Fig. 317—Syrian Sheep
The normal animal, from which all or the greater part of the western domestic races of sheep are assumed to be descended, is still found wild in the high mountain regions of Persia, and is readily distinguished from two other wild species bordering on the same region. What breeds the earliest shepherd tribes reared in and about Palestine can now be only inferred from negative characters; yet they are sufficient to show that they were the same, or nearly so, as the common horned variety of Egypt and continental Europe: in general white, and occasionally black, although there was on the upper Nile a speckled race; and so early as the time of Aristotle the Arabians possessed a rufous breed, another with a very long tail, and above all a broad-tailed sheep, which at present is commonly denominated the Syrian. Flocks of the ancient breed, derived from the Bedouins, are now extant in Syria, with little or no change in external characters, chiefly the broad-tailed and the common horned white, often with black and white about the face and feet, the tail somewhat thicker and longer than the European. The others are chiefly valued for the fat of their broad tails, which tastes not unlike marrow; for the flesh of neither race is remarkably delicate, nor are the fleeces of superior quality. Sheep in the various conditions of existence wherein they would occur among a pastoral and agricultural people, are noticed in numerous places of the Bible, and furnish many beautiful allegorical images, where purity, innocence, mildness, and submission are portrayed—the Savior himself being denominated 'the Lamb of God,' in twofold allusion to his patient meekness, and to his being the true paschal lamb, 'slain from the foundation of the world' (). Some commentators affirm that the Hebrew word kesitah, which occurs only in , and , and is in the Authorized Version rendered money, literally means sheep or lambs, and should be so translated. Others, with greater probability, suppose that it refers to a piece of coined money bearing the figure of a sheep; and it is certain that Phoenicia had sheep actually impressed on a silver coin.
Fig. 318—Supposed Kesitah
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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