Interactive DevotionalIn the classic dark ride at Disneyland and replicated by other Disney Parks, dolls sing and dance to the hypnotic tune of It's a Small World. The concept behind the ride is unity among diversity. All of the children sing the same words in different languages to the same melody. No matter the culture, living in harmony with all cultures, races, and creeds is the goal. A sign at the beginning of the ride declares, "Welcome to the happiest cruise that ever sailed." Was Walt Disney wearing rose-colored glasses when he approved this ride to be built for the World's Fair in 1964? Did he really believe that adding waters from all of the seas of the world to the ride's channel would create a genuine unity that is personified in the song and animations? What is it about differences that make things so hard to achieve peace? Is it possible to maintain peaceful relations with other races, religions, genders, and nations? Will Miss America ever get her wish granted for world peace? | |
Consider Romans 12. Discuss its application to our conversation so far, as well as what it means to tonight's overview of clashing cultures among Israel's neighbors.
Timeline of Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations
What do you notice about the chart below? How is it different from the Nine Periods of Bible History we saw in a previous lesson? What has been added?
In this session, we're going to get the briefest of overviews to the peoples who lived nearest to Israel. Refer to the world map in the beginning of your handouts to recall how Israel is smack dab in the middle of the ancient world. It is the hub, sitting between Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and the westward-leaning nations.
We begin with...
We begin with...
Egypt
While Israel might have been the center of the world, Egypt was also a central figure in a great civilization, and its influence extended far.
| Old Kingdom | Middle Kingdom |
New Kingdom
We can't talk about the New Kingdom without discussing the pharaoh of the Exodus - the man with a hard heart, who refused to listen to God through Moses and was plagued 10 times before releasing the enslaved nation of Israel. The second video below puts us in his presence.
| | |
Late Period
| | With the Egyptians - their dynasties, mummies, pyramids, and hieroglyphics, and rich archaeological traces - we can easily track what was happening during Bible history. To imagine what was happening in Egypt while one reads what was happening to Israel can be a fascinating study. We often think of history as being flat and two-dimensional, but in reality it is multilayered - stacked like a cake but filled with something a lot more bitter than buttercream. |
Syria
The Syrian civilization included the Hittite people, the Phoenicians, and the people of Damascus. We touch briefly on these cultures before investigating Mesopotamia.
MESOPOTAMIAYou may have heard of the Sumerians and Akkadians at some point. The history of this region includes Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia. This video explains a bit more. AND THE WEST | |
We'll get a brief overview of the West, as well. This is the area marked by Crete, Greece, and of course, Rome.
geography/Cartography
Get ready with the handmade map we've been working on. We're about to mark some additional areas on that map.
| | | |
| | |
