Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
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). ” 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. ” 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 seen 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 seen 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. 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.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
PAL'ESTINE (land of sojourners), a country east of the Mediterranean Sea, and sacred alike to Jew, Mohammedan, and Christian. See Maps at the end of the volume. Name. T. " Ps 60:8; Ps 87:4; Ps 108:9; Zeph 2:5. etc. The term, therefore, originally referred only to the country of the Philistines, and in its Greek form is so used by Josephus. The name is also applied to the whole land of the Hebrews by Josephus, Philo, and by Greek and Roman writers. " Gen 12:5; Acts 16:3; Ex 15:15; Jud 3:1. It was also known as the Promised Land, land of Israel, land of Judah or "Judaja," and the Holy Land.
Gen 12:7; Ps 105:9; Zech 2:12, etc. Situation and Extent. - Palestine is situated at the south-eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, being the southern portion of the high table- and lowlands lying between the great plains of Assyria and the shores of that sea. This central location in the midst of the great nations of the East has been frequently noticed.
It was about midway between Assyria and Egypt on the south-west, and between Persia and Greece on the north-west, being on the high-road from one to the other of these mighty powers, and often the battle-field on which they fought to decide which should become the mistress of the world. This central position gave it the opportunity to become acquainted with the progress which these great nations had gained in the arts, the sciences, and in civilization. This also exposed it to the powerful religious influences which these great but idolatrous nations constantly exerted.
The weakness of the Hebrew nation in following these forms of false religion and worship caused it to be frequently visited with the judgments of the Almighty. The boundaries of Palestine cannot now be accurately determined. While the boundaries between the tribes were defined with much care and precision, the portions bordering on other nations to the north, east, and south on their outlying sides were described in general terms only, and these border-lines seem to have varied at different periods of their history. " Gen 15:18; Gen 17:8; Num 34:2-12; Deut 1:7.
Some understand by the "river of Egypt" the Nile, but, as Eastern Egypt was never held by the Hebrews, such a promise was, of course, never fulfilled. To account for this it is said that the promise was made upon conditions which the nation failed to meet, and hence the failure of the Hebrews to possess all the land which, according to this view, had been promised to them. Others suppose that the "river of Egypt" means the Wady el-Arish, and all this territory was actually possessed during the period of the monarchy under David and Solomon.
Palestine in its greatest extent, therefore, was bounded on the north by Syria, on the east by the Euphrates and the great desert, on the south by Negeb or "the south country," and on the west by the Mediterranean Sea. Scarcely more than one-half of this region lay west of the Jordan between that river and the great sea, the other portion lying to the eastward and including all the fertile table-land between the Jordan and the great Arabian desert, which reached to the borders of Assyria.
The greatest length of Palestine is about 160 miles, its breadth not far from 90 miles; the average length of the territory, according to the latest authorities, is about 150 miles, its average breadth west of the Jordan a little more than 40 miles, and its breadth east of the Jordan rather less than 40 miles.
The total area of that portion which lies between the Jordan and "the great sea" is about 6600 square miles; that portion east of the Jordan has an area of about 5000, and perhaps of 6000, square miles, making the whole area of Palestine, on both sides of Jordan, 12,000 or 13,000 square miles, or about equal to that of the two States of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Physical Features.
- This land naturally divides itself into four long parallel tracts, extending north and south, two of them low and two of them elevated:(1) The plain along the sea-coast, broken at the north by Carmel; (2) The hill country and table-land between the Jordan valley and the coast-plain, reaching from the north to the south end of the land, and broken only by the great plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon; (3) The valley of the Jordan, with its remarkable depression below the level of the sea; (4) The high table-land east of the Jordan, reaching from Mount Hermon on the north, through Bashan, Gilead, and Moab, and extending eastward to the Arabian desert.
Each of these four natural divisions will be described, beginning with the plain along the Mediterranean Sea. The coast-plain. - This district is supposed to have been formed by the denudation of the mountains, the sand-dunes along the shores, and partly by the deposit of the Nile mud, which has been noticed as far north as Gaza. This plain extends without a break from the desert below Gaza to the ridge of Carmel; north of Carmel is the plain of Acre, which reaches to a headland known as the "Ladder of Tyre;" north of this headland lies the narrow plain of Phoenicia.
That portion of the plain which lies between Carmel and Jaffa (Joppa) was known as the plain of Sharon. A great portion of this plain is flat, but north of Jaffa are low hillocks, through which, in ancient times, tunnels were cut to drain the marshy land lying back of them. The soil is of marvellous fertility, producing good crops without irrigation, though it is tilled in the rudest manner. "Deep gulleys intersect the plain," says Conder, "running westward to the sea, and carrying down the drainage of the mountain-system.
They have generally high earthen banks, and in some cases contain perennial streams. The neighborhood of these streams is marshy, especially toward the north of Sharon, and the dunes and marshes together reduce the arable land by about one fourth. The maritime plain is some 80 miles long, and from 100 to 200 feet above the sea, with low cliffs near the coast. " - Handbook, p. 211. Wilson speaks of the broad expanse of the Philistine plain as covered in harvest-time with a waving mass of golden grain unbroken by a single hedge, and presenting one of the most beautiful sights in Palestine.
The stubble becomes so dry under a scorching Syrian sun that a spark would set it on fire, and the flames would sweep over it like the fires upon an American prairie. Such a fire was no doubt kindled by Samson when he turned his three hundred foxes or jackals with their firebrands into the standing grain of the Philistines in the time of wheat-harvest. Jud 15:4-5.
The Shephelah, or "low country," in which were the towns of Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Tininah, and Gimzo, 2 Chr 28:18, consisted of a series of low undulating hills lying between the great southern plain on the coast and the hill-country toward Jerusalem. There is not to be found a single good harbor along this entire coast. The highlands west of the Jordan.
- Next to the coast-plain eastward comes the high-table land, including the hill country of Judaea - a tract about 25 miles wide, and which begins at the foot of Lebanon in the north and extends southward through the hills of Galilee, is broken by the plain of Jezreel, rises again with the hills of Samaria, and extends southward beyond Jerusalem for about 50 miles. " As seen from the sea, it has a general resemblance to a long continuous wall.
The following are the heights above the sea of some of its chief points: Hebron, 2840 feet; Olivet, 2665 feet; Nebi Samwil, 2900 feet; Mount Ebal, 3029 feet: Nebi Ismail, 1790 feet; and Jebel Jermuk, 4000 feet.
"The hills are broad-backed," says Wilson, "and present none of the grander features of mountain-scenery, but every here and there a rounded summit rises above the general level of the range and affords striking panoramas of the surrounding country: such are the views from Mount Ebal, Little Hermon, Nebi Ismail, near Nazareth, and the hill on which Safed stands, each embracing no inconsiderable portion of the Holy Land.
The effect of the view is increased by the transparency of the atmosphere, which diminishes apparent distances in a manner unknown in moister climes, and by the rich and varying tints that light up the steep slopes of the Jordan valley. Through the centre of the hill-country runs the main road from Jerusalem through Samaria to Galilee, following nearly the line of the watershed, and passing close to many of the chief cities of Judah and Israel. It is the route now usually followed by travellers, and was probably always one of the most important thoroughfares in the country.
East of this road the hills descend abruptly to the Jordan valley; west of it they fall more gradually to the coast-plain. The wonderful ramifications of the valleys which cut up the hill-country on either side of the watershed form one of the peculiar features of Palestine topography; rising frequently in small upland plains of great richness, such as el-Mukhua, near Nablus, the valleys at first fall very rapidly, and then, after a tortuous course, reach the plain on the one side and the Jordan valley on the other. " - Bib. Educator, vol. ii. p. 214.
Near Jerusalem the tract becomes lower, about 2600 feet above the sea, and the hills are capped with chalk, but south of Jerusalem the ridge becomes higher and more rugged, the slopes to the west very steep, deep ravines running north and south, while south of Hebron is a plain upon the table-land, partially broken by a valley extending from Hebron to Beersheba. and thence north-westward nearly to Gaza. Pres.
Bartlett, speaking of the hill-country of Judah, says: "Perhaps no one aspect of Palestine along its central line of hills, both here and north of Jerusalem, strikes the stranger more with surprise than the amount and roughness of its rock- surface. It is not unlike the stony parts of New Hampshire in this respect. At the first glance, especially in its present wretched desolation and neglect under a government that crushes all the hopes of industry, and in possession of a people that destroy and never replace, the thought of the superficial observer is that of disappointment.
He sees it almost treeless, rocky, and rough and neglected, and thinks that it is, after all, a much overrated and overpraised country. But when he looks more closely he perceives that all this rock, being limestone, and not sandstone or granite, when it pulverizes, carries with it, not barrenness, but fertility.
He observes how the noble olive grows in successive tiers up the sides of seemingly hopeless hills, what sunny exposures are everywhere offered to the vine, and how green are the wheat-fields even when wedged in among the cliffs, and how all these hills appear once to have been diligently and laboriously laid out in terraces almost to their tops; and he changes his mind. He travels through a multitude of fertile valleys, and crosses plains, like that of Esdraelon, as rich of soil as a Western prairie, almost abandoned now.
He passes from the deep tropical valley of the Jordan by the Dead Sea to the high mountains of Galilee and the still higher range of Lebanon, and sees how this little country, not larger than Wales, is fitted to produce almost every species of fruit or grain, of whatever climate, upon the globe. " - From Egypt to Palestine, p. 409. The Jordan valley and plain. - This valley, extending from the base of Hermon to the south end of the Dead Sea, is one of the wonders in physical geography. It varies greatly in width from half a mile to 5 miles, and at some points is 12 miles broad.
At the foot of Hermon this valley is about 1000 feet above the sea; at Lake Huleh, about 12 miles south of Hermon, the valley is upon the sea-level; at the Sea of Galilee, some 10 miles farther south, the valley falls 682 feet below the level of the sea; while at the Dead Sea, about 65 miles south of Galilee, the valley sinks to the astonishing depth of 1300 feet below the ocean-level. The sea has on its shore a salt-mountain, Jebel Usdum, a long mass of rock - salt several hundred feet high, nearly 7 miles long, and from 1 to 3 miles wide.
The mountain is capped with marl and gypsum, and in this region are numerous salt pillars, among them one spire which tradition points out as Lot's wife. Bitumen abounds also, and sometimes is strongly impregnated with sulphur. See Salt Sea. The mountains on either side of this immense depression rise to a height, near Beisan, of about 2000 feet above the valley, while near Jericho they are nearly 4000 feet above the river Jordan.
These heights, combined with the deep depression, afford a great variety of temperature, and bring into close proximity productions usually found widely apart in the temperate and torrid zones. See Jordan. The table-land east of the Jordan. - The broad eastern plateau beyond Jordan may be described as having a general altitude of about 2000 feet above the sea, though at some points it attains a height of 3000 feet; the surface is tolerably uniform, but broken on its western edge by deep ravines running into the Jordan valley.
Within this region were the ancient forests and rich pastures of Bashan, famous from a very early age, and still regarded as among the most fertile portions of Palestine. This plateau, upon its extreme eastern edge, sinks away into the Arabian desert. Eastward of the Sea of Galilee, however, it is broken by a mountainous tract extending from 40 to 50 miles from north-east to south-west. The region known as the Lejah is one vast lava-bed, broken by deep ravines, where water is found and where people dwell in caves. See Bashan.
This volcanic or basaltic tract rises gradually from the north, and is interspersed with many isolated hills, some of which are beyond doubt craters of extinct volcanoes. Nearly opposite Jericho is the range of Abarim, which includes Nebo and Pisgah, the place where Moses viewed the land and died. Deut 34:1-6. See Abarim. Mountains, Passes, and Plains.
- The only mountain of importance along the coast is the promontory and ridge of Carmel, which extends north-west and south-east, being from 12 to 18 miles in length, about 1750 feet high at its highest point, and about 600 feet high where it breaks off into the sea. Among the noted elevations of the district known as "the hill-country," west of the Jordan, are the following: At the extreme north the Anti Lebanon range, and southward, in Galilee, Little Hermon, Tabor, the Horns of Hattin, the hill of Nazareth, and Mount Gilboa; still farther south. Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim.
Gibeah, Olivet, the mountain Quarantania, and, at the extreme south. Mount Seir. Among the mountains in the district cast of Jordan are Mount Gilead, the range of Abarim, which included Pisgah, Nebo, and Peor. Among the noted "passes" on the west side of Jordan is that at Beth-horon, the one in the south at Akrabbim, and that on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho through the Wadi Kelt. There are numerous other deep ravines on both; sides of the Jordan, like that of Mar Saba, and of the Callirrhoe along the Zerka Main.
Among the plains, the two most remarkable are the plain of Jezreel and the plain of Sharon. See Jezreel and Sharon. Rivers, Lakes, and Fountains. - The great river of Palestine is the Jordan, which divides the land into two almost equal portions. It has no important tributary from the west, but there are some small streams, as the Derdarah, the Nahr el- Jalud, rising in the fountain of Jezreel, and the Wady el-Faria.
Of the streams running into the Mediterranean are the Leontes, the Belus, the Kishon - "that ancient river" - the Zerka, north of Caesarea, and the Anjeh, near Jaffa, which drains the mountains of Samaria. The streams running into the Jordan from the east are the Wady Za'areh, the Yarmuk or Hieromax, the Jabbok - now called the ez-Zerka - the Zerka Main, the Arnon - now called the el-Mojib - and the Wady Kerak. Many of the so-called "rivers" of Palestine are only winter-torrents, whose beds are dry in summer.
The lakes of importance are Lake Huleh, or the "waters of Merom," the Lake of Galilee, and the Salt or Dead Sea. A description of these is given under their respective titles. Palestine was noted of old for its fountains.
Among the most important are those which constitute the sources of the Jordan, as the great fountain at Banias, the ancient "Caesarea Philippi," at Tell al-Kady, the ancient Dan, the fountain of Jezreel, the source of the Kishon, the fountain of Nazareth, that of et-Tabighah, the hot springs of Tiberias, the various fountains in and about Jerusalem - of which Robinson says there are not less than thirty - the "fountain of Elisha," near ancient Jericho, those near Hebron, and the noted fountain near ancient En-gedi.
Upon the east of the Jordan, near the Dead Sea, were the famous hot springs of Callirrhoe, and similar springs near the Zerka, the Yarmuk or Hieromax, and, besides these, the copious fountains at some of the principal towns, as Kunawat, Hebron, Ornam, and Busra or Bozrah.
The mineral springs are found chiefly in the valley of the Jordan, and are divided by Robinson into three classes: (1) Hot sulphur springs, which are found in five places - near Tiberias, on the western shore of the lake, with a temperature of 144F; near Um Keis, in the valley of the Yarmuk, with a temperature of 109F; at Callirrhoe, east of the Dead Sea; and in Wady Hamad. (2) Warm saline springs occur at only one place, the Wady Malik, south of Beisan, which have a temperature of 98F. (3) Warm springs in general, of which there are several.
The "fountain of Elisha," near Jericho, is slightly warm, but not brackish, and the same is true of the fountains et-Tabighah and el-Feshkah, on the western shore of the Dead Sea, except that the latter is quite brackish. Geology. - There never has been a complete geological survey of Palestine. The general character of its formation has been ascertained, however, and will be briefly described.
The Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges of mountains are chiefly composed of hard limestone overlaid with a formation of soft white chalk, the latter containing numerous fossils, those of the fish being the most common. These formations occur in Western Palestine, though in the higher hills of Galilee there is a second layer of limestone above the chalk.
The upper limestone varies from white to reddish brown, has few fossils, and abounds in caverns, the strata being sometimes violently twisted, as between Jerusalem and Jericho, and in other places blends into dolomite or magnesian limestone, as on the western shore of the Dead Sea. East of the Jordan and south of Hermon are vast beds of volcanic rock, and in the Lejah district there is a great field of basalt covering about 500 square miles.
East of the Dead Sea occurs the Nubian sandstone, while beneath this formation, especially near Petra, igneous formations are to be found, the chains of Sinai and Serbal being formed of different varieties of granitic rock. The geological origin of the great depression of the valley of the Jordan may be due to volcanic causes, though this question has not yet been settled. Some think the basins of the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea resemble craters; others attribute the chasm to the gradual action of the ocean at some immensely remote period.
All agree that the theory which ascribes the formation of the Dead Sea to the time of the overthrow of the cities of the plain is without any scientific support, and it is not required by the language of Scripture. The soil of Palestine is noticed under Agriculture. Climate. - Though the present climate of Palestine appears to be unhealthy for Occidentals, it is on the whole mild, and tends toward an extreme of heat rather than of cold. 1F. The coldest month, on the average, was January; the warmest, August.
The average summer heat, according to Conder, ranges between 100F in the plains and 85F in the mountains as a maximum temperature in the shade. In the plains the winter temperature seldom falls below freezing-point, but in the mountains frost and snow are of frequent occurrence. On the sea-coast the heat of the summer is tempered by the cool breezes, but in the valleys of the Jordan the heat is often terrible, sometimes reaching 110F in the shade. According to Dr. Barclay, the highest temperature at Jerusalem is about 92F and the lowest 28F, the mean temperature being not far from 62F.
About the same temperature doubtless prevails throughout the whole hill country. Mount Hermon, in the north, 9300 feet high, is never entirely clear of snow, though sometimes there is very little of it left upon its sides late in autumn. As a rule, the year consists of two seasons only, the rainy and the dry. The rainy season begins near the end of October, sometimes preceded by violent thunderstorms. This may be the "former rain" noticed in the Bible. Deut 11:14; Joel 2:23. The winds from the south and south-west bring frequent showers.
December is usually stormy, January and February cold and rainy, the rain falling in the valleys and uplands and the snow upon the mountains. The "latter rains " come in March and April. If scanty, they impair, or even destroy, the crops; if violent, they sometimes sweep away the fruit trees and gardens, and do not spare the mud hovels, or even the better houses of the peasantry. The average annual rainfall at Jerusalem has been found to be about 60 inches, while with us it is 45, and in California, where the climate resembles Palestine, it is only 20 inches.
The annual rainfall at Beirut for the ten years noted in the previous paragraph was 63 inches, the least for any one year being 57, and the greatest 74. The average number of rainy days in a year was 63. The dry season extends from April to November, during which period the sky is almost uninterruptedly cloudless. Thunderstorms occasionally occur in May, but are very rare. 1 Sam 12:17-18. Mists hover about the mountains, but otherwise the atmosphere is generally brilliantly clear. Heavy dews fall at night, even in the midst of summer, except in the desert.
The east wind, or sirocco, blows during February, March, and April, and sometimes darkens the air with clouds of fine dust. A drought of three months before harvest is fatal to the crops, the harvest coming in the valley of the Jordan a month in advance of that on the highland. The barley-harvest usually comes early in May in the valley; the wheat-harvest is a few weeks later. But the harvest-time varies in different years, and even in different parts of the country, in the same season, owing to the different elevations of the land.
In regard to the climate and seasons of Palestine now, Warren says: "There is but one rainy season, and then a long interval of drought and desolation from July - I might say May - to November. During this long period scarcely a green blade can be seen as far as the eye can stretch over the vast plains, nothing but sticks, stones, and dust, the monotony relieved only by the noise of the wild artichoke careering on the wings of the whirlwind, or by a troop of Bedouins rushing off on a plundering expedition.
Toward the end of October there is a sullen stillness in the air; the atmosphere is loaded to the senses, and the soul is heavy with melancholy, waiting for the rains. Then the spell of drought is broken; a storm occurs. For three days there is abundance of soft showers, with a few downpours, and again often some weeks of drought until the winter solstice; then there is a thorough break up: cold and rain spread over the land. In January the rain falls now and again for three days, with a week's interval; but February is the really rainy month.
I have known it to rain every day throughout the month. There is, however, no certainty in the matter; one year the rain is later than the next. In March there are pleasant showers and storms, and in April there are showers and often intervals of intense cold; even snow I have known at Jerusalem during that month. May is frequently a month of hot winds blowing from the east, but in June there are clouds and a few showers. Now, it is this early portion of the year that would be most affected by the growth of trees and the terracing of the hillsides.
The April showers would be extended into May, the June clouds and showers into July; the latter rains of June will fall in abundance, giving a second season - a never-ending succession of crops - when the ploughman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed. The rich soil is well prepared to yield a second crop year by year; all that is required is water and warmth, and this it will have, for water will now be found gushing from the rocks, from springs which have long been silent.
Carried along the hillsides in ducts, it may be used for irrigation purposes in the undulating country, and then into the plains, to be used again, or else it may assist in filling up the wells of the plain to near the surface of the ground - wells which are now 30 to 90 feet deep - with water. The water so freely used will evaporate and form clouds over the land without ever reaching the sea, thus preventing the formation of the unhealthy lagoons of half-salt, half-fresh water along the shore of Palestine, now so common.
"Philistia, Sharon, and the other plains bordering on the sea, are even now exceptionally fertile, but they may, by a regular succession of crops, be made to yield far more abundantly, and the advance of the rolling sand-hills may be arrested - an advance which, if not looked to, will soon overwhelm the fairest of the maritime plains. The rich ground between Gaza and Ascalon, between Ascalon and Jaffa, which the sand has swallowed up, must again be uncovered.
" Of the effect of the "former rains" in October and November, Tyrwhitt Drake wrote in 1872: "These rains produced an immediate change in the appearance of the country. Grass began to sprout all over the hills; the wasted grain on the threshing-floors soon produced a close crop some 6 inches high. The cyclamen, white crocus, saffron crocus, and jonquil are in full flower on the mountains; the ballat (Quercus segilops) is fast putting out its new leaves, and in sheltered nooks some of the hawthorn trees are doing the same. . . . " Productions.
- Among the trees and plants of Palestine, the more important are the cedar and the cypress, now quite rare; the Aleppo pine, still abundant on the slopes of Lebanon; the terebinth, evergreen oak, and the common oak, for which Bashan was famed; the locust tree, the carob - the pods of which were the "husks" the prodigal would have eaten - the walnut, the plane tree, the tamarisk, the common willow, the white or silver poplar, the maple, juniper, ash, alder, and hawthorn.
Of fruit trees there are the sycamore-fig, olive, quince, mulberry, almond, banana, pomegranate, orange, pear - though not abundant - and the common fig, which is one of the staple products of the country. The prickly pear is used for hedges; the palm tree, once abundant, is now rarely seen; though the date-palm is occasionally found, yet its fruit does not ripen. Vines are very common, grapes being one of the principal products of the hill-country. Melons of various kinds, cucumbers, lettuce, purslane, endive, gourds, and pumpkins are likewise common, some of the latter attaining great size.
The egg-plant and cauliflower are also common, and artichokes and asparagus grow wild. Potatoes are grown in some places, as at Jerusalem. Among the flowering-plants may be noticed the tulip, various kinds of the anemone, the lily, the white narcissus, the iris, the flowering oleander, the honeysuckle, the jessamine, the primrose, mistletoe, acacia, poppy, geranium, and pink, and altogether more than five hundred different varieties of wildflowers of rich and delicate color, giving the country, in the height of the season, a showy and gorgeous appearance.
Indeed, the wild flowers of Palestine are the chief natural attractions of the country. The various grains grown in Palestine are described under Agriculture and under their different titles. The wild animals of Palestine are about the same as in ancient times, except that the lion and a species of the wild ox have become extinct. The number of species of mammals is about eighty - a large number for so small a country.
Among the animals are the badger, bat, bear, zemer, coney, various kinds of deer, ferret, fox, wild goat, hare, hedgehog and porcupine, hyaena, jackal, cheetah or leopard, wild boar and wild ass, the mole, mouse, the jerbon or jumping mouse, weasel, and the wolf. Of domestic animals there are the camel, dog, cat, goat, horse, mule, ass, ox, sheep, and the half-wild swine. Of the reptiles and "creeping things" of Palestine every traveller is painfully conscious. They are the adder, lizard, chameleon, frog, shrill-crying little gecko, the viper, and scorpions under every stone.
Insects abound on every hand. The more common are the ant, honey-bee, flea, locust, wasp, hornet, spiders without number, various kinds of gnats and flies, beetles, and butterflies. Of fish the most common are the carp, perch, minnow, barbel, bream, sheat-fish, and the dog-fish, all of which abound in the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee. Larger fish are found in the Mediterranean, among them the shark, which was doubtless the "great fish" (incorrectly rendered "whale") that swallowed the truant prophet Jonah.
The birds of Palestine are very numerous, more than three hundred and twenty species having been already identified. The hills abound in fine specimens of the partridge, and quails are found in the grain-fields. Wild ducks frequent the plains of the Jordan, and pigeons swarm everywhere. Large flocks of storks and cranes hover about the plain of Jezreel, while sparrows and swallows swarm in the ruins of towns and boldly enter the very sanctuaries of the Muslims in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
The most conspicuous of the birds of prey are the eagle, ospray, vulture, kite, the lapwing or hoopoe, the filthiest of scavengers among birds, the hawk, and the majestic lammergeier. The ravens are still abundant as in the days of Elijah, and are of various kinds. Singing-birds are not wanting. Song 2:12; Ps 104:10, Jud 4:12, the more common being the thrush, nightingale or bulbul, and the cuckoo, whose sweet call-notes are often heard in spring. The cormorant, heron, and pelican are also found upon the lakes or along the coast.
Gulls and petrels skim the shores of the sea; jays and woodpeckers sport in the forests of Carmel, Gilead, and Bashan; kestrels, griffons, and buzzards soar over the rugged cliffs of Jordan or sweep across the marshes of the plains; bats and owls swarm in the numerous caverns in the sides of the deep ravines and limestone precipices abounding in the land; larks and linnets are taken in snares, tamed, and used like pigeons as decoys to catch other birds; while chattering sparrows are on every hand, until we do not wonder that a single one of these birds was counted worth next to nothing - two for a farthing or five for two farthings.
Matt 10:29; Luke 12:6. While the thrift, prosperity, and true religion of the people of Palestine have disappeared, and with them the beauty and natural loveliness of the land, the prominent physical features remain as they were 4000 years ago, and our eyes behold the same valleys, hills, and mountains, our feet may cross the same streams, and our thirst may be quenched from the same fountains and wells that were fumed in the days of the patriarchs.
The same kind of animals survive to bear burdens for the trader and to feed the hungry now as in those remote ages, the same kind of insects annoy and destroy the comfort of the "sojourner," [image -7, 100, 291, 457, 19554] and the same sort of birds delight the eye with their majestic flight or please the ear with their song. Palestine is itself one vast ruin; even the very land seems to sympathize with the general desolation which rests upon its cities and towns.
A bad government has for years not only failed to protect its inhabitants: it has burdened them with taxes, and when it had brought them to poverty it added extortion to oppression, allowed justice and honesty to be disregarded by its officials, made bribery and corruption so common, and the reward to the extortionate so great, that no officer could afford to be honest or dare to be just.
The whole system of civil rule is on a rotten foundation, and cannot be made solid so long as it is based on the Turkish belief that a Christian and a Jew can never be raised to an equality with a follower of Mohammed. Added to this there are great physical causes which have been suggested as reasons why a land once so fruitful has become so barren and desolate.
Among these are:(1) Rains have ceased to fall in proper proportion; (2) Clouds fail to protect the soil from the sun in spring; (3) There are neither people, facilities, nor skill to till the land properly; (4) Soil once terraced on the mountain-sides is now washed into the valleys. Respecting the possibilities of recovering the former fertility and productiveness of the Holy Land, Warren eloquently declares: "Put the country under proper cultivation, and will not all be changed? Rich loam clogs the valleys, the hillsides are bare. The work to be done is not difficult.
It is practicable; it is going on in Spain, and even in parts of Palestine at the present time. Walls of rough stones are built along the hillsides, 3 to 4 feet high, according to the steepness of the slope, and the space between them and the hill filled up with the jet loam; this is continued from bottom to top until the mountain-side presents the appearance, from the opposite side, of a series of steps:from the bottom it looks like a great stone wall; from the top, like a loamy plateau.
On these terraces are planted the young trees, figs, olives, mulberry, apricot, the pine, those of a more delicate nature being planted on the northern terraces in order that they may suffer less from the sun's rays, the walls not being exposed to the heat. These trees thrive rapidly, as they will do in Palestine, and spread out their leaves and thrust their roots into the rocky clefts. The rain falls, but not as heretofore; there are no bare rocks for it now to course down, no torrent is foaming in the valley. No!
Now it falls on the trees and terraces, it percolates quietly into the soil and into the rocky hillside, and is absorbed, scarcely injuring the crops in the valley, where before it would have ruthlessly washed them away. "The water that thus sinks into the rocks is not lost, for it will shortly reissue at some distance lower down in perennial springs, so refreshing in a thirsty land.
The rain that remains in the soil keeps about the roots of the trees, enabling them to spread out their leaves in rich groves over the land to protect it from the sun, whose rays are now intercepted and absorbed by the leaves and fruits, giving forth no glare or reflection, but a delicious green shade.
The soil, though warm, is not burnt up at once, but every day gives out a moisture which rises above the trees, and on reaching the higher and cooler winds is condensed into visible vapor or clouds, constantly forming as the breeze passes over the groves, thus protecting them from the sun as with an umbrella. The climate becomes changed, for the rocks, once bare and exposed to the sun, have now upon them soil, and, sheltering the soil, trees, and, sheltering the trees, clouds. " History. - The history of the Holy Land is treated in detail under Canaan, Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem.
A concise general view may here be added for convenience to the reader. The history of this land may be not inappropriately divided into five great periods:(1) Before the Israelitish conquest; (2) Under the Judges and kings; (3) During the Captivity and Maccabaean period; (4) The Roman and Christian period- (5) The Mohammedan period. An outline only can be given under each period. Before the Israelitish Conquest. - The earliest inhabitants of Palestine of whom we have any notice were Hamites, descended from Canaan, and included ten or more tribes, grouped under the general name of Canaanites.
Gen 10:15-18. Some suppose these tribes were in two groups, Sidon and Heth, and that the curious inscriptions found at Hamath, yet undeciphered by scholars, are of Hittite origin. At an early date there may have been only four leading tribes within the bounds of Palestine - Jebusites, Amorites, Girgasites, and Hivites; others were soon added, however, and appear in the days of Abraham, the Hittites probably coming from the north, as did also the Amorites. The walls of the temple at Karnak, in Egypt, bear a hieroglyphic inscription, lately deciphered, recording an invasion by Thothmes III.
of the countries east of the Mediterranean, including Palestine, and the conquest of one hundred and nineteen towns and cities, a large portion of them being identified as cities mentioned in the Bible. For the later conquest of the land by Joshua, and the division of it among the tribes, see Canaan. Under the Judges and Kings. - During the rule of the Judges the land was not under any united or strong government.
The fortunes and the possessions of the people were subject to constant fluctuations - sometimes overrun by enemies, at others victorious over them, as under the leadership of Samson, Gideon, and Jephthah; but there was little general security, and the former tribes kept the new settlers in a state of constant alarm. They longed for a central and monarchical government, and God granted their desire, though warning them, through the prophet Samuel, of the result. Under David and Solomon the nation was consolidated and reached the highest point of temporal prosperity.
The rupture followed, and for five hundred years the nation gradually declined in greatness and power, until it fell into captivity under the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. See Israel and Judah, Kingdoms of. The Captivity and Maccabean Rule, - After the seventy years' captivity portions of the southern nation returned to repeople Palestine. The ten tribes composing the northern kingdom of Israel were "lost," and portions of their territory were repeopled by a mixed class, afterward known as Samaritans. Later, Philip and his son Alexander extended the Grecian conquests into Asia. c.
333, in which Darius was completely deflated, caused Palestine to pass from the Persian to the Grecian sway. The country was ruled under the Seleucidae by governors appointed by the king at Antioch. The war of independence, under the leadership of the Maccabaean princes, is among the most important events of this period. Roman and Christian Period. c. 40 the Parthians plundered Syria and Palestine; Herod I. c. 37. c.
4), and during the ministry of our Lord, the land was divided and ruled by his sons and by Roman procurators, Herod Antipas and Pilate being among those more prominent in biblical history. d. 70 the capital, Jerusalem, was captured after great loss of life. The whole land was soon after reduced to the condition of a colony, and the Jews excluded from their capital. Later, the eastern empire gained the ascendency in Western Asia, and under the Constantines the land was favored, Christianity was recognized, churches built. Christian sees established, and partial prosperity restored. d.
570, and the rapid rise of Mohammedanism, led the way for the Holy Land to fall into the hands of the Arabs. The Mohammedan Period. d. 634, opened the whole of Palestine to the Arabs, followers of Mohammed. The political history of the Arab rulers of these centuries presents a continuous scene of war and bloodshed, accompanied by an interminable series of intestine dissensions, intrigues, and murders. The Arabs, however, made considerable progress in scientific knowledge, in philosophy, and in mathematics. , who signally defeated the Turks in battle on the plain of Jezreel.
The recent intervention of England and the nations of Europe was supposed to promise some reforms in misgoverned Turkey and its possessions, including Palestine, but the realization of the promise must be found in the future, if at all. Palestine now belongs to the pashalic of Damascus, which includes the three sub-pashalics of Beirut, Akka, and Jerusalem. Present Inhabitants. - As no census of Palestine has been taken under its present rule, the number of its inhabitants can be only approximately determined. The estimates of the present population vary widely.
The pashalic of Jerusalem, according to Ritter, has 602,000; the pashalic of Acre, according to Robinson, has 72,000; the remaining part of the pashalic of Sidon in Jerusalem and the East Jordanic region is estimated to contain about 150,000, making a total population of 824,000. Dr. Hitchcock, in Johnson's Cyclopaedia, supposes the present population "to be well on toward 400,000, less than a tenth of what it probably was in the time of Solomon," The correct number can only be ascertained by a census under a government with more trustworthy officials than the present Turkish rule sustains.
Of the population of Palestine probably about 20,000 are Jews, chiefly dwelling in the four sacred cities of Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron, The Samaritans number scarcely one hundred and fifty, dwelling in Nablius. The rest of the population is Mohammedan and of a mixed character, from the ancient Syrians and their conquerors the Arabs. Computations based on the statements of Josephus make the population of Palestine in the time of our Lord from 4,000,000 to 6,000,000,- the number in the most prosperous days of the monarchy under Solomon is estimated at from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000.
The peasantry of Judaea are termed fellaheen Arabs, but M. Ganneau argues that this sedentary and not nomadic race must be distinguished from the nomad Arabs who came from Arabia with Caliph Omar. He thinks that the fellaheen Arabs are descendants, not of the conquering Arabs, but of the peasants found by them upon the soil. "Of what race, then, were these peasants? Were they Jews? No; for the wars of extermination waged by Vespasian, Titus, Trajan, and Hadrian, and the persecutions of the Christian emperors left not one stone upon another of either political or ethnic Judaism. . . .
Jewish tradition, properly so called, is for ever lost in Palestine; and all the Jews now found there have, without exception, come to the country at a comparatively recent date," Were they Greeks? No; for they spoke a Semitic dialect, M.
Ganneau's conclusion is "that the fellaheen of Palestine, taken as a whole, are the modern representatives of those old tribes which the Israelites found in the country, such as the Canaanites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Philistines, Edomites, etc, "He designates these as "pre-Israelite" races," Each successive change in the social and political condition of the country has more or less affected it in various ways; and we must not be surprised, when we study the fellaheen, at finding Jewish, Hellenic, Rabbinic, Christian, and Mussulman reminiscences mingled pell-mell and in the quaintest combinations with traits which bring us back to the most remote and obscure periods of pre-Israelite existence, "The tenacity with which old religious customs have been kept up is another remarkable circumstance.
Not only have the fellaheen, as Robinson conjectured, preserved, by the erection of their Mussulman kubbeks and their I fetichism for certain large isolated trees, the site and the souvenir of the hill sanctuaries and shady groves which were marked out for the execration of the Israelites on their entry into the Promised Land, but they pay them almost the same veneration as did the Canaanite Kooffars, whose descendants they are, These makoms, as Deuteronomy calls them - which Manasseh rebuilt, and against which the prophets in vain exhausted their invectives - are word for word, thing for thing, the Arabic makums, whose little white-topped cupolas are dotted so picturesquely over the mountain-horizon of Central Judaea.
"In order to conceal their suspicious origin, these fellah sanctuaries have been placed under the protection of the purest Mohammedan orthodoxy by becoming the tombs or shrines of sheykhe, welys, and nebys - elders, saints, and prophets - deceased in the odor of sanctity. " On account of the close connection between the names and places, Moses insisted upon destroying both. " Antiquities and Explorations. - Palestine has no wonderful pyramids and obelisks like Egypt, nor has it ruins of vast temples and palaces like Assyria.
There are few remains of the work and art of the Israelites, most of the ruins of edifices being not older than the Roman period. There are some coins of the Maccabaean era, some of the stones of Solomon's temple and palace have been found, and the enclosure of Abraham's tomb at Hebron has not been explored and its age is unknown. The wells at Beersheba are, however, of the patriarchal ages, and the well at Sychar has also been generally accepted as the one dug by the patriarch Jacob.
The exploration of this land may be traced back to the era of pilgrimages, when Eusebius and Jerome wrote a description of Palestine in the Onomasticon. Little was added to the information they gathered until a recent period, when Seetzen (1805-1807). Burckhardt (1810), Irby and Mangles (1817), and, pre-eminently, Robinson (1838 and 1852) brought a true critical and scientific method to the examination of this land of lands. Besides these, a multitude of noted travellers have visited and explored the country, and presented the results of their labors to the world.
In 1865 the English Palestine Fund was formed for an exact survey and thorough scientific exploration of Western Palestine. This has been completed, and the results have been very satisfactory, the latest being given in the admirable large sheet-maps of the whole territory between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, accompanied by full descriptive memoirs of the survey. The American Palestine Exploration Society was formed in 1870 to make a similar survey of the Holy Land east of the Jordan. It has furnished valuable information relating to the identification of Mt.
Nebo and of many places east of the Jordan. Its work of exploration has now (1884) been assumed by the English Palestine Fund. The Moabite Stone, found by Mr. Klein in 1868 (see Dibon), had caused explorers to expect rich results from a thorough survey of the East Jordanic region - expectations which may yet be realized.
Meanwhile, there are a number of topographical questions unsettled in respect to cities in the West Jordanic territory, as the locations of Capernaum, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Cana of Galilee, Emmaus and the sites of the lost cities of the plain, the true Calvary, and a large number of points in Jerusalem topography. Some of these will be settled more surely with the spade than with the pen: others it may be impossible to solve satisfactorily by either method.
It is, however, remarkable to note how completely every successive fact in the history or topography of this land has tended to throw additional light upon the Book of books, and to add to the external evidence of its divine origin, by showing how writers of such a variety of grades of intelligence, trained under such widely-different circumstances, and at eras separated by upward of fifteen centuries, each recorded descriptions, allusions, and incidents which are now found to be in exact accord with what we know must have been the physical features of the land, the character, customs, conditions of the people, and the influences existing at each of the periods of which he professes to write.
" The Book fits the Land, and the Land testifies to the accuracy and the inspiration of the Book. The literature upon Palestine would fill a large library. Tobler notes over one thousand writers on the topic. A few of the most important and of the later works only can be given on the subject. R. R. Conder (1879); Sheet Maps and Memoirs of the Palestine Exploration Fund (1880).