The Patriarchs

The Mesopotamian city Abraham left when God called him. A major Sumerian center with a great ziggurat to the moon god Nanna; archaeological excavation by Leonard Woolley revealed extensive royal tombs from the third millennium BC.

Where Terah stopped on his journey from Ur and where he died; the staging point for Abraham's call to Canaan. Later, Jacob fled here to Laban's household, where he served fourteen years for Leah and Rachel.

Abraham's first stopping point in Canaan, where God promised the land to his offspring. Jacob bought a parcel here; Joshua renewed the covenant here; Rehoboam came here to be made king, leading to the division of the kingdom.

The southern boundary of the patriarchal lands ("from Dan to Beersheba"). Abraham planted a tamarisk and called on the name of the Lord; Isaac dug wells; Jacob received a vision here on his way down to Egypt.

Abraham settled by the oaks of Mamre near Hebron and bought the cave of Machpelah there as a burial site for Sarah. Patriarchs and matriarchs (except Rachel) are traditionally buried here. David reigned here for seven and a half years before moving to Jerusalem.

Where Jacob dreamed of the ladder reaching heaven and named the place "house of God." Later, Jeroboam set up one of the two golden calves here at the start of the northern kingdom — a recurring failure point in scripture.

The fertile delta region where Joseph settled his family and where the Israelites grew into a great people during the four hundred years before the Exodus. Spared from several of the plagues. Pi-Ramesse and Pithom are likely the cities Israel built (Ex 1:11).

Rachel's burial place; Naomi and Ruth's home; David's birthplace and the city of David; and the prophesied birthplace of the Messiah. The Church of the Nativity has stood over the traditional site of Jesus' birth since the fourth century.

The river that separated Israel from the promised land; crossed on dry ground in the conquest; the site of Naaman's healing; the place of John the Baptist's ministry and Jesus' baptism. Flows from the Sea of Galilee south to the Dead Sea.

One of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Capital of the Arameans for much of Israel's history. Saul of Tarsus was traveling here to arrest Christians when he met the risen Christ on the road; he later escaped the city by being lowered through the wall in a basket.