Palestine 

[N]
originally denoted only the sea-coast of the land of Canaan inhabited by the Philistines ( Exodus
15:14 ;Isaiah 14:29 Isaiah 14:31 ; Joel 3:4 ), and in this sense exclusively the Hebrew name Pelesheth
(rendered "Philistia" in Psalms 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
(Genesis 40:15 ). It is also called "the holy land" (Zechariah 2:12 ), the "land of Jehovah" ( Hosea
9:3 ;Psalms 85:1 ), the "land of promise" ( Hebrews 11:9 ), because promised to Abraham ( Genesis
12:7 ; 24:7 ), the "land of Canaan" ( Genesis 12:5 ), the "land of Israel" (1 Samuel 13:19 ), and the "land
of Judah" ( Isaiah 19:17 ).

The territory promised as an inheritance to the seed of Abraham ( Genesis 15:18-21 ; Numbers 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 ( 2 Samuel
8 ; 1 Chronicles 18 ; 1 Kings 4:1 1 Kings 4:21 ). 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" ( Ezekiel 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" ( Deuteronomy 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
( Deuteronomy 3:12-20 ; Compare Numbers 1:17-46 ; Joshua 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 ( 2 Kings 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 (Ezra 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 (Compare John 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-Jordan tribes, extended to about eleven thousand
square miles. Recent exploration has shown the territory on the west of Jordan alone to be six thousand
square miles in extent, the size of the principality of Wales.