Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.ZONDERVAN ESSENTIAL ATLAS OF THE BIBLEBy CARL G. RASMUSSEN ZONDERVANCopyright © 2013 Carl G. RasmussenAll rights reserved.ISBN: 978-0-310-31857-6ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments................................................5Abbreviations..............................................................6Geographical Section.......................................................1. Introduction to the Middle East as a Whole..............................82. The Geography of Israel and Jordan......................................103. The Geography of Egypt..................................................184. The Geography of Syria and Lebanon......................................235. The Geography of Mesopotamia............................................25Historical Section.........................................................6. The Pre-Patriarchal Period..............................................307. The Patriarchs and the Egyptian Sojourn.................................368. Exodus and Conquest.....................................................449. Settlement in Canaan and the Time of the Judges.........................5310. Transition to the Monarchy: Samuel and Saul............................6411. The United Monarchy: David and Solomon.................................6912. The Divided Kingdom....................................................7613. Judah Alone............................................................8514. Exile and Return.......................................................9115. The Arrival of the Greeks..............................................9616. The Maccabean Revolt and the Hasmonean Dynasty.........................10317. Early Roman Rule in Palestine..........................................10818. The Life of Christ.....................................................11419. The Expansion of the Church in Palestine...............................12220. The Journeys of Paul...................................................12821. The Seven Churches of Revelation.......................................13622. Jerusalem..............................................................140Scripture Index............................................................151Subject Index..............................................................155CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTIONTO THEMIDDLE EASTAS A WHOLEThe 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 "