The Palestinian Geography of Luke in its Context

Modern Lukan scholarship underscores two essential factors that guide two parts of Luke’s work: the emphasis on Jerusalem in the first part and the mission of the apostles to the “ends of the earth” in the second part. In other words, the long and meaningful journey of Jesus to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51–19:46) has its counterpart in the missions of the apostles who depart from Jerusalem and, through Judea and Samaria, reach the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). A close reading of the Third Gospel reveals that it contains some inaccurate geographical references, which cause concern or at least raise questions. It seems that Luke’s geographical knowledge of Palestine is limited if not general, to say the least. Such a limited familiarity with Palestinian geography or even a lack thereof led many modern scholars to the conclusion that the author of the Third Gospel had only second-hand knowledge of Palestine and its geography. The present research takes into consideration the context of the allegedly misleading geographical references to see whether they can shed some light on Luke’s acquaintance with Palestinian geography. It argues that Luke’s familiarity with Palestinian geography could be far more superior than one is led to believe. The study does not have the slightest pretense of analyzing all the geographical data in Luke. It deals only with the most controversial data, often cited to challenge Luke’s awareness of Palestinian geography.