Judean Wilderness camels

The Judean Wilderness lies between the ridge of the Judean Mountains and the Dead Sea. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and Tekoa are perched atop the mountains, roughly 2,500 feet above sea level. Just 15 miles away, as the bird flies, is the Dead Sea, some 1,400 feet below sea level. The land between the two points is so rugged, almost no one lives there. Fresh water is difficult to find. The deep canyons are subject to dangerous flash flooding in the winter. If someone like John the Baptist or Jesus wanted to be alone for a season of time, the Judean Wilderness was an ideal location. A prophet like Jeremiah could use illustrations from the wasteland of the Dead Sea region to describe his nation’s broken relationship with God. And because it was so close to populated areas, people knew the illustration well. On the Day of Atonement, the scapegoat was sent “into the wilderness” to die for the sins of God’s people. It wasn’t far, and there were plenty of rugged cliffs in the wilderness where the scapegoat could die, carrying those sins with him. The Dead Sea is also an illustration of deception. Though it appears to offer life, it delivers just the opposite.