Bible History—How Accurate?
Bible History—How Accurate?
IN THEIR book Battles of the Bible, Chaim Herzog, former president of the State of Israel, and Mordechai Gichon, emeritus professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, make this point:
“The tactical description of the battles of the Bible . . . cannot be explained by mere inventiveness. It suffices, for example, to compare the campaign of Gideon against the Midianites and their allies, as related in Judges, 6-8, with the battles of the Trojan War, described by Homer in his Iliad. For the latter, any accessible sea shore and a not-far-away fortified town will do nicely as geographic setting . . . Not so the biblical account of Gideon’s campaign. The detailed tactical movements and encounters based on the interaction between specific topographical features and the actions of both friend or foe—over a theatre of war covering some forty miles [60 km] in length—simply cannot be reproduced anywhere . . . We are thus virtually forced to accept the veracity of the tactical narrative of the battles as described in the Bible.”
You might study Gideon’s campaign by using the map on pages 18 and 19 of the atlaslike brochure “See the Good Land.” * The story began when “all Midian and Amalek and the Easterners gathered together as one and proceeded to cross over and camp in the low plain of Jezreel.” Gideon called nearby tribes to help. Events moved from the well of Harod to the hill of Moreh, then down the Jordan Valley. After pursuing the enemies across the Jordan River, Gideon subdued them.—Judges 6:33–8:12.
That map in “See the Good Land” shows the major places mentioned and the land features involved. Another map (page 15) identifies the territories of Israel’s tribes. The two maps can help you to appreciate the accuracy of the Bible account.
This illustrates an observation made by the late Professor Yohanan Aharoni: “In the land of the Bible, geography and history are so deeply interwoven that neither can be really understood without the help of the other.”
[Footnote]
^ par. 4 Published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
[Picture Credit Line on page 32]
Background map: Based on maps copyrighted by Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est. and Survey of Israel