Changes of the Land

But there have been great changes over the centuries in the land. When Israel entered the Promised Land, most of the upland area was covered by woods. Even in the time of Jesus there seems to have been considerable tree cover. Many kinds of hardwoods and softwoods are referred to in the Old Testament, and the Romans laid out forest plantations. Today, the landscape is quite different, and almost all the forest and woodland has disappeared.

Felling trees for building and firewood and to clear land for ploughing led to soil erosion. This meant that new trees could not grow, and the woods were grdually replaced by the kind of thorny scrub (maquis) which is so common in long-settled Mediterranean lands. This scrub clutters the ground and is quite useless (for example, for building). It contains few trees of any size, is a serious fire risk in the summer today may represent all that remains of once-splendid forests. In Israel there has also been deliberate destruction of trees in war after war and destructive grazing by goats. The same has happened on the now bare hills od moab, east of Jordan, which was once a densely settled woodland area.

Only in the past half-century have we begun to reverse this process of deforestation. This was just in time to save a few of the famous cedars of Lebanon and some of the mountain forest of the north. Landscape changes over the same time have been even more dramatic, because they have happened so much more quickly than those taking place in the long dreadful period of destruction. Marshes have been drained and cultivated. Groves of fruit trees have been planted in place of the old oak woodlands. And irragation has been extended into the desert, in some cases to the same areas once farmed under Roman rule in the time of Jesus. It is well known that some desert soils are fertil when watered. And the southern fringe, together with the lower Jordan Valley, is an area of oasis agriculture - for example at Jericho and Engedi.

Plants of the Land
Trees & Shrubs of the Land
Changes of the Land

Structures of the Land Climate of the Land Vegetation of the Land Resources of the Land Regions of the Land