For most Bible readers, the city of Cyrene is not typically recognized as a significant place for understanding the world of the Bible, yet it is mentioned no less than five times in the New Testament as the place where certain people came from or lived. This underscores how much interaction some residents of Cyrene […]
Category Archives: Babylonian Period
The World of the Bible
It is common for people today to caricature the biblical writers as having a very limited view of the world and thus a very limited perspective on life. The truth is, however, the writers of Scripture were familiar with a very expansive world–shown here–that stretched over 3000 miles from end to end. Most of the […]
The Cilician Plain and Tarsus
Throughout Bible times the region encompassing the plain of Cilicia and the surrounding mountains was sought after by various world powers. Over many centuries the Cydnus, Sarus, and Ptyramus Rivers deposited rich, fertile silt on the plain from the mountainous regions to the north, and the temperate climate provided sufficient rain for growing grains and […]
Gedaliah Is Assassinated
2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 40-44 Sometime after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the upper echelons of Judean society to Babylon, they appointed a Judean named Gedaliah as governor over those who remained in the land. At Mizpah Gedaliah encouraged those who remained to embrace Babylonian rule and reestablish their lives in the land, cultivating […]
The Tribe of Benjamin
The tribe of Benjamin was descended from the youngest son of Jacob (Genesis 35:16-26) and occupied one of the smallest allotments in the Promised Land (Joshua 15-16; 18:11-13), yet it proved to be a people of great consequence throughout the history of Israel. Benjamin’s allotment in the Promised Land fell between Ephraim to the north […]