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Bible Lands

The Negev—The southern stage for biblical history

By Oded Borowski

A land bridge between the mountainous wilderness of Sinai and the hill country of Judah, the Negeva witnessed critical events in the Bible during the times of the patriarchs, the Exodus and the Israelite kings. No sooner are we propelled through the primeval history in the Bible—the creation, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the Flood and the Tower of Babel—than we first hear of the Negev. In Genesis 11, Abram, son of Terah, is introduced in a genealogical account. God immediately directs Abram to “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the […]

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Footnotes

1.

See “BAR’s Bicentennial Salute—The United States Navy Explores the Holy Land” by Emanuel Levine, BAR 02:04.

2.

See “Have Sodom and Gomorrah Been Found?” BAR 06:05.

3.

See the following articles in BAR: Adam Zertal, “Has Joshua’s Altar Been Found on Mt. Ebal?” BAR 11:01; Aharon Kempinski, “Joshua’s Altar—An Iron Age I Watchtower” BAR 12:01; Zertal, “How can Kempinski Be so Wrong!” BAR 12:01.

4.

The Samaritans still exist today in two small communities—Nablus and Holon—in modern Israel.

5.

Right, as opposed to left, is favored in the Bible. Jacob crosses his hands, pacing his right hand on Ephraim (Genesis 48:14). The “right hand of God” overcame Israel’s enemies (Exodus 15:6). For other examples, see Encyclopaedia Judaica (1972), vol. 14, p. 177.

6.

See Barry J. Beitzel, “How to Draw Ancient Highways on Biblical Maps,” BR 14:05.

Endnotes

1.

Genesis 14:3; Numbers 34:3, 12; Deuteronomy 3:17; Joshua 3:16, 12:3, 15:2, 5, 18:19. It is also called yam ha‘arabaÆ, “Sea of the Aravah,” (Deuteronomy 3:17, 4:49; Joshua 3:16, 12:3; 2 Kings 14:25), and yam haggadmoÆni, “East[ern]/Former Sea” (Ezekiel 47:18; Joel 2:20; Zechariah 14:8).

2.

Pausanias, Periegesis 5.7, 4–5.

3.

Barry J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), p. 2.

4.

For additional information, see Atlas of Israel, 3rd ed. (Tel Aviv: Survey of Israel, 1985), pp. 14–15.