here we have another striking evidence of the authenticity of the New Testament, and

especially of the writings of St. Luke. Only one intimately acquainted with the state of

matters at the time would, with the Rabbis, have distinguished Jerusalem as a district

separate from all the rest of Judaea, as St. Luke markedly does on several occasions

(Luke 5:17; Acts 1:8, 10:39). When the Rabbis speak of "the mountain," they refer to the

district north-east and north of Jerusalem, also known as "the royal mount." The

Shephelah, of course, is the country along the sea-shore. All the rest is included in the

term "valley." It need scarcely be explained that, as the Jerusalem Talmud tells us, this is

merely a general classification, which must not be too closely pressed. Of the eleven

toparchies into which, according to Josephus (Pliny enumerates only ten), Judaea

proper was arranged, the Rabbis take no notice, although some of their names have

been traced in Talmudical writings. These provinces were no doubt again subdivided

into districts or hyparchies, just as the towns were into quarters or hegemonies, both

terms occurring in the Talmud. The Rabbis forbade the exportation of provisions from

Palestine, even into Syria.

Travelling southward from Caesarea we are in the plain of Sharon, whose beauty and

richness are so celebrated in Holy Scripture (Cant 2:1; Isa 35:2). This plain extends as far

as Lydda, where it merges into that of Darom, which stretches farther southwards. In

accordance with the statements of Holy Scripture (Isa 65:10) the plain of Sharon was

always celebrated for its pasturage. According to the Talmud most of the calves for

sacrifices were brought from that district. The wine of Sharon was celebrated, and, for

beverage, supposed to be mixed with one-third of water. The plain was also well known

for the manufacture of pottery; but it must have been of an inferior kind, since the

Mishnah (Baba K. vi. 2) in enumerating for what proportion of damaged goods a

purchaser might not claim compensation, allows not less than ten per cent for breakage

in the pottery of Sharon. In Jer. Sotah viii. 3, we read that the permission to return from

war did not apply to those who had built brick houses in Sharon, it being explained that

the clay was so bad, that the houses had to be rebuilt within seven years. Hence also

the annual prayer of the high-priest on the Day of Atonement, that the houses of the

men of Sharon should not become their graves (see The Temple). Antipatris, the place

where the foot soldiers had left St. Paul in charge of the horsemen (Acts 23:31), had

once been the scene of a very different array. For it was here that, according to tradition

(Yo ma, 69 a), the priesthood, under Simon the Just, had met Alexander the Great in that

solemn procession, which secured the safety of the Temple. In Talmudical writings it

bears the same name, which was given it by Herod, in memory of his father Antipater

(Ant. vi, 5.2). The name of Chephar Zaba, however, also occurs, possibly that of an

adjoining locality. In Sanh. 94 b, we read that Hezekiah had suspended a board at the

entrance of the Beth Midrash (or college), with the notification that whoever studied not

the Law was to be destroyed. Accordingly they searched from Dan to Beersheba, and

found not a single unlettered person, nor yet from Gebath to Antipatris, boy or girl, man

or woman, who was not fully versed in all the legal ordinances concerning clean and

Another remarkable illustration of the New Testament is afforded by Lydda, the

Talmudical Lod or Lud. We read that, in consequence of the labours of St. Peter and the

miracle wrought on Aeneas, "all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron...turned to the Lord"

(Acts 9:35). The brief notice of Lydda given in this narrative of the apostle's labours, is

abundantly confirmed by Talmudical notices, although, of course, we must not expect

them to describe the progress of Christianity. We can readily believe that Lydda had its

congregation of "saints," almost from the first, since it was (Maas. Sh. v. 2) within an

easy day's journey west of Jerusalem. Indeed, as the Talmud explains, the second tithes

(Deu 14:22, 26:12) from Lydda could not be converted into money, but had to be brought

to the city itself, so "that the streets of Jerusalem might be garlanded with fruits." The

same passage illustrates the proximity of Lydda to the city, and the frequent intercourse

between the two, by saying that the women of Lydda mixed their dough, went up to

Jerusalem, prayed in the Temple, and returned before it had fermented. Similarly, we infer

from Talmudical documents that Lydda had been the residence of many Rabbis before