he Lord appeared to Abram in a vision, and promised him as many descendants as there were stars in the sky. The Lord also promised Abram that land would one day belong to his descendants, the people of Israel. (See Gen 15.7-21 and the mini-article called “Land,”.)
Centuries later, Moses told the people of Israel, “Soon you will cross the Jordan River, and if you obey the laws and teachings I'm giving you today, you will be strong enough to conquer the land that the Lord promised your ancestors and their descendants. It's rich with milk and honey, and you will live there and enjoy it for a long time. It's better land than you had in Egypt, where you had to struggle just to water your crops. But the hills and valleys in the promised land are watered by rain from heaven, because the Lord your God keeps his eye on this land and takes care of it all year long.” (Deut 11.8-12)
The land called “Canaan” lay between the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan Valley. Sometimes this land is called “The Holy Land” or “the promised land.” But the whole region is usually called “Palestine,” because it was once the land of the Philistines (see Exod 13.17, 23.31; Josh 13.2-7), who had settled along the southern coast and built cities there in the twelfth century b.c. (see the mini-article called “Palestine”). When Romans conquered the area in the first century b.c., they used the name Palestine to refer to the whole southern portion of Syria, stretching from the Lebanon Mountains to the Southern Desert, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arabian Desert.
The Lord had promised a “good land, rich with milk and honey” (see Exod 3.8). In biblical times, the size of the Jewish nation often changed, depending on the extent of the king's rule and the power of the neighboring nations (see the mini-article called “Israel”). The old land of Canaan was small (see the map called “Division of Canaan,” on ) compared to the United Israelite Kingdom under David and Solomon (see the map called “United Israelite Kingdom,” on ).
To the north of Palestine are two great mountain ranges, the Lebanon Mountains and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains (or the Hermon Mountains). These ranges have summits at heights around 10,000 feet. The mountains were the possession of the Phœnicians and, later, of the Syrians. The mountains of Palestine to the south are extensions of these two ranges on both sides of the Jordan River.
Five Geographical Zones of Palestine
Palestine is located on the western edge of the Asian continent. It is bounded on the east by the Arabian Desert and on the south by the Southern Desert (Negev). To the north lay the Lebanon Mountains, and to the west is the Mediterranean (or Great) Sea. Geographers usually divide the land into zones that run from north to south for the whole length of the country. These zones are useful ways of describing the elevation of the land and its distinctive natural features. A traveler going east from the Mediterranean coast to the Arabian Desert would have to cross five different types of terrain, or zones, as shown in the map below. These geographical zones are the Coastal Plain, the Lowlands or Shephelah, the Central Hill Country, the Jordan Valley, and the Transjordan Plateau.
The Coastal Plain stretches about one hundred thirty miles along the Mediterranean Sea. This zone is largely flat land close to sea level. The plains are interrupted by some small hills and narrow valleys, but the surface is generally flat and rises as it extends eastward. The Coastal Plain zone consists of several smaller plains, the Plain of Acco, the Plain of Esdraelon, the Plain of Sharon, and the Philistine Plain.
The Plain of Acco is in the north, between Tyre and Mount Carmel. The Plain of Acco is seldom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Joshua gave the territory to the tribe of Asher (see Josh 19.24-29). The Plain of Acco has black sand and is suitable for growing vegetables and fruits and oranges.
The Plain of Esdraelon (which is also known as the Plain of Jezreel) runs from west to east. It joins with the Plain of Acco through a narrow pass between Mount Carmel and the hills of Galilee, and connects the Coastal Plain zone with the Jordan Valley. In biblical times, this plain was the main battlefield of northern Palestine (see Judg 7.3; 1 Sam 28.4).
The Plain of Sharon, to the south, continues for about fifty miles between Mount Carmel and the town of Joppa. The main part of this plain had many forests at one time (see Isa 35.1,2), and the rest consisted of marshes and dunes. Because the soil was poor in this area, it was never heavily populated.
The Philistine Plain (see Gen 21.32) begins at Joppa and ends below Gaza, the southernmost city on the Coastal Plain zone. It was one of the most desirable and heavily populated regions in Palestine, and served as the “breadbasket” of Palestine because this was where most of the grain was cultivated. The major Philistine cities were Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Gath (see Judg 13-16).
The soil of Coastal Plains contains a large amount of this red sand, making it ideal for growing olives and grapes. In addition to its fertile soil, the zone has abundant sources of water. Rich in plant life, the Coastal Plain zone has many good farming areas. An important highway called “The Way of the Sea” passed along the coastline from Egypt to Damascus in Syria (see the article called “Trade and Travel”). The coastline itself is so straight that there are few natural harbors.
The Southern Desert (see Gen 12.9), also called the Negev Desert or Zin Desert (see Josh 15.1), is a natural boundary, marking the southern end of the Coastal Plain of Palestine. The desert covers a triangular area of about 5,000 square miles. It is divided into four regions: a northwestern coastal plain, a central plateau, the southern mountains, and an eastern valley.
The Lowlands or Shephelah, is a zone of low hills and valleys between the Coastal Plain and the Hill Country to the east. The Hebrew name means “low lying,” and the CEV sometimes translates it as “the foothills” (see Deut 1.7; Josh 9.1). To Israelites living in the Hill Country, these “foothills” must have appeared to be “low” country.
In the Lowlands, hills can reach heights of over five hundred feet. The higher peaks are in the southern areas. Most of the valleys run east to west in the Lowlands, and are connected to valleys that run north to south along the base of the plateau of the Hill Country zone. These north-to-south valleys separate the Lowlands from the Hill Country. In ancient times, roads passing from the Coastal Plain to the Hill Country took travelers through these valleys (see the article called “Trade and Travel”).
The Lowlands were an important farming area. Besides wheat and barley from the valleys, many olive trees grew on the hillsides (see 1 Chron 27.28). Grass was plentiful enough to graze herds of animals (see 2 Chron 26.10).
The Lowlands were important for the military defense of the country from a coastal invasion. Cities were built as fortresses on hills to guard the valleys below. The Israelites and the Philistines fought over this territory. Its southern portion was the main battlefield of the south (see Judg 18; 2 Sam 5.25; 2 Chron 28.16-18) just as the Plain of Esdraelon was in the north.
The Central Hill Country zone extends from the hills of Galilee in the north to the hills of the Southern Desert, and includes the hill countries of Samaria and Judah in the middle. The hills of Galilee are separated from Samaria by the Plain of Esdraelon.
The hills of Galilee divide naturally into the two main regions of Upper and Lower Galilee. Upper Galilee is a mountain plateau, separated from the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the north by the Litani River, which reaches the sea just above Tyre, in Phoenicia. In the south, the plateau gradually rises to reach an elevation of almost 4,000 feet at Mount Jermaq in the southeast.
Lower Galilee includes a series of smaller mountain ranges that run east to west with broad valleys between them. The region ends at Mount Tabor on the edge of the Plain of Esdraelon and the Jezreel Valley. With a moderate climate and plenty of rainfall, the hill country of Galilee was one of the richest and most fertile regions in Palestine. The region became the northern territorial limit of the Kingdom of Israel. In Bible times, many parts of Upper Galilee were too rugged and densely forested to be widely settled. It was in Lower Galilee that Jesus concentrated his ministry.
The Jezreel Valley (which includes the Plain of Esdraelon as its western section) is the southern boundary of Galilee. Mountains and valleys generally run from north to south in Palestine, but this valley runs east to west. Consequently, the Jezreel Valley was vital to east-west travel and communication across Palestine. Control of the Jezreel Valley was important for invaders and defenders of Palestine, and the Bible mentions many battles in this area (see Judg 4,5; 1 Kgs 9.15; 1 Sam 28.4). Especially important was the area of Megiddo, which controls a major entrance to the Jezreel Valley (see the article called “Ancient Warfare” ). The valley was also one of the settings for the ministry of Jesus. In the village of Nain in the Jezreel Valley, Jesus raised a boy from the dead (see Luke 7.11-17).
The hill country of Samaria extends between the Plain of Esdraelon and the hill country of Judah. The hill country of Samaria was settled by the Ephraim and Manasseh tribes (see Josh 16,17) and was often called the hill country of Ephraim (see 1 Sam 1.1 and the map on [Division of Canaan] ). When the United Israelite Kingdom split into northern and southern kingdoms, the hill country of Samaria became the center for the Northern Kingdom. Samaria, which was the capital of the Northern Kingdom, became the name for the area as a whole (see 2 Kgs 17.24b).
In the southern area settled by the Ephraim tribes, the hills form a mountain plateau that rises 3,000 feet above sea level. Because of its steep slopes, the plateau is hard to reach from the Coastal Plain to the west or the Jordan Valley to the east. The plateau continues south through the hill country of Judah without any natural boundary to separate the areas. In the northern area settled by the Manasseh tribes, the plateau drops toward the city of Shechem and the hills range between valleys and small plains. Towering above the plateau are two mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerezim, with Shechem located in the valley below them.
Mount Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea to the west of Galilee and a cluster of smaller hills form a spur (a ridge projecting sideways from a mountain or mountain range) of the hill country of Samaria, lying between the Coastal Plain and the Plain of Esdraelon. Biblical writers have referred to Mount Carmel as “glorious” (Isa 35.2) and compared it to a beautiful woman (Song 7.5). Its distance from any populated Israelite area may have inclined the prophet Elisha to use it as a spiritual retreat (see 2 Kgs 2.25).
The hill country of Judah extends about forty-five miles from Samaria in the north to the Southern Desert. The Judean hill country overlooks the lowlands to the west, and the Judean Desert overlooks the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea to the east. When the United Israelite Kingdom was divided, the hill country of Judah became the center of the Southern Kingdom, with Jerusalem serving as its capital.
Compared to the hill country of Samaria, the hill country of Judah is rugged and desolate, a stony highlands with thin layers of fertile soil. In the area around Bethlehem, farmers grew barley and grapes. In the southern area of the hill country of Judah, rainfall was less abundant and the land was better suited for grazing sheep than for growing crops.
Except for the north, where the land continued without interruption from Samaria, the hill country of Judah was protected by natural borders. The Southern Desert and the Judean Desert guarded the south and east, and the western lowlands were separated from Judea by steep cliffs accessible only through narrow gorges. None of the major roads of Palestine passed through the hill country of Judah.
West of the Dead Sea, the Judean Desert is a maze of uneven and steep gorges. There is almost no plant life and hardly any rainfall (less than 2 inches of rain a year). Before he became king of Israel, David was known to have hidden from King Saul in the caves of this desolate area (see 1 Sam 23.14; see also Psalm 63). This area is also where John the Baptist preached (see Matt 3.1) and where Jesus was tested by the devil (see Matt 4.1).
The Jordan Valley zone begins at the base of Mount Hermon, the source of the headwaters of the Jordan River. Geologists have identified the Jordan Valley as part of the Arabah, a rift or geological fault system running from north to south through the Holy Land. The Arabah, in turn, is part of the Great Rift Valley, which starts in northern Syria and runs about 3,000 miles, passing into Africa and continuing as part of the underwater ridges in the Indian Ocean. Rifts, which occurred millions of years ago, are associated with volcanic activity (see Exod 19.18), earthquakes (see Num 16.31-33; 1 Sam 14.15), and deep lakes.
The Jordan River, Palestine's longest (about 200 miles) and most important river, is also the world's lowest river below sea level. It is formed by streams that come together north of Lake Galilee, and flow to the Dead Sea. It changes from a turbulent flow in the rainy season to a shallow stream during the dry summer months. Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River (see Mark 1.9-11).
The Jordan River feeds into Lake Galilee, a freshwater lake with an abundant supply of fish (Luke 5.4). In the time of Jesus, the area around Lake Galilee was densely populated. Tradition identifies the northeast side of Lake Galilee as the place where Jesus performed the miracle of feeding five thousand (see John 6.1-14 and the map on ).
Archaeologists believe that Jericho in Jordan Valley is the site of one of the earliest city settlements, which was established as early as 7000 B.C.
The Dead Sea gets its name from the fact that its water is so salty that nothing can thrive in it. Its water is over seven times saltier than sea water. In Bible times, the Dead Sea often served as a natural border for Israel (see Num 34.12; Deut 3.17; Josh 15.5) The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the earth's surface, about 1, 286 feet below sea level. The landscape of the southern end of the Dead Sea, with its numerous caves and salt pillars was another isolated area that was suited to hiding from hostile authorities. It was the scene of the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19.1-29). Important places in this region include Masada, an immense cliff overlooking the Dead Sea, where Herod the Great built a big fortress, and Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered (see the illustration on ).
The Transjordan Plateau forms part of the Jordan Rift Valley and is the region between the Jordan Valley in the west and the Arabian Desert in the east, and from Mount Hermon in the north to the Gulf of Aqabah in the south. The CEV sometimes refers to this as the area “east of the Jordan River” (see Josh 12.1 and note). Transjordan itself was divided among five major nations: Edom in the south; Moab, Ammon, and Gilead in the central lands, and Bashan in the north. Israelites passed through this area on their way to Canaan after leaving Egypt (see Num 21.10-16 and note). The Arabian Desert covers most of the northeastern part of the zone.
A very important road, known as the “King's Highway” passed through Transjordan, connecting Egypt with Syria (see the article called “Trade and Travel”). This may be the “main road” Moses refers to in Numbers 20.19.
The elevation of the land in Transjordan varies considerably. While Mount Hermon in the north is over 9,000 feet above sea level, the Rift Valley sinks as it goes further south, reaching its deepest point at the Dead Sea. Further south, the land rises hundreds of feet above sea level then drops to sea level at the Gulf of Aqabah.
The Climate of Palestine
The climate of Palestine is the product of many factors, such as its latitude, its prevailing winds, and its elevation above sea level. Except for the Jordan Valley and areas around the Dead Sea, most of Palestine is part of the subtropical, Mediterranean climate region, which has two seasons each year, a dry season (April through August) and a rainy season (September through March). (See the chart called “Jewish Calendar and Festivals,” .)
The land south of Palestine is an arid (dry) subtropical region and the land north of Palestine is a wet subtropical region. Because of the influence of regions to the north and south, Palestine's climate varies as one travels between northern and southern areas. Although a sea climate dominates the area, there are certain weather conditions in which Palestine is largely influenced by the desert climate. Going west to east, Palestine's climate is also influenced by the distance from the Mediterranean Sea.
Consequently, Palestine has a varied climate. Along the Coastal Plain zone, which has a sea climate, there are mild winters and hot summers. It is the warmest area in Palestine in the winter, and the coolest in the summer. At Jerusalem, which is over 2,000 feet above sea level in the Central Hill Country, the average temperature throughout the year is about 60 degrees. There is very little rain for half the year, when dry desert winds and hot sunlight dry out the hill country. Rains start there in November; and April is also a rainy season, one that is very important for the yearly harvests. There may even be very light snowfall in the winter. On the other hand, Mount Hermon in the north remains covered with snow all year round (see Jer 18.14 and note). Because of the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains, Upper Galilee's temperature is more moderate, but the temperature in the lowlands is usually much higher. The coast of the Dead Sea, on the other hand, is one of the hottest places in the world.
The land that God promised Abram is varied in terrain, climate, plant and animal life, and natural beauty. And from this place of rest (see Heb 4.1) came a message that would reach everywhere in the world (see Acts 1.8b).