Shfela

The Shephelah or Shephelah called the hill country that lies between the hill country of Judea, and the Mediterranean coastal plain. This refers to the coastal plain, which was the residence of the Philistines. The Hebrew word denotes a low-lying stretch of land ( from Jerusalem perspective ) or a plane.

The Shephelah is about 43 km long and 16 km wide and hilly. The highest elevation is about 350 m high. The hard limestone soil makes it unusable for a systematic, agricultural cultivation. At the time of Scripture she was with shrubs or sycamore trees, overgrown ( 2 Chr 1.15 LUT). However, it was on the parts, which consisted of alluvial land, agricultural (wine, cereals) possible (2 Chr 26,10 LUT). Known from the biblical accounts, is the valley of Ajalon (Josh. 10:12 LUT). Flavius ​​Josephus describes this in his book " The Jewish War " from 10.1 to 15. The Shephelah was the site of armed conflict between the Israelites and the Philistines. Located in the Shephelah places are eg Ayalon, Azekah, Bat Yam, Holon, Gibeon, Jarmuth, Yavne, Kefira, Kirjathjearim, Lachish, Libnah, Nes Ziona, Netzer Sereni, Rishon LeZion and Rehovot. The German Schlachter Bible writes directly Shephelah at 19 places.