Introduction

“The history of any land and people is influenced considerably by its geographical
environment.”1 “From the time of the Greek historian Herodotus in 5 th century, the term was
coined as “Palestine” .The Palestine derived from the word for philistine. Palestine is a
relatively small country, comprised just over 10,000 sq miles. Its length is about 150 miles,
and average breadth of the wider part in the south about 75 miles become narrow in the north.
It is isolated from other countries by desert, mountains and sea. Yet lying at the hub of three
continents, it was providently adapted to be the home not only of particularism of Judaism
but also of universalism of Christianity.” 2Here I explain about the geographical background
of Palestine its shape and size, seasons, language and Regional Division of Palestine.

1. Geographical shape and size of Palestine

“The land of Palestine we shall be considering is a narrow strip that measures in length some
200 -250mi. This measurement includes the vast stretches of the Negeb desert, an area that
figured importantly in Israel’s history but was not the land by the classic dimension of Dan to
Beer Sheba, the length is only 150 mi. The width from the Mediterranean coast to the Rift
(Jordan) Valley would be about 30mi in the north and about 50mi. in the area of the Dead
Sea. Strictly speaking, the 20mi of Trans Jordanian mountainous plateau to the east of the
Rift Valley would not be considered part of Israel. Thus, Israel proper covered some
7000sq.mi and was somewhat smaller than Massachusetts. The biblical story was enacted on
a small stage the capital of the Divided Monarchy, Samaria in the north and Jerusalem in the
south, were less than 35mi.” 3

“The land scape of Palestinian came about by a complicated process of mountain formation
in very early times. Mountains are formed by tensions in the earth so some parts are pushed
up;

1
Jose Joseph Unpublished class notes: Biblical History and Geography, (Ashta: Khrist Premalaya Regional
Theologate ) 1.
2
Bruce M Metzger, The New Testament Its Background, Growth & Content, (USA: Abingdon Press, 2003) 21.
3
Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Roland E. Murphy, ed. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary
Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2011) 1181.
 2

Others pulled in. The layers of sand and stone deposited by the sea, or by the wind. For
Palestine especially one major event should be mentioned: during a very severe earth quake
the rocky

platform underneath Palatine was broken :the top layers sank in to the hole ,leaving a very
long and deep valley : the Jordan valley ,a crack more than 300 miles long , and the gap in
place more than 30 miles wide and 3000ft deep!”4

2. Seasons of Palestine

The climate of the Palestine divide the year into two major seasons , the dry summer from
mid-June to mid – September and the rainy season in the cooler half of the year. This rainy
season is in itself subdivided into the warmer rainy season that is mid-September to
Christmas and the cold season is from January to march.

We can also say there are three periods of seasons. They are (a) Cold season (b) Summer
season (c) Raining season

(a) Cold season: - “Frost is common at night upon the hills. Slight falls of snow occur
occasionally in Jerusalem. About once every 5or 10 years there is a heavy fall of
snow. On the Eastern plateau, which is colder, snow is very much commoner and may
occur every year. During these mouths the average temperature is January 40 o F,
February 35oF, March 45oF. Some of the biblical reference about the season. Pray to
god that you will not have to run away during winter… (Mt 24:20) and also in Jn
10:22, Lk 22:55.”5

(b) Summer season: - “In the Morden Arabic word “summer” is emphatically suggestive
of the long dry period. There is no rain, but winds bring moisture in the form of dew.
This dew keeps the grapes growing during the summer drought. The harvest is
gathered during these months and the thanksgiving feast comes about 7 weeks after
Passover. During these mouths the heat causes a brisk sea breeze to blow eastwards

4
Wijingaards, Background to the Gospel (Bengaluru: Theological Publication in India, 2018)76.
5
Ibid. 85.
 daily. This breeze cool the land and is also used by the harvesters to sift the chaff
from their crops.

(c) In the gospel of St Luke 3:17 and 12:51 also we can see about it. The temperature
during this mouths varies according to location and altitude. It can easily reach the
100of mark at the coast, but the nights are cool.”6

(d) Rainy season: “In contrast to the regularity of the summer days, the rainy season is
very unpredictable. During this season cyclonic storms seem to succeed each other
quite regularly once a week, bringing heavy rain for about three days followed by
four of fine weather . Before a stome the air is full of dust and when the westerly wind
blow in there are often wonderful sunsets and sunrises. We can see the biblical
reference in the gospel of St Matthew 14:24. To the people rain means life and God’s
blessing. Rainfall is more abundant in the north than in the south of Palestine.”7

3. Language in Palestine

We can see the top of the cross on which Jesus was crucified was an inscription that was
written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek it is evident in St Johns Gospel chapter 19 :20 . The
language of biblical land differs according to each place.

“Latin was the official language of the conquerors. It was used by the governor’s as well as
the soldiers of then Roman army of occupation. Very few Palestine Jews knew more than the
most common of everyday Latin words that had been stationed.”8

“The Greek Language, on the contrary, was widely understood in Palestine, particularly in
the north, which was commonly called Galilee of the Gentiles. Here, more frequently than in
Judea to the south, Jews would come into contact with Greek speaking Gentiles, and in order
to hold one’s own in the marketplace, bilingualism was an economic necessity. Slowly the
Greek culture and language permeated in Palestine. At the time of Jesus most educated

6
Ibid. 85-86.
7
Wijingaards, Background to the Gospel (Bengaluru: Theological Publication in India, 2018) 86-87.
8
Bruce M Metzger, The New Testament Its Background, Growth & Content, (USA: Abingdon Press, 2003) 39.
Palestine Jews of upper class knew at least some Greek, especially those living in Jerusalem
and the larger cities.”9

“The third language in common use in Palestine was Aramaic, the mother tongue of the great
majority of Jews. Though the rabbis and learned scribes still had a fluent commend of the
classical Hebrew of Old Testament and now it consider as the death language. Several of the
seven different Western Aramaic dialect were current in palatine. The dialect used in Galilee
was recognizably different in pronunciation from the southern dialect spoken in and around
Jerusalem. The other dialect used in the period of the New Testament includes Samaritan
Aramaic and Nabatean Aramaic the Samarian dialect was a very early form of Aramaic. It
was more akin to Galilean than to Judean, but was closer to Hebrew.”10

4. Regional Division of Palestine

According to New Jerome biblical commentary we can divided Palestine in four regions. (a)
Transjordan (b) Rift valley (c) Coastal plains (d)Central zone of Palestine.

(a) Transjordan: - “The Trans Jordanian Mountains are higher than the Palestinian.
They are cut across east-west by a series of tremendous canyons or gorges radical
faulting of the earth fanning out from a tree trunk. These gorges containing
perennial streams are from south to north: the Zered at the south end of the Dead
Sea: the Jabbok, halfway up the Jordan valley. Yarmuk at the south end of the
lake of galilee. In the south Transjordan Mountains, which formed the domain of
ancient Edoms, begin some 20mile north east of Elath. The main places in
Transjordan are Edom, Moab, Ammon, Gilead, and Bashan.”11
(b) Rift Valley: - “In modern Lebanon the twin north south mountains rages of the
Lebanon and anti-Lebanon are separated by the fertile plain called Biqa. Caused
by the rift that separated the mountains, this is an upland valley 3000-1600 ft in
elevation .The Biqa falls off into the great Palestinian Rift, a drop of 1300ft to the

9
Ibid, 39.
10
Bruce M Metzger, The New Testament Its Background, Growth & Content, (USA: Abingdon Press, 2003) 39.
11
Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Roland E. Murphy, ed. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary
Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2011) 1182.
 Huleh Basin. The main valleys are Jordan tap water, Lake of Galilee, Jordan
valley and Arabah.”12

(c) Coastal plains: - “It is a narrow at the north but broadens considerably towards
south. The rich alluvial soil and the international trade route has made the coastal
region the richest region of Palestine .The western hills in the Lebanon’s rise to
over 6,000 ft above sea level. The highest point of the east cost of the
Mediterranean is the Mount Hermon.”13

(d) Central zone of Palestine: - “The biblical history says that the most important area
of Palestine.”14 The region from the north border of the Negeb to north Galilee
was the “essential Israel”, from Beer-sheba to Dan. For convenience sake we shall
also treat here the Negeb itself.”15

Conclusion

Palestine was a small in area but it differs in use of language, culture seasons, etc. “The area
differ from one another within the short distance.” 16 Here I tried to explain the geographical
background of Palestine its shape and size, seasons, language and Regional Division of

Palestine.

12
Ibid. 1184.
13
Bruce M. Metzger, Michael D. Coogan, ed. The Oxford Illustrated Companion to the Bible (New York: Tess
Press, 2008) 99.
14
Cf. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Roland E. Murphy, ed. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary
Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2011) 1189.
15
Ibid. 1189.
16
Jose Joseph Unpublished class notes: Biblical History and Geography, (Ashta : Khrist Premalaya Regional
Theologate ) 6.
 Table of Content

Acknowledgement …………………………………………………..…….. i

Introduction …………………………………………………………….….1

1. Geographical shape and size of Palestine …………………….…..1

2. Seasons of Palestine ……………………………………………….2
3. Language in Palestine……………………………………………....3
4. Regional Division of Palestine ……………………………...……...4

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...5
 i

Acknowledgement

‘It is not happy people who are thankful but it is thankful people who are happy. ’Indeed I am
happy as I bring to conclude this work with the help of god and the guidance of many and it
is my privilege to acknowledge and thank all of them.

I would like to express my gratitude to Rev. Dr. Jose Joseph, the dean of studies, for
rendering his guidance and support for the completion of this paper. I am thankful to all my
companions for their help and support.