Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible - Softcover

Rasmussen, Carl G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310318572 ISBN 13: 9780310318576

Verlag: Zondervan, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

An up-close, comprehensive, and colorful atlas that allows you to travel to the lands where Jesus walked, Moses traveled, and Paul preached.

Discover everything you need to know about the lands of the Bible. Packed with multidimensional maps, photos, diagrams, and charts; the Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible is designed to help you better understand the history and places of the Bible and its world.

This full-color atlas is concise but thorough, perfect for Bible students, travelers to the Holy Land, or any reader of the Bible curious to find out more about commonly mentioned places in the Old and New Testaments.

The Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible features:

• Nearly 200 stunning multidimensional and three-dimensional maps and full-color images.
• Accurate and up-to-date mapping technologies.
• Innovative chronological charts and maps covering historical backgrounds, regions, weather, and roads.

 

With this easy-to-understand atlas, you'll find Bible study more engaging and comprehensible, and you'll learn key contextual facts about these historically and spiritually rich places.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Carl G. Rasmussen (PhD, Dropsie University) is an adjunct professor at the Jerusalem University College in Jerusalem. He is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Each year he leads adult "study tours" to Turkey, Greece, and Israel. He has spent many years leading and teaching in Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Jordan.

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ZONDERVAN ESSENTIAL ATLAS OF THE BIBLE

By CARL G. RASMUSSEN

ZONDERVAN

Copyright © 2013 Carl G. Rasmussen
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-310-31857-6

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments................................................
5
Abbreviations..............................................................
6
Geographical Section.......................................................
1. Introduction to the Middle East as a Whole..............................
8
2. The Geography of Israel and Jordan......................................
10
3. The Geography of Egypt..................................................
18
4. The Geography of Syria and Lebanon......................................
23
5. The Geography of Mesopotamia............................................
25
Historical Section.........................................................
6. The Pre-Patriarchal Period..............................................
30
7. The Patriarchs and the Egyptian Sojourn.................................
36
8. Exodus and Conquest.....................................................
44
9. Settlement in Canaan and the Time of the Judges.........................
53
10. Transition to the Monarchy: Samuel and Saul............................
64
11. The United Monarchy: David and Solomon.................................
69
12. The Divided Kingdom....................................................
76
13. Judah Alone............................................................
85
14. Exile and Return.......................................................
91
15. The Arrival of the Greeks..............................................
96
16. The Maccabean Revolt and the Hasmonean Dynasty.........................
103
17. Early Roman Rule in Palestine..........................................
108
18. The Life of Christ.....................................................
114
19. The Expansion of the Church in Palestine...............................
122
20. The Journeys of Paul...................................................
128
21. The Seven Churches of Revelation.......................................
136
22. Jerusalem..............................................................
140
Scripture Index............................................................
151
Subject Index..............................................................
155

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTIONTO THEMIDDLE EASTAS A WHOLE

The stage on which the major events of Old Testamenthistory took place includes all the major countriesshown on page 9. This large land mass is bounded onthe west by the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea, on thenorth by the Amanus and Ararat Mountains, and on the eastby the Zagros Mountains and the Persian Gulf. To the south,the Nafud Desert and the southern tip of Sinai form a ratherloose boundary.

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

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

CHAPTER 2

THE GEOGRAPHYOF ISRAEL ANDJORDAN

Terrain

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

(1) The coastal plain stretches approximately 120 milesalong the Mediterranean coast from Rosh HaNiqra south toGaza. It receives 25 to 16 inches of rain per year, the northernsections receiving more rain than the southern. A fewpowerful springs provided water, but more commonly theinhabitants used wells to tap the water table. The coastal plainconsists mainly of low, rolling hills covered with fertile alluvialsoils. Grain crops flourished in the winter and spring months,while flocks grazed there during the remainder of the year.

While travel was easy in this area, travelers did have to becareful to avoid sand dunes, large rivers such as the YarkonRiver, and low-lying areas that became swampy during thewinter months. Also, they had to choose the most appropriatetrack through Mount Carmel. The only natural seaport isat Acco.

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

Cutting through the limestone hills are deep V-shapedvalleys, usually called wadis. They are dry during the summermonths but sometimes flow with water during thewinter. They drain either toward the rift valley or the MediterraneanSea. Travel along the bottoms of these deep wadisis difficult because of boulders and occasional cliffs, andnorth – 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 considerablerainfall (20 to 40 in.); this, along with the fertile soil,ensures the fertility of the area. Here — largely on hillsideterraces partially formed by the natural bedding of the limestone— small fields of wheat, groves of olive trees, and vineyardsflourish (Deut 8:8; Ps 147:14; Hab 3:17 – 19).

Winter rainwater seeps into the limestone until it reachesan impermeable layer, where it begins to flow laterally until itemerges as a spring. Settlements often developed close to thesefreshwater springs, but being on the slopes of the hills theywere difficult to defend. By about 1400 BC, the construction ofcisterns, lined with plaster to prevent leakage, began to solvethe problem of complete dependency on natural water sources.

The Israelites first settled in the central mountain range.Because international powers were primarily interested incontrolling the coastal plain, the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Zondervan
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0310318572
• ISBN 13: 9780310318576
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 160
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: WordUnited GmbH; distribution@wordunited.com; ; Theodorstrasse 105; DUSSELDORF; 40472; Deutschland