Living water in a Dead Sea

There is a unique body of water in Israel…it freely accepts every drop of water that flows into it, but other than loss by evaporation, it gives none away. Abraham and Lot, King David, John the Baptist knew this lake well. Countless others, from ancient times to today, have waked on its shores, and floated on its mineral laden waters long before it became a health spa for Herod the Great. It has silently witnessed more than 5,000 years of often turbulent history.

Somewhere near its dead waters, (and possibly the origin of them) Divine retribution was rained down upon the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, names that to this day remain the ultimate benchmark in human depravity. 

The Bible appears to indicate that there were more than two cities destroyed; archaeological evidence points to other towns being overwhelmed on that terrible day thousands of years ago. So far, at least 5 cities have been discovered that were turned to ash and have sulfur balls  (Biblical brimstone) strewn throughout them.   

He overthrew, destroyed, and ended those cities, and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. Genesis 19:25 AMP

Lot's wife?

There is an everlasting memorial to this event; a crag at the south end of the Dead Sea, which local Arabs call Bint Sheik Lot, i.e., Lot's wife. It is a tall, isolated needle of rock, which really does bear a curious resemblance to a woman with a child upon her shoulder.

Egyptian Queen Cleopatra used the chemically enhanced broth and rich mud and to manufacture cosmetics and pharmaceuticals…. the bitumen extracted from sands and rocks in the area was needed by the Egyptians for embalming their mummies.

Aristotle wrote about the remarkable waters. In Roman times the Essenes settled on the northern shore of this lowest point on earth, as a place of refuge. In stark contrast, on the heights of Masada a small group of rebellious Jewish zealots held out against the might of the Roman Legion, succeeding in fending them off for two years, and robbing the Romans of final victory by committing mass suicide the night before they were over-run.

The remoteness of the region has attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Bedouin tribes have continuously lived in the area and more recently explorers and scientists have arrived to analyze the minerals and conduct research into the exceptional climate…. The waters of the Dead Sea contains 21 minerals including magnesium, calcium, bromine and potassium. 12 of these minerals are not found in fresh or salt water  

But this sea is dead! Very little aquatic life can survive in water that is 10 times as salty as the nearby Mediterranean, and whatever you do, don’t swim in its waters if you have any cuts or open sores on your body….

Sea of Galilee

Less than 250 kilometers (134 miles) away, almost directly to the north, is one of the most well known bodies of water in the world, The Sea of Galilee, known to Israelis as Lake Kinneret, which like its dead neighbor to the south, is also well below sea level, but is alive and rich with piscatorial life, and supplies Israel with about half of its fresh water needs. These two bodies of water are linked together by the equally famous River Jordan, which begins life as the Psalmist tells us… “It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.”. Psalm 133:3 NIV

The contrast between these two “seas” is dramatic and serves as a telling illustration of a Christian’s life …the  water that freely leaves The Sea of Galilee is indeed life giving and irrigates vast tracts of desert on it journey to the barren and hostile regions on the Negev Desert. 

    

Jesus once said… “The one believing [or, trusting] in Me, just as the Scripture said, 'Out of his belly [or, innermost being] will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38 Analytical-Literal Version  

Jesus was repeating a thought oft voiced in the Old Testament. “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come you to the waters, and he who has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1 MKJV 

And Jehovah shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. Isaiah 58:11 MKJV

Those of us who walk with Christ should be vessels from which flow life-giving water… we are to pour that water into the waste places, the desiccated lives around us, the souls that cry out for a touch from God.

A 19^th century American preacher put it this way… “The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are made of the same water. It flows down, clean and cool, from the heights of Hermon and the roots of the cedars of Lebanon. The Sea of Galilee makes beauty of it; the Sea of Galilee has an outlet. It gets to give. It gathers in its riches that it may pour them out again to fertilize the Jordan plain. But the Dead Sea with the same water makes horror. For the Dead Sea has no outlet. It does not give away life, it takes it.”

            Are you life giving water in a dead sea?  

 

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. Isaiah 44:3 NIV