Seven Year Laws & Palestine Natural Regions

Finger Pointing Up

Before the flood, You told Adam that he can eat anything on any tree except for the Tree of Knowledge (Gen 2:16-17), so I guess You wanted us to be vegetarians.  

1. Tel Gezer
The coastal plain looking from Tel Gezer towards the city of Tel Aviv (dry season)

But after the flood, You told Noah that he could eat anything, but not meat with the blood still in it (Gen 9:2-4)

And You got Moses going, he was mad.  He told the people that there were certain animals they could eat, I guess because they were stiffnecked and needed to be treated as children, rather than having complete freedom. 

Centuries later, You told Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, that anything edible was good (Acts 10:11-15).

“And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,

And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:

Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.

And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.

But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.

And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common”  (Act 10:11-15).

The scripture I just noted does include food, but it’s meaning is much more profound.  

2. Shephelah
Shephelah, note crops on valley floor, trees on slopes (dry season).

God was telling Peter that the Israelites, or Hebrew, or Jews are no longer His chosen people.  God’s chosen people is anyone that accepts Jesus Christ as his or her savior.

“At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 

And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that blindeth ought unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’S release.

Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;

Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it” (Deut 15:1-4).

“For the LORD thy God blessest thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. 

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother. 

But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth” (Deut 15:6-8). 

Don’t be confused with this, many people try and use these words to scam.  God doesn’t want us to be doormats or fools, but He does want us to give.  But He wants us to give to the NEEDY, not to the LAZY and GREEDY.

3. Nahal Kidron near Mar Saba
This view of the Nahal Kidron near Mar Saba suggests that the valley floors on the E side of the hill country do not provide good routes.

“Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. 

Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

And if thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. 

And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day. 

And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;

Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant forever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise” (Deut 15:9-18).

4. The Negev near Arad
The Negev near Arad, in the closeup you can see settlements at the base of the hills.

This all reflects back on the Sabbath.  Remember that the Sabbath is every seven days. 

After six years the seventh year is the Sabbath Year, and after seven Sabbath years comes the Jubilee (Lev 25:8-16), and on that year everything is set free, including debts.  This is what the world should do.

Palestine Natural Regions

Palestine is the geographical epicenter of our faith.  “Judea,” “Galilee,” and “Samaria” evoke vivid images of biblical events. 

The hills and valleys of this land heard the thunder of Amos’ prophetic voice.  The deserts witnessed the courageous preaching of John the Baptist as he prepared the way for Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

The cities echo with the memories of David, Solomon, and Herod the Great, from whose imagination great buildings sprang. 

Along the dusty roads of this land the disciples followed Jesus of Nazareth, whose words and deeds mark the decisive intervention of God in human affairs. 

5. Palestine can be divided into 6 sorts of land
Palestine can be divided into 6 sorts of land:

The plains, flat land in a strip along the sea coast, thinner to the north and broader to the south, together with the “Great Plain” which cuts through the hills north of the Carmel ridge and joins the Jordan valley via the Jezreel valley.

Shephelah, is the biblical term for the low hills and valleys between the plain and the hill country. Orchards grow well on their gentler slopes, and crops in the valley floors. Flocks (of sheep and goats) could be kept on the steeper land.

The hill country, runs down the spine of the land, broken only by the Great Plain. The western slopes receive reasonable rainfall (and in the dry season dew) and offer some possibilities for farming, while the eastern slopes being steeper (falling to the Rift Valley) and drier were only suitable for flocks which were moved up or down the hill according to the season.

The Judean hills tend to run North-South while in Samaria and Galillee such a tendency is less clear. Enemies must either enter this region up one of the broad valleys through the Shephelah, or move N-S along the ridges of the hills.

The Rift Valley, with the Jordan river running from Dan in the North through the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, is part of a great cleft in the earth which continues by the Red Sea down into Africa. In Palestine this valley is the lowest point on the land of the Earth (down to over 300m below sea level).

The Jordan winds some 300kms to pass 100kms between Galilee and Jericho. The Dead Sea is so-called because no river flows out of it and all the water entering is lost by evaporation and thus it is exceedingly salty.

Transjordan, as the plateau East of the Jordan is known, has reasonable rainfall and was known for its cattle.

The Negev (meaning South) describes the dry flatish area that stretches from the Mediterranean and the southern end of the Judean hills south to the port at Elat on the Red Sea. Herding is possible, and habitation (whether Beduin camps or ancient cities) tends to be found at the base of hills where wells and vegetation are found.

According to the biblical description, Palestine is “a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills” (Deut 8:7, see also Deut 11:10, 17) and much more.

Few areas on earth  of comparable size contain more  geographic diversity than Palestine.  The small dimensions of the area make the variety of landforms all the more striking. 

Ranging in width from 80 to 100 miles with a maximum length of 250 miles.  Palestine is about the size of New Jersey.  Yet within its borders, desert areas contrast with broad, fertile plains; mountain ranges and high plateau towers above the lowest place on the earth’s surface – the Dead Sea.

A study of Palestine geology shows that the main physical features of the land run north to south.  A cross sectional view reveals four major longitudinal zones:

The Coastal Plain, 
The Western Moutains,
The Jordan Rift, and
The Eastern Plateau.

The Jordan Rift is the most pronounced feature of the landscape and divides the land into two parts: Cisjordan, the area west of the Jordan Rift, and Transjordan, the inhabitable land between the rift and the deserts to the east. 

Most of the geographic features in Palestine represent a subdivision of the four major zones.  However, the four features – the Jezreel Valley, the Shephelah, the Negeb, and the Southern Wilderness cannot be fitted easily in these zones and are listed separately below.

The Coastal Plain of  alestine extends from the Ladder of Tyre in the north, southward to the Sinai, interrupted only by Mount Carmel as it juts out into the Mediterranean Sea. 

Few natural harbors can be found along the coast, however, and the presence of sand dunes and hard limestone ridges (kurkar) prohibited most settlement directly on that coast. 

These conditions meant that the people living in Palestine were seldom great seafarers.  The fertile soil and abundant water, characteristic of the Coastal Plain, did ensure dense settlement in most periods.

Israel controlled portions of the plain only in times of political and military strength.  More frequently, powerful foes like Egypt or Assyria dominated this region. 

The Philistines and Phoenicians encroached upon the plain throughout much of the first millennium B.C.  The Coastal Plain consists of three sections: the Plain of Acco, the Plain of Sharon, and the Philistine Plain.

The Plain of Acco occupies a narrow strip between the Ladder of Tyre in the north and Mount Carmel to the south. 

In Joshua’s division of the land the tribe of Asher received the Plain of Acco; the small cities of the region were closely related to their Phoenician neighbors to the north. 

Most of these cities clustered along the eastern portion of the Acco Plain, but the city of Acco (later, Ptolemais) and Achizib were along the coast.

The Sharon Plain extends south of Mount Carmel to the Yarkon River.  Until New Testament times the Sharon Plain was sparsely inhabited. 

Because of the deposition of sand along the coast, numerous streams of the region had a tendency to dam at their mouths.  As a result, marshes and swamps formed in the western sector where dense undergrowth and oak thickets flourished. 

The lush vegetation of the Sharon inspired biblical poets (Song of Solomon 2:1) but discouraged settlement. 

The International Coastal Highway skirted and Sharon eastward where the few cities of the plain were located. 

Aphek, at the head of the Yarkon River, was the region’s most important city in the Old Testament period. 

By New Testament times the marshes had been drained.  Herod built the impressive port of Caesarea on the coast, giving to Palestine a much needed major. 

The Plain of Dor, tucked beneath the western slopes of Mount Carmel, is sometimes considered a part of the Sharon Plain. 

Other geographers consider the plain a separate geographical entity.  One of the most important harbors of Palestine, Dor gave the plain a strategic importance.

By 1150 B.C. the Philistines settled the southern coastal region of Palestine, and eventually the broad plain stretching south to the Sinai bore their name. 

The major international trade route, the International Coastal Highway, split into two branches as it crossed the Philistine Plain. 

The key cities of this region – Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron – play important roles in biblical history and are located along the International Coastal Highway. 

Unlike the Sharon Plain, drainage was not a problem, and the rich alluvial soil provided abundant grain crops for the large population inhabiting the region.

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