Ancient City Defense, Sieges, and Biblical Inspiration

Vocabulary practice flashcards reviewing ancient fortifications, siege tactics, biblical accounts of Jericho, and arguments for biblical inspiration.

Fortified cities

Cities built on a hill with giant, thick, multi-level walls designed for common defense against attacking armies.

Jericho

An ancient city from three to four thousand years ago that featured massive walls thick enough for people to live inside.

Rahab

A resident of Jericho who had her home built directly within the city wall.

Boiling oil

A heated liquid poured down from the top levels of city walls by stationed defenders onto attacking soldiers.

Siege

A military tactic where an attacking army surrounds a fortified city, cuts off supply lines, and prevents food and goods from entering until the inhabitants begin starving.

Supply line

The route through which merchants bring food and essential goods into a city, which is severed during an enemy siege.

Evidence of inspiration in the Bible

The inclusion of accurate predictions of catastrophic events—such as devastating sieges and cannibalism among one's own people—which human authors would not naturally desire to invent.

893 BC

A historical timeframe referenced in connection with the fulfillment of biblical siege predictions taking place over five hundred years later in Syria.