Mount Carmel: "Garden Place"

Wikipedia: "a coastal mountain range inn northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast.The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve and a number of towns are located there, most notably the city of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, located on the northern slope."

Notes from video:
35 miles long
creates a border from north to south
Meggido is best passage from north to sort
astoundingly green...Song of Solomon 7 "your head crowns you like Mount Carmel"
Jeremiah 50:19  "I will bring Israel back to his own pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan"
Amos 9  hills are limestone, full of caves, 2,000 estimated  "thou they hide themselves on the top of Mount Carmel..."
1 Kings 18  Elijah & prophets of Baal face off on Mount Carmel



"The Jezreel Valley lies to the immediate northeast. The range forms a natural barrier in the landscape, just as the Jezreel Valley forms a natural passageway, and consequently the mountain range and the valley have had a large impact on migration and invasions through the Levant over time. The mountain formation is an admixture of limestone and flint, containing many caves, and covered in several volcanic rocks. The sloped side of the mountain is covered with luxuriant vegetation, including oak, pine, olive, and laurel trees."

Courtesy of Luke Chandler's blog:
"The Jezreel Valley from Mount Carmel, probably near the location of Elijah's contest with the Baal prophets. The Kishon River is the visible green line slightly left of center in the valley floor."

Historically, a place of refuge:

"Due to the lush vegetation on the sloped hillside, and many caves on the steeper side, Carmel became the haunt of criminals; Carmel was seen as a place offering an escape from Yahweh, as implied by the Book of Amos. According to the Books of Kings, Elisha travelled to Carmel straight after cursing a group of young men because they had mocked him and the ascension of Elijah by jeering, "Go on up, bald man!" After this, bears came out of the forest and mauled 42 of them. This does not necessarily imply that Elisha had sought asylum there from any potential backlash,  although the description in the Book of Amos, of the location being a refuge, is dated by textual scholars to be earlier than the accounts of Elisha in the Book of Kings, and according to Strabo it had continued to be a place of refuge until at least the first century." -Wikipedia

During World War I, Mount Carmel played a significant strategic role. The (20th century) Battle of Megiddo took place at the head of a pass through the Carmel Ridge, which overlooks the Valley of Jezreel from the south. General Allenby led the British in the battle, which was the turning point in the war against the Ottoman Empire. The Jezreel Valley had played host to many battles before, including the very historically significant Battle of Megiddo between the Egyptians and Canaanites, but it was only in the 20th century battle that the Carmel Ridge itself played a significant part, due to the developments in munitions.

Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses at various locations on Mt. Carmel. -Wikipedia

According to the Books of Kings, there was an altar to God on the mountain, which had fallen into ruin by the time of Ahab, but Elijah built a new one. Iamblichus describes Pythagoras visiting the mountain on account of its reputation for sacredness, stating that it was the most holy of all mountains, and access was forbidden to many, while Tacitus states that there was an oracle situated there, which Vespasian visited for a consultation; Tacitus states that there was an altar there, but without any image upon it, and without a temple around it. -Wikipedia

It's interesting to read through the reviews of the traditional location of Elijah's cave from Trip Advisor. It seems that the cave is close to the Mediterranean and within the city of Haifa. Looking at the map, Haifa is due west of the Sea of Gailee and is on a piece of coast that juts out into the Mediterranean.  Apparently there was a forest fire in Mount Carmel in 2010.

*****

From Gill:

Carmel, a mountain ridge “with many peaks, intersected by hundreds of larger and smaller ravines,” which stands out as a promontory running in a north-westerly direction into the Mediterranean (see at Jos_19:26), and some of the loftiest peaks of which rise to the height of 1800 feet above the level of the sea, when seen from the northern or outer side shows only “bald, monotonous rocky ridges, scantily covered with short and thorny bushes;” but in the interior it still preserves its ancient glory, which has procured for it the name of “fruit-field,” the valleys being covered with the most beautiful flowers of every description, and the heights adorned with myrtles, laurels, oaks, and firs (cf. V. de Velde, R. i. p. 292ff.). At the north-western extremity of the mountain there is a celebrated Carmelite monastery, dedicated to Elijah, whom tradition represents as having lived in a grotto under the monastery;