Page 73 - Advanced Bible Geography ebook

An environmental emergency also exists for the Dead Sea today. Because
almost all of the fresh water from the Jordan River is used for irrigation
for farms on both the Israeli and Jordanian side of the river, no
meaningful amount of water has been flowing into the Dead Sea for
decades. Coupled with a 20-year drought (1997-present), the water of
the Dead Sea has receded dramatically. The water level has dropped 460
feet (140 meters). In the north, the shoreline has receded more than a
mile in some places. At En Bokek, a small community with several hotels,
it’s even easier to see the environmental crisis. The first hotels were built
on the shoreline of the Dead Sea in 1960. Today, it takes six miles of a Dr. Bjorgen floating in the Dead Sea
man-made canal to bring the Dead Sea to En Bokek! Likewise, at the En
Gedi spa hotel, visitors are now transported half a mile to the water that was only a few steps away in
1970.

A 2013 agreement between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority will provide a pipeline from the
Red Sea to the Dead Sea to put more water into the shrinking sea. As a side benefit, Israeli desalinization
technology will also turn the sea water into drinking water along the way. According to the agreement,
the first pipeline is due to be finished in 2021.

It’s highly likely that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were once located in the deep Rift Valley that is
now the Dead Sea. Some archaeological work has already pinpointed some ruins as the potential
location of these two notorious communities, but the work is inconclusive. Two factors would make it
very difficult to confirm the biblical communities of Sodom and Gomorrah. First, 4,000 years have
passed. Time, earthquakes, and the corrosive nature of the soil itself would make it difficult to find
anything from that time. Second, the Bible describes an extremely destructive event that eliminated all
life in the region very quickly. Such destruction would add to the difficulty of finding proof of the original
location of Sodom or Gomorrah. Even so, the Dead Sea basin is almost certainly the location of the
Genesis event.

En-gedi

En Gedi is an oasis along the western shore of the Dead Sea. The fresh-water springs here have allowed
nearly continuous inhabitation of this site since the flood. It is difficult to describe the contrast of the
vast Judean Wilderness and the small oasis of En Gedi.

In the rock-strewn, sunbaked wilderness, there are almost no fresh-water sources. The Judean
Wilderness begins at the northern end of the Dead Sea and ends more than 40 miles later, giving way to
the even larger – and even more harsh – Negev Desert.

But in the nearly hidden oasis of En Gedi, a rich and luxuriant garden of
life provides a ready source of fresh water, shade and produce. People
and wildlife have been drawn to En Gedi for centuries.

The historian Josephus praised En Gedi for its palm and balsam trees
2,000 years ago.

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