Introduction to Biblical Geography

Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 7 Lesson 70

In this review lesson for Unit 7, we take an introductory look at the ancient geography of Israel. Israel obtained the promised land under Joshua, but what was the land like? When the Bible refers to geographical details like “the hill country” or “the valley of Jezreel,” what is the Bible actually talking about? And how does knowing the basic geography of Israel help us better understand and appreciate the truths of Scripture? We’ll consider these questions and more!

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all right it’s about 9:30 on the East Coast so we’re going to get started well good morning officially and welcome to Sunday school from Calvary Community Church thank you again for being here and I enjoy always your participation a live chat on our YouTube page you can see the URL on your screen please take advantage of that well today represents a little bit of a pause and our chronological study of the Bible we’re gonna do a special lesson today at the end of unit 7 in the answers Bible curriculum I’d like to introduce to you today a topic that’s been a lot of my mind lately because I’m taking a class on it here at the seminary at the Masters seminary been taking a class on the historical geography of Israel where I guess another way to say it biblical geography now I told you at the end of our last class when kind of finished the book of Joshua started the book of Judges it’s appropriate that we would explore this topic right now Israel has just entered into the land they have they’re all getting to know it in a sense if we think about them in the present tense they’ve conquered the land under Joshua they’re living in the land they’re getting to know it and so we should get to know – and that’s what we’re gonna try to do together today of course we’re going to do an entire Sunday school series on the geography of ancient Israel and we don’t have the time or ability to do that right now but we can at least do an introduction and an overview of Israel’s ancient geography who were Israel’s neighbors what were the different topographical and climate regions of Israel how much rain disease will actually get and how does knowing something about Israel’s geographical situation both on a macro scale and on a smaller scale how does that inform the teaching of the scripture that we want to know we’re gonna investigate many questions like these today just a side note there is a question last time about workbooks for the next unit and the answer is Bible curriculum if you would like a workbook for unit 8 as we proceed further in the scripture you can obtain and maybe you saw the email from Dwayne but you can obtain those by stopping by Calvary Community Church going to the mailbox and back office and you can pick up one of your workbook copies there so if you have more questions about that of course you can email me your emailed Wayne but you can pick up workbooks from the from the office in the mailbox in the Calvary office at the back of the church but anyways we’re looking at geography today introduction to biblical geography let’s pray and ask God’s blessing on this time of learning pray with me Heavenly Father we thank you that you are a God who keeps promises and many of those promises that we see especially in the Old Testament they relate to the land but help us to understand that land a little bit better so we can understand the scriptures as a whole better and we can also understand your faithfulness and those promises that you will still bring the past even related to the land because you are God of covenant faithfulness and we’re so glad that you’ve shown favor to us undeserved favor to us yes even us today and with a wild olive branch God and you grafted us in to those covenant blessings that I pray jig immutability now and and this would be an edifying time and encouraging time in Jesus name Amen right to set the stage for our topic today I’d like you to take your Bibles and open to the Book of Joshua chapter 10 I want to revisit a text well I guess I have the verse on your screen but it’s always good to look at it in its context the Bible Joshua chapter 10 verses 40 to 41 this is actually a verse that we looked at together we did read it before but I want you to take a moment now and reread these two verses with me Joshua 10 verses 40 to 41 says thus Joshua struck all the land the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings it left no survivor but he utterly destroyed all who breathed just as the Lord that is Yahweh the God of Israel had commanded Joshua struck them from Kadesh Barnea even as far as Gaza and all the country even as far as Gibeon why am i bringing up these two verses well I want you to notice some things look at these two verses again and see if you can count the number of geographical terms that are mentioned just starting in the beginning the verse we see all the land the hill country the Negev the lowland the slopes Israel Kadesh Barnea Gaza the country of Goshen and Gibeon that’s a lot of geography and just two verses but ask yourself do you actually know where these places are probably not right I mean sometimes we have a vague idea of biblical locations and regions and even if we don’t most the time we can still get the main point of the passage we can still understand the main point of the passage without knowing all the geographical details but still let’s face it there’s a good amount of spirit inspired text there’s a good amount of scripture that we do not understand or appreciate simply because we don’t know much about the geography of Israel but if we did know a little bit more about the land we can understand why the biblical authors report what they do we can understand why certain events happen in the Bible for instance why a certain Kingdom attacks a certain area or we can even understand why certain acts of God or people or places in the scriptures are theologically significant so understanding biblical geography can be very very helpful and understanding and appreciating the scriptures that’s why I want to learn a little bit of that with you that’s why I just want to study that a little bit with you this morning now for the purpose of this lesson which is an introduction in an overview what to cover four main areas when it comes to Israel’s ancient geography I want to talk about Israel’s placement in the world at large I want to talk about Israel’s dominant topographical layout there’s a pattern to how the land is in Israel I’m going to talk about Israel’s hydrology and vegetation and I also want to talk about Israel’s main tropi graphical regions there’s not just a pattern to the land but then we can look at the little individual chins and see what’s characteristic of it and what’s significant about that portion let’s start with Israel’s place in the world here’s a here’s an image of the world a map and if you notice that little little red circle in the middle of it that’s where is Julius visuals right in the middle of the Middle East now you just look at the Middle East for a section on this map there what do you notice that the Middle East does for Africa Europe and Asia well bit more or less connects them all the Middle East acts as a land bridge it’s a crossroads and in ancient times if you wanted to travel by land from Africa to Asia or Europe to Africa or Asia to Europe you often had to go through the Middle East even if you were traveling by sea many times you had to connect through the Middle East so in the Middle East really was a crossroads in Asia was part of that now also if we continue to look at this map and consider where Israel is and in relation to the rest of the world and where the Middle East is there’s something else that we can notice about the Middle East compared to Africa Europe and Asia and that is the Middle East is more or less in the center of all these continents not in the exact center but it’s it’s kind of in the center it really is middle we have the term Middle East but it really is in the middle and actually the Bible says something similar in the Book of Ezekiel Ezekiel chapter 5 well that’s right have some little notes here and I can click for you there we go Ezekiel 5 verses 5 to 9 here’s something very interesting from God he’s speaking about Jerusalem and by extension Israel and this is what he says to them this is part of God’s condemnation on the people for their covenant treachery and he says the seco 5 verses 5 to 9 thus says the Lord Yahweh this is Jerusalem I have set her at the center of the nations with lands around her but she is rebelled against my ordinances more secondly than the nation’s and against my statutes more than the lands would surround her for they have rejected my ordinances have not walked in my statutes therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in my statutes nor observe my ordinances nor observe the ordinances in the nations which surround you therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh behold I even I am against you and I’ll execute judgments among you in the sight of the nation’s now do you notice what God is saying to Israel here in Ezekiel God says cities placed Israel in the centre of the nations and not just metaphorically not just because he’s given a particular blessing a particular attention but even physically he says that Israel is in the sight of all the nations I think with me why would God do that why would God put is Jean even Jerusalem in the middle or the crossroads of the world now before we answer that in full we should ask a little maybe smaller questions why would being in the center or the crossroads of the world so to speak be a potential disadvantage might not be a good thing well think about it if you’re in the middle you’ve got nations all around you that means you’re surrounded by potential threats enemies on every side and actually isn’t that visual situation today yeah they’re in the land they’re in the land of Canaan in a sense they’ve been come back to it but they’ve got enemies on every side another disadvantage is if somebody wants to fight the enemy on the opposite side of you particularly ancient world well they have to go through your land is it’s the crossroads if they want to get to the other side for a conquest or some kind of battle they have to go through Israel which is what we see in the Bible Egypt passes through Israel to fight Assyria Assyria passes through Israel to fight Egypt Babylon Persia Greece they all conquer through Israel to get to the territories beyond and even in the last days when we consider what the Bible has to say about the last events before the second coming of Christ Israel will can be a battleground for the nation’s so there’s threats on every side there’s those who would have to fight through Israel to get to the enemies they need to attack and then there’s the fact that being in the center means you’re not only a crossroad crossroads for battle but a crossroads of ideas religious ideas ideological ideas that may be contrary to what God actually expresses in the scripture again let’s think about Israel’s experience where did Israel learn its idolatry from in the scriptures it was from the surrounding nations and from the people who were still in the land but they were influenced by the surrounding nations where did Solomon get his wives that turned his heart away from God again it was the surrounding nations so being in the center of the world can actually be a disadvantage but on the other hand why would being in the center where the crossroads of the world actually be an advantage a benefit even a great blessing well again we can point to a number of things there’s first of all trade if you’re in the crossroads if everybody wants to get through you or to the lands on the other side because of their merchandising you can make a huge profit you’re basically the middleman you’re the you’re the one protecting all the taxes and custom dues and various things related to trade so you’re going to be enriched as a nation also being in the center makes your kingdom or your country a perfect place to rule and administrate the other nations and even as a Magna just commented in the chat also being in the center it means that you have an opportunity they’re really the perfect opportunity to influence the surrounding nations in a positive way you can be a light a beacon to the nation’s to influence them to follow after Yahweh and to even intercede for them before Yahweh and consider these benefits they correspond with what God says about Israel in the Bible for example Exodus 19:6 is that Israel would be to God a kingdom of priests and a holy nation what was he saying I wasn’t saying that every single person in Israel was a police a priest like the Levitical priesthood and can go into the tabernacle or the temple they were saying that as a nation they would function as priests for all the nations of the earth in a certain sense or Deuteronomy 28 to Tirana May 28 verses 12 to 13 God is talking about the blessings that will come upon Israel if they will follow after him and some of the things he says I won’t read those verses to you but he says you’re gonna be the head and not the tail of the nation’s you’re gonna lend to them and you’re not gonna borrow from them you’re gonna be economically prosperous or consider what Isaiah says Isaiah chapter 2 verses 2 to 3 we’ll hear about Israel even in the last days fulfilling a purpose as the center of the nations Isaiah 2 verses 2 to 3 says now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of Yahweh will be established as the chief of the mountains you know be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it and many peoples will come and say come let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us concerning his ways I mean we wait that we may walk in his paths for the law will go forth from Zion in the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem so coming back to our question why did God ordained the land inheritance for the seed of Abraham to be in the middle of the nations even at the crossroads on the one hand apparently it was to test Israel there are disadvantages to being in the center would Israel hold to God in the face of many threats would Israel resist the influx of pagan ideas and religious systems and hold fast to their covenant God so it was testing but the other hand it was blessing and it was meant to make Israel blessing to the world and we even see a glimpse of this purpose kind of being fulfilled in the days of Solomon let me think about Solomon’s kingdom Israel’s prosperous at peace drawing all people in the world to visit Israel from Israel’s King learn about Israel’s God and God says that one day that same situation will return to Israel except in a much greater way when Messiah returns when our Lord Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom in Israel it restores a repentant Israel that nations will again or yes the nations will again stream to Israel in order to know more about Israel’s God even argon speaking of Israel’s place among the nations let’s talk about Israel’s ancient borders Mitchell’s borders actually fluctuated a lot in the scriptures so if I put my map here it’s not going to be accurate for all of Israel’s history but in terms of the territory assigned to Israel by God actually goes back to the Abrahamic covenant if we look at Genesis 15 verse 18 this is part of God’s covenant official covenant ceremony with Abraham he says this about the land Genesis 15:18 God says Abraham to your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the Great River the river Euphrates now note some things about that text first of all this land promise is given under the unconditional Abrahamic covenant it’s not given under the conditional covenant of Moses or at least not at first notice also that what’s promised in terms of land is quite extensive from the border of Egypt to the border of Mesopotamia that’s a lot of land also this description and similar ones to it it appears throughout the Old Testament so it’s not like something God 70 didn’t really mean no we see this description about going from Egypt to the Euphrates a number of times in the scriptures all related to the inheritance of God to Abraham’s seed but what’s interesting about this promise as given in Genesis 15:18 is that there’s a more specific description given regarding Israel’s Canaan inheritance in numbers thirty four numbers 34 verses one to twelve now we don’t have time to read through that passage together in numbers but I will summarize the border information for you according to numbers 34 and verses three to five Israel’s southern border was to be the wilderness of zin beyond Kadesh Barnea now if you look at the map on the screen this is this is someone’s best attempt to put onto the map the borders given in this passage so here’s Kadesh Barnea here’s the wilderness of zin at the southern part of Israel so here’s visual southern border on the eastern side not taking any the territory of Edom but on the western side being bracketed by the brook of Egypt you see the brook of Egypt here is not where maybe you might expect the brook of Egypt is probably not a reference to the Nile River in Egypt but actually to a different River your picture on the screen the wadi lrish this is a seasonal River on the northeast edge of the Sinai Peninsula this is Israel’s southern border according to the passage its western border we here at verse six of numbers 34 is the Mediterranean Sea Israel’s to possess all the coastline the usuals northern borders probably most difficult to understand from the passage there’s a number of place names and landmarks given but a lot of them are hard to identify today seems though what the passage is describing in terms of a northern border is actually a demarcation a natural demarcation that was recognized in the ancient world basically the the the northern border would be at the top of the Lebanon and anti Lebanon mountain rages so here’s the Lebanon mountain range anti Lebanon mountain rages because what’s on the other side of this is a as a depression in the land it’s the truck Tripoli Homs Palmyra depression that’s the modern name for it basically a big valley right on the edge of these mountain chains what’s also a little interesting about this is that this this natural demarcation is still used today as a border between Lebanon and Syria not the whole the whole section but the beginning of it is still being used today as a border because it is a natural demarcation one of the place names mentioned in the text and numbers 34 is a daaad we have pretty good verification that it would be around here it would be here and so it seems that this is where God was saying Israel’s northern border would be and it as you can see it extends beyond modern Lebanon and even into modern Syria now as for Israel’s eastern border verses 10 to 12 numbers 34 say that Israel’s eastern border is to be the Sea of Galilee and Jordan rivers so coming down here the Dead Sea called the salt sea in the scriptures and the also referred to as the Sea of the ARA bought the ARA is the land that comes from underneath the Dead Sea at the bottom now note in this border description given numbers 34 does not take into account the land that was already conquered under Moses apparently God did not consider this part of Canaan itself but it was part of Israel’s ordained land now as we consider these borders descriptions and that this map that attempts to depict it they’re probably a couple of things that you notice and one is Canaan in the mind of God is expressed in the scripture is a little bigger than we commonly think of it today we often think of biblical Canaan mostly it’s just a land occupied by modern Israel but God apparently conceded the territory is extending from the edge of the Sinai Peninsula up to the top of Lebanon and even into modern Syria a second thing you might notice is that there there appears to be a little bit of difference in terms of the promise given to Abraham and the promise given to Israel through Moses why is there this discrepancy well I’ve seen at least two ways that this might be explained now one way is that the border promised to Abraham is really not different from the border promise given to Israel under Moses in numbers 34 it’s just a matter of interpretation the argument basically goes that the river of Egypt mentioned in Genesis 15:18 is the same as the brook of Egypt mentioned here and as for the reference the Euphrates here in numbers are in Genesis 15:18 don’t see the Euphrates mentioned in numbers 34 but apparently there are some smaller Western branches of the Euphrates that do penetrate into the middle of Syria so perhaps one way to explain these two different descriptions of Israel’s borders is that the reference to Euphrates is to these the smaller branches of the of the Euphrates that extend into Syria so really the borders are the same another another way to explain it is to say that the promise given in Genesis 15:18 about the land is in general not to be taken too literally while the borders given a number 34 they’re the more concrete concrete promised borders those those should be taken very literally this to be kind of like using our term the British Isles today we referred the British Isles we know what the British Isles means now generally the two great islands off the northwest coast of Europe they comprise Britain or the United Kingdom and so it’s appropriate to call them the British Isles but technically British Isles is a little bit of a misnomer because not all the idols belong to Britain and the Republic of Ireland controls the majority of one of those islands but we still use the term that is if you wanted to really be nitpicky technically incorrect so maybe something is happening here a little bit with a we’re talking about the river of Egypt and the Euphrates it’s kind of in general where Israel’s borders gonna be but technically they’re a little bit they’re a little bit withdrawn from those from those edges but either way there’s a these two descriptions at other borders they don’t really contradict each other they actually complement each other now there’s a third thing that we might notice based on these border descriptions and that is and she’ll never really possessed all this assigned territory yes they didn’t inherit the land under Abraham and they were even restored to the land after the exile but if you never possessed all this territory I was true under Solomon is JAL’s hegemony extended farther than ever before and even afterwards and even the language describing Solomon’s Dominion in the Bible is reminiscent of the border descriptions we’ve just looked at for example first Kings 421 first Kings 421 says now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the river that be the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt they brought tribute and Serb Salomon all the days of his life did Solomon fulfill these assigned territories given to Abraham and to Israel well the problem is as originally promised God said the Israel would possess these lands not really control them Solomon did not do that he subdued many of the kingdoms around him but he didn’t actually possess all of that land and this means that the promise given to Abraham regarding Israel’s full full borders has never really been fulfilled and even Solomon didn’t control the the Phoenician States to the north of Israel so either any way you slice it Solomon is not the fulfillment of these border promises however the Scriptures indicate that these borders will actually be fulfilled one day when God restores the Kingdom of Israel under Messiah when is your repents and why do I say that well partially a huge part of it has to do with what’s written in Ezekiel Ezekiel chapters 40 to 47 we hear about a future resettlement of the Land of Israel which includes a new division for the 12 tribes that under Joshua the tribes were given a certain certain land allotments in Ezekiel 47 to 48 we hear about a new tribal division but in terms of the borders of the kingdom of Israel in this future day Ezekiel 47 47 verses 15 to 20 gives borders that are basically the same as the borders given in numbers 34 verses one to twelve even though the internal borders of the tribes are not the same the external borders are basically the same now this again this has never happened Israel’s restoration from exile under king Cyrus was not the fulfillment of Ezekiel nor was the Hasmonean dynasty in the intertestamental period they’re not familiar with the Hasmoneans also known as the Maccabees that was kind of a brief time in the 100’s BC and afterwards were an independent Kingdom of Israel was restored to the land and they conquered some of the area around them from the from the Greeks who ruled at that time but even that independent Kingdom it never fulfilled the borders as given in Ezekiel and a number and the genesis so what does this all mean it means that what was originally promised to Abraham unconditionally will find its fulfillment one day but only after Israel repents the Messiah comes that’s when Jesus Christ will establish his kingdom in Jerusalem in Israel and it will have dominion over the entire Earth and of course as jesus promised his Saints will rule with him in that day even us believe in him so we’ve dealt with Israel’s location in the world and we’ve dealt with Israel’s borders but it’s the final piece of understanding Israel’s macro geographical context let’s talk about Israel’s neighbors the names of the nations surrounding Israel that come up again and again at the Bible so it’s useful to get to know who was living near Israel we’re gonna overview Israel’s neighbors by marching counterclockwise starting from the West directly to the west of Israel and this this map is using the divided Kingdom period so we’ve got the kingdom visual the north in Keaney would you do in the south but to the west of Israel against the coast were the Philistines according to Genesis 10 the Philistines were descendants of ham but were not Canaanites Philistines were apparently living in the land before Joshua’s conquest some Philistines the majority of them though appear to have arrived later and they appear to be that Sea Peoples mentioned in ancient Egyptian records probably migrating from Crete and the Aegean around 1175 BC they settle here on this coastal plain toward the latter part of the judges period and the Philistines they primarily exercise control over five cities over here and kind of close to the Gaza Strip today essentially the Gaza Strip today but the Philistines at times controlled other portions of Canaan so I’ve got the Philistines on the west further west not pictured on the map we have another visuals neighbors Egypt one time oppressor sometimes unreliable ally in the Old Testament we know about Egypt directly to the south of the Kingdom of Israel in the kingdom of Judah if we okay Edom does extend a little bit more directly south over time but directly to the south wasn’t really a neighbor of significance further south in in the Middle East you do the Midianites who are up against the coast and they sometimes harass Israel but directly south was mostly desert and so don’t really have a neighbor living there who’s going to pose a problem for Israel to the southeast though maybe more over here and extending further to the west over time we have the kingdom of Edan Edom was another team for another name for the descendants of Esau they they lived on this high plateau primarily on this high plateau southeast of the the salt sea the Dead Sea sometimes they served Israel and sometimes they were enemies of Israel as we continued moving counterclockwise just above Edom on the eastern side of Israel we have the kingdoms of Moab and Ammon I remember Moab and Ammon they are the descendants of lot via his two daughters they sometimes are subjugated by or oppose Israel and according to the Torah Israel was forbidden from taking any of the territory from Ammon Moab or Edom God said I’ve given them their territory you don’t take it now beyond Amen to the east is again mostly desert now that this map here mentioned some aramean tribes yes there were some nomads who lived in the desert but we’re not talking about a substantial settlement so there was no real great threat in the East beyond Ammon and Moab until you get to the other side of the desert where you find Babylon and Persia but when they invade Israel they don’t come directly west they don’t want to go through the desert that’s a good way to get your army killed you would come you would go to the northwest and then come down to Israel from the north so we’ve got Philistia we’ve got Egypt over here we’ve got Edom I’ve got Moab we’ve got Ammon into the northeast we have the kingdom of Aaron also called Syria depending on your train halation in the bible there those two names for the same people Arameans were descendants of Shem they also ward with Israel at times you might remember a certain famous aramean or Syrian naman who was healed by his leprosy from Elisha he was from arum he was a Syrian now further to the northeast beyond Syria was the Kingdom or the Empire of Assyria called Asher in Genesis 10 also descendants of Shem Assyria would rise as the first great Middle Eastern Empire in the 700s BC story is called that the neo-assyrian empire of course they would invade Israel they would essentially conquer the Northern Kingdom of Israel taken in exile and greatly threatened the southern kingdom under Hezekiah so they’ve almost made all the way around here got the kingdom of Ihram to the northeast of Syria beyond it but then directly to the north we have Phoenicia also known as tyre and sidon in the Bible two great port cities and those who lived around them Phoenicians did not usually war with Israel but they did trade a lot with Israel especially in timber timber from Lebanon now these Phoenicians inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon they were true Canaanites they are considered to be Canaanite along with the other people in and what we think of as Canaan proper Phoenicians they worshiped Bale practiced human sacrifice and might remember later in Israel’s history the northern kingdom I came from the northern kingdom King Omri makes a peace treaty with Israel and Phoenicia and part of that treaty is that ornery son a hab marries a princess of Phoenicia who is that princess well that’s the infamous Jezebel and she and they have a responsible for bringing baile worship and making it the state-sponsored religion in Samaria in the northern kingdom for time so these are Israel’s main neighbors throughout the scriptures of course when we reach the New Testament times the picture is quite different because Rome has established its Dominion we’ll go through the details of the geography then basically under Rome Rome divides the Mediterranean world including Canaan and Syria into different client kingdoms and governorships these are assigned by Rome to do what Rome once and keep the peace all right now that’s enough about Israel’s place in the world and its neighbors now let’s talk about the Land of Israel itself and actually this is this is a great intersection – what Greg – what Craig post in the chat the Land of Israel that’s connected this map the Land of Israel the portion of Canaan generally occupied by the Hebrews throughout the old New Testaments it’s actually not very big for comparison’s sake the modern State of Israel again what we think of as Israel throughout the Bible the modern state of visual is roughly the size of New Jersey hey New Jersey nevertheless this small land is very topographically diverse lots of different terrain in this small area we’ve got deserts they’ve got Hills mountains barren wilderness coastline lush valleys Plains lakes small rivers and swamps all in this little area and despite this great diversity there’s a general pattern when it comes to the terrain in Israel and I’m gonna show it to you based on this map basically as one moves and here’s North here on the map basically as one moves from west to east in Israel you’re gonna encounter four main longitudinal zones when I say longitudinal I’m talking north-south encounter four main topographical zones as you move from west to east and you can see this illustrated on this 3d map first and by the way you can if you put your mind to it you can remember these four zones that’ll help you in understanding Israel’s geography as the Bible describes it the first zone all the way in the West is flat coastal plain a second zone right next to it is high high hill country so you’re going up in elevation a third zone on the other side of the hill country is the Rift Valley the very low elevation Rift Valley and then the fourth longitudinal zone right on the other side of that Valley is the Transjordan plateau again going very are going substantially higher in elevation than the valley or even the coastal plain now again to illustrate this and to emphasize this terrestrial reality let’s imagine you’re a traveler in the ancient world trying to move from west to east in Israel you’d start let’s say you’re walking by foot or you’re traveling by foot you’d start on the coastal plain and it’s a relatively easy walk you know easy to travel nice little jaunt you move in moving west to east but then you encounter this second zone and it’s suddenly a rigorous hike upward into the hill country who you’re gonna get tired pretty fast but then as you go through the hill country you kind of reach the top of it rest yourself a little bit just walking along but then you descend downwards into that third longitudinals own derivative alley and you’re going down a long way because this risk Valley goes many hundreds of feet below sea level so it’s a steep hike downwards into the Rift Valley then if you want to get to the other side well you’ve got a hike back up again in a very rigorous hike basically a climb out of the Rift Valley onto the Transjordan plateau now as I say this is the general pattern this is the general state of the terrain in Israel whether you’re deep in the South rub the north you’re basically encountering this reality these four longitudinal zones you’ve got the coastal plain Hill Country Rift Valley and then Transjordan Plateau mr. parks you by the way partly explains the water situation in Israel let me briefly say something about that Israel’s hydrology state Israel does not have any big rivers like some of its famous Mesopotamian neighbors doesn’t have the Nile like Egypt or the Euphrates like Mesopotamia Babylon Tigers or the Euphrates and not having one of these big rivers well that’s cut in a convenient these rivers are constant they can be counted on for water and irrigation visual does have the Jordan River and as I mentioned you before and the lesson about visuals crossing the Jordan River Jordan River is not a big river and it’s at the bottom of this deep Rift Valley which means it’s pretty inaccessible for farming and irrigation most of the other rivers in Israel these little bodies these little rivers they’re seasonal and they don’t lasts all year there there in the winter disappear in the summer I can’t be relied on for steady amounts of water so if you’re living in Israel how are you gonna get the water that you need well you got no we’ll talk about that version just a second you got wells you got Springs but primarily you’ve got rain and Dew your water is primarily going to come from the rain and the patriarchal narratives by the way you might notice how many times people like Abraham Isaac and Jacob they’re needing to dig find or control wells it’s again because the water situation is in a certain state in in the land of Canaan also meaning the major cities in Israel actually pretty much all the cities in Canaan and Israel they are built next to Springs places like Jericho or Jerusalem or Hots or Megiddo that’s because water is a big deal in this area you need access to water but if you have a well or if you build you’re sitting next to a spring these need to be replenished eventually by rainfall Israel fundamentally is a land that needs consistent rain to do well and actually this is what God told Israel before they entered the land here’s where I’m bringing in this text Deuteronomy 11 to tirana me 11 verses 10 to 11 says this God speaking Israel but 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 water it with your foot like a vegetable garden that appears to be some reference to irrigation based on the Nile but the land at which you’re about to cross to possess it a land of hills and valleys drinks water from the rain of heaven a land for which Yahweh your God cares the eyes of Yahweh your God are always on it from the beginning given to the end of the year excuse me now again think of me a little bit why would God have Israel inherit a land that was so dependent on getting just the right amount of rainfall for its prosperity this is an accident is this just a coincidence certainly not we can see that this is purposefully given by God so that the people might follow him and depend on him obey Him so that they can receive the rain they need and be blessed the fact that rain is not guaranteed should have caused the people to continually turn to Yahweh but what did Israel actually do because of this concern over getting rain having a fertile land oh they followed the customs of the people who lived around them who also were obsessed with rain and so they served bail the storm god the rain God they thought if we serve bailed and will get the fertility we’ll get the rain that we need and we’ll have prosperous lives but of course what’s the irony initial is doing to that in Israel’s doing that well they clung to false gods like bail because they were so desperate for rain that’s when God according to his faithful covenant covenant attitude and behavior he actually with holds the rain from Israel they became desperate for rain and he said well now you’re not following me so I gotta withhold the rain and we see this most explicitly with Elijah and the Northern Kingdom I’m the Northern Kingdom turns to follow bail state sponsored bail worship under Ahab what does it lied to say to a have for the next three years it’s not gonna be any rain here you turn to the rain God well now there’s not gonna be any rain in fact at the end of those three years when Elijah has the contest with the prophets of bail on Mount Carmel first Kings 18 he shows first of all bail can’t produce rain second of all bail can’t even produce lightning he’s supposed to be a storm God and third of all as soon as you get rid of the prophets of bale was God dude brings back the rain it brings back a downpour that’s because God is the one in control of the rain that rain that Israel desperately needs not bail now today as in ancient times Israel does receive a fair amount of rain but only in certain times of the year you can see that Illustrated over on this section of the this map here and also in this little chart kind of like Southern California Israel basically has only two seasons has the wet season and has the dry season most of the rain falls in the winter months in Israel you can see this year October November December January February March April some rains can begin in September and others can still appear in April but primarily we’re talking about the winter months that’s when we get all that rain visuals Irenaeus in the north you can see on this kind of different shades here on this map this is where the greatest amount of rainfall falls and the north near Mount Hermon also you get a decent amount of rainfall on the western sides of the the hills and Israel the western side of the hill country western side of the Transjordan plateau don’t get much rain in the south don’t get much rain on the eastern side and let me illustrate this a little bit more up in the north the area around Mount Hermon gets about 55 inches of precipitation a year that’s a lot and the runoff of that precipitation is range from Hermon the snow from Hermon it’s part of what feeds the Jordan River so a lot of rain up there Jerusalem gets about 24 inches of rain a year which actually is about the same amount of rain that London gets about 24 inches a year however London’s rain is spread out throughout the year Jerusalem’s rain kind of comes all at once kind of like a flood or a torrent in those winter months but Jericho on the eastern side of the hill country on the edge of the Rift Valley it’s about four inches of rain a year so you can have a pretty big difference in rainfall depending on where you are in Israel now in terms of agriculture because of this rain and because of the hilina Sun usual visuals not that great for growing large amounts of grains there were parts of Israel that were really good at it the plains the valleys they could be really good for growing crops like wheat and barley and things like that but where the Land of Israel really excelled was in its pasturage and its cultivation of trees and vines for example grapes olives pomegranates figs appre COTS almonds pistachios walnuts mangoes they all flourish in Israel olive oil and wine to Kamali that were especially valued in the ancient world they were two items that Israel was particularly good at producing meanwhile the grasses in Israel that flourish on the less rainy hills they are perfect for cultivating livestock made raising animals profitable of course that led not only to meat but also to many milk products actually was the milk products that were that were usually the result of raising animals so it’s just as God said in the Torah Canaan was indeed a good land especially well-suited for Israel but it would only be prosperous if it got there rain it needed and it only get the rain it needed if Israel continued to look to God who literally was sustaining their lives by bringing the rain now in our modern culture we sometimes don’t think about how God actually directly sustains our lives – he is the one responsible for the weather that gives the food and the transportation networks that bring the food to us and the money that we obtains that we can buy the food God is sustaining our lives just as much as God of sustaining the lives of Israel it’s just as the Psalms say all the earth looks to God for provision even for food and we do today – and God says that he will provide for us perfectly at the right time and in the right way even for our food and for our health so I’ve given you a lot of the macro context of visual we’ve looked at Israel’s place in the world we’ve looked also at Israel’s water situation but the last bit of our lesson today I want to talk about the main regions of Israel that followed those longitudinal topographical zones now we’re going to do this by again moving west to east but as we go through each one of those zones we’re then gonna move north to south you’ll see as we as we go along what I mean I’m gonna put various Maps I’m also gonna put a bunch of pictures up here so you can actually see what the land looks like today and what it would have looked like to some degree in ancient times okay we’re starting again from the West our first region of Israel is basically that longitudinal zone that I mentioned to the first main region is the coastal plains coastal plains these are the plain of Asher in the North going down to the plaintiff door the Sharon plane and then the plane of Philistia these coastal plains are flat parts of it are pretty swampy you would think that being by the coast having flat land won’t be good for farming but the number of swamps here in ancient times there’s been a good way to get malaria so a lot of people actually didn’t live directly in this area and worse the coastline of Israel especially in ancient times is not very good for creating a port not very good for shipping because there’s not really in natural harbors you have better ports up here in the land of tyre and sidon so most of the major cities on the coastal plain in ancient times biblical times they are actually a little bit inland where the farming was a little bit better some good farming soil here on the coast and also you have the International coastal highway that’s this yellow line here on the map it goes basically right past the coastal plain if you want to get in on that trade and on the custom dues well you built a city near it like goth or Gaza or a thick now during the during the early parts of visuals experience in the land up until the time of David and Solomon who’s the coastal plain especially the southern section was controlled by the Philistines and the Canaanites visual couldn’t drive out the people in this area and why not almost because of that war machine that Israel particularly feared the chariot chariots excel on flat ground and so Israel was fearful and not able to take out the people who lived in these areas at least not for a while I told you that Israel didn’t really have any good ports on the western coast japa japa japa was kind of their best attempt at one but it was still kind of a second-rate port in New Testament times we have the port of Caesarea this is built by Herod the Great he’s the he’s the head of the inn see narratives related to Jesus he actually takes a bit of his own creativity and some Roman technology and he creates a man-made Harbor in Caesarea to create a world-class City and a world-class port because he said hey this is the land where I’m living I want shipping to come here and he was successful in that of course Paul was in prison in Caesarea for a time before he made his way to Rome right that’s the coastal plain here’s some pictures of the coastal plain you can see the coastline here very flat and you can see some of the good farmland now the swamps have been drained in modern times so you have a lot more farmland happening near the coast today more productive now we go back into that second longitudinal zone we’ve got the coastal plain all the way in the West and then we’ve got the hill country and now I’m going to be marching our way down this hill country from the north and the first region we have is Galilee Upper Galilee lower Galilee of course we’re familiar with that term Galilee from the Bible also referred to the region of chinna wrath in the Old Testament what’s Galilee like in ancient times well we’ve got moist rugged hills a good amount of rainfall as I said in this this northern section fertile area also around the Sea of Galilee the Sea of Galilee itself was a great boon to the inhabitants of the area see this freshwater sea basically a lake but Israelites called large lakes seas as freshwater lake had abundant fish also prone to sudden storms however due to the unique low elevation of the Sea of Galilee after Israel’s exile from the land after Sumeria is conquered and people exile Galilee is partly as part of the area settled by pagans don’t believe in God don’t know the true God in intertestamental times under the Hasmoneans remember those in the Maccabees I mentioned earlier they Recon Corps the land of Galilee and they forced the people formerly pagan to become Jews forced conversion of Jews but of course anytime you force people to believe believe in a religion they’re always going to be suspicious of whether they truly followed that religion so the rest of visual always kind of had a suspicion and a contempt for the people of Galilee that’s what we see in New Testament times yes yeah it’s in this area that God and His Providence and in His grace this was the area and which Jesus primarily ministered and if you look closely at this map I know the writing is a little small probably from where you’re viewing it you can see some of the cities that we see mentioned so often in the New Testament narrative they’ve got Nazareth here and lower Galilee a little bit away from the Sea of Galilee very small town maybe 400 people kind of backwoods but that’s where Jesus grew up you’ve got Capernaum here closer to the Sea of Galilee cores in Bethsaida these were the sites where Jesus did most of his miracles and of course Jesus also condemned these cities for not believing in him in spite of the many miracles that he did of course Jesus’s ministry in Galilee was basically foretold Isaiah 9 verses 1 to 2 it says galilee of the gentiles yes Galilee that was settled by the pagan peoples even forced convert that’s going to be the place where a light a special light Dawn’s so this is the northern region of the hill country Galilee some pictures of Galilee you can see some of the lushness here and some of the hill enos and years I think northern Galilee and here’s part of the Sea of Galilee moving further south right beneath Galilee we have the Jezreel Valley now I told you generally as you move from west to east in Israel you’re gonna have to move from low flat elevation up on these big hills and then back down to the Rift Valley but the just really is an exception here’s the Jezreel Valley here in the map kind of Pierce’s like an arrow you can even see the arrow shape here and on the shaft of the arrow there Pierce is like an arrow into the hill country and is actually flatland a nice broad valley Jezreel Valley was well watered fertile it also features the International coastal highway passing through crops grew very well in the Jezreel Valley as they do today and if you wanted to pass from the northeast of Canaan down to the southwest or Southwest to Northeast you were going to pass through the Jezreel Valley it was great transport Hubb in israel so a wonderful section of land in many many ways but if this land is so great well what do you think ancient people probably did with the Jezreel Valley all the time well they fought over it the Jezreel Valley has a valuable travelerbill strategic section of Israel it is the site of many ancient battles as well as notable biblical events Navis vineyard was stolen from him in the Jezreel Valley Elijah contested with the prophet avail on the edge of the Jezreel Valley on the Mount Carmel range Good King Josiah it lost it lost his life fighting Pharaoh Nico in the Jezreel Valley and even in the future before the coming of Christ in those last days before the coming in Christ were again gonna see battle in the Jezreel Valley if you’ve ever heard the term Armageddon well that’s just another way of referring to the plains of Megiddo where’s Megiddo Megiddo is a fortress city on the edge of the Jezreel Valley basically guarding this pass that goes through the Carmel mountain range from the Jezreel Valley to the coastal plain in other words the plains of Megiddo Armageddon is the Jezreel Valley so you can understand why there would be battle there in the future because there’s been battle there in the past so Jezreel Valley Jezreel Valley is pretty important in the scripture let’s keep moving oh yeah some pictures of the Jezreel Valley you can see it’s a very very fertile I’m turning to move south we have the hill country of Samaria Samaria also a term for the northern kingdom this represents the tribal inheritance of ephraim and manasseh sons of joseph very hilly lots of hills and valleys not quite as rugged as the hill country further south but this is where we see the cities of Samaria especially the capital cities Shechem I’m sorry a ship Shechem tours in Samaria kind of all near each other there uses capital cities by the Kings in the north did I want to say something else about Sumeria oh yes some areas of course that city of Samaria within the land of Sumeria it’s a city of Samaria over here that’s where our marine a have set up their official state-sponsored baile worship it’s kind of a capitol devoted to baile worship and you can see some of the hill country samaria here in these pictures as we continue to move further south though we encountered the hill country of judah a little bit more rugged terrain than in the hill country of samaria actually made the land more defensible kind of less successful you wouldn’t be traveling through judah as much as you would through samaria but that kind of protected you there from invasion and also from some of the ideas and religions that affected the northern kingdom over in samaria of course it’s in the whole country of Judah that we encounter some of those famous cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem so here’s Jerusalem Bethlehem and he brought they actually were all on the same Ridge route so as I said that you kind of get Hillier here until you reach a kind of peak a watershed Ridge where the water flows this way and then it starts flowing this way right on that Ridge was a route also called the way of the patriarchs where again and again in Genesis you see that patriarchs traveling up and down and Jerusalem Bethlehem and Hebron they’re all on that Ridge all the way up until Shiloh which is kind of more in the in the hill country of Samaria but again this is a pretty hilly place there are kind of two sub regions of the hill country of Judah that I also want to mention to you over on the western side of the hill country of Judah you have what’s called the Shephelah or that Hebrew term that means the lowlands are the low hills it’s kind of a transition zone between the flat coastal plain and the higher hills of the hill country of Judah it kind of had these low hills in between on the eastern side you have the wilderness of Judah and this is very barren not much rainfall here the very very steep also referred to as the slopes in the Bible this is where David this is part of the area that David lived in when he fled from Saul also seems to be the area that Jesus went to when he went to be tempted in the wilderness went right from the Jordan River where he was baptized over to the Judean wilderness I’ll show you some pictures of those here’s some hill country of Judah and here’s a shephelah you can see these kind of lower hills and that will larger hills in the distance of the hill country of Judah and the wilderness of Judah hmm that’s not a place where people can really live that well of course that goes up to the Dead Sea as we finish going south in the hill country we encounter the Negev and you see this term in the Bible and the Negev actually comes from Hebrew words meaning dry and south and that’s pretty accurate a negative is a semi-arid area and the very south of Israel that transitions into desert and wilderness outside Israel’s borders here in the Negev we encounter some visuals extreme southern cities like bear sheba and a little bit further south Kadesh Barnea sometimes you hear the phrase from Dan to Beersheba in the Bible Dan would be all the way in the North up in Galilee and Russia but all the way in the south and the Negev that’s a way of referring to all of Israel I travelled from Dan to Beersheba to find a particular thing that means you went through all of Israel and then here’s some pictures of the Negev yeah that’s it that’s a little bit more difficult place to live much more barren so we’ve gone through the coastal plain we’ve gone through the hill country and we can pick up the pace now a little bit and talk about the Rift Valley that the next longitudinal zone it’s in the Rift Valley that we find the this is again very low elevation but this is where we find their fertile Hula Valley up in the far north and the Sea of Galilee the Jordan River and then the Dead Sea or the salt sea and beneath the Dead Sea would be the area known as the ARA ba very dry kind of desert area I’m not gonna say too much about the Rift Valley since kind of covered it when I talked about the Jordan River in previous lessons but things to know is that the Rift Valley is pretty fertile on the north especially above the Sea of Galilee and around the Sea of Galilee and the upper Jordan as you get pretty as you gets further south where the Dead Sea gets pretty barren the Dead Sea itself is about 1,400 feet below sea level it’s the lowest place on earth above the ocean and it’s part of the the lowness that makes this a somewhat unique unique area in Israel somewhere around the Dead Sea is where Sodom and Gomorrah were some different sites proposed for that and the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah probably did have some effect some permanent effect on the environments the Dead Sea it’s interesting when lot separates from Abraham he looks at the Jordan Valley and he’s like wow it’s so well watered but he ends up around Sodom and Gomorrah and those areas today are not well watered so it seems like something was altered there over time and here we can see some pictures of the Rift Valley here’s Upper Jordan and here’s some area around the Dead Sea you can see the the high plateau of the Transjordan just beyond this is looking east over the Dead Sea finally our last longitudinal zone is the Transjordan plateau this name Transjordan it comes from Latin Transjordan means beyond the Jordan that is beyond the Jordan River from the perspective of Canaan then the north of Transjordan we have Bashan known as the Golan Heights today and below Bashan we have the land of Gilead and also a little plateau area below that this is excellent pasture land you remember the tribes of rumen and NASA and GAD they they stopped before Israel even goes into the Promised Land they say hey let us live here because this is a great place for animals and that’s true it’s great great grazing land on the high plateaus there it gets a decent amount of rain also Gilead was famous for its balm and sometimes you refer there’s a reference to the balm of Gilead in the Bible oh I should mention about Bashan in terms of livestock sometimes you see the description Bulls of Bashan strong Bulls of Bashan I think even in the Psalms the psalmist sometimes says Bulls of Bashan have surrounded me talking about fierce strong enemies this is reference to their great pasture land and the animals of the Transjordan area now it’s interesting not much is actually mentioned about Transjordan in the bible sometimes we hear people attacking Transjordan but we don’t really hear much about life in Transjordan and it appears to be a little bit of the out of sight out of mind attitude going on here beyond the Jordan well it’s kind of difficult to get to that’s not where where things are really happening most of what we hear about happening the Bible happens in the western side of the Jordan the people would want to possess the eastern side of the Jordan because that’s where you found another international route international trade route the Kings Highway that’s this yellow line right here goes through Transjordan if you controlled the Kings Highway and if you controlled the international coastal highway the way of the sea well then you had accents in the main trade routes and you were collecting all the customs all the tolls which is what Solomon was doing when he had all of Israel under his control that’s part of my visual was prospering so well under Solomon alright that was a oh yeah some pictures of the Transjordan area a water here waterfall here in Bashan Golan and then you can see some of the some of the hills in that area now that’s a really quick tour I understand but I hope that from this you can recognize and even remember these main regions and these main longitudinal zones I’ve just described as you move west East and Israel again to review you start with coastal plains and you run into hill country then you go down into the Rift Valley and then you go up into the Transjordan plateau of course there were different valleys different routes that major your movement between these areas a little bit better it’s not like there was a ton of routes there’s particular ways to go but there-there are ways that made it easier on yourself and when we talk about the hill country we can note certain regions as we move from north to south of galilee all the way in the north the Jezreel Valley below that the hill country of Samaria below that then the hill country of Judah on the western side of the of Judah we have the low lowland the low hills the shephelah on the eastern side of Judah we have wilderness and then below Judah we have the Negev so now just doing that brief survey an introduction if we were to return to this passage we actually would be able to recognize the various terms most of the terms and seas given in this passage and of course we’ve only done an introduction to biblical geography there’s a lot more that we could learn and that’s something that I encourage you to pursue to take advantage of on your own certainly there’s if you have a Bible particularly a steady Bible there are probably maps within it or at the end of it you can take advantage of those or you can consider purchasing a Bible Atlas as part of my class on the historical geography of Israel I’ve purchased three Bible atlases these are atlases that were required for the class and that we’re very very helpful very interesting that’s the new moody atlas of the Bible the discovery has discovery house Bible Atlas and the satellite Bible Atlas I’ve actually been featuring a number of the maps in the satellite Bible Atlas in today’s presentation in terms of the photos cred for those goes to professor’s at the Masters University and the Masters seminary Todd Boland at the University and Michael Gross auntie at the Masters seminary but again you can use these atlases they kind of take you through the narratives of Scripture and they show you maps and charts in relation to those things to help you understand the land better now I can’t endorse everything logical perspective given in these atlases there’s nothing too crazy nothing nothing outright heretical it’s gonna make you unorthodox by reading through these atlases but I will say that outside of these atlases I don’t necessarily endorse everything that these authors say actually the author of the satellite Bible Atlas it’s great atlas nothing in it is objectionable in terms of theological content but the the author actually has become somebody over time who denies the deity of Christ so I don’t want you to be swayed by that don’t listen to the awesome when he talks about Christ deity but when he talks about the Land of Israel just an excellent reference resource and really helpful Maps so these are great reference works that should continue to make the Bible’s geography clearer to you now of course if you have any questions about what I’ve shared with you today you are free to or please feel free to post it in the chat I’d love to interact with you a little bit about it afterwards when I pray or you can send me an email at daph Coppola at gmail.com and I’ll try and answer your question and interact with you as best as I am able not an expert on the geography of Israel but I’ve certainly learned a lot more and I’m really glad to do so and I want to you need to learn about the geography but that’s all for this week officially next week unless we’re doing something special for related to Easter we’ll start unit eight of the answers bible curriculum which means we’re jumping back to the book of Judges and we’re gonna learn about a particular judge Gideon and we’re gonna see that Gideon was a fearful man whom Yahweh our God transformed into a courageous judge who delivered Israel anyways let me close our time with prayer and then as I said love to interact with you afterwards let’s pray Heavenly Father all your words are true you promised to show that Canaan was a good land and you were giving it to them and your word proves true it was a good land it is a good land and yet God it is a land that in a sense they don’t have the right to until they turn back to you until they repent Lord we look forward to the day when you will bring about repentance nationally for the people of Israel we pray that even now God you would turn many of those who do not yet recognize their Messiah back to you also pray Lord for those who are not Jewish Lord that they would see the great works that you did for Israel your covenant faithfulness even in relation to the land and that they would be convicted of their rebellion against you wanting to follow their own way instead of your way no they would repent and trust in the only Savior Jesus Christ lord thank you for this time together I pray that you bless the people at Calvary and everyone who listened today in Jesus name Amen thank you all again for joining me on this special lesson about visuals geography again feel free to ask some questions or comments share some comments afterwards I’ll hang around for a little bit otherwise you can send me an email or I’ll see you next time