4. It is a storied land.—Where such a treasure house of tales as in that old Bible? The land and its book have figured in all the literatures of the Occidental ages. Knights and paladins have trod its vales and mountains; saint and crusader have watched at night beneath its stars.
5. It is a land of famous mountains.—Ebal and Gerizim, Hor and Nebo, Olivet and Tabor, Gilboa and Hermon. What scenes rise to the mind as we name them! Carmel and Quarantania; struggle and victory; Elijah, Immanuel.
6. It is a land of remarkable waters.—A single river—the Jordan, from north to south—rising in the extreme north from springs so hidden as to have long been unknown, loses itself in that sea of desolation, Lake Asphaltites, the Dead Sea. The mid-world sea, the mother sea of great nations, washes the western shores, and Galilee shines like a diadem in her mountain setting.
7. It is a land of many names.—The land of Canaan, the land of the children of Heth, Philistia, Palestine, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, the land of Judah, Immanuel’s Land.
8. It is an impregnable land.—Its hills, rock-ribbed, rise one upon another, covering the whole face of the land, and forcing all travel of army or caravan through the few passes in which the great northern plain terminates. Hence Esdrelon became of necessity the country’s battle ground. A united people made the country a fear to its force.
9. It was a populous land.—Beyond belief almost are the records of the people who lived within these few square miles. Cities and villages laid so close to each other that their environs almost met. The people thronged in them, and in the well tilled country about them, so that centuries of war, foreign and civil, and repeated depletions left them still in their decadence a troublesome foe to the veterans of Rome.
10. It was a productive land.—Shrubs and trees were in abundance. Pine, oak, elder, dogwood, walnut, maple, willow, ash, carob, sycamore, fig, olive and palm. Fruits in great variety were ripened beneath its sun; grapes, apples, pears, apricots, quinces, plums, mulberries, dates, pomegranates, oranges, limes, bananas, almonds, and pistachios. Many kinds of grains were cultivated, such as wheat, barley, rice, sesamum, millet and maize.
11. It was a land of a remarkable climate.—Thirty degrees variation from mountain to plain was its daily range. With the isothermal lines of our Florida and California, it yet had snow and ice as in our northern climates. Heavy rainfalls were characteristic; so were long periods of drought. Heavy dews, fierce siroccos, cloudless skies, oppressive heat, steady sea breezes, burning valleys, cool mountain summits were all characteristics of this land of the Bible.
Under the headings now given let the student give:
1. Ten dates which cover its history, and mark its principal events.