Genesis 21:1-21; 25:1-18; 1 Chronicles 5:3-22 The book of Genesis twice records the origin of the Ishmaelites, who were descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Sarah’s handmaiden Hagar. Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran (Genesis 21:20-21), and his descendants eventually ranged from Shur near Egypt all the way around to Havilah on […]
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Sennacherib Attacks Judah
Isaiah 36-37; 2 Kings 18-19; 2 Chronicles 32 The harrowing experience of the attack on Judah by King Sennacherib of Assyria during Hezekiah’s reign is recorded by three different writers of Scripture and even by Sennacherib himself. Many scholars also suspect that this event formed the basis for Herodotus’s story regarding an army of mice […]
Jacob Travels to Southern Canaan
Genesis 32-36 As with many of the stories of the Bible, the events of Jacob’s life are often misunderstood by readers as disjointed pericopes arranged primarily for theological and cultural purposes. Because of this, readers often fail to see that these stories follow a clear geographical progression of the patriarch throughout the land of Canaan. […]
Sodom and Gomorrah Are Destroyed
Genesis 18-19 Author’s note: This article assumes that Sodom, Gomorrah, and Bela (Zoar) were located at Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira, and Khirbat ash-Sheikh `Isa, respectively. The exact locations of the cities of the plain are widely debated, with the primary dispute centering around whether the cities are to be found in the northern area of the […]
Poster Map of Paul’s Travels
Several years after Jesus ascended to heaven, a man named Paul (also called Saul) from Tarsus became a leading persecutor of Jesus’ followers (Acts 8:1-3; Philippians 3:6; 1 Timothy 1:13). He obtained permission from the high priest to arrest Jesus’ followers in Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem. While he was traveling there, however, […]