Daily Archives: February 17, 2008

The Jerusalem Post reports that an earthquake was felt in Israel last Friday, Feb. 15. Read the full story here.

The earth shook in many parts of Israel at 12:37 p.m. Friday. The quake was felt mainly in coastline cities, including Haifa, Tel Aviv and Nahariya.
The quake, Israel Radio reported, was also felt in Syria and Lebanon. A faded echo of the quake that hit the coast was also felt at the editorial offices of The Jerusalem Post in Jerusalem.
….

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center said on its Web site that the quake Friday was 5.3 on the Richter scale and that its epicenter was in Lebanon.

The region is long overdue for an earthquake of epic and potentially catastrophic proportions, scientists say.

The Great Rift runs all the way from northern Syria through Lebanon, Israel, the Arabah, and into eastern Africa. In Israel the area is called the Jordan Valley or the Dead Sea Rift, It is not surprising that earthquakes are mentioned frequently in the Bible. The prophet Amos dates his visions to “two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1). The earthquake he makes reference to must have been so memorable that everyone would know what he was talking about. Zechariah (14:5) also calls attention to this earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

Jesus, in predicting the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans, said, “and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes” (Matthew 24:7; see Luke 21:11).

We have a wonderful example of the power of an earthquake in the Jordan Valley at the site of Bethshan [Bet-she’an, Beth-shean], about 25 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 749. This photo shows the evidence brought to light during recently archaeological excavations in the city.