Listening to the LAND of the Bible

 

1. Bible and Geography

 

When we read the Bible, we need to not only ask, "what happened?" but also "where did it happen?"

Instead of biblical stories being theological bubbles that are not connected to each other, understanding the land allows us to anchor the narratives in a real place. We then relate to the characters as real people make difficult life decisions.

Biblical authors explain theological concepts with pictures. Are you picturing the right thing?

 

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters..." (Psalm 23:1-2 NASB)

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters..." (Psalm 23:1-2)

The picture in your head will influence the theological lesson you learn.

 

The land is a character in the biblical stories. We can interview it to discover more about the narrative.

 

2. Understanding the Big Picture

 

Trade Routes:

Artifacts show this effect too. This is the one of the tablets found in in el-Amarna, Egypt written in Akkadian Cuneiform.

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation " (Genesis

12:1-2)

Abram was in Mesopotamia and then in Egypt, but that is not where God says is home.

"And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." (Genesis 12:2-3)

3. Shape of the Land

Longitudinal "zones" from west to east Coastal Plain

Central Mountain Rift Valley Transjordan

The Coveted East-West Connections

Jezreel + Harod Valleys Biblical Negev

"Now the Lord was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots." (Judges 1:19 NASB)

"But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of lbleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in the land." (Judges 1:27 NASB)

 

 

4. Roads: Highways and Byways

 

"Israel said to Joseph, 'Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? So, he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem...So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan." (Genesis 37:13-17)

"Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of lshmaelites was coming from Gilead with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt." (Genesis 37:25 NASB)

SA. Drinking the Water of Heaven

Bethel: place of worship

MENTION THE EASTERLY WINDS: Hosea 12:2 (Heb 12:1) 13:15

Rules of Rainfall:

• north

• west

• elevated

 

5. The Agricultural Calendar

They do not say in their heart, 'Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain its seasons, both the 'autumn rain and the spring rain' \!iij77Y.l·I ilt! (vayoreh umalkush; early and later) who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest." (Jeremiah 5:24 NASB)

 

• Water is a precious commodity! How do you manage your supply? Springs

• Water is a precious commodity! How do you manage your supply? Well Water

• Water is a precious commodity! How do you manage your supply? Cistern

 

"Be appalled O heavens, at this, and shudder, be very desolate," declares the Lord. "For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jeremiah 2:12-13)

 

"For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper." (Deuteronomy 8:7-9)

"In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night." (Luke 2:8) What time of year was Jesus born?

 

6. The Religious Calendar

"Now the feast of the Jews the Feast of Booths, was near." (John 7:2)

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water."' (John 7:37-38 NASB)

 

7. Land Flowing with Milk and Honey

 

"land J:IT (zuv) 'flowing' with milk and honey" (Deut 11:9)

 

"For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and 1 n::;Jt)'j7 ;:l! (vehishkita beraglecha) like a vegetable garden. (Deut 11:10)

"But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year. It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and the late rain (\!.iij7 Y.l·I iY)i' ; yoreach umalkush) that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied." (Deut 11:11-15)

The land of milk and honey has dangers and benefits in both the shepherding and farming areas.

 

8. The Coastal Plain

 

Ridges of solidified sand dunes (kurkar) run parallel to the shoreline of the Mediterranean Sea preventing runoff water from the hills from effectively draining into the sea.

 

 

9. The Negev

 

"My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi ('7orin:;i; ke mo nachal). Like the torrents of wadis (□'70 j7' :;>; keafik nachalim) which vanish. Which are turbid because of ice and into which the snow melts. When they become waterless, they are silent. When it is hot, they vanish from their place." (Job 6:15-17)

 

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So, Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you." (Genesis 26:1-2)

"Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants (1l,/7I; zeracha - lit. your seed) I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your

father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants (1l,/7I zeracha) as the stars of heaven, and will give to all these lands; and by your descendants (1l,/7I zeracha) all the nations of the earth shall be

blessed; because Abraham, obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws." (Genesis 26:3-5 NASB)

"Now Isaac sowed (1nr1; vaizrah) in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy." (Genesis 26:12-13 NASB)

Abraham planted a ta marisk tree ('7 1:'.I; eshel) at Beersheba and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. (Genesis 21:33)

Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. (Genesis 16:7)

"Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions..." (1 Kings 10:1-2a)

"So, she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones...She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. Never again did such abundance of spices come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon." (1 Kings 10:2b, 10)

"Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions..." (1 Kings 10:1-2a)

"The nature of the lake Asphaltitis is also worth describing. It is, as I have said already, bitter and unfruitful. It is so thick that it bears up the heaviest things that are thrown into it. Nor is it easy for anyone to make things sink therein to the bottom, if he had a mind so to do...However, it casts up black clods of bitumen, in many parts of it. These swim at the top of the water and resemble both in shape and bigness headless bulls...This bitumen is not only useful for the caulking of ships, but for the cure of men's bodies. Accordingly, it is mixed in a great many medicines." (Josephus, War, 4.8.4)

"...balsam which is an ointment of all the most precious: which, upon any incision made in the wood with a sharp stone, distills out thence like a juice. "(Josephus, Antiquities, 14.4.1)

David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of Engedi. Now when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, saying, "Behold David is in the wilderness of Engedi." Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. (1 Samuel 23:29-24:2)

"He makes my feet like hinds' feet and sets me on my high places. "(2 Samuel 22:34 cf. Hab 3:19)

"O God, you are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water... My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips." (Psalm 63:1-5) -A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah

For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, and lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time, And My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness... (Hosea 2:8-9)

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her. Bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. Then I will give her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor (cf. Josh. 7:24-26) as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt." (Hosea 2:14-15)

"It will come about in that day," declares the Lord, that you will call me 1 11:land no longer will you call me 17..y:;i.. (Hosea 2:16)

 

10. Judean Hill Country

 

Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. (Isaiah 5:1-2)

And now, 0 inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? ...For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus, He looked for justice, but behold bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. (Isaiah 5:3-7)

"You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground before it, and it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow, And the cedars of God with its boughs. It was sending out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River..." (Psalm 80:8-15)

"...Why have You broken down its hedges, so that all who pass that way pick its fruit? A boar from the forest eats it away and whatever moves in the field feeds on it. 0 God of hosts turn again now, we beseech You; Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine, Even the shoot which Your right hand has planted, And on the son whom You have strengthened for Yourself." (Psalm 80:8-15)

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser." (John 15:1)

 

First area where Abraham owned land (Gen 23:2-19), and where Jacob was reunited with his father Isaac (Gen 35:27-29).

Where Jacob was living when he sent Joseph to check on his brothers grazing sheep around Shechem (Gen 37).

Joshua gave Hebron to Caleb for being faithful to God (Josh. 14:13-14). Hebron was one of the initial Cities of Refuge (Josh. 20:7)

David anointed king and for seven years he ruled from Hebron- the strongest city of Judah (2 Sam 2:1-4a).

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah. Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His going forth are from long ago. From the days of eternity. (Micah 5:2 NASB)

Then Amos replied to Amaziah, "I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs." (Amos 7:14)

"But the man was not willing to spend the night, so he arose and departed and came to a place opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem)...When they were near Jebus, the day was almost gone; and the servant said to his master, "Please come, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it." However, his master said to him, "We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners who are not of the sons of Israel; but we will go on as far as Gibeah." (Judges 19:10-14)

 

(gey ben hinom)

yEEvva (geenna) "hell"

• 2 Kings 23:10

• 2 Chr 28:3

• 2 Chr 33:6

When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they also acted craftily and set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out and torn and mended, and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled. They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us." (Joshua 9:3-6 NASB)

"Now it came about when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai, and had utterly destroyed it (just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were within their land, that he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty." (Joshua 10:1-2)

 

11. Shephelah

 

For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. So, Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower Beth-horon. (1 Kings 9:16-17)

"Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim." (1 Samuel 17:1- 3 NASB)

Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah (Di:;i...9 il? ;:i; be'emek haelah) and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley (NIJD!; vehagei) between them. "(1 Sam 17:2-3)

"Then Saul said to David, 'You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth (7.VJ; naar) while he has been a warrior (11wp;i; minurav) from his youth ...Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So, David said to Saul, 'I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.' And David took them off." (1 Sam 17:33, 38-39)

The men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the slain Philistines lay along the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron. (1 Samuel 17:52)

 

Why City Lists Matter!

"Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah. Thus, he built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Saco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and stores of food, oil and wine." (2 Chronicles 11:5-11)

Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Saco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron. (2 Chron. 11:5-11)

"He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and stores of food, oil and wine.11 (2 Chron 11:11)

 

 

12. Central Hill Country

 

• Genesis 33:18-34:31 - Jacob returns to the land

• Genesis 37 - Joseph looks for brothers in the fields of Shechem

• Joshua 21:21 - Shechem is designated as a City of Refuge

• Joshua 24:32 - Joseph's bones were buried in Shechem

• Judges 9 - Home of Abimelech

 

"It shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.11 (Deut 11:29, cf. chs. 27, 28 and Josh 24)

There is so much history here that if you want to create an alternative to Jerusalem, this is a good place to start.

"Then Jeroboam [an Ephraimite of Zeredah, 1 Ki. 11:26] built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. "(1 Kings 12:25)

"Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, 'Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into exile and let him go and live there; and let him teach them the custom of the god of the land.' So, one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived...They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places.11 (2 Kings 17:27-29, 32 NASB)

 

 

13. Hills and Valleys of the North

 

1. Upper Galilee

2. Lower Galilee

 

These two Galilees, of so great largeness, and encompassed with so many nations of foreigners, have been always able to make a strong resistance on all occasions of war; for the Galileans are inured to war from their infancy...for their soil is universally rich and fruitful, and full of the plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that it invites the most slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its fruitfulness; accordingly it is all cultivated by its inhabitants, and no part of it lies idle. (Josephus, Jewish War 3.41-43)

"... (which is no doubt the widest plain in the world) and the mud was incredible. We waded sometimes for an hour at a time knee deep in clinging mud, the mules fell down, the donkeys almost disappeared ("By God!" said one of the muleteers, "you could see nothing but his ears!")...

Capture ye effectively, my victorious army! Behold, all foreign countries have been put in this town by the command of Ra on this day, inasmuch as every prince of every northern country is shut up within it for the capturing of Megiddo is the capturing of a thousand towns! Capture ye firmly, Firmly! - Thutmose Ill

"Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. It came about...that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him... "(1 Kings 16:29b-31)

"Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder and used to pay the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel." 2 Kings 3:4)

"It came about on the next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. They put his weapons in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan." (1 Samuel 31:8-10 NASB)

"When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera called out all his chariots 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. And Deborah said to Barak, "Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?" So, Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot." (Judges 4:12-15)

The kings came and fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo; They took no plunder in silver. The stars fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against Sisera. The torrent of Kishon swept them away the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. 0 my soul, march on with strength. (Judges 5:19-21)

Kineret (mJJ) "harp" was the name of town on the shoreline of□' (yam).

"Now this lake of Gennesareth is so called from the country adjoining to it. Its breadth is forty furlongs, and its length one hundred and forty; its waters are sweet, and very agreeable for drinking...the lake is also pure, and on every side ends directly at the shores, and at the sand; it is also of a temperate nature when you draw it up... Now when this water is kept in the open air, it is as cold as that snow which the country people are accustomed to make by night in summer. (Josephus, War 3.516ff)

There are several kinds of fish in it, different both to the taste and the sight from those elsewhere. It is divided into two parts by the river Jordan...its nature is wonderful as well as its beauty; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it...particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air...there are palm trees also, which grow best in hot air; fig trees also and olives grow near them, which yet require an air that is more temperate. (Josephus, War 3.516ff)

One may call this place the ambition of nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together... it supplies men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs, continually, during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits as they become ripe together through the whole year: for besides the good temperature of the air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain. (Josephus, War 3.516ff)

Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of the Lord his own house, the Milla, the wall of Jerusalem Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. (1 Kings 9:15)

So, the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number valiant men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it ... (Judges 18:2a)

"Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were in it living in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no ruler humiliating them for anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. When they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol... [they said], 'Do not delay to go, to enter, to possess the land. When you enter, you will come to a secure people with a spacious land; for God has given it into your hand a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth."' (Judges 18:7- 10 NASB)

They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of the city formerly was Laish. (Judges 18:29)

When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. (Genesis 14:14-15)

Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem..." So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, 0 Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." (1 Kings 12:26-28 cf. Exod 32:4)

"He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan." (1 Kings 12:29)

From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses; At the sound of the neighing of his stallions the whole land quakes; For they come and devour the land and its fullness, The city and its inhabitants. (Jeremiah 8:16)