Chapter 1 The World That Produced the Bible: 1200-722 B.C. Summary and Analysis

The ancient land in which the Bible was written lies near the Mediterranean coast. It stretches southward from the area around the Sea of Galilee, a large freshwater lake, to that around the Dead Sea, actually a salt lake and named so because the salt content is too high to support life other than microbes. The Jordan River connects the two bodies of water and empties into the Dead Sea. The northern portion of this land is fertile, the middle mountainous and the south desert.

The ancient Israelites worshiped Yahweh, a god different from the other gods worshiped around the Mediterranean region. Rather than being associated with any particular natural force such as the wind, Yahweh stands in Israeli tradition as acting in...