There Are Two Seas In Israel

One is fresh and fish are in it. Splashes of green adorn its banks. Trees spread their branches over it. Along its shores the children play. The river Jordan makes this sea with sparkling water from the hills. So it laughs in the sunshine and men build their houses near it and birds make their nests; and every kind of life is happier because it is there.

The river Jordan flows south into another sea. There is no splash of fish, no fluttering leaf, no song of birds. The air hangs heavy about its waters and neither man nor beast nor fowl will drink. What makes this difference in these neighbour seas? Not the fiver Jordan. Not the soil in which they lie; nor the country round about.

This is the difference. The Sea of Galilee receives but does not keep the

Jordan. For every drop that flows into it, another flows out. The giving and receiving go in equal measure. The other sea is shrewder, hoarding its income jealously.

It will not be tempted into any generous impulse. Every drop it gets, it keeps. The Sea of Galilee gives and lives. The other sea gives nothing. It is named the Dead Sea.

unknown | May 1994
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