XAPHTALI
NAPHTALI
225
away the sin of the world.' See also artt. Offices OF Christ and Prince.
LiTERATUKE.— Ciudeii's Concordance (sixth ed. unabridged), Preface; Creiner, Bib.-Theol. Lex. s.vv. Xpkttoj, Kupios, Aoyo;, fj.ovoy!vy,;, ulo; ; Thayer, Lex. jVT. s.vv. xyio;, 'EuuMvovik, 'ly.ireu;, Xpio-To^, KCpio;, Asyo,-, fMvayivr,;, uU; ; Comm. of Meyer, Alford, etc.; Bengel's Gnunion; VVendt, The Teacliing of .Jesus, ii. p. 122 ff.; Uevschlag-, Ckristvlogle d. jVT, p. 10 ff., also AT Theol. i. pp. .')7ff., 240ff., ii. pp. 412-424; Reuss, Hist, of Chris. Theol. in the Apostolic Age, i. pp. 72-201 ; H. J. Holtzinann, Lehrbiicli d. XT Theologie, i. pp. 73-96, 241-268, ii. 397-434; Weiss, mill. Theol. NT, i. 73-92, ii. 325-34^.; Schinid, Bib. Theol. ST, pp. 63-90; Bruce, Kingdom of God, 166-1S6 ; E. H. Pluniptre, Christ nnd Christendom, 131 ; A. Maclaren, God of the Amen, 19; J. Cairns, Christ the Morning Star, 39; D. G. Monrad, World of Prayer, 219; A. M. Fairbairn, Christ in Mod. Theology, 358. H. H. CURRIE.
NAPHTALI CSecpdaXeifi).—!. Description.— With
the Captivities all practical use of the tribal divisions came to an end, and, but for such a refer- ence as that given in Mt 4^^ to the OT prophecy of Is 9', the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali could scarcely appear as geograplucal names in the NT. The boundaries of these divisions we can know at best only approximately. INIany of the towns named in Joshua's description of the tribal terri- tories are unknown to us, and, besides, the tribes are not likely ever to have had the unbroken compactness the maps would lead us to believe. Villages among the mountains of Naphtali have to this day their arable lands near the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and .similarly in Zebulun the in- habitants of Nazareth cultivate portions of the plain of Esdraelon. Thus the tribes might in many cases possess detached portions, and difficulties connected with their extent and boundaries may sometimes be explained from this fact. This un- certainty as regards the boundaries of these tribes is of no consequence to our present purpose, as the indefinite statement in Mt 4}^ cannot be used in any argument regarding the site of Capernaum ; nor can we fix the boundaries from any supposed relation- ship to that city, as Reland has sought to do (Pal. p. 161). The lands of Naphtali then, generally speaking, occupied the N.E. portion of Galilee, together with the west and south of the Lake. Josephus (Ant. V. i. 22) defines its northern bound- ary as Mount Lebanon and the Fountains of Jordan. Tiie Rabbis tell us that ' Naphtali rejoiced in his portion, having seas and fish.' They assign the Sea of Galilee to the portion of Najihtali, and give him also ' a full measure ' to the south of the Lake (Bab. Baba Kama, 816 ; Sifri on Dt SS^*). In Naph- tali were represented the three divisions of Galilee — of varying elevation (Mishn. Shebiith ix. 2) ; (1) Upper Galilee, from Kefr Hananj^ah (Kefr Anan) northwards, which is described as the portion ' where the sycamores do not grow ' ; (2) Lower Galilee, extending downwards till we reach (3) the third division, which is designated n'-\2a Dinn or pann — ' the depression of Tiberias ' or ' the valley.' For description of the last of these districts, see artt. Sea of GALiLEE,-and Genne.saret (Land of). From the north end of the Plain of Gennesaret and the Sea of Galilee (-682-5 ft.) the land rises through a series of steep ascents and small plateaux to Safed (-f 2750 ft.) and Jebel Jermuk (4000 ft.), the highest peak in Western Palestine. To the north of these points, and until the valley of the Litani is reached, we have an undulating table- land, with vast stretches that are arable and every- wliere tilled, with swelling hills in view all round, covered with prickly shrubs and trees and forests of small oak. This district is broken into by two deep valleys, somewhat like but narrower than AVady ^lamam. From the N.W. of the Plain of Gennesaret the Wady Leimon, otherwise called Wady Amud, and in ancient times [iia nVi-n, the ' ascent of Meiron,' extends to the neighbourhood of the village of that name. It is a narrow gorge,
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for the most part enclosed by steep rocky walls and natural pillars. It is now impassable, but in ancient times it was accessible to passengers in single file (Eriibhin, 226; Rosh-hnsh., 16r/). About half-way up this ravine a smaller wady branches off eastward, to beyond the great rock of Akbara — a cliti" as grand and impressive as anything met with in Wady Haniam. In later days there grew up under its shadow a famous Rabbinical school, and the district was renowned for its coverts oi pheasants. Farther north, Upper Galilee is divided by another valley (Wady Fara), almost equally deep, but less rocky. It extends eastward from the neighbourhood of el-Jish, and opens out into the plain beside Lake yuleh and the Jordan.
In the neighbourhood of el-Jish and Taitabeh (said to be the Tishbe of 1 K 17') we meet with three extinct craters and quantities of black volcanic rock, and by it the slopes to the ^uleh valley and the Jordan as far as the Sea of Galilee are also fringed. Between Kerazeh and Tell ^Jum great quantities of basaltic boulders cumber the ground, and the stones of Tiberias again are black. Volcanic forces have been active in the past. They have created for us these wdd gorges and gigantic cliffs, and their continued existence is proved by the hot springs, as also by the frequent earthquakes in ancient (Ant. XV. v. 2 ; Joma v. 2 ; Sota viii. 7) and in modern times. Of these latter the most terrible known is that which occurred on 1st Jan. 1837. Elsewhere the rocks of Naphtali are generally a species of limestone, known in Palestine by the name of ndri. On the hills above the Lake there are great stretches of these white rocks, hard as flint, bare, desolate, and painful to the eye, especi- ally under the summer sun. But though the surface is hard and glossy, we have only to get below it to find that the rock is really soft. It may be cut Avith a saw with even greater facility than wood. All sorts of trees — olives, figs, and vines — can send their roots through it and draw nourishment thence, while the hard exposed surface is there to conserve the moisture below. AVith little trouble these rocky desolations may be turned into vine- yards, olive groves, and orchards, and we have every reason to believe that they were such in the early Christian centuries (Bab. Megilla, 6r/).