The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-11-05
Holy nd,Canaan or Palestine
In 81 LETTERS. LETTER NO. 4.
Written for Brandon News, by Virgil.)
FROM DAN TO BEER SHEBA.


FROM DAN TO BEER SHEBA.
The saying, or phrase, "From Dan to
Beersheba," has become proverbial, mean
ing from one end of the country to the
Iother, andi in Palestine from the extreme
northern to the extreme southern bound
fary.
Dan was situated in the northern part OF
the capital city, JerusaIam, and was an
GENTLY known as Lash, was near the line
of the countries of the Hittites and Hivi-
es,whose territory adjoined the Zidonians
on the seacoast of the "great," or Med
irteranean Sea. The city was .4some
distance north of the lake Hulah, or
waters of Merom." There is a mound
near modern TeII-el-kadir, from the foot
of which gushes out one of the largest
fountains in the world, and is the main
source of the Jordan; the spring IS called
El-i-edda, a corruption of Dan" Here
Abraham overlook the kings, who had
invaded the country where his nephew,
Lot, was living and took him prisoner,
and his house hold stuff as booty.
"And they took all the goods of Sodom
and Go-ma-ra, and all their victuals, and
went their way. And they took Lot,
| Abraham's brothers. son, who dwelt in
Sodom, and bis. goods and departed. T"
l''And when Abraham heard that his
brother was taken captive; he armed his
trained servants, bern in his own house,
three hundred and eighteen, and pursued
them unto DAN" ''And he divided him
self against them, he and his servants by
night and smote them, and pursued them
unto Hobah, which is on the, left hand
of Damascus" "And brought back all
the goods, land also brought again his
brother, Lot, and his goods, and the wo-
men also and the people.
In the days of Christ on earth, and
under Roman supremacy, Palestine was
divided into four states, as follows: that
part lying between the Jordan and great
sea contained three divisions, Judea in
the south, Gallee in the north and Sama-
ria in the center, while Perea lay east
of the Jordan.
| 1t was differently divided before the
conquest by Joshua, and the tribes of
people varied according to time and cir
| cumStanceS.
"The knowledge, which we possess of
the inhabitants of Palestine before the
fifteen centuty B. c., is quite scanty.
| The names of tribes, more or less settled
as given, but we know very little of their
language, customs or origin.
The description of Palestine, during the
first eight hundred years after the Deluge,
may be arranged as follows:
1. The earliest Inhabitants.
2. The tribes of the Patriarchal Era.
g. The Nations at the time of the Con-
quest.
a. The surrounding Nations"
In most lands the earliest people have
! been of an unknown race, as the mound
builders of America, and the cave jewellers
of Europe. Very early in the history of
the race, a people entered Palestine and
settled upon both sides of the Jordan,
| generally among the mountains.
They were doubtless of ones race, but
| whether of Hamitic, or Semitic stock, is
uncertain, and their historyis as uncertain
as their origin. 1t is thought that they
were declining in the time of Abraham,
when the Canaanite races, the second
series of inhabitants, were in possession
of the land.
They belonged to sixstribes or divisions
each haying different name and location,
but all bearing the same characteristics
and all regarded as giants by those who
came after them; some of their Bible
names are Rephaim, ''lofty men 1.-THE word
is usually translated "giants."
| In the time of Abraham they lived in
the highlands of Basham; they were
defeated, and their capital, Ashcroft
Karnaim, taken by king of Elan, Ched'
or-la-omer. They finally merged with the
Amorites, over whom the gigantic Og,
king of Basham, ruled. The Zuzim,
''tall ones" and called in Deut. 2:2o-
Zamzummim. They occupied the eastern
table-land, south of Basham and Gilead,
This capital was Ham, the place afterWard
known as Rabbath-Ammon. These
people were also giants as Og and his
| people. ;.
NJ ext comes the Emims, terrible ones''
and lived east of the dead sea; they were
over run by Chedarlaoma, and their land
was afterWard occupied by the Moabites.
Next the Horim's, "cave jewellers, '1or Hor-
ties lived, in Mount SER, south of the Dead
Sea; they. were overcome by "Esau," the
Edomite. Next, we find. the Avlm
'sruins, "and the An-a-kim, 'long necked
ones;" they lived at Arba, the old name
| for Hebron. They called it Klrlath-Ara
or book-tower, which shows that they
knew something of national literature.
| They were giants and the same people
the ten spies were alarmed at, SO much SO
that Israel refused to go on and were
turned back in the wilderness forty years;
see Numbers I3. They were afterWard
conquered by Caleb, (Josh. LAD that brave
nan, who said 1--WE can take their strong
holds" when the chosen family came to
Palestine B. C. 1921. These earlier races
had given away, and tribes of Hamltio
origin had taken their place. These
tribes were oftencalled Canaanites because
the nations of that name was both the
original stock and in possession of the
richest and best portion of the land.
We notice the Zdonians with their two
big cities, Zidon and Tyre, on the sea.
coast. Next the Canaanite "lowlanders.'
living on both sides of Mount Carmal,
Esdraelon and Sharon, and the Jordan
Valley.
The only city on the coast belonging to
the Canaantes, existing during the patri-
archal age, was Joppa, still standing. S, !,
The Canaanite cities in the Jordan Val
| lev were the five cities of plains" Sod
ON. .Gomorrah, Admah, Zeborim and
| -. &c .-.L;~L I'll xx,aro docfroxynd hxy6 { .nd