READERS DIGEST Story of the BIBLE WORLD IN MAP. WORD AND PICTURE BY NELSON BEECHER KEYES READER'S DIGEST Story of the BIBLE WORLD In Map, Word and Picture By Nelson Beecher Keyes Unique in its realistic appeal, this book is an exciting, breathtaking account of the Bible world. In these pages modern research is combined with colorfully illustrated scenes and the finest photographs of ancient art and buildings to evoke in all its fascination the great story of the Bible. In Reader's Digest Story of the Bible World, the most recent findings in archaeology and Bible research as well as a complete array of maps, photographs and color drawings have been brought together in a work of clarity, simplicity and beauty. Nelson Beecher Keyes, the noted bib- lical author, has written the text with sustained impact, re-creating the Bible lands and times in dramatic language. The Story Unfolds We follow Moses in his arduous task as a leader of one of the greatest mass migrations of all times. David rises to greatness. ... We see the splendor of Solomon's reign. The first great empire appears. Israel goes into bondage. Alexander reaches the Indus in the most miraculous conquest of antiquity The involved and cruel intrigues of Herod the Great precede the moving story of Christ's life and journeys. ... We follow St. Paul into the world beyond Palestine. Jerusa- lem falls. Christianity spreads over the Western world. The Bible World in Picture More than 150 illustrations and photographs, many of them in color, illuminate the text. Pictures of the most continued on back flap / IS ^^ w^ I \ A/ READER'S DIGEST Story of the Bible World READER'S DIGEST i/ ^ .''^f^' . - IvW ^*"' J"?"" rP Pictorial Map of the \ ]2.../ '^V^l^^.'^ HOLY LAND T . • If Abraham enters Canaan Noah's Aik on Ml Afarat <| llttMiaianites v rn'* f - '^ JoseiA soldib» His brothers \-^ _ f4 \ DOTHAN " The fall Of Babyloi i fl^ h «, £ i\ I .,^,,(1 lacob wrestles with the Antel J^.* SHECHtM ' PENUtl 5 Jezebel's death ^H^^ Elijah in the fiefy chariot |„bl"''''^ .- ...'j. ^ a -fcl Return of the Ark •''i^ "^ * / ^^^^ ^ ^fthetoenan^^^ ^j|li "^ \''j/' ^^ " lericho falls as \. ^Hr' .^k '^ e trumpets blow mlHl*' jMfc '^^H - sf., Moses beholds the Promised Land |V ^^Wv Solomon's ^ J .^ 4^iJP"- HEBRON Templ( ; Philistine temple r^Pi ^ y _ A ..^«*i^^ ,^ Jt«..SHE.A 7J7 ' ,o„o„,H " '^ / \ David slays Goliath '• T^rJ \J into a snake , <,{ / t escapes from Sodom ^^".^. *'# ^ « The Queen ol Slieba wsits Solomon , %* ^ Moses breaks the tablets -^ READER'S DIGEST Story of the Bible World IN MAR WORD AND PICTURE X :^-W^L By Nelson Beecher Keyes The Reader's Digest Association Pleasantville, New York Acknowledgments During tlie past five decades, our knowledge of the Bible ages has tremendously increased. This wealth of information, gathered by his- torians, archaeologists and other scholars, permits a retelling of the Bible story with an accuracy not possible in earlier times. This book endeavors to assemble in one flowing pageant of history the most recent research, modern map making and photography, in such a way as to transmit a feeling of the vitality and strength of that incomparable age. Nelson Beecher Keyes has written the text with the vigor and im- mediacy which distinguish his style. He has not been permitted to live to see this book in print. It represents the culmination and fulfill- ment of his creative effort, and the publishers wish to dedicate it to his memory. The editing and revision of this edition are tlie work of Manuel Komroff, in consultation with Dr. Dewey M. Beegle and other Bible authorities. The editors wish to express their appreciation for a final reading of the book to Rabbi Theodore Friedman, Congregation Beth El of the Oranges and Maplewood, New Jersey (for the Old Testament pe- riod); Reverend Louis F. Hartman, Executive Secretary, Catholic Bible Association, Washington, D.C.; and Dr. Ralph W. Sockman, Christ Church Methodist, New York City. © 1962 by The Reader's Digest Association, Incorporated First edition © 1959, under the title Story of the Bible World, by C. S. Hammond & Co., Inc. All maps © 1959, 1962 by C. S. Hammond & Co., Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 62-17861 Printed in the United States of America Contents Introduction Page 6 Part I The Glory of the Promised Land 1. The Sons of Noah 10 2. Abraham and His Children 16 3. The Exodus 26 4. The Founding of Israel 38 5. The Kingdom of David and Solomon 51 Part II The Divided People 6. Israel and Judah 60 7. Damascus, the Warring Neighbor 68 8. The First Great Empire: Assyria 77 9. Bondage in Babylon 90 10. The Persians Restore Judah 97 11. Alexander and the Grecian Era 104 12. Revolt of the Maccabees 110 Part III Imperial Rome 13. Rome and Herod the Great 118 14. The Youth of Jesus 130 15. His Ministries 139 16. The First Missionaries 147 17. The Journeys of Paul 153 18. The Later Herods 164 19. The Fall of Jerusalem 172 20. The Spread of Christianity 181 Time Chart of Bible History 187-191 List of Illustrations 192 List of Maps 194 Map Index 195 Subject Index 204 Introduction ^ he Bible unfolds the story of a long period, a time from the Creation to the dawn of Christianity. These were the centuries that molded our Western civilization. They witnessed the rise of such mighty nations as Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, Persia, Macedonia and Rome. They witnessed the origin of our religion, our art, our laws, our languages, medicine, astronomy and mathematics. Though many of us are familiar with the Bible, we have not read the flow of the biblical story, nor related it to the land where it occurred. Why did the Egyptians who had once honored Joseph and his people later put them into bondage? Who were the "Peoples of the Sea" and how did they clash with Samson and Saul? Where was Solomon's Temple? What do we know of Jerusalem in the days of Jesus? What was the difference between the Syrians and the Assyrians? How was Babylonia overthrown? The pivotal point of all this great history is the little land of Palestine, the Holy Land. Although small in area, it has played a large and important role in the affairs of humanity. It can be compared to a small stage at the center of a huge arena embracing all the world. How e.xtensive is this land, so small in size but large in deeds? The most northerly of its towns in Bible times was Dan, which stood at the foot of mighty Mount Hermon. At the southern extremity was a sort of oasis about a series of wells, called Beer-sheba, where the central highlands drop down to a wilderness steppe known as the "south country," or Negeb. The distance "from Dan to Beer-sheba" is only one hundred fifty miles, yet three thousand years ago a camel caravan might well have consumed five days traveling this distance, while herdsmen burdened with flocks, hke the patriarch Abra- ham, would have needed half a month for even a fairly hurried crossing. In width, this "land of promise" varied considerably. In the north it was but thirty miles from the shore of the Mediterraneim to the long, deep trench known as the Jordan Valley. In the south this distance increased to about eighty miles. Palestine also took in some of the hill country to the east of the Jordan, and so embraced in all something like 11,000 square miles of plains, mountains and valleys, an area close in size to Belgium. The Mediterranean, which has been called "the sea in the midst of nations," forms Palestine's western border. Its beaches stretch mile after mile with hardly an interruption and with few promontories. As a conse- quence, during biblical times there were only t^vo port cities and not a single good harbor along its entire length. One of these port cities was Joppa, where Peter raised Tabitha from the dead, and from which at an earlier time Jonah, trying to escape from God, set sail on his eventful journey. The other port city was Caesarea, the oflBcial residence of the Roman procurators, built by Herod the Great. It was the city where Paul was imprisoned before being sent to Rome. The level land, or coastal plain, bordering the Mediterranean along the entire length of the Holy Land served an important purpose, even in the north where it was very narrow, for it was heavily planted and cultivated. In the north, on the Plain of Phoenicia, were located the cities of Tyre and Sidon. Ships from these pagan cities sailed far across the sea, and it was the king of Tyre who sent his friend King Solomon workmen and cedars of Lebanon for building the first great Temple. Below the headland known as Mount Carmel, the coastal plain broad- ens out into the Plain of Sharon — an extremely fertile and beautiful district covered in the spring with scarlet anemones, k-nown in the Bible as the "lily of the valleys," and white narcissus called the "rose of Sharon" in the Song of Solomon. Across this idyllic land dotted with orchards, gardens and flocks of gentle sheep moved camel caravans traveling the great route from Babylonia and Assyria to distant Egypt. South of Sharon the coastal lands broaden out still more into what was then known as the Plain of Philistia. There, in a belt twelve to twenty-five miles wide, was the great grain-raising section dominated in Old Testament times by a federation of five cities including the renowned city of Gaza.