TIN. THIS metal, so useful for a variety of purposes in the present day, was also known in the time of Moses, who distinctly notices it in his enumeration of the six kinds of metal, in Numb. xxxi. 22. Silver, of all the metals, suffers most from an admixture of tin, a very small quantity serving to make that metal as brittle as glass, and what is worse, being with great difficulty separated from it again. The very vapor of tin has the same effect as the metal itself, on silver, gold, and copper, rendering them brittle. Hence we may see, says Parkhurst, the propriety of Jehovah's denunciation, by the prophet Isaiah, chap. i. 25; for having, at the 22d verse, compared the Jewish people to silver, he declares at verse 25, 'I will turn my hand upon thee, and purge away thy dross, and remove all thy particles of tin; where Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Vulgate read, thy tin; but the LXX. read wicked ones. This denunciation, however, by a comparison of the preceding and following context, appears to signify that God would, by a process of judgment, purify those among the Jews who were capable of purification, as well as destroy the reprobate and incorrigible. Comp. Jer. vi. 29, 30; ix. 7; Ezek. xxii. 18, 20; Mal. iii. 3. In Ezek. xxvii. 12, Tarshish is mentioned as furnishing tin, which country is, on the authority of Bochart, generally believed to be the ancient Tartessus in Spain.' PALESTINE, the land of Israel, the kingdom of David and Solomon, the most favored and the most guilty country under heaven; during between two and three thousand years, the only section of the earth where the worship of the true God was perpetuated,― 'Over whose acres walked those blessed feet this most interesting of countries is a small canton of Syria, included within the limits of the Turkish empire, and governed by the pashas of Acre and Damascus. In the map, it presents the appearance of a narrow slip of country, extending along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean; from which, to the river Jordan, the utmost width does not exceed fifty miles. This river was the eastern boundary of the land of Canaan, or Palestine, properly so called, which derived its name from the Philistines or Palestines originally inhabiting the coast. To three of the twelve tribes, however, Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, portions of territory were assigned on the eastern side of the river, which were afterwards extended by the subjugation of the neighboring nations. The territory of Tyre and Sidon was its ancient border on the north-west: the range of the Libanus and Antilibanus forms a natural boundary on the north and north-east; while in the south it is pressed upon by the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Within this circumscribed district, such were the physical advantages of the soil and climate, there existed, in the happiest period of the Jewish nation, an immense population. The men able to bear arms in the time of Moses, somewhat exceeded 600,000; which computation, when the Levites (20,000) and women and children are added, will give nearly two millions and a half as the amount of the population-as large as that of Sweden. The kingdom of David and Solomon, however, extended far beyond these narrow limits. In a north-eastern direction, it was bounded only by the river Euphrates, and included a considerable part of Syria. At the time of the Christian era, Palestine was divided into five provinces; Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Perea, and Idumea. On the death of Herod, Archelaus, his eldest son, succeeded to the govern |