"Try playing Chess without a chessboard or telling someone how to drive to Boston without a map. Learning Biblical History without knowing the Land of the Bible is just as difficult. These required mapping materials bring the Land and its storyline to life and lay the groundwork for serious Bible study."
I have to read these books and label a bunch of maps. Sweet.
Over the past few years though, as I have been studying the Hebrew Roots of Christianity, the more I have realized how important knowing the Land of Israel is for understanding the Bible. Actually, not just Israel, but Asia Minor too if you want to understand Paul better. I have concluded you absolutely have to understand basic geographical features of the Lands of the Bible to understand texts from those regions. I know this sounds extreme, but maybe an example can help.
If you live in the Twin cities, think about this:
How much of your daily life is effected by the fact that we Minnesotans had some major Glaciers come through our land years ago? I bet you said none. But if you think about it, your life is effected by this fact everyday.
If you live in Southern MN, your life is effected by the fact that the Des Moines Lobe came across the land. If you live in Northern MN, you are effected by the results of the Minnesota Lobe. When the Glaciers came into MN, they eroded everything they touched, however they also deposited sediment which are now called End Moraines.
Do you ski or snowboard? Buck Hill and many of the hills in MN would not exist if it was not for the End Moraine and Erosion features left behind by the glaciers.
Why is there so much farm land in MN? (This effects so much of our lives here): The reason southern MN has such rich soil...actually, the reason why America has the "Bread Basket of the world" is because of the Glacier sediment known as Glacier Till.
Do you fish? MN is home to over 10,000 lakes because after the Glaciers retreated, they left Kettle Lakes behind with some of the freshest water you can find.
Even the locations of Minneapolis and St.Paul are defined by the Glacier that came through here. Also, the very fact that our capital is called St.Paul and not Fort Snelling has to do with the Glaciers.
Minnesota has some the most unique geological layouts in the world because of the glaciers. We Southern Minnesotans drink water everyday, and that water comes from a variety of different watersheds in the area, and those watersheds would not exist if it was not for the formations of the land and how the glaciers cut through here.
Now think about California. Are people in California today effected by the Geographical layout of their land? You bet. Are they the same ones that effect peoples lives in Minnesota? No. Californians may not realize how their lives are impacted by the land, but there are some days when they realize all too well what is going on with their land.
Basically (as I understand it from my Geology class at Normandale), because of the positioning of the fault lines in California, when an Earthquake happens in Southern California, the result is that Los Angeles in moving closer to San Fransisco. This is because all of California is actually breaking off from the USA...leaving behind a bigger and bigger Gulf of California . Most of the time, these Earthquakes are small, and can't be felt. Sometimes though, the earthquakes are huge, and can cause devastating effects on the people living there. Click Here to see how many earthquakes have occurred in California just today.
Now, think about your life if you are living in one of these two areas mentioned. How many differences in the cultures can you think of that are results of the Geographical details of those regions? There are ALOT. The most obvious is lack of snow in California and the over abundance of it in Minnesota (Now think about how much money Southern California saves from not having to plow compared to St.Paul, MN, or even how the people act differently because of it). Also, California, being they had no Glaciers, has some major water problems due to the fact that the South/West United States was not touched by the Glaciers and there are few tributaries that spill into the Colorado River which supply water to the people in the region. Contrast this to the Huge Mississippi River where 10 states are directly connected to it, not including the States with major rivers that flow into it. These States do not have water shortage problems today like Arizona, Nevada and Southern California do. And lo and behold, the Mississippi River starts in Minnesota and is a direct result of the Ice Age. Again: Geography effects your life.
See my point is, we in our current time, are effected in our daily life by the land we live on, so much that we are not even aware of it most of the time. Why do we make such big deals over oil spills in the Gulf? Because the Gulf does effect peoples lives. However, people who do not live in the same geologic setting as ourselves are not going to be as aware of our culture (that is influenced by our geography) as we are today. And therefor, people, either now or in the future will NEVER be able to understand what it is like to be a Southern Minnesotan whose life is effected by Glaciers that came through my land years ago unless they have lived here... And the very fact that they can't understand that, means they can't fully understand our culture, because their view on our culture will be too heavily influenced by their own. And because of that, they may never FULLY understand the words we write or things they see or hear that are related to us. Because if I say the words "water shortage" in Minnesota, that has a dramatically different meaning than when used in California or other places in the world (Such as...Israel!). This lack of understanding between cultures gets greater over time.
My question for you is this: If today we are effected by the natural, geographical world around us even if we are not always aware of it, (IE... if it rains, snows, has deserts, rain forest, certain trees, etc. because of the latitude you choose to live at)
Why would we expect anything in the Bible to be any different?
And, would not we expect that to come into play into a Biblical Text? I believe it does, considering how much of the Bible talks about food, weather, mountains, animals, etc.
The people of the Bible where obviously aware of their Geography, and Middle Eastern culture puts those Geographical understandings and ingrain them into their very culture.
This ultimately comes back to the differences between Hebrew and Greek thought. We in the USA today are Greek thinkers. We think in abstract terms. We say God is Love.
However, the people in the Bible thought with Hebrew thought. They did not think abstractly. They thought with pictures (every Hebrew word has a root word which can be defined with a picture). They say God was shade (Psalms 121:5).
What is shade?
Why would the author say God was shade? He answers that is verse 6: Because God shelters you from the heat of the day.
This is a perfect verse to understand what I am saying. If you live in Minnesota today, we will very rarely have a day that hits 100 degrees Fahrenheit (-side trip: why not Celsius? Answer: Culture.)However, if you truly want to understand what the author means by saying God is the shade that protects from the heat of the day...go to Israel and experience 120 degrees Fahrenheit. I know it is only a 20 degree difference, but trust me, the differences between 100 degrees and 120 degrees is the difference between the Israeli Army training for war or not (true story...I was there...it was a big deal that day over there for the people of Israel when there Army quit training because of the heat).
See, shade is a concrete term that brings an image to mind when you read or hear it.
But when I say love, how do you define it? Love is an abstract term...you can define it a million different ways. Shade can only have one meaning and ultimately that meaning is felt physically, not defined mentally.
This is the difference between Greek thought and Hebrew thought and is a huge problem not addressed by the Church today. Because today we read the Bible with a Greek-thought bias and forget that over in the Middle East...even today, they think in Hebrew-thought terms.
This is why the Church today is so obsessed over Paul the Apostle and various others in the New Testament: because Paul is dealing with Gentiles from Turkey who think with Greek thought,exactly like the Church today. This is also why the Church today does not want to deal with the Old Testament, because they say people can't understand it. Which is true, because the Old Testament is straight up, legit Hebrew thought...I go crazy over Pastors who preach from the Old Testament without considering the differences in Hebrew and Greek thought.
So today, the Church interprets Paul with a Greek thought bias, but we forget that Paul is trying to explain concrete Hebrew ideas to an abstract Greek-thinking audience. Paul, is, and forever was a Hebrew...and I believe if you truly want to understand Paul, you need to get back to the Hebrew foundation that he came from. This goes for the rest of the Bible too.
I see this all over the Bible now...and as this coming year (and Blog) progresses, you, my dear reader, I hope will start to see this too. I am fully convinced you cannot fully understand the Bible until you understand the culture and how the Geography effects it. A perfect place to start is to read my paper "Revelation 3:15-18 "Hot or Cold". You can read it by clicking Here. Just scroll down until you see the title.
Moral of the story: I am very excited to spend the time this summer focusing on the Land of Israel....and I hope that I can be a blessing and a resource for you in order to help you understand the Biblical truths better.
Sorry this blog got so long...there was a lot to explain that is pretty foundational on things you will read in the future...this topic really is the reason why I am studying in Israel.
(Deuteronomy 11:11-12)
