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 must have had with believers throughout the early church, both in Jerusalem and in Antioch. The ancient city of Cyrene was established on the narrow band of fertile land along the northern coast of Libya. It was founded around 631 B.C. by Greeks from the island of Thera who had been experiencing a severe drought. Over time several other cities were founded along the coast, forming what has sometimes been called the Pentapolis (“Five Cities”) of Cyrenaica: Cyrene (and its port of Apollonia), Balagrae, Ptolemais, Barca, and Berenice. Cyrenaica came under Persian rule by 525 B.C., and after Alexander’s empire was divided among his generals the region came under Ptolemaic rule. In 96 B.C. the Pentapolis was bequeathed to Rome and was later combined with Crete to form the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica. Cyrene and its surrounding lands produced grains, olive oil, wine, figs, apples, wool, beef, and a rare herb called silphium, and the city became renowned for its academic and artistic centers. At its peak it boasted a population of about 100,000 residents, including a large Jewish population. During the time of Jesus a man from Cyrene named Simon, who had likely come to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple during Passover, was compelled to carry Jesus’ cross while Jesus was being led away to his crucifixion (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26). Other Jews from Cyrene were among those in Jerusalem who heard the apostle Peter’s message in their own language while celebrating the festival of Pentecost (Acts 2:10). Later, other Jews from Cyrene and elsewhere argued with a believer named Stephen and falsely accused him of blasphemy (Acts 6:9). After Stephen was stoned to death and many believers fled Palestine, some Jewish believers from Cyrene were among those who traveled to Antioch and told Gentiles about the good news of Jesus Christ (Acts 11:19-20). Finally, a Cyrenian believer named Lucius was one of several people in Antioch who were led by the Holy Spirit to appoint Barnabas and Paul for missionary service (Acts 13:1).
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 places shown here are directly referenced in the Old Testament, and Rome and its surrounding lands are mentioned in the New Testament. The apostle Paul also mentioned a desire to travel to Spain (Romans 15:24), which is located another 700 miles beyond the western edge of this map. Even the Israelites’ most ancient record of the ancestries of various peoples (Genesis 10) references many of the places shown here, and by the time the Persian Empire reached its zenith around 500 B.C. it covered an area about eight times the size of Texas, bringing within one domain numerous peoples, languages, cultures, and religions. Jesus’ crucifixion likewise demonstrated the diverse context of the biblical world, for the charges posted above his head had to be written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek (John 19:20). All this points to the reality that the world of the biblical writers was not, in fact, extremely limited but instead very cosmopolitan–perhaps even more diverse than the context many of us are familiar with today.
Balaam Blesses Israel
Numbers 22-24
The story of Balaam takes place soon after the Israelites passed through Moab on their way to the Promised Land. Sometime before this the Moabites had occupied the land between the Arnon River and Ammon, but King Sihon of the Amorites seized it from them. As the Israelites passed through this area they were attacked by Sihon, but they defeated him and took all his land for themselves (Numbers 21:23-31; Deuteronomy 2:30-36; Judges 11:20-22). King Balak of Moab, however, must have continued to be able to move about in this region, because all the locations where he took Balaam to prophesy are located within it. At this time the Israelites were camped at Abel-shittim across the Jordan River from Jericho, and when Balak saw the Israelites’ vast numbers and how they had defeated Sihon, he became terrified, fearing that they would completely consume all the resources of the land. So Balak prepared to attack the Israelites (Joshua 24:9), and he sent for a diviner named Balaam to come from his home in Pethor in Aram-naharaim (Deuteronomy 23:4) by the Euphrates River and pronounce a curse upon them. Though Balaam was reluctant to come, he eventually agreed and traveled to Moab, where Balak met him at one of the Moabite border towns along the Arnon River and took him to Kiriath-huzoth. There he sacrificed cattle and sheep and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him. The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth-baal to look out over the Israelite camp, and they built seven altars and offered sacrifices there. But instead of pronouncing a curse, Balaam pronounced a blessing over the Israelites. So Balak took Balaam to the field of Zophim on the top of Mount Pisgah, and they built seven altars and offered sacrifices there as well but with the same result. Finally Balak took Balaam to the top of Beth-peor and performed the same ritual, but once again Balaam pronounced a blessing instead. In anger Balak sent Balaam back to his homeland, but before Balaam left he prophesied destruction for the Moabites and other peoples that lived south and west of the Promised Land. The Bible later records that the Israelites killed Balaam (Numbers 31:8; Joshua 13:22), so it may be that they intercepted him on his way to return to Pethor.
Aram Captures Gilead
The century leading up to Israel’s fall to Assyria in 722 B.C. was marked by a complicated interplay of regional power struggles, palace intrigues, and territorial losses and recoveries. During Jehu’s reign over Israel the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel’s territory (2 Kings 10:32-33), primarily at the hands of Hazael king of Aram, who, like Jehu, had ascended to the kingship by assassinating his own king (2 Kings 8:7-15; 9:24-29). Sometime around 825 B.C. or soon thereafter Hazael brutally seized all of Gilead, including the former territory of Reuben, which had already been taken from Israel by Moab about 20 years earlier (2 Kings 1:1; 3:1-27; 8:12; 10:32-33; 2 Chronicles 21:8-10). Apparently Hazael also traveled unimpeded through Israel’s territory and attacked Gath. After this he turned to attack Jerusalem as well, but King Jehoash of Judah gave him all the treasures from the temple and persuaded him to withdraw (2 Kings 12:17-18). Around 790 B.C., however, King Jehoash of Israel (not the same as Jehoash of Judah) was able to recapture Gilead from Aram (2 Kings 13:25).
Gideon Defeats the Midianites
Judges 6-8
During the time of the Judges, the Israelites were oppressed for seven years by several nomadic peoples, including Midianites, Amalekites, and perhaps Ishmaelites (see Judges 8:24), who repeatedly invaded the land during harvesttime and ruined all the crops. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to a man named Gideon in the town of Ophrah, which was located in the largely Canaanite Jezreel Valley (see Judges 1:27). The angel called upon him to save Israel from their oppressors. Gideon mustered an army of 32,000 men from the northern tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali and camped by the Spring of Harod, just south of the Midianite army of 120,000 men (Judges 8:10), who were camped in the Jezreel Valley near the hill of Moreh. But the Lord reduced Gideon’s forces to an elite unit of three hundred men. During the night Gideon’s men encircled the Midianites and threw them into confusion by blowing trumpets and breaking jars with torches inside. The Midianites began attacking each other and fled southeast out of the valley, passing Beth-shittah and apparently turning south at Abel-meholah, since the Ephraimites were called out to seize the shallow places of the Jordan River to prevent the Midianites from crossing back over to Gilead. At the same time, Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh (who may have been among those not selected for Gideon’s elite force) were called out to continue pursuing the Midianites as they fled. The Ephraimites captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb, and brought their heads to Gideon by the Jordan. The rest of the Midianites managed to cross the Jordan, perhaps near the shallows at Zaphon, and headed into the hill country of Gilead, likely passing through Succoth and Peniel along the way. Gideon and his men continued to pursue them but were worn out about by the time they reached Succoth, so they asked them for bread. When the leaders refused, Gideon threatened to punish them when he returned. The same thing happened at Peniel, and he threatened to pull down the tower there. Gideon continued on with his men to karkor, which means “soft and level ground” and likely refers to the plain just north of Nobah and Jogbehah. There he surprised the remaining Midianites forces by attacking them from behind. When Gideon returned, he took revenge on the leaders of Succoth and Peniel as he had promised, and then he returned to Ophrah.
