The territory anciently allotted to the tribe of Judah was divided by its natural conformation into three sections :—The Shephelah, the Ofountains, and the Arabak (Josh. xi. 16 ; xv. 6 ; xviii. 18 ; xv. 33, 48). In like manner, the later Jews divided Judma into three corresponding sections— tilountaz'n, and Valley. The Ilain' in cluded Philistia and part of Sharon ; the Moun tain' was the central ridge on which Jerusalem stands ; and the Valley' lay along the shore of the Dead Sea between Engedi and Jericho (Reland, p. 176 ; see the Jewish authorities there cited).
In the N. T., however, only two natural divi sions are mentioned—the mountain or hill country of Jurixo.' 6X•11 dpavi) 'Iot,Saicts, Luke i.
65), and the Wilderness of Judzea' (ev 4Aucp rijs 'IouSaias, Matt. iii. The bill country' embraced thc crown of the mountain ridge around Jerusalem, and southwards. This was the native country of the Baptist (Luke i. 39 ; Alford, in /oc.) The Wilderness of Juda,' or, emphatically, The Wilderness,' as it is termed in the narrative of our Lord's temptation (Tip tply.cov, Matt. iv. 1), is that wild and desolate region along the whole eastern slope of the mountains, from the brow of the ridge at Bethany, Bethlehem, and Tekoa, down to the shore of the Dead Sea. For the physical geography of this region, see PALESTINE; and for its history, JERusALEm (see also DEsERT).
That section of Judma vvhich formed the scene of a part of our Lord's labours, teachings, and. sufferings, was a hill country ;' a land of vine yards, olive groves, and fig-orchards, which flourished luxuriantly in the deep glens and along the terraced sides of the limestone hills. The Wilderness,' where he was tempted, and through which lie travelled from Jericho to Bethany, was a land of sheep and shepherds, and daring outlaws (Handbook for S. and P., pp. 184, 248). This had a marked effect on our Lord's teaching, and on the illustrations and parables he employed, as is seen by a careful study of the gospel of John, which chiefly relates those incidents that occurred in Judma. The parables of the vineyard (Matt. xxi. 28), of the fig-trees (xxi. ; Luke xxi. 29, etc.), of the good Samaritan (Luke x. 3o, seq.), and of the good shepherd (John x.), were all told in Judxa, where Christ could point to the scenes, and where the auditors were familiar with every circumstance of the stories ; there, too, among the vine-clad hills of Judma, was given that most beau tiful of all his illustrations of divine truth—` I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman,' etc. (John xv ; see Stanley, S. and P., p. 412).
Judma has changed. Its glory and its beauty are departed. Its hills are now scantily clothed with grayish and brown shrubs, intermixed with aro matic plants and bright flowers ; and their sides are broken by concentric rings of white rocks, and great piles of white stones, which make them look painfully desolate. Here and there is a deep glen bordered with belts of olives, and its banks above green with the foliage of the oak ; but the noble forests are gone ; the vegetation that resulted from careful irrigation is gone; the terraces that supported the soil on the hill-sides are broken ; and instead of spreading vine and fig-tree, we have now naked rocks, and confused heaps of stones. The ancient populousness of this mountain region is manifest still in the vast number of ruined towns and villages which everywhere stud the landscape. 'In rudma we may now wander for miles together without seeing a vestige of present habitation, save the little goat-pen on the hill-side, and the groups of sheep and goats round the fountains ; but there is scarcely a hill-top that is not crowned with ruins, and there is scarcely a fountain where frag ments of walls and scattered heaps of stones do not indicate the sites of former dwellings. The light Saracenic arch, the stately Roman column, and the massive Jewish substruction, lead us up by a regular architectural chronology to the rude cairns' of the mountain regions, and the rounded tells of the plains—the vestiges of primitive Canaan itish cities' (Handbook for S. and P., p. IS4). In addition to the works already referred to, some good descriptions of juclan scenery and antiqui ties will be found in Keith 071 PlOPheCy, Van de Velde's Travels, Thomson's The Lana' and the Book, Olin's Travels, and Wilson's Lands of the Bible. Its history is sketched by Robinson, Bibli cal Researches ; and Kitto, Pictorial History of Palestine.—J. L. P.