1. The People and the Land in the Old Testament Session 2D The People and the Land in the Old Testament

2. “…history itself in many respects is inseparably bound by and subject to the limitations of geography.” Barry J. Beitzel 3)CONTEXT: How Geography plays a part in understanding theology

3. אֶךֶץ ’erets land, earth a)earth b)land (country, territory, district, region, tribal territory, piece of ground, land of Canaan, Israel, inhabitants of land, Sheol, land without return, (under) world, city (-state) ) 1c) ground, 1d) people of the land. space or distance of country (in measurements of distance), level or plain country,land of the living, end(s) of the earth 1e) (almost wholly late in usage), lands, countries, often in contrast to Canaan

4. “There was therefore an inextricable and vital interconnection between landlessness and hopelessness. Alternatively, it was the whole notion of ‘land,’ and, more important, being in possession of it, that became at once a powerful medium to display God’s mighty acts, and through which his promises might be realized by Israel. Furthermore, monarchic, Messianic, and eschatological expectations cannot be dissociated from, and often find their context precisely within, the concept of ‘land.’” Barry Beitzel

6. Semites arriving in Egypt

7. Origin of the Nations

10. Abraham & Moses’ Near East

11. Modern Middle East

12. Mesopotamia

13. The River Euphrates

15. Sumer

16. The earliest writing was probably a pictogram like this:

17. Cuneiforms: Wedge Writing

18. The Ziggurats of the Sumerians

19. ZiggarautZiggaraut Step Pyramid - in the center of the city

21. Hammurabi giving the law

22. Hammurabi’s Stele

23. The fabled hanging gardens of Babylon (artist's interpretation pictured) was built on the banks of the Euphrates river by King Nebuchadnezzar II.

24. Assyrians going to battle

26. Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser IIIBlack Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. This is the only known image of an Israelite king. It shows Jehu, the king of the northern kingdom of Israel from 841-814 B.C., bowing before the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, who ruled from 858 to 824 B.C.

27. The Mesopotamian Empires

28. 1.) THE FORCES FROM THE NORTH

30. EGYPT

31. Hieroglyphics on the wall of the tomb of Ramses V and Ramses VI, in the Valley of the Kings.

33. The Gift of the Nile: Egypt

34. The Nile River

35. Boat on the River Nile

36. Another boat on the Nile

37. The Great Pyramids

39. Murex bearing the name of Rimush, king of Kish, ca. 2270 BC, Louvre, traded from the Mediterranean coast where it was used by Canaanites to make a purple dye

44. 1. C o a s t a l P l a i n 2. C e n t r a l H i l l C o u n t r y 3. J o r d a n R i v e r / R i f t V a l l e y 4. T r a n s j o r d a n P l a t e a u