The geography of the Old Testament is centered in the region of the world known as the Near East. In ancient times it was composed of five major areas surrounded or intersected by different bodies of water. The focal point of the Ancient Near East was the Tigris and Euphrates river valley. It was in the area known as Mesopotamia and later to be called Babylonia, that civilization first developed. The city of Ur, where Abraham was born before moving to Haran (Genesis 11:27-31), was located in Mesopotamia not far from the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Upriver to the north was the area known as Assyria, later to become home to a vast empire during the 8th and 7th centuries before Christ. And to the west, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, lay Canaan, the land promised to Abraham and his descendants by God (Genesis 12:1-7).
The majority of events recorded for us in the Bible occurred in or near the land of Canaan. The Jordan river, a body of water that played a significant role in both the Old and New Testaments, runs from north to south through the center of the promised land. The Dead Sea, located on the southern end of the Jordan river, is another significant geographical feature of Canaan. Some scholars believe that the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed by God for their wickedness (Genesis 19:24-29), lie somewhere at the bottom of the Dead Sea.
To the south and west of Canaan lay the center of another great civilization -- Egypt. Built on the plains and along the banks of the fertile Nile river valley, Egypt developed one of the most fascinating and mysterious cultures of the ancient world. More importantly, it became the home for Jacob's family during a severe famine in Canaan sometime near the beginning of the second millennia before Christ (c. 1900 - 1800 B.C.; see Genesis 48-50). Yet not long after the death of Jacob's son, Joseph, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians and held in captivity for four-hundred years. Eventually, God raised up Moses to lead his children out of slavery in Egypt and back towards the promised land (Exodus 12-14). After they escaped from Egypt across the Red Sea, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness of Sinai for forty years. Then, led by Moses' successor Joshua, the Israelites crossed the Jordan river from the east and conquered the promised land of Canaan (Joshua 1-3).
