From the Netherlands, Fred and Adriaan accompanied Sam on a boat up the Rhine River as far as Mainz, Germany, where Sam said farewell to his father and brother and boarded a train for Trieste, Italy. Sam’s father and Fred would return on the boat to Holland on their way back to the United States. Once in Trieste, Sam transferred to a ship that sailed down the beautiful east coast of Italy, around the tip of Greece, and eastward to Beirut, Lebanon.
On August 7, 1890, Samuel Zwemer stepped off the ship in Beirut. Jim was waiting on the dock to greet him. The two men shook hands heartily. Jim looked well but was decidedly thinner and had a deep tan. As the two men made their way through the streets of Beirut, Sam was overwhelmed with how different this city was from anything he’d seen in the United States. Beirut was set on low hills beside the Mediterranean Sea. It was a cluster of various architectural styles that reflected the different powers that had controlled the city over its five-thousand-year history.
The streets of Beirut were narrow and flanked by mud-brick buildings, many sporting high arches and columns. Mosques dotted the city and were immediately identifiable by their tall minarets from which people were called to pray five times a day. The streets were alive with people and animals. Sheep bleated, donkeys brayed, and the people seemed to talk at the top of their voices, creating an unrelenting cacophony. The smell of exotic spices and incense emanated from the bazaars and markets. Sam felt as if he had stepped right into one of the paintings of Bible times he used to see at Sunday school.
Sam’s arrival in Beirut was followed by a whirl of activity as he was introduced to the wide range of missionaries Jim had come to know. One of these missionaries was seventy-two-year-old Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck. Sam took an immediate liking to Dr. Van Dyck, who never seemed to be in a hurry yet had achieved a remarkable measure of success. He had taught Arabic, Hebrew, theology, astronomy, and mathematics, and was a medical doctor and an ordained pastor. Cornelius Van Dyck was a well-respected Arabic scholar. Over a seven-year period he had translated the entire Bible into Arabic. He had then traveled to New York to supervise the printing of the Bible.
Sam asked Dr. Van Dyck if he had any advice on learning Arabic. The old man shook his head. “To learn Arabic properly is a seven-day-a-week job. The only way to do it right is to neglect all English papers and books and read, talk, and think only in Arabic. Then you will have made a beginning.” Then to Sam and Jim he added, “You have a difficult road ahead of you. Do not be discouraged if the number of converts is small. I have never forgotten what my father said to me as I was unsuccessfully trying to bring down a bird from the flocks of crows that flew over the old Kinderhook farm. ‘Keep on shooting, my son. They will fly into it sometimes.’”
Next, Sam and Jim visited Dr. Henry Jessup, the man who had helped Kamil study the Bible. Dr. Jessup was delighted to meet Sam and gave him some advice: “The best time to come here is when your mind is still young and flexible. I was called to Arabia when I graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1855, and I have never regretted it. I’ve lived long enough to see the Syrian Protestant College flourish and the Syrian Church of Beirut well established. I’ve been offered other roles. Seven years ago the United States government asked me to be the US minister to Persia, but I turned the invitation down. I am the ambassador for the King of kings, and I want no more than that. Helping young men like Kamil hear the gospel is the greatest privilege a Christian can have.”
Sam nodded at Dr. Jessup’s words. He was eager to meet Kamil himself, but that would have to wait since Kamil had accompanied Jedaan back to his Bedouin tribe to proclaim the gospel to them.
After adjusting to his new surroundings, Sam watched as Jim spread a map of Arabia on the table between them. The area that stretched from Turkey in the north, along the Mediterranean coast to North Africa, and encompassed the entire Arabian Peninsula was vast. Many different tribes and people groups populated the region. As they pored over the map, Sam and Jim firmly believed that God had a special place for them to plant the Arabian Mission—He had just not revealed it to them yet. The two men prayed each day that God would make it clear where they were to go. In the meantime, Sam joined Jim in Arabic lessons and wandered the streets of Beirut, learning about the local culture and talking to people in Arabic.
A month later Sam and Jim were still praying about the location of their mission when they received a telegram from Dr. Lansing, their former professor at New Brunswick Seminary. Dr. Lansing was in Cairo, Egypt, and he invited Sam and Jim to meet with him. Sam and Jim were eager to go. Not only would the trip provide them the chance to see more of Arabia, but also, now that they had experienced Muslim culture firsthand, they were eager for any more advice Dr. Lansing could offer.
Chapter 6
Across the Red Sea
Sam and Jim took a boat from Beirut to Alexandria, Egypt. The history of Egypt stretched back over five thousand years, and Sam was eager to see the country he had read about in the Bible. As the ship sailed along the curving coastline of the Nile Delta, Alexandria came into view on the horizon. Sam could hardly wait to set foot in this city, which, along with Rome, had once been considered a major seat of Christianity. He knew the Church of Alexandria once had jurisdiction over the entire continent of Africa, but that over the centuries this church had split to form the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Alexandria had once also housed the world’s greatest library. Sam wished he could have seen it. The accounts he had read of the library described it as magnificent.
After a day spent seeing the sights of Alexandria, Sam and Jim transferred to a smaller steamer for the trip up the Nile River to Cairo. Sam loved to stand on deck as the vessel chugged along the Nile. He watched as it passed small mud-brick villages hugging the riverbanks and farmers working fertile fields. Sam learned that between June and September each year the river flooded in a season the Egyptians called akhet (the inundation). It was this annual flooding that made the land along the Nile so fertile for farming.
Cairo emerged straddling the Nile, and soon Sam and Jim were standing in the ancient city. As soon as they stepped ashore, young Egyptian boys immediately swarmed around them, hoping to escort them to see the marketplace and the pyramids for a few coins. Instead, Sam asked one of the boys to guide them to John Lansing’s Cairo address.
Dr. Lansing welcomed Sam and Jim into his home. Sam was shocked to see how pale and gaunt his former professor looked. It was as though he had aged a decade in just a few months. Dr. Lansing explained that shortly after Sam left for Arabia his health had taken a sudden turn for the worse. As a result he had decided to come with his wife to Cairo, the city of his youth, to see whether a change of climate and location might help him recover before he returned to his teaching responsibilities at New Brunswick Seminary. He apologized for the fact that his wife was not able to greet them, as she was sick in bed.
As Sam and Jim drank tea, Dr. Lansing plied them with questions about their impressions. Sam confessed that he was having great difficulty making himself understood in Arabic. There were so many subtle variations in the sounds of words, and he was having difficulty telling them apart. Dr. Lansing smiled, though his reply was not particularly encouraging: “I learned the language as a boy, surrounded by those who spoke it, but it was still a challenge. But I would rather traverse Africa from Alexandria to the Cape of Good Hope than undertake mastering Arabic a second time.”
Following a meal, the three men got down to the business of discussing where the Arabian Mission should put down roots. They spread a large map of Arabia on the table and began to pray over it. A long process of going through the pros and cons of the many potential sites for mission stations followed. The discussions took days as Dr. Lansing patiently explained many aspects of Arabian culture and customs. He pointed out that most missionaries spent their time working among the Coptic and other Orthodox Christians, many of whom had fallen into superstition and tradition and knew little of the true power of the gospel. The missionaries thought that if they rekindled the faith of these Christians, they in turn would go out and preach to the Arabs. But for the most part this strategy had not worked.
Dr. Lansing also explained why so few missionaries felt comfortable preaching directly to the Arabs. There were three main challenges. First was the language barrier; it took years to learn basic Arabic and a lifetime to perfect it. Second, it could be dangerous preaching to the Arabs, many of whom were not tolerant of foreigners telling them that Christianity was the only way to know God. And third, if an Arab did show interest in the gospel and spent time with a foreign missionary, his life could be in danger. Dr. Lansing explained that this was because Arab families were large and extended and everyone watched over what everyone else was doing. In his few weeks in Arabia, Sam had already noticed this. Arabs did not have freedom to choose their own paths. If their individual decisions reflected poorly on the group, there were consequences. It was not unusual to hear stories of Christian converts being killed by family members who were angered that they had changed religion.
As the three men studied the map and prayed, many places came to mind. In particular Dr. Lansing favored working alongside the Scottish Mission at Sheikh Othman, an oasis town eight miles inland from the Port of Aden. Sam felt goose bumps rising on his arms at the possibility of working in the place where Ion Keith-Falconer had given his life spreading the Christian message.
Sam and Jim agreed that they should go to Aden to meet with the leaders of the Scottish Mission and see whether there was a place for them there. Jim decided to go on ahead, taking a large steamer directly from Suez down the length of the Red Sea to Aden. Sam wanted a few more language lessons with Dr. Lansing and chose to stay in Cairo for another week before taking a slower steamer to Aden, one that would stop at many small coastal towns along the way.
On January 8, 1891, Sam left Cairo. He was sad to leave Dr. Lansing behind. Seeing him again had been such an encouragement. As Sam left, Dr. Lansing read Psalm 107:23–24 and 30 aloud: “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep…. So he bringeth them unto their desired haven.”
“There’s a promise for you,” Dr. Lansing said when he had finished reading the whole psalm. “I may not live to see it fulfilled, but it is a promise from God. You will find your desired haven in Arabia. No matter what happens, don’t be discouraged. Don’t give up.” He then took Sam’s hands in his and prayed a blessing over him.
Soon Sam was rolling along across the desert by train from Cairo to Suez. When he arrived at his destination several hours later, he got his first glimpse of the Gulf of Suez, the northern reach of the Red Sea. The sight sent thrills down his spine. Over the years Sam had read many times how Pharaoh had repeatedly refused to free Moses and the Hebrew slaves and how God had visited ten plagues on the Egyptians. Finally Pharaoh let the slaves go free, and the people marched to the shore of the Red Sea. But then Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after the people to return them to servitude. God, though, parted the waters of the sea to allow the children of Israel to cross to safety. The Egyptian army drowned as the water of the Red Sea flowed back after Moses and the people had crossed. Sam had marveled at the story and the miracle God had performed, and now here he was, staring out at the Red Sea. It was as if his Bible picture book had come to life before his eyes.
