Palestine
PALESTINE
Denotes, in the Old Testament, the country of the Philistines, which was that part of the land of promise extending along the Mediterranean Sea on the varying western border of Simeon, Judah, and Dan, Exo 15:14 Isa 14:29,31 Joe 3:4 . Palestine, taken in later usage in a more general sense, signifies the whole country of Canaan, as well beyond as on this side of the Jordan; though frequently it is restricted to the country on this side that river; so that in later times the words Judea and Palestine were synonymous. We find also the name of Syria-Palestina given to the land of promise, and even sometimes this province is comprehended in Coele-Syria, or the Lower Syria. Herodotus is the most ancient writer known who speaks of SyriaPalestina. He places it between Phoenicia and Egypt. See CANAAN.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Palestine
Mandate of the British Empire, Asia, comprising the districts of Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza, Beersheba, Samaria, Phenicia, and Galilee, administered by a High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief, assisted by an Executive Council. The history of Christianity in Palestine during the ftrst three centuries is practically that of Jerusalem; the new religion spread rapidly and as early as 1229 Franciscan and Dominican missions were established here. In 1328 the Franciscans received custody of the Holy Places and their influence is evident from the schools, hospitals, and dispensaries which they established. Missions have also been founded by the Salesians.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Palestine
(Heb. Pele’sheth, , Joe 3:4; Palsestina, Exo 15:14; Isa 14:29; Isa 14:31) in the Bible means Philistia, the land of the Philistines; and so it was understood by our translators. The Heb. word is found, besides the above, only in Psa 60:8; Psa 83:7; Psa 87:4; and Psa 108:9, in all which our translators have rendered it by Philistia or Philistines. The Sept. has in Exodus , but in Isaiah and Joel ; the Vulg. in Exodus Philisthiim, in Isaiah Philisthcea, in Joel Palcesthini. (See below.) In the present article it is used in a much wider sense. It is employed in the same sense in which most of the Greek and Roman geographers understood it (, Palcestina) as denoting the whole land allotted to the twelve tribes of Israel by Joshua. Some recent writers confine the name to the country west of the Jordan, extending from Dan on the north to Beersheba on the south. Others again appear to extend it northwards as far as the parallel of Hamath, and southward to the borders of Egypt. It is here used, however, to denote the country lying on the east as well as the west side of the Jordan; while, on the other hand, it is confined to the territory actually divided by lot among the Israelites, thus excluding large sections of what is generally known as The Land of Promise. Palestine, in fact, is here taken as synonymous with The Holy Land substantially the same land given by Jehovah to his chosen people, and long held by them. The present article is intended-to bring together a general view of the ancient, and especially the Scriptural, information on this subject, and to illustrate it by the mass of elucidation and confirmation which modern exploration has afforded.
I. Situation. The geographical position of Palestine is peculiar. It is central, and yet almost completely isolated. It commands equal facilities of access to Europe, Africa, and Asia; while, in one point of view. it stands apart from all. The Jews regarded it as the centre of the earth; and apparently to this view the prophet Ezekiel refers when he says, Thus saith the Lord God, This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her (Eze 5:5). The idea was adopted and perhaps unduly expanded by the rabbins and some of the early Christian fathers. One of the absurd Christian traditions still preserved in Jerusalem is that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the physical centre of the earth; and a spot is marked by a circle of marble pavement and a short column under the dome of the Greek Church which is said. to be the exact point as indicated by our Lord himself (Murray’s Handbook, p. 164). The main thought, however, in this tradition is, in principle, strictly true. Palestine stood midway between the three greatest ancient nations, Assyria, Egypt, and Greece. It was for many centuries the centre, and the only centre, of religious light and of real civilization, from which all other nations, directly or indirectly, drew their supplies. It is a remarkable fact, which every thoughtful student of history must admit, that during the whole period of Jewish history light intellectual, moral, and religious radiated from Palestine, and from it alone. The farther one receded from that land, the more dim the light became; and the nearer one approached, it shone with the purer radiance. The heavenly knowledge communicated in sundry times and divers manners through the Jewish patriarchs and prophets was unfolded and perfected by our Lord and his apostles. In their age Palestine became the birthplace of intellectual life and civil and religious liberty. From these have since been developed all the scientific triumphs, all the social progress, and all the moral grandeur and glory of the civilized world. There was a fulness of prophetic meaning in the words of Isaiah which is only now beginning to be rightly understood and appreciated: Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks (2, 3, 4).
Palestine is, by the peculiarity of its situation, almost isolated. Connected physically with the great body of the Asiatic continent, it is yet separated from the habitable parts of it by the arid desert of Arabia, which extends from the’ eastern border of Syria to the banks of the Euphrates, a distance of nearly three hundred miles. Another desert. not altogether so Wide nor so difficult, sweeps along the southern confines of Palestine, as a barrier against all Egyptian invaders, and in a great measure prevented communication with that nation. The Mediterranean completely shut out the western world. Thus on three of its sides the east, the south, and the west was Palestine isolated. Its only direct link of connection with the outer world was Syria on the north; and even there the lofty chains of Lebanon and Hermon confined the channel of communication to one narrow pass, the valley of Coele-Syria. These, says Stanley, were the natural fortifications of that vineyard which was hedged round about’ with tower and trench, sea and desert, against the boars of the wood’ and the beasts of the field’ (Sin. and Pal. p. 114).
It was not without a wise purpose that the Almighty located his chosen people in such a land. During a long course of ages they were designed to be the sole preservers of a true faith, and the sole guardians of a divine revelation. It was needful, therefore, to separate them geographically from the evil example and baleful influences of heathen nations; and by the munitions of nature to defend them, and that precious record of God’s will committed to their custody, from all assaults, physical as well as moral. It has been well said by a recent thoughtful writer, that the more we learn of its relative position in regard to surrounding countries, and of its own distinctive characteristics, the more clearly is the wisdom of heaven recognised in its special adaptation to the purposes for which it was chosen and consecrated (Drew, Scripture Lands, p. 2). But when Judaism was at length developed into Christianity when the grand scheme of redemption was removed by the sufferings and death of the divine Saviour in Palestine from the region of dim prophecy into that of history then the religion of God was finally severed from its connection, hitherto necessary, with a specific country and a chosen people it became the religion of mankind. Then Palestine ceased to be God’s country, and Israel to be God’s people. The isolation of the land hitherto preserved the true faith; the exclusiveness of the people formed an effectual safeguard against the admission of the philosophical speculations and corrupt practices of other nations; but after the resurrection of Christ, and the establishment of the pure, rational, spiritual faith revealed in the N.T. such material defences were no longer requisite. They would have been even prejudicial to the truth. Palestine was the cradle of the religion of God; on reaching full maturity, the cradle was no longer a fitting abode; the world then became its home and sphere of action. At that transition period the position of Palestine appeared as if specially designed to favor and consummate the divine plan, by the ready access it afforded for the messengers of truth to every kingdom of the known world. Before the establishment of Christianity, the sea had become the highway of nations. The Mediterranean, hitherto a barrier, was now the easiest channel of communication; and from the shores of Palestine the Gospel of Jesus was wafted away to the populous shores and crowded cities of the great nations of the West. It is thus that a careful study of the geographical position, the physical aspect, and past history of Palestine is calculated to throw clear light on the development of the divine plan of salvation, and to afford some little insight into the councils of Jehovah. (See below.)
Climate has a great influence upon man. That climate which is best adapted to develop the physical frame, to foster its powers, and to preserve them longest in healthy and manly vigor, is the most conducive to pure morality and intellectual growth. The heat of the tropics begets lassitude and luxurious effeminacy, while the cold of the arctic regions cramps the energies, and tends to check those lofty flights of poetic genius which give such a charm and sweetness to human life. Situated about midway between the equator and the polar circle, Palestine enjoys one of the finest climates in the world. Fresh sea-breezes temper the summer heats; the forests and abundant vegetation which once clothed the land diffused an agreeable moisture through the bright sunny atmosphere; while the hills and mountains made active and constant exercise necessary, and thus gave strength and elasticity to the frame. Palestine has given to the world some of the most distinguished examples of high poetic genius, of profound wisdom, of self-denying patriotism, of undaunted courage, and of bodily strength. The geographical position and physical structure of the land had much to do with this. God in his infinite wisdom and love placed his elect people in the very best position for the development of all that was great and good. Well might the Lord say by the mouth of his prophet, What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? (Isa 5:4). This position of Palestine, too, together with its great variety of surface, enabled it to produce that abundance and diversity of fruits which so greatly contributed to endear it to its proverbially patriotic inhabitants.
II. The Boundaries of Palestine require to be defined with care and minuteness. Much confusion has arisen in Biblical geography from the way in which this subject has been treated, and from the diversity of views which prevails. No two writers agree on all points. The accounts of ancient geographers Greek, Roman, and Jewish are unsatisfactory, and sometimes contradictory; and when we come down to more modern times we do not find much improvement. Some authors confound Palestine with the Land of Promise, as mentioned in Genesis and Exodus, and with the land defined by Moses in the book of Numbers (Reland, Paloest. p. 113 sq.; Cellarius, Geogr. ii, 464 sq.; Hales, Anal. of Chronology, i, 413; Kitto, Physical Hist. of Pal. p. 28; Jahn, Biblical Antiquities; Encyclop. Britan. art. Palestine, 8th ed.). Others confine the name to the territory west of the Jordan, and reaching from Dan to Beersheba. Even dean Stanley, usually so accurate and so careful in his geographical details, does not express his views with sufficient clearness on this point (Sin. and Pal. p. 111, 114).
1. Boundaries of the Land promised to Abrahan. The first promises made to Abraham were indefinite. A country was insured to him, but its limits were not stated. The Lord said to him: at Shechem, Unto thy seed will I give this land (Gen 12:7); and again, on the heights of Bethel, after Lot had left him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever (Gen 13:14-15). It was a commanding spot, but still that view did not embrace one fourth of Palestine. At length, however, the boundaries were defined; in general terms, it is true, but still with sufficient clearness to indicate the vast extent of territory promised to Abraham’s descendants: In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates (Gen 15:18). The river of Egypt was here probably the Nile. It should be observed that the Hebrew word is , river (Sept. ), and not , wady, or torrent-bed, as in Num 34:5 (Sept. ), where Wady el-Arish seems to be meant (see Kalisch, Delitzsch, etc., ad loc.). From the banks of the Nile, then, to the Euphrates, the country promised to the patriarch extended. The covenant was. renewed with the Israelites just after their departure from Egypt, and the boundaries of the land were given with more fulness: I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines (the Mediterranean); and from the desert (of Sinai) unto the river (Euphrates; ; Sept. ; Exo 23:31).
But this great territory was promised upon certain specific conditions. The people were, on their part, to be faithful to God (Exo 23:22-23). They did not fulfil these conditions, and therefore the whole land was not given to them (see Jos 23:13-16; Jdg 2:20-23). But though the whole land was never occupied by the Israelites, there was a near approach to the possession of it, or the exercise of sovereignty over it, in the days of David, of whom it is recorded: David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates (2Sa 8:3). That warlike monarch conquered the kingdoms of Hamath, Zobah, Damascus, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, and Edom (2Sa 8:5-14) the whole country, in fact, from the border of Egypt to the river Euphrates, and from the Arabian desert to the Mediterranean. This was the land given in covenant promise to Abraham; but it was never included under the name Palestine.
2. The land described by Moses in Num 34:1-12 is much more limited in extent than that promised to Abraham. He calls it the Land of Canaan the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance (Num 34:2). Its boundaries are defined with great precision. On the south the border reached from Kadesh-barnea in the Arabah, on the confines of Edom, across the wilderness of wandering, to the torrent of Egypt, doubtless that now known as Wady el-Arish. The word is here , torrent, and not , river. This important distinction has been overlooked by Dr. Keith and others (Land of Israel, p. 85 sq.; Bochart, Opera, iii, 764; Shaw, Travels, ii, 45 sq.). The Great Sea was its western border. The northern is thus defined: And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you Mount Hor; from Mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad: and the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan (Num 34:7-9). The interpretation of this passage has given rise to much controversy. Dr. Keith argues with considerable force and learning that Mount Hor, or, as it is in the Hebrew, Hor ha-Har ( ), is Mount Casius, and that the chasm of the Orontes at Antioch is the entrance of Hamath (see Keith’s Land of Israel, p. 92-105). Dr. Kitto, on the other hand, following Reland (Paloest. p. 118 sq.), Bochart (Opera, 1, 307), and Cellarius (Geogr. 2, 464 sq,), locates this northern border-line near the parallel of Sidon, making some peak of southern Lebanon Mount Hor, and the lower extremity of the valley of CceleSyria the entrance of Hamath. SEE HOR, MOUNT. According to Dr. Porter, however, the entrance of Hamath is the entrance from the Great Sea, from the west; and he states that to this day natives sometimes call the opening between the northern end of the Lebanon range and that of Bargylus Bdb Hamah, The door of Hamath. Van de Velde appears to make the northern end of Coele-Syria, where that valley opens upon the plain of Hamath, the entrance of Hamath (Travels, 2, 470); and Stanley adopts the same view (Sin. and Pal. p. 399). SEE HAMATH.
The east border has some well-known landmarks Riblah, the Sea of Chinnereth, and the Jordan to the Dead Sea (Num 34:10-12). The line ran down the valley of Coele-Syria and the Jordan, thus excluding the whole kingdom of Damascus, with Bashan, Gilead, and Moab. It would seem, however, that the country east of the Jordan was excluded by Moses, not because he regarded it as beyond the proper boundaries of the land of Israel, but because it had already been apportioned by him to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (Gen 32:1-32).
The Israelites were never in actual possession of all this territory, though David extended his conquests beyond it, and Solomon for a time exacted tribute from its various tribes and nations. The southern seaboard, and a large section of the Shephelah, remained in the hands of the warlike Philistines. The Phoenicians held the coast-plain north of Carmel; and the chain of Lebanon, from Zidon northward, continued in possession of the Giblites and other mountain tribes (Jdg 3:1-3). It is worthy of note that the sacred writer, when reckoning up the regions still to be conquered, was guided not by the words of the Abrahamic covenant, but by the description of Moses (Jos 13:2-6). The reason why this whole land was not given to the Israelites is plainly stated: the Lord kept some of the aboriginal inhabitants in it for the purpose of chastising the criminal slothfulness and the thoughtlessness and rebellion of his people (Jdg 3:4; see Masius and Keil, ad loc.). Such, then; is the land described by Moses; but the name Palestine was never given to so extensive a region.
3. The boundaries of the land allotted by Moses and Joshua to the twelve tribes are given in the following passages-those of the land east of the Jordan in Numbers 32 and Jos 13:8-32; on the west side in Joshua 15-19. The south border was identical with that described by Moses (comp. Num 34:3-5; Jos 15:2-4). The west border was also the same; the possessions of the western tribes reaching in every instance to the sea (Jos 15:11; Jos 16:3; Jos 16:8; Jos 17:9-10; Jos 19:29). The north border had Zidon as its landmark on the coast. Thence it was drawn south-east across Lebanon, probably along the line of the ancient Phoenician road by Kulaat esh-Shukif to Ijon and Dan (Jos 19:28; 1Ki 15:20); thence it passed over the southern shoulder of Hermon, and across the plateau of Hauran to the northern end of the mountains of Bashan (Num 32:33; Deu 3:8-14; Jos 12:4-6). The only landmark on the east border is Salcah (Jos 12:5; Jos 13:11; Deu 3:10). From Salcah it appears to have run south-west along the border of the Arabian Midbar to the bank of the river Arnon (Jos 12:1-2). Here it turned westward, and followed the course of that river to the Dead Sea, thus excluding the territory of Moab and Edom. SEE TRIBE.
The country allotted to the tribes was thus considerably smaller than that described by Moses; and it was very much less than that given in covenant promise to Abraham. Even all allotted was never completely conquered and occupied. The Philistines and Phoenicians still possessed their cities along the coast (Jdg 1:19; Jdg 1:31); some of the northern tribes held their mountain fastnesses (Jdg 1:33), and the Geshurites and Maachathites continued in their rocky strongholds in Bashan (Jos 13:13).
4. The land distributed in the prophetic vision of Ezekiel is conterminous on the south, west, and north with that of Moses. Its eastern boundary is different. Its landmarks are Hazar-enan, Hauran, Damascus, Gilead, and the land of Israel by Jordan (Gen 47:17-18). The last point is indefinite, but probably it means that section east of the Jordan, in Moab, which was assigned to Reuben. This land, therefore, includes, in addition to that of Moses, the whole kingdom of Damascus, and the possessions of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh.
5. Present Limits. The country to which the name Palestine is now usually given does not exactly correspond with any of these. It is smaller than them all. Its boundaries have never been laid down with geographical precision, but they may be stated approximately as follows: On the south a line drawn from the lower end of the Dead Sea to Beersheba and Gaza; on the west, the Mediterranean; on the north, a line drawn from the mouth of the river Litany to Dan, and thence across the southern foot of Jebel es- Sheik to the plain of Jedun opposite the northern end of the Hauran mountains; on the east, a line running from the northeastern angle through Jerash to Kerak and the Dead Sea. The length of Palestine is thus 130 English miles. Its breadth on the south is 70 miles, and on the north about 40. Its superficial area may be estimated at 7150 square miles. Its southern extremity the end of the Dead Sea, is in lat. N. 31 5′; and its northern, at the mouth of the Litany, 33 25′. Its most westerly point, at Gaza, is in long. E. 34 30′; and its most easterly, at Jerash, 36. SEE SYRIA.
The eastern shore of the Mediterranean runs in nearly a straight line from Egypt to Asia Minor, and of this line the seaboard of Palestine forms about one third towards, not at, its southern end; Gaza being 50 miles distant from Egypt, while the mouth of the Litany is 250 from Asia Minor. Palestine occupies the whole breadth of the habitable land between the Mediterranean and the Arabian desert. Its boundaries on three sides are therefore natural, and may be said to be impassable on the west the sea, and on the south and east the desert; not, however, a desert of sand, nor a desert altogether barren, but rather a bleak, dry region, with a thin, flinty soil, yielding some tolerable pasture in spring, though almost bare as a rock in summer and autumn. Nature thus prevented the extension of the Israelitish territory in these directions, and. likewise prevented the close approach of any settled nation; but it left free scope for flocks and herds, and a noble field for the training of an active, hardy race of shepherd warriors, such as David so often led to victory.
On the south-east, Palestine bordered on Edom; but the Dead Sea, the deep valley of the Arabah, and the rugged Wilderness of Judaea, formed natural barriers which prevented all close intercourse. Hostile armies found it difficult to pass them, and a few resolute men could guard the defiles. On the northern border lay the countries of Damascus and Phoenicia, and intercourse with these had a serious effect on the northern tribes. The distinction between Jew and Gentile soon became less sharply defined there than elsewhere. The former lost much of their exclusiveness, and their faith lost proportionably in purity. Idolatry was easily established in the chief places of the northern kingdom, and the borrowed Baalim of Phoenicia became in time the popular deities of the land (1 Kings 18). This fact of itself shows how wise was that providential arrangement which located the people of God in an isolated land, and prevented, by. the barriers of nature, any close intercourse with those irrational systems, and barbarous and often obscene rites, which, under the name of religion, prevailed among the nations of the world.
III. Names.
1. Palestine. In the A.V. of the Bible, as seen above, this word occurs only in Joe 3:4 ( ; Sept. , Vulg. terminus Palcesthinoruni): What have ye to do with me, Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? Here the name is confined to Philistia. In three passages (Exo 15:14; Isa 14:29; Isa 14:31) we have the Latin form Paloestina; but the meaning is the same, and hence the Sept. renders it in one case , and in the others .
The Hebrew word probably comes from the Ethiopic root falasa, to wander, or emigrate, and hence will signify the nation of emigrants the Philistines (q.v.) having emigrated from Africa (see Reland, Paloest. p. 73 sq.). The people gave their name to the territory in which they settled on the south-west coast of Palestine. In this sense also Josephus uses the Greek equivalent (Ant. i, 6, 2; ii, 15, 3; 6:1, 1; 13:5, 10). But it would seem that even before his time the Greek name began to be employed in a more extended signification. Herodotus states that all the country from Phoenicia to Egypt is called Palestine (7, 89); and he calls the Jews Syrians of Palestine (3, 5, 91). An inscription of Ivalush, king of Assyria (probably the Pul of Scripture), as deciphered by Sir H. Rawlinson, names Palaztu on the Western Sea, and distinguishes it from Tyre, Damascus, Samaria, and Edom (Rawlinson, Herod. i, 467). In the same restricted sense it was probably employed if employed at all by the ancient Egyptians, in whose records at Karnak the name Pulusatu has been, deciphered in close connection with that of the Shairutana or Sharu, possibly the Sidonians or Syrians (Birch, doubtfully, in Layard, Nineveh, 2, 407, note). The extension of the name doubtless arose from the fact that when the Greeks began to hold commercial intercourse with Phoenicia and south-western Asia, they found the coast from Phoenicia to Egypt in possession of the Philistines; and consequently they applied the name Palcestina loosely to the whole country reaching from the sea to the desert. Josephus uses it in this sense in a few instances (Ant. i, 6, 4; 8, 10, 3; Ap. i, 22); and Philo says, The country of the Sodomites was a district of the land of Canaan, which the Syrians afterwards called Palestine’ (De Abraham. 26; comp. Vita Mosis, 29). The rabbins also gave the name Palestine to all the country occupied by the Jews (Reland, p. 38 sq.). Dion. Cassius states that anciently the whole country lying between Phoenicia and Egypt was called Palestine. It had also another adopted name, Judaea (Hist. 37). From this time onward Palestine was the name most usually given to the land of Israel; in some cases it was confined to the country west of the Jordan, but in others it embraced the eastern provinces (see Reland, and authorities quoted by him, p. 39 sq.). By early Christian writers the word was generally, though not uniformly, employed in this sense. Thus Jerome, in one passage: Terra Judaea, quae nunc appellatur Palsestina (ad Ezech. 27); but in another, Philistiim qui nunc Palaestini vosantur (in Am. i, 6; comp. Isa 14:29). Chrysostom usually calls the Land of Israel Palestine (Reland, p. 40). All ancient writers, therefore, did not use the name in the same sense some applying it to the whole country of the Jews, some restricting it to Philistia (Theodoret, ad Psalms 59; Reland, l.c.). Consequently, when the name Palestine occurs in classic and early Christian writers, the student of geography will require carefully to examine the context, that he may ascertain whether it is applied to Philistia alone, or to all the land of Israel.
It appears that when our Authorized Version was made, the English name Palestine was considered to be equivalent to Philistia. Thus Milton, with his usual accuracy in such points, mentions Dagon as
Palestine, in Gath and Ascialon,
And Accaron and Gazas frontier bounds
(Par. Lost, i, 464);
and again as
That twice-battered god of Palestine
(Hymn on Nat. 199)
where, if any proof be wanted that his meaning is restricted to Philistia, it will be found in the fact that he has previously connected other deities with the other parts of the Holy Land. See also, still more decisively, Samson Ag. 144, 1098. But even without such evidence the passages themselves show how our translators understood the word. Thus in Exo 15:14, Palestine, Edom, Moab, and Canaan are mentioned as the nations alarmed at the approach of Israel. In Isa 14:29; Isa 14:31, the prophet warns Palestine not to rejoice at the death of king Ahaz, who had subdued it. In Joe 3:4, Phoenicia and Palestine are upbraided with cruelties practiced on Judah and Jerusalem (Rennell, Geogr. of Herodot. p. 245 sq.).
Soon after the Christian aera we find the name Palsestina in possession of the country. Ptolemy (A.D. 161) thus applies it (Geogr. v, 16). The arbitrary divisions of Paiaestina Prima, Secunda, mind Tertia, settled at the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century (see the quotations from the Cod. Theodos. in Reland, p. 205), are still observed in the documents of the Eastern Church (Smith, Dict. of Geogr. 2, 533a). Paltestina Tertia, of which Petra was the capital, was, however, out of the Biblical limits; and the portions of Pernea not comprised in Palalstina Secunda were counted as in Arabia.
2. Canaan (; ). This is the oldest, and in the early books of Scripture the most common name of Palestine. It is derived from the son of Ham, by whose family the country was colonized (Gen 9:18; Gen 10:15-19; Josephus, Ant. 1, 6, 2). It is worthy of note, as tending to confirm the accuracy of the early ethnological notices in Genesis, that the ancient Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites (Kenrick’s Phoenicia, p. 40; Reland, p. 7). The name Canaan was confined to the district west of the Jordan; the provinces east of the river were always distinguished from it (Num 33:51; Exo 16:35, with Jos 5:12; Jos 22:9-10). Its eastern boundary is thus within that of Palestine; but, on the other hand, it reached on the north to Hamath (Gen 10:18, with 17:8). and probably even farther, for the Arvadite is reckoned among the Canaanites, and the earliest name of Phoenicia was Cna or Cana. SEE PHOENICIA.
Wherever the country promised to the Israelites, or dwelt in by the patriarchs, is mentioned in Scripture, it is called the land of Canaan (Exo 6:4; Exo 15:15; Lev 14:34; Deu 32:39; Jos 14:1; Psa 105:11), doubtless in reference to the promise originally made to Abraham (Gen 17:8). SEE CANAAN, LAND OF.
In Amo 2:10 alone it is the land of the Amorite; perhaps with a glance at Deu 1:7. A parallel phrase is the land of the Hittites (Jos 1:4); a remarkable expression, occurring here only in the Bible, though frequently used in the Egyptian records of Rameses II, in which Cheia or Chita appears to denote the whole country of Lower and Middle Syria (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschrift. 2, 21, etc.).
3. The Land of Promise. This name originated in the divine promise to Abraham (Gen 13:15). Its extent and boundaries are given by Moses (Gen 15:18-21; Exo 23:31), and have already been considered. The exact phrase, Land of Promise, is not found in the O.T., and only once in the N.T (Heb 11:9, ), but some analogous expression is often used by the sacred writers; thus in Num 22:11, The land which I sware unto Abraham (comp. Deu 34:1-4; Genesis 1, 24; Eze 20:42; Act 7:5). Such appellations were used when the object of the writer was to direct the people’s attention to the Abrahamic covenant, either in its certainty or in its fulfilment. It is now frequently employed by writers on Palestine who give special attention to prophecy (for a good account of it, see Reland, p. 18 sq.).
4. The Land of Jehovah. This name is only found in Hos 9:3 : They shall not dwell in Jehovah’s land. All the countries of the earth are the Lord’s; but it appears, as Reland states (Paloest. p. 16), that in some peculiar way Palestine was especially God’s land. Thus an express command was given, The land shall not be sold forever For the land is mine (Lev 25:23); and the Psalmist says, Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land (Psa 85:1); and still more emphatic are the words of Isaiah: The stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel (8:8; comp. Joe 1:6; Joe 3:2; Jer 16:18). The object of these and many similar expressions was to show that Jehovah claimed the sole disposal of Palestine. He reserved it for special and holy purposes; and he intended in all coming time to dispose of it, whether miraculously or providentially, for carrying out those purposes, either by the agency of the Jews or of others. It was the only land in which the Lord personally and visibly dwelt; first in the Shekinab glory, and again in the person of Jesus. For this land the Lord always. demanded both a special acknowledgment of lordship and certain stipulated returns to him, as tithes and first-fruits (Reland, p. 16, 17).
5. The Land of Israel ( ; N.T. ). By this name Palestine was distinguished from all the other countries of the earth. Of course this must not be confounded with the same appellation as applied to the northern kingdom only (2Ch 30:25; Eze 27:17). It began to be used after the establishment of the monarchy. It occurs first in 1Sa 13:19, and is occasionally used in the later books (2Ki 5:2; 2Ki 6:23); but Ezekiel employs it more frequently than all the sacred writers together (though he commonly alters its form slightly, substituting for ), the reason probably being that he compares Palestine with other countries more frequently than any other writer. Matthew, in relating the story of the infant Saviour’s return from Egypt, uses the name: He arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel (2:21). The name is found in the apocryphal books (Tob 1:4); in Josephus, who also uses land of the Hebrews ( ); and in some of the early Christian fathers (Reland, p. 9). The name is essentially Jewish; it was familiar. to the rabbins, but, in a great measure, unknown to classic writers. It is only applied in the Bible to the country which was actually occupied by the Israelites; and so it was understood by the rabbins, who divided the whole world into two parts, The land of Israel, and the land out of Israel (Reland, p. 9). In 2Es 14:31, it is called the land of Sion.
6. The Land (; ). This name is given to Palestine emphatically, by way of distinction, as we call the Word of God the Bible. Thus in Rth 1:1. There was a famine in the land (); and in Jer 12:11, The whole land is made desolate (Jer 50:34); and so also in Luke’s Gospel, When great famine was throughout all the land (Luk 5:25); and in Mat 27:45, Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. This also was a strictly Jewish name (Reland, p. 28 sq.). In Daniel it is called the glorious land (Dan 11:41).
7. Judaea. The use of this name in the Bible and by classic writers requires to be carefully noted. At first, its Hebrew equivalent, , was confined to the possessions of the tribe of Judah (2Ch 9:11). After the captivity of the northern kingdom, the name Judah became identified with the Jewish nation; and hence, during the second captivity, , Judaea, was applied to all Palestine and to all the Israelites. In the same sense it was employed in Josephus, in the N.T., and in classic writers; and it was even made to include the region east of the Jordan (Mat 19:1; Mar 10:1; Josephus, Ant. 9:14,1; 12:4, 11). In the book of Judith it is applied to the portion between the plain of Esdraelon and Samaria (Jdt 11:19), as it is in Luk 23:5; though it is also used in the stricter sense of Judsea proper (Joh 4:3; Joh 7:1), that is, the most southern of the three main divisions west of Jordan. In this narrower sense it is employed throughout 1 Maccabees (see especially 9:50; 10:30, 38; 11:34). It is sometimes (War, i, 1, 1; iii, 3, 5b) difficult to ascertain whether Josephus is using it in its wider or narrower sense. In the narrower sense he certainly does often employ it (Ant. v, 1, 22; War, iii, 3, 4, 5a). Nicolaus of Damascus applied the name to the whole country (Josephus, Ant. i, 7, 2). SEE JUDAEA.
The Roman division of the country hardly coincided with the Biblical one, and it does not appear that the Romans had any distinct name for that which we understand by Palestine. The province of Syria, established by Pompey, of which Scaurus was the first governor (quaestor proprietor) in B.C. 62, seems to have embraced the whole seaboard from the Bay of Issus (Iskanderun) to Egypt, as. far back as it was habitable. that is, up to the desert which forms the background to the whole district. Judaea in their phrase appears to have signified so much of this country as intervened between Idumeea on the south and the territories of the numerous free cities on the north and west which were constituted with the establishment of the province such as Scythopolis, Sebaste, Joppa, Azotus, etc. (Smith, Dict. of Geography, 2, 1077). The district east of the Jordan, lying between it and the desert at least so much of it as was not covered by the lands of Pella, Gadara, Canatha, Philadelphia, and other free towns was called Peraea.
8. The Holy Land ( ; ; Terra Sancta). Next to Palestine, this is now the most familiar name of the country. Zechariah is the first who mentions it, The Lord shall inherit Judah, his portion of the Holy Land (Zec 2:12). The rabbins constantly use it, and they have detailed, with great minuteness, the constituents of its sanctity. They did not regard it as all equally holy. Judaea ranked first; after it the northern kingdom; and last of all the territory beyond Jordan (Reland, p. 26 sq.). The very dust and stones and air of the land are still considered holy by the poor Jews (Reland, p. 25). The name Ta-netr (i.e. Holy Land), which is found in the inscriptions of Rameses II and Thothmes III, is believed by M. Brugsch to refer to Palestine (ut sup. p. 17). But this is contested by M. de Rouge (Revue Archeologique, Sept. 1861, p. 216). The Phoenicians appear to have applied the title Holy Land to their own country, and possibly also to Palestine, at a very early date (Brugsch, p. 17). If this can be substantiated, it opens a new view to the Biblical student, inasmuch as it would seem to imply that the country had a reputation for sanctity before its connection with the Hebrews. The early Christian writers call it Terra Sancta (Justin Martyr, Triphon; Tertullian, De Resurrectione; comp. Reland, p. 23). During the Middle Ages, and especially in the time of the Crusades, this name became so common as almost to supersede all others. In the present day, it is adopted, along with Palestine, as a geographical term. It was originally, and is now, applied only to the land allotted to the twelve tribes; and some Christian writers appear to confine it to the section west of the Jordan. More usually, however, it is employed in the same sense as Palestine (Reland, p. 21-28). In the long list of Travels and Treatises given by Ritter (Erdkunde, Jordan, p. 31-55), Robinson (B. R. ii, 534-555), and Bonar (Land of Promise, p. 517-535), it predominates far beyond any other appellation. Quaresimus, in his Elucidatio Terrce Sanctoe (i, 9, 10), after enumerating the various names above mentioned, concludes by adducing seven reasons why that which he has embodied in the title of his own work, though of later date than the rest, yet in excellency and dignity surpasses them all; closing with the words of pope Urban II addressed to the Council of Clermont: Quam terram merito Sanctam diximus, in quae non est etiam passus pedis quem non illustraverit et sanctificaverit vel corpus vel umbra Salvatoris, vel gloriosa praesentia Sanctze Dei genitricis, vel amplectendus Apostolorum commeatus, vel martyrum ebibendus sanguis effusus.
9. The modern name of the country is es-Shemn (Geogr. Works of Sadik Isfahani, in Ibn Haukal’s Oriental Geogr. p. 7), corresponding to the ancient Aram, and to our Syria. But this of course includes much more than what we usually call Palestine. The Jews to this day call Palestine by the Chaldee name of Areo-Kedusha, or Holy Land, though Jewish maps may be found with Land of Canaan, etc., upon them.
IV. Historical Allusions.
1. Early References. The earliest notice of Palestine is a latent one, and is contained in these memorable words of Moses: In the Most High’s portioning of the nations, In his dispersion of the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. For the portion of Jehovah is his people, Jacob the lot of his inheritance (Deu 32:8-9).
Thus the divine eye rested on Canaan, and it was set apart for Israel from the first; so that all other intermediate possessors were illegitimate tenants of a land assigned by its true owner to another. The ecclesiastics of the third century, however, dreamed a more ambitious dream. They linked Paradise and Palestine together, and record that Adam, shortly after his expulsion, migrated westward (Cain eastward), and deposited his bones, or at least his skull, in one of the hills on which Melchizedek afterwards built his city; from which event the place was called Golgotha, the place of a skull. Whatever the fact may be, the thought is not conceived amiss that the first Adam should dwell in the same land as the second, and lay his body in the same grave. Hebron is made to claim this honor by some; but all these fabulists agree that Adam died in Palestine; and they have determined that .the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the centre of the earth– , umbilicus terre; just as the Greeks decided regarding Delphi and Apollo’s shrine- Apollo, qui umbilicum certum terrarum obtines (see Jerome, De Loc. Hebr.; Pererius Valentinus, On Genesis, 1, 294, 416, where the references to the fathers are given). This legend as to Adam is not altogether of Christian origin. The Jews have a tradition that he died in Palestine, affirming that the four, from whom Kirjath-Arba took its name, were not only four patriarchs Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob but four matrons Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah. The better known and more probable tradition of the Jews is that Melchizedek, king of Salem, was Shem, son of Noah (Jerome, Comm. on Isaiah 41).
2. Pagan Fables. To Joppa, now Jaffa, there is attached the wild legend of Andromeda, the maiden exposed by her father Cepheus to the sea- monster, and rescued by Perseus. The story of the surf, the rock, the chain, the broken links still visible, has been told not only by Greek poets, bit by Christian annalists or travellers, from Jerome down to Felix Fabri (Pliny, Ovid, Jerome, Fabri’s Evagatorium). This Cepheus, according to Pliny, was king of Palestine, though an Ethiopian; according to Ovid, he was son of Phoenix, who gave name to Phoenician Palestine; while according to Tacitus he was king of the Jews AEthiopium prolem (he calls them) quos rege Cepheo, metus atque odium mutare sedes pepulit (Tacit. Hist. v, 2). Pagan memories and myths crowd themselves much more numerously’ into the rocks and nooks of the Holy Land than we generally know; names, exploits, temples, haunts of gods and goddesses are associated with very many localities along the line of the Phoenician and Philistian shore, from the Gulf of Issus down to the Egyptian seaboard. Palestine was not a blank when Israel entered it. It swarmed with gods; and Joshua’s task was not merely to assail hostile forts or armies, but to raze temples whose every stone was obscenity, whose every altar blasphemy. The Land of Promise (like the human spirit) was the haunt of every unclean and hateful idol, before it was the dwelling of the living God. First unclean; then clean; and now unclean again; this is the history of the land. Herodotus speaks of a temple of the celestial Venus at Ascalon, and notes it as the most ancient of all her shrines (Herod. 1, 105; see Rawlinson’s Herod. 1, 247); Athenaeus mentions the drowning of Atergatis, or Derceto, the Syrian Venus, in a lake near Ascalon, by Mopsus, a Lydian (Rawlinson’s Herod. 1, 364); Lucian refers to this later as the place where sacred fishes were reared, in honor of the sea-born goddess. At the other extremity of the land, or Lebanon, this same Venus was worshipped with vile rites. Byblus, Adonis, Heliopolis were associated with like deities and like worship (see Kenrick, Phoenicia, p. 306, 312). To this region also belong the lustful myths of the Syrian Astarte and, the Greek Europa; the fable of Daedalus (also called Hephaistos or Vulcan), the father of the Phoenician Cabiri, and of Hercules, the tutelary god of Tyre and discoverer of the Tyrian purple, to whom Hiram, the friend of Solomon, built a temple, if Menander, quoted by Josephus, wrote the truth (Joseph Ant. 8:5. 3). Along the sea-coast we find, in disorderly profusion, the legends of the West, the rudiments of the gods of Greece; while in the interior we find the legends of the East, the worn-out relic of the gods of Babylon and Assyria Widely over Palestine had these fables settled down, like so many unclean birds, to preoccupy each crag and cliff, and prevent the entrance of true faith and holy worship. It was as if the idols of Shinar, in their migration to Europe, had been permitted to rest for a season in Judaea before finally settling down on the hills and in the groves of Greece.
Though Palestine was, in the divine purpose, destined for Israel by God, yet Israel was not its first possessor. Other nations, seven in number (if not more), meted it out between them children of Ham, not of Shem; nay, Jerusalem itself owed its origin to them, Thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite (Eze 16:3). These Canaanites were allowed to occupy it for a season, that they might prepare it for its proper owners. Wells were dug, houses were built, towns were reared, terraces were made, vineyards and olive-yards were planted, the whole land was brought under cultivation, so that. when Israel came he found all things made ready for his occupancy (Deu 6:11; Porter, Five Years in Damascus; Giant Cities of Bashan). The fact is a singular one, unique in the history of nations; and it explains how a people, amounting to between two and three millions, all at once sat down in comfort and plenty in a new territory. They entered the desert with the spoil of Egypt on their hands; they took possession of Canaan with the riches and abundance of seven nations at their disposal.
3. Classical References. The Egyptian hieroglyphics contain references to the nations of Canaan. The splendor of Karnak under Thotlimies is indebted as much to the Phoenician Arvad as to the southern Cush (Osburnl, Egypt, 2, 284). The paintings of Abu-Simbul tell us how Rameses
Makes to tremble the rebels of the Jebusites;
and how Sesostris fought with the Hittites in the plains of the north how he swept over Phoenicia
He prevails over you; Ye cutters of Tyre,
Ye dividers of Arvad He casts you down,
He hews you in pieces!
Hadasha (Kadesh Barnea), in the land of the Amorite, is seen on a wooded hill, attacked by enemies. The Pharaohs of both Egypts are seen busy in punishing a Jebusitish aggression against Phenne, which Mr. Osburn understands to be not the Idumaean Phoeno, but Wady Magharah, the mining district in the Sinnaitic desert (Osburn, Egypt, 2, 473). The hieroglyphical name for Canaan is Naharain (ibid. p. 474). But this is not the place for enumerating these Egyptian references to Palestine and its cities; nor for investigating the no less important and interesting notices of them in the Assyrian relics. Perhaps the time has not yet come for a work on this subject, inasmuch as new information is finding its way to us every year; but the reader would do well to study the works of Layard, Rawlinson, Botta, Bonomi, and Smith. Homer (who probably wrote in Solomon’s reign) makes no mention of the Jews or of Palestine. though he very frequently names Phoenicia and Sidon. That Phoenicia, so often sung in the Odyssey, was Judsea, its king Solomon, and the twelve princes of its court the heads of the twelve tribes, has been maintained, but Homer must have been nodding grievously if he had persuaded himself that Corfil was at all like Palestine. Herodotus (more than 400 years after) speaks of the Syrians in Palestine in connection with the practice of circumcision; of Kadytis, of Phoenicia, of the seacoasts of Syria (2, 104, 159; 7:89; Rawlinson, Herod. 2, 171, note). Lysimachus, about B.C. 400 (as quoted by Josephus), speaks of Judsea, of Hierosyla or Hierosolyma, and of the leprosy of the Jews (Joseph. contra Ap. i, 34; Meier’s Judaica, p. 2). Berosus (B.C. 320) mentions Nebuchadnezzar’s expedition into Syria, and his taking Jews and Phoenicians captives (Joseph. Ant. 10:11. 1; Giles, Heathen Records, p. 55). Manetho (B.C. 280) speaks of a land now called Judaea, and of Jerusalem a city that would suffice for many myriads of men (Joseph. contra Ap. i, 14; Giles, p. 63). Hecateus. (B.C. 300) mentions Syria and the 1500 priests of the Jews, who received the tenth of the produce. He describes Jerusalem thus: There are of the Jews numerous fortresses and villages throughout the country; and one strong city of about fifty furlongs in circuit, inhabited by about twelve myriads of men, which they call Jerusalem. He then mentions the Temple, the altar, the lamp, the priests, etc. (Giles, p. 68, 70). Agatharchides (B.C. 170) speaks of the nation of the Jews and their strong and great city (Joseph. Ant. 12:1,1). Polybilis just names the Jews; but Strabo, Diodorus Sicululs and Pomponius Mela have frequent references to them and to Palestine (Meier; p. 10-21). Virgil makes no mention of the Jews or their land; but Cicero, Ovid, and Horace contain references to it (Giles, p. 10, 12). Pliny (elder and younger), Plutarch, Suetolius, and even Martial, Petronius, and Juvenal, refer to them. We must leave our readers to follow out these Gentile references in later centuries, in Justin, Dio Cassius, and Procopius; reminding them merely of Lucian’s description of St. Paul, the Galilaean, bald-headed and long-nosed, who went through the air into the third heaven (Dial. Peregr. et Philop.). In addition to Meier and Giles, Krebs’s work, Decreta Romanorumpro Judceis facta e Josepho, can be consulted. The classical allusions to the Jews and their land are in general very incorrect, and betray a greater amount of ignorance and prejudice than might have been expected from cultivated pens; but they are curious.
4. The notices of Palestine in Jewish, Christian, Mohammedan, and modern writings are of course innumerable.
IV. Physical Geography. The superficial conformation of Palestine is simple, peculiar, and in some respects unique, and the leading features which have in all ages characterized it grow out of this permanent configuration.
1. Main Natural Sections. The entire country divides itself into four longitudinal belts, each reaching from north to south; and these belts are as distinct in their political history as in their physical structure. In fact, a careful study of the physical geography of Palestine its plains, mountains, valleys, and great natural divisions affords the best key to its history.
The geographer who travels through the country, or the student who carefully notes one of the best constructed maps, such as Van de Velde’s, must observe the strip of plain extending along .the seaboard from the mouth of the Litany to Gaza. Narrow on the north, and interrupted by three bold promontories, it expands gradually towards the south into a broad champaign. Its low elevation and sandy soil make the coast-line tame and almost straight. Were it not for the headland of Carmel, the shore would be a straightline, without bay or promontory.
From the end of Lebanon on the north a mountain range runs through the centre of the country. Its course is not parallel to the coast; the latter tends from N.N.E. to S.S.W.; whereas the mountains run more nearly, though not quite, south, thus leaving a broader margin of plain at the southern extremity. The ridge is intersected near its centre by a cross-belt of plain, connecting the Jordan valley with the coast. This plain is Esdraelon. The sections of the ridge to the north and south of it have very different features. That on the north is picturesque, and in some places grand. The outlines are varied; lofty peaks spring up at intervals, and are separated by winding wooded glens. On the south the general aspect of the ridge is dull and uniform, presenting the appearance of a huge gray wall, as seen from the coast. But in travelling down the road which runs along the broad back of the ridge to Jerusalem and Hebron the eye sees an endless succession of rounded hill-tops, thrown confusedly together, each bare and rocky as its neighbor. South of Hebron these sink into low swelling hills, similar in form, but smaller; and these again gradually melt into the desert plain of et- Tih.
But by far the most remarkable feature of Palestine is the Jordan valley, which runs through the land from north to south, straight as an arrow. There is nothing like it in the world. It is a rent or chasm in the earth’s crust, being everywhere below the level of the ocean. This deep valley produces a marked effect on the ridges which border it. Their sides towards the valley are far more abrupt than elsewhere in Palestine; the ravines that descend from them are deeper and wilder; and towards the south, along the shores of the Dead Sea, there is a look of rugged grandeur and desolation such as is seldom met with.: The valley is of nearly uniform breadth, about ten miles from brow to brow, expanding slightly at Tiberias and the Dead Sea, as if greater depth had made some enlargement of the lateral boundaries necessary. This valley forms a very striking feature on every map of Palestine; and it becomes the more striking the more accurately the physical geography of the land is delineated.
The remaining part of Palestine east of the Jordan forms a tract of table- land, to which the central valley gives some remarkable features. Every traveller in Palestine is familiar with the mountain-range steep, straight, and of nearly uniform elevation which, from every point in Judaea, Samaria, and Galilee, bounds the view eastward. This, in reality, is not a mountain range; it is the side or bank of the eastern plateau, having itself an elevation of from 2000 to 3000 feet, to which the depression of the Jordan adds another thousand. At only a few places, on the extreme north; and near the centre, do the tops of this ridge rise above the general level of the plateau. The ravines that descend from it are of great depth. At the north- east angle of Palestine is an isolated mountain-ridge, dividing the fertile table-land of Bashan from the arid wastes of Arabia.
Such is an outline of the general features of Palestine. It prepares the way for a detailed examination of the several divisions, and also for a more satisfactory review of the historical geography of the country. Each great physical feature has exercised from the earliest periods, as will be seen, a most important influence upon the people. The chasm of the Jordan effectually divided the east from the west; and the cross-belt of Esdraelon divided almost as effectually the north from the south. The maritime plain gave birth to two nations-one of merchants, another of warriors. It also became, in later ages, the highway between Egypt and Assyria. But the steep sides and rugged passes of the mountains presented such difficulties that few attempted to invade them. The mountain-ridge of Judah and Samaria was thus isolated; it was defended by a double rampart. an outer and an inner. It was the heart and stronghold of the Jewish nation; it was the sanctuary of the Jewish faith; and it was the stage on which most of the events of the national history were enacted.
(1.) The Maritime Plain. From the bank of the Litany on the north, for a distance of some twenty miles, the plain is a mere strip, nowhere more than two miles wide, and generally much less. The surface is undulating, and intersected by ridges of whitish limestone, which shoot out from Lebanon, and break off in cliffs on the shore. Two of them Rasei Abiad, The White Cape, and Ras en-NakAra, together constituting the ancient Scala Tyriorum, Ladder of Tyre rise to a height of from 200 to 300 feet, and drop into the deep sea splendid cliffs of naked rock. Though the plain is here broken, and is now dreary and desolate, its soil, between the rocks, is deep and of wonderful fertility. It is abundantly watered also by copious fountains, and by streams from Lebanon. At the widest and best part of it, on a low promontory and an adjoining island, stood Tyre, a double city.
South of the Ladder of Tyre the features of the plain and the coast undergo a total change. This promontory, in fact, is the real commencement of the maritime plain, and the natural boundary of Palestine and Phoenicia (q.v.). The white cliffs and bold headlands now disappear; the shore is low and Sandy; the plainflat, rich, and loamy, and only a few feet above the sea- level. It spreads out in far reaches of cornfields and pasture-lands several miles inland, the mountains making a bold sweep to the east. On a low bank, projecting into the Mediterranean from the centre of this plain, stands Acre, the modern as well as the mediaeval stronghold of Palestine. Across the plain, a few miles southward, flows the river Belus; and on its banks may still be seen that vitreous sand from which glass is said to have been first made (Strabo, 16 p. 758; Pliny, 36:65). Still farther south, the Kishon, a sluggish stream with soft, sedgy banks, falls in from the plains of Esdraelon. There is more water and more moisture in this part of the plain than in any other. part of Palestine; it is consequently among the most fertile sections of the country.
The course of the Kishon breaks what might be called the natural conformation of Palestine. It intersects the central mountain-range; and a branch or arm of the range, as if displaced by the river, shoots out in a north-westerly direction, and, projecting into the Mediterranean, forms a bold headland the only prominent feature along the shore of Palestine. This is Carmel (q.v.). Its elevation is about 1800 feet; its sides are steep and rugged. deeply furrowed, by ravines, and partially clothed with forests of dwarf oaks. There is little cultivation on the ridge; but its pastures are rich, and its flowers in early spring are bright and beautiful. The promontory of Garmel is bluff, but, as it does not dip into the sea, room is left for a good road round its base.
Immediately south of Carmel the plain again opens tip, and continues without interruption to Gaza. Narrow at first, and broken by a low ridge of rocky tells running parallel to the coast, it gradually expands into the undulating pasture-lands of Sharon. The plain is not so flat here as at Acre, nor is it so well watered, though there are still streams and large fountains, with fringes of reeds and broad belts of green meadows. Here and there are. clumps of trees and scraggy copse, the remnants of ancient forests; but most of the plain is bare and parched. There is scarcely any cultivation. Farther south the surface becomes flatter, the average elevation less, and vegetation more scanty, owing to the lighter soil and lack of moisture. Around Joppa, Lydda, and Ramleh are pleasant orchards and large olive- groves, surrounded by wastes of drift sand. Here Sharon unites with Philistia, which, after an interval of naked downs, extends in widespreading cornfields and vast expanses of rich, loamy soil southward almost to the valley of Gerar. This is the Shephelah the low country of the Bible: the home of the Philistines, over which they drove their iron war-chariots, and on which they bade defiance to the light mountain-troops of Israel. SEE PHILISTIA.
The maritime plain south of Carmel has some general features worthy of note. Along the whole seaboard runs a broad belt of drift sand, generally flat and wavy, but in places raised up into mounds varying from fifty to two hundred feet in height. The mounds and drifts are mostly bare and of a ruddy gray color; though here and there they are covered with long wiry grass and bent. The sand is most destructive, and nothing can stay its progress. It has encircled the ruins of Casarea with a barren desert; it is slowly. advancing on the orchards of Joppa. threatening them with destruction; it has drifted far inland to Ramleh and Lydda; it has almost entirely covered up the city of Askelon, and is now invading the fields, vineyards, and olive-groves of Mejdel, Hamameh, and other neighboring villages. From Askelon southward the hills are higher than elsewhere; and at Gaza the sand-belt is not less than three miles wide. The aspect of these bare hills and long reaches of naked drift is that of utter, terrible desolation.
Another feature of the plain is the depth of its wadys or torrent-beds. At the northern end of Sharon their banks are comparatively low and sedgy, bordered by tracts of meadow, which, owing to their depression and the accumulation of sand along the coast, are overflowed during, the rainy season, and thus converted into pools and morasses, some of which do not entirely dry up during the summer. In Philistia the wadys are deeply cut in the loamy or sandy soil; their banks are dry, hard, and bare; their beds too are dry, covered with dust, white pebbles, and flints.
The whole plain is bare and bleak. There are no trees, no bushes, and no fences of any kind, with the exception of one or two small remnants of pine and oak forests in the northern part of Sharon, and the orchards and olive- groves around a few of the principal villages, and the hedges of cactus that encircle them. One can ride on for days without let or hindrance. In summer all vegetation disappears. The, plain stretches out, mile after mile, in easy undulations, like great waves, everywhere of a brownish gray color, appearing as if scathed by lightning. In early spring, however, it is totally different. It does not look like the same country. It is covered with green grass, and, where cultivated, with luxuriant crops of green corn; it is all spangled with flowers of the brightest colors, and in Sharon with forests of gigantic thistles. The coloring then far surpasses. anything ever seen in Europe; but still the absence of houses, fields, and fences gives a dreary look. The villages are few, mostly very small and very. poor, and at long intervals. In Sharon, and in the southern section of Philistia, there are stretches of twenty miles and more without a village. The plain is everywhere dotted, however, with low rounded tells a few of them, as Tell es-Safieh, Arak el-Menshtyeh, and others, rising to a height of 200 feet and more and these are covered with white debris, intermixed with hewn stones and fragments of columns, the remains of primaeval cities. The plain has no good quarries; the rock along the coast, and over a great part of the .plain, is a soft friable sandstone, not fit for architectural purposes. The ordinary houses, therefore, were built of brick, and soon crumbled away, and are now heaps of dust and rubbish. The remains of a few temples, and of the churches and ramparts erected by the Crusaders at Gaza, Askelon, Lydda, Ramleh, and Casarea, are almost the only relies of antiquity now standing on the maritime plain. The eastern border of the plain is not very clearly defined. The hills melt into it gradually. In some places an elongated ridge shoots far down into the lowland, such as the ridge at Bethhoron, at Zorah, at Deir Dubbin, etc. In other places broad valleys run far up among the mountains. These ridges and valleys were the border-land of the Israelites and Philistines, and were the scenes of many a wild foray and many a hardfought battle. The valleys are exceedingly fertile.
The only road by which the two great rivals of the ancient world could approach one another by which alone Egypt could get to Assyria, and Assyria to Egypt lay along this broad flat strip of coast which formed the maritime portion of the Holy Land, and thence by the plain of the Lebanon to the Euphrates. True, this road did not, as we shall see, lie actually through the country, but at the foot of the highlands which virtually composed the Holy Land; still the proximity was too close not to be full of danger; and though the catastrophe was postponed for many centuries, yet, when it actually arrived, it came through. this channel.
The breadth of this noble plain varies considerably. At CEesarea on the north. it is not more than eight miles wide; at Joppa it is about twelve; while at Gaza, on the south, it is nearly twenty. Its elevation above the level of the sea has not been ascertained by measurement, but from its general appearance it does not seem to have an average of more than 100 feet.
It is probable that the Jews never permanently occupied more than a small portion of this rich and favored region. Its principal towns were, it is true, allotted to the different tribes (Jos 15:45-47; Jos 16:3, Gezer; 17:11, Dor, etc.); but this was in anticipation of the intended conquest (Jos 13:3-6). The five cities of the Philistines remained in their possession (1 Samuel 5; 1Sa 21:10; 1 Samuel 27); and the district was regarded as one independent of and apart from Israel (27:2; 1Ki 2:39; 2Ki 8:2-3). In like manner Dor remained in the hands of the Canaanites (Jdg 1:27), and Gezer in the hands of the Philistines till taken from them in Solomon’s time by his father-in-law (1Ki 9:16). We find that towards the end of the monarchy the tribe of Benjamin was in possession of Lydd, Jimzu, Ono, and other places in the plain (Neh 11:34; 2Ch 28:18); but it was only by a gradual process of extension from their native hills, in the rough ground of which they were safe from the attack of cavalry and chariots. Yet, though the Jews never had any hold on the region, it had its own population, and towns probably not inferior to any in Syria. Both Gaza and Askelon had regular ports (majumas); and there is evidence to show that they were very important and very large long before the fall of the Jewish monarchy (Kenrick, Phoenicia, p. 27-29). Ashdod, though on the open plain, resisted for twenty-nine years the attack of the whole Egyptian force: a similar attack to that which reduced Jerusalem without a blow (2 Chronicles 12), and was sufficient on another occasion to destroy it after a siege of a year and a half, even when fortified by the works of a score of successive monarchs (2Ki 25:1-3).
In the Roman times this region was considered the pride of the country (Joseph. War, 1, 29, 9), and some of the most important cities of the province stood in it Caesarea, Antipatris, Diospolis. The one ancient port of the Jews, the beautiful city of Joppa, occupied a position central between the Shephelah and Sharon. Roads led from these various cities to each other-to Jerusalem, Neapolis, and Sebaste in the interior, and to Ptolemais and Gaza on the north and south. The commerce of Damascus, and, beyond Damascus, of Persia and India, passed this way to Egypt, Rome, and the infant colonies of the west; and that traffic and the constant movement of troops backwards and forwards must have made this plain one of the busiest and most populous regions of Syria at the time of Christ. Now Cesarea is a wave-washed ruin; Antipatris has vanished both in name and substance; Diospolis has shaken off the appellation which it bore in the days of its prosperity, and is a mere village, remarkable only for the ruin of its fine mediaeval church, and for the palmgrove which shrouds, it from view. Joppa alone maintains a dull life, surviving solely because it is the nearest point at which the sea-going travellers from the West can approach Jerusalem. For a few miles above Jaffa cultivation is still carried on, but the fear of the Bedawin who roam (as they always have roamed) over parts of the plain, plundering all passers-by, and extorting black-mail from the wretched peasants, has desolated a large district, and effectually prevents its being used any longer as the route for travellers from south to north; while in the portions which are free from this scourge, the teeming soil itself is doomed to unproductiveness through the folly and iniquity of its Turkish rulers, whose exactions have driven, and are driving, its industrious and patient inhabitants to remoter parts of the land.:
(2.) The Central Mountain-range. The deep narrow ravine of the Litany separates Lebanon (q.v.) proper from Palestine. The mountain-chain on its southern bank, however, is a natural prolongation of that on the northern. Its altitude is not so great, but its course is the same, its geological strata and physical features are the same, and when. seen from any point, east or west, the ridge appears as one. On the south bank of the river the ridge is broad, reaching from the Jordan valley to the sea, about twenty miles. Its summit is mostly an irregular undulating table-land, having fertile plains of considerable extent intervening between the hill-tops. The outline is varied and picturesque; the plains are green with corn and grass, and the peaks and ridge backs are covered more or less densely with forests of oak, terebinth, maple, and other trees. The trees grow to a larger size than is elsewhere seen in Palestine: many of them would not disgrace the great forests of Europe (Van de Velde, 1, 170; 2, 418). The watershed is much nearer the eastern than the western side; in fact, it is in some places quite close to the eastern brow of the ridge, from which short abrupt glens descend to the Jordan. The valleys on the western slopes are long, winding, and richly wooded; and among them we have the finest-indeed, it might be said, the only in scenery in Western Palestine. On the lower parts of the declivities and in the beds of the valleys are still extensive olive groves, showing how appropriate was Asher’s blessing, Let him dip his foot in oil (Deu 33:24; Van de Velde, 2, 407).
This northern section of the mountain-chain culminates, a little to the west of Safed, in Jebel Jermuk (4000 feet), the highest land in Western Palestine. Safed itself stands on a commanding peak. From this point the ridge sinks rapidly, becoming more an assemblage of detached hills i and ridges than a regular chain. It almost looks as if the great chain had been shattered to pieces, and the fragments thrown confusedly together. The upland plains, which constitute a distinguishing feature of the higher section, here become larger and richer, with a surface like a bowling-green, and interspersed here and there with cornfields, olive-groves, orchards of pomegranates, apricots, and other fruit-trees (Van de Velde, 2, 406). The plain of Battauf is ten miles long by about two wide. From its eastern end at Jebel Hattin, another plain extends, with gentle undulations, along the brow of the basin of Tiberias, southward to Tabor; and another runs westward from Hattin to Sefirieh. The hill-tops and ridges which separate them are rugged, rocky, and thinly covered with dwarf oak and terebinth, and with jungles of thornbushes. South of these plains a transverse ridge of hills, commencing , with Tabor on the east, extends to the plain of Acre on the west. Tabor (q.v.) is green and well-wooded. The section adjoining it, encircling Nazareth (q.v.), is mostly bare and rocky, while the western end presents some beautiful scenery green vales covered with long grass and bright-colored thistles, winding down to the plains on the south and west, between richly wooded peaks and ridges.
Vegetation among the mountains of Galilee is much more abundant than elsewhere west of the Jordan, Long rank grass and huge thistles, and a splendid variety of wild-flowers, cover mountain, vale, and plain in early spring; and even during the heat of summer and the scorching blasts of autumn that parched, scathed look, which is universal farther south, is here unknown. This is owing, in part, to the cool breezes from Hermon and Lebanon, and in part to the forests which condense the moisture of the atmosphere, yielding heavy fertilizing dew. Fountains are abundant and copious; and the torrent-beds are rarely many of them never dry. Another fact is deserving of notice. The whole region, considering its great fertility and beauty, is thinly peopled. A vast portion of it appears utterly desolate. The highways lie waste, the earth mourneth and languisheth. The bald mountains of Judah are far more densely peopled even yet than this highland paradise.
The plain of Esdraelon (q.v.), as stated above, intersects the mountain- chain, and forms a connecting link between the maritime plain and the Jordan valley. In this respect it may be termed the gateway of Central Palestine; and history tells how fully, and often how fatally hostile nations and marauding tribes availed themselves of it to enter and spoil the land. It joins the plain of Acre on the west at the base of Carmel; it is connected with Sharon by an easy pass at Megiddo; and on the east two broad arms stretch down from it in gentle slopes to the principal fords and passes of the Jordan. Its features and history have already been so fully given that it need not here be described.
The isolated ridges of Moreh (now called by natives Jebel ed-Duhy, by travellers Little Hermon) and Gilboa, which lie between the eastern arms of Esdraelon, present a marked contrast to Tabor and the mountains of Galilee. They show that the humid and fertile north is giving place to the parched and naked south. They are bare, white, and treeless; and their declivities look in places as if they had been covered with flag-stones. They are isolated, broken links lying between the chains of Galilee and Samaria.
While Esdraelon intersects the mountain-chain, a portion of the chain. appearing as if displaced, shoots on from the mountains of Samaria in a north-western direction; and, running to the Mediterranean, intersects the maritime plain. This is Carmel, which, though physically. united to the southern, bears more resemblance, in its luxuriant grass, green foliage, and bright flowers, to the northern ridge. Carmel and the northern, end of the Samaria range present the appearance of a continuous transverse ridge, enclosing Esdraelon on the south.
Between Esdraelon and Bethel the territory originally allotted to the sons of Joseph, forty miles in length the mountain-ridge presents some peculiar and striking features. The summits are more rounded and more rocky than those in Galilee; and the sides, though in many places bare, are generally clothed with scraggy woods of dwarf oak, terebinth, and maple, or with shrubberies of thorn-bushes. The fertile upland plains are still found here, though smaller than those in Galilee; the largest is the plain of Mukhna, along the eastern base of Gerizim, measuring about six miles by one. The plains of Saniur, Kubatiyeh, and Dothan are much smaller. The hill-sides around them grow steeper and wider towards the south. The valleys running. into Sharon are long, winding, mostly tillable though dry and bare; while those on the east, running into the chasm of the Jordan, are deep and abrupt; but being abundantly watered by numerous fountains and being planted with olive-groves and orchards, they have a rich and picturesque appearance (comp. Van de Velde, 2, 314). In fact, the eastern declivities of the mountains of Ephraim, wild and rugged though they are. contain some of the most beautiful scenery and some of the most luxuriant orchards in Central Palestine (ibid. p. 335). Dr. Robinson writes of Telluzah, the ancient Tirzah (Son 6:4), a few miles north of Nabulus, The town is surrounded by immense groves of olivetrees, planted on all the hills around; mostly young and thrifty trees (3, 302); and of one of the great wadys east of it, Nowhere in Palestine, not even at Nabulus. had I seen such noble brooks of water (ibid. p. 303); and again of the whole district, This tract of the Faria, from el-Kurawa in the Ghor to the rounded hills which separate it from the plain of Sanur, is justly regarded as one of the most fertile and valuable regions of Palestine (p. 304 sq.). The features of the mountains are different from those of Galilee. Here there is more wildness and ruggedness, the tracts of level ground are smaller, the valleys are narrower, and the banks steeper. While the rich upland plains produce abundant crops of grain, yet this is a region on the whole specially adapted for the cultivation of olives, fruits, and grapes. The more carefully its features, soil, and products are examined, the more evident does it become that Ephraim was indeed blessed with the chief things of the ancient mountains vines, figs olives, and corn, all growing luxuriantly amid the lasting hills It was not in vain that the dying patriarch deliberately rested his right hand on the head of Joseph’s younger son, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim (Gen 48:18-20; comp. Stanley, S. and P. p. 226).
Passing southward from Samaria into Judaea from the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh into that of Benjamin and Judah both the physical features and the scenery of the range undergo a great change. The change doles not take place rapidly it is gradual. Immediately south of Shiloh the change begins. The little upland plains, which, with their green grass and green corn and smooth surface, so much relieve the monotony of the mountain-tops, almost disappear in Benjamin, and in Judah they are unknown. Those which do exist in Benjamin, as the plains of Gibeon and Rephaim, are small and rocky. The soil alike on plain, hill, and glen is. poor and scanty; and the gray limestone rock everywhere crops up over it, giving the landscape a barren and forbidding aspect. Natural wood disappears; and a few small bushes, brambles, or aromatic shrubs alone appear upon the hill-sides. The hill-summits now assume that singular form which prevails in Judah, and which Stanley has well described: Rounded hills, chiefly of a gray color gray partly from the limestone of which. they are formed, partly from the tufts of gray shrub with which their sides are thinly clothed their sides formed into concentric rings of rock, that must have served in ancient times as supports to the terraces, of. which there are still traces to the very summits; valleys, or rather the meetings of those gray slopes with the beds of dry water-courses at their feet-long sheets of bare rock laid like flagstones, side by side, along the soil these are the chief features of the greater part of the scenery of the historical parts of Palestine. These rounded hills, occasionally stretching into long undulating ranges, are for the most part bare of wood. Forest and large timber are not known. Cornfields and in the neighborhood of Christian populations, as at Bethlehem, vineyards creep along the ancient terraces. In the spring the hills and valleys are covered with thin grass, and the aromatic shrubs which clothe more or less almost the whole of Syria and Arabia.
But they also glow with what is peculiar to Palestine, a profusion of wild flowers, daisies, the white flower called the star of Bethlehem, but especially with a blaze of scarlet flowers of all kinds, chiefly anemones, wild tulips, and poppies (S. and P. p. 136 sq.). Fountains are rare, and their supplies of water scanty and precarious among the mountains of Benjamin and Judah. Wells take their place, bored deep into the white soft limestone rock; covered cisterns, into which the rain-water is guided, are also very numerous, and large open tanks. The glens which descend westward are long and winding, with dry rocky beds, and banks breaking down to them in terraced declivities. The lower slopes near the plain of Philistia are neither so bare nor so rugged as those nearer the crest of the ridge. Dwarf trees and extensive shrubberies, and aromatic plants, partially cover them; while little groves of olives, and orchards of figs and pomegranates, appear around most of the villages. The valleys, too, become wider, sometimes expanding, as Surar, es-Sumt (Elah), and Beit Jibrin, into rich and beautiful cornfields. The eastern declivities of the ridge, so fertile and picturesque in Samaria, are here a wilderness bare, white, and absolutely desolate; without trees or grass or stream or fountain. Naked slopes of white gravel and white rock descend rapidly and irregularly from the brow of the ridge, till at length they dip in the frowning precipices of Quarantania, Feshkah, Engedi, and Masada, into the Jordan valley or the Dead Sea. Naked ravines, too, like huge fissures, with perpendicular walls of rock, often several hundred feet in height, furrow these slopes from top to bottom. The wild and savage grandeur of wadys Farah, el-Kelt, en-Nar, and Khureitfn is almost appalling. This region is the Wilderness of Judaea. It extends from the parallel of Bethel on the north to the southern border of Palestine. Its length is about forty miles, and its breadth average’s nine. It has always been a wilderness, and it must always continue so (Jdg 1:16; Mat 3:1) the home of the wandering shepherd (1Sa 17:28) and the prowling bandit (Luk 10:30). It is the only part of Palestine to which that name can be properly applied. SEE JUDAH.
In the centre of this rugged region, on the very crest of the mountain-ridge, girt about with the muniments of nature, stood Jerusalem and the other historic cities and strongholds of the kingdom of Judah-many of them taking their names from their lofty sites, as Gibeon and Ramah and Gibeah and Geba. In vigorous exercise among these mountains, and in following and defending their flocks over the bare ridges and through the wild glens of the wilderness, the hardy soldiers of David received their training; and they proved that in mountain warfare they were invincible. This is not a region for corn. The husbandman would obtain from its thin, parched soil a poor return for his hard labor. But the terraced hill-sides, the warm limestone strata, and the sunny skies render it the very best field for the successful culture of the vine and the fig; while the aromatic shrubs of the wilderness, and the succulent herbage among the rocks and glens, afforded suitable food for flocks of sheep and goats. The dying patriarch appears to have had his eye on this region when he blessed Judah in these words: Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk (Gen 49:11-12). Though this section of the range now seems barren and desolate, no district in Palestine bears traces of such dense population informer days. Every height is crowned with a ruin; the remains of towns and villages thickly dot the whole country. Its ruins, its terraced hills, and its arid tortuous glens are now the distinguishing features of Judaea.
The southern declivities of the mountain-range have some marled and peculiar features, which probably gained for them a distinctive name, the Negeb, or South Country. From Hebron, where the ridge begins to decline, to Beersheba, where it finally melts away into the desert of Tih, this section extends. Here are bare rounded white or light-gray hills, gradually becoming smaller and farther apart, divided by long irregular dry valleys, which slowly become wider and more desolate, until at length hill and dale merge into an open undulating plateau. The soil on these southern hills is thin and poor; but in some of the valleys it is richer, and during spring and early summer the pasture is luxuriant. It was one of the regions most frequented by the patriarchs. It was a dry parched land, as its Scripture name Negeb would seem to imply. It contains no perennial streams. Its torrent-beds are as dry during a great part of the year as its hill-tops; it is only after heavy rains, here very rare even in winter, that they contain any water. Fountains, too, are few and far between; and hence the patriarchs, like the modern nomads who pasture their flocks on it, were forced to depend on wells and tanks for their supply of water. These are very numerous. Miss Martineau, in riding from the desert to Hebron, notes, All the day we continually saw gaping wells beside our path, and under every angle of the hills where they were likely to be kept filled (Eastern Life, p. 433). Water was absolutely necessary for the wants of men and animals; hence the labor expended on wells and the obstinacy with which rival tribes disputed their possession (Gen 21:25; Gen 21:30; Gen 26:15, etc.). Vineyards and olive-groves disappear a few miles south of Jerusalem; the larger oak-trees, which are seen here and there farther north, give place to bushes and low shrubs; cultivated fields, too, and all signs of settled habitation, give place to rude enclosures for sheep, and black tents and roving Arabs. All picturesque beauty, all natural richness of scenery, is gone. The green pastures and the bright flowers of early spring are the only redeeming features (Bonar, Land of Promise, p. 29, 46; Martineau, p. 431; Stanley, p. 100). Mr. Drew has delineated the features of the southern declivities with great fidelity:
In no part of the prospect was there any loveliness, or any features of greatness and sublimity, Every aspect of the country that might be called beautiful is seen in the narrows section of the mountain district immediately on the south of Hebron. No lakes or rivers, or masses of foliage, or deep ravines, or any lofty towering heights are within the range of sight to one in the centre of the territory. . . For a few weeks late in spring-time a smlilinga aspect is thrown over the broad downs, when the ground is reddened with the anemone, in contrast with the soft white of the daisy, and the deep yellow of the tulip and marigold. But this flush of beauty soon passes and the permanent aspect of the country is not wild indeed, or hideous, or frightfully desolate, but, as we may say, austerely plain a tame, unpleasant aspect, not causing absolute discomfort while one is in it, but left without any lingering reminiscence of anything lovely or awful or sublime. As for the soil, the thin and scanty verdure, barely covering the limestone which spreads almost everywhere beneath the desert surface, sufficiently explains its nature. Here and there patches of deeper earth and richer swards with claumps of trees, vary these pastures of the wilderness; as again they are broken by vide areas, thickly covered with shrubs of considerable height and size (Scripture Lands, p. 5-7).
It is obvious that in the ancient days of the nation, when Judah and Benjamin possessed the teeming population indicated in the Bible, the condition and aspect of the country must have been very different. Of this there are not wanting sure evidences. There is no country in which the ruined towns bear so large a proportion to those still existing. Hardly a hill- top of the many, within sight that is not covered with vestiges of some fortress or city. That this numerous population knew how most effectually to cultivate their rocky territory is shown by the remains of their ancient terraces, which constantly meet the eye, the only mode of husbanding so scanty a coating of soil, and preventing its being washed by the torrents into the valleys. These frequent remains enable the traveller to form an idea of the appearance of the landscape when thus terraced. But, besides this, forests appear to have stood in many parts of Judaea until the repeated invasions and sieges caused their fall, and the wretched government of the Turks prevented their reinstatement; and all this vegetation must have reacted on the moisture of the climate, and, by preserving the water in many a ravine and natural reservoir where now it is rapidly dried by the fierce stan of the early summer, must have materially influenced the look and the resources of the country.
The following elevations: are taken (with some corrections from later sources) from Van de Velde, who has collected them from the best authorities, and arranged them, with valuable notes, in his Memoir of Map.n . In order to connect the Palestine ridge with Lebanon, of which it is the natural continuation, and with the desert of Tih into which it falls, the heights of a few points beyond the boundaries of Palestine on the north and south are given:
Tom Niha, the culminating point of southern Lebanon, fifteen miles north of the LitanyFeet 6500
Kefr Huneh, a pass over the ridge four miles farther south4200
Kula’at esh-Shukif (Belfort), overhanging the Litany2205
IN PALESTINE.
Kedesh-Naphtali, twelve miles south of the Litany (Kedesh is in an upland plain surrounded by peaks and ridges several hundred feet higher than the town)1354
Jebel Jermuk, the highest point in Western Palestine (about)4000
Safed2775
Jebel Kaukab, near Cana of Galilee1736
Turan, on the plain of Sefurieh872
Kurn Hattin, the traditional scene of the Sermon on the Mount1096
Mount Tabor1865
Nazareth, situated in a valley1237
Plain of Esdraelon, nearly due south of Nazareth382
Jebel ed-Duhy (Little Hermon)1839
Mount Gilbon, highest point2200
Mount Carmel, highest point1800
Jebel Haskin, the highest point between Gilboa and Ebal2000
Upland plain of Sanur1330
Mount Ebal2700
Mount Gerizim2650
Plain of Mukhna, at the base of Gerizi1595
Top of the ridge south of the plain of Mukhliua2037
The ridge of Sinjil, near Shiloh3108
Bethel2401
Neby Samwil. (This appears to be too low.)2649
Jerusalem, highest point of the city2585
Mount of Olives2665
Bethlehem2704
Pools of Solomon (in a valley)2513
Ruins of Ramah, three miles north of Hebron2800
Hebron (in a valley, with higher; ridges round it)3029
Cannmel, eight miles south of Hebron2238
Ed-Dhoheriyeh, fifteen miles south-west of Hebron2174
Beersheba1100
BEYOND THE SOUTHERN BORDER.
El-Khulasa, in.the desert of Tih704
From these measurements it will appear how singularly uniform the elevation of the range is from Esdraelon to Hebron. This gives it the appearance of a vast wall as seen from the sea. Its aspect from the Jordan valley is different; it seems to have a much greater elevation on the south, owing to the depression of the Dead Sea and the adjoining plain.
The transverse valleys that intersect this central mountain region have already been referred to, but they constitute so important a feature that we dwell upon them more in detail. This grand watershed of the country sends off on either hand to the Jordan valley on the east and the Mediterranean on the west, and be it remembered (with one or two exceptions) east and west only the long tortuous arms of its many torrent-beds. But though keeping north and south as its general direction, the line of the watershed is, as might be expected from the prevalent equality of level of these highlands, and the absence of anything like ridge or saddle, very irregular, the heads of the valleys on the one side often passing and overlapping those of the other. Thus in the territory of the ancient Benjamin the heads of the great wadys Fuwar (or Suweilit) and Mutyah (or Kelt) the two main channels by which the torrents of the winter rains hurry down from the bald hills of this district into the valley of the Jordan are at Bireh and Beitin respectively, while the great wady Belat, which enters the Mediterranean at Nahr Aujeh a few miles above Jaffa, stretches its long arms as far as, and even farther than, Taivibeh, nearly four miles to the east of either Bireh or Beitin. So also in the more northern district of Mount Ephraim around Nabulus, the ramifications of that extensive system of valleys which combine to form the Wads. Ferrah- one of the main feeders of the central Jordan interlace and cross by many miles those of the Wady Shair, whose principal arm is the valley of Nabulus. and which pours its waters into the Mediterranean at Nahr Falaik.
The valleys on the two sides of the watershed, as already noted, differ considerably in character. Those on the east owing to the extraordinary depth of the Jordan valley into which they plunge, and also to the fact already mentioned that the watershed lies rather on that side of the highlands, thus making the fall more abrupt are extremely steep and rugged. This is the case during the whole length of the southern and middle portions of the country. The precipitous descent between Olivet and Jericho, with which all travellers in the Holy Land are acquainted, is a type, and by no means an unfair type, of the eastern passes, from Zuweirah and Ain-Jidi on the south to Wady Bidan on the north. It is only when the junction between the plain of Esdraelon and the Jordan valley is reached that the slopes become gradual, and the ground fit for the maneuvers of anything but detached bodies of footsoldiers. But, rugged and difficult as they are, they form the only access to the upper country from this side, and every man or body of men who reached the territory of Judah, Benjamin, or Ephraim from the Jordan valley must have climbed one or other of them, The Ammonites and Moabites, who at some remote date left such lasting traces of their presence in the names of Chephar ha-Ammonai and Michmash, and the Israelites pressing forward to the relief of Gibeon and the slaughter of Beth-horon, doubtless entered alike through the great Wady Fuwar already spoken of. The Moabites, Edomites, and Mehunim swarmed up to their attack on Judah through the crevices of Ain-Jidi (2 Chronicles 20:12, 16). The pass of Adummim was in the days of our Lord what it still is the regular route between Jericho and Jerusalem. By it Pompey advanced with his army when he took the city.
The western valleys are more gradual in their slope. The level of the external plain on this side is higher, and therefore the fall less, while at the same time the distance to be traversed is much greater. Thus the length of the Wady Belat, already mentioned, from its remotest head at Taivibeh to the point at which it emerges on the plain of Sharon, may be-taken as twenty to twenty-five miles, with a total difference of level during that distance of perhaps 1800 feet, while the Wady el-Aujeh, which falls from the other side of Taiyibeh into the Jordan, has a distance of barely ten miles to reach the Jordan valley, at the same time falling not less than 2800 feet. Here again the valleys are the only means of communication between the lowland and the highland. From Jaffa and the central part of the. plain there are two of these roads going up to Jerusalem: the one to the right by Ramleh and the Wady Aly; the other to the left by Lydda, and thence by the Beth-horons, or the Wady Suleiman, and Gibeon. The former of these is modern, but the latter is the scene of many a famous incident in the ancient history. Over its long activities the Canaanites were driven by Joshua to their native plains; the Philistines ascended to Michmash and Geba, and fled back past Ajalon; the Syrian force was stopped and hurled back by Judas; the Roman legions of Cestius Gallus were chased pell-mell to their strongholds at Antipatris.
Farther south the communication between the mountains of Judah and the lowland of Philistia are hitherto comparatively unexplored. They were doubtless the scene of many a foray and repulse during the lifetime of Samson and the struggles of the Danites, but there is no record of their having been used for the passage of any. important force in ancient or modern times. North of Jaffa the passes are few. One of them, by the Wady Belat, led from Antipatris to Gophna. By this route St. Paul was probably conveyed away from Jerusalem. Another leads from the ancient sanctuary of Gilgal, near Kefr-Saba, to Natbulus. These western valleys, though easier than those on the eastern side. are of such a nature as to present great difficulties to the passage of any large force encumbered by baggage. In fact these mountain passes really formed the security of Israel, and if she had been wise enough to settle her own intestinal quarrels without reference to foreigners, the nation might, humanly speaking, have stood to the present hour.
The height, and consequent strength, which was the frequent. boast of the prophets and psalmists in regard to Jerusalem, was no less true of the whole country, rising as it does on all sides from plains so much below it in level. The armies of Egypt and Assyria, as they traced and retraced their path between Pelusim and Carchemish, must have looked at the long wall of heights which closed in the broad level roadway they were pursuing, as belonging to a country with which they had no concern. It was to them. a natural mountain fastness, the approach to which was beset with difficulties, while its bare and soilless hills were hardly worth the trouble of conquering, in comparison with the rich green plains of the Euphrates and the Nile, or even with the boundless cornfield through which they were marching. This may fairly be inferred from various notices in Scripture and in contemporary history. The Egyptian kings, from Rameses II and Thothmes III to Pharaoh Necho, were in the constant habit of pursuing this route during their expeditions against the Chatti, or Hittites, in the north of Syria; and the two last-named monarchs fought battles at Megiddo, without, as far as we know, having taken the trouble to penetrate into the interior of the country. The Pharaoh who was Solomon’s contemporary came up the Philistine plain as far as Gezer (not far from Ramleh), and besieged and destroyed it, without leaving any impression of uneasiness in the annals of Israel. Later in the monarchs Psammetichus besieged Ashdod in the Philistine plain for the extraordinary period of twenty-nine years (Herod. 2, 157); during a portion of that time an Assyrian army probably occupied part of the same district, endeavoring to relieve the town. The battles must have been frequent; and yet the only reference to these events in the Bible is the mention of the Assyrian general by Isa 20:1, in so casual a manner as to lead irresistibly to the conclusion that: neither Egyptians nor Assyrians had come up into the highland. This is illustrated by Napoleon’s campaign in Palestine. He entered it from Egypt by El-Arish, and after overrunning the whole of the Iowland, and taking Gaza, Jaffa, Ramleh, and the other places on the plain, he wrote to the sheiks of Nabulus and Jerusalem, announcing, that he had no intention of making war against them (Corresp. de Vap. No. 4020, 19 Ventose 1799). To use his own words, the highland country did not lie within his base of operations; and it would have been a waste of time, or worse, to ascend thither. In the later days of the Jewish nation, and during the Crusades, Jerusalem became the great object of contest; and then the battle-field of the country, which had originally been Esdraelon, was transferred to the maritime plain at the foot of the passes communicating most directly with the capital. Here Judas Maccabaeus achieved some of his greatest triumphs, and here some of Herod’s most decisive actions were fought; and Blanchegarde, Askelon, Jaffa, and Beitnuba (the Bettenuble of the Crusading historian) still shine with the brightest rays of the valor of Richard I.
(3.) The Jordan Valley. The physical geography of this natural division of Palestine has already been so fully described that it will only be necessary in this place to supplement a few points serving to connect it with the mountain-chain on the west and the plateau on the east, and thus to apportion to it its place in the general survey of the country. SEE JORDAN.3
The Jordan valley is the most remarkable feature in the physical geography of Palestine. Its great depression makes it so. It is wholly, or almost wholly, beneath the level of the ocean, It runs in a straight line through the country from north to south. From Dan, on the northern border, to the southern angle of the Dead Sea, its length is 150 English miles. Its breadth at the northern end is about six; at the Sea of Galilee it is nine; and at Jericho, where it is widest, it is about thirteen. There are places between these points where it is much narrower. Immediately south of Lake Merom it is a high terrace an offshoot from the culminating peaks at Safed- which has an elevation of about 900 feet, and breaks down to the Jordan on the east in steep banks, and to the shores of the Sea of Galilee on the south in long terraced declivities. From the western side of the terrace the mountains rise steeply; so that the terrace itself may be considered as a higher section of the valley. Along the south-west shore of the Sea of Galilee a dark ridge shoots out eastward and descends to the banks of the Jordan in frowning cliffs, narrowing the valley to a width of about four miles. The next point where the western ridge projects is at Kurn Surtabeh, east of Shiloh. This peak resembles the horn of a rhinoceros, and hence its name from it a rocky ridge of white limestone runs across the valley almost to the banks of the river in its centre. The peak of Surtabeh is remarkable as one of the signal-stations of the ancient Israelites, on which beacons were lighted to announce the appearance of the new moon (Talmud, Rosh. Ha-Shana, ii; Reland, p. 346; Robinsson, Biblical Researlches, iii, 293), The western bank of the valley, though everywhere clearly and sharply defined, is irregular, like a deeply indented coast-line, occasioned by the broken character of the ridge behind, and the glens and broad plains which run into it. The eastern bank is different. It is straight as a wall, except for a short distance in the centre, where the rugged hills and deep glens of Gilead break its uniformity. On the whole it is more abrupt than the western; and its top appears almost horizontal. This regularity arises from the fact that it is not, strictly speaking, a mountain-chain, but rather the bank or supporting wall of a natural terrace.
The northern section of the Jordan valley is flat. Around the site of Dan extends a plain of great fertility, now in part cultivated by Damascus merchants, as it was in primaeval days by the Sidonians (Jdg 18:7). The uncultivated parts are covered with rank grass, and thickets of dwarf oak, sycamore, arbutus, and oleander. South of this is a large tract of’ marshy ground, extending to the shores of Merom the home of wild swine, buffaloes, and innumerable water-fowl. The marsh and lake are fed not only by the Jordan, but by great numbers of fountains along the side of the plain. and streams from the surrounding mountains. The lake Merom (q.v.) occupies the lower part of this basin, and has a broad margin of fertile land along each side. Below the lake the regularity of the valley is interrupted by the projecting terrace already mentioned, and the river is pushed over close to the eastern bank, along which it runs in a deep, wild glen. At the mouth of the upper Jordan, on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, is a low rich plain, several miles in extent, famous for its early and luxuriant crops of melons and encumbers. It is cultivated by some families of nomad Arabs. The lake here fills the valley from side to side, with the exception of the little fertile plain of Gelinesaret (q.v.) on the western shore. The eastern shore keeps close to the base of the hills, which rise over it in steep, bare acclivities. SEE GALILEE, SEA OF.
Between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea the valley is divided into two sections by the projecting ridge of Surtabeh, above mentioned. The upper section has a gently undulating surface, a rich, loamy soil, abundantly watered by streams from both the eastern and western mountains, and by. numerous fountains along their base. A few spots are cultivated by the semi-nomad tribes of Ghawarineh, who take their name from the valley, here called el-Ghor. The uncultivated portions are covered with tall rank grass and jungles of gigantic thistles. The Jordan winds down the centre in a tortuous channel along the bottom of a ravine, whose high chalky banks are deeply furrowed and worn into lines and groups of white conical mounds.
At Kurn Surtabeh there is a break in the valley, as from an upper to a lower terrace. A ridge or bank extends across it from west to east, and is broken up in the centre, where the river cuts through, into labyrinths of ravines with barren chalky sides, forming cones and hills of various shapes, and presenting a most wild and desolate scene (Robinson, 3, 293). South of this point, the mountain-chain on the west recedes, and the plain expands; its surface becomes flatter; fountains and streams are neither so frequent nor so copious; and the intense heat and rapid evaporation make the surface parched and bare. Along the sides of the mountains, especially at the openings of ravines, are here and there masses of verdure and foliage; but the vast body of the plain is bare. A large part, too, towards the Dead Sea, is covered with a white saline crust, which gives it the appearance of a desert. But the rank luxuriance of the vegetation around fountains, along the banks of streams, and wherever irrigation is employed, as at Jericho, shows the natural richness of the soil, and proves that industry alone is wanting to develop its vast resources. The whole of this lower valley is now almost deserted. With the exception of the few inhabitants of er-Riha (Jericho), and a few families of nomad Ghawarineh, no man dwells there; and a curse, moral as well as physical, appears to rest upon the region.
The river here winds as before through a glen down the centre of the valley. The banks of the glen are steep, white, bare, and worn into little- hills; while the river-sides are fringed with the richest foliage. Owing to the depth of this glen, neither river nor foliage is seen from the plain until the very brow is reached. The plain along the northern shore of the Dead Sea is low and flat, and in the centre, near the Jordan, slimy. The sea fills up the whole breadth of the valley; the precipitous mountains upon the east and west rising from the shore-line sometimes from the bosom of the water. The scenery of this region is more dreary than that in any other part of Palestine. The white plain on the north, the white naked cliffs on the east and west, the gray haze, caused by rapid evaporation, quivering under the burning sunbeams all combine to form a picture of stern desolation such as the eye seldom beholds.
The western shore of the sea follows the base of the cliffs to the southern extremity, where the salt hills, called Khashm Usdum, the ridge of Sodom, project from the west far into the Ghor. On the east, the shore- line keeps close to the mountains for about threequarters of its length; then a long, low, sandy promontory, called el-Lisan, the Tongue, juts out into the sea. South of this there is a broad strip of marshy plain, covered with jungles of reeds and dense shrubberies of tamarisk. Here some tribes of fierce lawless Arabs pitch their tents and cultivate a few fields of wheat and millet. The whole southern shore of the sea is low and slimy. SEE SEA, SALT.
In regard to its levels, the whole Jordan valley divides itself into five stages, as follows:
1. The basin of Merom, now called el-Huleh;
2. The basin of Tiberias;
3. The valley to Kurn Surtabeh;
4. The plain of Jericho;
5. The Dead Sea.
The levels taken by different travellers are very unsatisfactory. The elevation of the fountain of the Jordan at Dan, and consequently of the northern extremity of the great valley, may be regarded as undetermined. The following are given (with the exception of the last) by Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 181):
Tell el-Kady (Dan), by De Forest6 Feet
Von Wildeubruch537
De Bertoul344
The Lake Merom, by induction from Wildelibruch’s elevation of Jacob’s Bridge, about120
The Lake Merom, by De Bertou20
Khan Jubb Yusef, on high terrace between Merom and Sea of Galilee883
BELOW THE SEA-LEVEL.
Sea of Galilee, by Lynch653
Bridge of Mejamia, between Beth-shean and Gadara, by Lynch704
Ruined bridge a few miles above Kurn Surtabeh, by Lynch109
Pilgrim’s bathing-place on the Jordan, by Poole1209
Jericho, by Poole798
De Bertonu1034
Kasr Hajla, on the plain near Jericho, by Symonds1069
The Dead Sea, by Lynch1317
Symonds1312
De Bertou1377
Poole1316
the English engineers1292
Buried as it is thus between such lofty ranges, and shielded from every breeze, the atmosphere of the Jordan valley is extremely hot and relaxing. Its enervating influence is shown by the inhabitants of Jericho, who are a small, feeble, exhausted race, dependent for the cultivation of their lands on the hardier peasants of the highland villages (Robinson, 1, 550), and to this day prone to the vices which are often developed by tropical climates, and which brought destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah. But the circumstances which are unfavorable to morals are most favorable to fertility. Whether there was any great amount of cultivation and habitation in this region in the times of the Israelites the Bible does not say; but in post-biblical times there is no doubt on this point. The palms of Jericho and of Abila (opposite Jericho on the other side of the river), and the extensive balsam and rose gardens of the former place, are spoken of by Josephus, who calls the whole district a divine spot ( , War, 4:8). Bethshan was a proverb among the rabbins for its fertility. Succoth was the site of Jacob’s first settlement west of the Jordan; and therefore was probably then, as it still is, an eligible spot. In later times indigo and sugar appear to have been grown near Jericho and elsewhere; aqueducts are still partially standing, of Christian or Saracenic arches; and there are remains all over the plain between Jericho and the river of former residences or towns and of systems of irrigation (Ritter, Jordan, p. 503, 512). Phasaelis, a few miles farther north, was built by Herod the Great; and there were other towns either in or closely bordering on the plain. At present this part is almost entirely desert, and cultivation is confined to the upper portion, between Sakut and Beisan. There indeed it is conducted on a grand scale; and the traveller as he journeys along the road which leads over the foot of the western mountains overlooks an immense extent of the richest land, abundantly watered, and covered with corn and other grain. Here, too, as at Jericho, the cultivation is conducted principally by the inhabitants of the villages on the western mountains. All the irrigation necessary for the towns, or for the cultivation which formerly existed or still exists in the Ghor, is obtained from the torrents and springs of the western mountains. For all purposes to which a river is ordinarily applied the Jordan is useless. So rapid that its course is one continued cataract; so crooked that in the whole of its lower and main course it has hardly half a mile straight; so broken with rapids and other impediments that no boat can swim for more than the same distance: continuously; so deep below the surface of the adjacent country that it is invisible, and can only with difficulty be approached, resolutely refusing all communication with the ocean, and ending in a lake, the peculiar conditions of which render navigation impossible-with all these characteristics the Jordan, in any sense which we attach to the word river, is no river at all; alike useless for irrigation and navigation, it is in fact, what its Arabic name signifies, nothing but a great watering-place (Sheriat el-Khebir).
How far the valley of the Jordan was employed by the ancient’ inhabitants of the Holy Land as a medium of communication between the northern and southern parts of the country we can only conjecture. Though not the shortest route between Galilee and Judaea, it would yet, as far as the levels and form of the ground are concerned, be the most practicable for large bodies; though these advantages would be seriously counterbalanced by the sultry heat of its climate, as compared with the fresher air of the more difficult road over the highlands. The ancient notices of this route are very scanty:
(1.) From 2Ch 28:15 we find that the captives taken from Judah by the army of the northern kingdom were sent back from Samaria to Jerusalem by way of Jericho. The route pursued was probably by Nabulus across the Mukhna, and by Wady Ferrahor Fasail into the Jordan valley. Why this road was taken is a mystery, since it is not stated or implied that the captives were accompanied by any heavy baggage which would make it difficult to travel over the central route. It would seem, however, to have been the usual road from the north to Jerusalem (comp. Luk 17:11 with 19:1), as if there were some impediment to passing through the region immediately north of the city.
(2.) Pompey brought his army and siege-train from Damascus to Jerusalem (B.C. 40) past Scythopolis and Pella, and thence by Koreae (possibly the present Kera-wa at the foot of the Wady Ferrah) to Jericho (Joseph. Ant. 14:3, 4; War, i, 6, 5).
(3.) Vespasian marched from Emmaus, on the edge of the plain of Sharon, not far east of Ramleh, past Neapolis (Nabulus), down the Wady Ferrah or Fasail to Koreae, and thence to Jericho (War, 4:8, 1); the same route as that of the captive Judaeans in No. 1.
(4.) Antoninus Martyr (cir. A.D. 600), and possibly Willibald (A.D. 722), followed this route to Jerusalem.
(5.) Baldwin I is said to have. journeyed from Jericho to Tiberias with a caravan of pilgrims.
(6.) In our own times the whole length of the valley has been traversed by De Berou, and by Dr. Anderson, who accompanied Lynch’s Expedition as geologist, but apparently by few if any other travellers.
(4.) The Plateau east of the Jordan. Eastern Palestine, or the region beyond the Jordan valley, is widely different in its physical geography from Western. Its average elevation is about 2500 feet above the sea. The Jordan valley is a rent or chasm in the earth’s crust; the country beyond it is an elevated terrace. This elevation affects the scenery, the climate, the products, and the inhabitants themselves. Nowhere east of the Jordan, at least within the boundaries of Palestine, is there the bare, desolate aspect such as is presented by the sun-scorched plain of Philistia, or the white downs of the Negeb, or the barren wilderness of Judaea. There is more verdure, more richness, and more beauty everywhere on the east. The pastures of Gilead and Bashan are still as attractive as they were when Reuben and Gad saw and coveted them (Num 32:1). The surface of Western Palestine is rough and rugged, varied by plain and mountain ridge; the east is nearly all a table-land, consisting of smooth downs, well designated by the accurate sacred writers as the Mishor (Deu 3:10; Jos 13:9; Jos 13:16, etc.; comp. Stanley, p. 479). It does not appear so from the west, from whence the eye sees only a ridge, like a huge wall, running along the horizon; for this peculiarity is visible from every point on the east, and is very striking when seen from some commanding spot, as the top of Hermon, or the crest of Jebel Hauran. In Western Palestine, again, the ancient cities are almost obliterated, and the very foundations of the temples and monuments can scarcely be discovered; in the east, the magnificence of the existing ruins, and the perfect preservation of some of the very oldest cities, are subjects of continual surprise and admiration to the traveller. Some have represented Eastern Palestine as mainly a pastoral country, where the three tribes lived in a semi-nomad state, dwelling in tents, and placing their flocks in rude folds like the border tribes of Bedawin. The country itself gives the best refutation to this theory. It is everywhere thickly studded with old cities, towns, and villages many of them still bearing their Scripture names. In no part of Western Palestine are there evidences of such a dense population as throughout Bashan and Gilead. The country was indeed rich in pastures; but it was also rich in cornfields. The northern section of it is to this day the granary of Damascus.
The northern border of Palestine intersects that part of the ridge of Hermon now called Jebel el-Heish, passing Banias, and the little lake Phiala (now Birket er-Ram), which ancient geographers regarded as the head source of the Jordan (Joseph. War, 3, 10, 7)., This range bears some resemblance in features and scenery to the mountains of Upper Galilee. .It is broad, and is interspersed with green upland plains and wide fertile valleys. Its peaks and sides are mostly covered, more or less densely, with forests of oak, sycamore, terebinth, and here and there clumps of pine- trees. The timber is larger and the woods denser than in any part of Western Palestine (Porter’s Damascus, 1, 307). The forests, however, are gradually disappearing under the destroying hand of the Bedawin and the Damascus charcoal manufacturers. At the place where the border-line crosses, the ridge appears to be of about equal altitude with that on the opposite side of the Huleh; but it slowly decreases, and finally sinks into the tableland a few miles south of the ruins of Kuneiterah. The scenery of the southern end is beautiful. Lines and groups of conical hills, perfect in form, covered from base to summit with green grass and sprinkled with evergreen oaks, are divided by meadow-like plains and winding vales, with here and there the gray ruins of a town or village. The grass in spring is most luxuriant; and the wild flowers anemones, tulips, poppies, marigolds, cowslips are more abundant than even in Galilee. The whole landscape glows with them. The superiority of the pastures and the abundance of flowers are owing to the forests, to the high elevation, and to the influence of the neighboring snow-crowned peaks of Hermon. At all seasons dew is abundant; one of the highest summits is called Abu-Nedy, the father of dew; and clouds may often be seen hovering over the ridge when the heaven elsewhere is as brass. This illustrates the Psalmist’s beautiful imagery: As the dew of Hermon, that descended on the mountains of Zion (Psa 133:3). The ridge is now almost desolate. With the exception of two or three small villages, and a few families of nomads, it has no inhabitants. Its rich soil is untilled, and even its pastures are forsaken or neglected.
At the eastern base of the ridge commences the noble plateau of Bashan, at once the richest and the largest plain in Palestine. It extends unbroken southward to the banks of the Yarmuk (thirty miles), and eastward to Jebel Hauran (fifty miles). The western part of it is called Jaulan (, ), the eastern Hauran. The former has a gently undulating surface; is studded with conical and cup-shaped tells; is abundantly watered, especially in the northern part, by streams and fountains; and is famed throughout all Syria for the excellence of its pastures. The surface is in places stony, and covered with shrubberies of hawthorn, ilex, and other bushes; elsewhere it is smooth as a meadow. Towards the west the. plateau is intersected by deep ravines or gullies, which carry its surplus waters down’ to the Jordan. The high ridge which runs along the eastern side of the Jordan valley from Hermon to Gilead is the supporting wall of. this plateau. Jaulan has now very few settled inhabitants; but it is visited periodically by the vast tribes of the Anazeh from the Arabian desert, whose flocks and herds, numerous as those of their ancestors the children of the East (Jdg 6:3-5), devour, trample down, and destroy all before them. The remains of old cities and villages in the plain are very numerous, and some of them very extensive (Porter’s Damascus, vol. 2). SEE GOLAN.
The plain of Hauran divides itself naturally into two parts: one, lying on the north-east, is a wilderness of rocks, elevated from twenty to thirty feet above the surrounding plain. . The border is sharply defined, and has received from the sacred writers an appropriate name, the Chebel (Deu 3:4; Deu 3:13; 1Ki 4:13), in the Hebrew. The rocks are basalt, which appears to have been thrown up from innumerable pores or craters in a state of fusion, to have flowed over the whole ground, and then, while cooling, to have been rent and shattered by some terrible convulsion. For wildness and savage, forbidding deformity, there is nothing like it in Palestine, and it is scarcely equalled in the world. This is the Argob of the Hebrews, the Trachonitis (q.v.) of the Greeks, and the Lejah of the modern Arabs. Its inhabitants have in all ages partaken of the wild character of their country. They have been and are lawless bandits; and their rocky fastness is the home of every outlaw. Along the rocky border of this forlorn region, and even in the interior, are great numbers of primaeval cities, most of them now deserted, though not ruined (comp. Deu 3:4). The remaining portion of Hauran is a plain, perfectly level, with a deep black soil, free from stones, and proverbial for its fertility. At intervals are rounded or conical tells, usually covered with the remains of ancient cities or villages. The water-courses are deep and tortuous, running westward to the Jordan; but none of them contain perennial streams. SEE HAURAN.
Along the eastern border of this noble plain lies an isolated ridge of mountains the Mountains of Bashan about forty miles long by fifteen broad. It divides the ancient kingdom of Bashan from the arid steppes of Arabia; and it forms at this point the north-eastern boundary of Palestine. The scenery is picturesque. Being wholly of volcanic origin, the summits rise in conical peaks, and are mostly clothed to the top with oaks. The glens are deep and wild; the mountainsides are terraced, and though rocky and now’ desolate, they everywhere afford evidence of the extraordinary richness of the soil and of former careful cultivation. The grass and general verdure surpass anything in Western Palestine; and the brilliant foliage of the evergreen oak and terebinth gives the mountains the look of eternal spring. In another respect, also, the scenery differs widely from that of the west. In the latter the white limestone and chalky strata, and the white soil, give a parched and barren look to the country. In Bashan the rocks are all basalt, in color either dark slaty gray or black; and the soil is black. This makes the landscape somewhat sombre, but on the whole more pleasing than Judaea or Samaria. Though these mountains are far from the sea, and on the borders of an arid wilderness, they do not appear to suffer so much from drought or from the burning sun of summer as the western range. This arises in part from the forests that clothe them, and in part from their greater elevation the highest peaks cannot be less than 6000 feet above the sea, and the average elevation of the plain of Hauran is greater than that of the mountains of Western Palestine. It is remarkable, however, that water is extremely scarce in Hauran. Even in winter, though the snow lies deep upon the mountains, and sometimes covers the plain, the torrents are neither numerous nor large, and there are no perennial streams. Fountains are rare. The ancient inhabitants have expended much labor and skill in attempts to obtain a supply of water. Cisterns and tanks of immense size have been constructed at every town and village. Some are open, as at Bozrah and Salcah; some arched over, as at Kenath and Suleim; some excavated in the rock, forming labyrinths, as at Edrei and Damah. In a few places long subterranean canals have been sunk, in others aqueducts have been made. There is an aqueduct at Shuhba, in the, mountains, upwards of five miles long; and there is one in the plain at Dera not less than twenty. Irrigation is not practiced in Bashanit is not necessary. The soil is deep and rich, totally different from the scanty gravelly covering of the hills of Judah; the great elevation, too, prevents the intense heat and evaporation which so seriously affect the low plains of Palestine. In another respect Bashan presents a very marked contrast to the west. Its old cities still stand. Their walls, gates, and primaeval houses are in many places nearly perfect. The temples and monuments of the Greek and Roman period, and the churches of the early Christian age, are also in a good state of preservation. There are no remains of antiquity west of the Jordan which would bear comparison with those of Bozrah, Salcah, Kenath, Shuhba, or Edrei; and probably in no other country of the world are there specimens of the domestic architecture of so remote an age (Porter’s Damascus, vol. 2; The Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 1 sq.). The province of Hauran is an oasis i the midst of widespread desolation. This is mainly owing to the indomitable courage of the Druses who inhabit it. They have taught rapacious Bedawin and rapacious Turks alike to respect them and the fruits of their industry. Grouped together in a few of the ancient cities and villages on the western slopes of the mountains, and along the southern border of the Lejah, they are able to bid defiance to all their enemies. A number of Christians and Mohammedans are settled among and around them. They cultivate large sections of the plain, and they find a ready market for their grain in Damascus. SEE BASHAN.
South of the river Yarmuk the plain of Bashan gives place to the picturesque hills of Gilead. Their slopes are easy, their tops rounded, and there are undulating plateaus along the broad summit of the ridge. Their elevation, as seen from the east, is not great. The distant view is more that of an ascent to a higher part of the plain than of a mountain range. The summits seem nearly horizontal, and not more than five or six hundred feet above the plain. On passing in among them the physical features assume new forms, and the scenery becomes very beautiful. Wild glens cut deeply down through the ridge to the Jordan valley. The first of these is the Yarmuk, which contains a rapid perennial torrent rushing along its rocky bed between fringes of willow and oleander. It is the largest tributary to the Jordan, and next to it the largest river in Palestine. Farther south is Wady Yabes, taking its name from the old city of Jabesh-Gilead, which once stood on its bank. Still farther south is the Jabbok, also a perennial stream; though much smaller than the Yarmuk. The scenery of these glens and the intervening hills is not surpassed in any part of Palestine. The steep banks are broken by white limestone cliffs. and they are in most places covered with the glistening foliage of the ilex, intermixed with hawthorn and arbutus; while the slopes overhead and the rounded hilltops wave with forests of oak, terebinth, and occasionally pine. The little meadows along the streams, the open spaces on the mountains, and the undulating forest glades, are all covered with rich herbage. Gilead is still a place for cattle (Num 32:1).
The highest peak of Gilead is Jebel Osha, near esSalt. South of it the ridge sinks, and finally melts into the plateau near the ruins of Rabbath-Ammon. None of the peaks of Gilead have been measured, and their height can only be estimated by comparison with the plain behind and the mountains of Samaria opposite. Viewed from the west, the top of the whole ridge on the east side of the Jordan appears nearly horizontal; yet both to the north and south of Gilead the summit of the ridge is on the level of the plateau. Jebel Osha, therefore, can scarcely be more than 700 feet above the plateau, which would make its elevation above the sea less than 4000 feet. This is much lower than the ordinary estimate. Like Bashan, Gilead contains the remains of many splendid cities, the chief of which are Gerasa, Rabbath- Ammon, Gadara, and Pella. The ruins of towns, castles, and villages stud the mountains in all directions! Settled inhabitants are now very few, and they are greatly oppressed by the inroads of the Bedawin, who, attracted by the rich pastures and abundant waters, penetrate all parts of the country. SEE GILEAD.
South of Gilead lies the land of Moab (Deu 1:5; Deu 32:49), a plateau like Bashan, but more naked and desolate. Less is known of it than of any other part of Palestine. It has never been fully explored; and, with the exception of a few travellers passing through and following nearly the same route, the country has, until recently, scarcely been examined. From the ruins of Ammon it extends in a succession of rolling downs to Kerak. On the west it breaks down in stupendous cliffs, 3000 feet and more, to the shore of the Dead Sea. Chasms of singular wildness cut these cliffs to their base. and run far back into the plain. Along the torrent-beds are fringes of willow, oleander, tamarisk, and palms. The ravine of Kerak is its southern boundary; but the grandest of all the ravines is the Arnon, which formed the southern boundary of Reubeni’s territory (Deu 3:12). Wady Zurka Main is also a deep ravine, and is remarkable as having near its mouth the famous warm fountains, anciently called Callirrhoe (Joseph. Ant. 17:6, 5; Pliny, 5:16; Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 467 sq., 1st ed.). Along the western brow of the plateau, little conical and rounded hills rise at irregular intervals to a height of two or three hundred feet.
The highest is Jebel Attarus. Not far from Heshbon is Jebel Neba, or Nebo (q.v.), a spur from the general Dead Sea wall. There are also some low ridges away to the eastward, separating the southern part of the plain from the desert, of Arabia (Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 375). The soil of the plateau is rich and deep; but being composed mainly of disintegrated limestone, and diffused over white calcareous strata, it is greatly affected by the sun, and assumes a bare and parched aspect during the summer. At the northern end, where it joins Gilead are some remains of oak-forests; and in the deep ravines, and along the north-western declivities, trees and shrubs grow abundantly, but the vast expanse of the upland is treeless and shrubless (Irby and Mangles, p. 474; Burckhardt, p. 364). At Wady Mojeb (Arnon) the plain assumes a more rugged aspect, being strewn with basalt boulders, and dotted with rocky mounds. These extend to Kerak. The general features and character of the plateau agree perfectly with the incidental notices of the sacred penmen. It is a land for cattle, famed throughout all Palestine for the abundance and richness of its pastures, and forming a constant source of dispute and warfare among the desert tribes (Burckhardt, p. 368). It was well termed Mishor, a region of level downs, a smooth table-land. as contrasted with the rough and rocky soil of the western mountains (comp. Stanley, S. and P. p. 317). The plateau of Moab is a thirsty region. Fountains, and even spring wells, are very rare; and there are no perennial streams, yet it abounds with traces of former dense population. The ruins of old cities many of great extent and of old villages, stud its surface. In numbers of these we recognise the Bible names, as Hesban, El-al, Medeba, and Arair. The want of fountains and streams was supplied by tanks and cisterns; which abound in and near all the old towns. The pools of Heshbon are still there (Son 7:4; see Murray’s Handbook for S. and P. p. 298). But the cities and villages are now deserted. Moab has no settled inhabitants. From Amman to Kerak there is not a single village or house. Large tribes of Bedawin roam over its splendid pastures; and a few poor nomads, with the warlike people of Kerak, cultivate some portions of its soil; but all the rest is desolate.
The elevations of Eastern Palestine have not been taken with accuracy. Some of those collected by Van de Velde appear to be mere estimates. They may be given, however, in the absence of better:
Kunleiterah, at the southern base of Hermon (v. Feet. Schubert)3037
Plateau, southward (v. Schubert)3000
Plain of Hauran, approximation (Russegger)2650
Kuleib, highest summit of Hauraln mountains (Russegger)6400
Jebel Ajlun, highest point in north Gilead (much too high), approximation (Russegger)6500
Jebel Osha (much too high), about5000
The following books contain all the information yet given to the public regarding the plain of Moab: Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 364 sq.; Irby and Mangles, Travels in Egypt, etc., p. 456 sq., 1st ed.; Seetzen, Reisen, i, 405 sq.; ii, 324 sq.; De Saulcy, Voyage Round the Dead Sea, i, 329 sq.; G. Robinson, Travels in Palestine, ii, 179; Porter, Handbook for Syria and Palestine, p. 297 sq.; Tristram, Land of Moab (Lond. and N. Y. 1873). SEE MOAB.
2. General Features. It may be well now to group together a few of those characteristics of Palestine embodied or referred to in the preceding sketch of its physical geography, and which tend to illustrate some of the statements and incidental notices of the sacred writers.
(1.) To an Occidental Palestine does not appear either rich or beautiful. Calling to mind the glowing descriptions of the Bible, the Eastern traveller is apt to feel grievous disappointment, and even to accuse the sacred writers of exaggeration. They speak of the land as a land flowing with milk and honey (Exo 3:8; Lev 20:24; Deu 6:3; Jos 5:6); a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness (Deu 8:7-9); a land of hills and valleys, and that drinketh water of the rain of heaven; a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year (11:11, 12). Those accustomed to Western verdure, and the full glory of Western harvests, can see little fertility in the naked hills and bare plains of Palestine. A thoughtful consideration of the whole subject, however, and a careful survey of the country, prove that the words of the sacred penmen were not exaggerated.
(a.) In the first place, it must be borne in mind that they were describing an Eastern, not a Western land. When Moses addressed the above words to the Israelites, he was accustomed, and so were they, to the flat surface, and cloudless, rainless sky of Egypt, and to the stern desolation of the Sinaitic desert. Compared with these, Palestine was a land of hills and valleys, of rivers and fountains, of corn and wine.
[1.] After the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents, its scorpions, drought, and rocks of flint the slow and sultry march all day in the dust of that enormous procession the eager looking forward to the well at which the encampment was to be pitched the crowding, the fighting, the clamor, the bitter disappointment around the modicum of water when at last the desired spot was reached the light bread so long loathed the rare treat of animal food when the quail descended, or an approach to the sea permitted the fish to be caught; after this daily struggle for a painful existence; how grateful must have been the rest afforded by the Land of Promise! how delicious the shade, scanty though it were, of the hills and ravines, the gushing springs and green:plains, even the mere wells and cisterns, the vineyards and oliveyards and fruit-trees in abundance, the cattle, sheep, and goats, covering the country with their long black lines, the bees swarming around their pendent combs in rock or wood! Moreover they entered the country at the time of the Passover, when it was arrayed in the full glory and freshness of its brief springtide, before the scorching sun of summer had had time to wither its flowers and embrown its verdure. Taking all these circumstances into account, and allowing for the bold metaphors of Oriental speech so different from our cold depreciating expressions it is impossible not to feel that those wayworn travellers could have chosen no fitter words to express what their new country was to them than those which they so often employ in the accounts of the conquest a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.
[2.] Again, although the variations of the seasons in Palestine may appear to us slight, and the atmosphere dry and hot, yet after the monotonous climate of Egypt, where rain is a rare phenomenon, and where the difference between summer and winter is hardly perceptible, the rain of heaven must have been a most grateful novelty in its two seasons, the former and the latter the occasional snow and ice of the winters of Palestine, and the burst of returning spring, must have had double the effect which they would produce on those accustomed to such changes. Nor is the change only a relative one; there is a real difference due partly to the higher latitude of Palestine, partly to its proximity to the sea between the sultry atmosphere of the Egyptian valley and the invigorating sea-breezes which blow over the hills of Ephraim and Judah.
The contrast with Egypt would tell also in another way. In place of the huge overflowing river, whose only variation was from low to high, and from high to low again, and which lay at the lowest level of that level country, so that all irrigation had to be done by artificial labor a land where thou sowedst thy seed and wateredst it with thy foot like a garden of herbs in place of this, they were to find themselves in a land of constant and considerable undulation, where the water, either of gushing spring, or deep well, or flowing stream, could be procured at the most varied elevations, requiring only to be judiciously husbanded and skilfully conducted to find its own way through field or garden, whether terraced on the hill-sides or extended to the broad bottoms. But such a change was not compulsory. Those who preferred the climate and the mode of cultivation of Egypt could resort to the lowland plains or the Jordan valley, where the temperature is more constant and many degrees higher than on the more elevated districts of the country; where the breezes never penetrate, where the light fertile soil recalls, as it did in the earliest times, that of Egypt, and where the Jordan in its lowness of level presents at least one point of resemblance to the Nile.
[3.] In truth, on closer consideration, it will be seen that, beneath the apparent monotony, there is a variety in the Holy Land really remarkable. There is the variety due to the difference of level between the different parts of the country. There is the variety of climate and of natural appearances, proceeding partly from those very differences of level, and partly from the proximity of the snow-capped Hermon and Lebanon on the north and of the torrid desert on the south; and which approximate the climate, in many respects, to that of regions much farther north. There is also the variety which is inevitably produced by the presence of the sea the eternal freshness and liveliness of ocean.
Each of these peculiarities is continually reflected in the Hebrew literature. The contrast between the highlands and lowlands is more than implied in the habitual forms of expression, going up to Judah, Jerusalem, Hebron; going down to Jericho, Capernaum, Lydda, Caesarea, Gaza, and Egypt. More than this, the difference is marked unmistakably in the topographical terms which so abound in and are so peculiar to this literature. The mountains of Judah, the mountains of Israel, the mountains of Naphtali, are the names by which the three great divisions of the highlands are designated. The predominant names for the towns of the same district Gibeah, Geba, Gaba, Gibeon (meaning hill); Ramah, amathaim (the brow of an eminence); Mizpeh, Zophim, Zephathah (all modifications of a root signifying a wide prospect) all reflect the elevation of the region in which they were situated. On the other hand, the great lowland districts have each their peculiar name. The southern part of the maritime plain is the Shephelah; the northern, Sharon; the valley of the Jordan, ha-Arabah; names which are never interchanged, and never confounded with the terms (such as enaek, nachal, gai) employed for the ravines, torrent-beds, and small valleys of the highlands. SEE TOPOGRAPHICAL TERMS.
The differences in climate are as frequently mentioned. The psalmists, prophets, and historical books are full of allusions to the fierce heat of the mid-day sun and the dryness of summer; no less than to the various accompaniments of winter-the rain, snow, frost, ice, and fogs which are experienced at Jerusalem and other places in the upper country quite sufficiently to make every one familiar with them. Even the sharp alternations between the heat of the days and the coldness of the nights, which strike every traveller in Palestine, are mentioned. The Israelites practiced no commerce by sea; and, with the single exception of Joppa, not only possessed no harbor along the whole length of their coast, but had no word by which to denote one. But that their poets knew and appreciated the phenomena of the sea is plain from such expressions as are constantly recurring in their works the great and wide sea, its ships, its monsters, its roaring and dashing waves, its depths, its sand, its mariners, the perils of its navigation (Psalms 107). SEE SEA.
(b.) In the next place, Palestine is not now what it then was. The curse is upon it. Eighteen-centuries of war and ruin and neglect have passed over it. Its valleys have been cropped for ages without the least attempt at fertilization. Its terrace-walls have been allowed to crumble, and the soil has washed down into the ravines, leaving the hill-sides rocky and sterile. Its trees have been cut down, and never replaced. Its fields have been desolated, its structures pillaged, and all its improvements ruthlessly destroyed. The utter insecurity of life and property has taken away all incentive for maintaining the resources of the land, and extortion has robbed it of the last vestiges of thrift. What would the fairest country of Europe be under similar circumstances? But the close observer can still see the vast resources of the land, and abundant evidences of former richness, and even beauty. The products ascribed to it by the sacred writers are just those for which its soil and climate are adapted. The wide plains for wheat and barley; the sheltered glens and deep warm valleys for the pomegranate, the olive, and the palm; the terraced slopes of hills and mountains for the vine and the fig. Then there are the oak-forests still on Bashan; the evergreen shrubberies on Carmel; the rich pastures on Sharon, Moab, and Gilead; and the full blush of spring flowers all over the land.
(2.) Palestine now seems almost deserted. Few countries in the old world are so thinly peopled. Some of the plains the lower Jordan, for example, and Southern Philistia appear to be without man and without beast. Yet in no country are there such abundant evidences of former dense population. Every available spot on plain, hill, glen, and mountain bears traces of cultivation. It is a land of ruins. Everywhere, on plain and mountain, in rocky desert and on beetling cliff, are seen the remains of cities and villages. In Western Palestine they are heaps of stones, or white dust and. rubbish strewn over low tells; in Eastern, the ruins are often, of great extent and magnificence. All this accords with the vast population mentioned alike by the writers of the Old Testament (Jdg 20:17; 1Sa 15:4; 1Ch 27:4-15) and of the New (Mat 5:1; Mat 9:33; Luk 12:1, etc.), and confirmed by the statements of Josephus.
(3.) It has been seen that Palestine has, in reality, only one river the Jordan; yet it has several perennial streams, such as the Jabbok, the Arnon, and the historic Kishon; and also the Yarmuk, the Belus, and others not mentioned in the Bible. Its mountains also abound with winter torrents. Doubtless these- were all more copious in ancient days, when forests clothed the hills and the soil was fully cultivated. To these Moses referred, when he described Palestine as a land of brooks of water. Fountains abound among the hills fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills and throughout the country are vast numbers of wells and cisterns and aqueducts, showing that the supply of water from ordinary sources must have been always limited; and illustrating too the labors of the patriarchs in digging wells, and their hard struggles to defend them, (Gen 26:15; 2Sa 23:15; Joh 4:6; Deu 6:11). SEE RIVER.
(4.) Another of the physical characteristics of Palestine ought not to be overlooked. Its limestone strata abound in caves, especially in the mountains of Judsea. Some are of immense size, as that at Khureitun, near Bethlehem (Murray’s Handbook, p. 229). Many of them were evidently used as dwellings by the ancient inhabitants, as those near Eleutheropolis and along the border of Philistia (ibid, p. 256 sq.); many as tombs, examples of which are numerous at Jerusalem, Hebron, and Bethel; many as stores for grain and folds for flocks. These caves are often mentioned in sacred history. Lot and his daughters took refuge in, a cave after the destruction of Sodom (Gen 19:30); in a cave the five kings hid themselves when pursued by Joshua (Jos 10:16), in the caves of Adullam, Maon, and Engedi David found an asylum (1Sa 22:1; 1Sa 24:3); in a cave Obadiah concealed the prophets of the Lord from the fury of Jezebel (1Ki 18:4); in caves and dens and pits and holes the Jews were accustomed to take refuge during times of pressing danger (Jdg 6:2; 1Sa 13:6). Consequently, to enter into holes of the rock and caves of the earth was employed by the prophets as an impressive image of terror and impending calamity (Isa 2:19; Rev 6:15-16). The tomb of Abraham at Machpelah was a cave (Gen 23:19); our Lord’s tomb was a cave, and so was that of Lazarus (Joh 11:38), and those in which the Gadarene daemoniacs dwelt (Mar 5:3). In later times, caves became strongholds for robbers (Joseph. War, 1 16, 2), and places of refuge for conquered patriots (Life, 74, 75). Caves and grottos have also played an important part in the traditionary history of Palestine. Wherever a sacred association had to be fixed, a cave was immediately selected or found as its home (Stanley, p. 151, 435, 505). SEE CAVE.
(5.) Few things are a more constant source of surprise to the stranger in the Holy Land than the manner in which the hill-tops are, throughout, selected for habitation. A town in a valley is a rare exception. On the other hand, scarcely a single eminence of the multitude always in sight but is crowned with its city or village, inhabited or in ruins, often so placed as if not, accessibility but inaccessibility had been the object of its builders. And indeed such was their object. These groups of naked, forlorn structures piled irregularly one over the other on the curve of the hill-top, their rectangular outline, flat roofs, and blank walls, suggestive to the Western mind rather of fastness than of peaceful habitation, surrounded by filthy heaps of the rubbish of centuries, approached only by the narrow winding path, worn white, on the gray or brown breast of the hill are the lineal descendants, if indeed they do not sometimes contain the actual remains, of the. fenced cities, great and walled up to heaven, which are so frequently mentioned in the records of the Israelitish conquest. They bear witness now, no less surely than they did even in that early age, and as they have done through all the ravages and conquests of thirty centuries, to the insecurity of the country to the continual risk of sudden plunder and destruction incurred by those rash enough to take up their dwelling in the plain. Another and hardly less valid reason for the practice is furnished in the terms of our Lord’s well-known apologue namely, the treacherous nature of the loose alluvial sand of the plain under the sudden rush of the winter torrents from the neighboring hills, as compared with the safety and firm foundation attainable by building on the naked rock of the hills themselves (Mat 7:24-27). These hill-towns were not what gave the Israelites their main difficulty in the occupation of the country.
Wherever strength of arm and fleetness of foot availed, there those hardy warriors, fierce as lions, sudden and swift as eagles, sure-footed and fleet as the wild deer on the hills (1Ch 12:8; 2Sa 1:23; 2Sa 2:18), easily conquered. It was in the plains, where the horses and chariots of the Canaanites and Philistines had space to maneuver, that they failed to dislodge the aborigines. Judah drave out the inhabitants of the mountain, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron; .. neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean… nor Megiddo, in the plain of Esdraelon;… neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, on the maritime plain near Ramleh;… neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho.. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain, for they would not suffer them to come down into the valley’ (Jdg 1:19-34). Thus in this case the ordinary conditions of conquest were reversed the conquerors took the hills, the conquered kept the plains. To a people so exclusive as the Jews there must have been a constant satisfaction in the elevation and inaccessibility of their highland regions. This is evident in every page of their literature, which is tinged throughout with a highland coloring. The mountains were to bring peace, the little hills justice to the people: when plenty came, the corn was to flourish on the top of the mountains (Psa 72:3; Psa 72:16). In like manner the mountains were to be joyful before Jehovah when he came to judge his people. What gave its keenest sting to the Babylonian conquest was the consideration that the mountains of Israel, the ancient high places, had become a prey and a derision; while, on the other hand, one of the most joyful circumstances of the restoration is that the mountains shall yield their fruit as before, and be settled after their old estates, (Eze 36:1; Eze 36:8; Eze 36:11). But it is needless to multiply instances of this, which pervades the writings of the psalmists and prophets in a truly remarkable manner, and must be familiar to every student of the Bible. (See the citations in Stanley’s Sinai and Pal. ch. 2, 8.) Nor was it unacknowledged by the surrounding heathen. We have their own testimony that in their estimation Jehovah was the God of the mountains (1Ki 20:28), and they showed their appreciation of the fact by fighting (as already noticed), when possible, in the lowlands. The contrast is strongly brought out in the repeated expression of the psalmists: Some, like the Canaanites and Philistines of the lowlands, put their trust in chariots and some in horses; but we we mountaineers, from our sanctuary on the heights of Zion, will remember the name of Jehovah our God, the God of Jacob our father, the shepherd-warrior, whose only weapons were sword and bow the God who is on a high fortress for us at whose command both chariot and horse are fallen, who burneth the chariots in the fire (Psa 20:1; Psa 20:7; Psa 46:7-11; Psa 76:2; Psa 76:6).
But the hills were occupied by other edifices besides the fenced cities. The tiny white domes which stand perched here and there on the summits of the eminences, and mark the holy ground in which some Mohammedan saint is resting sometimes standing alone, sometimes near the village, in either case surrounded with a rude enclosure. and overshadowed with the grateful shade and pleasant color of terebinth or carob these are the successors of the high places or sanctuaries so constantly denounced by the prophets, and which were set up on every high hill and under every green tree (Jer 2:20; Eze 6:13). SEE HILL.
(6.) In the preceding description allusion has been made to many of the characteristic features of the Holy Land. But it is impossible to close this account without mentioning a defect which is even more characteristic its lack of monuments and personal relics of the nation who possessed it for so many centuries, and gave it its claim to our veneration and affection. When compared with other nations of equal antiquity Egypt, Greece, Assyria the contrast is truly remarkable. In Egypt and Greece, and also in Assyria, as far as our knowledge at present extends, we find a series of buildings reaching down from the most remote and mysterious antiquity a chain of which hardly a link is wanting, and which records the progress of the people in civilization, art, and religion as certainly as the buildings of the medieval architects do that of the various nations of modern Europe. We possess also a multitude of objects of use and ornament, belonging to those nations, truly astonishing in number, and pertaining to every station, office, and act in their official, religious, and domestic life . But in Palestine it is not too much to say that there does not exist a single edifice, or part of an edifice, of which we can be sure that it is of a date anterior to the Christian era. Excavated tombs, cisterns, flights of stairs, which are encountered everywhere, are of course out of the question. They may be some of them, such as the tombs of Hinnom and Shiloh, probably are of very great age, older than anything else in the country. But there is no evidence either way, and as far as the history of art is concerned nothing would be gained if their age were ascertained. The only ancient buildings of which we can speak with certainty are those that were erected by the Greeks or Romans during their occupation of the country. Not that these buildings have not a certain individuality which separates them from any mere Greek or Roman building in Greece or Rome; but the fact is certain that not one of them was built while the Israelites were masters of the country, and before the date at which Western nations began to get a footing in Palestine. As with the buildings, so with other memorials. With one exception, the museums of Europe do not possess a single piece of pottery or metal-work, a single weapon or household utensil, an ornament or a piece of armor, of Israelitish make, which can give us the least conception of the manners or outward appliances of the nation before the date of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. The coins form the single exception. A few rare specimens still exist, the oldest of them attributed though even that is matter of dispute to the Maccabees, and their rudeness and insignificance furnish a stronger evidence than even their absence could imply of the total want of art among the Israelites.
It may be said that Palestine is now only in the same condition as Assyria before the recent researches brought so much to light. But the two cases are not parallel. The soil of Babylonia is a loose loam or sand, of the description best fitted for covering up and preserving the relics of former ages. On the other hand, the greater part of the Holy Land is hard and rocky, and the soil lies in the valleys and lowlands, where the cities were very rarely built. If any store of Jewish relics were remaining embedded or hidden in suitable ground as, for example, in the loose mass of debris which coats the slopes around Jerusalem we should expect occasionally to find articles which might be recognised as Jewish. This was the case in Assyria. Long before the mounds were explored, Rich brought home many fragments of inscriptions, bricks, and engraved stones, which were picked up on the surface, and were evidently the productions of some nation whose art was not then known. But in Palestine the only objects hitherto discovered have all belonged to the West coins or arms of the Greeks or Romans.
The buildings already mentioned as being Jewish in character, though carried out with foreign details, are the following: The tombs of the kings and of the judges; the buildings known as the tombs of Absalom, Zechariah, St. James, and Jehoshaphat; the monolith at Siloam all in the neighborhood of Jerusalem; the ruined synagogues at Meiron and Kefr Birim. But there are two edifices which seem to bear a character of their own, and do not so clearly betray the style of the West. These are the enclosure round the sacred cave at Hebron, and portions of the western, southern, and eastern walls of the Haram at Jerusalem, with the vaulted passage below the Aksa. Of the former it is impossible to speak in the present state of our knowledge. The latter will be more fully noticed under the head of TEMPLE; it is sufficient here to name one or two considerations which seem to bear against their being of older date than Herod.
(1.) Herod is distinctly said by Josephus to have removed the old foundations, and laid others in their stead, enclosing double the original area (Ant. 15:11, 3; War, 1, 21, 1).
(2.) The part of the wall which all acknowledge to be the oldest contains the springing of an arch. This and the vaulted passage can hardly be assigned to builders earlier than the time of the Romans.
(3.) The masonry of these magnificent stones (absurdly called the bevel), on which so much stress has been laid, is not exclusively Jewish or even Eastern. It is found at Persepolis; it is also found at Cnidus and throughout Asia Minor, and at Athens not on stones of such enormous size as those at Jerusalem, but similar in their workmanship.
M. Renan, in his recent report of his proceedings in Phoenicia, has named two circumstances which must receive have had a great effect in suppressing art or architecture among the ancient Israelites, while their very existence proves that the people had no genius in that direction. These are (1) the prohibition of sculptured representations of living creatures, and (2) the command not to build a temple anywhere but at Jerusalem. The hewing or polishing of building-stones was even forbidden. What, he asks, would Greece have been, if it had been illegal to build any temples but at Delphi or Eleusis? In ten centuries the Jews had only three temples to build, and of these certainly two were erected under the guidance of foreigners. The existence of synagogues dates from the time of the Maccabees, and the Jews then naturally employed the Greek style of architecture, which at that time reigned universally.
In fact the Israelites never lost the feeling or the traditions of their early pastoral nomad life. Long after the nation had been settled in the country, the cry of those earlier days, To your tents, O Israel! was heard in periods of excitement. The prophets, sick of the luxury of the cities, are constantly recalling the tents of that simpler, less artificial life; and the Temple of Solomon nay, even perhaps of Zerubbabel was spoken of to the last as the tent of the Lord of hosts, the place where David had pitched his tent. It is a remarkable fact that, eminent as Jews have been in other departments of art, science, and affairs, no Jewish architect, painter, or sculptor has ever achieved any signal success. SEE ARCHITECTURE; SEE ARTIFICER.
VI. Climate, etc.
1. Temperature. Probably there is no country in the world of the same extent which embraces a greater variety in this respect than Palestine. On Mount Hermon, at its northern border, we approach a region of perpetual snow. From this we descend successively by the peaks of Bashan and Upper Galilee, where the oak and pine flourish, to the hills of Judah and Samaria, where the vine and fig-tree are at home, to the plains of the seaboard, where the palm and banana produce their fruit, down to the sultry shores of the Dead Sea, on which we find tropical heat and tropical vegetation. To determine with scientific accuracy the various shades of climate, and to arrange throughout the country exact isothermal lines, would require a long series of observations made at a number of distinct points now scarcely ever visited by scientific men. Sufficient data exist, however, to afford a good general view of the climate a view sufficiently accurate for the illustration of the Bible.
Along the summits of the central ridge of Palestine, and over the table-land east of the Jordan, the temperature is pretty nearly equal. The cold in winter is sometimes severe. The thermometer has been known to fall as low as 28 Fahr., and frost hardens the ground more, however, on the eastern plains than on the Judaean hills. Snow falls nearly every winter; it seldom lies longer than a day or two; but in the winter of 1857 it was eight inches deep, and it covered the eastern plains for a fortnight. The results were disastrous. Nearly a fourth of the houses of Damascus were injured, and some of the flat-roofed bazaars and mosques were left heaps of ruin. South of Hebron snow is rare, and frost less intense. Along the seaboard of Philistia and Sharon, and in the Jordan valley, snow and frost are unknown; but on the coast farther north very slight frost is sometimes felt. Snow is rarely seen whitening the ground below an elevation of 2000 feet.
The summer heat varies greatly in different localities. It is most intense along the shores of the Dead Sea, owing in part to the depression, and in part to the reflection of the sun’s rays from the white mountains. The temperature at Engedi is probably as high as that of Thebes. The heat, the evaporation, and the fetid atmosphere render the whole of this plain dangerous to Europeans during the summer months. Tiberias is not so hot as Jericho, but it is sensibly hotter than the coast plain, where, owing to the influence of the sea-breeze which sets in at ten o’clock in the forenoon and continues till two hours after sunset, the heat is not oppressive. The dry soil and dry atmosphere make the greater part of the coast salubrious. Palms flourish luxuriantly and produce their fruit at Gaza, Joppa, Haifa, and as far north as Sidon and Beyrut; they also bear fruit in favorable positions on the plain of Damascus. At Hebron, Jerusalem, along the summit of the central ridge, and on the eastern plateau, the heat is never intense, the thermometer rarely rising to 90 in the shade; though the bright, cloudless sun and white soil make open-air labor and travel exhausting and dangerous. The following results of Dr. Barclay’s observations at Jerusalem, extending over five years (1851-1855), are important:
The greatest range of the thermometer on any year was 52 Fahr. The highest elevation of the mercury was 92. Under favorable exposure, immediately before sunrise, on one occasion, it fell to 28. The mean annual average of temperature is 66.5; July and August are the hottest months, January the coldest; The coldest time is about sunrise; the warmest noon: sunset is about the mean. The average temperature of January, the coldest month, during five years, was 49.4; of August, the warmest month, 79.3.
The temperature of Damascus is lower than that of Jerusalem. The highest range of the thermometer noted was 88, the lowest 29. The mercury rarely rises above 84 during the heat of the day. At Shumlan, on Lebanon, the highest range of the thermometer was 82 (Aug. 22); and the average of that month was 76. According to the estimates of Dr. Forbes (Edinburgh New Philos. Jour. April, 1862), the mean annual temperature of Beyrut is 69, of Jerusalem 62.6, and of Jericho 72. That of Jerusalem differs widely from Dr. Barclay’s average; and Jericho appears to be too low.
2. Rain. In Palestine the autumnal rains commence about the end of October. In Lebanon they are a month earlier. They are usually accompanied by thunder and lightning (Jer 10:13). They continue during two or three days at a time, not constantly, but falling chiefly in the night; then there is an interval of sunny weather. The quantity of rain in October is small. The next four months may be called the rainy season, but even then the fall is not continuous for any lengthened period. The showers are often extremely heavy. In April rain falls at intervals; in May the showers are less frequent and lighter, and at the close of that month they cease altogether. No rain falls in Palestine in June, July, August, or September, except on occasions so rare as to cause not merely surprise, but alarm; and not a cloud is seen in the heavens as large as a man’s hand (1Sa 12:17 sq.; Son 2:11). In Lebanon the climate in this respect is somewhat different. In 1850 rain fell at Shumlan on June 27 and 28, and on Aug. 8, 9, and 12; and in Damascus, on rare occasions, rain is seen in the month of June. In Lebanon also clouds are occasionally, though not frequently, seen during the summer months. Dr. Barclay gives the following average of the rainfall at Jerusalem during seven seasons: 1846-47, 59 inches; 1847-48, 55 inches; 1848-49, 60.6 inches; 1850-51, 85 inches; 1851-52, 65 inches; 185253, 44 inches; 1853- 54, 26.9 inches. This gives a general yearly average of 56.5 inches. which is 25 inches above the mean annual rainfall in England, and within one inch of that in Keswick, Cumberland, the wettest part of England (City of the Great King, p. 417, 428; Whitty, Water Supply of Jerusalem, p. 194). SEE RAIN.
3. Seasons. Only two seasons are expressly mentioned in the Bible; but the rabbins (Talmud) make six, apparently founding their division upon Gen 8:22. They are as follows:
(1.) Seed-time: October to December.
(2.) Winter: December to February.
(3.) Cold: February to April.
(4.) Harvest: April to June.
(5.) Heat: June to August.
(6.) Summer:
August to October. These divisions are arbitrary. Seed-time now commences in October after the first rains, and continues till January. Harvest in the lower valley of the Jordan sometimes begins at the close of March; in the hill country of Judaea it is nearly a month later, and in Lebanon it rarely begins before June; and is not completed in the higher regions till the end of July. After the heavy falls of rain in November the young grass shoots up, and the ground is covered with verdure in December. In January, oranges, lemons, and citrons are ripe; and at its close, in favorable seasons, the almond-tree puts out its blossoms. In February and March the apricot, pear, apple, and plum are in flower, in May, apricots are ripe; and during the same month melons are produced in the warm plains around the Sea of Galilee. In June, figs, cherries, and plums ripen; and the roses of the Valley of Roses, near Jerusalem, and of the gardens of Damascus, are gathered for the manufacture of rose-water. August is the crowning month of the fruit season, during which the grape, fig, peach, and pomegranate are in perfection. The vintage extends on through September. In August vegetation languishes. The cloudless sky and burning sun dry up .all moisture. The grass withers, the flowers fade, the bushes and shrubs take a hard gray look, the soil becomes dust, and the country assumes the aspect of a parched, barren desert. The only exception to this general bareness are the orange-groves of Joppa and those few portions of the soil which are irrigated. SEE AGRICULTURE.
The following are the principal works from which information may be obtained regarding the climate of Palestine and Syria:
(1.) An Economical Calendar of Palestine, by Buhle, translated by Taylor, and inserted among the fragments appended to Calmet’s Dict. of the Bible.
(2.) Walchii Calendarium Palcestince, ei. J. D. Michaelis, 1755.
(3.) Volney, Voyage en Syrie, etc., 1787.
(4.) Schubert, Reise nach dem Morgenlande, vol. 3, 1838.
(5.) Russegger, Reisen etc.
(6.) Robinson, Bib. Res. passim.
(7.) Kitto, Physical History of Palestine, ch. 7.
(8.) Barclay, City of the Great King, p. 49 sq., 414 sq.
(9.) Von Vildenbruch and Petermann, in Journal of R.G.S. vol. 20; and Poole, in vol. 26.
(10.) Forbes, in Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, April, 1862.
(11.), Russell’s Natural History of Aleppo gives full information regarding the climate and products of Northern Syria. SEE CALENDAR, JEWISH.
VII. Natural History.
1. Plants. The various plants mentioned in the Bible are fully treated of in this work under their proper names. It is not necessary here to repeat what is said elsewhere, nor is it intended to give anything like a resume of the botany of Palestine. All that is aimed at is to give some of the leading features of the vegetation of the country to mention some of the principal plants now existing, and the localities in which they abound. The diversity of climate in Palestine has already been noticed. There is a regular gradation from the cold of Northern Europe to the heat of the tropics. This produces a corresponding variety of vegetation. Many of the plants of Europe, Asia, and Africa are found in the respective departments. of Palestine. On the mountain-tops of Hermon, Bashan, and Galilee the products of the cold regions of the north grow luxuriantly; on the coast plain are some peculiar to Eastern Asia; and in the deep valley of the Jordan and African flora abounds.
(1.) On the northern mountain-ridges, and in Bashan, the oak and pine are the principal natural or forest trees; the former sometimes forming dense woods, and growing to a great size. The cedar is now, and was probably always, confined to the higher regions of Lebanon. Among smaller trees and bushes are the juniper, dwarf elder, sumac (Rhus), and hawthorn; the ivy, honeysuckle, and some species of rose are met with, but not in great abundance. The celebrated oak of Basban appears to be the Quercus AEgilops; it has a massive trunk, short gnarled arms, and a round, compact top. It also abounds in Gilead, all over Jebel el-Heish, and Galilee. An oak of another and smaller variety (Quercus Coccifera), growing in bushes, not unlike English hawthorn in form, and having a leaf resembling holly, but smaller, spreads over Carmel, the ridge of Samaria, and the western slopes of the mountains of Judsea, sometimes forming impenetrable jungles. .Intermixed with it in some places are found the arbutus, hawthorn, pistachio, and carob or locust-tree. Common brambles are abundant, as well as the styrax, the bay, the wild olive, and more rarely the thorny Paliurus Aculeatus, or Christ’s thorn. In the lowlands are the plane-tree, sycamore, and palm; but none of them abundant. Along the sandy downs of Sharon and Philistia grows the maritime pine; and on the banks of streams are the willow, oleander, and gigantic reeds. In the Jordan valley and along the Dead Sea are found the nubk (Zizyphus Spina Christi), papyrus, tamarisk, acacia, retama (a kind of broom), sea-pink, Dead-Sea apple (Solanum Sodomneunmi), the Balanites .Egyptiaca, and on the banks of the river several species of willow and reed.
(2.) The hills and plains of Palestine abound in flowers. In early spring large sections of the country are covered with them, looking like a vast natural parterre. The most conspicuous among them are the lily, tulip, anemone, poppy, hyacinth, cyclamen, star of Bethlehem, crocus, and mallow. Thistles are seen on plain and mountain in infinite number and great variety some small and creeping, with bright blue spines, others large and formidable, with heads like the flails of the ancient Britons. On the hills are also found vast quantities of aromatic shrubs, which fill the air-with fragrance; among them are the sage, thyme, and sweet marjoram.
(3.) The cultivated trees and plants in Palestine. include most of those common in Europe, with many others peculiar to warmer climates. The vine may be regarded as the staple product of the hills and mountains. It is still extensively cultivated; and those terraces now seen on the sides of valley, hill, and mountain were doubtless clothed with vines in ancient times. The olive is scarcely less abundant. It is found at almost every village in Western Palestine. But its greatest groves are at Gaza, Nabulus, and on the western declivities of Galilee. It is not met with. in the Jordan valley, and it is extremely rare in Gilead and Bashan. Some of the trees grow to a great size, though the branches are low and sparse. An olive tree may be seen in the plain of Damascus upwards of forty feet in girth. The fig is abundant, especially among the hills of Judah and Samaria. Other fruit trees less common are the pomegranate, apricot, walnut, almond, apple, quince, and mulberry. Date palms are found at various places along the maritime plain; there are very few in the mountains, and they have altogether disappeared from Jericho, the city of palm-trees; though dwarf palms grow at various places along the Jordan valley, as at Gennesaret. In the orchards of Joppa are the orange, lemon, citron, and banana; and the prickly pear in great abundance formed into hedges. The principal cereals are wheat, barley, rye, millet, Indian-corn, and rice in the marshy plain of the upper Jordan. Of pulse we find the pea of several varieties, the bean, large and small, and the lentil. Among esculent vegetables are the potato, recently introduced, carrots, lettuce, beets, turnips, and cabbages. In the sandy plains and in the Jordan valley cucumbers, melons, gourds, and pumpkins are grown in immense quantities. Hemp is common, flax less so, and cotton is produced in large quantities. Mr. Poole states that indigo and sesame are grown in the valley of Nabulus (Journal R. G. S. 26:57). The sugar-cane was formerly extensively cultivated in the Jordan valley, especially around Jericho. Indigo is still grown in the gardens of Jericho and in the plain of Gennesaret. The tobacco-plant is common in Lebanon, and among the villages of Western Palestine. Silk is extensively produced. . Mulberry groves are rapidly increasing along the seaboard, and everywhere among the mountains of Western Palestine. At present silk is the most valuable of the exports. The growth of cotton is also increasing. But the heavy exactions of the government, and the insecurity of life and property, prevent capitalists from planting trees and cultivating the great plains. See each of these trees, fruits, and vegetables in its alphabetical place.
On the botany of Palestine the following works may be consulted: Shaw, Travels in Barbary and the Levant, 1808; Hasselquist; Voyages and Travels, in the Levant, 1766; Schubert, Reise, 1840; Kitto, Physical Hist. of Pal.; Russell, Natural. Hist. of Aleppo;, also papers in Transactions of Linn. Society, vol. 22; mid Natural Hist. Rev. No. 5. SEE BOTANY.
2. Animals. The zoology of the Bible, like the botany, is fully treated in this work under the names of the several animals. All that is needed in this place therefore, is to group together the principal animals at present found in the different parts of Palestine, referring the reader for fuller particulars to the separate articles, and to the works mentioned at the close. It may be remarked that comparatively little is known as yet of the fauna of Palestine. The great majority of travellers who visit the country have not time, and even if they had they do not possess the scientific knowledge necessary to minute researches in natural history.
(1.) The domestic animals of Palestine are, with one or two exceptions, those common in this country. The horse is small, hardy, and sure-footed, but not famed either for speed or strength. The best kinds are bought from the Bedawin of the Arabian desert. Asses are numerous; some small and poor; others large and of great strength; and others, especially the white kinds, prized for their beauty and easy motion (comp. Jdg 5:10). Mules are chiefly used as beasts of burden. As. there are no roads and no wheel carriages, the mules are the carriers of the country, and are met on all the leading thoroughfares in immense files, garnished profusely with little bells and cowries. The camel is also employed for carrying heavier burdens, for performing more lengthened journeys, and for traversing the neighboring deserts. The best camels are bought from the wandering Arabs. The ox of Western Palestine is mostly small and poor, owing doubtless to hard work and insufficient food; but travellers have seen great droves of fine fat cattle upon the rich pastures of Jaulan. There is a very tall, lank species in the plain of Damascus and in parts of the Hauran. Oxen are now very rarely slaughtered for food in the interior. They are mainly kept for field-labor and for treading out the corn. The buffalo is found in the valley of the upper Jordan; but few if any specimens are met with elsewhere in Palestine. Large-tailed sheep abound, and form the principal article of animal food. Flocks of the long-eared Syrian goat cover the mountains in all parts of the land. They are the chief producers of milk and butter. The common street dog infests the towns, villages, and encampments, belonging to no one, though tolerated by all as a public servant-the only sanitary officer existing in Palestine. There is another variety employed by shepherds. Cats, like dogs, are common property, and are rarely seen domesticated like our own.
(2.) The wild animals include the brown Syrian bear, found in the upper regions of Galilee and in Jabel el-Heish; the panther in the hills of Judaea and Samaria, .and in the thickets of the Jordan; jackals in immense numbers everywhere; wolves, hyenas, foxes; wild swine in the marshes of the Jordan, and in the thickets of Bashan and Gilead; gazelles and fallow deer on the plain; the ibex or wild goat in the wilderness of Judea the hare and the coney (called by natives weber); the squirrel, mole, rat, mouse; and bat. Porcupines and hedgehogs are rare; Mr. Poole says badgers abound at Hebron (Journal R. G. S. 26:58).
(3.) Reptiles exist in great variety. Some parts of the country swarm with them. The most common are lizards, which may be seen basking on every rock, and bobbing their hideous heads up and down on every ruin. Serpents of various kinds are numerous the scorpion, tarantula, and chameleon are not so abundant. Frogs in vast numbers crowd the marshes and moist districts, and fill the air with their roar on the still summer evenings; the tree-frog and toad are also found; and little tortoises crawl over dry plains, and along the banks of pond and stream. The crocodile is said to exist in the Crocodile River, now called Nahr Zerka, in the plain of Sharon. Of this Dr. Thomson writes: You will be surprised to hear that there are now living crocodiles in the marsh, but such is the fact. These millers say they have seen them often; and the government agent, a respectable Christian, assures me that they recently killed one eighteen spans long, and as thick as his body. I suspect that, long ages ago, some Egyptians accustomed to worship this ugly creature settled here, and brought their gods with them! (Land and Book, 2, 244). The creature seen at this place (if indeed the whole story was not a pure fiction on the part of the Arabs) was doubtless the Monitor Niloticus.
(4.) Birds of prey are very numerous, including eagles and vultures in the neighborhood of Lebanon; hawks in great variety, and ravens all over the land; and owls, which hoot and scream during the still night. Storks pay passing visits, and occasionally the white ibis is met with; the heron, gull, and lapwing are also found. The rocky hill-sides abound with partridges and quails; the cliffs in the glens with pigeons; the bushes with turtledoves and the lakes and marshes with ducks, teal, and other water-fowl. We also find the jay in some beautiful varieties; the kingfisher, the woodpecker, the sparrow, the swallow, the, the cuckoo, and many others. Domestic fowls are not numerous in Palestine. A few barn-door fowls may be seen in the villages, but ducks, geese, and turkeys are extremely rare.
(5.) Insects are so numerous in some parts of the land as:almost to be a plague. They include the common fly and mosquito; the bee, wasp, and hornet; great numbers of horse-flies; many species of butterflies; ants, spiders, grasshoppers, beetles, earwigs, and the beautiful glowworm and firefly. The most formidable of the insects which infest Palestine is the locust. Some few are seen every year, but great flights are fortunately rare. One such occurred in the summer of 1853 which nearly desolated Eastern Syria. In many places they completely covered the ground; and for several days the air was so filled with them that the light of then sun was obscured as if by a mist. See each of the above named animals in its alphabetical place.
Writers on the zoology of Palestine, or rather on Biblical zoology, are numerous. The following are the most important: Bochart, Hierozoicon, ed. Rosenmuller, 1793-1796; Hasselquist, Travels; Russell, Nat. Hist. of Aleppo; Description de l’Egypte, tom. 20-22; Schubert, Reise; Kitto, Physical Hist. of Palestine; Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible; Wood, Bible Animals. SEE ZOOLOGY.
VIII. Geology. Although several eminent geologists have passed through Palestine, we have as yet no full scientific delineation not even a satisfactory outline of its geology. (See the brief sketch in Tristram’s Nat. Hist. of the Bible, ch. ii.) The country ought in many respects to be the most interesting in the world to the geologist. It possesses some unique features. It bears marks of tremendous volcanic convulsions, extending over a vast period. Its wonderful history has been considerably affected by these agencies. The general geological formation of Palestine is simple. The basis of the country the great body of its hills and plains is Jura limestone, the same which extends over Lebanon, the desert of Arabia, and the plateau southward to the mountains of Sinai. Russegger says it may be classed with the Upper Jura formation, the oolite, and the Jura dolomite. The rock is not uniform in character, composition, or color. Most of it is compact, regularly stratified, of a dark cream or gray color, and abounding in fossils. As a general rule it becomes softer towards the south. At Bethel are large masses of blue limestone with shells, and on the sides of Gerizim is nummulitic limestone; in some parts the rocks had been in a liquid state, for one kind had overflowed and encased the other (Poole, in Journal of R. G. S. 26:56). Around Jerusalem dolomite prevails. The ancient buildings of the city appear to have been chiefly constructed of it. It is veine, with red and white like marble, compact, partially crystallized, and takes a high polish. Traces of an upper cretaceous formation of a more recent period are visible over the whole mountains. In many places the action of the atmosphere and the washing of winter rainishave stripped it from the firmer strata. It was filled with masses and nodules of flint; and these are now strewn over the surface where the soft chalk, in which they were originally embedded, has entirely disappeared.
Between Nabulus and Samaria the ground is covered with flints (Poole, p. 57); they abound in the wilderness of Judaea. On the road from Bethany to Jericho, Poole says white nodules with black flint in the centre were thickly strewed about (ibid.). In some places less exposed the upper crust remains; and thin layers of sandstone, soft and friable, alternate occasionally with the chalk (ibid.). Towards the borders of the Dead Sea some important changes are observed in the strata. Of the mountain of Neby Musa, Poole says, The soil smelt very strong of sulphur, and I got specimens of limestone of an oolitic structure, also of a seam of bituminous and calcareous limestone, with pictens about six inches thick (p. 58). On the northern shore of the Dead Sea he got a specimen of bituminous stone. In the mountain along the south-west coast, the chalk showed in several places overlaid by limestone, probably owing to the tilting of the strata, or some other volcanic agency. In Eastern Palestine the limestone is found in Hermon, and throughout Gilead and Moab; but at Kerak it gives place to the ruddy sandstone strata which constitute the mountains of Edom, and which also appear beneath the limestone along the eastern shore of the: Dead Sea. This eastern region has not been visited by any practical geologist, and the notices of it are brief and unsatisfactory. This field of limestone, which thus extends over all Palestine, has been interrupted and broken in several places, and in a very remarkable manner, by volcanic agency an agency, however, which operated at a very remote geological period. In Eastern Palestine lava ejected from the earth in a state of fusion has flowed over the limestone, covering the whole area of the kingdom of Bashan. The centre of eruption appears to have been in Jebel Hauran, at the now extinct craters Tell Abu Tumeis and Ktuleib. From these two craters lava streams flowed westward to the Lejah; and the Lejah itself is filled with smaller craters. The little conical and cup-shaped tells which stud the surface of Haurin were all at one time active volcanoes. The basalt thus emitted from numerous openings spread over the whole region, forming the lofty peaks of Jebel Hauran, and sweeping across the plain to the Jordan. Neither the breadth nor the exact limits of this lava- field are yet known. On the north-west it runs up the sides of Jebel el- Heish; on the north it is bounded by the river Awaj (Pharpar), which separates it from the limestone in the plain of Damascus. On the south it runs to the banks of the Yarmuk, and in places across the ravine to Northern Gilead. The Lejah is geologically the most remarkable province in Palestine. The hard black rock covers the entire surface to a depth of from thirty to one hundred feet now stretching out in broad wavy reaches, divided by fissures of great depth, now thrown up in vast heaps of jagged fragments, now partially crystallized, and extending in long ridges like the Giant’s Causeway. The rock is very hard, gives a metallic sound when struck, and is filled with air-bubbles. Spherical boulders of the same material are strewn over portions of the western declivity of the plain (Porter, Damascus, 2, 241 sq.; Wetzstein, Reisebenrict uber Hauran, p. 27 sq.; Wilson, Lands of the Bible, 2, 318 sq.; Burckhardt, Travels, p. 111 sq.).
On the west side of the Jordan, opposite Bashan, are two other lava-fields. The northern has its centre about three miles north-west of Safed, near the village of Jish. Dr. Robinson thus describes it: We soon came out upon a high open plain; and the volcanic stones increased as we advanced, until they took the place of every other; and, besides covering the surface of the ground, seemed also to compose the solid formation of the tract. In the midst of this plain we came upon heaps of black stones and lava, surrounding what had evidently once been the crater of a volcano. It is an oval. basili, sunk in the plain . . . between three and four hundred feet in length, and about one hundred and twenty feet in breadth. The depth is perhaps forty feet. The sides are shelving, but steep and ragged, obviously composed of lava; of which our friend Mr. Hebard had been able to distinguish three different kinds or ages. All around it are the traces of its former action, exhibited in the strata of lava and the vast masses of volcanic stones. It may not improbably have been the central point. or Ableiter, of the earthquake of 1837 (B. R. 2, 444). From this place the lava-streams and boulders radiate to a considerable distance. The high terrace which projects from the eastern side of this ridge to the Jordan below Merom is chiefly basalt; but it seems to be connected with the Hauran field, as it is of a hard, firm texture, while that of Jish is soft and porous.
Another centre of volcanic action in former ages is on the high plain south- west of Tiberias, called Ard el-Hamma. The whole plain is a lava-field; and the double peak of Kurinl Hattin, on its north side, is basalt. and so also is the ridge which bounds the Sea of Galilee on the south. The rock is similar to that of Bashan. The thickness of the bed may be seen in the cliffs on the mountain-side behind the warm baths of Tiberias. The base of these cliffs is limestone, while the whole superincumbent mass is black or dark-gray basalt. This field extends northward to the plain of Gennesaret, westward to Seffirieh, and southward to Esdraelon. The soil covering it is thick black mould like that of Bashan. It appears that the greater portion of the substratum of Esdraelon is basalt hidden beneath the soil (Wilson, 2, 304). But Jebel ed-Duhy (Little Hermon), and all the hills south of the plain, are limestone; and volcanic rock is not again seen in Western Palestine (Anderson, Geological Reconnaissance in Lynch’s Official Report, p. 124 sq.). On the east of the: Dead Sea basalt appears in boulders dotting the plateau between the rivers Arnon and Kerak; and Burckhardt says it is more- porous than any specimens he had found farther northward (Travels, p. 375; Anderson, p. 191).
But the grand geological feature of Palestine is the central valley or chasm. Hugh Miller has said, The natural boundaries of the geographer are rarely described by straight lines. Whenever these occur, the geologist may look for something remarkable (Old Red Sandstone, p. 120). No better proof of this could be found than the Jordan valley. It runs in a straight line through the centre of Palestine. Its formation was probably simultaneous with those volcanic agencies that created the eastern and western lava- fields. It is a tremendous rent or fissure a hundred and fifty miles in length, rending asunder the whole limestone strata from top to bottom. Its extreme depth from the lips of the fissure to the bed of the Dead Sea is above 4000 feet, no less than 2624 of which is beneath the level of the ocean. Such a cleft in the earth’s crust is without a parallel. It is singular that, though the rent was doubtless effected by a volcanic convulsion, and though volcanic rock covers such a large area on both sides of the northern part of the valley, there are no traces of it in the southern and deepest part, except at one or two points to be afterwards noticed. The sides of the valley, and the rock in its bed, so far as visible, are limestone, ranged occasionally in horizontal strata, but usually upheaved and tossed into wild confusion. Along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea the limestone strata give place to sandstone. The sides of the valley, and the general conformation of the adjoining ridges, would seem to indicate that the limestone crust had been heaved up by some tremendous volcanic agency running from south due north, and causing that huge rent which forms the basin of the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley. The evidences and often fearful results of recent as well as remote volcanic agelicy are visible along the whole Jordan valley, and over a large section of the adjoining districts. Beginning at the north we have the crater of Jish, extinct indeed at the surface, but giving palpable proof in tremendous throes of earthquakes that internal fires are still raging. Next follow the copious saline springs of Tabighah, on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee; then the sulfurous springs of Tiberias, where the water gushes from the rock at a temperature of 144 Fahr. On the eastern side of the Jordan, in the glen of the Yarmuk, are the still hotter and more copious springs of Amatha, issuing from beneath lofty cliffs of igneous rock (Burckhardt, p. 376; Porter, Handbook for S. and P. p. 320, 423). It is deserving of special note that at the time of the great earthquake of 1837, and on every recurrence of an earthquake in the region, these springs well out in much greater abundance, and their waters increase in warmth. There is thus evidently a subterranean connection between them.
The towns and villages which have been most severely shaken by earthquakes in this region are those situated on the trapfields; while villages between them built upon the limestone strata have in many cases escaped almost without injury. Proceeding still farther south, we find the copious salt-springs of Wady Malih, where the water is 980 Fahr., and emits a fetid odor (Robinson, 3, 308). Next come the springs of Callirrhoe, near the mouth of Wady Zurka Main, which opens into the north-eastern part of the Dead Sea. They rise in the bottom of a sublime gorge. The base of the cliffs on each side is ruddy ferruginous sandstone, above and through which black and dark-gray trap appears, while the great body of the mountain behind is limestone. In one place a considerable stream of hot water is seen precipitating itself from a high and perpendicular shelf of rock, which is strongly tinted with the brilliant yellow of sulphur deposited upon it. On reaching the bottom we find ourselves at what may be termed a hot river, so copious and rapid is it, and its heat so little abated; this continues as it passes downwards, by its receiving constant supplies of water of the same temperature. We passed four abundant springs, all within the distance of half a mile, discharging themselves into the stream. We had no thermometer, but the degree of heat in the water seemed very great; near the source it scalds the hand, which cannot be kept in for the space of half a minute (Irby and Mangles, p. 468). Lynch found the temperature of the stream to be 95 Fahr. The temperature must be much higher at the source. Along the shores of the Dead Sea are numerous saline springs and salt-marshes. At its southern end is the remarkable ridge of hills called Khashm Usduim, composed in a great measure of pure salt. Large quantities of bitumen are often found floating on the Dead Sea, especially, it is said, after earthquakes, as if thrown up by the action of subterranean fires. Away at the northern extremity of the valley, at the western base of Hermon, are pits of bitumen (Handbook. p.453).
All these things indicate volcanic agencies still in action beneath the surface, and tend to illustrate some of the most remarkable events in the long history of Palestine, from the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah down to the earthquake of 1837. Palestine has in all ages been a country of earthquakes. The sacred writers show that they were familiar with them. The Scriptures abound in allusions to them and figures drawn from them. From earthquakes the Psalmist borrows his figures, when he speaks of mountains being carried into the midst of the sea (Psa 46:2); of their skipping like rams, and the little hills like lambs (Psa 114:4-6). To earthquakes the prophet alludes in his striking. language The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and be removed like a cottage (Isa 24:20; comp. Psa 104:32; 1Ch 16:30; Jer 10:10; Hab 3:6-8, etc.). There are, however, only two earthquakes expressly named in Scripture. The first was of such serious importance as to form a kind of epoch. Amos dates his vision two years before the earthquake (Amo 1:1). It took place in the days of Uzziah (Zec 14:5). The other instance of an earthquake mentioned in Scripture is that of the.quakilng of the earth and rending of the rocks at the crucifixion (Mat 27:51). In the seventh year of Herod the Great Palestine was visited by a tremendous earthquake (Joseph. Ant. 15:5, 2). We read of numerous others since that period (see Kitto, Physical Hist. of Palestine, chap. 4). SEE EARTHQUAKE.
The present bed of the Jordan valley is of a much later formation than either the limestone of the adjoining mountains or the rock of the trap- fields. The crust varies from 100 to 200 feet in depth, and through this the river has hollowed out for itself a deep tortuous channel, showing along its banks vertical sections. The lower parts consist mainly of tertiary deposits of indurated marl and conglomerate; while the upper stratum, now composing the surface of the plain, appears to be made up to a large extent of the washings and detritus of the chalk crust which originally covered the neighboring highlands, enriched here and there with vegetable mould. The coast-plains, Sharon and Philistia, are coated with a light soil in some places chalky, in others sandy with a large admixture of red alluvial clay, and on the top rich vegetable mould. The plain of Esdraelon, Ard el- Hamma, Gennesaret, and Hauran are coated with deep black clay of extraordinary fertility. It is composed in a great degree of disintegrated lava, and perhaps, to some extent, volcanic ashes, together with a large quantity of decomposed vegetable matter the residue of the forests that appear to have at one period extended overall Palestine.
Besides the incidental notices in the travels of Burckhardt, and Drs. Wilson, Robinson, Thomson, and Tristram, the following works contain the fullest information we possess on the geology of the different parts of Palestine:
(1.) Anderson’s Geological Reconnaissance, in Lynch’s Official Report (Baltimore, 1852, 4to, p. 75207). His researches were confined to the Jordan valley and the regions immediately adjoining.
(2.) Russegger, Reisen, vol. 3. This work embraces an account of the environs of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Joppa, and parts of Galilee around Nazareth and Tiberias (Stuttgard, 1841-1849, 4 vols. with Atlas).
(3.) Poole’s short paper in the Journal of R. G. vol. 26, giving brief notes of his journey from Joppa to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, and then along the western shore and around the southern end to the promontory of Lisal.
(4.) Wetzstein, Reisebericht iber Hauran- und die Trachonen, giving some account of the remarkable trap-fields of the Lejah, Jebel Hauran, the Safah, etc.
(5.) Porter, Five Years in Damascus, containing a full description of the physical geography of Bashan. SEE GEOLOGY.
IX. Political and Historical Geography. It now only remains to give a brief sketch of the political divisions of Palestine under the rule of the tribes and nations which have in succession occupied it. These divisions are sometimes minutely described, frequently directly mentioned, and more frequently incidentally alluded to, by the sacred writers. It is mainly with the view of illustrating these Scripture references that the present sketch is given. All that is aimed at, however, is a brief general and connected view. Nothing more is needed in this place, for all the ancient tribes and more important provinces and districts are fully treated of in separate articles.
1. The Patriarchal Period. This period extends from the earliest ages to the conquest of Palestine by the Israelites. The first notices we have of the land are contained in the 10th chapter of Genesis, where the sacred writer describes the country colonized by Canaan, the grandson of Noah. From this patriarch Palestine got its first name-a name which clings to it still. In that most remarkable chapter the borders of the Canaanitish territory are defined. They extended from Sidon on the north along the coast to Gaza on the south. Thence the border ran eastward, apparently in the line of Wady Gerar, to the plain of Sodom, now the. southern section of the Dead Sea. Thence it was drawn to Lasha (q.v.), .the site of which is not known, but it probably stood at the north-eastern end of the Dead Sea. It would seem that ancient Canaan corresponded almost exactly with Western Palestine.
The families and tribes which sprung from Canaan are mentioned; and it appears from their subsequent history, as given in the Pentateuch, that each of them settled down permanently in a territory of its own. SEE CANAANITE. The boundaries of these territories are not given, but the locality of each is indicated either by direct statement or indirect allusion. Sidon was the first-born of Canaan, and he colonized Phoenicia on thee coast. His capital, to which he gave his name, was outside the boundary of Palestine, but a section of his territory, which extended as far south as Carmel, was included in the land. The Hittites were a powerful tribe, who settled among the mountains in the south, with Hebron apparently for their capital (Gen 15:20; Gen 23:16). The Jebusites had their stronghold on Zion; and they held it and the surrounding territory down to the time of David Jos 15:63; 2Sa 5:6). The Amotries, probably the most, powerful of all the Canaanitish tribes, were widely spread (Jos 24:18). They had settlements in the mountains of Judah (Gen 14:7; Gen 14:13; Num 13:29), but their main possessions were on the east of the Jordan, where they occupied the whole country from Arnon on the south to Hermon (Num 21:13; Num 21:26; Num 32:33; Deu 3:8). The Girgashites appear to have been located among the mountains of Central Palestine, but there is no description of their exact territory in the Bible, and the theories of geographers are not satisfactory. The Hivites founded Shechem in Central Palestine; Gibeon, Beeroth, Chephirah, and Kirjath- jearim, farther south; and a little principality under Hermon. on the northern border (Gen 34:2; Jos 9:3; Jos 9:7; Jos 11:3; Jos 11:19; 2Sa 24:7). Canaan’s other sons settled beyond the bounds of Palestine; the Arkites and Sinites in Lebanon; the Arvadites in an island off the coast of Phoenicia; and the Hamathites in Hamath.
But besides the Canaanitish tribes there are traces of other races or perhaps another race of aborigines in Palestine. The Rephaimn are frequently mentioned. We find traces of them in widely different parts of the country. They gave their name to a little upland plain beside Jerusalem (Jos 15:8), and to a section of Mount Ephraim (Jos 17:15). Bashan seems to have been occupied by them long previous, to its conquest by the Amorites (Gen 14:5; Deu 3:11). At the same remote period the Zuzim dwelt in Gilead, and the Emim held the plateau of Moab. These are all spoken of as men of huge stature, and they appear to have been different sections of one great family. Of their history we know nothing except a few isolated facts; but it is remarkable that traditions of these giants cling to various localities in Palestine. Their marvellous exploits are recorded, their tombs of huge dimensions are pointed out, and the colossal houses they built and occupied are still shown in the ancient cities of Bashan. The race either died out or was extirpated in Bashani by the warlike hordes of Amorites. The Moabites and Ammonites conquered the giant tribes south of Bashan, and long occupied their territory; and the ruins of Rabbath-Ammon and Rabbath-Moab still remain as memorials of their rule (Deu 2:20-21). On the south-west of Palestine, along the coast of the Mediterranean, the Avim, another primeval tribe of giants, had their abode; but they were conquered by the Caphtorim, or Philistines; and the giant warriors Goliath, Sippai, and Lahmi were probably among the last of the race (1Sa 17:4; 2Sa 21:16-20; 1Ch 20:4-8). The Amalekites were nomads, who roamed over the scanty pastures of the southern desert, scarcely crossing the border of Palestine.
At the time of the Exodus, all Western Palestine was held by these Canaanitish and Philistine tribes; and the country east of the Jordan was divided into three kingdoms. On the north lay the kingdom of the giant Og, the last of the Rephaim, which extended over Bashan and the section of Gilead north of the Jabbok. Between the Jabbok and the Arnon was the kingdom of Sihon; while the region south of the Arnon was possessed by the Moabites.
In addition to the tribes now enumerated, Moses mentions the Kenites, Kenizzites, and Kadmonites; but these, though included in the land promised to Abraham, had their territories in Arabia, beyond the boundaries of Palestine (Gen 15:18-21). The Perizzites are also mentioned as a tribe distinct from the Canaanites residing in some part of Western Palestine. Little is known either of their origin or their possessions. SEE CANAAN.
2. The Period from Joshua to Solomon. At the commencement of this period an entire change was wrought in the political geography of Palestine. The country was divided among the twelve tribes of Israel. The eastern section was first apportioned. Moab’s territory south of the Arnon was left untouched. A very clear and full account of the allotment of all the rest-is given in Numbers 32. The table-land (Mishor) extending from the Arnon to Heshbon was given to the tribe of Reuben (comp. Jos 13:15 sq.). Gad received the region between Heshbon and the river Jabbok, together with an additional strip along the east bank of the Jordan, extending up to the Sea of Chinnereth (Jos 13:24-28). The rest of Gilead and all Bashan were allotted to Manasseh, and this was at once the largest, and the richest allotment made to any of the tribes (Jos 13:29-31).
Western Palestine was divided by Joshua among the remaining tribes. Judah received the country lying between the parallel of Jerusalem and the southern border; but subsequently a section on the south was given to Simeon; and another section was taken off its western side and allotted to Dan. These two tribes were thus, as regards their possessions, amalgamated with Judah (Joshua 15; Jos 19:1; Jos 19:40-47). North of Judah lay Benjamin, confined to a narrow strip stretching across the country from the Jordan to Beth-horon, between the parallels of Jerusalem and Bethel (18:11-25). Next to Benjamin came the children of Joseph, grouped close together Ephraim on the south and Manasseh on the north. Their united portion reached from the Jordan to the sea, and from Bethel to the border of Esdraelon (ch. 16, 17). In addition to this large mountain territory, the cities of Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo, and a few others situated in Esdraelon, were allotted to them. To Issachar was given the noble plain of Esdraelon a territory, however, whose fertility was more than overbalanced by its exposed situation (19:17-23). Zebulun received his lot amid the picturesque hills and plains of Lower Galilee, having Tabor on. the east, and the Great Sea, at the base of Carmel, on the west (Jos 19:10-16). Asher got the fertile plain of Acre and the coast of Phoenicia up to Sidon (Jos 19:24-31). In the mountains on the northern border Naphtali found a beautiful highland home (Jos 19:32-39). The lot of Dan was too small, and the Philistines hemmed the tribe in so that they were unable to cultivate the rich soil of the Shephelah. They consequently made an expedition to the far north, and established an important colony on the plain of the upper Jordan (Jos 19:47; comp. Judges 18). SEE TRIBE.
But though the whole land was thus allotted it was not conquered. The Philistines still held their plain; and the mercantile Canaanites, whom the Greeks called Phoenicians, remained in their great seaports. Many cities, also, in different parts of the country, were retained by their Canaanitish founders (Jdg 1:21 sq.).
3. From the Death of Solomon to the Captivity. On the death of Solomon, the tyranny and folly of his son rent the nation of Israel. Long before that time there had been rivalry between the powerful families of Judah and Ephraim; Rehoboam’s folly was the occasion of its breaking out into open hostility. The boundaries of the tribes were not disturbed by the rupture in the nation. Benjamin clung to Judah, and its northern border became the line of demarcation between the two kingdoms. Dan and Simeon occupied portions of the allotted territory of Judah, and were therefore reckoned parts of that tribe (1Ki 12:17); hence the southern kingdom is usually said to have consisted of only the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, while in reality it included four (1Ki 19:3; 2Ch 11:10; with Jos 19:41-42). The remaining tribes east and west of the Jordan chose Jeroboam as their king; but Bethel (2Ch 13:19) and some other cities farther north were afterwards added to Judah (2Ch 15:8). The next change in the political geography of the land was brought about by the conquests of Assyria. The northern kingdom was invaded, Samaria its capital taken, and the whole people of the land carried away captive. Foreign colonists were placed in their room; and these, adopting the Jewish law, and conforming to some extent to the Jewish ritual, were the founders of the nation and sect of the Samaritans (q.v.). A great part of Palestine nearly the whole of the kingdom of Israel now became a province of the Assyrian empire, and afterwards passed with it into the hands of the Babylonians. About a century and a half later Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took Jerusalem, and led the other section of the Jewish nation captive. Thus all Palestine lost its nationality, and was ruled by a provincial satrap.
4. From the Captivity to the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. This was the most eventful period of Jewish history, and the most remarkable for the changes which it brought about in the political geography of Palestine. The division of the land into tribes was now completely broken up, and was never again established. Many of the ancient nations which the Israelites had driven from their borders wholly or partially returned to their possessions. The Moabites reoccupied the Misior immediately after the first, captivity; and hence the burden of Moab, written by Isaiah (ch. 15, 16), and the terrible prophetic curse pronounced by Jeremiah (ch. 48), include that country which the Moabites originally possessed before the conquests of Sihon (Num 21:26-30), and which they reoccupied after the captivity of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, to whom Moses had allotted it. It appears also that the ancient tribes of Bashan regained their old territories, and re-established the old names Bashan, Argob, Flauran, Golan which were subsequently better known as the Greek provinces of Batuancea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Gaulonitis (Porter, Damascus, vol. 2). The Idumaeans or Edomites, having been driven out of their own mountain homes by the Nabathieans, established themselves along and within the borders of Southern Palestine, to which they gave the name Idumcea (q.v.). The neighboring nations and tribes also seem to have encroached upon the territories of the northern tribes of Israel; and a large Gentile element was then and afterwards introduced into Galilee, which produced important effects upon the subsequent history of the Jews in that province. SEE GALILEE:
Under the mild rule of Cyrus the captive Jews were permitted to return to their own land. Ezra and Nehemiah re-established the ancient worship and rebuilt the Temple; but, politically, the country remained a province of the Babylonian and Persian empires till the time of Alexander the Great, when it fell under Greek rule. On the death of Alexander the kingdom of the Seleucidae was established in Syria, an that of the Ptolemies in Egypt. Palestine became at first a part of the former; but the rival dynasty soon attacked and captured it, and it remained for more than half a century, nominally at least, under the rule of the Egyptian monarchs. Then war broke out between Syria and Egypt, and the maritime plain of Palestine became the battle-field. Aided by the Seleucidae, the Jews threw off the yoke of the Ptolemies (B.C. 198), and became subject to the former. During all these troubles the Jews had an ecclesiastical government of their own, the high-priest being chief. But when Antiochus Epiphanes ascended the throne of Syria, he captured Jerusalem, put thousands of the inhabitants to death, and attempted to abolish their worship. These acts of barbarity roused the spirit of the whole nation. The priestly family of the Maccabees (q.v.) headed a noble band of patriots, and after a long and heroic struggle succeeded in establishing the independence of their country. The Maccabees gradually extended their conquests over Samaria, Galilee, and a part of the country beyond Jordan. But internal dissensions and civil wars sprang up, and gave occasion for the interference of Rome; and Pompey invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem in the year B.C. 63. A heavy tribute was levied, but the people were still permitted to retain their own rulers. In the year B.C. 39 Herod the Great received the title of King of Judaea from the Roman emperor) and two years afterwards he succeeded in establishing himself on the throne. SEE HERODIAN FAMILY.
At his death Herod bequeathed his kingdom to his three sons, Archelaus; Antipas, and Philip; but the supreme authority was in the hands of the Roman prefect and procurators. In the N. T, and in the writings of Greek and Roman geographers of that age, Palestine is usually spoken of as divided into a number of provinces. Those on the west of the Jordan were Judaea on the south, Samaria in the centre, and Galilee on the north, and the latter was divided into Upper and Lower. The provinces east of the Jordan were Percea, embracing Gilead and the Mishor of Moab, and the four subdivisions of Bashan already mentioned Gaulonitis, Auranitis, Batanoea, and Trachonitis.
5. From the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time. On the establishment of Christianity in the Roman empire a new ecclesiastical division of Palestine appears to have been made, into Prima, Secunda, and Tertia; but the boundaries are not defined, the lists of their cities are confused, and the territory embraced extended far beyond Palestine proper (see Reland, p. 204-214).
After the Mohammedan conquest Palestine became a province of the empire of the Caliphs, and on the dismemberment of the empire this unhappy country was the theatre of fierce struggles between rival dynasties. About the middle of the 10th century the Fatimites seized it; and a century later it was overrun by the Seljukian Turks, whose cruelty to Christian pilgrims roused the nations of Western Europe to the first Crusad. Jerusalem was taken by the Franks in the year 1099, and Palestine was made a Christian kingdom. But the rule of the Crusaders was brief. Defeated by Saladin, they took refuge in a few of their strongholds. At length, in the year 1291, Acre was stormed by the Mameluke sultan of Egypt, and thus terminated the dominion, of the Crusaders in Palestine.
For more than two centuries after this period Palestine was the theatre of fierce contests between the shepherd hordes of Tartary and the Mamelukes of Egypt. In 1517 it was conquered by sultan Selim, and from that time till the present it has formed part of the Ottoman empire. SEE SYRIA.
6. Present Status. Palestine now forms part of two great pashalics: (1) Sidon, embracing the whole of Western Palestine; and (2) Damascus, embracing all east of the Jordan. That part of Palestine lying within the pashalic of Sidon is divided into the subpashalics of Jerusalem and Akka. The official residence of the pasha of Sidon is now in Beirut, and hence his province is sometimes called the Pashalic of Beirut. The pashas of Jerusalem and Akka are subject to the pasha of Sidon, whose province extends from Latikea on the north to Gaza on the south. The modern inhabitants, of Palestine are a mixed race, made up of the descendants of the ancient Syrians, and of the Arabs who came in with the armies of the Caliphs. The number of the latter being small, the mixture of blood did not visibly change the type. This is seen by a comparison of the Christians with the Mohammedans the former are of pure Syrian descent, while the latter are more or less mixed; yet there is no visible distinction, save that which dress makes. In addition to these there are a few Jews, Armenians, and Turks; all of whom are easily recognised as foreigners. The Druses who live in Hauran, and occupy a few villages in Galilee and on Carmel, are converts from Mohammedanism.
No census has been taken of the country, and the number of the inhabitants it is impossible to ascertain with any near approach to accuracy. One thing is manifest to every observer the greater part of the country is desolate. Jerusalem, its capital city, has but 20,000 inhabitants; and the only other places of any note are Gaza, Hebron, Joppa, Acre, Nablis, Beirut, and Damascus. Even villages are few, and separated by long reaches of desolate country. The following is the nearest approach which can now be made to the population of the country:
Pashalic of Jerusalem (Ritter, Pal. und Syr. iii, 833)602,000
Pashalic of Acre (Robinson, 3, 628)72,000
Remaining part of the pashalic of Sidon, in Palestine (estimate)50,000
Eastern Palestine (estimate)200,000
Total924,000
Of these about 80,000 are Christians, 12,000 Jews, and the rest Mohammedans. The following general observations are by Dr. Olin (Travels, 2, 438, 439): The inhabitants of Palestine are Arabs; that is, they speak the Arabic, though, with slight exceptions, they are probably all descendants of the old inhabitants of Syria. They are a fine, spirited race of men, and have given Mohammed Ali much trouble in subduing them, and still more in retaining them in subjection. They are said to be industrious for Orientals, and to have the right elements for becoming, under better auspices, a civilized, intellectual nation. I believe, however, it will be found impracticable to raise any people to a respectable social and moral state under a Turkish or Egyptian, or any other Mohammedan government. The inherent vices of the religious system enter, and, from their unavoidable connections, must enter so deeply into the political administration, that any reform in government or improvement in the people beyond temporary alleviations of evils too pressing to be endured, cannot reasonably be expected. The Turks and Syrians are about at the maximum of the civilization possible to Mohammedans of the present time. The mercantile class is said to be little respected and generally to lack integrity. Veracity is held very lightly by all classes. The people are commonly temperate and frugal, which may be denominated Oriental virtues. Their situation, with regard to the physical means of comfort and subsistence, is, in many respects, favorable, and under a tolerable government would be almost unequalled. As it is, the Syrian peasant and his family fare much better than the laboring classes of Europe. The mildness of the climate, the abundance of land and its fertility, with the free and luxuriant pasturage that covers the mountains and the plains, render it nearly impossible that the peasant should not be well supplied with bread, fruit, meat, and milk. The people almost always appear well clothed. Their houses, too, though often of a slight construction and mean appearance, must be pronounced commodious when compared with the dark, crowded apartments usually occupied by the corresponding classes in Europe. Agricultural wages vary a good deal in different parts of the country, but I had reason to conclude that the average was not less than three or four piastres per day. With all these advantages population is on the decline, arising from polygamy, military conscription, unequal and oppressive taxation, forced labor, general insecurity of property, the discouragement of industry, and the plague.
IX. Authorities. The list of works on the Holy Land is of prodigious extent. Of course every traveller sees some things which none of his predecessors saw, and therefore none should be neglected by the student anxious thoroughly to investigate the nature and customs of the Holy Land. A select list has already been presented in the article SEE GEOGRAPHY, to which the student is referred; and fuller catalogues may be seen in the works of Ritter, Robinson, Van de Velde, and Bonar, An almost exhaustive list, accompanied by critical notices, is given by Tobler (Bibliographia Geographica Palestine, in German, Leips. 1867), with a supplement on the earlier works from A.D. 333 to 1000 (in Latin, Dresd. 1875). The most important of these and of later ones we note below.
(1.) Josephus is invaluable, both for its own sake and as an accompaniment and elucidation of the Bible narrative. Josephus had a very intimate knowledge of the country. He possessed both the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint, and knew them well; and there are many places in his works which show that he knew how to compare the various books together, and combine their scattered notices into one narrative, in a manner more like the processes of modern criticism than of ancient record. He possessed also the works of several ancient historians. who survive only through the fragments he has preserved. It is evident that he had in addition other nameless sources of information now lost to us, which often supplement the Scripture history in a very important manner. These and other things in the writings of Josephus have yet to be investigated. Two tracts by Tuch (Qucestiones de F. Josephi libris, etc., Leips. 1859), of geographical points, are worth attention.
(2.) The Onomasticon (usually so called) of Eusebins and Jerome, a tract of Eusebius ( 340), concerning the names of places in the sacred Scriptures; translated, freely and with many additions, by Jerome (t 420); and’ included in his works as Liber de Situ et Nominibus Locorum Hebraicorum. The original arrangement is according to the books of Scripture, but it was thrown into one general alphabetical order by Bonfrere (1631, etc.), and finally edited by J. Clericus (Amst. 1707, etc.). This tract contains notices (often very valuable, often absolutely absurd) of the situation of many ancient places of Palestine, so far as they were known to the two men who in their day were probably best acquainted with the subject. In connection with it, see Jerome’s Ep. ad’ Eustochium de Virginitate an itinerary through a large part of the Holy Land. Others of Jerome’s Epistles, and his Commentaries, are full of information about the country.
(3.) The most important of the early travellers from Arculf (A.D. 700) to Maundrell (1697) are contained in Early Travels in Palestine, a volume published by Bohn. The shape is convenient, but the translation is not always to be implicitly relied on.
(4.) Reland, Paloestina ex Monumentis Veteribus IIlustrata (1714). This is still the best work on the ancient geography of Palestine. It is in three books: I, the country; 2, the distances; 3, the places; with maps (excellent for their date), prints of coins, and inscriptions. Reland exhausts all the information obtainable on his subject down to his own date (he often quotes Maundrell, published in 1703). His learning is immense; he is extremely accurate, always ingenious, and not wanting in humor. But honesty and strong sound sense are his characteristics. He has combined and classified his materials with great ability.
(5.) Benjamin of Tudela, Travels (in Europe, Asia, and Africa) from 1160- 73. The best edition is that of A. Asher (1840-1), 2 vols. The part relating to Palestine is contained in p. 61-87. The editor’s notes contain some curious information; but their most valuable part (ii, 397-445) is a translation of extracts from the work of Esthori ben-Mosehap-Parchi on Palestine (A.D. 1314-22). The originalwork, Kaphtor va-Pherach, knop and flower, has been reprinted, in Hebrew, by Edelmann (Berlin, 1852). Other Itineraries of Jews have been translated and published by Carmoly (Brux. 1847), but they are of less value than the two already named.
(6.) Abulfeda. The chief Moslem accounts of the Holy Land are those of Edrisi (cir. 1150) and Abulfeda (cir. 1300), and translated under the titles of Tabula Syrice and Descr. Arabice. Extracts from these and from the great work of Yakut are given by Schultens in an Index. Geographicus appended to his edition of Bohaeddin’s Life of Saladin (1755, fol.). Yakut has yet to be explored, and no doubt he contains a mass of valuable information.
(7.) Quaresmius, Terree Sancte Elucidatio, etc. (Ant. 1639, 2 vols. fol.), the work of a Latin monk who lived in the Holy Land for more than twelve years, and rose to be principal and commissary apostolic of the country. It is divided into eight books: the first three, general dissertations; the remainder, peregrinations through the Holy Land, with historical accounts and identifications (often incorrect), and elaborate accounts of the Latin traditions attached to each spot, and of the ecclesiastical establishments, military orders, etc., of the time. It has a copious index. Similar information is given by the abbe Mislin (Les Saints Lieux. Paris, 1858, 3 vols. 8vo), but with less elaboration than Quaresmius, and in too hostile a vein towards Lamartine and other travellers.
(8.) The great burst of modern travel in the Holy Land began with Seetzen, who resided in Palestine from 1805 to 1807, during which time he travelled on both the east and the west of Jordan. He was the first to visit the Hauran, the Ghor, and the mountains of Ajlun: he travelled completely round the Dead Sea, besides exploring the east side a second time. As an experienced man of science, Seetzen was commissioned to collect antiquities and natural objects for the Oriental Museum at Gotha; and his diaries contain inscriptions, notices of flora and fauna, etc. The’ have been published in three volumes, with a fourth volume of notes (but without an index), by Kruse (Berlin, 1854-59). The Palestine journeys are contained in vols. 1 and 2. His letters, founded on these diaries, and giving their results, are in Zach’s Monatl. Corresp. vols. 17, 18, 26, 27.
(9.) Burckhardt, Travels in Syria and the Holy Land (1822, 4to). With the exception of an excursion of twelve days to Safed and Nazareth, Burckhardt’s journeys south of Damascus were confined to the east of the Jordan. These regions he explored and described more completely than Seetzen, or any traveller till Wetstein (1861), and even their researches do not extend over so wide an area. Burckhardt made two tours in the Hauran, in one of which he penetrated first of Europeans into the mysterious Lejah. The southern portions of the transjordanic, country he traversed in, his journey from Damascus to Petra and Sinai. The fulness of the notes which he contrived to keep under the very difficult circumstances in which he travelled is astonishing. They contain a multitude of inscriptions, long catalogues of names, plans of sites, etc. The strength of his memory is shown not only by these notes, but by his constant references to books, from which he was completely cut off. His diaries are interspersed with lengthened accounts of the various districts, and the manners and customs, commerce, etc., of their inhabitants. Burckhardt’s accuracy is universally praised; no doubt justly. But it should be remembered that on the east of Jordan no means of testing him as yet exist; while in other places his descriptions have been found imperfect or at variance with facts. The volume contains an excellent preface by Col. Leake, but is very defective from the want of an index. This is partially supplied in the German translation (Weimar, 1823-4, 2 vols. 8vo), which has the advantage of having been edited and annotated by Gesenius.
(10.) Irby and Mangles, Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria and the Holy Land (in 1817-18). This is hardly worth special notice except for the portions which relate their route on the east of Jordan, especially about Kerak and the country of Moab and Ammon, which are very well told, and with an air of simple faithfulness. These portions are contained in. ch. 6 and 8. The work is published in the Home and Col. Library, 1847.
(11.) Robinson, (a) Biblical Researches in Palestine, etc., in 1838: 1st ed. 1841, 3 vols. 8vo; 2d ed. 1856, 2 vols. 8vo. (b) Later Bib. Res. i 1852,1856, 8vo. Dr. Robinson’s is the most important work on the Holy Land since Reland’s. His knowledge of the subject and its literature was very great, his common-sense excellent, his qualifications as an investigator and a describer remarkable. He had the rare advantage of being accompanied on both occasions by Dr. Eli Smith, long resident in Syria, and perfectly versed in both classical and vernacular Arabic. Thus he was enabled to identify a host of ancient sites, which are mostly discussed at great length, and with full references to the authorities. The drawbacks to his work are a want of knowledge of architectural art and a certain dogmatism, which occasionally passes into contempt for those who differ with him. He too uniformly disregards tradition, an extreme nearly as bad as its opposite in a country like the East. The first edition has a most valuable appendix, containing lists of the Arabic names of modern places in the country, which in the second edition are omitted.
Both series are furnished with indexes, but those of geography and antiquities might be extended with advantage. Dr. Robinson’s latest contribution to Biblical geography appeared after his death, Phys. Geog. of the Holy Land (Bost. 1865).
(12.) Ritter, Palistina und Syrien, embracing part of his great Erdkunde. 1848-55. These six volumes relate to the peninsula of Sinai, the Holy Land, and Syria, and form together Band viii. They may be conveniently designated by the following names, which the writer has adopted in his other articles:
1, Sinai;
2, Jordan;
3, Syria (Index);
4, Palestine;
5, Lebanon;
6, Damascus (Index).
Ritter has to some extent followed the plan of Reland. He has collected with wonderful labor and patience nearly everything that has been written upon Palestine in book, article, or missionary letter down to his own time. The work is often confused, and the statements contradictory; and the learned writer, not having himself visited the country, cannot always separate fact from fancy in those he quotes. This portion of Ritter’s work has been translated, with some condensation and addition, by Wo L. Gage (N. Y. 1866, 4 vols. 8vo).
(13.) Wilson, The Lands of the Bible Visited, etc. (1847, 2 vols. 8vo). Dr. Wilson traversed the Holy Land twice, but without going out of the usual routes. He paid much attention to the topography, and keeps a constant eye on his predecessor, Dr. Robinson. His book cannot be neglected with safety by any student of the country; but it is chiefly valuable for its careful and detailed accounts of the religious bodies of the East, especially the Jews and Samaritans. His Indian labors having accustomed him to Arabic, he was, able to converse freely with all the people he met, and his inquiries were generally made in the direction just named. His notice of the Samaritans is unusually full and accurate, and illustrated by copies and translations of documents, and information not elsewhere given.
(14.) Schwarz, A Descriptive Geography, etc., of Palestine (Philad. 1850, 8vo). This is a translation of a work originally published in Hebrew (Sepher Tebuoth, Jerusalem, 5605, A.D. 1845) by rabbi Joseph Schwarz. Taking as his basis the catalogues of Joshua, Chronicles, etc., and the numerous topographical notices of the Rabbinical books, he proceeds systematically through the country, suggesting identifications, and often giving curious and valuable information. The American translation is almost useless for want of an index. This is in a measure supplied in the German version, Das heilige Land, etc. (Frankfurt A. M. 1852).
(15.) De Saulcy, Vogage antour de la Mer Morte, etc. (1853, 2 vols. 8vo, with Atlas of Maps and Plates, and Lists of Plants and Insects), interesting rather from the unusual route taken by the author, the boldness of his theories, and the atlas of admirably engraved maps and plates which accompanies the text, than for its own merits. Like many French works, it has no index translated: Narrative of a Journey, etc. (1854, 2 vols. 8vo). See The Dead Sea, by the Rev. A. A. Isaacs (1857). Also a valuable letter by A Pilgrim, in the Athenaeum, Sept. 9, 1854. Of a more critical character are his Voyage en-Terre. Sainte (Paris, 1865), and Derniers Jours de Jerusalem (ibid. 1866).
(16.) Lynch, Official Report of the United States Expedition to Explore the Dead Sea and the Jordan. (Baltimore, 1852, 4to), contains the daily record of the expedition, and separate reports on the ornithology, botany, and geology. An unofficial Narrative had been published at Philadelphia in 1844; 2d ed. 1853. This contains the fullest account yet published of the River Jordan and its valley, and of the Dead Sea.
(17.) Stanley, Sinai and Palestine in Connection with their History (Lond. 1853; reprinted N. Y.). This is deservedly one of the most popular works on Palestine. Its author is an accomplished scholar and a graceful writer. But his great object seems to have been not so much to make fresh discoveries, as to apply those already made, especially the surface of the country and the peculiarities of the scenery, to the elucidation of history. He has more imagination than Robinson, but his pictures, though clear and beautiful, are frequently overdrawn. He labors too much after minute details; and in his attempts to make each picture perfect he is sometimes obliged to peril, and even to sacrifice, strict truthfulness. His peculiar views on prophecy also occasionally manifest themselves, and do not accord well with his own observations. The chief value of the book consists in the skill and vividness with which many of the leading events of Bible history are grouped upon their old scenies. The work contains an appendix on the topographical terms of the Bible, of importance to students of. the English version of the Scriptures. See also a paper on Sacred Geography by Prof. Stanley in the Quarterly Review, No. 188.
(18.) Tobler, Bethlehem (1849), Topographie von Jerusalems u. seinen Umgebungen (1854). These works are models of patient industry and research. They contain everything that has been said by everybody on the subject, and are truly valuable storehouses for those who are unable to refer to the originals. His Dritte Wanderung (1859) describes a district but little known, viz. part of Philistia and the country between Hebron and Ramleh, and thus possesses, in addition to the merits above named, that of novelty. It contains a sketch map of the latter district, which corrects former maps in some important points. His fourth journey is described in his Nazareth u. Palestina (1860).
(19.) Van de Velde, Syria and Palestine (1854, 2 vols. 8vo), contains the narrative of the author’s journeys while engaged in preparing his large Map of the Holy Land (1858). Van de Velde’s Memoir (1858, 8vo) gives elevations, latitudes, longitudes, routes, and much very excellent information. His Pays d’Israel contains 100 colored lithographs from original sketches, accurately and admirably executed, and many of the views are unique. Of more recent works the following may be noticed: Porter, Five Years in Damascus, the Hauran, etc. (Lond. 1855, 2 vols. 8vo); Handbook for Syria and Palestine (last ed. Lond. 1875); Bonar, The Land of Promise (Lond. 1858); Thomson, The Land and the Book (N.Y. 1859, 2 vols. 8vo), the fruit of twenty-five years’ residence in the Holy Land, by a shrewd and intelligent observer; Wetstein, Reisebericht Uber Hauran und die beiden Trachonen (Berlin, 1860, with wood-cuts, a plate of inscriptions, and a map of the district by Kiepert), the first attempt at a real exploration of those extraordinary regions east of the Jordan, which were partially visited by Burckhardt, and recently by Cyril Graham (Cambridge Essays, 1858; Trans. R. S. Lit. 1860, etc.); Drew, Scripture Lands in Connection with their History (Lond. 1860); Tristram, Land of Israel (Lond. 1865); Manning, Those Holy Fields (Lond. 1874); Ridgaway, The Lord’s Land (N.Y. 1876).
Two works by ladies claim especial notice.
[1.] Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines, by Miss E. A. Beaufort (1861, 2 vols. 8vo). The second volume contains the record of six months’ travel and residence in the Holy Land, and is full of keen and delicate observation caught with the eye of an artist, and characteristically recorded.
[2.] Domestic Life in Palestine, by Miss Rogers (Lond. 1862), is what its name purports, an account of a visit of several years to the Holy Land, during which, owing to her brothers position, the author had opportunities of seeing at leisure the interiors of many unsophisticated Arab and Jewish households, in places out of the ordinary track, such as few Englishwomen ever before enjoyed, and certainly none have recorded. These she has described with great skill and fidelity, and with an abstinence from descriptions of matters out of her proper path or at second-hand, which is truly admirable.
It still remains, however, for some one to do for Syria what Mr. Lane has so faithfully accomplished for Egypt, the. more to be desired because the time is fast passing and Syria is becoming every day more leavened by the West.
Views. Two extensive collections of Views of the Holy Land exist those of Bartlett and of Roberts. Pictorially beautiful as these plates are, they are not so useful to the student as the very accurate views of William Tipping, Esq., published in Traill’s Josephus. There are some instructive views taken from photographs in the last edition of Keith’s Land of Israel. Photographs have been published by Frith (London), Robertson (Cairo), Bonfils, (Beirit), Bergheim (Jerusalem), Martin (Lond.), the English and American Exploration societies, the editor of this Cyclopcedia, and others.
Maps. Mr. Van de Velde’s map has superseded all its predecessors; but much still remains to be done in districts out of the track usually pursued by travellers. On the east of Jordan, Kiepert’s map (in Wetstein’s Hauran) is as yet the only trustworthy document, the substance of which is embraced in his new Wandkdarte (Berl. 1875). Osborn and Coleman’s large wall-map of Palestine (last ed. Phila. 1876) is good for bold relief, but lacking in details. The surveys of the British and American engineers are yet incomplete, and the results will not be published, in all probability, for some time to come. Of Atlases, Menke’s Bibel-Atlas (Gotha, 1868) is the best for ancient details; Clark’s Bible Atlas (Lond. 1868) for popular use, and Smith and Grove’s two sheets in Murray’s Class. and Bibl. Atlas for modern particulars. A carefully drawn and distinctively colored series of maps, designed either for general or minute use, and embracing in great detail Lower Egypt, the Sinaitic Peninsula, and Palestine, with the latest and most authentic researches on both the ancient and the modern topography, by the editor of this Cyclopoedia and Mr. C, D. Ward, C. E., who accompanied him on his late tour, is embodied in this and the following volumes.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Palestine
originally denoted only the sea-coast of the land of Canaan inhabited by the Philistines (Ex. 15:14; Isa. 14:29, 31; Joel 3:4), and in this sense exclusively the Hebrew name Pelesheth (rendered “Philistia” in Ps. 60:8; 83:7; 87:4; 108:9) occurs in the Old Testament.
Not till a late period in Jewish history was this name used to denote “the land of the Hebrews” in general (Gen. 40:15). It is also called “the holy land” (Zech. 2:12), the “land of Jehovah” (Hos. 9:3; Ps. 85:1), the “land of promise” (Heb. 11:9), because promised to Abraham (Gen. 12:7; 24:7), the “land of Canaan” (Gen. 12:5), the “land of Israel” (1 Sam. 13:19), and the “land of Judah” (Isa. 19:17).
The territory promised as an inheritance to the See d of Abraham (Gen. 15:18-21; Num. 34:1-12) was bounded on the east by the river Euphrates, on the west by the Mediterranean, on the north by the “entrance of Hamath,” and on the south by the “river of Egypt.” This extent of territory, about 60,000 square miles, was at length conquered by David, and was ruled over also by his son Solomon (2 Sam. 8; 1 Chr. 18; 1 Kings 4:1, 21). This vast empire was the Promised Land; but Palestine was only a part of it, terminating in the north at the southern extremity of the Lebanon range, and in the south in the wilderness of Paran, thus extending in all to about 144 miles in length. Its average breadth was about 60 miles from the Mediterranean on the west to beyond the Jordan. It has fittingly been designated “the least of all lands.” Western Palestine, on the south of Gaza, is only about 40 miles in breadth from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea, narrowing gradually toward the north, where it is only 20 miles from the sea-coast to the Jordan.
Palestine, “set in the midst” (Ezek. 5:5) of all other lands, is the most remarkable country on the face of the earth. No single country of such an extent has so great a variety of climate, and hence also of plant and animal life. Moses describes it as “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt not eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass” (Deut. 8:7-9).
“In the time of Christ the country looked, in all probability, much as now. The whole land consists of rounded limestone hills, fretted into countless stony valleys, offering but rarely level tracts, of which Esdraelon alone, below Nazareth, is large enough to be See n on the map. The original woods had for ages disappeared, though the slopes were dotted, as now, with figs, olives, and other fruit-trees where there was any soil. Permanent streams were even then unknown, the passing rush of winter torrents being all that was See n among the hills. The autumn and spring rains, caught in deep cisterns hewn out like huge underground jars in the soft limestone, with artificial mud-banked ponds still found near all villages, furnished water. Hills now bare, or at best rough with stunted growth, were then terraced, so as to grow vines, olives, and grain. To-day almost desolate, the country then teemed with population. Wine-presses cut in the rocks, endless terraces, and the ruins of old vineyard towers are now found amidst solitudes overgrown for ages with thorns and thistles, or with wild shrubs and poor gnarled scrub” (Geikie’s Life of Christ).
From an early period the land was inhabited by the descendants of Canaan, who retained possession of the whole land “from Sidon to Gaza” till the time of the conquest by Joshua, when it was occupied by the twelve tribes. Two tribes and a half had their allotments given them by Moses on the east of the Jordan (Deut. 3:12-20; comp. Num. 1:17-46; Josh. 4:12-13). The remaining tribes had their portion on the west of Jordan.
From the conquest till the time of Saul, about four hundred years, the people were governed by judges. For a period of one hundred and twenty years the kingdom retained its unity while it was ruled by Saul and David and Solomon. On the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam ascended the throne; but his conduct was such that ten of the tribes revolted, and formed an independent monarchy, called the kingdom of Israel, or the northern kingdom, the capital of which was first Shechem and afterwards Samaria. This kingdom was destroyed. The Israelites were carried captive by Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, B.C. 722, after an independent existence of two hundred and fifty-three years. The place of the captives carried away was supplied by tribes brought from the east, and thus was formed the Samaritan nation (2 Kings 17:24-29).
Nebuchadnezzar came up against the kingdom of the two tribes, the kingdom of Judah, the capital of which was Jerusalem, one hundred and thirty-four years after the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel. He overthrew the city, plundered the temple, and carried the people into captivity to Babylon (B.C. 587), where they remained seventy years. At the close of the period of the Captivity, they returned to their own land, under the edict of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-4). They rebuilt the city and temple, and restored the old Jewish commonwealth.
For a while after the Restoration the Jews were ruled by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and afterwards by the high priests, assisted by the Sanhedrin. After the death of Alexander the Great at Babylon (B.C. 323), his vast empire was divided between his four generals. Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Coele-Syria fell to the lot of Ptolemy Lagus. Ptolemy took possession of Palestine in B.C. 320, and carried nearly one hundred thousand of the inhabitants of Jerusalem into Egypt. He made Alexandria the capital of his kingdom, and treated the Jews with consideration, confirming them in the enjoyment of many privileges.
After suffering persecution at the hands of Ptolemy’s successors, the Jews threw off the Egyptian yoke, and became subject to Antiochus the Great, the king of Syria. The cruelty and opression of the successors of Antiochus at length led to the revolt under the Maccabees (B.C. 163), when they threw off the Syrian yoke.
In the year B.C. 68, Palestine was reduced by Pompey the Great to a Roman province. He laid the walls of the city in ruins, and massacred some twelve thousand of the inhabitants. He left the temple, however, unijured. About twenty-five years after this the Jews revolted and cast off the Roman yoke. They were however, subdued by Herod the Great (q.v.). The city and the temple were destroyed, and many of the inhabitants were put to death. About B.C. 20, Herod proceeded to rebuild the city and restore the ruined temple, which in about nine years and a half was so far completed that the sacred services could be resumed in it (comp. John 2:20). He was succeeded by his son Archelaus, who was deprived of his power, however, by Augustus, A.D. 6, when Palestine became a Roman province, ruled by Roman governors or procurators. Pontius Pilate was the fifth of these procurators. He was appointed to his office A.D. 25.
Exclusive of Idumea, the kingdom of Herod the Great comprehended the whole of the country originally divided among the twelve tribes, which he divided into four provinces or districts. This division was recognized so long as Palestine was under the Roman dominion. These four provinces were, (1) Judea, the southern portion of the country; (2) Samaria, the middle province, the northern boundary of which ran along the hills to the south of the plain of Esdraelon; (3) Galilee, the northern province; and (4) Peraea (a Greek name meaning the “opposite country”), the country lying east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. This province was subdivided into these districts, (1) Peraea proper, lying between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok; (2) Galaaditis (Gilead); (3) Batanaea; (4) Gaulonitis (Jaulan); (5) Ituraea or Auranitis, the ancient Bashan; (6) Trachonitis; (7) Abilene; (8) Decapolis, i.e., the region of the ten cities. The whole territory of Palestine, including the portions alloted to the trans-Jordan tribes, extended to about eleven thousand square miles. Recent exploration has shown the territory on the west of Jordan alone to be six thousand square miles in extent, the size of the principality of Wales.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Palestine
Peleshet. Four times in KJV, found always in poetry (Exo 15:34; Isa 14:29; Isa 14:31; Joe 3:4); same as Philistia (Psa 60:8; Psa 87:4; Psa 83:7 “the Philistines”.) The long strip of seacoast plain held by the Philistines. The Assyrian king Ivalush’s inscription distinguishes “Palaztu on the western sea” from Tyre, Samaria, etc. (Rawlinson, Herodotus 1:467.) So in the Egyptian Karnak inscriptions Pulusata is deciphered. The Scriptures never use it as we do, of the whole Holy Land. (See CANAAN for the physical divisions, etc.) “The land of the Hebrew” Joseph calls it, because of Abraham’s, Isaac’s, and Jacob’s settlements at Mamre, Hebron, and Shechem (Gen 40:15). “the land of the Hittites” (Jos 1:4); so Chita or Cheta means the whole of lower and middle Syria in the Egyptian records of Rameses II. In his inscriptions, and those of Thothmes III, Tu-netz, “Holy Land,” occurs, whether meaning “Phoenicia” or “Palestine”. In Hos 9:3 “land of Jehovah,” compare Lev 25:23; Isa 62:4.
“The holy land,” Zec 2:12; Zec 7:14, “land of desire”; Dan 8:9. “the pleasant land”; Dan 11:16; Dan 11:41, “the glorious (or goodly) land”; Eze 20:6; Eze 20:15, “a land that I had espied for them flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.” God’s choice of it as peculiarly His own was its special glory (Psa 132:13; Psa 48:2; Jer 3:19 margin “a good land, a land of brooks of water (wadies often now dry, but a few perennial), of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills (the deep blue pools, the sources of streams), a land of wheat, barley, vines, figtrees, pomegranates, oil olive, honey (dibs, the syrup prepared from the grape lees, a common food now) … wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass” (Deu 8:7-9). “The land of the Amorite” (Amo 2:10).
“The land of Israel” in the larger sense (1Sa 13:19); in the narrower sense of the northern kingdom it occurs 2Ch 30:25. After the return from Babylon “Judaea” was applied to the whole country S. and N., and E. beyond Jordan (Mat 19:1). “The land of promise” (Heb 11:9). “Judaea” in the Roman sense was part of the province “Syria,” which comprised the seaboard from the bay of Issus to Egypt, and meant the country from Idumea on the S. to the territories of the free cities on the N. and W., Scythopolis, Sebaste, Joppa, Azotus, etc. The land E. of Jordan between it and the desert, except the territory of the free cities Poilu, Gadara, Philadelphia, was “Perea.” From Dan (Banias) in the far N. to Beersheba on the S. is 139 English miles, two degrees or 120 geographical miles. The breadth at Gaza from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea is 48 geographical miles; at the Litany, from the coast to Jordan is 20 miles; the average is 34 geographical or 40 English miles. About the size of Wales. The length of country under dominion in Solomon’s days was probably 170 miles, the breadth 90, the area 12,000 or 13,000 square miles.
The population, anciently from three to six millions, is now under one million. The Jordan valley with its deep depression separates it from the Moab and Gilead highlands. Lebanon, Antilebanon, and the Litany ravine at their feet form the northern bound. On the S. the dry desert of Paran and “the river of Egypt” bound it. On the western verge of Asia, and severed from the main body of Asia by the desert between Palestine and the regions of Mesopotamia and Arabia, it looks on the other side to the Mediterranean and western world, which it was destined by Providence so powerfully to affect; oriental and reflective, yet free from the stagnant and retrogressive tendencies of Asia, it bore the precious spiritual treasure of which it was the repository to the energetic and progressive W. It consists mainly of undulating highlands, bordered E. and W. by a broad belt of deep sunk lowland.
The three main features, plains, hills, and torrent beds, are specified (Num 13:29; Jos 11:16; Jos 12:8). Mount Carmel, rising to the height of above 1,700 ft., crosses the maritime plain half way up the coast with a long ridge from the central chain, and juts out into the Mediterranean as a bold headland. The plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon on its northern side, separating the Ephraim mountains from those of Galilee, and stretching across from the Mediterranean to the Jordan valley, was the great battlefield of Palestine. Galilee is the northern portion, Samaria the middle, Judaea the southern. The long purple wall of Gilead and Moab’s hills on the eastern side is everywhere to be seen. The bright light and transparent air enable one from the top of Tabor, Gerizim or Bethel at once to see Moab on the E. and the Mediterranean on the W. On a line E. of the axis of the country and running N. and S. lie certain elevations: Hebron 3,029 ft. above the sea; Jerusalem, 2,610; Olivet, 2,724; Neby Samwil on the N., 2,650; Bethel, 2,400; Ebal and Gerizim, 2,700; Little Hermon and Tabor, N. of the Esdraelon plain, 1,900.
The watershed sends off the drainage of the country in streams running W. to the Mediterranean and E. to the Jordan, except at the Esdraelon plain and the far N. where the drainage is to the Litany. Had the Jews been military in character, they would easily have prevented their conquerors from advancing up the precipitous defiles from the E., the only entrances to the central highlands of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, from the Jordan valley; as Engedi (2Ch 20:1-2; 2Ch 20:16) and Adummim, the route between Jericho and Jerusalem by which Pompey advanced when he took the capital. The slope from the western valleys is more gradual, as the level of the plain is higher, and the distance up the hills longer, than from the eastern Jordan depression; still the passes would be formidable for any army with baggage to pass. From Jaffa up to Jerusalem there are two roads: the one to the right by Ramleh and the wady Aly; the other the historic one by Lydda and the Bethorons, or the wady Suleiman, and Gibeon.
By this Joshua drove the Canaanites to the plains; the Philistines went up to Michmash, and fled back past Ajalon. The rival empires, Egypt and Babylon-Assyria, could march against one another only along the maritime western plain of Palestine and the Lebanon plain leading toward and from the Euphrates. Thus Rameses II marched against the Chitti or Hittites in northern Syria, and Pharaoh Necho fought at Mefiddo in the Esdraelon plain, the battlefield of Palestine; they did not meddle with the central highlands, “The S. country” being near the desert, destitute of trees, and away from the mountain streams, is drier than the N., where springs abound. (See PHARAOH NECHO; MEGIDDO.) The region below Hebron between the hills and the desert is called the Negeb (the later Daroma) from its dryness. Hence Caleb’s daughter, having her portion in it, begged from him springs, i.e. land having springs (Jdg 1:15). The “upper and lower springs” spring from the hard formation in the N.W. corner of the Negeb (Jos 15:19); here too Nabal lived, so reluctant to give “his water” (1Sa 25:11).
The verdure and blaze of scarlet flowers which cover the highlands of Judah and Benjamin in spring, while streams pour down the ravines, give place to dreary barrenness in the summit. Rounded low hills, with coarse gray stone, clumps of oak bushes, and the remains of ancient terraces running round them, meet one on each side, or else the terraces are reconstructed and bear olives and figs, and vineyards are surrounded by rough walls with watchtowers. Large oak roots are all that attest the former existence of trees along the road between Bethlehem and Hebron. Corn or dourra fills many of the valleys, and the stalks left until the ensuing seedtime give a dry neglected look to the scene. More vegetation appears in the W. and N.W. The wady es Sumt is named from its acacias. Olives, terebinths, pines, and laurels here and ten miles to the N. at Kirjath Jearim (“city of forests”) give a wooded aspect to the scenery.
The tract, nine miles wide and 35 long, between the center and the sudden descent to the Dead Sea, is desolate at all seasons, a series of hills without vegetation, water, and almost life, with no ruins save Masada and one or two watchtowers. (On the caves, see CAVES.) No provision is made in the S. for preserving the water of the heavy winter and spring rains, as in Malta and Bermuda. The valley of Urtas, S. of Bethlehem, abounding in springs, and the pools of Solomon, are exceptions to the general dryness of the S. The ruins on every hill, the remains of ancient terraces which kept the soil up from being washed into the valleys, and the forests that once were in many parts of Judea until invasions and bad government cleared them away, and which preserved the moistness in the wadies, confirm the truth of the Bible account of the large population once maintained in Judah and Benjamin. The springs and vegetation as one advances N. toward Mount Ephraim especially strike the eye. (See FOUNTAINS; EN HAKKORE; GIHON; ENGEDI; HAROD; ENGANNIM; ENDOR; JEZREEL.)
Such springs as Ain Jalud or Rasel Mukatta, welling forth as a considerable stream from the limestone, or Tel el Kady forming a deep clear pool issuing from a woody mound, or Banias where a river issues roaring from its cave, or Jenin bubbling from the level ground, are sights striking by their rarity. Mount Ephraim (jebel Nablus) contains some of the most productive land in Palestine. Fine streams, with oleanders and other flowering trees on their banks, run through the valleys which are often well cultivated. N.W. of Nablus is the large, rich, grain abounding, and partly wooded district toward Carmel, which reaches to where the mountains slope down to Sharon plain under Mount Carmel. Extensive woods there are none, and the olives which are found everywhere but little improve the landscape. This absence of woods elsewhere makes their presence on Carmel’s sides, and parklike slopes, the more striking. N. of Esdraelon the Galilee hills abound in timber, the land round Tabor is clad in dark oak, forming a contrast to jebel ed Duhy (Little Hermon) and Nazareth’s white hills.
Oaks, terebinths, maples, arbutus, sumach, etc., cover the ravines and slopes of the numerous swelling hills, and supply the timber carried to Tyre for export as fuel to the seacoast towns. The hills throughout Palestine are crowned with remains of fenced cities, scarcely a town existed in the valleys. Inaccessibility was their object, for security; also the treacherous nature of the alluvial sand made the lower position unsafe in times of torrent floods from the hills, whereas the rock afforded a firm foundation (Mat 7:24-27). Unlike ordinary conquests, the Israelite conquerors took the hills, but the conquered Canaanites kept the plains where their chariots could maneuver (Jdg 1:19-35). Appropriately a highland coloring tinges their literature (Psa 72:3; Psa 72:16; Isa 2:2; Eze 36:1,; 1Ki 20:28). The hills were the sites also of the forbidden “high places.” The panoramic views from many hills, trodden by patriarchs, prophets, and heroes, as Olivet, Bethel, Gerizim, Carmel, Tabor, etc., are remarkable for their wide extent, comprising so many places of historic interest at once, owing to the clearness of the air.
The seacoast lowland between the hills and sea stretches from El Arish (“river of Egypt”) to Carmel. The lower half, Philistia, is wider; the upper, or Sharon, narrower. This region from the sea looks a low undulating strip of white sand. Attached to the plain is the shephelah or “region of lower hills” intermediate between the plain and the mountains of Judah. Low calcareous hills, covered with villages and ruins, and largely planted with olives, rise above broad arable valleys. Olive, sycamore, and palm encircle Gaza and Ashdod in the plain along the shore. The soil is fertile brown loam, almost without a stone. Brick made of the loam and stubble being the material of the houses, these have been washed away by rains, so that the ancient villages have left few traces. The plain is one vast grainfield, produced without manure, save that supplied by the deposits washed down by the streams from the hills, without irrigation, and with only the simplest agriculture. Sharon is ten miles wide from the sea to the mountain base; there are no intermediate hills, as the shephelah in Philistia.
Its undulations are crossed by perennial streams from the central hills, which instead of spreading into marshes, as now, might be utilized for irrigation. The ancient irrigatory system, with passes cut through the solid wall of cliff near the sea for drainage, is choked up. The rich soil varies from red to black, and on the borders of the marshes and streams are rank meadows where herds still feed, as in David’s days (1Ch 27:29). The white sand is encroaching on the coast. In the N. between Jaffa and Caesarea sand dunes are reported to exist, three miles wide, 300 ft. high. The Jews, though this region with its towns was assigned to them (Jos 15:45-47; Jos 13:3-6; Jos 16:3 Gezer, Jos 17:11 Dor), never permanently occupied it. The Philistines kept their five cities independent of, and sometimes supreme over, Israel (1 Samuel 5; 1Sa 21:10; 1Sa 27:2; 1Ki 2:39; 2Ki 8:2-3).
The Canaanites held Dor (Jdg 1:27) and Gezer until Pharaoh took it and gave it to his daughter, Solomon’s wife (1Ki 9:16). Lod (Lydda) and Ono were in Benjamin’s possession toward the end of the monarchy and after the return from Babylon (Neh 11:34; 2Ch 28:18). Gaza and Askelon had regular ports (majumas, Kenrick, Phoen. 27-29). Ashdod was strong enough to withstand the whole Egyptian force for 29 years. Under Rome Caesarea, (now a ruin washed by the sea) and Antipatris in this region were leading cities of the province. Joppa between Philistia and Sharon. is still the seaport for travelers from the W. to Jerusalem, and was Israel’s only harbor. They had no word for harbor, so unversed in commerce were they; yet their sacred poets show their appreciation of the phenomena of the sea (Psa 104:25-26; Psa 107:23-30). Bedouin marauders and Turkish misrule have closed the old coast route between N. and S., and left the fertile and to be comparatively uncultivated. The Jordan valley is the special feature of Palestine.
Syria is divided, from Antioch in the N. to Akaba on the eastern extremity of the Red Sea, by a deep valley parallel to the Mediterranean and separating the central highlands from the eastern ones. The range of Lebanon and Hermon crosses this valley between its northern portion, the valley of the Orontes. and its main portion the valley of Jordan (the Arabah of the Hebrew, the Aulon of the Greeks, and the Ghor of the Arabs.) Again, the high ground S. of the Dead Sea crosses between the valley of the Jordan and the wady el Arabah running to the Red Sea. The Jordan valley divides Galilee, Ephraim, and Judah from Bashan, Gilead, and Moab respectively. The bottom of Jordan valley is actually more than 2,600 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean, and must have once been far deeper, being now covered with sediment accumulated by the Jordan. The steepness of the descent front Olivet is great, but not unparalleled; the peculiarity which is unique is that the descent is into the bowels of the earth; one standing at the Dead Sea shore is almost as far below the ocean surface as the miner in the lowest depths of any mine.
The climate of the Jordan valley is tropical and enervating, and the men of Jericho a feeble race. “The region round about Jordan” was used of the vicinity of Jericho (Mat 3:5). The Jordan is perennial, but most of the so-called “rivers” are mere “winter torrents” (nachal), dry during fully half the year (Job 6:15-17). The land of promise must have been a delightful exchange for the dreary desert, especially as the Israelites entered it at Passover (Jos 5:10-11), i.e. springtime, when the country is lovely with verdure and flowers. There is a remarkable variety of climate and natural aspect, due to the differences of level between the different parts, and also to the vicinity of snowy Hermon and Lebanon on the N. and of the parched desert of the S., and lastly to the proximity of the ever fresh and changing sea. The Jordan valley, in its light fertile soil and torrid atmosphere where breezes never penetrate, somewhat resembles the valley of the Nile (Gen 13:10). The contrast between highland and lowland is marked by the phraseology “going up” to Judah, Jerusalem.
Hebron; “going down” to Jericho, Gaza, Egypt. “The mountain of Judah,” “of Ephraim,” “of Naphtali,” designate the three great groups of highlands. In these the characteristic names occur, Gibeah, Geba, Gibeon (hill), Ramah, Ramathaim (“brow”), Mizpeh, Zonhim (watchtower, watchers). The lower hills and southern part of the seacoast plain is the “shephelah”; the northern part Sharon; the Jordan valley Ha-Arabah; the “ravines”, “torrent beds”, and “small valleys” (‘eemeq, nachal, gay) of the highlands are never confounded. The variations in temperature, from the heat of midday and the dryness of summer to the rain, snow, and frosts of winter, are often alluded to (Psa 19:6; Psa 32:4; Psa 147:16-18; Isa 4:6; Isa 25:5; Gen 18:1; 1Sa 11:9; Neh 7:3; Jer 36:30). The Bible by its endless variety of such illusions, familiar to the people of the W. and suggested by Palestine which stands between E. and W., partaking of the characteristics of both, suits itself to the men of every land.
ANTIQUITIES. In contrast to Egypt, Assyria, and Greece, Palestine does not contain an edifice older than the Roman occupation. There are but few remains left illustrating Israelite art. The coins, rude and insignificant, the oldest, being possibly of the Maccabean era, are the solitary exception. The enclosure round Abraham’s tomb at Hebron we know not the date of Solomon’s work still remains in some places. Wilson’s arch is probably Solomonic, and the part of the sanctuary wall on E. side. (See JERUSALEM.) The “beveling,” thought to be Jewish, is really common throughout Asia Minor; it is found at Persepolis, Cnidus, and Athens. The prohibition (1) of making graven images or likenesses of living creatures, and (2) of building any other temple than that at Jerusalem, restricted art. Solomon’s temple was built under Hiram’s guidance. The synagogues of the Maccabean times were built in the Greek style of architecture. Tent life left its permanent impression on Israel (2Sa 20:1; 1Ki 12:16; 2Ch 10:16; 2Ki 14:12; Jer 30:18; Zec 12:7; Psa 78:55; Psa 84:1; Isa 16:5).
GEOLOGY. Palestine is a much disturbed mountainous tract of limestone, of the secondary or jurassic and cretaceous period. It is an offshoot from Lebanon, much raised above the sea, with partial interruptions from tertiary and basaltic deposits. The crevasse of the Jordan is possibly volcanic in origin, an upheaval tilting the limestone so as to leave a vast split in the strata, but stopping without intruding volcanic rocks into the fissure. The basins of the sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea resemble craters. Others attribute the chasm to the ocean’s gradual action in immense periods. The hills range mainly N. and S. The limestone consists of two groups of strata. The upper is a solid stone varying from white to reddish brown, with few fossils, and abounding in caverns; the strata sometimes level for terraces, oftener violently disarranged, and twisted into various forms, as on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
This limestone is often topped with flint-abounding chalk, as on the western side of the Dead Sea, where it has many salt and sulfurous springs. Dolomite or magnesian limestone, a send-crystalline rock, white or brown with glistening surface, blends with the mass of limestone, near Jerusalem. The lower limestone group has two series of beds: the upper darkish, cavernous, and ferruginous; the lower dark gray, solid, abounding in the fossil cidaris, an extinct echinus, the spines of which are the “olives” of the convents. This is the substratum of the whole country E. and W. of Jordan. The ravine from Olivet to Jericho affords an opportunity of examining the strata through which it cuts. After the limestone had assumed its present outline, lava burst, from beneath and overflowed the stratified beds, as basalt or trap, long before historic times. These volcanic rocks are found in the cis-Jordanic country, only N. of the Samaria mountains, e.g. S.W. of Esdraelon plain and N. of Tabor. The two centers of eruption were:
(1) The older about Kuru Hattin, the traditional mount of beatitudes, from whence the lava flowed forming the cliffs at the back of Tiberius; the disintegration of the basalt formed the fertile black soil of the plain of Gennesaret.
(2) The more recent, near Safed, where three craters have become the lakes el Jish, Taiteba, and Delata.
The earthquake in Uzziah’s time (Zec 14:5), which injured the temple and brought down a mass of rock from Olivet (Josephus, Ant. 9:10, section 4), shows that volcanic action has continued in historic times. From the 13th to the 17th centuries A.D. earthquakes were unknown in Syria and Judaea, but the Archipelago and southern Italy suffered greatly. Since than their activity has been resumed, destroying Aleppo in 1616 and 1822. Antioch in 1737, and Tiberius and Safed in 1837. See Amo 4:11; compare Mat 27:51; Psa 46:1-2. The hot salt and fetid springs at Tiberias, Callirrhoe (wady Zerka Main, E. of the Dead Sea), and other places along the Jordan valley, and round the lakes, as Ain Tabighah N.E. of lake Tiberias, the rock salt, niter, and sulphur of the Dead Sea, evidence volcanic agency. The Tiberias hot springs flowed more abundantly and increased in temperature during the earthquake of 1837. W. of the lower Jordan and Dead Sea no volcanic formations appear. The igneous rocks first appear in situ near the water level at wady Hemarah, a little N. of wady Zerka Main N.E. of the Dead Sea.
Here and E. of the upper Jordan the most remarkable igneous rocks are found; the limestone lies underneath. The Lejah, anciently Argob or Trachonitis, has scarcely anything exactly like it on the earth. (See ARGOB.) Traces of two terraces appear in the Jordan valley. The upper is the broader and older; the second, 50 to 150 ft. lower, reaching to the channel of the Jordan, was excavated by the river before it fell to its present level, when it filled the space between the eastern and western faces of the upper terrace. The inner side of both terraces is furrowed by the descending rains into conical hillocks. The lower terrace has much vegetation, oleanders, etc. The tertiary beds, marls, and conglomerates prevail round the margin of the Dead Sea; at its S.E. corner sandstone begins and stretches N. to wady Zerka Main. The alluvial soil of Philistia is formed of washings from the highlands by winter rains. It is loamy sand, red or black, formed of sandstone disintegrated by the waves and cast on the shore, or, as Josephus (Ant. 15:9, section 6) states, brought from Egypt by the S.S.W. wind.
It chokes the streams in places, and forms marshes which might be utilized for promoting fertility. The plain of Gennesaret is richer land, owing to the streams flowing all the year round, and to the decay of volcanic rocks on the surrounding heights. Esdraelon plain is watered by the finest springs of Palestine, and has a volcanic soil. Asphalt or bitumen is only met with in the valley of the Jordan, and in fragments floating on the water or at the shore of the Dead Sea. Bituminous limestone probably exists in thick strata near neby Musa; thence bitumen escapes from its lower beds into the Dead Sea, and there accumulates till, becoming accidentally detached, it rises to the surface. Sulphur is found on the W., S., and S.E. shore of the Dead Sea, a sulfurous crust spreading over the beach. Niter is rare. Rock salt abounds. The Khasm Usdum, a mound at the S. of the Dead Sea, is five miles and a half long by two and a half broad, and several hundred feet high; the lower part rock salt, the upper Sulphate of lime and salt with alumina.
BOTANY. Palestine is the southern and eastern limit of the Asia Minor flora, one of the richest in the earth, and contains many trees and herbs as the pine, oak, elder, bramble, dogrose, hawthorn, which do not grow further S. and E. owing to the dryness and heat of the regions beyond hilly Judaea. Persian forms appear on the eastern frontier, Arabian and Egyptian on the southern. Arabian and Indian tropical plants of about 100 different kinds are the remarkable anomaly in the torrid depression of the Jordan and Dead Sea. The general characteristics, owing to the geographical position and mountains of Asia Minor and Syria, are Mediterranean European, not Asiatic. Palestine was once covered with forests which still remain on the mountains, but in the lower grounds have disappeared or given place to brush wood.
Herbaceous plants deck the hills and lowlands from Christmas to June, afterward the heat withers all. The mountains, unlike our own, have no alpine or arctic plants, mosses, lichens, or ferns. Volney objected to the sacred history on the ground of Judaea’s present barrenness, whereas Scripture represents it as flowing with milk and honey; but this is strong testimony for its truth, for the barrenness is the fulfillment of Scripture prophecies. Besides our English fruits, the apple, vine, pear, apricot, plum, mulberry, and fig, there are dates, pomegranates, oranges, limes, banana, almond, prickly pear, and pistachio nut, etc.; out no gooseberry, strawberry, raspberry, currant, cherry, Besides our cereals and vegetables there are cotton, millet, rice, sugar cane, maize, melons, cummin, sweet potato, tobacco, yam, etc. Three principal regions are distinguishable:
(1) the western half of Syria and Palestine, resembling the flora of Spain;
(2) the desert and eastern half, resembling the flora of western India and Persia;
(3) the middle and upper mountain regions, the flora of which resembles that of northern Europe. The trans-jordanic region stretching to Mesopotamia is botanically unexplored.
(1) In western, Syria and the commonest tree is the Quercus pseudococcifera Oak, then the pistacia, the carob tree (Ceratona siliqua), the oriental plane, the sycamore fig, Arbutus Andrachne, Zizyphus spina Christi (“Christ’s thorn”), tamarisk, the blossoming oleander along the banks of streams and lakes, gum cistus, the caper plant. (See OAK; HUSKS.) The vine is cultivated in all directions; the enormous bunches of grapes at Eshcol are still fatuous; those near Hebron are so long as to reach the ground when hung on a stick resting between two men’s shoulders. (See OLIVE and FIG thereon.) Of more than 2,000 plants in this botanical division, 500 are British wild flowers.
Legum nosae abound in all situations. Of the Compositae, centauries and thistles. The hills of Galilee and Samaria are perfumed with the Labiatae, marjoram, thyme, lavender, sage, etc. Of Cruciferae, the giant mustard and rose of Jericho. Of Umbelliferae, the fennels. Of the Caryophylleae, pinks and sabonaria. Of Boragineae, the beautiful echiums, anchusas, and onosmas. Of Scrophularineae, veronica and vebascum. The grasses seldom form a sward as in humid and colder countries; the pasture in the East is afforded by herbs and herbaceous shrubs. The Arundo donax, Saccharum, Aegyptiacum, and Erianthus Rarennoe are gigantic in size, and bear silky flower plumes of great beauty. Of Liliaceae, there is a beautiful variety, tulips, fritillaries, and squills.
The Violaceae and Resaceae (except the Poterium spinosum) and Lobeliaeceae are scarce, the Geraniaceae beautiful and abundant, also the Campauulaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Convolvuli. Ferns are scarce, owing to the dryness of the climate. The papyrus is the most remarkable of all. Once it grew along the Nile, but now it grows nowhere in Africa N. of the tropics. Syria is its only habitat besides, except one spot in Sicily. It forms tufts of triangled smooth stems, six to ten feet high, crowned by atop of pendulous threads; it abounds by the lake of Tiberius. The Cucurbitaceae abound, including gourds, pumpkins, the colocynth apple which yields the drug, and the squirting cucumber. The landscape in spring is one mass of beauty with adonis, the Ranunculus Asiaticus, phloxes, mallows, scabicea, orchis; narcissus, iris, gladiolus, crocuses, colchicum, star of Bethlehem, etc.
(2) The difference of the flora of eastern Syria and Palestine from the western appears strikingly in going down from Olivet to the Dead Sea. In the valleys W. and S. of Jerusalem there are dwarf oaks, pistacia, smilax, arbutus rose, bramble, and Cratoegus Aronia; the last alone is on Olivet. Not one of these appears eastward. Toward the Dead Sea salsolas, Capparideae, rues, tamarisks, etc., appear. In the sunken valley of the Jordan the Zizyphus spina Christi, the Balanites Aegyptiaca yielding the zuk oil, the Ochradenus baccatus, the Acacia Furnesiana with fragrant yellow flowers, the mistletoe Loranthus acacioe with flaming scarlet flowers, the Alhagi Maurorum, the prickly Solanum Sodomoeum with yellow fruit called the Dead Sea apple.
On the Jordan banks the Populus Euphratica, found all over central Asia but not W. of Jordan. In the saline grounds Atriplex halimus, statices (sea pinks), salicornias. Other tropical plants are Zygophyllum coccineum, Astragali, Cassias, and Nitraria. In Engedi valley alone Sida nautica and Asiatica, Calotropis procera, Amberboa, Batatas littoralis, Aerva Javanica, Pluchea Dioscoridis, and Salvadora Persica “mustard”, found as far S. as Abyssinia and E. as India, but not W. or N. of the Dead Sea. (See MUSTARD.) In reascending from the N.W. shore on reaching the level of the Mediterranean the Poterium spinosum, anchusa, pink, of the Mediterranean coast, are seen, but no trees until the longitude of Jerusalem is reached.
(3) Middle and upper mountains region. Above the height of 5,000 feet the Quercus cerris of S. Europe, the Quercus Ehrenbergii or Castanaefolia, Quercus Toza, Quercus Libani, Quercus manifera are found, junipers, and cedars. The dry climate and sterile limestone, and the warm age that succeeded the glacial (the moraines of the cedar valley attesting the former existence: of glaciers), account for the flora of Lebanon being unlike to that of the Alps of Europe, India, and N. America. The most boreal forms are restricted to clefts of rocks or the neighborhood of snow, above 9,000 feet, namely, Drabas, Arenaria, one Potentilla, a Festuca, an Arabis, and the Oxyria reniformis, the only arctic type surviving the glacial period. The prevalent forms up to the summit are astragali, Acantholimon statices, and the small white Nocea.
ZOOLOGY. Palestine epitomizes the natural features of all regions, mountain and desert, temperate and tropical, seacoast and interior, pastoral, arable and volcanic; nowhere are the typical fauna of so many regions and zones brought together. This was divinely ordered that the Bible might be the book of mankind, not of Israel alone. The bear of Lebanon (Ursus Syriacus) and the gazelle of the desert, the wolf of the N. and the leopard (Leopardus varius in the central mountains) of the tropics; the falcons, linnets, and buntings of England, and the Palestine sun bird (Cinnyris osea), the grackle of the glen (Amydrus Tristramii), “the glossy starling” in the Kedron gorge (whose music rolls like that of the organ bird of Australia, a purely African type), the jay of Palestine, and the Palestine nightingale (Icos xanthopygos), the sweetest songster of the country.
Of 322 species of birds noted by Tristram, 79 are common to the British isles, 260 are in European lists, 31 of eastern Africa, 7 of eastern Asia, 4 of northern Asia, 4 of Russia, 27 peculiar to Palestine. He obtained a specimen of ostrich (Struthio camelus) from the Belka E. of the Dead Sea. Jackals and foxes abound, the hyena and wolf are not numerous. (See LION thereon.) Of the pachyderms, the wild boar (Sus scrofa) on Tabor and Little Hermon, also the Syrian hyrax. (See CONEY.) A kind of squirrel (Sciurus Syriacus) on Lebanon, the Syrian and the Egyptian hare, the jerboa (Dipus Aegyptius), the porcupine, the short-tailed field mouse, and rats, etc., represent the Rodentia. The gazelle is the antelope of Palestine. The fallow deer is not uncommon. The Persian ibex Canon Tristram found S. of Hebron. (See UNICORN as to the wild ox, urus, or bison.)
The buffalo is used for draught and plowing. The ox is small. The sheep is the broad tailed. Of reptiles: the stellio lizard, which the Turks kill as they think that it mimics them saying prayers; the chameleon; the gecko (Tarentola); the Greek tortoise. Of serpents and snakes, the Naia, Coluber, and Cerastes Hasselquistii, etc. Large frogs. Of fish in the sea of Galilee the binny, a bird of barbel, is the most common. The fish there resemble those of the Nile. The land mollusks are very numerous, in the N. the genus Clausilia and opaque bulimi. In the S. and hills of Judah the genus Helix like that of Egypt and the African Sahara. In the valley of Jordan the bulimus. No mollusk can exist in the Dead Sea owing to its bitter saltiness. The butterflies of southern Europe are represented in Sharon; the Apollo of the Alps is represented on Olivet by the Parnassius Apollinis. The Thais and Glorious Vanessa abound.
CLIMATE. January (temperature average 49 degrees F., greatest cold 28 degrees F.) is the coldest month; July and August the hottest (average 78 degrees F.; greatest heat in shade, 92 degrees F.; in sun, 148 degrees F.). The mean annual temperature is 65 degrees F. The temperature and seasons resemble California. A sea breeze from the N.W. from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. mitigates the four months’ midsummer heat. The khamsin or sirocco blows in February, March, and April. When it comes from the E. it darkens the air and fills everything with fine dust. Snow often falls in January and February (Psa 68:14; Isa 55:10; 2Sa 23:20); but plants do not need shelter from the frost. The average fall of rain at Jerusalem is 61.6 inches; whereas the London mean is only 25. Rain comes most from S. or S.W. (Luk 12:54) It begins in October or early in November, and continues to the end of February or middle of March, rarely to the end of April.
Not a continuous rain, but a succession of showers or storms with intervals of fine weather for a few weeks in December and January. A drought of three months before harvest is fatal to the crops (Amo 4:7). None falls from April to October or November. Thus but two seasons are specified, “winter and summer,” “cold and heat,” “seedtime and harvest.” But heavy saturating dews fall in summer, and thick fogs often prevail at night. In Jericho and the Ghor, sunk so deep below the sea level, the heat is much greater, owing to the absence of breeze, the enclosure by heights, the sandy soil, and the earth’s internal heat; the harvest is a month in advance of that of the highland. The seacoast lowland has the heat mitigated by sea breeze, but it is hotter than the uplands. The Bible nomenclature of places still exists almost unchanged. Israel accepted it front the Canaanites; as is proved by the correspondence between it as recorded in Joshua and the nomenclature in the lists and conquests of Thothmes III. Thus the modern fellaheen seem to be the mixed descendants of the old Canaanites.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
PALESTINE
Palestine is the name commonly used for the land that in ancient times was known as Canaan. When the Israelites first occupied Canaan, they met some of their strongest opposition from the Philistines, the people from whom Palestine takes its name (see CANAAN; PHILISTIA). The natural boundaries of the land were the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Jordan River in the east, the Lebanon Range in the north and the Sinai Desert in the south.
The main physical features of Palestine ran approximately north-south in more or less parallel lines. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea was a coastal plain rising into an area of low foothills called the Shephelah, which rose further into the broad central mountains. These mountains then fell away into a deep valley called the Arabah, through the northern section of which flowed the Jordan River. East of Jordan the land rose sharply, then opened on to an uneven tableland. (For Palestines vegetation, animal life, climate and agriculture see ANIMALS; BIRDS; FARMING; FLOWERS; FOOD; TREES; WEATHER.)
Coastal plain
Palestines coastal plain, from the Phoenician town of Tyre in the north to the Israelite town of Gaza in the south, was about 220 kilometres in length. In Phoenicia, where the Lebanon Range was close to the coast, the plain was very narrow (see LEBANON; PHOENICIA), but south from Lebanon it gradually widened till interrupted by the Mt Carmel Range.
Extending inland from the Mt Carmel Range to Jezreel was the Plain of Esdraelon, through which flowed the Kishon River (Jdg 5:21; Hos 1:5). From Jezreel the plain led into the Valley of Jezreel, which extended east as far as the town of Bethshan near the Jordan River. Other towns of the region were Jokneam, Megiddo, Ibleam and Shunem (Jos 17:11; 1Sa 28:4; 1Ki 4:12). (For details of towns mentioned in this article see entries under the names of the towns.)
This whole area (i.e. the Plain of Esdraelon and the Valley of Jezreel) was sometimes referred to as the Valley of Jezreel and played an important part in Israels history. To the north of the valley was Mt Tabor, and to the south Mt Gilboa. Many of Israels battles were fought in this area, partly because the main north-south (Syria to Philistia) and east-west (Bethshan to Mt Carmel) roads passed through the valley. Megiddo, where the two roads crossed, also commanded the western entrance to the Plain of Esdraelon and consequently was of strategic importance to Israel (Jdg 4:6; Jdg 5:19-21; Jdg 6:33; 1Sa 29:1; 1Sa 31:1; 1Sa 31:8; 1Sa 31:12; 2Ki 9:16; 2Ki 9:27; 2Ki 9:30; 2Ki 23:29; Zec 12:11).
Along the coast immediately to the south of Mt Carmel was the small Plain of Dor (Jos 17:11; 1Ch 7:29) and farther south the larger Plain of Sharon. Though much of Sharon was marshy, it had some pastoral and forestry lands. In Old Testament times it was fairly thinly populated (1Ch 27:29; Song of Son 2:1; Isa 35:2).
Because of sandy shores and shallow waters, there were no good sites for harbours south of Mt Carmel. A low headland enabled a small harbour to be built at Joppa, and in Old Testament times this was Israels only Mediterranean port. Other towns in the area were Ono and Lod (or Lydda) (2Ch 2:16; Ezr 3:7; Neh 11:35; Jon 1:3; Act 9:35-36; Act 9:38; Act 10:5-8). In New Testament times the magnificent city of Caesarea, built by Herod the Great and equipped with an artificial harbour, became the administrative centre and chief port of the Roman province of Judea (Act 18:22; Act 25:1-6).
From Joppa south to Gaza was the Plain of the Philistines, whose five main towns were Ekron, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza and Gath. The plain and its lowland hills were good for farming, but became drier and less fertile towards the south. (For further details of this region see PHILISTIA.)
Shephelah
The low hill country between the narrow coastal plain and the high central range was called the Shephelah (Deu 1:7; Jos 9:1-2; Jos 10:40; Jos 12:8; Jer 17:26; Oba 1:19). It consisted of many hills and valleys, down which flowed swift mountain streams. This produced a fertile region that was suitable for growing sycamore trees and raising sheep and cattle (1Ki 10:27; 1Ch 27:28; 2Ch 9:27; 2Ch 26:10).
Certain valleys in the Shephelah provided the only convenient routes from the coastal plain up to the central highlands, and consequently were the scene of many battles. The most important of these valleys was the Valley of Aijalon, where the main route from the coastal plain climbed up through Gezer and Beth-horon to the chief highland towns (Jos 10:11-12; Jos 16:3; 1Ki 9:16-17; see Central mountains below).
To the south of the Valley of Aijalon was the Valley of Elah leading up through Libnah (Jos 10:29-31; 1Sa 17:2; 2Ki 19:8), and slightly farther south another valley leading up through Lachish (2Ki 18:13-17). Of lesser importance were the valleys of Sorek and Zephathah (Jdg 16:4; 2Ch 14:10).
Central mountains
Rising from the coastal plain/Shephelah on the west and the Jordan Valley/Arabah on the east were the central mountains of Palestine. For convenience they may be considered a single mountain range broken into two unequal sections.
The smaller northern section consisted mainly of the mountains of Galilee and was separated from the remaining section by the Plain of Esdraelon and its associated Valley of Jezreel. These hills and the adjacent plain and valley covered much of the tribal areas of Dan, Naphtali, Issachar, Zebulun and Asher (Jos 20:7; Isa 9:1).
In the north of Galilee the mountains were higher than those in the south, more thickly forested and more thinly populated. In Old Testament times the chief city of the northern part was Hazor, originally a Canaanite stronghold but later one of Israels northern defence outposts (Jdg 4:2; 1Ki 9:15). Towards the south the mountains were more suited to farming. This south Galilean hill country was the region where Jesus grew up and where he spent most of the three and a half years of his public ministry. Some of the towns of the region were Nazareth, Cana and Nain (Mat 21:11; Luk 2:39; Luk 4:16; Luk 7:11; Joh 2:1-11; Joh 4:46; Joh 21:2). (For other towns in Galilee see Upper Jordan and Sea of Galilee below.)
Hills to the south of the Plain of Esdraelon marked the beginning of the long section of the range that stretched through central and southern Palestine. First were the hills of Samaria. These were not as high as those of north Galilee, the only prominent mountains being Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal, which stood on opposite sides of the town of Shechem (Deu 27:12-13; Jdg 9:7). Other important towns were Tirzah and Samaria. In the early days of the divided Israelite kingdom, Tirzah was the northern capital (1Ki 14:17; 1Ki 15:33; 1Ki 16:6-8; 1Ki 16:15-19). Samaria was made the capital after Tirzah and remained so till the end of the northern kingdom. The citys position on a hill overlooking the surrounding territory made it an excellent site for a capital (1Ki 16:23-24; 1Ki 20:1; 2Ki 6:24; 2Ki 17:5). North of Samaria was the small Plain of Dothan, which provided an alternative route from Jezreel to the coast (Gen 37:17; Gen 37:28; 2Ki 6:13).
Further south was the hill country of Ephraim, Benjamin and part of neighbouring Judah. This was a fertile forest region broken by steep valleys. These valleys proved to be good defences against attackers, particularly in the days after Joshuas conquest when the Israelites were struggling to keep hold of their newly won territory (Jos 17:17-18; Jdg 5:14; Jdg 7:24; Jdg 12:15).
To the west the Valley of Aijalon led down from the towns of Beth-horon and Gezer through the Shephelah to the Philistine coastal plain (Jos 10:9-12; Jos 16:3; Jos 16:5; Jos 18:13-14). Since this valley provided a main route from the coastal plain to Israels highlands, it was a frequent battlefield and became well fortified with Israelite defence outposts (1Sa 13:17-18; 1Ki 9:16-17; 2Ch 8:5; 2Ch 11:10; 2Ch 25:13; 2Ch 28:18).
On the other side of the highlands another valley provided the way down to the east. The route went from Bethel through Ai and Michmash to Jericho on the broad plain of the Jordan Valley (Jos 16:1-2; Jos 18:11-13; 1Sa 13:2-5; 1Sa 13:23; 1Sa 14:1-5; Luk 10:30; Luk 19:1).
This part of the central highlands was one of the most thickly populated regions of Canaan. Some of its other well known towns were Shiloh, Mizpah, Ramah, Gibeon, Gibeah, Kiriath-jearim, Beth-shemesh, Emmaus, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Bethany (Jos 9:3; Jos 9:17; Jos 18:25-28; 1Sa 6:12; 1Sa 7:15-17; 1Sa 14:1-3; 1Sa 17:12; Mat 2:1; Mar 11:1; Luk 24:13).
To the south of this collection of towns the hills gradually flattened, the rainfall decreased, the land became less fertile and the population was more thinly spread. The chief town in this region was Hebron (Gen 23:17-19; 2Sa 2:11; 2Sa 3:20; 2Sa 15:10). It was situated about half way between Jerusalem and Beersheba and was on the main route from Jerusalem to Egypt (Num 13:21-22).
Another route led west from Hebron through Lachish down to Ashkelon and Gaza on the main coastal route to Egypt. Because of their strategic positions, Hebron and Lachish were heavily fortified (2Ch 11:5-12).
This barren region of southern Judah was the place to which David fled in escaping from Saul. Some of the places mentioned in the story are Adullam, Keilah, Ziph, En-gedi, Maon, Horesh and Ziklag (1Sa 22:1; 1Sa 23:13-15; 1Sa 23:25; 1Sa 23:29; 1Sa 24:1-2; 1Sa 25:1-2; 1Sa 27:6-10; for map see DAVID). The central mountains had by now flattened into a broad tableland that stretched south into the Negeb.
Negeb
The Negeb is literally the dry, and was the name given to the dry southern part of Palestine between the Dead Sea and the Sinai Desert. Its approximate northern boundary ran from Gaza on the coast east to the Dead Sea. Its approximate southern boundary ran from Ezion-geber at the north-eastern tip of the Red Sea to the Brook of Egypt (Wadi El-Arish), which it followed to the coast. The chief towns of the Negeb were Beersheba in the north and Kadesh-barnea in the south. The Wilderness of Zin fell within the Negeb, and the Wildernesses of Shur and Paran bordered it to the west and south respectively (Gen 20:1; Exo 15:22; Num 10:12; Num 13:26; Num 20:1; Num 32:8; Num 33:35-37; Num 34:4).
In Old Testament times much of the Negeb was occupied by the tribe of Judah. The northern part attracted more people than the southern, because it was more suitable for grazing and farming. The Philistines continued to occupy much of the coastal plain, and other tribal groups occupied various areas at different times (Gen 20:1; Gen 26:1; Num 13:29; 1Sa 27:10; 1Sa 30:14). Water was always a problem in this dry region (Gen 16:7; Gen 26:17-23; Jos 15:19).
Two main roads linked Egypt and Palestine. The Way of the land of the Philistines went along the coast (Exo 13:17), the Way of the Wilderness of Shur went through the centre of the Negeb (Gen 16:7). This latter route passed through the towns of Kadesh-barnea, Beersheba, Hebron, Jerusalem, Shiloh and Shechem, and was a well used route even as early as the time of Abraham (Gen 20:1; Gen 21:32; Gen 37:14; Gen 46:1). It may have been used by some of the twelve spies when they went north to spy out Canaan (Num 13:21-23), and was probably used by Joseph and Mary when they fled to Egypt to escape from Herod (Mat 2:13-15).
This north-south road was crossed at Beersheba by a west-east road connecting Gaza on the coast with Edom inland. The section of the road that went east from Beersheba through the Valley of Salt and the Wilderness of Zin to Edom was known as the Way of the Wilderness of Edom (2Sa 8:13; 2Ki 3:8; 2Ki 14:7).
Upper Jordan and Sea of Galilee
The Jordan River rose in the region of Mt Hermon in the Lebanon Range. From there it flowed south through a region that was quiet and isolated, till the tribe of Dan conquered the people and seized the territory for itself. In Old Testament times the town of Laish, which the Danites renamed Dan, became the northernmost town of Israel (Jdg 18:27-29; 1Sa 3:20; 1Ki 12:29). In the New Testament record the town of Caesarea Philippi, which was in the same locality, was the northernmost point that Jesus visited (Mat 16:13).
South of Dan the Jordan flowed through a small lake, then into a second and larger lake known in the Old Testament as the Sea of Chinnereth and in the New Testament as the Sea (or Lake) of Galilee, the Lake of Gennesaret, and the Sea of Tiberias (Num 34:11; Mat 15:29; Luk 5:1; Joh 6:1). The hills around the Sea of Galilee, particularly those to the north-west, provided Jesus with some quiet spots where he went to pray and teach his disciples (Mat 5:1; Mat 14:23; Mat 15:29; Mat 28:16).
The lake itself was 200 metres below sea level and contained plenty of fish (Mat 4:18; Luk 5:1-9; Joh 21:1-8). The area around the lake was well populated and was the scene of much of Jesus public ministry. On the northern shore of the lake were two towns, each with a large Jewish population, Capernaum and Bethsaida. Capernaum seems to have been Jesus base for his northern ministry (Mat 4:13; Mar 2:1; Mar 6:45; Mar 9:33; Joh 6:17). In the hills behind Capernaum was another town that Jesus visited, Chorazin (Mat 11:21-23).
On the western shore of Lake Galilee were the largely Gentile towns of Magdala and Tiberias. Also bordering the lake to the west was the small Plain of Gennesaret (or Chinnereth) (Mat 15:39; Mar 6:53; Joh 6:23).
To the east of the lake was the less populous district of Gadara, where the land rose steeply from the waters edge and opened on to good farming country. The people of the district were mainly Gentiles, some of them pig farmers, and were known as Gadarenes (after the local district) or Gerasenes (after the larger district where Gadara was located) (Mat 8:28; Mat 8:30-32; Mar 5:1; Mar 5:11-13). Spreading out farther to the north and east was the rich pastoral land of Bashan. Two of its main towns were Golan and Edrei (Deu 32:14; Jos 12:1-5; Jos 21:27; Jer 50:19; see BASHAN).
Jordan Valley and Dead Sea
From the Sea of Galilee the Jordan flowed south through a deep valley till it entered the Dead Sea, 400 metres below sea level. The valley immediately south of the Sea of Galilee was fertile and good for farming, but further south it began to become desolate, till it was little better than a desert where the Jordan entered the Dead Sea (Mar 1:4-5; Mar 1:9-13).
For much of its length the river was difficult to cross, and so formed a good barrier against invasion from the east. There was thick jungle along the waters edge on either side of the river, from where steep banks rose up to the floor of the main valley (Jer 12:5; Jer 49:19; Zec 11:3). These banks collapsed at times and damned the stream, which was probably what happened at the time of Israels crossing under Joshua (Jos 3:14-17). Normally, people could cross the river only at certain places where there were natural fords (Jos 2:7; Jdg 3:28; Jdg 7:24; Jdg 12:5; 2Sa 19:15; 2Sa 19:18).
Between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea a number of streams fed the Jordan from the east, the most important of them being the Yarmuk and the Jabbok. Another, of lesser importance, was the Cherith (Deu 3:16; 1Ki 17:3). Two towns of the region, Succoth and Penuel, were strategically located close to the Jordan and Jabbok Rivers. A ford crossed the Jordan nearby, and defence fortifications were built at Penuel (Gen 32:22; Gen 32:31; Gen 33:17; Jdg 8:8; Jdg 8:16-17; 1Ki 12:25).
The region east of Jordan, particularly the central part, was commonly known as Gilead. In the time of Moses, Israel had taken the land from the Amorites, but the earlier occupants were the Ammonites (in the central region) and the Moabites (in the southern region). Their respective capitals were Rabbah and Heshbon (Num 21:24-26; Deu 3:11; Deu 4:46). The Israelites chief defence outpost on the eastern frontier was at Ramoth-gilead (2Ki 8:28; 2Ki 9:14). (For maps and other details see AMMON; GILEAD; MOAB.)
In the Jordan Valley and to the west of the river were the towns of Gilgal and Jericho (Jos 4:19). Because of a natural spring of freshwater at Jericho, the town had the appearance of an oasis and was called the city of palm trees (Deu 34:3). Another natural product of the Jordan Valley was a special kind of clay that was used in making articles of bronze (1Ki 7:46).
The Dead Sea was known also as the Salt Sea, because of the large amounts of salt and other chemicals in the water (Jos 15:5; Jos 18:19). No fish could live in it and no vegetation grew around its shores, except at places where fresh water entered from streams on the eastern side. There were no streams on the western side, but cultivation was possible at isolated points where there were freshwater springs, such as at En-gedi (Song of Son 1:14).
It is believed that Sodom and Gomorrah were located near the southern end of the Dead Sea. Through earthquake activity the sea apparently spread further south, covering whatever may have remained of the ancient cities (Gen 19:24-28).
Arabah
From the eastern side of the central highlands, the land fell away sharply into a deep valley that ran from the Sea of Chinnereth (Sea of Galilee) along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea, from where it continued south to Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Aqabah (the north-eastern arm of the Red Sea). The section north of the Dead Sea was commonly known as the Jordan Valley, and the section south as the Arabah.
Originally, arabah was a common Hebrew word meaning burnt or dried up, and was used of dry or semi-desert wasteland. It was a fitting word to give as a name to the barren valley south of the Dead Sea (Deu 1:1; Deu 2:8).
The name Arabah was not restricted to this one region. On occasions the whole valley, both north and south of the Dead Sea, was called the Arabah. The Dead Sea was known as the Sea of the Arabah, and a small stream that entered the Jordan near its entrance to the Dead Sea was known as the Brook of the Arabah (Deu 3:17; Deu 4:48-49; Jos 3:16; Jos 11:2; Jos 12:1-3; Amo 6:14). In the days of Israels expansion under Jeroboam II, the Sea of the Arabah marked Israels southern boundary (2Ki 14:25).
An important road called the Kings Highway ran from Ezion-geber along the plateau on the eastern side of the Arabah through Edom, Moab and Ammon into Syria. The Israelites under Moses wanted to use this road on their journey to Canaan, but Edom and Moab refused permission, forcing the Israelites to make a lengthy and tiring detour around the borders (Num 20:14-21; Num 21:10-13; Num 21:21-26; Jdg 11:15-24).
The Arabah contained good quantities of iron and copper (Deu 8:9). Workers mined and smelted the minerals at various places along the valley, then transported them down the Kings Highway (the Arabah road; Deu 2:8) to a refinery at Ezion-geber, from where large ocean-going ships carried them east (cf. 1Ki 9:26-28; 1Ki 10:22).
Political divisions
For details of the history of Palestine and its political divisions in Old Testament times see AMORITES; CANAAN; ISRAEL; JUDAH, TRIBE AND KINGDOM; and articles under the names of the various Israelite tribes and towns. In New Testament times there were three commonly recognized regions in Palestine itself (northern, central and southern; see GALILEE; SAMARIA; JUDEA), and two in the former Israelite territory to the east of Jordan (northern and southern; see DECAPOLIS; PEREA).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Palestine
PALESTINE.The tendency, represented by historians like Buckle and his school, to write history in terms of environment, is one of those remarkable exaggerations of a valuable truth in which the 19th cent. was prolific. Every age which produces elemental theories and sweeping changes in the most widely accepted and venerable views, is liable to this kind of exaggeration. New ideas first stagger and then captivate mens minds, and the new names which these theories introduce assume magic powers for a time. The next generation smiles at the omnipotence of the catchwords of the first years of evolutionary doctrine, and remembers that other wordssympathy and perpetual motion among the resthad a similar vogue in their day. Most of all has the power of environment received undue emphasis and been credited with an influence far in excess of the facts, in the case of Jesus Christ. There is nothing which has doomed the work of His purely naturalistic biographers to premature obsoleteness so much as this. Nowhere was Carlyles protest in favour of the effect of great personalities so applicable as here. If anything in history is certain, it is that here we have a case in which a unique personality is seen mastering circumstances, rather than one in which circumstances are seen creating a conspicuous personality.
Yet the influence of Palestine on Jesus is equally unquestionable.
We must not isolate the story, says Dr. Dale, from the preceding history of the Jewish race Many people seem to suppose that they may approach the subject as if the Lord Jesus Christ had appeared in Spain or in China, instead of in Judaea and Galilee (Living Christ and the Four Gospels, 89). If, negatively, says Hausrath, it be self-evident that Jesus mission would have assumed another character had He grown up under the oaks of Germany instead of under the palms of Nazareth, that the subject of Arminius or Maroboduus would have been different from that of Antipas, that the opponent of the Druids would have differed from the opponent of the Rabbis, so, positively, it is indisputable that for Jesus Himself the facts of His consciousness were given Him under those forms of viewing things in which Jewish thought in general was cast. Only by a freak of the imagination can it he supposed that an historical personality becomes conscious of the facts of its own inner life by conceptions other than those in which the thought of the age in general finds expression (Hist. of NT Times, ii. 225).
Thus we may take it that there is no sentence in the Gospels which can be fairly understood if it be regarded merely as the remark or question of a member of the human race who might have belonged to any nationality. Every word derives something of its significance from the place and time at which it was spoken. Jesus is the Son of Man, but He is also a Syrian teacher. It is Syrian landscape, Syrian history, and Syrian human nature with which the Incarnation works; and we of the West are confronted at every turn by the need to Orientalize our conceptions as we study these records.
In this article we shall consider the influence on Jesus (1) of Syria as a whole; (2) of the Gentile elements in the land; (3) of the open field and of Nature as seen in Syria; (4) of the town and village life with which He was familiar; (5) of the city of Jerusalem.
1. Syria as a whole.Syria is an Eastern land, and the relations and differences between East and West are the first aspects of this subject which demand attention. No phenomenon of the kind is so remarkable as the combination of Eastern and Western characteristics in the thought and work of Jesus. Such books as Townsends Asia and Europe and Fielding Halls The Soul of a People (to mention two out of many popular accounts of East and West), though their generalizations are not always convincing, are full of suggestive illustrations of this. Though Asiatic in origin, says the former writer, Christianity is the least Oriental of the creeds. To find lives most typically Christian, we have to look chiefly to Western nations, France and Germany, Britain and America. Indeed, the astonishing fact is evident that in certain respects we have in Jesus an Oriental too Western for Asiatics, so that to a certain extent they have to Occidentalize their conceptions in order to become Christian. This strange fact has commonly been brought as a charge against the methods of Christian missionaries in the East. But there can be no doubt that in some measure it is due to the mind of Jesus Himself. His doctrine of personal immortality, e.g., and still more the triumphant and glad spirit in which He proclaimed it, have a far more congenial appeal to the West than to the East. Eternal consciousness! exclaims Townsend: that to the majority of Asiatics is not a promise but a threat. Similarly, the prominence given in Christianity to the command to love our neighbour as ourself, in the West will always find at least a theoretical assent, for it will be backed by the sentiment or at least the conscience of sympathy between man and man as such. The East, whose religion is fundamentally a matter of saving ones own soul, or at widest a matter of tribal loyalties, will find that a hard saying, and indeed has always so found it. Again, everyone must have noticed that in the battles of Jesus against the unintelligent and conventional doctrines of the Pharisees, His constant appeal was to commonsense and the facts of the case obvious to every unprejudiced observer. But that in itself was an instance of the Western type of intellect pitted against the Oriental.
Yet, at the depths, Christianity rests upon distinctively Oriental foundations. The very publicity of Eastern life has had its effect upon the Gospels. The whole ministry of Jesus was performed among crowds, in public places of assembly and on thronged highways. His thoughts were flung at once into the arena of public discussion, and even His protests and His disregard of ritual in such matters as hand-washing, fasts, etc., were made under the scrutiny of innumerable eyes. The whole Gospel shows traces of this lack of privacy, and the emphasis of its teachings is often fixed by the angle at which its detail was seen by the onlookers. Again, the great Christian doctrine of renunciation is essentially an Oriental doctrine, typical of Hebraism as contrasted with Hellenism; so much so, that it is to the surprise with which that doctrine broke upon the West that its conquest was in part due. The Oriental has been kept from perceiving how Divine self-sacrifice is, by his familiarity with it as a commonplace of human life. The qualities which seemed to the warriors of Clovis so magnificently Divine, the self-sacrifice, the self-denial, the resignation, the sweet humility, are precisely the qualities the germs of which exist in the Hindu (Asia and Europe, 69). Consequently, the character of Christ is not as acceptable to Indians as to Northern races, the former seeking in the Divine a contrast rather than a complement to their human thoughts. Again, that free play of imagination touching even the most everyday subjects, that direct statement of truth, unguarded by qualifications and unbuttressed by proofs, are Eastern rather than Western characteristics. These are but random instances, a few out of very many, and varying in importance from the most casual to the most fundamental, yet they are enough to prove that the thought of Jesus was cast in an essentially Oriental mould.
The geographical features of Palestine are strongly marked; and they include, in a very small field, mountains, rivers, plains, lakes and sea-coast. The story of Jesus brings Him in contact with each of these; but the only ones which can be said to have left very distinct traces are the mountains. The Bible is full of mountain scenery, and it owes much to that. The religious thought of the great plains of the world is one thing, that of sea-girt islands is another, and that of mountain-land is a third. The long ranges of Lebanon throw off their southern spurs in Galilee, and the range ends suddenly in the line of steep mountain-side which runs along the northern edge of the Plain of Esdraelon. Not far from this edge, nestling in hollows or crowning heights, lay the towns and villages among which Jesus spent His early years. Hermon is the one great mountain which Anti-Lebanon rises to, standing off to the south, and detached from the continuous range by the deep-cut gorge of the Abana, but sending on the ridge again unbroken, though rugged in outline, past the Sea of Merom on the eastern side, to the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Samaria lies to the south of Esdraelon, a region of finely sweeping valleys and hills of soft and rounded outline. But these hills grow less distinct as the road strikes southward through Judaea. The general level rises to a bare and lofty table-land, from which, near Bethel, rounded heights rise like huge breasts of grey stone from the upheaved bosom of the land. South of that, sheer gorges (geological faults, or the work of flooded winter-torrents) slash across the land from east to west, and open grim and sombre through precipices upon the sunken valley of the Jordan, where Jericho lies steaming in the heat, 6 miles west of the Jordans channel-groove, chiselled deep below the level of the valley. Soon Jerusalem is seen, like a round nest among low mountainsa city thrust up from the summit of the land, and moated by deep valleys on two sides. South of that, through the pasture-lands about Bethlehem and the wilderness of Judaea to the east of them, the land slopes down the rolling South Country to the Arabian desert.
The traveller to-day is often disappointed in the emotions he had expected at sacred sites. The belief in miracle is nowhere so difficult as on the spot, where every detail of the scene seems so uncompromisingly earthly. If, however, he will follow the example of the Psalmist, and lift up his eyes unto the hills, he will find the realization of Christ an easier matter. The great sky-lines are for the most part unchanged, and the same edges and vistas are to be seen which filled the eyes of Jesus. This is not merely the result of the fact that local tradition and foolish ways of honouring sacred places have disfigured and stultified so many spots of Palestine. It recalls the fact that Jesus came from the highlands of Galilee, and that He chose to associate many of the most outstanding events of His life with mountains. From the hill above Nazareth He looked abroad on an endless field of mountain tops. Hermon dominated the landscape on the north-east, and Tabor thrust its irrelevant cone, conspicuous and unique, over the undulating sky-line of the mountains between Nazareth and the Lakea gigantic intruder which had reared its huge head to look down into Nazareth from over the wall of mountains. It was there, with countless mountain summits of familiar name about Him, that the Youth first encountered those tremendous thoughts which finally led Him to the Jordan. Driven thence by the Spirit into the wilderness, He fought His long fight with rival schemes of greatness, in the tract which Judaea thrusts high into the air from the depth of the Jordan Valley, and holds balanced upon the edge of cliffs. Jericho looks up at that mountain of Quarantania, and sees its angular and tilted platform of a summit as a black space cut out of the brilliance of a living, starry sky. From the edge He looked down on Jericho (Mat 4:1 etc.), and knew the power of worldliness as He saw the palacelife of Herod there, and the glimmer of festive lamps among the palm-groves that had been Cleopatras. Mountains were the congenial places for His great utterances in which the Old Law changed to the New, and the freshness as well as the exaltation of these words remind us from beginning to end of them that they are a Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:1). Similarly, by a sure instinct, it was to the heights that He went to find by night the fullest sense of converse with His Father (Mat 14:23 etc.). Probably it was on some of the slopes of Hermon that such a season of communion brightened to the wonder of Transfiguration (Mat 17:1 etc.). Hermons summit is always white, and many a bright cloud overshadows it, until it shines upon the plain for miles around, in a white glory of frosted silver. It is not without significance that Matthew gives as the trysting-place between Jesus and His disciples a mountain of Galilee (Mat 28:16). There is a perceptible air of relief in the words, as if after all those stifling days in Judaeadays of judgment-halls and shut doors in upper rooms, of clouded cross and sealed sepulchrean irresistible longing had seized Him for the sunlight and the wind-swept heights of His happier early days. Nothing fostered the patriotism of Israel so much as her mountains. From time immemorial they had been her defences in war, and the platforms of her worship. In the story of Jesus they are seen in both these uses, and the feel of the heights is upon much that He has said.
Palestine is a little and compressed country, where not only geographical features, but the facts and associations of national history are gathered, so close as to force themselves upon the attention at every step. While travelling there, it is a constant source of wonder that so much could have happened in so small a place. These continual reminders of the past history of the nation, which thrust themselves upon Israelites everywhere, and kept patriotism vehemently alive, had their effect also upon Jesus. The heroes of the past were much in His thought, and His journeys from place to place reminded Him of them continually, Elijah and Elisha, Solomon, David, and Isaiah, were figures not merely remembered from reading in the sacred books. They were the unseen inhabitants of the places where once they dwelt in the flesh, peopling for Him tracts over which He led His disciples. His patriotism is evident continually (Luk 19:9; Luk 13:16). It was a great thing in His eyes to be a son or a daughter of Abraham. Jerusalem, for Him as for the Psalmist, is the city of the great King (Mat 5:35). The waysides are hallowed by the footsteps of the dead. The tombs of the prophets are conspicuous monuments to His imagination (Mat 23:29). He lived among the dead, and they lived unto God and unto Him in the land where their bones had long crumbled to decay. He receives and is taunted with the title King of Israel (Joh 1:49, Mat 27:42 etc.). The accusation on the Cross is Jesus, the King of the Jews (Mat 27:37 etc.).
Two aspects of the land, taken as a whole, must be remembered, especially if we would understand what it meant to JesusPalestine as an oasis, and Palestine as a focus.
Palestine as an oasis.It is shut off from the rest of the world by a complete ring of natural barriers. Mountains on the north; a vast desert on the east, with the deep and long trench of the Jordan Valley set as a second and inner barrier like a moat; desert again on the south; and the west wholly bounded by the alien sea which so few understoodthese are the boundaries of Israel. And there was also a double ring of national barricades. At a distance had stood the great empires of the East, the Parthians having taken in His time the place of ancient Nineveh and Babylon. To the south-west lay Egypt. An inner ring of wild Arabian tribes wandered over the eastern desert, and now and then raided the land. Formerly an unbroken belt of neighbouring heathen enemies encircled Israel, and even cut her off from the sea by the Philistine wedge driven along her western coast, stretching from the Pillar of Egypt to the Phnician seaports. All this was modified, and much of it broken up, in the time of Jesus; but the religious meaning of it all was thus being only the better understood.
The whole meaning of the land in OT times had been the isolation of Israel for religious ends. For her, to act like men (i.e. to imitate the nations round about her) was denounced by her prophets as a betrayal (Hos 6:7). As a matter of fact, every experiment which she made in such imitation of men was a failure. Under Solomon she had adopted the Policy of Orientalism of the great world-empires. Under Jeroboam she had sought to conform to the secular ideas of ritual then fashionable, and had even attempted something in the way of a democratic system of government. Under many kings she had sought greatness in aggressive wars. Under Omri she had, by her alliance with Phnicia, tried for the position of a great commercial power. In every one of these attempts she had found herself defeated, and driven back on the one thing she could do as no other nation could. That one thing was religion, and the meaning of Israels isolation was that worship of Jehovah which grew up with her institutions, and of whose revelations she was the destined recipient and repository.
For Jesus also Palestine was an oasis. It is indeed true that the Palestine of His time was no longer the garden enclosed which the prophets had striven to keep it. All its hedges were by this time broken down and driven through by the resistless march of Rome. In the heart of the invaded country Jerusalem remained bitterly exclusive and hostile to all the world, so far as the Pharisees could keep it so. Galilee was much more open to the wider thought of the time than Judaea, and Jesus was in sympathy rather with the Galilaean than with the Judaean spirit. Yet, so far as His own work went, He retained and utilized the oasis view of His land. His three temptations were an epitome of the nations temptationsto act like men for bread, or for fame, or for power. In resisting them He was thrusting from His Kingdom the ideals of commercial prosperity, military conquest, and political empire, just as the prophets of Israel had fought against these as national ideals. He remained, and set His speech and His works, among those relationships where God had placed Him. He confined His own ministry and the earlier ministry of His disciples to the land of Israel (Mat 10:5); and that land was still sufficiently isolated from the thought and life of the world to provide a true cradle and fostering-place for those thoughts which formed the nucleus of the Kingdom of heaven. Thus, in the earliest years, they were sufficiently aloof to gain intensity.
Palestine as a focus.If Palestine was no longer an oasis in the full sense in which it had been so in OT times, it was more a focus than it had ever been before. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a little hollow place with a flattened ball in it is still exhibited to the incredulous visitor as the centre of the world. The cosmography of the Middle Ages took this as serious science, Jerusalem being the antipodes of the island of Purgatory at the other pole. No doubt some such conception was in the minds of many who looked in early Christian times for new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem. Such thoughts were true in a wider sense than the thinkers knew. At the time of Jesus, Palestine was the meeting-point of East and West.
For many centuries Israel had been a buffer State between the conflicting powers of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Now instead of Egypt there was Rome, at the height of its military power, and armed also with the spiritual weapons of Greece, whose national power it had destroyed and by the deed had set free its spirit. The eastern empires of Nineveh and Babylon were gone, and instead of them were those changing hosts of Persian and Parthian warriors who were soon to dispute the world with Rome. And behind them, more clearly visible since the campaigns of Alexander the Great, though still dim in the mists of vast distances, lay India and the Far East.
The Roman conquest of Syria had brought into immediate and hostile contact two nationalities whose whole history and thought placed them irreconcilably apart. Romes ideal of secular empire confronted the Jewish hope of the universal reign of Messiah. Down to the minutest detail of life the two ideals were opposed. To Rome tribute was the obvious consequence of conquest; the theatre was at once a politic and a generous enrichment of the life of the conquered State. To Israel tribute was a sacrilege, and the theatre which rose in Jerusalem a blasphemy. So hateful was the Roman to the Jew, that Jews were a worthless commodity in the Roman slave-market. So unintelligible was the Jew to the Roman, that Tacitus speaks of the nation as given over to superstition, disinclined to religion (Hausrath, i. 17386). These facts are but illustrations of the wider principle, that when a nation with intense national sentiments encounters a nation with strong imperial sentiment, trouble of the most violent kind always ensues. For confirmation of this, one has only to remember the history of Switzerland, of Ireland, or of the Transvaal. In Israel the struggle was only the more acute and inevitable, because the Romanizing policy of the Herods had lent to it the additional aspect of a civil war. Nothing could be imagined more explosive than this state of affairsa fact which was very clear to the enemies of Jesus (Joh 11:48).
That Jesus also saw this clearly there can be no question; and this, among other things, must have been in His mind when He spoke of Himself as sending a sword (Mat 10:34), and scattering fire on the earth (Luk 12:49). Towards the Roman power He, in contrast with such revolutionaries as Judas of Galilee, maintained a strictly neutral attitude. It is probable that no words ever uttered showed such consummate diplomatic skill as those in which He answered the question about the tribute money (Mat 22:17 etc.). His prophecies (Mat 24:2 etc.) show how patent to Him was the coming explosion of the forces then at play. His policy was to set the word of the Kingdom so fully at the explosive centre, that when the crash came it would send Christianity across the whole world.
For that diffusion everything was ready. Great roads had long been open by land and sea for trade and commerce. Even then the Romans were laying down those indestructible causeways by which they united land with land. The Sadducees, who in some respects read skilfully the signs of their times, did all they could to encourage trade in Syria, and to break down the Pharisaic restrictions which hampered it; and in this Jesus was their powerful ally. From the heights of Nazareth He had seen the march of the legions on the Roman road across Esdraelon from Acre to the Jordan, and watched the long lines of laden camels moving slowly from the coast to Damascus and back, along the road that lies like a flung ribbon along the hillsides to the north. When in after years St. Paul utilized the Roman roads for the spread of the gospel, he was but carrying out the work which Jesus initiated when He placed that gospel within the charged mine of Palestine.
In the light of one further consideration we see the extraordinary Providence which watched over the situation then. It is a commonplace of history, that civilization and all higher developments of human life spring forward at a bound at the meeting-point of national currents. The great civilizations have always arisen in the meeting-places of ideas (Martin Conway, The Dawn of Art, 76). The Norman Conquest offers one of the most conspicuous illustrations, but it is only one of many. The supremely influential meeting of national forces has always been that between the East and the West. The contact between East and West has always been the prolific source of the advancement of humanity (op. cit. 59, 60). It was from this contact, induced by the Pilgrimages and the Crusades, that the Renaissance arose. But Christianity itself had arisen at that earlier point of contact, when the Eastern factor was the Hebrew religion, and the Western was Greece and Rome. At the focus of the world Jesus set the light of the world.
2. The relations of Jesus with Gentiles.Not only was Palestine in close proximity with Gentile neighbours in the time of Jesus; the land itself was overrun with Gentiles, and no account of the meaning of Palestine for Jesus can ignore that fact.
His home in Galilee must have given from the first a very different outlook on the Gentile world from any that would have been possible in Jndaea. Far from the centre of Jewish exclusiveness, crossed by great high roads from the sea to the east, and actually inhabited by multitudes of Gentiles from various lands, Galilee was the most open-minded and tolerant part of the land. Commercial and other interests made the Galilaeans acquainted with foreigners, and established much friendly human intercourse. Thus at the outset it must be borne in mind that Jesus was from His childhood accustomed to a more or less cosmopolitan world, and to the ideas current in such a society. The temptation of the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them (Mat 4:8), indicates no new discovery of worldly grandeur, but a knowledge which had been gathering during the experience of thirty years.
One fact of great significance in the life of Palestine was that it had to be lived in constant view of the desert tribes to the east of it. Kinglake has described the Jordan as the boundary-line between roofs and tents; and besides the tents of nomad tribes there were also those cities of Edom and the Hauran, where, in a rude kind of civilization, Arab kings ruled their kingdoms. The terror of the desert Bedawn and the barbaric splendours of these kingdoms both contributed a romantic element, which was enforced by the eternal mystery of the desert, in which all things are seen in a strong light which magnifies their significance and fascinates the imagination. Most of Jesus parables of kings and their wars (Mat 18:23 etc.), and certainly His picture of a strong man armed guarding his house against a stronger (Luk 14:31; Luk 11:21-22 etc.), tell of just such a condition of unsettled government and expectation of surprise as existed on the borderline between Arabian and Israelite territory.
In this border region stood the cities of the Decapolis, in which a wealthy and strongly defended Greek life held its own, by force of Roman garrisons, against the desert and the south. The marvellous ruins of J, the two theatres and ornate tombs of Gadara, and the dbris of carved stones above the dam which retained water for the naumachiai at Abila, tell an almost incredible tale of luxurious and ostentatious grandeur. The blend of civilization and savagery which such places produce is a phenomenon of the most startling kind. The fact that Jesus visited the Decapolis (Mar 7:31; cf. Mat 4:25 and Mar 5:20), bearing His high and pure spirituality into that region of the Syrian world, suggests some of the strongest and most dramatic situations which it would be possible to conceive. In this light we see the extraordinary realism of the story of the Gadarenes and their swine and their devils (Mat 8:28 etc.). It was inevitable that they should have besought Him to depart out of their coasts. And the reaction on His own thought was equally inevitable. He saw the ideals for which He lived and was to die, not as spiritual visions remote from the actual world, or as an advance on its honest endeavours after holiness, but against the background of a life whose gilded swinishness threw it up in all the high relief of the holiness of heaven against earth at its most sordid. And yet it was to this region that He often retired for refuge from the Galilaeans of the western shore, and through this region that He chose to travel on His last journey to the Cross. The relief He sought in it was not wholly that of solitude. Even these degenerate races called for His sympathy; and being unprejudiced by religion, they at least let Him be alone.
The sea-coast comes little into the story of the Gospels, Afterwards, in the lives of Peter and Paul, Joppa and Caesarea were to assume an important place. But, so far as we know, Jesus visited it only once, when He retreated to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon from the Pharisees who had followed Him from Jerusalem. The few references which He made to the sea appear to be all subsequent to that visit. They are in every case characteristic of the inland Israelites thought of the sea as a place of horror rather than of beauty (Mat 18:6; cf. art. Poet below, p. 375b). It was natural that the part of the sea-coast to which He went for concealment should have been that of Tyre and Sidon. We are not, indeed, told that He visited those towns, and the word coasts may even refer to the landward district near them. Yet, obviously, no place could offer Him better hiding than a manufacturing: seaport town, where He would be easily lost in the crowds of workmen which came and went about the dye-works and the glass-works and the shipbuilding yards, or in the many-coloured throngs of native and foreign sailors on the quays, It is characteristic of Jesus that the record of that visit ignores the whole splendour of the wealthy life of Phnicia; its temples with their sun-pillars, its markets, and its ships might have been non-existent for all the notice given to them. The one fact that has been found worthy of commemoration is that story where, in inimitable sprightliness and vivacity, we see for a moment the foreign mother, and hear her tale of human sorrow assuaged.
Samaria (wh. see) divided Galilee from Judaea by the alien race that is supposed to have originated in a cross between Mesopotamians and Israelites after the first captivity. During the centuries that had intervened there had been time for this nation to settle into a fixed and distinct type of its own, but the race still bore all the marks of its bastard origin. Luxurious and soft morally, with the fertility of the land encouraging the effeminacy, they seem to have relaxed their standards of purity in all directions, and the life of the woman of Sychar (Joh 4:18) was probably typical of current views of sexual relations. The palace life of Herod at the central city of Samaria, and his intercourse with Rome at Caesarea, upon which he had spent fabulous sums, must have intensified the Bohemian and foreign elements in the national character. The tragedies of the palace, the wild story of the murder of Mariamne and what happened after it, and the subsequent strangling of her two sons in that same palace, were matters within the memory of living men. These, and the whole effect of Herod upon the place, must have been all on the side of those primitive and half-savage elements which entered largely into the Samaritan character. In religion the Samaritans had adopted a kind of blend of heathen and Israelitish worship, in which the centre of enthusiasm was a rival group of holy places set over against those of Jerusalem, and a passion for relic-hunting which, in Christs time, took the form of a search for hidden treasure in Gerizim. This, too, reveals the primitive, in its frank blending of the greed of gold with worship, and it took so deep a hold as to draw the vengeance of Pilate upon a Samaritan religious assembly (Keim, ii. 334). The claims of Samaritan religion, and its compromise with relaxed morality, are reflected in the conversation of the woman at the well (Joh 4:16 ff.).
The Jews of the time were always ready for vigorous hatreds, and in their relations with the Samaritans they showed that extreme rancour which religious bigots keep, not for opposition, but for compromise. The attitude of Jesus to Samaritans is one of the most illuminative of all the sidelights thrown upon His mind and character by the Gospels. On more than one occasion He took the unpopular direct route through Samaria while journeying between Jerusalem and Galilee (Joh 4:4). In religion, when it comes to be a question of localities, He holds by Jerusalem, and refuses to admit that any other shrine can rival its claims (Joh 4:22). Yet the error calls for no anger in Him, inasmuch as His thought of worship transcends all place-limitations, and is as wide as the human spirit and truth (Joh 4:23). He allows for the unthinking brutality of inhospitable villages, and sharply rebukes disciples who would meet it in a like spirit (Luk 9:54). There is a most pleasant sense of tolerant and kindly interest in the alien Samaritans and their ways of thinking, which, while it asserts the higher morality (Joh 4:17) and the higher worship, is yet ever friendly and gentle. He even goes out of His way to show how much nobler as a man a Samaritan may be than those Jews who professed superior nobility of faith. The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luk 10:33), and Jesus words about the grateful leper (Luk 17:17 f.), are direct protests in the name of fairness against the common judgment and attitude of His countrymen.
A few words on the attitude which Jesus assumed to Rome and the Romans are necessary to complete the view of Palestine as He knew it. Rome thrust itself then upon the inhabitants of Palestine in two forms. In such governors as Pilate it was seen directly, as the hostile imperial power governing the province of Syria. From Antioch its roads and armies had subdued the land, yet had never broken the spirit of its people, or quenched their fierce hopes of reprisals and of deliverance. At every centre its tax-gatherers had their stations. Its Praetorium in Jerusalem was occupied by the palace of the hated Pilate, whose cruelties were held in check only by his fear of the still more cruel emperor, and whose desire to quell revolutions was hindered by the fear of complaints on the score of his financial crimes. On the other hand, there were the Herods, Idumaean princes whose policy was that of Romanizing. With them, to a great extent, were the Sadducees, and under them the outward face of the country had rapidly assumed the appearance of a Western land. Architecture, commerce, amusements, and worship all showed the work of Rome through the Herodian house. There was a Roman theatre in Jerusalem, with lavishly appointed games; and a Roman eagle was set up on the Temple gates. Fortresses had risen along all the frontiers and in every part of the land, and it was Herod the Great who had cleared out the robbers from the Valley of Doves in Galilee, and so had opened Gennesaret and created Capernaum, thus unconsciously building the platform for a great part of the ministry of Jesus. At Jericho the palace-life was unrestrained in its luxury and licentiousness; in Jerusalem, Herods palace overlooked the city from the Jaffa gate. Tiberias rose by the shore of the Galilaean sea; but as it was built on an old graveyard it was avoided by religious Israelites, and Jesus never visited it, so far as our records tell. But all round the lake, villas had been built, and the shores of Galilee seem to have been a fashionable watering-place for Romans, a development which every Herod must have found to his own heart. The disciples, who were Galilaean fishermen, must have found a market for their fish in many a Roman household.
The attitude of Jesus towards Rome is very clearly depicted in the Gospels. From first to last every point at which His life touches any of the Herods shows hostility of relations (Mar 8:15, Luk 13:31-32; Luk 23:9, etc.). He appears studiously to have avoided Tiberias, Caesarea, and the city of Samaria. Herodism and its effects He accepted without further protest as the actual state of the world in which He had to live; but for that Herod with whom He had most to do He showed open contempt. To the popular mind, Herod was the murderer of John, who would also kill Jesus unless He sought escape (Luk 13:31). To Jesus he was but that fox, by no means of sufficient importance to make Him change His plans (Luk 13:32). He manifested no admiration for the great stones and buildings of Herod the Great in the Temple which he had erected (Mar 13:1-2). This scorn of Jesus reached its climax in His silence under Herods examination at Jerusalem, and the contemptible revenge of the purple robe and crown of thorns (Luk 23:9).
Towards the actual Roman Empire Jesus assumed another attitude. Galilee in Jesus time was full of revolution. Along with its tolerant cosmopolitanism there always were elements of the most violent fanaticism there,a combination by no means unusual in the history of nations. Judas of Galilee was the popular patriot and hero, and the sons of Judas, who grew up as boys near Jesus, were to perish on crosses after Him, for vain attempts against the Roman sway. Thoughts of such revolution may have been involved in the third temptation; but if so, they were immediately rejected. Pilates eager question, Art thou a king? (Joh 18:37), met with no response which could be used against Jesus as a serious charge. His payment of tribute, and the words He spoke about it on various occasions, show no sense of resented injury (Mat 22:21). His absence of bitterness towards the tax-gatherers, and His calling of one of them to be a disciple, were among the bitterest sources of the hatred borne to Him by the Pharisees (Mat 9:9-11). He saw the publicans as human beings, and not as renegades and traitors. The absence of prejudice which enabled Him to adopt this attitude has been explained on the ground that He took no interest whatever in the burning questions of the times (Hausrath, ii. 210). It would be more accurate to say that, so far as the political conditions were concerned, He accepted the facts and their inevitable consequences. He saw the coming destruction of Jerusalem with deep emotion (Mat 23:37), and He spoke of it as about to be trodden down by the Gentiles (Luk 21:24), but He put forth no effort politically to change the course of events. The words in which He spoke of Pilates slaughter of the Galilaeans, who were no doubt a band of revolutionary patriots, are certainly very remarkable. Not only did He refrain from any comment on the tragedy, or any tribute to their daring or their sacrifice; all He had to say of them was that they were not sinners above other Galilaeans (Luk 13:4).
By gathering these and other considerations together, we may gain a fairly accurate idea of the feeling of Jesus towards the Gentiles, who played so important a part in the Syrian world of His time. Around Him there was the Herodian attitude of Romanizing, and the Pharisaic and patriotic attitude which delighted in branding Gentiles with such names as dogs and swine; while between these two a considerable mass of the general opinion of the time regarded them neither with emulation nor with hatred, but simply accepted them as factsuncomfortable, unaccountable works of God, as the Hindus are said to regard the English (Asia and Europe). To none of them all had it ever occurred to say, Suppose I were a Gentile? and to try to look upon the world earnestly from the Gentile point of viewa quite different matter from imitating Gentile ways in the Herodian manner.
Was this the attitude adopted by Jesus? Whatever answer we give to that question, it is quite clear that His attitude was a different one from any of the three above indicated. Unlike the Herodians, He showed no interest in Gentile architecture or commerce, literature or art. He accepted their institutions in so far as these formed part of the ordinary life of the land, but He passed no judgment either of approval or of disapproval on them. He almost exclusively, and evidently with deliberation, confined His ministry, and that of His disciples during His lifetime, to Israel. While not going out of His way to avoid Gentiles, He did not cultivate them. On almost every occasion they came to Him, not He to them. On the other hand, He expressly forbade His disciples to go into the way of the Gentiles, i.e. to utilize for the spread of the gospel, as St. Paul afterwards did, those great roads in which the ends of the earth met. He even forbade them to enter any village of the Samaritans (Mat 10:5). In His initial words to the Syrophnician woman He contrasts the children of the Promise with the Gentile dogs (Mat 15:26), though probably there was that in His manner which encouraged her to her clever repartee. To the woman of Samaria He pointedly asserted that salvation is of the Jews (Joh 4:22). He saw the failings of the Gentiles, and spoke of them as a warning to Christians. His disciples were to avoid their vain repetitions in prayer (Mat 6:7), their greedy search and labour for food and clothes (Mat 6:32), their servility with princes, and their desire of honour (Mat 20:25). There is little doubt that His words (regarding John) about those who are clothed in soft raiment and who live in kings houses, were meant to be understood in scorn of Herod (Mat 11:8).
On the other hand, it is equally clear that He refused to countenance the virulent spirit of antagonism, either religious or patriotic. Nothing met with more frequent or more unsparing condemnation than the sanctimonious exclusiveness of the Pharisees, who made a religion of avoiding their fellow-men. Nor did He intermeddle with the revolutionary politics or methods of His day. On the contrary, He paid tribute; and when the servants of the high priest came to seize Him, He strongly condemned the use of weapons even in defence, and with a quiet request permitted Himself to be bound. The general impression which the narratives give is certainly one of kindly feeling for Gentiles. His interest and appreciation were always frank and open. He shielded His Roman judge from the greater sin in His condemnation (Joh 19:11), and pleaded the ignorance of His actual murderers in His dying prayer (Luk 23:34). He evidently liked to point out cases of Gentile superiority to Jews. At the outset of His ministry He offended the Nazarenes by His words about Naaman and the widow of Sarepta (Luk 4:26-27); and on a later occasion He made the men of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba a foil to the unbelief of His generation (Mat 12:41-42). The phrase which He used on several occasions of Gentile believers has become proverbial, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel (Mat 8:10 etc.). The impression which such conduct must have produced was certainly one of strong Gentile sympathies, and Matthew aptly quotes regarding Him the words of Isaiah, in his name shall the Gentiles trust (Mat 12:21).
From this it is already evident that Jesus cannot be placed in the third class, with those who merely accepted the Gentiles as facts in the situation. Politically, that was His attitude towards them, but as individuals He often delighted in them. He appreciated their broader outlook and want of Pharisaic narrowness. He was frankly relieved by their unconventionality and naturalness, which gave Him air to breathe after the stifling atmosphere of Rabbinism. To Him, in general, they stood for human nature, plain and unsophisticated.
When we inquire into the reasons for that Jewish exclusiveness against which Jesus thus protested, we come upon a fact of far-reaching significance. The Pharisees had much to justify their narrow views and practices in the fear of heathenism. The dearly won victory of the prophets over idolatry seemed to be in danger of being undone by the Graeco-Roman invasion of a new heathenism. The old struggle renewed itself, and in Jesus time the religious men of Israel were keeping back the encroaching worship of idols with both hands. In Samsons country the new Philistines (for so the followers of Epiphanes seemed to the faithful) had built an altar to Zeus (Hausrath, i. 29). Herod was known to have taken part in the completion of Jupiters temple at Athens (ib. ii. 4). Much of the modern style, with its pictured art, must have savoured of idolatry to men who still took the Second Commandment literally, and the religious men of Israel were filled with the gravest apprehensions as they watched the advancing tide. In the whole speech of Jesus there is no attack upon heathenism to be found, nor any sense of serious danger from it. At Caesarea Philippi He had seen the temple raised by Herod to Augustus, and the rock-cut niches dedicated to Pan and the nymphs where Jordan issued from its cave, yet no word of His is recorded in protest. True, He might upon occasion use such a current expression as Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican (Mat 18:17), but His own attitude to publicans would be sufficient commentary upon that for His enemies. Evidently He was not in the slightest degree afraid of heathenism as a real danger, and He set Himself systematically against those maxims and practices as to clean and unclean things in which the Pharisaic spirit saw one of its best safeguards.
The explanation must be found in His further doctrine of the Kingdom of God, and the methods of its coming. There are two ways of opposing heathenism. The Pharisaic way was the negative one of denouncing it and withstanding its encroachment. Jesus chose the positive method of supplanting it by the Kingdom of heaven. That strong leaven He cast into the lump of humanity, well knowing that it must work eventually far beyond the Jewish regions. This is the ultimate point in His relations with the Gentile world. When He spoke to Pilate of His Kingdom, the Roman was relieved to hear that it was not of this world, and at once set Him down as a dreamer. But Jesus was no dreamer. He was deliberately setting an actual Kingdom over against the existing empire, and history was soon to show that this was in the region of the practical and effective forces of the world. The consequences of this Leaven of the Kingdom could not possibly be confined to the sphere of religion. They must eventually take political shape, and indeed affect every department of human life and interest, and spread throughout every nation of the world.
All this was in the mind of Jesus. The Book of Jonah was a favourite with Him, and it is the OT manifesto of the imperial and world-wide power of faith. His parable of the judgment of the nations (Mat 25:32), and His prophecies of the coming of the East and West and North and South to the Kingdom of God (Mat 8:11), showed plainly His ultimate designs upon the Gentile world. He spoke of other sheep beyond those of the Israelite fold (Joh 10:16), and finally commanded His messengers to go out into all the world and teach all nations (Mat 28:19). When He spoke of Himself as the Light of the world (Joh 8:12), and of His life as given for the world (Joh 6:51), it was the world that He was speaking of, and His hearers understood that it was so (cf. also Mat 16:21; Mat 13:38; Mat 5:5; Mat 5:13-14).
At times there may have crossed His mind a thought of making the wider appeal in person before His death. The most striking instance is that of the coming of the Greeks shortly before the end (Joh 12:20). It may be, as has been held by high authorities, that He saw in that event the invitation to address to the Greek world the message which the Hebrew world was rejecting. He refused it, proclaiming, in the wonderful saying about the corn of wheat (Joh 12:24), His knowledge that it was through death that life must come. Yet He rejoiced in it with a sudden glory (Joh 12:23), and recognized in it the fulfilment of His lifes far-reaching purpose. He rejected it only that He might attain it. His own light, like that of His disciples, must be set upon a candlestick if it was to give light to all that were in the house; and He reached the Gentiles most effectually by concentrating His ministry upon Israel.
3. The open field.In order to estimate the influence of Nature upon the mind of Jesus, it is necessary, first, to distinguish between the various ways in which Nature has been conceived in relation to humanity. At the two extremes stand materialistic realism and the purely spiritual and idealistic views. The former sees in nature mere masses of living or dead matter, arranged in various shapes, quantities, and combinations, and moved by forces variously conceived. The latter sees in it the visual and sensuous revelation of the Divine life. It is the garment of God, whose line drapery at once hides and reveals the Spirit of the universe.
Between these extremes there are three main points of view. Art, searching for beauty, has discovered landscape, in which the detailed objects are grouped into larger unities invested with a larger and more composite character of their own. The experience of individuals and the history of nations have added to the facts of landscape or of single objects certain associations which give them their human interest. Thought, emotion, and imagination have discovered (some would say invented) a mysterious spirituality in Nature, variously described or confessed to be indescribable, but perceived or felt as in some way a haunting presence, a something more than meets the eye or ear.
Often we find more than one of these ways of regarding Nature combined in the mind of a single thinker. St. Paul, e.g., seems to have had singularly little feeling for Nature in the modern sense. There is no landscape and hardly any reference to detail in his writings, though his travels had showed him much of the finest scenery of the Mediterranean and of Asia Minor. For him the open field apparently represented nothing but a set of distances to be traversed before reaching cities. Yet at times the mystery comes upon him, and he invests Nature with a.dim life of her own, groaning and travailing in pain towards some grand event (Rom 8:22). Dante, amid much of the grandest scenery of Europe, sees only obstacles to the foot of the traveller. But for him every place has historical associations, in whose light it lives in his mind. Gray is the poet who discovered English landscape. Wordsworth reaches the highest point in spiritualizing nature:
Great God! Id rather be
A Pagan, suckled in a creed outworn,
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathd horn.
Wordsworth, Miscellaneous Sonnets.
The age of Jesus was divided between the Greek and the Hebrew view of Nature, and both of these must have been familiar in Syria. The Greek view was devoid of landscape properly so called. It saw brilliant and well-defined masses of detailthe temple white on its hill, reeds in the river-bed, the numberless laughter of waves. Greece not only saw but felt these, as charged with a spiritual significance which could be apprehended only in fragmentary hints and glimpses, with more wistfulness than understanding. She sought to capture and retain that spiritual significance in the exquisite imagery of her mythological creations of nymph and faun, the dryad of the forest and the goddess of the fountain. Yet these delicate incarnations did not suffice for her expression of Nature. Behind them lay those unaccountable moods of delight and misgiving which Nature awoke in her soul. The unsolved mystery of the beauty and the terror of the world emphasized in the main the misgiving, and produced the melancholy of the Greeks. Death and change oppressed her spirit, and seemed to be ever the last word that Nature strove to say. The voice heard by the steersman had been heard by Greece beforeGreat Pan is dead.
How much of this may have directly presented itself to Jesus, we cannot tell. His answer, however, to the Greeks who came to Him in Passion Week, seems to be an answer to the spirit of their nation (Joh 12:4). It is to Nature that He leads them in His reference to the corn of wheat, and to the element of death in Nature. But He reveals in Nature what they had not strength to find, the promise of resurrection, and the assurance of life enriched and fructified by death.
The Hebrew view of Nature differs from the Greek somewhat as Brownings differs from Wordsworths. To the Greek, Nature has a spirituality which is no doubt reflected, in part, from the soul of her observer, yet is conceived as residing in herself in one or other of many fashions of personification. To the Hebrew, Nature in herself is dead, and has no soul of her own. She is the tool of Jehovah or His weapon, according as He is working or warring against His enemies; or she is visible as a background over against human life, or at least as accessory to man and his needs or works in some way. In either case the point is that Nature for the Hebrew has no independent life or spirituality of her own. She shines ever in the borrowed light of human or Divine interest.
The Hebrew view of Nature, in its three main aspects, has been admirably described in the three expressions(1) A stage for God, the place of His feet; (2) a home for man; (3) the assessor at the controversy between God and man (Isa 1:2, Mic 6:2), a view in which the solemnity and austerity of Nature found a fitting metaphor to express them. Of each of these three aspects many instances might be quoted; but at present it concerns us only to remark that in none of them is Nature seen in herself, but always dependent on an inhabitant, Divine or human, who gives her soul. The third view, indeed, seems to conceive of Nature as independent, her mountains judging between God and man. But the personification does not go deep, nor is the consciousness of its figurativeness lost. The mountains, the heavens and the earth, are witnesses in much the same sense as a pillar set up by one who has made a vow. They are called upon to listen, to rejoice, to break forth into singing, not because they are conceived as living an independent life, but because the human or Divine event is conceived as of such vast import that even dumb Nature must feel its thrill, and for once awake from her inertness to do homage to the higher forms of being.
There is, properly speaking, no landscape in the Bible. Objects are seen in detail, or groups of objects, in connexion with the events or circumstances narrated. Through a cleft fissure in a mountain range a glimpse is caught of a land that is very far off; but it is as a destination rather than as a picture that it is seen. The language spends its strength on those sharp and clear-cut names for natural phenomena which express so muchJordan, the down-rusher; Ghr, the scooped-out; Gilgal, the circular, and so on. The Song of Solomon is full of exquisite detail, with the aromatic scents of the East lingering about its voluptuous gardens and glades. But that is pre-Raphaelite art, of the same sort as those descriptions which are so common in the OT of a single tree or plant, a vine, an olive, or a gourd. It is characteristic of the Hebrew view of Nature that the Feast of Tabernacles, with its booths and illuminations, seemed to the Hebrew mind satisfactory as a piece of genuine rural life.
The life of Jesus was much spent in the open air, and His thought was full of the breezy freshness of the hills and fields; but they were Syrian and not European hills and fields, and their effect is that of Eastern nature, not Western. Samaria and Lebanon strike the traveller from England as most familiar. But there is no word of Lebanon in the Gospels, and Samaria was seen but casually in passing through. It was in one of Samarias richest and broadest valleys that He told His disciples to lift up their eyes and look upon the fields white already to the harvest (Joh 4:35). The regions with which He was most familiar were the hills and Sea of Galilee, and the rocky heights of Judaea. These are the very regions where the scenery is most typically Oriental. The main difference between a Syrian and an English landscape is that in Syria there is none of that atmosphere which softens outlines and tones down a wide stretch of country into a unity of vision. The colouring is faint, in delicate shades of grey and brown and lilac, broken by the most violently brilliant splashes of high colour, where a water-spring flings a patch of lush green vegetation upon the pale mountain side, or where in springtime a long thin flame of oleander blazes along the winding depth of a washed-out river-bed. The general impression of wide views either in Judaea or Galilee is that of a land sculptured out of tinted stones. In Judaea the hills are bare grey limestone, whose stoniness is intensified rather than softened by sparse and dingy olives. Along the sides of many valleys the strata run in many-coloured parallel bands, giving the effect of a gigantic but faded mural decoration; while the plateau on the heights round Jerusalem and on to the north lies bare in whitish grey. Galilee has more woodland, and some thin remains of what may once have been forests, but it also owes its general effect to rock rather than to vegetation. Allowing for the denudation caused by so many centuries of war and neglect, it is likely that even at its best the prevalent note of the land was that of sharp outline in faint colour, and its general impression that of huge-scale sculpture-work. Arriving from the West upon the edge of the hillside above Tiberias, the traveller catches his first sight of the Sea of Galilee. The writer may be permitted to quote a former description of his impression:
This is not scenery; it is tinted sculpture, it is jewel-work on a gigantic scale. The rosy flush of sunset was on it when we caught the first glimpse. At our feet lay a great flesh-coloured cup full of blue liquor; or rather the whole seemed some lapidarys quaint fancy in pink marble and blue-stone. There was no translucency, but an aggressive opaqueness, in sea and shore alike. The dry atmosphere showed everything in sharpest outline, clear-cut and broken-edged. There was no shading or variety of colour, but a strong and unsoftened contrast. To be quite accurate, there was one breaka splash of white, with the green suggestion of trees and grass, lying on the waters edge directly beneath usTiberias.
Of course, the colour changes with the seasons, and we know that Jesus sat upon green grass upon the slopes at the north end of the Lake. Wild flowers of all shades cover the land with richest colours in their season. By the shore, close to Capernaum, lies the wonderful garden of Gennesaret, a reserve of shelter and of fountains filling a level fold of the hills, some three miles by one and a half in area, with exuberant fertility.
Such were the fields where the feet of Jesus trod. His speech of Nature has no landscape in it, but much clear vision of detail. There is singularly little mention of colour. He speaks of white sepulchres and a red sky (Mat 16:2). He refers to the purple in which the rich man is clad (Luk 16:19); and those lilies of the field of which He said that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them (Mat 6:28 etc.), were purple irises. In the East every shadow turns to this colour, and it may perhaps have been a favourite of His. If so, the robe with which Herods soldiers mocked Him gains a new and pathetic irony. His references to flowers (cf. art. Poet) are pre-Raphaelite in their detail and delicacy. No Greek nymph was ever conceived more daintily than Christs lily. He often refers to single trees, such as the fig-tree, but especially to the vine, from which He draws symbolic lessons in great detail (Joh 15:1). Thus He is true to that characteristic of Palestine which has given to it the true and happy epithet of the land of the single tree.
But it was as a stage for human activities that Jesus chiefly viewed the earth. His delights and His interests were with the sons of men. Sometimes the exigencies of His own life force thoughts of Nature upon Him, as when the stones of the wilderness suggest loaves of bread (Mat 4:3), or the holes of foxes and the nests of birds are contrasted with His own homelessness (Mat 8:20). He speaks much of those trees which grow fruit for the use of man, and acquiesces in their doom when they are barren. Yet there is a note of compassion in the parable of the Barren Fig-tree (Luk 13:8) which reminds us of Jonahs pity for his withered gourd (Jon 4:10), and there is a sudden and striking description of a tree bursting into the full glory of its leafage. These, however, are exceptions. Man is almost always doing something to Nature as Jesus sees it,ploughing, sowing, reaping; fishing, tending sheep, protecting them against wolves. Hot journeying and refreshing cups of cold water, wayside incidents of all kinds, abound in His parables. He sees the operations of the husbandman and fisher in minute detail, touches of nature everywhere telling of the keen eyes that let nothing escape their observation. Gennesaret (Mar 6:53, Mat 14:34) itself may have furnished Him with many of those vivid pictures of agricultural life and its occupations in which His parables abound.* [Note: For a very full set of examples of this, see Hausrath, i. 9, 10; ii. 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 140, 191, 223, etc.] He notes the robbers lurking by the highways (Luk 10:30), and the places where He stands are sometimes crowded with sick folk laid there of an evening for His healing (Mar 1:32). His world is always a field full of folk.
The open-air character of His ministry lends a sense of freedom and of roominess to much of His thought. There is a feel of wandering in it, and a clean scent of cornfields and flowery meadows. There are references to the weather (Mat 16:2), and He overhears His disciples remarking that in four months it will be harvest time (Joh 4:35). In such phrases as the birds of the air (Mat 8:20) and the lilies of the field (Mat 6:28), there is the delight in sky-space and field-breadth. Nothing could better express the leisurely and detached mood of the wanderer, in sympathy with wide open spaces, than such words as sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof (Mat 6:34). While His days were spent in crowded thoroughfares of men, He felt the need of retreat and the refreshment of solitary places (Mat 14:13). When no wider space was available, He frequented the Garden of Gethsemane. But that was at a time when the world had closed in upon His life, shutting Him in with men and human tragedy. There, in full view of the lights of Jerusalem, and with its murmur in His ear, He still found among olive trees a certain solitude. Earlier, there must have been many quiet days of retreat among the mountains or across the lake, when He felt the soothing and healing effect of Nature in all its power.
Yet the message of the open field was not for Himself alone. In contrast with modern views of Nature, the freedom and the beauty of the world filled Him with the most childlike and delightful thoughts. There was no shadow of separation between the Creator and His works, no sense of cruelty or savagery, no philosophizing consciousness of the tormenting questions of scientific doubt. In all simplicity, with the eyes of a child, He saw in Nature the handiwork of the Father. The heaven is Gods throne, and the earth His footstool (Mat 5:34 etc.). Across the whole field of the world the Fathers care is lavished, on birds (Mat 10:29) and beasts and the children of men. As to the mysteries of Providence, Jesus refused to admit the popular view of Gods interference in such accidents as the fall of a tower in Siloam (Luk 13:4). On the contrary, though without pursuing the subject to further consequences, He reminds us that the Father makes His sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust (Mat 5:45).
There is a mysterious fact of sympathetic response between Nature and Humanity which has been variously explained, and yet never satisfactorily understood. It would seem as if Nature and Humanity had some mysterious understanding with one another, some subtle and occult system of signalling to one another across the gulf which separates the living world from the dead. In all the ancient religions of Asia this was a familiar idea. Baal-worship, in all its varieties, spread it across the Semitic world. The OT is full of references to spiritual presence associated especially with certain places or natural objects, or spiritual agency passing over from the deeds of man to the locality associated with them. The ground is cursed for mans sake in the story of Eden (Gen 3:17); the place on which Moses stands is holy ground (Exo 3:5). A hill of Jehovah may often have been so called in rhetorical religious speech when all that was intended was emphasis on height or greatness; yet there can be no doubt that the words originally were meant of literal and peculiar possession. The whole ritual concerning clean and unclean animals is an instance of the same habit.
It would be enough, to prove that Jesus felt and utilized this strange and intimate connexion between Nature and the supernatural, to point to the miracles which He openly performed and professed. The Jews have a name for Him which is very significant in this connexion. By many of them He has been called The Good Magician. This interesting fact throws light on the taunt of His enemies that He was a Samaritan, and had a devil (Joh 8:48). Samaria was famous for its magicians, who were for the most part addicted to sorcery and necromancy. Such mistaken interfusion of the material and spiritual world was regarded by His enemies as of the same kind as that which they saw and heard in Him. His prophecies of future judgment (Mat 25:31 etc.) mingle the material facts of the world with spiritual forces and thoughts in very much the same fashion as they are blended in those flame-pictures which so interested Him in the Book of Daniel. His miracles involved the blending of the two spheres in every instance. On the other hand, He cut through the doctrines of clean and unclean with a ruthlessness which stirred up the animosity of His enemies (Mat 15:11 etc.). Regarding the food provisions of the Jewish law, He said nothing, though it is unmistakably His spirit that we recognize in the vision of Peter a few years after His death (Act 10:9-16). But as for the curse of uncleanness which the Pharisees saw everywhere falling like a shadow over the whole life of man, He would have none of it, and (proclaiming eloquently His belief in the fresh wholesomeness of Nature) declared all things clean (Luk 11:41).
Galilee was very superstitious, though in a more nave and less repulsive form than the necromancy of Samaria. On two occasions we hear of the disciples mistaking Jesus for a spirit (Mat 14:26, Luk 24:37),in the former, apparently for the angry spirit of the Lake. On both these occasions Jesus reassures them, but says nothing to dispel or ridicule their views. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that He accepted the universal belief in demons, who haunted not men only, but places as well (Mat 12:43 [dry places], cf. Mat 8:28, Mar 5:5).
Thus for Jesus Nature was indeed haunted. The worlds of spirit and matter were, in His thought, full of interchange. Yet it is very remarkable how entirely He differs from the spirit of contemporary magic, as we know its development in the Rabbinical doctrines of the time, and in the later Asiatic and Egyptian schools. There is at once a reserve and a freshness about the narratives of the miracles of Jesus. They are not the dark ultimate result of fearsome dealing with the occult. They are the inevitable effect of the Divine love set free on the earth and in full play upon the facts of Naturethat same love which in less startling fashion He has already recognized in sunrise and rainfall (Mat 5:45). Consequently in Him the unwholesomeness of magic and spiritualism is entirely absent. He calls the dead as simply, and they obey as naturally, as we call the living and they come. He heals the sick just as a mother might caress her child.
One more note must suffice for this brief account of His connexion with Nature as Palestine showed it to Him. We have already referred in passing to some of His parables. It is very noteworthy that in so many of them He saw and used the symbolism of Nature. It would seem as if for Him every process of the field, the life of trees, the springs of living water, the softness of sand and the stability of rocks, the saltness of salt, the shining and the quenching of lights, were constantly suggesting symbols of that spiritual life of which He was at once the creator and the exponent. The earth was interesting to Him in its own right, but it was doubly interesting on account of its analogy with the Kingdom of heaven. Seeds of the earth, birds of the air, wind and flowing water and burning fire, were all unceasingly rehearsing under His eyes the operations of the Kingdom.
Nor did the analysis stop there. When the busy and thoughtful work of man had touched the natural world, new symbols sprang forth for His use on every hand. We shall understand better such a saying as I am the way, when we remember how through His childhood He had watched the life of the great world passing along a Roman road and a caravan route in the north. We are reminded of more than one of His sayings (Joh 15:1 etc.) when we find that in vine-growing parts of Syria to-day the vine-plants are dug round and exposed to the depth of more than a foot, and all rootlets are cut off from the main root to that depth. If this were not done, the sun would scorch the roots near the surface, or the passing plough would bleed them. It is the deep roots only that are safe. At Hebron, a few years ago, a traveller noticing the fact that the sheepfolds were circles of stone wall broken by a gap in which there was never any door, asked a shepherd for the reason, and was answered, I am the door. The shepherd lies down in the open space, and no wolf can enter nor can any sheep stray except across his body. That was a symbol worthy of the use of Jesus!
4. Towns and Villages.For the understanding of anything connected with the life and history of a Semitic nation, nothing is of such importance as to study the growth and character of towns, and the changes which they produce upon those who exchange a nomad for a settled existence. To realize the times of Jesus, and still more those of the OT, we have to disabuse our minds of all that the modern world means by a city when we meet the word in the ancient writings. It is not without a feeling of amused surprise that one comes to identify those grotesque hamlets with the cities of the Bible, and to recall the fact that their kings must have often occupied a humbler station in the body politic of their times than the chairman of a parish council may occupy in ours. Of course, there have been incalculably great changes in a land which has been under the ploughshares of war for so many centuries, yet the sites remain, and it is often possible to rebuild the past. The very forces that have consigned so many of them to ruins have kept the rest alive through everything. The want of good roads, the uncertainties of government, the ancient feuds and avoidances, have preserved village communities apart and with little alteration.
Of cities in the Western sense, there were none in Syria. Yet Damascus, Beyrout, and Jerusalem stand out from the towns of Syria as places worthy of the name. Jerusalem we shall consider at a later stage. There is no record of any visit of Jesus to Berytus or Damascus, but Tyre and Sidon must have rivalled if not surpassed them in His time. G. A. Smith has suggested that in the story of the Prodigal Son we may have a reference to the fast city life where boys from country homes might be seen then, as in Beyrout they may be seen now, wasting their substance with riotous living (Luk 15:13). It was in Beyrout, only a year or two ago, that an American, trying to persuade a lad to come to America, received the answer, Suffer me first to bury my fatherthe father standing by and acquiescing in the filial sentiment.
With several of the towns Jesus was familiar. They have changed more than the villages, and yet there is much in them still which enables us to reconstruct the life He saw. There are about a dozen of them, and they shine from far, white splashes on the hill-tops, like Jaffa, perched with a conscious pose above the rocks of its seashore; or Jenin, gleaming like a white bird from its nest of palm-trees. The streets are usually aggressively irregular, at once ancient and unfinished in their appearance. The wider spaces, where tents are pitched and camels and horses tethered, are full of noise and colour, a patchwork of brilliant and crowded human life. There are narrower streets, which often become tunnels, in which laden asses brush the wares of shopkeepers with their burdens, and the shrill talk of men and women intensifies the disagreeableness of the smells. Closely huddled together from the first, and kept from lateral expansion by their walls and gates, and the dangers of the open country outside, the houses are forced upwards for expansion, and the sky of townsfolk is a narrow strip seen between lofty precipices of stone.
The villages are charming at a distance, but full of disillusion as one approaches. The difference between the distant view and the interior reminds one of the words of Jesus about the outward and inward appearances of whited sepulchres (Mat 23:27). They are usually well set, on picturesque heights or hillsides, and the angular outline of flat roofs and walls lends them a suggestion of military fortification. Cultivated oliveyards or gardens give the promise of quiet prosperity, and groups of trees seem to have arranged themselves for a picture. But, on nearer approach, the trees appear to detach themselves and stand apart, and the houses to decay before the eyes of the spectator into ruinous heaps of dbris. This is due partly to poverty, and partly to the pretence of poverty as a device for avoiding the rapacity of the tax-gatherer or of the robber. Even in the time of Jesus ostentation was dangerous. Those towns of which He speaks were walled and guarded. Towns and villages were eagerly watched by the tax-gatherers and sometimes ruined and burned by banditti, especially in outlying or frontier regions. When He spoke of an angry lord coming to avenge the murder of his son and destroy the city of the murderers (Mat 21:41), the words would awaken no surprise.
Jesus was a dweller in towns. His longest homes on earth were Nazareth and Capernaum, both of them among the larger towns of Galilee. The significance of this fact is noteworthy. Most of the Syrian towns are to-day the mingling-places of the land, the crucibles wherein a composite race is molten out of many elements. One or two towns, indeed, like Nablus and Hebron, are fanatically Mohammedan, and the unwelcome alien elements of the population are kept apart, while the life of the whole community stagnates, immune to the infection of their uncleanness, but unprogressive as cities of the dead. But the other towns are open to the world. It is said that the sanitary conditions are such that if it were not for the freedom of intercourse the population would die off. The inhabitants often emigrate, and there is much intermarriage with people of other towns, so that the life is varied and has other than purely local interests.
From the earliest times the population of these towns was recruited by Canaanites, Arabs, and Israelites from other districts. In the days of Jesus, Graeco-Roman life was pouring into them, and there was always the presence of the imperial military contingent. The great roads and the Eastern campaigns of Rome had opened up and greatly developed foreign commerce, which found markets in all the larger centres. Jesus was a child and a man of the town. It was not, as in the case of John the Baptist, in desert places that He chose to teach, but in the crowded synagogues, clad in ordinary townsmans tasselled dress.
Urban communities arose from three main causes, viz. commerce (especially commerce in connexion with agriculture), war, and worship. In its various phases, town life bears marks of its threefold origin through all time. Christ touched this life on all its sides, and came into relation with each of these three aspects of it.
Commerce Jesus knew from the first in Nazareth. The town lies in the oval hollow of a high mountain valley. The carpenters shop there led Him doubtless to a knowledge of house building, and He knew the reasons why some houses stood the underwash of rainstorms and some did not (Mat 7:24). Tradition mentions yokes and ploughs as among the chief objects which He manufactured as a carpenter; and there can be little doubt that this is correct. For Nazareth was just the place in which commerce was most sure to be closely connected with agriculture; and He who said, Take my yoke upon you (Mat 11:29), and spoke of the light burden and the easy yoke, had doubtless in His mind much experience of the choice of timber and of ace irate fitting of yokes to the necks of oxen. He knew the marckets, and may not only have seen children playing in them, but have played there Himself as a child. Capernaum was a place of importance for the collection of revenue, being situated at an important point on a great Roman road. Jericho, famous for its rich trade in balsam, was a still more important tax-collecting centre, where a leading publican could gather many of his friends to a feast (Luk 5:29). Matthew and Zacchaeus are links connecting Jesus with the receipt of custom. Capernaum also had its fishing fleet, and its extensive fish-market, and Peters family resided there (Mat 8:14). The traveller coming in from the eastern desert towards the Lebanon is astonished by the aspect of the town of Homs (Emesa), whose high square blocks of masonry and many chimney-stalks give it a striking resemblance to a Midland English manufacturing town. No doubt that is a product of modern industry. Yet, as He looked southward from His disciples boat, Jesus must have often seen the cloud of smoke rising from Taricheae, at the southern end of the Lake, where in His time a large trade in fish-curing was carried on.
War, also, had left its traces. As one advances farther and farther to the north-east from Damascus, one is struck to find the walls of oasis-towns grow thicker and higher, and to note the pierced loopholes in them, testifying to the nearness of the raiding Bedawin, and the precarious terms on which town life is possible there. Many such fortress-towns Jesus must have visited on His journeys. Ever visible from Nazareth itself, the crest of Tabor, to which some have seen an allusion in the city set on an hill (Mat 5:14), was crowned by a fort and occupied by a Roman garrison. The centurions whom Jesus met, and who impressed Him so favourably, were in command of detachments of Roman soldiers, who formed an important feature in all the town life of Syria, mingling at times in friendly intercourse with their neighbours (Luk 7:4-5), and lending to the life of the place that unmistakable air of distinction which is ever to be found about the army of a great empire.
Worship, too, was an ancient and ineradicable feature of town life. Many towns owed their first origin to some holy place, whose associations were lost in the most remote antiquity, and many were glorified by historical associations of the religious past. Such holy places were scattered up and down the land, but the history of Jesus brings us into contact chiefly with two of themJacobs Well, near Shechem, and Bethlehem, the city of David. The concentration of the religious life of the nation in Jerusalem tended to discourage the attention paid to local shrines, and it is striking that to visit the former of the two above mentioned, Jesus had to journey into the heart of Samaria; while, as regards Bethlehem, we never hear of it after the stories of His birth. It was the synagogue which gave its religious aspect to the town life which Jesus knew. The first beginning of His ministry was in the synagogue of Nazareth. It is in connexion with the ruins of a costly synagogue that the controversy about the site of Capernaum still centres (cf. Sanday). While the Temple still gathered round it the national religious sentiment, the actual religious life of the people owed more to the synagogues than to the Temple. In them religion was surrounded by individual memories and family associations. In them the Scriptures grew familiar, and the Law was expounded and applied to the details of actual life. While the Temple revealed to every true Israelite Jehovah as the God of his nation, the synagogue kept about him the thought and presence of Jehovah as God of his home. Thus the idea of the city was more and more a religious idea in Israel, and her God was a city dweller. There is an Eastern proverb which speaks of homeless strangers as going to Gods gate, and the idea of the City of God, fostered indeed by Jerusalem, yet hallowed every city of Israel. Not of the capital only, but of all her towns she sang that unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain (Psa 127:1).
There can be no question that the city conception entered largely into Jesus view of His Kingdom. Josephus describes (perhaps in exaggerated terms) the Essene conception of the Kingdom of God as a spot beyond the ocean which is oppressed neither with storms of rain nor snow, nor with intense heat, but soft, cooling, zephyr west winds always blow (cf. Hausrath, i. 164). That was Utopia seen from the wildernessthe Kingdom of God seen from the desert. But for Jesus the desert was but an occasional resort. It was the crowded streets of towns that set His point of view; and the lifenot the retreat from lifeof men and women, was the ideal of His Kingdom. In every parable and prophecy of His which describe it, we hear the hum of mans activity, and see him busy with human business.
The town life, however, which Jesus knew in Syria was very far from the ideal. Of course, in estimating such matters, a large allowance must always be made for the different tastes of Easterns and Westerns, so that many things which impress us as disadvantages may have been either unnoticed or actually enjoyed by Orientals. Nothing, for instance, strikes the traveller more than the constant publicity of life in the East, to which reference has already been made. There seems, at first sight, to be no private life at all. Every one knows everything about everybody. The intimacy of family life appears to be everywhere, but without its affection, and the unceasing sound of speech keeps up an unbroken and unseemly exposure of private affairs. That Jesus felt this oppressive at times is proved by those periodic retreats to desert places and to mountains which are so familiar to readers of the Gospels. The note of intimacy, the personal quality of intercourse even in crowded thoroughfares, appear in countless touches of the narrative. He Himself refers to it when He gives it as a thing to be counted on, that that which is told in the chamber will be proclaimed on the housetop (Mat 10:27, Luk 12:3), (from which at least ten families would hear it). There is, behind the main speech of the Gospels, the sound of an eternal chatter among the rustling crowds. Remarks of disciples and bystanders are often overheard either by Jesus or by the reporter (Mat 13:55-56, Joh 4:35 etc.). Sins of speech are more frequently referred to and rebuked than other sins.
This publicity, however, is but one part of the general sense of comfortlessness which depresses the Western visitor in the East. At one time, when Jesus was homeless, He evidently felt this, contrasting His own wandering life with that of foxes and of birds (Mat 8:20). But the homes themselves are often such as to seem very comfortless to the traveller. Of course, comfort is a matter which very largely depends upon custom, and the apparent want of it is often illusory. The streets are filthy and often untidy in detail; but the inhabitant seem to have a singular lack of sensitiveness to smells, and the sordid litter of odds and ends appears not to distract their eye from appreciation of the fine building that rises out of it. In many houses the floor is on two levels, the upper portion being for the human inhabitants, and the lower for cattle, whose mangers are hollowed out of the raised Floor along its edge. Even in better houses the rooms are bare; and jars for olives, oil, or water, along with corn-baskets and agricultural implements, give to the reception-rooms the appearance of outhouses. The main desiderata seem to be heat in winter and coolness in summer, so that the interiors are generally darka state of matters which is not conducive to cleanliness. There is no glass, and the strong sunlight penetrates the rooms in shafts which end in brilliant jewel-like flames of colour where they strike upon a garment or a piece of coloured pottery, and throws the rafters and walls into shadows of the richest brown and indigo, while all recesses and much of the floor are in darkness unrelieved. That this was the state of matters with which Jesns was familiar, is strikingly borne out by His parable of the Lost Coin, where the woman lights a candle and searches the house (Luk 15:8). That He is thinking of daylight is proved by the fact that the candle has to be lighted. It is narrated by Conder of a visitor to the cave of the Holy House at Nazareth, the reputed home of Jesus in His boyhood, that he remarked to the monk who showed him it, that it was dark for a dwelling-house. The monk answered that The Lord had no need of much light. Yet it is evident from many sayings that Jesus was peculiarly sensitive to the contrasts of light and darkness. The outer dark (Mat 22:13) of unlit streets affected Him with a sort of horror; and He gloried in the claim, which He often repeated, that He was the light of the world, or the light of men. In the still more striking phrase, the light of life, we see something of what light meant to Him. It may have been suggested by the contrast of the dark interior of a tomb with the sunshine that struck upon its whitewashed outer walls. But these words could have been used only by One to whom light meant quickened and exhilarated vitality.
However much custom and race may have mitigated the trials which these matters would impose on Westerns, we know that there were other characteristics of town life which were wholly distasteful to Him, and which He denounced. From His speech we can gather that He was often in conflict with that sophisticated provincialism which was the besetting sin of country towns. Mingling-places of the national varieties, the towns were yet sufficiently complete in themselves, and apart from one another, to foster jealousy and local conceit. In places like Caesarea Philippi, for instance, where to this day any passer-by may pick up large fragments of Roman mosaic floors or panels, the wealthy and luxurious life had given rise to a system of servility. Jesus had noted this, and warned His disciples against the Gentile practice of encouraging sycophants to address them as sweet lords (Luk 22:25). Nor are the objectionable ways and manners of the town confined to the Gentiles. There are the local hypocrites among the natives, who love to pray standing at the corners of streets (Mat 6:2). There is that feature of country-town life which appears to be ineradicable,that excessive love for litigation (Mat 5:24),the combined result of leisure and petty interests. Nothing is more striking in the narratives of the Evangelists than the frequency with which litigation is referred to, both by Jesus and His hearers. Again, the littleness and personal character of the habitual outlook on the world are illustrated by the fluency with which the Nazarenes enumerate the relatives of Jesus (Mat 13:55-56)the speech this of tongues practised in the eloquence of local gossip. And it throws light on the meaning of Jesus when He spoke of Capernaum as exalted to heaven (Mat 11:23). Capernaum physically was on the level of the Lake shore, and 682 feet below sea-level. It was the self-importance of the small provincial town of which He spoke. Jerusalem had its own sins, and the villages had theirs; but it probably was especially to the towns that He referred when He warned the forth-going Apostles of supercilious rejection, and instructed them to meet it by a symbol of still more emphatic rejection, shaking the dust of them off their feet (Mat 10:14 etc.).
Still worse, and still more obvious and common in these narratives, are the tokens of the violent contrasts of avarice and misery in the town life. The selfishness of the town is there, in all its heartlessness, portrayed in such parables as those of Lazarus and Dives (Luk 16:20), the rich man and his barns (Luk 12:18), and many others. Prosperity and adversity are in shameless and pitiless sight of one another. Cruelty and oppression have become the recognized convention of the powerful classes. Disease is rampant, and a class of rapacious quack doctors has sprung up to prey upon its victims (Mar 5:26). The moral tone of the town is such as to permit a prostitute to enter the feast of a wealthy Pharisee, and it is only when it appears that she is penitent that any one is shocked by the incident (Luk 7:37). The preference of Jesus for the town is part of His principle that the true physician goes where the sick are thickest, and the true saviour where sin is most unblushing.
The villages of Syria are a class of communities of a quite different order. The sheikh dwells in his ruined tower, overlooking the huddle of brown walls and roofs, and keeping his audience-hall open for the elders to assemble in and discuss the news of the countryside. They are inhabited now, as they have been largely all along, by fellahin, said to be to a considerable extent the descendants of the ancient Canaanites, practically unmixed in blood, owing to the almost unbroken custom of intermarriages. With these Jesus must have talked that Aramaic tongue which some five or six villages in the Kalamun mountain valleys still use as their vernacular, and which is heard to-day among the bakers of Damascus who come down to the city from the Syriac village of Maalula. So conservative is village life in Syria, that it is to village communities alone that we look to-day, in the assured confidence that we are seeing the very kind of life which Jesus saw. One result of this conservatism is, that extraordinary combination of ignorance and pride, superstitious fears and contemptuous effrontery, which is often the first impression produced on strangers. They preserve self-government of a kind, a hereditary rule within an imperial; but they appear to be very helpless against both nature and man. Usury and oppression cow the inhabitants, the insecurity of property lenders them suspicious. The writer has accidentally roused a man sleeping through the night upon his haystack in an open field, and seen others sitting upon the top of the grain piled upon a truck on the railway. They are almost exclusively agricultural in their way of life, and their methods are primitive and leisurely. They leave their hardest work to be done by their women, and spend many hours of each day in absolute idleness. Over them hangs the acrid-smelling smoke of fires whose fuel is camel-dung, that has been dried by being plastered over the outside of ovens, which break the monotony of flat roofs by their rounded shape, and appear like blisters in the fierce heat of summer. The dirtiness of the streets and of some houses is incredible. The simple food and habits of life produce healthy bodies, but disease comes upon its victims unprotected by any skill of medicine, and the sick and the whole dwell together and mingle everywhere. The first impression is one of universal gloom, and the faces of the people are sullen and contemptuous. But that is in many cases but the first instinct of self-preservation in those who are accustomed to ill-treatment. A very little tact and kindliness soon changes the aspect of things, and threatening looks give place to a smiling childishness.
Such were the villages with which Jesus was familiar, although their life was then more prosperous, and at least some of their homes more habitable. To their inhabitants He spoke His parables of simple life, such as that of the Friend at Midnight (Luk 11:5). In one of them He blessed the children whom village mothers brought to Him (Mar 10:13). In another He brightened the wedding feast with good wine (Joh 2:1). In the gathering dusk, the two villagers at Emmaus recognized Him in the act of breaking bread at their table (Luk 24:28 ff.). From a village gate was heard the sound of swift footsteps, when a rich young ruler, within sight of the squalor which had enriched him, asked the question about eternal life, and was answered that he must sell all that he had and give to the poor (Mar 10:17). Beside another village gate He stopped the funeral procession of an only son of his mother, and gave her back her dead restored to life (Luk 7:11). That was at Nain, one of the villages of that hill of Little Hermon, on whose sides Endor and Shunem also clinga hill of villages of resurrection. Bethany hardly counts among the villages, being almost a suburb of Jerusalem, and differing from the rest in consequence. But of all the villages of Palestine none brings Jesus so near as the little hamlet of Ephraim, perched far off on its hill in the lonely uplands to the east of Bethel. It was perhaps the remotest of the inland villages of Israel, and its rustic inhabitants dwelt alone. It was to it that He retired for His last retreat before the Passover of Death (Joh 11:54). To Him the sickness and helplessness of the villages of His native land appealed, and drew forth compassion and healing. The sullenness that sometimes rejected Him and would have none of His love awakened no resentment, but only a great and pitying distress (Mat 11:20 ff. etc., Luk 9:52 ff.). The childlikeness of the villagers refreshed Him after the sophisticated life of towns, and found response in His constant speeches in praise of children and the childlike spirit (Mat 18:3).
5. Jerusalem.For good or evil, no city in the world has exercised so strong and constant an influence on the world as Jerusalem. Some of her visitors have been filled with an unbounded enthusiasm, others have been depressed with a shattering disappointment; but in one way or other the city has influenced all comers. It has been the usual fate of sacred cities to gather to themselves much of the worst along with much of the best of earthly life. Jerusalem is no exception to the rule. It is the most sacred and the most sinister spot on earth.
From the day when David took it, the last stronghold of the Jebusites, and the battle-beaten old fortress-walls of rough stone opened their gates to the God of Israel, it had been the focus of the nations life (2 Samuel 6, Psalms 24). Solomon glorified it as the secular and religious centre, drafting into it the wealth and nobility of Israel until the land became hydrocephalousits metropolis magnificent and the rest shrivelled and impoverished. In a far more real sense Josiah made Jerusalem great; and now at length, after countless changes of fortune, Jesus found it a city of such unique importance and significance that it stood over against all the rest of the land, dividing the nation into dwellers in Jerusalem and othersa more effective division than any other of the time.
In the visits paid by Jesus to Jerusalem, from those of His infancy and the memorable first remembered visitthat paid when He was twelve years oldto the triumphal entry and the night journey as a captive from Gethsemane, there is an increasing intensity of interest. His arguments here are more of the nature of pitched battles than in the country (John 6, etc.); His acts of authority more decisive and dangerous (Mat 21:12); even His healing of the sick more of the nature of a challenge (Joh 5:10). Thus the history of Jesus fully confirms our sense of the importance of Jerusalem. The thrill of patriotic enthusiasm in such a word as His reference to the city of the Great King (Mat 5:35) has already been alluded to. But more and more irrevocably that loyal sentiment changed its aspect as the facts thrust themselves upon Him. It was the impossible spirit of the city more than any other thing that changed Jesus speech from the Sermon on the Mount to the terrible denunciations and warnings of the closing days. The sacred city, which at the first had been for Him, as for every religious man of Israel, the goal of pilgrimage and the embodiment and incarnation of spiritual thought and dream, came to be the arena of His lifes supreme conflict, where spirituality would fight out its great battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Here love would try the final issue with hate, and life with death. It is by a happy inspiration that Langland, in his Piers the Plowman, tells of Jesus going to a jousts in Jerusalem. Nothing could more exactly describe His own view of the case during His later journeys (Mat 16:21, Joh 11:16). His spirit as He journeyed was that of one who, having fought the battle of the Spirit across the whole field, is now going on to the storming of the citadel.
Such was the change in His own feeling as He approached the capital. Not less striking is the expression of His thought of its meaning and its fate. For the pious Jew, Jerusalem was Utopia; and the mediaeval view, expressed in such enraptured poems as Pearl (cf. Gollanezs translation ) and the Crusading dreams of Gerusalemme Liberata, were the natural continuation of the ideas of which Ezekiels visions and the Apocalypse are the expression. Jesus accepted this estimate of its importance when He deliberately chose it as the one place on earth where the Messianic claim must be publicly made (Joh 5:19 etc.), but He did this in the full consciousness that when it had served this purpose it would pass away. To Him it was a doomed Utopia, doomed beyond all hope of recovery. Had it known (Luk 19:42), had it understood the day of its visitation, it might have endured; as things were, it was for Him but a city of might-have-been. Yet, in the very hour when it was rushing to its doom, He seized upon it and forced it to fulfil the purpose towards which it had blindly struggled through all its eventful history. It linked on His work and Person with the past, and in crucifying Him sent on to the future the completed drama of redemption.
Subsequent history, with ruthless and terrific irony, has confirmed His view. The efforts of the Crusades to revive Jerusalem have only the more hopelessly marked it as the doomed Utopia. Every traveller is impressed with the same sense of its infinite loneliness and stony desolation. It looks like a gigantic fortress that has stood dismantled for ages, but retains for ever a weird air of petrified gallantry. It is a fossil city, fossilized when far gone in decay. The savage liveliness of the bugles which now shriek across its streets and houses, only adds to the sense of ancient death. Built for eternity, setting the pattern for mens dreams of the New Jerusalem, it stands for the sarcasm of promises unfulfilled, a city with a great future behind it. What, we cannot but ask, has this relic to do with a blessed future for mankind? History and religion seem to mourn here together, reiterating the lament of Jesus. One sees in every remembrance of it those two weeping figures, the most significant of all for its secular and religious life,Titus, who gazed. upon Jerusalem from Scopus the day before its destruction, and wept for the sake of the beautiful city so near its doom; and Jesus Christ, who, when things were ripening for Titus, foresaw the coming of the legions as He looked upon Jerusalem from Olivet,And when he was come near he beheld the city, and wept over it (Luk 19:41).
The appearance of the city, as seen from such a lofty vantage ground as that which the approach from Bethany gives from the shoulder of the Mount of Olives, must always have been to a considerable extent the same as it is to-day. It is true that there are now two Jerusalems side by side, the ancient city packed together firmly, and the more loosely scattered masonry of the new Levantine city that has risen to the south and west of the Jaffa Gate. Yet to the north there is still the mound of ashes said to have been carried thither from the Temple sacrifices of old; and ancient tombs fill the valleys and stretch along the northern plain. It is easy for the imagination to detach the modern buildings, and to regain the ancient impression. It has been pointed out (Hausrath, i, 38, 39) that Athens stands on an unfruitful cliff; Rome between a marsh and a wilderness; Jerusalem on a barren tongue of stone, where the mountain land gathers itself as to a natural centre. The mountains stand round about Jerusalem, but they lift her up to their height, and she stands as a mural crown upon the mountain land. The surrounding peaks are but little elevated above her level, and she is the climax as well as the centre of the land, set up to be the mountain throne and the mountain sanctuary of God. And that tongue of land is so stony that even the denudation of sieges and of centuries cannot very greatly have changed the general aspect of the scene. There is no river in her landscape to redeem the hardness of the outlines. She is a city of stone in a land of iron, with a sky of brass (Disraelis Tancred). She has nothing in common with the villages of Judaea, the variety of her buildings differentiating her from the rectangular sameness of theirs. As if to accentuate the contrast, the village of Siloam still lies on the eastern slope of the Kidron valley, a drift of square hovels seen across a field of artichokes. Jerusalem sitteth solitary, as she has always sat; unique in the land as she is lonely in history. The colours of her walls and buildings change in the changing lights from grey with a touch of orange to grey with a touch of blue. For there is no one colour of Jerusalem. In the changing lights of sunrise, noon, afternoon, and evening, its colour changes. At one time it hangs, airy and dream-like, over the steep bank of the Valley of Jehoshaphat; at another time it seems to sit solid on its rock, every roof and battlement picked out in photographic clearness; again, in the twilight of evening all is sombre, with rich purple shadows.
We have noted in the towns of Syria those moral defects of petty quarrelsomeness and provincial self-importance which appear constantly in the records of Jesus ministry. The metropolitan pettiness which confronted Him at Jerusalemthe tenfold provincialism of the capital city, whose modern counterpart is so familiar in many lands to-daywas a much more serious matter. All the dreams of Utopia, religious and secular, had run into personal pride and vanity; all those Divine promises and guarantees on which the glorification of Jerusalem rested were interpreted by the citizens as a species of flattering Divine favouritism shown to themselves.
In spite of much disappointment, there were still many things which must have seemed in some sort the fulfilment of the ancient hopes for Jerusalem. The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah had come to her, indeed, and they from Sheba bringing gold and incense. The flocks of Kedar and the glory of Lebanon were swelling her trade. Ships were flying as a cloud and as doves to their windows, making for her seaport with wealth for her (Isa 60:6). And with that wealth came men also from east and west, from north and south. The Dispersion of the Jews had already made her Passover feasts almost as cosmopolitan as Mecca afterwards became. The Roman road, while it brought humiliation, brought also much else to Jerusalem. Feeling its way inland from the sea across the mountains of Judaea, it ended in the Jaffa Gate. It was but one of many roads from all points of the compass which, as they approached the city, grew broader and more thronged with passengers. From the account of Pentecost given in the Acts (Act 2:9-11), we can see that at certain times the polyglot crowds must have been like those which are now seen in the Meidan of Damascus to welcome the return of the Haj.
The wealthy and luxurious inhabitants were obviously spoiled by all this grandeur, and in all the shamelessness of Eastern cities paraded it in the face of the poverty they should have sought to help. Those who favoured the Roman domination, and sought to make capital out of it, like the Herodians, prided themselves openly in Jerusalem as a Roman city, and did all they could to make it so. Those who simply acquiesced, like the Sadducees, in what their superior intelligence comvinced them was inevitable, found enough in their wealth and in their pride in their old city and family connexions to keep alive their aristocratic spirit. Those who, like the Pharisees, stood for the ancient religious and national claims, fostered a still more bitter fashion of bigotry and exclusiveness. From Jerusalem they too, in their surreptitious way, tried to manage the world. They spent their strength in making proselytes (Mat 23:15), and they sent out deputations to interfere in local questions as far off as Capernaum (Mar 7:1, Joh 1:19). The crowd, who watched and copied the great ones from below, readily caught their tone, and, in an ignorant sense of superiority, were ready at any moment to raise a tumult at their instigation, and to shout for the crucifixion of a selected victim (Mar 15:13 etc.). Altogether, so mighty was the self-importance of this little metropolis, that for its inhabitants the rest of the world was practically non-existent; and, as happens in all poorly equipped moral natures, their consciousness of their own better privileges and good fortune ran neither to interest nor to compassion, but only to scorn.
Of the more vulgar aspects of this metropolitan superciliousness the narratives present abundant examples. The contempt of Jerusalem for Galilee is everywhere apparent. It was not only on the ground of Messianic tradition, asking whether it were likely that Christ should come out of Galilee (Joh 7:52). The proverb was ready on their lips about no good thing coming out of Nazareth (Joh 1:46, Joh 7:41). The facility for inventing opprobrious names, and the unsparing use of them, had developed with them into a fine art (Joh 8:48). A man was an ignoramus, a blasphemer, a lunatic, if he brought any new thing among them from the provinces. The maid in the palace of the high priest did not show any originality in laughing at the accent of country people (Mat 26:73). If a provincial gathered crowds of a morning to hear his preaching, and men felt in him the advent of the Spirit of God, Jerusalem coarsely explained it all by the supposition that he was intoxicated (Act 2:13). Any traveller might have retorted that while they were managing the world from a distance, they were neglecting it at their own doors. The fishermen of Galilee were probably far less rude, either in speech or manner, than the semi-barbarous shepherds of the Judaean mountains. But that was no concern of theirs. Their world was within their walls, and the curious and shameful result of their extravagant exclusiveness was that every Israelite was a foreigner in the capital city of his own country. Not Jesus of Nazareth alone, but every countryman was in Jerusalem despised and rejected of men; and every son of man felt homeless when he entered the Holy Citys gates.
The first impression made upon a stranger visiting the city in those days must have been that of an extraordinarily Roman city. Herod, the greatest of Romanizers, had utterly disregarded the lessons of past history, and repeated the mistaken policy of Solomon, which neglected the land to glorify the city. His architecture must have been as extravagant in costliness as it was poor in art. One of the grandest of all his palaces crowned the hill of Zion; his temple blazed forth its splendours from the grand platform on which it stood along the hillside of Moriah. The famous Tyropon way spanned the ravine between the two, entirely Roman in its construction and design. Here stood a theatre whose Roman audiences listened to plays on such themes as Susanna and the Elders; there an amphitheatre at whose games rich prizes were offered. There was much barbaric splendour of a kind in the aspect of the city, but it was Roman splendour; and everything that caught the eye as impressive, led it back to the barracks and the courthouse near the tower of Antonia.
It was this aspect of Jerusalem which one might have expected Jesus to be most greatly influenced by. One of the most famous of the many would-be Messiahs, some years after this, went with a multitude of followers to blow his trumpets as the priests had blown their horns at Jericho. Jesus acted on principles directly the opposite of these. He saw the Roman buildings without either admiration or protest. His certainty of the end of all was no less positive than that of Theudas and such rash men, but it only made Him the more calm in His acquiescence until the providential moment should arrive. That was so surethat day when the Rome which had glorified the city would destroy itthat the thought of hastening the doom, or of preventing it, never occurred to Him. Yet that very fact embittered and terrified His enemies. They did not, indeed, approve of the rebellious patriots; but that was because they regarded them as Galilaean bunglers who undertook work whose gravity they did not understand. Had any of them succeeded, Jerusalem would have welcomed him with shouts. But here was a far more serious offence. Macaulays New Zealander on London Bridge represents to British readers a familiar and a quite legitimate kind of speculation. To Pharisees of Jerusalem such an idea was sheer treason even to think of, far more to discuss in public.
Not less directly did the attitude of Jesus to the Temple draw the nets of death around Him. Like all religious Israelites, He directed His steps to the Temple as to the natural seat and centre of His religious life. From the first it was in His Fathers house that the Son of God found His appropriate home (Luk 2:46). But the pleasantness of that boyish visit yielded in later years to slow and deepening bitterness, as the accepted meaning of the Temple became more and more unmistakable. The Jews have a legend that in the sacred rock now covered by the Mosque of Omar there was inscribed the mystic name of Jehovah, and that Jesus alone of men had been able to discover and to read it. The heart of every Christian understands the unsuspected truth of that legend. Jesus ever went to that Temple as one going to His Fathers house.
All the more tragic is the contrast, as it must have come upon Him, between the real and the ideal Temple of the Lord. The priestly families were Sadducees, men in whom the national hope had largely died out, and in whom His acquiescent attitude to Rome would awaken neither anger nor surprise. Indeed, it is probable that they mistook His views, and carelessly classed Him among the other revolutionaries of the time. At least the high priest frankly avowed that it was necessary that He should perish, to avert the Roman anger and revenge. But if it was only by mistake or by pretence that they found this ground of accusation against Jesus, there were other grounds on which they and He stood in plain and deadly opposition. The Sadducaean priestly families were the chief representatives of a spirit of scepticism regarding spiritual things (in reaction from the Pharisaic spirit) which had lapsed into a kind of hard secularism, a lax morality, and an unconcealed worldliness which were indifferent alike to the glory of worship and to the shame of its degradation. The shadow of Herod had fallen across the Temple and its services. Herod, who at one time had thought of himself posing as Messiah, had built the Temple; and while the Roman idolater Agrippa had offered sacrifice there, Herod had sacrificed to Roman gods at Rome. With such a patron at its head, secular life flowed into the Temple unchecked. The courts were made into a market where fraudulent bargains were driven with country-folk in connexion with the very rites of their religion, and we see how Jesus resented this in the strange outburst of holy anger with which He drove these merchants forth (Mat 21:12). A large number of synagogues had arisen within the precincts, but there is no record of His visiting them. By preference He chose the streets for preaching in, or He spoke in the open Temple court. In the East, religion tends ever to degenerate into ritual pure and simple, devoid alike of meaning for the intellect and of emotion for the heart (W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem. [Note: Semitic.] p. 16). Never had this taken place more completely than in the Sadducaean priesthood at Jerusalem then. From the abode of holiness and the centre of truth, He found His Fathers house become a den of thieves, and a patent sham of ritual whose performers never dreamed of treating it even as a symbol of realities. It is this that explains that most strange and ominous of records, where Jesus is described as sitting silently in the Temple during long periods of the latest days of His life (Hausrath, ii. 250). What thoughts were passing in His mind then we cannot know, and we hardly dare try to imagine. But one thing is clear. Just as He changed the conception of the Messianic Kingdom from the outward to the inner region, so He did that of the Temple. When the priests poured out the water from great jars at the feast, He cried aloud that out of those who believed on Him would come rivers of living water (Joh 7:38). And the words of which He was afterwards to be accused, as to the destruction and rebuilding of this temple, were spoken of the temple of his body (Joh 2:21).
From all these points of view, Jerusalem had become a place of sinister prospects for Jesus. From the populace He had to expect the usual reception given to all provincials, and if more powerful enemies should require their aid, they might be counted on for darker deeds. By the orthodox religionists He would be treated as a heretic, disloyal alike to the traditions of the past and the pressing needs of the hour. By the latitudinarian priests He must be regarded with the double antagonism of worldly men to spiritual aspiration, and of ritual to spiritual reality. So Jerusalem came to be seen by Jesus under a death-cloud. Rome was free in her use of crucifixion for the better ordering of Eastern affairs, and Jesus must have seen many of His countrymen hanging on crosses beside village gates. So the certainty of the end would force itself upon Him, and the shadow of the cross fall ever more deeply. Tombs of prophets were everywhere to be seen, and many of them were martyrs tombs (Mat 23:29). But it was round the walls of Jerusalem that such tombs were thickest, and for Him also Jerusalem was seen as the place for perishing in. From the far North He saw it so, saying at Caesarea Philippi that He must go to Jerusalem to be killed (Mat 16:21). The final journey, eager and yet deliberate, had death for its goal in the Holy City. The disciples felt a horror in the thought of Jerusalem, as if the City of the Great King had changed to a shambles (Joh 11:8). Thomas, more ready than the others to face the worst, boldly urged them to go on and die with Him (Joh 11:16). When He came near, and seeing the city realized its hopelessness, and felt the flood of old associations sweep over Him, He wept over it (Luk 19:41). But He went on, nevertheless, when for Him Jerusalem meant Calvary.
It is true that, in the memory of the early Church, Jerusalem was the place of rising again as well as the place of death, and of the New Evangel that had the city for its starting-point. Yet as far as the earthly life of Jesus is concerned, the associations of Jerusalem are of almost unrelieved antagonism, sorrow, and shame. The modern aspect of the city seems to the imagination of lovers of Jesus profoundly symbolic. What the first eye-shot gives, as one sees it from Olivet, is this: a sharp angle formed by the two valleys of Jehoshaphat and Hinnom; steep banks rising from their bottoms to the walls, which they overlap in an irregular and wavy line; within the walls, glancing back from the angle which they form above the junction of the valleys, the eye runs up a gradually rising expanse of close-packed building, which is continued more sparsely in the long rolling slope beyond, to the ridge of Scopus in the north, and to the distant sweep of long level mountain-line to the west. It is as if the whole city had slid down and been caught by that great angle of wall just before it precipitated itself into the gorges.
These gorges themselves are part and parcel of the city, and they stand for the overflow of her sad and desolate spirit. Their sides are banks of rubbishthe wreckage and dbris of a score of sieges, the accumulation of three thousand years. One looks from the lower pool of Siloam in the valley of Hinnom up a long dreary slope of dark grey rubbish, down which a horrible black stream of liquid filth trickles, tainting the air with its stench. Far above stands the wall, which in old days enclosed the pool. Here the city seems to have shrunk northwards, as if in some horror of conscience. The Field of Blood and the Hill of Evil Counsel are just across the gorge to the south. The valleys are full of tombs.
The impression of this is overwhelming, and there is one point in the view which appears more than all else to embody and explain it. Right in front, as one looks from Olivet, is the line of the Temple wall, and it is broken by a double gate, built up with closely mortared masonry. That is the ancient Beautiful Gate of the Temple, by which the scapegoat, bearing the nations sins, was led forth to the wilderness. It was built up because of a Jewish tradition that Messiah would return and enter the city by it. So Jerusalem has indeed built up the exit for her sins and the entrance for her Saviour. The land seems, as one travels over its desolate mountains and valleys, still inhabited by Jesus; but He has forsaken Jerusalem.
Cf. also separate articles, such as Galilee, Judaea, Samaria, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jordan, etc.
Literature.Schrer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] , passim; Hausrath, Hist. of NT TimesTimes of Jesus; G. A. Smith, HGHL [Note: GHL Historical Geog. of Holy Land.] ; Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospels; Doughty, Arabia Deserta; Conder, Tent-Work in Palestine; Ramsay, The Education of Jesus; cf. also the present writers book, The Holy Land (illustrated by Mr. Fulleylove).
John Kelman.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Palestine
PALESTINE
1. Situation and name.The land of Palestine is the territory which lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert as E. and W. boundaries, and whose N. and S. boundaries may be approximately stated at 31 and 33 20 N. Lat. respectively. These boundaries have not always been clearly fixed; but the convention is generally agreed upon that Palestine is separated from Egypt by the Wady el-Arsh or River of Egypt, and from Syria by the Kasmiyeh or Ltani River, the classical Leontes. Biblical writers fixed the limits of the territory by the towns Dan and Beersheba, which are constantly coupled when the author desires to express in a picturesque manner that a certain event affected the whole of the Israelite country (e.g. Jdg 20:1). The name Palestine [AV [Note: Authorized Version.] in Joe 3:4; in Exo 15:14, Isa 14:29; Isa 14:31 Peteralestina; RV [Note: Revised Version.] Philistia], being derived from that of the Philistines, properly belongs only to the strip of coast-land south of Carmel, which was the ancient territory of that people. There is no ancient geographical term covering the whole region now known as Palestine: the different provincesCanaan, Judah, Israel, Moab, Edom, etc.are enumerated separately when necessary. The extension of the word to include the entire Holy Land, both west and east of the Jordan, is subsequent to the introduction of Christianity.
2. Geology and geography.The greater part of the country is of a chalky limestone formation, which overlies a layer of red sandstone that appears on the E. shore of the Dead Sea and elsewhere. Under the red sandstone are the archan granitic rocks which form a large part of the Sinai Peninsula. Above the chalk is a layer of nummulitic limestone, which appears on some mountains. Volcanic rock, the result of ancient eruptions, appears in the Hauran, Galilee (especially in the neighbourhood of Safed), and elsewhere. For fuller information on the geology of the country, see art. Geology. With respect to the surface, Palestine divides naturally into a series of narrow strips of country running from north to south, and differing materially from one another in character. (a) The first of these is the Maritime Plain running along the coast of the Mediterranean from the neighbourhood of Sidon and Tyre southward, and disappearing only at the promontory of Carmel. This plain widens southward from Carmel to a maximum breadth of about 20 miles, while to the north of that promontory it develops into the great plain of Esdraelon, which intersects the mountain region and affords the most easy passage into the heart of the country. This plain is covered with a most fertile alluvial soil. (b) The second strip is the mountainous ridge of Juda and Samaria, on the summit of which are Hebron, Jerusalem, and other important towns and villages; and which, with the single interruption of the piain of Esdraelon, runs continuously from the south border of the country to join the system of the Lebanon. (c) The third strip is the deep depression known as the Ghr, down which runs the Jordan with its lakes. (d) The fourth strip is the great plateau of Bashan, Moab, and Edom, with a lofty and precipitous face towards the west, and running eastward till it is lost in the desert.
3. Water supply, climats, natural products.There is no conspicuous river in Palestine except the Jordan and its eastern tributaries, and these, being for the greater part of their course in a deep hollow, are of little or no service for irrigation. In consequence, Palestine is dependent as a whole for its water supply on springs, or on artificial means of storage of its winter rains. Countless examples of both exist, the former especially in Galilee, parts of which are abundantly fertile by nature, and would probably repay beyond all expectation a judicious expenditure of capital. The case of Juda is a little different, for here there are extensive tracts which are nearly or quite waterless, and are more or less desert in consequence.
The climate of Palestine is, on the whole, that of the sub-tropical zone, though, owing to the extraordinary variation of altitudes, there is probably a greater range of average local temperature than in any other region of its size on the worlds surface. On the one hand, the summits of Hermon and of certain peaks of the Lebanon are covered with snow for the greater part of the year; on the other hand, the tremendous depression, in the bottom of which lies the Dead Sea, is practically tropical, both in climate and in vegetation. The mean local temperature is said to range from about 62 F. in the upland district to almost 100 F. in the region of Jericho.
Rainfall is confined to the winter months of the year. Usually in the end of October or November the rainy season is ushered in with a heavy thunderstorm, which softens the hard-baked surface of the land. This part of the rainy season is the former rain of the Bible (as in Joe 2:23). Ploughing commences immediately after the rains have thus begun. The following months have heavy showers, alternating with days of beautiful sunshine, till March or April, when the latter rain falls and gives the crops their final fertilization before the commencement of the dry season. During this part of the year, except by the rarest exception, no rain falls: its place is supplied by night dews, which in some years are extraordinarily heavy. Scantiness of the rainfall, however, is invariably succeeded by poverty or even destruction of the crops, and the rain is watched for as anxiously now as it was in the time of Ahab.
Soon after the cessation of the rains, the wild flowers, which in early spring decorate Palestine like a carpet, become rapidly burnt up, and the country assumes an appearance of barrenness that gives no true idea of its actual fertility. The dry summer is rendered further unpleasant by hot east winds, blowing from over the Arabian Desert, which have a depressing and enervating effect. The south wind is also dry, and the west wind damp (cf. 1Ki 18:45, Luk 12:54). The north wind, which blows from over the Lebanon snows, is always cold, often piercingly so.
As already hinted, the flora displays an extraordinary range and richness, owing to the great varieties of the climate at different points. The plants of the S. and of the Jordan Valley resemble those found in Abyssinia or in Nubia: those of the upper levels of Lebanon are of the kinds peculiar to snow-clad regions. Wheat, barley, millet, maize, peas, beans, lentils, olives, figs, mulberries, vines, and other fruit; cotton, nuts of various species; the ordinary vegetables, and some (such as solanum or egg-plant) that do not, as a rule, find their way to western markets; sesame, and tobaccowhich is grown in some districtsare the most characteristic crops produced by the country. The prickly pear and the orange, though of comparatively recent introduction, are now among its staple products. The fauna includes (among wild animals) the bat, hyna, wolf, jackal, wild cat, ibex, gazelle, wild boar, hare, and other smaller animals. The bear is now confined to Hermon, and possibly one or two places in Lebanon; the cheetah is rare, and the lion (1Sa 17:34, 1Ki 13:24 etc.) is extinct. So also is the hippopotamus, bones of which have been found in excavations. Among wild birds we may mention the eagle, vulture, stork, and partridge: there is a great variety of smaller birds. Snakes and lizards abouod, and crocodiles are occasionally to be seen in the Nahr ez-Zerka near Csarea. The domesticated animals are the camel, cow, buffalo (only in the Jordan Valley), sheep, horse, donkey, swine (only among Christians), and domestic fowl. The dog can scarcely be called domesticated: it is kept by shepherds for their flocks, but otherwise prowls about the streets of towns and villages seeking a living among the rubbish thrown from the houses.
4. History, races, antiquities.The earliest dawn of history in Palestine has left no trace in the country itself, so far as we can tell from the limited range of excavations hitherto carried out. There was, however, a Babylonian supremacy over the country in the fourth millennium b.c., of which the records left by the kings of Agade speak. These records are as yet only imperfectly known, and their discussion in a short article like the present would be out of place. A very full account of all that is as yet known of these remote waifs of history will be found in L. B. Patons excellent History of Syria and Palestine.
About b.c. 3000 we first reach a period where excavation in Palestine has some information to give. It appears that the inhabitants were then still in the neolithic stage of culture, dwelling in caves, natural or artificial. The excavation of Gezer has shown that the site of that city was occupied by an extensive community of this race. They were non-Semitic; but as they practised cremation, the bones were too much destroyed to make it possible to assign them to their proper place among the Mediterranean races. Further discoveries may ultimately lead to this question being settled. It is possible that the Horites of Gen 14:6 and elsewhere may have been the survivors of this race.
About b.c. 2500 the first Semitic settlers seem to have established themselves in the country. These were the people known to Bible students as Canaanites or Amorites. The success of attempts that have been made to distinguish these names, as indicating two separate stocks must be considered doubtful, and it is perhaps safer to treat the two names as synonymous. About b.c. 2000, as appears by the reference to Amraphel, king of Shinar (= Hammurabi), occurred the battle of the four kings and five recorded in Gen 14:1-24the first event on Palestinian soil of which a Palestinian record is preserved.
The dominion of Egypt over S. Palestine, or at least the influence of Egyptian civilization, must early have been felt, though no definite records of Egyptian conquest older than Tabutmes iii. (about b.c 1500) have come to light. But scarabs and other objects referable to the Usertesens (about b.c. 28002500, according to the opinions of various chronologists) are not infrequently found in excavations, which speak of close intercourse between the Canaanites and the civilization of the Nile valley. Of the Canaanites very extensive remains yet await the spade of the excavator in the mounds that cover the remains of the ancient cities of Palestine. The modern peasantry of the country closely resemble the ancient Canaanites in physical character, to judge from the remains of the latter that excavation has revealed; indeed, in all probability the substratum of the population has remained unchanged in racial affinities throughout the vicissitudes that the country has suffered. By the conquests of Tahutmes iii. (c. 1500), and Amenhotep iii. (c. 1450), Palestine became virtually an Egyptian province, its urban communities governed by kings (i.e. local sheiks) answerable to the Pharaoh, but always quarrelling among themselves. The heretic king Amenhotep iv. was too busy with his religious innovations to pay attention to his foreign possessions, and, city by city, his rule in Palestine crumbled away before the Araman tribes, named in the Tell el-Amarna tablets the Khabiri. This name is identical with that of the Biblical Hebrews; but it has not yet been possible to put the Khabiri and the Hebrews into their proper mutual relations. The Hebrews represent themselves as escaped slaves from Egypt who (about the 13th cent. b.c.) were led as a solid whole under a single leader (Joshua) to the complete conquest of Canaanthis is the account of the Book of Joshua. According to the older tradition preserved in Jdg 1:1-36, they entered the country without an individual leader, as a number of more or less independent tribes or clans, and effected only a partial conquest, being baffled by the superior strength of certain specified cities. This account is more in accordance with the events as related by the Tell el-Amarna tablets, but further discoveries must be made before the very obscure history of the Israelite immigration can be clearly made out.
The Israelite occupation was only partial. The important Maritime Plain was in the hands of a totally distinct people, the Philistines. The favourite, and most probable, modern theory regarding the Philistines is that they were of Cretan origin; but everything respecting that mysterious race is veiled in obscurity. As above mentioned, it is not likely that the change of ownership affected the peasantsthe Gibeonites were probably not the only hewers of wood and drawers of water (Jos 9:21) that survived of the older stock. And lastly, we cannot doubt that an extensive Canaanite occupation remained in the towns expressly mentioned in Jdg 1:1-36, as those from which the various tribes drave not out their original inhabitants. So far as we can infer from excavationan inference thoroughly confirmed by a consideration of the barbarous history of the Judgesthe effect of the Israelite entrance into Canaan was a retrogression in civilization, from which the country took centuries to recover.
The history of the development of these incoherent units into a kingdom is one of ever-fresh interest. It is recorded for us in the Books of Judges and 1Samuel, and the course of events being known to every reader, it is unnecessary to recapitulate them here. It is not unimportant to notice that the split of the short-lived single kingdom into two, after the death of Solomon, was a rupture that had been foreshadowed from time to timeas in the brief reign of Abimelech over the northern province (Jdg 9:1-57), and the attempt of the northerners to set up Ish-bosheth as king against David (2Sa 2:3), frustrated by Ish-bosheths ill-timed insult to Abner (2Sa 3:7): Abners answer (v. 10) recognizes the dichotomy of Judah and Israel as already existing. This division must have had its roots in the original peopling of the country by the Hebrews, when the children of Judah went southward, and the children of Joseph northward (Jdg 1:3-28).
Space will not permit us to trace at length the fortunes of the rival kingdoms, to their highest glory under the contemporary kings Uzziah and Jeroboarn ii., and their rapid decline and final extinction by the great Mesopotamian empires. We may, however, pause to notice that, as in the case of the Canaanites, many remains of the Israelite dominion await the excavator in such towns as lay within Israelite territory; and the Siloam Tunnel epigraph, and one or two of minor importance, promise the welcome addition of a few inscriptions. On the other hand, the remains of the population are scantierfor it need hardly be said that the modern Jewish inhabitants of Palestine are all more or less recent importations.
The Northern Kingdom fell before Assyria, and was never heard of again. Tangible remains of the Assyrian domination were found at Gezer, in the shape of a couple of contract-tablets written there in the Assyrian language and formul about b.c. 650; and the modern sect of Samaritans is a living testimony to the story of the re-settling of the Northern Kingdom under Assyrian auspices (2Ki 17:24-41).
The Southern Kingdom had a different fate. It was extinguished by Babylon about 135 years later, in b.c. 586. In 538 the captives were permitted to return to their land by Cyrus, after his conquest of Babylon. They re-built Jerusalem and the Temple: the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah are the record of this work of restoration.
In b.c. 333 Syria fell to Alexander the Great after the battle of Issus. After his death followed a distracting and complicated period of conflict between his successors, which, so far as Palestine was concerned, had the effect of opening the country for the first time to the influence of Greek culture, art, and religion. From this time onward we find evidence of the foundation of such buildings as theatres, previously quite unknown, and other novelties of Western origin. Although many of the Jews adopted the Greek tongue, there was a staunch puritan party who rigidly set their faces against all such Gentile contaminations. In this they found themselves opposed to the Seleucid princes of Syria, among whom Antiochus Epiphanes especially set himself deliberately to destroy the religion of Judaism. This led to the great revolt headed by Mattathias the priest and his sons, which secured for the Jews a brief period of independence that lasted during the second half of the 2nd cent. b.c., under John Hyrcanus (grandson of Mattathias) and his successors. The kingdom was weakened by family disputes; in the end Rome stepped in, Pompey captured Jerusalem in b.c. 63, and henceforth Palestine lay under Roman suzerainty. Several important tombs near Jerusalem, and elsewhere, and a large number of remains of cities and fortresses, survive from the age of the family of Mattathias. The conquest of Joppa, under the auspices of Simon Maccabus, son of Mattathias (1Ma 13:11), was the first capture of a seaport in S. Palestine throughout the whole of Israelite history.
The Hasmonan dynasty gave place to the Iduman dynasty of the Herods in the middle of the 1st cent. b.c., Herod the Great becoming sole governor of Juda (under Roman suzerainty) in b.c. 40. It was into this political situation that Christ was born b.c. 4. Remains of the building activities of Herod are still to be seen in the sub-structures of the Temple, the Herodian towers of Jerusalem, and (possibly) a magnificent tomb near Jerusalem traditionally called the Tomb of Mariamme. Herod died shortly after Christs birth, and his dominions were subdivided into provinces, each under a separate ruler: but the native rulers rapidly declined in power, and the Roman governors as rapidly advanced. The Jews became more and more embittered against the Roman yoke, and at last a violent rebellion broke out, which was quelled by Titus in a.d. 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed and a large part of the Jews slain or dispersed. A remnant remained, which about 60 years later again essayed to revolt under their leader Bar Cochba: the suppression of this rebellion was the final deathblow to Jewish nationality. After the destruction of Jerusalem many settled in Tiberias, and formed the nucleus of the important Galilan Rabbinic schools, remains of which are still to be seen in the shape of the synagogues of Galilee. These interesting buildings appear to date from the second century a.d.
After the partition of the Roman Empire, Palestine formed part of the Empire of the East, and with it was Christianized. Many ancient settlements, with tombs and small churchessome of them with beautiful mosaic pavementssurvive in various parts of the country: these are relics of the Byzantine Christians of the 5th and 6th centuries. The native Christians of Syria, whose families were never absorbed into Islam, are their representatives. These, though Araman by race, now habitually speak Arabic, except in Malula and one or two other places in N. Lebanon, where a Syriac dialect survives.
This early Christianity received a severe blow in 611, when the country was ravaged by Chosros ii., king of Persia. Monastic settlements were massacred and plundered, and the whole country reduced to such a state of weakness that without much resistance it fell to Omar, the second Caliph of Islam. He became master of Syria and Palestine in the second quarter of the seventh century. Palestine thus became a Moslem country, and its population received the Arab element which is still dominant within it. It may be mentioned in passing that coins of Chosros are occasionally found in Palestine; and that of the early Arab domination many noteworthy buildings survive, chief of which is the glorious dome that occupies the site of the Hebrew Temple at Jerusalem.
The Moslem rule was at first by no means tyrannical; but, as the spirit of intolerance developed, the Christian inhabitants were compelled to undergo many sufferings and indignities. This, and the desire to wrest the holy places of Christendom from the hands of the infidel, were the ostensible reasons for the in vasions of the brigands who called themselves Crusaders, and who established in Jerusalem a kingdom on a feudal basis that lasted throughout the 12th century. An institution so exotic, supported by men morally and physically unfit for life in a sub-tropical climate, could not outlast the first enthusiasm which called it into being. Worn out by immorality, by leprosy and other diseases, and by mutual dissensions, the unworthy champions of the Cross disappeared before the heroic Saladin, leaving as their legacy to the country a score or so of place names; a quantity of worthless ecclesiastical traditions; a number of castles and churches, few of which possess any special architectural interest, and many of which, by a strange irony, have been converted into mosques; and, among the Arab natives, an unquenchable hatred of Christianity.
We must pass over the barbarous Mongolian invasions, the last of which was under Timur or Tamerlane at the end of the 14th century. But we must not omit to mention the Turkish conquest in 1516, when Syria obtained the place which it still holds in the Ottoman Empire.
R. A. S. Macalister.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Palestine
See Canaan 2
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Palestine
pales-tn (, pelesheth; , Phulistiem, , Allophuloi; the King James Version Joe 3:4 (the Revised Version (British and American) Philistia), Palestina; the King James Version Exo 15:14; Isa 14:29, Isa 14:31; compare Psa 60:8; Psa 83:7; Psa 87:4; Psa 108:9):
I.PHYSICAL CONDITIONS
1.General Geographical Features
2.Water-Supply
3.Geological Conditions
4.Fauna and Flora
5.Climate
6.Rainfall
7.Drought and Famine
II.PALESTINE IN THE PENTATEUCH
1.Places Visited by Abraham
2.Places Visited by Isaac
3.Places Visited by Jacob
4.Mentioned in Connection with Judah
5.Review of Geography of Genesis
6.Exodus and Leviticus
7.Numbers
8.Deuteronomy
III.PALESTINE IN THE HISTORIC BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
1.Book of Joshua
2.Book of Judges
3.Book of Ruth
4.Books of Samuel
5.Books of Kings
6.Post-exilic Historical Books
IV.PALESTINE IN THE POETIC BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
1.Book of Job
2.Book of Psalms
3.Book of Proverbs
4.Song of Songs
V.PALESTINE IN THE PROPHETS
1.Isaiah
2.Jeremiah
3.Ezekiel
4.Minor Prophets
VI.PALESTINE IN THE APOCRYPHA
1.Book of Judith
2.Book of Wisdom
3.1 Maccabees
4.2 Maccabees
VII. PALESTINE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
1.Synoptic Gospels
2.Fourth Gospel
3.Book of Acts
LITERATURE
The word properly means Philistia, but appears to be first used in the extended sense, as meaning all the Land of Israel or Holy Land (Zec 2:12), by Philo and by Ovid and later Roman authors (Reland, Palestine Illustr., I, 38-42).
I. Physical Conditions.
The Bible in general may be said to breathe air of Palestine; and it is here intended to show how important for sound criticism is the consideration of its geography, and of the numerous incidental allusions to the natural features, fauna, flora, cultivation, and climate of the land in which most of the Bible books were written. With the later history and topography of Palestine, after 70 AD, we are not here concerned, but a short account of its present physical and geological conditions is needed for our purpose.
1. General Geographical Features:
Palestine West of the Jordan, between Dan and Beersheba, has an area of about 6,000 square miles, the length from Hermon southward being nearly 150 miles, and the width gradually increasing from 20 miles on the North to 60 miles on the South. It is thus about the size of Wales, and the height of the Palestinian mountains is about the same as that of the Welsh. East of the Jordan an area of about 4,000 square miles was included in the land of Israel. The general geographical features are familiar to all.
(1) The land is divided by the deep chasm of the Jordan valley – an ancient geological fault continuing in the Dead Sea, where its depth (at the bottom of the lake) is 2,600 ft. below the Mediterranean.
(2) West of the valley the mountain ridge, which is a continuation of Lebanon, has very steep slopes on the East and long spurs on the West, on which side the foothills (Hebrew shephelah or lowland) form a distinct district, widening gradually southward, while between this region and the sea the plains of Sharon and Philistia stretch to the sandhills and low cliffs of a harborless coast.
(3) In Upper Galilee, on the North, the mountain ridge rises to 4,000 ft. above the Mediterranean. Lower Galilee, to the South, includes rounded hills less than 1,000 ft. above the sea, and the triangular plain of Esdraelon drained by the River Kishon between the Gilboa watershed on the East and the long spur of Carmel on the West.
(4) In Samaria the mountains are extremely rugged, but a small plain near Dothan adjoins that of Esdraelon, and another stretches East of Shechem, 2,500 ft. above the level of the Jordan valley. In Judea the main ridge rises toward Hebron and then sinks to the level of the Beersheba plains about 1,000 ft. above the sea. The desert of Judah forms a plateau (500 ft. above sea-level), between this ridge and the Dead Sea, and is throughout barren and waterless; but the mountains – which average about 3,000 ft. above the sea – are full of good springs and suitable for the cultivation of the vine, fig and olive. The richest lands are found in the shephelah region – especially in Judea – and in the corn plains of Esdraelon, Sharon, and Philistia.
(5) East of the Jordan the plateau of Bashan (averaging 1,500 ft. above the sea) is also a fine corn country. South of this, Gilead presents a mountain region rising to 3,600 ft. above sea-level at Jebel Osha’, and sloping gently on the East to the desert. The steep western slopes are watered by the Jabbok River, and by many perennial brooks. In North Gilead especially the wooded hills present some of the most picturesque scenery of the Holy Land. South of Gilead, the Moab plateau (about 2,700 ft. above sea-level) is now a desert, but is fitted for raising grain, and, in places, for vines. A lower shelf or plateau (about 500 to 1,000 ft. above sea-level) intervenes between the main plateau and the Dead Sea cliffs, and answers to the Desert of Judah West of the lake.
2. Water-Supply:
The water-supply of Palestine is abundant, except in the desert regions above noticed, which include only a small part of its area. The Jordan runs into the Dead Sea, which has no outlet and which maintains its level solely by evaporation, being consequently very salt; the surface is nearly 1,300 ft. below the Mediterranean, whereas the Sea of Galilee (680 ft. below sea-level) is sweet and full of fish. The Jordan is fed, not only by the snows of Hermon, but by many affluent streams from both sides. There are several streams also in Sharon, including the Crocodile River under Carmel. In the mountains, where the hard dolomite limestone is on the surface, perennial springs are numerous. In the lower hills, where this limestone is covered by a softer chalky stone, the supply depends on wells and cisterns. In the Beersheba plains the water, running under the surface, is reached by scooping shallow pits – especially those near Gerar, to be noticed later.
3. Geological Conditions:
The fertility and cultivation of any country depends mainly on its geological conditions. These are comparatively simple in Palestine, and have undergone no change since the age when man first appeared, or since the days of the Hebrew patriarchs. The country was first upheaved from the ocean in the Eocene age; and, in the subsequent Miocene age, the great crack in the earth’s surface occurred, which formed a narrow gulf stretching from that of the Aqabah on the South almost to the foot of Hermon. Further upheaval, accompanied by volcanic outbreaks which covered the plateaus of Golan, Bashan, and Lower Galilee with lava, cut off the Jordan valley from the Red Sea, and formed a long lake, the bottom of which continued to sink on the South to its present level during the Pleiocene and Pluvial periods, after which – its peculiar fauna having developed meanwhile – the lake gradually dried up, till it was represented only, as it now is, by the swampy Huleh, the pear-shaped Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea. These changes all occurred long ages before the appearance of man. The beds upheaved include: (1) the Nubian Sandstone (of the Greensand period), which was sheared along the line of the Jordan fault East of the river, and which only appears on the western slopes of Hermon, Gilead, and Moab; (2) the limestones of the Cretaceous age, including the hard dolomite, and softer beds full of characteristic fossils; (3) the soft Eocene limestone, which appears chiefly on the western spurs and in the foothills, the angle of upheaval being less steep than that of the older main formation. On the shores of the Mediterranean a yet later sandy limestone forms the low cliffs of Sharon. See GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE.
4. Fauna and Flora:
As regards fauna, flora and cultivation, it is sufficient here to say that they are still practically the same as described throughout the Bible. The lion and the wild bull (Bos primigenius) were exterminated within historic times, but have left their bones in the Jordan gravels, and in caves. The bear has gradually retreated to Hermon and Lebanon. The buffalo has been introduced since the Moslem conquest. Among trees the apple has fallen out of cultivation since the Middle Ages, and the cactus has been introduced; but Palestine is still a land of grain, wine and oil, and famous for its fruits. Its trees, shrubs and plants are those noticed in the Bible. Its woods have been thinned in Lower Galilee and Northern Sharon, but on the other hand the copse has often grown over the site of former vineyards and villages, and there is no reason to think that any general desiccation has occurred within the last 40 centuries, such as would affect the rainfall.
5. Climate:
The climate of Palestine is similar to that of other Mediterranean lands, such as Cyprus, Sicily or Southern Italy; and, in spite of the fevers of mosquito districts in the plains, it is much better than that of the Delta in Egypt, or of Mesopotamia. The summer heat is oppressive only for a few days at a time, when (espescially in May) the dry wind – deficient in ozone – blows from the eastern desert. For most of the season a moisture-laden sea breeze, rising about 10 AM, blows till the evening, and fertilizes all the western slopes of the mountains. In the bare deserts the difference between 90 F. by day and 40 F. by night gives a refreshing cold. With the east wind the temperature rises to 105 F., and the nights are oppressive. In the Jordan valley, in autumn, the shade temperature reaches 120 F. In this season mists cover the mountains and swell the grapes. In winter the snow sometimes lies for several days on the watershed ridge and on the Edomite mountains, but in summer even Hermon is sometimes quite snowless at 9,000 ft. above the sea. There is perhaps no country in which such a range of climate can be found, from the Alpine to the tropical, and none in which the range of fauna and flora is consequently so large, from the European to the African.
6. Rainfall:
The rainfall of Palestine is between 20 and 30 inches annually, and the rainy season is the same as in other Mediterranean countries. The former rains begin with the thunderstorms of November, and the latter rains cease with April showers. From December to February – except in years of drought – the rains are heavy. In most years the supply is quite sufficient for purposes of cultivation. The plowing begins in autumn, and the corn is rarely spoiled by storms in summer. The fruits ripen in autumn and suffer only from the occasional appearance of locust swarms. There appears to be no reason to suppose that climate or rainfall have undergone any change since the times of the Bible; and a consideration of Bible allusions confirms this view.
7. Drought and Famine:
Thus, the occurrence of drought, and of consequent famine, is mentioned in the Old Testament as occasional in all times (Gen 12:10; Gen 26:2; Gen 41:50; Lev 26:20; 2Sa 21:1; 1Ki 8:35; Isa 5:6; Jer 14:1; Joe 1:10-12; Hag 1:11; Zec 14:17), and droughts are also noticed in the Mishna (Taanth, i. 4-7) as occurring in autumn, and even lasting throughout the rainy season till spring. Good rains were a blessing from God, and drought was a sign of His displeasure, in Hebrew belief (Deu 11:14; Jer 5:24; Joe 2:23). A thunderstorm in harvest time (May) was most unusual (1Sa 12:17, 1Sa 12:18), yet such a storm does still occur as a very exceptional phenomenon. By snow in harvest (Pro 25:13) we are not to understand a snowstorm, for it is likened to a faithful messenger, and the reference is to the use of snow for cooling wine, which is still usual at Damascus. The notice of fever on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Mat 8:14) shows that this region was as unhealthy as it still is in summer. The decay of irrigation in Sharon may have rendered the plain more malarious than of old, but the identity of the Palestinian flora with that of the Bible indicates that the climate, generally speaking, is unchanged.
II. Palestine in the Pentateuch.
1. Places Visited by Abraham:
The Book of Genesis is full of allusions to sites sacred to the memory of the Hebrew patriarchs. In the time of Abraham the population consisted of tribes, mainly Semitic, who came originally from Babylonia, including Canaanites (lowlanders) between Sidon and Gaza, and in the Jordan valley, and Amorites (highlanders) in the mountains (Gen 10:15-19; Num 13:29). Their language was akin to Hebrew, and it is only in Egypt that we read of an interpreter being needed (Gen 42:23), while excavated remains of seal-cylinders, and other objects, show that the civilization of Palestine was similar to that of Babylonia.
(1) Shechem.
The first place noticed is the shrine or station (makom) of Shechem, with the Elon Moreh, the Septuagint high oak), where Jacob afterward buried the idols of his wives, and where Joshua set up a stone by the holy place (Gen 12:6; Gen 35:4; Jos 24:26). Samaritan tradition showed the site near Balata (the oak) at the foot of Mt. Gerizim. The Canaanite was then in the land (in Abraham’s time), but was exterminated (Gen 34:25) by Jacob’s sons. From Shechem Abraham journeyed southward and raised an altar between Bethel (Beitn) and Hal (Hayan), East of the town of Luz, the name of which still survives hard-by at the spring of Lozeh (Gen 12:8; Gen 13:3; Gen 28:11, Gen 28:19; Gen 35:2).
(2) The Negeb.
But, on his return from Egypt with large flocks (Gen 12:16), he settled in the pastoral region, between Beersheba and the western Kadesh (Gen 13:1; Gen 20:1), called in Hebrew the neghebh, dry country, on the edge of the cultivated lands. From East of Bethel there is a fine view of the lower Jordan valley, and here Lot lifted up his eyes (Gen 13:10), and chose the rich grass lands of that valley for his flocks. The cities of the Plain (kikkar) were clearly in this valley, and Sodom must have been near the river, since Lot’s journey to Zoar (Gen 19:22) occupied only an hour or two (Gen 19:15, Gen 19:23) through the plain to the foot of the Moab mountains. These cities are not said to have been visible from near Hebron; but, from the hilltop East of the city, Abraham could have seen the smoke of the land (Gen 19:28) rising up. The first land owned by him was the garden of Mamre (Gen 13:18; Gen 18:1; Gen 23:19), with the cave-tomb which tradition still points out under the floor of the Hebron mosque. His tent was spread under the oaks of Mamre (Gen 18:1), where his mysterious guests rested under the tree (Gen 18:8). One aged oak still survives in the flat ground West of the city, but this tree is very uncommon in the mountains of Judah. In all these incidental touches we have evidence of the exact knowledge of Palestine which distinguishes the story of the patriarchs.
(3) Campaign of Amraphel.
Palestine appears to have been an outlying province of the empire of. Hammurabi, king of Babylon in Abraham’s time; and the campaign of Amraphel resembled those of later Assyrian overlords exacting tribute of petty kings. The route (Gen 14:5-8) lay through Bashan, Gilead and Moab to Kadesh (probably at Petra), and the return through the desert of Judah to the plains of Jericho. Thus Hebron was not attacked (see Gen 14:13), and the pursuit by Abraham and his Amorite allies led up the Jordan valley to Dan, and thence North of Damascus (Gen 14:15). The Salem whose king blessed Abraham on his return was thought by the Samaritans, and by Jerome, to be the city near the Jordan valley afterward visited by Jacob (Gen 14:18; Gen 33:18). See JERUSALEM.
(4) Gerar.
Abraham returned to the southern plains, and sojourned in Gerar (Gen 20:1), now Umm Jerrar, 7 miles South of Gaza. The wells which he dug in this valley (Gen 26:15) were no doubt shallow excavations like those from which the Arabs still obtain the water flowing under the surface in the same vicinity (SWP, III, 390), though that at Beersheba (Gen 21:25-32), to which Isaac added another (Gen 26:23-25), may have been more permanent. Three masonry wells now exist at Br es Seba, but the masonry is modern. The planting of a tamarisk at this place (Gen 21:33) is an interesting touch, since the tree is distinctive of the dry lowlands. From Beersheba Abraham journeyed to the land of Moriah Septuagint the high land) to sacrifice Isaac (Gen 22:2); and the mountain, according to Hebrew tradition (2Ch 3:1), was at Jerusalem, but according to the Samaritans was Gerizim near the Elon Moreh – a summit which could certainly have been seen afar off (2Ch 3:4) on the third day.
2. Places Visited by Isaac:
Isaac, living in the same pastoral wilderness, at the western Kadesh (Gen 25:11) and at Gerar (Gen 26:2), suffered like his father in a year of drought, and had similar difficulties with the Philistines. At Gerar he sowed grain (Gen 26:12), and the vicinity is still capable of such cultivation. Thence he retreated Southeast to Rehoboth (Ruheibeh), North of Kadesh, where ancient wells like those at Beersheba still exist (Gen 26:22). To Beersheba he finally returned (Gen 26:23).
3. Places Visited by Jacob:
When Jacob fled to Haran from Beersheba (Gen 28:10) he slept at the place (or shrine) consecrated by Abraham’s altar near Bethel, and like any modern Arab visitor to a shrine – erected a memorial stone (Gen 28:18), which he renewed twenty years later (Gen 35:14) when God appeared to him again (Gen 35:9).
(1) Haran to Succoth.
His return journey from Haran to Gilead raises an interesting question. The distance is about 350 miles from Haran to the Galeed or witness heap (Gen 31:48) at Mizpah – probably Suf in North Gilead. This distance Laban is said to have covered in 7 days (Gen 31:23), which would be possible for a force mounted on riding camels. But the news of Jacob’s flight reached Laban on the 3rd day (Gen 31:22), and some time would elapse before he could gather his brethren. Jacob with his flocks and herds must have needed 3 weeks for the journey. It is remarkable that the vicinity of Mizpah still presents ancient monuments like the pillar (Gen 31:45) round which the memorial cairn (yeghar-sahadhutha) was formed. From this place Jacob journeyed to Mahanaim (probably Mahmah), South of the Jabbok river – a place which afterward became the capital of South Gilead (Gen 32:1 f; 1Ki 4:14); but, on hearing of the advance of Esau from Edom, he retreated across the river (Gen 32:22) and then reached Succoth (Gen 33:17), believed to be Tell Derala, North of the stream.
(2) From the Jordan to Hebron.
Crossing the Jordan by one of several fords in this vicinity, Jacob approached Shechem by the perennial stream of Wady Farah, and camped at Shalem (Salim) on the east side of the fertile plain which stretches thence to Shechem, and here he bought land of the Hivites (Gen 33:18-20). We are not told that he dug a well, but the necessity for digging one in a region full of springs can only be explained by Hivite jealousy of water rights, and the well still exists East of Shechem (compare Joh 4:5 f), not far from the Elon Moreh where were buried the teraphm (Gen 35:4) or spirits (Assyrian, tarpu) from Haran (Gen 31:30) under the oak of Abraham. These no doubt were small images, such as are so often unearthed in Palestine. The further progress of Jacob led by Bethel and Bethlehem to Hebron (Gen 35:6, Gen 35:19, Gen 35:27), but some of his elder sons seem to have remained at Shechem. Thus, Joseph was sent later from Hebron (Gen 37:14) to visit his brethren there, but found them at Dothan.
(3) Dothan.
Dothan (Gen 37:17) lay in a plain on the main trade route from Egypt to Damascus, which crossed the low watershed at this point and led down the valley to Jezreel and over Jordan to Bashan. The well of the pit (SWP, II, 169) is still shown at Tell Dothan, and the Ishmaelites, from Midian and Gilead, chose this easy caravan route (Gen 37:25, Gen 37:28) for camels laden with the Gilead balm and spices. The plain was fitted for feeding Jacob’s flocks. The products of Palestine then included also honey, pistachio nuts, and almonds (Gen 43:11); and a few centuries later we find notice in a text of Thothmes III of honey and balsam, with oil, wine, wheat, spelt, barley and fruits, as rations of the Egyptian troops in Canaan (Brugsch, Hist Egypt, I, 332).
4. Mentioned in Connection with Judah:
The episode of Judah and Tamar is connected with a region in the Shephelah, or low hills of Judea. Adullam (Ad-el-ma), Chezib (Ain Kezbeh), and Timnath (Tibneh) are not far apart (Gen 38:1, Gen 38:5, Gen 38:12), the latter being in a pastoral valley where Judah met his sheep shearers. Tamar sat at the entrance of Enaim (compare Gen 38:14, Gen 38:22 the English Revised Version) or Enam (Jos 15:34), perhaps at Kefr Ana, 6 miles Northwest of Timnath. She was mistaken for a kedheshah, or votary (sacred prostitute) of Ashtoreth (Gen 38:15, Gen 38:21), and we know from Hammurabi’s laws that such votaries were already recognized. The mention of Judah’s signet and staff (Gen 38:18) also reminds us of Babylonian customs as described by Herodotus (i. 195), and signet-cylinders of Babylonian style, and of early date, have been unearthed in Palestine at Gezer and elsewhere (compare the Babylonian garment, Jos 7:21).
5. Review of the Geography of Genesis:
Generally speaking, the geography of Gen presents no difficulties, and shows an intimate knowledge of the country, while the allusions to natural products and to customs are in accord with the results of scientific discovery. Only one difficulty needs notice, where Atad (Gen 50:10) on the way from Egypt to Hebron is described as beyond the Jordan. In this case the Assyrian language perhaps helps us, for in that tongue Yaur-danu means the great river, and the reference may be to the Nile itself, which is called Yaur in Hebrew (ye’or) and Assyrian alike.
6. Exodus and Leviticus:
Exodus is concerned with Egypt and the Sinaitic desert, though it may be observed that its simple agricultural laws (Exodus 21 through 23), which so often recall those of Hammurabi, would have been needed at once on the conquest of Gilead and Bashan, before crossing the Jordan. In Leviticus 11 we have a list of animals most of which belong to the desert – as for instance the coney or hyrax (Lev 11:5; Psa 104:18; Pro 30:26), but others – such as the swine (Lev 11:7), the stork and the heron (Lev 11:19) – to the Arabah and the Jordan valley, while the hoopoe (the King James Version lapwing, Lev 11:19) lives in Gilead and in Western Palestine. In Deuteronomy 14 the fallow deer and the roe (Deu 14:5) are now inhabitants of Tabor and Gilead, but the wild goat (ibex), wild ox (buball), pygarg (addax) and chamois (wild sheep), are found in the Arabah and in the deserts.
7. Numbers:
In Numbers, the conquest of Eastern Palestine is described, and most of the towns mentioned are known (21:18-33); the notice of vineyards in Moab (Num 21:22) agrees with the discovery of ancient rock-cut wine presses near Heshbon (SEP, I, 221). The view of Israel, in camp at Shittim by Balaam (Num 22:41), standing on the top of Pisgah or Mt. Nebo, has been shown to be possible by the discovery of Jebel Neba, where also rude dolmens recalling Balak’s altars have been found (SEP, I, 202). The plateau of Moab (Num 32:3) is described as a land for cattle, and still supports Arab flocks. The camps in which Israel left their cattle, women and children during the wars, for 6 months, stretched (Num 33:49) from Beth-jeshimoth (Suweimeh), near the northeastern corner of the Dead Sea over Abel-shittim (the acacia meadow – a name it still bears) in a plain watered by several brooks, and having good herbage in spring.
8. Deuteronomy:
(1) Physical Allusions.
The description of the good land in Deuteronomy (Deu 8:7) applies in some details with special force to Mt. Gilead, which possesses more perennial streams than Western Palestine throughout – a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land also of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates, a land of olive-trees and honey is found in Gilead and Bashan. Palestine itself is not a mining country, but the words (Mat 8:9), a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper, may be explained by the facts that iron mines existed near Beirut in the 10th century AD, and copper mines at Punon North of Petra in the 4th century AD, as described by Jerome (Onomasticon, under the word Phinon). In Deuteronomy also (Deu 11:29; compare Deu 27:4; Jos 8:30) Ebal and Gerizim are first noticed, as beside the oaks of Moreh. Ebal the mountain of curses (3, 077 ft. above sea-level) and Gerizim the mountain of blessings (2, 850 ft.) are the two highest tops in Samaria, and Shechem lies in a rich valley between them. The first sacred center of Israel was thus established at the place where Abraham built his first altar and Jacob dug his well, where Joseph was buried and where Joshua recognized a holy place at the foot of Gerizim (Jos 24:26). The last chapters of Deuteronomy record the famous Pisgah view from Mt. Nebo (34:1-3), which answers in all respects to that from Jebel Neba, except as to Dan, and the utmost (or western) sea, neither of which is visible. Here we should probably read toward rather than to, and there is no other hill above the plains of Shittim whence a better view can be obtained of the Jordan valley, from Zoar to Jericho, of the watershed mountains as far North as Gilboa and Tabor, and of the slopes of Gilead.
(2) Archaeology.
But besides these physical allusions, the progress of exploration serves to illustrate the archaeology of Deuteronomy. Israel was commanded (Deu 12:3) to overthrow the Canaanite altars, to break the standing stones which were emblems of superstition, to burn the ‘asherah poles (or artificial trees), and to hew down the graven images. That these commands were obeyed is clear. The rude altars and standing stones are now found only in Moab, and in remote parts of Gilead, Bashan, and Galilee, not reached by the power of reforming kings of Judah. The ‘asherah poles have disappeared, the images are found, only deep under the surface. The carved tablets which remain at Damascus, and in Phoenicia and Syria, representing the gods of Canaan or of the Hittites, have no counterpart in the Holy Land. Again when we read of ancient landmarks (Deu 19:14; Pro 22:28; Pro 23:10), we are not to understand a mere boundary stone, but rather one of those monuments common in Babylonia – as early at least as the 12th century BC – on which the boundaries of a field are minutely described, the history of its grant by the king detailed, and a curse (compare Deu 27:17) pronounced against the man who should dare to remove the stone. See illustration under NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
III. Palestine in the Historic Books of the Old Testament.
1. Book of Joshua:
Joshua is the great geographical book of the Old Testament; and the large majority of the 600 names of places, rivers and mountains in Palestine mentioned in the Bible are to be found in this book.
(1) Topographical Accuracy.
About half of this total of names were known, or were fixed by Dr. Robinson, between 1838 and 1852, and about 150 new sites were discovered (1872-1878, 1881-1882) in consequence of the 1-in. trigonometrical survey of the country, and were identified by the present writer during this period; a few interesting sites have been added by M. Clermont-Ganneau (Adullam and Gezer), by A. Henderson (Kiriathjearim), by W.F. Birch (Zoar at Tell esh Shaghur), and by others. Thus more than three-quarters of the sites have been fixed with more or less certainty, most of them preserving their ancient names. It is impossible to study this topography without seeing that the Bible writers had personal knowledge of the country; and it is incredible that a Hebrew priest, writing in Babylonia, could have possessed that intimate acquaintance with all parts of the land which is manifest in the geographical chapters of Joshua. The towns are enumerated in due order by districts; the tribal boundaries follow natural lines – valleys and mountain ridges – and the character of various regions is correctly indicated. Nor can we suppose that this topography refers to conditions subsequent to the return from captivity, for these were quite different. Simeon had ceased to inhabit the south by the time of David (1Ch 4:24), and the lot of Dan was colonized by men of Benjamin after the captivity (1Ch 8:12, 1Ch 8:13; Neh 11:34, Neh 11:35). Tirzah is mentioned (Jos 12:24) in Samaria, whereas the future capital of Omri is not. Ai is said to have been made a heap forever (Jos 8:28), but was inhabited apparently in Isaiah’s time (Isa 10:28 = Aiath) and certainly after the captivity (Ezr 2:28; Neh 7:32; Neh 11:31 = Aija). At latest, the topography seems to be that of Solomon’s age, though it is remarkable that very few places in Samaria are noticed in the Book of Joshua.
(2) The Passage of the Jordan.
Israel crossed Jordan at the lowest ford East of Jericho. The river was in flood, swollen by the melting snows of Hermon (Jos 3:15); the stoppage occurred 20 miles farther up at Adam (ed-Damieh), the chalky cliffs at a narrow place being probably undermined and falling in, thus damming the stream. A Moslem writer asserts that a similar stoppage occurred in the 13th century AD, near the same point. (See JORDAN RIVER.) The first camp was established at Gilgal (Jilgulieh), 3 miles East of Jericho, and a circle of 12 stones was erected. Jericho was not at the medieval site (er Rha) South of Gilgal, or at the Herodian site farther West, but at the great spring Ain es Sultan, close to the mountains to which the spies escaped (Jos 2:16). The great mounds were found by Sir C. Warren to consist of sun-dried bricks, and further excavations (see Mitteil. der deutschen Orient-Gesell., December, 1909, No. 41) have revealed little but the remains of houses of various dates.
(3) Joshua’s First Campaign.
The first city in the mountains attacked by Israel was Ai, near Chayan, 2 miles Southeast of Bethel. It has a deep valley to the North, as described (Jos 8:22). The fall of Ai and Bethel (Jos 8:17) seems to have resulted in the peaceful occupation of the region between Gibeon and Shechem (Josh 8:30 through 9:27); but while the Hivites submitted the Amorites of Jerusalem and of the South attacked Gibeon (el Jb) and were driven down the steep pass of Beth-horon (Beit Aur) to the plains (Jos 10:1-11). Joshua’s great raid, after this victory, proceeded through the plain to Makkedah, now called el Mughar, from the cave (compare Jos 10:17), and by Libnah to Lachish (Tell el Hesy), whence he went up to Hebron, and turned South to Debir (edh Dhaheryeh), thus subduing the shephelah of Judah and the southern mountains, though the capital at Jerusalem was not taken. It is now very generally admitted that the six letters of the Amorite king of Jerusalem included in Tell el-Amarna Letters may refer to this war. The Abri or Habiri are therein noticed as a fierce people from Seir, who destroyed all the rulers, and who attacked Ajalon, Lachish, Ashkelon, Keilah (on the main road to Hebron) and other places. See EXODUS, THE.
(4) The Second Campaign.
The second campaign (Jos 11:1-14) was against the nations of Galilee; and the Hebrew victory was gained at the waters of Merom (Jos 11:5). There is no sound reason for placing these at the Huleh lake; and the swampy Jordan valley was a very unlikely field of battle for the Canaanite chariots (Jos 11:6). The kings noticed are those of Madon (Madn), Shimron (Semmunieh), Dor (possibly Tell Thorah), on the west, and of Hazor (Hazzur), all in Lower Galilee. The pursuit was along the coast toward Sidon (Jos 11:8); and Merom may be identical with Shimron-meron (Jos 12:20), now Semmunieh, in which case the waters were those of the perennial stream in Wady el Melek, 3 miles to the North, which flow West to join the lower part of the Kishon. Shimron-meron was one of the 31 royal cities of Palestine West of the Jordan (Josh 12:9-24).
The regions left unconquered by Joshua (Jos 13:2-6) were those afterward conquered by David and Solomon, including the Philistine plains, and the Sidonian coast from Mearah (el Mogheiryeh) northward to Aphek (Afka) in Lebanon, on the border of the Amorite country which lay South of the land of the Hittites (Jos 1:4). Southern Lebanon, from Gebal (Jubeil) and the entering into Hamath (the Eleutherus Valley) on the West, to Baal-gad (probably at Ain Judeideh on the northwestern slope of Hermon) was also included in the land by David (2Sa 8:6-10). But the whole of Eastern Palestine (Josh 13:7-32), and of Western Palestine, except the shore plains, was allotted to the 12 tribes. Judah and Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh), being the strongest, appear to have occupied the mountains and the shephelah, as far North as Lower Galilee, before the final allotment.
Thus, the lot of Simeon was within that inherited by Judah (Jos 19:1), and that of Dan seems to have been partly taken from Ephraim, since Joseph’s lot originally reached to Gezer (Jos 16:3); but Benjamin appears to have received its portion early (compare Jos 15:5-11; Jos 16:1, Jos 16:2; 18:11-28). This lot was larger than that of Ephraim, and Benjamin was not then the smallest of the tribes of Israel (1Sa 9:21), since the destruction of the tribe did not occur till after the death of Joshua and Eleazar (Jdg 20:28).
The twelve tribes were distributed in various regions which may here briefly be described. Reuben held the Moab plateau to the Arnon (Wady Mojub) on the South, and to the river of Gad (Wady Na’aur) on the North, thus including part of the Jordan valley close to the Dead Sea. Gad held all the West of Gilead, being separated from the Ammonites by the upper course of the Jabbok. All the rest of the Jordan valley East of the river was included in this lot. Manasseh held Bashan, but the conquest was not completed till later. Simeon had the neghebh plateau South of Beersheba. Judah occupied the mountains South of Jerusalem, with the shephelah to their West, and claimed Philistia South of Ekron. Benjamin had the Jericho plains and the mountains between Jerusalem and Bethel. The border ran South of Jerusalem to Rachel’s tomb (1Sa 10:2), and thence West to Kiriath-jearim (‘Erma) and Ekron. Dan occupied the lower hills West of Benjamin and Ephraim, and claimed the plain from Ekron to Rakkon (Tell er Rakkeit) North of Joppa. Manasseh had a large region, corresponding to Samaria, and including Carmel, Sharon and half the Jordan valley, with the mountains North of Shechem; but this tribe occupied only the hills, and was unable to drive the Cannanites out of the plains (Jos 17:11, Jos 17:16) Ephraim also complained of the smallness of its lot (Jos 17:15), which lay in rugged mountains between Bethel and Shechem, including however, the grain plateau East of the latter city. Issachar held the plains of Esdraelon and Dothan, with the Jordan valley to the East, but soon became subject to the Canaanites. Zebulun had the hills of Lower Galilee, and the coast from Carmel to Accho. Naphtali owned the mountains of Upper Galilee, and the rich plateau between Tabor and the Sea of Galilee. Asher had the low hills West of Naphtali, and the narrow shore plains from Accho to Tyre. Thus each tribe possessed a proportion of mountain land fit for cultivation of figs, olives and vines, and of arable land fit for corn. The areas allotted appear to correspond to the density of population that the various regions were fitted to support.
The Levitical cities were fixed in the various tribes as centers for the teaching of Israel (Deu 33:10), but a Levite was not obliged to live in such a city, and was expected to go with his course annually to the sacred center, before they retreated to Jerusalem on the disruption of the kingdom (2Ch 11:14). The 48 cities (Josh 21:13-42) include 13 in Judah and Benjamin for the priests, among which Beth-shemesh (1Sa 6:13, 1Sa 6:15) and Anathoth (1Ki 2:26) are early noticed as Levitical. The other tribes had 3 or 4 such cities each, divided among Kohathites (10), Gershonites (13), and Merarites (12). The six Cities of Refuge were included in the total, and were placed 3 each side of the Jordan in the South, in the center, and in the North, namely Hebron, Shechem and Kedesh on the West, and Bezer (unknown), Ramoth (Reimun) and Golan (probably Sahem el Jaulan) East of the river. Another less perfect list of these cities, with 4 omissions and 11 minor differences, mostly clerical, is given in 1 Ch 6:57-81. Each of these cities had suburbs, or open spaces, extending (Num 35:4) about a quarter-mile beyond the wall, while the fields, to about half a mile distant, also belonged to the Levites (Lev 25:34).
2. Book of Judges:
(1) Early Wars.
In Judges, the stories of the heroes who successively arose to save Israel from the heathen carry us to every part of the country. After the death of Joshua (Jdg 1:1) the Canaanites appear to have recovered power, and to have rebuilt some of the cities which he had ruined. Judah fought the Perizzites (villagers) at Berek (Berkah) in the lower hills West of Jerusalem, and even set fire to that city. Caleb attacked Debir (Jsg Jos 1:12-15), which is described (compare Jos 15:15-19) as lying in a dry (the King James Version south) region, yet with springs not far away. The actual site (edh Dhaheryeh) is a village with ancient tombs 12 miles Southwest of Hebron; it has no springs, but about 7 miles to the Northeast there is a perennial stream with upper and lower springs. As regards the Philistine cities (Jdg 1:18), the Septuagint reading seems preferable; for the Greek says that Judah did not take Gaza nor Ashkelon nor Ekron, which agrees with the failure in conquering the valley (Jdg 1:19) due to the Canaanites having chariots of iron. The Canaanite chariots are often mentioned about this time in the Tell el-Amarna Letters and Egyptian accounts speak of their being plated with metals. Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali, were equally powerless against cities in the plains (Jdg 1:27-33); and Israel began to mingle with the Canaanites, while the tribe of Dan seems never to have really occupied its allotted region, and remained encamped in the borders of Judah till some, at least, of its warriors found a new home under Hermon (Jdg 1:34; 18:1-30) in the time of Jonathan, the grandson of Moses.
(2) Defeat of Sisera.
The oppression of Israel by Jabin II of Hazor, in Lower Galilee, appears to have occurred in the time of Rameses II, who, in his 8th year, conquered Shalem (Salim, North of Taanach), Anem (Ann), Dapur (Deburieh, at the foot of Tabor), with Bethanath (Ainitha) in Upper Galilee (Brugsch, History of Egypt, II, 64). Sisera may have been an Egyptian resident at the court of Jabin (Jdg 4:2); his defeat occurred near the foot of Tabor (Jdg 4:14) to which he advanced East from Harosheth (el Harathyeh) on the edge of the sea plain. His host perished at Endor (Psa 83:9) and in the swampy Kishon (Jdg 5:21). The site of the Kedesh in the plain of swamps (Jdg 4:11) to which he fled is doubtful. Perhaps Kedesh of Issachar (1Ch 6:72) is intended at Tell Kadeis, 3 miles North of Taanach, for the plain is here swampy in parts. The Canaanite league of petty kings fought from Taanach to Megiddo (Jdg 5:19), but the old identification of the latter city with the Roman town of Legio (Lejjun) was a mere guess which does not fit with Egyptian accounts placing Megiddo near the Jordan. The large site at Mugedda, in the Valley of Jezreel seems to be more suitable for all the Old Testament as well as for the Egyptian accounts (SWP, II, 90-99).
(3) Gideon’s Victory.
The subsequent oppression by Midianites and others would seem to have coincided with the troubles which occurred in the 5th, year of Minepthah (see EXODUS, THE). Gideon’s home (Jdg 6:11) at Ophrah, in Manasseh, is placed by Samaritan tradition at Ferata, 6 miles West of Shechem, but his victory was won in the Valley of Jezreel (Jdg 7:1-22); the sites of Beth-shittah (Shatta) and Abel-meholah (Ain Helweh) show how Midian fled down this valley and South along the Jordan plain, crossing the river near Succoth (Tell Derala) and ascending the slopes of Gilead to Jogbehah (Jubeihah) and Nobah (Jdg 8:4-11). But Oreb (the raven) and Zeeb (the wolf) perished at the raven’s rock and the wolf’s hollow (compare Jdg 7:25), West of the Jordan. It is remarkable (as pointed out by the present author in 1874) that, 3 miles North of Jericho, a sharp peak is now called the raven’s nest, and a ravine 4 miles farther North is named the wolf’s hollows. These sites are rather farther South than might be expected, unless the two chiefs were separated from the fugitives, who followed Zebah and Zalmunna to Gilead. In this episode Mt. Gilead (Jdg 7:3) seems to be a clerical error for Mt. Gilboa, unless the name survives in corrupt form at An Jalud (Goliath’s spring), which is a large pool, usually supposed to be the spring of Harod (Jdg 7:1), where Gideon camped, East of Jezreel.
The story of Abimelech takes us back to Shechem. He was made king by the oak of the pillar (Jdg 9:6), which was no doubt Abraham’s oak already noticed; it seems also to be called ‘the enchanter’s oak’ (Jdg 9:37), probably from some superstition connected with the burial of the Teraphim under it by Jacob. The place called Beer, to which Jotham fled from Abimelech (Jdg 9:21), may have been Beeroth (Breh) in the lot of Benjamin. Thebez, the town taken by the latter (Jdg 9:50), and where he met his death, is now the village Tubas, 10 miles Northeast of Shechem.
The Ammonite oppression of Israel in Gilead occurred about 300 years after the Hebrew conquest (Jdg 11:26), and Jephthah the deliverer returned to Mizpah (Jdg 11:29), which was probably the present village Suf (already noticed), from his exile in the land of Tob (Jdg 11:3, Jdg 11:6). This may have been near Taiyibeh, 9 miles South of Gadara, in the extreme North of Gilead – a place notable for its ancient dolmens and rude stone monuments, such as occur also at Mizpah. Jephthah’s dispute with the men of Ephraim (Jdg 12:1) indicates the northern position of Mizpah. Aroer (Jdg 11:33) is unknown, but lay near Rabbath-ammon (Jos 13:25; 2Sa 24:5); it is to be distinguished from Aroer (Ar’air) in the Arnon ravine, mentioned in Jdg 11:26.
The scene of Samson’s exploits lies in the shephelah of Judah on the borders of Philistia. His home at Zorah (Surah) was on the hills North of the Valley of Sorek, and looked down on the camp of Dan (Jdg 13:25 margin), which had been pitched in that valley near Beth-shemesh. Eshtaol (Eshua) was less than 2 miles East of Zorah on the same ridge. Timnath (Jdg 14:1) was only 2 miles West of Beth-shemesh, at the present ruin Tibneh. The region was one of vineyards (Jdg 14:5), and the name Sorek (Surk) still survives at a ruin 2 miles West of Zorah. Sorek signified a choice vine, and a rock-cut wine press exists at the site (SWP, III, 126). These 5 places, all close together, were also close to the Philistine grain lands (Jdg 15:5) in a region of vines and olives. Samson’s place of refuge in the cleft of the rock of Etam (see Jdg 15:8) was probably at Beit Atab, only 5 miles East of Zorah, but rising with a high knoll above the southern precipices of the gorge which opens into the Valley of Sorek. In this knoll, under the village, is a rock passage now called the well of refuge (Br el Hasutah), which may have been the cleft into which Samson went down. Lehi (Jdg 15:9) was apparently in the valley beneath, and the name (the jaw) may refer to the narrow mouth of the gorge whence, after conference with the Philistines, the men of Judah went down (Jdg 15:11) to the cleft of the rock of Etam (SWP, III, 83, 137), which was a passage 250 ft. long leading down, under the town, to the spring. All of Samson’s story is connected with this one valley (for Delilah also lived in the Valley of Sorek, Jdg 16:4) except his visit to Gaza, where he carried the gates to the ‘hill facing Hebron’ (Jdg 16:3), traditionally shown (SWP, III, 255) at the great mound on the East side of this town where he died, and where his tomb is (wrongly) shown. Another tomb, close to Zorah, represents a more correct tradition (Jdg 16:31), but the legends of Samson at this village are of modern Christian origin.
The appendix to Judges includes two stories concerning Levites who both lived in the time of the 2nd generation after the Hob conquest (Jdg 18:30; Jdg 20:28), and who both sojourned in Bethlehem of Judah (Jdg 17:8; Jdg 19:2), though their proper city was one in Mt. Ephraim, In the first case Jonathan, the grandson of Moses, founded a family of idolatrous priests, setting up Micah’s image at Dan (Tell el Kad) beside the sources of the Jordan, where ancient dolmen altars still exist. This image may have been the cause why Jeroboam afterward established a calf-temple at the same place. It is said to have stood there till the captivity of the ark (St. Petersburg MS, Jdg 18:30), all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh (Jdg 18:31). From this narrative we learn that the tribe of Dan did not settle in its appointed lot (Jdg 18:1), but pitched in the camp of Dan, west of Kiriath-jearim (Jdg 18:12). This agrees with the former mention of the site (Jdg 13:25) as being near Zorah; and the open valley near Beth-shemesh is visible, through the gorges of Lehi, from the site of Kiriath-jearim at Erma.
(4) Appendix: The Defeat of Benjamin.
In the 2nd episode we trace the journey of the Levite from Bethlehem past Jerusalem to Gibeah (Jeba), East of Ramah (er-Ram), a distance which could easily be traversed in an afternoon (compare Jdg 19:8-14). Gibeah was no doubt selected as a halting-place by the Levite, because it was a Levitical city. The story of the great crime of the men of Gibeah was well known to Hosea (Jdg 9:9). Israel gathered against them at Mizpah (Tell en Nasbeh) on the watershed, 3 miles to the Northwest, and the ark was brought by Phinehas to Bethel (compare Jdg 20:1, Jdg 20:31; Jdg 18:26, Jdg 18:27), 3 miles Northeast of Mizpah. The defeat of Benjamin occurred where the road to Gibeah leaves the main north road to Bethel (Jdg 18:31), West of Ramah. The survivors fled to the rock Rimmon (Rummon), 3 1/2 miles East of Bethel, on the edge of the wilderness which stretches from this rugged hill toward the Jordan valley. The position of Shiloh, 9 miles North of this rock, is very accurately described (Jdg 21:19) as being North of Bethel (Beitn), and East of the main road, thence to Shechem which passes Lebonah (Lubban), a village 3 miles Northwest of Seilun or Shiloh. The vineyards, in which the maidens of Shiloh used to dance (Jdg 21:20) at the Feast of Tabernacles, lay no doubt where vineyards still exist in the little plain South of this site. It is clear that the writer of these two narratives had an acquaintance with Palestinian topography as exact as that shown throughout Jgs. Nor (if the reading captivity of the ark be correct) is there any reason to suppose that they were written after 722 BC.
3. Book of Ruth:
The Book of Ruth gives us a vivid picture of Hebrew life when the judges ruled (Rth 1:1 the King James Version), about a century before the birth of David. Laws as old as Hammurabi’s age allowed the widow the choice of remaining with the husband’s family, or of quitting his house (compare Rth 1:8). The beating out of gleanings (Rth 2:17) by women is still a custom which accounts for the rock mortars found so often scooped out on the hillside. The villager still sleeps, as a guard, beside the heap of winnowed grain in the threshing-floor (Rth 3:7); the head-veil, still worn, could well have been used to carry six measures of barley (Rth 3:15). The courteous salutation of his reapers by Boaz (Rth 2:4) recalls the common Arabic greeting (Allah makum), God be with you. But the thin wine (Rth 2:14) is no longer drunk by Moslem peasants, who only dip their bread in oil.
4. Books of Samuel:
(1) Samuel.
The two Books of Samuel present an equally valuable picture of life, and an equally real topography throughout. Samuel’s father – a pious Levite (1Ch 6:27) – descended from Zuph who had lived at Ephratah (Bethlehem; compare 1Sa 9:4, 1Sa 9:5), had his house at Ramah (1Sa 1:19) close to Gibeah, and this town (er-Ram) was Samuel’s home also (1Sa 7:17; 1Sa 25:1). The family is described as ‘Ramathites, Zuphites of Mt. Ephraim’ (1Sa 1:1), but the term Mt. Ephraim was not confined to the lot of Ephraim, since it included Bethel and Ramah, in the land of Benjamin (Jdg 4:5). As a Levite, Elkanah obeyed the law of making annual visits to the central shrine, though this does not seem to have been generally observed in an age when every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Jdg 21:25). The central shrine had been removed by Joshua from Shechem to the remote site of Shiloh (Jos 22:9), perhaps for greater security, and here the tabernacle (Jos 22:19) was pitched (compare 1Sa 2:22) and remained for 4 centuries till the death of Eli. The great defeat of Israel, when the ark was captured by the Philistines, took place not far from Mizpah (1Sa 4:1), within an easy day’s journey from Shiloh (compare 1Sa 4:12). Ekron, whence it was sent back (1Sa 6:16), was only 12 miles from Beth-shemesh (Ainshems), where the ark rested on a great stone (Septuagint, 1 Sam 6:18); and Beth-shemesh was only 4 miles West of Kiriath-jearim (1Sa 6:21), which was in the mountains, so that its inhabitants came down from the hill (1Sa 6:21; 1Sa 7:1) to fetch the ark, which abode there for 20 years, till the beginning of Saul’s reign (1Sa 14:18), when, after the war, it may have been restored to the tabernacle at Nob, to which place the latter was probably removed after Eli’s death, when Shiloh was deserted. The exact site of Nob is not known, but probably (compare Isa 10:32) it was close to Mizpah, whence the first glimpse of Jerusalem is caught, and thus near Gibeon, where it was laid up after the massacre of the priests (1Sa 21:1; 1Sa 22:9, 1Sa 22:18; 2Ch 1:3), when the ark was again taken to Kiriath-jearim (2Sa 6:2). Mizpah (Tell en-Nasbeh) was the gathering-place of Israel under Samuel; and the stone of help (Eben-ezer) was erected, after his victory over the Philistines, between Mizpah and Shen (1Sa 7:12) – the latter place (see Septuagint) being probably the same as Jeshanah (Ain Snai), 6 miles North of Mizpah which Samuel visited yearly as a judge (1Sa 7:16).
(2) Saul’s Search.
The journey of Saul, who, seeking asses found a kingdom, presents a topography which has often been misunderstood. He started (1Sa 9:4) from Gibeah (Jeba’) and went first to the land of Shalisha through Mt. Ephraim. Baal-shalisha (2Ki 4:42) appears to have been the present Kefr Thilth, 18 miles North of Lydda and 24 miles Northwest from Gibeah. Saul then searched the land of Shalim – probably that of Shual (1Sa 13:17), Northeast of Gibeah. Finally he went south beyond the border of Benjamin (1Sa 10:2) to a city in the land of Zuph, which seems probably to have been Bethlehem, whence (as above remarked) Samuel’s family – descendants of Zuph – came originally. If so, it is remarkable that Saul and David were anointed in the same city, one which Samuel visited later (1Sa 16:1, 1Sa 16:2 ff) to sacrifice, just as he did when meeting Saul (1Sa 9:12), who was probably known to him, since Gibeah and Ramah were only 2 miles apart. Saul’s journey home thus naturally lay on the road past Rachel’s tomb near Bethlehem, and along the Bethel road (1Sa 10:2, 1Sa 10:3) to his home at Gibeah (1Sa 10:5, 1Sa 10:10). It is impossible to suppose that Samuel met him at Ramah – a common mistake which creates great confusion in the topography.
(3) Saul’s Coronation and First Campaign.
Saul concealed the fact of his anointing (1Sa 10:16) till the lot fell upon him at Mizpah. This public choice by lot has been thought (Wellhausen, History of Israel, 1885, 252) to indicate a double narrative, but to a Hebrew there would not appear to be any discrepancy, since The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of Yahweh (Pro 16:33). Even at Mizpah he was not fully accepted till his triumph over the Ammonites, when the kingdom was renewed at Gilgal (1Sa 11:14). This campaign raises an interesting question of geography. Only 7 days’ respite was allowed to the men of Jabesh in Gilead (1Sa 11:3), during which news was sent to Saul at Gibeah, and messengers dispatched throughout the borders of Israel (1Sa 11:7), while the hosts gathered at Bezek, and reached Jabesh on the 7th or 8th day (1Sa 11:8-10) at dawn. Bezek appears to be a different place from that West of Jerusalem (Jdg 1:4) and to have been in the middle of Palestine at Ibzk, 14 miles North of Shechem, and 25 miles West of Jabesh, which probably lay in Wady Yabis in Gilead. The farthest distances for the messengers would not have exceeded 80 miles; and, allowing a day for the news to reach Saul and another for the march from Bezek to Jabesh, there would have been just time for the gathering of Israel at this fairly central meeting-place.
The scene of the victory over the Philistines at Michmash is equally real. They had a ‘post’ in Geba (or Gibeah, 1Sa 13:3), or a governor (compare the Septuagint), whom Jonathan slew. They came up to Michmash (Mukhmas) to attack Jonathan’s force which held Gibeah, on the southern side of the Michmash valley, hard by. The northern cliff of the great gorge was called Bozez (shining) in contrast to the southern one (in shadow) which was named Seneh or thorn (1Sa 14:4). Josephus (BJ, V, ii, 2) says that Gibeah of Saul was by the valley of thorns, and the ravine, flanked by the two precipitous cliffs East of Michmash, is still called Wady es Suweint, or the valley of little thorn trees. Jonathan climbed the steep slope that leads to a small flat top (1Sa 14:14 the King James Version), and surprised the Philistine ‘post.’ The pursuit was by Bethel to the Valley of Aijalon, down the steep Beth-boron pass (1Sa 14:23, 1Sa 14:31); but it should be noted that there was no wood (1Sa 14:25, 1Sa 14:26) on this bare hilly ridge, and the word (compare Son 5:1) evidently means honeycomb. It is also possible that the altar raised by Saul, for fulfillment of the Law (Gen 9:4; Exo 20:25), was at Nob where the central shrine was then established.
(4) David’s Early Life.
David fed his flocks in the wilderness below Bethlehem, where many a silent and dreadful Valley of Shadows (compare Psa 23:4) might make the stoutest heart fail. The lion crept up from the Jordan valley, and (on another occasion) the bear came down from the rugged mountains above (1Sa 17:34). No bears are now known South of Hermon, but the numerous references (2Ki 2:24; Isa 59:11; Hos 13:8; Pro 17:12; Pro 28:15) show that they must have been exterminated, like the lion, in comparatively late times. The victory over Goliath, described in the chapter containing this allusion, occurred in the Valley of Elah near Shochoth (Shuweikeh); and this broad valley (Wady es Sunt) ran into the Philistine plain at the probable site of Gath (Tell es Safi) to which the pursuit led (1Sa 17:1, 1Sa 17:2, 1Sa 17:52). The watercourse still presents smooth stones (1Sa 17:40) fit for the sling, which is still used by Arab shepherds; and the valley still has in it fine terebinths such as those from which it took its name Elah. The bronze armor of the giant (1Sa 17:5, 1Sa 17:6) indicates an early stage of culture, which is not contradicted by the mention of an iron spearhead (1Sa 17:7), since iron is found to have been in use in Palestine long before David’s time. The curious note (1Sa 17:54) as to the head of Goliath being taken to Jerusalem is also capable of explanation. Jerusalem was not conquered till at least 10 years later, but it was a general practice (as late as the 7th century BC in Assyria) to preserve the heads of dead foes by salting them, as was probably done in another case (2Ki 10:7) when the heads of Ahab’s sons were sent from Samaria to Jezreel to be exposed at the gate.
David’s outlaw life began when he took refuge with Samuel at the settlements (Naioth) near Ramah, where the company of prophets lived. He easily met Jonathan near Gibeah, which was only 2 miles East; and the stone of departure (Ezel, 1Sa 20:19) may have marked the Levitical boundary of that town. Nob also (1Sa 20:1) was, as we have seen, not far off, but Gath (1Sa 20:10) was beyond the Hebrew boundary. Thence David retreated up the Valley of Elah to Adullam (Ad-el-ma), which stood on a hill West of this valley near the great turn (southward) of its upper course. An inhabited cave still exists here (compare 1Sa 22:1), and the site meets every requirement (SWP, III, 311, 347, 361-67). Keilah (1Sa 23:1) is represented by the village Kla, on the east side of the same valley, 3 miles farther up; and Hereth (1Sa 22:5) was also near, but in Judah (1Sa 23:3), at the village Kharas on a wooded spur 7 miles Northwest of Hebron. Thence David went down (1Sa 23:4) to Keilah 2 miles away to the West. As there was no safety for the outlaws, either in Philistia or in Judah, they had to retreat to the wilderness of Ziph (Tell ez Zf), 4 miles Southeast of Hebron. The word wood (horesh) may more probably be a proper name, represented by the ruin of Khoreisa, rather more than a mile South of Ziph, while the hill Hachilah (1Sa 23:19) might be the long spur, over the Jeshimon or desert of Judah, 6 miles East of Ziph, now called el Kola. Maon (M’ain) lay on the edge of the same desert still farther South, about 8 miles from Hebron. En-gedi (1Sa 23:29; 1Sa 24:1, 1Sa 24:2) was on the precipices by the Dead Sea. The wild goats (ibex) still exist here in large droves, and the caves of this desert are still used as folds for sheep in spring (1Sa 24:3). The villagers South of Hebron are indeed remarkable for their large flocks which – by agreement with the nomads – are sent to pasture in the Jeshimon, like those of Nabal, the rich man of Carmel (Kurmul), a mile North of Maon (1Sa 25:2), who refused the customary present to David’s band which had protected his shepherds in the fields (1Sa 25:15) or pastures of the wilderness. In summer David would naturally return to the higher ridge of Hachilah (1Sa 26:1) on the south side of which there is a precipitous gorge (impassable save by a long detour), across which he talked to Saul (1Sa 26:13), likening himself (1Sa 26:20) to the desert partridge still found in this region.
(5) The Defeat and Death of Saul.
The site of Ziklag is doubtful, but it evidently lay in the desert South of Beersheba (Jos 15:31; Jos 19:5; 1Ch 4:30; 1Sa 27:6-12), far from Gath, so that King Achish did not know whether David had raided the South of Judah, or the tribes toward Shur. Saul’s power in the mountains was irresistible; and it was for this reason perhaps that his fatal battle with the Philistines occurred far North in the plain near Jezreel. They camped (1Sa 28:4) by the fine spring of Shunem (Sulem), and Saul on Gilboa to the South. The visit to Endor (Andur) was thus a perilous adventure, as Saul must have stolen by night round the Philistine host to visit this place North of Shunem. He returned to the spur of Gilboa on which Jezreel stands (1Sa 29:1), and the spring noticed is a copious supply North of the village Zern. Beth-shan (1Sa 31:12) was at the mouth of the valley of Jezreel at Besian, and here the bodies of Saul and his sons were burned by the men of Jabesh-gilead; but, as the bones were preserved (1Sa 31:13; 2Sa 21:13), it is possible that the corpses were cremated in pottery jars afterward buried under the tree. Excavations in Palestine and in Babylonia show that this was an early practice, not only in the case of infants (as at Gezcr, and Taanach), but also of grown men. See PALESTINE (RECENT EXPLORATION). The list of cities to which David sent presents at the time of Saul’s death (1Sa 30:26-31) includes those near Ziklag and as far North as Hebron, thus referring to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.
(6) Wellhausen’s Theory of a Double Narrative.
The study of David’s wanderings, it may be noted, and of the climatic conditions in the Jeshimon desert, does not serve to confirm Wellhausen’s theory of a double narrative, based on the secret unction and public choice of Saul, on the double visit to Hachilah, and on the fact that the gloomy king had forgotten the name of David’s father. The history is not a pious make-up without a word of truth (Wellhausen, Hist Israel, 248-49); and David, as a youth of twenty years, may yet have been called a man of war; while transparent artifice (p. 251) will hardly be recognized by the reader of this genuine chronicle. Nor was there any Aphek in Sharon (p. 260), and David did not amuse himself by going first toward the north from Gibeah (p. 267); his visit to Ramah does not appear to be a worthless anachronistic anecdote (p. 271); and no one who has lived in the terrible Jeshimon could regard the meeting at Hachilah as a jest (p. 265). Nor did the hill (the dusky top) take its name from the circumstance, but Wellhausen probably means the Selaha-mahlekoth (cliff of slippings or of slippings away), now Wady Malakeh near Maon (compare 1Sa 23:19, 1Sa 23:24, 1Sa 23:28), which lay farther South than Ziph.
(7) Early Years of David’s Reign.
David, till the 8th year of his reign, was king of Judah only. The first battle with Saul’s son occurred at Gibeon (2Sa 2:13), where the pool was no doubt the cave of the great spring at el Jb; the pursuit was by the ‘desert Gibeon road’ (2Sa 2:24) toward the Jordan valley. Gibeon itself was not in a desert, but in a fertile region. Abner then deserted to David, but was murdered at the well of Sirah (Ain Sarah) on the road a mile North of David’s capital at Hebron. Nothing more is said about the Philistines till David had captured Jerusalem, when they advanced on the new capital by the valley of Rephaim (2Sa 5:22), which apparently ran from South of Jerusalem to join the valley of Elah. If David was then at Adullam (the hold, 2Sa 5:17 the King James Version; compare 1Sa 22:5), it is easy to understand how he cut off the Philistine retreat (2Sa 5:23), and thus conquered all the hill country to Gezer (2Sa 5:25). After this the ark was finally brought from Baale-judah (Kiriath-jearim) to Jerusalem (2Sa 6:2), and further wars were beyond the limits of Western Palestine, in Moab (2Sa 8:2) and in Syria (2Sa 8:3-12); but for Syrians (2Sa 8:13) the more correct reading appears to be Edomites (1Ch 18:12), and the Valley of Salt was probably South of the Dead Sea. Another war with the Syrians, aided by Arameans from East of the Euphrates, occurred East of the Jordan (2Sa 10:16-18), and was followed by the siege of Rabbath-ammon (Amman), East of Gilead, where we have notice of the city of waters (2Sa 12:27), or lower town by the stream, contrasted, it seems, with the citadel which was on the northern hill.
(8) Hebrew Letter-Writing.
In this connection we find the first notice of a letter (2Sa 11:14) as written by David to Joab. Writing is of course noticed as early as the time of Moses when – as we now know – the Canaanites wrote letters on clay tablets in cuneiform script. These, however, were penned by special scribes; and such a scribe is mentioned early (Jdg 8:14). David himself may have employed a professional writer (compare 2Sa 8:17), while Uriah, who carried his own fate in the letter, was probably unable to read. Even in Isaiah’s time the art was not general (Isa 29:12), though Hebrew kings could apparently write and read (Deu 17:18; 2Ki 19:14); to the present day the accomplishment is not general in the East, even in the upper class. It should be noted that the first evidence of the use of an alphabet is found in the early alphabetic Psalms, and the oldest dated alphabetic text yet known is later than 900 BC. The script used in the time of Moses may have been cuneiform, which was still employed at Gezer for traders’ tablets in 649 BC. The alphabet may have come into use first among Hebrews, through Phoenician influence in the time of David; and so far no script except this and the cuneiform has been unearthed in Palestine, unless it is to be recognized in signs of the Hittite syllabary at Lachish and Gezer. Another interesting point, as regards Hebrew civilization in David’s time, is the first mention of mules (2Sa 13:29; 2Sa 18:9; 1Ki 1:33, 1Ki 1:38), which are unnoticed in the Pentateuch. They are represented as pack animals on an Assyrian bas-relief; but, had they been known to Moses, they would probably have been condemned as unclean. The sons of David fled on mules from Baal-hazor (Tell Asur) beside Ephraim (now probably Taiyibeh), North of Bethel, where Absalom murdered Amnon.
(9) The Later Years of David’s Reign.
On the rebellion of Absalom David retreated to Mahanaim, apparently by the road North of the Mount of Olives, if the Targum of Jonathan (2Sa 16:5) is correct in placing Bahurim at Almon (Almt), Northeast of Jerusalem. It is not clear where the wood of Ephraim, in which Absalom perished, may have been, but it was beyond Jordan in Gilead (2Sa 17:22; 2Sa 18:6); and oak woods are more common there than in Western Palestine. The latest revolt, after Absalom’s death, was in the extreme north at Abel (Abil), in Upper Galilee (2Sa 20:14), after which Joab’s journey is the last incident to be studied in the Books of Samuel. For census purposes he went East of the Jordan to Aroer (perhaps the city on the Arnon), to the river of Gad (Wady Naaur) near Jazer, and through Gilead. Tahtim-hodshi (2Sa 24:6) is believed (on the authority of three Greek manuscripts) to be a corruption of the Hittites at Kadesh (Kades), the great city on the Orontes (see HITTITES), which lay on the northern boundary of David’s dominions, South of the kingdom of Hamath. Thence Joab returned to Zidon and Tyre, and after visiting all Judah to Beersheba reached Jerusalem again within 10 months. The acquisition of the temple-site then closes the book.
5. Books of Kings:
(1) Solomon’s Provinces.
The Books of Kings contain also some interesting questions of geography. Solomon’s twelve provinces appear to answer very closely to the lots of the twelve tribes described in Josh. They included (1Ki 4:7-19) the following: (a) Ephraim, (b) Dan, (c) Southern Judah (see Jos 12:17), (d) Manasseh, (e) Issachar, (f) Northern Gilead and Bashan, (g) Southern Gilead, (h) Naphtali, (i) Asher, (j) part of Isaachar and probably Zebulun (the text is doubtful, for the order of 1Ki 4:17 differs in the Septuagint), (k) Benjamin, (l) Reuben. The Septuagint renders the last clause (4:19), and one Naseph (i.e. officer’) in the land of Judah – probably superior to the other twelve. Solomon’s dominions included Philistia and Southern Syria, and stretched along the trade route by Tadmor (Palmyra) to Tiphsah on the Euphrates (4:21, 24; compare 9:18 = Tamar; 2Ch 8:4 = Tadmot). Another Tiphsah (now Tafsah) lay 6 miles Southwest of Shechem (2Ki 15:16). Gezer was presented to Solomon’s wife by the Pharaoh (1Ki 9:16).
(2) Geography of the Northern Kingdom.
Jeroboam was an Ephraimite (1Ki 11:26) from Zereda, probably Surdah, 2 miles Northwest of Bethel, but the Septuagint reads Sarira, which might be Sarra, 1 1/2 miles East of Shiloh. After the revolt of the ten tribes, Shishak king of Egypt (1Ki 11:40; 1Ki 14:25) sacked Jerusalem. His own record, though much damaged, shows that he not only invaded the mountains near Jerusalem, but that he even conquered part of Galilee. The border between Israel and Judah lay South of Bethel, where Jeroboam’s calf-temple was erected (1Ki 12:29), Ramah (er-Ram) being a frontier town with Geba and Mizpah (1Ki 15:17, 1Ki 15:22); but after the Syrian raid into Galilee (1Ki 15:20), the capital of Israel was fixed at Tirzah (1Ki 15:21), a place celebrated for its beauty (Son 6:4), and perhaps to be placed at Teiasr, about 11 miles Northeast of Shechem, in romantic scenery above the Jordan valley. Omri reigned here also for six years (1Ki 16:23) before he built Samaria, which remained the capital till 722 BC. Samaria appears to have been a city at least as large as Jerusalem, a strong site 5 miles Northwest of Shechem, commanding the trade route to its west. It resisted the Assyrians for 3 years, and when it fell Sargon took away 27, 290 captives. Excavations at the site will, it may be hoped, yield results of value not as yet published: See next article.
The wanderings of Elijah extended from Zarephath (Surafend), South of Sidon, to Sinai. The position of the Brook Cherith (1Ki 17:3) where – according to one reading – the Arabs brought him bread and flesh (1Ki 17:6) is not known. The site of this great contest with the prophets of the Tyrian Baal is supposed to be at el Mahrakah (the place of burning) at the southeastern end of the Carmel ridge. Some early king of Israel perhaps, or one of the judges (compare Deu 33:19), had built an altar to Yahweh above the Kishon (1Ki 18:20, 1Ki 18:40) at Carmel; but, as the water (1Ki 18:33) probably came from the river, it is doubtful whether this altar was on the top of Carmel, 1,500 ft. above, from which Elijah’s servant had full view of the sea (1Ki 18:42, 1Ki 18:43). Elijah must have run before Ahab no less than 15 miles, from the nearest point on Carmel (1Ki 18:46) to Jezreel, and the journey of the Shunammite woman to find Elisha (2Ki 4:25) was equally long. The vineyard of Naboth in Jezreel (1Ki 21:1) was perhaps on the east of the city (now Zern), where rock-cut wine presses exist. In the account of the ascension of Elijah, the expression went down to Bethel (2Ki 2:2) is difficult, if he went from Gilgal (2Ki 2:1). The town intended might be Jiljilia, on a high hill 7 miles North of Bethel. The Septuagint, however, reads they came.
(3) Places Connected with Elisha.
The home of Elisha was at Abel-meholah (1Ki 19:16) in the Jordan valley (Jdg 7:22), probably at Ain Helweh, 10 miles South of Beth-shan. If we suppose that Ophel (2Ki 5:24 the Revised Version margin), where he lived, was the present Afuleh, it is not only easy to understand that he would often pass by Shunem (which lay between Ophel and Abel-meholah), but also how Naaman might have gone from the palace of Jezreel to Ophel, and thence to the Jordan and back again to Ophel (2Ki 5:6, 2Ki 5:14, 2Ki 5:24), in the course of a single day in his chariot. The road down the valley of Jezreel was easy, and up it Jehu afterward drove furiously, coming from Ramoth in Gilead, and visible afar off from the wall of Jezreel (2Ki 9:20). The ‘top of the ascents’ (2Ki 9:13), at Ramoth, refers no doubt to the high hill on which this city (now Reimun) stood as a strong fortress on the border between Israel and the Syrians. The flight of Ahaziah of Judah, from Jezreel was apparently North by Gur (Kara), 4 miles West of Ibleam (Yebla), on the road to the garden house (Beit Jenn), and thence by Megiddo (Mujedda) down the Jordan valley to Jerusalem (2Ki 9:27, 2Ki 9:28). Of the rebellion of Moab (2Ki 1:1; 2Ki 3:4) it is enough to point out here that King Mesha’s account on the Moabite Stone agrees with the Old Testament, even in the minute detail that men of Gad dwelt in Ataroth from of old (compare Num 32:34), though it lay in the lot of Reuben.
6. Post-Exilic Historical Books:
The topographical notices in the books written after the captivity require but short notice. The Benjamites built up Lod (Ludd), Ono (Kerr Ana) and Aijalon (Yalo), which were in the lot of Dan (1Ch 8:12; Neh 11:35), and it is worthy of note that Lod (Lydda) is not to be regarded as a new town simply because not mentioned in the earlier books; for Lod is mentioned (number 64) with Ono in the lists of Thothmes III, a century before the Hebrew conquest of Palestine The author of Chronicles had access to information not to be found elsewhere in the Old Testament. His list of Rehoboam’s fortresses (2Ch 11:6-10) includes 14 towns, most of which were on the frontiers of the diminished kingdom of Judah, some being noticed (such as Shoco and Adoraim) in the list of Shishak’s conquests. He speaks of the valley of Zephathah (2Ch 14:10), now Wady Safieh, which is otherwise unnoticed, and places it correctly at Mareshah (Merash) on the edge of the Philistine plain. He is equally clear about the topography in describing the attack on Jehoshaphat by the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites. They camped at En-gedi (Ain Jidi), and marched West toward Tekoa (Tekua); and the thanksgiving assembly, after the Hebrew victory, was in the valley of Beracah (2Ch 20:1, 2Ch 20:20, 2Ch 20:26), which retains its name as Breikut, 4 miles West of Tekoa.
IV. Palestine in the Poetic Books of the Old Testament.
1. Book of Job:
In Job the scene is distinctively Edomite. Uz (Job 1:1; compare Gen 22:21 the English Revised Version; Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21) and Buz (Job 32:2; compare Gen 22:21) are the Assyrian Hazu and Bazu reached by Esarhaddon in 673 BC South of Edom. Tema and Sheba (Job 6:19) are noticed yet earlier, by Tiglath-pileser III, and Sargon, who conquered the Thamudites and Nabateans. We have also the conjunction of snowy mountains and ice (Job 6:16) with notice of the desert and the Arabah valley (Job 24:5), which could hardly apply to any region except Edom. Again, we have a nomad population dwelling close to a city (Job 29:4-7) – perhaps Petra, or Maan in Edom. There were mines, not only in the Sinaitic desert, but at Punon in Northern Edom (compare Job 28:2-11). The white broom (Job 30:4) is distinctive of the deserts of Moab and Edom. The wild donkey and the ostrich (Job 39:5, Job 39:13) are now known only in the desert East of Edom; while the stork (Job 39:13 the Revised Version margin) could have been found only in the Arabah, or in the Jordan valley. The wild ox (Job 39:9 the Revised Version (British and American)), or Bos primigenius, is now extinct Septuagint unicorn, Num 23:22; Deu 33:17), though its bones occur in Lebanon caves. It was hunted about 1130 BC in Syria by Tiglath-pileser I (compare Psa 29:6), and is mentioned as late as the time of Isaiah (Isa 34:7) in connection with Edom; its Hebrew name (re’em) is the Assyrian rimu, attached to a representation of the beast. As regards the crocodile (leviathan, Job 41:1), it was evidently well known to the writer, who refers to its strong, musky smell (Job 41:31), and it existed not only in Egypt but in Palestine, and is still found in the Crocodile River, North of Caesarea in Sharon. Behemoth (Job 40:15), though commonly supposed to be the hippopotamus, is more probably the elephant (on account of its long tail, its trunk, and its habit of feeding in mountains, Job 40:17, Job 40:20, Job 40:24); and the elephant was known to the Assyrians in the 9th century BC, and was found wild in herds on the Euphrates in the 16th century BC. The physical allusions in Job seem clearly, as a rule, to point to Edom, as do the geographical names; and though Christian tradition in the 4th century AD (St. Silvia, 47) placed Uz in Bashan, the Septuagint (Job 42:18) defines it as lying on the boundary of Edom and Arabia. None of these allusions serves to fix dates, nor do the peculiarities of the language, though they suggest Aramaic and Arabic influences. The mention of Babylonians (Job 1:17) (Kasdim) as raiders may, however, point to about 600 BC, since they could not have reached Edom except from the North, and did not appear in Palestine between the time of Amraphel (who only reached Kadesh-barnea), and of Nebuchadnezzar. It is at least clear (Job 24:1-12) that this great poem was written in a time of general anarchy, and of Arab lawlessness.
2. Book of Psalms:
In the Psalms there are many allusions to the natural phenomena of Palestine, but there is very little detailed topography. The mountain of Bashan (Psa 68:15) rises East of the plateau to 5,700 ft. above sea-level; but Zalmon (Psa 68:14) is an unknown mountain (compare Zalmon, Jdg 9:48). This psalm might well refer to David’s conquest of Damascus (2Sa 8:6), as Ps 72 refers to the time of Solomon, being the last in the original collection of prayers of David (2 Sam 8:20). In Ps 83 (Psa 83:6-8) we find a confederacy of Edom, Ishmael, Moab and the Hagarenes (or wanderers East of Palestine; compare 1Ch 5:18-22) with Gebal (in Lebanon), Ammon, Amalek, and Tyre, all in alliance with Assyria – a condition which first existed in 732 BC, when Tiglath-pileser III conquered Damascus. The reference to the northern (hidden) tribes points to this date (Psa 83:3), since this conqueror made captives also in Galilee (2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:26; Isa 9:1).
3. Book of Proverbs:
In Proverbs the allusions are more peaceful, but not geographical. They refer to agriculture (Pro 3:10; Pro 11:26; Pro 12:11; Pro 25:13), to trade (Pro 7:16; Pro 31:14, Pro 31:24) and to flocks (Pro 27:23-27). The most remarkable passage (Pro 26:8) reads literally, As he that packs a stone into the stone-heap, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. Jerome said that this referred to a superstitious custom; and the erection of stone heaps at graves, or round a pillar (Gen 31:45, Gen 31:46), is a widely spread and very ancient custom (still preserved by Arabs), each stone being the memorial of a visitor to the spot, who thus honors either a local ghost or demon, or a dead man – a rite which was foolish in the eyes of a Hebrew of the age in which this verse was written (see Expository Times, VIII, 399, 524).
4. Song of Songs:
The geography of Canticles is specially important to a right understanding of this bridal ode of the Syrian princess who was Solomon’s first bride. It is not confined, as some critics say it is, to the north, but includes the whole of Palestine and Syria. The writer names Kedar in North Arabia (Son 1:5) and Egypt, whence horses came in Solomon’s time (Son 1:9; 1Ki 10:28, 1Ki 10:29). He knows the henna (the King James Version camphire) and the vineyards of En-gedi (Son 1:14), where vineyards still existed in the 12th century AD. He speaks of the rose of Sharon (Son 2:1), as well as of Lebanon, with Shenir (Assyrian Saniru) and Hermon (Son 4:8) above Damascus (Son 7:4). He notices the pastoral slopes of Gilead. (Son 6:5), and the brown pool, full of small fish, in the brook below Heshbon (Son 7:4), in Moab. The locks of the peaceful one (Son 6:13, Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) pacifica) are like the thick copses of Carmel; ‘the king is caught in the tangles’ (Son 7:5). See GALLERY. She is beautiful as Tirzah (in Samaria), comely as Jerusalem, terrible to look at (Son 6:4 the King James Version). She is a garden and a paradise (orchard) of spices in Lebanon, some of which spices (calamus, cinnamon, frankincense and myrrh) have come from far lands (Son 4:12-15). Solomon’s vineyard – another emblem of the bride – (Son 1:6; Son 8:11) was in Baal-hamon, which some suppose to be Baal-hermon, still famous for its vineyards. He comes to fetch her from the wilderness (Son 3:6); and the dust raised by his followers is like that of the whirlwind pillars which stalk over the dry plains of Bashan in summer. The single word paradise (Son 4:13 margin) is hardly evidence enough to establish late date, since – though used in Persian – its etymology and origin are unknown. The word for nuts (Hebrew ‘eghoz) is also not Persian (Son 6:11), for the Arabic word jauz, is Semitic, and means a pair, applying to the walnut which abounds in Shechem. The rose of Sharon (Son 2:1), according to the Targum, was the white narcisus; and the Hebrew word occurs also in Assyrian (habasillatu), as noted by Delitzsch (quoting WAI, V, 32, number 4), referring to a white bulbous plant. Sharon in spring is covered still with wild narcissi, Arabic buseil (compare Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2). There is perhaps no period when such a poem is more likely to have been written than in the time of Solomon, when Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree (1Ki 4:25); when the roe and the fallow deer (Son 2:17; 1Ki 4:23) abounded; and when merchants (Son 3:6) brought powders from afar; when also the dominion included Damascus and Southern Lebanon, as well as Western Palestine with Gilead and Moab. See also SONG OF SONGS.
V. Palestine in the Prophets.
1. Isaiah:
Isaiah (Isa 1:8) likens Zion, when the Assyrian armies were holding Samaria, Moab and Philistia, to a booth in a vineyard, a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. He refers no doubt to a tower (Mat 21:33), or platform, such as is to be found beside the rock-cut wine press in the deserted vineyards of Palestine; and such as is still built, for the watchman to stand on, in vineyards and vegetable gardens.
The chief topographical question (Isa 10:28-32) refers to the Assyrian advance from the north, when the outposts covered the march through Samaria (whether in 732, 722, or 702 BC) to Philistia. They extended on the left wing to Ai (Hayan), Michmash (Mukhmas), and Geba, South of the Michmash valley (Jeba), leading to the flight of the villagers, from Ramah (er-Ram) and the region of Gibeah – which included Ramah, with Geba (1Sa 22:6) and Migron (1Sa 14:2) or the precipice. They were alarmed also at Gallim (Beit Jala), and Anathoth (Anata), near Jerusalem; yet the advance ceased at Nob (compare Neh 11:32) where, as before noted, the first glimpse of Zion would be caught if Nob was at or near Mizpah (Tell en Nasbeh), on the main north road leading West of Ramah.
Another passage refers to the towns of Moab (Isa 15:1-6), and to Nimrim (Tell Nimrn) and Zoar (Tell esh Shaghur) in the valley of Shittim. The ascent of Luhith (Isa 15:5) is the present Talat el Heith, on the southern slope of Nebo (Jebel Neba). The curious term a heifer of three years old (compare Jer 48:34 margin) is taken from Septuagint, but might better be rendered a round place with a group of three (see EGLATH-SHELISHIYAH). It is noticed with the high places of Moab (Isa 15:2; Jer 48:35), and probably refers to one of those large and ancient stone circles, surrounding a central group of three rude pillars, which still remain in Moab (SEP, I, 187, 203, 233) near Nobo and Zoar. Sibmah – probably Sumieh, 2 miles Southwest of Heshbon (Hesban) – is said to have had vines reaching to Jazer (Sa’aur, 6 miles to the North); and rock-cut wine presses still remain at Sibmah (Isa 16:8; Jer 48:32). The Bozrah mentioned with Edom (Isa 34:6; Isa 63:1; Jer 49:13, Jer 49:22; Mic 2:12) is probably Buseirah, near the southern border of Moab. In the last-cited passage there is a play on the words bacrah (fortress) and bocrah for sheepfold.
2. Jeremiah:
In Jer 1:1, Anathoth (Anata) is mentioned as a priests’ city (compare 1Ki 2:26). The place or shrine of Shiloh was deserted (Jer 7:12), but the town seems still to have been inhabited (Jer 41:5). The pit at Mizpah (Jer 41:6-9) may have been the great rock reservoir South of Tell en-Nasbeh. The Moabite towns noticed (Jer 48:1-5, Jer 48:20-24, Jer 48:31-45; Jer 49:3) with Rabbah (Amman) have been mentioned as occurring in the parallel passages of Isaiah. The numerous petty kings in Edom, Moab, Philistia, Phoenicia, and Arabia (Jer 25:20-24) recall those named in Assyrian lists of the same age. Lam 4:3 recalls Job 39:14 in attributing to the ostrich want of care for her young, because she endeavors (like other birds) to escape, and thus draws away the hunter from the nest. This verse should not be regarded as showing that the author knew that whales were mammals, since the word sea-monsters (the King James Version) is more correctly rendered jackals (Revised Version) or wild beasts.
3. Ezekiel:
In Ezekiel (chapter 27), Tyre appears as a city with a very widespread trade extending from Asia Minor to Arabia and Egypt, and from Assyria to the isles (or coasts) of the Mediterranean. The oaks of Bashan (Eze 27:6; Isa 2:13; Zec 11:2) are still found in the Southwest of that region near Gilead. Judah and Israel then provided wheat, honey, oil and balm for export as in the time of Jacob. Damascus sent white wool and the wine of Helbon (Helbon), 13 miles North, where fine vineyards still exist. The northern border described (Eze 47:15-18) is the same that marked that of the dominions of David, running along the Eleutherus River toward Zedad (Sudud). It is described also in Num 34:8-11 as passing Riblah (Riblah) and including Ain (el Ain), a village on the western slopes of the Anti-Lebanon, East of Riblah. In this passage (as in Eze 47:18) the Hauran (or Bashan plain) is excluded from the land of Israel, the border following the Jordan valley, which seems to point to a date earlier than the time when the Havvoth-jair (Num 32:41; Deu 3:14; Jos 13:30; Jdg 10:4; 1Ki 4:13; 1Ch 2:23), in Gilead and Bashan were conquered or built – possibly after the death of Joshua. The southern border of the land is described by Ezekiel (Eze 47:19) as reaching from Kadesh (-barnea) – probably Petra – to Tamar, which seems to be Tamrah, 6 miles Northeast of Gaza.
4. Minor Prophets:
In the Minor Prophets there are fewer topographical notices. Hosea (Hos 12:11) speaks of the altars of Gilead and Gilgal as being as heaps in the furrows of the fields. He perhaps alludes to the large dolmen fields of this region, which still characterize the country East of the Jordan. He also perhaps speaks of human sacrifice at Bethel (Hos 13:2). In Joel (Joe 1:12) the apple tree (Hebrew tappuah, Arabic tuffah) is noticed (compare Son 2:3, Son 2:5; Son 8:5), and there seems to be no reason to doubt that the apple was cultivated, since el Mukaddasi mentions excellent apples at Jerusalem in the 10th century AD, though it is not now common in Palestine. The sycamore fig (Amo 7:14), which was common in the plains and in the shephelah (1Ki 10:27), grew also near Jericho (Luk 19:4), where it is still to be found. In Mic (Joe 1:10-15), a passage which appears to refer to Hezekiah’s reconquest of the shephelah towns and attack on Gaza before 702 BC (2Ki 18:8; 2Ch 28:18) gives a list of places and a play on the name of each. They include Gath (Tell es Safi), Saphir (es Safr), Lachish (Tell el-Hesy), Achzib (Ain Kezbeh), and Mareshah (Merash): the glory of Israel shall come even unto Adullam (Aid-el-ma) perhaps refers to Hezekiah himself (Mic 1:15). After the captivity Philistia (Zec 9:5) was still independent. See PHILISTINES. The meaning of the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon (Zec 12:11) is disputed. Jerome (see Reland, Palestine Illustr., II, 891) says that the former of these names referred to a town near Jezreel (Maximianopolis, now Rummaneh, on the western side of the plain of Esdraelon), but the mourning for an only son was probably a rite of the Syrian god called Hadad, or otherwise Rimmon, like the mourning for Tammuz (Eze 8:14).
VI. Palestine in the Apocrypha.
1. Book of Judith:
The Book of Judith is regarded by Renan (Evangiles, 1877, 29) as a Haggadha’ (legend), written in Hebrew in 74 AD. It is remarkable, however, that its geographical allusions are very correct. Judith was apparently of the tribe of Manasseh (8:2, 3); and her husband, who bore this name, was buried between Dothaim (Tell Dothan) and Balamon (in Wady Belameh), East of Dothan. Her home at Bethulia was thus probably at Mithilieh, on a high hill (6:11, 12), 5 miles Southeast of Dothan (SWP, II, 156), in the territory of Manasseh. The requirements of the narrative are well met; for this village is supplied only by wells (7:13, 10), though there are springs at the foot of the hill to the South (7:7, 12), while there is a good view over the valley to the North (10:10), and over the plain of Esdraelon to Nazareth and Tabor. Other mountains surround the village (15:3). The camp of the invaders reached from Dothart to Belmaim (Balamon) from West to East, and their rear was at Cyamon (Tell Keimun), at the foot of Carmel. The Babylonians were allied with tribes from Carmel, Gilead and Galilee on the North with the Samaritans, and with others from Betane (probably Beth-anoth, now Beit Ainun, North of Hebron), Chellus (Klalash – the later Elusa – 8 miles Southwest of Beersheba), and Kades (Ain Kadis) on the way to Egypt. Among Samaritan towns South of Shechem, Ekrebel (Akrabeh) and Chusi (Kuzah) are mentioned, with the brook Mochmur (Wady el Humr) rising North of Ekrebel and running East into the Jordan.
2. Book of Wisdom:
The philosophical Book of Wisdom has no references to Palestine; and in Ecclesiasticus the only allusions are to the palm of En-gaddi (24:14), where palms still exist, and to the rose plant in Jericho (24:14; compare 39:13; 50:8); the description of the rose as growing by the brook in the field suggests the rhododendron (Tristram, NHB, 477), which flourishes near the Jordan and grows to great size beside the brooks of Gilead.
3. 1 Maccabees:
Judas Maccabeus. – The first Book of Maccabees is a valuable history going down to 135 BC, and its geographical allusions are sometimes important. Modin, the home of Judas-Maccabaeus (1 Macc 2:15), where his brother Simon erected seven monuments visible from the sea (1 Macc 9:19; 13:25-30), was above the plain in which Cedron (Katrah, 5 miles East of Jamnia) stood (1 Macc 15:40, 41; 16:4, 9), and is clearly the present village el Midieh on the low hills with a sea view, 17 miles from Jerusalem and 6 miles East of Lydda, near which latter Eusebius (Onom under the word Modeim) places Modin. The first victory of Judas (1 Macc 3:24) was won at Beth-horon, and the second at Emmaus (Amwas) by the Valley of Aijalon – the scenes of Joshua’s victories also.
The Greeks next attempted to reach Jerusalem from the South and were again defeated at Beth-zur (1 Macc 4:29), now Beit-sur, on the watershed, 15 miles South of Jerusalem, where the road runs through a pass. Judas next (after cleansing the temple in 165 BC) marched South of the Dead Sea, attacking the Edomites at Arabattine (perhaps Akrabbim) and penetrating to the Moab plateau as far North as Jazar (1 Macc 5:3-8). On his return to Judea the heathen of Gilead and Bashan rose against the Israelites of Tubias (1 Macc 5:13) or Tobit (Taiyibeh), and the Phoenicians against the Galilean Hebrews who were, for a time, withdrawn to Jerusalem until the Hasmoneans won complete independence (1 Macc 11:7, 59). In the regions of Northern Gilead and Southern Bashan (1 Macc 5:26, 36, 37) Judas conquered Bosor (Busr), Alema (Kefr el-ma), Caphon (Khisfin), Maged (perhaps el Mejd, North of Amman), and Carnaim (Ashteroth-karnaim), now Tell Ashterah. The notice of a brook at the last-named place (1 Macc 5:42) is an interesting touch, as a fine stream runs South from the west side of the town. In 162 BC Judas was defeated at Bathzacharias (1 Macc 6:32), now Beit Skaria 9 miles South of Jerusalem, but the cause was saved by a revolt in Antioch; and in the next year he defeated Nicanor near Caphar-salama (perhaps Selmeh, near Joppa), and slew him at Adasah (Adaseh), 8 miles Southeast of Beth-horon (1 Macc 7:31, 40, 45). The fatal battle in which Judas was killed (1 Macc 9:5, 15) was fought also near Beth-horon. He camped at Eleasa (Ilasa), close by, and defeated the Greeks on his right, driving them to Mt. Azotus (or Beth-zetho, according to Josephus (Ant., XII, xi, 2)), apparently near Br-ez-Zeit, 4 miles Northwest of Bethel; but the Greeks on his left surrounded him during this rash pursuit.
On the death of Judas, Bacchides occupied Judea and fortified the frontier towns (1 Macc 9:50, 51) on all sides. Simon and Jonathan were driven to the marshes near the Jordan, but in 159 BC the Greeks made peace with Jonathan who returned to Michmash (1 Macc 9:73) and 7 years later to Jerns (1 Macc 10:1, 7). Three districts on the southern border of Samaria were then added to Judea (1 Macc 10:30; 11:34), namely Lydda, Apherema (or Ephraim) now Taiyibeh, and Ramathem (er-Ram); and Jonathan defeated the Greeks in Philistia (1 Macc 10:69; 11:6). Simon was captain from the Ladder of Tyre (Ras en Nakurah), or the pass North of Accho, to the borders of Egypt (1 Macc 11:59); and the Greeks in Upper Galilee were again defeated by Jonathan, who advanced from Gennesaret to the plateau of Hazor (Hazzur), and pursued them even to Kedesh Naphtali (Kedes), northward (1 Macc 11:63, 73). He was victorious even to the borders of Hamath, and the Eleutherus River (Nahr el Kebr), North of Tripoils, and defeated the Arabs, called Zabadeans (probably at Zebdany in Anti-Lebanon), on his way to Damascus (1 Macc 12:25, 30, 32). He fortified Adida (Haddtheh) in the shephelah (1 Macc 12:38), West of Jerusalem, where Simon awaited the Greek usurper Tryphon (1 Macc 13:13, 20), who attempted to reach Jerusalem by a long detour to the South near Adoraim (Dura), but failed on account of the snow in the mountains. After the treacherous capture of Jonathan at Accho, and his death in Gilead (1 Macc 12:48; 13:23), Simon became the ruler of all Palestine to Gaza (1 Macc 13:43), fortifying Joppa, Gezer and Ashdod (1 Macc 14:34) in 140 BC. Five years later he won a final victory at Cedron (Katrah), near Jamnia (Yebnah), but was murdered at Dok (1 Macc 16:15), near Jericho, which site was a small fort at Ain Duk, a spring North of the city.
4. 2 Maccabees:
The second Book of Maccabees presents a contrast to the first in which, as we have seen, the geography is easily understood. Thus the site of Caspis with its lake (2 Macc 12:13, 16) is doubtful. It seems to be placed in Idumaea, and Charax may be the fortress of Kerak in Moab (2 Macc 12:17). Ephron, West of Ashteroth-karnaim (2 Macc 12:26, 27), is unknown; and Beth-shean is called by its later name Scythopolis (2 Macc 12:29), as in the Septuagint (Jdg 1:27) and in Josephus (Ant., XII, viii, 5; vi, 1). A curious passage (1 Macc 13:4-6) seems to refer to the Persian burial towers (still used by Parsees), one of which appears to have existed at Berea (Aleppo), though this was not a Greek custom. See ASMONEANS.
VII. Palestine in the New Testament.
1. Synoptic Gospels:
We are told that our Lord was born in Bethlehem of Judea; and theory of Neubauer, adopted by Gratz, that Bethlehem of Zebulun (Jos 19:15) – which was the present Beit-Lahm, 7 miles Northwest of Nazareth – is to be understood, is based on a mistake. The Jews expected the Messiah to appear in the home of David (Mic 5:2); and the Northern Bethlehem was not called of Nazareth, as asserted by Rix (Tent and Testament, 258); this was a conjectural reading by Neubauer (Geog. du Talmud, 189), but the Talmud (Talm Jerusalem, Meghillah 1 1) calls the place Bethlehem-serdh (or of balm), no doubt from the storax bush (Styrax officinalis) or stacte (Exo 30:34), the Arabic abhar, which still abounds in the oak wood close by.
(1) Galilean Scenery.
The greater part of the life of Jesus was spent at Nazareth in Zebulun, and the ministry at Capernaum in Naphtali (compare Mat 4:13-15; Isa 9:1), with yearly visits to Jerusalem. The Gospel narratives and the symbolism of the parables constantly recall the characteristic features of Galilean scenery and nature, as they remain unchanged today. The city set on a hill (Mat 5:14) may be seen in any part of Palestine; the lilies of the field grow in all its plains; the foxes have holes and the sparrows are still eaten; the vineyard with its tower; the good plowland, amid stony and thorny places, are all still found throughout the Holy Land. But the deep lake surrounded by precipitous cliffs and subject to sudden storms, with its shoals of fish and its naked fishers; the cast nets and drag nets and small heavy boats of the Sea of Galilee, are more distinctive of the Gospels, since the lake is but briefly noticed in the Old Testament.
(2) Nazareth.
Nazareth was a little village in a hill plateau North of the plain of Esdraelon, and l,000 ft. above it. The name (Hebrew nacarah) may mean verdant, and it had a fine spring, but it is connected (Mat 2:23) in the Gospels with the prophecy of the branch (necer, Isa 11:1) of the house of David. Its population was Hebrew, for it possessed a synagogue (Luk 4:16). The brow of the hill whereon their city was built (Luk 4:29) is traditionally the hill of the leap (Jebel Kafsi), 2 miles to the South – a cliff overlooking the plain. Nazareth was not on any great highway; and so obscure was this village that it is unnoticed in the Old Testament, or by Josephus, while even a Galilean (Joh 1:46) could hardly believe that a prophet could come thence. Jerome (Onomasticon, under the word) calls it a village; but today it is a town with 4,000 Christians and 2,000 Moslems, the former taking their Arabic name (Nasarah) from the home of their Master.
(3) Capernaum.
Capernaum (Mat 4:13; Mat 9:1) lay on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, apparently (Mr 14:34; Joh 6:17) in the little plain of Gennesaret, which stretches for 3 miles on the northwest side of the lake, and which has a breadth of 2 miles. It may have stood on a low cliff (though this is rendered doubtful by the Sinaiticus manuscript rendering of Mat 11:23 – Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven?), and it was a military station where taxes were levied (Mat 9:9), and possessed a synagogue (Mar 1:21; Luk 4:33; Joh 6:59). Christian tradition, since the 4th century AD, has placed the site at Tell Hum, where ruins of a synagogue (probably, however, not older than the 2nd century AD) exist; but this site is not in the plain of Gennesaret, and is more probably Kephar Ahim (Babylonian Talmud, Menahoth 85a). Jewish tradition (Midrash Koheleth, vii. 20) connects Capernaum with minim or heretics – that is to say Christians – whose name may yet linger at Ain Minyeh at the north end of the plain of Gennesaret. Josephus states (BJ, III, x, 8) that the spring of Capernaum watered this plain, and contained the catfish (coracinus) which is still found in Ain el Mudawwerah (the round spring), which is the principal source of water in the Gennesaret oasis.
(4) Chorazin.
The site of Chorazin (Kerazeh) has never been lost. The ruined village lies about 2 1/4 miles North of Tell Hum and possesses a synagogue of similar character. Bethsaida (the house of fishing) is once said to have been in Galilee (Joh 12:21), and Reland (Palestine Illustr., II, 553-55) thought that there were two towns of the name. It is certain that the other notices refer to Bethsaida, called Julias by Herod Philip, which Josephus (Ant., XVIII, ii, 1; iv, 6; BJ, III, x, 7) and Pliny (NH, v. 15) place East of the Jordan, near the place where it enters the Sea of Galilee. The site may be at the ruin ed Dikkeh (the platform), now 2 miles North of the lake, but probably nearer of old, as the river deposit has increased southward. There are remains of a synagogue here also. The two miracles of feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000 are both described as occurring’ East of the Jordan, the former (Luk 9:10) in the desert (of Golan) belonging to the city called Bethsaida (the King James Version). The words (Mar 6:45 the King James Version), to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, may be rendered without any straining of grammar, to go to the side opposite to Bethsaida. For the disciples are not said to have reached that city; but, after a voyage of at least 3 or 4 miles (Joh 6:17, Joh 6:19), they arrived near Capernaum, and landed in Gennesaret (Mar 6:53), about 5 miles Southwest of the Jordan.
(5) Country of the Gerasenes.
The place where the swine rushed down a steep place into the lake (Mat 8:32; Mar 5:1; Luk 8:26) was in the country of the Gerasenes (see Codex Vaticanus MS), probably at Kersa on the eastern shore opposite Tiberias, where there is a steep slope to the water. It should be noted that this was in Decapolis (Mar 5:20), a region of ten cities which lay (except Scythopolis) in Southwest Bashan, where a large number of early Greek inscriptions have been found, some of which (e.g. Vogue-Waddington, numbers 2412, 2413) are as old as the 1st century AD. There was evidently a Greek population in this region in the time of our Lord; and this accounts for the feeding of swine, otherwise distinctive of a far country (Luk 15:13, Luk 15:15); for, while no Hebrew would have tended the unclean beast in Palestine, the Greeks were swine-herds from the time at least of Homer.
(6) Magadan-Magdala.
The site of Magadan-Magdala (Mejdel) was on the west shore at the Southwest end of the Gennesaret plain (Mat 15:39). In Mar 8:10 we find Dalmanutha instead. Magdala was the Hebrew mighdol (tower), and Dalmanutha may be regarded as the Aramaic equivalent (De’almanutha) meaning the place of high buildings; so that there is no necessary discrepancy between the two accounts. From this place Jesus again departed by ship to the other side, and reached Bethsaida (Mat 16:5; Mar 8:13, Mar 8:22), traveling thence up the Jordan valley to Caesarea Philippi (Mat 16:13; Mar 8:27), or Banias, at the Jordan springs. There can be little doubt that the high mountain apart (Mat 17:1) was Hermon. The very name signifies separate, applying to its solitary dome; and the sudden formation of cloud on the summit seems to explain the allusion in Luk 9:34.
(7) Other Allusions in the Synoptic Gospels.
Other allusions in the Synoptic Gospels, referring to natural history and customs, include the notice of domestic fowls (Mat 23:37; Mat 26:34), which are never mentioned in the Old Testament. They came from Persia, and were introduced probably after 400 BC. The use of manure (Luk 13:8) is also unnoticed in the Old Testament, but is mentioned in the Mishna (Shebth, ii. 2), as is the custom of annually whitening sepulchers (Mat 23:27; Shekalm, i. 1). The removal of a roof (Mar 2:4; compare Luk 5:19) at Capernaum was not difficult, if it resembled those of modern Galilean mud houses, though the Third Gospel speaks of tiles which are not now used. Finally, the presence of shepherds with their flocks (Luk 2:8) is not an indication of the season of the nativity, since they remain with them in the field at all times of the year; and the manger (Luk 2:7) may have been (as tradition affirmed even in the 2nd century AD) in a cave like those which have been found in ruins North and South of Hebron (SWP, III, 349, 369) and elsewhere in Palestine
2. Fourth Gospel:
(1) The topography of the Fourth Gospel is important as indicating the writer’s personal knowledge of Palestine; for he mentions several places not otherwise noticed in the New Testament. Beth-abarah (Joh 1:28, the Revised Version (British and American) Bethany; Joh 10:40), or the house of the crossing, was beyond the Jordan. Origen rejected the reading Bethania, instead of Beth-abarah, common in his time, and still found in the three oldest uncial manuscripts in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. The place was a day’s journey from Cana (compare Joh 1:29, Joh 1:35, Joh 1:43; Joh 2:1), which may have been at Ain Kana, a mile North of Nazareth. It was two or three days’ distance from Bethany near Jerusalem (Joh 10:40; Joh 11:3, Joh 11:6, Joh 11:17), and would thus lie in the upper part of the Jordan valley where, in 1874, the surveyors found a ford well known by the name Abarah, North of Beisan, in the required situation. John, we are told, baptized in all the region round about the Jordan (Mat 3:5), including the waters of AEnon near to Salim (Joh 3:23). There is only one stream which answers to this description, namely that of Wady Farah, Northeast of Shechem, on the boundary of Judea and Samaria, where there is much water. AEnon would be Ainun, 4 miles North, and Salim is Salim, 4 miles South of this perennial affluent of the Jordan.
(2) The site of Sychar (Samaritan: Iskar, Arabic: Askar) near Jacob’s well (Joh 4:5, Joh 4:6) lay West of Salim, and just within the Samaritan border. The present village is only half a mile North of the well. Like the preceding sites, it is noticed only in the Fourth Gospel, as is Bethesda, while this Gospel also gives additional indications as to the position of Calvary. The town of Ephraim, near to the wilderness (Joh 11:54), is noticed earlier (2Sa 13:23; compare Ephraim, 2Ch 13:19 margin), and appears to be the same as Apherema (1 Macc 11:34), and as Ophrah of Benjamin (Jos 18:23; 1Sa 13:17). Eusebius (Onom under the word) places it 20 Roman miles North of Jerusalem, where the village Taiyibeh looks down on the desert of Judah.
3. Book of Acts:
In the Book of Acts the only new site, unnoticed before, is that of Antipatris (Act 23:31). This stood at the head of the stream (Me-jarkon) which runs thence to the sea North of Joppa, and it was thus the half-way station between Jerusalem and the seaside capital at Caesarea. The site is now called Ras el Ain (head of the spring), and a castle, built in the 12th century, stands above the waters. The old Rom road runs close by (SWP, II, 258). Caesarea was a new town, founded by Herod the Great about 20 BC (SWP, II, 13-29). It was even larger than Jerusalem, and had an artificial harbor. Thence we may leave Palestine with Paul in 60 AD. The reader must judge whether this study of the country does not serve to vindicate the sincerity and authenticity of Bible narratives in the Old Testament and the New Testament alike.
Literature
Though the literature connected with Palestine is enormous, and constantly increasing, the number of really original and scientific sources of knowledge is (as in other cases) not large. Besides the Bible, and Josephus, the Mishna contains a great deal of valuable information as to the cultivation and civilization of Palestine about the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The following 20 works are of primary importance. The Onomasticon of Eusebius and Jerome shows intimate acquaintance with Palestine in the 4th century AD, though the identification of Bible sites is as often wrong as right. The rabbinical geography is discussed by A. Neubauer (La geographie du Talmud, 1868), and the scattered notices by Greek and Roman writers were collected by H. Reland (Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata, 2 volumes, 1714). The first really scientific account of the country is that of Dr. E. Robinson (Biblical Researches, 1838, and Later Biblical Researches, 1852; in 3 volumes, 1856). The Survey of Western Palestine (7 volumes, 1883) includes the present writer’s account of the natural features, topography and surface remains of all ages, written while in command (1872-1878) of the 1-inch trigonometric survey. The Survey of Eastern Palestine (1 vol, 1889) gives his account of Moab and Southern Gilead, as surveyed in 1881-1882. The natural history is to be studied in the same series, and in Canon Tristram’s Natural History of the Bible, 1868. The geology is best given by L. Lartet (Essai sur la geologie de la Palestine) and in Professor Hull’s Memoir on the Geol. and Geog. of Arabia Petrea, etc., 1886. The Archaeological Researches of M. Clermont-Ganneau (2 volumes, 1896) include his discoveries of Gezer and Adullam. Much information is scattered through the PEFQ,(1864-1910) and in ZDPV. G. Schumacher’s Across the Jordan, 1885, Pella, 1888, and Northern Ajlun, 1890, give detailed information for Northeast Palestine; and Lachish, by Professor Flinders Petrie, is the memoir of the excavations which he began at Tell el-Hesy (identified in 1874 by the present writer), the full account being in A Mound of Many Cities by F.J. Bliss, 1894. Other excavations, at Gath, etc., are described in Excavations in Palestine (1898-1900), by F.J. Bliss, R.A.S. Macalister, and Professor Wunsch; while the memoir of his excavations at Gezer (2 volumes) has recently been published by Professor Macalister. For those who have not access to these original sources, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land by Professor G.A. Smith, 1894, and the essay (300 pp.) by Professor D.F. Buhl (Geographie des alten Palastina, 1896) will be found useful. The best guide book to Palestine is still that of Baedeker, written by Dr. A. Socin and published in 18765, 1912. This author had personal acquaintance with the principal routes of the country. Only standard works of reference have been herein mentioned, to which French, German, American, and British explorers and scholars have alike contributed. See JERUSALEM.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Palestine
Palestine. This name, usually applied to the country formerly inhabited by the Israelites, does not occur in the Hebrew Bible. It is, however, derived from Philistia, or the country of the Philistines, which comprised the southern part of the coast plain of Canaan along the Mediterranean. The word Philistia occurs in Exo 13:17; Psa 60:8; Psa 83:7; Psa 87:4; Psa 108:9; Isa 14:29; Isa 14:31. From this arose the name Palestine, which was applied by most ancient writers, and even by Josephus, to the whole land of the Israelites.
Names of Palestine
The other names of the country may be given in the order of their occurrence in Scripture.
1.Canaan, from Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, from whom the first inhabitants were descended. It is the most ancient name of the country, and is first found as such in Gen 11:31. This denomination was confined to the country between the Mediterranean and the Jordan; but in later times it was understood to include Phoenicia (Isa 23:11; Mat 15:21-22), and also the land of the Philistines.
2.Land of Israel. This name was given to the whole country as distributed among and occupied by the tribes of Israel.
3.Land of Promise. So called as the land which God promised to the patriarchal fathers to bestow on their descendants.
4.Land of Jehovah. So called as being in a special and peculiar sense the property of Jehovah, who, as the sovereign proprietor of the soil, granted it to the Hebrews (Lev 25:23; Psa 85:1; Isa 8:8).
5.The Holy Land. This name only occurs in Zec 2:12. The land is here called ‘Holy,’ as being the Lord’s property, and sanctified by his temple and worship.
6.Judah, Judea. This name belonged at first to the territory of the tribe of Judah alone. After the separation of the two kingdoms, one of them took the name of Judah, which contained the territories both of that tribe and of Benjamin. After the Captivity, down to and after the time of Christ, Judea was used in a loose way as a general name for the whole country of Palestine; but in more precise language, and with reference to internal distribution, it denoted nearly the territories of the ancient kingdom, as distinguished from Samaria and Galilee on the west of the Jordan, and Pera on the east.
Divisions of Palestine
The divisions of Palestine were different in different ages.
1.In the time of the Patriarchs, the country was divided among the tribes or nations descended from the sons of Canaan. The precise locality of each nation is not, in every case, distinctly known; but our map exhibits the most probable arrangement.
2.After the Conquest the land was distributed by lot among the tribes. The particulars of this distribution will be best seen by reference to the map.
3.After the Captivity we hear very little of the territories of the tribes, for ten of them never returned to occupy their ancient domains.
4.In the time of Christ the country on the west of the Jordan was divided into the provinces of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. Galilee is a name which was applied to that part of Palestine north of the Plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel. This province was divided into Lower or Southern, and Upper or Northern Galilee. Samaria occupied nearly the middle of Palestine; but, although it extended across the country, it did not come down to the sea-shore. Judea, as a province, corresponded to the northern and western parts of the ancient kingdom of that name; but the south-eastern portion formed the territory of Iduma. On the other side of the Jordan the divisions were, at this time, more numerous and less distinct. The whole country generally was called Pera, and was divided into eight districts or cantons, namely:
a.Pera, in the more limited sense, which was the southernmost canton, extending from the river Arnon to the river Jabbok.
b.Gilead, north of the Jabbok, and highly populous.
c.Decapolis, or the district of ten cities, which were Scythopolis or Bethshan (on the west side of the Jordan), Hippos, Gadara, Pella, Philadelphia (formerly Rabbath), Dium, Canatha, Gerasa, Raphana, and perhaps Damascus.
d.Gaulonitis, extending to the north-east of the Upper Jordan and of the lake of Gennesareth.
e.Batana, the ancient Bashan, but less extensive, east of the lake of Gennesareth.
f.Auranitis, also called Itura, and known to this day by the old name of Hauran (Eze 47:15; Eze 47:18), to the north of Batana and the east of Gaulonitis.
g.Trachonitis, extending to the north of Gaulonitis, and east from Paneas (Csarea Philippi) and the sources of the Jordan, where it was separated from Galilee (Luk 3:1).
h.Abilene, in the extreme north, among the mountains of Anti-Libanus, between Baalbec and Damascus. The more important of these names have been noticed under their several heads.
Situation and Boundaries of Palestine
Palestine is the south-western part of Syria, extending from the mountains of Lebanon to the borders of Egypt. It lies about midway between the equator and the polar circle, to which happy position it owes the fine medium climate which it possesses. Its length is embraced between 30 40 and 33 32 of N. latitude, and between 33 45 of E. longitude in the south-west, and 35 48 in the north-east. The breadth may be taken at an average of sixty-five miles, the extreme breadth being about 100 miles. The length, from Mount Hermon in the north, to which the territory of Manasseh beyond the Jordan extended (Jos 13:11), to Kadesh-barnea in the south, to which the territory of Judah reached, was 180 miles.
Palestine may be regarded as embracing an area of almost 11,000 square miles. But the real surface is much greater than this estimate would imply; for Palestine being essentially a hilly country, the sides of the mountains and the slopes of the hills enlarge the available surface to an extent which does not admit of calculation.
With regard to the lines of boundary, the clearest description of them is that contained in Numbers 34. From the statements there made it appears that the writer, after prolonging the eastern boundary-line from the end of the Dead Sea down the edge of the Arabah, to a point somewhere south of Kadesh-barnea, then turns off westward to form the southern line, which he extends to the Mediterranean, at a point where ‘the River of Egypt’ falls into the Sea. This River of Egypt is usually, and on very adequate grounds, supposed to be the stream which falls into the Sea near El-Arish.
The western border is stated as defined by the Mediterranean coast. But the Hebrews never possessed the whole of this territory. The northern part of the coast, from Sidon to Akko (Acre), was in the hands of the Phoenicians, and the southern part, from Azotus to Gaza, was retained by the Philistines, except at intervals; and a central portion, about one-third of the whole, from Mount Carmel to Jabneh (Jamnia) was alone permanently open to the Israelites.
The northern boundary-line commenced at the sea somewhere not far to the south of Sidon, whence it was extended to Lebanon, and crossing the narrow valley which leads into the great plain enclosed between Libanus and Anti-Libanus, terminated at Mount Hermon, in the latter range.
The eastern boundary, as respects Canaan Proper, was defined by the Jordan and its lakes; but as respects the whole country, including the portion beyond the Jordan, it extended to Salchah, a town on the eastern limits of Bashan. From this point it must have inclined somewhat sharply to the south-west, to the point where the Wady ed-Deir enters the Zerka, and thence it probably extended almost due south to the Arnon, which was the southern limit of the eastern territory.
Mineralogy of Palestine
The mountains on the west of the Jordan consist chiefly of chalk, on which basalt begins to occur beyond Cana (northward). The so-called white limestone, which is met with around Jerusalem and thence to Jericho, which covers the summit and forms the declivities of the Mount of Olives, and which is also found at Mount Tabor and around Nazareth, is a kind of chalk considerably indurated, and approaching to whitish compact limestone. ‘Layers and detached masses of flint are very commonly seen in it. Besides this indurated chalk, a stone is found in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem, chiefly towards the north, as well as towards Safet, and in other parts of the country, which, together with the dolomite formation occasionally met with, appears to be of what in Germany is called the Jura formation. Palestine may be most emphatically called the country of salt, which is produced in vast abundance, chiefly in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, which deserves to be regarded as one of the great natural salt-works of the world.’
Under this head it may be noted that the fine impalpable desert-sand, which proves so menacing to travelers, and even to inhabitants, is scarcely found in Palestine Proper; but it occurs beyond Lebanon, near Beirut, and in the neighborhood of Damascus.
Palestine is eminently a country of caverns, to which there is frequent allusion in Scripture [CAVES], and which are hardly so numerous in any country of the same extent. Many of them were enlarged by the inhabitants, and even artificial grottoes were formed by manual labor. In these the inhabitants still like to reside; as in summer they afford protection from the heat, and in winter from cold and rain. Even now, in many places, houses are observed built so near to rocks, that their cavities may be used for rooms or sheds suited to the condition of the seasons. Though the country is not infrequently visited by earthquakes, they leave behind no such frightful traces as those of Asia Minor; as the vaults of limestone offer more effectual resistance than the sandstone of the latter country.
We are glad to see so competent a witness as Schubert bear his testimony to the natural resources of the soil, which superficial observers, judging only from present appearance, have so often questioned. He says, ‘no soil could be naturally more fruitful and fit for cultivation than that of Palestine, if man had not destroyed the source of fertility by annihilating the former green covering of the hills and slopes, and thereby destroying the regular circulation of sweet water, which ascends as vapor from the sea to be cooled in the higher regions, and then descends to form the springs and rivers, for it is well known that the vegetable kingdom performs in this circulation the function of capillary tubes. But although the natives, from exasperation against their foreign conquerors and rulers, and the invaders who have so often overruled this scene of ancient blessings, have greatly reduced its prosperity, still I cannot comprehend how not only scoffers like Voltaire, but early travelers, who doubtless intended to declare the truth, represent Palestine as a natural desert, whose soil never could have been fit for profitable cultivation. Whoever saw the exhaustless abundance of plants on Carmel and the border of the desert, the grassy carpet of Esdraelon, the lawns adjoining the Jordan, and the rich foliage of the forests of Mount Tabor; whoever saw the borders of the lakes of Merom and Gennesareth, wanting only the cultivator to entrust to the soil his seed and plants, may state what other country on earth, devastated by two thousand years of warfare and spoliation, could be more fit for being again taken into cultivation. The bountiful hand of the Most High, which formerly showered abundance upon this renowned land, continues to be still open to those desirous of his blessings.’
The following table of levels in Palestine is copied from a recently published supplement to Raumer’s Palstina. The measurements are in Paris feet, above and below the level of the Mediterranean Sea.
Above
Great Hermon10,000
Mount St. Catherine (in Sinai)8063
Jebel Mousa (in Sinai)7033
Jebel et Tyh (in Sinai)4300
Jebel er-Ramah3000
Kanneytra2850
Hebron2700
Mount of Olives2536
Sinjil2520
Safet2500
Mount Gerizim2400
Semua2225
Damascus2186
Kidron (brook)2140
Nabulus1751
Mount Tabor1748
Pass of Zephath1437
Desert of et-Tyh1400
Nazareth821
Zerin515
Plain of Esdraelon459
Below
Lake of Tiberias329
Zerin91
Dead Sea1312
Some of these results are most extraordinary. First, here is the remarkable fact, that the Mount of Olives and the Kidron, and consequently Jerusalem, stand 700 feet higher than the top of Mount Tabor, and about 2500 feet above the level of the Mediterranean. More to the south, Hebron stands on still higher ground; and while it is 2700 feet above the sea on the one hand, the Asphaltic Lake lies 4000 feet below it on the other. This fact has no known parallel in any other region, and within so short a distance of the sea; and the extraordinary depression of the lake (1337feet below the sea level) adequately accounts for the very peculiar climate which its remarkable basin exhibits. The points at Tiberias to the north, and Kadesh to the south of the Dead Sea, are both, and nearly equally, below the Mediterranean level, and taken, together, they show the great slope both from the north and from the south towards the Dead Sea. confirming the discovery of Dr. Robinson, that the water-shed to the south of the Asphaltic Lake is towards its basin, and that, therefore, the Jordan could not at any time, as the country is at present constituted, have flowed on southward to the Elanitic Gulf, as was formerly supposed.
Mountains of Palestine
As all the principal mountains of Palestine are noticed in this work under their respective names, it is unnecessary to offer any observations under this head.
The most important or the most distinguished of the plains and valleys of Palestine are those of Lebanon, of the Jordan, of Jericho, of Esdraelon, and of the Coast.
The Plain of Lebanon may be described as the valley which is enclosed between the parallel mountain ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus. This enclosed plain is the Cle-Syria of the ancients, and now bears the name of el-Bekka (the Valley). It is about ninety miles in length, from north to south, by eleven miles in breadth, nearly equal throughout, except that it widens at the northern end and narrows at the southern. This plain is, perhaps, the most rich and beautiful part of Syria.
The Plain of the Jordan. By this name we understand the margin of the lakes, as well as the valley watered by the river. Here the heat is still greater than in the valley of Lebanon, and as water is usually wanting, the whole plain is barren and desolate.
The Plain of Jericho is but an opening or expansion in the plain of the Jordan, towards the Dead Sea. It is partly desert, but, from the abundance of water and the heat of the climate, it might be rendered highly productive; indeed, the fertility of this plain has been celebrated in every age. But of all the productions which once distinguished it, and the greater part of which it enjoyed in common with Egypt, very few now remain.
The Plain of Esdraelon is often mentioned in sacred history (Jdg 4:13; Jdg 4:15-16; Jdg 5:19; 2Ki 23:29; Zec 12:11; Jdt 1:8), as the great battle-field of the Jewish and other nations, under the names of the Valley of Megiddo and the Valley of Jezreel; and by Josephus as the Great Plain. This extensive plain, exclusive of three great arms which stretch eastward towards the valley of the Jordan, may be said to be in the form of an acute triangle, having the measure of thirteen or fourteen miles on the north, about eighteen on the east, and above twenty on the south-west. In the western portion it seems perfectly level, with a general declivity towards the Mediterranean; but in the east it is somewhat undulated by slight spurs and swells from the roots of the mountains: from the eastern side three great valleys go off to the valley of the Jordan. These valleys are separated by the ridges of Gilboa and Little Hermon, and the space which lies between these two ridges is the proper valley of Jezreel, which name seems to be sometimes given to the whole Plain of Esdraelon. The valley of Jezreel is a deep plain, and about three miles across. Before the verdure of spring and early summer has been parched up by the heat and drought of the late summer and autumn, the view of the Great Plain is, from its fertility and beauty, very delightful. The plain itself is almost without villages, but there are several on the slopes of the enclosing hills, especially on the side of Mount Carmel.
The Plain of the Coast is that tract of land which extends along the coast, between the sea and the mountains. In some places, where the mountains approach the sea, this tract is interrupted by promontories and rising grounds; but, taken generally, the whole coast of Palestine may be described as an extensive plain of various breadth. Sometimes it expands into broad plains, at others it is contracted into narrow valleys. With the exception of some sandy tracts the soil is throughout rich, and exceedingly productive. The climate is everywhere very warm, and is considered rather insalubrious as compared with the upland country. It is not mentioned by any one collective name in Scripture. The part fronting Samaria, and between Mount Carmel and Jaffa, near a rich pasture-ground, was called the Valley of Sharon; and the continuation southward, between Jaffa and Gaza, was called The Plain, as distinguished from the hill-country of Judah.
Rivers of Palestine
The Jordan is the only river of any note in Palestine, and besides it there are only two or three perennial streams. The greater number of the streams which figure in the history, and find a place in the maps, are merely torrents or watercourses.
The Jordan. We should like to consider this river simply as the stream issuing from the reservoir of the Lake Huleh, but custom requires its source to be traced to some one or more of the streams which form that reservoir. The two largest streams, which enter the lake on the north, are each formed by the junction of two others. It is usual to refer the origin of a river to its remotest sources; but in this case the largest and longest, being the most easterly of the two streams, does not appear to have been at any time identified with the Jordanthat honor having for ages been ascribed to the western stream; this river has distinct sources, at Banias and at Tel-el-Kdi. It is the former of these where a stream issues from a spacious cavern under a wall of rock which Josephus describes as the main source of the Jordan.
The true Jordanthe stream that quits the lake Hulehpasses rapidly along the narrow valley, and between well-shaded banks, to the lake of Gennesareth: the distance is about nine miles. Nearly two miles below the lake is a bridge, called Jacob’s bridge; and here the river is about eighty feet wide, and four feet deep.
On leaving the Lake of Gennesareth the river enters a very broad valley, or Ghor, which varies in width from five to ten miles between the mountains on each side. Within this valley there is a lower one, and within that, in some parts, another still lower, through which the river flows; the inner valley is about half a mile wide, and is generally green and beautiful, covered with trees and bushes, whereas the upper or large valley is for the most part, sandy or barren. The distance between the Lake of Gennesareth and the Dead Sea, in a direct line, is about sixty miles. In the first part of its course the stream is clear, but it becomes turbid as it advances to the Dead Sea, probably from passing over beds of sandy clay. The water is very wholesome, always cool and nearly tasteless. The breadth and depth of the river vary much in different places and at different times of the year. Dr. Shaw calculates the average breadth at thirty yards, and the depth at nine feet. In the season of flood, in April and early in May, the river is full, and sometimes overflows its lower banks, to which fact there are several allusions in Scripture.
The Kishon, that ‘ancient river,’ by whose wide and rapid stream the hosts of Sisera were swept away (Jdg 4:13; Jdg 5:21), has been noticed under the proper head [KISHON].
The Belus, now called Nahr Kardanus, enters the bay of Acre higher up than the Kishon. It is a small stream, fordable even at its mouth in summer. It is not mentioned in the Bible, and is chiefly celebrated for the tradition, that the accidental vitrefaction of its sands taught man the art of making glass.
The other streams of note enter the Jordan from the east; these are the Jarmuth (or Yarmuk), the Jabbok, and the Arnon, of which the last two have been noticed under their proper heads. The Jarmuth, called also Sheriatel-Mandhour, anciently Hieromax, joins the Jordan five miles below the lake of Gennesareth. Its source is ascribed to a small lake, almost a mile in circumference, at Mezareib, which is thirty miles east of the Jordan. It is a beautiful stream, and yields a considerable body of water to the Jordan [ARNON; JABBOK].
Lakes of Palestine
The river Jordan in its course forms three remarkable lakes, in the last of which, called the Dead Sea, it is lost
Fig. 286Ford of the Jordan
The Lake Merom or Samochonitis, now called Huleh, the first of these, serves as a kind of reservoir to collect the waters which form the Jordan, and again to send them forth in a single stream. In the spring, when the waters are highest, the lake is seven miles long and three and a half broad; but in summer it becomes a mere marsh. In some parts it is sown with rice, and its reeds and rushes afford shelter to wild hogs.
The Lake of Gennesareth, called also the Sea of Galilee, and the Lake of Tiberias. After quitting the lake Merom, the River Jordan proceeds for about thirteen miles southward, and then enters the great Lake of Gennesareth. This lake lies very deep, among fruitful hills and mountains, from which, in the rainy season, many rivulets descend; its shape will be seen from the map. Its extent has been greatly over-rated: Professor Robinson considers that its length, in a straight line, does not exceed eleven or twelve geographical miles, and that its breadth is from five to six miles. From numerous indications, it is judged that the bed of this lake was formed by some ancient volcanic eruption, which history has not recorded. Its waters are very clear and sweet, and contain various kinds of excellent fish in great abundance. It will be remembered that several of the apostles were fishermen of this lake, and that it was also the scene of several transactions in the life of Christ. The borders of the lake were in the time of Christ well peopled, being covered with numerous towns and villages; but now they are almost desolate, and the fish and water-fowl are but little disturbed.
The Dead Sea, called also the Salt Sea, the Sea of Sodom, and the Asphaltic Lake (Lacus Asphaltites), is from its size the most important, and from its history and qualities the most remarkable, of all the lakes of Palestine. It is now thought probable that before the destruction of the cities of the plain, a lake existed, which, as now, received the River Jordan, but that an encroachment of the waters, southward, took place when these cities were destroyed, overwhelming a beautiful and well watered plain which lay on the southern border of the lake, and on which Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar were situated.
The Dead Sea is about thirty-nine or forty geographical miles long from north to south, and nine or ten miles wide from east to west; and it lies embedded very deep between lofty cliffs on the western side, which are about 1500 feet high, and mountains on the eastern shore, the highest ridges of which are reckoned to be from 2000 to 2500 feet above the water. The water of the lake is much saltier than that of the sea. From the quantity of salt which the water holds in solution it is thick and heavy, and no fish can live, or marine plants grow in it. Lying in its deep cauldron, surrounded by lofty cliffs of naked limestone rock, exposed for seven or eight months in the year to the unclouded beams of a burning sun, nothing but sterility and solitude can be looked for upon its shores; and nothing else is actually found, except in those parts where there are fountains or streams of fresh water; in all which places there is a fertile soil and abundant vegetation. Birds also abound, and they are observed to fly over and across the sea without being, as old stories tell, injured or killed by its exhalations.
On the borders of this lake is found much sulfur, in pieces as large as walnuts, and even larger. There is also a black shining stone, which will partly burn in the fire, and which then emits a bituminous smell: this is the ‘stink-stone’ of Burckhardt. At Jerusalem it is made into rosaries and toys, of which great quantities are sold to the pilgrims who visit the sacred places. Another remarkable production found here, from which, indeed, the lake takes one of its names, is asphaltum, or bitumen. Josephus says, that ‘the sea in many places sends up black masses of asphaltum, which float upon the surface, having the size and shape of headless oxen.’ From recent information it appears that large masses are rarely found, and then generally after earthquakes. The substance is doubtless produced from the bottom of the sea, in which it coagulates, and rises to the surface; or possibly the coagulation may have been ancient, and the substance adheres to the bottom until detached by earthquakes and other convulsions, when its buoyancy brings it to the surface. We know that ‘the vale of Siddim’ (Gen 14:10) was anciently ‘full of slime-pits’ or sources of bitumen; and these, now under the water, probably supply the asphaltum which is found on such occasions.
Climate and Seasons of Palestine
The variations of sunshine and rain which, with us, extend throughout the year, are in Palestine confined chiefly to the latter part of autumn and the winter. During all the rest of the year the sky is almost uninterruptedly cloudless, and rain very rarely falls.
The autumnal rains usually commence at the latter end of October, or beginning of November, not suddenly, but by degrees; which gives opportunity to the husbandman to sow his wheat and barley. During the months of November and December the rains continue to fall heavily; afterwards they return at longer intervals, and are not so heavy; but at no period during the winter do they entirely cease to occur. Rain continues to fall more or less during the month of March, but is afterwards very rare. Morning mists occur as late as May, but rain almost never. Rain in the time of harvest was as incomprehensible to an ancient Jew as snow in summer (Pro 26:1; 1Sa 12:17; Amo 4:7). The ‘early’ and the ‘latter’ rains, for which the Jewish husbandmen awaited with longing (Pro 16:15; Jam 5:7), seem to have been the first showers of autumn, which revived the parched and thirsty soil, and prepared it for the seed; and the later showers of spring, which continued to refresh and forward the ripening crops and the vernal products of the fields.
The cold of winter is not severe, and the ground is never frozen. Snow falls more or less, but even in the higher lands it does not lie long on the ground. Thunder and lightning are frequent in the winter.
In the plains and valleys the heat of summer is oppressive, but not in the more elevated tracts, as at Jerusalem, except when the south wind (Sirocco) blows (Luk 12:55). In such high grounds the nights are cool, often with heavy dew. The total absence of rain in summer soon destroys the verdure of the fields, and gives to the general landscape, even in the high country, an aspect of drought and barrenness. No green thing remains but the foliage of the scattered fruit-trees, and occasional vineyards and fields of millet. In autumn the whole land becomes dry and parched; the cisterns are nearly empty, and all nature, animate and inanimate, looks forward with longing for the return of the rainy season.
In the hill-country the season of harvest is later than in the plains of the Jordan and of the sea-coast. The barley harvest is about a fortnight earlier than that of wheat. In the plain of the Jordan the wheat-harvest is early in May; in the plains of the Coast and of Esdraelon it is towards the latter end of that month; and in the hills, not until June. The general vintage is in September, but the first grapes ripen in July, and from that time the towns are well supplied with this fruit.
The climate of Palestine has always been considered healthy, and the inhabitants have for the most part lived to a good old age (Tacit. Hist. v. 6). Jerusalem, in particular, from its great elevation, clear sky and invigorating atmosphere, should be a healthy place, and so it is generally esteemed; but the plague frequently appears among its ill-fed and uncleanly population; and bilious fevers, the result of great and sudden vicissitudes of temperature, are more common than might be expected in such a situation.
Inhabitants of Palestine
Under this head we present the reader with the following observations of Dr. Olin (Travels, ii. 438-439)’The inhabitants of Palestine are Arabs; that is, they speak the Arabic, though, with slight exceptions, they are probably all descendants of the old inhabitants of Syria. They are a fine, spirited race of men, and gave Mohammed Ali much trouble in subduing them, and still more in retaining them in subjection. They are said to be industrious for Orientals, and to have the right elements for becoming, under better auspices, a civilized intellectual nation.The mercantile class is said to be little respected, and generally to lack integrity. Veracity is held very lightly by all classes. The people are commonly temperate and frugal, which may be denominated Oriental virtues. Their situation, with regard to the physical means of comfort and subsistence, is, in many respects, favorable, and under a tolerable government would be almost unequaled. As it is, the Syrian peasant and his family fare much better than the laboring classes of Europe. The people almost always appear well clothed. Their houses, too, though often of a slight construction and mean appearance, must be pronounced commodious when compared with the dark, crowded apartments usually occupied by the corresponding classes in Europe. Agricultural wages vary a good deal in different parts of the country, but I had reason to conclude that the average was not less than three or four piasters per day.’ With all these advantages population is on the decline, arising from polygamy, military conscription, unequal and oppressive taxation, forced labor, general insecurity of property, the discouragement of industry, and the plague.
Natural History of Palestine
As all the objects of natural history, mentioned in Scripture, are in the present work examined under the proper heads with unexampled care and completeness, by writers eminent in their several departments, it is unnecessary in this place to go over the ground which has been so advantageously preoccupied. It may suffice to mention the following facts in respect to the actual natural history of the country.The olive certainly was, and still continues to be, the chief of all the trees of Palestine, which seems to be its natural home. Excellent oil is still obtained from the fruit. But although the pre-eminence among the trees of Palestine must be assigned to the olive, fig-trees also occur in great numbers, and the plantations sometimes cover large tracts which the eye can scarcely embrace. The fruit has a peculiarly pleasant flavor, and an aromatic sweetness, but is generally smaller than that of Smyrna. The vine, which is now only found in some districts of Palestine, is not surpassed by any on earth for the strength of its juice, andat least in the southern mountainsfor the size and abundance of the grapes.
The first tree whose blossoms appear prior to the period of the latter rains, and open in the very deep valleys before the cold days of February set in, is the Luz or almond-tree. In March, the fruit-trees are in blossom, among which are the apricot, the apple, and the pear; in April, the purple of the pomegranate flowers combines with the white of the myrtle blossoms; and at the same period the roses of the country, and the variegated ladanes (Cistus); the zukkim-tree (Elagnus angustifolius), the storax-tree, whose flowers resemble those of the German jasmine (Philadelphus coronarius), emit their fragrant odors. The palm-tree is not now seen in the interior of the country; but it thrives well in the low lands near the coast. The tall cypress only exists in Palestine, as cultivated by man, in gardens, and in cemeteries, and other open places of towns. But as the spontaneous growth of the country, we find upon the heights and swelling hills the azarole (Cratgus azarolus), the walnut-tree, the strawberry-tree, the laurel-tree, the laurestinus, species of the pistachio and terebinth trees, of evergreen oaks, and of the rhamnus of the size of trees and shrubs, the cedrine juniper-tree, and some sorts of thymelus; while on the formerly wooded heights various kinds of pine-trees, large and small, still maintain their ground. The sycamore, the carob trees, and the opuntia fig-trees, are only found as objects of cultivation in or near towns; and orchards of orange, and lemon trees occur chiefly in the neighborhood of Nabulus (Shechem).
The various kinds of corn grow spontaneously in great plenty in many districts, chiefly in the plains of Jezreel and the heights of Galilee, being the wild progeny of formerly cultivated fields, and bearing testimony by their presence to the fitness of the soil for the production of grain. In addition to wheat and barley, among this wild growth, the common rye was often seen. The present course of agriculture, which is but carelessly practiced, comprises nearly the same kinds of grain which are grown in Egypt. Fields are seen covered with the dhurah, or Holchus sorghum. Maize, spelt, and barley thrive everywhere; and rice is produced on the Upper Jordan and the marshy borders of the Lake Merom. Upon the Jordan, near Jacob’s bridge, may be seen fine tall specimens of the papyrus reed. Of pulse the inhabitants grow the chick pea, the blue chickling vetch, the Egyptian bean, the kidney bean, the gilban (Lathyrus sativus), together with the lentil, and the gray or field pea. Of esculent vegetables, the produce of the various species of hibiscus are much liked and cultivated. In some places the Christian inhabitants or Franks are endeavoring to introduce the potato. In the garden of the monasteries the artichoke is very common: in most districts, as about Nabulus (Shechem), the watermelon and cucumber are very common. Hemp is more generally grown in Palestine than flax; and in favorable localities cotton is cultivated, and also madder for dyeing.
Herds of black cattle are now but rarely seen in Palestine. The ox in the neighborhood of Jerusalem is small and unsightly, and beef or veal is but rarely eaten. But in the northern parts of the country the ox thrives better and is more frequently seen. The buffalo thrives upon the coast, and is there equal in size and strength to the buffalo of Egypt. Sheep and goats are still seen in great numbers in all parts of the country: their flesh and milk serve for daily food, and their wool and hair for clothing. The common sort of sheep in Palestine manifest the tendency to form a fat and large tail. The long-eared Syrian goat is furnished with hair of considerable fineness, but seemingly not so fine as that of the same species of goat in Asia Minor. Of animals of the deer kind, Schubert saw only the female of the fallow-deer; but several species of antelopes are met with in the country.
Camels are not reared to any extent worth mentioning. Palestine cannot boast of its native breed of horses, although fine animals of beautiful shape, and apparently of high Arabian race, are not infrequently seen. The ass of the country scarcely takes higher relative rank than the horse; asses and mules are still, however, much used for riding, as they afford a means of locomotion well suited to the difficult mountain paths of the country. Boars are very often observed upon Mount Tabor and the Lesser Hermon, as well as on the woody slopes of Mount Carmel. Among indigenous animals of the genus felis, we may name the common panther, which is found among the mountains of central Palestine; and in the genus canis there is the small Abul Hhosseyn, or Canis famelicus, and a kind of large fox (Canis Syriacus). In addition to these is the jackal, which is very injurious to the flocks. The hyena is found chiefly in the valley of the Jordan, and in the mountains around the lake of Tiberias, but is also occasionally seen in other districts of Palestine. Bears are said to be found in the Anti-Libanus, not far from Damascus. A hedgehog, procured near Bethlehem, was found to resemble the common European animal, and not to be the long-eared Egyptian species. The hare is the same as the Arabian. The porcupine is frequently found in the clefts of the rocks.
Among the larger birds of prey the common vulture and the kite are oftenest seen. The native wild dove differs not perceptibly from our own species, which is also the case with the shrikes, crows, rollers, and other species found in Palestine.
Tortoises are not uncommon. Serpents are rare, and none of those which have been observed are poisonous. The Janthina fragilis, which yields the common purple dye, has been noticed near the coast. Among the insects the bee is the most conspicuous. Mosquitoes are somewhat troublesome. Beetles are abundant, and of various species.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Palestine
See Canaan
Canaan
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Palestine
Palestine (pl’es-tne), land of sojourners. Joe 3:4; comp. Exo 15:14; Isa 14:29; Isa 14:31. A small country east of the Mediterranean Sea, sacred alike to Jew, Mohammedan, and Christian. In length it is about 140 miles, in average breadth not more than 40 between the Mediterranean westward, and the deep Jordan valley to the east, while to the north it is closed in by Lebanon and Anti-libanus, and bordered on the south by the desert. It lay on the direct route between the great ancient empires of Asia and northern Africa, and exposed to peril from both. The physical structure of Palestine is peculiar. It is mountainous, but among these mountains are plains and valleys and torrent-beds. The mountain mass which occupies the central part is bordered on each side east and west by a lowland belt. On the west the plains of Philistia and Sharon lie between the Mediterranean and the hills, interrupted by a ridge which, shooting out from the main highlands, terminates in the bold promontory of Carmel. To the north of this ridge the low plain widens and extends in one part its undulating surface quite across the country to the Jordan. And still farther to the north is Phnicia with headlands down to the sea. The eastern depression is most remarkable. It is a deep cleft in which lie a chain of lakes connected by the Jordan. And the bottom of this cleft is, in its lower part, far below (1300 feet) the level of the Mediterranean Sea. Owing to this extraordinary depression, the slopes on the eastern side of the central elevated land are much more abrupt and rugged than on the west. The southern hill country is dry and bare. There is little wood; it is near upon the desert, and possesses few springs of water. The hill tops are rounded and monotonousthe eastern part of the tract being but an arid wilderness. And a noteworthy feature in these hills is the abundance of caverns, partly natural, partly, perhaps, artificial. Northward the country improves. There are more fertile plains winding among the lulls, more vegetation and more wood, till in the north the swelling hills are clothed with beautiful trees, and the scenery is pleasing, oftentimes romantic. In central and north Palestine, too, there are gushing fountains of water, imparting fertility to the valleys through which they pour their streams. The Philistine plain is one vast grainfield, yielding the most abundant increase. And dry and barren as are many of the hills at present, there is evidence enough that in earlier happier days they were terraced, wooded, and productive: “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey… a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” Deu 8:7-9. Palestine was early inhabited by seven tribesas, Hittites, Gergashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, Deu 7:1; and other tribes are also noted as occupying adjacent regions. Gen 10:15-19; Gen 15:18-21; Num 13:28-29. It became afterwards the land of Israel; but, when judgment fell upon the Hebrews for their sins, they were removed, and there was at different times a large influx of foreign population, eastern nations, 2Ki 17:24; Ezr 4:9-10, Greeks, etc.; so that even in our Lord’s time the inhabitants of Palestine were of a mixed character; and in later ages additional foreign elements were introduced. See Juda, Galilee.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Palestine
Pal’estine. (land of strangers). These two forms, [Palesti’na and Pal’estine], occur in the Authorized Version, but four times in all, always in poetical passages; the first in Exo 15:14 and Isa 14:29, the second in Joe 3:4. In each case, the Hebrew is Pelesheth, a word found, besides the above, only in Psa 60:8; Psa_ 83:7; Psa 87:4 and Psa 108:9. In all of which, our translators have rendered as “Philistia” or “Philistines.” Palestine, in the Authorized Version, really means nothing, but Philistia. The original Hebrew word, Pelesheth, to the Hebrews signified merely the long and broad strip of maritime plain inhabited by their encroaching neighbors; nor does it appear that, at first, it signified more to the Greeks.
As lying next the sea, and as being also the high road from Egypt to Phoenicia and the richer regions, take note of it, but the Philistine plain became sooner known to the western world than the country farther inland, and was called by them, Syria Palestina (Philistine Syria). From thence, it was gradually extended to the country farther inland, till in the Roman and later Greek authors, both heathen sad Christian, it became the usual appellation for the whole country of the Jews, both west and east of Jordan. The word is now so commonly employed, in our more familiar language, to destinate the whole country of Israel that, although biblically a misnomer, it has been chosen here as the most convenient heading under which to give a general description of The Holy Land, embracing those points which have not been treated under the separate headings of cities or tribes.
This description will most conveniently divide itself Into three sections: — I. The Names applied to the country of Israel in the Bible and elsewhere. II. The Land; its situation, aspect, climb, physical characteristics in connection with its history, its structure, botany and natural history. III. The History of the country is so fully given, under its various headings throughout the work, that it is unnecessary to recapitulate it here.
I. The Names. — Palestine, then, is designated in the Bible by more than one name. During the patriarchal period, the conquest and the age of the Judges, and also where those early periods are referred to in the later literature (as in) Psa 105:11, it is spoken of as “Canaan”, or more frequently, “the land of Canaan”, meaning thereby, the country west of the Jordan, as opposed to “the land of Gilead”, on the east.
During the monarchy, the name usually, though not frequently, employed is “the land of Israel”. 1Sa 13:19.
Between the captivity and the time of our Lord, the name “Judea” had extended itself, from the southern portion, to the whole of the country, and even that beyond the Jordan. Mat 19:1; Mar 10:1.
The Roman division of the country hardly coincided with the biblical one, and it does not appear that the Romans had any distinct name for that which we understand by Palestine.
Soon after the Christian era, we find the name “Palestina” in possession of the country.
The name most frequently used throughout the middle ages, and down to our own time, is Terra Sancta — The Holy Land.
II. The Land. — The Holy Land is not, in size or physical characteristics, proportioned to its moral and historical position as the theatre of the most momentous events in the world’s history. It is but a strip of country about the size of Wales, less than 140 miles in length and barely 40 miles in average breadth, on the very frontier of the East, hemmed in between the Mediterranean Sea, on the one hand, and the enormous trench of the Jordan valley, on the other, by which it is effectually cut off from the mainland of Asia behind it. On the north, it is shut in by the high ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and by the chasm of the Litany. On the south, it is no less enclosed by the arid and inhospitable deserts of the upper pert of the peninsula of Sinai.
Its position. — Its position on the map of the world — as the world was when the Holy Land first made its appearance in history — is a remarkable one.
(a) It was on the very outpost — and the extremist western edge of the East. On the shore of the Mediterranean it stands, as if it had advanced as far as possible toward the west, separated therefrom by that which, when the time arrived, proved to be no barrier, but the readiest medium of communication: the wide waters of the “great sea.” Thus, it was open to all the gradual influences of the rising communities of the West, while it was saved from the retrogression and decrepitude, which have ultimately been the doom of all purely eastern states whose connections were limited to the East only.
(b) There was, however, one channel, and but one, by which it could reach and be reached by the great Oriental empires. The rivals road by which the two great rivals of the ancient world could approach one another — by which alone, Egypt could get to Assyria and Assyria to lay along the broad flat strip of coast which formed the maritime portion of the Holy Land, and thence, by the plain of the Lebanon to the Euphrates.
(c) After this, the Holy Land became, (like the Netherlands in Europe), the convenient arena on which, in successive ages, the hostile powers who contended for the empire of the East fought their battles.
Physical features. — Palestine is essentially a mountainous country. Not that if contains independent mountain chains, as in Greece, for example, but that every part of the highland is in greater or less undulation. But it is not only a mountainous country. The mass of hills which occupies the centre of the country is bordered or framed on both sides, east and west, by a broad belt of Shefelah, or lowland, sunk deep below its own level. The slopes or cliffs, which form, as if it were, the retaining walls of this depression, are furrowed and cleft by the torrent beds, which discharge the waters of the hills, and form the means of communication between the upper and lower level.
On the west, this Shefelah, or lowland, interposes between the mountains and the sea, and is the plain of Philistia and of Sharon. On the east, it is the broad bottom of the Jordan valley, deep down in which rushed the one river of Palestine to its grave in, the Dead Sea. Such is the first general impression of the physiognomy of the land. It is a physiognomy compounded of the three main features already named — the plains, the highland hills, and the torrent beds features, which are marked in the words of its earliest describers, Num 13:29; Jos 11:16; Jos 12:8, and which must be comprehended by every one who wishes to understand the countrym and the intimate connection existing between its structure and its history.
About halfway up the coast, the maritime plain is suddenly interrupted by a long ridge thrown out from the central mass, rising considerably to shove up the general level, and terminating in a bold promontory on the very edge of the Mediterranean. This ridge is Mount Carmel. On its upper side, the plain, as if to compensate for its temporary displacement, invades the centre of the country, and forms an undulating hollow right across it from the Mediterranean to the Jordan valley.
This central Shefelah, or lowland, which divides, with its broad depression, the mountains of Ephraim from the mountains of Galilee, is the plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel: the great battle-field of Palestine. North of Carmel, the Shefelah, or lowland resumes its position by the seaside till it is again interrupted, and finally put an end to, by the northern mountains, which push their way out of the sea, ending in the white promontory of the Ras Nakhura.
Above this is the ancient Phoenicia. The country, thus roughly portrayed, is, to all intents and purposes, the whole land of israel. The northern portion is Galilee; the centre is Samaria; and the south is Judea. This is the land of Canaan, which was bestowed on Abraham, — the covenanted home of his descendants.
The highland district, surrounded and intersected by its broad Shefelah, or lowland plains, preserves, from north to south, a remarkably even and horizontal profile. Its average height may betaken as 1600 to 1800 feet above the Mediterranean. It can hardly be denominated a plateau; yet, so evenly is the general level preserved and so thickly do the hills stand behind and between one another, that, when seen from the coast, or the western part of the maritime plain, it has quite the appearance of a wall. This general monotony of profile is however, relieved at intervals, by certain centers of elevation.
Between these elevated points runs the watershed of the country, sending off on either hand — to the Jordan valley on the east, and the Mediterranean on the west — the long, tortuous arms of ifs many torrent beds. The valleys, on the two sides of the watershed, differ considerably in character. Those on the east are extremely steep and rugged, while the western valleys are more gradual in their slope.
Fertility. — When the highlands of the country are more closely examined, a considerable difference will be found to exist in the natural condition and appearance of their different portions. The south, as being nearer the arid desert and farther removed from the drainage of the mountains, is drier and less productive than the north. The tract below Hebron, which forms the link between the hills of Judah and the desert, was known to the ancient Hebrews by a term originally derived from its dryness — Negeb. This was the south country.
As the traveller advances north of this tract, there is an improvement; but perhaps no country equally cultivated is more monotonous, bare or uninviting in its aspect than a great part of the highlands of Judah and Benjamin, during the larger portion of the year. The spring covers even those bald gray rocks with verdure and color, and fills the ravines with torrents of rushing water; but in summer and autumn, the look of the country from Hebron up to Bethel is very dreary and desolate. At Jerusalem, this reaches its climax.
To the west and northwest of the highlands, where the sea-breezes are felt, there is considerably more vegetation. Hitherto, we have spoken of the central and northern portions of Judea. Its eastern portion — a tract some nine or ten miles in width by about thirty-five miles in length, which intervenes between the centre and the abrupt descent to the Dead Sea — is far more wild and desolate, and that, not for a portion of the year only, but throughout it. This must have been always what it is now — an uninhabited desert, because uninhabitable.
No descriptive sketch of this part of the country can be complete which does not allude to the caverns, characteristic of all limestone districts, but here, existing in astonishing numbers. Every hill and ravine is pierced with them, some very large and of curious formation — perhaps partly natural, partly artificial — others mere grottos. Many of them are connected with most important, and interesting events of the ancient history of the country. Especially is this true of the district now under consideration. Machpelah, Makkedah, Adullam En-gedi, names inseparably connected with the lives, adventures and deaths of Abraham, Joshua, David and other Old Testament worthies, are all within the small circle of the territory of Judea.
The bareness and dryness which prevail more or less in Judea are owing partly to the absence of wood, partly to its proximity to the desert, and partly to a scarcity of water, arising from its distance from the Lebanon. But to this discouraging aspect, there are some important exceptions. The valley of Urtas, south of Bethlehem, contains springs which, in abundance and excellence, rival even those of Nablus. The huge “Pools of Solomon” are enough to supply a district for many miles round them; and the cultivation, now going on in that neighborhood, shows what might be done with a soil which required only irrigation, and a moderate amount of labor, to evoke a boundless produce.
It is obvious that, in the ancient days of the nation, when Judah and Benjamin possessed the teeming population indicated in the Bible, the condition and aspect of the country must have been very different. Of this, there are, not wanting, sure evidences. There is no country in which the ruined towns bear so large a proportion to those still existing. Hardly a hill-top of the many within sight that is not covered with vestiges of some fortress or city. But, besides this, forests appear to have stood in many parts of Judea until the repeated invasions and sieges caused their fall; and all this vegetation must have reacted on the moisture of the climate, and, by preserving the water in many a ravine and natural reservoir where now it is rapidly dried by the fierce sun of the early summer, must have influenced, materially , the look and the resources of the country.
Advancing northward from Judea, the country, (Samaria), becomes gradually more open and pleasant. Plains of good soil occur between the hills, at first, small, but afterward, comparatively large. The hills assume here a more varied aspect than in the southern districts, springs are more abundant and more permanent until at last, when the district of Jebel Nablus is reached — the ancient Mount Ephraim — the traveller encounters an atmosphere and an amount of vegetation and water which are greatly superior to anything he has met with in Judea, and even sufficient to recall much of the scenery of the West.
Perhaps the springs are the only objects which in themselves, and apart from their associations, really strike an English traveller with astonishment and admiration. Such glorious fountains as those of Ain-jalud or the Ras el-Mukatta — where a great body of the dearest water wells silently but swiftly out from deep blue recesses worn in the foot of a low cliff of limestone rock, and at once, forms a considerable stream — are rarely to be met with out of irregular, rocky, mountainous countries, and being such unusual sights can hardly be looked on by the traveler, without surprise and emotion.
The valleys which lead down from the upper level in this district to the valley of the Jordan are less precipitous than in Judea. The eastern district of the Jebel Nablus contains some of the most fertile end valuable spots in the Holy Land. Hardly less rich is the extensive region which lies northwest of the city of Shechem (Nablus), between it and Carmel, in which the mountains gradually break down into the plain of Sharon.
But with all its richness and all its advance on the southern part of the country, there is a strange dearth of natural wood about this central district. It is this which makes the wooded sides of Carmel and the park-like scenery of the adjacent slopes and plains so remarkable. No sooner, however, is the plain of Eadraelon passed than a considerable improvement is perceptible. The low hills which spread down from the mountains of Galilee, and form the barrier between the plains of Akka and Esdraelon, are covered with timber, of moderate size, it is true, but of thick, vigorous growth, and pleasant to the eye. Eastward of these hills, rises the round mass of Tabor dark with its copses of oak, and set on, by contrast, with the bare slopes of Jebel ed-Duhy, (the so called “Little Hermon”) and the white hills of Nazareth.
A few words must be said in general description of the Shefelah, or maritime lowland, which intervenes between the sea and the highlands. This region, only slightly elevated above the level of the Mediterranean, extends without interruption from el-Arish, south of Gaza, to Mount Carmel. It naturally divides itself into two portions, each of about half its length; the lower one, the wider, and the upper one, the narrower. The lower half is the plain of the Philistines-Philistia, or, as the Hebrews called it, the Shefelah, or Lowland. The upper half is the Sharon, or Saron, of the Old and New Testaments.
The Philistine plain is on an average 15 or 16 miles in width, from the coast to the beginning of the belt of hills, which forms the gradual approach to the high land of the mountains of Judah. The larger towns, as Gaza and Ashdod, which stand near the shore, are surrounded with huge groves of olive, and sycamore, as in the days King David. 1Ch 27:28.
The whole plain appears to consist of brown, loamy soil, light, but rich, and almost without a stone. It is now, as it was when the Philistines possessed it, one enormous cornfield; an ocean of wheat covers the wide expense between the hills and the sand dunes of the seashore, without interruption of any kind — no break or hedge, hardly even a single olive tree. Its fertility is marvellous; for the prodigious crops which if raises are produced, and probably have been produced. Almost year by year. For the last forty centuries, without any of the appliances which we find necessary for success.
The plain of Sharon is much narrower than the plain of the Philistines-Philistia. It is about 10 miles wide from the sea to the foot of the mountains, which are, here, of a more abrupt character than those of Philistia, and without the intermediate hilly region there occurring.
The one ancient port of the Jews, the “beautiful”, city of Joppa, occupied a position central between the Shefelah and Sharon. Roads led from these various cities to each other to Jerusalem, Neapolis and Sebaste in the interior, and to Ptolemais and Gaza on the north and south. The commerce of Damascus, and beyond Damascus, of Persia and India, passed this way to Egypt, Rome and the infant colonies of the West; and that traffic and the constant movement of troops backward and forward must have made this plain, at the time of Christ, one of the busiest and most populous regions of Syria.
The Jordan valley. — The chacteristics already described are hardly peculiar to Palestine, but there is one feature, as yet only alluded to, in which she stands alone. This feature is the Jordan — the one river of the country. The river is elsewhere described; see Jordan, but it and the valley through which it rushes down its extraordinary descent must be here briefly characterized. This valley begins with the river at its remotest springs of Hasbeiya, on the northwest side of Hermon, and accompanies it to the lower end of the Dead Sea, a length of about 150 miles. During the whole of this distance, its course is straight and its direction nearly due north and south.
The springs of Hasbeiya are 1700 feet above the level of the Mediterranean and the northern end of the Dead Sea is 1317 feet below it, so that, between these two points, the valley falls with more or less regularity, through a height of more than 3000 feet. But though the river disappears at this point, the valley still continues its descent below the waters of the Dead Sea till it reaches a further depth of 1308 feet. So that the bottom of this extraordinary crevasse is actually more than 2600 feet below the surface of the ocean.
In width, the valley varies. In its upper and shallower portion, as between Banias and the lake of Merom (Huleh), it is about five miles across. Between the lake of Merom and the Sea or Galilee, it contracts, and becomes more of an ordinary ravine or glen. It is in its third and lower portion that the valley assumes its more definite and regular character. During the greater part of this portion, it is about seven miles wide from the one wall to the other.
The eastern mountains preserve their straight line of direction, and their massive horizontal wall-like aspect, during almost the whole distance. The western mountains are more irregular in height, their slopes less vertical. North of Jericho, they recede in a kind of wide amphitheatre, and the valley becomes twelve miles broad — a breadth which it, thenceforward, retains to the southern extremity of the Dead Sea.
Buried, as it is, between such lofty ranges, and shielded from every breeze, the climate of the Jordan valley is extremely hot and relaxing. Its enervating influence is shown by the inhabitants of Jericho. All the irrigation necessary for the cultivation, which formerly existed, is obtained front the torrents of the western mountains. For all purposes to which a river ordinarily applied the Jordan is useless. The Dead Sea, which is the final receptacle of the Jordan, is described elsewhere. See Sea, The Salt.
Climate. — “Probably there is no country in the world of the same extent which has a greater variety of climate than Palestine. On Mount Hermon, at its northern border, there is perpetual snow. From this, we descend successively by the peaks of Bashan and upper Galilee, where the oak and pine flourish, to the hills of Judah and Samaria, where the vine and fig tree are at home, to the plains of the seaboard, where the palm and banana produce their fruit, down to the sultry shores of the Sea, on which we find tropical heat and tropical vegetation.” — McClintock and Strong.
As, in the time of our Saviour, Luk 12:64, the rains come chiefly from the south or southwest. They commence at the end of October or beginning of November, and continue, with greater or less constancy, till the end of February or March. It is not a heavy, continuous rain, so much as a succession of severe showers or storms, with intervening periods of fine, bright weather. Between April and November, there is, with the rarest exceptions, an uninterrupted succession of fine weather and skies without a cloud. Thus, the year divides itself into two, and only two, seasons — as indeed we see it constantly divided in the Bible — “winter and summer;” “cold and heat;” “seed-time and harvest.”
Botany. — The botany of Syria and Palestine differs but little from that of Asia Minor, which is one of the most rich and varied on the globe. Among trees, the oak is by far the most prevalent. The trees of the genus Pistacia rank next to the oak in abundance, and of these there are three species in Syria. There is also the carob or locust tree (Ceratonia siliqua), the pine, sycamore, poplar and walnut.
Of planted trees and large shrubs, the first in importance is the vine, which is most abundantly cultivated all over the country, and produces, as in the time of the Canaanites, enormous bunches of grapes. This is especially the case in the southern districts, those of Eshcol being still particularly famous. Next to the vine, or even in some respects, its superior in importance, ranks the olive, which nowhere grows in greater luxuriance and abundance than in Palestine, where the olive orchards form a prominent feature throughout the landscape, and have done so from time immemorial. The fig forms another most important crop in Syria and Palestine.
(Besides these are the almond, pomegranate, orange, pear, banana, quince and mulberry among fruit trees. Of vegetables, there are many varieties, such as the egg plant, pumpkin, asparagus, lettuce, melon and cucumber. Palestine is especially distinguished for its wild flowers, of which there are more than five hundred varieties. The geranium, pink, poppy, narcissus, honeysuckle, oleander, jessamine, tulip and iris are abundant. The various grains are also very largely cultivated. — Editor).
Zoology. — It will be sufficient, in this article, to give a general survey of the fauna of Palestine, as the reader will find more particular information in the several articles, which treat of the various animals, under their respective names. Jackals and foxes are common; the hyena and wolf are also occasionally observed; the lion is no longer a resident in Palestine or Syria. A species of squirrel of which the term orkidaun, “the leaper”, has been noticed on the lower and middle parts of Lebanon. Two kinds of hare, rats and mice, which are said to abound, the jerboa, the porcupine, the short-tailed field-mouse, may be considered as the representatives of the Rodentia.
Of the Pachydermata, the wild boar, which is frequently met with on Taber and Little Hermon, appears to be the only living wild example. There does not appear to be at present any wild ox in Palestine. Of domestic animals, we need only mention the Arabian or one-humped camel, the ass, the mule and the horse, all of which are in general use. The buffalo (Bubalus buffalo) is common. The ox of the country is small and unsightly in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, but in the richer pastures, the cattle, though small, are not unsightly. The common sheep of Palestine is the broadtail, with its varieties. Goats are extremely common everywhere.
Palestine abounds in numerous kinds of birds. Vultures, eagles, falcons, kites, owls of different kinds represent the Raptorial order. In the south of Palestine especially, reptiles of various kinds abound. It has been remarked that, in its physical character, Palestine presents on a small scale, an epitome of the natural features of all regions, mountainous and desert, northern and tropical, maritime and inland, pastoral, arable and volcanic.
Antiquities. — In the preceding descriptions, allusion has been made to many of the characteristic features of the Holy Land; but it is impossible to close this account, without mentioning a defect which is even more characteristic — its lack of monuments and personal relics of the nation, which possessed it for so many centuries, and gave it its claim to our veneration and affection. When compared with other nations of equal antiquity — Egypt, Greece, Assyria — the contrast is truly remarkable.
In Egypt and Greece, and also in Assyria, as far as our knowledge at present extends, we find a series of buildings reaching down from the most remote and mysterious antiquity, a chain of which hardly a link is wanting, and which records the progress of the people in civilization, art and religion, as certainly as the buildings of the medieval architects do that of the various nations of modern Europe.
But in Palestine, it is not too much to say that, there does not exist a single edifice, or part of an edifice, of which we can be sure that it is of a date, anterior to the Christian era. And as with the buildings, so with other memorials.
With one exception, the museums of Europe do not possess a single piece of pottery or metal work, a single weapon or household utensil, an ornament or a piece of armor of Israelite make, which can give us the least conception of the manners or outward appliances of the nation before the date of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.
The coins form the single exception. M. Renan has named two circumstances, which must have had a great effect in suppressing art or architecture amongst the ancient Israelites, while their very existence proves that the people had no genius in that direction. These are
(1) the prohibition of sculptured representations of living creatures, and
(2) the command not to build a Temple anywhere, but at Jerusalem.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Palestine
taken in a limited sense, denotes the country of the Philistines or Palestines, including that part of the land of promise which extended along the Mediterranean Sea, from Gaza south to Lydda north. The LXX were of opinion that the word Philistiim, which they generally translate Allophyli, signified strangers, or men of another tribe. Palestine, taken in a more general sense, signifies the whole country of Canaan, the whole land of promise, as well beyond as on this side Jordan, though pretty frequently it is restrained to the country on this side that river; so that in later times the words Judea and Palestine were synonymous. We find, also, the name of Syria Palestine given to the land of promise, and even sometimes this province is comprehended in Coelo-Syria, or the Lower Syria. Herodotus is the most ancient writer we know that speaks of Syria Palestine. He places it between Phenicia and Egypt. See Canaan.