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| Joshua's Central Campaign |
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9
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06:42
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2,445
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1
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00:55
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954
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Knowing that he personally would not be allowed to cross the Jordan,
Moses had appointed Joshua to lead the people into the land (Num 27:12-23).
From his camp on the Plains of Moab, Joshua sent two spies to reconnoiter
the Jericho area, an assignment reminiscent of his own foray into the
land forty years earlier (Numbers 13, 14). They discovered that the city
knew all about Israel's deliverance from Egypt, their passing through
the Sea of Reeds and how they had recently conquered Sihon and Og, the
powerful kings across the Jordan. No wonder the harlot Rahab, who hid
them from the king of Jericho, reported that "the terror of you has
fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away"
(Josh 2:9, 24).
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| Joshua's Southern Campaign |
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duration
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7
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05:12
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3,989
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1
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00:40
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1,212
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The news of Joshua's stunning victories over Jericho and Ai spread quickly.
To the Canaanites, the shouting of blessings and curses between Mount
Gerizim and Mount Ebal must have sounded like a victory celebration. Clearly,
the Israelites were not going to stop with destroying Jericho and Ai.
The Canaanites knew that if they failed to stop them, these strangers
would conquer the whole land. To counter this threat, "all the kings…in
the hill country, and in the lowland and on the coast of the Great Sea…gathered
themselves together with one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel"
(9:1-2).
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| Joshua's Northern Campaign |
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3
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02:06
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980
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1
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00:45
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292
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When Joshua led his force northward to Galilee for his final campaign,
the people had probably already begun to settle into the central and southern
regions he had conquered. (His conquest of the entire land occupied about
seven years.)
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| Gideon Battles the Midianites |
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8
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05:40
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2,980
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1
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01:00
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608
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In the period following Deborah and Barak's liberation of the Jezreel
Valley from the Canaanites, peace reigned in the region for forty years.
As time passed, however, the Israelites reverted to idolatry. To bring
them back to worship Him, the Lord allowed the Midianites to occupy the
Harod Valley and thus cut off their food supply. The Midianites were a
nomadic people who roamed the desert area around the Arabah, south of
the Dead Sea. On this foray, they were joined by the Amalekites, a tribe
from the Negev desert south of Beersheba.
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| The Rise of Saul |
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6
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04:18
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3,553
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1
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00:40
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1,575
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The period of the Judges, among the darkest in Israel's history, was
drawing to a close. Samuel, a judge, a prophet, and a priest, was guiding
his people through this time of transition. God desired a unified nation
that worshiped and obeyed Him as their ultimate leader and king, but as
they tasted the bitter fruits of their apostasies, Israel clamored for
a king. God responded to their plea, sending Samuel to anoint a Benjamite
named Saul. God would use Israel's desire for a king to teach His people
about themselves and their true need, which was to depend on Him alone.
Israel had asked for a king like the other nations; God gave them a king
like themselves, one who became increasingly willful, self-centered, and
paranoid.
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| David's Flight from Saul |
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9
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11:22
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5,072
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1
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01:00
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1,814
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For their first king, God gave Israel a man who was "a choice and
handsome man and there was not a more handsome person than he among the
sons of Israel; from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the
people" (1 Sam 9:2). Saul began well. He rescued the men of Jabesh-gilead
from the Ammonites, attacked the Philistines and defeated the Amalekites.
But his spiritual stature did not match his physical stature. His pride
and self-will eroded his relationship with the God who had chosen him.
When he had flagrantly disobeyed God in his assignment to destroy the
Amalekites, "he set up a monument for himself" to mark his achievement
(1 Sam 15:12). But that memorial became the marker of the loss of his
kingdom. For this disobedience, Samuel sadly announced, "The Lord
has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to your
neighbor who is better than you" (1 Sam 15:28).
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| The Death of Saul |
legs
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duration
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size
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5
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02:37
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1,723
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| preview |
1
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00:30
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1,307
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After years of eluding Saul, David and his followers sought refuge with
Achish, king of the Philistine city of Gath. When he heard that David
had left Judah, Saul gave up his obsessive pursuit. He had another goal,
to break the Philistine hold on the International Highway to the east
as it passed through the Jezreel Valley. Their control of the Jezreel
Valley effectively isolated the northern tribes from the rest of Israel.
|
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| Jesus' Birth & Childhood |
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7
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07:59
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2,099
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1
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00:58
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958
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"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son,
born of a woman, born under the Law" (Gal 4:4). During the three
centuries before His birth, God had been laying the foundation for the
coming of His Son and the spread of His church. Alexander the Great had
permeated the region with his native Greek language; the Roman Pax Romana
had brought general peace and prosperity, the rule of law and roads that
connected every city in the empire. On the local level, sixty years before
Jesus' birth, the Romans had brought a measure of stability to the volatile
politics of Palestine, and in 37 B.C., Octavian had appointed Herod the
Great as "king" to protect imperial interests. When Herod died
in 4 B.C., his kingdom was divided among his sons. Archelaus would rule
Judea and Samaria and Herod Antipas received Galilee and Perea across
the Jordan. Philip was given the region east and north of the Sea of Galilee.
Spiritually, the land was in ferment, with Pharisees and potential revolutionaries
chafing under Rome and hoping desperately for a "messiah." The
Sadducees, who controlled the temple and the Sanhedrin, ruling by delegated
authority, maintained at least a formal loyalty to Rome.
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| Jesus' Baptism & Temptation |
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6
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07:22
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3,432
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1
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01:55
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1,686
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Since the days of the Maccabean Revolt (167 B.C.), the Hasmoneans had
combined the offices of king and priest, in violation of God's revealed
order. For over a hundred years, in the absence of a monarchy, the high
priest had become the authority figure for the nation. The politicizing
of this sacred office and the power struggles it generated had eroded
the integrity and credibility of the religious structure of the nation.
While the Sadducees who controlled the priesthood and temple worship were
content with their power base under the Romans, the Pharisees strived
to maintain conformity to the Law, their supplementary regulations derived
from a presumed "oral law," and rabbinic interpretations. The
nation was ready for a Messiah who would bring them a kingdom that would
restore the ideals on which the existence of their nation was based. For
many, the solution would be a warrior Messiah who would deliver them from
Roman rule; for others, like Simeon and Anna who greeted Mary and Joseph
in the temple court, He would be the fulfillment of the divine ruler the
prophets had promised.
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| Jesus' Introductory Ministry |
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size
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8
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09:41
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3,745
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1
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00:53
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1,305
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When He returned from His testing in the wilderness, Jesus met His first
disciples, Andrew, John, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael, at the Jordan River
where John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing (John 1:35-51). Together,
they returned to their home region of Galilee to attend a wedding at Cana,
a small town nine miles north of Nazareth.
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| Jesus' Early Galilean Ministry |
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5
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05:46
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3,103
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1
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01:23
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1,200
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Early in His ministry, Jesus entered His local synagogue in Nazareth
as He had done since childhood. In the course of the service, He read
a prophecy by Isaiah about the coming Messiah (61:1-2). When He announced
that, "Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,"
"all were speaking well of Him." He disappointed them, however,
when they demanded that He perform a miracle as He had done in Capernaum.
Jesus exposed their lack of faith in who He really was by reminding them
that Elijah had fed a Sidonian widow when Israel had been struck with
famine, and Elisha had healed a Syrian leper rather than an Israelite
leper. Enraged, they tried to throw Him over a cliff to His death. To
them, He was really just the son of a local builder! Jesus and His family
then moved down to Capernaum, the future base of His Galilean ministry,
fulfilling another of Isaiah's prophecies, that a light would dawn on
"the people who were sitting in darkness" (Isa 9:1-2).
|
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| Jesus' Growing Fame and Controversy |
legs
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duration
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size
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10
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11:05
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5,178
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1
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01:10
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1,049
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As word of Jesus' ministry spread, the number of His followers continued
to increase. Although "multitudes" followed Him to listen to
His new teachings, the word "disciple" was apparently applied
to Jesus' more serious followers. From these, He appointed a smaller group
of twelve "that they might be with Him and that He might send them
out to preach…" (Mark 3:14). The debate about His person intensified,
however. Could this man from Nazareth really be their long-awaited Messiah?
Among the Pharisees and Scribes, jealousy and hostility were becoming
increasingly evident as His message contradicted many of their doctrines
and threatened their status. The crisis had come following Jesus' healing
of a lame man in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. The ensuing reaction of the
Pharisees concerning the Sabbath quickly escalated into a confrontation
about Jesus' claim to deity (John 5:16-47).
|
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| Jesus' Climax of Popularity |
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duration
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size
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5
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03:52
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2,599
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1
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00:40
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1,232
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The disciples had recently conducted an extensive itinerant ministry
in Galilee in which Jesus had sent them out in pairs to minister to "the
lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt 10:1-42). Their activity
gained so much attention that Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee, could
no longer ignore Jesus. Wondering if John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded,
had risen from the dead, Herod Antipas "kept trying to see Jesus"
(Luke 9:7-9). To avoid becoming a victim to Herod's ruthlessness and further
hostile confrontations with the religious leaders, and to give more personalized
instruction to His disciples in preparation for their future ministry,
Jesus now began to withdraw from the crowds. This marks a turning point
in Jesus' ministry, a year before His death.
|
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| Jesus' Ministry in Gentile Areas |
legs
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duration
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size
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7
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08:24
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3,084
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1
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01:08
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838
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As Jesus ministered around the Sea of Galilee, multitudes followed Him,
intrigued by His teaching and impressed by His miracles. When He fed more
than five thousand people at Bethsaida, the crowd surged forward to "take
Him by force, to make Him king (John 6:14,15). His refusal to become their
revolutionary leader against Roman rule was confirmed the next day when
He gave His "Bread of Life" discourse in the Capernaum synagogue.
They learned that to have eternal life, they must receive Him just as
their forefathers had received manna in the wilderness. In strong metaphorical
terms, Jesus told them that they must "eat my flesh and drink my
blood." When they realized that Jesus' kingdom had an essential spiritual
dimension ("unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of
God," John 3:3), many turned back from following Him. Peter, however,
expressed the conviction of others, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have words of eternal life" (John 6:68).
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FLASH
: Your Microsoft Windows system may already have the flash plugin
installed - but if not you can get it here - 
FOR
OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE - If you are running these tours from the Sandals2.0
CD-ROM program - we recommend that you minimize the Sandals2.0 program
while running the flash tours. 
EAST
: Our maps (and consequently these tours) are east-oriented to be
consistent with the biblical data and the way the people in the land
oriented themselves geographically throughout their history.