The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

Judea

Judea was a high table-land cut by deep gullies running east to west. Its territory was 55 miles long and 30 miles wide. The country was divided into 5 regions: The coastal plain, the Shephelah (lowlands near the coast), the Negev (southland), the hill country, and the wilderness. One brief mention about the hill country and the wilderness. The hill country was a rough stony land with deep cut clefts or ravines and rising 2500 feet to the open plateau where Jerusalem sat. The wilderness was a bleak barren region where the Judaen mountains on the east side slope down 4000 feet to the earth's lowest land trench, the Dead Sea region, which was about 1300 feet below sea-level. This was where, at Qumran, the Essene scribes had written the Dead Sea Scrolls and established a devout and separated community.

The population of Judea was exclusively Jewish. Adorning the rocky plateau was the city of Jerusalem with the beautiful Temple of Herod (not yet completed) on Mount Zion. The rabbi's used to boldly say, "He who has not seen Jerusalem in its beauty has not seen a beautiful great city in his whole life, and he who has not seen the Second Temple has not seen a handsome building in his life.

On the west side of the Temple Mount stood the palace of Herod, and north of that was the fortress of Antonia with its garrison of Roman auxiliary troops. It was there at the Antonia fortress that Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor had his residence.