Using Google Earth for Bible Study

Have you ever wanted to have a more interactive map for your Bible? Ever wished you could better see, understand and appreciate the Bible places more thoroughly? Ever wondered how modern Israel looks like compared with David and Solomon's Kingdoms? If so, you will be pleased to know that that can be done, for free!

As most of you would know, Google Earth(GE) is a very powerful 3D mapping program that allows you to move virtually around the world. Its intuitive controls and high quality map information gives an accurate understanding of the landscape and geography of just about anywhere on Earth. For this reason, people have started to use the information for different types of cartography purposes.

On top of these functions, the program also allows for customization in the form of overlaying images. By overlaying maps onto the globe in GE, it becomes possible to see the terrain in 3-dimensions. See the following example of the lands of the twelve tribes.





































The actual overlaying of the maps take some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite a piece of cake. :) In case you are wondering, that map I overlaid is taken from the back of an NIV Bible (it may look quite familiar). You can get more maps from here. You can overlay multiple images, and switch on only the ones you need. You can also get a list of all the places mentioned in the Bible as GE landmarks from this website.

This is probably much more powerful than even the most advanced Bible software available now. Hope you can use this to make your studying the Bible a bit more effective! :) Contact me if you need more detailed information on how to do this!

Cyrus