Finding Out More about Places

Finding places in your text is great. Finding out where they are and how they are significant is the next step.

Where is this place?

Map Resources on the Web

Often you need a map when you're paying attention to place. Here are some links to good Bible maps online. (If you have a study Bible, you probably have good maps at the back of it, also.)

Into His Own
The map at the left is a smaller version of one at Prof. Mahlon Smith's website, "Into His Own: Perspective on the World of Jesus." The original map has links that take you to modern photographs and background information on the place whose name you clicked.

The Bible Tutor
Luther Seminary's Bible Tutor, developed by Prof. Craig Koester, also has several maps that may help you.

NT Gateway
For more links to maps of biblical geography on the web, visit Professor Mark Goodacre's site, New Testament Gateway, especially the Maps Page.

Have we been here before?

After you locate where something is happening in the New Testament, it makes sense to ask whether the place is special. Here are some questions to help you figure that out:

• Who lives here?
• Is there anything noteworthy about the landscape?
• Have we been here before in this story, or in the biblical story as a whole?
• How close or far are we from other places that are prominent in the story?

Remember the concordance and Bibleworks activities from the unit on Completing a Word Study? You can use the same tools to find biblical references to particular places. Notes from a study Bible often will help you here, too.

Practice Activities

Geographical Location Practice Activity: Find all the references to one of these places in the Gospel of Matthew: Bethlehem, Capernaum, Sidon, Tyre, Jerusalem, Bethany, Egypt.  List them and add a brief note about what is going on in the passages you find.

Narrative Settings Practice Activity: Find scenes that take place on mountains in Matthew. Then, find parallel passages in Luke. What do you notice? Where does Luke set things that Matthew sets on mountains?

Next: What Is this Place Doing Here?