If it be a woman, women shall put her into the water, the doctors shall instruct her while she is in it, and then they shall go out, and turn away their eyes from her, while she comes out of it."

CHAP. II.

Names and Divisions of the Holy Land.

As to names, the country of the Hebrews has

had several. It was first called the land of Canaan, from Canaan the son of Ham, whose posterity possessed it. It was afterwards called Palestine, from the people which the Hebrews call Philistines, and the Greeks and Romans (corruptly) Palestines, who inhabited the seacoasts, and were first known to them. And it likewise had the name of the land of promise, from the promise God gave Abraham of giving it to him; that of the land of Israel, from the Israelites having made themselves masters of it; that of Judea, from the tribe of Judah, which was the most considerable of the twelve, and the only one that remained after the dispersion; and lastly, the happiness it had, of being sanctified by the presence, actions, miracles, and death, of Jesus Christ, has given it the name of the holy land, which it retains to this day.

As it has happened to other countries, with respect to. the inhabitants and their cities, so likewise to this. It has often changed its inhabitants and masters; several of its cities have been ruined, and several of them new-built; and

it

it has been divided in several different manners, in the various revolutions it has undergone. For it was differently divided, 1. By its antient inhabitants; 2. By Joshua 3. By the Romans; 4. In the time of Christ; and 5. By Herod.

But it is not so, as to its rivers and mountains; they are neither of them subject to change. Jordan is almost the only river in the Holy Land; the others are rather brooks, or rivulets. This river divides Judea; for it has its rise among the mountains of Libanus, and after having run through the Sea of Galilee, loses itself in the Dead Sea, which is the other, extremity of the land of Judah, towards the south. It took its name from the city of Dan, in whose neighbourhood it rises; for Jordan, or Jourdain, is the same thing as if it was said, the river of Dan. The Sea of Galilee, which Jordan runs through, is but a lake; but the Hebrews, give the name of sea to any great collection of waters. The same may be observed of the Dead Sea. It is a great lake, which the Greeks call Asphaltitis, on account of the bitumen it abounds with; and the Jews call it the Dead Sea, because fish cannot live in it. It was in this place, which is now covered by the lake, that the city of Sodom and Gomorrah stood. After Jordan are reckoned, Jarmach in the country of the Gergesenes, which rises among the mountains of Gilead; and Kirmion, near Damascus, otherwise called Amanach, or Abana; to which are added Pharphar, which runs down from mount Hermon ; Kishon, which was in the tribes of Issachar and Zabulun; Arnon, which comes from the moun

tain of the same name, and runs into the Dead Sea; and Jabok, which falls into Jordan.

This country has several mountains; the most famous of which are, Libanus and Antilibanus, to the north; the Mountains of Gilead, those of the Moabites, Hermon and Arnon, to the east ; the Mountains of the Desert, to the south; and Carmel, the Mountains of Ephraim, and the Mountains of the Philistines, to the west. And there are likewise some in the middle of Judea, as Tabor, Gerizim, Ebal, Sion, Moriah, Hebron, and what the Gospel calls, the Mountains of Judea. But to return to the divisions before mentioned.

1. When Abraham went into the land of Caħaan, it was inhabited by eleven sorts of people, who, as Moses tells us, took their names from the eleven sons of Canaan. They were these:

The Sidonians, descended from Sidon; they possessed the cities of Sidon, Tyre, Jokneam, and Acon, since called Ptolemais.

The Jebusites, from Jebus their parent, since called the Philistines; their cities were Lachish, Gath, Ekron, Ascalon, Azotus, Gerar and Debir.

The Amorites, descended from Amor; who had the cities of Nabah, Heshbon, Bozrah, and Ramoth-Gilead.

The Girgashites, from Girgas; they had the cities of Damascus, Maachathi, Geshur, Zobah, Teman, Ashteroth, and Edrei.

The Hivites, from Heveh; their cities are Jerusalem, Jericho, Ai, Bethel, Gilead, Libnah, Makkedah, and Bezer.

Gen. x.

The

The Arkites, descended from Arak; who had the cities of Esebon, Midian, and Petra.

The Sinites, who descended from Sin, and were masters of the cities of Admah, Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboim, and Zoar. :

・The Arvadites, from Arad; who possessed the cities of Arad, Jarmuth, Hebron, Adullam, and Eglon..

The Zemarites from Zemar; in their territories were built Samariah, Tappuah, Tirzah, and Tanai.

The Hamathites from Hamath, who had the cities of Shimron, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Hamath. To which likewise are added the Perizzites, to whom belonged the cities of Amalek and Bozrah.

2. When the Israelites made themselves masters of the land of Canaan, since from them called the land of Israel, the most powerful people who inhabited it, were the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. It was from them that Joshua gained it by conquest, and he divided it into twelve parts, which the twelve tribes drew by lot. The tribe of Levi indeed possessed no lands: God assigned the Levites the tenths and first-fruits of the estates of their brethren though nevertheless they had some cities which were dispersed among the other tribes, and were therefore called Levitical cities; and some of them were cities of refuge, for those who should have killed any one unawares. though the tribe of Levi did not partake of the division of the land, and this division therefore was only among eleven of the sons of Jacob, yet

But

was

was the Land of Israel divided into twelve portions. There were, I say, twelve tribes, notwithstanding, who divided the land of Canaan among them, inasmuch as the children of the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, made two different tribes. Those of Reuben, Gad, and a part of that of Manasseh, were placed beyond Jordan, towards Arabia and Syria: the rest settled on this side of it.

The most considerable change which took place in this country was that which happened when the ten tribes were driven from it, and carried into captivity by the, Assyrians. The Cutheans, who were sent to possess their coun try, dwelled chiefly in the tribe of Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The tribe of Judah continued in captivity at Babylon seventy years; and the Greeks afterwards made themselves masters of the empire of the east, and some of them, who were kings of Syria, reunited the greatest part of the country which the tribes of Israel possessed, to their crown; and by this means (the tribe of Judah remaining alone, after the others were dispersed) the names which the different parts of the Land of Promise had received upon the division Joshua made of it among the twelve tribes, were changed long before the birth of Jesus Christ.'

3. The Romans divided this country into Palestine and Phoenicia. The former contained the antient country of the Philistines, the latter all the maritime cities as far as Libanus, and made a part of the kingdom of Syria.

4. In the time of Jesus Christ, the Land of Israel was divided into Judea, Samaria, Galilee,

and