Bible Course for the Laity - 2004, DVK, Bangalore
Full Reports on the Bible & Theology Course - 2004
Module-4: THE MILIEU OF THE BIBLE: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
Rev. Siji Mathew Thadathil CMSF, BangalorePART-1 (February 14, 2004)
Rev. Siji Mathew Thadathil, CMSF completed Theological studies in Bangalore. He carried out biblical researches in the Holy Land for one-and-half years, and has extensively travelled around Israel and neigbhouring regions. He is proficient in Hebrew and Greek. Rev. Siji Mathew is a member of the Biblical Institute in Rome.
Module-4 of the Bible course takes us to the Biblical land. Anyone interested in learning the Bible will be curious to know the background it was set in. These are the places Jesus went out propagating the kingdom of God.
4.1 Introduction
The history of any land and its people is influenced by the geographical environment. The relation between land and people is an age-old relation. Any narration of a land without reference to its people, and vice versa, is incomplete. Thus, the land and its people are inseparably interlinked. The geography of the Biblical land and the history of its people are the subjects of our discussion.
4.1.1 Theological significance of geography
All through the Bible, narrations of physical features of the land have theological implications. It was God who created this vast and immense universe (Gen 1:3, Ps 33:6-9) and the whole earth belongs to Him (Ex 19:5). The geographical and climatic features became a common and essential part of the Bible's message.
4.2 The Bible World
The people of the Biblical period differ greatly, and so do the lands they live in. The geography of the Bible World is very significant because it represents the convergence of three continents namely Europe, Asia, and Africa.
From the Atlantic Ocean to South East Asia, we see an almost continuous belt of mountains. The southern boundary is mainly deserts. The region between the above mountains and the deserts is identified as the Bible World. Each one of the events recorded in the Bible either took place in this region (the Bible World) or involved peoples of this region. This strip of land is conventionally called 'Palestine'.
However, the Biblical geography begins not in Palestine, but in the Euphrates Valley. The earliest identifiable places of the Bible are connected with Abraham in Gen 11:31, namely Ur and Haran. Ur is at the South and Haran at the north of the Euphrates Valley. Continuing the arc towards the Syrian coast takes us to a crescent (semi-circular land) with its tips resting on the Persian and Suez gulfs. This narrow strip is called the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is exactly defined as the semi-circular fertile land stretching from the south-east coast of Mediterranean around Syrian Desert north of Arabia to the Persian Gulf. Although not used in the Bible, the phrase "the Fertile Crescent" traverses the area where most of the Biblical events occurred. It was in the Fertile Crescent that the lands and peoples figured prominently in the Old Testament history were found.
Note: A pictorial representation of the Bible World will be available later in this section.
The second part of Module-4 presents a brief history of the land of Palestine.
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