"It is almost impossible to calculate with accuracy the area of a
country, the frontier of which is irregular on every side. Lowman has
given three different estimates of the extent of territory occupied
by the twelve tribes, the mean between the two extremes approaches
probably the nearest to the truth. According to this computation, the
Jewish dominion, at the time of the Division, was 180 miles long, by
130 wide, and contained 14,976,000 acres. This quantity of land
will divide to 600,000 men, about 21-1/2 acres in property, with a
remainder of 1,976,000 acres for the Levitical cities, the princes of
tribes, the heads of families, and other public uses. Assuming this
estate of 21-1/2 acres, assigned to each household, of course a
larger proportion of pasture must have been given to those tribes who
subsisted on their herds and flocks, than of arable to those who
lived by tillage, the portions of the latter, therefore, must be
considerably reduced. On the other hand, the extraordinary fertility
of the whole country must be taken into the account. No part was
waste; very little was occupied by unprofitable wood; the more fertile
hills were cultivated in artificial terraces, others were hung with
orchards of fruit trees; the more rocky and barren districts were
covered with vineyards. Even in the present day, the wars and
misgovernment of ages have not exhausted the natural richness of the
soil. Galilee, says Malte Brun, would be a paradise were it inhabited
by an industrious people, under an enlightened government. No land
could be less dependent on foreign importation; it bore within itself
every thing that could be necessary for the subsistence and comfort
of a simple agricultural people. The climate was healthy, the seasons
regular; the former rains, which fell about October, after the
vintage, prepared the ground for the seed; the latter, which prevailed
during March and the beginning of April, made it grow rapidly.
Directly the rains ceased, the grain ripened with still greater
rapidity, and was gathered in before the end of May. The summer months
were dry and very hot, but the nights cool and refreshed by copious
dews. In September, the vintage was gathered. Grain of all kinds,
wheat, barley, millet, zea, and other sorts, grew in abundance; the
wheat commonly yielded thirty for one. Besides the vine and the
olive, the almond, the date, figs of many kinds, the orange, the
pomegranates, and many other fruit-trees, flourished in the greatest
luxuriance. Great quantity of honey was collected. The balm tree,
which produced the opobalsamum, a great object of trade, was probably
introduced from Arabia in the time of Solomon. It nourished about
Jericho and in Gilead."
This is but a portion of the sketch. The wealth and commerce of the
country is thus told:
"The only public revenue of the Hebrew commonwealth was that of the
sacred treasury, the only public expenditure that of the religious
worship. This was supported by a portion of the spoils taken in war;
the first fruits, which in their institution were no more than could
be carried in a basket, at a later period were rated to be one part in
sixty; the redemption of the first born, and of whatever was vowed to
the Lord. Almost every thing of the last class might be commuted for
money according to a fixed scale. The different annual festivals were
well calculated to promote internal commerce: maritime or foreign
trade, is scarcely mentioned in the law, excepting in two obscure
prophetic intimations of advantages, which the tribes of Dan and
Zebulun were to derive from their maritime situation. On this subject
the lawgiver could have learned nothing in Egypt. The commerce of that
country was confined to the inland caravan trade. The Egyptians hated
or dreaded the sea, which they considered either the dwelling of the
evil principle, or the evil principle itself. At all events, the
Hebrews at this period were either blind to the maritime advantages of
their situation, or unable to profit by them. The ports were the last
places they conquered. Sidon, if indeed within their boundary, never
lost its independence; Tyre, if it existed, was a town too obscure to
be named; Ecdippa and Acco remained in the power of the Canaanites;
Joppa is not mentioned as a port till much later. The manufactures of
the people supplied their own wants; they brought from Egypt the arts
of weaving woollens and linens, stuffs made of fine goats' hair, and
probably cotton; of dying in various colours, and bleaching, and of
embroidering; of many kinds of carpenter's work; of building, some
of the rules of which were regulated by law; of making earthenware
vessels; of working in iron, brass, and the precious metals, both
casting them and forming them with the tool; of gilding, engraving
seals, and various other kinds of ornamental work, which were
employed in the construction of the altars and sacred vessels of the
Tabernacle."
Among the illustrative passages we notice the following exquisite
paragraph on the--