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Bible Dictionaries
Judaea (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (Ἰουδαία, used by the Septuagint in later books of the OT [Ezr., Neh., Dan.] instead of Ἰούδα, as the translation of יְהוּדָה or יְהוּד)
Judaea , the Graecized form of ‘Judah,’ was the most southern of the three districts into which Palestine was divided in the Greek and Roman periods, the other two being Samaria and Galilee. The territory occupied by the Jews who returned from Babylon was at first smaller than the ancestral kingdom of Judah, but it was gradually enlarged, e.g. by the Maccabaean capture of Hebron from the Edomites (1 Maccabees 5:65), and the cession by Demetrius, king of Syria, of the Samaritan toparchies of Aphaerema, Lydda, and Ramathaim (11:34). According to Josephus (Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) iii. iii. 5), Judaea extended from Anuath-Borkaeos in the north (identified with ‘Aina-Berkît in PEFSt [Note: EFSt Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement.] , 1881, p. 48) to the village of Jordas (perhaps Tell ‘Arâd) on the confines of Arabia in the south, and from Jordan in the east to Joppa in the west. The sea-coast far as Ptolemais, with the coast towns, also belonged to Judaea .
Josephus (loc. cit.) states that the country was divided into eleven toparchies (τοπαρχίαι or κληρουχίαι), all west of Jordan: Jerusalem, Gophna, Akrabatta, Thamna, Lydda, Emmaus, Pella, Idumea, Engaddi, Herodium, and Jericho. Pliny (Historia Naturalis (Pliny) v. xiv. 70) gives a list which contains the seven names given here in italics, along with Jopica, Betholeptephene, and Orine. Schürer (History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] ii. i. [1885] 157) thinks ‘we may obtain a correct list if we adopt that of Josephus and substitute Bethleptepha for Pella.’ The division was no doubt made for administrative purposes, and especially for the collection of revenue.
Judaea proper was a small country, its whole area not being more than 2,000 sq. miles. Apart from the Shephçlah and the Maritime Plain, it was a plateau of only 1,350 sq. miles. But the term was often loosely employed in a more comprehensive sense. Tacitus says that ‘eastward the country is bounded by Arabia; to the south lies Egypt; and on the west are Phœnicia and the Mediterranean; northward it commands an extensive prospect over Syria’ (Hist. v. vi.). Strabo very vaguely describes Judaea as being ‘situated above Phœnicia, in the interior between Gaza and Antilibanus, and extending to the Arabians’ (xvi. ii. 21). Herod the Great, who was called the king of Judaea , certainly had a territory much wider than Judaea proper. Ptolemy states that there were districts of Judaea beyond Jordan (v. xvi. 9), and it is difficult to obtain any other meaning from ‘the borders of Judaea beyond Jordan’ in Matthew 19:1, though A. B. Bruce thinks ‘it is not likely that the writer would describe Southern Peraea as a part of Judaea ’ (Expositor’s Greek Testament , ‘The Synoptic Gospels,’ 1897, p. 244). There can be no doubt that St. Luke often extends the term Judaea to the whole of Palestine west of the Jordan (Luke 4:44 [?] 23:5, Acts 2:9; Acts 10:37; Acts 26:20).
After the death of Herod, his son Archelaus became ethnarch of Judaea . He was never really its king, though royalty is implicitly ascribed to him in the βασιλεύει of Matthew 2:23, and explicitly in Josephus (Ant. xviii. iv. 3). He was soon deposed, and from a.d. 6 till the overthrow of the State in 70 Judaea was under procurators, except during the brief reign of Agrippa I. (41-44). The procurators resided in Caesarea (Ant. xvii. xiii. 5; xviii. i. 1, ii. 1).
‘The statement of Josephus that Judaea was attached to the province of Syria and placed under its governor (Ant. xvii. xiii. 5; xviii. i. 1, iv. 6) appears to be incorrect; on the contrary, Judaea probably formed thenceforth a procuratorial province of itself’ (T. Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire2, Eng. translation , 1909, ii. 185 n. [Note: . note.] ; cf. Schürer, i. ii. 42f.). The governor was a man of equestrian rank, so that Judaea belonged to the third class of imperial provinces mentioned by Strabo (xvii. iii. 25). The usual designation for such a governor-ἐπίτροπος-occurs frequently in Josephus, though he occasionally uses ἔπαρχος or ἡγεμών. The last term, which is equivalent to praeses, is the one most often employed in the NT.
It was usual to speak of Jerusalem and Judaea , instead of ‘and the rest of Judaea ’ (Matthew 4:25, Mark 1:5, Acts 1:8, etc.). The Talmud explains this practice by saying that the holy city formed a division by itself (A. Neubauer, La Géogr. du Talmud, 1868, p. 56). The occurrence of Judaea between Mesopotamia and Cappadocia in Acts 2:9 is very peculiar. Jerome reads Syria instead; Tertullian suggests Armenia (e. Jud. vii.); and Bithynia, Idumea, and India have also been proposed (Expositor’s Greek Testament in loco). When Palestine wan divided into First, Second, and Third (Code of Theodosius, a.d. 409), Palestina Prima comprehended the old districts of Judaea and Samaria; and this division is still observed in the ecclesiastical documents of the Eastern Church.
James Strahan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Judaea (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/j/judaea-2.html. 1906-1918.
