This wonderful country is known by three names. The first is Palestine from Palestina, the land of the Philistines, literally, “the land of the strangers, or of wanderers.” Originally, this name was applied only to that part of the country known as the marine plain, say from Jaffa to Gaza, as that was pre-eminently the land of the Philistines. Gradually, however, the word Palestine was accepted as the name of the whole country.
Canaan, or the Land of Canaan, is a second name given to this particular country. Canaan signifies “the low land,” or “the low country,” as opposed to the “land of Gilead,” that is, the high table-land the east of Jordan. It may at first seem strange that a country so hilly and rough as this should be called “the low land”; but it should be borne in mind that the hills are a kind of a mountain-chain running through the country from north to south. Approaching the country _from the west_, one is greatly impressed with the low, broad, level marine plain which begins at Mt. Carmel and extends far south of Gaza, getting broader and broader towards the south. On entering Palestine _from the east_, one is even more impressed with the low valley, or deep ghor, of the Jordan.
But no name seems so appropriate for this country as “the _Holy Land_.” No explanation is necessary; every one understands the reason for, and recognizes the appropriateness of, this appellation.
Enough has been said, even in this chapter, to give one some idea of the topography of the Holy Land. Imagine a broad, level country one hundred and sixty-five miles long, sixty miles wide at one end, and twenty at the other. On one side this country is bounded by a sea, and on the other by a river. Now imagine that you build a house through the centre of this long, narrow country from one end to the other. Let the roof come down to the ground on either side of the house, leaving a broad plateau on either side, that is, a wide valley between where the roof comes to the ground and the borders of the country. From the top of the house, or mountain ridge, to the Mediterranean is 3,000 feet, while from its top to the Jordan or Dead Sea is 4,000 feet. This gives an approximately correct idea of Palestine. But no one must for a moment suppose the mountain ridge to be regular like the comb of a house, or its sides smooth like a roof. From the central ridge, a succession of peaks rise up to various heights. Beginning at the south, the peaks are Hebron, 3,029 feet above the Mediterranean; Jerusalem, 2,610, and Mount of Olives, 2,724, Bethel, 2,400; Ebal and Gerizim, 2,700; “little Hermon” and Tabor (on the north side of the plain of Esdraelon) 2,000; Safed, 2,775, and Jebel Jurmuk, 4,000. To find the elevation of any of these peaks above the Dead Sea, just add 1,300 feet to the height already given. These several peaks mentioned are just about the centre of the country from east to west. Sometimes the central ridge is level on top, and we find a broad, elevated table-land.