Climate has a great influence upon man. That climate which is best adapted to develope the phy sical frame, to foster its powers, and to preserve them longest in healthy and manly vigour, is the most conducive to pure morality and intellectual growth. The heat of the tropics begets lassitude and luxurious effeminacy, while the cold of the arctic regions cramps the energies, and tends to check those lofty flights of poetic genius which give such a charm and sweetness to human life. Situated about midway between the equator and the polar circle, Palestine enjoys one of the finest climates in the world. Fresh sea-breezes temper the summer beats ; the forests and abundant vege tation which once clothed the land diffused an agreeable moisture through the bright sunny at mosphere ; while the hills and mountains made active and constant exercise necessary, and thus gave strength and elasticity to the frame. Pales tine has given to the world some of the most dis tinguished examples of high poetic genius, of profound wisdom, of self-denying patriotism, of undaunted courage, and of bodily strength. The geographical position and physical structure of the land had much to do with this. God in his infinite wisdom and love placed his elect people in the very best position for the development of all that was great and good.* Well might the Lord say by the mouth of his prophet, What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it ?' (Is. v. 4).
The Boundaries of Palestine require to be defined with care and minuteness. Much confusion has arisen in Biblical geography from the way in which this subject has been treated, and from the diver sity of views which prevails. No two writers agree on all points. The accounts of ancient geo graphers—Greek, Roman, and Jewish—are un satisfactory, and sometimes contradictory ; and when we come down to more modern times we do not find much improvement. Some authors con found Palestine with the Land of Promise,' as mentioned in Genesis and Exodus, and with the land defined by Moses in the book of Numbers (Reland, Pal., 113, seq. ; Cellarius, Geogr. H. seq. ; Hales, Anal. of Chronology, i. 413 ; Kitto, Physical Ilist. of Pal., p. xxviii. ; Jahn, Biblical Antiquities ; .Encyclopcoa'. Britan., art. Palestine, 8th ed.) Others confine the name to the territory west of the Jordan, and reaching from Dan to Beersheba (Grove, in Smith's Diet. of Bible, art. Palestine). Even Dean Stanley, usually so accu rate and so careful in his geographical details, does not express his views with sufficient clearness on this point (Sin. and Pal., pp. III, It may be well, therefore, in this place, to state precisely the several boundaries of the country mentioned in the Bible :—(i), As promised to Abraham and his seed ; (2), As described by Moses before his death ; (3), As actually allotted to the twelve tribes by Joshua ; and (4), As set forth in the prophetic vision of Ezekiel. This, it is hoped, will prevent misconception and confusion, and will contribute to a fuller understanding of one of the most important branches of Biblical geography.
It will show, too, how far Palestine, as the name is now applied, corresponds in extent and boun daries with those lands described by the ancient prophets.
(1.) Boundaries of the Land promised to Abra ham.—The first promises made to Abraham were indefinite. A country was ensured to him, but its limits were not stated. The Lord said to him at Sichem, Unto thy seed will I give this land' (Gen. xii. 7) ; and again, on the heights of Bethel, after Lot had left him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, north ward, and southward, and eastward, and west ward ; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever' (xiii. 14, 5). It was a commanding spot, but still that view did not embrace one-fourth of Palestine. At length, however, the boundaries were defined ; in general terms, it is true, but still with sufficient clearness to indicate the vast extent of territory promised to Abraham's descendants ; In the same clay the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, front the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates' (xv. 18). The river of Egypt' was doubtless the Nile. It should be observed that the Hebrew word is lru, river (LXX., iroragds), and not wady,' or torrent bed,' as in Num. xxxiv. 5 (LXX., xcli.tappos), where Wady el-Arish seems to be meant (see Kalisch, Delitzsch, etc., ad loc.) From the banks of the Nile, then, to the Euphrates, the country promised to the patriarch extended. The covenant was renewed with the Israelites just after their departure from Egypt, and the boundaries of the land were given with more fulness : I will set thy hounds from the Red Sea even to the Sea of the Philistines (the Mediterranean) ; and from the desert (of Sinai) unto the river' (Euphrates ; gcos rob AryciXot, voraixo0 Eticbpd-rov ; Exod. xxiii. 31).* But this great territory was promised upon cer tain specific conditions. The people were, on their part, to be faithful to God (vers. 22, 23). They did not fulfil these conditions, and therefore the whole land was not given to them (see Josh. xxiii. 13-16; Judg. ii. 20-23). But though the whole land was never occupied by the Israelites, there was a near approach to the possession of it, or the exercise of sovereignty over it, in the days of David, of whom it is recorded : David smote also Hadad ezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates' (2 Sam. viii. 3). That warlike monarch conquered the kingdoms of Hamath, Zobah, Damascus, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, and Edom (vers. —the whole country, in fact, from the border of Egypt to the river Euphrates, and from the Arabian desert to the Mediterranean. This was the land given in covenant promise to Abraham ; but it was never included under the name Palestine.