NEW TESTAMENT PALESTINE.
The political geography of Palestine, during the seventy years of New Testament history, is somewhat complicated, from the two facts, that new provinces are named in the annals, and also that the government was changed from regal to provincial, and from provincial to regal, oftener than once in a generation.
I. THE PROVINCES OF PALESTINE.
These were, on the west of the Jordan, Judæa, Samaria and Galilee; and on the east, Peræa, and a group of minor principalities, popularly, but not accurately, called Decapolis. They are indicated upon the map of the Kingdom of Herod the Great.
1. Judæa was the largest province in Palestine. It embraced the territory anciently belonging to the four tribes, Judah, Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon. On the east its boundary was the Dead Sea; on the south, the desert; on the west, the Mediterranean. The northern line, separating it from Samaria, is less definitely known; but we have adopted the boundary as given by Conder in "A Handbook to the Bible," where the evidences in its favor are shown. The southern portion was properly Idumaea, or western Edom. The Philistine plain, and the Negeb, or "South Country," were both known as Daroma.
2. Samaria was the central province, between Judæa and the Carmel range of mountains. Its share of the plain by the sea was known as Sarona (Sharon), and was occupied almost entirely by Gentiles; while its mountain region was held by the Samaritans, a people of mingled origin, partly descended from the remnant of the Ten Tribes after the captivity, and partly from heathen peoples deported to the territory, of which an account is contained in 2 Kings 17. They separated from (or rather, were disfellowshiped by) the Jews in the times of Nehemiah, and built a temple on Mount Gerizim, B.C. 400. A small remnant still remain in the ancient city of Shechem, and maintain their ancient worship.
3. Galilee was the northern province, extending from Mount Carmel to Lebanon, and from the Sea of Tiberias to the Mediterranean and Phœnicia. Its people were Jews, and profoundly attached to the law, but less superstitious than those of Jerusalem. In this province most of the ministry of Jesus Christ was accomplished.