NAPHTxVLI
842
NAPIITALI
signify the region by the Lake of Galilee and the mountains to the north of it. Both the Sept. and Viil{;ate render C "the sea" (see also the Chaldee rabbi Salomon, Bochart, Ainsworth, Montanus, and others). The possessions allotted to Naphtali are de- scribed in Josh, xix, 32-39. The lot of this tribe was not drawn till the last but one. The two portions then remaining unajipropriated were the noble but remote district wliicb lay between the strip of coast-land al- ready allotted to Ashcr and the upper part of the Jor- dan, and tlie little canton or corner, more central, but in every other respect far inferior, which projected from the territory of Judah into the countrj' of the Philis- tines, and formed the " marches" between those two never-tiring combatants. Naphtali chose the former of these, leaving the latter to the Danites, a large num- ber of whom shortly followed their relatives to their liome in the more remote but undisturbed north, and thus testified to the wisdom of Naplitali's selection. The territory thus appropriated was enclosed on three sides by those of other tribes. It lay at the north- eastern angle of Palestine. On the east the tribe was bounded by the Jordan and the lakes of Merom and (Jalilce; on the south by Zebulun; on the west by Asher ; and on the north apparently by the river Leontes. Hammath was one of its cities, and it has been satisfactorily identified with the ruins around the warm simngs a mile south of Tiberias. Consequently, to Naphtali belonged the whole western shore of the Sea of tJalilee. See Tribe. Naphtali possessed a greater variety of soil, scener\', and climate than any of the other tribes. Its northern portions are the high- lands of Palestine. The sublime ravine of the Leontes separates its mountains from the chain of Lebanon, of which, however, they may be regarded as a prolonga- tion. The scenery is here rich and beautiful. The summit of the range is broad, presenting an expanse
t'Caesar^a-.Philippi '»J^ -Ac^Sfiaphr. Abel'beth IVIaa^'hah ■••-"Ord|Ln'
Map of the Tribe of Naphtali.
of undulating table-land, ornamented with broad belts and irregular clumps of evergreen oak, and having here and there little upland plains, covered with verdure, and bordered with thickets of arbutus and liawthorn. In the centre of this park-like region lie the ruins of the sanctuary of the tribe, the northern city of refuge, Kedesh-Naphtali. The ridge rises gradually towards the south, and culminates at Safed, which has an ele- vation of nearly three thousand feet. Two other peaks, a few miles westward, are one thousand feet higher, and are the loftiest points in Western Palestine (see Van de A'elde, Memoir, p. 177). On the western brow of the ridge the tribes of Asher and Naphtali joined, the former having allotted to it the western slopes and narrow plain of Pha-nicia (Josh, xix, 24-30). On the east the mountains of Naphtali break abruptly down in gray clifiFs and wooded slopes into the rich valley of the Jordan. On the north brow of these slopes stands the massive castle of Hunin, probably the ancient IJeth- Kehob; and twelve miles south of it, commanding the waters of Merom. are the ruins of Kasyun, which may perhaps mark the site ofthe capital of the northern Canaanites — Ilazor. The Jordan valley, though soft, and in places marshy, is extremely fertile. Here the people of Sidon established at an early period an agricul- tural colony to supplj' their city with grain and fruits. The region, or "circuit," around Kedesh was anciently called Gain, a name subsequently extended to the whole of Northern Palestine ; and as a large number of for- eigners settled among the mountains — descendants of the Canaanites, and others from Phoenicia and Syria — it was called "Galilee ofthe Gentiles." See G.\i.i- KiiE. According to Josephus (.1 nt. v, 1, 22), the eastern side ofthe tribe reached as far as Damascus; but of this— though not impossible in the early times of the nation and before the rise of the Syrian monarchy — there is no indication in the Bible. The question was recently discussed in the Joiiriml of Sacred and Classi- cal Philologi) by Thrupp and Tregclles (Nos. for 1855, 185G), who both favor the idea of a much wider exten- sion in that direction than has usually been supposed ; but their arguments have not sufficed to convince Ewald, who reviews them in his eighth Jahrhuch, and who very justly thinks that the statement of Josephus ought not to be pressed. Tlie southern section of Naphtali was the garden of Palestine. Tlie little plains along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the vales that run up into the mountains, are of unrivalled fertility, Josephus describes the plain on tlie shore of the lake, then called Gennesaret, as an earthly paradise, wliere the choicest fruits grew luxuriantly, and wliere eternal spring reigned. His words are not mucli exagger- ated; for now, though more a wildemess than a para- dise, its surpassing richness is api)areiit, Tlie shore is lined with a wide border of oleander; behind this is a tangled thicket of tlie lote tree ; and here and there are clumps of dwarf palms, Tlie plain beyond, except the few spots cultivated, is covered with gigantic this- tles (Josephus, War, iii, 10,8 ; Kobinson, Bib.lhs. ii, 402), Thus Naphtali had a communication with the Sea of Galilee, the rich district of the Ard el-lluleh and the INIerj Ayiin, and all tlie splendidly watered country about Baiiias and Hasbeya, the springs of Jordan, But tlie capabilities of these plains and ofthe access to the lake.which at a later period raised (Jnlilee and Gennes- arethto so high a pitch of crowded and busy prosperity, were not destined to be developed wliile tliey were in the keeping of the tribe of Naiihtali. It was the mountainous country ('•.Mount Nai>litali," Josh, xx, 7), which formed the cliief part of their inheritance, that impressed or brouglit out the (pialities for wliich Naph- tali was remarkable at the one remarkable period of its history. This district, the modern Bdad-Besharah, or "land of good tidings," comprises some of the most beautiful scenery and some of the most fertile soil in Palestine (Porter, p, 3ti3), forests surpassing those of the renowned Carmel itself (Van de Velde, i, 293) ; as