David, into twelve provinces or districts, each under a peculiar officer. These districts, together with the names of their respective presidents, are enumerated in 1 Kings iv. 7-19. From the produce of these districts every one of these officers was to supply the king with provisions for his household, in his turn, that is, each for one month in the year. The dominions of Solomon extended from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. (1 Kings iv. 21.) Hence it appears that the Hebrew monarch reigned over all the provinces from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the frontiers of Egypt. The Euphrates was the eastern boundary of his dominions; the Philistines were westward, on the Mediterranean Sea; and Egypt was on the south. Solomon therefore had, as his tributaries, the kingdoms of Syria, Damascus, Moab, and Ammon; and thus he appears to have possessed all the land which God had covenanted with Abraham to give to his posterity.

VI. Under this division the Holy Land continued till after the death of Solomon; when ten tribes revolted from his son Rehoboam, and erected themselves into a separate kingdom under Jeroboam, called the KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. The two other tribes of Benjamin and Judah, continuing faithful to Rehoboam, formed the KINGDOM OF JUDAH. This kingdom comprised all the southern parts of the land, consisting of the allotments of those two tribes, together with so much of the territories of Dan and Simeon as were intermixed with that of Judah: its royal city or metropolis was Jerusalem, in the tribe of Benjamin. The kingdom of Israel included all the northern and middle parts of the land, occupied by the other ten tribes; and its capital was Samaria, in the tribe of Ephraim, situated about thirty miles north-east of Jerusalem. But this division ceased, on the subversion of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, after it had subsisted two hundred and fifty-four years.

VII. The Holy Land fell successively into the hands of the Syrian kings, the Greeks, and Romans. IN THE TIME OF JESUS CHRIST it was divided into five separate provinces, viz. Galilee, Samaria, Judæa, Peræa, and Idumæa.

1. GALILEE. This portion of the Holy Land is very frequently mentioned in the New Testament: its limits seem to have varied at different times. It comprised the country formerly occupied by the tribes of Issachar, Naphtali, and Asher, and by part of the tribe of Dan; and is divided by Josephus into Upper and Lower Galilee.

Upper Galilee abounded in mountains; and from its vicinity to the cities of Tyre and Sidon, it is called the Coasts of Tyre and Sidon. (Mark vii. 31.) The principal city in this region was Cæsarea Philippi; through which the main road lay to Damascus, Tyre, and Sidon.

Lower Galilee was situated in a rich and fertile plain, between the Mediterranean Sea and the lake of Gennesareth: according to Josephus, this district was very populous, containing upwards of two hundred cities and towns. The principal cities of Lower Galilee, mentioned in the New Testament, are Tiberias, Chorazin, Bethsaida,

Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, Nain, Cæsarea of Palestine, and Ptolemais.

"Hither

Galilee was most honoured by our Saviour's presence. Joseph and Mary returned with him out of Egypt, and here he resided until his baptism by John (Matt. ii. 22, 23.; Luke ii. 39–51.; Matt. iii. 13.; Luke iii. 21.). Hither he returned after his baptism and temptation (Luke iv. 14.): and, after his entrance on his public ministry, though he often went into other provinces, yet so frequent were his visits to this country, that he was called a Galilean. (Matt. xxvi. 69.) The population of Galilee being very great, our Lord had many opportunities of doing good; and, being out of the power of the priests at Jerusalem, he seems to have preferred it as his abode. To this province our Lord commanded his apostles to come and converse with him after his resurrection (Matt. xxviii. 7. 16.): and of this country most, if not the whole, of his apostles were natives, whence they are all styled by the angels men of Galilee."1 (Acts i. 11.)

2

The Galileans spoke an unpolished and corrupt dialect of the Syriac, compounding and using (ain) for (aleph), ♬ (caph) for (beth), (tau) for (daleth); and also frequently changed the gutturals. This probably proceeded from their great communication and intermixture with the neighbouring nations. It was this corrupt dialect that led to the detection of Peter as one of Christ's disciples. (Mark xiv. 70.) The Galileans are repeatedly mentioned by Josephus as a turbulent and rebellious people, and upon all occasions ready to disturb the Roman authority. They were particularly forward in an insurrection against Pilate himself, who proceeded to a summary mode of punishment, causing a party of them to be treacherously slain, during one of the great festivals, when they came to sacrifice at Jerusalem. This character of the Galileans explains the expression in St. Luke's Gospel (xiii. 1.) whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices; and also accounts for his abrupt question, when he heard of Galilee, and asked if Jesus were a Galilean? (Luke xxiii. 6.) Our Redeemer was accused before him of seditious practices, and of exciting the people to revolt; when, therefore, it was stated, among other things, that he had been in Galilee, Pilate caught at the observation, and enquired if he were a Galilean; having been prejudiced against the inhabitants of that district by their frequent commotions, and being on this account the more ready to receive any charge which might be brought against any one of that obnoxious community.

1 Wells's Geography of the Old and New Testament, vol. ii. p. 137.

Dr. Lightfoot, to whom we are indebted for the above remark, has given several instances in Hebrew and English, which are sufficiently amusing. One of these is as follows: A certain woman intended to say before the judge, My Lord, I had a picture, which they stole; and it was so great, that if you had been placed in it, your feet would not have touched the ground. But she so spoiled the business with her pronunciation, that, as the glosser interprets it, her words had this sense:- Sir, slave, I had a beam, and they stole thee away; and it was so great, that if they had hung thee on it, thy feet would not have touched the ground. Lightfoot's Chorographical Century of the Land of Israel, ch. lxxxvii. (Works, vol. ii. p. 79.) See additional examples in Buxtorf's Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum et Rabbinicum, p. 434.

Josephus, Antiq. book xviii. c. 3. § 2. and Mr. Whiston's note there. In another place (book xvii. c. 10. § 2.), after describing a popular tumult, he says, A great number of these were GALILEANS and Idumæans.

Gilly's Spirit of the Gospel, or the Four Evangelists elucidated, p. 328.

Galilee of the Nations, or of the Gentiles, mentioned in Isa. ix. 1. and Matt. iv. 15., is by some commentators supposed to be Upper Galilee, either because it bordered on Tyre and Sidon, or because the Phoenicians, Syrians, Arabs, &c., were to be found among its inhabitants. Others, however, with better reason, suppose that the whole of Galilee is intended, and is so called, because it lay adjacent to idolatrous nations.1

2. SAMARIA. The division of the Holy Land, thus denominated, derives its name from the city of Samaria, and comprises the tract of country which was originally occupied by the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh within Jordan. It belonged originally to the kingdom of Israel; and during the captivity it had been settled by foreign colonists, sent out from Assyria. It lay exactly in the middle between Judæa and Galilee; so that it was absolutely necessary for persons who were desirous of going expeditiously from Galilee to Jerusalem to pass through this country. This sufficiently explains the remark of St. John (iv. 4.), which is strikingly confirmed by Josephus. The three chief places of this district, noticed in the Scriptures, are Samaria, Sichem or Schechem, and Antipatris.

3. JUDEA. Of the various districts into which Palestine was divided, Judæa was the most distinguished. It comprised the territories which had formerly belonged to the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and to part of the tribe of Dan; being nearly co-extensive with the ancient kingdom of Judah. Its metropolis was JERUSALEM; and of the other towns or villages of note contained in this region, the most remarkable were Arimathea, Azotus or Ashdod, Bethany, Bethlehem, Bethphage, Emmaus, Ephraim, Gaza, Jericho, Joppa, Lydda, and Rama.

4. The district of PEREA comprised the six cantons of Abilene, Trachonitis, Ituræa, Gaulonitis, Batanæa, and Peræa, strictly so called, to which some geographers have added Decapolis.

(1.) ABILENE was the most northern of these provinces, being situated between the mountains of Libanus and Anti-Libanus, and deriving its name from the city Abila, or Abela. It is supposed to have been within the borders of the tribe of Naphtali, although it was never subdued by them. This canton or territory had formerly been governed as a kingdom (Baoiλeía) by a certain Lysanias, the son of Ptolemy and grandson of Mennæus; but he was put to death about B. C. 34, through the intrigues of Cleopatra, who took possession of a portion of his province. After her death it fell to Augustus, who hired it out to one Zenodorus; but, as he suffered the country to be infested with robbers, the province was taken from him about B. C. 22, and given to Herod, misnamed the great, on whose death part of the territory was given to Philip. But the greater part, with the city Abila, seems then, or afterwards, to have been bestowed on another Lysanias, a descendant (as it appears) of the former, with

1 Kuinöel in loc. Robinson's Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament, voce Γαλιλαία.

2

Antiq. book xx. c. 5. § 1. De Bell, Jud. book ii. c. 12. § 3.