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The Land and the Book. A look at some Biblical places and events from a geographical and archaeological viewpoint. The Land and the Book Basis for Study. Biblical literature Biblical languages Archaeological evidences Personal observation Hands on participation Photography hobby
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The Land and the Book A look at some Biblical places and events from a geographical and archaeological viewpoint.
The Land and the Book Basis for Study • Biblical literature • Biblical languages • Archaeological evidences • Personal observation • Hands on participation • Photography hobby • Curiosity
Disclaimers and Ground Rules • I don’t have all the answers. • Not everything can be covered. • Don’t believe everything your see or read. • If you see something you want to ask about, please feel free to do so. • The origin of photos is seldom identified.
Has the Garden of Eden been located? Missouri – U.S.A. Sinai Africa – Ethiopia Turkey – between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Arabia – Iran and Iraq
OfficialMormon map showing the location of the Garden of Eden as proposed by Joseph Smith
The Book of Jubilees The Apocalypse of Moses. The Testament of Moses. The Book of Adam's Daughters. The Life of Adam. The Little Book of Genesis
The Book of Jubilees was written in Hebrew by a Pharisee between the year of the accession of Hyrcanus to the high priesthood in 135 B.C. and his breach with the Pharisees some years before his death in 105 B.C.Some believe it is the most advanced pre-Christian representative of the midrashic tendency, considered to have already been at work in the Old Testament Chronicles
A page of the Ethiopic version of the apocryphal work known to ecclesiastical writers as the "Lesser Genesis," and the "Apocalypse of Moses" (British Museum MS. Orient. No. 485, Fol. 83b).
Book of Jubilees • "And he (Shem) knew that the garden of Eden is the Holy of Holies, and the dwelling place of the Lord, and Mount Sinai, the center of the desert, and Mount Zion, the center of the naval of the earth, these three, opposite one another, were created as sanctuaries." Jubilees 8:19.
The Garden of Eden is pinpointed by an ancient method called triangulation. The key is in the Book of Jubilees.
Claim: The Garden of Eden is located in the center of the land mass of the world.
This map appeared at a time when Protestant belief in the literal truth of the Bible meant that Paradise was frequently shown on maps as a geographical location, which is why this map depicts the Garden of Eden or Earthly Paradise - the central tenet of the Judeo-Christian tradition
THEORYEden vanished under the waters of the Gulf. Man had lived happily there. But then, about 5000 to 4000 B.C. came a worldwide phenomenon called the Flandrian Transgression, which caused a sudden rise in sea level. The Gulf began to fill with water and actually reached its modern-day level about 4000 B.C., The area thought to be the Garden of Eden, which was flooded when Gulf waters arose, is shown in green. Yellow areas of Bahrain and Arabian coast represent Dilmun, paradise land of Ubaidians and Sumerians
Dilmun was located on the crossroads of the trading routes between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia. Dilmun was a major link between these early civilizations. According to Gilgamesh epic, Dilmun was regarded as a Holy Land. It played a significant role in the history of the ancient world. Articles on exhibit were found in the graves, settlements and temples of Bahrain.
The myth "Enki and Ninhursag" gives a good description of the land: • "Pure was Dilmun land!Virginal was Dilmun land![snip]The lion slew not,the wolf was notcarrying off lambs,[snip]No eye-diseases said there:'I the eye-disease.'No headache said there:'I headache.'No old woman belonging to it said there:'I old woman.'No old man belonging to it said there:'I old man.'[in other words there were no diseases or aging]
Compare Dilmun with the Biblical Eden • A garden was planted in the east, in Eden. Paradise-Dilmun was also in the east. Similarity. • Man was put in the Garden of Eden. No mention of this in Sumerian myth. Actually Dilmun was a favorite place for the gods to hang out. Difference. • Eden was full of all kinds of trees. Dilmun was the home of aromatics and cedar. Similar enough. • Dilmun was a paradise with no disease or aging. This is similar to Eden according to Josephus in the "Antiquities of the Jews".
Some Biblical scholars regard the marshes as the site of the legendary "Garden of Eden." Historically they nurtured the culture and civilization of the Sumerians who produced the first alphabet and the earliest epics.
May 2003 photo, a Marsh Arab, family walks across dry land that used to be a marsh in Qurnah. Parts of the marsh are slowly recovering after years of environmental degradation.
This satellite image of Mount Ararat in Turkey shows what looks like a large object emerging from melting snow.
Ark Location Debate • The Ark is said to have rested upon the mountains of Ararat, i.e. in the mountainous region of Armenia, the plural showing that the mountain peak known as Ararat (in Turkey) was not referred to. This peak is of volcanic origin and lies outside the general region. It is only in comparatively modern times that the present name (Mount Ararat) has been given to it.(International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) • The Ark's landfall was probably in southern Uratu {Iran}.(NIV Study Bible)
God told Noah's descendants to settle the entire world, but Nimrod had a different idea--keep everybody in one spot and build an unbeatable nation. Instead of letting God be a name over them, the people of Babel said they wanted to make a name for themselves. According to Josephus, the Tower of Babel was Nimrod's idea, a refuge so high that no flood waters could ever reach the top! However, it was not meant to be merely a physical skyscraper. If height was all the builders were after, they would have put it on a mountain, so there would be less work involved in pushing it up to the sky. Instead they built it in the soft sand and loam of the Euphrates valley. This means its chief function was to be a religious structure; the artificial mountains or ziggurats built in Iraq later were used for that purpose. It was a pagan temple, which would be both the focal point of the one-world state and a spiritual "reaching" to Heaven.
Table of Nations. Blue = descendants of Shem, yellow = descendants of Ham,dark red = descendants of Japheth.
