Difference between revisions of "Old Testament: Foreign Nations"
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| − | At the time of Alexander, (#4) '''Rome''' controlled only the Italian peninsula. But by the time of Christ, Rome had conquered the Ptolemies, the Seluecids, and Israel. | + | At the time of Alexander, (#4) '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Rome]''' controlled only the Italian peninsula. But by the time of Christ, Rome had conquered the Ptolemies, the Seluecids, and Israel. |
* [http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/rome?lang=eng&letter=r LDS Bible Dictionary: Rome] | * [http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/rome?lang=eng&letter=r LDS Bible Dictionary: Rome] | ||
Revision as of 02:41, 18 November 2012
The Old Testament > Foreign Nations
This page has two purposes. The first is to quickly provide the minimum amount of information necessary to be comfortable with references to ancient Israel's neighbors. The second is to collect links to additional background material on a single page. Locations within Israel are treated at Old Testament: Places. Each entry on this page should remain short enough to read in about two minutes.
Contents
Neighbors in Canaan
Canaanites
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Amorite(s), Canaan(ite)(s), Hivite(s), Jebusite(s)
Located _____
When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the people who already lived in the promised land of Canaan were often referred to collectively as Canaanites. Those who lived in and around Jerusalem were known as Jebusites, those to the south as Amorites, and those to the north as Hivites. It is not important to distinguish between the various groups of Canaanites in order to understand the Old Testament, just to recognize them as the previous inhabitants.
Samaritans
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Samaritan(s)
Located _____
The Northern Kingdom of Israel had its capital at Samaria. After the Northern Kingdom was carried off by Assyria, those who lived in the area were known as Samaritans. The Samaritans were a mix of escaped Israelites and foreigners. Their religious practices were also a mixture, and they were looked down upon by the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Following the Babylonian Exile, the Samaritans attempted to participate in rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem, but they were rebuffed and so built their own temple on Mount Gerizim and became enemies to the Jews.
Neighbors west of the Jordan River
Phoenicians
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Phoenicia(n)(s), Sidon(ian), Tyre
Located _____
Right click to open the online LDS Bible Map #4 while reading these notes.
The Phoenicians lived west of northern Israel on the Mediterranean coast (now Lebanon). They were known as sea-faring traders more than conquerors. This is the one nearby nation that had little conflict with Israel. The two chief Phoenician cities were Tyre and Sidon, and the Phoenicians are sometimes referred to as Sidonians.
Philistines
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, Gaza, Philistia, Philistine(s)
Located _____
The Philistines lived on the plains between Israel and the Mediterranean coast. Their principal five cities were Gaza, Gath, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron (now mostly in the Gaza Strip of Palestine). The Philistines were a significant threat to Israel throughout the reign of the judges and King Saul. David took several cities from the Philistines that were later lost back to the Philistines.
Amalekites
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Amalek(ite)(s)
Located _____
The Amalekites lived in the Negev Desert south of Beersheba. They may have been descended from a grandson of Jacob’s brother Esau who was named Amalek. The Amalekites were the first to attack Israel after it left Egypt (Exodus 17:8). They were constantly at war with Israel until greatly weakened by Saul and David. The Amalekites were ultimately destroyed by the tribe of Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:43). Israel was commanded to utterly destroy only two groups of peoples, the Canaanites and the Amalekites (__:__). Hamman the Agagite in the story of Esther (Esther 3:1-11) may have been a descendant of the Amalekite king Agag who was killed by the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 15:33).
Neighbors east of the Jordan River
Right click to open the online LDS Bible Map 4 and LDS Bible Map #10 while reading these notes.
Syria
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Aram, Damascus, Kedar, Syria(n)(s)
Located _____
Syria with its capitol in Damascus was the great northern power at the time of Judges and Samuel. Syria often invaded southward into Gilead, the fertile trans-Jordan land held by the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh.
Syria or Aram with its capitol at Damascus, is located northeast of Israel. In earlier times the area was also known as Kedar. Syria is discussed at more length below as a great power.
Ammon
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Ammon(ite)(s)
Located _____
Ammon descended from one of the two daughters of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Its territory lay directly east of Israel, east of the Jordan River (now northwest Jordan). Ammon hotly disputed the transjordan territory claimed by the tribes of Gad, Manasseh, and Reuben. Ammon remained hostile to Israel even after both had been conquered by great powers. Ammon was idolatrous.
Moab
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Moab(ite)(s)
Located _____
Moab descended from Lot’s other daughter. Moab was located south of Ammon, or east across the Dead Sea from Judah. With the Dead Sea to separate them, Moab did not as often come into direct conflict with Israel, but the two nations were generally unfriendly.
Edom
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Edom(ite)(s)
Located _____
Edom was located south of Moab (now southwest Jordan). Its capitol Sela was built high on Mount Seir at or near the current site of the ruins of Petra. Edom descended from Jacob’s brother Esau and so was the nation most closely related to Israel. The two nations generally hated each other. Edom refused to let Moses and the Israelites pass through on their way to Canaan (Numbers 20:__). Israel was commanded not to destroy Edom (__:__), but it subjugated Edom when it could. In later years Edom was known as Idumea, a term also used to refer to the wicked world.
Midian
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Midian(ite)(s)
Located _____
Midian descended from Abraham through his sons by his concubine Keturah. The Midianites roamed the Arabian Desert east of Israel but would raid westward into Israel until defeated by Gideon (Judges __:__).
Ishmaelites
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Ishmaelite(s)
Located _____
The Ishmaelites descended from Abraham through his wife Hagar and her son Ishmael. West in the Arabian Desert. Ishmael is generally regarded as the ancestor of the modern Arabs.
Two other small nations to the north
Haran
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Haran, Mitanni
Located _____
In Abraham’s day, Haran was located far north of Damascus and far west of Ninevah in an area known as Mitanni. Isaac and Jacob both married girls who lived there and who were descended from Abraham’s brother Nahor.
Elam
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Elam
Located _____
Elam was a mountainous area east of Babylon in what is now Iran hat is mentioned in prophecies by Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Seven Great powers
Right click to open the online LDS Bible Map #9 while reading these notes.
Israel spent much of its existence caught between two great powers, one to the south and another to the north. As these two great powers struggled for supremacy, Israel and its small neighbors struggled just to survive.
The great power to the south, of course, was Egypt. The role of northern great power, in contrast, was taken up by one people after another.
Egypt
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Egypt(ian)(s)
Located _____
Egypt benefited from the annual floods of the Nile River.
Additional information on Egypt can be found at:
Hittites
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Hittite(s), Hittite Empire
Located _____
At the time of Abraham and Jacob the great northern power was the Hittites Empire based in what is now Turkey.
Additional information on the Hittites can be found at:
Assyria
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Assyria(n)(s), Ninevah
Located _____
While Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the great northern power was Assyria with its capitol at Ninevah. The Assyrians were particularly cruel and were especially feared. In 721 BC the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom and carried off the Lost Ten Tribes, leaving behind the people who became Samaritans. Assyria managed to briefly invade Egypt but withdrew after about a decade.
Additional information on Assyria can be found at:
Babylon
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Babylon(ia)(n)(s)
Located _____
The next great northern power was (#1) Babylon. Babylon did what previous northern powers had been unable to do: it permanently defeated the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC and thus became the sole great power in the mid east. More importantly for Bible reading, Babylon conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah, destroyed the temple, and carried off much of the population in three waves during 605-587 BC. From this point onward the Israelites rarely enjoyed political independence, but were instead occupied by a succession of four world powers before finally being dispersed by Rome. Because Babylon was the first of these worldwide powers to occupy Jerusalem, Babylon is often used as a metaphor for the world, its power, and its attractions.
Persia
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Persia(n)(s)
Located _____
In 539 BC (#2) Persia conquered Babylon and succeeded to its territories, including Israel. The Persian king Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple.
Greece
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Alexander the Great, Ptolemaic, Ptolemies, Ptolemy, Seleucid(s), Antiochus Epiphanes (IV)
Located _____
Persia was in turn conquered by (#3) Alexander the Great of Greece, who took possession of Jerusalem in 332 BC. Alexander himself died less than ten years later, and his empire was broken up into four smaller empires based in Macedon (Greece), Asia Minor (now Turkey), Syria, and Egypt. In 198 BC the Greek Ptolemaic empire in Egypt lost control of Palestine, including Jerusalem, to the Greek Seleucid empire with its capitol at Antioch in Syria.
Rome
- Pages that redirect to this heading: Roman, Roman Empire, Rome
Located _____
At the time of Alexander, (#4) Rome controlled only the Italian peninsula. But by the time of Christ, Rome had conquered the Ptolemies, the Seluecids, and Israel.
Resources
This heading is for listing links and print resources, including those cited in the notes. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. →
Notes
Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves, such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word. In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources are preferable to footnotes.
This page takes its historical facts from the webpage Old Testament: Historical Overview and relies upon that page's documentation.
Go to the Old Testament main page
