Reference: Palestine
American
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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Nations learned of this and trembled. The Philistines shook with horror.
The rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.
Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north. It is an army with no cowards in its ranks.
What are you to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you pay recompense (compensation) to me? If you pay recompense to me swiftly and speedily, will I return your recompense upon your own 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
See Verses Found in Dictionary
He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set out for the land of Canaan and soon arrived there.
Jehovah appeared to Abram and said: I will give this land to your offspring (seed). He built an altar there to Jehovah, who had appeared to him.
On that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram. He said: To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 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.
Jehovah, the God of heaven, took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth. He spoke to me and swore to me. He said: I will give this land to your descendants. He will send his angel before you. You will take a wife for my son from there.
I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. And here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.
Nations learned of this and trembled. The Philistines shook with horror.
Moses and Aaron took the men who had been named and assembled the whole congregation on the first day of the second month. Each man at least twenty years old provided his genealogy by family and household. Then his name was listed. read more. Moses registered the men of Israel in the Desert of Sinai as Jehovah commanded him. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Reuben, Israel's firstborn son, listed every man by name that was at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Reuben was forty-six thousand. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Simeon registered and listed every man by name that was at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Simeon was fifty-nine thousand three hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Gad listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Gad was forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Judah listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Judah was seventy-four thousand six hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Issachar listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Issachar was fifty-four thousand four hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Zebulun listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Zebulun was fifty-seven thousand four hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Joseph, those from Ephraim, listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Ephraim was forty thousand five hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Manasseh listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Manasseh was thirty-two thousand two hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Benjamin listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Benjamin was thirty-five thousand four hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Dan listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Dan was sixty-two thousand seven hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Asher listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Asher was forty-one thousand five hundred. The roster of families and households for the descendants of Naphtali listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty. The total for the tribe of Naphtali was fifty-three thousand four hundred. Moses, Aaron, and the twelve leaders of Israel, each representing his own family, added up these totals. The Israelites registered by households. The grand total of men who were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
Jehovah gave Moses the following instructions for the people of Israel: When you enter Canaan, the land I am giving you, these are the borders of your territory. read more. The southern border will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom. It will begin on the east at the southern end of the Dead Sea. It will turn southward toward Akrabbim Pass and continue on through Zin as far south as Kadesh Barnea. It will turn northwest to Hazar Addar and on to Azmon, where it will turn toward the valley at the border of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean. The western border will be the Mediterranean Sea, it will be the western border. The northern border will follow a line from the Mediterranean to Mount Hor and from there to Hamath Pass. It will continue to Zedad and to Ziphron, and will end at Hazar Enan. The eastern border will follow a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. It will then go south to Harbel, east of Ain, and on to the hills on the eastern shore of Lake Galilee, then south along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. These will be the four borders of your land.
We took possession of this land. I gave the tribes of Reuben and Gad the land north of Aroer near the Arnon Valley and half of the mountain region of Gilead with its cities. I assigned the rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, where Og had ruled, that is, the entire Argob region to half the tribe of Manasseh. Bashan was known as the land of the Rephaim. read more. Jair, from the tribe of Manasseh, took the entire region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of Geshur and Maacah. He named the villages after himself, and they are still known as the villages of Jair. I assigned Gilead to the clan of Machir of the tribe of Manasseh. I assigned the territory from Gilead to the Arnon River to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The middle of the river was their southern boundary, and their northern boundary was the Jabbok River, part of which formed the Ammonite border. On the west their territory extended to the Jordan River, from Lake Galilee in the north down to the Dead Sea in the south and to the foot of (Mount) Pisgah on the east. Then I gave them the following instructions: 'Jehovah our God gave you the land east of the Jordan to occupy. Now arm your fighting men and send them across the Jordan ahead of the other tribes of Israel, to help them occupy their land. Your wives, children, and livestock, for you have a lot of livestock, will remain behind in the towns I assigned to you. Help the other Israelites until they occupy the land Jehovah is giving them west of the Jordan and until Jehovah lets them live there in peace, just as he has done here for you. After that, you may return to the land I assigned to you.'
Jehovah your God will lead you into a good land. It is a land with rivers that do not dry up. Springs and underground streams flow through the valleys and the hills. The land has wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. The land has honey and olive trees for olive oil. read more. The land will have enough food for you, and you will have everything you need. The land has rocks with iron ore. You will be able to mine copper ore in the mountains.
The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them. About forty thousand, prepared for war, passed over before Jehovah to do battle in the plains of Jericho.
No blacksmith could be found in all of Israel. In this way the Philistines kept the Hebrews from making swords and spears.
Solomon's kingdom included all the nations from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. They paid him taxes and were subject to him all his life.
Then the king of Assyria took men from Babylon and from Cuthah and Avva and Hamath and Sepharvaim, and put them in the towns of Samaria in place of the children of Israel. They acquired Samaria for their heritage, living in its towns. When they first lived there they did not respect Jehovah. So Jehovah sent lions among them, causing some of them to die. read more. They said to the king of Assyria: The nations you have taken as prisoners and put in the towns of Samaria have no knowledge of the way of the god of the land. He has sent lions among them causing their death. This is because they have no knowledge of his way. Then the king of Assyria gave orders, saying: Send one of the priests you took from there. Let him live there and teach the people the way of the god of the land. So one of the priests they had taken away as a prisoner from Samaria came back. He lived in Bethel and taught them how to worship Jehovah. EVERY NATION MADE GODS FOR THEMSELVES. They put them in the houses of the high places the Samaritans had made.
It was the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia. In order that the word of Jehovah (YHWH) given by the mouth of Jeremiah might come true, Jehovah moved the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia. He made a public statement through all his kingdom, and put it in writing, saying: These are the words of Cyrus, king of Persia: 'Jehovah the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has made me responsible for building a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. read more. May your God be with you and let you go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah. There you are to build the house of Jehovah the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. If any of his people in exile need help to return, their neighbors should give them help. They are to provide them with silver and gold, supplies and pack animals, as well as offerings to present in the Temple of God in Jerusalem.'
Moab is my washbasin. I will throw my shoe on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia.
([Psalm of Korah]) You favored your land, O Jehovah. You restored the prosperity of Jacob.
I will mention Rahab (defamatory word for Egypt) (a boaster) (Isaiah 30:7) and Babylon among those who know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: This one was born there.
Moab is my wash pot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.
The rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.
Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north. It is an army with no cowards in its ranks.
The people of Egypt will be terrified of Judah every time they are reminded of the fate that Jehovah of Hosts has prepared for them.
This is what the Lord Jehovah says: This is Jerusalem. I have set her at the center of the nations with countries all around her.
The people of Ephraim will not stay in Jehovah's land. They will return to Egypt and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
What are you to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you pay recompense (compensation) to me? If you pay recompense to me swiftly and speedily, will I return your recompense upon your own head?
Jehovah will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will yet choose Jerusalem.
The Jews responded: It took forty-six years to build this temple and you will raise it up in three days?
By faith he became an alien in the Promised Land. It was not his land. He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob. They were heirs with him 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
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Lot looked up and saw that the district of the Jordan River was well watered, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. This was before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jehovah appeared again to Abraham by the oak grove of Mamre. He was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.
I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. And here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.
Then they went to Elim. There were twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there by the water.
No land may be permanently bought or sold. It all belongs to me! It is not your land! You only live there for a little while.
The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountain region. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and all along the Jordan River.
Jehovah your God will lead you into a good land. It is a land with rivers that do not dry up. Springs and underground streams flow through the valleys and the hills. The land has wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. The land has honey and olive trees for olive oil. read more. The land will have enough food for you, and you will have everything you need. The land has rocks with iron ore. You will be able to mine copper ore in the mountains.
From the wilderness and nearby Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun (to the west), shall be your coast.
The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. After the Passover they ate the old corn of the land, unleavened cakes, and parched corn.
Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same.
In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites:
from Shihor, which is near Egypt, to the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites: from the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites: read more. The land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, to the east, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon to the Hamath border. All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians. I will drive them out from before the children of Israel. Divide it by lot to the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.
She answered: Give me a blessing. For you have given me a land in the south which includes springs of water. He gave her the upper springs, and the lower springs.
Ekron, with her towns and her villages: From Ekron even to the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their villages: read more. Ashdod with her towns and her villages, Gaza with her towns and her villages, to the river of Egypt, and the great sea, and the border there.
It goes down westward to the coast of Japhleti, to the coast of Beth-horon the nether, and to Gezer: ending at the sea.
Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Beth-shean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, even three countries.
She said: Give me a blessing: for you have given me a land south with spring water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
Jehovah was with Judah. He drove out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had promised and he expelled the three sons of Anak. read more. The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem. The Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel: and Jehovah was with them. The house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. The spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him: Show us the entrance into the city, and we will show you mercy. When he showed them the entrance into the city, they struck the city with the edge of the sword. But spared the man and all his family. The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city. He called it Luz, which is its name this day. Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites wanted to live in that land.
Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites wanted to live in that land. When Israel was strong they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor. They did not completely drive them out. read more. Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that lived in Gezer. But the Canaanites lived among them in Gezer. Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became forced laborers. Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: But the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became forced laborers to them. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain. They would not allow them to come down to the valley. But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became forced laborers.
No blacksmith could be found in all of Israel. In this way the Philistines kept the Hebrews from making swords and spears.
David kept running from Saul that day until he came to Gath. There he met with King Achish.
What makes you think I would give you the bread and water, and the meat that I cooked for my own servants? I do not even know where you are from.
David and his six hundred men went over at once to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.
A worthless character named Sheba son of Bikri lived at Gilgal. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He blew the trumpet and called out: Down with David! We will not follow him! Men of Israel, let us go home!
The king of Egypt attacked Gezer and captured it. They killed its inhabitants and set fire to the city. He gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon.
for the herds grazing in Sharon, Shitrai from Sharon for the herds in the valleys- Shaphat, son of Adlai
Shortly after that the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some men reported to Jehoshaphat: A large crowd is coming against you from the other side of the Dead Sea, from Edom. The crowd is already in Hazazon Tamar (En Gedi).
Attack them tomorrow as they come up the pass at Ziz. Meet them at the end of the valley that leads to the wild country near Jeruel.
The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced with the priests and the Levites. The entire assembly that came from Israel, both the sojourners who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah rejoiced.
I said to them: Do not let the doors of Jerusalem be open till the sun is high and when the watchmen are in their places. Shut the doors and lock them. Let the people of Jerusalem be responsible for the watch, every one in his watch near his house.
But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow, read more. but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanishes from their channels.
It rises from one end of the heavens. It circles around to the other. Nothing is hidden from its heat.
Day and night your hand lay heavily on me. My strength drained in the summer heat.
([Sons of Korah]) God is our refuge and strength, a ready help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea.
His situation if beautiful. Mount Zion is the joy of the whole earth. The city of the great King is in the far reaches of the north.
Moab is my washbasin. I will throw my shoe on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia.
The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.
There shall be abundance of grain throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
He drove nations out of their way and gave them the land of the nations as their inheritance. He settled the tribes of Israel in their own tents.
([Psalm of Korah]) How lovely are your dwelling places, O Jehovah of Hosts!
I will mention Rahab (defamatory word for Egypt) (a boaster) (Isaiah 30:7) and Babylon among those who know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: This one was born there.
The sea is so big and wide with many creatures, living things both large and small. Ships sail on it, and Leviathan (great sea animal), which you made, plays in it.
Those who sail on the sea in ships, who do business on the high seas, have seen what Jehovah can do, the miracles he performed in the depths of the sea. read more. He spoke, and a storm began to blow, and it made the waves rise high. The sailors aboard ship rose toward the sky. They plunged into the depths. Their courage failed in the face of disaster. They reeled and staggered like drunks, and all their skills as sailors became useless. In their distress they cried out to Jehovah. He led them from their troubles. He made the storm calm down, and the waves became still. The sailors were glad that the storm was quiet. He guided them to the harbor they had longed for.
Jehovah has chosen Zion. He wants it for his home.
He is the one who sends snow like wool and scatters frost like ashes. He is the one who throws his hailstones like breadcrumbs. Who can withstand his chilling blast? read more. He sends out his word and melts his hailstones. He makes wind blow and water flow.
In the last days the mountain of the house of Jehovah will be established as the highest of the mountains and exalted above the hills. All the nations will stream to it.
There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.
The rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.
Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north. It is an army with no cowards in its ranks.
In love a throne will be established and in faithfulness a man will sit on it. One shall sit upon it in truth and faithfulness. He will be from the tent of David. He will judge and seek justice and speed the cause of righteousness.
the noise of strangers like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.
You will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will no longer be called Destroyed. You will be named My Delight. Your land will be named Married (owned as a wife). Jehovah is delighted with you, and your land will be married.
I wanted to treat you like children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful property among the nations. I thought you would call me Father and not turn away from me.
This is what Jehovah says: I am going to bring the captives back to Jacob's tents and show compassion on their homes. Cities will be built on the ruins, and fortified palaces will be built in their rightful place.
This is what Jehovah says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: 'He will have no one to sit on David's throne, and his own corpse will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of day and the cold of night.
It was then that I promised to take them out of Egypt and lead them to a land I had chosen for them, a rich and fertile land, the finest land of all.
I also swore an oath to them in the desert. I swore that I would not bring them into the land that I had promised to give them. This land is the most beautiful land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: 'O mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah.
A little horn cam out of one of them. The little horn became very great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious land.
But he that comes against him will do according to his own will, and none will stand against him. He will stand in the glorious land, and in his hand will be destruction.
He will also invade the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown. These will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
The people of Ephraim will not stay in Jehovah's land. They will return to Egypt and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
What are you to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you pay recompense (compensation) to me? If you pay recompense to me swiftly and speedily, will I return your recompense upon your own head?
I brought you out of the land of Egypt. I led you forty years in the desert wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
I overthrew your cities as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire. Yet you have not returned to me, said Jehovah.
Jehovah will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will yet choose Jerusalem.
I will scatter them with a whirlwind among the nations that they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned. They tread down the pleasant land and made it desolate.'
Jehovah will save the dwellings of Judah first. The glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah.
You will flee by the valley of my mountains. For the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel. Yes you will flee the same as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Jehovah my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
People from Jerusalem, Judea, and the whole Jordan Valley went to him.
Everyone who hears my words, and does them is like a wise man that builds his house on a rock. The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it did not fall. It was built on a solid rock foundation. read more. Every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and battered the house and it fell with a great crash.
When Jesus finished speaking, he departed from Galilee. He went to the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan.
The veil (curtain) of the temple was ripped in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks split.
By faith he became an alien in the Promised Land. It was not his land. He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob. They were heirs with him of the same promise.
Hastings
PALESTINE
1. Situation and name.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and the Horites in the hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the edge of the wilderness.
Nations learned of this and trembled. The Philistines shook with horror.
The leaders said to them: Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water to the entire congregation as the leaders had promised them.
Judah said to Simeon his brother: Come up with me to my allotted territory that we may fight against the Canaanites. I likewise will go with you to your territory. So Simeon went with him. Judah went up and Jehovah delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They killed ten thousand men at Bezek. read more. They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him. They killed the Canaanites and the Perizzites. Adoni-bezek fled and they chased him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. And Adoni-bezek said: Seventy kings with their big toes cut off have gathered food scrapes under my table. God has repaid me for what I have done. So they brought him to Jerusalem where he died. The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. They put it to the sword and set the city on fire. Afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that lived in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. Judah went against the Canaanites that lived in Hebron (previously called Kirjath-arba) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. From there they advanced against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher: Caleb said: He that attacks Kirjath-sepher, and captures it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter for a wife. Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife. When she came to him she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey Caleb said to her: What do you wish? She said: Give me a blessing: for you have given me a land south with spring water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. The children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah to the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the south of Arad to live with the people. And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they attacked the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was Hormah. Judah took Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory as well as Ekron with its territory. Jehovah was with Judah. He drove out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had promised and he expelled the three sons of Anak. The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem. The Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel: and Jehovah was with them. The house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. The spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him: Show us the entrance into the city, and we will show you mercy. When he showed them the entrance into the city, they struck the city with the edge of the sword. But spared the man and all his family. The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city. He called it Luz, which is its name this day. Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites wanted to live in that land. When Israel was strong they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor. They did not completely drive them out.
The people of Israel came from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, as well as from the land of Gilead in the east. They were united in Jehovah's presence at Mizpah.
David replied to Saul: I am a shepherd for my father's sheep. When a lion or a bear comes and carries off a sheep from the flock,
Saul had a concubine named Rizpah. She was Aiah's daughter. Ishbosheth asked Abner: Why did you have sex with my father's concubine?
After a very little time, the heaven became black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab went in his carriage to Jezreel.
Then the king of Assyria took men from Babylon and from Cuthah and Avva and Hamath and Sepharvaim, and put them in the towns of Samaria in place of the children of Israel. They acquired Samaria for their heritage, living in its towns. When they first lived there they did not respect Jehovah. So Jehovah sent lions among them, causing some of them to die. read more. They said to the king of Assyria: The nations you have taken as prisoners and put in the towns of Samaria have no knowledge of the way of the god of the land. He has sent lions among them causing their death. This is because they have no knowledge of his way. Then the king of Assyria gave orders, saying: Send one of the priests you took from there. Let him live there and teach the people the way of the god of the land. So one of the priests they had taken away as a prisoner from Samaria came back. He lived in Bethel and taught them how to worship Jehovah. EVERY NATION MADE GODS FOR THEMSELVES. They put them in the houses of the high places the Samaritans had made. The men of Babylon made Succothbenoth and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites gave their children to be burned in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they worshipped Jehovah. They appointed priests from the people for the high places. The priests were to make offerings for them in the houses of the high places. They worshipped Jehovah, but they gave honor to their gods like the nations did from whom they had been taken as prisoners. So to this day they go on in their old ways. They do not worship Jehovah. They do not keep his orders, his ways, or the law Jehovah gave to the children of Jacob. They are the ones he gave the name Israel. Jehovah made an agreement with them and gave them orders, saying: You are to have no other gods. You are not to worship them or be their servants or make them offerings. Jehovah took you out of the land of Egypt with his great power and his outstretched arm. He is your God, to whom you are to give worship and make offerings: You are to obey and do forever the law he put in writing for you. You are to have no other gods. You are to keep in memory the agreement I made with you. You are to have no other gods. You are to worship Jehovah your God. It is he who will give you salvation from the hands of all who are against you. But they paid no attention and they continued in their old way. So these nations worshiped Jehovah and they still served the images (idols) they had made. Their children and their children's children did the same. They do just as their fathers did to this very day.
The rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.
Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north. It is an army with no cowards in its ranks.
Be glad you children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God! For he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes it to rain, the early rain and the latter rain, in the first month.
What are you to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you pay recompense (compensation) to me? If you pay recompense to me swiftly and speedily, will I return your recompense upon your own head?
He said to the crowd: When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say it will rain and it does.
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.