648. The great variety of deserts, mountains, forests, grasslands, lakes, and seashores provides nearly every possible habitat in which plants and animals can find the exact living conditions they need. About 2,250 species of trees and shrubs and annual and perennial plants grow in the Holy Land; Egypt, although much larger, has only fifteen hundred. About seven hundred species of mammals, birds, and reptiles are found in the Holy Land.
649. The contrasts in the landscape are remarkable. Mount Hermon rises to 9,400 feet, and its summit is arctic in climate. A little over a hundred miles away, at the Dead Sea, the climate is tropical. In the same glance you can see snow-capped mountains and sun-baked deserts. Alongside cultivated fields are stark deserts that afford scarcely enough pasture for flocks.
650. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho drops three thousand feet in only fifteen miles, and while fruit is growing on the farms around Jericho, it may be snowing in Jerusalem. The varied animals and plants, the many different landscapes, the abrupt changes in climate-all these realities were observed by the Bible's writers. And they put them to use to illustrate spiritual teachings.
651. The Jordan Valley is part of the Great Rift that extends from Turkey deep into Africa for four thousand miles. The Great Rift is the deepest chasm on the face of the globe. Unlike the Grand Canyon, which was formed by the process of erosion, great swells and cracking of the earth's crust caused huge blocks of land to collapse, leaving deep valleys that were flooded. In the Holy Land this formed the Jordan River, Lake Huleh, the Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea.
652. The Jordan River is among the most rapid of any rivers in the world. In approximately two hundred winding miles, it drops from almost two thousand feet above sea level to the surface of the Dead Sea, which is nearly thirteen hundred feet below sea level.
