CMP Review 2024-07-25

July 25, 2024

“Now that I have a map,” exclaimed my son, “I understand.” We were studying Isaiah 7, with context from 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. The theological meaning of the prophecy fell into place when we could see the configuration of Judah, Ephraim, Aram, and Assyria. Geography opened our eyes.

Just over a century ago an Anglican priest named F. H. Bickersteth Ottley travelled on horseback from Jerusalem to Damascus. The journey was decisive for him; as he explains: “I became convinced that a knowledge of the geographical configuration of Palestine is an absolute necessity to an intelligent understanding of the stories of the Old and New Testaments.”

Rev. Ottley proceeded to tell his story of geography and the Holy Land in a lecture to the PNEU at St. Agnes School in Babbacombe. News of this lecture reached Charlotte Mason and she arranged for the text to be printed in the following issue of the Parents’ Review, in December 1918.

Ottley’s 12-page article is a fascinating blend of geography, history, travelogue, and theology. It explains why Bible lessons in our home so often feature a map. But his article does more than that. It also took my breath away when I saw that he wrote not just of the past but of the future. A blessed hope that he believed would last a thousand years.

Ottley’s lecture has been hidden away in libraries for a hundred years. Now it’s on the internet for the very first time at the here.

@artmiddlekauff