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Topical Encyclopedia

The term "Lowland" in the Bible often refers to the geographical region known as the "Shephelah" in Hebrew. This area is a series of fertile plains and rolling hills located between the central highlands of Judea and the coastal plains of Philistia. The Shephelah served as a significant region in ancient Israel due to its strategic location and agricultural productivity.

Biblical References:

1.Joshua 10:40 · "So Joshua struck the whole land—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, with all their kings, leaving no survivors, as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded." Here, the "foothills" refer to the Shephelah, indicating its inclusion in the conquests of Joshua as he led the Israelites into the Promised Land.

2.1 Samuel 17:1 · "Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes-dammim, between Socoh and Azekah." This passage describes the setting of the famous battle between David and Goliath, which took place in the Valley of Elah, a part of the Shephelah. The region's valleys and plains were often the site of military encounters due to their open terrain.

3.2 Chronicles 26:10 · "He built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil." King Uzziah's agricultural developments in the Shephelah highlight the region's importance for farming and livestock, emphasizing its role in sustaining the kingdom's economy.

Historical and Cultural Context:

The Shephelah was a buffer zone between the Israelites and the Philistines, often serving as a battleground due to its location. Its fertile lands made it an attractive area for settlement and agriculture, contributing to its frequent mention in biblical narratives. The region's strategic importance is underscored by its role in various military campaigns and its mention in the territorial descriptions of the tribes of Judah and Dan.

Significance in Israelite History:

The Lowland's significance extends beyond its agricultural value; it was a region where the Israelites frequently encountered their enemies, particularly the Philistines. The Shephelah's cities, such as Lachish, Azekah, and Socoh, were vital in the defense and administration of the southern kingdom of Judah. The region's control was crucial for maintaining access to the coastal trade routes and for the defense against incursions from the west.

In summary, the Lowland, or Shephelah, is a region of great historical and strategic importance in the biblical narrative. Its fertile lands and strategic location made it a focal point for agriculture, settlement, and military activity throughout Israel's history.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

(n.) Land which is low with respect to the neighboring country; a low or level country; -- opposed to highland.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

LOWLAND

lo'-land (shephelah; compare Arabic sufalat, "the lowest part"): The western part of Palestine, including the maritime plain and the foothills. There has been an attempt to restrict the term to the foothills, at least as far as the more ancient documents are concerned, but there can be little doubt that the maritime plain should be included. the Revised Version (British and American) has "lowland" throughout for shephelah, while the King James Version has "low country" (2 Chronicles 26:10;2 Chronicles 28:18), "low plains" (1 Chronicles 27:28 2 Chronicles 9:27), "plain" (Jeremiah 17:26 Obadiah 1:19 Zechariah 7:7), "vale" or "valley" (Deuteronomy 1:7 Joshua 9:1;Joshua 10:40).

SeeCOUNTRY;SHEPHELAH.

Alfred Ely Day

Strong's Hebrew

8219. shephelah --lowland
... 8218, 8219. shephelah. 8220 .lowland. Transliteration: shephelah Phonetic
Spelling: (shef-ay-law') Short Definition:lowland. Word...

Library

Ancestry, Birth, Education, Environment: 1513(?)-1546
... sorrows. If theLowland peasantry, from one point of view, were terribly
oppressed, we know that they were of independent manners....

George Buchanan, Scholar
... from bitterness, and helped him to laugh where narrower natures would have only
snarled,"he is, in many respects, a type of thoseLowland Scots, who long...

Discipline
... were the words of the Eastern sage, as he looked down from the mountain height upon
the camp of Israel, abiding among the groves of thelowland, according to...

Andromeda
... Over the sea, past Crete, on the Syrian shore to the southward, Dwells in the
well-tilledlowland a dark-haired AEthiop people, Skilful with needle and loom...

Outside the Eden Gate.
... The man seems to have gotten into thelowland road, and after a bit, struck
some marshes and swamps, with a good bit of thick gray fog....

Healing a Phoenician Woman's Daughter.
... It was some twenty-eight miles long with an average width of about one
mile. Canaan meanslowland; Phoenicia means palmland. The...

A Young Man who Said, "Send Me"
... He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, for he had many herds
in thelowland and farmers in the plain and vine-dressers in the mountains...

The Death of Two Brave Warriors
... When the Israelites who were in the towns of thelowland and across the Jordan saw
that the Israelites had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they left...

Down the Islands
... The mountain has hurled these out; and everywhere, as a glance of the eye shows,
the tropic rains are carrying them yearly down to thelowland, exposing fresh...

The Cedars of Lebanon.
... dry season, to bring down the rain; how it forms springs in the highland, and flows
down from thence in brooks and rivers, making the wholelowland green and...

Thesaurus

Lowland (34 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia.LOWLAND.... See COUNTRY; SHEPHELAH. Alfred
Ely Day. Multi-Version ConcordanceLowland (34 Occurrences)....

Foothills (19 Occurrences)
... take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places
near there, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in thelowland, and in...

Shephe'lah (10 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 10:27 The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made
he to be as the sycamore trees that are in thelowland, for abundance....

Western (19 Occurrences)
... Joshua 10:40 So Joshua struck all the land, the hill country, and the South,
and thelowland, and the slopes, and all their kings....

Sycamore (9 Occurrences)
... frost (Psalm 78:47), and therefore it is found mostly in the "vale" (1 Kings
10:27; 2 Chronicles 1:15: in both passages the RV has properly "lowland"), ie, the...

Features (3 Occurrences)
... Thelowland or Shephelah (the King James Version "vale, valley, plain, or low
country") includes the maritime plain and the western foothills....

Sycomore-trees (6 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 10:27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars
made he to be as the sycomore-trees that are in thelowland, for abundance....

Sycamore-fig (6 Occurrences)
... 1 Kings 10:27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars
made he to be as the sycamore-trees that are in theLowland, for abundance....

Negeb (37 Occurrences)
... once obviated if it is recognized that the Negeb was a geographical term for a definite
geographical region, just as Shephelah, literally, "lowland," was the...

Negev (39 Occurrences)
... once obviated if it is recognized that the Negeb was a geographical term for a definite
geographical region, just as Shephelah, literally, "lowland," was the...

Resources

Who were the Cushites? | GotQuestions.org

Lowland: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance •Bible Dictionary •Bible Encyclopedia •Topical Bible •Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Lowland (34 Occurrences)

Genesis 13:12
Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to thelowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.
(BBE)

Genesis 19:17
And when they had put them out, he said, Go for your life, without looking back or waiting in thelowland; go quickly to the mountain or you will come to destruction.
(BBE)

Genesis 19:25
And he sent destruction on those towns, with all thelowland and all the people of those towns and every green thing in the land.
(BBE)

Genesis 19:28
And looking in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and thelowland, he saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of an oven.
(BBE)

Genesis 19:29
So it came about that when God sent destruction on the towns of thelowland, he kept his word to Abraham, and sent Lot safely away when he put an end to the towns where he was living.
(BBE)

Deuteronomy 1:7
turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in thelowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV)

Joshua 9:1
It happened, when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in thelowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV)

Joshua 10:40
So Joshua struck all the land, the hill country, and the South, and thelowland, and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but he utterly destroyed all that breathed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV)

Joshua 11:2
and to the kings who were on the north, in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in thelowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west,
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV)

Joshua 11:16
So Joshua captured all that land, the hill country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, thelowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel, and the lowland of the same;
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV)

Joshua 12:8
in the hill country, and in thelowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV)

Joshua 15:33
In thelowland, Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV)

Judges 1:9
Afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in thelowland.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS RSV)

2 Samuel 18:23
Whatever may come of it, he said, I will go. Then he said to him, Go. So Ahimaaz went running by thelowland road and overtook the Cushite.
(BBE)

1 Kings 7:46
He made them of liquid metal in thelowland of Jordan, at the way across the river, at Adama, between Succoth and Zarethan.
(BBE)

1 Kings 10:27
The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in thelowland, for abundance.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS)

1 Chronicles 27:28
and over the olive trees and the sycamore trees that were in thelowland was Baal Hanan the Gederite: and over the cellars of oil was Joash:
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY)

2 Chronicles 1:15
The king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in thelowland, for abundance.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS)

2 Chronicles 4:17
The king made them of liquid metal in thelowland of Jordan, in the soft earth between Succoth and Zeredah.
(BBE)

2 Chronicles 9:27
The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as the sycamore trees that are in thelowland, for abundance.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS)

2 Chronicles 26:10
He built towers in the wilderness, and dug out many cisterns, for he had much livestock; in thelowland also, and in the plain: and he had farmers and vineyard keepers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields; for he loved farming.
(WEB JPS ASV DBY NAS)

2 Chronicles 28:18
The Philistines also had invaded the cities of thelowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth Shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with its towns, and Timnah with its towns, Gimzo also and its towns: and they lived there.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS)

Nehemiah 3:22
After him were working the priests, the men of thelowland.
(BBE)

Nehemiah 6:2
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, Come, let us have a meeting in one of the little towns in thelowland of Ono. But their purpose was to do me evil.
(BBE)

Nehemiah 12:28
And the sons of the music-makers came together from thelowland round about Jerusalem and from the daughter-towns of the Netophathites,
(BBE)

Isaiah 35:1
The waste land and the dry places will be glad; thelowland will have joy and be full of flowers.
(BBE)

Isaiah 40:3
A voice of one crying, Make ready in the waste land the way of the Lord, make level in thelowland a highway for our God.
(BBE)

Isaiah 41:19
I will put in the waste land the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive-tree; and in thelowland will be planted the fir-tree, the plane, and the cypress together:
(BBE)

Jeremiah 17:26
They shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from thelowland, and from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, to the house of Yahweh.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS)

Jeremiah 32:44
Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of thelowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to return, says Yahweh.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS)

Jeremiah 33:13
In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of thelowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks again pass under the hands of him who numbers them, says Yahweh.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS)

Jeremiah 48:8
And the attacker will come against every town, not one will be safe; and the valley will be made waste, and destruction will come to thelowland, as the Lord has said.
(BBE)

Obadiah 1:19
Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of thelowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY)

Zechariah 7:7
Aren't these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and thelowland were inhabited?'"
(WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY RSV)

Subtopics

Lowland

Related Terms

Canaan (102 Occurrences)

Chaldaean (9 Occurrences)

Shephelah (2 Occurrences)

Canaanites (63 Occurrences)

Lowland (34 Occurrences)

Keilah (16 Occurrences)

Jebusites (29 Occurrences)

Lowliest (3 Occurrences)

Western (19 Occurrences)