Reference: Palestine
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Denotes, in the Old Testament, the country of the Philistines, which was that part of the land of promise extending along the Mediterranean Sea on the varying western border of Simeon, Judah, and Dan, Ex 15:14; Isa 14:29,31; Joe 3:4. Palestine, taken in later usage in a more general sense, signifies the whole country of Canaan, as well beyond as on this side of the Jordan; though frequently it is restricted to the country on this side that river; so that in later times the words Judea and Palestine were synonymous. We find also the name of Syria-Palestina given to the land of promise, and even sometimes this province is comprehended in Coele-Syria, or the Lower Syria. Herodotus is the most ancient writer known who speaks of Syria-Palestina. He places it between Phoenicia and Egypt. See CANAAN.
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Peoples heard; they trembled; anguish seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
You must not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, for a viper will come forth from [the] root of [the] snake, and its fruit [will be] a flying serpent.
Wail, gate! Cry, city! Melt, Philistia, all of you! For smoke [is] coming from [the] north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
What [are] you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying to me what is deserved? If you [are] recompensing me, I will return swiftly [and] quickly what you deserve on your head!
Easton
Illustration: Physical Map of Palestine Illustration: Palestine, Illustrating the New Testament
Originally denoted only the sea-coast of the land of Canaan inhabited by the Philistines (Ex 15:14; Isa 14:29,31; Joe 3:4), and in this sense exclusively the Hebrew name Pelesheth (rendered "Philistia" in Ps 60:8; 83:7; 87:4; 108:9) occurs in the Old Testament.
Not till a late period in Jewish history was this name used to denote "the land of the Hebrews" in general (Ge 40:15). It is also called "the holy land" (Zec 2:12), the "land of Jehovah" (Ho 9:3; Ps 85:1), the "land of promise" (Heb 11:9), because promised to Abraham (Ge 12:7; 24:7), the "land of Canaan" (Ge 12:5), the "land of Israel" (1Sa 13:19), and the "land of Judah" (Isa 19:17).
The territory promised as an inheritance to the seed of Abraham (Ge 15:18-21; Nu 34:1-12) was bounded on the east by the river Euphrates, on the west by the Mediterranean, on the north by the "entrance of Hamath," and on the south by the "river of Egypt." This extent of territory, about 60,000 square miles, was at length conquered by David, and was ruled over also by his son Solomon (2Sa 8; 1Ch 18; 1Ki 4:1,21). This vast empire was the Promised Land; but Palestine was only a part of it, terminating in the north at the southern extremity of the Lebanon range, and in the south in the wilderness of Paran, thus extending in all to about 144 miles in length. Its average breadth was about 60 miles from the Mediterranean on the west to beyond the Jordan. It has fittingly been designated "the least of all lands." Western Palestine, on the south of Gaza, is only about 40 miles in breadth from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea, narrowing gradually toward the north, where it is only 20 miles from the sea-coast to the Jordan.
Palestine, "set in the midst" (Eze 5:5) of all other lands, is the most remarkable country on the face of the earth. No single country of such an extent has so great a variety of climate, and hence also of plant and animal life. Moses describes it as "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt not eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass" (De 8:7-9).
In the time of Christ the country looked, in all probability, much as now. The whole land consists of rounded limestone hills, fretted into countless stony valleys, offering but rarely level tracts, of which Esdraelon alone, below Nazareth, is large enough to be seen on the map. The original woods had for ages disappeared, though the slopes were dotted, as now, with figs, olives, and other fruit-trees where there was any soil. Permanent streams were even then unknown, the passing rush of winter torrents being all that was seen among the hills. The autumn and spring rains, caught in deep cisterns hewn out like huge underground jars in the soft limestone, with artificial mud-banked ponds still found near all villages, furnished water. Hills now bare, or at best rough with stunted growth, were then terraced, so as to grow vines, olives, and grain. To-day almost desolate, the country then teemed with population. Wine-presses cut in the rocks, endless terraces, and the ruins of old vineyard towers are now found amidst solitudes overgrown for ages with thorns and thistles, or with wild shrubs and poor gnarled scrub (Geikie's Life of Christ).
From an early period the land was inhabited by the descendants of Canaan, who retained possession of the whole land "from Sidon to Gaza" till the time of the conquest by Joshua, when it was occupied by the twelve tribes. Two tribes and a half had their allotments given them by Moses on the east of the Jordan (De 3:12-20; comp. Nu 1:17-46; Jos 4:12-13). The remaining tribes had their portion on the west of Jordan.
From the conquest till the time of Saul, about four hundred years, the people were governed by judges. For a period of one hundred and twenty years the kingdom retained its unity while it was ruled by Saul and David and Solomon. On the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam ascended the throne; but his conduct was such that ten of the tribes revolted, and formed an independent monarchy, called the kingdom of Israel, or the northern kingdom, the capital of which was first Shechem and afterwards Samaria. This kingdom was destroyed. The Israelites were carried captive by Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, B.C. 722, after an independent existence of two hundred and fifty-three years. The place of the captives carried away was supplied by tribes brought from the east, and thus was formed the Samaritan nation (2Ki 17:24-29).
Nebuchadnezzar came up against the kingdom of the two tribes, the kingdom of Judah, the capital of which was Jerusalem, one hundred and thirty-four years after the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel. He overthrew the city, plundered the temple, and carried the people into captivity to Babylon (B.C. 587), where they remained seventy years. At the close of the period of the Captivity, they returned to their own land, under the edict of Cyrus (Ezr 1:1-4). They rebuilt the city and temple, and restored the old Jewish commonwealth.
For a while after the Restoration the Jews were ruled by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and afterwards by the high priests, assisted by the Sanhedrin. After the death of Alexander the Great at Babylon (B.C. 323), his vast empire was divided between his four generals. Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Coele-Syria fell to the lot of Ptolemy Lagus. Ptolemy took possession of Palestine in B.C. 320, and carried nearly one hundred thousand of the inhabitants of Jerusalem into Egypt. He made Alexandria the capital of his kingdom, and treated the Jews with consideration, confirming them in the enjoyment of many privileges.
After suffering persecution at the hands of Ptolemy's successors, the Jews threw off the Egyptian yoke, and became subject to Antiochus the Great, the king of Syria. The cruelty and opression of the successors of Antiochus at length led to the revolt under the Maccabees (B.C. 163), when they threw off the Syrian yoke.
In the year B.C. 68, Palestine was reduced by Pompey the Great to a Roman province. He laid the walls of the city in ruins, and massacred some twelve thousand of the inhabitants. He left the temple, however, unijured. About twenty-five years after this the Jews revolted and cast off the Roman yoke. They were however, subdued by Herod the Great (q.v.). The city and the temple were destroyed, and many of the inhabitants were put to death. About B.C. 20, Herod proceeded to rebuild the city and restore the ruined temple, which in about nine years and a half was so far completed that the sacred services could be resumed in it (comp. Joh 2:20). He was succeeded by his son Archelaus, who was deprived of his power, however, by Augustus, A.D. 6, when Palestine became a Roman province, ruled by Roman governors or procurators. Pontius Pilate was the fifth of these procurators. He was appointed to his office A.D. 25.
Exclusive of Idumea, the kingdom of Herod the Great comprehended the whole of the country originally divided among the twelve tribes, which he divided into four provinces or districts. This division was recognized so long as Palestine was under the Roman dominion. These four provinces were, (1) Judea, the southern portion of the country; (2) Samaria, the middle province, the northern boundary of which ran along the hills to the south of the plain of Esdraelon; (3) Galilee, the northern province; and (4) Peraea (a Greek name meaning the "opposite country"), the country lying east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. This province was subdivided into these districts, (1) Peraea proper, lying between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok; (2) Galaaditis (Gilead); (3) Batanaea; (4) Gaulonitis (Jaulan); (5) Ituraea or Auranitis, the ancient Bashan; (6) Trachonitis; (7) Abilene; (8) Decapolis, i.e., the region of the ten cities. The whole territory of Palestine, including the portions alloted to the trans-Jord
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And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot {his nephew}, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and all the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to the land of Canaan.
And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." And he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
On that day Yahweh {made} a covenant with Abram saying, "To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river, [the land of] the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, read more. the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
Yahweh, the God of heaven who took me from the house of my father and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, 'to your offspring I will give this land,' he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.
For I was surely kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me in this pit."
Peoples heard; they trembled; anguish seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name, and they summoned the entire community on [the] first day of the second month. And they registered themselves among their clans according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names from {those twenty years old} and above individually, read more. just as Yahweh commanded Moses. And he counted them in the desert of Sinai. The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, every male individually from {twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred. From the descendants of Simeon, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, those who were counted according to [the] number of their names, every individual male from {twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred. From the descendants of Gad, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. From the descendants of Judah, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred. From the descendants of Issachar, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred. From the descendants of Zebulun, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred. From the descendants of Joseph: from the descendants of Ephraim, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred. From the descendants of Manasseh, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred. From the descendants of Benjamin, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred. From the descendants of Dan, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred. From the descendants of Asher, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred. From the descendants of Naphtali, their genealogies according to their clans, according to {their families}, according to [the] number of names, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone who [is able] to go to war: those who were counted from the tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred. These [are] the ones counted whom Moses and Aaron mustered, with the twelve leaders of Israel, each one from {his family}. So all those who were counted from the {Israelites} according to {their families}, from {those twenty years old} and above, everyone in Israel who [is able] to go to war. All of the ones counted were six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty.
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Command the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When you come into the land of Canaan, this [is] the land that was allotted to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its boundaries. read more. Your southern edge will be from the desert of Zin toward the side of Edom, and your southern border will be from the end of the Salt Sea to the east; your boundary will turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim and will pass over to Zin, and its limits will be from the south of Kadesh Barnea; it will continue to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon. The boundary will turn from Azmon to the valley of Egypt, and its limits will be to the sea. " 'Your western boundary will be the Great Sea; this will be your western boundary. Your northern border will be from the Great Sea; you will make a boundary from the Great Sea to Mount Hor. From Mount Hor you will make a boundary to reach Hamath; the limits of the territory will be at Zedad. The boundary will go out to Ziphron, and its limits will be at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary to the north. " 'You will mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar Enan to Shepham; the boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah from the east side of Ain, and the boundary will go down and border on the eastern side of the Sea of Kinnereth. The boundary will go down to the Jordan, and its limits will be at the Salt Sea. This will be your land according to its boundaries all around.'"
And [so] we took possession of this land at that time, from Aroer, which [is] on the [edge of the] wadi of Arnon, and [also] half of the hill country of Gilead and its towns I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. And the remainder of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, the whole region of Argo. All of that [area of] Bashan was called [the] land of the Rephaim. read more. Jair the descendant of Manasseh acquired the whole region of Argob, up to the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he called it, [that is] Bashan, after his [own] name, Havvoth Jair, {as it still is today}. And [also] I gave Gilead to Makir. And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave, from Gilead up to the wadi of Arnon, the middle of the wadi [as a] boundary and up to the Jabbok {River}, the boundary of the {Ammonites}. And the {Jordan Valley} [with] the Jordan [River as its] boundary, from Kinnereth up to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, [with] the slopes of Pisgah toward the east. "And I charged you [all] at that time [when I] said, "Yahweh has given you--to [all of] you--this land to possess. All the {warriors} shall cross over, ready to fight, before your brothers, the {Israelites}. Only your wives and your little children and your livestock (I know that {you have much livestock}) must stay in your towns that I have given you, until Yahweh shall give rest to your brothers as [he did] to you, and also they take possession [of] the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to them beyond the Jordan; then they may return, each [one] to his possession that I have given to them.
For Yahweh your God [is] bringing you to a good land [with] streams of water, springs and underground water, welling up in the valleys and in the hills, [to] a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranate trees, a land of olive trees, olive oil and honey; read more. [to] a land where you may eat food in it {without scarcity}; you will not find anything lacking in it, a land where its stones [are] iron and from its mountains you can mine copper.
The children of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed [over] armed before the {Israelites}, as Moses told them. About forty thousand armed for fighting crossed [over] before the presence of Yahweh to the plains of Jericho for battle.
Now no skilled craftsman could be found in all the land of Israel, for [the] Philistines had said, "So that the Hebrews cannot make swords or spears for themselves."
Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River [to] the land of [the] Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who [were] bringing tribute and [were] serving Solomon all the days of his life.
The king of Assyria brought from Babylonia, from Cush, from Arva, from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled [them] in the cities of Samaria in place of the {Israelites}, so they took possession of Samaria and lived in her cities. It happened that when they began living there, they did not fear Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, and they were killing them. read more. So they said to the king of Assyria, "The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land, so he sent lions among them, and now they are killing them because they do not know the customs of the God of the land." Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Release one of the priests whom you deported from there, and let him go and settle there. Let him teach them the customs of the God of the land." So one of the priests went, whom they had deported from Samaria, and he settled in Bethel and was teaching them how they should fear Yahweh. Yet every nation was making their gods, and they put them in the shrine of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they [were] living.
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to accomplish the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia and he sent a message to all of his kingdom and also [put the message] in writing: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: Yahweh, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And he himself has appointed me to build a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. read more. Whoever among you [who is] from all of his people, may his God be with him and may he go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may he build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who [is] in Jerusalem. And let every survivor, from wherever he {resides} be assisted by the men of that place with silver and gold, with possessions and domestic animals, and with the freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem."
Moab [is] my washing pot; over Edom, I will cast my sandal. On account of me, O Philistia, raise a shout."
O Yahweh, you favored your land. You restored the fortunes of Jacob.
I will record those who know me [in] Rahab and Babylon, behold [in] Philistia and Tyre with Cush, "This one was born there."
Moab [is] my washing pot. Over Edom I will cast my sandal; Over Philistia I will shout in triumph."
You must not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, for a viper will come forth from [the] root of [the] snake, and its fruit [will be] a flying serpent.
Wail, gate! Cry, city! Melt, Philistia, all of you! For smoke [is] coming from [the] north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt, everyone [to] whom one mentions it will be afraid in himself because of the plan of Yahweh of hosts that he [is] planning against him.
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This [is] Jerusalem in the midst of the nations [where] I have put her, and countries [are] around her.
They will not remain in the land of Yahweh. But Ephraim will return [to] Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
What [are] you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying to me what is deserved? If you [are] recompensing me, I will return swiftly [and] quickly what you deserve on your head!
And Yahweh will inherit Judah [as] his portion {in the holy land}, and he will again choose Jerusalem.
Then the Jews said, "This temple has been under construction forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?"
By faith he lived in the land of promise as a stranger, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow heirs of the same promise.
Fausets
Peleshet. Four times in KJV, found always in poetry (Ex 15:27; Isa 14:29,31; Joe 3:4); same as Philistia (Ps 60:8; 87:4; 83:7 "the Philistines".) The long strip of seacoast plain held by the Philistines. The Assyrian king Ivalush's inscription distinguishes "Palaztu on the western sea" from Tyre, Samaria, etc. (Rawlinson, Herodotus 1:467.) So in the Egyptian Karnak inscriptions Pulusata is deciphered. The Scriptures never use it as we do, of the whole Holy Land. (See CANAAN for the physical divisions, etc.) "The land of the Hebrew" Joseph calls it, because of Abraham's, Isaac's, and Jacob's settlements at Mamre, Hebron, and Shechem (Ge 40:15). "the land of the Hittites" (Jos 1:4); so Chita or Cheta means the whole of lower and middle Syria in the Egyptian records of Rameses II. In his inscriptions, and those of Thothmes III, Tu-netz, "Holy Land," occurs, whether meaning "Phoenicia" or "Palestine". In Ho 9:3 "land of Jehovah," compare Le 25:23; Isa 62:4.
The holy land, Zec 2:12; 7:14, "land of desire"; Da 8:9. "the pleasant land"; Da 11:16,41, "the glorious (or goodly) land"; Eze 20:6,15, "a land that I had espied for them flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands." God's choice of it as peculiarly His own was its special glory (Ps 132:13; 48:2; Jer 3:19 margin "a good land, a land of brooks of water (wadies often now dry, but a few perennial), of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills (the deep blue pools, the sources of streams), a land of wheat, barley, vines, figtrees, pomegranates, oil olive, honey (dibs, the syrup prepared from the grape lees, a common food now) ... wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass" (De 8:7-9). "The land of the Amorite" (Am 2:10).
The land of Israel in the larger sense (1Sa 13:19); in the narrower sense of the northern kingdom it occurs 2Ch 30:25. After the return from Babylon "Judaea" was applied to the whole country S. and N., and E. beyond Jordan (Mt 19:1). "The land of promise" (Heb 11:9). "Judaea" in the Roman sense was part of the province "Syria," which comprised the seaboard from the bay of Issus to Egypt, and meant the country from Idumea on the S. to the territories of the free cities on the N. and W., Scythopolis, Sebaste, Joppa, Azotus, etc. The land E. of Jordan between it and the desert, except the territory of the free cities Poilu, Gadara, Philadelphia, was "Perea." From Dan (Banias) in the far N. to Beersheba on the S. is 139 English miles, two degrees or 120 geographical miles. The breadth at Gaza from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea is 48 geographical miles; at the Litany, from the coast to Jordan is 20 miles; the average is 34 geographical or 40 English miles. About the size of Wales. The length of country under dominion in Solomon's days was probably 170 miles, the breadth 90, the area 12,000 or 13,000 square miles.
The population, anciently from three to six millions, is now under one million. The Jordan valley with its deep depression separates it from the Moab and Gilead highlands. Lebanon, Antilebanon, and the Litany ravine at their feet form the northern bound. On the S. the dry desert of Paran and "the river of Egypt" bound it. On the western verge of Asia, and severed from the main body of Asia by the desert between Palestine and the regions of Mesopotamia and Arabia, it looks on the other side to the Mediterranean and western world, which it was destined by Providence so powerfully to affect; oriental and reflective, yet free from the stagnant and retrogressive tendencies of Asia, it bore the precious spiritual treasure of which it was the repository to the energetic and progressive W. It consists mainly of undulating highlands, bordered E. and W. by a broad belt of deep sunk lowland.
The three main features, plains, hills, and torrent beds, are specified (Nu 13:29; Jos 11:16; 12:8). Mount Carmel, rising to the height of above 1,700 ft., crosses the maritime plain half way up the coast with a long ridge from the central chain, and juts out into the Mediterranean as a bold headland. The plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon on its northern side, separating the Ephraim mountains from those of Galilee, and stretching across from the Mediterranean to the Jordan valley, was the great battlefield of Palestine. Galilee is the northern portion, Samaria the middle, Judaea the southern. The long purple wall of Gilead and Moab's hills on the eastern side is everywhere to be seen. The bright light and transparent air enable one from the top of Tabor, Gerizim or Bethel at once to see Moab on the E. and the Mediterranean on the W. On a line E. of the axis of the country and running N. and S. lie certain elevations: Hebron 3,029 ft. above the sea; Jerusalem, 2,610; Olivet, 2,724; Neby Samwil on the N., 2,650; Bethel, 2,400; Ebal and Gerizim, 2,700; Little Hermon and Tabor, N. of the Esdraelon plain, 1,900.
The watershed sends off the drainage of the country in streams running W. to the Mediterranean and E. to the Jordan, except at the Esdraelon plain and the far N. where the drainage is to the Litany. Had the Jews been military in character, they would easily have prevented their conquerors from advancing up the precipitous defiles from the E., the only entrances to the central highlands of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, from the Jordan valley; as Engedi (2Ch 20:1-2,16) and Adummim, the route between Jericho and Jerusalem by which Pompey advanced when he took the capital. The slope from the western valleys is more gradual, as the level of the plain is higher, and the distance up the hills longer, than from the eastern Jordan depression; still the passes would be formidable for any army with baggage to pass. From Jaffa up to Jerusalem there are two roads: the one to the right by Ramleh and the wady Aly; the other the historic one by Lydda and the Bethorons, or the wady Suleiman, and Gibeon.
By this Joshua drove the Canaanites to the plains; the Philistines went up to Michmash, and fled back past Ajalon. The rival empires, Egypt and Babylon-Assyria, could march against one another only along the maritime western plain of Palestine and the Lebanon plain leading toward and from the Euphrates. Thus Rameses II marched against the Chitti or Hittites in northern Syria, and Pharaoh Necho fought at Mefiddo in the Esdraelon plain, the battlefield of Palestine; they did not meddle with the central highlands, "The S. country" being near the desert, destitute of trees, and away from the mountain streams, is drier than the N., where springs abound. (See PHARAOH NECHO; MEGIDDO.) The region below Hebron between the hills and the desert is called the Negeb (the later Daroma) from its dryness. Hence Caleb's daughter, having her portion in it, begged from him springs, i.e. land having springs (Jg 1:15). The "upper and lower springs" spring from the hard formation in the N.W. corner of the Negeb (Jos 15:19); here too Nabal lived, so reluctant to give "his water" (1Sa 25:11).
The verdure and blaze of scarlet flowers which cover the highlands of Judah and Benjamin in spring, while streams pour down the ravines, give place to dreary barrenness in the summit. Rounded low hills, with coarse gray stone, clumps of oak bushes, and the remains of ancient terraces running round them, meet one on each side, or else the terraces are reconstructed and bear olives and figs, and vineyards are surrounded by rough walls with watchtowers. Large oak roots are all that attest the former existence of trees along the road between Bethlehem and Hebron. Corn or dourra fills many of the valleys, and the stalks left until the ensuing seedtime give a dry neglected look to the scene. More vegetation appears in the W. and N.W. The wady es Sumt is named from its acacias. Olives, terebinths, pines, and laurels here and ten miles to the N. at Kirjath Jearim ("city of forests") give a wooded aspect to the scenery.
The tract, nine miles wide and 35 long, between the center and the sudden descent to the Dead Sea, is desolate at all seasons, a series of hills without vegetation, water, and almost life, with no ruins save Masada a
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And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that all of it [was] well-watered land--[this was] before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah--like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt {in the direction of} Zoar.
And Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre. And he was sitting in the doorway of the tent at the heat of the day.
For I was surely kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me in this pit."
And they came to Elim, and twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees were there, and they encamped there at the water.
" 'But the land must not be sold in perpetuity, because the land [is] mine, because you [are] aliens and temporary residents with me.
[The] Amalekites [are] living in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites [are] living in the hill country; and the Canaanites [are] living at the sea and on the banks of the Jordan."
For Yahweh your God [is] bringing you to a good land [with] streams of water, springs and underground water, welling up in the valleys and in the hills, [to] a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranate trees, a land of olive trees, olive oil and honey; read more. [to] a land where you may eat food in it {without scarcity}; you will not find anything lacking in it, a land where its stones [are] iron and from its mountains you can mine copper.
From the wilderness {and the Lebanon}, up to the great river, the river Euphrates, all of the land of the Hittites, and up to {the great sea in the west}, will be your territory.
And the {Israelites} camped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho. On the next day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate from the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted corn.
So Joshua took all this land: the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the Shephelah, the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel and its Shephelah,
in the hill country, the Shephelah, the Arabah, on the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negev; the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites:
from the Shihor, which [is] {east of Egypt}, up to the border of Ekron to [the] north, which is reckoned as Canaanite; [there are] five Philistine rulers: the Gazites, Ashdodites, Ashkelonites, Gittites, Ekronites, and the Avvim. In [the] south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah, which [belongs] to the Sidonians up to Aphek, to the border of the Amorites, read more. and the land of the Gebalites, and all the Lebanon, {toward the east}, from Baal Gad {at the foot of} Mount Hermon up to Lebo-Hamath; all the inhabitants of the hill country, from the Lebanon up to Misrephoth Maim, and all [the] Sidonians. I will drive them out from before the {Israelites}; only allocate it to Israel as an inheritance just as I have commanded you.
And she said to him, "Give to me a gift; you have given me the land of the Negev, and you must give to me a spring of water." And he gave to her the upper and lower spring.
Ekron, its towns and villages; from Ekron to the sea, and all that {were near} Ashdod and their villages. read more. Ashdod, its towns and villages; Gaza, its towns and villages, up to the wadi of Egypt and the Great Sea and its coast.
Then it goes down, to the west, to the territory of the Japhletites, up to the territory of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer, and {it ends} at the sea.
In Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, Ibleam and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; the third is Napheth.
And she said to him, "Give me {a gift}; you have given me the land of the Negev, and give me also a spring of water." And Caleb gave to her the upper and lower spring.
And Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they [had] chariots of iron. They gave Hebron to Caleb just as Moses said, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there. read more. But the descendants of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived among the descendants of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. Likewise, the house of Joseph went up [against] Bethel, and Yahweh [was] with them. And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (the former name of the city was Luz). And when the spies saw a man leaving the city, they said to him, "Please show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal kindly with you." So he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with {the edge of the sword}, but they let go the man and all his family. And the man went [to] the land of the Hittites, and he built a city and named it Luz; this [is] its name to this day. Manasseh did not drive out Beth-Sean and its towns, or Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the Canaanites [were] determined to live in this land.
Manasseh did not drive out Beth-Sean and its towns, or Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the Canaanites [were] determined to live in this land. And it happened, when Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they never totally drove them out. read more. Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in their midst in Gezer. Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived in their midst and became [subjected] to forced labor. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob, so the Asherites lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or Beth-anath, but lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them. The Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain; the Amorites [were] determined to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy [on them], and they became [subjected] to forced labor.
Now no skilled craftsman could be found in all the land of Israel, for [the] Philistines had said, "So that the Hebrews cannot make swords or spears for themselves."
So David got up and fled on that day from the presence of Saul, and he came to Achish the king of Gath.
Should I take my bread and my water and my meat which I have slaughtered for my shearers and give [it] to men whom I do not know where they [are] from?
So David got up and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who [were] with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
Now a man of wickedness was found there whose name [was] Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. He blew the horn and said, "There is no share for us in David, and there [is] no inheritance for us in the son of Jesse; each to his tents, O Israel!"
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer and burnt it with fire. He had also killed the Canaanites who were living in the city and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, the wife of Solomon.
And over the cattle pastured in the Sharon [was] Shitrai the Sharonite. And over the cattle in the valley [was] Shaphat the son of Adlai.
And it happened [that] afterward, the {Moabites}, the {Ammonites}, and some of the Meunites came against Jehoshaphat for war. And they came and reported [it] to Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude from beyond the sea, from Aram, is coming against you. Now behold, [they are] in Hazazon Tamar" (that [is], En Gedi).
Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they are coming up the ascent of Ziz. And you will find them at the end of the valley facing the desert of Jeruel.
And the whole assembly of Judah, the priests and the Levites, all the assembly who had come from the land of Israel, and those living in Judah rejoiced.
I said to them, "Do not open the gates of Jerusalem until the sun is hot. While they are standing guard let them shut and fasten the doors. And appoint guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at his post and another opposite his house."
My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed; like a streambed of wadis they flow away, which are growing dark because of ice upon them, it will pile up snow. read more. In time they dry up, they disappear; when it [is] hot, they vanish from their place.
Its rising [is] from [one] end of the heavens and its circuit to the [other] end of them; and nothing [is] hidden from its heat.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vigor was changed into [the] dry heat of summer. Selah
God [is] our refuge and strength, a very sufficient help in troubles. Therefore we will not fear though [the] earth change, and though the mountains totter into [the] {midst} of [the] sea,
Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, [is] {Mount Zion}, {in the far north}, [the] city of [the] great king.
Moab [is] my washing pot; over Edom, I will cast my sandal. On account of me, O Philistia, raise a shout."
Let [the] mountains yield prosperity for the people, and [the] hills in righteousness.
May there be an abundance of grain in the land [even] on [the] top of [the] mountains. May his crop sway like the [trees of] Lebanon, and may [those] from [the] city blossom like the grass of the earth.
And he drove out nations before them and allocated them for an inheritance by [boundary] line, and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
How lovely [are] your dwelling places, O Yahweh of hosts!
I will record those who know me [in] Rahab and Babylon, behold [in] Philistia and Tyre with Cush, "This one was born there."
This [is] the great and {wide} sea, in which [are] moving animals without number, living things small and great. There [the] ships sail. Leviathan [is there] that you formed to play with.
[Those who] went down to the sea into ships, doing business on [the] {high seas}, they saw the works of Yahweh, and his wonderful deeds in [the] deep. read more. For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind, and it whipped up its waves. They rose to the heavens; they plunged to [the] depths. Their soul melted in their calamity. They reeled and staggered like a drunkard, and {they were at their wits' end}. Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distresses. He made [the] storm be still and their waves became calm. Then they were glad because they grew silent, so he guided them to their desired harbor.
For Yahweh has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation.
[He] gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes; [he] throws his hail like crumbs. Who can stand before his cold? read more. He sends out his word and melts them; he blows his breath, the water flows.
And it shall happen in the future of the days the mountain of the house of Yahweh [shall] be established; it will be among the highest of the mountains, and it shall be raised from [the] hills. All [of] the nations shall travel to him;
and it will be a shelter for shade from [the] heat by day, and a refuge and a hiding place from rainstorm and from rain.
You must not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, for a viper will come forth from [the] root of [the] snake, and its fruit [will be] a flying serpent.
Wail, gate! Cry, city! Melt, Philistia, all of you! For smoke [is] coming from [the] north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
then a throne shall be established in steadfast love, and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and zealous for righteousness.
[the] noise of foreigners like heat in a dry land. You subdued [the] heat with [the] shade of a cloud; [the] song of [the] ruthless was silenced.
It shall no longer be said of you, "Forsaken," and it shall no longer be said of your land, "Desolation!" but {you will} be called "My Delight [Is] In Her," and your land, "Married," for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall be married.
Then I thought, 'How I would set you among the children, and I would give you a land of desire, an inheritance of [the] glory of [the] hosts of nations.' And I thought, 'You would call me, "My father," and you would not turn back from {behind} me.'
Thus says Yahweh: 'Look, I [will] restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and I will have compassion on his dwellings, and [the] city will be rebuilt upon its mound, and [the] citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site.
{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, "There will not be for him [one who] sits on the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to the heat in the day and to the frost in the night.
On that day {I swore} to them to bring them out from the land of Egypt to [the] land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey--it [is the most] beautiful of all of the lands.
And also {I myself swore} to them in the desert not to bring them into the land that I had given [to them], flowing with milk and honey--it [is the most] beautiful of all of the lands--
"And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel; and [so] you must say, 'Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh;
{And from one of them} came forth horn, {a little one}, and it grew exceedingly toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beautiful land.
And the [one] coming to him will act {according to} his pleasure, and there is no [one who] {will stand} {before him}, and he will stand in {the beautiful land} and complete destruction [will be] in his power.
And he will come {into the beautiful land} and many will fall victim, but these will escape from his power: Edom and Moab and the best part of the {Ammonites}.
They will not remain in the land of Yahweh. But Ephraim will return [to] Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
What [are] you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying to me what is deserved? If you [are] recompensing me, I will return swiftly [and] quickly what you deserve on your head!
And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness forty years to take possession of the land of the Amorite.
"I overthrew some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a stick snatched from [the] fire, and yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh.
And Yahweh will inherit Judah [as] his portion {in the holy land}, and he will again choose Jerusalem.
'And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them-- no one crossing through [it] or returning--and they made the desirable land a desolation.'"
And Yahweh will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over Judah.
And you will flee [by] the valley of my mountains, because the valley of [the] mountains will reach to Azal, and you will flee like you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. And Yahweh my God will come, [and] all [the] holy ones with him.
Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan were going out to him,
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain came down and the rivers came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not collapse, because its foundation was laid on the rock. read more. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain came down and the rivers came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed, and its fall was great."
And it happened that when Jesus had finished these statements, he went away from Galilee and came into the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan.
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.
By faith he lived in the land of promise as a stranger, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow heirs of the same promise.
Hastings
PALESTINE
1. Situation and name.
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And the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El-Paran, which is at the wilderness.
Peoples heard; they trembled; anguish seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them.
And Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Go up with me into my allotment, and let us fight against the Canaanites; then I too will go with you into your allotment." And Simeon went with him. And Judah went up, and Yahweh gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek. read more. At Bezek they came upon Adoni-bezek, and they fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued after him; they caught him and cut off {his thumbs and big toes}. Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with {their thumbs and big toes} cut off used to pick up [scraps] under my table; just as I have done, so God has repaid to me. And they brought him [to] Jerusalem, and he died there. The descendants of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and they captured it, {put it to the sword}, and {set the city on fire}. Afterward the descendants of Judah pursued to fight against the Canaanites who were living in the hill country, the Negev, and the Shephelah. And Judah went against the Canaanites living in Hebron (the former name of Hebron [was] Kiriath Arba). And they defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. And from there they went to the inhabitants of Debir (the former name of Debir [was] Kiriath Sepher). And Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath Sepher and captures it, I will give to him Acsah my daughter as a wife." Othniel son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, captured it, and he gave to him Acsah his daughter as a wife. When she came [to him], she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from the donkey, Caleb said to her, "{What do you want}?" And she said to him, "Give me {a gift}; you have given me the land of the Negev, and give me also a spring of water." And Caleb gave to her the upper and lower spring. The descendants of Hobab [the] Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the descendants of Judah from the city of palms [into] the wilderness of Judah, which [is] in [the] Negev [near] Arad. And they went and settled with the people. And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites inhabiting Zephath; they utterly destroyed it, so he called the name of the city Hormah. Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory. And Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they [had] chariots of iron. They gave Hebron to Caleb just as Moses said, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there. But the descendants of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived among the descendants of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. Likewise, the house of Joseph went up [against] Bethel, and Yahweh [was] with them. And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (the former name of the city was Luz). And when the spies saw a man leaving the city, they said to him, "Please show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal kindly with you." So he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with {the edge of the sword}, but they let go the man and all his family. And the man went [to] the land of the Hittites, and he built a city and named it Luz; this [is] its name to this day. Manasseh did not drive out Beth-Sean and its towns, or Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the Canaanites [were] determined to live in this land. And it happened, when Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they never totally drove them out.
All the {Israelites} went out, from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, and they gathered as one body to Yahweh [at] Mizpah.
And David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group,
Also, David brought up his men who [were] with him, each {with} his household, and they settled in the towns of Hebron.
Saul had had a concubine, and her name [was] Rizpah the daughter of Aiah. Then [Ish-Bosheth] said to Abner, "Why {did you have sex with} my father's concubine?"
{In no time} the heavens grew black [with] clouds and wind, and there was heavy rain. Ahab rode and he went to Jezreel,
The king of Assyria brought from Babylonia, from Cush, from Arva, from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled [them] in the cities of Samaria in place of the {Israelites}, so they took possession of Samaria and lived in her cities. It happened that when they began living there, they did not fear Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, and they were killing them. read more. So they said to the king of Assyria, "The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land, so he sent lions among them, and now they are killing them because they do not know the customs of the God of the land." Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Release one of the priests whom you deported from there, and let him go and settle there. Let him teach them the customs of the God of the land." So one of the priests went, whom they had deported from Samaria, and he settled in Bethel and was teaching them how they should fear Yahweh. Yet every nation was making their gods, and they put them in the shrine of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they [were] living. The men of Babylonia made Succoth Benoth; the men of Cush made Nergal; the men of Hamath made Ashima. The Arvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; the Sepharvites were burning their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim. Those who were fearing Yahweh made priests of the high places {from among themselves}, and they were sacrificing for them in the shrines of the high places. Yahweh they were fearing, but their gods they were serving, according to the customs of the nations from which they were deported. Until this day they [are] doing according to their former customs; none of them [are] fearing Yahweh, and none of them [are] doing according to their statutes, to their decisions, to the law, or to the commands that Yahweh commanded the descendants of Jacob [to] which he had given the name Israel. Yahweh had {made} a covenant with them and commanded them, "You shall not fear other gods, nor shall you bow down to them, nor shall you serve them, nor shall you sacrifice to them. Rather, Yahweh, who brought you out from the land of Egypt with great strength and with an outstretched arm--him you shall fear, and to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice. The statutes, the decisions, the law, and the commands that he wrote to you, you shall observe to do always, and you shall not fear other gods. The covenant that I have {made} with you, you shall not forget, and you shall not fear other gods. But Yahweh your God you shall fear, and he will deliver you from the hand of all of your enemies." They did not listen but kept on doing according to their former customs. So these nations were fearing Yahweh, but they were serving their idols, as were their children and their children's children; as their ancestors did, they [are] doing until this day.
You must not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, for a viper will come forth from [the] root of [the] snake, and its fruit [will be] a flying serpent.
Wail, gate! Cry, city! Melt, Philistia, all of you! For smoke [is] coming from [the] north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
Be glad, children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in Yahweh your God, because he has given for you the autumn rains for [your] righteousness, and he has {poured down} for you rainwater, [the] autumn and spring rains, as before.
What [are] you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying to me what is deserved? If you [are] recompensing me, I will return swiftly [and] quickly what you deserve on your head!
And he also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud coming up in the west, you say at once, 'A rainstorm is coming,' and so it happens.
Watsons
PALESTINE, taken in a limited sense, denotes the country of the Philistines or Palestines, including that part of the land of promise which extended along the Mediterranean Sea, from Gaza south to Lydda north. The LXX were of opinion that the word Philistiim, which they generally translate Allophyli, signified "strangers," or men of another tribe. Palestine, taken in a more general sense, signifies the whole country of Canaan, the whole land of promise, as well beyond as on this side Jordan, though pretty frequently it is restrained to the country on this side that river; so that in later times the words Judea and Palestine were synonymous. We find, also, the name of Syria Palestine given to the land of promise, and even sometimes this province is comprehended in Coelo-Syria, or the Lower Syria. Herodotus is the most ancient writer we know that speaks of Syria Palestine. He places it between Phenicia and Egypt. See Canaan.