1-3). But it was also, from its evenness, and from its situation on the road between Egypt and Assyria, ex- posed to continual visits from foreign armies, visits which at last led to the destruction of the Israelitish kingdom. In the earlier history of the country the Israelites do not appear to have ventured into the She- phelah, but to have awaited the approach of their en- emies from thence. Under the Maccabees, however, their tactics were changed, and it became the field where some of the most hardly contested and success- ful of their battles were fought. These conditions have scarcely altered in modern times. Any invasion of Pal- estine must take place through the maritime plain, tiie natural and oidy road to the highlands. It did so in Napoleon's case. The Shephelah is still one vast corn- field, but the contests which take place on it are now reduced to those between the oppressed peasants and the insolent and rapacious officials of the Turkish gov- ernment, who are gradually putting a stop by their ex- tortions to all the industry of this district, and driving active and willing hands to better-governed regions. — Smith. See Jui>ah, Tribe of.
This tract, as above intimated, comprises not so much the mere maritime plain, but rather the lower range or spurs of the Judiean hills on the Mediterranean side. It consists, in fact, of low hills, about five hundred feet above the sea, of white, soft limestone, with great bands of beautiful brown quartz running between the strata. The broad valleys among these hills, forming the en- trance to the hill-country proper, produce fine crops of corn, and on the hills olive-groves flourish better than in either of the adjoining districts. This part of the coimtry is also the most thickly populated, and an- cient wells, and occasionally fine springs, occur through- out. The villages are partly of stone, partly of mud; the ruins are so thicklv spread over hill and valley that in some parts there are as many as three ancient sites to two square miles. All along the base of these hills, commanding the passes to the mountains, important places are to be found, such as Gath and Gezer, Emma- us and Beth-horon, and no part of the country is more rich in Biblical sites or more famous in Bible history (Conder, Tent Work in Palestine, i, 10). See Topo- graphical Terms.
Shepherd (usually n""l, i-oeh, a feeder, Troifirjv, but substantially denoted also by '^i^ia, boker, a "herd- man," Amos vii, 14; and by 1)?b, noked, a "sheep-mas- ter," 2 Kings iii, 4; "herdman," Amos i, 1). In a no- madic state of societ)', every man, from the sheik down to the slave, is more or less a shepherd. As many regions in the East are adapted solely to pastoral pursuits, the institution of the nomad life, with its appliances of tents and camp equipage, was regarded as one of the most memoralile inventions (Gen. iv, 20). The progenitors of the Jews in the patriarchal age were nomads, and their history is rich in scenes of pastoral life. The oc- cupation of tending the flocks was undertaken, not only by the sons of wealthy chiefs (xxx, 29 sq.; xxxvii, 12 sq.), but even by their daughters (xxix, G sq.; Exod. ii, 19). The Egyptian captivity did much to implant a love of settled abode, and consequently we find the tribes which still retained a taste for shepherd life selecting their own quarters apart from their brethren in the Transjordanic district (Numb, xxxii, 1 sq.). Hence- forward in Palestine proper the shepherd held a sub- ordinate position; the increase of agriculture involved the decrease of pasturage ; and though large flocks were still maintained in certain parts, particularly on the bor- ders of the wilderness of Judah, as about Carmel (1 Sam. XXV, 2), Bethlehem (xvi, 11 ; Luke ii, 8), Tekoah (Amos i, 1), and, more to the south, at Gedor (1 Chron. iv, 39), the nomad life was practically extinct, and the shepherd became one out of many classes of the laboring popula- tion. The completeness of the transition from the pas- toral to tiie agricidtural state is strongly exhibited in those passages which allude to the presence of the sliep-
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herd's tent as a token of desolation (e. g. Ezek. xxv, 4 ; Zeph. ii, 0). The humlile position of the shepherd at the same period is implied in the notices of David's wondrous elevation (2 Sam. vii, 8; Psa. Ixxviii, 70), and a^aiii in the self-depreciating confession of Amos (vii, 14). The frequent and beautiful allusions to the shepherd's of- fice in the poetical portions of the Bible (e.g. Psa. xxiii; Isa. xl, 11; xlix, 9, 10; Jer. xxiii, 3, 4; Ezek, xxxiv, 1 1, 12. 23), rather bespeak a period when the shepherd had become an ideal character, such as the Koman poets painted the pastors of Arcadia. See Pastuhk.
The olHce of the Eastern shepherd, as described in the Bible, was attended with much hardship and even dan- ger. He was exposed to the extremes of heat and cold (Gen. xxxi, 40); his food frequenth' consisted of the precarious supplies afforded by nature, such as the fruit of the •' sj'camore," or Egyptian fig (Amos vii, 14), the "husks" of the carob-tree (Luke xv, 16), or perchance the locusts and wild honey which supported the Baptist (Matt, iii, 4) ; he had to encounter the attacks of wild beasts, occasionally of the larger pecies, such as lions, wolves, panthers, and bears (1 Sam. xvii, 34; Isa. xxxi, 4; Jer. v, G; Amos iii, 12); nor was he free from the risk of robbers or predatory hordes (Gen. xxxi, 39). To meet these various foes the shepherd's equipment consisted of the following articles: a mantle, made probably of sheep's-skin with the fleece on, which he turned inside out in cold weather, as implied iu the comparison in Jer. xliii, 12 (comp. Juv. xiv, 187); a scrip or wallet, containing a small amount of food (1 Sam. xvii, 40; Porter, iJamascus, ii, 100) ; a sling, which is still the favorite weapon of the Bedawi shepherd (1 Sam. xvii, 40; Burckhardt, Xotes, i, 57); and, lastly, a staff, which served the double purpose of a weapon against foes and a crook for the management of the flock (1 Sam. xvii, 40 ; Psa. xxiii, 4 ; Zech. xi, 7). If the shepherd was at a distance from his home, he was provided with a light tent (Cant, i, 8 ; Jer. xxxv, 7), the removal of which was easily ett'ected (Isa. xxxviii, 12). In certain localities, moreover, towers were erected for the double purpose of spying an enemy at a distance and protecting the flock ; such towers were erected by Uzziah and Jotham (2 Chron. xxvi, 10; xxvii, 4), while their existence in earlier times is testified by the name Migdal-Eder (tien. xxxv, 21, A. V. "'tower of Edar;" Micah iv, 8, A. V. '• tower of the flock"). See Tower.