I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 4-6.

    One of the things which has always struck me when reading this passage, and other descriptions of the large geographic area around Israel in the Bible, is that it describes the Euphrates River as being north of Israel. I always think of the Euphrates River as being east of Israel because I think of it as being in Iraq (which it is). However, when the writers of the Old Testament thought of the Euphrates River, they thought of the area that is now Syria (bordering on what is now Turkey). It is worth mentioning that the various references to Babylon and other empires based in what is now Iraq or Iran as being from the north in the Old Testament has bothered me for years. Now, I understand why that happened. Because almost all travel to and from the capitals of those empires and Israel went through northern Syria, those who lived in Israel thought of them as being to their north.
    In the past when I read that David or Solomon or some other Israelite/Judean king ruled over land extending from Egypt to the Euphrates River, I envisioned a much larger kingdom then the writer meant. I always interpreted that as from Egypt in the east to the Euphrates River (Iraq) in the east. When in fact the writer meant from Egypt in the south to the Euphrates River (Turkey) in the north.