The two Boundaries.—?The parallel Mountains.—?The great Valley.—?Inspired Eulogies.—?Sterile Soil.—?Gibbon’s Comparison.—?Natural and miraculous Causes of present Sterility.—?Testimonies of pagan Authors on the ancient Productions of Palestine.—?Land coveted by the great Nations of Antiquity.—?ALand of Ruins.—?Present Fertility and Fruits.—?Richness of the North.—?Volney on the Variety of the Climate of Palestine.—?Beauties of Spring in the Promised Land.—?Flowers.—?Magnificent Scenery.—?Standard of Landscape Beauty.—?Palestine is a World in Miniature.—?Illustrations.—?Prophetical Descriptions of the twelve Tribeships.—?Wonderful Correspondence.

The boundaries of Palestine are defined by the sacred writers according to the Land of Possession and the Land of Promise. The extreme length of the former is 180 miles from north to south, the average breadth 50 miles from east to west, and it has a superficial area of 14,000 square miles. The latter is 360 miles long, 100 broad, and contains 28,000 square miles, being three and a half times larger than New Jersey, twice as large as Maryland, of equal extent with South Carolina, and of exact proportion to New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont combined. The limits of the lesser area are from “Dan to Beersheba” north and south, and from the Jordan to the Mediterranean east and west. The boundaries of the greater area are from the “Waters of Strife, in Kadesh,” on the south, to the “entrance of Hamath” on the north, and from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean to the western border of the Arabian Desert.1 Moses describes the Land of Promise;2 Samuel, the Land of Possession;3 the former, what was included in the original grant; the latter, what was actually possessed by the “chosen people.” And although the twelve tribeships remained substantially the same as surveyed by Joshua, yet both David and Solomon held dominion from the Nile to the Euphrates, and in them was fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham.4

It is the remark of an eminent writer that “there is no district on the face of the globe containing so many and such sudden transitions as Palestine, being at once a land of mountains, plains, and valleys.”5 Far to the north, at the “entering of Hamath,” commence two parallel ranges of limestone mountains, extending southward to the Desert of TÎh and Arabia PetrÆa, which are branches of the ancient Taurus chain, and a continuation of that mountain tract stretching from the Bay of Issus to the Desert of Arabia, called Lebanon. The western ridge attains its greatest altitude, opposite Ba’albek, in Jebel Mukhmel, whose summit rises 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. Continuing southward to the point opposite Tyre, the chain is broken by the River Leontes flowing through a sublime gorge into the Mediterranean. Decreasing in height, but expanding in breadth, the ridge continues south of the ravine to the hills of Nazareth and the wooded cone of Tabor, where it is broken again by the great plain of Esdraelon, through which the Kishon flows to the sea, separating the hills of Galilee from the mountains of Samaria. Coming up from the Bay of ’Akka in a southeasterly direction is Mount Carmel, immediately to the south of which are the hills of Samaria. Rising from the southern border of Esdraelon, and stretching southward thirty-three miles, they terminate in Ebal and Gerizim, where the chain is broken for the third time by the Plain of Mukhnah. Beyond this vale are the mountains of Ephraim, extending to Bethel, where the Heights of Benjamin begin, which extend to the valley of the Kedron. Here the ridge takes the name of the “Hill Country of Judea,” running in a wide, low, irregular mountain tract to the southern limit of Palestine. Excepting the promontory of Carmel, the southern section of the Lebanon range is farther removed from the sea, leaving at its base a maritime plain more than 150 miles long, embracing the beautiful Sharon on the north, and the Land of Philistia on the south.

Twenty miles to the east of the Lebanon, and at the “entering of Hamath,” the anti-Lebanon chain begins, running parallel to the former in a southwestern direction. Though of less general altitude than its companion ridge, it includes Mount Hermon, 10,000 feet high, and rivaling in the grandeur of its form and the sublimity of its scenery the loftiest peaks of Syria. Thirty-three miles south of Hermon the eastern range sweeps round the Sea of Galilee, taking the name of the Mountains of Gilead along the east bank of the Jordan, and the names of Ammon and Moab along the shore of the Dead Sea, and finally terminating with the hills of Arabia Petra at the head of the Bay of Akabah.

Next to these mountain chains, the most remarkable feature in the physical geography of Palestine is the great valley, which, commencing amid the ruins of ancient Antioch, runs southward between the two parallel ridges of Lebanon and anti-Lebanon. Measuring more than 300 miles in length, and being from seven to ten miles broad, it serves as the bed of the Orontes, the LitÂny, and the Jordan. Bearing the name of Coelesyria, its southern section has an elevation of 2300 feet above the sea; but from its westerly branch, through which the Leontes flows to the village of Hasbeiya, it rapidly descends, and at its intersection with the Plain of el-HÛleh, a distance of less than twenty miles, it is on a level with the sea. At the Lake of Tiberias it has a depression of 653 feet, and reaches its greatest depth in the chasm of the Dead Sea, the surface of whose waters is 1312 feet below the level of the Mediterranean.

To the cursory observer there is an air of extravagance in the inspired descriptions of the Promised Land. Dwelling with delight upon the fruits of the soil, the pleasures of the climate, and the grandeur of the scenery, the poets and historians of the Bible ascribe to it a marvelous fertility, and in their glowing encomiums other lands sink into insignificance when compared to the favored inheritance of Jacob, and even the rich valley of the Nile is to be cheerfully exchanged for the rich hills and valleys of Palestine.6 Such was to be its richness, that from the “cattle on a thousand hills,” and from the thymy shrubs and the numberless bees inhabiting its venerable forests, it was to be “a land flowing with milk and honey.”7 Such was to be its fruitfulness, that the “threshing was to reach unto the vintage, and the vintage reach unto the sowing-time.”8

Such was to be its metallic wealth, that it was to be “a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper.”9 Unlike Egypt, which is dependent upon the Nile for a supply of water, it was to be a country superior in its mountain springs and in its “early and latter rains.”10 Repeating the eulogistic utterances of Moses, and realizing the promises he had made, five centuries later David sings, “The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys are covered with corn; they shout for joy; they also sing. The Lord causeth the grass to grow for cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine.”11

But, whatever may have been the appearance of Southern Palestine in those distant ages, it appears at present, especially its mountain regions, to be little better than a vast limestone quarry, covered with small gray stones, offensive to the eye, painful to the foot of man and beast, and seemingly incapable of a harvest. An aspect so sterile and forbidding induced the author of “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” to institute the comparison that “Palestine is a territory scarcely superior to Wales either in fertility or extent.”12 Conceding this apparent barrenness, the causes of the change which has taken place in the lapse of so many centuries are at once natural and miraculous. The frequent changes of government, the rapacity of officials, the insecurity of property, the religious animosity of rival sects, the barbarian ignorance of the peasantry as to the enlightened principles of agriculture, together with a moral degradation universally prevalent, are adequate causes, when operating during a long series of years, to change the face of any country, and doom it to almost irreclaimable barrenness. It is also true that the destruction of the woods of any section on the earth’s surface, and particularly the trees on the mountain-tops, which invite and arrest the passing clouds, tends to the diminution of rain and to the consequent evils of the drought. The condition of Germany since the disappearance of its great forests, and of Greece since the fall of the large plane-trees which once shaded the bare landscape of Attica,13 illustrates the fact that where the land is denuded of its herbage and foliage, which casts a cooling shade upon the ground, the scorching rays of the sun penetrate more certainly and intensely, promoting evaporation, causing the springs and fountains to fail, and at the same time increasing the absorbent capacity of the soil;14 but where the valleys are clothed with verdure, and the mountains with forests, a larger quantity of moisture is retained in the ground, a lower temperature exists in the atmosphere, and the clouds are drawn to the spot in obedience to meteorological laws.15 To Titus belongs the shame of having stripped the hills about Jerusalem of their magnificent olive-groves, and, from the destruction of the Holy City to the present century, Southern Palestine has been a vast common for the marauding and predatory bands of Saracens and Persians, of Mamelukes and Turks, whose innumerable herds and flocks have wandered at liberty over gardens and fields, through groves and forests, consuming and destroying both plants and trees, and thereby diminishing the usual quantity of rain in the proper seasons.

While to every candid mind such are sufficient causes for this apparent sterility, yet to the Christian a miraculous interference with the ordinary course of nature for the attainment of a moral end is an additional consideration why Palestine is not now what it was in the days of Moses and David. Assuming to exercise a special care over the land, Jehovah represents himself as sending and withholding rain according to the obedience or disobedience of his chosen people: “Thou hast polluted the land with thy wickedness, therefore the showers have been withholden, and there has been no latter rain.”16 “Ihave withholden the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; and Icaused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city.”17 Hazardous as it would seem, in human estimation, to suspend the continuance of rain and national prosperity upon the continued faithfulness of human beings, yet it most evidently appears that, so long as the Jews remained faithful and obedient as a nation, just so long, and no longer, was their land blessed with prosperity; and, whenever they became guilty of defection, the rains of heaven were withheld, and their land became desolate. The evil, however, experienced by the present tiller of the soil is not the want of rain, but rather its proper distribution. Whatever effect the denudation of the country of its foliage may have had to diminish the vernal and summer showers, it is a remarkable fact that it rains more copiously in Syria than in the United States; but, commencing in November, the rainy season continues only till February, while during the eight or nine succeeding months there is scarcely a shower falls. Such an unequal distribution of rain could not fail to injure the most fertile portions of the globe.18

Though unquestionably true that the structure and composition of the soil for miles around Jerusalem must always have been essentially what it is now, of a rough limestone nature, and as such it must have appeared in the palmiest age of the Jewish commonwealth, yet in those happier days, under a mild and an enlightened government, no part was waste; the more fertile hills were cultivated in artificial terraces, others were covered with orchards of fruit-trees, while the more rocky and barren districts were converted into vineyards. But in the process of time the terraces which supported the soil upon the steep declivities have been destroyed, and the accumulated earth has been swept away by the rains, leaving naked hills “where once grew the corn and crept the vine.”

Those who quote Gibbon against Moses and David with so much triumph, should also cite pagan authors of higher antiquity and of equal authority in their favor. In his description of Jericho, Strabo speaks of “a grove of palms, and a country of a hundred stadia full of springs and well-peopled.” According to Tacitus, “the inhabitants of Palestine are healthy and robust, the rains moderate, and the soil fertile.” Ammianus Marcellinus is even more explicit than his predecessors: “The last of the Syrias is Palestine, a country of considerable extent, abounding in clean and well-cultivated land, and containing some fine cities, none of which yield to the other, but, as it were, being on a parallel, are rivals.”19

Regarding it as a valuable accession to their dominions, Palestine was a prize for which the Assyrians and Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, the Persians and Saracens, fought to conquer and retain. To each it was the “diamond of the desert;” and coveting the fruits of the soil, and sighing for the delights of the climate, they each in turn also contended for the advantages its central position afforded as a military station between the east and west, the north and south. Charmed with its gardens, the fascinating Cleopatra induced Antony to take from Herod the Great the noble plain of Jericho and annex it to her dominions, that she might possess the celebrated balm and the other valuable drugs and fruits it then produced.20 Delighted with its fertility, its opulence, and populousness, Chosroes of Persia aspired to its permanent conquest; and, a quarter of a century later, the Saracens feared to have Omar see Jerusalem, lest the richness of the surrounding country and the purity of the air might tempt him never to return to the holy city of Medina. As significant of its fruitfulness, both Vespasian and Titus caused medals to be struck on which Palestine is represented by a female under a palm-tree; and there are medals still extant on which Herod is represented as holding a bunch of grapes, and the young Agrippa as displaying fruit.21

Confirming alike the testimony of both sacred and profane writers, there are still two traces of the ancient productiveness of the soil. On the plains, in the valleys, upon the hills, every where, from the river to the sea, from “Dan to Beersheba,” are ruins—broken cisterns, prostrate walls, crumbling terraces, and old foundations, indicating the greatness of an earlier population, and the abundant harvests which supported the millions once dwelling within these narrow limits. These silent but unmistakable indications of the populousness of a former age are more significant than the testimony of Tacitus and Josephus. Though wanting the air of grandeur of the ruins of Thebes and Palmyra, yet there is the vineyard tower, the peasant’s cottage, the streets, the walls, the dwellings of the once large and thriving village; and on the hillside and in the field is seen the ruined sheepfold, the wine-press, the ancient oil and flour mill; while along all the highways, and in many a retired valley, are water-tanks and reservoirs now dry and broken. Neither in Egypt nor in Greece is the aspect of desolation more complete. In the one and in the other are the remains of mighty cities, with their stupendous temples and magnificent palaces; but here, in close proximity, as one might expect to find in a country of shepherds and husbandmen, is the mound of ruins, the forsaken village, the desolate city.

Like the remains of those ancient habitations, there are still evidences, in the present capacity and products of the soil, sustaining the claim that the Holy Land was once a land of “wheat and barley,” of “wine and oil.” As of old, the Plain of Jericho repays the toil of husbandry, and only requires proper tillage to make it “even as the garden of the Lord.” For many miles around Joppa the Plain of Sharon is a vast and beautiful garden, yielding the most delicious oranges, lemons, plums, quinces, apricots, and bananas. In the Vale of Eshcol and on the Heights of UrtÂs are produced the finest grapes in the world; while around all the larger towns of Philistia, and in the environs of Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Gibeon, are the largest and richest olive-groves, fig and almond orchards in the East.

Though forbidding in aspect and apparently hopelessly sterile, yet, considering the nature of the soil, the kind of crops it is best adapted to produce, and the crude husbandry here practiced, the flinty region of Southern Palestine is equal in productiveness to many of the best portions of Europe and America. All that can be reasonably demanded of a country is to yield in fair proportion, with ordinary appliances, the indigenous fruits of the climate. The mountain tract from Shiloh to Hebron is the proper region for the olive and the vine, and one acre of the stony surface of Olivet, planted with olive-trees and carefully tended, would yield more through the exchanges of commerce toward human subsistence than a larger tract of the richest land in New York planted to corn. While corn is simply an article of food, the olive berry subserves a variety of purposes. Besides being used by the natives for food, and, as such, in large quantities exported to other countries, it contains a delicious oil, which, in domestic life, is the substitute for butter and lard, and in manufacture is employed in making soap and candles, and for lubricating machinery.22 While, as in the days of the Psalmist, the olive and the grape, together with wheat, barley, and corn, are the staples of life, yet there are here annually raised in great abundance cauliflowers, cabbages, radishes, lettuce, beans, peas, onions, garlic, carrots, beets, leeks, lentiles, celery, parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, together with the egg-plant and sugar-cane. There are also cultivated, in all their deliciousness, figs, apricots, peaches, plums, oranges, lemons, citrons, limes, mandrakes, pomegranates, apples, pears, dates, bananas, quinces, cherries, watermelons, muskmelons, with almonds, pistachios, and walnuts. In many northern districts cotton and tobacco are extensively cultivated, while in all sections herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats are raised for food and raiment. Possessing a climate marked with the peculiarities of the three zones, and yielding annually such harvests of grains and fruits for the sustenance of more than a million and a half of people, the Promised Land, under an enlightened Christian government, might be restored to its original fertility and pristine beauty.

Whatever apology is necessary for the vindication of the sacred writers as to the southern portion of their native land, none, however, is needed to sustain them in their loftiest praises of all their ancient territory north of the ruins of Bethel. While in the south “Judah washed his garments in wine and his cloths in the blood of grapes,” in the north the powerful house of Joseph had the “precious things of heaven and the precious things of the lasting hills.” Beyond the tribal possessions of Benjamin the soil is no less rich than the scenery is grand; within the inheritance of Ephraim, the Plain of Mukhnah and the Vale of Shechem resemble vast gardens, while the mountains and valleys of Samaria, the plains of Sharon and Esdraelon, and the fields and hills of Galilee, stretching from the lakes to the sea, pronounce their own eulogy.

An elegant writer has justly observed that “Syria unites different climates under the same sky, and collects within a small compass pleasures and productions which nature has elsewhere dispersed at great distances of time and place. To the advantage which perpetuates enjoyments it adds another, that of multiplying them by the variety of its productions.”23

Though lying within the same parallels of latitude with Washington and New Orleans, yet, owing to its peculiar geological structure and configuration, the climate is essentially different. On the higher slopes of Lebanon the summer months are cool and pleasant as on our native Catskills, but in the deep valley of the Jordan, and on the shores of the Dead Sea, the heat is as intense and debilitating as on the plains of Southern India. Along the sea-board the same variety prevails. Where the high mountains crowd down upon the coast, reflecting the light and heat of a Syrian sun, the region is sultry and unhealthy, but where the mountains retire and the soil is dry the air is pure and delightful.

Properly speaking, there are but two seasons in Palestine, appropriately described in that sublime repetition—“winter and summer, cold and heat, seed-time and harvest;” but on the mountain range the four seasons are distinctly perceptible. Though the loftier summits of Lebanon are covered with snow the year round, yet frost and ice are only occasionally seen in the vicinity of Jerusalem. While in summer a gentle breeze from the Mediterranean plays over the central ridge from morning till night, at other seasons of the year the winds blow a tornado. Sand-storms arise, blinding to the eyes, and rendering near objects indistinct; hail-storms are frequent and violent, and, as of old, the “south wind” blows, lasting for many days at a time, and frequently assuming all the dreadful characteristics of the sirocco.

Commencing with the beginning of November, the winter rains continue with short intervals until March, when spring wears her floral mantle, and, casting its ample folds over the Land of Promise, hides its otherwise rougher features; then follows the long rainless summer, with transparent atmosphere and hazy skies alternating, and with intense heat, parched soil, and streams few and scanty, which is succeeded by autumn, with its red and golden vintage, and atmosphere of unsurpassed balminess.

But spring is the most delightful season of the year in the Holy Land, whether to enjoy the pleasures of the climate or behold the magnificence of the scenery. Then the skies are bright, the air balmy, and the vernal sun lights up the landscape with a thousand forms of beauty. Then sparkling fountains are unsealed, silver brooks go murmuring by, and wild cascades, leaping from their rocky heights, come dashing down the mountain side, scattering in their descent wreaths of rainbow spray. Then the valleys and the hills are clothed with verdure, the fields are green with grains and grasses, the fig and palm-tree are in blossom, the almond, apricot, olive, and pomegranate are ripening, and the cypress, tamarisk, oak, walnut, sycamore, and poplar are decked with the clean fresh foliage of a new year. Then herds of camels and buffaloes are browsing on the meadows, and flocks of sheep and goats go gamboling up the mountain sides. Then, in all the glens, on all the vast prairie plains, and over all the highest mountains are flowers blooming—anemones, oleanders, amaranths, arbutuses, poppies, hollyhocks, daisies, hyacinths, tulips, pinks, lilies, and roses, growing in unbounded profusion, delighting the senses, and transforming the land into a garden of flowers.

But whatever is beautiful in the scenery of Palestine is peculiar to the north. In the south there is a sameness of outline and of color that wearies the eye and makes one sigh for variety; but north of the mountains of Ephraim the beholder is charmed with green plains and fertile valleys, with wooded dells and graceful hills, with rippling brooks and sylvan lakes, with leaping cascades and rushing rivers, with sublime chasms and profound ravines; and with lofty mountains, broken into beetling cliffs and craggy peaks, whose higher summits are capped with perpetual snow, and down whose furrowed sides rush a thousand torrents. There the most fastidious taste would be delighted with the wild mountain gorge encircling Tirzah, and the wilder chasm of el-HamÂm—with the beautiful glen of el-HaramÎyeh, and the more lovely Vale of AbilÎn—with the woodland parks of Carmel and Tabor—with the crystal lakes of Merom and Gennesaret—with the foaming, rapid waters of the Jordan, the Leontes, and the Adonis—with Mount Hermon, with summer at his feet, spring in his lap, and winter on his head—and with the magnificent scenery of KadÎsha, where the Syrian Alps lift their awful forms 13,000 feet high, covered with snow 100 feet deep—where the melting snows feed cascades, which in their descent are beaten into spray by the rocks, and which, reflecting the sunlight, seem like the infinite fragments of some gorgeous rainbow—and where rills from the hills and torrents from the mountains unite to swell the river below, which, after winding through the noblest and wildest of nature’s chasms, whose sides are lined with shrubbery, adorned with hamlets, and dotted with convents high up in the everlasting rocks, and whose solemn bells awaken the echoes of Lebanon, pours its accumulated waters into the Western Sea.

If the standard of landscape beauty be the regular alternation of plain and mountain, as in Greece and Italy; the clean meadows, the well-made farms and green hills, as in France and England; or the continent-like prairies, the miniature seas, and multiform mountains of America, then the Land of Promise must yield the palm to those more highly-favored countries. But if the combination of all these characteristics on a smaller scale constitute the beautiful and grand in natural scenery, Palestine is not unworthily praised by the sacred writers for the variety and magnificence of its landscape.

Viewed from such a stand-point, the Holy Land is a world in miniature, possessing the three great terrene features of the globe—sea-board, plain, and mountain. Yielding the fruits of every climate, and containing a population corresponding in their physique to that of the inhabitants of every zone, there is displayed in this variety of scenery and climate the wisdom of God. Selected by Providence to be the medium of divine truth to men of all lands, it was necessary that the national home of the Bible writers should open to their imaginations the most wonderful and varied of the works of the Creator. Naturally inclined to express our adoration of the Deity in allusions to his wisdom and goodness displayed in nature, we experience a unison of devotion with those who were the oracles of inspired truth to us in their sublime illustrations, drawn from the sea and land, the valleys and hills, the climate and fruits, and the beasts and birds of the country that gave them birth. Had they dwelt at the poles, or on the equator, or in the heart of Arabia, or on the banks of the Nile, they could not have given the same universality of expression to the message they were sent to announce. It is evidence of the presence of that All-wise Spirit that the prophets and psalmists, the Savior and the apostles, drew their simplest, noblest figures from nature, such as can not fail to arrest the attention of the untutored mind in every land, and inspire intellects of the highest culture with admiration.

Who of all the great maritime nations of earth can fail to appreciate the Psalmist’s description of his native sea, as from its shore, or from some mountain-top, he beheld its wonders: “OLord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches; so is this great sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.”24 And who that has ever crossed the ocean, or witnessed a storm at sea, does not realize the perfection of his description: “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep; for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof: they mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble.”25 The mountaineer feels that the Psalmist sings of

when he describes, “The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies.”26 The dweller at the poles is conscious of a fellow-feeling when he reads those sublime words: “He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes: he casteth forth ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?”27

The nomad of the desert finds his own country portrayed in the graphic allusions to a “dry and thirsty land where no water is;”28 to the “shadow of a great rock in a weary land;”29 and feels himself kindred to the patriarchs in his predatory life.30 They that dwell upon the equator comprehend that grand but terrific passage descriptive of the earthquake and volcano, “He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.”31 And to the denizens of all lands are familiar those impressive references to the sun, moon, and stars; to the “thunder of his power;” to the “lightnings that lighten the world;” to the storm of hail and rain; to the shepherd on the mountain, to the husbandman in the field, and to the merchant in the marts of commerce.

But the correspondence between the prophetic descriptions of the several tribeships, as given by Jacob and Moses, and the land as it now appears, is even more exact; and in recalling the former and in surveying the latter, one knows not which to admire most, the adaptation of the soil for various products, or the unanswerable argument afforded for the inspiration of those who wrote. In the final and permanent division of the territory the portion fell to each tribe by lot, just as Jacob had foretold in the last moments of his life, 250 years before, and just as Moses had predicted immediately prior to his demise. Though it was not possible for the former, with his extraordinary powers of observation and penetration, to have passed and repassed through the whole length of the land without observing the peculiarities of each section, and though equally impossible for the latter, with his capacious mind, and with the means of information at his command, to have remained ignorant of the chorography of the several parts, yet the knowledge of those eminent men had no influence upon the ultimate settlement of the tribes. Human foresight is never equal to the uncertainties of the lot; only superhuman knowledge can foretell to whom the lot will fall. In their prophetic visions they saw the Land of Promise mapped out into tribal possessions, and on each they read the name of the future inheritor. Years after, when the lots were drawn by Joshua and Eleazer at Shiloh, each tribe received its portion exactly on the spot which had been foretold.

Pre-eminently pastoral, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh received the vast pasture-fields of Ammon, Gilead, and Bashan, extending from the River Arnon on the south to the base of Hermon on the north, and from the Jordan on the west to the desert of Arabia and the HaurÂn on the east. Called by the Arabs Belka, they can pronounce no higher praise upon its rich plains and green sloping hills than in their pastoral proverb to declare, “Thou canst not find a country like the Belka.” Deprived of the “excellency of dignity”—the priesthood; of the “excellency of power”—the kingdom; and of the “double portion” of wealth and temporal blessings which, by the rights of primogeniture, belonged to the first-born son of Jacob, here, between the Arnon and the Jabbok, Reuben was “unstable as water” in the rapid diminution of his numbers, and in being the first of the tribes to be carried into captivity by Tiglath Pileser of Assyria;32 and never producing a great man to honor his name, and never rising to dignity and influence in the councils of the nation, here also a father’s curse was fulfilled, “Thou shalt not excel.”33 His tribeship extending from the Jabbok to the Sea of Galilee, and from the Jordan to the desert, and harassed by the Arabian plunderers on his eastern border, but in turn driving them from his dominion, it was said of Gad, “A troop shall overcome him, and he shall overcome at last.”34

Occupying the Hills of Bashan, together with the rich and picturesque regions along the eastern shore of Gennesaret as far north as Mount Hermon, and rising to distinction in rank and numbers, and in giving to the nation three eminent characters—“the pious Gideon, the opulent Jair, and the valiant Jephtha”35—the prophetical benediction on Manasseh was here accomplished: “He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great.”36

Omitted by Moses from the list of the blessed, and sentenced by his father to be “divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel,” Simeon occupied with Judah the extreme south; and in one generation after the exodus from Egypt to Canaan his posterity had decreased more than 37,000 souls.37 Destined to rule rather than to serve, to be cunning rather than brave, “Dan shall judge his people; and he shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.”38 Unable to subdue the Philistines, whose lands were allotted to them from the Hills of Judah to the Mediterranean, the Danites were compelled to conquer new territory for their rapidly increasing numbers. Described by Moses to be “a lion’s whelp,” and foretold by him that “Dan shall leap from Bashan,” a colony of the tribe passed northward to the sources of the Jordan, and, taking the city of Laish by surprise, 600 armed men, like a young lion pouncing upon its prey, “leaped from Bashan,” captured and burnt the town, and upon its ruins founded another city, calling it “after the name of Dan, their father.” Thus, while at a later period the southern branch of the tribe gave to the nation Samson, who “judged Israel twenty years,” the new colony stamped its tribal name upon the utmost limit of Palestine, which has since passed into the proverbial saying, “From Dan to Beersheba.”39 Foretold that “his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk,” to Judah fell that mountain region from Jerusalem southward to Arabia, and from the Dead Sea to the hills which overhang the Mediterranean, and which for vineyards and pasturage is unsurpassed in all the Holy Land. Here, in the days of his prosperity, he was seen “binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; and here he washed his garments in wine, and his cloths in the blood of grapes.” Selected to be the tribe whence the Messiah should come, “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise.” Ordained to retain his tribeship, his ensigns, his government “until Shiloh come,” his home was amid the fastnesses of the Judean Hills, from which, till the appointed time, when God abandoned him to his enemies, he could not be dislodged. Ascending to his mountain lair from the swellings of Jordan, “Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up;” and after the Ten Tribes had been scattered, and the identity of Benjamin lost, and when the foe approached, the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” confident of his security, “stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?”40

By nature a martial people, cruel in war, and ambitious to be free, the children of Benjamin received that wild highland tract from the Jordan to Bethhoron, and from Jerusalem to Bethel. Here, on his impregnable heights, with a courage, an independence, a ferocity, at one time successfully resisting the combined attack of all the tribes, “Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.”41 The Vale of Hinnom being his southern frontier, Jerusalem originally belonged to Benjamin, but, failing to dispossess the Jebusites, it was reserved for David, with the warriors of Judah, to capture the strong-hold of Jebus, and elevate it to the dignity of an imperial city.42 It was to this proximity to the Holy City that Moses refers in those remarkable words, “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him.” The Temple being Jehovah’s dwelling-place, “The Lord shall cover or protect Benjamin all the day long;” and as Zion represents the throne and Moses the church—God’s two shoulders—“he shall dwell between his shoulders.”43 There is an air of freedom and an aspect of defiance about the bold, rugged summits of Benjamin; and moulded among the crags of Gibeon and Gibeah, of Ramah and Ophrah, of Geba and Michmash, and the mind partaking of the features of the place of birth, it is no marvel that this tribe gave to the nation Ehud, the judge;44 Saul, the king;45 Jonathan, the warrior;46 the inflexible Mordecai,47 the resolute Esther,48 and the heroic Paul.49

Rewarded for the most exalted virtues, and possessing the privileges of the birthright which had been transferred from Reuben, the powerful house of Joseph, represented by the tribe of Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh, received the heart of Palestine—the garden of the Holy Land. Stretching its verdant lines from the waters of the Jordan along the northern boundary of Benjamin to the Mediterranean, and with the river on the east and the sea on the west, it extended northward to the Plain of Esdraelon, including the Hills of Samaria. Eminently deserving the benedictions of two worlds, Joseph was blessed with unbounded goodness by his dying father and by the Prophet of Abarim. Promised a numerous posterity, in two and a half centuries from the time Jacob placed his hands upon the heads of Ephraim and Manasseh, his descendants had increased to nearly half a million of souls.50 “Joseph is a fruitful bough—even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall;”51 and in anticipation of the fact, Moses breaks forth in that sublime strain, “They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”52 Occupying a section of land on both sides of the Jordan, the present richness of which is beyond dispute, Joseph had “the precious things of heaven from above”—gentle showers, a serene sky, a sublime atmosphere; “the blessings of the deep that lieth under”—the springs and wells,53 “the precious fruits brought forth by the sun,” which come to perfection once a year; “the precious things put forth by the moon,” such as mature in a month; “the chief things of the ancient mountains”—the forests that cover their summits; “the precious things of the lasting hills”—the metals and minerals which abound within them; “and his glory is like the firstling of his bullocks, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns”—the inspired symbols of his strength, sovereignty, and renown.54

Agricultural in his taste and habits, to Issachar fell the immense and rich Plain of Esdraelon, including the mountains of Carmel, Gilboa, and Tabor. Patient in labor and invincible in war, but weary in bearing such burdens, like the overloaded ass lying down with the two panniers on his back, “Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens.” Charmed with his possession, and unable to expel the powerful Canaanites from all his plains and mountains, but convinced that peace with taxation was better than war, “He saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.”55 Valiant in arms when the tyranny of Sisera became intolerable, “The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;”56 and having broken the power of a flaunting foe, “Issachar shall rejoice in his tents.”57

Chosen to be the maritime tribe of the nation, the portion of Zebulun extended from the Lake of Gennesaret on the east to the Mediterranean on the west, and trafficking on both waters, “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships.”58 As Issachar was to rejoice in his “tents”—in the abundance of his harvests, “so Zebulun was to rejoice in his going out”—in his successful voyages. By a mutual interest in agriculture and commerce, both were to “suck of the abundance of the seas;” and manufacturing glass from the vitreous sand found on the Mediterranean coast, or exporting it in large quantities to other countries, both were to grow rich from the “treasures hid in the sand.” Dealing largely with the Gentiles, who were attracted to their shore and inland cities by commercial interests, these favored tribes “shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness.”59

Though doomed to obscurity in the annals of national greatness, yet, as if by way of compensation, Asher obtained the fruitful plain of Accho, “the key of Palestine,”60 extending from Mount Carmel to Zidon on the coast. By the richness of the soil, “His bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties;”61 and possessing luxuriant olive-groves, “He dipped his foot in oil.”62 Promised to be “blessed with children,” the descendants of Asher numbered, on entering Canaan, 267,000 souls;63 and on the accession of David to the throne, the tribe sent an army of 40,000 troops to acknowledge the new sovereign.64 Subject to the sudden attacks of the plundering Phoenicians, whose territory they occupied, and compelled at all times to be upon their guard, armed with their metallic greaves and sandals, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”65 Though the Asherites gave Israel neither king, judge, nor warrior, yet the names of two illustrious widows shine out from the general obscurity—“Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day;”66 and the “widow of Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto whom Elijah was sent.”67

Celebrated for their activity, bravery, and independence, and represented in the prophetic symbols by a tree planted in a rich soil, and growing to a prodigious size, Naphtali received “Galilee of the Gentiles,” whose fruitfulness of soil is only excelled by the beauty of the scenery: “Naphtali is a spreading oak, producing beautiful branches.”68 Foreseeing the prosperity awaiting him, in an eloquent apostrophe Moses addressed the tribe: “Oh Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the west and the south.”69 Embracing within his possession the green hills and valleys of “Upper Galilee,” together with the Sea of Tiberias, his posterity grew rich from the fruits of the one and the products of the other. But, reserved for a higher glory and assigned a more exalted destiny, the inheritance of Naphtali remained undistinguished for any great event till the dawn of our own era. Driven from his native city, our Lord chose Capernaum as his chief residence, situated within this tribeship.70 Here was his home during the three most eventful years of his life; here the Galileans received him gladly; here is the scene of his greatest miracles and of his most touching parables; here, on the shore of its inland sea, were born most of his apostles; here he founded his infant church; and thus enlightened in the persons of the first Christians and earliest teachers of Christianity, Naphtali possessed the “west and the south” by the spread of the Gospel among the southern tribes, and by its more general diffusion over the “Great Sea” through Europe and America. And now, after more than three thousand years, each tribal possession retains its ancient physical characteristics, yields its former agricultural products, while prophecy has become history in the fortunes and destiny of the whole nation.