What Israel Looks Like

I obviously still having trouble putting Israel into words. But here we go.

The terrain of Israel varies so much. It's such a small piece of land, but it is so diverse. What we came to understand on this trip was how important the diversity of this land is.

The Mediterranean Sea was similar to other oceans we've visited. The beach was sandy and you had to go down cliffs to get to it. There were palm trees and tropical birds. Buildings and communities are very close together. 

Here I stand on Mt. Gilboa (2 Samuel 31) overlooking the Jezreel Valley. This valley has seen international traffic for thousands of years. It is the only way for travelers to get through this country and sort of connects Asia with Egypt. This valley will continue to see lots of action in the future, too. As you can see it is very green and fertile. We saw many, many crops growing all over Israel.

My favorite terrain was in Dan, formerly Laish. It was beautiful with a large natural spring and felt like Colorado hiking. This was in the northernmost part of Israel, bordering Lebanon and Syria. 

The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountains, or the hill country. I don't have any really good pictures of how mountainous it is. It sits below sea level and is green and pretty and fertile. 

Next we saw the wilderness. Think of where David hid from Saul in caves - rocky, steep incline, jagged cliffs, winding caverns, and barren. This is where the Dead Sea is - water that gives life to nothing. Not beautiful, but definitely amazing.

From there we moved to the Negev. Dessert everywhere. No more jagged cliffs like before, but rolling hills of rocky sand and dirt. This is where the Bedouins live, and the camels!

Before our eyes the terrain changed dramatically. The Shephellah is an area of rolling hills. Again, lots of crops seen growing around here.

Finally, we went into the hill country and we felt like we were traveling in Colorado, on a much smaller scale of course. Jerusalem is build on these limestone hills and there isn't a flat spot to be found!

Now you can see we saw a little bit of everything. Next up: placing Bible stories with the locations!