After we had passed through the old cemetery our ascent was gradual until we reached the modern village of Suf, three miles northwest of Gerasa.  Here we see “two women grinding at the mill.”  The mill consists of two circular stones about fourteen inches in diameter, the one stone rests upon the other, and the grain to be crushed between them is supplied by one of the women while the other turns the upper stone round and round, thus grinding the meal for the uninviting bread of their less inviting floor-table.

This place has been suggested by Major Condor as the probable site of Mizpah in Gilead.  A group of fine stone monuments, in ruins, is yet to be seen here.  If this be the location of Mizpah then here is the place where Jacob and Laban made their covenant of lasting peace, and erected the “heap of witness” (Gen. 31:44-52), saying, “The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another.”  Then they parted, Laban going back to Mesopotamia and Jacob pressing on with anxious heart toward the near Jabbok and the farther lands of his estranged brother Esau.

Inspired by the covenant at Mizpah, and with a desire to help others to establish covenants of peace, and to accept with cheerful resignation enforced separation from loved ones, a recent writer, Julia A. Baker, has written beautifully the following poem entitled “Mizpah”: 

    Go thou thy way and I go mine;
      Apart, yet ever near;
    Only a veil hangs thin between
      The pathways where we are;
    And “God keep watch ’tween thee and me,”
      This is my prayer;
    He looks thy way, he looketh mine,
      And keeps us near.

    I know not where thy road may lie,
      Or which way mine may be;
    If mine will lead through parching sands,
      And thine beside the sea;
    Yet “God keeps watch ’tween thee and me,”
      So, never fear. 
    He holds thy hand, he claspeth mine,
      And keeps us near.

    Should wealth and fame perchance be thine,
      And my lot lowly be,
    Or thou be sad or sorrowful,
      And glory be for me;
    Yet “God keeps watch ’tween thee and me,”
      Both be his care;
    One arm ’round thee and one ’round me
      Will keep us near.

    I’ll sigh sometimes to see thy face,
      But since this cannot be,
    I’ll leave thee to the care of Him
      Who cares for thee and me. 
    “I’ll keep thee both beneath my wings”—­
      This comfort dear—­
    One wing o’er thee and one o’er me;
      So we are near.

    And tho’ our paths be separate,
      And thy way be not mine,
   Yet coming to the mercy-seat,
      My soul will meet with thine;
    And “God keep watch ’tween thee and me,”
      I’ll whisper there;
    He blesseth thee, he blesseth me,
      And we are near.