PALESTINE. This Name may be taken either in a more general or more limited Sense. Palestine taken in a limited Sense stands for the Country of the Philistines or Palestines, which took up that Part of the Land of Promise which was extended along the Mediterranean Sea,from Gaza southwards as far as Lydda to the North. It seems that the Seventy were of Opinion, that the Hebrew Word Philistiim signified Strangers, since they generally translate it by Allophyli1, Strangers, or Men of another Tribe.
When the Word Palestine is taken in a more general Sense, it signifies the whole Country of Canaan, the whole Land of Promise, as well beyond as on this side Jordan; though pretty frequently it is restrained to the Country on this side that River: so that in the later Times the Words Judea and Palestine were synonymous Terms. We find also the Name of Syria Palestina given to the Land of Promise, and even sometimes this Province is comprehended in Cœle-Syria, or the Lower Syria. Herodotus2 is the most ancient Writer we know, that speaks of Syria-Palestina. He places it between Phenicia and Egypt. See Reland. Palestinæ, l. i. c. 7, 8. See also what we have said upon the Word JUDAH.
Moses speaks of Palestine as of the best and finest Country of the World, as of a Land flowing with Rivers of Milk and Honey. Profane Authors also speak of it much in the same Manner. Hecatæus3 who had been brought up with Alexander the Great, and who wrote in the Time of the first Ptolemy, mentions this Country as very fruitful and well-peopled, an excellent Province, that bore all Kinds of good Fruit. Pliny4 gives us a like Description of it; he says that Jerusalem was not only the most famous City of Judea, but even of the whole East. He describes the Course of the Jordan, as of a delicious River; he speaks with Advantage of the Lake of Genesareth, of the Balm of Judea, of its Palm-Trees. Tacitus5, Ammianus Marcellinus, and most of the Ancients, who had Occasion to mention Palestine, have spoke of it with the same Commendations.
The Mahometans6, who could not but know it much better than most others, speak of it in a very extravagant Manner, which proves however its exceeding great Fertility. They tell us, that besides the two principal Cities of the Country, which are Elia and Ariba, that is Jerusalem and Jericho, there were in this Province a thousand Villages, each of which had many very fine Gardens. That the Grapes were so large, that five Men could hardly carry a Cluster of them, and that five Men might hide themselves in the Shell of one Granate. That this Country was anciently inhabited by the Giants of the Race of Amalek, who were of a very extraordinary Size.
Notwithstanding all these Testimonies of the Ancients, we find People very incredulous as to the Fruitfulness of the Holy Land. Travellers that go to visit it, generally speak after a Manner, that is but little to its Advantage. The Country, they say, appears to be dry and barren, is but ill water’d, and has but few cultivated Plains. Strabo7 is one of the Ancients who speaks of it with most Contempt. He says that this Province is so barren, that it moves no body’s Envy, and that there is no need of fighting for it, in order to obtain it, and that Jerusalem stands upon a dry and barren Spot.
St. Jerome8 was an Eye-witness of it, and very well acquainted with those Qualities which the Scriptures ascribe to it. He says that Palestine is full of Mountains, that Dryness and Drought are very common here, that they had only Rain-water, which they caught, and preserved in Cisterns, which supplied to them the Want of Fountains. But the same St. Jerome elsewhere speaks of the Fertility of Palestine with great Advantage, and owns that there was no other Country that could dispute with it in point of Fruitfulness. The Modern Travellers that speak of the present Sterility, do not deny but that it still preserves some Footsteps of its antient Fecundity in some Places, where are found all sorts of Fruits almost without any Culture. In other Places the Herbs grow with great Profusion, and to an extraordinary Height. If the Mountains of some Plains are barren, ‘tis because they are but little cultivated for want of Inhabitants. How many other Countries, heretofore renown-ed for their Fertility, are at this Day reduced to barren and dreadful Wildernesses?
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