the valleys, depressions, and hills have changed, or at least lie buried deep under the

accumulated ruins of centuries. It almost seems as if the Lord meant to do with the land

what Hezekiah had done with that relic of Moses --the brazen serpent--when he

stamped it to pieces, lest its sacred memories should convert it into an occasion for

idolatry. The lie of land and water, of mountain and valley, are the same; Hebron,

Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, Nazareth, the Lake of Gennesaret, the land of Galilee,

are still there, but all changed in form and appearance, and with no definite spot to

which one could with absolute certainty attach the most sacred events. Events, then,

not places; spiritual realities, not their outward surroundings, have been given to

mankind by the land of Palestine.

"So long as Israel inhabited Palestine," says the Babylonian Talmud, "the country was

wide; but now it has become narrow." There is only too much historical truth underlying

this somewhat curiously -worded statement. Each successive change left the boundaries

of the Holy Land narrowed. Never as yet has it actually reached the extent indicated in

the original promise to Abraham (Gen 15:18), and afterwards confirmed to the children of

Israel (Exo 23:31). The nearest approach to it was during the reign of King David, when

the power of Judah extended as far as the river Euphrates (2 Sam 8:3-14). At present the

country to which the name Palestine attaches is smaller than at any previous period. As

of old, it still stretches north and south "from Dan to Beersheba"; in the east and we st

from Salcah (the modern Sulkhad) to "the great sea," the Mediterranean. Its superficial

area is about 12,000 square miles, its length from 140 to 180, its breadth in the south

about 75, and in the north from 100 to 120 miles. To put it more pictorially, the modern

Palestine is about twice as large as Wales; it is smaller than Holland, and about equal in

size to Belgium. Moreover, from the highest mountain -peaks a glimpse of almost the

whole country may be obtained. So small was the land which the Lord chose as the

scene of the most marvellous events that ever happened on earth, and whence He

appointed light and life to flow forth into all the world!

When our blessed Saviour trod the soil of Palestine, the country had already undergone

many changes. The ancient division of tribes had given way; the two kingdoms of

Judah and Israel existed no longer; and the varied foreign domination, and the brief

period of absolute national independence, had alike ceased. Yet, with the characteristic

tenacity of the East for the past, the names of the ancient tribes still attached to some of

the districts formerly occupied by them (comp. Matt 4:13, 15). A comparatively small

number of the exiles had returned to Palestine with Ezra and Nehemiah, and the Jewish

inhabitants of the country consisted either of those who had originally been left in the

land, or of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The controversy about the ten tribes,

which engages so much attention in our days, raged even at the time of our Lord. "Will

He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles?" asked the Jews, when unable to fathom

the meaning of Christ's prediction of His departure, using that mysterious vagueness of

language in which we generally clothe things which we pretend to, but really do not,

know. "The ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude,

and not to be estimated by numbers," writes Josephus, with his usual grandiloquent

self-complacency. But where --he informs us as little as any of his other contemporaries.

We re ad in the earliest Jewish authority, the Mishnah (Sanh. x. 3): "The ten tries shall

never return again, as it is written (Deu 29:28), 'And He cast them into another land, as

this day.' As 'this day' goeth and does not return again, so they also go and do not

return. This is the view of Rabbi Akiba. Rabbi Elieser says, 'As the day becomes dark

and has light again, so the ten tribes, to whom darkness has come; but light shall also be

restored to them.'"

At the time of Christ's birth Palestine was governed by Herod the Great; that is, it was

nominally an independent kingdom, but under the suzerainty of Rome. On the death of

Herod--that is, very close upon the opening of the gospel story --a fresh, though only

temporary, division of his dominions took place. The events connected with it fully

illustrate the parable of our Lord, recorded in Luke 19:12-15, 27. If they do not form its

historical groundwork, they were at least so fresh in the memory of Christ's hearers, that