Charles Savelle, over at Bible X calls attention to a Wall Street Journal article on the importance of geography in understanding world affairs. Read the article here. It might help you to understand better some of the situations going on in Russia, China, Iran, and Syria.
Later, Charles quotes from a new book on Joshua about the same subject and adds his comments about the importance of geography here. I want to share the paragraph he cites from Coleson’s commentary on Joshua in the Joshua, Judges, Ruth (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary)
“Because humans live on the surface of the earth, geography is always important. Because every ancient Israelite, humble or great, lived in close and intimate relationship with the land, if we wish to understand ancient Israel, we need to learn ancient Israel’s geography. Canaan was the Land of Promise God gave to Israel through the events recorded in Joshua; if we want to understand the message of Joshua, we need to study both the physical and the human geography of ancient Israel God’s grand plan of redemption for the human race may transcend both time and space, but God has so far worked it out in a very definite, limited place through a sequence of events in history. To understand God’s plan and its fulfillment, it helps to understand the timeline and the map” (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, p. 33).
I could not agree more.
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Thanks for posting this. Geography is indeed a very important factor in understanding not only current world affairs, but also understanding both Old and New Testament history. I want to thank you again for helping me better understand the Geography of Bible Lands.