FIRST STUDY
The Land of Palestine
In the historical study of the New Testament the two principal subjects are, the life of Jesus Christ on earth and, after the Ascension, the growth of the Christian church.
The life of Christ was passed entirely in Palestine; and we therefore begin our studies with a view of that land as it was in our Saviour's day.
I. It was an oriental land. In all ages the boundaries of Palestine have been about the same, though the dominion of its rulers has varied according to their power. Palestine Proper, originally the land of Canaan, and later the land of Israel, or the Twelve Tribes, is located near the south-eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea; having Syria and Phœnicia on the north, the great Syrian Desert on the east, the Sinaitic wilderness on the south, and the Mediterranean on the west. Located just outside the tropics, near the point of contact between Asia and Africa, it belongs to the Oriental or Eastern world.
II. It was a small land. The greatest lands have not always been the largest. Greece, no larger than half a dozen counties in America, is greater in history than vast China; and the single city of Rome won and held the empire of the Mediterranean lands. Territorially the whole extent of Palestine was about that of Massachusetts and Connecticut united, or that of Switzerland, in Europe—about 12,500 square miles. Its sea-coast, from Tyre to Gaza, is 140 miles long; its Jordan line, from Mount Hermon to the foot of the Dead Sea, is 156 miles.
III. It was a land of varied natural features. There is a regularity in the natural conformation of Palestine which every traveler notices. The country lies in five parallel sections.
1. Approaching from the Mediterranean one meets first a sea-coast plain two or three miles wide at the north, but widening, as it goes southward, to nearly twenty miles at Gaza.
2. Crossing this we approach the Shephelah, or foot-hills; a terrace of low hills, from 300 to 500 feet high.
3. Ascending these we reach the mountain region, a range of mountains broken by ravines in all directions, and varying from 2,500 to 3,000 feet high. This region was the home of the Israelites in all their history. They were always a mountain people and never occupied the lower plains in any great degree. In all the Bible times the plains and valleys were mainly foreign and heathen in their population, while the mountains were Israelite in the Old Testament and Jewish in the New.
4. Crossing the mountains we descend to the Jordan valley, lower than the sea level and from five to twenty miles wide. Through this runs the river Jordan, passing through two lakes—Lake Merom and the Sea of Galilee—and emptying into the Dead Sea.
5. Beyond the valley rises the eastern table-land, with higher mountains, but more level summits, and broken by fewer valleys. The mountains gradually decline to the great Syrian Desert on the east.
IV. It was a Land of Five Provinces. In the time of Christ there were five political divisions in Palestine; three on the west side of Jordan and two on the east.