Location! Location! Location!

Because we are so far removed from the time and places were the Bible stories occurred, we often fail to notice the facts about the particular places where our favorite stories happened.  By overlooking little facts, we miss more than just a few obscure, minor details.

What We Miss:

A. The name of a place can hold significant meaning for the story

1. Bethlehem: "house of bread;" check the significance of a house of bread in a place of famine—Ruth 1:1, 2
2. Bethel: "house of God;" check the story of Jacob in Genesis 28
3. Gethsemane: "wine press;" check the story of Jesus in the garden the night before His crucifixion—Luke 22:39-46

B. Reading about the physical location (geography) can explain details that one might not get anywhere else in the story

1. Dothan: where Joseph's brothers betrayed him, stripping him and selling him to the Midianite traders (Genesis 37:23-28).  Check out the location of Dothan and study its relationship to the local trade routes in that area. How close where the brothers to the trade route?
2. The pool of Bethesda: where Jesus healed the crippled man; notice where the pool is in relation to the Temple.  The pool was also located over the ruins of an old pagan temple.  Do these details change your view and understanding of what Jesus did that Sabbath morning?

C. The location of a particular story might be better understood if you knew what had happened there before

1. The healing at Nain: Jesus brought a young man back to life for his grieving widowed mother (Luke 7:11-17).  After this miracle, the people of that area said: "A great prophet is risen up among us!"  Why did the people say that?  Was there another prophet who had done something similar in the same area of the country? (For an answer check out 2 Kings 4:18-37).
2. Mount Moriah: from archeological studies, it is believed that the mountain where Abraham offered up his only son, Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14), is the same place where the Temple was later built by King Solomon.  This mountain is reverred as a holy place by all three major religions.  Do you think that God's instructions to Abraham (Genesis 22:1-2) and the later selection of the site for the construction of the Temple was merely a coincidence; or was God foreshadowing the offering of His own "only Son" to save the world from sin?

Summary: The location of a given story might reveal some siginificant details which enhance our knowledge of the story itself and help us to better understand the importance of the events that took place there.  Digging out these connections make the story come alive for us and keep the message of God fresh and revelant by revealing Gospel truths in a new way.

Basic Concepts, page 5