With respect to the general features of the Holy Land, see Psalm 23:4 , and may have been suggested by the psalmist's experience with his flock in some of the deep, narrow, and dark ravines of Syria.
Thus the entrance to Petra is by long winding defile, between rugged precipices in some spots not more than twelve or fourteen feet apart and two or three hundred feet high, and almost excluding the light of day. See view in SELA . A similar pass south of mount Carmel is now known as the "Valley of Death-shade."