Bible map of Sennacherib's attack on Judah
Bible map of Sennacherib's attack on Judah
Assyria's invasion of Judah
Before Sennacherib's attack on Judah, Assyrians invaded Israel in the 700s BC. There, they gave top priority to capturing and pillaging Israel’s elite: rulers, judges, wealthy businesspeople. They followed the money and often butchered the cash cow. Assyria erased this northern Jewish nation and deported the survivors who became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel. Assyrian King Sennacherib’s turn on the only surviving Israelite nation about 20 years layer, in 701 BC. Judah, in the south, was the only surviving Jewish nation.Judah's cities decimated
Sennacherib destroyed most cities during that campaign. And he defeated Egyptians who came to their rescue. Then he lay siege to Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king. But he left suddenly.Assyria fled from Jerusalem
A Bible writer said an angel killed 185,000 of his soldiers (2 Kings 19:35). A Greek writer 250 years later, Herodotus, wrote that the army got stopped by a rat infestation that killed some of the soldiers. Some scholars speculate that the rats carried diseases—plagues such as bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic. Those three diseases—all from the same bacterium (yersinia pestis)—affect the immune system, blood, and lungs. (See Isaiah 10.)Euphrates River in Mesopotamia
Euphrates River in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Ancient NYC
Mesopotamia in Bible times was like the ancient version of the buzzing New York City, only much bigger. It was the vibrant hub of a civilization that emerged from land sandwiched between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. That's mainly in Iraq and western Iran.
This area was prime real estate for early human settlers because those rivers brought life to the arid land. The word "Mesopotamia" itself means "between the rivers" in Greek. It's a fair name because these rivers provided water for farming and transportation.
Mesopotamia such a big deal in Bible times because it became the stage where many biblical stories played out. This was where we would have found:
- the famous city of Babylon
- the Tower of Babel (that's the one where people tried to build a tower to reach the heavens, and it didn't go too well).
- home to Abraham (city of Ur) the father of three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He came hailed from the city of Ur, which was right there in Mesopotamia.
Daniel in Mesopotamian lion's den
Also, Israelites spent decades in Mesopotamia during their exile to Babylon's land. That's where we come across the story of the prophet Daniel and the lions' den. The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, who had a starring role in the Bible by destroying Jerusalem, ruled this land too.
Mesopotamia was like the biblical backdrop for many important events in the Bible. Those rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, made it into a thriving civilization.
Two nations: Israel and Judah
Map of Bible empires Assyria Babylon Persia
Bible map of Philistine cities
Bible map of Persian Empire
Bible map of cities in ancient Israel
Bible map of cities in ancient Israel
Where to find more Bible maps
The Casual English Bible® has more than 900 Bible maps, many in 3D style. You can search for maps by place name, such as "Sea of Galilee."Dedicated Bible map search engine
But you can also search for maps by Bible book, such as searching for all the maps in the book of Joshua. In addition, you can search by country, region, or era on a timeline, such as when Israel had kings or when Jesus was on earth. Here's a link to the dedicated Map Search Engine.For more Bible features
Rephaim Valley
Rephaim Valley
Rephaim Valley
When Damascus dies
Listen. One day Damascus won’t exist anymore,
Except as a pile of broken stones.
2People will desert towns in and around Aroer.
Untended flocks will graze freely in the fields,
With no one to scare them away.
3Ephraim’s towns won’t need to worry
About defenses such as city walls.
The Damascus threat will end.
Syrian survivors will share the fate
That is coming to Israelite people.
The LORD of everyone says so.
Israel falls, Rephaim Valley goes silent
4When this happens
The Israelite golden age
Dives to dirt.
Its economy breaks,
People lose it all.
5The land will look as bare
As a field picked clean,
Silent and naked in Rephaim Valley.
6You’ll find no more people
Than olives in a harvested tree.
Two or three here and there,
Four or five high and low.
That’s what the LORD says,
Israel’s God.
7This is when Israel will come back to God.
They’ll look to their Holy One for help.
Isaiah 17, Casual English Bible
See Rephaim Valley in Joshua 15:8 also as northern boundary
The northern boundary follows a line along these locations:
Beth-hoglah north of Beth-arabah and the Bohan Stone, named after Reuben’ son. 7It climbs out of Trouble Valley and continues to Debir and then north to Gilgal. Gilgal faces Adummin Hill, which is south of the dry creek. It goes on the En-shemesh springs of water and to En-rogel. 8The boundary continues along the Son of Hinnom Valley. It doesn’t include Jerusalem, where Jebusites live. The boundary runs along the Jerusalem hillside just south of the city. Then it climbs to the top of the hill on the west side of Hinnom Valley. That’s at the north end of the Valley of Rephaim.
9Judah’s northern boundary runs over to the Nephtoah spring and to the towns on Mount Ephron. It includes Baalah, a city also called Kiriath-jearim. 10The boundary continues west to Mount Seir. And it runs along the north hillside of Mount Jearim, also known as Chesalon, and then on to Beth-shemesh and to Timnah. 11From there, it continues to Ekron’s northern hill. Then it moves along to Shikkeron, Mount Baalah, Jabneel, and ends at the Mediterranean Sea.
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