1. What does the cistern in Jeremiah 2:13 mean? Historical interpretation deals with the world outside the Bible. In Jeremiah 2:13, the word "cistern" can be analyzed from grammatical and historical perspectives, and one cannot draw out the meaning of the verse without first knowing about cisterns. Exegesis is going back to the time of the word to find its meaning, and application is, then, bringing that meaning forward into the present. The cistern of biblical times collected rain water. It had a cover over it to keep all the water from evaporating. The cistern had a pear shape with it being bigger at the bottom. The dry season in Israel is from April to October, and the rainy season is from October to April. The cisterns collected water during the rainy season and provided water during the dry season. An abandoned cistern was like a ready-made landfill. They were also sometimes used for jails. Joseph was thrown in a cistern, and so was Jeremiah because no one liked him. In Jeremiah 2:13, God described himself as a cool, pleasant stream with pure water, but the people were spiritually drawing their water from a cistern.

2. State some differences between current times and biblical times. There were some differences between the people of biblical times and the people today, such as: (1) sign acts (a symbolic action often done by gesturing. Prophets did this a lot, and Jews often did it when they were grieving. It was a form of non-verbal communication intended to communicate or supplement a verbal message.), (2) oral verses then versus our written culture (even their legal contracts were verbal), (3) pastoral (shepherds and nomads) and agrarian lifestyle (lived around the soil), and (4) corporate personality (structure of society where people received 70% of their identity from their group, which could mean father, family, or tribe. Now, our culture practices individualism.).

3. Discuss the case study on the word "gate". In a case study on the word "gate" (an Israeli city), (1) one should note the number of gates passed to get to the city proper (Israel had two gates for security), (2) should note the strength of the wall on both sides of the gate (a casemate wall was two parallel tall walls where the space between them was filled with junk and covered over to form a place for the soldiers to defend.), (3) the military garrison would be on top of the inner gate (they are always ready for attack), and (4) should note the direction of approach (the city would design the wall so that their enemies would have their right arm toward the wall because of their sword in their right hand, and they would have their left hand, with a shield, away from the wall. This made the attackers very vulnerable.).

4. Discuss the importance of the gate. The importance of the gate was: (1) the military presence was at the gate, (2) social and economic (a place for news and commerce), and (3) administrative functions (legal matters were often settled at the gate). The center of life for the people of those days was at the gate.

5. What were some figurative uses of the gate? The figurative uses of the gate (in Genesis 22:17) were as the whole city and (in Matthew 16:18) as a symbol of the power of a city or organization.

6. Name some related books on manners and customs. Some books on this subject are: (1) Manners and Customs in the Bible, by Victor Matthews, (2) Today’s Handbook for Bible Times and Customs, by Williams (topical), (3) New Manners and Customs of Bible Times, by Ralph Gower (topical), (4) The Compact Book of the Old Testament, and (5) Biblical Archaeological Review (a magazine).

7. What is the case study for Lesson 9? For lesson 9, learn what you can about the way of the king or the king’s highway.

				Tom of Bethany

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Lesson 9. The Geography of Israel

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