II. THE is important to know the origin, history, and exact signification of the several names which in the Bible and in classic writers are given to Palestine. The name Palestine itself, though of comparatively recent date, as applied to the whole country, demands our first notice.
1. Palestine.—In the A. V. of the Bible, the word ' Palestine' only occurs in Joel iii. 4 09/53 nvhn ; raTaXala ciMoOtAcur", terminus Palosthin arum); What have ye to do with me, 0 Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?' Here the name is confined to Philistia. In three pas sages (Exod. xv. 14 ; Is. xiv. 29, 31), we have the Latin form Palestina ; but the meaning is the same, and hence the Septuagint renders it in one case (IpiArcrriel,tc, and in the others aNX60Xot.
The Hebrew word tAhn, probably comes from the Ethiopic root 4 A rii,faZasa, 'to wander,' or emigrate,' and hence mht will signify the nation of emigrants'—the Philistines having emi grated from Africa (PHILISTINES ; see Reland, Pal., 73, seq.) The people gave their name to the territory in which they settled on the south-west coast of Palestine. Such is the meaning given to the word by the sacred writers. In this sense, also, Josephus uses the Greek equivalent IIaNctro-ripu i. 6. 2 ; ii. 15. 3). But it would seem that even before his time the Greek name began to be employed in a more extended signification. Herodotus states, that all the country from Phoenicia to Egypt is called Palestine (vii. 89) ; and he calls the Jews Syrians of Palestine' (iii. 5, 91). This extension of the name doubtless arose from the fact, that when the Greeks began to hold commercial intercourse with Phoenicia and south western Asia, they found the coast from Phoenicia to Egypt in possession of the Philistines ; and consequently they applied the name Paleestina loosely to the whole country reaching from the sea to the desert. Josephus uses it in this sense in a few instances (Aittig. viii. 10. 3) ; and Philo says, the country of the Sodomites was a district of the land of Canaan, which the Syrians afterwards called Palestine' (De Abraham. xxvi. ; cf. Vita Mosis, xxix.) The rabbins also gave the name Palestine to all the country occupied by the Jews (Reland, 38, seq.) Dion Cassius states, that an ciently the whole country lying between Phoenicia and Egypt was called Palestine. It had also another adopted name, .tdaa' (Hist. xxxvii.) From this time onward Palestine was the name most usually given to the land of Israel; in some cases it was confined to the country west of the Jordan, but in others it embraced the eastern pro vinces (see Reland, and authorities quoted by him, 39, seq.) By early Christian writers the word was generally, though not uniformly, employed in this sense. Thus Jerome, in one passage : terra Judea, gum nunc appellatur Palxstina' (ad Ezech. xxvii.) ; but in another, Philistiim, qui nunc
Pala stini vocantur' (in Am. i. 6 ; cf. Is. xiv. 29). Chrysostom usually calls the Land of Israel Pales tine (Reland, 40). All ancient writers, therefore, did not use the name in the same sense—some applying it to the whole country of the Jews, some restricting it to Philistia (Theodoret, ad Ps. lix. ; Reland, 1. c.) Consequently, when the name Palestine occurs in classic and early Christian writers, the student of geography will require care fully to examine the context, that he may ascertain whether it is applied to Philistia alone, or to all the land of Israel.
It appears that when our Authorized Version was made, the English name Palestine was con sidered to be equivalent to Philistia; hence the same Hebrew word is sometimes rendered Pales tiaze or Palsrtina, and sometimes Philistia (Ps. lx.
8 ; lxxxvii. 4 ; cviii. 9). In no part of Scripture is either the Hebrew ntht, or the English Pales tine or Palestina, used in the sense in which it is employed at the head of this article. Its uniform and only signification is Philistia,' the land of the Philistines' (PHILIsTIA ; see Reland, 89, seq. Rawlinson's Herodot., ii. 399, note ; Rennell, Geogr. of Herodot., pp. 245, seq.) 2. Canaan (11.14 ; Xapacip). This is the oldest, and in the early hooks of Scripture, the most com mon name of Palestine. It is derived from the son of Ham, by whose family the country was colonised (Gen. ix. 18 ; x. 15-19 ; Joseph. roltiq. i. 6. 2). It is worthy of note, as tending to con firm the accuracy of the early ethnological notices in Genesis, that the ancient Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites (Kenrick's Phoenicia, p. 40; Reland, p. 7). The name Canaan was confined to the district west of the Jordan ; the provinces east of the river were always distinguished from it (Num. xxxiii. 51 ; Exod. xvi. 35, with Josh. v. 12; xxii. 9, to). Its eastern boundary is thus within that of Palestine ; but, on the other hand, it reached on the north to Hamath (Gen. x. 18, with xvii. 8), and probably even farther, for the Arvadite is reckoned among the Canaanites, and the earliest name of Phoenicia was Cna or Cana [PticENI04]. Wherever the country promised to the Israelites, or dwelt in by the patriarchs, is mentioned in Scrip ture, it is called the land of Canaan' (Exod. vi. 4 ; xv. 15 ; Lev. xiv. 34 ; Deut. xxxii. 39 ; Josh. xiv. 1 ; Ps. cv. rib doubtless in reference to the promise originally made to Abraham (Gen. xvii. 8). A full account of the origin and use of this name is given in the article CANAAN, LAND OF (see also Reland, I, seg.) 3. The Land of Promise.—This name originated in the divine promise to Abraham—' All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever' (Gen. xiii. 15). Its extent and boundaries are given by Moses (xv. 18-21 ; Exod.