Judea

JUDEA, a province of Asia called anciently the Land of Canaan or Palestine, and afterwards, the Land of promise, the land of Israel; and lastly Judea. It was not named thus till after the Jews returned from the Babylonish captivity; because then the Tribe of Judah was the principal, and almost only one which made any figure in the country; and the territories belonging to the Israelites of the other Tribes were almost all possessed by the Samaritans, Idumeans, Arabians and Philistines. The Jews, when they returned from the captivity, began to settle again about Jerusalem, and in the division of Judah, from whence they spread afterwards over the rest of the country. See under the article Canaan and Canaanites, what we have said of the ancient inhabitants of Judea. The Philistines were strangers in this country; they came thither from the Isle of Caphtor or Crete. See Caphtor. The Phœnicians, who afterwards kept their ground there, even after the entrance of the Hebrews, were some remains of the ancient Canaanites. These two people, the Philistines to the South, and the Phœnicians to the North, possessed almost all the coasts of the Mediterranean. The Jews were masters of the rest of the country, having Libanus and Syria to the North, Arabia Petræa and South Edom to the South, the mountains of Gilead, East Edom, Arabia Deserta, the Ammonites and Moabites to the East; the Philistines, Phœnicians, and the Mediterranean to the West. The river Jordan divided the whole country into two almost equal parts, and taking its rise at the foot of Libanus, run from North to South, as far as the dead Sea, in which it lost itself.

Judea, before the arrival of the Hebrews, was governed by Canaanitish Kings, who exercised an absolute power, each in his respective city. When Joshua had made a conquest of it, he governed it as the Lord’s vicegerent, and the executioner of his orders. The Elders succeeded Joshua for about fifteen years. After which the Israelites fell into a kind of anarchy, which lasted seven or eight years. Afterwards they were governed by Jugdes for three hundred and seventeen years; and last of all by Kings, from Saul to the Babylonish captivity, for the space of five hundred and seven years. After the return of the Jews from the captivity; Judea continued subject to the Kings of Persia, then to Alexander the Great, and after that to his successors. Sometimes to the Kings of Syria, sometimes to the Kings of Egypt; paying nevertheless a great deal of deference, in matters of private government, to the High Priest, and Princes of David’s family¹. From the time of the Maccabees maintaining the Religion, and re-establishing the affairs of the Jews, they continued in possession of the sovereign authority till the reign of Herod the Great, about an hundred and thirty five years². A List of the Governors who governed Judea for the Romans: See Governors. A List of the Judges who governed Judea: See Judges. A List of the Kings who governed Judea, see the article Kings. A List of the High Priests who governed Judea. See Priests.

Deut. viii. 7. Isai. xxxvi. 17. Exod. iii. 8. Ezek. xx. 6, &c. See Numb. xiii. 28.As to the quality of the country, nothing can be added to the description which the Scripture gives us of it. That represents it to be one of the most beautiful and fruitful countries in the world, a country flowing with milk and honey. Josephus speaks of it almost in the same manner³. Travellers relate with admiration the great fertility of certain parts of it. It is true there are some dry and stony places, and in general it is at present very barren; but this proceeds from the want of inhabitants to manure it. Judea is almost every where high land, but its mountains are not too high, and almost all of them were formerly well cultivated, and abounded with olive-gardens, vineyards, and other trees⁴. The pastures there are excellent, and the fruits extremely fine. There is great plenty of water; and tho the rains fall but seldom, the night dews supply the want of them, and moisten the plains and fields⁵.

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