Interpretation of Maps Based on the Bible

Some geographical descriptions in Bible are ambiguous. Loca- tions and relationships between sites and place-names remain uncertain or dis- puted. Maps based on passages from Old Testament or Hebrew Bible reflect differing assumptions and thus provide insight into problems of biblical interpretation. Some old maps anticipate recent findings. Even modern biblical maps based on scientific analyses have variations resulting in different interpretations. V OLTAIRE is said to have remarked that God evidently not strong in geography (Greenslade 1963,252). Enlightenment intellectuals often cited geographical examples when they questioned accuracy and authority of Bible. Thomas Paine (1794, 114) contended that Moses, traditional author of Pentateuch, could not possibly have described Abra- ham as pursuing them unto (Genesis 14:14) or have seen Dan from Pisgah (Deuteronomy 34:1), because the place was not called Dan until 331 years after death of Moses. Yet Paine neglected to mention that there were other ways to interpret these scriptural passages. Mapmakers in Paine's time and earlier were well aware of apparent anachronism concerning Dan, and some had used cartographic means to show that Bible could

Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · History · Philosophy · Religious Tourism and Spaces

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