(Septuagint and New Testament Galilaia).
The native land of Jesus Christ, where He began His ministry and performed many of His works, and whence He drew His Apostles. Orginally, the Hebrew Gâlîl, derived from gâlal, "to roll", meant a circle or district, and in its feminine and plural forms was applied indifferently to several regions in Palestine. The simple term Gâlîl (Galilee) occurs first in Joshua 20:7 (cf. Joshua 21:32; and 1 Chronicles 6:76) where it denotes that portion of Nephtali lying to the northeast of Lake Merom, in which lay Cedes, one of the six cities of refuge. In 1 Kings 9:11, the expression "land of Galilee" is used to designate the northern part of Palestine, that embraced the twenty cities given by Solomon to Hiram, King of Tyre. Isaias (9:1) gives to "the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali" the name "Galilee of the Nations" (D.V. "Galilee of the Gentiles"), undoubtedly on account of the large Gentile population in that region. As early as the Machabean period, the limits of Galilee had extended to Samaria (1 Maccabees 10:30), without however including the plain of Jezrael and the territory of Ptolemais (1 Maccabees 12:47, 49). The New Testament frequently recognizes it as dividing, with the provinces of Samaria and Judea, all of Western Palestine. Josephus and, more accurately, the Talmudists (cf. Neubauer, "La Géographie du Talmud", Paris, 1868) give its boundaries at this period, as Phoenicia and Coele-Syria on the north; the Jordan valley on the east; Samaria, having En Gannim (modern Jennin) at its frontier, on the south; the Mediterranean and Phoenicia on the west. The territory thus described is naturally divided by a high ridge, at the eastern extremity of which was Caphar Hanan (Kefr 'Anân), into Upper Galilee, embracing ancient Nephtali and the northern part of Asher, and Lower Galilee, embracing ancient Zabulon and parts of Asher and Issachar. Although mountain ranges extend throughout the territory, rising to a height of 4000 feet in Upper, and to 1800 feet in Lower Galilee, the land is very productive, especially in the southern division where the valleys and plains are greater, and is capable of sustaining a very large population.
