The cover of this quarter's Biblical Illustrator Plus CD shows a terra-cotta model of a war chariot from Cyprus, dated from the 7th century B. C. The back of the CD contains this blurb:

It's just dirt. Some believe that. But what people do with that dirt makes a huge difference. In some large metropolitan cities, land is being sold, not by the acre, but by the square foot. Location does matter.

This issue of Biblical Illustrator Plus looks at dirt and location and what happened at those locations. It looks at the Land of Promise that God gave His people. It looks at events that occurred in specific locations and at people from specific regions. This issue looks at those who built buildings and empires on that dirt--some for worship, some for self-aggrandizement. And we look at how some of those empires rose and waned.

People feel a kinship to the dirt, to the land, to its peoples, and to its cultures and traditions. In the end, though, may we remember that what matters is what we do for God and how we honor Him.

As I've mentioned before, Biblical Illustrator contains background articles for a number of Lifeway's Sunday School curriculums. The class I teach at Simpsonville Baptist Church uses the Explore the Bible curriculum, and this quarter we will take our lessons from the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. The articles below that are drawn from the Minor Prophets directly relate to the texts I'll be teaching.

Below are the new articles in the Summer 2007 issue of Biblical Illustrator:

Ken Cox	The Promised Land: A Crucial Locale	Deut 1-5
R. Raymond Lloyd	Who Were the Amorites ?	Book of Deuteronomy
Rick W. Byargeon	The Cities of Refuge	Deut 4-5
David L. Jenkins	What Happened at Ebal and Gerizim?	Deut 27-34
C. Alan Woodward	Temple Personnel in the First Century	Acts 2:41-47; 4:1-37
Timothy Trammel	Joppa: Its History and Significance	Acts 9-11
Stephen W. Carlson	Do You Believe in Magic?	Acts 13-14
David E. Lanier	The Synagogue in the First Century	Acts 13-15
Paul E. Kullman	The Synagogue: Its Design and Construction	Acts 13-15
LeBron Matthews	Solomon in All His Splendor	1 Kings 3:1-28
John Traylor	The Allure of Baal	1 Kings 19; 2 Kings 23
Alan Moseley	Locusts!	Joel 1-3
John Mark Terry	The Early and Latter Rains	Joel 1-3
John L. Harris	The Day of the Lord	Books of Joel and Obadiah; Zeph 1-2; Zech 14
Robert C. Dunston	Nahum: Getting His Message Across	Book of Nahum
Wayne VanHorn	The World Situation According to the 7th Century Prophets	Books of Nahum, Habakkuk & Zephaniah
David M. Wallace	Idols in Production and Ritual	Hab 1:1 - 3:19; Deut 4-5
Martha S. Bergen	Zechariah and Haggai: Motivators and Builders	Books of Haggai & Zechariah
Robert A. Street	Zechariah's Visions and Oracles	Zech 1-8
Jeff S. Anderson	The Spritiual Climate at the End of the Old Testament Era	Book of Malachi
Daniel P. Caldwell	Horses in Ancient Warfare	Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, Haggai & Zechariah
Eric A. Mitchell	ARTIFacts: Giants in the Land: Southern Baptists and Biblical Archaeology
D. Larry Craig	Book Review: Kregel Dictionary of the Bible and Theology by Henry W. Holloman

Now, as I've said many times, the best value of Biblical Illustrator lies in the CD: Biblical Illustrator Plus. In addition to the articles above, the CD contains over sixty articles from past issues. Additional articles in the Summer 2007 are listed below.

Bob Simmons	Corinth: A Roman City	1 & 2 Corinthians
Robert Street	Josiah: Rebuilder and Reformer	2 Kings 21:1 - 23:5
Charles W. Draper	Law & Faith	Book of Galatians
Bryan E. Beyer	Evil: the Meaning	Gen 3:1-6; Isa 5:20-21; Mal 2:16
Bryce Sandlin	The Life Situation of Zechariah	Zech 3:1-2, 6-8; 4:1-6, 8-10a
Vernon Elmore	The Life Situation of Obadiah	Obadiah 1-4, 8-10, 8-10, 13-17
Fred Wood	Life Situation in Malachi	Mal 1:6-9; 2:8-9, 13-16
James Travis	Historical Setting of Nahum	Nah 1:1-3a, 7-9, 12-15; 3:5-7
Harold Moseley	Israel and the Nations	Minor Prophets
Larry McGraw	Tanning	Acts 10:34-36, 39-48
Thomas D. Lea	The Sanhedren in the First Century	Acts 4:1-4, 7-12, 31; 5:17-21a, 29-33, 40-42
Bill Tolar	Hellenist and Hebrew Christians	Acts 4:32, 34-35; 6:1-5, 7a
Mark Rathal	The Fear of the Lord	Eph5:21; 2 Cor 5:11
R. Wayne Jones	Ancient Persia	Ezra 1:1
Harry B. Hunt	From Cyrus II to Darius I	Ezra 4-5
Sharon Roberts	Prophetesses in Ancient Israel
Kevin C. Peacock	Pentecost and the Feast of Weeks	Acts 2:1-47
L. Manning Garrett III	What Is Wisdom?	1 Kings 3-4
Claude F. Mariottini	Origins of the Monarchy in Israel	1 Chron 4:9-10; 1 Kings 3:5-15
Julie Nall Knowles	Jezebel Unveiled	1 Kings 19-20
Marsha Ellis Smith	Syria & Israel in 9th Century BC	2 Kings 5:2-6, 9-14
Ray Lloyd	Habakkuk: the Man and His Times	Hab 1:1
Steve Lemke	Mount Carmel	1 Kings 18:20; 2 Kings 5:15
A. O. Collins	Josiah's Reform	2 Kings 22
Claude F. Mariottini	Josiah and His Court	2 Kings 22:1 - 23:30
John D. Duncan	Reconcilliation	2 Cor 5:11 - 6:2
Wayne Van Horn	People Who Built the Temple	Ezra 6:14-22
Donald W. Garner	Zerubbabel's Temple	Ezra 4:1-6; 5:2-3; 6:14
Bryce Sandlin	A History of Darius	Dan 6:1-28
George W. Knight	First Century Antioch of Syria	Acts 11:19-30; 12:24-25
Rick Johnson	God's Jealousy	Deut 5:1-9, 11-13, 16-21
David S. Dockery	Sanctification	2 Thess 2:13
D. C. Martin	Malachi: His Life and Times	Book of Malachi
Julie Nall Knowles	First-Century Cypress	Acts 13:1-52
Waylon Bailey	Ahab: King and Adversary	2 Kings 17:1-24
Elgia "Jay" Wells	Lessons for Race Relations	Acts 10:1-48; 8:26-40
Larry McGraw	Barnabas and Paul's Missionary Journey	Acts 13; 14
Linda Oaks Garrett	Kosher or Not?	Acts 9:32 - 11:18
C. Mack Roark	Controversy and Response	Acts 15:1-35
Harold R. Mosley	Does It Pay to Be Good?	Mal 3:13 - 4:6
Robert A. Street	The Hind	Hab 2-3
Billy E. Simmons	Barnabas and Mark	Acts 12:12, 25; 13:5, 13; 15:37-39; Col 4:10; 2 Tim 4:11
Patrick D. Ward	Beersheba	1 Kings 19:3
Linda M. Bridges	Barnabas: An Early Missionary	Acts 14:12; 15:2
Robert O. Coleman	Repentance in the Old Testament	Mal 3:7
James Travis	Of Dreams and Visions	Joel 2:28; Dan 8:1
A. O. Collins	Locusts	Joel 1:4
Harry B. Hunt Jr.	Attitudes Toward Divorce in Post-Exilic Judaism	Mal 2:13-16; Matt 5:31
Glenn McCoy	Reuben, Gad, and East-Manasseh	Deut 29:8
Eugene Skelton	Darius I Hystaspes	Hag 1:1
Robert A. Weathers	Sexual Purity in the New Testament	Job 31:1-4; Ps 101:3-4; 2 Cor 10:4-5; 1 Thess 4:3, 5-7
James E. Carter	The Chosen	Acts 6:5
Kelvin Moore	The Persian Empire	Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther
R. Raymond Lloyd	The Heart in Old Testament Theology
E. Lebron Matthews	Treaties and Covenants	Book of Deuteronomy
Wayne VanHorn	The Levites	Deut 9:1 - 11:22
James Newell	The Fathers in Israel's History	Book of Deuteronomy
David M. Wallace	The Arabah	Deut 1:1 - 3:29
Rick Byargeon	Memory and History in Israel's Faith	Deut 6:1-25; 7:1 - 8:20
Dorman Laird	A Jealous God	Deut 4:44 - 5:33
Stephen J. Andrews	How the Giants Have Fallen	Deut 1:1 - 4:43; 29:1 - 30:30
Claude Mariottini	Mount Nebo	Deut 31:1-8, 34
Francis X. Kimmitt	From Kadesh Barnea to Jericho	Books of Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy & Joshua
Stephen R. Miller	Tithes & Offerings	Mal 3:6-18

Biblical Illustrator magazine is available for $24.95 a year. Biblical Illustrator Plus CD runs $34.35. I recommend the latter. If you teach Sunday School in a Southern Baptist Church, you may simply want to ask your Minister of Education to order you a copy of the CD with the next curriculum order. And although BI is aimed primarily at teachers, in my opinion, anyone interested in biblical history and backgrounds will benefit from this quarterly publication.

Tags: Biblical Illustrator