the life of Josephus we learn, that the length of which contained 15,000 inhabitants. The district Samaria, from north to south, was three days' jour- of Galilee, as Dr. Wells remarks, was most ney; for he states, "that it is absolutely necessary honoured with our Saviour's presence. It was for those who would go quickly to Jerusalem (from here that he was conceived; it was hither that Galilee) to pass through that country; for in that Joseph and Mary returned with him, then a child, road they might in three days' time go from out of Egypt; it was here he settled, and lived Galilee to Jerusalem."* We see also from this, with his reputed father, and the blessed Virgin, that there was a natural as well as a moral reason, his mother, till he began to be about thirty years for the evangelist saying of Christ (John iv. 4), of age, and was baptized of John; it was hither that "he must needs go through Samaria" to he returned after his baptism, and temptation by Jerusalem. This province comprehended the the devil; and, after his entrance upon his public original possessions of Ephraim and Manasseh. ministry, though he frequently visited the other provinces, yet it was here that his dwelling-place was, whence he was called a Galilean; and, lastly, it was here our Lord made his first appearance to the eleven disciples after his resurrection. To all which may be added, that the most considerable part, if not all, of his apostles, were of this country; whence they are all styled by the angels, "men of Galilee," Acts i. 11.||

(3) GALILEE was the most northerly division of Palestine, and contained the inheritances of Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Asher, and part of that belonging to the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh. It was one of the most extensive provinces of the Holy Land; and is divided by Josephus into the Upper and the Lower Galilee. The Upper Galilee abounded in mountains, and was eminently understood by the term "Galilee of the Gentiles," or "Galilee of the Nations;" as the mountainous nature of the country enabled those who possessed the fastnesses to defend themselves against invaders. Strabo enumerates among its inhabitants, Egyptians, Arabians, and Phoenicians. It extended principally beyond Jordan, inclining toward the Trachonitis, Libanus, and Batanea. In proof of this, Calmet has noticed, among other things, that Judas Gaulonitis is called the Galilean (Acts v. 37), and we know that Gaulon was beyond Jordan. So also was Bethsaida; but the disciples who were of this city were called Galileans. The testimony of Josephus is to the same effect, who assigns the limits of the entire Galilee thus: "It is terminated west by Ptolemais and Carmel (which do not belong to Galilee); on the south by the country of Samaria and Scythopolis, on the river Jordan; on the east by the cantons of Hippos, Gadara, and Gaulon; on the north by the confines of the Tyrians." The Lower Galilee contains the Plain of Esdraelon, which is nearly fifty miles in length, and twenty in breadth. It is described by Dr. Clarke as one vast meadow, covered with the richest pasture, inclosed on all sides by the mountains, and not having a single house or a tree within its extent. Josephus describes Galilee as very populous, containing two hundred and four cities and towns, the least of

* Joseph. Vit., cited by Wetstein.

† From such a mixture of people many provincialisms might be expected; hence they are mentioned as having differed from the rest of the Jews in their mode of pronunciation. See Mark xiv. 70, and Lightfoot's Chorog. Cent., chap. lxxxvii.

Jewish Wars, book iii., chap. 3.

(5) Such were the principal divisions on the west of the Jordan; and if we cross that river, and examine the eastern districts, inhabited by the two tribes and a half, we shall find them to be, Perea on the north, and Idumea on the south.

(1) PEREA, properly so called, had its limits thus: Philadelphia, east; the Jordan, west; Macheron, south; and Pella, north.§ But under the appellation of Perea is sometimes included the whole country east of the Jordan, except the extreme south; comprising the cantons of Perea on the south; Batanea and Gaulonitis, in the middle; and Abilene, Iturea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis, on the north.¶ The whole of this district was a fruitful country, abounding with pines, olive-trees, palm-trees, and other plants, which grew in the fields in great plenty and perfection; and even in the excessive hot seasons it was well watered and refreshed with springs and torrents from the mountains. The following is the language in which it is described by Mr. Buckingham: "We had no sooner passed the summit of the second range [of hills beyond the Jordan], going down on its eastern side by a very gentle descent, than we found ourselves on plains of nearly as high a level as the summits of the hills themselves, and certainly eight hundred feet, at least, above the streams of the Jordan. The character of the country, too, was quite different from any thing I had seen in Palestine, from my first landing at Soor to the present moment.

Sacred Geography, pt. 4, chap. i.
Josephus, Wars, book iii., chap. iii.

We

¶For a detailed account of this part of the Holy Land, the reader is referred to Burckhardt's Travels, a work pre-eminently distinguished for its accuracy.

oaks grew in these supposed desert regions, have translated this word by alders, to prevent the appearance of inaccuracy in the inspired writer. The expression of the fat bulls of Bashan,' which occurs more than once in the Scriptures, seemed to us equally inconsistent, as applied to the beasts of a country generally thought to be a desert, in common with the whole tract which is laid down in our modern maps as such, between the Jordan and Euphrates;+ but we could now

luxuriant country might be proverbially fat, but that its possessors, too, might be a race renowned for strength and comeliness of person."+

were now in a land of extraordinary richness, | have they made thine oars,' Ezek. xxvii. 6. Some abounding with the most beautiful prospects, learned commentators, indeed, believing that no clothed with thick forests, varied with verdant slopes, and possessing extensive plains of a fine red soil, now covered with thistles as the best proof of its fertility, and yielding in nothing to the celebrated plains of Zebulon and Esdraelon, in Galilee and Samaria. We continued our way to the north-east, through a country, the beauty of which so surprised us that we often asked each other what were our sensations; as if to ascertain the reality of what we saw, and persuade each other, by mutual confessions of our delight, that | fully comprehend, not only that the bulls of this the picture before us was not an optical illusion. The landscape alone, which varied at every turn, and gave us new beauties from every different point of view, was, of itself, worth all the pains of an excursion to the eastward of Jordan to obtain a sight of; and the park-like scenes that sometimes softened the romantic wildness of the general character as a whole, reminded bouring Idumæans. Being conquered by the us of similar spots in less neglected lands." Of the district of Batanea the same traveller thus speaks: "We continued our way over this elevated tract, continuing to behold, with surprise and admiration, a beautiful country on all sides of us; its plains covered with a fertile soil, its hills clothed with forests, at every new turn presenting the most magnificent landscapes that could be imagined. Among the trees the oak was frequently seen, and we know that this territory produced them of old. In enumerating the sources whence the supplies of Tyre were drawn in the time of her great wealth and naval splendour, the prophet says, 'Of the oaks of Bashan

(2) IDUMEA.-This province composed the extreme southern part of the land, and also a small part of Arabia. During the captivity at Babylon, it seems to have been possessed by the neigh

victorious arms of the Maccabees, these people embraced Judaism, and thus became incorporated into the body of the Jewish nation. The tract inhabited by them retained the name of Idumæa, not only during the time of the New Testament history (Mark iii. 8), but also for a considerable time afterwards.||

6. The following table will supply the means of comparing the division of Palestine amongst the twelve tribes, with that adopted by the Romans during the first three centuries of the Christian era, and with that adopted by the Turks at the present day.

and very rapid, wider than the Tiber at Rome, | tains on both sides, and form numerous pools of and perhaps about as wide as the Thames at Windsor; the water turbid." But these variations may easily be accounted for, by observing, that the writers not only visited different parts of the river, but that at different times of the year.

(3) There is no doubt that anciently, at certain seasons, this river overflowed its inner bank, Josh. iii. 15; 1 Chron. xii. 15; Jer. xlix. 19, 1. 44. "But at present," says Maundrell, "whether it be that the river has, by its rapidity of current, worn its channel deeper than it was formerly, or whether because its waters are diverted some other way, it seems to have forgot its ancient greatness; for we could discern no sign or probability of such overflowings when we were there, which was the 30th of March, being the proper time for these inundations. Nay, so far was the river from overflowing, that it ran at least two yards below the brink of its channel." It is nevertheless a fact, that the Jordan still rises to a height of from nine to ten perpendicular feet, between the months of January and March—a height quite sufficient to produce a very extensive inundation, when its channel was shallower than it now is.

(4) The course and channel of this river have been accurately described by Maundrell, Buckingham, Burckhardt, and other recent travellers. Mr. Buckingham observes, that the whole of the plain, from the mountains of Judea on the west to those of Arabia on the east, may be called the vale of Jordan in a general way; but in the centre of the plain, which is at least ten miles broad, the Jordan runs in another still lower valley, perhaps a mile broad in some of the widest parts, and a furlong in the narrowest. There are close thickets all along the edge of the stream, as well as upon this lower plain, which would afford ample shelter for wild beasts; and as the Jordan might overflow its banks, when swollen with rains, sufficiently to inundate this lower plain, though it could never reach the upper one, it was most probably from these that the lions were driven out by the inundations, which gave rise to the prophet's simile: "Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan, against the habitation of the strong," Jer. xlix. 19, l. 44.* Mr. Burckhardt is more particular as to the exact course of the river: "The valley of the Jordan, or El Ghor, which may be said to begin at the northern extremity of the lake of Tiberias, has near Bysan [Bethshan, or Scythopolis] a direction of N. by E., and S. by W. Its breadth is about two hours. The great number of rivulets which descend from the moun

* Travels in Palestine, &c., pp. 313, 314.

stagnant water, produce in many places a pleasing verdure, and a luxuriant growth of wild herbage and grass; but the greater part of the ground is a parched desert, of which a few spots only are cultivated by the Bedouins. In the neighbourhood of Bysan the soil is entirely of marle; there are very few trees; but wherever there is water, high reeds are found. The river Jordan, on issuing from the lake of Tiberias, flows for about three hours near the western hills, and then turns towards the eastern, on which side it continues its course for several hours. The river flows in a valley of about a quarter of an hour in breadth, which is considerably lower than the rest of the plain of the Ghor; this low valley is covered with high trees of a luxuriant verdure, which afford a striking contrast with the sandy slopes that border it on both sides. The river where we passed it was about eighty paces broad, and about three feet deep; this, it must be recollected, was in the midst of summer. In the winter it inundates the plain in the bottom of the narrow valley, but never rises to the level of the upper plain of the Ghor, which is at least forty feet above the level of the river. The river is fordable in many places during summer, but the few spots where it may be crossed in the rainy season are known only to the Arabs."+ It abounds with fish.

2. The Lake of Tiberias, or Sea of Galilee, was called in more early times the Sea of Chinnereth, from a city of that name seated on it, belonging to the children of Naphtali (Josh. xix. 35); and the edge of this sea on the other side Jordan, eastward, was made the western boundary of the portion of Gad, who occupied all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the children of Ammon, Josh. xiii. 24-27. Gennesareth is considered by Calmet and Buckingham to have been the original name of this sea of Chinnereth, gradually corrupted; Galilee was the name given to it from its situation on the eastern borders of that division of Palestine; and Tiberias, which is its most modern name, must have been bestowed on it after the building of the city bearing the same name by Herod. It is computed to be about eighteen miles in length, and from five to six in breadth. The description which Josephus has left us of this beautiful sheet of water is, like all the other pictures drawn by him, admirably faithful in the detail of local features. "Now, this

Travels in Syria, &c., pp. 344, 345.

+ Josephus, Jewish Wars, b. iii., chap. xiii. Dr. Richardson, misled by Sandys, has stated it to be "about twelve miles long, and six broad." Travels, vol. i., p. 426.

lake of Gennesareth is so called from the country | water; and they ceased, and there was a calm," adjoining to it. Its breadth is forty furlongs, and Luke viii. 23, 24.‡ It was the old opinion, that its length one hundred and forty; its waters are the waters of the Jordan passed through the lake sweet, and very agreeable for drinking, for they without mingling with it; and Pococke thought are finer than the thick waters of other fens; the he noticed the stream to be of a different colour. lake is also pure, and on every side ends directly The fact is, that the water of the lake is clear, at the shores, and at the sand; and it is also of a while that of the Jordan is muddy, and of course temperate nature when you draw it up, and of a the strong current, in passing through the former, more gentle nature than river or fountain water, imparts to it a tinge of its own colour. and yet always cooler than one could expect in so diffuse a place as this is. Now, when this water is kept in the open air, it is as cold as that snow which the country people are accustomed to make by night in summer. There are several kinds of fish in it, different both to the taste and sight from those elsewhere."* Dr. Clarke speaks of the uncommon grandeur of the memorable scenery of this spot. He describes the lake as being longer and finer than any of our Cumberland and Westmoreland lakes, although, perhaps, inferior to Loch Lomond. It does not possess the vastness of the lake of Geneva, although it much resembles it in certain points of view. In picturesque beauty he states it to come nearest to the lake of Locamo in Italy, although it is destitute of any thing similar to the islands by which that majestic piece of water is adorned.† Viewing it from Tel Hoom, which he erroneously supposed to be the ancient Capernaum, Mr. Buckingham says, "Its appearance is still grand. The barren aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total absence of wood, give, however, a cast of dulness to the picture; which is increased to melancholy by the dead cast of its waters, and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any kind is to be found. The waters of this lake, lying in a deep bason, surrounded on all sides with lofty hills, excepting only the narrow entrance and outlets of the Jordan at each extreme, are protected from long-continued tempests; and, like the Dead Sea, with which they communicate, are never violently agitated for any length of time. The same local features, however, render it occasionally subject to whirlwinds, squalls, and sudden gusts from the hollow of the mountains, which, as in every other similar bason, are of short duration, and the most furious gust is instantly succeeded by a calm. A storm of this description is evidently alluded to by the evangelist, where he says, "There came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy-then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the

3. The Dead Sea, or Lake Asphaltites, variously called in Scripture the Sea of the Plain, the Salt Sea, and the East Sea (Deut. iii. 17, iv. 49; Numb. xxxiv. 3; Josh. xv. 5; Ezek. xlvii. 18; Joel ii. 20), is a collection of waters of considerable magnitude. It is surrounded by high hills on three sides, some of them exhibiting frightful precipices, and on the north it is bounded by the plain of Jericho, through which the Jordan flows into it. The Kedron, Arnon, and Zerka rush down the hills in torrents, and, along with other streams, discharge themselves into the lake. Its real size is not satisfactorily ascertained, ancient and modern writers materially disagreeing in their statements. Josephus affirms it to be seventy-two miles long, and eighteen broad. Diodorus states it at sixty-two miles long, and seven and a half broad. But the calculation of Pliny is much greater; for he says it is one hundred miles long, and twenty-five wide, in the broadest part. Maundrell and Dr. Clarke agree with Josephus, and Pococke decides with Diodorus; whereas Mr. Bankes confidently affirms, that its utmost extent does not exceed thirty miles. Yet, as the editor of the Modern Traveller has judiciously remarked, the ancients were well acquainted with this sea. Josephus, Julius Africanus, and Pausanias describe it from their own ocular evidence. Are we to conclude that the lake has contracted its dimensions, so as to be only half its ancient length? Supposing any change to have taken place in the depth of its bason, in the lapse of ages, during which the bituminous stores contained in the subterranean chambers of the abyss have been in a process of decomposition, this is not impossible. For as the whole of the plain is a flat, on a level with the sea, it is extremely probable that the waters anciently covered that whole extent; and a comparatively slight subsidence of the sea would convert the shallow into a marshy, and at length arid, plain.|| The waters of the Dead Sea are clear and limpid, but their specific gravity exceeds that of all other water known. Josephus and Tacitus say that no fish can live in

*Josephus, Jewish Wars, b. iii., chap. x.
Travels, vol. iv., p. 200, &c.

+ Travels, P. 471.
Modern Traveller, vol. i., pp. 205, 206.