CHAPTER X.

GALILEE.

Matt. iv. 13-16. "And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up."

Scenery of Northern Palestine-The four Northern Tribes-Their wealth and their isolation-History in the New Testament. I. NAZARETH— Its upland basin-Its seclusion-Sacred localities. II. LAKE OF GenNESARETH: 1. Plain of Hattin and Mountain of the Beatitudes-Battle of Hattin; 2. View of the Lake of Gennesareth; 3. Later celebrity of Tiberias; 4. Plain of Gennesareth-The Sea of Life-Traffic-Fertility -Fisheries-Population; 5. Scene of the Gospel Ministry-"Manufacturing district"-The Beach-The Desert-The Demoniacs and the Feeding of the Multitudes-The Villages of the Plain of GennesarethThe Destruction of Capernaum.

GALILEE.

THE broad depression of Esdraelon was the natural boundary and debateable land between the central and northern tribes of Palestine. On the north of the plain rises another group of mountains, as distinct in character and form, as they are separate in fact, from those of Samaria and Judæa, and thus, in like manner, distinguished by the name of the chief tribe that dwelt among them, "the mountains of Naphtali;" as the more southern were the mountains of Ephraim" and "of Judah'."

Scenery of

Northern

Palestine.

66

These hills are the western roots which Hermon thrusts out towards the sea, as it thrusts out the mountains of Bashan towards the Desert; and as such they partake of the jagged outline, of the varied vegetation, and of the high upland hollows which characterise in a greater or less degree the whole mass of the Lebanon range, in contrast to the monotonous aspect of the more southern scenery. So few travellers visit the interior of the Galilean mountains, that their beauty and richness is almost unknown. M. Van de Velde who, contrary to the usual course, entered Palestine from the north, contrasts them favourably even with the rich valley of Samaria. "It suffered," he says, " in my case from my having entered the rocky mountains of Ephraim from the much finer and truly noble Galilee'." And this beauty distinguishes Galilee even from other parts of Lebanon. "It struck me," says the same traveller, "that between Sidon and the Castle of Belfort the land was almost destitute of trees. The bare gray hills had

1 Joshua xx. 7.

2 Vol. i. 374.

impressed me with a sense of desolation, in spite of the many villages in that part of the land. In the district in which I have travelled-the Belad-Besharah-it was exactly the contrary; a scanty population, but a land rich in beauty and fertility a thick wood of oaks and other trees continued for a considerable way now over the heights, again through valleys, but everywhere characterised by a luxuriance of verdure by which you can recognise at once the fertility of Naphtali's inheritance and the demolition of the cities. For it was only here and there that we saw a village from afar, whereas, were the population large, this wood would have been greatly cleared'."

The four northern tribes.

This distinction of scenery, together with the natural separation of the hills of the north from those which we have hitherto traversed, contains the main explanation of the history of the northern tribes. Asher has been already described in connection with the maritime plain of Phoenicia on the skirts of which his possessions hung. Of the almost servile character of Issachar enough has been said in describing the plain of Esdraelon. But they must be briefly recalled here, as sharing the general fortunes of the northern group, of which the two chief tribes-Naphtali and Zebulunoccupied the mountain-tract, overlooking and commanding the territory of the two others,-of Asher on the west, and Issachar on the south. All the four alike kept aloof from the great historical movements of Israel. With the exceptions already noticed, when the immediate pressure of northern invaders rallied them, first round Barak and then round Gideon, in the Plain of Esdraelon, they hardly ever appear in the events of the Jewish history. They were content with their rich mountainvalleys, and their maritime coast. Zebulun is to "rejoice in his goings out." Asher was to "be blessed' with children," "acceptable to his brethren," dipping his foot in the "oil" of his olive groves, to be shod with "the iron and brass" of

1 Vol. i. 170.

* See Chapters VI. and IX.

3 Deut. xxxiii. 24, 25. There is here a play on the word "Asher," blessed, as in the analogous case of Judah and "praise," Gen. xlix. 8.

Iron is found in Lebanon. (Russeg

ger, i. 693; Volney, i. 233; Burckhardt, 73.) Copper (the true translation of the word rendered brass) is nowhere now found, but its frequent mention in connection with the Tyrians justifies the allusion.