[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during September 2020]
Do some of the locations named in the Bible arouse your curiosity? We are told that names given to Biblical characters are often very significant, but what about the locations? We know about Jerusalem, Jericho and Joppa, and we can find maps of Abraham’s wanderings, the exodus from Egypt and Paul’s missionary journeys but what about the lesser-known places?
Some names are simply geographical locations. The fugitive David hid in the caves of Abdullam and in the desert area around En-gedi, both remote places where it would be difficult for his pursuers to find him. Other places such as Jehovahjireh, Bethel and Ebenezer bear names that remind us of particular events.
In Deuteronomy 32 Moses is told that he will die on Mount Nebo. For me, Mount Nebo is a popular tourist spot to the north of Brisbane yet nobody thinks that Moses died in Australia. Why does Revelation record letters to a small settlement in southeast Pembrokeshire and a large city on a continent that won’t be discovered for another 1,500 years? Both Sardis and Philadelphia are namesakes of those Biblical cities whilst the ‘original’ Mount Nebo is in Jordan.
Other names have a metaphorical significance. The book of Psalms has a number of examples, including “It is as the dew of Hermon” (Psalm 133) and “Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!” (Psalm 120). Hermon is a mountain that was a source of water for northern Israel, Meshek was one of the rudest nations at that time while to dwell in the tents of Kedar was to be cut off from the worship of the true God.
Returning to our previous examples, Jehovahjireh was the name that Abraham gave to the place where he had been about to sacrifice Isaac but God provided a substitute. Bethel was where Jacob had his dream of a stairway to heaven, a means of direct communication with God. Ebenezer means ‘Hitherto has the Lord helped us’.
Together these remind us that God provided a substitute who took the punishment for our sins, that we can have direct communication with God and that He will continue to be our refuge and strength.
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
