ituraea Summary and Overview

a district in the NE of Israel, forming, along with the adjacent territory of Trachonitis, the tetrarchy of Philip (Luke 3:1). The present Jedur comprehends the chief part of Ituraea. It is bounded on the east by Trachonitis, on the south by Gaulanitis, on the west by Hermon, and on the north by the plain of Damascus.

(land of Jether), a small province on the northwestern border of Israel, lying along the base of Mount Hermon, only mentioned in #Lu 3:1| Jetur the son of Ishmael gave his name like the rest of his brethren, to the little province he colonized. #Ge 25:15,16| It adjoined Trachonitis, and lay along the base of Libanus between Tiberias and Damascus. At the place indicated is situated the modern province of Jedur, which is the Arabic form of the Hebrew Jetur

ITURAE'A (an enclosed region), a small province on the north-western border of Palestine, and at the southeastern base of Hermon, between Trachonitis and Galilee. It derived its name from "Jetur," a son of Ishmael. Gen 25:15; 1 Chr 1:31; 1 Chr 5:19. This district is now called Jedur, and is about 17 miles from north to south by 20 from east to west. The greater portion is a fine plain, with a rich and well-watered soil; the sub-stratum is black basalt. The district contains 38 villages, 10 of them entirely desolate; the others have a few peasant families living in wretchedness and amid ruins, Philip was "tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis." Luke 3:1.

The region N. of Israel. With Trachonitis Ituraea formed the tetrarchy of Philip (Luke 3:1). Stretching from mount Hermon toward the N.E., i.e. toward Hauran, and from Damascus to northern Bashan. Called from Jetur, Ishmael's son (Genesis 25:15-16). The tribe of Manasseh wrested it from the Hagrites (Ishmaelites), Jetur, Nephish, and Nodab, and "increased from Bashan unto Baal Hermon and Senir, and unto mount Hermon"; i.e., they added Ituraea to Bashan, Gaulonitis, and Trachonitis, which they already possessed (1 Chronicles 5:19; 1 Chronicles 5:23). Rome gave Ituraea to Herod the Great, 20 B.C., who bequeathed it to his son Philip. Now Jedur, with 38 towns and villages, of which ten are desolate and the rest very poor. Trachonitis was on its E., Gaulonitis on its S., Hermon on its W., and the Damascus plain on its N. An undulating table land with conical hills; the southern portion watered by streams from Hermon; the N. covered with jagged rocks of basalt seamed by chasms or sunk into pits, the molten lava having become fissured in cooling.