DMing the Bible: Geography Matters

Introduction
Genesis' basic structure revolves around telling the stories of an extended family group whose tales frame the identity of the People of God. The story begins with Abram, called Israel's archetypal ancestor. He is introduced in a genealogy in chapter eleven, but his tale truly gets underway in chapter twelve. Today we'll set the stage for the various episodes of Abram's life told in Genesis. We'll take a brief glance at the promise made Abram by God (y'all don't worry you're totally going to hear lots about it by the time we get done with Joesph). On the game side, as the title suggests, we'll talk about geography and "grounding" your campaign.
Text
We're looking at Genesis 11:31-12:9. From time to time it's good to follow the family trees. Remember: part of the underlying logic of Genesis is that it matters a great deal who your family is. Abram (which is what we'll be calling him until he gets a name change later on) is the son of Terah. Terah, Abram, Sarai, and Lot (Abram's nephew) leave Ur where their family was to move to Canaan. Ur was situated in Mesopotamia. They settle down before getting there in Haran which in northeast of Canaan; in today's geography this would be a region near the Syrian and Turkish border. So far this is not that unusual; large family groups, particularly herders, would have to split apart to avoid over taxing the land.
What happens next is a bit unusual. God gets in touch with Abram and tells him to pack up, leave his family group, and head to lands unknown. Abram's movement is part of the fulfilling of a promise God makes to Abram and Abram's as yet nonexistent descendants. This promise has three major elements: 1)Land, 2) Numerous Descendants, 3)Abundant Blessing. It's worth stopping and taking a closer look at verse 3 in the Hebrew the verb in the clause that closes the verse can be carry either a passive or a reflexive sense. Now, this is the kind of thing that gets Hebrew scholars jazzed up, but the rest of you ...you sighed didn't you? It makes a difference for the translation, though. The NRSV ran with the passive sense, "in you all the families of the world will be blessed," and indicates the whole world receive blessings through Abram. The reflexive sense is rendered, "by you all the earth shall bless themselves;" meaning that all the people of the world will hope for themselves a blessing such as Abram received. Christian translators prefer the passive translation which conforms with Galatians 3, but it's fun to play back and forth with the different senses.
Abram moves from Haran into Canaan moving through the country past Shechen to the Oak of Moreh. This tree was known as "the oak that instructs" or "the teaching oak" it was a place to receive oracles or visits from the divine (this week's vocab. word: theophany= divine visitation). Here God says, "this is the land I have set aside for you." Abram sets up tents for a while in the hill country between Ai and Bethel (the "house of God"). Then moves in stages toward the Negeb, which is an arid wilderness between Asia Minor and Egypt.
This narrative, written probably during the height of the monarchy, sets up the theme of migratory verses settled (most of the Canaanites are farmers, Abram et al are herders), but also explains and under-girds the reason for Israel while at the same time reminding all that the successes enjoyed this nation are divine rather human.
The Game
Games happen somewhere. Your campaign occurs in a particular location even if that location is a whole continent. I love getting grounded in the geography, I love maps, and maybe I love maps too much. I use maps to create characters, I love planning the route a party will take from one place to another. As a DM I spend a lot of time on maps; I like knowing about all the places the PC's may wander. Abrams' route in the passage above takes him through urban and rural places and includes one interesting geographical phenomena. It keeps it varied. Here are two suggestions about the land and your campaign:

• The Oak of Moreh: This was a place that was known for a particular thing. Such locations in RPGs almost cry out to be plot devices. Even if your characters arrive at a place known for being a theophany rich zone and nothing happens it can be meaningful to the action that follows. Boundaries, stone circles, crossroads can be interesting places with which to play.


• Be a Brontë: I've only read a little of the sisters' work, but what I have I recall as being steeped in geographic atmosphere. The land became another character. It breathed, had moods, presented challenges, and exuded malevolence. It's no coincidence that one of the three kinds of conflict is person v. nature.