A Rugged Journey
Mary’s journey into the Judean hill country (1:39) was no leisurely stroll along a country road. Given the difficulties and dangers that the landscape posed, her support network—Elizabeth and family—must have been especially valuable to her.
The mountainous terrain that she traversed did have a certain rugged beauty: desert yellows, a glimpse of the Dead Sea, violet-red mountains, and perhaps a few groves of fruit trees grown on terraced slopes. One main north-south road linked the region’s principal cities—Jerusalem to the north, Bethlehem, Beth-zur, and Hebron to the south.
Beyond that, the hill country was rather bleak. The eastern slopes were mostly impassable desert, stretching ten to fifteen miles from their highest point, 3,000 feet near Hebron, down to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth at 1,300 feet below sea level (Josh. 15:2). The vast wasteland was broken only by imposing cliffs and canyons and a few forts and oases, such as En Gedi (1 Sam. 23:29). It was an area fit for fugitives, rebels, and hermits—but certainly not for a pregnant woman.
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