Herod Agrippa was made king by Caligula, and his territory embraced all that his grandfather, Herod the Great, had ruled over, with Abilene added, making his territory more extensive than that of any Jewish king after Solomon.  He is the “Herod the king” who killed the Apostle James and imprisoned Peter.  After delivering an oration at Caesarea, he died a horrible death, “because he gave not God the glory.”  At his death, in A.D. 44, the country was divided into two provinces.  The northern section was ruled by Herod Agrippa II. till the Jewish State was dissolved, in A.D. 70.  He was the “King Agrippa” before whom Paul spoke.  The southern part of the country, called the province of Judaea, was ruled by procurators having their seat at Caesarea.  When Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, the country was annexed to Syria.

The climate depends more upon local conditions than on the latitude, which is the same as Southern Georgia and Alabama, Jerusalem being on the parallel of Savannah.  In point of temperature it is about the same as these localities, but in other respects it differs much.  The year has two seasons—­the dry, lasting from the first of April to the first of November, and the rainy season, lasting the other five months, during which time there are copious rains.  One authority says:  “Were the old cisterns cleaned and mended, and the beautiful tanks and aqueducts repaired, the ordinary fall of rain would be quite sufficient for the wants of the inhabitants and for irrigation.”  The summers are hot, the winters mild.  Snow sometimes falls, but does not last long, and ice is seldom formed.

Palestine is not a timbered country.  The commonest oak is a low, scrubby bush.  The “cedars of Lebanon” have almost disappeared.  The carob tree, white poplar, a thorn bush, and the oleander are found in some localities.  The principal fruit-bearing trees are the fig, olive, date palm, pomegranate, orange, and lemon.  Grapes, apples, apricots, quinces, and other fruits also grow here.  Wheat, barley, and a kind of corn are raised, also tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, and tobacco.  The ground is poorly cultivated with inferior tools, and the grain is tramped out with cattle, as in the long ago.

Sheep and goats are the most numerous domestic animals, a peculiarity of the sheep being the extra large “fat tail” (Lev. 3:9), a lump of pure fat from ten to fifteen inches long and from three to five inches thick.  Cattle, camels, horses, mules, asses, dogs and chickens are kept.

CHAPTER IX.

HISTORIC SKETCH OF PALESTINE.