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In the graphic below, the pink area is a rough approximate map of the near-maximum boundaries of the lands that were inhabited by Israelites or under direct central royal administration during the United Monarchy period of ancient history (according to the Bible) -- excluding states (such as Damascus, Geshur, Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistine city-states) which sometimes acknowledged some degree of Israelite suzerainty or overlordship, but were never integral or directly-administered parts of the unified Israelite kingdom of David or Solomon. This is basically what is referred to by the Biblical phrase "from Dan to Beersheba" (which occurs nine times in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament -- at Judges 20:1, 1 Samuel 3:20, 2 Samuel 3:10, 2 Samuel 17:11, 2 Samuel 24:2, 2 Samuel 24:15, 1 Kings 4:25, 1 Chronicles 21:2, and 2 Chronicles 30:5). So the passage 1 Kings 4:24-25 (1 Kings 5:4-5 in Jewish verse numbering) describes Solomon's larger empire with the phrase "from Tiphsah to Gaza", these being the northeasternmost and southwesternmost noteworthy cities that recognized some allegiance to Solomon (Tiphsah was a trade outpost in northern Syria, at the bend in the Upper Euphrates) -- but the actual land "where Judah and Israel dwelt in safety" was described as being "from Dan to Beersheba". This map was taken from a variety of sources, the single most important source probably being the Administrative Districts of Solomon's Kingdom Map, map no. 113 on page 86 of the MacMillan Bible Atlas (3rd edition, 1993) by Yohanan Aharoni, Michael Avi-Yonah, Anson F. Rainey, and Ze'ev Safrai (and to a lesser degree the Kingdom of David Map, map no. 104 on page 80).
The dark red area in the graphic shows the central core of ancient Judea. This area (more or less the southern half of the west bank hill-chain, roughly from Ramallah to Hebron) was almost always part of a Jewish kingdom or a Jewish province within a larger empire for over a thousand years, from the days of King David down to 135 CE.
The only cities shown on the map were capital cities, or were important landmarks in demarcating ancient Israel or Judea. The areas to the immediate south and east of the map frame were more sparsely inhabited, with a lower proportion of settled agriculture, so that boundaries were rather indefinite there. The borders of the 1923-1947 British mandate territory (i.e. the modern Israel + West Bank + Gaza) are shown in grey.
This graphic is also available as a 16kb vector Adobe PDF file (click here).
![[Map of Early Historical Israel (ישראל), showing Philistia Moab Ammon Geshur Phoenicia Gaza Ashkelon Ashdod Beersheba Hebron Shechem Rabbath-Ammon Dan Tyre Jerusalem and arrow to Damascus and Tiphsah. Pink = A rough approximate map of the lands inhabited by Israelites or under direct central royal administration during the United Monarchy (according to the Bible). This is basically what is referred to by the recurring Biblical phrase ``from Dan to Beersheba''. Dark Red = The central core of ancient Judea. This area was part of a Jewish kingdom, or a Jewish province within a larger empire, almost continuously from the days of King David down to 135 CE.]](histisrl.gif)
To see a version of the above image annotated with political commentary and additional historical-geographical interpretation, go to the Symbolic Truth site main page.
Go to a page on the most accurate version of the name of Jesus in several Semitic languages.
Go to a page on the "Shield of the Trinity" diagram (including Arabic SVG).
Go to the Tengwar Arabic Mode writing system for the Arabic language.