658. Mount Sinai, a solid block of reddish granite that rises steeply out of the desert, is only about three thousand feet high, not much in comparison to other mountains. It looms so dramatically out of the surrounding land, however, that the Israelites must have found it a fitting place for God to dwell.
659. Mari, dating back to the eighteenth century B.C., was unveiled as one of the great cities of the ancient world. A ziggurat was unearthed, and so were twenty thousand clay tablets of writing. Among other things, these clay tablets preserve ancient police records that refer constantly to threats of Semitic nomads who lived on the frontiers of the Kingdom and raided the towns of Mari.
660. Haran, a little mud-bricked settlement, is one of the most important cities in the Near East. It was a key city connected by ancient trade routes to Ur. Nearly four thousand years ago, Abraham, his wife, Sarah, and his household set off with their herds and flocks on a historic journey to a Promised Land. Abraham's travels correspond to known migratory and commercial routes before Ur was conquered and abandoned in 1740 B.C.
661. The city of Corinth was one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire during Paul's lifetime. A commercial bridge between East and West, it attracted merchants, traders, and visitors from all around the Mediterranean area, making it something like the "Times Square" of its day.
662. Solomon's ships sailed with metal and other items of trade from Eziongeber on the Gulf of Aqaba to a place known as "Ophir." Its location has been heavily disputed and it was even believed to be a legendary land until a discovery was made near the ancient port of Joppa (Jaffa) in Israel of a Phoenician storage jar inscribed with the words "gold of Ophir."
