" At this
the invaders "departed from him and returned to their own land."

The political geography of Palestine is so complicated that it can not
be handled in the space here available. Only a few words, applicable
to the country in New Testament times, can be said. The provinces of
Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea were on the west side of the Jordan, while
the Decapolis and Perea lay east of that river. The northern province
of Galilee, which saw most of the ministry of Jesus, extended from the
Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee, and a much greater distance from
the north to the south. It was peopled with Jews, and was probably a
much better country than is generally supposed, as it contained a large
number of cities and villages, and produced fish, oil, wheat, wine,
figs, and flax. "It was in Christ's time one of the gardens of the
world--well watered, exceedingly fertile, thoroughly cultivated, and
covered with a dense population."--_Merrill_.

Samaria, lying south of Galilee, extended from the Mediterranean to the
Jordan, and was occupied by a mixed race, formed by the mingling of Jews
with the foreigners who had been sent into the land. When they were
disfellowshiped by the Jews, about 460 B.C., they built a temple on Mt.
Gerizim.

The province of Judaea was the largest in Palestine, and extended from
the Mediterranean on the west to the Dead Sea and the Jordan on the
east. It was bounded on the north by Samaria, and on the south by the
desert. Although but fifty-five miles long and about thirty miles wide,
it held out against Egypt, Babylonia, and Rome.

The Decapolis, or region of ten Gentile cities, was the northeastern
part of Palestine, extending eastward from the Jordan to the desert.
Perea lay south of the Decapolis, and east of the Jordan and Dead Sea.
The kingdom of Herod the Great, whose reign ended B.C. 4, included
all of this territory. After his death the country was divided into
tetrarchies. Archelaus ruled over Judaea and Samaria; Antipas ("Herod
the tetrarch") had control of Galilee and Perea; Philip had a section of
country east of the Sea of Galilee, and Lysanius ruled over Abilene, a
small section of country between Mt. Hermon and Damascus, not included
in the domain of Herod the Great. 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