For the prophetically-minded, this situation is doubly distressing as it is not only an ecological desecration of the Promised land, but it also seems to be pushing away Ezekiel’s vision of a thriving sea full of life, fed by streams of living water flowing from Jerusalem.

“This water,” he told me, “runs out to the eastern region, and flows into the Arabah; and when it comes into the sea, into the sea of foul waters, the water will become wholesome. Every living creature that swarms will be able to live wherever this stream goes; the fish will be very abundant once these waters have reached there. It will be wholesome, and everything will live wherever this stream goes. Fishermen shall stand beside it all the way from Ein Gedi to En-eglaim; it shall be a place for drying nets; and the fish will be of various kinds [and] most plentiful, like the fish of the Great Sea. Ezekiel 47:8-10

Though it may seem grim with the powers of darkness threatening to be victorious in their battle to turn the Dead Sea into “the sea of foul waters”, Noam Bedein of the Dead Sea Revival Project, assured Israel365 News that the prophecy of the sea becoming a vibrant source of life is closer than most people think.’

“The sewage flowing into the Kidron was a problem, it got fixed, but it has once again become a problem,” Bedein said. “But there is no doubt that the Dead sea is coming to life, as is the Judean Desert.”

Today, the Dead Sea is, as its name implies, appears to be dead. More than 400 meters below sea level, it is the lowest point on dry land. Almost ten times saltier than the ocean, and its shores are coated with a thick layer of salt that kills any plant. Nothing can live in the Dead Sea’s hypersaline environment – or so scientists thought until recently. Scientific research has proved the existence of life at the bottom of the sea.

Referred to in Hebrew and in the Bible as Yam Ha’Melach (sea of salt), the Bible describes the area alternatively as both vibrant and barren. Lot looked out on the valley where the Dead Sea is now and saw an incredibly fertile and well-watered region.

And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before Hashem destroyed Sdom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Hashem. Genesis 13:10 

The Bible relates that the landscape changed when the fire and brimstone destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah turned the valley into a wasteland. Indeed, people who visit the Dead Sea today would find it difficult to envision a garden in the arid region.

This dichotomy is what exists today with both possibilities imminent. 

“On one hand, the Dead Sea is threatened by its waters receding,” Bedein warned. “It is in danger of being drastically transformed with corresponding environmental damage.”

The water level at the Dead Sea has been receding at the fantastic rate of up to one meter every year. This is due to water being diverted from the Jordan River for agricultural purposes and evaporation caused by the Dead Sea mineral works. 

“Just look at the satellite images,” Bedein said. “It’s not a sea, it’s a pool of salt that’s left over. If we don’t do something now, the next generation is not going to have a Dead Sea. By the year 2050, there will be a pool of salt.”