Biblical Geography and History
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Title: Biblical Geography and History
Author: Charles Foster Kent
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIBLICAL GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY ***
See the transcriber's note at the end of the book.
* * * * *
BY PROF. CHARLES FOSTER KENT
THE SHORTER BIBLE--THE NEW TESTAMENT.
THE SHORTER BIBLE--THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS
AND JESUS.
BIBLICAL GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY.
THE ORIGIN AND PERMANENT VALUE
OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
HISTORY OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE.
From the Settlement in Canaan to the Fall
of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. 2 vols.
HISTORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. The
Babylonian, Persian and Greek Periods.
THE HISTORICAL BIBLE. With Maps.
6 vols.
STUDENT'S OLD TESTAMENT. Logically
and Chronologically Arranged and Translated.
With Maps. 6 vols.
THE MESSAGES OF ISRAEL'S LAW-GIVERS.
THE MESSAGES OF THE EARLIER
PROPHETS.
THE MESSAGES OF THE LATER PROPHETS.
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
[Illustration: Modern Palestine, With Ancient Towns and Highways]
BIBLICAL
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
BY
CHARLES FOSTER KENT, PH.D.
WOOLSEY PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE IN YALE UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1926
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Printed in the United States of America
Published April, 1911
PREFACE
Geography has within the past few years won a new place among the
sciences. It is no longer regarded as simply a description of the
earth's surface, but as the foundation of all historical study. Only
in the light of their physical setting can the great characters,
movements, and events of human history be rightly understood and
appreciated. Moreover, geography is now defined as a description not
only of the earth and of its influence upon man's development, but
also of the solar, atmospheric, and geological forces which throughout
millions of years have given the earth its present form. Hence, in its
deeper meaning, geography is a description of the divine character and
purpose expressing itself through natural forces, in the physical
contour of the earth, in the animate world, and, above all, in the
life and activities of man. Biblical geography, therefore, is the
first and in many ways the most important chapter in that divine
revelation which was perfected through the Hebrew race and recorded in
the Bible. Thus interpreted it has a profound religious meaning, for
through the plains and mountains, the rivers and seas, the climate and
flora of the biblical world the Almighty spoke to men as plainly and
unmistakably as he did through the voices of his inspired seers and
sages.
No other commentary upon the literature of the Bible is so practical
and luminous as biblical geography. Throughout their long history the
Hebrews were keenly attentive to the voice of the Eternal speaking to
them through nature. Their writings abound in references and figures
taken from the picturesque scenes and peculiar life of Palestine. The
grim encircling desert, the strange water-courses, losing themselves
at times in their rocky beds, fertile Carmel and snow-clad Hermon, the
resounding sea and the storm-lashed waters of Galilee are but a few of
the many physical characteristics of Palestine that have left their
indelible marks upon the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. The same is
true of Israel's unique faith and institutions. Biblical geography,
therefore, is not a study by itself, but the natural introduction to
all other biblical studies.
In his _Historical Geography of the Holy Land_ and in the two volumes
on _Jerusalem_, Principal George Adam Smith, of Aberdeen, has given a
brilliant and luminous sketch of the geographical divisions and cities
of Palestine, tracing their history from the earliest times to the
present. Every writer on Palestine owes him a great debt. The keenness
and accuracy of his observations, are confirmed at every point by the
traveller. At the present time, the need of a more compact manual, to
present first the physical geography of the biblical lands and then to
trace in broad outlines the history of Israel and of early
Christianity in close conjunction with their geographical background,
has long been recognized. In the present work unimportant details have
been omitted that the vital facts may stand out clearly and in their
true significance. The aim has been to furnish the information that
every Bible teacher should possess in order to do the most effective
work, and the geographical data with which every student of the Bible
should be familiar, in order intelligently to interpret and fully
appreciate the ancient Scriptures.
This volume embodies the results of many delightful months spent in
the lands of the eastern Mediterranean, and especially in Palestine,
during the years 1892 and 1910. Owing to improved conditions in the
Turkish Empire it is now possible, with the proper camp equipment, to
travel safely through the remotest places east of the Jordan and to
visit Petra, that most fascinating of Eastern cities. By securing his
equipment at Beirut the traveller may cross northern Galilee and then,
with comfort, go southward in the early spring through ancient Bashan,
Gilead, Moab, and Edom. Thence, with great economy of time and effort,
he may return through central Palestine, making frequent détours to
points of interest. In this way he will find the quaint, fascinating
old Palestine that has escaped the invasions of the railroads and
western tourists, and he will bear away exact and vivid impressions of
the land as it really was and still is.
The difficulties and expense of Palestine travel, however, render such
a journey impossible for the majority of Bible students. Fortunately,
the marvellous development of that most valuable aid to modern
education, the stereoscope and the stereograph, make it possible for
every one at a comparatively small expense to visit Palestine and to
gain under expert guidance in many ways a clearer and more exact
knowledge of the background of biblical history and literature than he
would through months of travel. Through the courtesy of my publishers
and the co-operation of the well-known firm of Underwood & Underwood,
of New York and London, I have been able to realize an ideal that I
have long cherished, and to place at the disposal of the readers of
this volume one hundred and forty stereographs (or, if preferred for
class and lecture use, stereopticon slides) that illustrate the most
important events of biblical geography and history. They have been
selected from over five hundred views taken especially for this
purpose, and enable the student to gain, as he alone can through the
stereoscope, the distinct state of consciousness of being in scores of
historic places rarely visited even by the most venturesome
travellers. Numbers referring to these stereographs (or stereopticon
slides) have been inserted in the body of the text. In Appendix II the
titles corresponding to each number are given.
The large debt that I owe to the valiant army of pioneers and
explorers who have penetrated every part of the biblical world and
given us the results of their observations and study is suggested by
the selected bibliography in Appendix I. I am under especial
obligations to the officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund, who
kindly placed their library and maps in London at my service and have
also permitted me to use in reduced form their Photo-Relief Map of
Palestine.
C. F. K.
YALE UNIVERSITY,
_January, 1911_.
CONTENTS
PART I--PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
PAGE
I. THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BIBLICAL
WORLD 3
Extent of the Biblical World.--Conditions Favorable to Early
Civilizations.--Egypt's Climate and Resources.--Its Isolation and
Limitations.--Conditions in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley.--Forces
Developing Its Civilization.--Civilization of Arabia.--Physical
Characteristics of Syria and Palestine.--Their Central Position and
Lack of Unity.--Asia Minor.--Mycenæ.--Greece.--Italy.--Situation of
Rome.--Reason Why Rome Went Forth to Conquer.--_Résumé._
II. THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PALESTINE 13
History of the Terms Palestine and Canaan.--Bounds of
Palestine.--Geological History.--Alluvial and Sand Deposits.--General
Divisions.--Variety in Physical Contour.--Effects of This
Variety.--Openness to the Arabian Desert.--Absence of Navigable Rivers
and Good Harbors.--Incentives to Industry.--Incentives to Faith and
Moral Culture.--Central and Exposed to Attack on Every
Side.--Significance of Palestine's Characteristics.
III. THE COAST PLAINS 21
Extent and Character.--Fertility.--Divisions.--Plain of Tyre.--The
Plain of Acre.--Carmel.--Plain of Sharon.--The Philistine Plain.--The
Shephelah or Lowland.
IV. THE PLATEAU OF GALILEE AND THE PLAIN OF
ESDRAELON 27
Physical and Political Significance of the Central Plateau.--Natural
and Political Bounds.--Its Extent and Natural Divisions.--Physical
Characteristics of Upper Galilee.--Its Fertility.--Characteristics of
Lower Galilee.--Situation and Bounds of the Plain of Esdraelon.--Plain
of Jezreel.--Water Supply and Fertility of Plain of
Esdraelon.--Central and Commanding Position.--Importance of the Plain
in Palestinian History.
V. THE HILLS OF SAMARIA AND JUDAH 34
Character of the Hills of Samaria.--Northeastern
Samaria.--Northwestern Samaria.--The View from Mount Ebal.--Bounds and
General Characteristics of Southern Samaria.--Southwestern
Samaria.--The Central Heights of Judah.--Lack of Water
Supply.--Wilderness of Judea.--Western Judah.--Valley of Ajalon.--Wady
Ali.--Valley of Sorek.--Valley of Elah.--Valley of Zephathah.--Wady
el-Jizâir.--Significance of These Valleys.--The South Country.--Its
Northern and Western Divisions.--Its Central and Eastern
Divisions.--The Striking Contrasts between Judah and Samaria.--Effect
upon Their Inhabitants.
VI. THE JORDAN AND DEAD SEA VALLEY 45
Geological History.--Evidences of Volcanic Action.--Natural
Divisions.--Mount Hermon.--Source of the Jordan at Banias.--At Tell
el-Kadi.--The Two Western Confluents.--The Upper Jordan Valley.--The
Rapid Descent to the Sea of Galilee.--The Sea of Galilee.--Its
Shores.--From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.--Character of the
Valley.--The Jordan Itself.--Fords of the Lower Jordan.--Ancient Names
of the Dead Sea.--Its Unique Characteristics.--Its Eastern Bank.--The
Southern End.--The Western Shores.--Grim Associations of the Dead Sea.
VII. THE EAST-JORDAN LAND 55
Form and Climate of the East-Jordan Land.--Well-Watered and
Fertile.--The Four Great Natural Divisions.--Characteristics of the
Northern and Western Jaulan.--Southern and Eastern Jaulan.--Character
of the Hauran.--Borderland of the Hauran.--Gilead.--The Jabbok and
Jebel Ôsha.--Southern Gilead.--Character of the Plateau of Moab.--Its
Fertility and Water Supply.--Its Mountains.--Its Views.--The
Arnon.--Southern Moab and Edom.--Significance of the East-Jordan Land.
VIII. THE TWO CAPITALS: JERUSALEM AND SAMARIA 64
Importance of Jerusalem and Samaria.--Site of Jerusalem.--The Kidron
Valley.--The Tyropœon Valley.--The Original City.--Its Extent.--The
Western Hill.--The Northern Extension of the City.--Josephus's
Description of Jerusalem.--The Geological Formation.--The Water
Supply.--Jerusalem's Military Strength.--Strength of Its
Position.--Samaria's Name.--Its Situation.--Its Military
Strength.--Its Beauty and Prosperity.
IX. THE GREAT HIGHWAYS OF THE BIBLICAL WORLD 73
Importance of the Highways.--Lack of the Road-building Instincts among
the Semites.--Evidence that Modern Roads Follow the Old
Ways.--Ordinary Palestinian Roads.--Evidence that the Hebrews Built
Roads.--The Four Roads from Egypt.--Trails into Palestine from the
South.--Highway Through Moab.--The Great Desert Highway.--Character of
the Southern Approaches to Palestine.--The Coast Road.--The "Way of
the Sea."--Its Commercial and Strategic Importance.--The Central Road
and Its Cross-roads in the South.--In the North.--The Road Along the
Jordan.--Roads Eastward from Damascus.--The Highway from Antioch to
Ephesus.--The Road from Asia Minor to Rome.--From Ephesus to
Rome.--From Syria to Rome by Sea.--From Alexandria to Rome by
Sea.--Significance of the Great Highways.
PART II--HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
X. EARLY PALESTINE 87
The Aim and Value of Historical Geography.--Sources of Information
Regarding Ancient Palestine.--Evidence of the Excavations.--The Oldest
Inhabitants of Palestine.--The Semitic Invasions from the
Desert.--Influence of the Early Amorite Civilization Upon
Babylonia.--Probable Site of the Oldest Semitic Civilization.--Remains
of the Old Amorite Civilization.--Babylonian Influence in
Palestine.--Egyptian Influence in the Cities of the Plain.--Different
Types of Civilization in Palestine.--Conditions Leading to the Hyksos
Invasion of Egypt.--Fortunes of the Invaders.--The One Natural Site in
Syria for a Great Empire.--Influences of the Land Upon the Early Forms
of Worship.--Upon the Beliefs of Its Inhabitants.
XI. PALESTINE UNDER THE RULE OF EGYPT 97
Reasons why Egypt Conquered Palestine.--Commanding Position of
Megiddo.--Its Military Strength.--Thotmose III's Advance Against
Megiddo.--The Decisive Battle.--Capture of Megiddo.--The Cities of
Palestine.--Disastrous Effects of Egyptian Rule.--Lack of Union in
Palestine.--Exposure to Invasions from the Desert.--Advance of the
Habiri.--Rise of the Hittite Power.--Palestine between 1270 and 1170
B.C.--The Epoch-making Twelfth Century.
XII. THE NOMADIC AND EGYPTIAN PERIOD OF HEBREW
HISTORY 106
The Entrance of the Forefathers of the Hebrews Into
Canaan.--References to Israelites During the Egyptian Period.--The
Habiri in Eastern and Central Palestine.--The Trend Toward Egypt.--The
Land of Goshen.--The Wady Tumilat.--Ramses II's Policy.--Building the
Store Cities of Ramses and Pithom.--Condition of the Hebrew
Serfs.--Training of Moses.--The Historical Facts Underlying the Plague
Stories.--Method of Travel in the Desert.--Moses' Equipment as a
Leader.--The Scene of the Exodus.--Probability that the Passage was at
Lake Timsah.
XIII. THE HEBREWS IN THE WILDERNESS AND EAST
OF THE JORDAN 115
Identification of Mount Sinai.--Lateness of the Traditional
Identification.--Probable Route of the
Hebrews.--Kadesh-barnea.--Effect of the Wilderness upon the Life of
the Hebrews.--Evidence that the Hebrews Aimed to Enter Canaan from the
South.--Reasons Why They Did Not Succeed.--Tribes that Probably
Entered Canaan from the South.--The Journey to the East of the
Jordan.--Stations on the Way.--Conquests East of the Dead
Sea.--Situation of Heshbon.--Sojourn of the Hebrews East of the
Jordan.--Its Significance.
XIV. THE SETTLEMENT IN CANAAN 124
The Approach to the Jordan.--Crossing the Jordan.--Strategic
Importance of Jericho.--Results of Recent Excavations.--Capture of
Jericho.--Evidence that the Hebrews Were Still Nomads.--Roads Leading
Westward from Jericho.--Conquests In the South.--Conquest of Ai and
Bethel.--Incompleteness of the Initial Conquest.--Migration of the
Danites.--The Moabite Invasion.--The Rally of the Hebrews Against the
Canaanites.--The Battle-field.--Effect of a Storm Upon the
Plain.--Results of the Victory.--The East-Jordan Tribes.--The Tribes
in Southern Canaan.--The Tribes in the North.--Effects of the
Settlement Upon the Hebrews.
XV. THE FORCES THAT LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT
OF THE HEBREW KINGDOM 136
The Lack of Unity Among the Hebrew Tribes.--The Scenes of Gideon's
Exploits.--Gideon's Kingdom.--Reasons for the Superiority of the
Philistines.--Scenes of the Samson Stories.--The Decisive
Battle-field.--Fortunes of the Ark.--The Sanctuary at
Shiloh.--Samuel's Home at Ramah.--The Site of Gibeah.--Situation of
Jabesh-Gilead.--The Sanctuary at Gilgal.--The Philistine Advance.--The
Pass of Michmash.--The Great Victory Over the Philistines.--Saul's
Wars.
XVI. THE SCENES OF DAVID'S EXPLOITS 147
David's Home at Bethlehem.--The Contest in the Valley of
Elah.--Situation of Nob.--The Stronghold of Adullam.--Keilah.--Scenes
of David's Outlaw Life In Southeastern Judah.--David at Gath.--At
Ziklag.--Reasons Why the Philistines Invaded Israel in the
North.--Saul's Journey to Endor.--The Battle on Gilboa.--The Remnant
of Saul's Kingdom.--Hebron, David's First Capital.--Fortunes of the
Two Hebrew Kingdoms.--The Final Struggle with the
Philistines.--David's Victories.
XVII. PALESTINE UNDER THE RULE OF DAVID AND
SOLOMON 157
Establishment of Jerusalem as Israel's Capital.--Israel's Natural
Boundaries.--Campaigns Against the Moabites and Ammonites.--Situation
of Rabbath-Ammon.--The Water City.--Extent of David's
Empire.--Absalom's Rebellion.--David East of the Jordan.--Rebellion of
the Northern Tribes.--Scenes of Adonijah's Conspiracy and Solomon's
Accession.--Capture of Gezer.--Solomon's Fortresses.--Solomon's
Strategic and Commercial Policy.--Site of Solomon's
Temple.--Significance of the Reigns of David and Solomon.--Influences
of the United Kingdom Upon Israel's Faith.--Solomon's Fatal
Mistakes.--Forces that Made for Disunion.--Situation of
Shechem.--Significance of the Division.
XVIII. THE NORTHERN KINGDOM 168
The Varied Elements in the North.--Capitals of Northern Israel.--The
Aramean Kingdom.--The Philistine Stronghold of Gibbethon.--Omri's
Strong Rule.--Ahab's Aramean Wars.--Strength and Fatal Weakness of
Ahab's Policy.--Elijah's Home.--The Scene on Mount Carmel.--Ancient
Jezreel.--Situation of Ramoth-Gilead.--Elisha's Home.--Jehu's
Revolution.--Rule of the House of Jehu.--The Advance of
Assyria.--Amos's Home at Tekoa.--Influence of His Environment Upon the
Prophet.--Evidence Regarding Hosea's Home.--View from Jebel
Ôsha.--Conquest of Galilee and Gilead.--The Exiled Northern
Israelites.--The Fate of Northern Israel.
XIX. THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM 182
Effect of Environment Upon Judah's History.--Shishak's Invasion.--War
Between the Two Kingdoms.--Amaziah's Wars.--Uzziah's Strong
Reign.--Isaiah of Jerusalem.--His Advice to Ahaz in the Crisis of 734
B.C.--The Great Rebellion of 703 B.C.--Home of the Prophet
Micah.--Judah's Fate in 701 B.C.--Isaiah's Counsel in a Later
Crisis.--The Reactionary Reign of Manasseh.--Two Prophetic
Reformers.--Situation of Anathoth.--Josiah's Reign.--The Brief Rule of
Egypt.--Jehoiakim's Reign.--The First Captivity.--The Second
Captivity.--The End of the Southern Kingdom.
XX. THE BABYLONIAN AND PERSIAN PERIODS 194
Jewish Refugees in Egypt.--Situation of Tahpanhes.--Memphis.--The
Colony at Elephantine.--Results of the Excavations.--Transformation of
the Jews Into Traders.--Home of the Exiles in Babylonia.--Their Life
in Babylonia.--Conditions of the Jews in Palestine.--Extent of the
Jewish Territory.--Evidences that There Was No General Return of the
Exiles in 537 B.C.--The Rebuilding of the Temple.--Discouragement and
Hopes of the Jews.--Nehemiah's Response to the Call for
Service.--Conditions in the Jewish Community.--Preparations for
Rebuilding the Walls.--Character of the Data.--The Walls and Towers on
the North.--On the West.--On the South.--On the East.--Significance of
Nehemiah's Work.--Extension of Jewish Territory to the
Northwest.--Development of Judaism During the Latter Part of the
Persian Period.
XXI. THE SCENES OF THE MACCABEAN STRUGGLE 207
Alexander's Conquests.--The Impression Upon Southwestern Asia.--The
City of Alexandria.--Greek Influence in Palestine.--The Ptolemaic
Rule.--Situation of Antioch.--Causes of the Maccabean Struggle.--The
Town of Modein.--The First Flame of Revolt.--Character and Work of
Judas.--The Pass of Beth-horon.--Scene of the Victory Over the Syrian
Generals.--Victory at Bethsura.--Rededication of the
Temple.--Campaigns South and East of the Dead Sea.--Victories in
Northeastern Gilead.--Cities Captured North of the Yarmuk.--The Second
Victory Over Timotheus.--Judas's Return.--Significance of Judas's
Victories.--Battle of Beth-zacharias.--Fortunes of Judas's
Party.--Victory over Nicanor.--Death of Judas.--Judas's Character and
Work.
XXII. THE MACCABEAN AND HERODIAN AGE 222
Jonathan's Policy.--Basis of Agreement With the Syrians.--Concessions
to Jonathan.--His Conquests.--Simon's Achievements.--His Strong and
Prosperous Rule.--Growth of the Two Rival Parties.--Wars and Conquests
of John Hyrcanus.--Reign of Aristobulus I.--The Cruel Rule of
Alexander Janneus.--The Rivalry of Parties Under Alexandra.--The
Influence of Antipater.--Advance of Rome.--The Appeal to Pompey.--His
Capture of the Temple.--Palestine Under the Rule of Rome.--Rebellions
Led by Aristobulus and His Sons.--Antipater's Services to
Rome.--Rewards for His Services.--The Parthian Conquest.--Herod Made
King of the Jews.--His Policy.--His Work as a City Builder.--Herod's
Temple.--The Tragedies of His Family Life.--The Popular Hopes of the
Jews.
XXIII. THE BACKGROUND OF JESUS' CHILDHOOD AND
YOUNG MANHOOD 236
The Short Reign of Archelaus.--The Roman Province of Judea.--Territory
and Character of Herod Antipas.--Philip's Territory.--The
Decapolis.--Place of Jesus' Birth.--Situation of Nazareth.--Its
Central Position.--View from the Heights above the City.--The Spring
at Nazareth.--Roads to Jerusalem.--Jesus' Educational
Opportunities.--Scene of John the Baptist's Early Life.--Field of His
Activity.--The Baptism of Jesus.--Machærus, Where John the Baptist Was
Beheaded.--Effect of John's Death Upon Jesus.--Jesus' Appearance.
XXIV. THE SCENES OF JESUS' MINISTRY 247
Why Jesus Made Capernaum His Home.--Site of Capernaum.--Archælogical
Evidence.--Ruins at Tell Hum.--Testimony of the Gospels and
Josephus.--Statements of Early Pilgrims.--Site of
Chorazin.--Bethsaida.--Probable Scene of the Feeding of the
Multitudes.--The Night Voyage of the Disciples.--Places Where Jesus
Taught His Disciples.--Northern End of the Sea of Galilee.--Contrast
Between Its Northern and Southern Ends.--Jesus' Visit to the Gadarene
Territory.--The Chief Field of Jesus' Ministry.--Journey to
Phœnicia.--At Cæsarea Philippi.--The Journey Southward from
Galilee.--At Jericho.--Situation of Bethany.--The Triumphal Entrance
Into Jerusalem.--Jesus' Activity in the Temple.--The Last Supper and
Agony.--Scenes of the Trials.--Traditional Place of the
Crucifixion.--The More Probable Site.--The Place of Burial.
XXV. THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY THROUGHOUT
THE ROMAN EMPIRE 264
Original Centre at Jerusalem.--Spread of Christianity Outside
Judea.--Philip's Work In the South and West.--Extension and Expansion
of Christianity During the First Decade.--Situation and History of
Tarsus.--Influence of His Early Home Upon Paul.--Work at
Antioch.--Importance of the Pioneer Work of Paul.--Paul and Barnabas
in Cyprus.--At Paphos.--Journey to Antioch in Galatia.--Conditions at
Antioch.--At Iconium.--At Lystra and Derbe.--Decision of the Great
Council at Jerusalem.--Work of Paul and Silas in Asia Minor.--Paul's
Vision at Troas.--Paul and Silas at Philippi.--At Thessalonica.--Paul
at Berœa.--At Athens.--Importance of Corinth.--Paul's Work at
Corinth.--His Third Journey.--Situation and Importance of
Ephesus.--Return to Palestine.--Journey to Rome.--The World-wide
Conquests of Christianity.
APPENDIX I. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 279
APPENDIX II. STEREOGRAPHS AND STEREOPTICON
SLIDES ILLUSTRATING BIBLICAL
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 283
INDEX OF NAMES AND PLACES 289
LIST OF MAPS
I. MODERN PALESTINE, WITH ANCIENT TOWNS AND
HIGHWAYS _Frontispiece_
II. THE OLD TESTAMENT WORLD to face page 3
III. PHOTO-RELIEF MAP OF PALESTINE to face page 13
IV. THE MAIN HIGHWAYS OF THE ANCIENT SEMITIC
WORLD to face page 73
V. THE MAIN HIGHWAYS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
AND THE SCENES OF PAUL'S WORK to face page 82
VI. PRE-HEBREW CANAAN IN THE LIGHT OF THE
EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS AND THE AMARNA
LETTERS to face page 97
VII. THE LAND OF THE EXODUS AND WILDERNESS
WANDERING to face page 115
VIII. TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF CANAAN AFTER THE
FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE HEBREW TRIBES to face page 127
IX. THE HEBREW EMPIRE UNDER DAVID to face page 147
X. PLAN OF SOLOMON'S PALACE to face page 164
XI. ISRAEL AFTER THE DIVISION OF THE HEBREW
EMPIRE to face page 168
XII. BABYLONIAN, PERSIAN, AND GREEK EMPIRES
to face page 194
XIII. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN PALESTINE DURING
THE PERSIAN AND GREEK PERIODS to face page 199
XIV. THE JERUSALEM OF NEHEMIAH to face page 203
XV. PALESTINE IN THE MACCABEAN PERIOD to face page 207
XVI. PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF JESUS to face page 236
_PART I_
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY [Illustration: THE OLD TESTAMENT WORLD.]
I
THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BIBLICAL WORLD
=Extent of the Biblical World.= In its widest bounds, the biblical
world included practically all the important centres of early human
civilization. Its western outpost was the Phœnician city of Tarshish
in southern Spain (about 5° west longitude) and its eastern outpost
did not extend beyond the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf (about 55° east
longitude). Its southern horizon was bounded by the land of Ethiopia
(about 5° south latitude) and its northern by the Black Sea (about 45°
north altitude). Thus the Old and New Testament world extended fully
sixty degrees from east to west, but at the most not more than fifty
degrees from north to south. With the exception of Arabia, all of
these lands gather about the Mediterranean, for although the waters of
the Tigris and the Euphrates ultimately find their way into the Indian
Ocean, the people living in these fertile valleys ever looked toward
the Mediterranean and for the most part found their field for conquest
and commerce in the west rather than in the east and south.
=Conditions Favorable to Early Civilizations.= The greater part of
this ancient world consisted of wastes of water, of burning sands or
of dry, rocky, pasture lands. Less than one-fifth was arable soil, and
yet the tillable strips along the river valleys on the eastern and
northern Mediterranean were extremely fertile. Here in four of five
favored centres were supplied in varying measure the conditions
requisite for a strong primitive civilization: (1) a warm, but not
enervating climate; (2) a fertile and easily cultivated territory
which enabled the inhabitants to store up a surplus of the things
necessary for life; (3) a geographical unity that made possible a
homogeneous and closely knit political and social organization; (4) a
pressure from without which spurred the people on to constant activity
and effort; (5) an opportunity for expansion and for intercommunication
with other strong nations. The result was that the lands about the
eastern Mediterranean were the scenes of the world's earliest culture
and history. From these centres emanated the great civic, political,
intellectual, artistic, moral, and religious ideas and ideals that
still strongly influence the life and faith of the nations that rule
the world. The character of each of these early civilizations was in
turn largely shaped by the natural environment amidst which it arose.
=Egypt's Climate and Resources.= The land of the Nile was peculiarly
favorable for the development of an exceedingly early civilization.
Lying near the equator and between extended areas of hot, dry desert,
it possessed an almost perfect climate. While warm, it was never
excessively hot, thanks to the fresh north winds which blew from the
sea. The desert kept the atmosphere dry and cloudless through at least
eleven months in the year. The narrow strip of alluvial soil which
constituted the real land of Egypt was practically inexhaustible. The
Nile, which rose during the hot summer months, furnished abundant
water for irrigation. At the same tune the necessity for constant
activity in order to develop the full resources of the land was a
valuable incentive to industry. Finally, the uniformity of the Nile
valley furnished an excellent basis for a unified social and political
organization.
=Its Isolation and Limitations.= At first Egypt's isolation favored,
but in the end fatally impeded the development of its civilization. On
every side it was shut in, not only by miles of rocky desert on the
east and west, but also on the north and south by almost impassable
barriers. In the south the fertile territory narrows to a mere ribbon,
with no natural highways by land, while several great cataracts cut
off approach by water. On the north the Nile broadens out into a
great impassable marsh with only two narrow gateways. One of these is
the main western arm of the Nile, which reaches the Mediterranean near
Alexandria; the other is the Wady Tumilat, which runs from the Isthmus
of Suez through the biblical land of Goshen to the Nile valley. In
early centuries these few narrow and uninviting avenues of approach on
the north and south were easily guarded. The result was that the
Egyptians, at a very early date, attained a high stage of culture, but
they lacked that stimulus from without which is essential to the
highest development. Once or twice, as in the days of the Hyksos and
Ethiopian invasions, foreigners pressed into the land, and as a result
the centuries immediately following were the most glorious in Egypt's
history. In general, however, the civilization of the Nile valley was
deficient in depth and idealism. It was grossly material; it developed
too easily and the people were too contented. Even on the artistic
side the brilliant promise of the earlier centuries failed of
fruition. Moreover, the protecting natural barriers proved
constricting, so that there was little opportunity for expansion.
Hence Egypt's civilization was always provincial and by 500 B.C. had
ceased to develop. From this time on the people of the Nile tamely
submitted to the succession of foreign conquerors who have ever since
ruled over this garden land of the eastern world.
=Conditions in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley.= Physical conditions in
the Tigris-Euphrates valley were in many ways similar to those along
the Nile. A warm but invigorating climate, fertile, alluvial soil,
deposited by the great rivers and renewed each year by the floods, and
the protection of the desert on the west favored the development of a
virile civilization, as early if not earlier than that of Egypt.
Starting from the same northern mountains, the two great rivers find
their way to the Persian Gulf by widely different courses. The Tigris
flows southeast in a comparatively direct course of eleven hundred
miles. Its name, "The Arrow," suggests the rapidity of its descent.
The Euphrates, on the contrary, makes a long detour westward toward
the Mediterranean and then turns to the southeast, where for the
greater part of the last half of its one thousand eight hundred miles
it flows through the desert. The lands lying between the lower waters
of these great rivers were by nature fitted to become the home of the
earliest civilization. At a very early period these level plains
attracted the nomadic tribes from the neighboring desert. Here they
found soil that was exceedingly fertile, but covered to a great extent
by the overflow of the great rivers. To be made productive it had to
be drained in the flood and irrigated in the dry season by an
extensive system of canals and reservoirs. Hence this region furnished
powerful incentives to develop an energetic, enterprising
civilization. The absence of natural barriers in the level plains of
Babylonia and the uniformity of its physical contour meant that in
time all the Tigris-Euphrates valley would inevitably be brought under
one rule.
=Forces Developing Its Civilization.= Unlike Egypt, Babylonia was
constantly subject to those thrusts from without which were essential
to a great civilization. From the Arabian desert came nomadic invaders
and from the mountains to the east and north and probably from
northern Syria powerful, warlike peoples who either spurred the river
dwellers on to strenuous activity in order to repel the hostile
attacks or else as conquerors infused new blood and energy into the
older races. On the other hand, the absence of constraining barriers
gave ample opportunity for natural growth and expansion. The great
rivers were the highways of commerce and conquest. The necessity of
defence also suggested the advantages of conquest. The result was that
at a very early period the armies of Babylonia had penetrated the
mountains to the east and north and had carried their victorious rule
as far as the shore of the Mediterranean on the west. Traders followed
the armies, bearing the products of Babylonian art and in turn
enriching the home-land with those of other nations. It was thus that
Babylonia in time became not only the mistress of the ancient world,
but also one of the chief centres from which emanated political,
legal, artistic, and religious ideas and institutions that influenced
all the peoples living about the eastern Mediterranean.
=Civilization of Arabia.= Very different was the site of the third
Semitic civilization. The eastern shores of the Red Sea are rocky and
barren. No important streams or harbors are found along this cheerless
coast. The eastern slope of the range of mountains that runs parallel
to the Red Sea is, however, one of the garden lands of the East. The
clouds, chilled by the mountains, deposit their rains here, while
mountain streams make it possible by irrigation to transform this part
of Arabia into a rich agricultural land. Here from an early period was
found a high type of civilization. Climate, soil, and the spur of
foreign invasion fostered its development. Its products were famous
throughout the ancient world. But it was in the highest degree
isolated from the stream of the world's progress. Its one means of
communication with outside nations was by the caravans which crossed
the deserts. Hence a certain halo of mystery always surrounded this
distant civilization. Like that of Egypt, it lacked opportunity for
expansion and communication and so failed to rise above a certain
level or to make any deep or significant impression upon the other
Semitic nations.
=Physical Characteristics of Syria and Palestine.= In marked contrast
with Arabia was the strip of hill and mountain country lying on the
eastern coast of the Mediterranean, known in later tunes as Syria and
Palestine. The dominant feature in this part of the Semitic world was
the southern spurs of the Taurus mountains, which here run parallel
with the coast in two ranges known as the Lebanons and the
Anti-Lebanons. A warm, equable climate and fertile soil, especially in
the broad valleys between the mountains, furnish the first necessities
for a strong civilization. Frequent rain during the whiter and many
perennial springs and brooks supply throughout most of this region the
water needed for a prosperous, agricultural population. The desert on
the east and the mountains in the north were the homes of active,
migrating peoples whose ever-recurring attacks gave the inhabitants of
Syria and Palestine a constant stimulus.
=Its Central Position and Lack of Unity.= This region was also the
isthmus lying between the sea and the desert that connected Asia with
Africa, and the ancient empires of Egypt and Babylonia. The great
caravan routes led across it from Arabia on the south and Babylonia on
the east to Asia Minor and thence by sea to the ports of the northern
Mediterranean. One fatal defect, however, prevented it from becoming
the permanent home of one strong, conquering people: it lacked
physical unity. Its two rivers, the Orontes and the Jordan, were
comparatively unimportant and flowed in opposite directions. Mountain
ranges running from north to south and in the north one running from
east to west divided the territory into eight or ten distinct areas.
Wide variations in climate, flora, and fauna separated these different
zones, making a uniform civilization practically impossible. No
region, except the fertile valley between the Lebanons and
Anti-Lebanons, possessed sufficient natural advantages to rule the
whole territory immediately east of the Mediterranean. As a result
Syria and Palestine were only at rare and comparatively brief periods
completely dominated by native conquerors. The physical
characteristics of this territory also suggested from the first a
mixed civilization, combining those of the desert, of Babylonia, of
Egypt, and of the other lands lying along the Mediterranean. The
infusion of foreign elements largely explains the remarkable culture
and religious life that flourished within the narrow bounds of Syria
and Palestine. This land was at the same time the strategic point that
commanded the rest of the ancient world and was destined to send forth
influences that were to extend to the uttermost parts of the earth.
=Asia Minor.= Asia Minor, like Syria, is lacking in physical unity.
Its centre is a high, barren plateau. This is encircled on the south,
west, and east by fertile coast plains. These coast plains, however,
are broken up into independent areas by lofty mountains. From the
central plateau came the invaders, who spurred on the coast dwellers
to put forth their strongest efforts. Communication by sea and along
the great highways that run across the land from east to west brought
to these maritime city states the culture of the East and the West.
Under these conditions there naturally sprang up an exotic
civilization, not unified, but gathered about different civic centres;
not independent, but a brilliant fusion of native elements with
Semitic and Hellenic culture.
=Mycenæ.= To the northwest, along the Dardanelles, the coastal plain
broadens out into one of the most fertile regions in the ancient
world. Frequent rains and perennial mountain streams water the gently
rolling fields. Here, in a comparatively small area, were supplied in
rich measure the five conditions essential to a strong, early
civilization. Here was the seat of that ancient Mycenæan state, whose
art and institutions for a brief period rivalled, and in many ways
surpassed, those of Babylon and Egypt.
=Greece.= Of all the ancient centres of civilization Greece was in
many ways the most unpromising. Its soil was for the greater part
stony and unproductive. Less than one-third could be profitably
tilled. The plains were not large and the mountain ranges dominated
the land, dividing it into small, distinct areas. There were no
navigable rivers and few perennial streams available for irrigation.
Moreover, the streams brought down silt into the valleys, transforming
them into malarious marshes. As a result, Greece is to-day and
probably always has been the most malarial country in Europe. Its
limited area gave no opportunity for a great and extensive
civilization. Its great assets were a regular climate, a purifying
north wind, and the protection of its insular position, which insured
its security in its earlier days. While the land of Greece was insular
it was also central and in close touch with the civilizations of Asia
Minor and the eastern Mediterranean, for the islands of the Ægean Sea
were like stepping-stones connecting Greece with the ancient East. The
sea was also a great highway which led to the most distant lands.
Finally, Greece was in a position to feel the invigorating shock of
foreign invasion from the north and east. Its division into small
areas meant the development of petty city states, with constant
rivalry of arms as well as of wit and art. This keen rivalry and the
intense civic loyalty that it kindled were the chief forces in the
development of the civilization of ancient Hellas. Its physical
character favored the rapid rise of a noble culture, but one which
would fall with equal rapidity because of the lack of an opportunity
for local expansion. It meant inevitably a scattered people and a
widely dispersed civilization. The result was that even in the period
of its decline Greek culture permeated and ruled the entire civilized
world.
=Italy.= Further to the west Italy juts out into the heart of the
Mediterranean. On the north the lofty Alps protect it from cold winds
and snows. On almost every side it is encircled by the warm waters of
the Mediterranean and its tributary bays. Throughout most of this
narrow peninsula run the high Apennines. On the east they are so close
to the coast that the descent to the sea is steep, the rivers
insignificant, and the harbors few. On the western side, however, the
slope is much more gradual and the coastal plains are exceedingly
fertile. They are traversed by rivers fed by the melting snows. The
result is that this western coast, with its many good harbors, and its
abounding fertility, furnished from earliest times a favorable home
for strong and active peoples. Here grew, mingled in great profusion,
the fruits and grains of both the temperate and tropical climes. At
many points, with the aid of irrigation, the soil yields four or more
crops a year. Throughout most of this garden land the climate is
semi-tropical without being enervating. The brilliant sunshine is
tempered by the cool breezes from the sea and mountains. It is
pre-eminently a land of contrasts. On one side is the blue sea, on the
other the snow-capped mountains. On this western slope the temperature
varies from that of the chill snows and storms on the mountains to the
warm, humid air of the river basins. From the beautiful clear lakes
on the heights the descent is sudden to the malarial marshes in the
lowlands.
=Situation of Rome.= This western slope is cut midway from north to
south by the Tiber, next to the Po the largest river in Italy. To the
east the Apennines rise to their greatest height, insuring a heavy
annual rainfall. The Tiber valley itself was one of the earliest
highways from east to west and was in ancient times the natural
division between the highly civilized Etruscans on the north and the
Latins and the Greek colonies on the south. Here the varied life of
ancient Italy met and mingled and the result was a virile race and a
strong, aggressive civilization. Its centre was the Palatine hill, a
low volcanic mound beside the Tiber, fourteen miles from its mouth.
The uniformity of the Italian territory favored the union of its mixed
population under the leadership of Rome its central city.
=Reason Why Rome Went Forth to Conquer.= Even more important in the
development of its culture were the attacks from without to which it
was constantly exposed. Even the lofty Alps did not prove impassable
barriers to the barbarian hordes who were attracted by this fertile
land. Ancient Italy, encircled by the sea and plentifully provided
with open harbors on the east and south, was never free from the dread
of foreign attack. Not until Rome had conquered the powerful nations
living on even the most distant shores of the Mediterranean could she
feel secure in her central position. It was this constant fear, as
well as the influence of her commanding position, that made Rome in
time the mistress of the Mediterranean. From the East she received a
century or two later than Greece all that the old civilizations could
give, both of good and evil. This inheritance she in turn gave to the
western world toward which she faced and to which she belonged. Thus
Rome was the great connecting link between the East and the West,
between the ancient and the modern world.
=Résumé.= The biblical world was, both in extent and point of time,
identical with the ancient civilized world. The outlook of the
biblical writers was at first limited to the eastern Mediterranean,
but was gradually broadened until it included practically all the
peoples living about the great inland sea. Similarly the life and
faith of the Hebrews, at first local, became in time world-wide. Each
of the ancient races followed the lines of development marked out by
their geographical environment. Two civilizations--that of the Hebrews
and that of the Greeks--lacking a suitable background for local growth
and expansion, went forth to conquer and transform the life and
thought and faith of all the world.
[Illustration: PHOTO-RELIEF MAP OF PALESTINE]
II
THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PALESTINE
=History of the Terms Palestine and Canaan.= The term Palestine,
originally applied to the home of Israel's foes, the Philistines, was
used by the Greeks as a designation of southern Syria, exclusive of
Phœnicia. The Greek historian Herodotus was the first to employ it in
this extended sense. The Romans used the same term in the form
Palestina and through them the term Palestine has become the
prevailing name in the western world of the land once occupied by the
Israelites and their immediate neighbors on the east and west. The
history of the older name Canaan (Lowland) is similar. In the Tell
el-Amarna Letters, written in the fourteenth century B.C., Canaan is
limited to the coast plains; but as the Canaanites, the Lowlanders,
began to occupy the inland plains the use of the term was extended
until it became the designation of all the territory from the
Mediterranean to the Jordan and Dead Sea valley. It does not appear,
however, to have ever been applied to the east-Jordan land.
=Bounds of Palestine.= Palestine lies between the eastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian desert. Its northern boundary is the
southern slope of Mount Hermon and the River Litany, as it turns
abruptly to flow westward into the Mediterranean. Palestine begins
where the Lebanons and Anti-Lebanons break into a series of elevated
plateaus. Its southern boundary is the varying line drawn east from
the southeastern end of the Mediterranean a little south of the Dead
Sea at the point where the hills of Judah and the South Country
descend to the desert. Palestine therefore lies between 33° 30' and
31° north latitude and 34° and 37° east longitude. Its approximate
width is about a hundred miles and its length from north to south only
about a hundred and fifty miles. It is, therefore, about the size of
the State of Vermont.
=Geological History.= The geological history of Palestine is somewhat
complex, but exceedingly illuminating. The underlying rock is granite.
This is now almost completely concealed by later layers of sandstone
(which appears in Edom and the east-Jordan), dolomitic and nummulitic
limestone and marl. During the earlier geological periods the land was
entirely covered by the waters of the sea. Probably at the close of
the Pliocene period came the great volcanic upheaval which gave to
Syria and Palestine their distinctive character. It left a huge rift
running from north to south throughout Syria. This rift is represented
to-day by the valley between the Lebanons and its continuation, the
valley of the Jordan and Dead Sea. Further south it may be traced
through the Wady Arabah and the Gulf of Akaba. This vast depression is
the deepest to be found anywhere on the earth's surface. The same
great volcanic upheaval gave to the mountains along the western coast
their decided northern and southern trend and the peculiar cliff-like
structure which characterizes their descent to the western shore.
Through the centuries frequent and severe earthquakes have been felt
along the borders of this ancient rift, and they are still the terror
of the inhabitants, even as in the days of the Hebrew prophets.
=Alluvial and Sand Deposits.= Until a comparatively late geological
period the sea came to the foot of the mountains. The coast rose
gradually and has later been built up by the process of erosion that
has cut down the mountains, especially on the western side, where the
rainfall was heaviest. The plains along the shore have thus been
enriched by vast alluvial deposits. Very different was the deposit of
Nile sediment, which was blown in from the sea by the western winds,
leaving a wide border of yellow sand along the coast of Palestine.
=General Divisions.= Palestine is sharply divided by nature into four
divisions or zones, which extend in parallel lines from north to
south.^{(1)}[1] Along the Great Sea lie the narrow coast plains which
broaden in the south into the plains of Sharon and Philistia. The
second zone is the central plateau, with hills three to four thousand
feet in height in the north, which sink by stages to the large Plain
of Esdraelon. South of this great plain lie the fertile hills of
Samaria which in turn merge into the stern hills of Judah. These again
descend into the low, rocky, rolling hills of the South Country. The
third zone is the Jordan and Dead Sea valley which begins at the foot
of Mount Hermon and rapidly sinks, until at the Dead Sea it is one
thousand two hundred and ninety-two feet below the surface of the
ocean. The fourth zone includes the elevated plateaus which extend
east of the Jordan and Dead Sea out into the rocky Arabian desert.
[1] The numbers in parentheses refer to the stereographs or
stereopticon pictures that illustrate the section in which the
reference is found. Cf., for detail descriptions, Appendix II.
=Variety in Physical Contour.= The first striking characteristic of
Palestine is the great variety in physical contour, climate, flora,
and fauna to be found within its narrow compass of less than fifteen
thousand square miles. Coast plains, inland valleys, elevated
plateaus, deep, hot gorges, and glimpses of snow-clad mountains are
all included within the closest possible bounds. In a journey of from
two to three days the traveller from west to east passes from the
equable, balmy climate of the Mediterranean coast to the comparatively
cold highlands of the central plateau and then down into the moist,
tropical climate of the hot Jordan and Dead Sea valley. Thence he
mounts the highlands of Gilead or Moab, where the sun beats down hot
at noonday, while the temperature falls low at night and deep snows
cover the hilltops in winter. The hills of the central plateaus,
covered with the trees of the temperate zone, overhang the palms and
tropical fruit trees of the coast plains and Jordan valley.
=Effects of this Variety.= The different zones touch each other
closely, and yet their wide differences in physical contour, climate,
flora and fauna constitute invisible but insuperable barriers and
produce fundamentally diverse types of life and civilization. To-day,
as in the past, inhabitants of cities, tent dwellers, merchants, and
peasants live in this narrow land within a few miles, yet separated
from each other by the widest possible difference in culture and
manner of life. The character of the land made impossible a closely
knit civilization. It could never become the centre of a great
world-power. It was rather destined to be the abode of many small
tribes or nations, with widely differing institutions and degrees of
culture. The great variety of scenery, climate, and life, however,
made Palestine an epitome of all the world. It was pre-eminently
fitted to be the home of a people called to speak a vital message in
universal terms to all the races of the earth. Its striking contrasts
and its marvellous beauty and picturesqueness also arrested the
attention of primitive men and explain the prominence of nature
worship among the early inhabitants of Palestine and the large place
that its rocks, brooks, hills and meadows occupy in Israel's
literature.
=Openness to the Arabian Desert.= The second marked peculiarity of
Palestine is its openness to the desert. As Principal Smith has aptly
said, Palestine "lay, so to speak, broadside on to the desert." With
its comparatively fertile fields, it has proved a loadstone that for
thousands of years has attracted the wandering Arabian tribes. These
came in, however, not as a rule in great waves, but as families, or
small tribes. Up through the South Country they penetrated the hills
of Judah. There in time they learned to cultivate the vine, although
they still retained their flocks. East of Moab and Gilead the arable
land merges gradually into the rocky desert and the Arabs to-day, as
in the past, claim as their own all the land to the Jordan and Dead
Sea valley, except where the settled population successfully contests
their claim by arms. Palestine, therefore, has always been powerfully
influenced by the peculiar life and centralized government and fierce
rivalry between tribes and petty peoples--these are but a few of the
characteristics of Palestine's history that are primarily due to its
openness to Arabia.
=Absence of Navigable Rivers and Good Harbors.= Palestine, on the
other hand, is shut off from close commercial contact with other
peoples. No great waterway invited the trader and warrior to go out
and conquer the rest of the world. Instead, in the early periods when
men depended chiefly upon communication by river or sea, Palestine
shut in its inhabitants and tended to develop an intensive rather than
an extensive civilization. Its one large river, the Jordan, flows, not
into the ocean, but into a low inland sea, whose only outlet is by
evaporation. The coast line of Palestine is also characterized by the
lack of a single good harbor. At Joppa, at the northwestern end of
Carmel, and at Tyre the otherwise straight shore line curves slightly
inland; but at each of these points there is no natural protection
from the severe western gales. The Phœnicians, shut in by the eastern
mountains, dared the perils of the deep; but to the early peoples of
Palestine the Great Sea was, on the whole, a barrier rather than an
invitation to commerce and conquest.
=Incentives to Industry.= The physical characteristics of Palestine
were well fitted to develop active, industrious inhabitants. The
constant pressure on their borders by Arabs, who could be held back
only by a strong, organized civilization, was a powerful spur. The
natural division of the land among independent and usually hostile
races made eternal activity and watchfulness the price that must be
paid for life and freedom. Popular tradition, based on a fact that
pre-eminently impresses every traveller in the land to-day, states
that the fabled Titan, who was sent to scatter stones over the face of
the earth, distributed them equally over Europe and Africa, but that
when he came to Asia and was passing through Syria, his bag broke,
depositing its contents on Palestine. Throughout most of its
territory the rich soil can be cultivated only as the stones are
gathered either in huge heaps or fences. The fertility of the plains
can be utilized only as the waters of the mountain brooks are used for
irrigation. It is, therefore, a land that bred hardy men, strong of
muscle, resourceful, alert, and, active in mind and body.
=Incentives to Faith and Moral Culture.= Another still more
significant characteristic of Palestine was the powerful incentive
which it gave to the development of the faith of its inhabitants. The
constant presence of Arab invaders powerfully emphasized their
dependence upon their God or gods. The changing climate of Palestine
deepened that sense of dependence. No great river like the Nile or the
Euphrates brought its unfailing supply of water, and water was
essential to life. The waters came down from heaven, or else burst
like a miracle from the rocky earth. If the latter rains failed to
fill the cisterns and enrich the springs and rivers, drought, with all
its train of woes, was inevitable. Little wonder that the ancient
Canaanites revered nature deities, and that they, like the Greeks,
worshipped the spirits of the springs, and especially those from which
came their dashing rivers. Locusts, earthquakes, and pestilence in the
lowland frequently brought disaster. In all of these mysterious
calamities primitive peoples saw the direct manifestation of the
Deity. In the fourth chapter of his prophecy, Amos clearly voiced this
wide-spread popular belief:
"I also it was who withheld from you the rain,
And I sent rain upon one city,
While upon another I did not let it rain,
Yet ye did not return to me," is the oracle of Jehovah.
"I smote you with blight and mildew,
I laid waste your gardens and vineyards,
Your fig and your olive trees the young locust devoured;
Yet you did not return to me," is the oracle of Jehovah.
"I sent among you a pestilence by the way of Egypt,
I slew your youths by the sword, taking captive your horses,
And I caused the stench of your camps to rise in your nostrils,
Yet ye did not return to me," is the oracle of Jehovah (Am. 4:7-10).
Hence in a land like Palestine it was natural and almost inevitable
that men should eagerly seek to know the will of the Deity and should
strive to live in accord with it. It was a fitting school in which to
nurture the race that attained the deepest sense of the divine
presence, the most intense spirit of worship and devotion, and the
most exalted moral consciousness.
=Central and Exposed to Attack on Every Side.= Palestine, in common
with the rest of Syria, held a central position in relation to the
other ancient civilizations. Through it ran the great highways from
Babylon and Assyria to Egypt. Along its eastern border passed the
great road from Damascus and Mesopotamia to Arabia. It was the gateway
and key to three continents--Africa, Asia, and Europe. From each of
these in turn came conquerors--Egyptians and Ethiopians, Babylonians
and Assyrians, Greeks and Romans--against whom the divided peoples of
Palestine were practically helpless. Palestine, because of its
physical characteristics and central position was destined to be ruled
by rather than to rule over its powerful neighbors. And yet this close
contact with the powerful nations of the earth inevitably enriched the
civilization and faith of the peoples living within this much
contested land. It produced the great political, social, and religious
crises that called forth the Hebrew prophets. It made the Israelites
the transmuters and transmitters of the rich heritage received from
their cultured neighbors and from their inspired teachers. In turn it
gave them their great opportunity, for repeated foreign conquests and
exile enabled them in time to go forth and conquer, not with the sword
of steel, but of divine truth, and to build up an empire that knew no
bounds of time or space.
=Significance of Palestine's Characteristics.= Thus the more important
characteristics of Palestine are richly suggestive of the unfolding
of Israel's life and of the rôle that Judaism and Christianity were
destined to play in the world's history. Palestine is the scene of the
earlier stages of God's supreme revelation of himself and his purpose
to man and through man. The more carefully that revelation is studied
the clearer it appears that the means whereby it was perfected were
natural and not contra-natural. The stony hills and valleys of
Palestine, the unique combination of sea and plain, of mountain and
desert, placed in the centre of the ancient world, were all silent but
effective agents in realizing God's eternal purpose in the life of
man.
III
THE COAST PLAINS
=Extent and Character.= The eastern shore of the Mediterranean is
skirted by a series of low-lying coast plains, from one to five miles
wide in the north to twenty-five miles wide in the south. At two
points in Palestine the mountains come down to the sea; the one is at
the so-called Ladder of Tyre, about fifteen miles south of the city
from which it is named. Here the precipitous cliffs break directly
over the sea. The other point is at Carmel, which, however, does not
touch the sea directly, but is bounded on its western end by a strip
of plain about two hundred yards wide. The soil of these coast plains
consists of alluvial deposits, largely clay and red quartz sand washed
down in the later geological periods from the mountains of the central
plateau and constantly renewed by the annual freshets.
=Fertility.= Because of the nature of the soil and their position,
these plains are among the most fertile spots in all Palestine.
Numerous brooks and rivers rush down from the eastern headlands. Some
of these are perennial; others furnish a supply of water, which, if
stored during the winter in reservoirs on the heights above, is amply
sufficient to irrigate the plains below. The average temperature of
these coast plains is sixty-eight degrees. The cool sea-winds equalize
the climate so that the temperature changes little throughout the year
and there is but slight variation between the north and the south.
Under these favorable conditions the soil produces in rich abundance a
great variety of tropical fruits. Here grow side by side oranges,
lemons, apricots, figs, plums, bananas, grapes, olives, pomegranates,
almonds, citrons, and a great variety of vegetables, as well as the
cereals of the higher altitudes.
=Divisions.= The coast plains of Palestine fall naturally into four
great divisions, broken by two mountain barriers. The northern is the
Plain of Tyre, which is the southern continuation of the rich plains
about Sidon. The second division is the Plain of Acre, which lies
directly south of the Ladder of Tyre and extends to Carmel. The third
is the Plain of Sharon, which begins at the south of Carmel and merges
opposite Joppa into the ever widening Plain of Philistia.
=Plain of Tyre.= Throughout the Plain of Tyre the low foot-hills come
down within a mile of the sea; but for five or six miles back from the
coast they must be reckoned as a part of the same division, for their
natural and political associations are all with the coast rather than
with the uplands. The city of Tyre was originally built on an island
^{(2)} and was supplied with water from the Spring of Tyre, near the
shore about five miles to the south. The four great perennial rivers
of Phœnicia were the Litany (the present Nahr el-Kasimiyeh, a few
miles north of Tyre), the Zaherâni, south of Sidon, the Nahr
el-Auwali, which was the ancient Bostrenus that watered the plain to
the north of Sidon, and the Nahr ed-Damur which was the Tamyras of the
ancients. Many springs in the plain and on the hillsides contribute to
the fertility of this land, which was the home of the Phœnicians. At
the best the narrowness of the territory, which supported only a very
limited population, made it necessary for this enterprising race to
find an outlet elsewhere. Long before the days of the Hebrews their
colonies had extended down the coast plains to Joppa and northward to
the Eleutherus (the present Nahr el-Kebir, north of Tripoli). The
nineteenth chapter of Judges refers to the Sidonian colony at Laish
(later the Hebrew Dan) at the foot of Mount Hermon; but, with this
exception, there is no evidence that they ever attempted to plant
colonies inland. Instead they found their great outlet in the sea to
the west. Launching their small craft from the smooth sands that
extend crescent-shaped to the north and to the south of their chief
cities, Tyre and Sidon, they skirted the Mediterranean, colonizing its
islands and shores until a line of Phœnician settlements extended from
one end of the Great Sea to the other. Thus they were the first to
open that great door to the western world through which passed not
only the products of Semitic art and industry, but also in time the
immortal messages of Israel's inspired prophets, priests, and sages,
and of him who spoke as never man spoke before.
=The Plain of Acre.= For ten miles to the south of the Plain of Tyre
the coast plain is almost completely cut off by the mountains, which
at Ras el-Abjad, the White Promontory of the Roman writers, and at Ras
en-Nakurah push out into the sea. The great coast road runs along the
cliffs high above the waters in the rock-cut road made by Egyptian,
Assyrian, and Roman conquerors. The Plain of Acre, less than five
miles wide in the north, widens to ten miles in the south. Four
perennial streams water its fertile fields. On the west the sand from
the sea has swept in at places for a mile or more, blocking up the
streams in the south and transforming large areas into wet morasses.
In ancient times, however, most of the southern part of the plain
(like the northern end at present) was probably in a high state of
cultivation. Many large tells or ruined mounds testify that it once
supported a dense population. During most of its history this plain
was held by the Phœnicians or their Greek and Roman conquerors, but at
certain times the Hebrews appear to have here reached the sea.
=Carmel.= The most striking object on the western side of central
Palestine is the bold elevated plateau of Carmel. Except for the
little strip of lowland on its seaward side, it completely interrupts
the succession of coast plains. Its formation is the same as that of
the central plateaus. Viewing Palestine as a whole, it would seem that
Carmel had slipped out of its natural position, leaving the open Plain
of Esdraelon and destroying the otherwise regular symmetry of the
land. Its long, slightly waving sky-line, as it rises abruptly above
the plains of Acre and Esdraelon, commands the landscape for miles to
the north^{(3)} and adds greatly to the picturesqueness of Palestine.
It is about eighteen hundred feet in height and slopes gradually
downward to the southeast and northwest. The ascent on the north is
more abrupt than on the south, where it descends slowly to the Plain
of Sharon. As its name Carmel, The Garden, suggests, it is by no means
a barren, rocky mountain. Instead, where the thickets and wild flowers
have not taken possession of the soil, it is still cultivated, as was
most of its broad surface in earlier times. The ruins of wine and
olive presses and of ancient villages testify to its rich
productivity. On its top the western showers first deposit their
waters, so that in the Old Testament Carmel is a synonym for
superlative fertility. Like the uplands of central Palestine, it was
held by the Hebrews, who from its heights gained their clearest view
of the Great Sea.
=Plain of Sharon.= South of Carmel, beginning with an acute angled
triangle between the mountains and sea, rolls the undulating Plain of
Sharon. Opposite the southern end of Carmel it is six or seven miles
wide. Thence the plain broadens irregularly until, at its southern
end, opposite Joppa, it is twelve miles in width. From north to south
it is nearly fifty miles long. Groups of hills from two to three
hundred feet high dot this undulating expanse of field and pasture.
Five perennial streams flow across it to the sea. Of these the most
important are the Crocodile River (the modern Nahr el-Zerka) a little
north of Cæsarea, and the Iskanderuneh in the south. Here again a wide
fringe of yellow sand bounds the sea and at several points holds back
the waters of the streams, making large marshes. In the north there
are a few groves of oaks, sole survivors of the great forest,
mentioned by Josephus and Strabo, which once covered the Plain of
Sharon. To-day the southern part of the plain is a series of
cultivated, fruitful fields and gardens,^{(4)} but the northern end is
covered in spring by a wealth of wild flowers, among which are found
anemones, brilliant red poppies, the narcissus, which is probably the
rose of Sharon, and the blue iris, which may be the lily of the
valley. Rich soil and abundant waters are found on this plain; but
its resources were never fully developed, for it was the highway of
the nations. Across it ran the great coast road from Egypt to Phœnicia
in the north and to Damascus and Babylonia in the northwest.
Phœnician, Philistine, and Israelite held this plain in turn, but only
in part and temporarily, for having no natural defences, it was open
to all the world.
=The Philistine Plain.= The only natural barrier that separates the
plains of Sharon and Philistia is the river which comes down in two
branches from the eastern hills, one branch leading westward past the
Beth-horons and the other through the Valley of Ajalon. After much
twisting and turning, and under many local names, this, the largest
river south of Carmel, finds the sea a little north of Joppa.
Southward the Plain of Philistia, about forty miles in length,
broadens until it is twenty miles wide. The low hills of the Plain of
Sharon change first into long, rolling swells and then throughout much
of the distance settle into an almost absolutely level plain. In the
southwest the sands of the sea have come in many miles. Ashkelon now
lies between a sea of water and a sea of sand. At many other points
the yellow waves are steadily engulfing the cultivated fields. Three
perennial streams, with sprawling confluents, cut their muddy course
across this rich alluvial plain. It is one of the important grain
fields of Palestine, for the subsoil is constantly saturated with the
moisture which falls in abundance in the winter and spring. No barns
are necessary, for the grain is thrashed and stored out under the
rainless summer skies. It is a land well fitted to support a rich and
powerful agricultural civilization. Like all the coast plains, it is
wide open to the trader and to the invader. Its possessors were
obliged to be ever ready and able to defend their homes from all foes.
Its inhabitants necessarily dwelt in a few strongly guarded cities.
Here in ancient times, especially on the eastern side, were found the
city-dwelling Canaanites. Later the valiant, energetic Philistines
established their title to these fruitful plains and maintained it for
centuries by sheer enterprise and force of arms. The chief Philistine
cities were Ekron and Ashdod in the north, Askelon by the shore, quite
close to the Judean foot-hills and Gaza^{(5)} in the southwest. Except
during the heroic Maccabean age, the Israelites never succeeded and
apparently never seriously attempted to dispute this title. Lying on
the highway that ran straight on along the coast to Egypt, this part
of Palestine was most exposed to the powerful influences that came
from the land of the Nile. The oldest Egyptian inscriptions, as well
as the results of recent excavations, all reveal the wide extent of
this influence.
=The Shephelah or Lowland.= Along the eastern side of the Philistine
plain, from the valley of Ajalon southward, runs a series of low-lying
foot-hills, which are separated from the central plateau of Palestine
by broad, shallow valleys running north and south.^{(6)} This
territory was called by the biblical writers, the Shephelah or
Lowland. These low chalk and limestone hills, with their narrow glens,
their numerous caves and broken rocks, was the debatable ground
between plain and hill country. Sometimes it was held by the
inhabitants of the plain, sometimes by those of the hill country;
always it was the battle-field between the two. Even to-day it is
sparsely inhabited, the haunt of the Bedouin tribes, whose presence is
clearest evidence of the difficulties that the local government
experiences in controlling this wild border land. Like the Scottish
lowlands, this region is redolent with the memories of ancient border
warfare. It is also richly suggestive of one phase of that severe
training which through the long centuries produced a race with a
mission and a message to all the world.
IV
THE PLATEAU OF GALILEE AND THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON
=Physical and Political Significance of the Central Plateau.= The
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.
=Lack of Water Supply.= Even greater than the lack of soil is the lack
of water in Judah. Not a single perennial stream is found within its
immediate boundaries. Ezekiel's vision of the broad stream running
from the temple and irrigating the entire land clearly indicates what
he recognized to be its great need. Throughout the entire land not a
dozen copious springs burst from the dry rock. Jerusalem and Hebron
are thus blest and, as a result, are still the chief cities of the
land. Southwest of Bethlehem are the so-called Pools of Solomon, the
plenteous waters of which are treasured in huge, ancient, rock-cut
reservoirs, from which, in Roman times, they were conducted by high
and low level aqueducts to Jerusalem. No snow-clad Lebanons tower
above the parched hills of Judah to supply the much needed waters.
To-day the rains of winter rush down the rocky hills and valleys,
where there is little soil and vegetation to absorb and retain the
moisture, leaving the land more denuded than before. Undoubtedly, when
the hills of Judah were properly cultivated, as the presence of ruined
terraces and watch-towers even in the most deserted places indicate
they once were, the aspect of the landscape was very different; and
yet, compared with other parts of Palestine, it was ever barren. Its
inhabitants have always had to struggle for soil and water. In the
past, as at present, the chief water supply was from the rocky
cisterns. These were cut on the inside in the shape of a huge Oriental
water-jug and placed in a depression in the rock so that they would be
filled by the wash from the winter rains, which are usually very
copious throughout Palestine.
=Wilderness of Judea.= The eastern slope of the southern plateaus of
Palestine is rightly called a wilderness. Like the Shephelah or
lowland on the west it is a distinct physical division of the
west-Jordan land. The cultivated fields extend only four or five miles
east of the central watershed. Near Jerusalem the barren wilderness
comes up and touches the fertile fields about Bethany.^{(24)} The
descent on this eastern side of Judea to the low-lying Dead Sea is so
precipitous that the water from the winter rains runs off rapidly and
has cut deep channels through the soft clay and limestone cliffs so
that irrigation is impossible.^{(25)} No important villages are found
in this desolate region except at Engedi, where a beautiful spring
bursts out of the cliffs overhanging the Dead Sea and transforms the
barren desert into what seems by contrast a little paradise of trees
and gardens. Otherwise it is a land of dry, rocky, rounded hills which
descend in a series of three great terraces to the depths below. Some
vegetation is found between the rocks on the higher uplands. It is the
land of the shepherd and of the Arab invaders^{(26)} who here press
in from the desert and contend, as they have for thousands of years,
with the shepherds of the outlying villages for the possession of the
barren land. The dominant features in the landscape are the rocky,
rounded bluffs, the great gorge of the Dead Sea, usually enveloped in
mists, and the dim outlines of the massive Moabite hills beyond. This
wilderness of Judea exercised two powerful influences upon the life
and thought of the people of the south: (1) it brought to their doors
the atmosphere and peculiar customs and beliefs of the desert; and (2)
it kept before them the might and destructive power of Jehovah, as
exemplified by the Dead Sea and by the grim traditions that were
associated with this remarkable natural phenomenon.
=Western Judah.= In contrast to the barren wilderness of eastern
Judah, the western hills slope gradually down to the Philistine plain.
The chief characteristic of this western slope is the series of
valleys which lead up from the lowlands, piercing almost to the
watershed in the great central plateau of Judah. Most of these valleys
are broad and fertile as they enter the hills, but become ever more
tortuous and wild as they ascend the rocky heights. In the rainy
season (December to February) they are frequently swept by rushing
torrents, which, undeterred by soil or vegetation, soon run their
course, leaving the stream, during the greater part of the year, dry
and rocky. At many points the ascent is abrupt, between steep rocks,
clad with low bushes and wild flowers. In some places the path is so
narrow that it is impossible for a horse to turn with comfort.
=Valley of Ajalon.= Six important valleys thus lead up from the plain
to the central highlands. The northernmost, and in many ways the most
important, is the Valley of Ajalon. It marks the northwestern boundary
of Judah. It is a great, broad, fertile plain, lying between five
hundred and a thousand feet above sea-level. The stream which
ultimately finds its way into the sea a little north of Joppa, here
makes a broad curve to the northeast, receiving four or five small
tributary streams from the highlands of Judah and southern Samaria.
From this valley several roads lead up to the plateau north of
Jerusalem. Of these the most important is the one that ascends the
pass of the Upper and Lower Beth-horons, along which ran the most
direct and, in early times, the main highway from Jerusalem to
Joppa.^{(118)}
=Wady Ali.= A little south of the Valley of Ajalon is the narrow Wady
Ali, along which runs to-day the carriage road from Jerusalem to
Joppa. Apparently because of the deepness and narrowness of this
valley it does not figure in biblical history until the Maccabean
period.
=Valley of Sorek.= The third important gateway to Judah was the Valley
of Sorek, the present Wady es-Surar. Here the modern railway from
Joppa to Jerusalem penetrates the central plateau. Just before the
Valley of Sorek reaches the steep ascent to the highlands it receives
two important confluents, the Wady el-Ghurab, from the northwest, and
the Wady en-Nagil from the south. Here the valley opens into a broad
fertile plain, closely connected with the larger Plain of Philistia
and yet encircled by the hills of the Shephelah. Immediately to the
north was the home of the Danites and about this picturesque point
gather the Samson stories. Along a winding and steep ascent the narrow
pass thence runs directly eastward toward Jerusalem, approaching the
city across the Valley of Rephaim from the southwest.
=Valley of Elah.= The fourth valley is that of Elah, the Valley of the
Terebinth, which is known to-day as the Wady es-Sunt. This valley
abounds in memories of David's earlier exploits.^{(88)} Its eastern
branch, the Wady el-Jindy leads through a narrow defile up toward
Bethlehem. Its more important branch, the Wady es-Sur, runs directly
southward past what are probably to be identified as the ancient
Adullam and Keilah, and thence turning eastward, reaches the uplands
near the famous Maccabean fortress of Bethzur, a little north of
Hebron.
=Valley of Zephathah.= The fifth valley is that of Zephathah, which is
known to-day in its upper course as the Wady el-Afranj. Its western
gateway is guarded by the present important city of Beit-Jibrin, the
Eleutheropolis of the Greek and Roman period. Recently opened caves
near by reveal the importance of the Egyptian influence which, at a
very early period entered Palestine along this important highway. The
valley itself leads up through winding, narrow walls past the Plain of
Mamre, directly to Hebron. Along it ran the great road from Jerusalem
to Philistia and Egypt.
=Wady el-Jizâir.= The southernmost valley of western Judah is a
continuation of the Wady el-Hesy, which runs past the frontier town of
Lachish and is to-day known in its extension into the Judean highlands
as the Wady el-Jizâir. Passing the ancient city of Adoraim, it also
led to Hebron and ultimately to Jerusalem.
=Significance of These Valleys.= Of these six western valleys,
unquestionably the three most important were the Valley of Ajalon,
with its main gateways opening toward Jerusalem, the Valley of Sorek,
with its broad entrance, also leading straight up to the capital city,
and the Valley of Elah, rich with historic memories. Each of these,
however, could be easily defended at certain strategic points by a few
determined men on the heights above. When these natural gates were
closed, Judah was practically unassailable on the west and could look
with a strong sense of security down from its frowning heights upon
the hostile armies which swept along the broad coast plains.
=The South Country.= The central plateau of Palestine extends south of
Judah fully seventy miles. At first it gradually descends in a series
of terraces, and then breaks into a confusion of barren, rocky,
treeless ridges, running for the most part from east to west and cut
by deep waterless gorges. As in Judah, the eastern hills which
overhang the Wady Arabah are more abrupt and the winter torrents have
cut deep channels in the gray limestone rocks. On the west the descent
is more gradual, running out into the level wilderness, bounded on the
west by the Wady el-Arish, known to the biblical writers as the Brook
of Egypt. This wild, desolate region, fifty miles wide and seventy
long, is the famous South Country, which figured so largely in early
Israelite history. Its name, _Negeb_, Dry Land, well describes its
general character.^{(1)}
=Its Northern and Western Divisions.= The hill country immediately to
the south of Judah is fairly fertile. Cultivated fields are found in
the valleys and terraces on the hillsides, even as far as the Wady
Sheba and the famous desert sanctuary of Beersheba. To the south and
west of Beersheba are found the ruins of many cities, which evidently
enjoyed high prosperity during the later Roman period. Here, as
throughout most of the South Country, rain falls during the winter
season, so that where the water is stored, irrigation is possible. A
few springs also furnish a perennial supply of water. Thus under a
strong stable government, the northern and northwestern portions of
the South Country are capable of supporting a large, semi-agricultural
population. By nature, however, it is the land of the nomad.
Throughout most of its history, the Bedouin have dominated it as they
do to-day. When undeveloped by irrigation, its hills and valleys are
covered in springtime by a green herbage, which disappears, except in
some secluded glens, before the glaring heat of summer. To the south,
the Negeb at last descends to the great barren desert of Tîh, across
which ran the highways to Egypt, to Arabia, and to Babylonia.
=Its Central and Eastern Divisions.= The central and eastern part of
this South Country is dry and barren and occupied only by fierce
Bedouin tribes. The absence of water, the ruggedness of its mountain
ranges, and the fierceness of its population have rendered it almost
impassable throughout most of its history. Many portions of it are
still unexplored. Thus, on its southern boundary, Judah was thoroughly
protected from the advance of hostile armies. At the same time, from
this South Country there came a constant infiltration of the
population and ideas of the desert, which left a deep imprint upon the
character of the southern Israelites.
=The Striking Contrasts Between Judah and Samaria.= The contrasts
between the hills of Judah and Samaria are many and significant. The
hills of Samaria are a collection of distinct groups, divided by
broad valleys, which intersect the land in every direction. The hills
of Judah, in contrast, constitute a great, elevated, solid plateau,
cut by no great valleys running throughout the land from east to west
or from north to south. Judah is a mountain fortress, with strong
natural barriers on every side. Samaria, on the contrary, stands with
doors wide open to the foreign trader and invader. Its inhabitants are
compelled to resort to the hilltops, or else to build strong
fortresses for their defence. The great highways of commerce pass on
either side of Judah, while they ran through the heart of Samaria.
Judah was secure, not only because of its natural battlements of rock,
but because of its barrenness. Its grim limestone hills, its stony
moorlands, and its dry valleys offered few attractions to the invader.
On the other hand, the rich fields of Samaria and its opulent cities
were a constant loadstone, drawing toward them conquerors from the
north, south, and east.
=Effect Upon Their Inhabitants.= Judah, with its few springs and its
rock-strewn fields, offered a frugal livelihood to men who were
willing to toil and to live without the luxuries of life. It bred a
sturdy, brave race, intensely loyal to their rocks and hills,
tenacious of their beliefs, even to the point of bigotry and
martyrdom. Like their limestone hills, they were grim and
unattractive, but capable of resisting the wearing process of the
centuries. In contrast, the fertile hills of Samaria, with their
plentiful springs and rushing streams, bred a luxury-loving,
care-free, tolerant race, who were ready, almost eager, for foreign
ideas and cults, as well as customs. Thus that great schism between
north and south, between Jew and Samaritan, was not merely the result
of later rivalries, but found its primal cause in the physical
characteristics that distinguished the land of Judah from that of
Samaria.
VI
THE JORDAN AND DEAD SEA VALLEY
=Geological History.= The great gorge of the Jordan and Dead Sea
valley is the most striking natural phenomenon in Palestine. No place
on the face of the earth has had a more dramatic geological history.
As has already been noted (p. 14), this great rift which runs from
northern Syria to the Red Sea was probably formed in the latter part
of the Pliocene Age. At the northern end of the Dead Sea its bed
reaches a depth of nearly one-half a mile beneath the ocean level. It
is thus by far the deepest depression on the face of the earth. During
the Pluvial period this huge rift was filled with water, making a
large inland sea, fully two hundred miles long, with its surface
nearly one hundred feet above the ocean level. Apparently the higher
land to the south of the present Dead Sea cut off the ocean, so that
at the first it was a fresh-water lake. During the Interglacial
period, possibly in part as the result of volcanic changes, it fell to
a level of not more than three hundred feet above the present surface
of the Dead Sea. It was during this period and the ice age that
followed that the deposits were made on the side of the valley, which
have given it its present terraced form.
=Evidences of Volcanic Action.= From the Pluvial period to the present
the valley has been the scene of frequent volcanic disturbances. The
water, sinking through the great rifts and subterranean passages, and
being transformed by the heat into steam, forced up great masses of
lava, which may be traced at many points on the heights both to the
east and to the west of the Jordan valley. Earthquakes, many of them
severe, are still common in this volcanic region. That of 1837
destroyed the city of Safed, killing one thousand of its inhabitants.
In recent years severe shocks were felt in June, 1896, January, 1900,
March and December, 1903. Many copious, hot, mineral springs still
bear testimony to the presence of volcanic forces. Those near
Tiberias, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and in the Wady
Zerka Ma'in, east of the Dead Sea, have a temperature of about 144°,
while the waters of El-Hammeh in the Yarmuk Valley vary in temperature
from about 93° to 110.° These springs are strongly impregnated with
mineral salts and it is from these and similar sources that the salts
have come that make the waters of the Dead Sea what they are to-day,
heavy and far more saline than the ocean itself.
=Natural Divisions.= The Jordan and Dead Sea valley falls into four
natural divisions: (1) the upper Jordan, from Mount Hermon to the Sea
of Galilee, (2) the Sea of Galilee, (3) the lower Jordan, and (4) the
Dead Sea. At its northernmost point rises Mount Hermon, called by the
natives Jebel es-Sheik, that is, Mountain of the White-haired.
=Mount Hermon.= Hermon is in reality a massive mountain plateau,
twenty miles long from northeast to southwest. Like most of the
mountains of Palestine, it is of hard limestone, covered at places
with soft chalk. On its northern side the vineyards run up to a height
of almost five thousand feet.^{(27)} Above are found scattered oaks,
almond and dwarf juniper trees. The mountain rises to the height of
nine thousand and fifty feet and is crowned by three peaks.^{(28)} The
northern and southern peaks are about the same height, while the
western, separated from the others by a depression, is about one
hundred feet lower. Mount Hermon commands a marvellous view of almost
the entire land of Palestine. From the masses of snow which cover its
broad top far into the summer and lie in its ravines throughout the
year, come the copious waters of the upper Jordan. Its sources spring
from the western and southern bases of Mount Hermon fully developed
streams. Three-fourths of the waters of Mount Hermon thus find their
way down the deep gorge of the Jordan.
=Source of the Jordan at Banias.= One of the two main sources of the
Jordan is at Banias, the Cæsarea Philippi of New Testament times.
About one hundred feet beneath an ancient grotto in the side of a
sheer cliff, the stream pours forth from the rocks and goes rushing
down through thickets of trees and the gardens which are irrigated by
its waters.^{(29)} By Josephus and other ancient writers the springs
at Banias were regarded as the true source of the Jordan. Here the
ancient Canaanites apparently reared a sanctuary to the god of the
stream and later the Greeks built a temple to Pan, from whence comes,
with the change of the initial letter, the modern name of Banias, or
City of Pan. Here also Herod reared a temple which was one of the
glories of the Roman city.
=At Tell el-Kadi.= The largest source of the Jordan is on the western
side of the mound now known as Tell el-Kadi. A stream about ten feet
wide flows directly from the rock and is joined by a smaller confluent
a little to the south, forming the so-called El-Leddan. The imposing
mound of Tell el-Kadi, lying at the head of the Jordan Valley and
commanding the highway that leads to Banias, and thence across the
eastern spurs of Mount Hermon to Damascus, is probably the site of the
Canaanite Laish, later the Hebrew Dan.
=The Western Confluents.= A mile and a half further to the south the
two eastern sources of the Jordan are joined by the Hasbany. This
stream springs from a pool on the western side of Mount Hermon and
thence flows southward through the broad plain on the west of the
mountain from which it sprang. The fourth source of the Jordan, the
Nahr Bareighit, the least important of the four, rising not far from
the River Litany, comes down through a valley to the northwest.
=The Upper Jordan Valley.= During the first part of its descent to the
Dead Sea, the Jordan winds leisurely through a valley about five miles
wide, flanked by hills rising to between fifteen hundred and two
thousand feet.^{(30)} Its northernmost part, under the shadow of Mount
Hermon, is plentifully strewn with stones, but a few miles below Tell
el-Kadi fertile grain fields appear, watered by copious springs. The
Jewish colonists on the northwestern edge of the Jordan valley, are
beginning to cultivate these meadows, again demonstrating how fertile
they are. Six miles above Lake Huleh the river loses itself in reedy
marshes^{(31)} and finally empties into the lake through six different
channels. Here the papyrus grows in great profusion. Lake Huleh
itself, four miles long, is little more than a great malarial marsh,
formed by the temporary stopping of the river by the eastern and
western hills, which here approach within three or four miles of each
other.
=The Rapid Descent to the Sea of Galilee.= From Banias to Lake Huleh
the Jordan descends over one thousand feet and in the eleven miles
from the lake to the Sea of Galilee it plunges downward six hundred
and ninety feet. These occasional pauses, followed by sudden plunges,
have given the river its name, the Jordan, which means the Descender.
A little below Lake Huleh, the valley of the Jordan narrows into a
rocky gorge. Through this rocky chasm, hemmed in by steep cliffs on
both sides, the Jordan plunges in continuous cascades until it reaches
the delta which it has formed at the northern end of the Sea of
Galilee.
=The Sea of Galilee.= At Lake Huleh the waters of the Jordan are seven
feet above the ocean level, but at the Sea of Galilee six hundred and
eighty-two feet below. The Sea of Galilee is a pear-shaped lake,
twelve and one-half miles in length and eight in width, encircled by
bold limestone cliffs.^{(32)} Its greatest depth, which is in the
north, is seven hundred and fifty feet. Its blue, clear waters, bathed
in sunshine, and the soft, warm breezes that blow across the lake,
make it in spring-time, and even in winter, one of the most delightful
spots in all the world. In the summer, however, its atmosphere is hot
and sultry, and at many points malarial. Ordinarily, the ocean winds
blow high above the Sea of Galilee without affecting its hot, tropical
climate, but occasionally they pour down through the valleys,
especially to the north and northwest, suddenly transforming these
quiet waters into a tempestuous sea.
=Its Shores.= On the east rise the steep, now barren but probably once
tree-clad, limestone hills of the Jaulan, capped by vast layers of
black basalt, towering in the distance like huge battlements. They
stand back, however, from the lake, leaving a shore averaging one-half
mile in width. On the north the Jordan has worn down the hills, which
here descend gradually in wild, stony moorlands, covered with thorns
and rough grasses. To the northwest opens the fertile plain of
Gennesaret,^{(33)} four miles wide, watered by dashing mountain brooks
and flanked by the high hills of upper Galilee. The industry of German
colonists is again beginning to demonstrate the marvellous fertility
of this fair plain, where the fruits and grains of tropical and
temperate climes grow side by side. On the western side of the lake
the hills descend in terraces, leaving a narrow strip of shore,
connected with the uplands by one or two shallow valleys. To the south
the shore broadens and the hills recede until they are four miles
apart at the southern end,^{(34)} where the Jordan leaves the Sea of
Galilee.
=From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.= The distance from the Sea
of Galilee to the Dead Sea in a straight line is only sixty-five
miles, but, owing to its constant turnings, the actual course of the
river measures nearly two hundred miles. In this last plunge the river
descends more than one thousand feet. Its descent is more rapid in the
upper part of its course. A little below the Sea of Galilee it
receives its largest confluent, the River Yarmuk, which breaks through
the heights of the Hauran to the east. The volume of the water thus
poured in nearly equals that of the Jordan itself at this point.
Further south the Brook Jalûd comes down on the west from the Plain of
Jezreel past Bethshean. About twenty miles from its mouth, the Jordan
receives the waters from the Jabbok, which descends from the heights
of Gilead on the east, and from the Wady Farah, which comes from the
vicinity of Shechem on the west.
=Character of the Valley.= Below the Sea of Galilee the Jordan valley,
at first but four miles wide, gradually broadens until it is eight
miles in width opposite Bethshean, where the valley of Jezreel joins
that of the Jordan. Most of the land in this part of the Jordan
valley, immediately below the Sea of Galilee, is tillable. The ruins
of ancient aqueducts indicate that the streams that come down from the
hillsides were once used for irrigation. The valley is again being in
part reclaimed by Jewish colonists. Ten miles south of Bethshean the
Samaritan headlands crowd close to the Jordan, so that the valley is
only three miles in width. Where the Jabbok and Wady Farah join the
Jordan the valley again broadens until, opposite Jericho, it is
fourteen miles in width.^{(35)} Most of this lower Jordan valley is a
parched desert covered by low bushes and desert plants, except where
the streams from the highlands are used for irrigation. Fertile fields
are thus reclaimed where the Wady Nimrin and the Wady el-Kefrein come
from the eastern hills opposite Jericho. At Jericho itself the waters
of the Wady Kelt and those of the famous Fountain of Elisha are
utilized to-day as they were in ancient times. South of Jericho,
however, the soil is heavily impregnated with saline and alkaline
salts, so that it extends in an almost barren waste to the northern
end of the Dead Sea.
=The Jordan Itself.= Through this broad valley the Jordan winds,
frequently changing its course, and ploughing a great furrow, called
by the natives the Zôr.^{(36)} In flood time the river is from five
hundred feet to a mile wide, while in the summer it is at places not
more than seventy-five or a hundred feet in width and varies in depth
from three to twelve feet. At all times it is a muddy, coffee-colored
stream, partaking of the color of the slimy, alluvial soil through
which it flows. Its banks are covered by thickets of trees, bushes,
and reeds, in which are found many wild beasts and birds. This flood
channel of the Jordan is a scene of wreckage and ruin, mingled with
tropical luxuriance. The lowest bed of this ancient inland lake is
given up to-day, as it always was in the past, to wild beasts, to
occasional fugitives, to squalid Bedouin, and to the muddy, sprawling
river which here rules supreme.
=Fords of the Lower Jordan.= The lower course of the Jordan is now
spanned by four bridges. In ancient times the dwellers in Palestine
were obliged to depend entirely upon its fords, of which there are
between twenty and twenty-five. One of the more important is at the
point where the river leaves the Sea of Galilee and is still used as a
ferry. Another is the famous ford of Abarah, a little northeast of
Bethshean. The third is a little farther south, opposite the ancient
Pella. Another, the Dâmieh ford, is at the mouth of the Jabbok. The
fifth is northeast of Jericho just below the point where the Wady
Nimrin enters the Jordan. The most famous is the Pilgrim Ford,
southeast of Jericho, just below the place where the Wady Kelt joins
the Jordan. Owing to the alluvial character of its banks, its rapid
current, and the frequency of the floods, fed by the melting snows
from the Lebanons and by the heavy storms of the winter and spring,
the Jordan has always proved a river difficult to cross. Its rôle
throughout all of its history has been that of a divider rather than
that of a binder together of tribes and races. Throughout its course
of one hundred and seven miles it is rarely navigable. Flowing, as it
does, into the barren waters of the Dead Sea, the Jordan was,
therefore, a check upon rather than an encouragement to commerce.
=Ancient Names of the Dead Sea.= The residue of the ancient inland
lake is represented by the present Dead Sea. This name is
comparatively modern. In the Bible it is called by various names, such
as simply the Sea, the Sea of the Plain, the Eastern Sea, or the Salt
Sea. To-day it is known among the Arabs as the Sea of Lot.
=Its Unique Characteristics.= The Dead Sea lies one thousand two
hundred and ninety-two feet below the surface of the ocean.^{(37)} It
is forty-seven and a half miles long and ten miles across at its
widest point. At its northeastern end, under the heights of Moab, the
lake reaches to the vast depth of one thousand two hundred and
seventy-eight feet. In striking contrast, the southern end of the sea
is only ten to fifteen feet in depth. Its waters are so thoroughly
impregnated with poisonous chemicals that no fish can live in them
and only the lowest organisms survive. Its bitter taste is due to the
presence of chloride of magnesium and the oily feeling is produced by
the chloride of calcium, which it holds in solution. As is well known,
the density is so great that it is practically impossible for man or
beast to sink beneath its waters. In time of storm the waves beat on
the shore with a heavy, metallic sound. The waters of the sea are
frequently lashed by heavy thunder-storms, which linger here sometimes
for hours, held in by the high, towering cliffs on either side. With
few exceptions the shores of the Dead Sea are barren and strewn at
places with the wreckage of trees. Its water, however, is limpid,
varying from light blue to green. Owing to the proximity of the desert
and the intense heat--the temperature rising in summer as high as
118°--it is the scene of a stupendous process of evaporation. It is
computed that between six and eight million tons of water rise in
vapor from this great natural caldron each day. Often the vapor is so
dense that it obscures the landscape, but at other times it imparts a
marvellous prismatic color to the huge cliffs that encircle the
lake,^{(38)} so that the combination of the blue waters, the cloudless
skies, and the rich, blended reds, grays, and purples of the
opalescent landscape make it one of the most sublime views in all the
world.
=Its Eastern Bank.= On the eastern side the cliffs of Moab rise at
some points almost sheer to the height of between twenty-five hundred
and three thousand feet. These limestone hills are mottled with huge
blotches of black limestone and basalt and are frequently capped with
white, chalky rocks. They are cut by several important streams, which
have worn deep canyons that extend back many miles into the Moabite
hills. A few miles south of the northeastern end the Wady Zerka Ma'in
flows into the sea. On its northern bank, near the sea, the famous
baths of Callirrhöe burst from the rock. Farther south the River
Arnon, cutting a canyon three thousand feet deep through the plateau
of Moab, reaches the sea through a broad opening. Here a few scattered
palms and acacias relieve the utter desolation of this eastern wall
of rock. Still farther south the promontory of El-Lisan, The Tongue,
as it is called by the natives, pushes out into the sea, extending to
within three miles of the western shore. It is a bold mass of
calcareous marl, forty to eighty feet in height, treeless and barren.
In pleasing contrast with this barrenness is the oasis lying behind
it, watered by the Wady el-Kerak. Here are found the four Bedouin
villages which are the only towns along the coast of this desolate
sea.
=The Southern End.= At the southern end of the Dead Sea is a slimy mud
marsh, low and malarial, covered with tropical thickets which are
filled with the birds and the beasts of the southern clime. Farther
south is the fertile Ghôr es-Safieh. In this little oasis, lying
between the sea and the wilderness, a little wheat, barley, and
tobacco are grown and a dense tropical vegetation abounds. Southward
for a hundred and twelve miles to the Gulf of Akaba extends the
Arabah,^{(39)} the continuation of the great rift of which the Jordan
and the Dead Sea valleys are a part. Low sand-hills lie across the
centre of this broad, shallow valley, making direct travel impossible.
Sixty-five miles to the south the watershed is reached. This is six
hundred and sixty feet above the level of the ocean, that is, nearly
two thousand feet above the level of the Dead Sea. It is a land of
stones, gravel, and sand,^{(40)} with only a few trickling springs--a
lonesome, forbidding region where heat, dust, and the Bedouin rule
supreme to-day as they have for thousands of years.
=The Western Shores.= The hills on the western side of the Dead Sea,
except at two points, do not come close to the margin of the water. A
beach from a hundred yards to a mile in width fringes the sea on this
western side. Beyond this shore the hills rise in terraces to the
height of from two thousand to two thousand five hundred feet. These
are white, rounded, and barren, except at Engedi, where the waters of
its famous spring have developed an oasis,^{(41)} which marks the side
of the plateau with a pleasing mass of dark green. Many small wadies
cut down through these western hills. In their beds are found a few
trees and bushes, but otherwise the landscape is as bold and
unrelieved by vegetation as on the east. On the southwest, at Jebel
Usdum, there is a remarkable range of salt cliffs, six hundred feet
high, three and three-fourth miles in length and a half mile in width.
Here local tradition fixes the scene of the death of Lot's wife. Along
this western shore are also found deposits of bitumen. Frequently
portions of it are found floating in the waters; sometimes they catch
on fire, adding to the lurid impressiveness of this mysterious valley.
=Grim Associations of the Dead Sea.= These are a few of the many
reminders that fully justify the modern name of the Dead Sea. Its
historic associations, the destruction of the wicked cities of the
plain, the murder of John the Baptist at Machærus on the eastern
heights, and the later massacre at Masada are all harsh and appalling.
In common with the Jordan valley, this region is richly suggestive of
the destructive forces of nature. Life is here grim, severe, and
relentless. It is not difficult to detect in Jewish character the deep
impressions made by this constant contact with the symbols of death
and with these suggestions of the presence of a stern, austere God.
VII
THE EAST-JORDAN LAND
=Form and Climate of the East-Jordan Land.= The east-Jordan land of
biblical history is in form an irregular triangle, with its base
skirting the Jordan Valley, its northern angle at the foot of Mount
Hermon, its southern a little beyond the southern end of the Dead Sea,
while its third angle lies in the Druse Mountains, about seventy miles
east of the Sea of Galilee. Damascus,^{(42)} to the northwest, is just
beyond the bounds of Palestine. This famous ancient city lies in the
midst of a verdant oasis made by the waters of the Abana River,^{(43)}
which breaks through the eastern Lebanons and finally loses itself in
the Arabian desert. The heart of the east-Jordan land is the wide,
level plain watered by the tributaries of the Yarmuk River. The
east-Jordan territory is a great elevated plateau, averaging fully two
thousand feet in height. This southern continuation of the
Anti-Lebanon mountains is a land that lies open to the sunshine and to
the strong breezes that blow from the dry desert or fresh from the
western sea. Its temperature, as a whole, is much colder than that of
western Palestine. Frosts at night begin as early as the first of
November and continue into March. Deep snows cover a large portion of
it in winter. I myself have travelled in the middle of March for hours
through blinding snows, two or three feet deep, up among the highlands
of Gilead. In summer frequent mists sweep over the heights. At night
the temperature often falls very low, and, as a result, heavy dews are
deposited. Even during the day cool sea-breezes make the air
thoroughly invigorating. Thus it richly deserved the reputation which
it enjoyed in antiquity of being one of the most healthful regions in
all the world.
=Well Watered and Fertile.= In contrast to western Palestine, the
east-Jordan land is well supplied with springs and perennial rivers.
Grass grows almost everywhere in rich profusion, even far out toward
the desert. Great forests are still found in Gilead, and fruit trees
that yield abundantly. East of the Jordan are the chief grain fields
of Palestine, but it is pre-eminently the home of the herdsman and
shepherd. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats dot the
landscape almost everywhere from the foot of Hermon to the southern
end of Moab.
=The Four Great Natural Divisions.= The east-Jordan land falls into
four great natural divisions. The first is the Jaulan or Golan, the
Gaulanitis of the Roman period, which extends from the foot of Mount
Hermon to the Yarmuk River and from the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee
to the Nahr el-Allân, a northern tributary of the Yarmuk. To the east
and southeast of the Jaulan is the second great division, the Hauran.
It extends northward to the vast lava-beds of El-Lejah, and eastward
to the Druse Mountains, which look out upon the desert. In certain
passages of the Old Testament the term Bashan seems to have been
applied to the entire region north of the Yarmuk, but its exact bounds
are not clearly defined. The third division includes the mountains of
Gilead, which extend from the Yarmuk to the Wady Heshbân at the
northern end of the Dead Sea, and from the Jordan out to the desert
beyond the territory of ancient Ammon. The fourth division is the
plateau of Moab, which extends from the Wady Heshbân to the Wady
el-Hesa, southeast of the Dead Sea, and from the Salt Sea to the great
pilgrim road on the borders of the desert.
=Characteristics of the Northern and Western Jaulan.= The Jaulan
slopes southward to the Yarmuk and westward to the Jordan. Its
characteristic features are two parallel ranges of isolated volcanic
mountains between two and four thousand feet in height extending
southward from Mount Hermon.
In some of these bold peaks the outlines of the ancient craters are
still visible. Tell Abu Neda, of the western range, rises to the
height of nearly four thousand feet. Its crater is broken at one side
and its ulterior is cultivated, producing a variety of vegetables and
grains. Another peak farther south, Tell el-Faras, about three
thousand one hundred feet high, has a well-preserved, round crater,
which inclines to the north. From these craters in early times
successive waves of lava flowed toward the Jordan valley, covering
this entire region. The northern part of the Jaulan is a great rocky
pasture land, strewn with black basaltic boulders. In the spring it is
a mass of green, which attracts thousands of Bedouin with their
flocks. In the summer it becomes dry and desolate except where a few
perennial springs develop little oases. The villages are small and far
apart. Inland a few wadies supply water for irrigation, but as they
run westward toward the Jordan they soon cut deep torrent beds through
the rocks and thus become practically useless for purposes of
agriculture.
=Southern and Eastern Jaulan.= The southern part of the Jaulan, from a
point opposite the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, is a lofty
plateau. Here the volcanic rock is more broken. In this rich, dark red
soil much grain is raised, especially wheat and barley. Two important
streams, the Wady Semakh and the Wady Fîk, here descend to the Sea of
Galilee through long deep gorges. The southeastern Jaulan is pierced
by two parallel streams, the Nahr er-Rukkad and the Nahr el-Allân,
which run almost due south. In their upper courses they flow on the
surface of the ground, but soon sink into deep gorges which lead to
the Yarmuk. The Yarmuk itself is the most commanding river of all the
east-Jordan land. Its tributaries water the fertile lands of the
Hauran. Like all the great rivers east of the Jordan, it has cut a
deep channel through the basaltic rocks. To-day the railroad from
Damascus to Haifa twists along its tortuous course between walls of
rock five hundred to one thousand feet in height. The climate in this
deep gorge is that of the Jordan valley itself. Oleanders, palms, and
figs grow here, overshadowed by the pines and oaks of the upland
plateau. The variety of twisted and tilted limestone and volcanic
rocks laid bare on its rugged sides makes it one of the wildest and
most picturesque valleys in all Palestine.
=Character of the Hauran.= The most productive grain fields of the
eastern Mediterranean are found in the Hauran or Hollow.^{(1)} With
the exception of an occasional low hill, this region is as level as a
floor. The soil is a rich volcanic loam, well watered and
superlatively fruitful. Unlike the Jaulan, which was once largely
wooded, it is treeless, except among the mountains to the east. It is
also one of the few spots in Palestine practically free from stones.
Here wheat and barley and the other grains of Palestine grow in
rankest profusion. The landscape is comparatively monotonous except as
an occasional wady furrows its way down toward the Yarmuk or some of
its tributaries. Like many regions in Palestine it is dominated by the
snowy heights of Hermon, which stand out in brilliant contrast to the
monotony of the plain.
=Borderland of the Hauran.= To the north rises, thirty or forty feet
above the plain, the great lava plain of El-Lejah. It is a solid,
gently undulating mass of lava, containing an area of three hundred
and fifty square miles. No rivers, and only occasional springs, are
found throughout this barren waste, which is penetrated only by a few
footpaths. It is the ancient Trachonitis, the refuge of outlaws and
robbers to-day as in the past. To the east the plain of the Hauran
rises to Jebel Hauran, also known as the Druse Mountains. Three of the
peaks of these eastern sentinels are between four and six thousand
feet high. On the south, the Hauran gradually merges into the yellow
steppes of El-Hamâd and farther west into the limestone hills of
Ez-Zumleh.
=Gilead.= South of the Yarmuk the black basalt of the Jaulan yields to
the light limestone of the west-Jordan. The entire territory of Gilead
more closely resembles the western hills of Palestine than does any
other part of the east-Jordan region. On the broad rolling uplands of
eastern Gilead there are large grain fields and the soil is
cultivated at many other points. In the Roman period great cities, of
which Gerasa^{(44)} was the chief, testified to the rich productivity
of this region, but for the most part it is the paradise of the
herdsmen and the shepherd. It is a land of deep valleys, rounded
hills, and frequent springs. On the northwest many small streams cut
their way to the Jordan valley. The roads run up and down steep
inclines where the flocks and the herds cling to the sloping
hillsides. Groves of noble oaks cover the hilltops and reveal the
strength inherent in the soil.
=The Jabbok and Jebel Osha.= The dominant factor in southern Gilead is
the River Jabbok.^{(45)} It rises among the hills not far from the
Moabite border, only eighteen miles from the Jordan, and then flows
northeast, past the old Ammonite capital. Thence it completes the half
circle, cutting its way through the Gileadite hills to the Jordan. At
some points its channel is between two and three thousand feet below
the level of the plateau. It is a joyous river, rippling in flashes of
sunlight over the rocks, through green glades and tangles of oleanders
and rushes, a type of this happy, picturesque land of the shepherd.
The centre of the half circle described by the Brook Jabbok is the
Jebel Osha, the highest peak in Gilead. From its height of three
thousand five hundred and ninety-five feet, practically all of Gilead
is spread to the north and south and east like a great variegated
carpet.
=Southern Gilead.= In southern Gilead the trees become fewer and fewer
until south of Jebel Osha they almost disappear. In spring-time the
fields are green with grass and grain, but in summer they become
parched and brown. The wadies in the south, such as Wady Nimrin and
Wady Heshbân, avail little for irrigation, since their channels are
far beneath the level of the surrounding plateau. The region as a
whole begins to take on something of the sombre color of the Dead Sea
region which lies in the depths below.
=Character of the Plateau of Moab.= In its largest bounds Moab is a
territory sixty miles long and thirty miles wide. From across the
Dead Sea it looks like a high mountain range, but in reality it is
simply a lofty upland plateau^{(46)} towering above the deep gorge of
the Dead Sea. Throughout most of its extent it is between two thousand
five hundred and three thousand three hundred feet above the ocean
level, and therefore from three thousand eight hundred to four
thousand six hundred feet above the blue waters of the Dead Sea. It is
a gently rolling, treeless plain; its low hilltops are crowned with
the ruins of ancient cities. Only a few bushes are to be found upon
these bare moors. The prevailing rock is soft cretaceous limestone,
which crops out at many points. The soil of the central zone, however,
which runs from north to south, averaging about ten miles in width, is
exceedingly fertile. Many grain fields are found throughout this
territory; but like Gilead, Moab is pre-eminently the land of the
herdsman and the shepherd. In the wadies which run down to the Dead
Sea thousands of camels are bred, while on the hills above are seen at
every point flocks of cattle, sheep, and goats.
=Its Fertility and Water Supply.= In the spring-time the upland fields
are masses of green, which almost conceal the stones and outcrop of
rock. The marvel is that any vegetation is found in a land thus
bounded, on the west by the Sea of Death and on the east by the rocky
desert. Most of the streams run through deep glens and no springs are
found on the surface. The explanation of the marvel is found in the
high elevation of the plateau and the great process of evaporation
which is ever going on in the Dead Sea basin below. The west winds
from the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea come laden with moisture,
which they deposit in the winter and spring in drenching rains, and
throughout the year in heavy dews at night.
=Its Mountains.= The mountains of Moab are little more than hills
rising a few hundred feet above the rolling upland. The so-called
mountains of the Abarim are simply the wild, rocky hills and
promontories which rise rapidly from the Dead Sea.^{(47)} Seen from
across the Dead Sea they have the appearance of mountains. They skirt
the eastern side of the lower Jordan and Dead Sea, running eastward
nine or ten miles to meet the fields of Moab on the heights. This
region corresponds to the wilderness of Judea across the sea on the
west. Mount Nebo, which now bears the name Neba, is a flat tongue of
land two thousand six hundred and forty-three feet above the ocean
level, running out two miles westward from the main plateau. It
overlooks the northern end of the Dead Sea, which is nearly four
thousand feet below. It commands a marvellous view up the Jordan
valley, between the lofty heights of Gilead on the right and the hills
of Samaria and Judah on the left. Farther inland and to the south is
the loftier peak of Jebel Attarus. The chief mountain south of the
Arnon is Jebel Shihan, which rises to the height of two thousand seven
hundred and eighty feet above the ocean level.
=Its Rivers.= The most striking features in the landscape of Moab are
the deep canyons which plough from east to west across the plateau.
Those in the north run back only a few miles, leaving northeastern
Moab a comparatively unbroken plateau, but in the south they cut deep
furrows eastward even to the borders of the desert. The Wady Zerka
Ma'in has worn a broad channel through the limestone, basaltic, and
sandstone rocks of northwestern Moab, so that ten miles from the point
where it flows into the Dead Sea it is fully two miles across. Along
the bottom of this great chasm runs a limpid brook, winding through
beautiful groves of oleanders and beside fertile patches of land,
which are in marked contrast to the utterly barren and desolate cliffs
above.
=The Arnon.= Farther south the Arnon, the chief river of Moab, rises
on the border of the desert. Rapidly cutting its way down into the
plateau, it receives its first important confluent from the south, and
farther on the Wady Waleh from the north. At the point where the
central highway through Moab from the north crosses the Arnon the
canyon is three thousand feet deep and two miles from bank to bank. It
is by far the most stupendous and picturesque chasm in all
Palestine.^{(48)} The steep red cliffs, variegated and richly colored
by white, gray, and yellow strata, extend in wavy billows east and
west as far as the eyes can reach. The descent is almost sheer into
the depths below, where the river, easily fordable at many points and
with an actual channel only a few feet wide, rushes over the smooth
rocks or winds leisurely through its fringe of oleanders and green
bushes. Where the tributary wadies have cut down the soft limestone,
nature's castles stand out, guarding the broad natural highway from
the desert to the sea. The Arnon only in a lesser degree separated the
land of Moab and destroyed its political unity, even as did the Jordan
the land of Israel.
=Southern Moab and Edom.= Farther south the Wady el-Kerak, narrow and
deep, runs past both sides of the natural citadel, whose name it
bears,^{(49)} and finds its way to the Dead Sea back of the barren
promontory of El-Lisan. Thus the three zones of Moab, the western
promontories, the central fields, and the dry pasture lands on the
east, are repeatedly intersected by the deep gorges that make it a
land easy to approach from the desert and difficult to defend. Farther
south the plateau of Moab merges into the wild, picturesque mountains
of Mount Seir, the home of the Edomites. The valley becomes narrower
and the mountains bolder, more jagged, and abrupt. The culmination of
these natural wonders is the Wady Mûsa, which cuts a deep, narrow
channel through the heart of the mountains.^{(50)} In the midst of
this valley, surrounded by gorgeously colored sandstone cliffs, out of
which have been carved homes, streets, tombs, theatres,
temples,^{(51)} and well-preserved high places,^{(52, 53)} stands that
most astonishing and marvellous of all oriental cities--Petra.
=Significance of the East-Jordan Land.= Health, beauty, and fertility
have ever been the three rich possessions of the east-Jordan land. It
was effectually cut off, however, from contact with the teeming,
highly civilized life of the Mediterranean seaboard by the deep chasm
of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley and by the barren hills that flanked
this great gorge on its southern end. It was a land that faced the
desert and the east rather than the west. It was itself the loadstone
that constantly attracted the wandering dwellers of the desert. The
life and institutions of the desert have here prevailed through all
the centuries. Here the wandering nomads first tasted and learned to
appreciate the advantages of settled agricultural life and made the
gradual and natural transition from the nomadic to the agricultural
state. Here also the mighty energies of the powerful western nations
were put forth in a mighty effort to conquer and to hold this land,
for they realized that it was their natural eastern outpost against
the desert. It was here, therefore, that the militant civilization and
life of the East and West met, struggled, and mingled. Here the same
conflicts and processes are going on to-day as in the past. This close
contact with the desert has always been the strength, the
significance, and the weakness of the east-Jordan land.
VIII
THE TWO CAPITALS: JERUSALEM AND SAMARIA
=Importance of Jerusalem and Samaria.= Two cities of ancient
Palestine, Jerusalem and Samaria, towered above all others, both in
size and in importance. Each was for a long period the capital of an
important kingdom. Each represented a distinct type of civilization
and religion. Their topography throws much light upon their
development and history.
=Site of Jerusalem.= At first glance the site of Jerusalem seems one
of the most unpromising places in all the land of Palestine for a
great city. It lies on two or three low hills, projecting from the
irregular plateau, which extends southward from the watershed of
central Judah. It is overshadowed by higher hills near by and has no
lofty, commanding acropolis. The Wilderness of Judea bounds it on the
east and the hills and valleys about are rocky and comparatively
barren. The reason why a city originally sprang up on this forbidding
site was the presence of a spring, now known as the Virgin's Spring,
on the side of the Kidron Valley^{(54)} to the southeast of the
present Jerusalem. It is the one perennial spring in this region and
fixes at once the site of the old pre-Israelite town. (_Cf._ map op.
p. 203.)
=The Kidron Valley.= The Kidron is a characteristic Palestinian wady.
It runs almost due north past the city and then gradually bends to the
west. It is about two hundred yards in width and is flanked by hills,
which rise four to six hundred feet on either side. During the winter
and spring rains a brook rushes down this ravine, but in the summer it
is waterless, although many olive trees find sufficient moisture in
the bottom and on sides of the valley. At its southern end the Kidron
is joined by the broad valley of Ben Hinnom,^{(55)} which runs due
west nearly half a mile and then turns northward, thus, with the
Kidron, enclosing on three sides a nearly regular rectangle half to
three-quarters of a mile in width.
=The Tyropœon Valley.= The southern promontories or hills thus
enclosed were in ancient times divided by a small shallow valley, the
Tyropœon or Cheesemongers' Valley, which ran northward from the Valley
of Hinnom, separating the rectangle into two unequal parts. The city
has been so often besieged and razed to the ground that its original
site has been largely obscured by the masses of débris scattered
everywhere and especially in the Tyropœon Valley. At many points the
native rock lies from forty to one hundred feet beneath the present
level. East of the temple area a shaft was sunk one hundred and twenty
feet before the virgin rock was reached. Hundreds of such shafts have
been sent down at different points throughout the city so that the
exact site of the ancient town is now well known. The Tyropœon Valley,
which cuts through the heart of Jerusalem, is the key to the
understanding of the ancient city. From the point where it joins the
Kidron and Hinnom valleys in the south to its northern end, a little
outside the present Damascus Gate, this valley is about sixteen
hundred yards in length. The hills on either side originally rose to
the height of between one hundred and one hundred and fifty feet above
the bottom of the valley, which becomes broader and shallower toward
the north. Opposite the present temple area a western branch extends
about three hundred yards, nearly cutting off the southwestern hill
from the northern plateau.
=The Original City.= The rounded ridge of rock between the Tyropœon
and Kidron valleys was clearly the original site of Jerusalem. It is
the so-called Ophel, on which the ancient Jebusite fortress was
reared. The southern end rises rapidly from the valley below where the
Tyropœon and Kidron join. Its northern continuation is the temple
area. Excavations have shown that immediately north of the present
temple area there was a rock cutting, from the Tyropœon Valley on the
west to the Kidron Valley on the east, leaving a precipice of native
rock twenty-five feet high as a barrier against attack from the north.
At the southeastern corner of the temple area traces have also been
found of the well-built wall which ran along the edge of the Kidron
Valley, probably encircling the ancient Jebusite city. Thus it was
surrounded on three sides with rapidly descending valleys from one to
three hundred feet deep, while immediately below was the perennial
spring, essential to the life of its early inhabitants. It is easy,
therefore, to understand why the early Jebusites regarded their city
as impregnable.
=Its Extent.= The hill Ophel contains an area of between sixteen and
eighteen acres, which was amply sufficient for a crowded village of
ancient times. This was also, without reasonable doubt, the site of
David's city. As the Israelite city grew it probably extended almost
to the level of the valley in the south, near the modern Pool of
Siloam. At present the northern end of the hill Ophel is higher than
the southern. It also broadens into the temple area, which is two
thousand four hundred and forty feet above the sea-level. It is not
improbable, however, that the site of the old Jebusite fortress was
once higher than the temple rock to the north. If the fortress of
Akra, which figures prominently in Maccabean history, was identical
with the ancient citadel of Ophel, then, according to the testimony of
Josephus (_Jew. Wars_, V, 4:1), Simon the Maccabean ruler cut down
this southern eminence to make it lower than the adjoining temple
area.
=The Western Hill.= It is not clear when the western hill was included
within the bounds of Jerusalem; possibly in the days of Solomon;
certainly some time before the Babylonian exile. On the south and west
this hill descends rapidly to the Valley of Hinnom, on the east to the
Tyropœon Valley; while on the north it is connected by a narrow neck
of rock with the northern hill of Jerusalem. It is about seven hundred
yards long from north to south and four hundred from east to west. It
is highest on the west, where it is two thousand five hundred and
twenty feet above the sea-level. It is therefore about eighty feet
higher than the temple area to the east.
=The Northern Extension of the City.= As the city grew in later times,
it extended naturally to the north and included the little hill or
knob directly north of the so-called western hill, with which it was
connected by a neck of rock. This northern hill was bounded on the
west by a depression running from the Hinnom Valley and on the south
and east by the upper Tyropœon. On the north it had no natural
defence.^{(56)} Its highest point, about two thousand four hundred and
ninety feet, was nearly on the same level as the temple area. The
northern extension of the city also included another section of the
ridge of rock which runs northward from the temple area, parallel to
the Kidron Valley. A scarp twenty feet deep was cut across this ridge
from east to west and to-day forms the northeastern limits of the
city. In contrast to the ancient city, which extended far down into
the valleys to the south, the modern city has climbed up the plateau
toward the north.
=Josephus's Description of Jerusalem.= The late Jewish historian,
Josephus, has given the most graphic description of the topography of
Jerusalem. In the light of the preceding study of its site, his vivid
picture becomes clearly intelligible. While he had in mind the city of
his own day (the middle of the first Christian century) his words
describe equally well the ancient town: "The city of Jerusalem was
fortified with three walls, on such parts as were not surrounded with
impassable valleys; for in such places it had but one wall. The city
was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have
a valley to divide them asunder, at which valley the corresponding
houses on both hills end. Of these hills, that which contains the
upper city is much higher, and in length more direct. But the other
hill, which was called the Acra, and sustains the lower city, is of
the shape of a moon when it is horned; over against this there was a
third hill, but naturally lower than the Acra, and parted formerly
from the other by a broad valley. However, in those times, when the
Asmoneans reigned, they filled up that valley with earth, and had a
mind to join the city to the temple. They then took off part of the
height of Acra and reduced it to a less elevation than it was before,
that the temple might be superior to it. Now the Valley of the
Cheesemongers, as it was called, which separated the hill of the upper
city from that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is
the name of a fountain which has sweet water in it, and this also in
great plenty. But on the outside these hills are surrounded by deep
valleys, and by reason of the precipices belonging to them, they are
on both sides everywhere inaccessible."
=The Geological Formation.= The geological formation of the hills of
Jerusalem also throws much light upon its history. The strata is
inclined toward the southeast at an average angle of ten or twelve
degrees. The surface rock is hard, silicious limestone with bands of
flint. This crops out on the top of the temple mount, on the west side
of the Kidron Valley, and in the quarries to the north of Jerusalem.
Below is a bed of soft, white limestone, easy to cut and good for
building, since it hardens with exposure. The presence of this
underlying rock made possible the extensive system of cisterns and
underground passages with which Jerusalem is honeycombed and which has
played such a large part in the tragic history of the city. Beneath
this layer is a hard, dolomitic limestone, white but streaked with
pink. While the upper layers of rock are porous, this lower stratum
holds the water, with the result that at the one point where it comes
to the surface on the western side of the lower Kidron Valley there is
a spring. The southern inclination of this hard rock also carries the
drainage of the city to the south, to the point where the Kidron and
Hinnom valleys meet.
=The Water Supply.= Jerusalem, like most of the cities of Judah, was
inadequately supplied with springs. The Virgin's Spring, which is in
all probability identical with the ancient spring of Gihon, is
intermittent. Its waters issue from a natural siphon in the rock,
flowing according to the local rainfall, sometimes for only an hour or
more, and at others for several days. It is entered by steps which
lead into a natural cave, half way down the side of the Kidron Valley.
From this point, in early times, the waters were conducted through the
ridge of rock on which the city rested by a rock-cut tunnel, which is
one of the wonders of ancient engineering. Thence they were carried to
a point at the southern end of the Tyropœon Valley, where was once the
famous Pool of Siloam, which was probably inside the ancient city
walls. Here was built in later times a great basin, fifty-two feet
square, from which the inhabitants of the city drew their chief supply
of water.^{(112)} Still another conduit carried the overflow from this
pool to the so-called Job's Well, four hundred and fifty yards to the
southeast, where the Kidron and the Hinnom valleys meet. West of the
temple area there was apparently in ancient times a pool which
received the waters from the upper basin of the Tyropœon, but there is
no clear geological or historical evidence of a living spring in the
northern or western part of the city. Aside from their one perennial
spring and these pools the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem were
wholly dependent upon rock-cisterns for their water supply. Modern
excavations have revealed the remains of the aqueducts, by which the
plentiful waters of the so-called Pools of Solomon, southwest of
Bethlehem, were later conducted through the valleys and along the
hillsides to Jerusalem. The water was then distributed by means of
high and low level aqueducts in different parts of the city, but
especially in the temple area, for use in connection with the
sacrificial ritual. From the same Pools of Solomon water is still
brought by pipes to the southwestern side of the city.^{(57)}
=Jerusalem's Military Strength.= Jerusalem's strength consisted not in
its elevation, but in the deep ravines which encircled it on the east,
south, west, and in part on the north. The native rock lay only a few
feet beneath the surface, and the soft limestone could be cut with
comparative ease. A vertical cutting of twenty or twenty-five feet
into the steep side of the hill gave a precipitous rampart of native
rock, indestructible and difficult to scale. The weakness of Jerusalem
was the lack of natural defences on the north.^{(56)} This natural
defect was partially overcome by the deep cuttings in the natural
rock, which at certain points left a sheer descent of twenty or
twenty-five feet. These artificial defences were supplemented in the
more level places by broad, strong walls that made Jerusalem,
throughout most of its history, the strongest citadel in Palestine.
=Strength of Its Position.= The city shared with the rest of Judah the
protection of natural barriers on every side. It could be approached
on the east only over the rough headlands that arose above the Jordan
and the Dead Sea. While it was on the great highway which led along
the central plateau from northern Israel to Hebron and the South
Country, large invading armies never advanced against Jerusalem by
this difficult mountain road. On the west the valleys which led up
from the coast plains converged at Jerusalem, making it comparatively
easy for the Hebrews in command of these upland passages to descend
rapidly upon their foes in the plain. These passes were also easily
guarded from above against advancing armies. The comparative
barrenness of the territory about Jerusalem was another important
source of its strength, for the land furnished insufficient sustenance
for a large besieging army. Thus Jerusalem, although close to the
great currents of the world's civilization, stood apart and aloof,
secure because of its poverty and comparative insignificance, secure
behind its bold western headlands and its walls of gray
limestone.^{(58)} It was the fitting capital of an austere race, who
jealously and bravely guarded their freedom and their faith. Shut in
among the limestone hills, it was typical of the land of Judah.
=Samaria's Name.= Samaria, situated in the midst of a broad, fertile
plain, opening toward the sea and commanding far-reaching, glorious
vistas, was equally representative of northern Israel. Both capitals
were raised to the commanding position which they enjoyed, not as the
result of chance, but through the deliberate choice of a strong and
able sovereign. In I Kings 16:24 it is stated that Omri, the founder
of the most powerful military dynasty of northern Israel, "bought the
hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on
the hill and named the city Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the
hill." Whatever be its historical derivation, the name Shomeron, or
Samaria, is eminently appropriate, for it means watch-tower.
=Its Situation.= The hill lies on the eastern side of the Wady
esh-Shair or Barley Vale, a wide and beautiful valley, which comes up
from the Plain of Sharon. Opposite Samaria it broadens out and unites
with several shallow valleys, which come down from the north and
northeast. Along the Barley Vale runs the great highway which leads
northwest from Shechem and central Israel to the Plain of Esdraelon
and Phœnicia. Another highway runs directly north, past the Plain of
Dothan to northern Israel and Damascus. Samaria lay near the border
line between the powerful tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. It was,
however, a little south and east of the centre of northern Israel. Its
gates were wide open to the civilization and commerce which swept up
and down the coast plains. From the city's heights there was a fine
view of the Mediterranean, which represented that larger world into
close touch with which Omri aimed to bring his people.
=Its Military Strength.= The city was built on an elongated, isolated
hill,^{(59)} rising on the west between three and four hundred feet
above the plain. The hill descends precipitously on three sides; on
the east it is connected with the hills by a neck of land which lies
about two hundred feet above the surrounding plain. As in the case of
Jerusalem, these surrounding valleys were the source of its military
strength. The hill is about three-fourths of a mile in length. On its
top rises a large acropolis,^{(60)} nearly round and about a third of
a mile in diameter. In the Roman period this acropolis was surrounded
by a wide terrace, with a colonnade about one and one-half miles in
circumference. On the top of this rounded hill there was ample space
for a large and powerful city. Surrounded, like Jerusalem, by a strong
wall, it was practically impregnable.
=Its Beauty and Prosperity.= The view from Samaria is one of the most
picturesque and attractive in all Palestine. Isaiah well describes
this city as "the splendid ornament which crowns the fertile valley."
Green fields, olive and vine-clad hills delight the eye on every side.
Between the hills may be seen glimpses of green, peaceful valleys.
Plenty and prosperity are in evidence at every turn. Samaria itself
lies one thousand four hundred and fifty-four feet above the sea-level
and is surrounded by higher hills on nearly every side. Two miles to
the north is a hill between nine hundred and a thousand feet higher
than that of Samaria, while to the southeast other hills lead up to
the rocky heights of Mount Ebal, over three thousand feet above the
sea-level. Thus Samaria was a symbol of the beauty, the prosperity,
the openness to foreign influence, the inherent strength and the fatal
weakness of northern, as contrasted with southern Israel.
[Illustration: THE Main Highways OF THE ANCIENT SEMITIC WORLD
L.L. POATES ENGR'G CO., N.Y.
]
IX
THE GREAT HIGHWAYS OF THE BIBLICAL WORLD
=Importance of the Highways.= Upon the direction and character of the
highways depend to a great extent the growth and history of early
civilization. By the great roads which entered Palestine the Hebrews
came as immigrants. Along the same roads those later waves of both
hostile and peaceful invasion swept in upon them that largely shaped
their history. These highways were to them the open doors to the life
and civilization of the outside world. Over these same roads the
Hebrews later fled as fugitives or were dragged as captives. Along
these channels of communication and commerce the missionaries and
apostles at a still later day went forth to their peaceful conquest of
the Roman empire. Thus, next to the land itself, the highways of the
ancient world have exerted the most powerful influence upon biblical
history, literature, and religion.
=Lack of the Road-building Instincts among the Semites.= The Semitic
races, as a rule, were not road-builders. Their earlier nomadic
experiences had accustomed them to long and arduous marches over
rough, rocky roads. The ox, the camel, the horse, and the donkey
furnished the common means of transportation. Most of the people went
from place to place on foot, and in Palestine the distances were so
short that this mode of travel was easy and practical. To-day in
well-travelled roads large boulders lie in the middle of the way, worn
smooth by the hoofs of pack-animals and by the feet of countless
passersby, who through the centuries have stumbled over them rather
than put forth the effort of a few moments in removing them. The
Aryans were the first to develop good roads in southwestern Asia. The
royal Persian post-roads, that connected remote parts of the vast
empire, introduced a new era in road-building. The greatest
road-builders of antiquity were the Romans; but most of the superb
highways, which to-day arouse the wonder and admiration of the
traveller, were constructed by them in the second and third Christian
centuries, later, therefore, than the biblical period.
=Evidence that Modern Roads Follow the Old Ways.= There is strong
evidence that the later roads usually followed the ancient paths. Both
were connecting links between the same important centres. Both
necessarily crossed the same fords and the same mountain passes. The
later roads were held within the same limits by natural barriers and
by that tendency to follow established traditions which has ever
characterized the East. In riding over the roads of Palestine to-day
the traveller is constantly reminded that he is following in the
footsteps of the early inhabitants of the land. Often the path,
instead of following the most direct course, climbs over a pass or
steep hill, past a rocky ruin once a famous city, but now a mere chaos
of scattered rocks. The road still follows this awkward détour simply
because a thousand years ago it led to a populous town. Where the
roads have changed their course it has been because the centre of
population or of political ascendancy has changed, or else because the
Romans, disregarding old traditions or physical obstacles, flung their
mighty highways over the mountains and across the deep valleys.
=Ordinary Palestinian Roads.= The common Hebrew word for road is
_derekh_, which means literally _a trodden path_, made by the feet of
men and animals. It well describes a majority of the roads of
Palestine to-day. It suggests to the experienced Palestinian traveller
in most cases a narrow path, so thickly strewn with rocks that it is
to him a never-ceasing wonder that his horse or mule is able, without
mishap, hour after hour to pick its way over these rough piles of
stone. Sometimes the path runs over a steep mountain hillside, where
the animal is obliged to lift itself and rider by sheer strength up
rocky steps a foot and a half to two feet in height or to hold itself
with marvellous skill on the sloping side of a slippery rock. Often
the horse flounders blindly among scattered boulders while it braces
itself against the rush of a mountain stream. At times the traveller
must balance himself on his horse as it struggles and often swims
through fords whose waters reach almost to the top of its back.
=Evidence that the Hebrews Built Roads.= There are indications,
however, that road construction was not entirely unknown to the
ancient Hebrews. _M[)e]sill[=a]h_, another common Hebrew term for
road, means literally _that which is heaped up_, that is, _a raised
way_. The common translation, _highway_, is exact. In Judges 20:31, 32
there are references to highways which ran to Bethel and to Gibeah. In
I Samuel 6:12 is an incidental reference to the road which ran from
the Philistine city of Ekron up through the Valley of Sorek toward
Jerusalem. Along this road the ark was sent, drawn on a cart by two
cows. The ancient narrative alludes, however, to the roughness of the
road. From I Kings 12:18 it is clear that in the days of the united
kingdom a highway for chariots ran from Shechem to Jerusalem. The
allusions in II Kings 7 also indicate that in the later days of the
northern kingdom there was a road from Damascus to Samaria, over which
the chariots of the Arameans passed. As early as the reign of David
royal chariots became common in Israel (_e. g._, I Kings 1:5). This
fact does not prove the existence of great highways like those built
by the Romans, for the ancient charioteers were able to drive over
roads which would seem to a westerner utterly impassable; but it does
imply the rude beginnings of road construction, probably under royal
supervision. Apparently the Israelites inherited from the more highly
civilized Canaanites a few well-worn highways and a certain knowledge
of the art of road-making.
=The Four Roads from Egypt.= Four great roads led eastward from the
land of Egypt. The northernmost, which was called "the way of the
land of the Philistines" (Ex. 13:17), issued from the northern end of
the Nile delta and passed north of the marshy Lake Menzaleh. Thence it
ran along within a few miles of the coast of the Mediterranean,
through Raphia to Gaza. There it met the great coast road to the north
and the local roads running through the heart of Palestine. The second
road was called "the way to Shur" (Gen. 16:17, I Sam. 15:7). It seems
to have first passed through the present Wady Tumilat, thence turning
northward to the southern end of Lake Menzaleh, to have run past the
Egyptian fortress of Taru, now Tell Abu Sefeh. Taru may be identical
with the word Shur, which appears in the Hebrew name of this highway.
From this point the road struck almost directly across the undulating
desert to Beersheba and thence along the Wady es-Seba and the Wady
el-Kulil to Hebron. The third highway led from the eastern end of the
Wady Tumilat almost due east until it crossed the Brook of Egypt. Then
one branch turned northeast past the ancient Rehoboth, to join the
second road at Beersheba. The other branch went on eastward across the
Arabah to Petra and thence across the Arabian Desert to Babylonia. The
fourth road from Egypt also started from the Wady Tumilat, thence past
the Bitter Lakes directly across the northern end of the Sinaitic
peninsula to the ancient Elath, at the end of the northeastern arm of
the Red Sea.
=Trails into Palestine from the South.= Five roads led up into
Palestine from the south. One, "the way of the Red Sea" (_Yam Suph_,
Nu. 14:25, 21:4, Dt. 1:40), starting from Elath, ran northwest, until
at Aboda it joined the third highway from Egypt, which ran northeast
to Beersheba and Hebron. A second more arduous and less used trail ran
directly north from Elath through the Arabah to the southwestern end
of the Dead Sea. Thence the traveller might proceed to Jerusalem by a
western détour through El-Fôkâ and Hebron, or else keep along the
shore of the Dead Sea and then turn inland at Engedi. A third trail
led from Elath along the desert to the old Edomite and later Nabatean
capital of Petra. With camels and a sufficient supply of water it was
possible thence to cross the Arabah and the heart of the South Country
in a northwesterly direction to Beersheba.
=Highway Through Moab.= The fourth road ran directly north from Petra
across deep gorges and over rocky roads through Shôbek, et-Tufileh,
Kerak and northward, following a straight course about eighteen miles
to the east of the Dead Sea. This was the main highway through the
heart of Moab. Farther north it ran past the famous Moabite towns of
Dibon and Medeba. At Heshban, opposite the northern end of the Dead
Sea, a branch turned westward to the lower ford of the Jordan, while
the main road ran north along the eastern side of the Jordan until it
joined the Damascus road south of the Sea of Galilee. At Heshban
another important branch turned to the northeast and, passing through
Rabbath-Ammon, joined the desert road to Damascus. In later times the
Romans, to protect their east-Jordan border cities, built a
magnificent road from Rabbath-Ammon to Petra, following the ancient
highway through the heart of Moab. Mile-stones, great rock-cuttings,
ruins of stone bridges, and miles of stone pavement still remain to
bear testimony to Rome's strength in the distant provinces even during
the period of the empire's decline.
=The Great Desert Highway.= The chief highway from the south to the
north was the present pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca, along which
now runs the modern Turkish railway. This road was the main connecting
link between Arabia and the lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Making
a wide détour westward to touch the port of Elath, it then turned to
the northeast of Petra and ran along the desert highland between
thirty and forty miles to the east of the Jordan and Dead Sea valley.
It crossed the dry, open desert, strewn at many points with débris of
black basaltic rocks. Like most desert roads it sprawled out over the
hot plains, unconfined by fields or mountain passes. The stations were
simply stopping-places for travellers and traders, for it everywhere
avoided the cultivated land, except where its western branch passed
through the heart of the Hauran on its way to Damascus. Here it ran
close to the important cities of Edrei, the famous fortress on the
upper Yarmuk, and Ashteroth-Karnaim. A little northeast of
Rabbath-Ammon one branch, deflected to the northeast, and passing
through the desert town of Bozrah, and thence skirting the eastern
side of the lava tract of El-Lejah, reached Damascus. From Edrei and
Bozrah a caravan route ran southeast to the ancient Duma, the present
Dumat el-Jandal, and on to the oasis of Tema.
=Character of the Southern Approaches to Palestine.= It is significant
that the chief entrances to the west-Jordan land from the south are
not through the South Country but by the way of Moab. The roads which
lead directly into Judah are deflected by the grim, barren ranges of
the South Country either to Beersheba on the southwest or to the
Arabah on the southeast. The roads themselves lie through a rough,
wild, dry, Bedouin-invested country, over which it is impossible for
large tribes or armies to advance. Of the two east-Jordan highways,
that through the heart of Moab passes over steep mountains and down
into deep wadies, and in ancient times led through a thickly populated
and well-guarded region. The great and easy highway is along the
borders of the desert, and it was probably by this way that most of
the invaders from the south found their way to the west-Jordan land.
=The Coast Road.= In western Palestine four main highways, connected
by cross-roads, led from the south to northern Syria and eastward to
Assyria and Babylonia. The first was the direct coast road which
connected Egypt with Phœnicia and Asia Minor. Throughout its course it
kept close to the sea. Only in Philistia was it driven inland by the
drifting sands. Along an artificially constructed causeway it rounded
the end of Mount Carmel and proceeded northward along the Plain of
Acre over the difficult cliffs of the Ladder of Tyre to the plains of
Phœnicia. Thence it ran along the open way past Beirut, until it
reached the difficult pass of the Dog River. There the bas-reliefs and
inscriptions on the rocks indicate not only that from the days of
Ramses II the great conquerors of antiquity had passed along this
highway of the nations, but also that many of them shared in the task
of cutting the road across these difficult cliffs.
=The "Way of the Sea."= The second great northern highway, the famous
Via Maris of the Romans, branching from the coast road either at
Ashdod or Joppa, ran on the eastern side of the Plain of Sharon, close
to the foothills of Samaria. Near where it was joined by the important
road which came down through the Barley Vale from Shechem and Samaria,
this great highway divided into three branches. One ran to the north
along the eastern and northern side of Mount Carmel and joined the
coast road. Another, apparently the main branch, turned to the
northeast, passed through the Wady Arah, and emerged upon the Plain of
Esdraelon beside the famous old fortress of Megiddo. From here it ran
directly across the plain, past Mount Tabor through Lubieh and down
the steep decline from the plateau to the northwestern end of the Sea
of Galilee. Owing to the soft, loamy character of the Plain of
Esdraelon, this was often impassable in the winter and spring.
Caravans and armies would then take the third branch from the Plain of
Sharon, which at first ran almost due east over the Plain of Dothan
and past the old Canaanite city of Ibleam. Thence it crossed the Plain
of Esdraelon at Jezreel and joined the direct road that ran past Mount
Tabor to the Sea of Galilee. From the northwestern end of the Sea of
Galilee this much traveled Way of the Sea ascended the heights to the
north and crossed the Jordan a little below Lake Huleh at the ford now
spanned by the old stone bridge known as the "Bridge of the Daughters
of Jacob." From the Jordan the road followed an almost straight line
northwest, past El-Kuneitra in eastern Jaulan, across the desert to
Damascus.
=Its Commercial and Strategic Importance.= From the point where it
crossed the Jordan a branch of this main highway went westward through
the valley between upper and lower Galilee, to ancient Accho, the
chief seaport of Damascus. Thus across Galilee, with its open roads,
poured the commerce of Damascus and the desert world of which it was
the outlet. From Damascus to Egypt this second great highway of Syria
ran almost entirely over broad deserts or open plains. It was the main
road through the heart of northern Israel, along which passed not only
the merchants, but also the conquering armies of Babylonia and
Assyria.
=The Central Road and Its Cross-Roads in the South.= The third great
northern highway was connected with Egypt and the south by the way of
Beersheba. It followed close to the watershed of central Judah, along
the line of the present carriage-road from Hebron to Jerusalem. It ran
past Bethzur and Beth-zecharias, famous in Maccabean warfare. From
Bethzur an important highway deflected to the northwest, following the
Wady es-Sur and the eastern side of the Shephelah, or Lowlands, as far
as the Valley of Ajalon on the borders of the Philistine Plain. From
Jerusalem several roads ran through the valleys to the west and
northwest, connecting with the highways on the Plain of Sharon. Of
these the chief went northwest past Gibeon, down the deep descent of
the upper and lower Beth-horons to Joppa. Another ran still farther to
the northwest to Gophna, to join the second great highway at
Antipatris.
=In the North.= The main highway continued directly north from
Jerusalem to Shechem. Then turning a little to the northwest it passed
through the city of Samaria over the open plains to Ibleam, where it
joined the eastern branch of the famous Way of the Sea, which led past
the northwestern end of the Sea of Galilee to Damascus. Opposite Mount
Gerizim a branch of the central road turned northeast and ran through
Thebez, Bethshean, and the western side of the Sea of Galilee. An
extension of the central highway ran north over central Galilee
through the valley of Merj Ayun to the great valley between the
Lebanons and Anti-Lebanons. Thence this central highway continued
through Riblah and Hamath, crossing the upper Euphrates at Carchemish.
Turning eastward at this point it ran through northern Mesopotamia
past Harran and across the level plains between the Tigris and the
Euphrates to Nineveh and Babylon. It was along this broad highway that
the Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors repeatedly advanced against
Palestine and later carried away Hebrew captives from both northern
and southern Israel.
=The Road Along the Jordan.= The fourth main highway to the north,
starting from Jerusalem, passed northeast through the barren,
picturesque wilderness of Judea to Jericho. Thence it followed the
western side of the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee to Khan
Minyeh, where it joined the other great roads which led to northern
Syria and Damascus. From this fourth highway many cross-roads led
eastward and westward. From Jericho a western road ran up the Wady
Suweinit to Michmash and thence across southwestern Samaria. Farther
north, three others led up from the Plain of the Jordan to Shechem and
thence by the Barley Vale to the Plain of Sharon. At Bethshean the
road to the north was crossed by another highway, which ran from
Gilead westward across the Plain of Jezreel. Thence a highway crossed
the northwestern side of the Plain of Esdraelon, reaching the great
coast road at Haifa and Accho. Also from the southwestern end of the
Sea of Galilee another important road ran northwest past the Plain of
Asochis to Accho. From the upper Jordan valley a highway led northeast
past ancient Dan and Banias along the eastern spurs of Mount Hermon to
Damascus.
=Roads Eastward from Damascus.= From Damascus a great caravan route
struck off due east across the northern end of the Arabian Desert,
reaching the Euphrates in the vicinity of Sippar. Thence it turned
southward to Babylon and the cities of lower Babylonia. Another route,
popular in later times and probably also in use during the
Assyrio-Babylonian period, made a larger circle to the north, touching
at Palmyra and other desert stations. Palestine, and especially the
central plain of Esdraelon, was therefore the focus of the great
highways which connected all points in the ancient world.
=The Highway from Antioch to Ephesus.= The main highway which skirted
the coast of the eastern Mediterranean crossed the Amanus Mountains
through the Syrian Gates a little north of Antioch. At this point one
branch ran northward to connect with the great trade routes which came
from Babylonia and the East. The main road to the west, however, after
touching at Alexandria (the present Alexandretta) rounded the eastern
end of the Mediterranean, where it was joined by one of the great
trade routes which came from the Euphrates Valley. After passing
through Tarsus, it abruptly turned almost due north, crossing the
Taurus Mountains by the Cilician Pass, and then with much twisting and
winding went westward, following in general the dividing line between
the central plateau of Asia Minor and the rugged southern mountains.
At Kybistra it forked, the northern branch crossing the plateau
directly to Laodicea. The southern and more commonly used branch made
a long détour through the important cities of Derbe and Iconium. At
Julia to the northwest the great western highway again parted. One
main branch ran in a southwesterly direction through Apameia, Colossæ,
and thence by the broad and fertile valley of the River Mæander to
Ephesus, the commercial and later the political capital of Asia Minor.
Another straighter but less used highway followed the valley of the
Cayster to Ephesus.
[Illustration: THE Main Highways OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE Scenes of
Paul's Work
L.L. POATES ENGR'G CO., N.Y.]
=The Road from Asia Minor to Rome.= The other great branch of the main
highway from Julia westward was the old overland route to Rome. It ran
first due east. Two important branches came down from Dorylaion in the
north, connecting it with Nicæa and Constantinople. The old overland
route continued eastward through Philadelphia and Sardis. From Sardis
a branch ran straight to Smyrna, the commercial rival of Ephesus. The
main road, however, turned to the northwest from Sardis, passing
through Thyatira, Pergamus, the earlier capital of Asia Minor, to
Troas, from whence the traveller could take ship directly to Neopolis
and Philippi. A highway, however, passed northward across the
Hellespont and thence through southern Thrace to Philippi. From
this point the great Via Egnatia led due west through Thessalonica and
Pella to Aulonia and Dyrrachium. From these Adriatic ports a short sea
voyage brought the traveller to Brundisium, whence a well-worn highway
led directly across southern Italy to Rome. This long and arduous road
through southern Europe and central Asia Minor was the main
thoroughfare for travel, trade, and official communication between
Rome and her eastern provinces.
=From Ephesus to Rome.= Travellers who preferred a shorter land and a
longer water journey took ship from Ephesus to Corinth. Thence they
were transferred across the isthmus to a ship which skirted the shores
of Epirus and landed them at Brundisium. If they preferred a still
longer water journey, they could take ship at Ephesus around the
southern end of Greece, either to Brundisium or else through the
straits of Messina; thence to Puteoli, or to Ostia, the port of Rome
itself.
=From Syria to Rome by Sea.= Travellers or merchants making the
journey from Palestine wholly by water had before them the choice of
two ways. The most common course was to take ship at some one of the
ports of Syria: Cæsarea, Accho, Tyre, or Sidon. Thence they skirted
the shores of Syria and Asia Minor to Rhodes, seeking a harbor each
night or whenever the weather was unfavorable. From Rhodes the
ordinary course was to the eastern end of Crete and thence along its
southern shores, where favorable harbors could be found. From the
western end of Crete the ancient mariners skirted the southern shores
of Greece, and then, with the aid of the northern winds, which came
down through the Adriatic, made their way to the eastern shores of
Sicily and thence through the straits of Messina. From here they
sailed to Puteoli or else to the mouth of the Tiber.
=From Alexandria to Rome.= The second method of reaching Rome from
Syria by sea was by way of Alexandria, which could be reached either
by local ship or by the coast road. From this great seaport of Egypt,
during the Roman period, fleets of large grain vessels made frequent
trips, bearing Egyptian grain to the capital city. According to the
Latin writer, Vegetius (IV, 39, V, 9) the open season for navigation
on the Mediterranean extended from March tenth to November tenth,
although the favorable season was limited to the four short months
between May twenty-sixth and September fourteenth. From about the
twentieth of July to the end of August the famous Etesian winds
ordinarily blew steadily from the west. These winds made it possible
for the fleets of east-bound merchantmen to make the trip from Rome to
Alexandria in what seemed to the ancients the marvellously short
period of from twenty to twenty-five days. The west-bound trip,
however, was much more difficult. Owing to the prevailing west winds
the mariners were obliged to cross the Mediterranean to some point on
the southern shores of Asia Minor and thence to run westward from port
to port along the usual route on the southern side of Crete and
Greece.[2]
[2] Cf. _Roads and Travel in the New Testament_, by Ramsay, in Extra
Vol., Hastings's _Dictionary of the Bible_, pp. 375-403.
=Significance of the Great Highways.= Over these great highways across
and around the eastern Mediterranean the civilization of the ancient
world spread to the ends of the earth. These were the paths which the
Jewish exiles followed in their western exodus. By the beginning of
the Christian era Jewish colonies and groups of converts to Judaism
were to be found in all the cities touched by these great arteries of
commerce. Along these highways passed the armies and culture of the
West to the conquest of the East, and the ideas and religions of the
East to the conquest of the West. They were thus the natural bonds
that bound together the human race in one common brotherhood.
_PART II_
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
X
EARLY PALESTINE
=The Aim and Value of Historical Geography.= Historical geography
deals primarily with the background of history rather than with the
detailed historical facts themselves. It aims to go back of events and
movements and to study underlying forces and causes. Primitive peoples
are more subject to the influences of physical environment than the
more civilized races. Modern peoples are able with the aid of art and
science to rise superior in many ways to natural conditions and
limitations. A knowledge, therefore, of the physical forces at work in
early Palestinian history is of especial value in reconstructing this
important but little known chapter in the life of the race.
=Sources of Information Regarding Early Palestine.= The discoveries of
the past quarter century have revealed in a remarkable way the
outlines, at least, of the early history of the states along the
eastern Mediterranean. The meagre biblical references have been
supplemented by the contemporary testimony of the Babylonian and
Egyptian monuments. For this early period the Babylonian data are
still incomplete, being limited to the statements of certain early
conquerors, such as Lugalzaggisi and Sargon I, that they made
expeditions to the West Country. Beginning, however, with about 1600
B.C., the Egyptian records furnish rich and in many cases detailed
pictures of conditions in Syria and Palestine. Thotmose III, who
reigned between 1479 and 1447 B.C., has given a vivid account of his
many campaigns and conquests in the lands along the eastern
Mediterranean. In his lists inscribed on the great temple at Karnak
he gives the names of three hundred and eighty cities, of which one
hundred and nineteen are in Palestine. From the reign of one of his
successors, Amenhotep IV, the great reforming king of Egypt, comes the
famous collection of the Tell el-Amarna letters. These were found in
ruins which lie on the east side of the Nile about one hundred and
seventy miles south of Cairo. Nearly three hundred of these tablets,
written in the Babylonian language and script, have been recovered.
They represent the correspondence of Amenhotep IV and his predecessor
with the kings of Babylonia, Assyria, and Mitanni, and especially with
the Egyptian governors of Palestine.
=Evidence of the Excavations.= Recent excavations in Palestine at the
ancient border town of Lachish and at Gezer on the coast plain, at
Taanach and Megeddo on the southwestern side of the Plain of
Esdraelon, and at Jericho in the Jordan valley, have greatly enriched
our knowledge of early Palestine, for a large majority of the
inscriptions and archæological remains that have been discovered at
these sites come from the pre-Hebrew period. Of these the ruins of
Gezer have been most thoroughly excavated (under the direction of the
Palestine Exploration Fund) and have yielded by far the most detailed
and valuable results. The ancient town lay on the borders of
Philistia, on the line between Judah and northern Israel. It was built
on one of the foot-hills which extend out into the plain beyond the
Valley of Ajalon.^{(61)} Thus, while it belonged to the hill country,
it was almost entirely surrounded by the plain and open to all the
influences which affected the Mediterranean coast cities. The original
town rested on two hills, one on the east and the other on the west,
and extended across the shallow intervening valley. Four or five
distinct cities, built successively one upon another, have been
unearthed.
=The Oldest Inhabitants of Palestine.= The remains found in the lowest
stratum of the mound of Gezer introduce us to the earliest inhabitants
of Palestine. They probably belonged to the Neolithic Age and to a
non-Semitic race. From the skeletons thus far discovered it is clear
that they were short in stature, averaging between five feet four
inches and five feet seven inches in height. Already they had begun to
cultivate the ground and to make rude flint implements. They kept
cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. In certain caves, coming from this or an
earlier age, rude attempts to picture these animals have also been
discovered. Their pottery was shaped by hand and decorated with red or
white lines. Their ancient town was surrounded by an earthen wall, ten
feet thick, faced on the inside and out with stone. Gezer was
evidently selected as the site of an ancient city because about it are
many caves, the original dwelling-places of these primitive people.
They apparently worshipped underground deities, in connection with
sacred caves. Outside the entrance to such a cave at Gezer are found
eighty or more cuplike cavities sunk in the rock and probably used for
purposes of sacrifice.
=The Semitic Invasions From the Desert.= Situated, as was Canaan, on
the borders of the desert, it was practically inevitable that in time
great waves of nomadic invaders would sweep in through the broad
valleys and down the coast plains. In the light of the excavations at
Gezer and the testimony of the Egyptian inscriptions, this was
precisely what occurred somewhere between 2500 and 2000 B.C.
Undoubtedly the Semites had begun to find their way to Palestine
before this period, but it is clear in the light of recent discoveries
that this great movement from the desert toward the eastern shores of
the Mediterranean antedated by several centuries another similar
movement eastward, which carried from Syria or northern Arabia to
Babylon the founders of its first dynasty. In the light of the latest
discoveries, the rule of this dynasty must be dated between 2100 and
1700 B.C. The excavations at Gezer reveal the presence there at this
period of a Semitic race from five feet seven inches to five feet
eleven inches in height, sturdier than the preceding aborigines and
possessed of relatively high civilization. The city was surrounded by
a wall about ten feet thick, made of large hammer-trimmed stones, and
guarded by towers at intervals of ninety feet. The approach on the
south was through a huge gateway nine feet wide, forty-two feet long,
and flanked by two towers, which were faced by sunburnt bricks. Bronze
and copper implements are found and there are abundant evidences of an
advanced culture.
=Influence of the Early Amorite Civilization Upon Babylon.= The recent
work entitled _Amurru_, by Professor Clay of Yale, has raised anew the
question of what was the centre of the oldest Semitic civilization.
The attempt made by certain scholars to prove the Babylonian origin of
all that is distinctive in the civilization, traditions, and religion
of the early Semitic nations including Israel is extreme. The evidence
adduced by Professor Clay to prove that in the earliest period Syria
influenced Babylonia more than the Tigris-Euphrates valley influenced
the westland is cumulative. Many of the familiar Babylonian traditions
bear marks that suggest a western origin. Over one-tenth of the names
in the large literature that comes from the reign of Hammurabi, the
great king of the First Babylonian dynasty, are Amorite or western
Semitic. The names and attributes of most of the Babylonian gods are
best explained on the basis of a western origin. The Babylonian custom
of rearing ziggurats or high places for their deities, even on the
level plains of Babylonia, seems to reflect the western custom of
worshipping the gods on the high places. Furthermore, Syria is
pre-eminently the home of the sun worship that was especially
prominent in the Babylonian cults.
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