Books in Brief

006

Three New Bible Atlases

Atlas of the Bible

John William Rogerson

(New York: Facts on File, 1985) 237 pp., $35.00

The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands

Barry J. Beitzel

(Chicago: Moody Press, 1985) 234 pp., $29.95

New Bible Atlas

John J. Bimson and J. P. Kane

(Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press and Lion Publishing; Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale, 1985) 128 pp., $14.95

In “Putting The Bible On The Map,” BAR 09:06, I reviewed 19 major Bible atlases published between 1945 and 1982. A number of them were low-budget efforts. 1985 witnessed three new entries to the Bible atlas market. All are expensive productions, and each deserves review.

Atlas of the Bible by John William Rogerson is the biggest of the three atlases. It includes 43 maps and 352 photographs and drawings (285 in color)—an incredibly large number of color illustrations. It is appropriate to say about the Atlas of the Bible what I said in my previous review about Facts on File’s Atlas of the Roman World: “The beauty and precision of the maps, illustrations and printing in this volume are amazing.”

Though John Rogerson, professor of Biblical studies at the University of Sheffield, is a recognized authority on Old Testament history and criticism, this volume is not primarily a historical atlas. Its purpose is to be the first major atlas to treat the Bible geographically. The historical section is limited to pages 24–42. The bulk of the atlas examines Biblical geography, region by region (pp. 58–224). Each of the 12 Biblical regions covered is accompanied by maps that beautifully illustrate relatively small regions. The 9 ½ × 12-inch maps are printed on a scale large enough to portray the important geographical features in the immediate environments of Biblical sites. This is by far the work’s greatest contribution.

The quality of the Atlas of the Bible is so outstanding one hesitates to mention a few weaknesses. Most are minor technical flaws that are normally caught and corrected in later printings: for example, the misleading labeling of details as Greek instead of Roman on the Caesarea diagram, page 83; the identification of “Herodian streets” on the Jerusalem map, page 186, an identification not confirmed by archaeology; and the backwards photograph of Beer-Sheva on page 120.

I felt one regret as I studied this magnificent atlas. More care should have been exercised in the placement of suggested road systems. Here for the first time we have an atlas with maps large and detailed enough to illustrate Biblical military campaigns and movements of Biblical characters; yet many important routes are missing or incorrect. Some of the roads go through impassable canyons, such as the bottom of Wadi Qelt (p. 192), and others drop off cliffs such as the 1,300-foot-high Mt. Arbel (p. 129). A route is missing on map 129 where there appears to be no practical way to travel from the eastern Jezreel Valley to the Sea of Galilee, although ancient military campaign accounts indicate many an army did just that. This problem of erroneous or missing roads is particularly unfortunate because the atlas does not include historical maps for specific Biblical events. The student is left to try to trace the movement of historical events on incomplete maps.

The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands by Barry J. Beitzel has more maps (95) than the others, but fewer photographs and drawings (39). The publisher states that the purpose of the Moody atlas is to occupy an intermediate niche between atlases that are maps without text, on the one hand, and those that are text without maps, on the other. This has been achieved in a creative way. Whenever an important geographic reference is mentioned in the text, a red number appears, drawing the reader’s attention to the correct location on the next map, which is often on the same or next page.

A word should be said concerning the accuracy and usefulness of the maps themselves. The front flyleaf states that “state-of-the-art bas-relief … was custom-designed for this atlas.” The two major large-scale maps on pages 56 to 59 have been beautifully executed to give a real feel for the land. They are colored so as to indicate rainfall, vegetation, topography, geology and major city locations. These are accurate and meaningful maps that will serve the Bible student well. Regrettably, however, most of the historical maps are one-color close-ups of these two maps, without enough detail to allow us to understand the land’s relationship to Biblical events. However, Old Testament cities have been located with care and attention on the dozens of historical maps. I have not seen an atlas that illustrates broad historical movements in a clearer fashion. Different color shades on the historical maps help clarify even complicated episodes and permit the illustration of several different Biblical texts on the same map. This means that the number of Biblical 008episodes pictured on the 95 maps by The Moody Atlas rivals the number of events included on the 264 maps of the Macmillan Bible Atlas (the record holder for number of Biblical maps in an atlas).

The main drawback to The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands is the minor errors on the New Testament period maps. There is ample evidence that the author, an Old Testament specialist, is aware of recent discoveries related to Old Testament places such as Gath, Debir, Eglon, Ebenezer, etc. But a number of New Testament period maps have Old Testament sites mixed with them, and some New Testament cities are placed carelessly (Nain on map 81 and p. 173, Herodian Jericho and Emmaus on map 83—though a different location theory for Emmaus is pictured on maps 84 and 86). Throughout the atlas Gamala (Gamla) is at an older location, not reflecting recent excavations. It is regrettable that the author did so little concerning Jesus in Jerusalem. Though there is one diagram, the written materials skip from Jesus and his disciples’ journey to Jerusalem to the missionary journeys of Paul (omitting any illustrations for the events in one-third of Matthew, Mark and Luke, one-half of John, as well as Acts 1–12).

Some readers of this review may wonder how the conservative theological views of Moody Press and Barry J. Beitzel may affect the atlas. The blurb on the back of the jacket assures evangelical Christian readers that “Beitzel has blended the topographical and historical in multicolored maps that accurately reflect evangelical Christianity.” It is my opinion that atlases are less affected by the theological disposition of authors and publishers than are other areas of Biblical inquiry. Not surprisingly, Beitzel does not devote much space to the historical or literary critical method, but he is not dogmatic on dates for the earlier Biblical narratives. His footnotes show he has attempted to acquaint his readers with the range of scholarly opinion about certain Biblical problems, such as textual variants and conflicting archaeological and historical evidence.

The New Bible Atlas by John J. Bimson and J. P. Kane contains 70 maps and 61 photographs and diagrams. The work is meant to be a companion to the New Bible Dictionary. The atlas reflects the conservative British scholarship of Bimson, lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at Trinity College, Bristol, in its Old Testament sections, and of Kane, lecturer in Hellenistic Greek at the University of Manchester, in its New Testament sections. Two other well-known scholars were used as consultants for the atlas: J. H. Paterson, emeritus professor of geography at the University of Leicester; and D. J. Wiseman, emeritus professor of Assyriology at the University of London.

The New Bible Atlas is only half the length of the other two atlases reviewed here. The authors seem aware of the newer ideas concerning site locations, but prefer presenting maps with both the traditional and the newer site locations, each followed by a question mark. The work acknowledges that many of its maps and charts have been taken from a variety of sources, most of them published in the 1970s.

One thing that is “new” in the New Bible Atlas is the presentation of Bimson’s dates for the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan. Bimson dates the Exodus to the early 15th century B.C. and the conquest to the mid-15th century B.C., in contrast to the traditional dates which are each 200 years later. Bimson’s views (which will be set out in detail in a forthcoming BAR article) are presented alongside the generally accepted dates in a way that makes the student feel enriched (or confused) with new uncertainties.

As in the other two atlases, the New Testament section is not strong. It contains an outdated New Testament Jerusalem diagram. Unfortunately, the beautiful Sea of Galilee map on page 73 locates the steep eastern mountains three miles east of their correct 010location close to the shoreline. In addition, once again Gamala has not been properly located.

The atlas’s weakness may also be its strength. The maps lack detail and the historical treatments zero-in only on the major Biblical texts, but, for some readers, summaries may be convenient. There are a variety of charts that summarize historical and archaeological information. A glance at the “Acknowledgments” at the end of the atlas reminds the reader that the New Bible Atlas is primarily a new concise collection of previously published material.

These three atlases reviewed here serve various needs. Atlas of the Bible will appeal to those wanting to learn about detailed Biblical geography and about the general cultural background of the Biblical world. The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands concentrates on specific Biblical passages with an eye to the religious meaning of the events. The New Bible Atlas summarizes the major historical, geographical and archaeological aspects of Bible study.

Flora From Bible Times

Nature in Our Biblical Heritage

Nogah Hareuveni

(Kiryat Ono, Israel: Neot Kedumim, 1980) 142 pp., $24.95

Tree and Shrub in Our Biblical Heritage

Nogah Hareuveni

(Kiryat Ono, Israel: Neot Kedumim, 1984) 142 pp., $24.95

Both of these very handsome volumes deal with the flora of the Land of Israel, but each follows a distinct approach.

Nature in Our Biblical Heritage is devoted to the background and the symbolic aspects of flora in Jewish rituals; Tree and Shrub deals with the more practical side of the flora of Eretz Yisrael, namely what the plants were used for in antiquity and how they are reflected in the written sources from Biblical times onward.

Beautiful photographs, mostly color and some black-and-white, fill the volumes.

The author, Nogah Hareuveni, is steeped in love of the Land of Israel and its nature. His interest in the flora of Eretz Yisrael was kindled and nurtured when he was a child by his parents, Ephraim and Hannah Hareuveni. The elder Hareuvenis started the Biblical Botany Collection and donated it to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1925 when the university opened on Mt. Scopus. In recent years, Nogah Hareuveni founded and has been the director of Neot Kedumim, the Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel, located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Since Tree and Shrub appeared four years after Nature, it includes several improvements, some following suggestions made by readers. Both volumes were written for the reader who is unfamiliar with botany or with Jewish history and tradition; both the author and the translator, Helen Frenkley, accommodate the reader by supplying additional information where needed to understand the main text.

Hareuveni hopes that with the help of these books the reader will be able “to see in the furrow and the tree numerous pictures associated with the lives of the ancient Israelites in the Land of Israel as they are reflected in Biblical verses, the discussions and arguments of the Sages and the tales of the midrashim” (Tree and Shrub, p. 15).

The purpose of Nature in Our Biblical Heritage was “to show how the land of Israel became inseparable from the Jewish people and to explain the significance of this relationship to all those who accept the Bible as part of their cultural heritage” (p. 6). Thus the author describes the role played in the history of Israel by the land—the natural phenomena influencing her history and culture, especially religion and cult. By describing the significance of the flora in the daily life and rituals of the Israelites, Hareuveni explains the meaning of verses in the Bible, the Mishnah and the Talmud. Some of the topics mentioned are the “Seven Varieties,” wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives, honey (Deuteronomy 8:8); the Three Pilgrimage festivals (Exodus 23:14–16), Succot, Pesach and Shavuot; and the “Four Species,” “fruit of a goodly tree, branches of date palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook … ” (Leviticus 23:39–40). He deals at length with the naturalistic background of most of the Biblical and post-Biblical festivals.

In Tree and Shrub the author treats about 30 plants, each chosen “because of its role in the landscape of Israel and the influence upon it; some in ancient days, some in the present, and some as promised in the world to come” (p. 15). Among the plants included in the second volume are the tamarisk, white broom, caper, sycomore and cedar. Each plant is identified and described; passages from the Bible, Mishnah and Talmud are cited to illustrate its role, and each citation is analyzed and explained. The result is a very clear picture of the plant’s role in daily life and the reason for its inclusion in the citation.

Thus, the reader gets new insight into nature’s place in Israelite and Jewish life throughout history.

One example will suffice, that of “Samson’s Rope” (pp. 54–55). This short chapter explains 011the hoax Samson stages for Delilah and the Philistines when he pretends that he can be bound and tortured if the binding is done “with seven yetarim that are moist and have never been dried” Judges 16:7).

The idea that the plant used to make the ropes was Thymelea hursuta (L.) Endl. was proposed by Ephraim Hareuveni after he noticed that the plant called mitnan in Arabic was used for making tent ropes. The elder Hareuveni suggested that the Hebrew name for the plant was yitran, from yeter (rope). After describing the plant in detail, Nogah Hareuveni gives his interpretation of the Biblical passage—Samson, according to Hareuveni, sets up the rope incident in order to enhance his reputation as a strongman.

The key phrase in Judges 16:7 is “never been dried.” Delilah could have sent to the local market for ready-made ropes and just wet them down. But for ropes that had never been dried, the Philistines had to travel more than 12 miles, to the coastal plain, where yitran grew. (Yitran didn’t grow in Samson’s hometown in the Judean foothills, as Samson well knew.) And making ropes from yitran was skilled work—in order to complete the task before the ropes dried, the Philistines had to march several teams of experts to the site. All this activity and the workers walking back to Samson’s house must have attracted a lot of attention and numerous followers along the way. “Quite a crowd must have gathered to see the capture and submission of the fabled Samson. One can almost hear the cries of amazement and excitement from the crowd at Samson’s unbelievable feat when he snapped seven ropes made from the incredibly strong yitran fiber … ” (p. 56).

Completing the chapter is a side-panel of instructions for “making ropes from yitran,” accompanied by five black-and-white photographs of the different stages.

Side-panels accompany the main text in both volumes, adding simple explanations of terminology, names and other points. The second volume includes indexes to the first volume, as well as its own indexes. (The lack of an index in the first volume is a decided inconvenience.) In addition, volume two includes an appendix of terms and names, each numbered and referred to by this number in the text—something like extended footnotes. Much of the information in this appendix is included in the side-panels of the first volume. However, using this appendix in the second volume freed space in the side-panels for additional information related to the topics discussed in the main text.

Three New Bible Atlases

Atlas of the Bible

John William Rogerson

(New York: Facts on File, 1985) 237 pp., $35.00

The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands