JUDEA

Or land of the Jews, a name sometimes given to the southern part of the Holy Land; and sometimes, especially by foreigners, to the whole country. In the general division of Canaan among the tribes, the southeast part fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah. With the increasing ascendency of that tribe the name of Judah covered a more extended territory, 2Sa 5:5; and after the secession of the ten tribes, the kingdom of Judah included the territory of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with a part of that of Simeon and Dan. Judah thus occupied all the southern portion of Palestine, while the northern part was called Galilee, and the middle Samaria. After the captivity, as most of those who returned were of the kingdom of Judah, the name Judah, or Judea, was applied generally to the whole of Palestine, Hag 1:1,14 2:2; and this use of the word has never wholly ceased. When the whole country fell into the power of the Romans, the former division into Galilee, Samaria, and Judea seems to have again become current, Lu 2:4 Joh 4:3,4. Josephus describes Judea in his day as bounded north by Samaria, east by the Jordan, west by the Mediterranean, and south by the territory of the Arabs. These boundaries seem to include a part of Idumaea. Judea in this extent constituted part of the kingdom of Herod the Great, and afterwards belonged to his son Archelaus. When the latter was banished for his cruelties, Judea was reduced to the form of a Roman province, annexed to the proconsulate of Syria, and governed by procurators, until it was at length given as part of his kingdom to Herod Agrippa II. During all this time, the boundaries of the province were often varied, by the addition or abstraction of different towns and cities. The original territory of the tribe of Judah was an elevated plain, much broken by frequent hills, ravines, and valleys, and sinking into fine plains and pasture-grounds on the west and south, Zec 7:7. It was a healthy, pleasant, and fruitful land. The valleys yielded large crops of grain; and the hills were terraced, watered, covered with vines, Ge 49:11,12, and rich in olives, figs, and many other fruits. See CANAAN. The "hill country" of Judah lay south and southeast of Jerusalem, Lu 1:39,65, including Bethlehem, Hebron, etc. "The plain" refers usually to the low ground near the Jordan, 2Sa 2:29 2Ki 25:4,5. The "wilderness of Judea," in which John began to preach, and where Christ was tempted, seems to have been in the eastern part of Judah, adjacent to the Dead sea, and stretching towards Jericho, 2Sa 15:28. It is still one of the most dreary and desolate regions of the whole country, Mt 3:1 4:1.

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Judea. Judea
After the Captivity this name was applied to the whole of the country west of the Jordan (Hag. 1:1, 14; 2:2). But under the Romans, in the time of Christ, it denoted the southernmost of the three divisions of Palestine (Matt. 2:1, 5; 3:1; 4:25), although it was also sometimes used for Palestine generally (Acts 28:21).

The province of Judea, as distinguished from Galilee and Samaria, included the territories of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Dan, Simeon, and part of Ephraim. Under the Romans it was a part of the province of Syria, and was governed by a procurator.

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JUDEA. 1. Also called JUDAH and JUDAEA → (The southern division of Palestine)
* It extended from the Jordan River and the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from Shiloh on the north to the wilderness on the south Mt 4:25; Lu 5:17; Joh 4:47,54
* The term applies to all of Palestine in Lu 1:5
* It applies to the territory east of the Jordan River in Mt 19:1; Mr 10:1; Lu 23:5

2. Wilderness of
* Called Beth-arabah Jos 15:6,61
* Assigned to Benjamin Jos 18:22
* John the Baptist preaches in Mt 3:1; Lu 3:3