Page 127 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies

year. It is really interesting that in the Jordan Valley (the Rift), the city of Jericho receives very little
rainfall, maybe 4 inches annually. But Jerusalem, only 15 miles to the west, receives around 20 inches.

While the Jordan River Valley
flows north to south through the
length of the country, the amount
of rainfall in the valley is minimal.
The entire area is famous for its
fertility and is watered primarily
not by rain, but by irrigation from
the River. By the time the waters
of the Jordan reach the mouth of
the Dead Sea, the river is so small
that a person can almost jump
across it. In fact, today, Israel and
Jordan remove most of the water
for irrigation and drinking, and as a
result, the Dead Sea’s surface level
is dropping more than 1 meter or
3 feet every year. When you
consider that the surface of the
Dead Sea is the lowest point on
the planet - currently 420m (1,380ft) below sea level - that means that the planet's lowest point is being
recalibrated on an annual basis.

In many areas in the land of Israel, especially along the coastline, there are extremely heavy dews. They
come from the evaporation of water in the Mediterranean on summer days, and then fall to the ground
as it is cooled at night. Some areas of the cost have dew for three quarters of the year, and it provides
for nearly one quarter of their
moisture. Remember, Elijah the
prophet, for example, when he
predicted the coming drought, said,
“There will be neither dew nor rain.”
(I Kings 17:1). Also remember
Gideon. When he “fleeced” the Lord,
he asked that dew appear only on the
ground or only on the fleece to
validate God’s promise. The nightly
dew covers the entire area with
moisture.

P 668#y

The Dead Sea: The Lowest Sea in the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMQLypeyuHw

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