Dead Sea

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DEAD SEA

A body of water in Palestine at the southern end of the Jordan Valley. The Dead Sea, whose surface lies 1,286 feet below sea level, is the lowest point on the surface of Earth. Its name is well chosen, since the excessive chemical content of the lake, including potassium, sodium, and magnesium chlorides, prevents all forms of vegetation and sea life from existing there. It resembles the Great Salt Lake of Utah in that both have a salt concentration of more than 20 percent, almost six times that of ordinary sea water. The Israelites called it the Salt Sea. The OT refers to it also as the Sea of the Arabah, i.e., of the desert. The Greeks were fascinated by the chunks of bitumen that were occasionally found floating on its surface, and therefore they referred to it as the Asphalt Lake. In modern Arabic it is the Bahr Lūt (Lot's Sea), recalling Gn 19.1–29.

In its northern sector the waters of the Dead Sea reach down to depths of about 1,300 feet. The warm and dry climate causes heavy evaporation and leaves a bluish haze hanging perpetually over the lake; thus although it has no outlet, a natural balance with the incoming waters of the jordan River is maintained, so that the level of the Dead Sea from year to year is fairly constant; but the minerals carried into it remain. In recent years, however, the inflow has been greatly reduced by the increased use of the waters of the Jordan for irrigation.

The lake, 48 miles long and 8 miles wide, is surrounded on both its east and west sides by barren highlands that break off unevenly as they descend to the water's edge. The hills on the eastern side are for the most part very precipitous, often plunging directly into the

depths of the lake and making travel along the shoreline impossible. At best, travel is hazardous even on the high plateau, which is broken by deep canyons leading down to the lake. The most treacherous of these are the Arnon (Wâdī el-Môjib) and the Zared Valley (Wâdī el-Ḥesā), both providing an abundant source of water for the Dead Sea during the winter rainy season.

A broad marl peninsula, called the Lisân (tongue), extends from the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea to within two miles of the opposite shore. It helps to form the large shallow bay, averaging about three feet in depth, at the southern extremity of the lake. According to biblical tradition, this area was the inhabited plain of the Five Cities, or Pentapolis, among which were the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. On the western corner of the bay there is a sizable natural mountain of salt (Jebel Usdum), which, with its contorted cliffs and dunes, easily evokes the image of Lot's wife.

Because of the lack of rainfall on the Desert of Judah, no rivers flow into the Dead Sea from the west, although a few wadies (e.g., Wadi Qumran) may have small streams in the winter. Nevertheless, two important springs form little oases along the western shore. One, called ’Ain Feshkha, is located close to the Dead Sea near the site of the former qumran community, where the dead sea scrolls were found. Farther south, another spring, that of Engedi (modern Arabic ’Ain Jidi), which lies on a plateau, provides sufficient water for rather extensive irrigation.

Symbolic of desolation and destruction, the wrath of nature and of God, the Dead Sea somewhat surprisingly figures but little in the pages of the Bible. The single account, however, of the punishment of the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Gn 19.1–29 leaves mankind with an interpretative history that is not easily erased. Tradition has also placed the imprisonment and beheading

of John the Baptist at Herod's fortress of Machaerus overlooking the northeastern end of the Dead Sea.

Bibliography: Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible, tr. and adap. by l. hartman (New York 1963), from a. van den born, Bijbels Woordenboek 513–514. d. baly, The Geography of the Bible (New York 1957) 202–210. f. m. abel, "Notes complémentaires sur la Mer Morte," Revue biblique 38 (1929) 237–260; Géographie de la Palestine, 2 v. (Paris 1933–38) 1:498–505. e. g. kraeling, Rand McNally Bible Atlas (2d ed. New York 1962) 25–26. w. smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, 2v. (London 1873–78).