The Geopolitics of the Bible
Podcast Episodes: From 1.6 Canaan of the Patriachs to 2.2.
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On this page I present maps of the international situation in the Middle East in various Biblical periods. For the basic geography and places to be found in Palestine take a look at my ancient Canaan map.
1800 BC: The Age of the Patriarchs (Rabbinic dating)
1800 BC. Early Bronze Age. Traditional rabbinic dating of the patriarchs.
1500 BC: The Age of the Exodus (Rabbinic dating)
1500 BC. Middle Bronze Age. Traditional rabbinic dating of the exodus. Note that Egypt controls the Levant and Canaan.
1250 BC: The Age of the Exodus (conservative Christian dating) or the Age of the Judges (Rabbinic dating)
1250 BC. Late Bronze Age, just before the Bronze Age Collapse. Traditional rabbinic dating of the Judges, and conservative Christian dating of the Exodus to the reign of the Egyptian pharoah Yul Brynner Joel Edgerton Ramesses II the Great. Take your pick. Note again that Egypt still controls the Levant and Canaan.
950 BC: The United Kingdom of Israel (generally accepted dating)
950 BC. Iron Age I, after the Bronze Age Collapse. Generally accepted dating for the united kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon (c. 1000–930 BC). The Israelite kingdom was founded in a power vacuum after the Bronze Age Collapse. The ancient kingdom of the Hittites was gone for reasons still unknown, and the former great powers of the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Babylonians were in disarray. The successors (?) to the Sea Peoples, the Philistines and Phoenicians, were firmly established in the Levant littoral, north and south of the Israelites.
800 BC: The Two Kingdoms
800 BC. Iron Age II. Universally accepted dating for the period of the two kingdoms. The two kingdoms of Israel and Judah co-existed uneasily from the death of Solomon in about 930 BC to the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians in 722. The kingdoms lived in the shadow of the ever-expanding Assyrian empire.
560 BC: The Babylonian Exile
560 BC. Universally accepted dating. The Babylonians conquered Assyria and as collateral damage destroyed the kingdom of Judah in 586 BC. The empire proved unstable and was itself destroyed by a Median and Persian coalition after a mere 60 years.