7 Biblical Places You Can Still Visit

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The Bible is littered with place names. Some of them were centers of ancient power and trade. Rome, for example, was the center of one of the most powerful and ruthless empires to ever exist on Earth, and the city itself still stands today. Other places, such as Abez, were small towns or villages that have since been destroyed.

Biblical places hold a special place in the hearts of many people. The places in the Bible are where human history was made and life changed forever. Christians and Jews grew up reading and hearing the names of the towns and cities in Israel where the Israelites battled their various enemies. Unfortunately, many of these places have been lost. Battles and wars claimed some of the smaller towns and cities, while the passage of time whittled away at many of the rest. Thankfully, archaeology has reclaimed some of these lost settlements while others withstood the test of time all on their own. While cities that survived on their own merits will have a very different feel than those that human hands determinedly reclaimed from nature, both are well worth visiting. Here are seven Biblical places you can still visit today.

Jerusalem

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Jerusalem is at the center of the Bible. It is the heart and soul of the Holy Land. Jerusalem is the capital of David and Solomon’s great kingdoms and the city that rises and falls repeatedly as the Israelites obey and abandon God. It is in Jerusalem that the Temple once stood, where the prophets foretold doom and salvation and where Jesus spent his last days preaching. Jerusalem was also the witness to the greatest event of human history: the death and resurrection of Christ.

Jerusalem today has greatly outgrown its original borders, but it continues to be a pilgrimage site for hundreds of millions of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Modern Jerusalem blends smoothly with the Old City where the Dome of the Rock, Wailing Wall and Church of the Holy Sepulcher all stand. There is more for pilgrims to see than most could ever visit, but there is a great deal to do for more casual visitors as well. Tourists can visit the City of David or walk Hezekiah’s Tunnel, pray at Jesus’ tomb, shop for cashmere scarves and eat fresh-made falafel in the course of a day. Even in the newer city the spiritual energy is unmistakable. There truly is no city like it.

Beersheva

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Beersheva, Beersheba, Beer Sheba, Beer Sheva or Be’er Sheva is the second largest city in Israel and spans more than 117,500 dunams or 45 square miles. It is located in the center of southern Israel.

The name Beersheva comes from the story of Genesis. When Abraham and Isaac made peace treaties with King Abimelech of Gerar, the two patriarchs dug wells. The site was given the same name twice, once after Abraham’s treaty was closed and once after Isaac finalized his own treaty with Abimelech. Beersheva alternatively means “well of the oath” or “well of the seven.” According to the Hebrew Bible, Beersheva was the southernmost city in Israelite territory as the expression “Dan to Beersheva” was used to describe the entirety of the kingdom.

Modern Beersheva is a bustling cosmopolitan city with shopping, restaurants, entertainment and the occasional Bedouin market. Despite the swiftly growing modern city, the ruins of ancient Beersheva have been preserved just east of the modern city. Called Tel Be’er Sheva, Tel Sheva or Tell es-Seba, this archaeological site is a world heritage site and a popular destination for visitors to Israel.

Lachish

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Of all the cities in ancient Judea, Lachish was said to be second only to Jerusalem. This ancient stronghold was captured by Sennacherib when Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria in 701 B.C., though the Israelites resettled it later. The city was again attacked when Nebuchadnezzar moved against the Jews in 586 B.C. The Assyrian army built a siege ramp to break the walls of Lachish and did manage to take the city eventually. The people of Lachish defended it fiercely as is evidenced by the 1,500 skulls and hundreds of arrows found during modern excavations of the site. The Assyrian siege and conquest of Lachish is depicted in the Lachish Reliefs which reveal the horrific fate of the defeated leaders of Lachish at the hands of Sennacherib.

The ancient city of Lachish has been designated as an Israeli national park called Tel Lachish, and parts of the tel are the site of continuing archaeological research.

Megiddo

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Megiddo is best known by its infamous Greek name Armageddon. This ancient city sat at an incredibly strategic location at the north end of the Wadi Ara defile, the main pass through the Carmel Ridge, and overlooked the Jezreel Velley to the west. This strategic location led the city to be embroiled in multiple battles. In fact, the city is mentioned no less than six times in the Old Testament, all in relation to various battles.

Megiddo’s importance did not end with the destruction of the Temple and scattering of the Israelites. Tel Megiddo was the location of a World War I battle between the Ottoman army and Allied troops led by General Edmund Allenby in 1918. Today, Megiddo overlooks the main road that connects the center of Israel with lower Galilee and the north. Many Christians believe that in the future, Megiddo will be the site of the final battle between the kings of Earth and Jesus Christ.

Rome

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Most of the Bible takes place in the Holy Land, but there are some important events and locations that are not within the borders of Israel. One of those locations is the city of Rome. Rome was the center of power and persecution in the ancient world. The Roman Empire controlled Israel and Judea, and it spent centuries persecuting early Christians. Both the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul were martyred in Rome, but it was also in Rome where the early Christian church got its first serious foothold on power. When Constantine converted to Christianity, the world was forever altered.

Rome is currently a highly modern Italian city with food, nightlife, shopping and some of the most famous ruins in the world such as the Colosseum. Smack in the middle of Rome is also Vatican City, the smallest nation in the world and the seat of the Papacy.

Ein Gedi

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Ein Gedi looks like a complete impossibility to those that visit it. Located near Masada and Qumran, Ein Gedi is a literal oasis in one of the most unforgiving landscapes on Earth. Just west of the Dead Sea, the only living things for miles outside of Ein Gedi are a few birds and the occasional salt bush. The landscape is bare rock for miles.

Then there is Ein Gedi. Tucked away in a forbidding landscape, Ein Gedi has waterfalls, standing pools, vines, shrubs, trees, flowers, birds, a species of antelope known as Ibex , a short tailed mammal called the rock hyrax, foxes, hyenas and a single stubborn leopard. This impossibly lush oasis was where David hid from King Saul thousands of years ago and where David spared Saul’s life when he realized the king was unarmed. A person who stands in Ein Gedi will find it easy to believe that David could hide out in the oasis. There is more than enough food and water, and the cliffs and caves left the fugitive plenty of clever places to hide.

Dan

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Dan was the northernmost city of the Biblical Kingdom of Israel, and Tel Dan remains one of the northernmost points of the modern state of Israel. This site was called Laish prior to its capture by the tribe of Dan, and the Bible refers to the site as Lesham and Laishah in Joshua and Isaiah respectively.

Tel Dan sits at the headwaters of the largest of the four sources of the Jordan River. The Dan Spring emerges from the base of Mount Hermon, just beside Tel Dan, and flows for four miles before it joins the second largest source of the Jordan, the Banyas Spring.

Also located at Tel Dan are the large mudbrick gate built in 1800 B.C., the Iron Age gate where the Dan Inscription that mentioned the “House of David” was discovered and the remains of the altar that Jeroboam constructed to house the golden calf of Dan.

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Mankind has managed to rescue a number of incredible Biblical places from the ruthless hands of time. Many of these places still continue to teach the archaeologists who study them about the Bible times and the culture in which the writers of the Bible lived. Other cities have survived on their own merits and stubbornly continued to thrive over the course of thousands of years. Both sorts of locations are well worth visiting, and each has something special to offer. A preserved ruin can both impress upon a visitor exactly how old the stones they walk upon are and remind tourists of the grandeur that ancient peoples were capable of constructing. A thriving city, on the other hand, reminds visitors that mankind continues to live on and that people of faith are often stubborn creatures who declare, even in the face of death and the unstoppable passage of time, “we will live on.” While perhaps not as photogenic as a ruin, it is living cities that live up to their place in the most influential book of all time. After all, is not the story of the Bible that of the determined triumph of life over death?