Mount: Palestine is a hilly country
(Deuteronomy 3:25; 11:11; Ezekiel 34:13) West of Jordan
the mountains stretch from Lebanon far down into Galilee, terminating
in Carmel. The isolated peak of Tabor rises from the elevated plain
of Esdraelon, which, in the south, is shut in by hills spreading over
the greater part of Samaria. The mountains of Western and Middle
Palestine do not extend to the sea, but gently slope into plains, and
toward the Jordan fall down into the Ghor. East of the Jordan the
Anti-Lebanon, stretching south, terminates in the hilly district
called Jebel Heish, which reaches down to the Sea of Gennesareth.
South of the river Hieromax there is again a succession of hills,
which are traversed by wadies running toward the Jordan. These
gradually descend to a level at the river Arnon, which was the
boundary of the ancient trans-Jordanic territory toward the south.
The composition of the Palestinian hills is limestone, with
occasional strata of chalk, and hence the numerous caves, some of
large extent, found there.
