backbone of Palestine is the great central plateau. It was in this
important zone that the drama of Israel's history was chiefly enacted.
Here was the true home of the Hebrews. By virtue of its position this
central zone naturally commanded those to the east and west. For one
brief period the Philistines from the western coast plain nearly
succeeded in conquering and ruling all Palestine; but otherwise, until
the world powers outside began to invade the land, the centre of power
lay among the hills. This significant feature of Palestinian history
is due to two facts: (1) that in war the great advantage lies with the
people who hold the higher eminences and so can fight from above; and
(2) that the rugged uplands usually produce more virile, energetic,
liberty-loving people. At the same time it may be noted that, while
the centre of power lay among the hills, the hill-dwellers never
succeeded in conquering completely or in holding permanently the zones
to the east and west. So firmly were the invisible bounds of each zone
established that the dwellers in one were never able wholly to
overleap these real though intangible lines and to weld together the
diverse types of civilization that sprang up in these different
regions, so near in point of distance, yet really so far removed from
each other.
=Natural and Political Bounds.= A part of the northern plateau bore
even in early Hebrew days the name of Galilee, the Circle or the
Region (I Kings, 9:11, II Kings, 15:29, Josh. 20:7). At first this
region appears to have been confined to a small area about Kedesh,
where the Hebrew and older Gentile population met and mingled.
Gradually the name was extended, until in the Maccabean and Roman
period Galilee included all of the central plateau north of the Plain
of Esdraelon as far as the Litany itself. Its western boundary lay
where the central plateau descends to the foot-hills and coast plains
of Tyre and Acre, and its eastern was the abrupt cliffs of the Jordan
valley. These were its natural boundaries; but Josephus, whose
knowledge of Galilee was peculiarly personal, includes in it the towns
about the Lake of Gennesaret (commonly designated in the New Testament
as the Sea of Galilee), the Plain of Esdraelon and even Mount Carmel
(_cf. Jewish Wars_, II, 3:4, 8:1, III, 3:1).
=Its Extent and Natural Divisions.= Defined by its narrower natural
bounds, Galilee is about thirty miles wide from east to west, and
nearly fifty miles long from north to south. It comprises an area,
therefore, of a little less than fifteen hundred square miles. It
falls into two clearly marked divisions: (1) Upper Galilee with its
rolling elevated plateaus, bounded on the east and west by hills which
rise rapidly to the height of between two thousand and four thousand
feet; and (2) Lower Galilee, lying to the south of an irregular line
drawn westward from the northern end of the Lake of Gennesaret to Acre
on the shore of the Mediterranean. This division line is marked by the
Wady Amud and the Wady et-Tuffah, which flow into the northwestern end
of the Lake of Gennesaret, and the series of plains which cut from
east to west through Galilee to a point opposite Acre. This second
division includes the lower hills, which extend southward from the
high plateaus of northern Galilee, making an irregular terrace, never
over nineteen hundred feet high and gradually sloping to the Plain of
Esdraelon, which sends out several low valleys to meet and intersect
the descending hills. This clear-cut line of division was recognized
both by Josephus and the Talmudic writers.
=Physical Characteristics of Upper Galilee.= The elevated hills of
upper Galilee constitute, therefore, the first terrace that flanks the
southern part of the Lebanons. The deep clefts between the higher
Lebanons and Anti-Lebanons to the north here disappear. Even the
Litany turns abruptly westward on the northern border of Galilee,
leaving a broad mass of rounded limestone hills, greatly weathered by
frost and rain. At a distance this mass looks like a mountain range,
but it consists in reality of a high rolling plateau, cut by irregular
valleys. This plateau of upper Galilee reaches its highest elevation
in a line drawn northwest from Safed, which was probably "the city set
on a hill" of the Gospel record.^{(7)} The mountain on which Safed
stands is two thousand seven hundred and fifty feet above the sea,
while to the northwest Jebel Jermak, the highest mountain of Galilee,
rises to the height of three thousand nine hundred and thirty-four
feet. From this point many fertile upland valleys radiate to the
northwest, the north, the northeast, and the east, but none to the
south. Thus upper Galilee presents its boldest front to the south,
towering high above lower Galilee and sloping to the north until it
meets the mountains of the southern Lebanons. On the southeast it
slopes gradually down to the Jordan and Lake Huleh, where two brooks
come down from the plain of Hazor. Farther north the hills rise very
abruptly from the Jordan and present a front unbroken by any important
streams. At many points on this eastern slope lava streams have left
their bold deposit of trap-rock. On the northwest the descent to the
coast plains is very gradual and regular, but farther south the hills
jut out abruptly to the sea. Upper Galilee is an open region with
splendid vistas of the blue coastline of the Mediterranean on the
west, of Carmel and the Samaria hills on the south, of the lofty
almost unbroken line of the plateau of the Hauran and Gilead on the
east; while the Lebanons tower on the north, and above them all rises
the massive peak of Hermon, long into the springtime clad in cold,
dazzling whiteness. Galilee, as a whole, was a land well fitted to
breed enthusiasts and men of vision, intolerant alike of the
inflexible rule of Rome and of the constricting priestcraft of
Jerusalem. The Talmud states that the Galileans were ever more anxious
for honor than for money.
=Its Fertility.= Upper Galilee was also a land of great fertility. The
one limitation was the profusion of rocks strewn especially over the
northern part. But if the Lebanons have poured their stones over
northern Galilee, they have compensated with the wealth of waters
which run through the valleys and break out in springs or else are
scattered in dashing showers and deposited in heavy dews upon its rich
soil. Where wars and conquest have not denuded the land, trees grow to
the summits of the hills and grass and flowers flourish everywhere in
greatest profusion. It is a land of plenty, sunshine, beauty, and
contentment. Significant is the fact that it figures so little in
Israel's troubled history, for happy is the land that has no history.
Josephus's statement that in his day Galilee had a population of
nearly three millions is undoubtedly an exaggeration. Even though, as
in some parts of the land, to-day, the villages almost touched each
other and no part of the land lay idle, Galilee could not have
supported more than four or five hundred thousand inhabitants (_cf._
Masterman, _Studies in Galilee_, 131-134).
=Characteristics of Lower Galilee.= Lower Galilee possesses the
fertility of upper Galilee in even greater measure. With a lower
elevation and slightly warmer climate it bears a large variety of
trees and fruits. Its valleys are also broader and lower and enriched
with the soil washed down from the hills. The broad, low plain of
Asochis (the present Sahel el-Buttauf) lies a little north of the
heart of lower Galilee and from it valleys radiate to the northeast,
southwest, and southeast. Another broad plain runs northeast from the
Plain of Esdraelon to the neighborhood of Nazareth and Mount Tabor,
and east of Tabor still another extends down to the Jordan River. The
rounded top of Mount Tabor commands a marvellous view of lower
Galilee. Across the fertile fields to the northeast lies the Sea of
Galilee, shut in by its steep banks, and beyond it the mountain
plateau of the Jaulan.^{(8)} Across the valley to the south is the
Hill of Moreh and the Samaritan hills beyond.^{(9)} Two perennial
brooks, the Wady Fejjas and the Wady el-Bireh, flow down through
southeastern Galilee into the Jordan. The result is that lower Galilee
is made up of a series of irregular hills (of which the Nazareth
group, a little south of the centre, is the chief) separated by a
network of broad, rich, intersecting plains. It combines the vistas
and large horizons of the north with the fruitfulness of the plains.
Here many different types of civilization meet and mingle. Instead of
being remote and provincial, as is sometimes mistakenly supposed,
lower Galilee is close to the heart of Palestine and open to all the
varied influences which radiate from that little world. It is also
intersected by a network of little wadys running in every direction
from its open valleys and through its low-lying hills. Thus it was
bound closely not only to the rest of Palestine, but also to the
greater world that lay beyond.
=Situation and Bounds of the Plain of Esdraelon.= The Plain of
Esdraelon is the last of the great terraces by which the Lebanons
descend on the south to the sea-level. The plain itself lies only
about two hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean and to the
east sinks toward the Jordan to below the sea-level. Its shape is that
of an equiangular triangle. Its base lies close under the northeast
side of Mount Carmel and is twenty miles long running from Tell
el-Kasis to Jenîn. Its northern line runs along the foot of the
Nazareth hills for fifteen miles to a point opposite Mount Tabor. The
eastern boundary, from Tabor to Jenîn is also about fifteen miles in
length but less regular. Moreh or Little Hermon and Mount Gilboa jut
out into the plain, which sends down toward the Jordan two broad
valleys, of which the most important is the plain of Jezreel to the
north of Gilboa.^{(10)} The watershed between these two plains is near
the modern village of Zerin which stood not far from the ancient
Jezreel.
=Plain of Jezreel.= The Plain of Jezreel extends like a great broad
valley almost due east for about fifteen miles until it reaches the
Jordan. Through it runs the Nahr Jalûd with its perennial parallel
streams. Where the Plain of Jezreel joins the low-lying Jordan valley
stands the guardian of the gateway, the town of Beisan, which
represents the ancient Bethshean, later known as Scythopolis. This
Plain of Jezreel, together with the narrow valley through which the
Kishon now finds its way to the Mediterranean, completes the link
between the Great Sea and the Jordan Valley and for a brief space
separates the hills of Galilee from those of Samaria.
=Water Supply and Fertility of the Plain of Esdraelon.= Originally the
Plain of Esdraelon appears to have been a shallow inland lake. Viewed
from the top of Mount Gilboa it appears to be completely shut in by a
circle of mountains on the north, west, and south.^{(11)} Its
elevation toward the east is so slight and its outlets to the east and
west so imperfect that during the rainy season much of it is
practically a morass. Into it drain the waters from the surrounding
hills. Some of the drainage is on the surface, but most of it is
underground, with the result that at many points on the plain rushing
springs pour forth their waters, which run for a time as a dashing
brook and then sink again into the porous soil. Springs of this
character are found especially on the northeastern and southern sides
of the plain. Some of them ultimately send their scattered waters down
the Plain of Jezreel to the Jordan, but more of them find their outlet
through the low, muddy Kishon, which, with many turnings, ploughs its
way through the middle of the Plain of Esdraelon to the shadow of
Mount Carmel and then finds a narrow outlet into the Mediterranean
past the Galilean foot-hills, which here are scarcely one hundred
yards from the spurs of Mount Carmel. As a result of its peculiar
position and formation, the Plain of Esdraelon is one of the best
watered areas in all Palestine. In certain places, indeed, it suffers
from an excess of water. Its loamy, basaltic soil is also richly
fertile and its alluvial deposits are free from stone. By nature it is
fitted to be the great grain field of central Palestine. The hills
that jut out into this garden land were naturally the first centres of
a developed agricultural civilization. Here on the southern border are
found the large mounds which were once the sites of teeming Canaanite
cities.
=Central and Commanding Position.= The Plain of Esdraelon, like the
Plain of Sharon, was a great highway of the nations. Through the broad
valleys which lead into it came from every quarter the invaders,
whether for peaceful or violent conquest, for here all the important
roads converged. On its western border ran the great coast road from
Egypt to Phœnicia. The eastern branches of the road also entered the
plain from the south through three different avenues. The one was
through the valley which led from the Plain of Sharon to the
southeastern end of Mount Carmel. Still more direct and easy was the
approach through northwestern Samaria along the Wady Arah, past the
famous old fortress of Megiddo. The third was farther east along the
broad Plain of Dothan to Engannim, the present Jenîn, and thence along
the eastern side of the Plain of Esdraelon. These highways in turn
connected with those which ran past Mount Tabor to the populous cities
on the Lake of Gennesaret and thence to Damascus and the East. Another
important artery of trade ran along the wide, level Plain of Jezreel,
past Bethshean that guarded its eastern gateway^{(12)} to the Jordan
and thence northward to Damascus or directly eastward to Gilead and
the desert (_cf._ chap. IX).
=Importance of the Plain in Palestinian History.= The Plain of
Esdraelon was both the door and the key to Palestine. Through it came
the ancient conquerors to possess the land. The Midianites in the days
of Gideon were but a part of that ever-advancing Arab horde, which
surged up through the Plain of Jezreel whenever the government of
central Palestine was weak. On its gently sloping hills from the days
of Thotmes III to Napoleon were waged the great battles that
determined the possession of the land. Here, under the leadership of
Deborah, the Hebrews fought the valiant fight that left them masters
of Canaan and free to pass over the barrier of plain that had hitherto
kept apart the tribes of the north from those of the south.
V
THE HILLS OF SAMARIA AND JUDAH
=Character of the Hills of Samaria.= The hills of Samaria and Judah
are the southern extension of the central plateau of Palestine, and
yet, like Galilee and Esdraelon they constitute an independent natural
unit. No sharply defined boundary separates them; rather the one
gradually merges into the other. The heights of Samaria and Judah are
commonly called mountains and the term is not entirely inappropriate
when applied to the range as a whole; but the individual peaks are in
reality little more than rounded hills. None of them rise over three
thousand four hundred feet above the sea-level. The highest rest upon
elevated plateaus, so that only two or three of them convey the
impression of towering height and majesty that is ordinarily
associated with the word mountain. Rather they are a chain of hills
which, viewed from the shore of the Mediterranean or from the heights
east of the Jordan, give the impression of a bold mountain range. This
is especially true as one looks up toward them from the deep
depression of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley, for they completely fill
the western horizon. The water-shed lies on the eastern side of the
range. The result is that the western hills have been worn down into
gradually descending terraces; while on the east the deep Jordan
valley is exceedingly abrupt, becoming more so in the south. At
certain points the descent is over twenty-eight hundred feet in nine
miles, and down by the western side of the Dead Sea there is often an
almost sheer fall of between fifteen hundred and three thousand feet.
=Northeastern Samaria.= The hills of Samaria fall naturally into two
great divisions. The first extends from the plains of Esdraelon and
Jezreel to the one great valley which, following the Wady el-Ifzim,
cuts through Samaria from the northwest to the southeast, running
between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The territory north of this line
resembles lower Galilee in many ways. On the east it consists of four
ranges of hills, divided by a series of broad valleys filled with rich
basaltic soil and plentifully supplied with water. These valleys and
ranges of hills, like Mount Carmel, have a general trend from
northwest to southeast. The northernmost is Mount Gilboa which rises
with a broad gradual slope on every side, to a height of between one
thousand two hundred and one thousand six hundred and fifty feet. The
bare limestone rock crops out at many points, but villages and
cultivated fields are found on its broad top. Viewed from this point
the hills of Samaria rise gradually in great terraces.^{(13)} To the
east and south of Gilboa the wide plain about Bethshean cuts far into
central Palestine. Farther south the hills of Samaria, as bold rocky
headlands, jut far out into the Jordan valley. The next great valley
south of the Plain of Jezreel is that through which the Wady
Farah^{(14)} discharges its plenteous waters into the Jordan. This
stream and the Nahr Jalud are the chief western confluents of the
lower Jordan.
=Northwestern Samaria.= In the northwest the hills of Samaria descend
gradually and are intersected by wide valleys which open into the
Plain of Sharon on the west and Esdraelon on the north. None of its
hills are over twenty-five hundred feet in height. Verdure and often
trees crown their summits, while in the valleys are the rich fields of
grain or olive orchards, watered by springs and rivulets. The chief of
these valleys is the Plain of Dothan,^{(15)} which is connected by low
passes with the Plain of Sharon on the west and the Plain of Esdraelon
on the north. Farther south are the moist upland meadows known to-day
as the "Meadow of Sinking in." These in turn are connected by an easy
pass with the network of plains that run southward past Ebal and
Gerizim and on the southwest to the city of Samaria and the Wady
esh-Shair.^{(16)}
=The View from Mount Ebal.= The one real mountain of northern Samaria
is Ebal, which rises to the height of three thousand and seventy-seven
feet. It is a broad rounded mass of limestone rock running from east
to west parallel to Gerizim, its companion on the south. Its sides,
almost to the top, are covered with gardens and olive orchards,
enclosed by picturesque cactus hedges. It commands the most
comprehensive view of any point in Palestine. Immediately to the south
is the broad cultivated back of Mount Gerizim, which lies only a few
feet lower than Ebal, while down in the narrow valley between the two
mountains is Nablus, the ancient Shechem. In the more distant horizon
is the ascending mass of the southern Samaritan and Judean
hills.^{(17)} On the east the Gilead hills present a lofty, bold
sky-line. Nearer but concealed by the rapidly descending cliffs, is
the deep valley of the Jordan; while in the foreground following the
sky-line to the northeast lies the level plateau of the Hauran, which
extends to the east of the Sea of Galilee, and beyond, if the air is
clear, the broad peak of Mount Hermon towers, seventy-five miles away.
In the immediate foreground^{(18)} to the north is the network of open
valleys of northern Samaria intersected by the ridges of hills which
sweep down from the northwest toward the Jordan. Beyond is the
depression where lies the Plain of Esdraelon, while still farther to
the north rise in regular terraces lower and upper Galilee. The broad
low line of highlands in the northwest is Carmel running out to the
sea. In the west the irregular Samaritan hills, with their many
intersecting valleys, descend leisurely to the coast plains. Beyond,
only about twenty-five miles away, is the blue Mediterranean with its
fringe of yellow sands.
=Bounds and General Characteristics of Southern Samaria.= Southern
Samaria, which lies to the south and west of Mount Ebal, extends as
far as the Wady Kelt and its northern confluent, the Wady es-Suweinit,
which comes up from ancient Jericho to the vicinity of Michmash and
Geba. On the southwest it reaches to the Wady Malakeh, which, a little
north of the pass of Beth-horon, under the name Wady 'Ain 'Arîk,
penetrates nearly to the top of the watershed. In many ways southern
Samaria resembles northern Galilee. It is an elevated plateau rising
gradually from the western coast plains and culminating in the
southeast. Baal-Hazor, five miles north of the pass of Michmash,
rising to the height of three thousand, three hundred and eighteen
feet, is the highest point in Samaria, and lacks only a few feet of
being the highest point south of the Plain of Esdraelon.
The descent in the east to the Jordan valley is exceedingly steep and
rocky. Two or three rushing brooks have cut deep channels through the
barren limestone rocks, which are covered with only a scanty herbage.
Northwest of Jericho rises, as a terrace leading up to the heights
above, the semi-detached mass of barren rock known as the Quarantana
(Jebel Kuruntul), and still higher up to the west lies the wilderness
of Bethaven, and beyond the rocky hills of Mount Ephraim.^{(19)} On
the high central plateau north of Baal-Hazor are a network of small
but open plains, which run up past Shiloh to the east of Mount
Gerizim. These are fringed by rocky hills, but are themselves
exceedingly well-watered and fruitful and are covered to-day with
waving grain fields.
=Southwestern Samaria.= The western part of southern Samaria is the
land of deep but open valleys. Trees and grass, with many well-tilled
fields, cover the hills and valleys. Chief of these valleys which lead
up from the plain are the Wady esh-Shair (the Barley Vale), west of
Shechem,^{(16)} the Brook Kanah, the Wady Jib, which first flows south
and then westward into the Wady Deir Ballut, and the Wady ez-Zerka,
which, like the Wady Malakeh, finds its outlet into the sea a little
north of Jaffa. Prosperous villages, some capping the summits of
rounded hills, and others far down in sheltered spots in the deep
valleys, are scattered throughout this entire region. The site of each
was evidently chosen with a view to defence against the many foes
that, from earliest times, have passed up through the valleys which
stand wide open to the west. Like the rest of Samaria, it was a land
where peace could be secured only by the sword and by strong
battlements. It was also a land where nature gave rich gifts to those
who were strong enough to maintain themselves against all invaders.
=The Central Heights of Judah.= The central plateau of southern
Palestine culminates in Judea. It is a mass of rounded hills averaging
only about fifteen miles wide and not more than forty miles long. Here
erosion has worn away all bold, imposing peaks. The highest points,
Mizpah,^{(20)} the modern Neby Samwil (two thousand, eight hundred and
thirty-five feet high), in the north and the heights immediately north
of Hebron (three thousand, three hundred and seventy feet), where the
southern plateau reaches its maximum elevation, are but rounded hills
on the top of a great plateau. Between these are narrow, rocky
valleys, dry during most of the year and strewn with stones laid bare
by the winter freshets. The landscape lacks distinctive character. The
prevailing impression is that of gray and yellow limestone;^{(21)} and
yet these fields of Judah are not altogether unproductive, as is amply
demonstrated by the verdant fields in the vicinity of Jerusalem,
Bethlehem,^{(22)} and Hebron. Occasionally the native soil has been
retained in a little upland plain,^{(23)} as that east of Bethlehem or
at Maon and Carmel, south of Hebron, or in certain favored valleys,
such as Hinnom, to the south of Jerusalem. The soil, which is held
upon the hillsides by the terraces or piles of stone, is exceedingly
fruitful and supports patches of grain, or luxurious vines, or verdant
olive trees, which stand out in striking contrast to the grim, rocky
background.