33-1 



J UD^'A. 



Jill! M. 



Named 

 Judaea. 



into four province?!, vi/. Judea Proper in the south, 



__ vj ^ Galilee in the north, Samaria in the centre, and Peraea 



Tlie portion of Asher comprehended the maritime on the east of the river JonRw. (o 



trart between Mount Carmel, as far as Sidon. The Judaea Proper, situated in 31 40'NNorth Latitude, J; 



tion of Issachar stretched northwards from Mnnasseh, 

 and westwards from Jordan, as far as Mount Tabor. 



ivision in- 

 provinces. 

 Pro- 



the lake GeiHiesareth, or sea of Tiberias. The portion 

 of Reuben lay to the eastward of the river Jordan, 

 bounded on the south by the torrent of Arnon, and on 

 the north by the river Jabok. The portion of Gad, 

 also on the east of the Jordan, stretched from the Ja- 

 bok towards the north, where it was bounded by the 

 other half tribe of Manasseh, which occupied the coun- 

 try east of the lake Gennesareth, to the northern limits 

 of the country. The whole of this extent between 

 Coele Syria on the north., 'and Arabia Petrea on the 

 south, the Mediterranean on the west, and Arabia 

 Deserta on the east, may be considered as situated be- 

 tween 31 10' and 33 15 ! of north latitude, about 140 

 miles in length, and nearly 100 in breadth. Reckon- 

 ing from Dan to Beersheba, which are often mentioned 

 in sacred Scripture as including the more settled and 

 permanent possessions of the Israelites, its length would 

 not exceed 120 miles. But, if estimated from its boun- 

 daries in the reigns of David and Solomon, and several 

 succeeding princes, its extent must be enlarged more 

 than three-fold, including both the land of Palestine, 



cient settlements of Jttdah, Benjamin, Dan, and Si- 

 meon, with Philisteca and Idumea. It is divided by 

 Josephus into eJcven toparchies, and by Pliny into ten ; 

 but these subdivisions are little noticed by ancient 

 writers, and their boundaries are very imperfectly as- 

 certained. The principal places in the north-east 

 quarter of the province were, Jerusalem the capital, 

 which was entirely destroyed in the reign* of Hadrian, 

 and replaced by a new city named lElia, a little farther 

 north, which is now the site of the modern Jerusalem; 

 Jericho, the city of palm trees, about 19 miles east- 

 ward of Jerusalem, and eight from the river Jordan ; 

 Phasa-lis, built by Herod in memory of his brother, 

 15 miles north-west of Jericho; Archelais, built by 

 Archelaus, 10 miles north of Jericho; Gophna, 15 

 miles north of Jerusalem in the road to Sichem ; Be- 

 thel, 12 miles north of Jerusalem, originally called 

 Lnz; Gilgal, about one mile and a half from Jericho; 

 Engeddi, 100 furlongs south south-east of Jericho,, 

 near the northern extremity of the Dead Sea ; Masada, 

 a strong fortress built by Judas Maccabeus, the last 



or of the Philistines, on the south, and the country of refuge of the Jews after the fall of Jerusalem; Ephraim, 



Phoenice on the north, with part of Syria to the north- 

 east. All this extent was originally comprehended in 

 .the land of promise, (Gen. xv. 18. Deut. xi. 24.) and 

 was actually possessed by David and Solomon, (1 Kings 

 ix. 20. 2 Chron. viii. 7.) It is described in numerous 



a small town westward of Jericho ; Anathoth, a Leviti- 

 cal town, nearly four miles north of Jerusalem. In 

 the south-east quarter of the province, were situated, 

 Bethlehem or Ephrath, about six miles south from the 

 capital; Bethzur, now St. Philip, a strong place on the 



passages of the sacred writings, as all comprised in the road to Hebron, 10 miles south of Jerusalem ; Zip'), a 

 _j f TI ..i. .1 ii, .... .0.- ...- < sma ji town between Hebron and the Dead Sea; Zoar, 



at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, near the 

 situation of Sodom; Hebron, formerly Kirjath-Arba, 

 a very ancient town in a hilly country, 25 miles south 

 of the capital ; Arad, about 24 miles southward from 

 Hebron, and near the Ascensus Avrabim, or Scorpion 

 Mountains, on the border of Arabia Petraea ; and Tha- 

 mar, on the southern limit of the province, near the 

 south extremity of the Dead Sea. In the north-west 

 quarter, were Bethshemesh, ' ov Heliopolis, a Levitical 

 city, about ten miles west of the capital ; Rama, six 

 miles north from Jerusalem ; Emmaus, a village eight 

 miles north north-west from Jerusalem, afterwards 

 called Nicopolis, in consequence of a victory gained by 

 Vespasian over the revolted Jews ; Bethoron, a popu- 

 lous Levitical city on the road to Lydda, a few miles 

 north-west of Emmaus ; Kirjathjearim, on the road to 

 Joppa, nine miles westward from the capital.; Lydda, 

 now Lod, and called by the Greeks Diospolis, about 

 12 miles east of Joppa; Ramla, supposed to be the 

 same as Arimathea, about five mrles. south-west of 

 Lydda; Joppa, a maritime town, now Jaft'a, about 12 

 leagues north-west of Jerusalem ; Jabne, a walled* sea- 

 port town between Joppa and Azotus ; and Ekron, a 

 town on the north boundary of the Philistines. In 

 the south-west quarter of Judaea were, Gath, about 20 

 miles west from Jerusalem, near to which was the city 

 of Eleutheropolis, a flourishing place in the second 



holy land, from Hamath on the north, to the river of 

 Egypt on the south, and from the Great, or Mediter- 

 ranean sea on the west, to the deserts of Arabia on the 

 east ; a tract of country at least 460 miles in length, 

 and more than 100 in breadth. * 



After the death of Solomon, when the kingdom of 

 the Hebrews had attained its greatest extent, it was 

 divided, in consequence of a revolt of ten tribes, into 

 two distinct sovereignties, named Israel and Judah; 

 the former of which had its seat of government in Sa- 

 maria, and the latter in Jerusalem. The territories of 

 both were gradually curtailed and laid waste by the 

 revolt of tributary princes, and the incursions of pow- 

 erful neighbours ; and both were at length completely 

 overthrown, that of Israel by the king of Assyria, about 

 720 years before Christ ; and that of Judah by Nebu- 

 chadnezzar, about 114 years later. 



After a captivity of 70 years, the Jews, who had 

 been the subjects of Judah, having received permission 

 from Cyrus to return t,o their native country, they not 

 only occupied the former territories of that kingdom, 

 but extended themselves over great part of what had 

 belonged to the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel ; 

 and then, for the first. time, gave the name of Judasa to 

 the whole country over which they had again esta- 

 blished their dominion. The same name was given to 

 that kingdom, as possessed by Herod the Great under 

 the Romans; but, in the' enumeration of the provinces 



of the empire, it was recognized only by the name of century; Makkedah, a strong place, eight miles north- 

 Palestine. All traces of its ancient division among the east from Eleutheropolis ; Bersabe, or Beersheba, 

 twelve tribes were now abolished, and it was distributed about 26 miles south from Eleutheropolis; Gerar, be- 



Joshua xv. ?, &c. ; xix. 2-1 &c, 1 Chron. xiii. 5. 2 Chron. vii. 8. Ezek. ilvii. 16, 20. Amos vi. H. 



