Recent travel in Israel

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.