Can Biblical History be Understood without knowing Biblical Geography?

As believers seek to better study Scripture, they must recognize the importance of understanding geographical locations in the biblical text. The canon of Scripture is a collection of writings divinely inspired by God and it contains accounts of real people in real places. The Bible is not a storybook in a land of make-believe. For believers to better know the biblical text, they must recognize the motives of each person and why they went to the places they did. As this is accomplished, will then grasp the text in a fuller sense. “Routes and regions not only illuminate regional architecture, they also reveal the motives of the historical players and heighten our understanding of the divine message behind our brief glimpses into past events. The fragmented terrain and resulting road system of the Land Between made it politically fragile” (Regional Study Guide 29). God used this land to be a blessing to His people when they followed and obeyed Him, and He allowed judgment and desolation to come when they rejected Him. According to Monson and Lancaster “this small and insecure region served as ‘God’s testing ground of faith’ where saint and sinner struggled against internal upheaval and external threats. Personal or national existence could never be taken for granted, and the people of Israel were called to live by faith” (Regions on the Run 5). When believers recognize the importance of biblical locations, they will become more equipped to know and comprehend God’s Word.

One of the first insights believers can gain about understanding the importance of location is with King David and his campaign against Ammon. “Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem” (NASB, 2 Sam. 11:1). This story is well known to believers as the story of David and Bathsheba. In this account, David sends Joab and his servants to go to war against the sons of Ammon. Without a geographical context, one may assume that David may not have felt up to going on a long journey to a far-away land (as my Sunday school teachers led me to believe). However, when believers consult a biblical map, they can understand that Rabbah was not so far away from Jerusalem. Uriah the Hittite and Joab’s messenger both made the journey back and forth in a short time. When this is understood believers can then more fully realize the level of disobedience in David’s life when he did not obey God and go to war. Galatians 5:16 says “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” Because David was not where God wanted him to be (the battlefield), David found himself pacing on the roof of the palace and that is when he saw Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:2-4). David found himself in a tempting situation that he otherwise would have avoided. This account shows how even a short journey of obedience can save one from a multitude of sins. Had David been where he was called to be, Uriah the Hittite may have not died in battle.

Another example of why believers should understand the geography of Scripture can be found in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 21:18-20 says “[t]he word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘As for you, son of man, make two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them will go out of one land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to the city. You shall mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem.” The prophet was called to make a sign for King Nebuchadnezzar. This sign pointed him to the two choices of highway before him (Transjordan and Coastal). God lead Nebuchadnezzar to choose Jerusalem first for destruction. This is because their sin was so memorable to God that He would not forget about them in His judgment (Ezek. 21:27). “Ezekiel’s ‘signpost’ is based upon well-known traffic-patterns in the Land Between. Everyone knew that conquerors from the north normally did not pass through the central Hill Country regions nor down the Rift Valley” (Regional Study Guide 25). Because of the terrain, King Nebuchadnezzar had only two options when he approached the land of Israel. Ezekiel writes “[f]or the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver” (Ezek. 21:21). Ezekiel imagined that the king would use pagan methods to divine which direction to begin conquering first. When the lot was pulled, it was revealed (through God’s choice) that it would be Jerusalem who would face judgment first. The geographical context of this passage can help believers to see that the message was not that the Jewish people might escape judgment, but that they should repent and fully turn back to God.

A third example of Scripture that requires geographical context to interpret can be found in 1 Samuel. Because King Saul did not wait for Samuel to arrive to make a sacrifice, Samuel told Saul that his kingdom would not be established forever. “Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you’” (1 Sam. 13:13-14). Saul reached the end of His life on Mt. Gilboa after he laid on his sword after being chased down by the Philistines. With a biblical map in hand, believers can watch the chase that unfolded in 1 Samuel 28-29, 31 and can also observe how the regional settings change quickly within these chapters. Believers can also recognize that God did not allow Saul to run far before he killed himself. God dealt with Saul’s sin and did not allow him to prosper in the battle. It can also be noted that Saul made a short journey north to visit a medium after he became fearful of the Philistines and the Lord would not answer him (1 Sam. 28:5-25). When believers use geographical context to understand this passage, they can recognize that when God decides to deal with sin, no one can make it very far before their judgment comes.

When believers use geographical context in the Bible studies, they will be capable of reaching a fuller understanding of the passage they are studying. Today, God uses the locations He has placed people in to most effectively spread the gospel. If God calls someone to move (like He called David to go to war), they must follow in complete obedience, otherwise, they may find themselves in more sin than they could imagine. One of the first steps in biblical interpretation is to understand what the passage or verse would have meant to the original audience. Believers must ask, “[w]hat did the text mean to the biblical audience” (Duvall and Hays 42)? Part of this includes looking at the regional setting and understanding why things had to be done in a certain way (Ezekiel’s signpost could not point in more than two directions because of the geographical context). God used the lives of those recorded in Scripture to reveal Himself in the times of the Bible, Scripture was designed for its original audience. Believers today must come to know the importance of biblical locations so they can more accurately understand and share God’s Word.

Works Cited

Duvall, J. Scott, et al. Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible. 3rd ed., Zondervan, 2012.

Lancaster, Steven P., and James M. Monson. Regions on the Run: The Land Between – The Land of the Bible. Biblical Backgrounds, 2019.

Lancaster, Steven P., and James M. Monson. Regional Study Guide: Introductory Map Studies In The Land Of The Bible. Biblical Backgrounds, 2017.

NASB. New American Standard Version. The Holy Bible. Lockman, 2013.

This article was originally written for Assignment 2-4 of Historical Geography of Ancient Israel taught by Professor Kazuyuki Hayashi (Moody Distance Learning)