The Land is Beautiful, But the Water is Bad 1
Bible passage: 2 Kings 2:19-22
“19. The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive." 20. "Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they brought it to him. 21. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' "
I once saw an article that said, ‘Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, is dying.’ Although it has a beautiful natural scenery and abundant water, the water is polluted due to pollutants discharged from factories and farmland, so fish are not able to survive as many as before and are dying.
A similar story appears in today’s scripture. This happened when the prophet Elisha became Elijah's successor and was staying in Jericho. One day, people from Jericho came to visit and complained, “This area has beautiful scenery and good grounds, but the water is polluted and many people are suffering.” Verse 19 of today’s scripture says, “Then the people of the city said to Elisha, “Behold now, the situation of this city is pleasant, as our lord sees; but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”” Jericho, located at the northern end of the Dead Sea, was an oasis with abundant water. There was a river flowing from the Judean mountains, so there were many trees such as palm trees and fig trees, making it a beautiful place and a good place to live.
However, although the water was abundant, the water was polluted, so the soil falls before it is ripe, the trees did not bear fruit, and the grains did not produce any crops. When I read and meditated on the Bible verse saying, ‘The land is beautiful, but the water is bad,’ I was inspired that it was a phrase that represents today’s times. This is an era in which science and technology have developed unprecedentedly in history. We are living with the benefits of a variety of new technologies.
