Chapter V: The Plains of Palestine

These have been already noticed, to some extent, but may be named together. Upon the Maritime Plain, we notice: 1. Phoenicia, a very narrow strip along the Mediterranean, north of Mount Carmel, never possessed by the Israelites, and having Tyre and Sidon as its principal cities. 2. Directly south of Mount Carmel, Sharon, having Cæsarea and Joppa as its most important places. 3. Still further south, Philistia, the land of Israel's ancient enemies, containing several cities, of which Gaza and Ashkelon (afterward Ascalon) were chief. Upon the Mountain Region we find imbedded, 4. The Plain of Esdraelon, a Y-shaped region, 250 feet above the sea-level, surrounded by mountains, and situated between Mounts Carmel, Tabor and Gilboa. 5. The Negeb, or South Country, between Hebron and the desert, in Southern Judæa, may be regarded as a plain, though of rolling character, as its hills are not so high as those on the north. 6. In the Jordan Valley, just north of the Dead Sea, is a place called "the Plain of Jordan," or "the Plain of Jericho," the site of the destroyed "cities of the plain." 7. In the northern section of the Eastern Table-Land is the vast highland known as "the Hauran," anciently called Bashan, watered by the streams which form the Hieromax river.

OUTLINE FOR REVIEW.

I. _Dimensions._ 1. Canaan. 2. Palestine (Twelve Tribes). 3. Land of Promise.

II. _Natural Divisions._ 1. Maritime Plain. 2. Mountain Region (Upper Galilee, Lower Galilee, Hill Country, Shefelah, Negeb). 3. Jordan Valley (Merom, Galilee, Dead Sea). 4. Eastern Table-Land (Bashan, Gilead, Moab).

III. _Waters._ 1. Jordan (sources, sections). 2. Lakes (Merom, Galilee, Dead Sea). 3. Brooks. (1.) East: Hieromax, Jabbok, Arnon. (2.) Mountain Region: Farah, Cherith, Kedron. (3.) Maritime Plain: Leontes, Kishon, Besor.

IV. _Mountains._ 1. West of Jordan: Lebanon, Jermuk, Hattin, Tabor, Little Hermon, Gilboa, Carmel, Ebal, Gerizim, Zion, Olives, Hebron. 2. East of Jordan: Hermon, Gilead, Nebo.

V. _Plains._ 1. Phoenicia. 2. Sharon. 3. Philistia. 4. Esdraelon. 5. Negeb. 6. Jordan. 7. Hauran.

THE JOURNEYS OF THE PATRIARCHS.

AT the close of the eleventh chapter of Genesis a change is made in the subject of the Bible story. Thus far it has been a history of the entire race; but from this point to the close of Genesis a single family is brought into prominent notice, and the rest of the tribes of men are referred to only incidentally. The family of Abraham, of Semitic origin, deserve all their prominence in sacred history, since through them the true religion was perpetuated until the world was ready for its wider dissemination in the gospel period.