Sometimes when I study God's word, I find myself thinking, "Wonder where that place was?" or "Wonder what that looked like?" When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by the different cultures, art and lifestyles of the people whose stories I was reading in the Bible. In fact, to understand the stories, I sometimes needed to know more about the background. I spent hours looking at books with the "ancient stuff." That hasn't changed for me down through the years. I find my curiosity about the places and people who wrote the Bible has never changed. I love seeing the things that archeologists unearth, and visiting the virtual places where things from the Bible occurred. I probably will never travel to the Holy Land but I love books and websites which will give me glimpses into that history. Besides, I want to know how it looked then, not now.
Here's a great place to scratch that history curiosity itch: Bible History online ~
It opens on the home page, but I like to navigate it from the sitemap page. There are lists of subjects and types of info that can be looked at from the site. Each subject ususally brings up another list, but don't stop there. Start clicking! Maps, Study tools, Archeology, Images, Art, Geography, Names....the list goes on and on of the links this author has compiled. In some cases I could not use my back button, so I just went to the search bar on the top of my page and erased back to bible-history.com, then hit refresh (low tech). I ran across a note from the site owner which said that Vista had some problems when navigating his site, but I have and old version of Windows, and Window 7 and had no difficulty other than the back arrow. I especially liked finding a map of early Bible lands in the first century. When you click on a site, a box of associated sites will pop up above the actual listings. Some are adds, usually Bible related. Don't click into the box unless you wish to leave the site. Listings in the box are sometimes links to other resources.
Below the box will sometimes be only one line which will link you to information, images, and a side bar list of sub categories or additional subjects. Infomation is generally alphabetized and easy to navigate. If your curiosity sends you seeking, this is a good place to start. If your children need ancient history research tools, this could be helpful to them too.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (which comes up under the study tools ~ dictionaries and encyclopedias) has a search feature, as did several of the other tools I clicked on. But the site itself did not seem to have a search feature.
This site is just plain interesting. When I think of how peoples of all the earth down through the centuries have held their books precious, preserved their histories, ancestries, and details of every element of their lives, I pause to thank God that we have access to so much of it. When they wrote it in stone, they had a sense that someone might read it many years in the future. But I bet they never guessed there would be a time that anyone, who took a minute to look, might read it from anywhere in the world on a tiny little screen. If you have even a little curiosity for knowing how and where our Bible ancestors lived, check out this site.
On the site map is a subject heading: Bible Backdrops. The sub-heading is "Relevant Historical Insights into Scripture." First on the list is a note on the money changers doing business in front of the temple. (John 2:13-16) I learned something from the short narrative that is written there that I never knew. It makes this story of Jesus come alive, and deepens the blessing. It says: "The large outer court was called 'the Court of the Gentiles' because it was devoted to the foreigners who had come to worship God at the temple and they could proceed no further. It is interesting that Jesus chose to stop at this place to show forth his anger toward the money-changers, ...and this was not the first time he came to the aid of non-Jews."
Why that is so precious to me to know, is that it is just one more way Jesus showed how he came for the lost of the whole world, and he loved Jews and Gentiles. It goes on to say that the pilgrims who arrived there were met with scorn and contempt, and the money changers took up space where the worshipers would have preferred to stand. Jesus made room for them, and put the purpose they came for back into proper perspective. I can be assured of Christ's love for Gentiles, especially when I know the context of the scripture, and the story behind the story. I am making "Scripture Backdrops" my devotional for a while. It is a refreshing way to look at the Word.
Thank you Lord, for glimpses into the lives of those who lived in Bible times. And for the insites of people who have loved and studied your Word around the world. So much is offered to strengthen our faith and expand our understanding of just how much you love us. I am so glad to see how the things we find continue to show that you are always the same. It blesses me to know more about the people who saw fit to write it down, or carve it in stone, or paint pictures, or build buildings to store it. Bless all who continue to preserve and share the treasures of Bible history. Thank you for touching my heart with something new, that continues to inspire me, after all these years. AMEN
