Judaea, Judea

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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This name occurs in Ezra 5:88Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands. (Ezra 5:8) for the territory of Judah; in Daniel 5:1313Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? (Daniel 5:13) the same is called JEWRY. In the New Testament the name at times refers to a much larger district, including all south of about 32° 5' N with the plain on the west border of the land to mount Carmel as generally shown on New Testament maps. The land was thus divided by Rome, with Samaria in the center, and Galilee in the north. In Luke 3:11Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, (Luke 3:1) Judaea embraces the above and Samaria; but in other passages a smaller area than the above is implied. Acts 12:1919And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and there abode. (Acts 12:19) speaks of Herod going down from Judæa to Caesarea, whereas Caesarea would be part of the Judaea of the Romans. Paul, in Galatians 1:2222And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ: (Galatians 1:22) and 1 Thessalonians 2:1414For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: (1 Thessalonians 2:14), speaks of the “churches of Judaea” which would seem to embrace the whole of Palestine. The context will almost always show the extent of the district intended. It is called JEWRY in Luke 23:55And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. (Luke 23:5) and John 7:11After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. (John 7:1).