Shalom and welcome to the Satellite Bible Atlas, video #1.
In this video we introduce
the general location of the land of Israel and how it functions as a land bridge between three continents.
We recommend keeping your Satellite Bible Atlas handy since you can pause the video at any time to look at the maps with better resolution and clarity in the atlas.
First let’s note where Israel is located.
The Land of the Bible sits at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.
It is a land bridge between three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.
The Land of the Bible is not a fairy land, but a real place on earth.
The Bible is a record of real events that happened to real people, at real places.
In a nutshell, this is the message of the Bible – the divine, or transcendent God who created everything, is involved with the man’s world.
God’s involvement is not in an abstract way, but in concrete ways involving real people, real events, real places, on our real earth.
The land of Israel is relatively small. Here Israel’s size, the blue shape, is compared to the size of the USA.
Or compare the size of Israel to California here on the left.
Note on the right, Israel’s land mass is about the same size as New Jersey, the 5th smallest state in the USA.
But in spite of Israel’s relatively small size, this little land has had a huge impact upon history.
This is undoubtedly because of God’s association with the land and people of Israel.
The Lord says in Ezekiel 5:5: “This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.”
God indicates in the Scriptures that He would make Himself known to the world through the people of Israel, in the land of Israel.
Events in this small land would give evidence that the God of the Bible is the true God, and that there is no other.
Map 12-1 in the Satellite Bible Atlas shows the borders of the modern countries in the Middle East.
Let’s take a closer look at Israel’s position as a land bridge between three continents.
Note the two ancient cradles of civilization : Mesopotamia and Egypt.
The route between Mesopotamia and Egypt is funneled through the land of Israel
because the Arabian Desert to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea on the west, present difficult obstacles for travel.
As a land bridge between continents, the land of Israel has historically been coveted by big empires in Egypt and Asia.
Any kingdom interested in expanding military,economic or political interests
would set its sights on Israel as a bridge for expansion.
Later in history Europe got into the picture.
This is a well-chosen land for the Lord of the earth to demonstrate in sometimes subtle, yet concrete ways,
His sovereignty over the kingdoms of men.
The history of the Jewish people with the land of Israel is evidence
that the God of the Bible is the true God, who alone transcends time and space.
Before we look closer at the Land of Israel, there a few other features and terms of the Ancient Near East to be familiar with.
We will use Map 2-1, a map showing Abram’s migration from Mesopotamia to Canaan, to mark out the Fertile Crescent .
This is an area shaped like a crescent that extends from the Persian Gulf, north along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins
through modern Syria and then down along the eastern Mediterranean seaboard.
It is a land with enough water, either from rivers or rain, to produce crops.
The Fertile Crescent is made up of two parts . “
Mesopotamia” means “the land between the Rivers” – the Euphrates and Tigris.
This is where Iraq is today,
and in ancient times was the center of both the Assyrian and Babylonian empires.
The other part of the Fertile Crescent is called the Levant, which is the eastern Mediterranean seaboard.
Levant means “raised up”.
The area is characterized by hills, valleys, plateaus and mountains – some over 9000 ft. in elevation.
The Levant includes the land of Israel, which was called “Canaan: in Abraham’s time.
To briefly review the main concepts presented in this video:
First, The land of the Bible is a real place on our earth.
The Bible describes real people, real events, and real places.
The Bible is a record of God’s involvement with the real world of mankind.
Next, The land of the Bible is situated as a land bridge between three continents.
Empires in Asia, Africa and Europe have coveted this land as a bridge for expansion.
We mentioned that the central position of the land and people of Israel ultimately testifies to
the transcendence and sovereignty of the God of the Bible.
We also learned the location of the Fertile Crescent, including its two parts, Mesopotamia and the Levant.
In our next video we will take a closer look at the distinctive geographical regions of the land of Israel.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community