Topic
Natural Features
12 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Numbers 21:15ISBE
And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab.
- Deuteronomy 3:17ISBE
The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdoth-pisgah eastward.
- Deuteronomy 4:49ISBE
And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.
- Joshua 8:15ISBE
And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
- Joshua 8:20ISBE
And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
- Joshua 8:24ISBE
And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites…
- Joshua 10:40ISBE
¶ So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.
- Joshua 12:3ISBE
And from the plain to the sea of Chinneroth on the east, and unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea on the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and from the south, under Ashdoth-pisgah:
- Joshua 12:7ISBE
¶ And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for…
- Joshua 12:8ISBE
In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites:
- Joshua 13:20ISBE
And Beth-peor, and Ashdoth-pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth,
- Matthew 4:1ISBE
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 12 references
fe'-turz: As has been pointed out by various authors (compare HGHL), the principal physical features of Palestine run in North and South lines, or rather about from South-Southwest to North-Northeast.
The lowland or Shephelah (the King James Version "vale, valley, plain, or low country") includes the maritime plain and the western foothills.
The hill country consists of the mountains of Judea, and its features are continued northward to the plain of Esdraelon and southward to the Sinaitic peninsula. It is rocky and has very little water. Except for the few fountains, the scanty population depends upon rain water collected during the winter months.
The Arabah (Revised Version) includes the Jordan valley from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, as well as the depression running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah. It is to the latter depression that the name Wady-ul-`Arabah] is now applied by the Arabs. It is bounded on the East by Mr. Seir or Edom, and on the West by the mountains of the Sinaitic peninsula. Its highest point, about halfway between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akabah, is a few hundred ft. higher than the level of the Mediterranean, but nearly 2,000 ft. above the level of the Dead Sea. From this point the valley slopes southward to the Gulf of Akabah, and northward to the Dead Sea. The lower Jordan valley slopes from about 600 ft. below ocean-level at the Sea of Galilee to about 1,300 ft. below ocean-level at the Dead Sea.
To the East are the highlands of Gilead and Moab rising abruptly from the valley, as does the hill country of Judea on the West. The country to the East of the Jordan-Dead Sea-Arabah depression, to the whole of which the name Ghaur (Ghor) is applied by the Arabs, is a great table-land sloping gradually to the East from the sharp edge which overlooks the Ghaur. It has no conspicuous peaks. What appear to be peaks when viewed from the Ghaur are irregularities of its western contour, which are invisible or appear as slight mounds to the observer who looks westward from any point some miles to the East Mt. Nebo, for instance, when seen from Medeba is not readily distinguishable. This is because it really does not rise above the general level of the table-land. The small annual rainfall on the heights near the Ghaur diminishes eastward, and the desert begins within from 20 to 40 miles.
Another term much used by Old Testament writers is South or Negeb, which embraces the southernmost portion of the promised land, and was never effectively occupied by the Israelites. Its uttermost boundary was the "river of Egypt" (al-`Arish), and coincides roughly with the present boundary between the Ottoman territory on the East and the Anglo-Egyptian territory of Sinai on the West.
The term slopes, 'ashedhoth, the King James Version "springs," occurs in Jos 10:40, "So Joshua smote all the land, the hill country .... and the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings"; and again in Jos 12:7,8, "And Joshua gave it .... for a possession according to their divisions; in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South." In the former passage, it seems to refer to the foothills which form the eastern or higher part of the lowland or Shephelah. In the latter passage, it might mean the same, or it might mean the descent from the Judean hills to the Ghaur. In De 3:17; 4:49; Jos 12:3; 13:20, we have "the slopes of Pisgah" ('ashdoth-ha-pisgah, "springs of Pisgah"), which denotes the descent from the heights of Moab to the Ghaur. The same word occurs in the sing in Nu 21:15, referring to the descent to the Arnon. "Slopes," therefore, does not seem to be a term applied to any particular region.
The wilderness is usually the desert of the wandering, including the central part of the Sinaitic peninsula, but it is by no means always used in this sense,. e.g. Jos 8:15,20,24, where it clearly refers to a region near Ai. "The wilderness" of Mt 4:1 is thought to be the barren portion of Judea between Jerusalem and the Jordan.
See CHAMPAIGN; COUNTRY; DESERT; EAST; HILL; LOWLAND; SOUTH.
Alfred Ely Day
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.