The province of Galilee is thus about fifty miles long by twenty-five wide. Its northern division, called Upper Galilee,' and Galilee of the Gen tiles,' consists of a broad mountain ridge, a con tinuation of the Lebanon range. On the summit is a tract of undulating table-land, diversified by wooded heights and smooth green plains. In the centre of this table-land stood Kedesh-Naphtali. Among its rich pastures Heber, the Kenite, so journed, when Sisera, fleeing- from the carnage on Esdraelon to his home at Harosheth, took refuge in the tent of Jael and was slain (Judg. iv.) On the east the mountains break down abruptly into the deep basin of the upper Jordan. On the west the slopes are more gradual, and long ravines of singular beauty and wildness wind down to the sea coast and the plain of Acre. These western decli vides, once the possession of Asher, who dipped his foot in oil ' (Dem. xxxiii, 24), are still celebrated for their olive groves. The town of Sated, perched on the culminatinrg point of the mountain chain to the south, is one of the four sacred cities of the Jews. It is the centre of a wide volcanic region, and has frequently been the scene of most destruc tive earthquakes. The last occurred in 1837, when nearly five thousand of its inhabitants were buried in the ruins of the town (Robinson's B. R. ii. 42° 32 ; Hand-book for S. and P. 438).
The southern slopes of the mountain range, from the castellated heights of Sated to the broad plain of Esdraelon, afford some of the richest and most picturesque scenery in Palestine. Forests of evergreen oak sweep round the flanks of the in graceful belts, and line the sides of t-he valleys, leaving open glades, and undulating ex panses of green grass, such as are seen in English parks. Here, too, are upland plains, like vast terraces, with rich soil and rank vegetation. The largest is now called el-Battauf ; and on its north ern border lie the ruins of Cana of Galilee, while on its southern are those of Sepphoris. There are others to the eastward, along the brow of the hills that encircle Tiberias, and extending down to Tabor. These are separated from the great plain of Esdraelon by a line of rocky but picturesque hills, which culminate on the east in the dome of Tabor. Esdraelon stretches out be yond them like a sea of verdure, laving in the dis tance the base of Carmel and the mountains of Samaria.
Lower Galilee was a land of husbandmen, famed for its corn-fields, as Upper Galilee was for its olive groves, and Juthea for its vineyards. The rich soil remains, and there are still some fields ; but its inhabitants are few in number, and its choicest plains are desolated by the wild Bedouin (Handbook for S. and P., 355). Galilee was, and is, also remarkable for the variety and beauty of its wild flowers. In early spring the whole country is spangled with them, and the air is filled with their odours. Birds, too, are exceedingly numerous. The rocky banks are all alive with partridges ; the meadows swarm with quails and larks, the voice of the turtle' resounds through every grove, and pigeons are heard cooing high up in the cliffs and glen-sides, and are seen in flocks hovering over the corn-fields. The writer has travelled through Galilee at various seasons, and , has always been struck with some new beauty— the delicate verdure of spring and its blush of flowers ; the mellow tints of autumn, and the rus set hues of the oak forests in winter, have all their charms (Handbook for S. and P., 363, 416, 420! 424; Stanley, S. and P., 355, sq.; Van de Velde, 403, sq.; Robinson's B. R. iii.) The northern tribes inhabiting Galilee were taken captive by the Assyrians ; but a large num ber returned with their brethren of judxa in the time of Cyrus. Galilee had a dense Jewish popu lation at the commencement of our era, yet the foreigners settled among them, and their continual intercourse with Greeks and Phcenicians, produced a marked effect both on their language and habits, and tended also to allay those feelings of pride and fanaticism which were so characteristic of the Jewish race, and which were so strongly deve- I loped in Juda. Galilean ' was a term of re- I proach among the southern Jews (Matt. xxvi. 73 ; I john yd. 52 ; Buxtorf's Lexicon, s. v. j Light fool', Opp. ii. 492, sq.) On the death of Herod the Great, the province of Galilee was given by Cxsar to his son Antipas (Joseph. Bell. Ind. ii. 6. 3). It was at that time the most densely peopled part of Palestine. Josephus tells us that it contained more than zoo cities and villages, so crowded with men that the smallest of them con tains above 15,000 inhabitants (Bell. 3.
1-3).
These-facts all tend to illustrate the writings of the Evangelists. Galilee was the home of Jesus, His mother dwelt in Nazareth. To it she re. turned again from Egypt, and there she lived with Jesus till he began to be about thirty years of age (Matt. ii. 22, 23 ; Luke ii.) After his bap tism and temptation Jesus came back to Galilee ; and though he frequently visited other provinces, this was emphatically his own country, where the greater part of his public life was spent, and most of his miracles were perforined. IIere, also, he appeared to his disciples after the resurrection (See Well's Sacred Geography, ii. 143). When our Lord entered on his public ministry, and de clared his divine mission, he was met with the in dignant and insulting remark, Search and look ; for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet' (John vii. 52). In Galilee his mission was successful. Thou sands from its teeming population followed him wherever he went, and hung eagerly upon his lips. In no other part of Palestine could he have found such a sphere for his works and words of mercy. The villages were filled with industrious peasants ; the towns were crowded with a manu facturing population ; the sea swarmed with busy fishermen. He had a word for all. By parables and illustrations suitable to the circumstances, and pleasing to the tastes of each class, Ile sought to rivet their attention, enlighten their minds, and touch their hearts. The Gospel was likened to seed ' sown. Some fell on stony ground, such as is seen on every- bank ; some fell on those hard, beaten paths that wind through the open fields of Galilee ; some fell among thorns, which spring up so rankly on the plains. The wild birds that hover over the fields, and the tares (Arab. zwegn) that may still be seen in then), were pressed into the service of the Gospel. Thus did our Lord teach the husbandmen. Turning to the commer cial towns-folk, he likened the kingdom of heaven a merchantman seeking goodly pearls ; ' and then to the fishermen on the lake he likened it to a net cast into the sea.' The minds of these people were more free from prejudice, and more open to conviction, than the self-righteous Phari sees a!nd rationalistic lawyers of the capital. Hence most of our Lord's disciples were Galileans (See Rohr's Hist. Geographical Account of Palestine, in Biblical Cabinet, p. 94, sq.; Stanley, S. and P., 418; Handbook for S. and P., 424, sq.) The first three Gospels are chiefly occupied with the history of our Lord's teachings in Galilee, and many of their peculiarities, as contrasted with the Gospel of John, are owing to this fact (Alford, Proleg. to Matt.) The features of the country, its scenery its products, the character and occupations of its people, had all their influence upon the teachings of our Lord, and come out strikingly in the Gos pel narratives.
Herod Antinas, tetrarch of Galilee in the time of our Lord, was a weak but crafty voluptuary.
His incestuous intercourse with his brother's wife brought upon him the stern rebuke of the Baptist. He was present at Jerusalem during the trial of Jesus, but declined to interiere (Luke xxiii.) An tipas was the founder of Tiberias, and there he chiefly resided. In Galilee the Jews made an ob stinate resistance against the Romans. Their leader was Josephus the historian, and he for tified the principal cities and natural strong holds, as Tiberias, Taricha, Sepphoris, Joto pata, Mount Tabor, etc. (Vita, xxxvii. 2 ; ii. 2o. 6). But after a long and harassing campaig-n the province was completely subdued. by Titus (Bell. 2iid. 1V. 2. 5). At a subsequent period, when Jerusalem 1,vas destroyed, and the Jewish nation scattered, the Sanhedrim was re established at Tiberias ; and from the 2d to the 6th century Galilee was the chief seat of Jewish learning. It contained a large and wealthy Jewish population. Traces of their splendid 'sacred edi fices still exist at Tell Hum, Irbid, Kedesh, Kefr Birim, and other places (Handbook for S. and P., PP. 428, 432, 443, etc.; Robinson's B. R. iii. 71 74). The fairest and richest parts of Galilee are now utterly waste ; its greatest cities are heaps of ruin, and the miserable remnant of its population are oppressed and spoiled by the Eastern Arabs, who make their periodical raids as their fore fathers did 3000 years ago Uudg. vi.; see Hand book, 355).—J. L. P.