For this first post, we create an overview of the regional
landscape that consisted of the land of the Bible.
Mountain Region (Hill
Country)
Let’s begin with the heartland of Israel, the “mountain” region,
which is usually called in our Bibles the “hill country.” Jerusalem, Shechem, Shiloh and other very important sites in Israelite history were
situated there. Today this represents
mostly the territories of the Palestinian Authority. You
will see that the Israelite Hill country (the “mountain region”) looks more
like denuded hills. In the ancient world
already, heavy logging created ecological problems and in the course of
centuries and millennia the landscape of the hill country was transformed from
wooded lands to what it is today. Cultivating
the land was hard (imagine the first farmers in New Hampshire, dealing with
densely wooded area to create arable fields).
As a result, to generate food sources and engage in commerce, the early
Israelites used terracing for the cultivation of fruit trees, vineyard and
olive trees. Life in the highlands was tough, simple and relatively isolated.
- Scripture Reference: Joshua 12:7-8
- Text References: CBA maps 6-8, AOT pp. 75-81
