39. [When the Israelites under Joshua took possession of the land of Canaan, he divided it into twelve portions, which were distributed by lot among the ten tribes and the two half tribes. The exact situation of their several territories is not known, and scarcely two original authorities agree respecting it. The following general account is therefore, in a considerable degree, conjectural; but will probably answer all the purposes in view. South of Jerusalem to the confines of Arabia, was the portion of JUDAH. Between Judah and the Mediterranean, the tribe of Simeon was situated; but the Philistines continued to inhabit the coast. Dan extending to the Mediterranean, and Benjamin to the Jordan, lay north, the one of Simeon, the other of Judah. North of these, extending from the Jordan to the Mediterranean lay the tribe of Ephraim; and north of Ephraim occupying the same length westward, but more confined to the north and south, was part of the portion of Manasseh. North of Manasseh was Issachar, extending from the S. of the Lake of Galilee and from the Jordan, to the NW. part of Manasseh and SW. part of Aser. Aser occupied the whole coast north of Manasseh, comprehending Tyre and Sidon, which however were never subjected to that tribe. ZABULON joined Aser on the NW.; Isaachar on the south; and extended to the Lake of Galilee on the east. NAPHTHALI lay to the north of Zabulon, between Aser and the jordan; occupying the west banks of the Jordan, from the north of the lake, to the source of the river. On the east side of Jordan, was the remaining portion of Manasseh, extending from the source of the river, to the southern part of the lake. South of that was Gad, extending along the east of the Jordan, as far as the SE. corner of the west portion of Manasseh; and south of Gad lay Reuben, extending to the Arnon, which entered the Dead Sea on the NE. The tribe of Levi possessed no lands, but received regular contributions from the other tribes, and had the government of several cities which were interspersed among their territories.]

40. At the period of the Gospel history, there were four leading divisions, of Palæstine,-GALILEE, SAMARIA, JUDEA proper, and Peræa, or the coUNTRY BEYOND THE JORDAN. With Galilee will be mentioned that part of Phoenice which is usually referred to Palæstine: IDUMEA will be mentioned with Judæa; and TRACHONITIS and ITUREA, with Peræa.-Exclusive of Trachonitis and Ituræa, which seem scarcely within its NE. limits, Palæstine cannot have been more extensive than Wales and Salop and Herefordshire together, if we leave out Anglesey, and the projecting part of Caernarvon; and it

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somewhat resembled this tract in form. Galilee, including the adjacent part of Phoenice, may be compared in extent with Lancashire: Samaria had about the same extent as Cheshire: and Judæa had considerably less extent than Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and Suffolk together; more nearly approaching to South Wales, which it somewhat resembles in form.

41. [About 700 years before the time of our Saviour, ten of the tribes were carried away captive by the Assyrians; and, about 600 years before Christ, the other tribes were removed to Babylon by their conquerors. After 70 years' captivity, the Jews were permitted, by Cyrus, to return to their own land; but they continued for about 200 years in subjection to the Persians. About 323 years before Christ, the king of Ægypt took possession of the country; and carried many thousands of the inhabitants into Egypt. After Judæa had been tributary to the Ægyptians for about a century, it became subject to the kings of Syria. The country then began to be called Palæstine; and it was divided into five provinces; the ancient divisions being entirely laid aside. At first the Jews were treated well; but in the continual wars between Ægypt and Syria, they were necessarily great sufferers; and about 170 years before Christ they underwent a severe persecution from the Syrians. They were then rescued from the Syrian yoke by Judas Maccabæus and his brothers, whose valour and bravery regained almost all the possessions of the twelve tribes. When the Jews were restored to their country by Cyrus, the Samaritans had opposed, as much as possible, their rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem: John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim. About 107 years before Christ, the race of the Maccabees assumed the regal dignity and title; and on a contest between two of them relative to the succession, the Roman General Pompey, to whom they appealed, made Judæa tributary to the Romans. In the year 37 before Christ, Herod, supported by the Roman power, ascended the throne of Judæa, and considerably extended its dominions. Herod died three or four years before the commencement of the Christian era; and the distribution which he had made by will of his dominions, was (after much hesitation) ratified by Augustus, the Roman emperor. Archelaus had Judæa proper, Samaria, and Idumæa; Herod Antipas (who beheaded John), had Galilee and Peræa proper (which was a part of the country beyond the Jordan); and Philip had Batanæa, Trachonitis, and Ituræa. They had the title of Tetrarchs. Archelaus was banished for his cruelty A. D. 7; and his dominions were then made a Roman

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province, under Procurators, who were subordinate to the Presidents of Syria. 66 The power of life and death was now "taken out of the hands of the Jews, and taxes were, from "this time, paid directly to the Roman Emperor. Justice was administered in the name, and by the laws of Rome; "though, in what concerned their religion, their own laws, "and the power of the High Priest and Sanhedrim, or great "council, were continued to them: and they were allowed to "examine witnesses, and exercise an inferior jurisdiction, "in other causes, subject to the control of the Romans, to "whom their Tetrarchs or Kings were also subject."* Judæa and Samaria were under this kind of government during the ministry of Jesus; Pontius Pilate being the Procurator of those districts; while Herod Antipas was still Tetrarch of Galilee. After the removal of Pilate, A. D. 36, it is supposed that there was no longer a Procurator, but that Judæa was governed, for a few years, by the Syrian Presidents. Philip died in the year 37, and Herod Antipas was banished, A. D. 40, by the Emperor Caligula, who gave their tetrarchies, with the title of King, to Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great. The Emperor Claudius gave him Judæa, Samaria, part of Idumæa, and Abilene; so that his dominions had nearly the same extent with those of his grandfather. It was this Herod who killed James, and imprisoned Peter. He died in the seventh year of his reign; and as Claudius thought his son Agrippa too young to rule his father's dominions, he instituted Governors of Judæa, of whom Felix and Festus, were the fourth and fifth. Claudius, however, afterwards gave Trachonitis and Abilene to Agrippa; and Nero added a part of Galilee and some cities. This Agrippa was also called King, and before him Paul pleaded at Cæsarea. Several of the Roman governors severely oppressed the Jews; and, at length, in the reign of Nero, under the government of the cruel Florus, the Jews openly revolted; and this commenced the fatal war which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the son of the then Emperor Vespasian, and afterwards himself Emperor. This event, which completely annihilated the Jewish state, occurred in the year 70.]

1. GALILEE.

42. GALILEE was limited by Phoenice on the west (35); by Syria on the north; by the Jordan on the east; and by Sa

* See Pretyman's Introduction to the Study of the Bible, page 160. The greater part of the paragraph is abridged from Part I. Chap. iii. of that work,

maria on the south. It is usually spoken of as extending to the Mediterranean; but it appears that, in the time of our Saviour, Phoenice occupied the coast. It was distinguished into two parts; the northern, mountainous, district, was called Galilee superior, or Galilee of the Gentiles, because it bordered upon Gentile nations, and its inhabitants were partly composed of them; the southern and more level district was called Galilee inferior, or Galilee simply. Galilee, in the New Testament, seems generally, perhaps uniformly, to mean Galilee inferior, which probably was little larger than Monmouthshire, and not more than 120 miles in circumference. In it were Capernaum, Bethsaida, Nazareth, Nain, and Tiberias, and some other towns not mentioned in the New Testament.

43. Galilee was a fruitful and populous district; and the inhabitants were brave and industrious; but the Jews regarded them with much contempt. The Jews were accustomed to regard the country about Jerusalem as the most holy part of the land: hence Galilee they deemed less holy. The Galileans were composed, partly of the remnant of the ten tribes, whom the Jews (of Judah and Benjamin) deemed inferior to themselves, and, what was still worse, partly of Gentiles. And farther, the dialect of Galilee was less pure than the language of Judæa; and the Jewish doctors taught, that the law was on this account confirmed to the inhabitants of the latter, to the exclusion of those of the former.

In Galilee our Saviour spent the greater part of his life; it was the scene of many of his miracles; and from among its inhabitants he chose most of his apostles.

44. Cæsarea Philippi, or Paneas, and Ptolemais, or Acco, are usually considered as belonging to Galilee. The former however lay to the east of the Jordan, near its source, and was not arranged with Galilee by Josephus;-it will therefore be mentioned in the fourth general division of Palæstine. The latter also was not Galilee, but in that part of Phoenice which is included in Palæstine, (§ 40); it may however be most conveniently introduced here. Ptolemais was about 28 miles S. of Tyre. It was situated on the north of a small inlet of the Mediterranean, on the south of which was Mount Carmel. Paul landed at Ptolemais, on his way to Jerusalem from his third apostolic journey.

45. Among the three towns mentioned by Josephus as the principal towns of Galilee, we find Tiberias only mentioned by the writers of the New Testament. Our Saviour confined his teaching to the smaller towns; probably as being inhabited by Jews only, to whom, during his lifetime, the glad tidings

which he brought were principally declared... Tiberias was the usual residence of Herod the tetrarch, when in Galilee; it was situated on the SW. side of the Lake of Galilee, and was the origin of one of the names of the lake.

46. Eastward from Ptolemais was Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle; and afterwards exercised his miraculous powers, in curing a nobleman's son, who was then lying dangerously ill at Capernaum. About 17 miles SE. from Ptolemais was Nazareth, the residence of Jesus before the commencement of his public ministry. It was a small town, situated on a hill, from which the inhabitants endeavoured to throw Jesus down. It lay about 59 miles to the north of Jerusalem. At a little distance SE. from Nazareth was Mount Tabor, [supposed by some to be the mountain on which our Lord was transfigured; but it seems more probably that this occurred on a mountain in the more northern part of Galilee, near Cæsarea Philippi, (67). Jesus had been in the neighbourhood of that place a little time before; and, had the mountain been one whose name was in familiar use, the name would most probably have been mentioned.] At a little distance to the south of Mount Tabor was Nain, where our Lord restored the widow's son to life.

47. Along the western side of the Lake of Galilee was a district called the Land of Gennesaret. It was very fertile, and in a high state of cultivation. On the NW. side of the lake, near the entrance of Jordan, was Capernaum; about 70 miles from Jerusalem. During the public ministry of Jesus, he seems to have fixed upon this place as his general residence; and we find that he worked several miracles there. It was then a flourishing town, but it is now so decayed as to contain only a few fishermen. [It seems decidedly probable that two Bethsaidas are mentioned in the gospels; that near which our Lord miraculously fed the multitudes, (68)-and that which is called] Bethsaida of Galilee, the birth-place of Peter, Andrew and Philip. [The latter must have been on the west side of the Jordan, because the whole of Galilee lay on that side; but its exact situation is not known.] It was on the coast of the lake, and probably southwards of Capernaum, and at no great distance from it. Here our Lord restored sight to a blind man, and worked many other miracles which are not specified by the Evangelists.-[Chorazin is generally supposed to have been in Galilee. Nothing is certainly known respecting it; but it appears most probable, that Chorazin was the common appellation of Julias, or Bethsaida east of the Jordan, § 68.]