An English rendering of the Hebrew word shittim. When referring to the tree, many modern translations use “acacia” (Isa. 41:19; KJV: “shittah tree”); however, when shittim is used in reference to a place name, it often is simply transliterated as “Shit…

One of several major topographical features of Israel (Deut. 1:7; Josh. 11:16). The Arabah corresponds to the Great Rift Valley running north to south through the land. Situated within it is the Jordan River Valley, which extends southward from the Sea of Galilee (Kinnereth) sixty-five miles to the Dead Sea (Sea of the Arabah). The Dead Sea and its surroundings are also part of it, as is the desert region to the south, which extends 103 miles to the Gulf of Aqaba. Almost the entire region sits below sea level, with the Sea of Galilee roughly seven hundred feet below, and the Dead Sea thirteen hundred feet below.

The Hebrew for “Arabah” (ha’arabah), where the term is preceded by the article, refers to the whole or a portion of this territory…

Temporary homes for seminomadic peoples as well as military personnel. A number of Hebrew words are translated in the English Bible as “camp” or “encampment.”

For example, a tirah was a camp protected by a stone barrier or wall (Gen. 25:16; Num. 31:10; Ezek. 25:4), a ma’gal was a ring of wagons or a circular camp (1 Sam. 17:20; 26:5, 7), and a nawah was perhaps a nomadic pasturage camp (Ps. 68:12 NIV).

The most frequent word for “camp,” mak­haneh, occurs over two hundred times in the OT and is derived from the verbal root khanah, meaning “to set up a camp or encampment.” Isaac and Jacob camped during their journeys (Gen. 26:17; 31:25). After leaving Laban and meetin…

The large salt lake to the south of the Jordan River. The Bible refers to this lake as the Salt Sea (Num. 34:12 ESV), Sea of the Arabah (Josh. 3:16), and Eastern Sea (Ezek. 47:18), but not the Dead Sea. Josephus called it Lake Asphaltitis. The Dead Sea is forty-two miles long and eleven miles wide. Located in the depths of the Jordan Rift Valley, the shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, about 1,385 feet below sea level, and its waters are the second saltiest on ea…

Temporary homes for seminomadic peoples as well as military personnel. A number of Hebrew words are translated in the English Bible as “camp” or “encampment.”

For example, a tirah was a camp protected by a stone barrier or wall (Gen. 25:16; Num. 31:10; Ezek. 25:4), a ma’gal was a ring of wagons or a circular camp (1 Sam. 17:20; 26:5, 7), and a nawah was perhaps a nomadic pasturage camp (Ps. 68:12 NIV).

The most frequent word for “camp,” mak­haneh, occurs over two hundred times in the OT and is derived from the verbal root khanah, meaning “to set up a camp or encampment.” Isaac and Jacob camped during their journeys (Gen. 26:17; 31:25). After leaving Laban and meetin…

The most famous place of this name was not far from Jericho. Eusebius placed it two miles from Jericho, it appeared on the ancient Madaba Map, early pilgrims claimed to have “seen the stones,” and from the seventh to twelfth centuries AD there was a church at the place of pilgrimage. However, archaeologists have not been able to identify the site definitively in modern times.

Gilgal was Israel’s first camp after crossing the Jordan, marked by a cairn of twelve stones from the riverbed (Josh. 4:19–20). It was called “Gilgal” because this sounds like the Hebrew word galal, meaning “to roll away.” When the people had been circumcised and had celebrated their first Passover in the promised land, God told them that he had “rolled away the reproach of Egypt” (5:9). It was at this base camp tha…

The name “Israel” (Heb. yisra’el) means “God struggles” or “one who struggles with God.” (1) Jacob’s appointed name after he “struggled with God” (Gen. 32:28; cf. 35:10). Jacob’s descendants are called “Israelites” or “children of Israel” (Josh. 3:17; 7:25; Judg. 8:27; Jer. 3:21) and the “h…

The Jordan River flows over one hundred miles and is the most important source of water for both Israel and Jordan today, as it was in biblical times. Scholars are divided over what the name means: some suggest it comes from the Hebrew root yrd (“to go down”) or from a combination of “Jor” (meaning “river”) and “Dan” the tribe; or perhaps it simply means “river.” Initially it was the dividing line between western Israel (Cisjordan) and the area of the eastern tribes (Transjordan).

The Jordan River begins at the base of Mount Hermon and descends about 2,380 feet to the Dead Sea. While the distance from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is a little over seventy miles, the meandering path of the river measures longer than that distance. It has four different sources: the Hasbani and the Iy…

(1) The son of Nun and the servant of Moses. Joshua appears thirty-three times in Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Judges. He is the principal human character of the OT book that bears his name.

As a military commander, Joshua fought against the Amalekites (Exod. 17:8–13). He became an assistant to Moses and accompanied him up and then down the mountain of God (24:13; 32:17). Joshua also kept watch over the tent of meeting (33:11).

Moses sent Joshua, Caleb, and ten others as spies to explore the land of Canaan (Num. 13). At this point, Moses also changed his name from “Hoshea” to “Joshua” (13:8, 16). Because Joshua and Caleb trusted that God would help Israel conquer Canaan, God vowed that only these two of that rebellious generation would enter the promised land (14:30). God also comm…

The land of Israel is strategically located on a land bridge between significant geopolitical powers. About the size of New Jersey, it is geographically diverse, ranging from fertile mountains in northern Galilee to the arid Negev steppe. It was indeed the “testing ground of faith” in which God planted his people.

The “Land Between”

The Mediterranean Sea to the west and the great Arabian Desert to the east confined the flow of military and commercial traffic to this land bridge. Throughout most of Israel’s history, Egypt and the succession of political entities in Mesopotamia were intent on expanding their empires; Israel was in between. To a lesser extent, this also involved invaders coming from or through Anatolia (modern Turkey).

The sea and the desert also affect the weather patter…

In the Bible the word “memorial” is used in two primary senses. First, it can refer to something meant to provoke a worshiper’s remembrance. The Israelites erected a monument of stones as a memorial to remind their descendants that God had stopped the flow of the Jordan River (Josh. 4:7). Simi…

Rivers in Cosmology

Genesis 2:10–14 describes the garden in Eden as the source of an unnamed river that subsequently divided into four “headwaters”: the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. This description defies any attempt to locate the purported site of Eden in terms of historical geography. The Tigris and the Euphrates do not diverge from a common source, but instead converge before emptying into the Persian Gulf. Moreover, the Gihon, if it is to be identified with the sacred spring of the same name in Jerusalem (1 Kings 1:45), is several hundred miles away from the Tigris and the Euphrates. The Pishon is otherwise unknown. If, as various commentators since antiquity have suggested, the Gihon and the Pishon are to be identified with other great rivers in the same cla…

The large salt lake to the south of the Jordan River. The Bible refers to this lake as the Salt Sea (Num. 34:12 ESV), Sea of the Arabah (Josh. 3:16), and Eastern Sea (Ezek. 47:18), but not the Dead Sea. Josephus called it Lake Asphaltitis. The Dead Sea is forty-two miles long and eleven miles wide. Located in the depths of the Jordan Rift Valley, the shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, about 1,385 feet below sea level, and its waters are the second saltiest on ea…

The large salt lake to the south of the Jordan River. The Bible refers to this lake as the Salt Sea (Num. 34:12 ESV), Sea of the Arabah (Josh. 3:16), and Eastern Sea (Ezek. 47:18), but not the Dead Sea. Josephus called it Lake Asphaltitis. The Dead Sea is forty-two miles long and eleven miles wide. Located in the depths of the Jordan Rift Valley, the shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, about 1,385 feet below sea level, and its waters are the second saltiest on ea…

The large salt lake to the south of the Jordan River. The Bible refers to this lake as the Salt Sea (Num. 34:12 ESV), Sea of the Arabah (Josh. 3:16), and Eastern Sea (Ezek. 47:18), but not the Dead Sea. Josephus called it Lake Asphaltitis. The Dead Sea is forty-two miles long and eleven miles wide. Located in the depths of the Jordan Rift Valley, the shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, about 1,385 feet below sea level, and its waters are the second saltiest on ea…

A mineral cluster or rock. Although the terms “rock” and “stone” are occasionally used synonymously, “rock” usually refers to a large geological formation such as a cliff, cave, outcropping, or bedrock, while “stone” is preferred when the rock is small enough to be fashioned or handled by human beings. “Stone” can also function as an adjective, referring to a material made of stone, or as a verb, referring to the casting of stones.

Rocks and stones were found naturally on the ground (Job 8:17; Ps. 91:12; Isa. 5:2; Mark 5:5; Luke 3:8). They could be heaped or piled up as a sign of disgrace (Josh. 7:26; 8:29; 2 Sam. 18:17), as a marker or memorial (Gen. 31:46–50), or as an altar (Exod. 20:25). A single rock or stone could also be used as a place marker (Gen. 28:22; 35:14, 20; 1 Sam. 7:12),…

A town on the western bank of the Jordan River near Zarethan, just below where the Jabbok River empties into the Jordan. It was here that the waters of the Jordan stopped so that the Israelites under the leadership of Joshu…

Sons of Jacob

Genesis 29–30, 35 records the birth of the sons of Jacob, which provides a covenantal and family basis for the later confederation of a dozen independent tribes of Semitic peoples. They shared a common history, culture, religion, and set of traditions that served for a time to bind them together as a single nation. According to the family records, the tribes were named after their forebears, who were born in the following manner. Jacob’s first (and unloved) wife, Leah, bore Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, in that order. Then his beloved Rachel gave him her maid Bilhah, who bore Dan and Naphtali. Leah’s maid then bore Gad and Asher. Then Leah bore Issachar and Zebulun. Finally, Rachel bore Joseph and Benjamin. At root, the later history of the tribes is a family history,…

A location best known for its association with the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan River. Joshua 3:16 indicates that the Jordan “piled up in a heap” at a town called “Adam,” said to be near Zarethan and a “…

A location best known for its association with the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan River. Joshua 3:16 indicates that the Jordan “piled up in a heap” at a town called “Adam,” said to be near Zarethan and a “…

The army of Israel was primarily a volunteer military force directed by God and his word. Deuteronomy 20 establishes the guidelines for warfare, Num. 1 describes organization, and Num. 2:17 highlights God’s strategic position as commander in the sacred event of war. Israelite warriors were men twenty years and older from the nation’s tribes, clans, and families. The Levites were appointed tabernacle caretakers and not counted in the census for military duties. The priest was responsible for addressing the nation prior to a battle and then leading the battle procession in connection with the Ark of the Covenant.

The Israelite army structure is not overly developed in the biblical material. Under God as commander in chief was the king, who then worked in connection with his commanders and …

The Israelite conquest of the Promised Land is narrated in Numbers through 2 Samuel and includes key figures such as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Saul, and David, although the main events of the conquest are described in Joshua and Judges. There is considerable scholarly debate about the very complicated details of the conquest. Much of this debate centers on archaeology and the dating of sites and artifacts that have been excavated in the last century. Further complicating things is the fact that many of the events recorded in the Bible are not recorded anywhere else, making verification of events challenging.

Dating the conquest (using the destruction of Jericho as a fixed point) is notoriously difficult. Scholars who accept the biblical account as historically reliable tend to date the conq…

The inhabitants of the Mount Seir region. The etymology of their name has often been related to the Hebrew term for “cave dweller,” but this is incorrect. “Horites” may be the biblical name for the Hurrians. The Hurrians were Semites. They were one of the people groups defeated by Kedorlaomer in the time of Abraham (Gen. 14:6). Egyptian sources and name etymology indicate that the Hurrians were in the area of Palestine by the …

The inhabitants of the Mount Seir region. The etymology of their name has often been related to the Hebrew term for “cave dweller,” but this is incorrect. “Horites” may be the biblical name for the Hurrians. The Hurrians were Semites. They were one of the people groups defeated by Kedorlaomer in the time of Abraham (Gen. 14:6). Egyptian sources and name etymology indicate that the Hurrians were in the area of Palestine by the …

(1) The son of Nun and the servant of Moses. Joshua appears thirty-three times in Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Judges. He is the principal human character of the OT book that bears his name.

As a military commander, Joshua fought against the Amalekites (Exod. 17:8–13). He became an assistant to Moses and accompanied him up and then down the mountain of God (24:13; 32:17). Joshua also kept watch over the tent of meeting (33:11).

Moses sent Joshua, Caleb, and ten others as spies to explore the land of Canaan (Num. 13). At this point, Moses also changed his name from “Hoshea” to “Joshua” (13:8, 16). Because Joshua and Caleb trusted that God would help Israel conquer Canaan, God vowed that only these two of that rebellious generation would enter the promised land (14:30). God also comm…

Terminology

The word “Palestine” is derived from the name of one of the Sea Peoples (Heb. pelishtim) who migrated to the southern coastal region of the Fertile Crescent from one or more of the coastal regions of the Mediterranean (see Philistines).

The word “Palestine” has at times been used to refer to an area as small as this southwestern coastal region (functioning at times as a synonym for “Philistia”) and as large as the land on both sides of the Jordan River, including the Negev in the south.

Most English versions of the Bible do not mention “Palestine,” although in the KJV the Hebrew word peleshet (usually rendered “Philistia” or “Philistines”) is translated as “Palestina” in Exod. 15:14; Isa. 14:29, 31 and as “Palestine” in Joel 3:4.

Other designations of this region within…

Rivers in Cosmology

Genesis 2:10–14 describes the garden in Eden as the source of an unnamed river that subsequently divided into four “headwaters”: the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. This description defies any attempt to locate the purported site of Eden in terms of historical geography. The Tigris and the Euphrates do not diverge from a common source, but instead converge before emptying into the Persian Gulf. Moreover, the Gihon, if it is to be identified with the sacred spring of the same name in Jerusalem (1 Kings 1:45), is several hundred miles away from the Tigris and the Euphrates. The Pishon is otherwise unknown. If, as various commentators since antiquity have suggested, the Gihon and the Pishon are to be identified with other great rivers in the same cla…

An English rendering of the Hebrew word shittim. When referring to the tree, many modern translations use “acacia” (Isa. 41:19; KJV: “shittah tree”); however, when shittim is used in reference to a place name, it often is simply transliterated as “Shit…

An English rendering of the Hebrew word shittim. When referring to the tree, many modern translations use “acacia” (Isa. 41:19; KJV: “shittah tree”); however, when shittim is used in reference to a place name, it often is simply transliterated as “Shit…

In the biblical account of the exodus, Israel’s departure from Egypt begins in Exod. 12:37. The original intention was for the Israelites to go to Mount Sinai to receive the law and instructions for the tabernacle and then to proceed to Canaan. But Israel’s trip was not to be quite that simple. Because of the Israelites’ disobedience in the desert, they were condemned to a forty-year period of wilderness wandering, enough time for those twenty years of age or older during the rebellion to die in the wilderness (see Num. 14, which describes what is actually the final rebellion in a series of grumbling incidents that go back to Exod. 15:22–27).

Technically, the wilderness period began immediately after the crossing of the Red Sea. The Israelites passed through the Desert of Shur, the Deser…

In the biblical account of the exodus, Israel’s departure from Egypt begins in Exod. 12:37. The original intention was for the Israelites to go to Mount Sinai to receive the law and instructions for the tabernacle and then to proceed to Canaan. But Israel’s trip was not to be quite that simple. Because of the Israelites’ disobedience in the desert, they were condemned to a forty-year period of wilderness wandering, enough time for those twenty years of age or older during the rebellion to die in the wilderness (see Num. 14, which describes what is actually the final rebellion in a series of grumbling incidents that go back to Exod. 15:22–27).

Technically, the wilderness period began immediately after the crossing of the Red Sea. The Israelites passed through the Desert of Shur, the Deser…

A location best known for its association with the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan River. Joshua 3:16 indicates that the Jordan “piled up in a heap” at a town called “Adam,” said to be near Zarethan and a “…

A location best known for its association with the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan River. Joshua 3:16 indicates that the Jordan “piled up in a heap” at a town called “Adam,” said to be near Zarethan and a “…

A location best known for its association with the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan River. Joshua 3:16 indicates that the Jordan “piled up in a heap” at a town called “Adam,” said to be near Zarethan and a “…