the Shepherds; in opposition to the rest of the land which was sown, after having been overflowed by the Nile.
There were three ways by which the children of Israel, flying from Pharaoh, could have entered Palestine. The first was by the sea-coast by Gaza, Askelon, and Joppa. This was the plainest and nearest way; and, therefore, fittest for people incumbered with kneading troughs, dough, cattle, and children. The sea-coast was full of rich commercial cities, the mid-land was cultivated and sown with grain. The eastern part, nearest the mountains, was full of cattle and shepherds, as rich a country, and more powerful than the cities themselves.
This narrow valley, between the mountains and the sea, ran all along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, from Gaza northward, comprehending the low part of Palestine and Syria. Now, here a small number of men might have passed, under the laws of hospitality; nay, they did constantly pass, it being the high road between Egypt, and Tyre, and Sidon. But the case was different with a multitude, such as fix hundred thousand men having their cattle along with them. These must have occupied the whole land of the Philistines, destroyed all private property, and undoubtedly have occasioned some revolution; and as they were not now intended to be put in possession of the land of promise, the measure of the iniquity of the nations being not yet full, God turned them aside from going that way, though the nearest, least they "should see war *[1]," that
- ↑ * Gen. chap. xiii. ver. 17th.
