Page 98 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies - Textbook w videos short

rain or about 60 inches yearly. To the south near Jerusalem, the average rainfall is around 20-30 inches
per year, or about half as much. Continuing on to Beersheba it may only rain less than 8 inches in a
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 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.

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