Divine and Human
The message of the Bible cannot be separated from its geographical and historical setting. Climate and terrain determine agricultural potential, settlement patterns, and trade routes, all of which are used providentially in the biblical story. Most events in the Old Testament are set within the Fertile Crescent, a region that extends from the Persian Gulf, along the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, to the Nile Delta. The Land of the Bible occupies the midsection of this vast tract of habitable land. It is there, a short distance inland from the Mediterranean, that most of biblical history unfolds. This region - also known as Israel, Palestine, the Promised Land, or simply the Holy Land - is an area of great geographical and climatic variety. And yet it is very small, measuring ca. 150 miles from north to south and 6o-go miles from east to west. With the spread of the Jewish Diaspora and the gospel, many New Testament events occur outside the Land of the Bible in the regions of Anatolia, Italy, and the shores of the Aegean Sea, a northern bay of the Mediterranean.
Regions of the Ancient Near East
Several geological features and dominant weather patterns mark the geographical regions of the Near East. The massive Zagros mountain range winds its way from the heartland of Persia north toward eastern Anatolia. In the northeast it gives way to the smaller Taurus range that extends southward toward Cyprus. Plentiful precipitation from Europe falls upon these mountains and empties into the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which define the broad basin of southern Mesopotamia. This "Land between Two Rivers," which receives minimal rainfall, is bordered on the northeast by the steppeland of Aram or northern Mesopotamia and on the south by the barren deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Egypt lies at the opposite end of the Fertile Crescent. Like Mesopotamia, it receives virtually no rainfall and is watered by a mighty river. After meandering through the desert, the Nile fans out into a lush delta and empties into the Mediterranean. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt have access to the Mediterranean Sea, which enables transport to Cyprus, Greece, and Italy as well as up and down the eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean.
Two important landmasses lie west of these areas. Anatolia is a large, well-watered plateau bordered by mountains on the east and south. It was home to the ancient Hittites and several of the early churches visited by the apostles. Greece is a large peninsula extending southward from Macedonia and Eastern Europe. It gave birth to Classical Greece and its philosophies, as well as Hellenism and many Greco-Roman communities mentioned in the New Testament, such as Galatia, Ephesus, Colossae, and Corinth.
The Land of the Bible and Its Regions
In the land of the Bible competing geologic forces and weather patterns have created subregions that offer dramatic contrasts in terrain and climate. The most dominant feature is a central range of hills running NE-SW, whose westward erosion formed the coastal plain along the same orientation. The eastern, backside of this range gives way to a chalky wilderness and the Jordan Valley, part of the great Rift that extends southward to eastern Africa. Most scholars divide the land into distinct longitudinal zones. These include the relatively flat coastal plain; the low-lying hills of the Shephelah (or lowlands); the central range (with forested mountains as high as 2600ft.); the narrow Judean Wilderness and the Jordan (Rift) Valley (1200 ft. below sea level); and the Transjordanian Plateau (ca. 3000 ft. above sea level). Precipitation in these areas varies widely, from plentiful rain on the coastal plain to virtually none in the Jordan Valley. Rainfall also decreases dramatically as one moves from the lush vegetation of Galilee to the desert conditions of the Sinai.
South of the central range is an open region called the Negev. Though it has limited rainfall and poor soil quality, it was farmed during the Judean monarchy and has always been an important link for the spice trade between Arabia and the commercial centers of the Mediterranean. The vast Sinai Peninsula lies to the south of the Negev. With massive granite mountains in the south and and highlands in the north, it separates Egypt from the Land of the Bible.
If one adds geopolitical considerations to the patterns of climate, geography, a threepart division of the land into north, center, and south may be more useful. The north, comprising Galilee and Samaria, is well watered and easily accessible from all directions, which makes it vulnerable to conquest. Dominating the north is the Jezreel Valley with its choice agriculture and easy trade routes in all directions. The south, which includes the Negev and southern Judah, has limited rainfall and is more isolated due to the difficulty of desert travel. The central region encompasses the middle of the hill country, including the biblical territory of Benjamin and the vicinity of Jerusalem. It is a somewhat remote area that is accessible to the coastal plain and Jordan Valley through a series of strategic ridge routes that give life to biblical episodes such as the conquest (Joshua 24), the Benjamite civil war (Judges 19-21), the reign of Saul, and the kingdom of David.
The Significance of Biblical Geography
The Land of the Bible is best described as the "playing board of biblical history." As historians have shown, geographical realities determine the ebb and flow of human history. Like the stage in a drama, the geography of the Near East serves to enliven and clarify the message of God's redemptive work. This can be seen in two primary ways. First, the lands of the Bible provide the context and explain the pattern of biblical events. Throughout history the Land of the Bible has been an arena for competing political and cultural forces. Though limited in natural resources and hard to unify under one government, it is a narrow land bridge that offers convenient routes of trade and conquest between Arabia and the Mediterranean and between the cradles of civilization in Mesopotamia and Egypt. More often than not its political fortunes have therefore oscillated between the competing civilizations of Egypt to the south, Mesopotamia to the distant northeast, and Syria-Aram immediately to the north. Thus the Egyptian empire of the 2nd millennium B.c. dominated the land during the periods of the patriarchs, exodus, and conquest. On the other hand, the Mesopotamian empires of Assyria and Babylon dominated the 1st millennium during the days of the divided kingdom and most of the biblical prophets through the exilic period. During the opening years of the 1st millennium, David and Solomon offered the land a rare and short-lived period of local unity free from outside domination.
A second way in which the lands of the Bible animate its message is through imagery and metaphor. This is best seen in the regional perspectives of biblical authors and events. The text of Isaiah 40, which mentions valleys, crooked ways, and "preparing a highway for our God," is best understood in the setting of the rugged wilderness east of Jerusalem. The prophet Micah speaks of coming disaster for Judah from the perspective of the Shephelah, the primary invasion route used by the marauding armies of Assyria and Babylon. Jesus' ministry in Galilee is set within competing foreign influences that would culminate in the destruction wrought by Rome.
The biblical authors no doubt assumed that their readers were familiar with the world as it was in their day, including the lands of the Bible and surrounding regions. If the first rule of interpretation is to study the context of Scripture, the first step in such an approach is to gain an appreciation of biblical geography.
FOR FURTHER READING
Aharoni, Yohanan. The Land of the Bible. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1979.
Barton, John, ed. The Biblical World. London: Routledge, 2002.
JOHN MONSON