our Saviour. Nor were they more respected by | at first sight, whilst by their variety, they could the heathen themselves. For Theocritus, being easily be accommodated to every transaction. once asked which was the most cruel of all beasts, 5. The following are the principal pieces of replied, that among the beasts of the wilderness, money mentioned in Scripture ::they were the bear and the lion; among the beasts of the city, they were the publican and the parasite. The Pharisees would hold no sort of communication with the publicans; which may explain Matt. xviii. 17-" Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." It is even said they would not allow them to enter the temple or synagogues, to partake of the public prayers, fill offices of judicature, or give testimony in a court of justice. Neither would they receive their presents at the temple, any more than the price of blood, of prostitution, or of any thing of the like nature.

*

The shekel of silver, or silverling (Isai. vii. 23), originally weighed 320 barley-corns, but it was afterwards increased to 384 barley-corns; its value, being considered equal to 4 Roman denarii, was 2s. 7d.; or, according to Bishop Cumberland, 2s. 44d. It is said to have had Aaron's rod on the one side, and the pot of manna on the other. The bekah was equal to half a shekel, Exod. xxxviii. 26.

The denarius was one-fourth of a shekel; 74d. of our money.

The gerah (Exod. xxx. 13) or meah was the sixth part of the denarius or diner, and the 24th part of the shekel.

4. The original form of the precious metals, as media of exchange, appears to have been in the state of bullion. This was weighed in the balance, and was either increased or diminished till the parties were satisfied. It was in favour of these meta's, that they could be divided and subdivided, without injuring their value. They were, therefore, a convenient symbol of commodities. But whilst they continued in the form of bullion, they were liable to some inconveniences; for it was troublesome to weigh them at every transaction, and they might be adulterated. Hence the invention of bars of a certain size, and of a determinate purity, ascertained by some mark generally known. So early as the days of Abraham, we read of of silver, i. e., 17. 178. 54d. weighing pieces of silver, which were current money with the merchant, or of the legal purity, Gen. xxiii. 16. And when Jacob bought the parcel of ground from Hamor (Gen. xxxiii. 19), it would appear that the hundred pieces which he gave had a determinate mark upon them, for they are called a hundred keshithe, in the original. Now keshithe signifies lambs, yet the animal so called could not have been given; for we are told in Acts vii. 16, that the price was in money. Might not these 100 pieces, then, have been so called, because the figure of a lamb was impressed upon them, to ascertain their purity? The most convenient improvement in the form and value of precious metals, as media of exchange, was that of coinage. It ascertained their fineness and value

The assar, or assarion (Matt. x. 29), was the 96th part of a shekel. Its value was rather more than a farthing.

The farthing (Matt. v. 26) was in value the 13th part of a penny sterling.

The mite was the half of a farthing, or the 26th part of a penny sterling.

The mina, or maneh (Ezek. xlv. 12), was equal to 60 shekels, which, taken at 28. 7d., was 77. 15s. The talent was 50 minas, and its value therefore, 3877. 10s.

The gold coins were as follows:

A shekel of gold was about 14 times the value

* Lightfoot, Hora Heb., Matt. v. 46; Whitby on Matt. ix. 11; Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, b. i., ch. 2; Michaelis on the Laws of Moses, vol. iii., pp. 1–19; Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, b. ii., ch. 2.

A talent of gold consisted of 3000 shekels. The drachma was equal to a Roman denarius, or 7åd. of our money.

The didrachma (Matt. xvii. 24), or tributemoney, was equal to 15 d. It is said to have been stamped with a harp on one side, and a vine on the other.

The stater, or piece of money which Peter found in the fish's mouth (Matt. xvii. 27), was two half shekels.

A daric (drams, 1 Chron. xxix. 7; Ezra viii. 27) was a gold coin struck by Darius the Mede. According to Parkhurst its value was 17. 58. A gold penny is stated by Lightfoot to have been equal to 25 silver pence.+

See his Harmony, on John ii. 6; Horæ Heb., Matt. v. 26: and Prospect of the Temple, ch. x.; Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, b. vi., ch. 9; Lamy, l. 1., c. 8, 9; Cumberland's Essay on the Jewish Weights and Measures; Prideaux's Connex. A. A. C. 538; Brown's Jewish Antiq., pt. ix, s. 9; Parkhurst's and Calmet's Dictionaries, under the respective words.

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORICAL AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

Of the utility or importance of the subject to which this chapter refers, there can be but one opinion, with readers in general, and with the student of Scripture in particular. The earth is the theatre on which all the grand affairs recorded in the Bible have been transacted. How is it possible that we should trace the wanderings of 2. THE LAND OF ISRAEL was a name given to Abraham, that great patriarch, and the various it after its conquest by Joshua, and its division toils and travels of Jacob, and the seed of Israel, among the tribes (see 1 Sam. xiii. 19; 2 Kings in successive ages, without some geographical vi. 23, &c.); and comprehended the whole of knowledge of those countries? How can our the territory possessed by the twelve tribes, on meditations follow the apostles in their laborious each side of the river Jordan. See 2 Kings xiv. journeys through Europe and Asia, their voyages, 25; 1 Chron. xiii. 2. their perils, their shipwrecks, and the fatigues they endured for the sake of the gospel, unless we are instructed by descriptions, maps, and tables ?* A topographical review of sacred history, then, with brief notices of the several countries and places mentioned in connexion with sacred history, will furnish the topics of the following sections.

the prediction of the patriarch Noah, Gen. ix. 25. It should be remarked, however, that under this name the whole of the land was not comprehended, but only that part of it which lay west of the river Jordan. See Numb. xxxv. 14, xxxiii. 51; Josh. xxii. 11, &c.

SECTION I.

JUDEA, OR THE HOLY LAND.

1. Names. II. Situation and Limits. III. Inhabitants. IV. Divisions. V. Face of the Country: 1. Rivers; 2. Mountains; 3. Valleys, Plains, and Deserts. VI. Atmosphere and other Phenomena: Climate, Rains, Winds, Tornadoes, &c. VIII. Fruitfulness of the Land.†

§ 1. Various Names of the Country. The land given by covenant to the seed of Abraham, "for an everlasting possession," is distinguished by various appellations, both in the Holy Scriptures, and in the Jewish and Pagan Of these the following are the prin

writers.

cipal:

1. THE LAND OF CANAAN.-This name is derived from the descendants of Canaan, the grandson of Noah, who were its earliest inhabitants. These were either destroyed, expelled, or rendered tributaries by the Israelites, in conformity with

Watts's Works, vol. viii., p. 219.

+ In this section we have adopted, with some slight altera tions, the plan laid down by Reland, in his admirable work, "Palestina Illustrata," &c., availing ourselves of the materials furnished by the most intelligent and recent travellers, concerning the present state of the Holy Land,

3. THE LAND OF GOD, not in that sense in which the entire world is said to be the Lord's, but in a peculiar sense. See Lev. xxv. 23; Ps. lxxxv. 1; Hos. ix. 3; Joel i. 6, iii. 2. He was the sovereign, and granted the use of his territories to the children of Israel. He brought them in with a strong arm, expelling its former inhabitants for their impieties. His sovereignty was acknowledged by his people, in the presentation of their first-fruits, and in the consecration of the sabbatic years. Besides this, he fixed his habitation here, saying, "This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it," Ps. cxxxii. 14. His temple, his priests, and his worship consecrated the favoured land.

4. THE LAND OF PROMISE.-So called (Heb. xi. 9) from the promise made to Abraham, that it should be given to his seed as their inheritance, Gen. xii. 7, &c. This designation did not include the region on the East of the Jordan, that not having formed part of the promise.

5. THE HOLY LAND.-So called by the Jews, because it was the chosen and consecrated spot in which the one true God was acknowledged and worshipped; and by Christians, because it was

the scene of the manifestation and mediatorial work of the Messiah. The Jews entertained very high notions of the exclusive sanctity of their own land, esteeming its very dust to be holy, and every other part of the world to be profane and polluted. Hence they were accustomed, on their arrival in Judea, from any of the places without its limits, to rub off the dust from their shoes, lest their inheritance should be defiled. Lightfoot thinks there is an allusion to this custom in Matt. x. 14, where our Saviour commands his disciples to shake off the dust from their feet, when leaving a city where their message had been

rejected. "Show, by shaking off the dust from | between the 31st and 34th degrees of north lati

your feet, that ye esteem that city, though it should be a city of Israel, as a heathen, profane, impure city."*

6. THE LAND, AND THE EARTH.-The Holy Land is frequently spoken of under these terms (see Ruth i. 1; Jer. iv. 20, xxii. 29; Luke iv. 25, &c.), by way of eminence or distinction; or, perhaps, out of contempt to the Gentile nations, whom the Jews considered as nothing-a people who had no being-who were yet to be created. See Ps. xxii. 31, cii. 18; Hos. i. 10, &c.t

7. JUDEA; a name that originally distinguished the southern part of the land, occupied by the tribe of Judah; but which, after the return from the captivity, appears to have been given to the whole country.

8. PALESTINE was a name derived from the Philistines, who had settled on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and with whom the Israelites were frequently at war.

9. By profane writers, the Holy Land has been variously termed SYRIA, SYRIA-PALESTINE, COLOSYRIA, IDUMEA, and PHŒNICIA.‡

§ 2. Situation and Limits of the Country.

1. The Jews affirm that the Holy Land is situated in exactly the centre of the world; be this as it may, it is situate in the centre of the three continents that were anciently inhabited, and therefore most wisely chosen to be the depository of the oracles of God. The Africans could not go out of Suez, their only passage between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, to enter into Arabia, without making Palestine in their way. The Arabians, coming out of their deserts, met the river Jordan. The Europeans, when at the end of their longest courses on the Mediterranean, arrived in Greater Asia, upon the confines of Palestine. And the Persians, and other eastern nations, could not pass the Euphrates, and visit the provinces of the west and the south, without coming into the countries near Syria and Palestine.||

2. In the map, this country presents the appear ance of a narrow slip, extending along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean; from which, to the river Jordan, the utmost width does not exceed fifty miles. It is situate in the fifth climate,

* Hora Heb., Matt. x. 14.

See Whitby on 1 Cor. i. 28.

Relandi Palestina, b. i., cap. i.—ix.

tude; having the Mediterranean Sea on the west; Lebanon and Syria on the north; Arabia Deserta, and the land of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Midianites, on the east; the river of Egypt (the Sihor, Josh. xiii. 3; Jer. ii. 18); the desert of Zin, the southern shore of the Dead Sea, and the river Arnon, on the south; and Egypt, on the south-west. Near the northern boundary stood the city of Dan, and near the southern extremity, Beersheba; hence in the sacred writings the expression, "from Dan to Beer-sheba," is used to denote the whole length of the country. Its extreme length was about 190 miles, and its width about 80. The boundaries of the land are most accurately described by Moses, in Numb. xxxiv.

1-15.

3. But the real boundary of the Holy Land, on the western side, did not continue so distinct and simple in the succeeding periods as the law would have made it, because the Israelites desisted from expelling the Philistines and the Canaanites; David having first fully executed what the lawgiver commanded on this head.§

4. The kingdom of this prince and his son Solomon, however, extended far beyond these limits. In a north-eastern direction it was bounded only by the river Euphrates, and included a conhad dominion over all the region on the western It is stated that Solomon siderable part of Syria. side of the Euphrates, from Thiphsah (or Thapsacus) on that river, in lat. 35° 20′, to Azzah, or

Gaza.

"Tadmor in the wilderness" (Palmyra), which the Jewish monarch is said (2 Chron. viii. 4) to have built (that is, either founded or fortified), is considerably to the north-east of Damascus, being only a day's journey from the Euphrates; and Hamath, the Epiphania of the Greeks (still called Hamah), in the territory belonging to which city Solomon had several "store cities," is seated

and south-east, the kingdom of Solomon was exon the Orontes, in lat. 34° 45′ N. On the east tended by the conquest of the country of Moab, of the Ammonites, and of Edom; and tracts which were either inhabited or pastured by the Israelites, lay still further eastward. Maon, which belonged to the tribe of Judah, and was situated in or near the desert of Paran (Josh. xv. 55; 1 Sam. xxiii. 24; xxv. 2), is described by Abulfeda as the

The conquest of Canaan by the Israelites has often furnished a ground of complaint to the impugners of revelation. For a satisfactory vindication of this transaction, the reader is referred to Michaelis on the Laws of Moses, vol. i., b. ïï., chap. 3; Paley's Sermons, Serm. xix.; Faber's Orig. of Pagan

|| Le Pluche, Truth of the Gospel Demonstrated, vol. i., Idolatry, vol. iii, p. 564, &c.; Townsend's Old Testament,

p. 99.

vol. i., p. 444, &c., note; and Critica Biblica, vol. i., p. 161, &c

furthest city of Syria toward Arabia, being two | to their families; so that in this division every days' journey beyond Zoar.*

tribe and every family received their lot and share by themselves, distinct from all the other tribes. In this division among the tribes, the northern parts were assigned to the tribes of Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun, and Issachar; the middle parts to that of Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh ; the southern parts to those of Judah, Dan, Ben

5. Within this district, such were the advantages of the soil and climate, added to the peculiar modes of cultivation adopted, that there existed, in the happiest periods of the Jewish nation, an immense population. The men able to bear arms in the time of Moses, somewhat exceeded 600,000; including the Levites, nearly 620,000. If, accord-jamin, and Simeon; and the country beyond Joring to the usual principle of calculation, we admit the whole people, women and children included, to have been four times as many, we shall then have nearly 2,500,000 souls for the amount of the population. Allowing something further on account of polygamy and slavery, Michaëlis concludes that the number of people Moses had to carry into Palestine could not have been less than 3,000,000. In the reign of David, when the kingdom was so much extended, the population, women and children included, amounted to 5,000,000, to which we must add the tributary Canaanites, and other conquered nations.‡

§ 3.-Inhabitants of the Country.

dan, to those of Reuben, Gad, and the other half tribe of Manasseh. The relative situation of the tribes will be seen by consulting a map of Judæa.|| The tribe of Levi, who would make a thirteenth, being selected for the immediate service of God, possessed no lands, but was dispersed among the other tribes. Forty-eight cities, thence called Levitical cities, were appropriated to the residence of this tribe (Numb. xxxv. 7), with the tenths and first-fruits of the estates of their brethren. Of the cities assigned to the Levites, the Kohathites received twenty-three, the Gershonites thirteen, and the Merarites twelve. Some writers have supposed that all the Levitical cities were asyla, or cities of refuge. But this is a mistake; for among the cities given to the Levites (Numb. When the land of Canaan was first promised xxxv. 6), only six are appointed to be cities of to the seed of Abraham (Gen. x. 15—18), the refuge, whither the inadvertent manslayer might people who inhabited it were, the Sidonians on flee, and find an asylum from his pursuers, and the north-west, afterwards famous for commerce; be secreted from the effects of private revenge, till the Hittites on the south-west, near Hebron; the cleared by a legal process. And it is observable Jebusites at Jebus, afterwards Jerusalem; the that the Israelites are commanded to "prepare Amorites, between the Hittites and the Dead the way," that is, to make the road good, "that Sea; the Girgashites, near the Sea of Tiberias; every slayer may fly thither" without impediment, the Hivites, at Hermon; the Arkites, at Arka, and with all expedition (Deut. xix. 3). The rabopposite the northern extremity of Lebanon; the bis inform us, among other circumstances, that Sinites, south of the Arkites; the Arvadites, at at every cross-road was set up an inscription : Arvad, in the island Aradus, and its neighbour-"Refuge, Refuge." It was, probably, in allusion hood; the Zemarites, south of the Arvadites; and to this circumstance that John the Baptist is dethe Hamathites, at Hamath, in the northern ex- scribed as "the voice of one crying in the wildertremity of the land. ness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." He was the Messiah's forerunner, and in that character was to remove the obstacles to men's flying to him as their Asylum, and obtaining the salvation of God.§

§ 4-Divisions of the Land.

The following are the principal divisions to which this country has been subject:

1. JOSHUA, upon the conquest of the land, divided it into twelve portions, which were distributed among the twelve tribes, by lot, according

See Michaelis, as above, p. 78, &c.; and Modern Trav., vol. i., p. 2.

It has been calculated by Spanheim, that the remotest points of the Holy Land, as possessed by king David, were situated at the distance of three degrees of latitude, and as many degrees of longitude, including in all about 26,000 square miles. -"Charta Terræ Israelis."

Michaëlis on the Laws of Moses, vol. i., p. 99, 109.

2. SOLOMON was the next who made a considerable division of the land, separating it into twelve provinces, or districts, and placing each under a peculiar officer: the names of these, and also of the cantons over which they presided, will be found in 1 Kings iv. 7—19.

For an investigation into the limits of the several tribes, see Fragments to Calmet, No. 558.

Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, book ii., ch. 5; and Calmet's Bib. Encyclopædia, art. “Refuge."

3. REHOBOAM'S accession to the throne was soon | people." * From the Mishna we learn, that this followed by the revolt of the ten tribes, who division was considered under four aspects, viz., erected themselves into a separate kingdom, under the western, which lay along the Mediterranean, Jeroboam, and were distinguished as the kingdom and in which was the land of the Philistines; the of Israel; while the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, mountainous or pastoral district; the plain, which continuing faithful to Rehoboam, formed the king- lay farther east, and inclined towards Jordan; and dom of Judah. The latter kingdom contained all the vale or flat, which bordered on the banks of the southern parts of the land, consisting of the that river. The whole of this division was often allotments of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, denominated the south country; because it lay to and so much of the territories of Dan and Simeon the south of Samaria, and was, as before stated, as were intermixed with that of Judah. The royal the most southern division of the Holy Land. city, during the continuance of this kingdom, was Hasselquist has described the soil and appearance Jerusalem, in the tribe of Benjamin. The former of this part of the land with much accuracy kingdom contained all the middle and northern (Travels, pp. 126, 127), to whom the reader is parts of the land, with the country beyond Jordan, referred. consisting of the rest of the tribes; its capital was Samaria, in the tribe of Ephraim, situated about thirty miles north of Jerusalem. This division ceased on the subversion of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria (B. C. 728), after it had flourished 250 years.

4. The ROMANS were in possession of the land during the times of the New Testament history, when we find several great divisions. Thus the whole space between the Mediterranean and the river Jordan had three; viz., JUDEA, on the south; SAMARIA, in the middle; and GALILEE, on the north; and the space between Jordan and the heights of Gilead had two; viz., PEREA and IDUMEA.

(1) JUDEA, which was the southernmost division, and comprehended the original portions of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and Dan. The following is the account which Josephus has given of this part of the country: "The southern parts, if they be measured lengthwise, are bound by a village adjoining the confines of Arabia, called by the Jews who dwell there, Jordan; and its northern limit, where it joins Samaria, is the village Annath, also called Borceos: its breadth, however, is extended from the river Jordan to Joppa, on the shore of the Mediterranean. The city of Jerusalem is situated in the very middle, on which account some have, with sagacity enough, called that city the navel of the country. Nor is Judea destitute of such delicacies as come from the sea, since its maritime places extend as far as Ptolemais. It was divided into eleven portions, of which the royal city of Jerusalem was the chief; and presided over the neighbouring country, as the head over the body. As for the other cities which were inferior to it, they presided over their several toparchies. Gophna was the second of them; Acrabatta the next; after them Thamna, Lydda, Emmaus, Pella, Idumea, Engedi, Herodium, and Jericho; and after these came Jamnia and Joppa, as presiding over the neighbouring

(2) SAMARIA was the middle division of the country on this side Jordan. It began at Annath and Acrabatta (a day's journey north of Jerusalem), and extended to Ginea, in the Great Plain. The following is Josephus's description of it: "It is entirely of the same nature as Judea, for both countries are made up of hills and vallies, are moist enough for agriculture, and are very fertile. They have abundance of trees, and are full of autumnal fruit, both that which grows wild, and that which is the effect of cultivation. They are naturally watered by many streams, but derive their chief moisture from rain water, preserved in reservoirs during the dry season, of which they have no want; and as for those streams which they have, their waters are exceeding sweet. By reason also of the excellent grass which they have, their cattle yield more milk than those in other places; and what is the greatest sign of excellency and abundance, they each of them are very full of people." + Mr. Buckingham, who visited this spot in 1816, says: "The description given of the face of the country, its soil, and productions, as resembling that of Judea, is so far true, that both are composed of abrupt and rugged hills, and differ essentially from the plains of Galilee. But while in Judea the hills are mostly as bare as the imagination can paint them, and a few of the narrow valleys only are fertile; in Samaria, the very summits of the eminences are as well clothed as the sides of them. These, with the luxuriant vallies which they inclose, present scenes of unbroken verdure in almost every point of view, which are delightfully variegated by the picturesque forms of the hills and vales themselves, enriched by the occasional sight of wood and water, in clusters of olive and other trees, and rills and torrents running among them." From

* Jewish Wars, book iii,, ch. 3.
+ Ibid.

Travels in Palestine, &c., p. 500.