Traveling along the Dead Sea or in the Sinai one sees many Broom trees. Our first picture shows one along the shore of the Dead Sea.
This Broom tree is growing along the shore of the Dead Sea.
The broom tree is mentioned only a few times in the Bible.
After Elijah had traveled a day’s journey he sat down under a broom tree, then he lay down and slept there (1 Kings 19:4-5). The Hebrew word for the tree (rethem) is also translated juniper tree, broom bush, and shrub.
Job 30:4 states that some eat the roots of the broom tree.
Psalm 120:4 mention burning coals of the broom tree.
It was hot when we visited EnGedi along the western shore of the Dead Sea. Numerous broom trees may be seen growing in the area. Paulette tried to get a little shade under one of the broom trees,
Along the central mountain road between Bethlehem and Hebron. There are many beautiful views. This one shows examples of the continued fertility of the land that was promised to the ancient Israelites. It illustrates the use of valleys to collect water during the rain season to provide water for the plants. The hillsides illustrate the terracing used as far back as the Biblical Iron age (around 1000 B.C.).
View of hillsides and valleys along road between Bethlehem and Hebron. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.
After the previous post I was ask how far the map extended. I have seen the map several times, but much of my detailed info comes from an article by Victor R. Gold: “The Mosaic Map of Medeba.” This article first appeared in Biblical Archaeologist, XXI.3 (Sept. 1958), pp.59-71. It was included in a 3-volume set called The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, vol. 3.
Here is a section on the extent of the Map:
“Except for the [third century] Tabula Peutingeriana [road map of the world], the Madeba map is the only map of ancient Palestine still in existence. The large remaining section extends from Aenon in the Jordan valley, or near it, in the north, to the Canobic branch of the Nile in the south. Not even this section is complete, however, the footing of one of the columns rests over a section of Judea from Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibin) to Ashdod and Beersheba.” (Campbell, Edward F., and David N. Freedman, editors. The Biblical Archaeologist Reader 3. First ed., vol. 3, Doubleday and Company, 1970, pp. 359-65, 3 vols.
I am including a photo showing the actual size of the map in the church building floor at Madaba, Jordan. I have darkened the portion of the map that has been reconstructed there. We are not seeing all that is known to have existed. I have noted a small portion of the Nile Delta, and coastal towns such as Ashkelon and Ashdod. In my photos I can see mountains of Moab to the east, and Aenon in the northern Jordan Valley.
For the benefit of those who might like to see the size of the map in the Madaba church, I have darkened the map in the area that is cordoned off.
The Madaba Map is shown darker in the church floor to allow one to see the size of the map there.
The Madaba Map is an amazing piece of work. It would be nice if we had one in the vestibule where I meet with Christians.
About AD 560 the church at Madaba, now in Jordan, decided they needed a map in their building. They could not order one from their Bible class publisher, so they made a large Mosaic map on the floor of the building. This map was rediscovered in the 1880s.
Madaba was known as the Ammonite city of Medeba in Joshua 13:9,16 and Isaiah 15:2.
For now I wish to share a photo of a surviving portion showing the Jordan River flowing into the Dead Sea.
I understand the designer of the map to be saying that the fish of the Jordan River could not survive in the Salt Sea. This portion of the map also shows Jericho, the city of Palm trees (Deuteronomy 34:3; 2 Chronicles 28:15).
We set the clock to get up in time to see the sunrise across the Dead Sea. I was pleased with the result as the sun rose in the vicinity of Biblical Edom sending a ray across the Dead Sea. The smaller light to the left of center is a reflection from the camera lens.
Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. (Gen. 19:30 ESV)
While we were at the southern end of the Dead Sea we drove a little further south to see the formation nicknamed “Lot’s Wife.” This is based on the Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19. See especially Genesis 19:26, and the reference by Jesus in Luke 17:32).
As usual, these photos are available for download for use in teaching as long as credit is given to this source. For commercial use see our Photo Permission page.
Paulette and I enjoyed two weeks of travel in Israel the first part of May. It was her first opportunity to see and learn the land. I led tours to the Bible world almost annually from 1967 to 2016 and have made personal study trips to Israel or some other part of the Bible world with a friend every year except the first year of the recent pandemic. I wanted to show Paulette places that she had read about many times in her Bible study. Though she believes the Biblical accounts about the activities of Jesus and his disciples, as well as the judges, prophets and other writers of the Bible, I watched as the Biblical text came alive to her in a new way. We did not see as much as I had hoped but we were able to work out from Jerusalem and Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee and also enjoy a day along the Dead Sea.
We drove the full length of the Dead Sea, south and north. Here are photos of some scenes that impressed us. The first one is a late afternoon view of the recreation area of the Dead Sea Resort and Spa at Ein Bokek at the southern end of the Dead Sea. The view is to the northeast. The water in this area is pumped from the deeper north. Otherwise it would be dry.
Biblical references refer to the Dead Sea as the Sea of the Arabah and the Salt Sea (Deuteronomy 3:17; Joshua 3:16). The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltitis (Josephus, Jewish War IV.476-450).
The next photo shows ruins of an old hotel or a building used by the military in the 1967 war. A hotel was there in 1967, my first trip. It was only a short walk to the water at that time, but today one can hardly see the water. We are aware that the level of the Dead Sea has continued to recede at about a meter (three feet) each year as less water flows into the Dead Sea from the north. Most of the water is pumped into reservoirs to provide water for the residents of Israel.
When I took my first class dealing with Bible geography in 1953 I learned that the Dead Sea was 1290 feet below sea level. Fairly recent reports give the surface level of the water as 1410 ft.
This photo below shows some of the sink holes that have recently developed on the west side of the Dead Sea near the northern end. A few years ago the water came almost to the highway.
We have written about the Dead Sea on several occasions. As always, we suggest that you use the Search box to seek information and photos for this and other Biblical places and topics.
Ferrell's Travel Blog 
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