Tourists visiting Israel are sometimes amazed at how small the country is.
Tourists visiting Israel are sometimes amazed at how small the country is. As Mark Twain wrote in 1869 of his visit to the Holy Land, "I could not conceive of a small country having so large a history"; ( The Innocents Abroad, 1984, p. 385). A good number of tourists are surprised because people normally equate size with significance.
The modern nation of Israel occupies less than 8,000 square miles, in comparison to about 160,000 square miles—more than 20 times as much—in the state of California alone. How could a country so prominent on television news be so insignificant on the world map?
The answer ultimately lies in Israel's spiritual, historical and literary legacy. As noted Israeli author Amos Elon put it: "Even more extraordinary is the fact that the [Hebrew] BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ., as was written in Jerusalem, unlike the books of other ancient peoples, was not the literature of a major or regional power nor even of a ruling elite, but the literature of a minor remote people [by comparison]"; ( Jerusalem: City of Mirrors, 1991, p. 19).
The New TestamentThe 27 authoritative books of the apostolic writings: the four Gospels of Christ, Acts (a history), 21 apostolic letters and the book of Revelation. itself addresses Israel's outsized historic contribution to mankind. The apostle Paul asked: "What advantage then has the Jew . . . ? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God"; (Romans 3:1-2). The word "oracles"; here is translated from the Greek logion, meaning "words"; or "sayings,"; which then encompassed the entire Old TestamentThose books that make up the Hebrew Bible generally accepted by Christians, Jews and to some extent Muslims. It contains a threefold division: the Law (the five books of Moses), the Prophets and the Writings..
Much of the New TestamentThe 27 authoritative books of the apostolic writings: the four Gospels of Christ, Acts (a history), 21 apostolic letters and the book of Revelation. was likewise composed in or describes events in the Holy Land, which stands as the geography from which the ScripturesThe divinely inspired writings of both the Old and New Testaments. The term Scripture is used in the New Testament to refer to both the Hebrew Bible (Luke 24:44-45) and the new apostolic writings accepted as inspired (2 Peter 3:16; 1 Timothy 5:18). sprang. Truly Israel is the land of "the Book,"; populated by the peoples God used to author and preserve, under His divine inspiration, the Hebrew BibleThe books of the Old Testament. plus a large portion of the New TestamentThe 27 authoritative books of the apostolic writings: the four Gospels of Christ, Acts (a history), 21 apostolic letters and the book of Revelation.. GN
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