Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible

ZONDERVAN

Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible

Copyright © 2013 by Carl G. Rasmussen

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rasmussen, Carl.

Zondervans essential atlas of the Bible / Carl G. Rasmussen.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-310-31857-6 (pbk.)

1. Bible—Geography—Maps. 2. Bible—History of Biblical events—Maps. I. Title.

G2230.R33 2014

220.9'10223—dc23 2012589773

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Maps created by International Mapping. Copyright © 2010 by Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

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Cover photography: Ben Greenhoe/Zondervan; Michael Melford/Getty Images; www.holylandphotos.org; Slow Images/Getty Images

CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Geographical Section

1. Introduction to the Middle East as a Whole

2. The Geography of Israel and Jordan

3. The Geography of Egypt

4. The Geography of Syria and Lebanon

5. The Geography of Mesopotamia

Historical Section

6. The Pre-Patriarchal Period

7. The Patriarchs and the Egyptian Sojourn

8. Exodus and Conquest

9. Settlement in Canaan and the Time of the Judges

10. Transition to the Monarchy: Samuel and Saul

11. The United Monarchy: David and Solomon

12. The Divided Kingdom

13. Judah Alone

14. Exile and Return

15. The Arrival of the Greeks

16. The Maccabean Revolt and the Hasmonean Dynasty

17. Early Roman Rule in Palestine

18. The Life of Christ

19. The Expansion of the Church in Palestine

20. The Journeys of Paul

21. The Seven Churches of Revelation

22. Jerusalem

Scripture Index

Subject Index

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This volume is an adaption of the more complete Zondervan Atlas of the Bible. It begins with a concise Geographical Section, which introduces to the reader the lands of the Bible, including Israel/Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, and Mesopotamia. Helpful maps, charts, and pictures illustrate the topic discussed—topography, regions, weather, roads, and so on.

The Geographical Section is followed by a Historical Section, which provide maps, commentary, diagrams, and pictures related to the whole sweep of biblical history, both Old and New Testaments—including the Intertestamental Period. Jerusalem and the seven churches of Revelation have chapters of their own. Readers who are interested in fuller discussions of specific places, regions, and events are invited to consult the Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, and the author’s website, www.HolyLandPhotos.org.

This atlas is intended for readers of the Bible who want concise information close by as they are reading the biblical text. It is ideal for use by Bible study groups, adult Bible classes, and travelers to the Middle East, and it will serve well as an auxiliary textbook for college, university, and seminary classes.

I wish to thank acquisitions editor David Frees, who helped initiate this project, and acquisitions editor Madison Trammel, who has seen it through to completion. As with the Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, Kim Tanner’s valuable expertise shows through in the development and presentation of maps, graphics, and pictures. Mark Connally has graciously allowed the use of some of his beautiful images in this volume. Mark Sheeres and his team have developed a layout that has made the volume a pleasure to view and use. I was greatly involved in revising the text of the larger work for this volume, but I would especially like to thank Verlyn Verbrugge, whose wisdom and skill brought this process to a successful conclusion. In addition, I would like to thank Stanley Gundry and Paul Engle for their encouraging support through the years.

Finally I would like to thank my wife, Mary, whose love, companionship, and encouragement over the years has been a blessing to me and to all those with whom she comes in contact.

Carl G. Rasmussen

ABBREVIATIONS

AD   Anno Domini, In the year of our Lord (i.e., after the birth of Christ)

ANET   J. B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Third edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

BC   Before Christ

c., ca.   circa, about

ch., chs.   chapter(s)

e.g.   for example

EB   Early Bronze Age

ed., eds.   editor(s)

esp.   especially

et al.   and others

etc.   et cetera, and so on

F   Fahrenheit

ft.   foot, feet

H.   Horbat

Heb.   Hebrew

in.   inch(es)

Jos.Antiq.   Josephus: The Antiquities of the Jews

Jos.Apion   Josephus: Against Apion

Jos.Life   Josephus: Life

Jos.War   Josephus: The Jewish War

Kh.   Khirbet

LB   Late Bronze Age

MB   Middle Bronze Age

mi.   mile(s)

Mt(s).   Mountain(s)

N.   Nahr/Nahal

NASB   New American Standard Bible

NIV   New International Version

NT   New Testament

OT   Old Testament

p., pp.   page(s)

par., pars.   paragraph(s)

R.   River

sq.   square

T.   Tell (Arabic)/Tel (Hebrew)

v., vv.   verse(s)

W.   Wadi

GEOGRAPHICAL SECTION

INTRODUCTION TO THE MIDDLE EAST AS A WHOLE

The stage on which the major events of Old Testament history took place includes all the major countries shown on page 9. This large land mass is bounded on the west by the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea, on the north by the Amanus and Ararat Mountains, and on the east by the Zagros Mountains and the Persian Gulf. To the south, the Nafud Desert and the southern tip of Sinai form a rather loose boundary.

Much of the Middle East is desert. Large portions of modern-day Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia include desert wastes such as the Syrian Desert, the Nafud, the Arabian Desert, the Ruba al-Khali, Negev, Sinai, and Egypt. The seas and gulfs that help outline the Middle East have influenced life in the area. The most important of these is the Mediterranean Sea, which offers life-giving rains to most of the region. Much of what has occurred in the Middle East can be summed up as a struggle between the influences of the desert and the Mediterranean Sea over against the people who have lived there.

Roman road in Syria

The first section of this book outlines briefly some of the significant challenges of this part of the world—geography, climate, roads, trade routes, food supply, and the like. It is easy to determine where the majority of people have lived in the Near East by highlighting on a map (see p. 9) the areas watered by the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates, as well as those regions that receive over twelve inches of rainfall annually. This area is roughly the shape of a crescent, with one point in the Nile River and the other in the Persian Gulf. It is aptly named the Fertile Crescent.

THE MIDDLE EAST TODAY

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

THE GEOGRAPHY OF ISRAEL AND JORDAN

Terrain

At the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, we can distinguish five major longitudinal zones. As one moves from west to east they are: the coastal plain, the central mountain range, the rift valley, the Transjordanian mountains, and the eastern desert.

(1) The coastal plain stretches approximately 120 miles along the Mediterranean coast from Rosh HaNiqra south to Gaza. It receives 25 to 16 inches of rain per year, the northern sections receiving more rain than the southern. A few powerful springs provided water, but more commonly the inhabitants used wells to tap the water table. The coastal plain consists mainly of low, rolling hills covered with fertile alluvial soils. Grain crops flourished in the winter and spring months, while flocks grazed there during the remainder of the year.

Jezreel Valley from Megiddo looking east at Mount Tabor

While travel was easy in this area, travelers did have to be careful to avoid sand dunes, large rivers such as the Yarkon River, and low-lying areas that became swampy during the winter months. Also, they had to choose the most appropriate track through Mount Carmel. The only natural seaport is at Acco.

(2) The central mountain range runs from Galilee in the north to the Negev Highlands in the south. It rises in places to more than 3,000 feet and is severed in an east–west direction by the Jezreel Valley in the north and the Negev Basin in the south, where east–west traffic can flow with relative ease.

Cutting through the limestone hills are deep V-shaped valleys, usually called wadis. They are dry during the summer months but sometimes flow with water during the winter. They drain either toward the rift valley or the Mediterranean Sea. Travel along the bottoms of these deep wadis is difficult because of boulders and occasional cliffs, and north–south travel across the wadis is almost impossible. Thus roads tended to be located on the mountain ridges.

The western slopes of the mountains receive considerable rainfall (20 to 40 in.); this, along with the fertile soil, ensures the fertility of the area. Here—largely on hillside terraces partially formed by the natural bedding of the limestone—small fields of wheat, groves of olive trees, and vineyards flourish (Deut 8:8; Ps 147:14; Hab 3:17–19).

THE FIVE MAJOR LONGITUDINAL ZONES

Winter rainwater seeps into the limestone until it reaches an impermeable layer, where it begins to flow laterally until it emerges as a spring. Settlements often developed close to these freshwater springs, but being on the slopes of the hills they were difficult to defend. By about 1400 BC, the construction of cisterns, lined with plaster to prevent leakage, began to solve the problem of complete dependency on natural water sources.

The Israelites first settled in the central mountain range. Because international powers were primarily interested in controlling the coastal plain, the mountains provided the Israelites with security. Only during periods when they considered their power to be great did the Israelites attempt to gain control of the coastal plain, but this almost always resulted in conflict with one or more of the great powers.

(3) The next zone, part of the rift valley system that continues into Africa, stretches 260 miles from Dan to Elath at the northern tip of the Red Sea. A considerable amount of rain falls in the northern section of this zone (24 in. at Dan), whereas in the south rainfall is negligible (2 in. at the south end of the Dead Sea).

The northernmost section of the rift valley, called the Huleh Basin, receives about 24 inches of rain each year. Springs at the foot of Mount Hermon form the headwaters of the Jordan River and flow through a marshy lake known in antiquity as Lake Semechonitis. The Jordan then enters the north end of the Sea of Galilee, which lies 690 feet below sea level and measures 13 by 7.5 miles. The temperate Mediterranean climate makes this region a desirable place to live. The sea itself is a major source of fish for inhabitants, and a number of small but fertile plains along the sea’s shoreline have been intensively cultivated throughout history.

TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP

The Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee and descends to the Dead Sea. The linear distance in the Jordan Valley is 65 miles, but the length of the river as it winds its way is 135 miles. Until modern times, when Israelis and Jordanians began diverting water for commercial purposes, the Jordan averaged 100 feet in width with a depth of 3 to 10 feet. After heavy rains in late winter and spring its width could swell to almost a mile in places.

The Jordan River empties into the Dead Sea—the lowest spot on the surface of the earth (1,385 ft. below sea level). This sea does not have any outlet and is called the Salt Sea because of its high mineral content. South of the Dead Sea, the rift valley continues 110 miles to the shores of the Red Sea. This region is called the Arava or Arabah