Throughout biblical history, one of the most tangible demonstrations of the Lord’s goodness to his people is seen in his provision of rain (Leviticus 26:4; Deuteronomy 11:11-17; 28:12; 1 Samuel 12:17-18; 1 Kings 8:35-36; 2 Chronicles 6:26-27; 7:13; Ezra 10:9; Job 5:10; 37:6; Psalm 68:9; 135:7; 147:8; Isaiah 5:6; 44:3; Jeremiah 3:3; 5:24; 10:13; 14:4-22; 51:16; Ezekiel 34:26; Hosea 6:3; 10:12; Joel 2:23; Amos 4:7; Zechariah 10:1; 14:17; Matthew 5:45; Acts 14:17; James 5:7). In numerous passages of Scripture, the Lord is said to be the giver of rain, and rain was a sign of his blessing and favor, for with it came abundant harvests and plentiful drinking water. Conversely, rain could also be withheld as a sign of God’s displeasure with sin, leading to poor harvests and dwindling drinking water. Israel’s rainy season lasts from October until May, with the heaviest rains occurring in December and January. The summer months, from June until September, see almost no rain. The beginning of the rainy season in October is referred to in Scripture as the early rains, and farmers are eager for their arrival in order to begin plowing and planting. Then the rains continue heavily through the winter. Even more important, however, are what Scripture calls the latter rains. These final rains of the season can significantly increase yields–or bitterly destroy them–for they provide critical water necessary during the hottest portion of the growing season. Northern Galilee enjoys the most plentiful rainfall in Israel, with annual totals of about 660 mm, while the lower Jordan Valley and much of southern Israel are essentially desert lands, receiving a scant 16-22 mm of rain each year.
January:
July:
Annual Rainfall (animation):
Data source: Fick, S.E. and R.J. Hijmans, 2017. WorldClim 2: new 1km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 37 (12): 4302-4315.
Aram and the City of Damascus
Throughout the Old Testament the term Aram is used to reference various people groups inhabiting the Levant, and their political power and loyalties changed frequently over the centuries. The Bible first mentions the people of Aram in the Table of Nations and designates them as descendants of Shem (Genesis 10:22-23). Later Abraham traveled with his father to Haran in northern Aram (see this map) before continuing on to Canaan further south. Many years after this Abraham sent his servant back to this region (called Aram-naharaim or Paddan-aram) to find a wife for his son Isaac (Genesis 24:10). Still later Isaac’s son Jacob returned to this same area when he fled from his brother Esau after stealing his birthright (Genesis 28-31). Balaam was also brought from northern Aram to curse the Israelites as they prepared to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 23:7). Even the Israelites themselves were instructed, once they entered the Promised Land, to make an offering of first fruits during which they were to acknowledge to the priest that their ancestor (Abraham) was a wandering Aramean (Deuteronomy 26:1-11). During the time of the Judges a man named Othniel rescued the Israelites from a king who oppressed them from Aram-naharaim (Judges 3:8-10). By the end of the time of the Judges (Judges 18:7-28), however, the term Aram is typically used by the biblical writers to refer to the people living in the area shown here, located just north of Israel and centered around the ancient city of Damascus. This region was subdued by King David (2 Samuel 8; 1 Chronicles 18-19), but it appears to have regained power soon after Solomon died. Aram continued to grow in power during this time, so much so that King Asa of Judah sent silver and gold to Ben-hadad I of Aram to incite him to attack King Baasha of Israel (1 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 16). Apparently this conflict whet the appetite of the Arameans for Israelite land, because later Aram would also fight several wars against King Ahab of Israel (1 Kings 20-22; see map here) as well as against several other kings of Israel after him (2 Kings 8-16; 2 Chronicles 18-28). The power of Aram was finally broken during the time of King Ahaz of Judah, who bribed the Assyrians to attack the Arameans in order to stop Israel and Aram from attacking Judah (2 Kings 16-17; 2 Chronicles 28; Isaiah 7-8; see map here). Hundreds of years later, the Lord Jesus appeared to the apostle Paul as he was traveling to Damascus to persecute believers there (Acts 9; see map here).
Saul Rescues Jabesh-Gilead
1 Samuel 11
Soon after Saul was anointed king of Israel by Samuel, Saul demonstrated his ability to unite the tribes against a common enemy, fulfilling one of the reasons the people had asked Samuel for a king (1 Samuel 8:19-20). A man named Nahash the Ammonite had besieged the Israelite town of Jabesh-gilead, and before he would grant them a treaty, he required that he gouge out the right eye of every person in the town. Messengers from Jabesh-gilead went throughout Israel seeking someone to rescue them from Nahash. When they reached Gibeah, they told this to the people and then to Saul as he was returning from the fields with his oxen. When Saul heard what was happening, the Spirit of God came upon him powerfully, and he cut up his oxen and sent pieces throughout Israel as a threat to anyone who did not join him to rescue Jabesh-gilead. Saul mustered Israel’s forces at Bezek and sent word to the people of Jabesh-gilead that they would be rescued the next day. The next day Saul did defeat the Ammonites and completely destroyed them. In response, some suggested to Samuel that those who initially opposed Saul’s appointment as king should be put to death, but Samuel instead called for everyone to meet at Gilgal and reaffirm Saul as king. The people did so and celebrated Saul’s kingship with fellowship offerings before the Lord.
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PassageBrowser and MapFinder
PassageBrowser is a newly released tool by Bible Mapper that makes it even easier to find Bible Mapper Blog maps related to a particular passage of Scripture. With PassageBrowser you can enter a Bible reference and it will display the Scripture text alongside all relevant Bible Mapper Blog maps. You can select from multiple translations (currently ESV and NLT) to display the Bible text, and the relevant maps are collected by the MapFinder module in the right margin. You can also open the MapFinder module in a separate tab by clicking on the MapFinder header, and it will retrieve maps without displaying the accompanying Bible text. You can even preload a reference into PassageBrowser or MapFinder by appending ?ref=[your Bible reference] to the URL of your browser (e.g., https://biblemapper.com/passagebrowser/?ref=Matt 10-11). To get to PassageBrowser, enter a Bible reference into the search box at the top of the Bible Mapper Blog. The search box is already configured to utilize PassageBrowser if it detects that the search string entered is a Bible reference.
Tarshish
Much like the garden of Eden, the location of the place called Tarshish in the Bible has become shrouded in mystery over time. The word Tarshish is mentioned over 25 times in Scripture, yet few geographical clues are found in these references to help pinpoint the location, and some of them actually seem to contradict each other. The earliest mention of Tarshish occurs in what is commonly called the Table of Nations, the Israelites’ oldest catalog of the peoples of the ancient Near East (Genesis 10:4; 1 Chronicles 1:7). Tarshish is then mentioned by various biblical writers from the time of Solomon to the time of the Babylonian exile. Some passages suggest Tarshish was located in the Mediterranean Sea (Jonah 1:3), while other passages seem to suggest that it could be reached by way of the Red Sea (1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chronicles 20:36-37). A few references indicate that Tarshish was located far from Israel (Isaiah 66:19) along a sea coast, perhaps on an island (Psalm 72:10). The prophet Ezekiel noted that Tarshish traded silver, iron, tin, and lead (Ezekiel 27:12; see also Jeremiah 10:9). Finally, numerous passages speak of “ships of Tarshish” in various contexts and locations (1 Kings 10:22; 22:48; 2 Chronicles 9:21; 20:36-37; Psalm 48:7; Isaiah 2:16; 23:1-14; 60:9; Ezekiel 27:25). Outside of the Bible, a 9th-century B.C. stone tablet from the city of Nora in Sardinia appears to mention Tarshish. The inscription seems to be saying that a certain official had either been coming from Tarshish or was intending to go to Tarshish but was driven to Nora instead. Perhaps a first step to gaining more clarity about the location of Tarshish is to address the frequently used term “ships of Tarshish.” Given the many varied uses of this phrase in Scripture, most scholars now believe it likely referred to a class of ships built for conveying large amounts of goods over long voyages, rather than to the ships’ origin or destination. Thus newer translations often render this phrase as “trading ships.” A second step in identifying where Tarshish was likely located is to investigate its association with tin, silver, and lead–all of which were rare commodities in the ancient world that originated from a limited number of sources. The term Tarshish is likely derived from a Phoenician term meaning “smelting place,” and there were no doubt several such places in the ancient world that derived their name from this word, including Tarsus (in Cilicia), Tharros (in Sardinia), and Tartessos (in Spain). Based on the location of related peoples, it is likely that the Tarshish mentioned in the Table of Nations was located at Tarsus. But isotopic analysis of silver samples found in Israel has confirmed that by the time of Solomon much of Israel’s silver was likely coming from Tharros, so it is possible that the term Tarshish at that time referred to Tharros. Soon after this, however, the primary supplier of silver for Israel shifted further west to Spain, perhaps at a place called Tartessos. Several deposits of tin were also located in Spain and areas further north, bolstering the argument that by this time Tartessos had become the location that later biblical writers meant by the term Tarshish. But then what about 2 Chronicles 20:36-37, which, when more literally translated, seems to insist that King Jehoshaphat was building ships at Ezion-geber on the Red Sea with the intent of sailing to Tarshish? Some scholars have suggested that the Chronicler must have mistaken the phrase “ships of Tarshish” in 1 Kings 22:48 as indicating the destination of the ships. This critical view typically also assumes that Tarshish was located in the Mediterranean Sea, making the Chronicler doubly mistaken. But, in fact, it may be that the term Tarshish, while typically associated with known smelting centers in the Mediterranean Sea, was ultimately a generic term for any smelting place, and thus this passage may be using this term to reference the gold smelting centers at Ophir at the southern end of the Red Sea.
