The Holman Illustrated Guide to Biblical Geography includes more than 200 images and over 50 maps to provide a coherent and meaningful set of pegs on which to hang the events that march across the biblical stage. For many Bible readers (and teachers ), one king, one battle, one story often blurs into the next. A geographical grid provides an objective structure to make sense of the biblical narrative. Historical and cultural geography give hue and texture to what are sometimes seen as rather flat, black-and-white pages of the biblical text.
Chapters include:
Exploring the W orld of the Bible
Building Blocks of Biblical Geography
The Land of Ancient Israel: The Southern Regions (Judah/Judea)
The Land of Ancient Israel: The Central Regions (Israel/Samaria)
The Land of Ancient Israel: The Northern Regions (Galilee)
Transjordan
Afterword: Geography of the Heart
Biblical geography has great apologetic value. The biblical writers had to be accurate when presenting geographical material. Unlike some matters of history and doctrine, their assertions about the realities of landforms and climate, or about the relation of one city to another, or about the use of strategic routes could easily be verified both by their first readers as well as by contemporary readers. Verifiable geographic information provides a solid foundation on which to place and evaluate the veracity of other truth claims in the biblical text.