Biblical Places

Reference works

Each of these is named so you can open it and check us. Each carries what it is good for and what it cannot decide.

Every entry below is labelled with the kind of evidence it is, so a lexicon is never mistaken for the text and a commentary is never mistaken for a conclusion Scripture has drawn.

• The Historical Geography of the Holy Land

  Historical and cultural backgroundSupports the text, never settles it · George Adam Smith, 1894 · Public domain

  The land itself: its ridges, passes, rainfall and roads, and how they shaped the history.

  Use forUnderstanding why battles, roads and cities sat where they did.

  CautionSome site identifications have since been corrected by excavation.

  Source and authority

• Easton's Bible Dictionary

  Scholarly referenceSupports the text, never settles it · Matthew George Easton, 1893 · Public domain

  Short entries on nearly every name, place, object and term in the English Bible.

  Use forA quick, sober orientation to a word or name before you go back to the passage.

  CautionWritten for readers of a century ago. Its geography and dating have been overtaken in places by later excavation, and its theological asides are Reformed and nineteenth century, not neutral.

  Source and authority

• Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land

  Historical and cultural backgroundSupports the text, never settles it · George Adam Smith, 1915 · Public domain

  Period maps of the land, the kingdoms, the campaigns and the New Testament journeys.

  Use forSeeing the movement of a narrative on the ground.

  CautionBoundaries on any map of the ancient world are reconstructions, drawn more firmly than the evidence allows.

  Source and authority

Entries on this shelf

Audela's own entries for this kind of study. Each one is taught from the passages that use it and links into the chapter studies, topics and questions that go furthest with it.

• Mountain

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · 2 named sources behind anything that is not the biblical text

  The high places where God meets people, and where the story turns.

  Source and authority
• The Temple

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · Nothing here rests on evidence outside the Bible

  The house where God's presence dwelt, and what replaced it

  Source and authority
• Wilderness

  ScriptureFinal authority · Written and reviewed by Audela against the passages it cites · 2 named sources behind anything that is not the biblical text

  The empty country where God repeatedly does His deepest work.

  Source and authority

Back to Scripture

• Places in Scripture

  Taught from the passages, not from a gazetteer

• Read the chapter

  Go straight to the passage set there

The order of authority

Scripture · Biblical cross references · Original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek · Historical, cultural, geographical and archaeological background · Trusted biblical reference works · Explanation and application

Read how Audela weighs each rung