the fire; and a meal of bread, milk, oil,
honey, or butter, is set before him, for which no payment is ever
demanded or even expected by the host, who, in this manner, feeds at
least twenty persons on an average every day in the year from his own
purse; at least, I could not learn that he was remunerated in any manner
for this expenditure, though it is considered as a necessary consequence
of his situation, as chief of the community, that he should maintain
this ancient practice of hospitality to strangers.--We had been directed
to the house of Eesa, or Jesus. Our horses were taken into the court
yard of the house, and unburdened of their saddles, without a single
question being asked on either side; and it was not until we had seated
ourselves that our intention to remain here for the night was
communicated to the master of the house: so much is it regarded a matter
of course, that those who have a house to shelter themselves in, and
food to partake of, should share those comforts with wayfarers.” The
passage in Isa. xxxv, 8, “The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein,” receives elucidation from some of the accounts of modern
travellers. Irwin, speaking of his passing through the deserts on the
eastern side of the Nile, in his going from Upper Egypt to Cairo, tells
us, that, after leaving a certain valley, which he mentions, their road
lay over level ground. “As it would be next to an impossibility to find
the way over these stony flats, where the heavy foot of a camel leaves
no impression, the different bands of robbers,” wild Arabs, he means,
who frequent that desert, “have heaped up stones at unequal distances
for their direction through this desert. We have derived great
assistance from the robbers in this respect, who are our guides when the
marks either fail, or are unintelligible to us.” “It was on the 24th of
March,” says Hoste, “that I departed from Alexandria for Rosetta: it was
a good day’s journey thither, over a level country, but a perfect
desert, so that the wind plays with the sand, and there is no trace of a
road. We travel first six leagues along the sea coast; but when we leave
this, it is about six leagues more to Rosetta, and from thence to the
town there are high stone or bark pillars, in a line, according to which
travellers direct their journey.”
inns or taverns. In those days the voluntary exhibition of hospitality
to one who stood in need of it was highly honourable. The glory of an
open-hearted and generous hospitality continued even after public inns
or caravanserais were erected, and continues to this day in the east,
Job xxii, 7; xxxi, 17; Gen. xviii, 3–9; xix, 2–10; Exodus ii, 20; Judges
xix, 2–10; Acts xvi, 15; xvii, 7; xxviii, 7; Matt. xxv, 35; Mark ix, 41;
Rom. xii, 13; 1 Tim. iii, 2; v, 10; Heb. xiii, 2. Buckingham in his
“Travels among the Arab Tribes,” says, “A foot passenger could make his
way at little or no expense, as travellers and wayfarers of every
description halt at the sheikh’s dwelling, where, whatever may be the
rank or condition of the stranger, before any questions are asked him as
to where he comes from, or whither he is going, coffee is served to him
from a large pot always on the fire; and a meal of bread, milk, oil,
honey, or butter, is set before him, for which no payment is ever
demanded or even expected by the host, who, in this manner, feeds at
least twenty persons on an average every day in the year from his own
purse; at least, I could not learn that he was remunerated in any manner
for this expenditure, though it is considered as a necessary consequence
of his situation, as chief of the community, that he should maintain
this ancient practice of hospitality to strangers.--We had been directed
to the house of Eesa, or Jesus. Our horses were taken into the court
yard of the house, and unburdened of their saddles, without a single
question being asked on either side; and it was not until we had seated
ourselves that our intention to remain here for the night was
communicated to the master of the house: so much is it regarded a matter
of course, that those who have a house to shelter themselves in, and
food to partake of, should share those comforts with wayfarers.” The
passage in Isa. xxxv, 8, “The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein,” receives elucidation from some of the accounts of modern
travellers. Irwin, speaking of his passing through the deserts on the
eastern side of the Nile, in his going from Upper Egypt to Cairo, tells
us, that, after leaving a certain valley, which he mentions, their road
lay over level ground. “As it would be next to an impossibility to find
the way over these stony flats, where the heavy foot of a camel leaves
no impression, the different bands of robbers,” wild Arabs, he means,
who frequent that desert, “have heaped up stones at unequal distances
for their direction through this desert. We have derived great
assistance from the robbers in this respect, who are our guides when the
marks either fail, or are unintelligible to us.” “It was on the 24th of
March,” says Hoste, “that I departed from Alexandria for Rosetta: it was
a good day’s journey thither, over a level country, but a perfect
desert, so that the wind plays with the sand, and there is no trace of a
road. We travel first six leagues along the sea coast; but when we leave
this, it is about six leagues more to Rosetta, and from thence to the
town there are high stone or bark pillars, in a line, according to which
travellers direct their journey.”