Israel

Israel is situated in about the same latitude as the southern part of the United States, but since it is a narrow, mountainous country with the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Arabian Desert to the east, it offers considerable variation in temperature and climate.  In addition, the Dead Sea Fault line that the Dead Sea, Jordan River, and the Sea of Galilee sit on, creates the lowest land elevations in the world.  The Dead Sea is the lowest saltwater lake in the world at -1,412 ft below sea level.  The Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake in the world at -696 ft below sea level.  For comparison,  Jerusalem is situated in the mountains only twenty-five miles from the Dead Sea but has an elevation of 2,474 ft above sea level.  Doing the math, traveling from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem is only twenty-five miles but you ascend in elevation 3,886 ft.  That's 3/4 of a mile up!  

Jericho is eighteen miles east of Jerusalem and located immediately to the north of the Dead Sea.  When Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30 it says, "Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he encountered robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead."  He was going "down from Jerusalem" indeed!  Nearly a 1/2 mile descent.  This is just one example of many that you will experience as you travel the Holy Land that will immerse you in the land of the Bible and transform your Bible reading from 2D to 3D.