653. The shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest place on the land surface of the earth. This sea is also the saltiest body of water in the world, and nine times saltier than the oceans! It is so salty that it is impossible for a human swimmer to sink in it. During the Roman siege of Jerusalem A.D. 70, a Roman commander sentenced prisoners to death by having them thrown into the Dead Sea. The condemned men were thrown in from the hill, but they did not drown. Several times they were pulled out and tossed in again, yet each time they bobbed to the surface. The commander was impressed by this seeming miracle, since he did not understand its cause, and he pardoned the prisoners.
654. Ancient Hebrews had an unlimited supply of salt. They formed brine pits called "salt pans" along the Dead Sea's flat coastal area. The sun evaporated the water in the pits, leaving behind an abundant supply of mineral salts.
655. Salt was the chief economic product of the ancient world, and the Hebrews used it in a variety of ways: for flavoring foods, preserving fish, curing meat, and pickling olives and vegetables. Infants were rubbed in salt to insure good health before swaddling. Salt was also believed to have been an antidote for tooth decay. Salt was an ingredient in the sacred anointing oil and ritual sacrifices symbolizing God's perpetual covenant with Israel (Num. 18:19).
656. Cool streams, luxuriant pastures, and mountains shaggy with trees are often described in the Bible. Yet visitors today usually see a bleak and barren landscape with waterless flatlands and bare hills. Almost everywhere the rocky bones of the earth show through the soil. An ancient Hebrew legend states that God had two bags of rocks when He made the world. He scattered the contents of one bag over the entire earth-but all the other rocks in the other bag He dropped on the small area of the Holy Land.
657. The face of the land looked very different than it does today. The first step toward agriculture was the cutting down of the forests. That is what Joshua told the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh to do when they complained about the lack of farmland in the areas assigned to them: "But the forested hill country [shall be yours] as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours" (Josh. 17:18).
