=The Striking Contrasts Between Judah and Samaria.= The contrasts between the hills of Judah and Samaria are many and significant. The hills of Samaria are a collection of distinct groups, divided by broad valleys, which intersect the land in every direction. The hills of Judah, in contrast, constitute a great, elevated, solid plateau, cut by no great valleys running throughout the land from east to west or from north to south. Judah is a mountain fortress, with strong natural barriers on every side. Samaria, on the contrary, stands with doors wide open to the foreign trader and invader. Its inhabitants are compelled to resort to the hilltops, or else to build strong fortresses for their defence. The great highways of commerce pass on either side of Judah, while they ran through the heart of Samaria. Judah was secure, not only because of its natural battlements of rock, but because of its barrenness. Its grim limestone hills, its stony moorlands, and its dry valleys offered few attractions to the invader. On the other hand, the rich fields of Samaria and its opulent cities were a constant loadstone, drawing toward them conquerors from the north, south, and east. =Effect Upon Their Inhabitants.= Judah, with its few springs and its rock-strewn fields, offered a frugal livelihood to men who were willing to toil and to live without the luxuries of life. It bred a sturdy, brave race, intensely loyal to their rocks and hills, tenacious of their beliefs, even to the point of bigotry and martyrdom. Like their limestone hills, they were grim and unattractive, but capable of resisting the wearing process of the centuries. In contrast, the fertile hills of Samaria, with their plentiful springs and rushing streams, bred a luxury-loving, care-free, tolerant race, who were ready, almost eager, for foreign ideas and cults, as well as customs. Thus that great schism between north and south, between Jew and Samaritan, was not merely the result of later rivalries, but found its primal cause in the physical characteristics that distinguished the land of Judah from that of Samaria. VI THE JORDAN AND DEAD SEA VALLEY