A Prayer of Faith

I found an amazing article in the September 1980 Ensign that talks about the significance of the geography of Israel, the promised land, in the Old Testament (and, in fact, all the scriptures). The article, by D. Kelly Ogden, is titled “The Testing Ground for the Covenant People.”

Geography isn’t something we think much about when we study the scriptures, yet maps are bound with our scriptures, and knowing where the towns and cities are located and what the lay of the land is and what type of climate is there can open up some of the scriptural writings to our understanding.

Speaking of Israel, Brother Ogden writes:

Many of history’s greatest civilizations immediately surround it: Egypt to the southwest; Babylonia, Assyria, Aram, and Persia-Media to the east; Phoenicia and Anatolia to the north; and Macedonia, Greece, and Rome to the northwest. The story of this Holy Land is essentially a history of the struggle among these mightier civilizations to control this land bridge. The history of the ancient Near East is somewhat like a complicated chess game, with not only the “power pieces” mentioned above but also a host of minor players: Amorites, Hittites, Jebusites, Girgashites, Hivites, Perizzites, Amalekites, Ammonites, Moabites, Midianites, Edomites. Even though the country is small (the distance from Dan to Beersheba is only about 150 miles; the land’s greatest width is 75 miles), because of the land’s geological structure and topographical layout, numerous little city-states could exist for generations side by side. Some of these “Canaanite” people (that is, those who inhabited geographical Canaan) were not removed entirely from the land by the Israelites and for centuries were used by Israel’s God to test and to try his people, “that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord … or not” (Judg. 2:22).

Thus, except for strategic importance the land of Canaan itself had little to offer the bigger neighboring nations, yet it did serve as a “probation location”—God’s testing ground of obedience—for his chosen people. As an ancient historian recorded, “God did not choose the people for the place’s sake, but the place for the people’s sake” (2 Maccabees 5:19). Through the land itself—its topography, its natural highways, its soils, its climate, its rainfall—God would try his people.

So whether it was through the specific countries nearby, or the lay of the land or its climate, the Lord could–and did–try his peoplem testing their willingness to obey His commandments.

Here is another example from the article:

Israel’s climate also plays a key role in God’s testing of his people. Israel sits at the southern edge of the European storm belt systems, which means that in some years parts of the land may be untouched by rain. Notice in the following description of the promised land given by the Lord how trust in God and obedience to him is serious business for anyone living in his testing ground:

“But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:

“A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

“And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments …

“That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season [January and February, mostly], the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn [grains], and thy wine [grapes], and thine oil [olives]” Deut. 11:11–14).

Then God warns his people not to turn aside to serve false gods, lest they suffer his consequent indignation and punishment.

“And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you” (Deut. 11:17; italics added).

According to the Lord’s own explanation, if his counsel is not heeded and him only worshiped, he will shut up the heavens and not send the rains upon an otherwise quite productive land. An account in the Bible of a famine in Canaan (such as those that forced Abraham into Egypt; Jacob’s family into Egypt; Elimelech, Naomi, and sons into Moab; and that resulted from Elijah’s curse on Israel), simply means it didn’t rain that year. Famine generally meant no rain. Thus God proved his people even through climate and rainfall.

And another:

Note how the physical settings of many Bible accounts help elucidate the meaning and purpose of the events and make them more enjoyable to study. For instance, Abraham left his tent home at Beersheba and journeyed to Moriah, arriving there “on the third day.” (Moriah is the same hill where Solomon later erected the great temple; see 2 Chr. 3:1.) As Abraham was preparing to sacrifice as God had commanded, his beloved son asked the heart-rending question, Where is the sacrificial animal? Abraham said, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb” (Gen. 22:8; italics added). At the critical moment when the profound test was consummated, the Lord’s angel appeared and instructed Abraham to offer up a ram caught in a thicket instead of his son (see Gen. 22:13). It is interesting to discover that a place now supposed by many to be Golgotha or Calvary, just northeast of the present Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, is the northern extension of the same Mt. Moriah. At Golgotha God did provide a lamb as prophetically uttered by Abraham—the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It is significant also to note that in Leviticus 1, directions are given for the sacrificial offering of a male sheep without blemish; verse 11 stipulates that the priest was to slay the lamb specifically on the north side of the altar. [Lev. 1:11].

Perhaps by not spending a little time on the geography–the topography, the climate, the history, and so forth–we are missing the significance of some of the statements in our scriptures. I will be paying more attention to these topics in the future. Have any of you found greater understanding by paying attention to the geography of a place, or the daily life of the times, or the climate? Feel free to share some ideas and comments!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 12th, 2007 at 12:30 am and is filed under True and Living, Every Word. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.