GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE.
This section of country has been known by several names. It has been
called the "Land of Canaan," the "Land of Israel," the "Land of
Promise," the "Land of the Hebrews," and the "Holy Land." Canaan was
simply the country between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, extending
from Mt. Lebanon on the north to the Desert of Arabia on the south. Dan
was in the extreme northern part, and Beer-sheba lay in the southern end
of the country, one hundred and thirty-nine miles distant. The average
width of the land is about forty miles, and the total area is in the
neighborhood of six thousand miles. "It is not in size or physical
characteristics proportioned to its moral and historical position as the
theater of the most momentous events in the world's history." Palestine,
the land occupied by the twelve tribes, included the Land of Canaan and
a section of country east of the Jordan one hundred miles long and about
twenty-five miles wide, occupied by Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of
Manasseh. The Land of Promise was still more extensive, reaching
from "the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates,"
embracing about sixty thousand square miles, or a little less than
the five New England States. The country is easily divided into four
parallel strips. Beginning at the Mediterranean, we have the Maritime
Plain, the Mountain Region, the Jordan Valley, and the Eastern
Table-Land.
The long stretch of lowland known as the Maritime Plain is divided
into three sections. The portion lying north of Mt. Carmel was called
Phoenicia. It varies in width from half a mile in the north to eight
miles in the south. The ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon belonged to
this section. Directly east of Mt. Carmel is the Plain of Esdraelon,
physically a part of the Maritime Plain. It is an irregular triangle,
whose sides are fourteen, sixteen, and twenty-five miles respectively,
the longest side being next to Mt. Carmel. Here Barak defeated the army
of Sisera under Jabin, and here Josiah, king of Judah, was killed in a
battle with the Egyptians under Pharaoh-necoh.
The Plains of Sharon and Philistia, lying south of Carmel, are usually
regarded as the true Maritime Plain. Sharon extends southward from
Carmel about fifty miles, reaching a little below Jaffa, and has an
average width of eight miles. The Zerka, or Crocodile river, which
traverses this plain, is the largest stream of Palestine west of the
Jordan. There are several other streams crossing the plain from the
mountains to the sea, but they usually cease to flow in the summer
season. Joppa, Lydda, Ramleh, and Caesarea belong to this plain. Herod
the Great built Caesarea, and spent large sums of money on its palace,
temple, theater, and breakwater.
The Plain of Philistia extends thirty or forty miles from the southern
limits of Sharon to Gaza, varying in width from twelve to twenty-five
miles. It is well watered by several streams, some of which flow all the
year. Part of the water from the mountains flows under the ground and
rises in shallow lakes near the coast. Water can easily be found here,
as also in Sharon, by digging wells, and the soil is suitable for the
culture of small grains and for pasture. During a part of the year the
plain is beautifully ornamented with a rich growth of brightly colored
flowers, a characteristic of Palestine in the wet season.
Gaza figures in the history of Samson, who "laid hold of the doors of
the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and
all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the
mountain that is before Hebron." Ashkelon, on the coast, is connected
with the history of the Crusades. Ashdod, or Azotus, is where Philip was
found after the baptism of the eunuch. It is said that Psammetichus,
an ancient Egyptian king, captured this place after a siege of
twenty-seven years. Ekron and Gath also belonged to this plain.
The ridge of mountains lying between the coast plain and the Jordan
valley form the backbone of the country. Here, more than elsewhere,
the Israelites made their homes, on account of the hostility of the
inhabitants in the lowlands. This ridge is a continuation of the Lebanon
range, and extends as far south as the desert. In Upper Galilee the
mountains reach an average height of two thousand eight hundred feet
above sea level, but in Lower Galilee they are a thousand feet lower. In
Samaria and Judaea they reach an altitude of two or three thousand feet.
The foot-hills, called the Shefelah, and the Negeb, or "South Country,"
complete the ridge. The highest peak is Jebel Mukhmeel, in Northern
Palestine, rising ten thousand two hundred feet above the sea. Mt.
Tabor, in Galilee, is one thousand eight hundred and forty-three feet
high, while Gerizim and Ebal, down in Samaria, are two thousand eight
hundred and fifty feet and three thousand and seventy-five feet
respectively. The principal mountains in Judaea are Mt. Zion, two
thousand five hundred and fifty feet; Mt. Moriah, about one hundred feet
lower; Mount of Olives, two thousand six hundred and sixty-five feet,
and Mt. Hebron, three thousand and thirty feet. Nazareth, Shechem,
Jerusalem, and Hebron belong to the Mountain Region.
The Jordan Valley is the lowest portion of the earth's surface. No other
depressions are more than three hundred feet below sea level, but the
Jordan is six hundred and eighty-two feet lower than the ocean at the
Sea of Galilee, and nearly thirteen hundred feet lower where it enters
the Dead Sea. This wonderful depression, which includes the Dead Sea,
forty-five miles long, and the valley south of it, one hundred miles in
length, is two hundred and fifty miles long and from four to fourteen
miles in width, and is called the Arabah. The sources of the Jordan
are one hundred and thirty-four miles from the mouth, but the numerous
windings of the stream make it two hundred miles long. The Jordan
is formed by the union of three streams issuing from springs at an
elevation of seventeen hundred feet above the sea. The principal source
is the spring at Dan, one of the largest in the world, as it sends forth
a stream twenty feet wide and from twenty to thirty inches deep. The
spring at Banias, the Caesarea Philippi of the Scriptures, is the
eastern source. The Hashbany flows from a spring forming the western
source. A few miles south of the union of the streams above mentioned
the river widens into the waters of Merom, a small lake nearly on a
level with the Mediterranean. In the next few miles it descends rapidly,
and empties into the Sea of Galilee, called also the Sea of Chinnereth,
Sea of Tiberias, and Lake of Gennesaret. In the sixty-five miles from
the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea the fall is about six hundred feet.
The rate of descent is not uniform throughout the whole course of the
river. In one section it drops sixty feet to the mile, while there is
one stretch of thirteen miles with a descent of only four and a half
feet to the mile. The average is twenty-two feet to the mile. The width
varies from eighty to one hundred and eighty feet, and the depth from
five to twelve feet. Caesarea Philippi, at the head of the valley,
Capernaum, Magdala, Tiberias, and Tarrichaea were cities on the Sea of
Galilee. Jericho and Gilgal were in the plain at the southern extremity,
and Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, upon which the wrath of God was
poured, were somewhere in the region of the Dead Sea.
The Eastern Table-Land has a mountain wall four thousand feet high
facing the river. This table-land, which is mostly fertile, extends
eastward about twenty miles, and terminates in the Arabian Desert, which
is still higher. Here the mountains are higher and steeper than those
west of the Jordan. Mt. Hermon, in the north, is nine thousand two
hundred feet high. South of the Jarmuk River is Mt. Gilead, three
thousand feet high, and Mt. Nebo, lying east of the northern end of the
Dead Sea, reaches an elevation of two thousand six hundred and seventy
feet. Besides the Jarmuk, another stream, the Jabbok, flows into the
Jordan from this side. The Arnon empties into the Dead Sea. The northern
section was called Bashan, the middle, Gilead, and the southern part,
Moab. Bashan anciently had many cities, and numerous ruins yet remain.
In the campaign of Israel against Og, king of Bashan, sixty cities
were captured. Many events occurred in Gilead, where were situated
Jabesh-Gilead, Ramoth-Gilead, and the ten cities of the Decapolis, with
the exception of Beth-shean, which was west of the Jordan. From the
summit of Mt. Pisgah, a peak of Mt. Nebo, Moses viewed the Land
of Promise, and from these same heights Balaam looked down on the
Israelites and undertook to curse them, Moab lies south of the Arnon
and east of the Dead Sea. In the time of a famine, an Israelite, named
Elimelech, with his wife and sons, sojourned in this land. After the
death of Elimelech and both of his sons, who had married in the land,
Naomi returned to Bethlehem, accompanied by her daughter-in-law, Ruth,
the Moabitess, who came into the line of ancestry of David and of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Once, when the kings of Judah, Israel, and Edom
invaded the land, the king of Moab (when they came to Kir-hareseth,
the capital) took his oldest son, who would have succeeded him on the
throne, "and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall." At this
the invaders "departed from him and returned to their own land."
The political geography of Palestine is so complicated that it can not
be handled in the space here available. Only a few words, applicable
to the country in New Testament times, can be said. The provinces of
Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea were on the west side of the Jordan, while
the Decapolis and Perea lay east of that river. The northern province
of Galilee, which saw most of the ministry of Jesus, extended from the
Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee, and a much greater distance from
the north to the south. It was peopled with Jews, and was probably a
much better country than is generally supposed, as it contained a large
number of cities and villages, and produced fish, oil, wheat, wine,
figs, and flax. "It was in Christ's time one of the gardens of the
world--well watered, exceedingly fertile, thoroughly cultivated, and
covered with a dense population."--_Merrill_.
Samaria, lying south of Galilee, extended from the Mediterranean to the
Jordan, and was occupied by a mixed race, formed by the mingling of Jews
with the foreigners who had been sent into the land. When they were
disfellowshiped by the Jews, about 460 B.C., they built a temple on Mt.
Gerizim.
The province of Judaea was the largest in Palestine, and extended from
the Mediterranean on the west to the Dead Sea and the Jordan on the
east. It was bounded on the north by Samaria, and on the south by the
desert. Although but fifty-five miles long and about thirty miles wide,
it held out against Egypt, Babylonia, and Rome.
The Decapolis, or region of ten Gentile cities, was the northeastern
part of Palestine, extending eastward from the Jordan to the desert.
Perea lay south of the Decapolis, and east of the Jordan and Dead Sea.
The kingdom of Herod the Great, whose reign ended B.C. 4, included
all of this territory. After his death the country was divided into
tetrarchies. Archelaus ruled over Judaea and Samaria; Antipas ("Herod
the tetrarch") had control of Galilee and Perea; Philip had a section of
country east of the Sea of Galilee, and Lysanius ruled over Abilene, a
small section of country between Mt. Hermon and Damascus, not included
in the domain of Herod the Great. Herod Agrippa was made king by
Caligula, and his territory embraced all that his grandfather, Herod the
Great, had ruled over, with Abilene added, making his territory more
extensive than that of any Jewish king after Solomon. He is the "Herod
the king" who killed the Apostle James and imprisoned Peter. After
delivering an oration at Caesarea, he died a horrible death, "because
he gave not God the glory." At his death, in A.D. 44, the country was
divided into two provinces. The northern section was ruled by Herod
Agrippa II. till the Jewish State was dissolved, in A.D. 70. He was the
"King Agrippa" before whom Paul spoke. The southern part of the country,
called the province of Judaea, was ruled by procurators having their
seat at Caesarea. When Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, the country
was annexed to Syria.
The climate depends more upon local conditions than on the latitude,
which is the same as Southern Georgia and Alabama, Jerusalem being on
the parallel of Savannah. In point of temperature it is about the same
as these localities, but in other respects it differs much. The year has
two seasons--the dry, lasting from the first of April to the first of
November, and the rainy season, lasting the other five months, during
which time there are copious rains. One authority says: "Were the old
cisterns cleaned and mended, and the beautiful tanks and aqueducts
repaired, the ordinary fall of rain would be quite sufficient for the
wants of the inhabitants and for irrigation." The summers are hot, the
winters mild. Snow sometimes falls, but does not last long, and ice is
seldom formed.
Palestine is not a timbered country. The commonest oak is a low, scrubby
bush. The "cedars of Lebanon" have almost disappeared. The carob
tree, white poplar, a thorn bush, and the oleander are found in some
localities. The principal fruit-bearing trees are the fig, olive, date
palm, pomegranate, orange, and lemon. Grapes, apples, apricots, quinces,
and other fruits also grow here. Wheat, barley, and a kind of corn are
raised, also tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, and tobacco. The ground
is poorly cultivated with inferior tools, and the grain is tramped out
with cattle, as in the long ago.
Sheep and goats are the most numerous domestic animals, a peculiarity of
the sheep being the extra large "fat tail" (Lev. 3:9), a lump of pure
fat from ten to fifteen inches long and from three to five inches thick.
Cattle, camels, horses, mules, asses, dogs and chickens are kept.