The City of Corinth and Its Surroundings

The prosperous city of Corinth was strategically located at one end of a narrow isthmus joining southern Greece with the Greek mainland. Its position gave it command over both maritime travel and land travel in the region, for virtually all land traffic moving between southern Greece and the mainland had to pass through the city, and ships traveling between Italy and Asia often chose to have their boats dragged across the isthmus along a track called the diolkos to avoid having to make the dangerous journey around southern Greece. The city enjoyed a long and prestigious history that can be divided into two parts at the year 146 B.C., when it was completely destroyed by the Romans. After this the city lay in ruins for about a hundred years until Julius Caesar refounded the city and repopulated it with Roman freedmen and Greeks. A large number of Jews resettled there as well. Thus, when Paul first visited the city during his second missionary journey after speaking at Athens (Acts 18), he immediately found an audience with some of those attending the synagogue there. Paul also met Priscilla and Aquila there, who were Jewish tentmakers like himself. Around the time Paul left Corinth for Syria, a man named Apollos moved to Corinth from Ephesus and became an influential leader in the church. Paul eventually returned to Corinth for a few months during his third missionary journey after he was forced to leave Ephesus because of a riot by the silversmiths (Acts 20:1-4). Paul wrote at least two letters to the Corinthians, and the moral challenges the believers faced there attest to the very pagan culture of the city of Corinth (1 Corinthians 5;1-13; 6:12-20; 8:1-13; 10:14-22; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). During the days before the city was destroyed by the Romans, the city had gained such a reputation for debauchery that the term “to corinthianize” meant to engage in sexual immorality, but it is not clear if this reputation continued after the city had been rebuilt. Corinth itself was not a port city, so the nearby towns of Lechaion and Cenchrea served these purposes for travel and commerce in the region. Luke explicitly notes that during his second missionary journey Paul had his hair cut off at Cenchrea in fulfillment of a vow he had taken, and then he left for Syria (Acts 18:18). In his letter to the Romans, which was likely written from Corinth during his third missionary journey, Paul also mentions the church in Cenchrea (Romans 16:1).

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Saul Searches for His Donkeys

1 Samuel 9-10

Despite the generous supply of geographical references surrounding the story of Saul searching for his father’s donkeys, the narrative has led to much confusion regarding exactly where Saul went. Most of the locations mentioned in the story, including Shalishah, Shaalim, Zuph, Zelzah, and Gibeah-elohim, have had multiple suggestions offered as the places intended. A careful study of the context of the story and other passages of Scripture, however, offers some helpful clues regarding what was likely the path taken by Saul. The story, which demonstrates God’s selection of Saul as king, opens with Saul’s father Kish sending Saul from their home in Gibeah to look for some lost donkeys. The first place Saul passes through is the hill country of Ephraim, suggesting that he headed northwest, since heading northeast would have required him to pass through a significant portion of Benjamin first, but this is not mentioned. It also notes that he passed through Shalishah, which must have been near the Gilgal of Elisha’s time (see 2 Kings 4:42 and the surrounding passage). Then Saul passes through Shaalim (meaning “foxes”), which must be identical with the land of Shual (meaning “fox”) near Ophrah (1 Samuel 13:17). Then he reaches the area of Zuph, which may have been near Bethel and Ramah, and Samuel is visiting a town nearby. Saul meets Samuel there, and Samuel anoints Saul to be Israel’s king. To confirm to Saul that he is indeed chosen by God to be Israel’s king, Samuel tells Saul that he will encounter two men near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin, and they will tell him that Saul’s donkeys have been found. This author has identified Khirbet al-‘Ashi as a good candidate for Zelzah, because it is appropriately located along the border of Benjamin, and it is probably the same as the town of Elasa in 1 Maccabees 9:5, which is a name that conceivably could have evolved from Zelzah. Then near the great tree at Tabor (an uncertain location) Saul will encounter three men on their way to Bethel who will offer him food. After this Saul will go to Gibeah-elohim, which is probably best understood as the High Place of Gibeah at an-Nebi Samwil, shown here, and not as the Gibeah where Saul lived, because later it is noted that the Philistines had an outpost at Gibeah-elohim (1 Samuel 10:5), and this would almost certainly not have been Saul’s hometown. Samuel then says that at Gibeah-elohim Saul will be enabled by the Spirit of God to prophesy. Then Saul is to go “down” to Gilgal (likely the one near the Jordan River) and wait for Samuel there. Saul then leaves Samuel, and all these things happen just as Samuel has foretold. After Saul prophesies at the High Place of Gibeah, Samuel assembles all the Israelites at Mizpah, and there they select the new king by lot, which singles out Saul as the new king. Then Saul returns to his home in Gibeah.

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Jews Return from Exile

After many Judeans (now called Jews) had been living in exile in Babylonia for several decades, the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., and a year later he decreed that all exiled Jews in his kingdom could return to their homeland (Ezra 1:1-4; 2 Chronicles 36:22-23). A short time after this a group of about 50,000 Jews returned to Judea, which was now a very minor province within the vast Persian Empire (Ezra 1-2). This first group of returnees was led by the newly appointed governor Zerubbabel (who was perhaps also called Sheshbazzar). This first group of Jews immediately restored the altar of the Temple (Ezra 3-4), and then by 516 B.C. they finished rebuilding the Temple of the Lord (Ezra 6; Haggai 1). Several decades after this in 458 B.C., King Artaxerxes I appointed the Jewish scribe Ezra to lead another group of about 5000 Jews to Judea to restore proper Temple worship (Ezra 7-8; Nehemiah 7). None of these Jews under Ezra’s leadership would have been among those originally exiled from Judea, since Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians over 120 years earlier (2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 39; 52). Then around 445 B.C., Nehemiah, a Jewish official in the Persian royal court, obtained permission from Artaxerxes I to travel to Judea to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Soon after Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem he organized those living in Jerusalem and the nearby towns into work teams and completed the walls in 52 days (Nehemiah 2:1-10; also see Nehemiah’s Jerusalem here).

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Levitical Cities

Numbers 35:1-8; Joshua 21:1-42; 1 Chronicles 6:39-66

Unlike the other tribes of Israel, the tribe of Levi was not allotted any portion in the Promised Land for their inheritance (Numbers 18:20-24; 26:62; Deuteronomy 10:9; 18:1-2; Joshua 18:7). Instead, they were supported by the tithes of the other Israelites and were allotted various towns to inhabit among the other tribes. These towns were not occupied solely by Levites, nor were the Levites required to live in these towns. These towns also continued to be regarded as belonging to the tribes within whose boundaries the towns were located. Each of the four clans of Levites was allotted a specific set of towns from a specific group of tribes, as shown in these maps. Each of the clans were assigned various responsibilities for the upkeep of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The Gershonites were responsible for the tent of the Tabernacle, its coverings, and its various curtains and ropes. The Kohathites were responsible for the sanctuary, the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the articles of the sanctuary. The Merarites were responsible for the Tabernacle’s frame, crossbars, posts, bases, and equipment, as well as the equipment of the surrounding courtyard (Numbers 3:25-37).

Priestly Kohathites:

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Non-Priestly Kohathites:

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Gershonites:

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Merarites:

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Nehemiah’s Walls Are Dedicated

Nehemiah 12:27-47

In 445 B.C., about 13 years after the scribe Ezra led a small group of Jewish exiles back to Judea, Nehemiah received permission from Artaxerxes I of Persia to travel back to Jerusalem as well and rebuild the city (Nehemiah 1-2). Nehemiah began by rebuilding the walls, which remained in ruins after the Babylonians had besieged the city in 586 B.C. Prior to that, the walls of Jerusalem encompassed the western hill as well as the Temple of the Lord and the City of David (see map), but Nehemiah’s repairs do not appear to have included the western hill. Likewise Nehemiah’s walls no longer encompassed the Gihon Spring, which was likely no longer accessible from the outside after the Babylonians destroyed its protective towers, though its waters continued flow underground to the Lower Pool. Despite opposition from several other neighboring nations, Nehemiah and the leading families of Judea completed all the repairs in an incredibly short span of 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15). After this, Nehemiah called for Levites throughout Judea (see map) to come to Jerusalem to celebrate and dedicate the new wall. After assembling the Levites, the priests, and the musicians near the Valley Gate, Nehemiah divided them into two groups to walk along the top of the wall around much of the city. He sent the first group in the direction to the right (that is, counter-clockwise) toward the Dung Gate, and he sent the other group in the other direction toward the Fish Gate. When the first group reached the Water Gate, it appears that they came down from the wall and headed to the Temple. When the second group reached the Gate of the Guard, they they came down from the wall and took their place in the Temple as well. Then great sacrifices were offered, and the sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard from far away.

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