The Essential Bible Guide: Bible Background with Maps, Charts, and Lists (Essential Guide (Abingdon Press)) - Hardcover

Menashe Har-El; Paul Wright; Baruch Sarel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1426707576 ISBN 13: 9781426707575

Publisher: Abingdon Press, 2010

Synopsis

With illustrations, maps, chronologies, and concise descriptions, this guide provides an attractive and organized framework to understand the land, people, places, history, and culture of the Bible. Includes over 60 full-color maps.

About this title

About the Author

Menashe Har-El is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Geography at Tel Aviv University, and author of several books and numerous articles. In 2002 he received the prestigious Israel Prize for Land of Israel Studies.
Paul Wright is executive director of Jerusalem University College/Institute of Holy Land Studies in Jerusalem.
Baruch Sarel is an expert in biblical history and linguistics, and lives in Israel

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Essential Bible Guide Bible Background with Maps, Charts, and Lists

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2010 The United Methodist Publishing House
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-0757-5

Chapter One

Understanding The Geography of the Bible

Introduction

The majority of the biblical story took place in a very small yet interesting land nestled along the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the land of Israel. To provide the proper geographical context of the biblical story, however, it is necessary to cast a wider net, one that encompasses Israel's neighbors near and far. While at its maximum the world of the Bible stretched from Susa in Persia (Esther 1:2) to possibly Spain (Romans 15:28), for practical purposes our sweep can be limited to two regions that intersect in Israel: to the south and east, the lands surrounding the Fertile Crescent (often called the ancient Near East) and to the north and west, the Mediterranean Basin as far as southern Italy. In a sense, a line dividing east from west is artificial, and the lands where the two meet (including Anatolia, Egypt's Nile Delta and the entire eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean) properly have characteristics of both. Yet it is sometimes helpful to make certain important generalizations up front, such as that the hill country of Israel tended to be oriented to the east, while the coastal plain more often than not faced the sea. This state of being in between the geographical and cultural forces of the ancient world has given variety, richness and depth to the biblical story.

CLIMATE

Introduction

It is often wondered if the climate of the Middle East today is the same as it was during the biblical period. While local fluctuations in climate—i.e., in temperature and aridity—can be traced over a period of years, decades or even centuries, a fair analysis of the data (including rock weathering, the presence of plant and animal species over time and historic patterns of human settlement) suggests that the overall climate of the Middle East has been essentially stable for at least the last five thousand years. In addition, biblical statements about climate (e.g. Deut 32:2; Job 38:22–30, 34–38; Ps 65:12–13; Prov 25:14; Jer 4:11; Mk 4:37) ring as real today as they did when they were first written. For this reason, it should be assumed that the following look at climate, although based on data of the modern Middle East, is applicable to that of the biblical world as well.

Several elements affect climate in the Middle East. Of these, the most important is location. Most of the countries of the Middle East lie between 15° and 40° north latitude, near the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° north of the equator). As a result, the climate throughout the region is largely subtropical. Within this subtropical zone lie some of the warmest and driest regions in the world, where long summers, subject to a sustained high barometric pressure, are characterized by high temperatures and no precipitation. The heat of the summer is intensified by the strong rays of the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere at an angle perpendicular to the Tropic of Cancer.

In winter, the sun moves southward to the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5° S), and westerly winds blow toward the Middle East over the Mediterranean Sea. For most of the winter the northern part of the Mediterranean is subject to a low barometric pressure characterized by high precipitation and cool temperatures. The winter's often heavy rains are born in the buoyant, humid air of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, air that rises, cools, condenses, and releases precipitation. The season's cool temperatures are a result of the horizontal angle of the sun's rays in and around the Tropic of Cancer.

Topography is the second element that affects climate. Plains and valleys are generally warmer and dryer in all seasons than are hilly or mountainous regions, which are generally cooler and wetter. For instance, the amount of precipitation that falls in coastal regions, in interior cold mountain recesses or in the warm heartlands will vary greatly. As a specific example, extreme temperature differences exist between the valleys and basins of the central Persian Plateau, which suffer from unbearable heat reaching 130° F (54° C) in the summer, and the peaks of the snow-covered mountains on its perimeter.

The third factor that affects climate is proximity to large bodies of water. Regions situated near oceans or seas will have a more temperate climate both in the summer and winter, for the sea can absorb the sun's rays to a depth of up to 656 feet (200 m) below sea level, thereby moderating temperatures and retaining warmth the year around. The landmasses that are more distant from the sea have a more extreme climate because the soil retains the warmth of the sun's rays only to a depth of 3 to 6 feet (1–2 m) from the surface.

Overall, the climate of the Middle East is quite varied. The central part—Egypt and Arabia, Israel, Syria, and southern Mesopotamia—has a subtropical climate with dry summers and rainy winters, as described above. The southern extremities, however—Ethiopia, Sudan, and Yemen—are characterized by a monsoon climate in which the seasons are reversed: the summers are rainy and the winters dry. As most of the Middle East is covered by or in close proximity to deserts and surrounded by lofty mountains, climatic variations throughout are extreme. However, areas that touch the sea, in particular the Mediterranean, are temperate, wet and warm, and it is here in particular that permanent human settlement has always been most viable.

As for the eastern Mediterranean Basin, the climate is influenced by European rather than Middle Eastern forces, and is moderated by the influence of the sea itself. Throughout the Mediterranean world the sea is the overwhelming natural phenomenon and tends to hold temperatures within each season relatively stable. The differences between the summer and winter, however, can be dramatic. Hot, dry summers are usually offset by wet winter storms that are powered by a combination of hot air from North Africa, moist air from the Atlantic and cold air from the European interior. The eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean, including the land of Israel, is a climatic transitional zone between the wetness of the sea and the dryness of the desert, and where wild fluctuations between "feast and famine" are to be expected.

Because of these climatic extremes, the regions of the biblical world are home to a great variety of flora and fauna, as well as patterns of human settlement. For instance, the foothills and river valleys of northern Persia and Anatolia, covered with primeval forests, have dense human and animal populations, while desert regions such as Rub` al-Khali and Nafud in Arabia are among the most sparsely populated in the world. The region's various climatic boundaries, then, demarcate the parameters of the fertile areas and wasteland regions of the biblical world.

Climatic Regions

The geographic extent of the Middle East, its varied physical structure and the interplay of desert, mountain and sea create six distinct regions of climate, agriculture and possibilities for human settlement:

1. The Pontic climate of Anatolia. The cold and wet Pontus region enjoys more than 40 inches (100 cm) of rain throughout most of the year. This area has the richest forests in the Middle East and supports both irrigated and nonirrigated crops.

2. The interior mountain climate of Armenia. This region, which receives about 20 to 40 inches (50–100 cm) of precipitation annually, is very cold and snowy in the winter and cool in summer. In winter the land completely freezes over, while in summer flocks graze on the mountains and fruit and grain are cultivated in the river valleys.

3. The subtropical climate of the Anatolian and Persian plateaus. This region is very hot and dry in summer and cold and somewhat humid in winter, with 16 inches (40 cm) or less of precipitation annually. Barley and wheat are cultivated and flocks of sheep and goats are raised in the mountains and valleys, while the central salt deserts are completely barren.

4. The Mediterranean climate throughout the eastern Mediterranean Basin. This region has an average of 20 to 40 inches (50–100 cm) of rain in the winter and no rain in the summer. A wide variety of fruit and grain is grown solely on natural rainfall, and cattle, sheep and goats thrive in the valleys and on the hillsides.

5. The desert climate. The deserts of Arabia, Egypt and the southern part of Mesopotamia are dry for most of the year, receiving less than 8 inches (20 cm) of rainfall annually. Crops are irrigated in the river valleys, and desert oases provide homes to sheep, goats and camels.

6. The monsoon climate of Sudan and Yemen. This region receives some 20 to 40 inches (50–100 cm) of rain annually. Here, in antiquity, plants for incense and perfumes were grown under irrigation, and cattle were bred.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND HUMAN SETTLEMENT IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

The lands of the ancient Near East included the large river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia as well as the rainy hills and valleys of the eastern Mediterranean seaboard. In the history of the ancient world, the countries that filled this Fertile Crescent had outstanding opportunities to establish profitable trading networks, complex social organizations, mature urban centers, sophisticated political institutions, lofty religious ideas, and refined skills in communication, manufacturing and the arts and sciences. Advances in culture spread from the Fertile Crescent to the east by way of Persia (Iran), westward into the Mediterranean Basin, and to the southeast through Canaan and Israel. Many of the factors that spurred these initial advances in human cultural development are rooted in the geographical realities of the ancient Near East: climate, natural resources, routes and the region's overall geographical setting in the known world of the time.

Major Centers of Human Culture

In the most general sense, the ancient Near East can be divided into three distinct geographical regions:

1. A mountainous northern region extending laterally along the boundary of the temperate zone in a generally east-west direction. This fertile region includes the lands of Persia, Anatolia, and, to their south, Mesopotamia.

2. A southern region, located along the boundary of the monsoon zone and extending in a longitudinal north-south direction toward the Red Sea and Nile River. This is a desert region that includes Egypt, Cush (Ethiopia), Arabia, and Yemen.

3. A third, and smaller, zone consists of the lengthy Syrian-African Rift, a long, longitudinal rip in the surface of the earth that in some ways joins the larger northern and southern regions to each other, and in other ways separates them.

Together, these three regions are circumscribed by five seas: the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. It was here, in a great amphitheater built of mountains, valleys and deserts and surrounded by water, that the world's first civilizations arose. The specific histories of the many peoples who lived in the ancient Near East—the rise and fall of empires, the tenacious cling of individual city-states to their homelands, the migratory patterns of semi-nomadic herders up and down the fringes of the desert—in large measure can be read through the prism of the geographical realities that each faced. Details of climate and fertility may be found in rainfall and available water resources, but these in turn have their roots in larger geological forces that laid the structural foundations of the earth.

Geological and Tectonic Structure

The Near East can also be divided into three major geological and tectonic structures: (1) ancient massifs (i.e., principal mountain masses); (2) young Alpine folds and faults which were responsible for individual mountains, mountain ranges and valleys; and (3) sandstone and salt plateaus, primarily deserts.

1. Three ancient massifs define the region: the Arabo-Nubian Massif, the Anatolian Massif and the Midian Massif in Persia. Here, in small, protected and well-watered valleys and on rocky yet fertile hillsides, the earliest known villages in the ancient Near East arose. Here, too, ancient man quarried for copper, silver, gold, iron, and semi-precious stones. These metals and gems provided raw materials to make tools, weapons, implements of agriculture and jewelry. Such raw materials not only provided a stimulus for manufacturing but were a catalyst for competition in trade, and at times led to all-out war among the peoples and great nations who sought control of their access.

2. The young Alpine folds raised mountains to heights of 13,100 to 16,400 feet (4,000–5,000 m) above sea level. These include the Pontic and Taurus mountains in Anatolia together with the basalt "seam" in Armenia to their east, the Elburz and Zagros ranges along the border of Mesopotamia and in Persia, the mountains of Yemen and Ethiopia near the Red Sea, and those of Oman in the Persian Gulf.

This folding subsided in the southern margins of the region where a simple, relatively low series of folds formed the backbones of Lebanon and Israel, rising to no more than 9,900 feet (3,000 m) and 3,300 feet (1,000 m), respectively.

Throughout the entire region, mountains were torn and separated by a series of faults, the most prominent of which formed the Syrian-African Rift. The activity of faulting turned areas of simple folds into complex topographies, with jumbled highlands and hidden interior valleys.

3. Other than the homeland of the Hittites high on the central Anatolian plateau, most of the countries in the ancient Near East were surrounded by desolate deserts of sand, gravel or salt. Typical desert plateaus of sandstone are found in Arabia (Rub` al-Khali and Nafud) and, to a lesser degree, Egypt and Sudan. The basalt and flinty desert plateaus in Syria, Arabia, and northern Sinai provide harsh living conditions that lack adequate water resources for permanent human settlement and generally inhibit plant growth. The principal salt plateaus of the Near East, Dashte Kavir and Dasht-e Lut in Persia (Iran), and other, smaller ones in areas near Lake Tuz in Anatolia, served as obstacles to both man and beast and were always the most desolate and infertile lands in the entire region.

It can be argued that the best natural border is a desert, for a desert acts as a frontier or barrier between nations and can prevent or deter wars. At the same time, because the deserts of the ancient Near East held important natural resources such as iron, copper, turquoise and high-quality stone for construction or works of art, once the skills of forging trade routes and traversing the desert were harnessed, they became centers of economic or political development.

Characteristics of Folded Mountains In several ways the mountain ranges of the ancient Near East contributed to the growth of human settlement and culture in the region:

1. The lofty mountains of the northern region in particular receive and store a great amount of precipitation, including snow-cover, in winter and spring. Here crops are watered by rainfall, while natural thickets of oak, pine, beech, fir, cypress, cedar, and other trees flourish, providing lumber for construction and making implements, tools and weapons of war. Throughout antiquity farmers cultivated the slopes and valleys of both the higher mountains in Anatolia and Persia and the lower ranges adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Essential Bible Guide Bible Background with Maps, Charts, and Lists Copyright © 2010 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1426707576
• ISBN 13: 9781426707575
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 120