Israelitish history was equally true
of the age of the patriarchs. The strength of Palestine lay in its
southern highlands; whoever gained possession of these was master of the
whole country, and the road lay open before him to Sinai and Egypt. But
to gain possession of them was the difficulty, and campaign after
campaign was needed before they could be reduced to quiet submission. In
the time of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty Jerusalem was already the
key to Southern Palestine.

Geographically, Palestine was thus a country of twofold character, and
its population was necessarily twofold as well. It was a land of
mountain and plain, of broken highlands and rocky sea-coast. Its people
were partly mountaineers, active, patriotic, and poor, with a tendency
to asceticism; partly a nation of sailors and merchants, industrious,
wealthy, and luxurious, with no sense of country or unity, and
accounting riches the supreme end of life. On the one hand, it gave the
world its first lessons in maritime exploration and trade; on the other
it has been the religious teacher of mankind.

In both respects its geographical position has aided the work of its
people. Situated midway between the two great empires of the ancient
Oriental world, it was at once the high road and the meeting-place of
the civilizations of Egypt and Babylonia. Long before Abraham migrated
to Canaan it had been deeply interpenetrated by Babylonian culture and
religious ideas, and long before the Exodus it had become an Egyptian
province. It barred the way to Egypt for the invader from Asia; it
protected Asia from Egyptian assault. The trade of the world passed
through it and met in it; the merchants of Egypt and Ethiopia could
traffic in Palestine with the traders of Babylonia and the far East. It
was destined by nature to be a land of commerce and trade.

And yet while thus forming a highway from the civilization of the
Euphrates to that of the Nile, Palestine was too narrow a strip of
country to become itself a formidable kingdom. The empire of David
scarcely lasted for more than a single generation, and was due to the
weakness at the same time of both Egypt and Assyria. With the Arabian
desert on the one side and the Mediterranean on the other, it was
impossible for Canaan to develop into a great state. Its rocks and
mountains might produce a race of hardy warriors and energetic thinkers,
but they could not create a rich and populous community. The Phoenician