SATELLITE IMAGING by Dr. Harold Sala The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot besides women and children. Many other people went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. Exodus 12:37-38 When LANDSAT began sending back pictures from satellites in space, scientists began seeing the faces of the earth in a new light. It was almost as if someone had switched on the light and enabled them to see ancient trade routes in the middle east which archaeologists knew were somewhere out there but now precisely became down there. Satellite imagery, which was first developed with military objectives in mind, became a new tool for archaeologists who want to pin down the locations of long-since forgotten cities–at least, forgotten to the thousands of people who thumb through the pages of their Old Testament and stumble over words like Beersheba, Hebron, Abel Beth Maacah, Napthali and Tirzah. But some 4000 years ago, these were as meaningful to people as Manila, Frankfurt, Tokyo or New York. In ancient days when a city was destroyed in warfare, the survivors were usually taken away as slaves and the city was sacked and burned. Unlike the cities of World War 2 which were rebuilt with a monotonous uniformity, the wind and sand began to drift over these ancient cities and they were soon lost to history. Napoleon and his army passed by the ancient city of Babylon and never knew it was there. Its safe …