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24 Biblical Historical Places
This is only a partial
list of Biblical historical places as it would take a whole book to list all of
the Biblical historical places.
Armageddon – Megiddo: Is either a literal or symbolic location.
Christian interpretation the Messiah will
return to earth and defeat the antichrist here.
Some scholars say this event will take place
at mount Megiddo but there are no mountains of Megiddo, only plains.
Other scholars say this
event will take place at either Mount Sinai or Mount Zion.
Babylon
Babylon’s remains can
still be found in present day; Al Hilah, Babylon Province, Iraq (55 miles south
of Baghdad).
The only remains of the
once famed ancient city are a mound, along with broken mud brick buildings and
debris.
Bethlehem
This is the City of David, burial place of
Rachel, and possible birthplace of Jesus.
It is located in the southern portion of the
Judean Mountains, 45 miles northeast of Gaza and the Mediterranean Sea.
Bethlehem has the world’s
oldest Christian communities in the world.
Today it is governed by the Palestinian National
Authority. The total population of the
old city is about 5000.
Caesarea
This is located on the Mediterranean coast,
midway between Tel Aviv and Haifa.
It was built by Herod the Great, between 25 –
13 B.C.E.
The town was named after
the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus.
It is very likely the town where Jesus first
met Simon, Andrew, James and John.
Calvary: Or Golgotha
Golgotha refers to a hill looking like a
skull. It is a place outside of
Jerusalem’s first century walls, and near a gate.
The Books of Matthew and
John write of a place called Golgotha or place of a skull.
There is much debate over
the actual location of where Jesus was crucified.
Today, the Church of Sepulchre stands where
the supposed location of the crucifix took place.
Canaan
The Promised Land; today it is part of Israel,
Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
It is a historical
Semitic speaking region.
The Biblical term for the
land of Canaan, where the Canaanites lived, described the Canaanites as
dwelling by the sea and along Jordan.
Some scholars, along with
textual and archaeological evidence, suggest that the Canaanites may have
actually been Israelites.
Capernaum
Located on the northern shore of Galilee, it
is a small fishing village.
This is the village stated in the Gospel of
Luke, as being the home of Apostles Simon, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew.
This may have been the
home of Jesus after he left Nazareth.
Dead Sea
In Hebrew, Yam Hammelah
is “Sea of Salt” or “Sea of Death.”
The Dead Sea borders Jordan, Israel and the
West Bank. It is 1388 ft. below sea
level, earth’s lowest elevation, and the world’s saltiest body of water. It is 42 miles long and 11 miles wide.
The Dead Sea was a refuge
for King David and a health resort for Herod the Great.
To the southeast shore, may lay the ancient
cities of Sodom and Gomorra.
Galilee
Located in northern Israel, the Bible states
Solomon gave this region to Hiram I. Hiram
I called the land Cabul.
The region takes its name from the Hebrew word
Galil, meaning district circle or Galilee nations.
Galilee was the region
during 30 years of Jesus’ life.
Today, some of the largest cities lie within
this region, such as Nazareth.
In 2011, Israel unveiled,
“The Jesus Trail,” which is a 40 mile hiking trail that links sites central to
the lives of Jesus and his apostles.
Gethsemane
Located at the foot of Mount
Olive, in Jerusalem, and the place where Jesus and his apostles visited
regularly. It may be the place where
Jesus went to pray before he was betrayed and crucified.
The Olive trees in the
garden are only about 900 years old.
In the last five years, the
Church of all Nations has gained control of the garden and has built a wall
around it.
The Greeks have their own garden just a little
farther north.
Some scholars believe
both locations are wrong, with the actual location being just a few hundred
yards north of where the Church of all Nations is located.
Herod’s Temple
This was originally located on the Temple Mount
in the City of Jerusalem.
Herod’s Temple was built to a grand scale in
first century B.C.E. It was destroyed by
Roman troops in 70 C.E.
Today, the temple or what remains, sits on the
dome of the rock.
Jericho
Located near the Jordan River and believed to
be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.
It is described in the Old Testament as the,“City
of Palm Trees.”
This is the city where
the Israelites, led by Joshua, returned after their bondage in Egypt.
The first settlement in Jericho dates back to
9000 B.C.E.
One of the most striking
items of Jericho was a massive wall, three and a half meters high and almost
two meters wide, along with a tower, which was over three and a half meters high.
Jerusalem
The meaning is City of Peace. It is the capital of Israel, but not
recognized internationally.
FACT: People born in Jerusalem have their own passports
and not from Israel.
It is the holy City of Judaism, Islam, and
Christianity.
King David, of Israel,
established Jerusalem as the capital of his kingdom in 1000 B.C.E.
King David’s son, Solomon,
built the first temple in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is only .35 square miles, but is the
home to important religious sites; the Temple Mount, Western Wall, Dome of the Rock,
Aqsa Mosque and the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre.
The history of Jerusalem:
Destroyed twice, attacked 52 times,
Besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times.
Jerusalem was settled in the year 4000 B.C.E,
making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world.
Jordan
Jordan is officially the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Jordan shares control of the Dead Sea with
Israel. Over half of Jordan is covered
by desert.
Earlier civilizations include the Babylonians
and the Canaanites and the ancient Kingdoms of Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Nabatean.
Judah
It was created as a kingdom by Saul between
1020 and 930 B.C.E.
A Jewish state established in southern Levant
during the Iron Age.
Judah was the Southern Kingdom and Israel was
the Northern Kingdom.
Sometime between the 9th
and 7th century B.C.E, Jerusalem became the capital of Judah.
Judah had a cooperative
arrangement with the Assyrians. This was
a time when Judah was very prosperous.
In 722 B.C.E, the Assyrians destroyed the Kingdom
of Israel leaving Judah the sole kingdom.
In the last half of the 7th Century
B.C.E, the Assyrian empire collapsed.
With a vacuum of power,
competition between the Egyptian and Babylonian Empires was waged to see who
would not only control Judah but all of the Levant.
Eventually, the Kingdom
of Judah collapsed; between 597 and 582 B.C.E.
Masada
Masada is located on a
mountain top in the Judean Desert, and is about 30 miles southeast of
Jerusalem. The summit of Masada is 190 feet above sea level. The circumference is about 23 acres.
Masada was created in the 1st Century
B.C.E. by King Herod as a fortress and a retreat.
In 4 B.C.E., after King Herod’s death, the
Romans took control and used Masada as a garrison.
In 70 C.E., and after the
fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple by Rome, about 1000 Jewish
resistors and their families fled to Masada. After overtaking the Roman garrison, the
Jewish resistors had control for almost the next four years.
In 73 C.E., the Roman Governor, Flavius Silva,
laid siege to Masada.
The Romans set up camps
at the base of Masada virtually surrounding it.
By the spring of 74 C.E., the Romans had built a ramp, which took
thousands of tons of stone, and was built primarily by Jewish slaves.
The night before the
Roman soldiers reached the walls, the Israelites’ leader, Elazar ben Yair,
gathered his people together and, as a group, they chose mass suicide. This was done by the drawing of lots for ten
men who would kill all of the others. After
this was done, the ten men, themselves, drew lots to choose the one man to kill
the other nine and then the last man would commit suicide.
When the Roman Army breached the walls, they
found only dead silence and the dead, except for two women and five children
who had survived by hiding in the underground aqueducts.
Archaeology digs have
found only 30 skeleton remains, which may call into question the mass
suicide.
Mount Moriah
This is the location where God told Abraham to
sacrifice his son, Isaac (Geneses 22:2).
Some scholars believe Mount Moriah is located
in Jerusalem, where the Temple of Solomon was built.
Other scholars believe Moriah actually refers
to Mount Gerizim, which is located in the vicinity of the West Bank, and near
the city of Nablus.
Mount of Olives
This is also called Mount Olivet.
Mount of Olives is one of
three peaks of a mountain ridge, which runs about 3 miles, and is east of
Jerusalem.
At one time, olive groves
covered its slopes, hence the name.
At the foot of Mount of Olives, lies the
garden of Gethsemane.
Mount of Olives was first mentioned in the Old
Testament when King David fled from Absalom (II Samuel 15:30).
Mount of Olives is where King
Solomon built alters to the Gods for his Moabite and Ammonite wives.
From the prophecy of Zechariah (14:4), God will stand at the end times and the
mountain will split in two.
Jesus gave an end of
times prophecy here, (Matthew 24).
The Mount of Olives is
associated with Jewish and Christian traditions but it also contains several
important sites in Islam.
During the Jordanian
occupation of 1949, 38,000 graves were damaged and desecrated.
For 3,000 years, the Mount has been a Jewish
cemetery, which now holds approximately 150,000 graves.
Famous prophets, Haggai,
Malach and Zechariah have their tombs there.
Mount Sinai:
Mount Sinai is located in
Egypt and is 7,497 feet high. It is also
known as Moses’ Mountain.
Mount Sinai is mentioned
many times in the Book of Exodus and in the Quran.
This is the mountain where Moses received the Ten
Commandments.
In the 4th Century,
Christians placed the Ten Commandments event not at Mount Sinai but at Mount
Serbal.
Some scholars say it was
neither Mount Sinai or Mount Serbal but a completely different mountain; Mount
Seir, located in Nabatea, which is now Arabia, or Har Karkom. Some believe the
Mountain of God has two names and two places, Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai.
Today, the summit of Mount Sinai is home to an
active mosque, and a Greek Orthodox chapel.
There is also a cave, which is called Moses’ Cave,
and is where Moses waited for the Ten Commandments.
Interesting fact: Mount Sinai, which would be one of the most
holy places for Israel, has never become a place of pilgrimage.
Mount Zion
Mount Zion is closely
associated with Mount Moriah, a place in Jerusalem, but the location has shifted
several times in the past.
Scholars argue on the
location and maybe it is just a metaphor and not an actual location.
The original site was the Jebusite Fortress, (the
strong hold of Zion).
From the Book of Samuel,
King David conquered this place, which became his palace in the City of David.
Mount Zion was the term
for the Temple Mount.
Originally, it was Mount
Tzion but a mistranslation from Protestant German Orthography to English named
it Mount Zion.
Evidence suggests Mount
Zion and the Temple Mount may not be the same but two separate places.
Mount Zion’s important
sites:
King David’s Tomb, but
most archeologists believe that this
is not the actual location of King David’s burial.
Dormition Abbey
The room of the Last Supper
The chamber of the
Holocaust
A Holocaust museum and memorial
It is the second most
tourist visited site, after the Western Wall in Israel.
Nazareth
This may be the actual
birthplace of Jesus, and I will I explain why in the New Testament part of this
book. Nazareth is located in the north
district of Israel.
It was written in the New
Testament to be the childhood home of Jesus.
Nazareth is not mentioned
in any pre- Christian texts.
The earliest non –
scriptural reference to the settlement dates to about 200 A.D., and the first non
– Christian reference, dates to about 300 A.D
From the Gospel of John, it suggests that
ancient Jews did not connect Nazareth with any prophecy.
Some scholars question
whether Nazareth is actually the town in which Jesus grew up. While other scholars believe that Nazareth was
not only the town where Jesus grew up but was also where he was born.
At the time of Jesus’
birth, there may have been as few as only 500 people living there.
Archaeological research
reveals that there was a settlement of about 9,000 years ago, but, it was
located two miles from present day Nazareth.
Excavations have shown that this settlement
apparently ended about 720 B.C., when the Assyrians destroyed many settlements
in the area.
Nazareth, along with the
whole region, has been ruled by many different powers from the Assyrians, in
720 B.C., to the British up until 1948.
Today, Nazareth has been
called the Silicon Valley of the Arab community.
Potter’s Field
Hakeldama, Akeldama, or in English, field of
blood or Potter’s Field, is located in Jerusalem.
Christians associate Potter’s Field to the
place where Judas Iscariot is buried.
Judas, after realizing
who Jesus was, returns the 30 pieces of silver to the Temple leaders, saying it
is blood money he does not want.
The leaders cannot accept
unclean money so they purchase a field, to bury foreigners there, hence, the
name Potter’s Field.
Fact: This field has earth rich in clay, which is
good for making pottery.
Today there is a Greek
monastery located there.
Solomon’s Temple
This temple is located on
the Temple Mount or Mount Zion.
As of the writing of this
book, no excavations have been allowed so there is no archaeological evidence
of Solomon’s Temple.
The only information we have about Solomon’s Temple
is from the Bible.
It was a Jebuite Fortress. It was constructed while Solomon was king, at
about 832 B.C.E. and was destroyed in about 422 B.C.E.
King Solomon’s Temple was
the place where the Ark of the Covenant, (the Ten Commandments) was located.
Western Wall
Western Wall or the Wailing Wall or Kotel, (in
Hebrew, Hakotel HaMa’aravi) is located in old Jerusalem, at the western side of
the Temple Mount, and is the second most sacred site, the Temple Mount being
the first in Judaism.
The wall and the temple
were constructed under the rule of Herod the Great, sometime around 19 B.C.E,
and may have been finished as late as 7 A.D., after Herod’s death.
This is a holy place for Jews all over the
world to pilgrimage to.
Every Friday, thousands of
Jews pray at the wall, as sundown is the start of the Holy Sabbath.
The 11th Century
is the earliest Jewish reference to go to the wall and pray, the Wailing Wall;
place to weep, to go to
the wall to mourn the destruction of the Temple.
The exposed part of the wall
is about 187 feet long but the wall is over 1,600 feet long, and is hidden by
other structures in the city.
The wall at the plaza is
about 105 feet high but the exposed height is about 60 feet high, with the
remaining approximate 45 feet underground.
One stone is about 40 feet
long and weighs over 570 tons.
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