Places

Assyria

Assyria (Assihrya) was a nation in northern Mesopotamia in Old Testament times that became a large empire during the period of the Israelite kings. Assyrian expansion into the region of Palestine (about 855-625 B.C.) had enormous impact on the Hebrew kingdoms of Israel and Judah. History Assyria lay north of the region of Babylonia along the banks of the Tigris River (Genesis 2:14 ) in northern Mesopotamia. The name Assyria (in Hebrew, Ashshur ) is from Asshur, its first capital, founded about 2000 B.C. The foundation of other Assyrian cities, notably Calah and Nineveh, appears in Genesis 10:11-12 . The history of Assyria is well documented in royal Assyrian annals, building inscriptions, king lists, correspondence, and other archaeological evidence. By 1900 B.C. these cities were vigorously trading as far away as Cappadocia in eastern Asia Minor. An expanded Assyria warred with the famous King Hammurabi of Babylon shortly before breaking up into smaller city states about 1700 B.C. Beginning about 1300 B.C., a reunited Assyria made rapid territorial advances and soon became an international power. Expanding westward, Tiglath-pileser I (1115-1077 B.C.) became the first Assyrian monarch to march his army to the shores of the Mediterranean. With his murder, however, Assyria entered a 166-year period of decline. Assyria awoke from its dark ages under Adad-nirari II (911-891 B.C.), who reestablished the nation as a power to be reckoned with in Mesopotamia. His grandson, Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.) moved Assyria toward the status of an empire. Ashurnasirpal II used a well-deserved reputation for cruelty to extort tribute and taxes from states within the reach of his army in predatory campaigns. He also rebuilt the city of Calah as the new military and administrative capital. Carved stone panels in Ashurnasirpal's palace there show violent scenes of the king's vicious campaigns against unsubmissive enemies. Ashurnasirpal's son Shalmaneser III (858-824 B.C.) continued a policy of Assyrian expansion through his annual campaigns in all directions. These were no longer mere predatory raids. Rather they demonstrated a systematic economic exploitation of subject states. As always, failure to submit to Assyria brought vicious military action. The results, however, were not always a complete victory for Assyria. In such a context Assyria first encountered the Hebrew kingdoms of the Bible. In 853 B.C., at Qarqar in north Syria, Shalmaneser fought a coalition of twelve kings including Hadad-ezer (Ben-Hadad, 1Kings 20:26,1 Kings 20:34 ) of Aram-Damascus and Ahab of Israel. This confrontation is not mentioned in the Bible, but it may have taken place during a three-year period of peace between Israel and Aram-Damascus (1 Kings 22:1 ). In his official inscriptions Shalmaneser claims victory, but the battle was inconclusive. In 841 B.C., he finally defeated Hazael of Damascus and on Mt. Carmel received tribute from Tyre, Sidon, and King Jehu of Israel. A scene carved in relief on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser, unearthed at Calah, shows Jehu groveling before Shalmaneser, the only known depiction of an Israelite king. With the death of Shalmaneser, Assyria entered another period of decline during which she was occupied with the nearby kingdom of Urartu. For the next century only one Assyrian king seriously affected affairs in Palestine. Adad-nirari III (810-783 B.C.) entered Damascus, taking extensive tribute from Ben-hadad III. He is probably the "savior" of 2 Kings 13:5 , who allowed Israel to escape domination by Aram-Damascus. Nevertheless, Adad-nirari also collected tribute from Jehoash of Israel. Assyrian preoccupation with Urartu ended with the reign of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 B.C.). The true founder of the Assyrian Empire, he made changes in the administration of conquered territories. Nations close to the Assyrian homeland were incorporated as provinces. Others were left with native rule, but subject to an Assyrian overseer. Tiglath-pileser also instituted a policy of mass deportations to reduce local nationalistic feelings. He took conquered people into exile to live in lands vacated by other conquered exiles. Compare 2 Kings 17:24 . As Tiglath-pileser, also called Pul, arrived on the coast of Phoenicia, Menahem of Israel (2 Kings 15:19 ) and Rezin of Aram-Damascus brought tribute and became vassals of Assyria. An anti-Assyrian alliance quickly formed. Israel and Aram-Damascus attacked Jerusalem about 735 B.C. in an attempt to replace King Ahaz of Judah with a man loyal to the anti-Assyrian alliance (2 Kings 16:2-6; Isaiah 7:1-6 ) and thus force Judah's participation. Against the protests of Isaiah (Isaiah 7:4 ,Isaiah 7:4,7:16-17; Isaiah 8:4-8 ), Ahaz appealed to Tiglath-pileser for assistance (2 Kings 16:7-9 ). Tiglath-pileser, in response, campaigned against Philistia (734 B.C.), reduced Israel to the area immediately around Samaria (2 Kings 15:29; 733 B.C.), and annexed Aram-Damascus (732 B.C.), deporting the population. Ahaz, for his part, became an Assyrian vassal ( 2 Kings 16:10; 2Chronicles 28:16,2 Chronicles 28:20-22 ). Little is known of the reign of Tiglath-pileser's successor, Shalmaneser V (726-722 B.C.), except that he besieged Samaria for three years in response to Hoshea's failure to pay tribute (2 Kings 17:3-5 ). The city finally fell to Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:9-12 ), who apparently died in the same year. His successor, Sargon II (722-705 B.C.), took credit in Assyrian royal inscriptions for deporting 27,290 inhabitants of Samaria. Sargon campaigned in the region to counter rebellions in Gaza in 720 B.C. and Ashdod in 712 (Isaiah 20:1 ). Hezekiah of Judah was tempted to join in the Ashdod rebellion, but Isaiah warned against such action (Isaiah 18:1 ). Meanwhile, unrest smoldered in other parts of the empire. A rebellious king of Babylon, Merodach-baladan, found support from Elam, Assyria's enemy to the east. Though forced to flee Babylon in 710 B.C., Merodach-baladan returned some years later to reclaim the throne. He sent emissaries to Hezekiah in Jerusalem (2 Kings 20:12-19; Isaiah 39:1 ), apparently as part of preparations for a concerted anti-Assyrian revolt. News of Sargon's death in battle served as a signal to anti-Assyrian forces. Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.) ascended the throne in the midst of widespread revolt. Merodach-baladan of Babylon, supported by the Elamites, had inspired the rebellion of all southern Mesopotamia. A number of states in Phoenicia and Palestine were also in rebellion, led by Hezekiah of Judah. After subduing Babylon, Sennacherib turned his attentions westward. In 701 B.C., he reasserted control over the city-states of Phoenicia, sacked Joppa and Ashkelon, and invaded Judah where Hezekiah had made considerable military preparations (2 Kings 20:20; 2Chronicles 32:1-8,2 Chronicles 32:30; Isaiah 22:8-11 ). Sennacherib's own account of the invasion provides a remarkable supplement to the biblical version (2 Kings 18:13-19:36 ). He claims to have destroyed 46 walled cities (see 2 Kings 18:13 ) and to have taken 200,150 captives. Sennacherib's conquest of Lachish is shown in graphic detail in carved panels from his palace at Nineveh. During the siege of Lachish, an Assyrian army was sent against Jerusalem where Hezekiah was "made a prisoner like a bird in a cage." Three of Sennacherib's dignitaries attempted to negotiate the surrender of Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17-37 ), but Hezekiah continued to hold out with the encouragement of Isaiah (2Kings 19:1-7,2 Kings 19:20-35 ). In the end, the Assyrian army withdrew, and Hezekiah paid an enormous tribute (2 Kings 18:14-16 ). The Assyrian account claims a victory over the Egyptian army and mentions Hezekiah's tribute but is rather vague about the end of the campaign. The Bible mentions the approach of the Egyptian army (2 Kings 19:9 ) and tells of a miraculous defeat of the Assyrians by the angel of the Lord (2 Kings 19:35-36 ). The fifth century B.C. Greek historian Herodotus relates that the Assyrians suffered defeat because a plague of field mice destroyed their equipment. It is not certain whether these accounts can be combined to infer an outbreak of the plague. Certainly, Sennacherib suffered a major setback, for Hezekiah was the only ruler of the revolt to keep his throne. On a more peaceful front, Sennacherib conducted some major building projects in Assyria. The ancient city of Nineveh was rebuilt as the new royal residence and Assyrian capital. War continued, however, with Elam, which also influenced Babylon to rebel again. An enraged Sennacherib razed the sacred city in 689 B.C. His murder, at the hands of his own sons (2 Kings 19:37 ) in 681 B.C., was interpreted by Babylonians as divine judgment for destroying their city. Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C.) emerged as the new king and immediately began the rebuilding of Babylon, an act which won the allegiance of the local populace. He warred with nomadic tribes to the north and quelled a rebellion in Phoenicia, while Manasseh of Judah remained a loyal vassal. His greatest military adventure, however, was an invasion of Egypt conducted in 671 B.C. The Pharaoh Taharqa fled south as Memphis fell to the Assyrians, but returned and fomented rebellion two years later. Esarhaddon died in 669 B.C. on his way back to subjugate Egypt. After conducting a brief expedition against eastern tribes, Esarhaddon's son, Ashurbanipal (668-627 B.C.), set out to reconquer Egypt. Assisted by 22 subject kings, including Manasseh of Judah, he invaded in 667 B.C. He defeated Pharaoh Taharqa and took the ancient capital of Thebes. Some 1,300 miles from home, Ashurbanipal had no choice but to reinstall the local rulers his father had appointed in Egypt and hope for the best. Plans for revolt began immediately; but Assyrian officers got wind of the plot, captured the rebels, and sent them to Nineveh. Egypt rebelled again in 665 B.C. This time Ashurbanipal destroyed Thebes, also called No-Amon (Nahum 3:8 , NAS). Phoenician attempts at revolt were also crushed. Ashurbanipal ruled at Assyria's zenith but also saw the beginning of her swift collapse. Ten years after the destruction of Thebes, Egypt rebelled yet again. Assyria could do nothing because of a war with Elam. In 651 B.C., Ashurbanipal's brother, the king of Babylon, organized a widespread revolt. After three years of continual battles Babylon was subdued, but remained filled with seeds of hatred for Assyria. Action against Arab tribes followed, and the war with Elam continued until a final Assyrian victory in 639 B.C. That same year the official annals of Ashurbanipal came to an abrupt end. With Ashurbanipal's death in 627 B.C., unrest escalated. By 626, Babylon had fallen into the hands of the Chaldean Nabopolassar. Outlying states, such as Judah under Josiah, were free to rebel without fear. War continued between Assyria and Babylon until, in 614 B.C., the old Assyrian capital Asshur was sacked by the Medes. Then, in 612 B.C., Calah was destroyed. The combined armies of the Babylonians and the Medes laid siege to Nineveh. After two months, the city fell. And all who look on you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nineveh; who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for her? There is no assuaging your hurt, your wound is grievous. All who hear the news of you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil? (Nahum 3:7 ,Nahum 3:7,3:19 ). An Assyrian general claimed the throne and rallied what was left of the Assyrian army in Haran. An alliance with Egypt brought a few troops to Assyria's aid; but in 610 B.C. the Babylonians approached, and Haran was abandoned. Assyria was no more. Religion Assyrian religion, like that of most Near Eastern nations, was polytheistic. Essentially the same as Babylonian religion, official Assyrian religion recognized thousands of gods; but only about twenty were important in actual practice. The important part of the pantheon can be divided into several broad categories: old gods, astral deities, and young gods. 1. The old gods, Anu, Enlil, and Ea, were patron deities of the oldest Sumerian cities and were each given a share of the universe as their dominion. After the rise of Babylon, Marduk was also considered one of the rulers of the cosmos. Anu, god of the heavens and patron god of Uruk (biblical Erech; Genesis 10:10 ), did not play a very active role. Enlil of Nippur was god of the earth. Ea, the god of Eridu, was lord of the subterranean waters and the god of craftsmen. 2. Astral deities—gods associated with heavenly bodies—included the sun-god Shamash, the moon-god Sin, and Ishtar, goddess of the morning and evening star (the Greek Aphrodite and Roman Venus). Sin was the patron god of Ur and Haran, both associated with Abraham's origins (Genesis 11:31 ). Ishtar, the Canaanite Astarte/Ashtaroth (Judges 10:6; 1 Samuel 7:3-4; 1 Kings 11:5 ), was very popular as the "Queen of Heaven" (Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:17-19 ,Jeremiah 44:17-19,44:25 ) and served as the patron goddess of Nineveh. Younger gods were usually associated with a newer city or none at all. Adad, the Canaanite Hadad, was the god of storms and thus both beneficial and destructive. Ninurta, the god of war and hunting, became a fitting patron for the Assyrian capital Calah. Most important, however, is the unique figure of Asshur. As patron god and namesake of the original Assyrian capital Asshur and the state itself, Asshur rose in importance to be lord of the universe and the supreme god. Since the god Asshur stood above all others, the Assyrian king was duty-bound to show his corresponding dominance on earth. Most Assyrian military campaigns were initiated "at the command of Asshur." See Babylon, History and Religion of . Although a number of myths concerning the various Babylonian/Assyrian gods are known, the religious function of but one can be determined. The enuma elish, or Epic of Creation, originated in Babylon where it was recited and reenacted at the New Year's Festival. In the Assyrian version Asshur, not the Babylonian Marduk, is shown to be superior to the other gods. The various gods were thought of as residing in cosmic localities, but also as present in their image, or idol, and living in the temple as a king in his palace. The temples varied in size according to the god's importance. The gilded wooden images were in human form, clothed in a variety of ritual garments, and given three meals a day. On occasion, especially at the New Year's Festival, the images were carried in ceremonial processions or to visit one another in different sanctuaries. It is difficult to know what meaning the images and temples of the various gods had for the average person, and even more difficult to ascertain what comfort or help he might expect through worship of them. It seems clear, however, that beyond the expectations of health and success in his earthly life, he was without eternal hope.

Babylon

(bab ih' luhn), a capital city in ancient Mesopotamia (mostly modern Iraq), is mentioned some 200 times in the Bible, nearly all in the Old Testament and referring to the city of the Neo-Babylonian Period (625-539 BC). It was then the largest and most beautiful city in the Middle East, considered by classical tradition with its renowned Hanging Gardens and massive walls to have been one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Jeremiah the prophet, while anticipating its downfall, named Babylon "a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken" (Jeremiah 51:7 ). The Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BC), commonly thought to have visited the site near 460 B.C., reported that its splendor surpassed any city of the known world. Origin Information about Babylon's origin has been lost in antiquity, but it did not rank among the leading Mesopotamian cities before 3000 B.C., such as Erech, Kish, Nippur, Ur, Sippar, or Akkad. Among such great cities it alone bore a Semitic name. Such names first appeared near 2200 B.C. It became a provincial and cult center, later to become the grand capital of the eighteenth century B.C. King Hammurabi. Thereafter, it remained a great center of culture and religion. It was sacked in 689 B.C. by the Assyrian King Sennacherib, who destroyed much of it. Later, Babylonian kings aligned themselves with the Medes to conquer Assyria in 612 B.C., and then the Neo-Babylonian rulers dedicated themselves to reconstructing Babylon's ancient temples and walls. Its main significance lies in these times. Due largely to Sennacherib's deliberate destruction of the city, very little of pre-Sargonid Babylon (before 721 B.C.) remained. Esarhaddon, Ashurbanipal, and Nabopolassar undertook a rebuilding, but Nebuchadrezzar II (605-562 B.C.) brought Babylon to her glory, making it "the Palace of Heaven and Earth, the Seat of Kingship." His work appears everywhere, so with justification the author of Daniel 4:30 could attribute to this king, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" Cyrus the Persian took Babylon in 539 B.C. and permanently ended her dominance in Near Eastern affairs, but later in the time of Alexander the Great (c. 330 B.C.) some great structures of old Babylon were still wonders. Location Traditionally, a mound called Babil, near the Euphrates River and some six miles northeast of Hillah (southwest of Iraq's capital city Baghdad), has been identified as the location of ancient Babylon. However, the city's location proved to be represented by a number of mounds downstream on the Euphrates 1 1/2-2 1/2 miles south of Babil, the main ones being Qasr, Amran ibn Ali, Merkes, and Homera. Archaeology Regrettably, the ruins of Babylon have long served as a quarry for building materials. Before 1811, the few antiquities coming from Babylon were mostly surface finds recovered casually or by random digging by the natives. The first planned and organized excavation came in 1811 with C. J. Rich making a careful survey and hiring ten men to aid him in exploration at Babil and Qasr. A second visit followed in 1817. Babylon was one of a number of Mesopotamian sites excavated seriously from 1842 onwards. A.H. Layard was prevented by national disturbances from opening more than a few trial trenches in 1850 at Babil, Qasr, and Amran ibn Ali. Between 1852-1854 the Frenchmen F. Fresnel and J. Oppert achieved very little. For 45 years nothing of real value was undertaken. The major excavations of ancient Babylon began in 1899 led by the German architect Robert Koldewey and lasted year-round until 1917 when British occupation caused cessation of his projected labors far from their completion. Ancient Babylon was divided in two by the Euphrates river. The eastern section with the "Summer Palace" to the north was enclosed by a triangular defensive system of walls running over eight miles from the Euphrates about one and one half miles north of the city southeast to turn southwest to rejoin the river about 750 feet south of the city. Nebuchadnezzar first built this awesome defense network. In reality this outer wall system involved three walls. The innermost, about 22 feet thick, was made of sun-dried mud-brick. Beyond this by 39 feet was a second slightly thicker wall of baked bricks. Outside this wall was another some 10 feet thick of baked bricks forming the scarp of a moat perhaps as wide as 330 feet. Evidence of projecting towers was found at regular intervals along the inner wall, but no such indication remains for the outer one although there probably were towers there as well. The space between the walls was filled with rubble, perhaps for a base for a protected roadway wide enough to allow Herodotus' "four-horse chariot to turn around." Just inside the outer wall system at the north and along the Euphrates was the mound Babil, some 1 1/2-2 1/2 miles north of the other mounds. It covered Nebuchadrezzar's "Summer Palace," and perhaps the Bit Akitu, the Temple of the New York Festival. Sprawling ancient Babylon covered an area of nearly 1000 acres, making it the largest ancient settlement in Mesopotamia, some fifteen percent larger than Nineveh. According to records, it contained 1,179 temples of varying sizes. Its normal population was near 100,000, but the walls could have sheltered at least 250,000 persons. The area east of the river comprised the city's older section where most excavations were carried out and where most of the principal buildings were located. The smaller western area constituted Babylon's "new" city about which little is known. Greater Babylon, excluding its western suburb, was a triangular fortified island with one-third of its area being an inner, elaborately defended fortress which contained the royal palace, the ziggurat, the temple of Marduk, and a vast residential area. Processional Way Access to the city was provided by ramps bridging the moat and by eight gates named after gods in the inner walls. The streets of the magnificent city layout were roughly parallel to the river, meeting others at right angles and terminating in great bronze gates. Ancient Babylon's most famous street was the Processional Way, Aibur-shabu ("the enemy shall never pass") along which the images of the gods were transported from the Euphrates into Babylon during the New Year Festival. Perhaps Isaiah 46:1 satirizes such a procession involving the god Marduk and his son Nabu. From the Euphrates along this street the distance was about 2000 feet to the northern side of the rectangular wall system. The magnificent and 63-foot wide Aibur-shabu gently sloped upwards as it led southward toward the city walls. The east 225 feet of the roadway outside the city walls lay between two thick walls hardly less impressive than the gate itself. The eastern wall was that of the Northern Fortress (sometimes called the Museum because of finds there) and the eastern that of the eastern outer bastion. Each of these walls was lined with 60 lions, symbols of Ishtar, molded of bricks of blue ceramic and having red or yellow manes. The Processional Way passed through the most famous of the city gates, the Ishtar Gate. Its original height was some 70 feet and had an arched opening 15 feet wide. On the earlier gate are still visible alternate rows of some 150 bulls and dragons, symbols of Adad and Marduk, in plain molded bricks. The latest gate was colorfully decorated with similar animals, now of bricks glazed a vivid blue with the animals alternately yellow and white. Inside the gate the Processional Way, sloping downward, extends some 4000 feet southward to turn west between the ziggurat enclosure and the Marduk temple toward the Euphrates bridge built by either Nabopolassar or his son Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon's principal palace was on the right upon passing through the Ishtar Gate, lying between a canal at its south and the city walls at its north. Its dimensions were expansive, 1020 feet east to west and 660 feet north to south. In it was the king's throne room, perhaps the scene of Belshazzar's feast and the death of Alexander the Great. On the west Nebuchadnezzar built a huge fortified citadel which was 85 feet thick, apparently to keep out dampness from the adjacent river. In this palace the excavators found an underground "crypt" consisting of a series of 14 vaulted rooms surrounded by a mysteriously thick wall, the vaults clearly constructed as supports for an enormous weight. Nearby was a unique water system with three shafts tied together in a manner suggesting a hydraulic lifting system with an endless chain of buckets drawn up in continuous rotation. These may be the remains of the famous Hanging Gardens. Here the four clay tablets were found listing the rations of grain and oil for King Jehoiachin of Judah and his sons. Across the road from this Southern Palace was the temple of the mother-goddess Ninmakh. Babylon's most significant temple was Esagila ("The Temple that raises it head"), the home of the city god Marduk. Located about five-eights of a mile south of the royal palaces, its paved floor had inscriptions stating that it had been laid by the Assyrian Kings Ashurbanipal and Esarhaddon. Esagila was surrounded by an enclosure of about 1410 by 720 feet which, according to cuneiform documents, housed more than 50 other temples and shrines, many of which have been excavated. Jeremiah's comment on Babylon is remembered: "It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols (Jeremiah 50:38 ). Over 6,000 figures were uncovered, and ten street altars were found from the period from Esarhaddon to Nabonidus (681-539 B.C.) In addition to the temples there were "300 daises of the Igigi gods and 1200 daises of the Anunanki gods," as well as "180 open-air shrines for Ishtar" and 200 places for other deities. Adjacent to Esagila was the great staged tower or ziggurat named Etemenanki, "the foundation house of heaven and earth." It was of considerable age, but first mention of it is in the 7th century B.C. It has been plundered for building materials in more recent times, but it was partially dismantled near the end of the fourth century B.C. by Alexander the Great to prepare for a proposed building. It measured about 298 feet square at the base and rose in seven stages to at least a height of 200 feet. The inner core of unbaked bricks was enclosed in a shell of baked bricks 49 feet thick. This was apparently the model for the "Tower of Babel." On its southern side a triple flight of steps led to the second story, the rest of the tower being ascended by means of ramps. On the top was a shrine called sahuru in which rested a bed on which a god was thought to lie at times with a native woman.

Edom

(ee' duhm) The area southeast and southwest of the Dead Sea, on opposite sides of the Arabah, was known as Edom in biblical times and was the home of the Edomites. The name "Edom" derives from a Semitic root which means "red" or "ruddy" and characterizes the red sandstone terrain of much of the area in question. Moreover, the Edomite area was largely "wilderness"—semi-desert, not very conducive to agriculture—and many of the inhabitants were semi-nomads. Thus the boundaries of Edom would have been rather ill-defined. Yet not all of Edom was wilderness; the vicinity of present-day Tafileh and Buseireh, east of the Arabah, is fairly well watered, cultivable land, and would have boasted numerous villages during Old Testament times. This would have been the center of Edomite population. Buseireh is situated on the ruins of ancient Bozrah, the capital of Edom. Note that the modern name, "Buseireh," preserves memory of the ancient one, "Bozrah." Most of the biblical passages pertaining to Edom refer to this Edomite center east of the Arabah. Isaiah 63:1 , for example, speaks of one that "cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength." (See also Jeremiah 49:22; Amos 1:11-12 ). Yet there are other passages which presuppose that the territory west of the Arabah, south of the Judean hill country and separating Judah from the Gulf of Aqaba, was also part of Edom. See especially the description of Judah's boundary in Numbers 34:3-4 and Joshua 15:1-3 , where Judah's south side is described as extending "even to the border of Edom the wilderness of Zin." Certain of the tribal groups which ranged this wilderness area south of Judah are listed in the Edomite genealogy of Genesis 36:1 . In New Testament times, even the southern end of the Judean hill country (south of approximately Hebron) was known officially as Idumea (Edom). The "land of Seir" seems to be synonymous with Edom in some passages (Genesis 32:3; Genesis 36:8; Judges 5:4 ). Egyptian texts from about 1300 to 1100 B.C. know of Shasu (apparently semi-nomadic tribes) from Seir and Edom. "Teman" also is used in apposition to Edom in at least one biblical passage (Amos 1:12 ), but normally refers to a specific district of Edom and possibly to a town by that name. One of Job's visitors was Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 2:11; compare Ezekiel 25:13 ). The Israelites regarded the Edomites as close relatives, even more closely related to them than the Ammonites or Moabites. Specifically, they identified the Ammonites and Moabites as descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew, but the Edomites as descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother (Genesis 19:30-36; Genesis 36:1 ). Thus Edom occasionally is referred to as a "brother" to Israel (Amos 1:11-12 ). Edomites seem not to have been barred from worship in the Jerusalem Temple with the same strictness as the Ammonites and Moabites (Deuteronomy 23:3-8 ). Yet, as is often the case with personal relations, the closest relative can be a bitter enemy. According to the biblical writers, enmity between Israel and Edom began already with Jacob and Esau (when the former stole the latter's birthright) and was exacerbated at the time of the Israelite Exodus from Egypt (when the Edomites refused the Israelites passage through their land). Be that as it may, much of the conflict also had to do with the fact that Edom was a constant threat to Judah's frontier, and moreover blocked Judean access to the Gulf of Aqaba. Both Saul and David conducted warfare with the Edomites—probably frontier wars fought in the "wilderness" area southwest of the Dead Sea (1 Samuel 14:47-48; 2 Samuel 8:13-14 ). David achieved a decisive victory in the valley of salt, probably just southwest of Beersheba where the ancient name still is preserved in modern Arabic wadi el-Milk. Apparently this secured Davidic control of the Edomite area west of the Arabah as well as access to the Gulf of Aqaba. Thus we read that Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber and sent them to distant places for exotic goods. Later Hadad of the royal Edomite line returned from Egypt and became an active adversary to Solomon. This would have involved Edomite attacks on Solomon's caravans which passed through traditionally Edomite territory from Ezion-geber to Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:14-22 ). Apparently Judah gained the upper hand against Edom again during the reign of Jehoshaphat. Once again we read of a Judean attempt (unsuccessful this time) to undertake a shipping venture from Ezion-geber (1 Kings 22:47-50 ). Edom regained independence from Judah under Joram, who succeeded Jehoshaphat to the throne (2 Kings 8:20-22 ). A later Judean king, Amaziah, is reported to have defeated the Edomites again in the valley of salt and then to have pursued ten thousand survivors to "the top of the rock" from which they were thrown down and dashed to pieces (2 Chronicles 25:11-12 ). Possibly the Hebrew term sela translated "rock" in this passage should be understood as a proper name, "Sela." If so, then it seems reasonable to locate the incident with the craggy terrain just northwest of the Edomite capital Bosrah, where still today an Arab village bears a corresponding name (as-Sil`). An alternate candidate for biblical Sela favored by some scholars, Umm el-Biyara at Petra, seems too far south from either the valley of salt or the center of Edomite population. Conflict between Judah and Edom and efforts on the part of Judean kings to exploit the commercial possibilities of the Gulf of Aqaba continued (2 Kings 14:22; 2 Kings 16:6; 2 Chronicles 26:1-2; 2 Chronicles 28:17 ) until eventually the Edomites, like the other peoples and petty kingdoms of Syria-Palestine, fell under the shadow of the major eastern empires—the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, finally the Persians and the Greeks. Some scholars hold that the Edomites aided the Babylonians in their attacks on Jerusalem in 597,586 B.C. and then took advantage of the Judeans in their helpless situation. This would explain, for example, the bitter verbal attacks on Edom in passages such as Jeremiah 49:7-22 and the Book of Obadiah. Yet there is no clear evidence to support this view. By New Testament times a people of Arabic origin known as the Nabateans had established a commercial empire with its center in the formerly Edomite territory east of the Arabah. Their chief city was Petra, and the whole region southeast of the Dead Sea had come to be known as Nabatea. Only the formerly Edomite territory west of the Arabah was still known as Idumea (Edom). Herod the Great was of Idumean ancestry. See Transjordan; Esau; Bozrah; Nabateans; Petra; Sela .

Persia

(puhr' shuh) As a nation, Persia corresponds to the modern state of Iran. As an empire, Persia was a vast collection of states and kingdoms reaching from the shores of Asia Minor in the west to the Indus River valley in the east. It reached northward to southern Russia, and in the south included Egypt and the regions bordering the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. In history, the empire defeated the Babylonians and then fell finally to Alexander the Great. The nation was named for the southernmost region of the area, called Parsis or Persis. It was a harsh land of deserts, mountains, plateaus, and valleys. The climate was arid and showed extremes of cold and heat. Gold and silver and wheat and barley were native to the area. The region was settled shortly after 3000 B.C. by people from the north. An Elamite culture developed which, at its peak in 1200 B.C., dominated the whole Tigris River valley. It lasted until 1050 B.C. After its destruction, other northern groups entered the area. Among these groups were tribesmen who formed a small kingdom in the region of Anshan around 700 B.C. It was ruled by Achaemenes, the great great-grandfather of Cyrus II, the Great. (Thus, the period from Achaemenes to Alexander is called the Achaehymenid period.) This small kingdom was the seed of the Persian empire. When Cyrus II came to his father's throne in 559 B.C., his kingdom was part of a larger Median kingdom. The Medes controlled the territory northeast and east of the Babylonians. In 550 B.C. Cyrus rebelled against Astyages, the Median king. His rebellion led to the capture of the king and gave Cyrus control over a kingdom stretching from Media to the Halys river in Asia Minor. Soon Cyrus challenged the king of Lydia. Victory there gave Cyrus the western portion of Asia Minor. Then, in 539 B.C., Babylon fell to Cyrus due to his skill and internal dissension in the Babylonian Empire. See Babylon . Cyrus died in 530 B.C.; however, the Persian Empire continued to grow. Cambyses II, Cyrus' son, conquered Egypt in 525 B.C. Cambyses' successor Darius I expanded the empire eastward to the Indus and attempted to conquer or control the Greeks. Darius lost to the Greeks at Marathon in 490 B.C. This was the greatest extension of the empire. Later emperors did little to expand the empire. They even had difficulty holding such a far-flung empire together. The Persian Empire is important to the history and development of civilization. It had major effects on religion, law, politics, and economics. The impact came through the Jews, the Bible, contacts with the Greeks, and through Alexander the Great's incorporation of ideas and architecture from the Persians. Politically, the Persian Empire was the best organized the world had ever seen. By the time of Darius I, 522-486 B.C., the empire was divided into twenty satrapies (political units of varying size and population). Satrapies were subdivided into provinces. Initially, Judah was a provincein the satrapy of Babylon. Later, Judah was in one named "Beyond the River." The satrapies were governed by Persians who were directly responsible to the emperor. Good administration required good communications which called for good roads. These roads did more than speed administration, though. They encouraged contacts between peoples within the empire. Ideas and goods could move hundreds of miles with little restriction. The empire became wealthy and also gave its inhabitants a sense that they were part of a larger world. A kind of "universal awareness" developed. The use of minted coins and the development of a money economy aided this identification with a larger world. The emperor's coins were handy reminders of the power and privileges of being part of the empire. Also, the Persians were committed to rule by law. Instead of imposing an imperial law from above, however, the emperor and his satraps gave their authority and support to local law. For the Jews this meant official support for keeping Jewish law in the land of the Jews. The Persian Empire affected the Jews and biblical history a great deal. Babylon had conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in 586 B.C. When Cyrus conquered Babylon, he allowed the Jews to return to Judah and encouraged the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 1:1-4 ). The work was begun but not completed. Then, under Darius I, Zerubabbel and the high priest, Joshua, led the restored community with the support and encouragement of the Persians. (Ezra 3-6 tells of some of the events while Haggai's and Zechariah's prophecies were made during the days of the restoration.) Despite some local opposition, Darius supported the rebuilding of the Temple which was rededicated in his sixth year ( Ezra 6:15 ). Also, both Ezra and Nehemiah were official representatives of the Persian government. Ezra was to teach and to appoint judges (Ezra 7:1 ). Nehemiah may have been the first governor of the province of Yehud (Judah). He undoubtedly had official support for his rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. The Jews had trouble under Persian rule, too. Although Daniel was taken into Exile by the Babylonians (Daniel 1:1 ), his ministry continued through the fall of the Babylonians (Daniel 5:1 ) into the time of the Persians (Daniel 6:1 ). His visions projected even further. Daniel 6:1 shows a stable government but one in which Jews could still be at risk. His visions in a time of tranquillity remind readers that human kingdoms come and go. Esther is a story of God's rescue of His people during the rule of the Persian emperor: Ahasuerus (also known as Xerxes I). The story shows an empire where law can be used and misused. Jews are already, apparently, hated by some. Malachi, too, is probably from the Persian period. His book shows an awareness of the world at large and is positive toward the Gentiles and the government. Throughout the period, the Jews kept looking for the kind of restoration promised by prophets such as Isaiah (Isaiah 40-66 ) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40-48 ). Prophets such as Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi helped the Jews to hope, but these men of God also reminded their hearers of the importance of present faithfulness and obedience to God. See Ezekiel 40-48; Ezekiel 40-48; Ezekiel 40-48; Ezekiel 40-48; Ezekiel 40-48; Ezekiel 40-48; Ezekiel 40-48 .

Dan

2. The biblical city of Dan is often mentioned in the description of the land of Israel, namely "from Dan even to Beersheba" (Judges 20:1 ). It has been identified with modern tell el-Qadi (or tell Dan). The tel, which covers about 50 acres, is situated at the northern end of the richly fertile Huleh Plain at the base of Mt. Hermon. The abundant springs of the site provide one of the three main sources of the Jordan River. The city was formerly named Laish (Judges 18:7 or Leshem in Joshua 19:47 ) when occupied by the Canaanites. This city is mentioned in the Egyptian execration texts and Mari tablets from the eighteenth century B.C. Later Thutmose III listed Laish among the cities conquered in his 1468 B.C. campaign. The name Dan was applied to the city conquered by the Israelite tribe in its northern migration (Judges 18:1 ). Excavation of tell Dan has been led by A. Biran of Hebrew University in Jerusalem since 1966. Laish was founded at the end of the Early Bronze II Age (about 2700 B.C.) near the springs and flourished until about 2300 B.C. Significant pottery remains of this era were uncovered along with remains of floors and walls. The city probably remained unoccupied until the Middle Bronze II period (about 2000 B.C.), when a large, well-fortified city was constructed. A massive earthen rampart similar to that of Hazor was built for defensive purposes, and set into the rampart (about 1750 B.C.) was a well-preserved, mudbrick "triple-arched gate." The fifteen meter square gate system stood twelve meters above the surrounding plain and contained the earliest arched entryways known in the world. The gate was blocked and covered within a century for reasons unknown. The earthen ramparts continued to be the primary defense fortification through several wars and conquests until the Israelite period. Other significant finds from the period include jar burials, tombs, and pottery. The Late Bronze Age is represented by a richly-supplied tomb containing Mycenaean and Cypriote imported wares; ivory inlaid cosmetic boxes; gold, silver, and bronze objects; and forty-five skeletons of men, women, and children. Iron Age Laish was rebuilt by local inhabitants in the late thirteenth century B.C. but destroyed about 1100 B.C. by the migrating tribe of Dan. Scripture describes the conquest of the city as if the local people were unsuspecting of the coming invasion. Danites utilized the earlier rampart for defense and built their homes on the ruins of the previous city. The first Danite city, which contained some Philistine pottery remnants, was destroyed a century after its founding. The city was soon rebuilt and became a prominent Israelite city of the Iron Age. Following the establishment of the Israelite kingdom under David and Solomon, Jeroboam led the Northern tribes in revolt against Rehoboam (about 925 B.C.). As an alternative to worship in Jerusalem, Dan and Bethel were fortified as border fortress/sanctuaries (1 Kings 12:29 ) with temples containing golden calf representations of Yahweh. This may have represented a combination of Baal worship with worship of Yahweh. The extent to which the Baal cult influenced Northern Israel is seen in the reign of Jehu, who did not destroy the altars at Dan and Bethel, despite eradicating the Baal priests from the land (2 Kings 10:32 ). Excavations at Dan have uncovered the "high place" of Jeroboam along with a small horned altar, the city gate (with royal throne) and walls (12 feet thick), hundreds of pottery vessels, buildings, and inscribed objects. This city was soon taken by Ben-hadad of Aram and then recaptured by Jeroboam II in the eighth century B.C. (2 Kings 14:25 ). The Israelite city of Dan fell to the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser III (Pul of Old Testament) about 743 B.C. (2 Kings 15:29 ). He annexed the city into an Assyrian district. Many Danites were deported to Assyria, Babylon, and Media following the fall of Samaria in 722 or 721 B.C. (2 Kings 17:6 ) to Sargon II. Foreigners were brought in from Babylon, Aram, and other lands to settle Israel's territory. The writer of Kings ascribed the fall of the kingdom to the worship of gods other than Yahweh (2 Kings 17:7-20 ), and Dan was one of the key centers of this idolatry. As Josiah came to the throne of Judah in 639 B.C., Assyria was on the decline. Josiah incorporated the former Northern Kingdom territories into a united country, restoring the classical borders of Israel to "from Dan to Beersheba." An upper gate to the city was built during this period, and the inscription found at this level, "belonging to Ba'alpelet," demonstrates that Baal worship continued to influence this area after the Assyrian destruction. The partially rebuilt city survived until the onslaught of the Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar (about 589 B.C.; compare Jeremiah 4:14-18 ). Dan again was occupied in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. In the area of the high place, statues and figurines of Greco-Roman and Egyptian gods such as Osiris, Bes, and Aphrodite have been excavated. The Greek and Aramaic inscription, "To the god who is in Dan, Zoilos made a vow," further evidences the religious significance of the city.

Aram

(ay' ram) Personal, ethnic, and geographical name. 1. Arameans. See Genesis 10:22-23 ). 3 . Grandson of Nahor, Abraham's brother (Genesis 22:21 ). 4 . Member of tribe of Asher (1 Chronicles 7:34 ). See various compound names with Aram below and Beth Rehob; Padan-Aram; Geshur; Maacah; Tob; Zobah.

Bethel

(behth' uhl; house of God) 1. Bethel was important in the Old Testament for both geographic and religious reasons. Because of its abundant springs, the area was fertile and attractive to settlements as early as 3200 B.C., and first supported a city around the time of Abraham. Today the village of Beitin rests on much of the ruins of Bethel. Located at the intersection of the main north-south road through the hill country and the main road from Jericho to the coastal plain, Bethel saw much domestic and international travel. Bethel became a prominent border town between tribes and the two kingdoms later. Religiously, Bethel served as a sanctuary during the times of the patriarchs, judges, and the divided kingdom, hence was second only to Jerusalem as a religious center. Entering Canaan, Abraham built an altar at Bethel, calling "upon the name of the Lord" (Genesis 12:8 ), and returned here after his time in Egypt (Genesis 13:3 ). His grandson, Jacob, spent the night here on his way to Syria to find a wife. In a dream the Lord confirmed the Abrahamic covenant, and Jacob responded by renaming this locale which was previously called Luz, "Bethel" ("house of God"; Genesis 28:10-22 ). Probably the name "Bethel" is referred to but out of chronological sequence in the earlier Abraham passages. When he returned with his large family, Jacob came to Bethel again to hear the Lord's confirmation of the covenant and his name was changed to "Israel." Here again Jacob set up a stone monument (Genesis 35:1-16; Hosea 12:4-5 ). Extensive fortification of Bethel came after this patriarchal period. At the time of the conquest, Bethel and Ai were taken together (Joshua 7:2; Joshua 8:3-17; Joshua 12:9 ,Joshua 12:9,12:16 ), but the definitive defeat of Bethel is recounted later in Judges 1:22-26 . It was a Benjamite border town initially (Joshua 16:1-2; Joshua 18:13 ,Joshua 18:13,18:22 ). Later it was a part of the Northern Kingdom (1 Chronicles 7:28 ), only briefly annexed to Judah by Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:19 ). The ark of the covenant was kept in Bethel during a period of the judges (Judges 20:27 ), so the tribes converged there upon Benjamin to avenge the moral atrocity at Gibeah (Judges 20:18-28 ), offering sacrifices and seeking the Lord's direction (Judges 21:1-4 ). Bethel also was a place where both Deborah (Judges 4:5 ) and Samuel (1 Samuel 7:16 ) judged the civil and religious affairs of the Israelites in the area. Bethel was evidently vulnerable at the time of the judges, since archaeology shows it to have been destroyed several times in this period. David considered the city significant enough to send it gifts during his flight as a fugitive from Saul, hoping to establish a friendship of diplomatic value in the future (1 Samuel 30:27 ). When he eventually named Jerusalem his capital, Bethel grew and prospered. Whereas Bethel had been a place of orthodox worship from Abraham to the judges, Jeroboam I made it a religious center of his innovative, apostate religion of the Northern Kingdom. He erected a golden calf both here and in Dan with non-Levitic priests and an illegitimate feast to compete with the celebrations and religion of Jerusalem, ten and a half miles to the south in Judah (1 Kings 12:29-33 ). Bethel was the prominent site over Dan. There an anonymous prophet from Judah found and rebuked Jeroboam I and brought destruction to the king's altar (1 Kings 13:1-10 ). Another anonymous prophet from Bethel entrapped the first prophet into disobedience. Because of his disobedience, the Lord caused a lion to kill the first prophet (1 Kings 13:11-25 ). Other true prophets seem to have been attached to Bethel even during the time of northern apostasy, since Elijah encountered a group of them there as he traveled (2 Kings 2:2-3 ). Amos was sent to Bethel to rebuke the kingdom of Jeroboam II in the eighth century (Amos 7:10-13 ) since it was the center of northern idolatry and a royal residence. He met the resistance of Amaziah, the priest, who vainly ordered him to leave the city. In addition to Amos' prophetic charges against those who sacrificed there (Amos 4:4 ), he predicted the destruction of Bethel and its false altars (Amos 3:14 , Amos 5:5-6 ), as did Hosea (Hosea 10:14-15 ). Hosea seems to have played with the name of Bethel ("city of God"), by referring to it as "Beth-aven" ("city of a false [god]," Hosea 5:8-9; Hosea 10:5 ). The religious significance of Bethel is confirmed also by Assyria's appointment of a priest to this city to teach the new residents of the north who displaced the Israelites (2 Kings 17:28 ). Later, Josiah desecrated another false altar of Bethel during his reforms (2 Kings 23:4-19 ) and perhaps annexed the city to his Southern Kingdom. Bethel was destroyed in the sixth century during the Exile; however, some returned there when released by the Persians (Ezra 2:28; Nehemiah 7:32; Nehemiah 11:31 ). Since it was a late first century Roman garrison town, it was probably a city of importance at the time of Christ. 2. Another city variously spelled Bethul (Joshua 19:4 ), Bethuel (1 Chronicles 4:30 ), and Bethel (1 Samuel 30:27 ). This may be modern khirbet el Qaryatein north of Arad.

Bethlehem

(behth' uhl; house of God) 1. Bethel was important in the Old Testament for both geographic and religious reasons. Because of its abundant springs, the area was fertile and attractive to settlements as early as 3200 B.C., and first supported a city around the time of Abraham. Today the village of Beitin rests on much of the ruins of Bethel. Located at the intersection of the main north-south road through the hill country and the main road from Jericho to the coastal plain, Bethel saw much domestic and international travel. Bethel became a prominent border town between tribes and the two kingdoms later. Religiously, Bethel served as a sanctuary during the times of the patriarchs, judges, and the divided kingdom, hence was second only to Jerusalem as a religious center. Entering Canaan, Abraham built an altar at Bethel, calling "upon the name of the Lord" (Genesis 12:8 ), and returned here after his time in Egypt (Genesis 13:3 ). His grandson, Jacob, spent the night here on his way to Syria to find a wife. In a dream the Lord confirmed the Abrahamic covenant, and Jacob responded by renaming this locale which was previously called Luz, "Bethel" ("house of God"; Genesis 28:10-22 ). Probably the name "Bethel" is referred to but out of chronological sequence in the earlier Abraham passages. When he returned with his large family, Jacob came to Bethel again to hear the Lord's confirmation of the covenant and his name was changed to "Israel." Here again Jacob set up a stone monument (Genesis 35:1-16; Hosea 12:4-5 ). Extensive fortification of Bethel came after this patriarchal period. At the time of the conquest, Bethel and Ai were taken together (Joshua 7:2; Joshua 8:3-17; Joshua 12:9 ,Joshua 12:9,12:16 ), but the definitive defeat of Bethel is recounted later in Judges 1:22-26 . It was a Benjamite border town initially (Joshua 16:1-2; Joshua 18:13 ,Joshua 18:13,18:22 ). Later it was a part of the Northern Kingdom (1 Chronicles 7:28 ), only briefly annexed to Judah by Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:19 ). The ark of the covenant was kept in Bethel during a period of the judges (Judges 20:27 ), so the tribes converged there upon Benjamin to avenge the moral atrocity at Gibeah (Judges 20:18-28 ), offering sacrifices and seeking the Lord's direction (Judges 21:1-4 ). Bethel also was a place where both Deborah (Judges 4:5 ) and Samuel (1 Samuel 7:16 ) judged the civil and religious affairs of the Israelites in the area. Bethel was evidently vulnerable at the time of the judges, since archaeology shows it to have been destroyed several times in this period. David considered the city significant enough to send it gifts during his flight as a fugitive from Saul, hoping to establish a friendship of diplomatic value in the future (1 Samuel 30:27 ). When he eventually named Jerusalem his capital, Bethel grew and prospered. Whereas Bethel had been a place of orthodox worship from Abraham to the judges, Jeroboam I made it a religious center of his innovative, apostate religion of the Northern Kingdom. He erected a golden calf both here and in Dan with non-Levitic priests and an illegitimate feast to compete with the celebrations and religion of Jerusalem, ten and a half miles to the south in Judah (1 Kings 12:29-33 ). Bethel was the prominent site over Dan. There an anonymous prophet from Judah found and rebuked Jeroboam I and brought destruction to the king's altar (1 Kings 13:1-10 ). Another anonymous prophet from Bethel entrapped the first prophet into disobedience. Because of his disobedience, the Lord caused a lion to kill the first prophet (1 Kings 13:11-25 ). Other true prophets seem to have been attached to Bethel even during the time of northern apostasy, since Elijah encountered a group of them there as he traveled (2 Kings 2:2-3 ). Amos was sent to Bethel to rebuke the kingdom of Jeroboam II in the eighth century (Amos 7:10-13 ) since it was the center of northern idolatry and a royal residence. He met the resistance of Amaziah, the priest, who vainly ordered him to leave the city. In addition to Amos' prophetic charges against those who sacrificed there (Amos 4:4 ), he predicted the destruction of Bethel and its false altars (Amos 3:14 , Amos 5:5-6 ), as did Hosea (Hosea 10:14-15 ). Hosea seems to have played with the name of Bethel ("city of God"), by referring to it as "Beth-aven" ("city of a false [god]," Hosea 5:8-9; Hosea 10:5 ). The religious significance of Bethel is confirmed also by Assyria's appointment of a priest to this city to teach the new residents of the north who displaced the Israelites (2 Kings 17:28 ). Later, Josiah desecrated another false altar of Bethel during his reforms (2 Kings 23:4-19 ) and perhaps annexed the city to his Southern Kingdom. Bethel was destroyed in the sixth century during the Exile; however, some returned there when released by the Persians (Ezra 2:28; Nehemiah 7:32; Nehemiah 11:31 ). Since it was a late first century Roman garrison town, it was probably a city of importance at the time of Christ. 2. Another city variously spelled Bethul (Joshua 19:4 ), Bethuel (1 Chronicles 4:30 ), and Bethel (1 Samuel 30:27 ). This may be modern khirbet el Qaryatein north of Arad.

Damascus

(duh mass' cuhss) Capital of important city-state in Syria with close historical ties to Israel. Apparently Damascus has been occupied continuously for a longer period of time than any other city in the world and can claim to be the world's oldest city. Setting Its geographical location enabled Damascus to become a dominant trading and transportation center. Standing 2300 feet above sea level, it lay northeast of Mount Hermon and about 60 miles east of Sidon, the Mediterranean port city. Both major international highways ran through Damascus the Via Maris from Mesopotamia in the east through Damascus and the Jezreel Valley to the Plain of Sharon and the Mediterranean coast, then south to Egypt; and the King's Highway from Damascus south through Ashtaroth, Rabbath-ammon, and Bozrah to Elath on the Red Sea and to Arabia. By the same token, Damascus saw armies march along the highways, often using Damascus as the staging area. History Archaeology cannot contribute much to the study of Damascus, since the continued existence of the city makes excavation difficult, if not impossible. Explorations do indicate settlement from before 3000 B.C. Tablets from the Syrian center of Ebla mention Damascus about 2300 B.C. Thutmose III of Egypt claimed to have conquered Damascus about 1475 B.C. The Hittites battled Egypt for control of Damascus until the Hittites were defeated by the Sea Peoples about 1200 B.C. At this time Arameans from the nearby desert came in and took control of an independent Damascus, gradually establishing a political power base. In the Bible Abraham chased invading kings north of Damascus to recover Lot, whom they had taken captive (Genesis 14:15 ). Abraham's servant Eliezer apparently came from Damascus (Genesis 15:2 ). Soldiers of Damascus attempted to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah another Syrian city-state against David. David won and occupied Damascus (2 Samuel 8:5-6 ). The weakness of Zobah encouraged Rezon to organize a renegade band, much as David had in opposing Saul (1 Samuel 22:2 ). Rezon became the leader of Syria headquartered in Damascus (1 Kings 11:23-25 ). God used him to harass Solomon. The new Syrian city-state faced a strong opponent from the east as Assyria rose to power. Ben-hadad strengthened Damascus to the point that Asa, king of Judah (910-869), paid him tribute to attack Baasha, king of Israel, and relieve pressure on Judah (1 Kings 15:16-23 ). This gave Damascus reason to interfere repeatedly in politics in Palestine. 1 Kings 20:1 also features Ben-hadad of Damascus, giving reason to believe that Ben-hadad (literally, "son of Hadad") was a royal title in Syria, identifying the king of Damascus as a worshiper of the god Hadad, another name for Baal. See 1 Kings 20:26 ). Again a prophet pointed the way to Israel's victory. Ahab agreed to a covenant treaty with the defeated Syrian king, for which he met a prophet's strong judgment (1 Kings 20:35-43 ). Naaman, a Syrian officer, sought Elisha's help in curing his skin disease but decided Abana and Pharphar, the great rivers of Damascus, offered greater help than did the Jordan (2 Kings 5:12 ). These rivers made Damascus an oasis in the midst of the desert. Elisha helped deliver Samaria when Ben-hadad besieged it (2 Kings 6-7 ). Elisha also prophesied a change of dynasty in Damascus, naming Hazael its king (2 Kings 8:7-15 ). Shalmaneser III of Assyria (858-824) claimed to have defeated both Ben-hadad and Hazael. The first important battle came at Qarqar in 853 B.C. Ahaziah, king of Judah (841), joined Joram, king of Israel (852-841), in battle against Hazael with Joram being wounded. Jehu took advantage of the wounded king and killed him (2 Kings 8:25-9:26 ). Having fought against Damascus in campaigns in 853,849, 848, and 845, Shalmaneser III of Assyria severely weakened Damascus, besieging it in 841 and then receiving tribute again in 838. After this, Hazael of Damascus exercised strong influence, gaining influence in Israel, Judah, and Philistia (2 Kings 10:32-33 ). His son Ben-hadad maintained Damascus' strength (2 Kings 13:3-25 ). Finally, Jehoash, king of Israel (798-782), regained some cities from Damascus (2 Kings 13:25 ). Jeroboam II, king of Israel (793-753), expanded Israelite influence and gained control of Damascus (2 Kings 14:28 ). This was possible because Assyria threatened Syria again, as Adad-nirari III, king of Assyria (810-783), invaded Syria from 805 to 802 and again in 796. About 760 B.C. Amos the prophet condemned Damascus and its kings Hazael and Ben-hadad (Amos 1:3-5 ). Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria (744-727), threatened Damascus anew. King Rezin of Damascus joined with Pekah, king of Israel, about 734 B.C. in an effort to stop the Assyrians. They marched on Jerusalem, trying to force Ahaz of Judah to join them in fighting Assyria (2 Kings 16:5 ). The prophet Isaiah warned Ahaz not to participate with Syria and Israel (Isaiah 7:1 ). He also said that Assyria would destroy Damascus (Isaiah 8:4; compare Isaiah 17:1 ). Rezin of Damascus had some military success (2 Kings 16:6 ), but he could not get Ahaz of Judah to cooperate. Neither could Isaiah. Instead, Ahaz sent money to Tiglath-pileser, asking him to rescue Judah from Israel and Damascus. The Assyrians responded readily and captured Damascus in 732 B.C., exiling its leading people (2 Kings 16:7-9 ). Damascus had one last influence on Judah; for when Ahaz went to Damascus to pay tribute to Tiglath-pileser, he liked the altar he saw there and had a copy made for the Jerusalem Temple (2 Kings 16:10-16 ). Damascus sought to gain independence from Assyria in 727,720 but without success. Thus Damascus became a captive state of first the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Ptolemies, and Seleuccids. Finally, Rome gained control under Pompey in 64 B.C. Jews began to migrate to Damascus and establish synagogues there. Thus Saul went to Damascus to determine if any Christian believers were attached to the synagogues there so that he might persecute them (Acts 9:1 ). Thus the Damascus Road became the sight of Saul's conversion experience and Damascus the sight of his introduction to the church. He had to escape from Damascus in a basket to begin his ministry (2 Corinthians 11:32 ). Damascus gained importance, eventually becoming a Roman colony. It also gained importance as a Christian city, with a bishop stationed there prior to A.D. 400. The Arabs captured it in 636 and made it a capital city for the Moslem world, which it continues to be. See Hadad; Syria .

Euphrates

(eeu fray' teess uhnd ti grihss) Two of the greatest rivers of Western Asia. They originate in the Armenian mountains and unite about ninety miles from the Persian Gulf to form what is now called the Shatt-al-Arab which flows into the gulf. In ancient times the Tigris flowed through its own mouth into the gulf. The Euphrates and Tigris were included among the four rivers of Paradise (Genesis 2:14 ). The Euphrates was known as "the great river" (Genesis 15:18; Joshua 1:4 ) or "the river" (Numbers 22:5 ) to the Hebrews. It formed the northern boundary of the land promised by Yahweh to Israel (Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:7 ). The Euphrates is mentioned in the Book of Revelation as the place where angels were bound (Deuteronomy 9:14 ) and where the sixth vial was poured out (Deuteronomy 16:12 ). The Euphrates is the longest, largest, and most important river in Western Asia. Many significant cities were located on the Euphrates, Babylon being the most important. Others located on its banks were Mari and Carchemish, the latter being the site of a famous battle between Babylon and Egypt in 605 B.C. (Jeremiah 46:2 ). The Tigris is not as prominent in the Bible as is the Euphrates, but it is the site of the major vision of the prophet Daniel (Daniel 10:4 ). Like the Euphrates, some significant cities were located on its banks. Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian Empire, was located on its east bank. Farther south was the site of Asshur, religious center and original capital of Assyria. See Babylon; Nineve h.

Haran

(hay' ran) Personal and place name meaning, "mountaineer" or "caravan route." Three men and an important city of northern Mesopotamia located on the Balik River. 1. Terah's son and Lot's father (Genesis 11:26-29 ,Genesis 11:26-29,11:31 ). 2 . Son of Caleb's concubine (1 Chronicles 2:46 ). 3 . Son of Shimei and a Levite (1 Chronicles 23:9 ). 4 . The city became Abraham's home (Genesis 11:31-32; Genesis 12:4-5 ) and remained home for his relatives like Laban (Genesis 27:43 ). Jacob went there and married (Genesis 28:10; Genesis 29:4 ). In the eighth century Assyria conquered it (2 Kings 19:12; Isaiah 37:12 ). It was a trade partner of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:23 ). Through excavations begun in the 1950s, the city was determined to have been established by the middle of the third millenium and was occupied through the Assyro-Babylonian period until Islamic times. The city was also a major center of worship for the moon god Sin. Its name is spelled differently from that of the men in Hebrew.

Jericho

(jee rih' koh) Place name meaning "moon." Apparently the oldest city in the world and the first city Israel conquered under Joshua. Jericho is situated in the lower Jordan Valley, which, according to Genesis 13:10 , "was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord." The Old Testament town lies beneath tell es-Sultan near one of Palestine's strongest springs. New Testament Jericho, founded by Herod the Great, was about one and one half miles southward in the magnificent wadi Qelt. The spring, ain es-Sultan, issues some 30,000 cubit feet of water daily which falls about 160 feet in the first mile of its course down many channels to the Jordan River six miles away, irrigating about 2,500 acres. The combination of rich alluvial soil, the perennial spring, and constant sunshine made Jericho an attractive place for settlement. Only about 6.4 inches of rain fall there per year (mostly between November and February), and the average temperature for January Isaiah 59 F, while it Isaiah 88 F for August. Jericho is about 740 feet below sea level (accounting for its warm climate) but well above the Dead Sea eight miles southward which at 1,300 feet below sea level marks the earth's lowest point. Thus Jericho could be called "city of palms" (Deuteronomy 34:3; Judges 1:16; Judges 3:3; 2 Chronicles 28:15 ) and has plenty of palm trees today. Jericho was an oasis situated in a hot plain, living in its own world with no major settlement in sight, and lying between the two focal points of Jerusalem and Amman in the mountains to the west and east. It is mentioned in the Bible usually in association with some movement from one side of the Jordan to another—the Israelite invasion, when Ehud takes tribute to the Moabite king, when David sends envoys to the king of Ammon, when Elijah and Elisha cross the Jordan, or when Zedekiah attempts to escape the Babylonians. In New Testament times Jericho was famous for its balm (an aromatic gum known for its medicinal qualities). This along with its being the winter capital made it a wealthy city. When Jesus was hosted by Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10 ), it was probably in one of Jericho's finest houses. Its sycamore trees were quite valuable. Such a city could expect to have its share of beggars, as the Gospels tell us (Matthew 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43 ). The archaeology of Jericho is closely associated with the name of Kathleen Kenyon, an Oxford University scholar who excavated there between 1952-1959. The earliest recognizable building on the site dates apparently (based on radiocarbon dating) from about 9250 B.C., a time marking the change from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic period in Palestine. By 8,000 B.C. a walled town (the world's earliest) of about ten acres had been built. About 6000 B.C. pottery appeared in Jericho. About 4000 B.C. a period of abandonment began, but by 3300 B.C. Jericho was coming into her own again into what Kenyon calls the "Proto-Urban" age. Jericho came to have solid defense ramparts and walls. From about 2200-2000 B.C. the mound of Jericho was a campsite rather than a town, when some 346 excavated tombs show its occupants to be from various tribal units. From about 1400 to possibly slightly after 1300 B.C. Jericho was a small settlement. The town at Joshua's time was small and may have used some of its earlier walls for its defenses. Thus more critical scholars underline the conflict between archaeological data and the biblical conquest narrative, while more conservative scholars have recently tried to redate the archaeological evidence or deny that tell es-Sultan is biblical Jericho without giving a satisfactory alternative. See Archaeology; Conquest; Joshua .

Jerusalem

(jih ryoo' ssuh lehm) Place name meaning, "founded by (god) Shalem" and also known as Beth-Shalem or "House of Shalem." Chief city of Palestine, some 2500 feet above sea level and eighteen miles west of the northern end of the Dead Sea. The name "Jerusalem" has a long and interesting history. The earliest recorded name of Jerusalem is Urushalim and means "foundation of Shalem," a Canaanite god of twilight. The Amarna letters in Palestine refer to Beth-Shalem about 1400 B.C. It is first mentioned in the Bible as Salem ( Genesis 14:18 ). Later the author of Hebrews (Genesis 7:2 ) interpreted "Salem" to mean "peace" because of its similarity to shalom . Jerusalem is also called Zion, Jebus, Mount Moriah, and the city of David. Sometimes "city of David" refers to the whole city, and sometimes, to the part that David built. The physical characteristics of Jerusalem include mountains, springs, and valleys. Jerusalem is built on a mountain plateau and is surrounded by mountains. Its main water source was the Gihon Spring at the foot of the hill of Zion. The plateau is related to three valleys—the Kidron on the east, the Hinnom on west and south, and the Tyropoeon which cuts into the lower part of the city dividing it into two unequal parts. The lower portion of the eastern part was the original fortress, built by prehistoric inhabitants. All evidence indicates an early existence of the city. Jerusalem seems to have been inhabited by 3500 B.C., judging from pottery remains found on the hill of Zion. Written mention of Jerusalem may occur in the Ebla tablets (about 2500 B.C.), and certainly, in Egyptian sources (Execration Texts about 1900 B.C. and Amarna Letters). Archaeologists have discovered walls, a sanctuary, a royal palace, and a cemetery dated about 1750 B.C. About this time Abraham, returning from a victory, met Melchizedek, the king of Salem, received gifts from him, and blessed him (Genesis 14:1 ). Later Abraham was commanded to offer Isaac on one of the mountains in the land of Moriah (Genesis 22:2 ). 2 Chronicles 3:1 understood Moriah to be where Solomon built the temple ( 2 Chronicles 3:1 ) on the former threshingfloor of Araunah that David had purchased for an altar to God (2 Samuel 24:18 ). The Muslim mosque, the Dome of the Rock, stands in this area today. Jerusalem became a Hebrew city under David. After the Hebrews entered Canaan under Joshua, the king of Jerusalem, Adoni-zedek fought them. He was defeated (Joshua 10:1 ), but Jerusalem was not taken. Later the men of Judah took Jerusalem and torched it (Judges 1:8; compare Judges 1:21 ). Apparently the Jebusites reclaimed it, since it had to be conquered by David almost two centuries later. The occupation of the city by the Jebusites accounts for its being referred to as Jebus (Judges 19:10; 1 Chronicles 11:4 ). See Jebusites . Soon after being crowned king over all the tribes of Israel, David led his private forces in the capture of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:1-10 ) and made it his capital, a happy choice since it lay on the border between the northern and southern tribes. Zion, the name of the original fortress, now became synonymous with the city of David. The moving of the ark (2 Samuel 6:1 ) made Jerusalem the religious center of the nation. The city began to gather to itself those sacred associations which have made it so important. Here God made an everlasting covenant with the house of David (2 Samuel 7:16 ). Here Solomon built the Temple that David had wanted to build. It was understood to be a dwelling place for God (1 Kings 8:13 ), and the sacred ark, symbolizing His presence, was placed in the holy of holies. Other extensive building projects made Jerusalem a magnificent city. To the Temple in Jerusalem the tribes came three times a year, so that "every one of them in Zion appeareth before God" (Psalm 84:7 ). The name "Zion" was often used to emphasize the religious significance of the city. One group of Psalms came to be known as "Psalms of Zion" (Psalm 46:1; Psalm 48:1; Psalm 76:1; Psalm 84:1; Psalm 87:1; Psalm 122:1; Psalm 132:1 ). The physical beauty of the city was extolled (Psalm 48:1 ), and its glorious buildings and walls were described (Psalm 87:1 ). To be a part of the festival processions there (Psalm 68:24-27 ) was a source of great joy (Psalm 149:3 ). Jerusalem, the dwelling place of both the earthly (Psalm 132:1 ) and the divine king (Psalm 5:2; Psalm 24:7 ), was where Israel came to appreciate and celebrate the kingship of God (Psalm 47:1; Psalm 93:1; Psalm 96-99 ), one of the central ideas of the entire Bible. Jerusalem was threatened during the period of the divided kingdom. When the kingdom of Israel split at the death of Solomon, Jerusalem continued to be the capital of the Southern Kingdom. Egypt attacked it (1 Kings 14:25-26 ), as did Syria (2 Kings 12:17 ), and northern Israel (2 Kings 15:29; Isaiah 7:1 ). Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.) had a 1750 foot tunnel dug out of solid rock to provide water from the Gihon Spring in time of seige (2 Kings 20:20 ). In 701 B.C. the Assyrian general Sennacherib destroyed most of the cities of Judah and shut up King Hezekiah "like a bird in a cage." The Assyrians would have destroyed Jerusalem had it not been miraculously spared (2 Kings 19:35 ). This deliverance, coupled with the covenant with the house of David, led some to the mistaken belief that Jerusalem could never be destroyed (Jeremiah 7:1-15 ). The true prophets of the Lord knew better. Both Micah (Jeremiah 3:12 ) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:14 ) prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem for her unfaithfulness to God's covenant. The prophets also spoke of Jerusalem's exaltation in the "latter days" (Isaiah 2:2-4 ). They said it would become the center to which all nations would come to learn of the true knowledge of God. This would lead them to "beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruninghooks." Isaiah 60:19 speaks of the time when the Lord will be for Jerusalem an everlasting light. The walls will be called salvation, and its gates praise. The Lord Himself will reign there ( Isaiah 24:23 ). The Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 598 B.C. taking 10,000 of the leading people into captivity. A further uprising led to the destruction of the city in 587 B.C. The loss was a painful blow to the exiles, but they kept memory of Zion alive deep in their hearts (Psalm 137:1-6 ). Actually, the Exile served to enhance the theological significance of Jerusalem. Its value was no longer dependent on its physical splendor. It became a religious symbol for the elect people of God, who centered hopes for the future upon it. When Cyrus the Persian overran the Babylonians (539 B.C.), he encouraged the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple (Ezra 1:1-4 ). The initial enthusiasm lagged, but Haggai and Zechariah finally motivated the people. The Temple was completed in 516 B.C. (Ezra 6:15 ). The city itself, however, stood unprotected until Nehemiah came to rebuild the walls. Under the influence of Ezra and Nehemiah, Jerusalem again became the living center of the Jewish faith. Worship in the restored Temple became more elaborate. Continued participation in the sacred traditions deepened the people's appreciation for Jerusalem, the "city of our God" (Psalm 48:1 ). The restoration of Jerusalem spoken of by the preexilic prophets had taken place (Jeremiah 29:10; Jeremiah 33:7-11 ), but only in part. The glorious vision of the exaltation of Zion (Micah 4:1-8 ) and the transformation of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40-48 ) had not yet been fulfilled. This vision, along with the belief in the kingship of God and the coming of a Davidic messiah, continued to be cherished in the hearts of the faithful. Prophets like Zechariah painted new images concerning the future of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1 ). Jerusalem played an important role in apocalyptic circles of the intertestamental period. We read of a preexistent heavenly Jerusalem (Syriac Baruch 4:2 ) that will descend to earth at the end of the age (2 Esdras 10:27,2 Esdras 10:27,10:54; 2 Esdras 13:4-6 ), or, according to another conception, is the place in heaven where the righteous will eventually dwell (Slahyvonic Enoch 55:2). The new Jerusalem/Zion will be a place of great beauty (Tobit 13:16-17 ), ruled over by God Himself (Sibylline Oracles 3:787). The focus of the city is the new Temple (Tobit 13:10 ). While Jewish writers pointed to future hope, Persians continued to rule Jerusalem until Alexander the Great took over in 333 B.C. The Jews finally won their freedom through the Maccabean Revolt (167-164 B.C.), but after a century of independence Jerusalem and the Jewish nation were annexed to the Roman Empire. See Intertestamental History and Literature. Herod the Great remodeled Jerusalem. The various conquests of Jerusalem had caused much damage. After Rome gained control, the client-king Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.) rebuilt the city extensively. This energetic ruler constructed a theater, amphitheater, hippodrome, a new palace, fortified towers, and an aqueduct to bring water from the Bethlehem area. His outstanding building project was the Temple. Doubling the Temple area, Herod constructed a magnificent building of huge white stones, richly ornamented. Here Jews from all the world came for religious festivals, and here Jesus from Nazareth came to bring His message to the leaders of the Jewish nation. See Temple. This Jerusalem in which Jesus walked was destroyed by the Roman general Titus in A.D. 70 after zealous Jews revolted against Rome. Not one stone of the Temple building remained standing on another, and widespread destruction engulfed the city. A second revolt in A.D. 135 (the Bar-Kochba Rebellion) resulted in Jews being excluded from the city. From that time until the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948, the major role of Jerusalem in the Hebrew-Christian religion has been one of symbol, hope, and prophecy. Jerusalem has great theological significance. All four Gospels relate that the central event of the Christian faith—the crucifixion-resurrection of Jesus—took place in Jerusalem. The most recent archaeological investigations indicate that the area now occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is almost certainly the place where these events occurred. The prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:1; Mark 13:1; Luke 21:1 ), is mixed with prophecies concerning the coming of the Son of man at the end of the age when forsaken and desolated Jerusalem will welcome the returning Messiah (Matthew 23:39 ). Several New Testament writers emphasize Jerusalem. John told us more than any other Gospel writer about Jesus' visits to Jerusalem during His public ministry, but it was Luke who emphasized Jerusalem most. Luke's opening announcement of the birth of John took place in Jerusalem. Jesus visited at age twelve. On the mount of transfiguration He spoke with Moses and Elijah of His departure (exodus) which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem. All of Luke's resurrection appearances took place in or near Jerusalem, and the disciples were instructed to stay there until the Day of Pentecost. Then the Spirit would come upon them and inaugurate the new age, beginning to undo the damage of Babel. Jerusalem is the center of the missionary activity of the church, which must extend to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8 ). Paul, though sent out from Antioch, looked to Jerusalem as the center of the earthly church. He kept in contact with the Jerusalem church and brought them a significant offering towards the close of his ministry. He envisioned the "man of sin" who comes before the Day of the Lord as appearing in Jerusalem (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 ). "Out of Zion" would come the deliverer who would enable "all Israel" to be saved after the full number of Gentiles had come in (Romans 11:25-27 ). The present Jerusalem, however, still serves as the "mother" of those Jews in bondage to the law as contrasted to the "Jerusalem above" which is the mother of those persons who are set free in Christ (Galatians 4:24-31 ). The author of Hebrews described the heavenly Jerusalem on Mount Zion as the goal of the Christian pilgrimage (Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 12:22 ). Jerusalem figures in the final vision of Revelation. In Revelation the earthly Jerusalem appears for the last time after the thousand-year reign of Christ when the deceived nations, led by the temporarily loosed Satan, come against the beloved city and are destroyed by fire from heaven (Revelation 20:7-9 ). Finally, John saw the new Jerusalem descending from heaven to the new earth. This incomparably beautiful city is described in such a way that it is clear that the goal of the whole sweep of biblical revelation (the glory of the nations, the tree of life, a river of life, eternal vision of and communion with God) is fulfilled, and God reigns with His people forever and ever (Revelation 21-22:5 ). See Revelation.

Moab

(moh' ab, moh' uh bite) Personal and national name and monument the nation left behind. The narrow strip of cultivable land directly east of the Dead Sea was known in biblical times as "Moab," and the people who lived there, as "Moabites." Moab is rolling plateau (averaging approximately 3,300 feet elevation), bounded on the west by the rugged escarpment which drops down to the Dead Sea (itself almost 1,300 feet below sea level), on the east by the desert, and running through it the steep Wady Mujib canyon (the Arnon River of biblical times). The Mujib/Arnon, which flows essentially east-west and enters the Dead Sea approximately mid-way along the latter's western shore, separates northern Moab from Moab proper. Relatively few springs appear on the Moabite plateau, and the waters of the Mujib/Arnon are virtually inaccessible because of the steepness of the river canyon. Still, the area is well watered by winter rains brought by winds from the Mediterranean. The porous soil holds enough of the moisture for the villagers to grow cereal crops and to find good pasturage for their sheep and goats. Moab's agricultural productivity is illustrated by the biblical passages pertaining to Ruth and King Mesha, surely the two best-known Moabites from the Bible. The Book of Ruth opens with a time of famine in Judah; thus Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons emigrated to Moab where food was still available (Ruth 1:1-5 ). King Mesha, we are told, "was a sheep breeder; and he had to deliver annually to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and the wool of a hundred thousand rams" (2 Kings 3:4 RSV). The chief cities of northern Moab were Hesbon, Medeba, and Dibon. Since this region was somewhat cut off from Moab proper by the Arnon, it was more vulnerable to international pressures and often changed hands during biblical times. In fact, the Ammonites made claim to all the territory as far south as the Arnon (Judges 11:13 ), while the Book of Joshua makes the same claim for Israel (Joshua 13:15-28 ). Other biblical passages which pertain to the region immediately north of the Arnon clearly recognize it as Moabite territory (Isaiah 15:1; Jeremiah 48:1 ), as does the inscription of the Moabite Stone (see below). A crux passage for understanding the whole matter is Numbers 21:25-30 , which explains that King Sihon of the Amorites took northern Moab from the Moabites and that the Israelites took it from him. Unfortunately, this passage is open to various interpretations (especially when the essentially parallel version in Jeremiah 48:45-47 is taken into account). Moab proper was more isolated from the outside world, bounded by the Dead Sea escarpment on the west, the desert on the east, the Mujib/Arnon on the north, and a second river canyon on the south—called today Wady el-Hesa, probably, but not certainly, the River Zered of biblical times (Numbers 21:12 ). The chief cities of Moab proper were Kir-hareseth (present-day Kerak) and a place called Ar Moab (possibly to be identified with the present-day village of Rabbah approximately nine miles northeast of Kerak). 2 Kings 3:1 describes a military campaign undertaken by King Jehoram of Israel and supported by King Jehoshaphat of Judah which penetrated Moab proper and culminated in a siege of Kir-hareseth. The siege was lifted when King Mesha of Moab sacrificed his oldest son on the city wall. In addition to biblical passages such as those indicated above and occasional references in Assyrian texts, our major source of information about ancient Moab is the so-called Moabite Stone. This stone, which bears an inscription from the reign of the same King Mesha mentioned in 2 Kings 3:1 , was discovered in 1868, near the ruins of ancient Dibon, by a German missionary. Known also as The Mesha Inscription, the monument reports the major accomplishments of King Mesha's reign. He boasts especially of having recovered Moabite independence from Israel and of having restored Moabite control over northern Moab. Since they were neighbors, the history of the Moabites was intertwined with that of Israel. Moreover, the Israelites regarded the Moabites as close relatives, as implied by Genesis 19:30-38 . We hear of peaceful interchange as well as conflicts between the Israelites and Moabites already during the time of the Judges. The story of Ruth illustrates peaceful relations, while the episode of Ehud and Eglon illustrates conflict (Judges 3:12-30 ). Saul is reported to have fought against the Moabites (1 Samuel 14:47 ). David, a descendant of the Moabitess Ruth according to the biblical genealogies (Ruth 4:18-22 ), placed his parents under the protection of the king of Moab while he was on the run from Saul (1 Samuel 22:3-4 ). Yet he is reported to have defeated the Moabites in battle later on and to have executed two-thirds of the Moabite prisoners by arbitrary selection (2 Samuel 8:2 ). Moab was represented among Solomon's wives, and the worship of Chemosh, the Moabite god, accommodated in Solomon's Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:1-8 ). Our most detailed information about Moabite-Israelite relations comes from the mid-ninth century B.C., the time of the Omri dynasty of Israel and King Mesha of Moab (1Kings 16:15-2 Kings 10:18 ). At this point the inscription of the Moabite Stone supplements the biblical record. We learn that Omri conquered northern Moab and gained some degree of domination over Moab proper. Ahab continued Omri's policies. King Mesha ascended the throne of Moab approximately midway during Ahab's reign, however, and eventually succeeded in throwing off the Israelite yoke. Mesha apparently began the struggle for Moabite independence during the turbulent years following Ahab's death (2 Kings 1:1 ). Ahaziah, who succeeded Ahab to the throne of Israel, was unable to respond to Mesha's challenge because of an accident which led to his premature death (2 Kings 1:1 ). Later, when Jehoram followed Ahaziah to the throne of Israel and attempted to restore Israelite control over Mesha, he was unsuccessful (2 Kings 3:1 ). Eventually, by 700 B.C., Moab fell under the shadow of Assyria as did Israel, Judah, Ammon, and the other petty Syro-Palestinian Kingdoms. Thus Moab and Moabite kings are mentioned in the records of Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon. Also, prophetic oracles such as Amos 2:1-3; Isaiah 15:1; and Jeremiah 48:1 pertain to these last, waning years of the Moabite kingdom. See Kir-hareseth; Arnon River; Transjordan; King Mesha; Ruth; Jehoram (of Israel); Jehoshaphat

Sinai

(mownt ssi' nay i) Mountain in the south central part of a peninsula in the northwestern end of Arabia. God made many significant revelations of Himself and His purposes to Israel there. The meaning of the name is unclear; but it probably means "shining" and was likely derived from the word sin , a Babylonian moon god. The suggestion that it means "clayey" does not in any way fit the nature of the terrain. The entire peninsula takes the shape of an inverted triangle whose base Isaiah 150 miles long and is bounded on the east by the north end of the Red Sea and on the west by the Gulf of Aqaba. The Gaza strip lies directly north. This peninsula contains 23,442 square miles and has a population of approximately 140,000 at time of publication. The central and southern parts are extremely mountainous, ranging from 5000 to about 9000 feet, and the land today is valued for its oil fields and manganese deposits. The Bible uses the term Sinai for both the mountain and the entire wilderness area ( Leviticus 7:38 ). Sometimes Sinai is called "the mount" (Exodus 19:2 ); sometimes "the mountain of God" (Exodus 3:1 ); sometimes "the mount of the Lord" (Numbers 10:33 ). The term Horeb is often used to refer to Sinai in such a way as to make the names synonymous ( Exodus 3:1 ). Since Horeb means "waste" or "wilderness area," it seems best to think of Horeb as the general term for the area and Sinai as the specific peak where God manifested Himself to Moses. The modern name for the traditional site of Sinai is Jebel Musa (the mount of Moses). Jebel is the Arabic word hill , sometimes written Jabal or Gabel (French has Djebel). Jebel Musa (7500 ft.) is one of three granite peaks near the southern tip of the peninsula. The highest peak, Jebel Katarin (Mount Catherine, 8,652 ft.), lies immediately on the southwest, and Ras es-Safsafeh (6,540 ft.) on the north, northeast of Jebel Musa. Many explorers think Ras es-Safsafeh is the biblical Sinai because it has a plain, er Rahah , on its northwest base, which is two miles long and about two thirds of a mile wide. This plain was certainly large enough to accommodate the camp of the Israelites. Another suggested location for Mount Sinai is far north and east of Jebel Musa, near the top of the Gulf of Aqaba. The major argument for this view is that Sinai's phenomena indicate volcanic action—fire, smoke, quaking earth (Exodus 19:16-18 )—and no volcano is found in the Sinaitic peninsula. The nearest volcano lies far east of the Gulf. However, the phenomena that appeared at Sinai were undoubtedly supernatural in origin, for they were accompanied by the sounds of a trumpet and the voice of God (Exodus 19:19 ). Another location for Sinai is sought far north of Jebel Musa, primarily because of historical references such as the battle with the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16 ). The Amalekites lived in Canaan proper (Numbers 14:42-45 ) and would not, it is claimed, have met the Israelites in the Sinaitic peninsula. However, the Amalekites could have followed the recently delivered Israelites to the south of their territory for the purpose of preying on the poorly organized refugees (Deuteronomy 25:17-19 ). See Palestine; Exodus, Wilderness Journey

Ninevah

(nihn' uh vuh) The greatest of the capitals of the ancient Assyrian Empire, which flourished from about 800 to 612 B.C. It was located on the left bank of the Tigris River in northeastern Mesopotamia (Iraq today). Its remains are represented by two mounds named Quyundjiq "Many Sheep" and Nebi Yunus "The Prophet Jonah." Biblical References Nineveh is first mentioned in the Old Testament as one of the cities established by Nimrod (Genesis 10:9-12 ). It was the enemy city to which God called the reluctant prophet Jonah in the 8th century B.C. The Book of Jonah calls it "that great city" ( Genesis 1:2; Genesis 4:11 ), and "an exceeding great city" (Genesis 3:3 ). The additional phrase "of three days' journey" (Genesis 3:3 ) has been rendered by the NIV: "a visit required three days." The phrase could be an idiom which would refer to the first day for travel to, the second for visiting, and the third day for the return from a site. The phrase "more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left" (Genesis 4:11 ) has sometimes been taken to refer to children, which would yield a population of 600,000. The area within the city walls, however, would not have contained more than 175,000. The final biblical references are from Nahum, who prophesied the overthrow of the "bloody city" by the attack of the allied Medes and Chaldeans in 612 B.C. By 500 B.C. the prophet's words (Nahum 3:7 ) "Nineveh is laid waste" were echoed by the Greek historian Herodotus who spoke of the Tigris as "the river on which the town of Nineveh formerly stood." Excavations A Muslim village and cemetery have occupied the site of Nebi Yunus, preventing excavations there. The tell of Quyundjiq which rises 90 feet above the plain has attracted excavators after it was first accurately sketched by C. J. Rich in 1820. In 1842Paul Emile Botta, the French consul at the nearby city of Mosul, became the first excavator of the Near East, when he began digging at Quyundjiq. In 1845 the Englishman, A. H. Layard, dug briefly at Quyundjiq for a month. Both moved to other sites they mistakenly believed to be Nineveh. Layard later returned in 1849 to Quyundjiq and discovered Sennacherib's palace there. Hormuz Rassam, a native of Mosul assisted Layard and then worked at the site of Quyundjiq 1852-54,1878-82. He found Ashurbanipal's palace and library in 1853. George Smith, who had deciphered the Babylonian flood story in the Gilgamesh Epic in 1872, was sent to the site by The Daily Telegraph . In 1873 he found a tablet which contained 17 further lines of the flood story. Iraqi scholars made some soundings in 1954 at Nebi Yunus which confirmed Layard's guess that Esarhaddon's palace lay here. Palaces Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.) who built the enormous southwest palace at Quyundjiq. We observe on his reliefs captive Philistines, Tyrians, Aramaeans, and others working under the supervision of the king himself. His "palace which has no equals" covered five acres and had 71 rooms, including two large halls 180 feet long and 40 feet wide. He boasted that the materials for the palace included "fragrant cedars, cypresses, doors banded with silver and copper painted brick,. . . curtain pegs of silver and copper, alabaster, breccia, marble, ivory." The rooms were embellished with 9,880 feet of sculptured reliefs, depicting Assyrian victories over enemy cities, including the Judean city of Lachish, captured in 701 B.C. Sennacherib's city was enclosed by eight miles of walls with fifteen gates. It had gardens and parks, watered by a thirty-mile long aqueduct. Ashurbanipal (669-28 B.C.), the last great Assyrian king, built the northern palace with its magnificent reliefs of royal lion hunts. He amassed a library of 20,000 tablets, which contained important literary epics, magical and omen collections, royal archives and letters. See Assyria.

Gomorrah

(ssah' dahm, gah mohr' rah) Place names of uncertain meaning. Two cities in Palestine at the time of Abraham. Sodom and Gomorrah were among the five "cities of the valley" (Genesis 13:12; Genesis 19:29; KJV, "plain") of Abraham's time. Exact locations are unknown, but they were probably situated in the Valley of Siddim (Genesis 14:3 ,Genesis 14:3,14:8 ,Genesis 14:8,14:10-11 ) near the Dead Sea, perhaps the area now covered by the Sea's shallow southern end. Lot moved to this area, eventually settling in Sodom (Genesis 13:10-12; Genesis 14:12; Genesis 19:1 ). Sodom and Gomorrah were renowned for their wickedness (Genesis 18:20 ). Despite Abraham's successful plea (Genesis 18:22-32 ) not even ten righteous men could be found in Sodom, and the cities were judged by the Lord, then destroyed by "brimstone and fire" (Genesis 19:24; NIV, "burning sulfur"). The unnatural lusts of the men of Sodom (Genesis 19:4-8; Jude 1:7 ) have given us the modern term sodomy, but the city was guilty of a full spectrum of sins including pride, oppression of the poor, haughtiness, and "abominable things" (Ezekiel 16:49-50 ). Together, Sodom and Gomorrah provided a point of comparison for the sinfulness of Israel and other nations (Deuteronomy 32:32; Isaiah 1:10; Jeremiah 23:14 ). The memory of their destruction provided a picture of God's judgment (Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 49:18; Matthew 10:14-15; Matthew 11:23-24 ) and made them an example to be avoided (Deuteronomy 29:23-25; 2 Peter 2:6 ).

Sodom

(ssah' dahm, gah mohr' rah) Place names of uncertain meaning. Two cities in Palestine at the time of Abraham. Sodom and Gomorrah were among the five "cities of the valley" (Genesis 13:12; Genesis 19:29; KJV, "plain") of Abraham's time. Exact locations are unknown, but they were probably situated in the Valley of Siddim (Genesis 14:3 ,Genesis 14:3,14:8 ,Genesis 14:8,14:10-11 ) near the Dead Sea, perhaps the area now covered by the Sea's shallow southern end. Lot moved to this area, eventually settling in Sodom (Genesis 13:10-12; Genesis 14:12; Genesis 19:1 ). Sodom and Gomorrah were renowned for their wickedness (Genesis 18:20 ). Despite Abraham's successful plea (Genesis 18:22-32 ) not even ten righteous men could be found in Sodom, and the cities were judged by the Lord, then destroyed by "brimstone and fire" (Genesis 19:24; NIV, "burning sulfur"). The unnatural lusts of the men of Sodom (Genesis 19:4-8; Jude 1:7 ) have given us the modern term sodomy, but the city was guilty of a full spectrum of sins including pride, oppression of the poor, haughtiness, and "abominable things" (Ezekiel 16:49-50 ). Together, Sodom and Gomorrah provided a point of comparison for the sinfulness of Israel and other nations (Deuteronomy 32:32; Isaiah 1:10; Jeremiah 23:14 ). The memory of their destruction provided a picture of God's judgment (Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 49:18; Matthew 10:14-15; Matthew 11:23-24 ) and made them an example to be avoided (Deuteronomy 29:23-25; 2 Peter 2:6 ).

Ur

(uhr) Place name meaning, "five oven." An ancient city in lower Mesopotamia that is mentioned in the Bible as Abraham's birthplace. Ur, Kish, and Uruk were three important population centers in Sumerian and Babylonian civilization. Abraham's family home is alluded to in Genesis 12:1 and Acts 7:2 . The site associated with Ur is located in present-day Iraq, in the lower eastern portion of the Fertile Crescent. It is identified with tell el-Muqayyar some 350 km (220 mi) southeast of Baghdad. The site is an oval shape and had harbor facilities on the Euphrates River, until its course shifted twelve miles east from the city's western limit. With the river's shift, the city lost both its population and prominence. Other sites have been proposed for the biblical Ur, such as Urartu (Turkey) or Urfa (northwest of Haran). Occupation of tell el-Muqayyar began about 4000 B.C. and was important in Sumerian, Babylonian, and neo-Babylonian cultures. The third dynasty of Ur was its most prosperous and highly developed period. Important remains discovered were a zighygurat (a three stage, stepped pyramid) and royal tombs. This Sumerian site is most probably to be identified as Abraham's city of origin. Yet, as with most identifications, such can be questioned. See Abraham; Babylon; Chaldees; Mesopotamia; Sumeria.

Zion

(zi' uhn) The transliteration of the Hebrew and Greek words that originally referred to the fortified hill of pre-Israelite Jerusalem between the Kedron and Tyropean valleys. Scholars disagree as to the root meaning of the term. Some authorities have suggested that the word was related to the Hebrew word that meant "dry place" or "parched ground." Others relate the word to an Arabic term that is interpreted as "hillcrest," or "mountainous ridge." The name "Zion" was mentioned first in the account of David's conquest of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6-10; 1 Chronicles 11:4-9 ). The phrase "stronghold of Zion" may have referred to only the fortified section of the city. Jerusalem was the name of the city state as a whole and included numerous villages and houses located outside of the fortified area of the city itself. After David captured Zion, he resided there and changed its name to the "city of David." Zion was used by biblical writers in a variety of ways. Many of the psalmists used the term to refer to the Temple built by Solomon ( Psalm 2:6; Psalm 48:2; Psalm 84:7; Psalm 132:13 ). In Isaiah 1:27 , the idea of "Zion" included the whole nation. Zion also stood for the capital of Judah (Amos 6:1 ). The most common usage of Zion was to refer to the city of God in the new age (Isaiah 1:27; Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 33:5 ). Zion was understood, also, to refer to the heavenly Jerusalem (Isaiah 60:14; Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 14:1 ), the place where the Messiah would appear at the end of time. The glorification of the messianic community will take place on the holy mountain of "Zion." See Jerusalem .

Egypt

A land in northeastern Africa, home to one of the earliest civilizations, and an important cultural and political influence on ancient Israel. Geography Egypt lies at the northeastern corner of Africa, separated from Palestine by the Sinai Wilderness. In contrast to the modern nation, ancient Egypt was confined to the Nile River valley, a long, narrow ribbon of fertile land (the "black land") surrounded by uninhabitable desert (the "red land"). Egypt proper, from the first cataract of the Nile to the Mediterranean, is some 750 miles long. Classical historians remarked that Egypt was a gift of the Nile. The river's three tributaries converge in the Sudan. The White Nile, with its source in Lake Victoria, provides a fairly constant water flow. The seasonal flow of the Blue Nile and Atbara caused an annual inundation beginning in June and cresting in September. Not only did the inundation provide for irrigation, but it replenished the soil with a new layer of fertile, black silt each year. The Nile also provided a vital communication link for the nation. While the river's flow carried boats northward, prevailing northerly winds allowed easy sailing upstream. Despite the unifying nature of the Nile, the "Two Lands" of Egypt were quite distinct. Upper Egypt is the arable Nile Valley from the First Cataract to just south of Memphis in the north. Lower Egypt refers to the broad Delta of the Nile in the north, formed from alluvial deposits. Egypt was relatively isolated by a series of six Nile cataracts on the south and protected on the east and west by the desert. The Delta was the entryway to Egypt for travelers coming from the Fertile Crescent across the Sinai. History The numerous Egyptian pharaohs were divided by the ancient historian Manetho into thirty dynasties. Despite certain difficulties, Manetho's scheme is still used and provides a framework for a review of Egyptian history. The unification of originally separate kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt about 3100 B.C. began the Archaic Period (First and Second Dynasties). Egypt's first period of glory, the Third through Sixth Dynasties of the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.) produced the famous pyramids. The first, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, was build for Djoser of the Third Dynasty. The most famous, however, are the Fourth Dynasty pyramids at Giza, especially the Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu (Greek Cheops ). Much poorer pyramids demonstrate a reduction in royal power during the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. Low Nile inundations, the resultant bad harvests, and incursions of Asiatics in the Delta region brought the political chaos of the Seventh through Tenth Dynasties, called the First Intermediate Period (2200-2040 B.C.). Following a civil war, the Eleventh Dynasty reunited Egypt and began the Middle Kingdom (2040-1786 B.C.). Under the able pharaohs of the Twelfth Dynasty, Egypt prospered and conducted extensive trade. From the Middle Kingdom onward, Egyptian history is contemporary with biblical events. Abraham's brief sojourn in Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20 ) during this period may be understood in light of a tomb painting at Beni Hasan showing visiting Asiatics in Egypt about 1900 B.C. Under the weak Thirteenth Dynasty, Egypt entered another period of division. Asiatics, mostly Semites like the Hebrews, migrated into the Delta region of Egypt and began to establish independent enclaves, eventually consolidating rule over Lower Egypt. These pharaohs, being Asiatics rather than native Egyptians, were remembered as Hyksos, or "rulers of foreign lands." This period, in which Egypt was divided between Hyksos (Fifteenth and Sixteenth) and native Egyptian (Thirteenth and Seventeenth) dynasties, is known as the Second Intermediate or Hyksos Period (1786-1550 B.C.). Joseph's rise to power (Genesis 41:39-45 ) may have taken place under a Hyksos pharaoh. See Hyksos . The Hyksos were expelled and Egypt reunited about 1550 B.C. by Ahmose I, who established the Eighteenth Dynasty and inaugurated the Egyptian New Kingdom. Successive Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs made military campaigns into Canaan and against the Mitannian kingdom of Mesopotamia, creating an empire which reached the Euphrates River. Foremost among the pharaohs was Thutmose III (1479-1425 B.C.), who won a major victory at Megiddo in Palestine. Amenhotep III (1391-1353 B.C.) ruled over a magnificent empire in peace—thanks to a treaty with Mitanni—and devoted his energies to building projects in Egypt itself. The great successes of the Empire led to internal power struggles, especially between the powerful priesthood of Amen-Re and the throne. Amenhotep III's son, Amenhotep IV (1353-1335 B.C.), changed his name to Akhenaton and embarked on a revolutionary reform which promoted worship of the sun disc Aton above all other gods. As Thebes was dominated by the powerful priesthood of Amen-Re, Akhenaton moved the capital over two hundred miles north to Akhetaton, modern tell el-Amarna. The Amarna Age, as this period is known, brought innovations in art and literature; but Akhenaton paid little attention to foreign affairs, and the Empire suffered. Documents from Akhetaton, the Amarna Letters, represent diplomatic correspondence between local rulers in Egypt's sphere of influence and pharaoh's court. They especially illuminate the turbulent situation in Canaan, a century prior to the Israelite invasion. The reforms of Akhenaton failed. His second successor made clear his loyalties to Amen-Re by changing his name from Tutankhaton to Tutankhamen and abandoning the new capital in favor of Thebes. He died young, and his comparatively insignificant tomb was forgotten until its rediscovery in 1921. The Eighteenth Dynasty would not recover. The General Horemheb seized the throne and worked vigorously to restore order and erase all trace of the Amarna heresy. Horemheb had no heir and left the throne to his vizier, Ramses I, first king of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Seti I (1302-1290 B.C.) reestablished Egyptian control in Canaan and campaigned against the Hittites, who had taken Egyptian territory in North Syria during the Amarna Age. See Hittites. Construction of a new capital was begun by Seti I in the eastern Delta, near the biblical Land of Goshen. Thebes would remain the national religious and traditional capital. Ramses II (1290-1224 B.C.) was the most vigorous and successful of the Nineteenth Dynasty pharaohs. In his fifth year, he fought the Hittites at Kadesh-on-the-Orontes in north Syria. Although ambushed and nearly defeated, the pharaoh rallied and claimed a great victory. Nevertheless, the battle was inconclusive. In 1270 B.C. Ramses II concluded a peace treaty with the Hittites recognizing the status quo. At home he embarked on the most massive building program of any Egyptian ruler. Impressive additions were made to sanctuaries in Thebes and Memphis, a gigantic temple of Ramses II was built at Abu Simbel in Nubia, and his mortuary temple and tomb were prepared in Western Thebes. In the eastern Delta, the new capital was completed and called Pi-Ramesse ("domain of Ramses;" compare Genesis 47:11 ), the biblical Ramses (Exodus 1:11 ). Indeed, Ramses II may have been the unnamed pharaoh of the Exodus. Ramses II was succeeded, after a long reign, by his son, Merneptah (1224-1214 B.C.). A stele of 1220 B.C. commemorates Merneptah's victory over a Libyan invasion and concludes with a poetic account of a campaign in Canaan. It includes the first extra-biblical mention of Israel and the only one in known Egyptian literature. After Merneptah, the Nineteenth Dynasty is a period of confusion. Egypt had a brief period of renewed glory under Ramses III (1195-1164 B.C.) of the Twentieth Dynasty. He defeated an invasion of the Sea Peoples, among whom were the Philistines. The remainder of Twentieth Dynasty rulers, all named Ramses, saw increasingly severe economic and civil difficulties. The New Kingdom and the Empire petered out with the last of them in 1070 B.C. The Iron Age had taken dominance of the Near East elsewhere. The Late Period (1070-332 B.C.) saw Egypt divided and invaded, but with occasional moments of greatness. While the high priesthood of Amen-Re controlled Thebes, the Twenty-first Dynasty ruled from the east Delta city of Tanis, biblical Zoan (Numbers 13:22; Psalm 78:12; Ezekiel 30:14; Isaiah 19:11; Isaiah 30:4 ). It was likely a pharaoh of this dynasty, perhaps Siamun, who took Gezer in Palestine and gave it to Solomon as his daughter's dowry (1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 9:16 ). The Twenty-second Dynasty was founded by Shoshenq I (945-924 B.C.), the Shishak of the Bible, who briefly united Egypt and made a successful campaign against the newly-divided nations Judah and Israel (1 Kings 14:25; 2 Chronicles 12:1 ). Thereafter, Egypt was divided between the Twenty-second through Twenty-fifth Dynasties. The "So king of Egypt" (2 Kings 17:4 ) who encouraged the treachery of Hoshea, certainly belongs to this confused period, but he cannot be identified with certainty. Egypt was reunited in 715 B.C., when the Ethiopian Twenty-fifth Dynasty succeeded in establishing control over all of Egypt. The most important of these pharaohs was Taharqa, the biblical Tirhakah who rendered aid to Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9 ). Assyria invaded Egypt in 671 B.C., driving the Ethiopians southward and eventually sacking Thebes (biblical No-Amon; Nahum 3:8 ) in 664 B.C. Under loose Assyrian sponsorship, the Twenty-sixth Dynasty controlled all of Egypt from Sais in the western Delta. With Assyria's decline, Neco II (610-595 B.C.) opposed the advance of Babylon and exercised brief control over Judah (2 Kings 23:29-35 ). After a severe defeat at the Battle of Carchemish (605 B.C.), Neco II lost Judah as a vassal (2 Kings 24:1 ) and was forced to defend her border against Babylon. The Pharaoh Hophra (Greek Apries; 589-570 B.C.) supported Judah's rebellion against Babylon, but was unable to provide the promised support (Jeremiah 37:5-10; Jeremiah 44:30 ). Despite these setbacks, the Twenty-sixth Dynasty was a period of Egyptian renaissance until the Persian conquest in 525 B.C. Persian rule (Twenty-seventh Dynasty) was interrupted by a period of Egyptian independence under the Twenty-eighth through Thirtieth Dynasties (404-343 B.C.). With Persian reconquest in 343 B.C., pharaonic Egypt had come to an end. Alexander the Great took Egypt from the Persians in 332 B.C. and founded the great city of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. After his death in 323 B.C., Egypt was home to the Hellenistic Ptolemaic Empire until the time of Cleopatra, when it fell to the Romans (30 B.C.). During the New Testament period, Egypt, under direct rule of the Roman emperors, was the breadbasket of Rome. Religion Egyptian religion is extremely complex and not totally understood. Many of the great number of gods were personifications of the enduring natural forces in Egypt, such as the sun, Nile, air, earth, and so on. Other gods, like Maat ("truth," "justice"), personified abstract concepts. Still others ruled over states of mankind, like Osiris, god of the underworld. Some of the gods were worshiped in animal form, such as the Apis bull which represented the god Ptah of Memphis. Many of the principal deities were associated with particular cities or regions, and their position was often a factor of the political situation. This is reflected by the gods' names which dominate pharaohs' names in various dynasties. Thus the god Amen, later called Amen-Re, became the chief god of the Empire because of the position of Thebes. The confusion of local beliefs and political circumstances led to the assimilation of different gods to certain dominant figures. Theological systems developed around local gods at Hermopolis, Memphis, and Heliopolis. At Memphis, Ptah was seen as the supreme deity which created the other gods by his own word, but this notion was too intellectual to be popular. Dominance was achieved by the system of Heliopolis, home of the sun god Atum, later identified with Ra. Similar to the Hermopolis cycle, it involved a primordial chaos from which appeared Atum who gave birth to the other gods. Popular with common people was the Osiris myth. Osiris, the good king, was murdered and dismembered by his brother Seth. Osiris' wife, Isis, gathered his body to be mummified by the jackal-headed embalming god Anubis. Magically restored, Osiris was buried by his son, Horus, and reigned as king of the underworld. Horus, meanwhile, overcame the evil Seth to rule on earth. This cycle became the principle of divine kingship. In death, the pharaoh was worshiped as Osiris. As the legitimate heir Horus buried the dead Osiris, the new pharaoh became the living Horus by burying his dead predecessor. The consistent provision of the Nile gave Egyptians, in contrast to Mesopotamians, a generally optimistic outlook on life. This is reflected in their preoccupation with the afterlife, which was viewed as an ideal continuation of life on earth. In the Old Kingdom it was the prerogative only of the king, as a god, to enjoy immortality. The common appeal of the Osiris cult was great, however, and in later years any dead person was referred to as "the Osiris so and so." To assist the dead in the afterlife, magical texts were included in the tomb. In the Old Kingdom they were for royalty only, but by the Middle Kingdom variations were written inside coffin lids of any who could afford them. In the New Kingdom and later, magical texts known as The Book of the Dead were written on papyrus and placed in the coffin. Pictorial vignettes show, among other things, the deceased at a sort of judgment in which his heart was weighted against truth. This indicates some concept of sin, but the afterlife for the Egyptian was not an offer from a gracious god, but merely an optimistic hope based on observation of his surroundings. The Bible mentions no Egyptian gods, and Egyptian religion did not significantly influence the Hebrews. There are some interesting parallels between biblical texts and Egyptian literature. An Amarna Age hymn to the Aton has similarities to Psalm 104:1 , but direct borrowing seems unlikely. More striking parallels are found in wisdom literature, as between Proverbs 22:1 and the Egyptian Instruction of Amen-em-ope.

Red Sea

Body of water God dried up in the Exodus. Red Sea is a common translation of two Hebrew words yam suph . Yam means "sea," but suph does not normally mean "red." Suph often means "reeds" ( Exodus 2:3 ,Exodus 2:3,2:5; Isaiah 19:6 ) or "end," "hinder part" (Joel 2:20; 2 Chronicles 20:16; Ecclesiastes 3:11 ). Yam suph could be translated "Sea of Reeds" or "Sea at the end of the world." The earliest known translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Greek Septuagint about 200 B.C.) translated yam suph consistently with Erthra Thalassa "Red Sea." Jerome continued the process in the Latin Vulgate (A.D. 400) by using Mare Rubrum "Red Sea" for yam suph . Most English translations have followed the Vulgate and use "Red Sea" in the text with a footnote indicating the literal translation is "Reed Sea." TEV uses various terms to translate yam suph : "Gulf of Suez (Exodus 10:19 ); "Red Sea" (see footnote on Exodus 13:18 ); and "Gulf of Aqaba (1 Kings 9:26 ). We do not know who first suggested the translation "Reed Sea." In the eleventh century the French Jewish scholar Rashi spoke of yam suph in terms of a marsh overgrown with weeds. In the twelfth century Ibn Ezra, a Spanish Jew, commented that yam suph in Exodus 13:18 may be so named because reeds grow around it. Martin Luther translated yam suph as Schilfmeer : "Reed Sea." Although the name "Reed Sea" has been widely accepted by many scholars, there have been many recent attempts to prove the term "Sea of Reeds" is not a legitimate reading for yam suph . The Old Testament uses the term yam suph to refer to more than one location. In Exodus 10:19 it refers to the Gulf of Suez as the place where the locusts were driven and destroyed. In 1 Kings 9:26 it refers to the Gulf of Aqaba where the ships of Solomon's navy were stationed. The same location may be indicated in Jeremiah 49:21 where the cries of Edom could be heard. The "Way of the ( yam suph ) Red Sea" is part of the name of a highway out of Egypt (Exodus 13:18; Numbers 14:45; Numbers 21:4; Deuteronomy 1:40; Deuteronomy 2:1; Judges 11:16 ). The "Red Sea" was the name of a camp along the way from Egypt (Numbers 33:10-11 ). Yam suph marked the ideal southern border of Israel ( Exodus 23:31 ), but the most significant reference of "Red Sea" in the Old Testament was to the place where God delivered Israel from Pharaoh's army (Exodus 15:4 ,Exodus 15:4,15:22; Numbers 21:14; Duet. Numbers 11:4; Joshua 2:10; Joshua 4:23; Joshua 24:6; Nehemiah 9:9; Psalm 106:7 ,Psalms 106:7,106:9-11 ,Psalms 106:9-11,106:22; Psalm 136:13-15 ). No one knows the exact location of the place where Israel crossed the "Red Sea" on their way out of Egypt. Four primary theories have been suggested as to the place of the actual crossing of the isthmus of Suez: (1) the northern edge of the Gulf of Suez; (2) a site in the center of the isthmus near Lake Timsah; (3) a site at the northern edge of the isthmus and the southern edge of Lake Menzaleh; and (4) across a narrow stretch of sandy land which separates Lake Sirbonis from the Mediterranean Sea. Although no one knows the exact site of the crossing, the weight of the biblical evidence is on the side of suggested site number two. See Exodus Event.