Among the famous personages of Galilee may be mentioned Barak, one of Israel's heroes ; De- borah, the author of a triumph song; the judges Ibzan, Klon, and Tola, who judgetl Israel forty years ; the prophets Hosea (?), Jonah the son of Amittai, and Elisha the successor of F.lijah. This was not Elijah's birthplace, still he can be said to belong to Galilee, because this was the scene of a large part of his labours.
The fa-soinating and inspiring natural objects so .abundant in Galilee — vine-clad slopes, plains brilliant with flowers, and the beautiful lake deep within the bo.som of the hills — could hardly fail to awaken the spirit of poetry ; and besides the well-known examples in proof of this, some eminent scholars, as (iesenius and others, would locate here the Song of Songs.
Not only did our Lord, and also His disciples by birth or residence, belong to Galilee, but it is sur- prising to find so large a proportion of the Gospels picturing Galila^an scenes and life : places, people, parables, mir.acles, healing ; rulers, soldiers, mer- chants, beggars ; everything so vivid that we seem to be walking with the Master along the shore and from village to village of His native land.
102 GALILEE, MOUNTAIN IN
GALILEE, SEA OF
'I'he sermon on tlie Mount (Mt 5), the raising of the widow's son (Lk 7"-"), stilling the tumpest (Mt 826), feeding tlie live tliousand (Mk G*'), the transligiiration (Mk !)-), the marriage feast (Jn 2'), the custom house (Lk fy-'), the di-aughl of lishes (Lk 0''), the mountain refuge for secret prayer (Mt 14-''), the little child in the Saviour's arms (Mk '.I'"'), and llie marvellous explanation of the' bread of life (.In 6), — these and a nuiltitude of other sayings and incidents which make u)) the Gospels take us at once to (ialilee. The number and variety of natural objects which Christ intro- duces so frequently in His utterances, illustrate the extent and correctness of His habit of observa- tion. Nothing escapes His notice, — sky, earth, sea, fielils, tlowers, grass, grain, fruits, trees, tish, birds, and animals, — the salient facts of the world immediately about Him were grasped and made the basis of beautifid lessons. A very exhaustive article on this subject, entitled 'Christ as a Prac- tical ( >bserver of Nature, Persons, and Events,' may be found in the liihliotltpca Sacra, July, 1872, pp. rjlO— "liil, by the present writer.
The part played by Galilee in the war with Rome will always command the admiration of the world. It was a life-and-death struggle, and her people rallied with the utmost enthusiasm to the defence of their fatherland. The fact that during the first year of the war Galilee stood alone has not received the attention it deserves. The forces that were, or might have been, gathered in Juda;a were not sent to her aid. From tlieir camp at Ptolemais four veteran legions with their engines of war marched towards the hills of Galilee ; but it proved to be no lioliday expedition on which they had started. The campaign was long and bloody ; the highland patriots resisted with almost superhuman energy ; the Romans were successful at last, but their victory was a costly one. The hardest fighting of the war was done on the soil of Galilee, and in that terrible year one hundred and fifty thousand of her ])eople perished. From the days of Joshua to those of Bar-Cochba no Jewish army had shown greater valour than did the compatriots of Jesus of Nazareth — the men from the home-land of Christ.
LiTERATCRE. — For A 1^11 flccoiint of this province in all its historical phases of Interest, see the present writer's Galilee in t/ip Time of C/irint. Boston (U.S.) ISSl, London 1SS.5; cf. also his E(i«t of the Jortian; G. A. Smith, HGIII. 413 ff. ; Neubiuier. Gcog.du Talmud, ISOIf. ; Rcland, Patent.; Uobin- son. HUP- ii. ; Stanley, Sinai and Palentine. 301 If, ; Conder. Hamllik. to Bihle, 801 If. ; Gu6rln, Galilie ; Buhl, Geog. Alt. Patilat.; Baedeker-Socin, PalduL; Schiirer, //.//'(Index).
S. Mkukill. GALILEE, MOUNTAIN IN.— After our Lord's resurrection, the eleven disciples went away from Jerusalem ' into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed tliem {eh riji' Ta\i\a.la.v ei's t6 6/)os ov ird^aro avTois 6 'Itjo-oCs).' There the disciples saw and worshipped Him, and received His final commission (Mt 28'8-2"). No record or hint indi- cates to us what mountain is meant. For harmo- nistic rea.sons tlie theory that the Galilrean hill was the Mt. of Olives, whose north point is said to have borne the name ' Galilee,' has found favour in some quarters. This opinion scarcely needs refutation (see Keim, Jesus of Nazara, vi.'SSO n.).
S. Mekkill. "GALILEE, SEA OF.— This appears in the Bible under several different names, which must first be noticed. Modern writers not infrequently speak of the -Lake of Tiberias,' but this term is never used in NT. Moreover. Lk u' is the only place where the name ' Lake of Gennesaret ' (X^m"') TenriirapiT) occurs. In four instances it is referred to as 'the Lake ' (Xl/xpti), Lk 5- S-'-- as- :«, and in several others as 'the sea' {edXatrtra), .In 6"-^. Twice John employs ' Sea of Tiberias ' (edXaa-aa rijs TijSfpidSos).
(i' 21', but in the first case he had already men- tioned in a natural way the Sea of Galilee, and immediately added as an ex])lanation for his Gentiifc readers that it was the same as the Sea of Tiberias. This reduces the use of the latter name to a single instance. 'Sea of Galilee' (edXaa-a-a T^s I'aXiXalas) would .seem to be the best known and most aiipropriate name, and this is used five times (Mt 4'» 15-\ Mk l'« 7-", Jn li'). Glancing at the (.)T we find for this body of water two names, or properly one name spelled in different ways. The ' Sea of Chinnereth ' (■'^'lA? c;) appears in de- fining the boundary of the land (Nu .'?4"), and again in defining the border of the territory of Gad (Jos 1.'^-'). 'Sea of Chinneroth ' is given in describing the territory of Sihon that was con- quered by Moses (Jos"l2»). Chiniieivth (^■'?-) is used once alone (Dt 8'") and Chinneroth (■"'"',= ") also (Jos 11-). both referring to the .Sea of Galilee. Once Chinneroth is used for a district conquered by Benhadad (1 K lo-"), and Chinnereth appears in Jos 1!)'"' as a ' fenced city.' It is perfectly con- sistent with Oriental usage for a city, a district, and a body of water adjoining it to be called by the same name, .although it is quite possible that Dt :!'■ (see Driver, ad Inc.), Jos 11- lil-"^ all refer to the crt.v Chinnereth or Chinneroth.