Places
The places the story keeps returning to, and why each one matters.
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Card 1 of 8
What was Canaan, the promised land?
The land God promised to Abraham's descendants, roughly modern Israel, the Palestinian territories, and parts of Lebanon and Jordan.
It is small: from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south is about 150 miles, a few hours' drive today. It sits on the land bridge between Egypt and Mesopotamia, which is why every great empire marched through it. The Bible describes it as a land "flowing with milk and honey".
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Card 2 of 8
Why is Jerusalem so important in the Bible?
David made it his capital, Solomon built the temple there, and it became the centre of Israel's worship, the place where Jesus was crucified and rose, and the image of God's final city.
It is also called Zion, after the hill David captured, and "Zion" became a poetic name for the city and for God's people. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and by the Romans in AD 70. The Bible ends with a new Jerusalem coming down from heaven.
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Card 3 of 8
Why do Bethlehem and Nazareth both matter in the story of Jesus?
Bethlehem, a village near Jerusalem, was David's hometown and Jesus's birthplace. Nazareth, an obscure village in Galilee, was where he grew up.
Bethlehem mattered because Micah had said a ruler would come from there. Nazareth was so insignificant that one future disciple asked, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Jesus was known as "Jesus of Nazareth", and early Christians were sometimes called Nazarenes.
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Card 4 of 8
What were Galilee and Judea in Jesus's day?
The two main Jewish regions of the land: Galilee in the north, a fertile farming and fishing area where Jesus spent most of his ministry, and Judea in the south, home of Jerusalem and the temple.
Samaria lay between them. Galileans were looked down on by Jerusalemites as provincial, and had a recognisable accent that gave Peter away on the night of Jesus's arrest. Most of Jesus's teaching and miracles happen around the Sea of Galilee, a freshwater lake about thirteen miles long.
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Card 5 of 8
Why is the Jordan River significant in the Bible?
Israel crossed it to enter the promised land, and Jesus was baptised in it by John.
It runs from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on land on earth. Crossing the Jordan marked the end of the wilderness years, and God stopped its waters for Israel as he had parted the sea. Elijah and Elisha also crossed it on dry ground, and in hymns and spirituals "crossing Jordan" became a picture of death and entering heaven.
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Card 6 of 8
What happened at Mount Sinai?
God appeared to Israel in fire and cloud, gave them the Ten Commandments, and made his covenant with them.
It is also called Horeb, and it was where Moses first met God at the burning bush. Israel camped there for about a year. Its exact location is uncertain; tradition places it in the south of the Sinai peninsula. Elijah later fled to the same mountain.
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Card 7 of 8
What were Gethsemane and Golgotha?
Gethsemane was an olive grove on the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed in anguish and was arrested. Golgotha, meaning "place of the skull", was where he was crucified, outside Jerusalem's walls.
Gethsemane means "oil press". There Jesus prayed that the cup might pass from him, "yet not what I will, but what you will". Golgotha is called Calvary in older English Bibles, from the Latin for skull. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem stands on the traditional site of both the crucifixion and the tomb.
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Card 8 of 8
What is Babylon in the Bible, both as a place and as a symbol?
The capital of the empire that destroyed Jerusalem and exiled Judah, and in Revelation, a symbol of every proud power that sets itself against God.
It stood on the Euphrates in modern Iraq, and Genesis connects it with Babel, where humanity tried to build a tower to heaven. In Revelation, "Babylon the great" is a city of luxury and violence drunk on the blood of the saints, usually understood as Rome in John's day. Its fall is announced with "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!"