The land of Palestine, where all the wonderful Bible stories took place from Abraham to Jesus, is surprisingly small. It is roughly the size of Vermont with north-south dimensions of 150 miles and east-west distances ranging from 100-125 miles. It’s hard to believe so much history took lace in such a small area.

In the south is the Negev, a flat desert area that we sometimes wrongly think is typical of all the Holy Land.  So many pictures of barren land have been taken of this area and used in movies based on the Bible.

To the west, bordering the Mediterranean Sea is a flat coastal plain that gradually changes to limestone hills in the east. This area of scrub forest acted as a buffer between the peoples of the plains(the Philistines, primarily) and the Jews further up in the hills. Lots of battles took place here as the two cultures (coastal, civilized outsiders and Jews of the mountains) clashed.

Around Jerusalem it is hilly (about 3,000 feet altitude) with fertile, forested areas that were easy to defend. Many Bible passages talk of going up to Jerusalem, meaning no matter whether you are north or south of the city, you are going “up” literally to get there.

Continuing east, the land drops down to the Dead Sea in a wilderness area called the Rift Valley, part of a giant break in the earth’s crust. It is here that the ancient city of Jericho lies.

The land of Samaria, north of Judah, has rolling hills with good farmland. Unfortunately, it was not as easy to defend as Judah, and it fell to the Assyrians in the 700s B.C.

To the far north is Galilee, a rugged, wooded area. Overall, Palestine is a rugged, arid land that was made for tough people.