One of the most overlooked locations of biblical history is the desert region encompassing the oases of Dumah, Tema, Dedan, and Yathrib. While Dumah, Tema, and Dedan are mentioned by name only a few times in the Old Testament and Yathrib is not mentioned at all, the history of these cities often overlaps with biblical […]
Category Archives: Persian Period
Troy and Its Surroundings
If ever there was a defining place in the ancient world where pivotal decisions changed the entire course of history, the Troad Peninsula in northwest Anatolia was just such a place. Located along the Hellespont (the ancient name for the single, narrow waterway connecting the prosperous Black Sea with the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean […]
The Land of Exile
When the northern kingdom of Israel was defeated by the Assyrians around 740 B.C. and 722 B.C., the Assyrians carried away many people to places along the Habor River (2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26) and to cities in Media (2 Kings 17:1-6), and the nation essentially ceased to exist. Over a hundred years later, […]
Judea under Persian Rule
In 539 B.C., King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon, and a year later he announced that any exiled Jews who wanted to return to their homeland could do so (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-2). A contingent of Jews under the leadership of Zerubbabel did return (Ezra 1:3-2:70) and established the minor Persian province of Judea […]
Jerusalem during the Later Old Testament
The Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord in 586 B.C. and exiled many Judeans to Babylon (2 Kings 25:1-21; 2 Chronicles 36:17-21; Jeremiah 39:1-10; 52:1-30). Several decades later (539 B.C.), King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon and declared that the Judean exiles were free to return to Judah and […]