The land mourns and wastes away,
Isaiah 33:9
Lebanon is ashamed and withers;
Sharon is like the Arabah,
and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.
We had reached the southern-most point of Israel at Eilat. There was nowhere to go but back north again. The trip north, however, would be via a different route along the eastern edge of the country to the Dead Sea. This route follows the rift valley. The Bible calls this region the Arabah. The rift valley is crack in the earth formed by the meeting of two tectonic plates that extends from Lebanon along the eastern border of Israel through the eastern arm of the Red Sea and beyond. While the Sea of Galilee and north are well-watered and green, as one goes south, it grows drier and more desolate.
As we drove north, the land rose to our left (west) into Israel and right (east) into Jordan with a relatively flat, dry area in between. However, before we reached the Dead Sea, we had a few stops…
