Yahweh set the land of Israel apart for a very special purpose. As the only place where three continents converge, you could call it the center of the earth--an ideal place from which His truth could spread worldwide.

The city of Dan is a prime example of how it was to work. This outpost thrived at the northern entrance to Israel on the only road from Assyria to Egypt, because of an abundance of water where caravans could stop. YHWH planned it so that all the major trade routes of the ancient mideast had to pass right through this land, so all the world to see the results of the wisdom Yahweh gave them in His special revelation and the lifestyle it entailed. This contact with other nations was meant to spread YHWH's light to them, all too often it let idolatry gain an inroad into Israel instead.

For a larger view of the map, click here.

Israel is small--only about the size of New Jersey...Its topography has 4 distinct "belts"--the coastal lowland, called the Plain of Sharon; the Sh'phelah, or foothills; the mountains that form the country's "backbone"; and the Rift Valley, a deep gash that extends from the Jordan River's source in Syria, all the way to southern Africa. It's the lowest place on the earth's surface, far below sea level, and can even be seen from the moon. The Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the Reed (Red) Sea are all part of this great rift, which in Hebrew is called the Aravah. (The view below is from the west. The snow-capped mountain at left is Mt. Khermon.)

Israel's major regions are: the lush, green Galilee, the infamous Golan Heights, Samaria, Judea, and the Negev, that barren wilderness in the South. Jerusalem is just west of the Dead Sea, nestled in the mountains between Judea and Samaria.

On the Sh'phelah, between the Mediterranean and the mountains, stood a series of fortress cities guarding the only route by which Jerusalem could be easily attacked.

Lachish was the strongest of them all--a majestic city with lush vineyards then as now. It "plugged" the entrance to the important city of Hevron. From Lachish you can easily see the tels of Azekah and Maresha, and they sent warnings from one fortress to another with light signals. But since Lachish had been "the beginning of sin to the daughter of Tzion"--a foot in the door for idolatry to spread throughout Israel --even it had to fall.

The tel of Lachish

World-scale processes affecting Israel:

The Jordan Valley apparently used to extend all the way into the Gulf of Aqaba (the right branch of the Red Sea; see map of the ancient Near East.) A different orbit that Mars held until 701 B.C. (often crossing earth's path quite closely) served as the cause of a series of several later biblical catastrophes like an axis wobble that in some locations could make the sun appear to stand still (Joshua 10; Isa. 38:8).

A Brief History of Geology

Another important problem is solved when we consider such cataclysmic geophysical changes. Archaeologists have found that while the Second Temple faced due east, the first, Solomon's was aligned 6.2 degrees north of due east. The first Temple was built before the Mars encounter in 701 B.C., the second after it. Computer simulations of that event suggest that there may have been about a 6.5-degree rotation in the earth's axis. In other words, there was actually a change in what was due east between the constructions of the two temples. (Don Stewart and Chuck Missler, The Coming Temple. Orange, CA: Dart Press, 1991)

This would also explain why a land "flowing with milk and honey" is so barren today. Part of this, of course, was accomplished by overgrazing by sheep as well as deforestation. The Romans cut down all the trees on the Mount of Olives (though many grew back from the same roots), and when the Turks ruled the land they taxed people according to how many trees were on their land. So many cut their own trees down, causing major erosion.

But a shift of 6 to 6.5 degrees would have changed the climate of Israel from one paralleling northern California to one very much like that of southern California. It is definitely the latter now. Northern California is where the redwood trees grow, and this could explain why the cedars of Lebanon grew so large when today they are few and, while large, do not break world-class records. In other words, at the time of the conquest under Joshua, Israel would have been so lush that other nations would fight for it. We can see examples in the huge cluster of grapes found in the Valley of Eshqol.

The Israelis have accomplished some impressive re-agriculturalization through irrigation and other ingenious methods, but nothing like that! This may suggest what the now not-so-attractive land will be like in the Kingdom--the time of the restoration of all things.

"The Place Where I Have Set My Name"

Yahweh told Israel that there was only one place they should come to worship Him with their sacrifices, and He called it "the place where YHWH has chosen to put His name". (Dt. 12:5, 21; 14:24; 1 Kgs. 8:29) This sometimes referred simply to the Temple. But whenever the Jews have wanted to put His name on something (e.g., doorposts or on the phylacteries with which they “bind His words on their hand" or "between their eyes", Deut. 6:8,9), or a mezuzah (pictured at right) in which His Word is literally placed upon their doorposts, the name used is Shaddai, often simply abbreviated to its first letter, shiin:

If we'd had a bird's-eye view of Jerusalem before it was built up,
we would see that it forms a shiin:

The valleys around Jerusalem

If we look carefully at Genesis 2, it says Yahweh planted a garden east of Eden (not “in Eden”), and a river flowed out of Eden to water it:

"And YHWH planted a garden to the east of Eden ...And a river went out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided and became four heads. The name of the first was Pishon ["spreader"]... The name of the second river is Gihon ["Gusher"]. The name of the third is Chiddeqel [Tigris] (it is the one going east of Assyria), and the fourth river is the Ferath [Euphrates]."

But we do know where the Gihon's source is: just outside the part of Jerusalem which was originally known as Tzion (not the part called Tzion today). From it ran a natural fissure in the mountain underground. This is how David’s soldiers were able to enter thecity and take it. Hezekiah had the fissure lengthened and widened and all the water channeled to a new reser-voir called the pool of Shiloach [Siloam]--an internal water source where healing was found (Jn. 9:7), and helping withstand a siege (as the Holy Spirit can keep us thriving even in dry times-- Jn. 7:38; Ps. 87:7).

The Pool of Shiloach (Siloam)

Interestingly, just east of the Eastern Gate of the Temple Mountain is a garden where the tikkun (reparation) for the fall of Adam and Eve was accomplished when Y'shua, to the point of his capillaries bursting from the crushing pressure in Gath-shemaney ("Gethsemane", the olive oil press) withstood the final test of his resolve to obey YHWH’s will even when it meant his own demise. Could this have been the same place the Tree of Life stood?

Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives

It was YHWH's throne from which the river flowed (as it will again, Ezek. 47; Rev. 22, and the Tree of Life will again be there)!

Now can you see why Israel is so important to Yahweh?