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Bible Lands

The Carmel—formidable barrier and wedge into the sea

By Oded Borowski

046 The prophet Amos seems to have known the Carmel forests when he said: “Though they [the sinners] hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search out and take them” (Amos 9:3). In biblical times, thick forests of pine, oak, carob, arbutus and other trees covered the Carmel, all of which still grow today in their natural habitat. Looming above the Mediterranean, the Carmel ridge is a wedge dividing Israel’s northern and southern coasts. The Carmel ridge can be pictured as two superimposed triangles. The northern apex of both triangles is the Mediterranean port […]

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Footnotes

1.

See “BAR’s Bicentennial Salute—The United States Navy Explores the Holy Land” by Emanuel Levine, BAR 02:04.

2.

See “Have Sodom and Gomorrah Been Found?” BAR 06:05.

3.

See the following articles in BAR: Adam Zertal, “Has Joshua’s Altar Been Found on Mt. Ebal?” BAR 11:01; Aharon Kempinski, “Joshua’s Altar—An Iron Age I Watchtower” BAR 12:01; Zertal, “How can Kempinski Be so Wrong!” BAR 12:01.

4.

The Samaritans still exist today in two small communities—Nablus and Holon—in modern Israel.

5.

Right, as opposed to left, is favored in the Bible. Jacob crosses his hands, pacing his right hand on Ephraim (Genesis 48:14). The “right hand of God” overcame Israel’s enemies (Exodus 15:6). For other examples, see Encyclopaedia Judaica (1972), vol. 14, p. 177.

6.

See Barry J. Beitzel, “How to Draw Ancient Highways on Biblical Maps,” BR 14:05.

7.

See Harold Brodsky, “The Shephelah—Guardian of Judea,” BR 03:04.

8.

In Arabic the Carmel mountain is called Jebel Mar Elias, “The mountain of the prophet Elijah.”

9.

The Talmud (tahl-Mood) is a collection of Jewish laws and teachings, comprising the Mishnah (a compilation of laws collected by Rabbi Judah the Prince about 200 C.E.) and the Gemara (a commentary on the Mishnah). There are two Talmuds. The Palestinian Talmud was completed in the mid-fifth century; the Babylonian Talmud, completed in the mid-sixth century, became authoritative.

10.

This is the period of the Mishnah, the compilation of Jewish laws collated by Rabbi Judah the Prince in about 200 C.E.

Endnotes

1.

Genesis 14:3; Numbers 34:3, 12; Deuteronomy 3:17; Joshua 3:16, 12:3, 15:2, 5, 18:19. It is also called yam ha‘arabaÆ, “Sea of the Aravah,” (Deuteronomy 3:17, 4:49; Joshua 3:16, 12:3; 2 Kings 14:25), and yam haggadmoÆni, “East[ern]/Former Sea” (Ezekiel 47:18; Joel 2:20; Zechariah 14:8).

2.

Pausanias, Periegesis 5.7, 4–5.

3.

Barry J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), p. 2.

4.

For additional information, see Atlas of Israel, 3rd ed. (Tel Aviv: Survey of Israel, 1985), pp. 14–15.