The range of chalky hills between the Judean highlands and the Philistine coast, the Hebrew word shephelah is often translated "the western foothills." The term is very likely—as G. A. Smith (The Historical Geography of the Holy Land) was the first OT scholar to recognise—a technical designation for the region, like the Andes, the Appalachians, or the Chilterns, that, in most cases, should be left un-translated.
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Historically the Shephelah was important to early Israel as it acted as a buffer-zone between them and the Philistines who inhabited the coastal plains. After David had subdued the Philistines, the Shephelah became a source of economic wealth, with its abundant ">olive and sycamore fig trees; important enough for David to appoint an officer, "Baal-Hanan the Gederite," to take charge of them (1 Chron 27:28).
The rolling hills of the Shephelah.
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