Jordan

VIEW:59 DATA:01-04-2020

the river of judgment
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


JORDAN.—The longest and most important river in Palestine.
1. Name.—The name ‘Jordan’ is best derived from Heb. yârad ‘to descend,’ the noun Yardçn formed from it signifying ‘the descender’; it is used almost invariably with the article. In Arabic the name is esh-Sheri‘ah, or ‘the watering-place,’ though Arabic writers before the Crusades called it el-Urdun. Quite fanciful is Jerome’s derivation of the name from Jor and Dan, the two main sources of the river, as no source by the name of Jor is known.
2. Geology.—The geology of the Jordan is unique. Rising high up among the foothills of Mt. Hermon, it flows almost due south by a most tortuous course, through the two lakes of Huleh and Galilee, following the bottom of a rapidly descending and most remarkable geological fissure, and finally emptying itself into the Dead Sea, which is 1292 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. In its short course of a little more than 100 miles it falls about 3000 feet, and for the greater portion of the journey runs below the level of the ocean. No other part of the earth’s surface, uncovered by water, sinks to a depth of even 300 feet below sea-level, except the great Sahara. Professor Hull, the eminent Irish geologist, accounts for this great natural cleft by supposing that towards the end of the Eocene period a great ‘fault’ or fracture was caused by the contraction from east to west of the limestone crust of the earth. Later, during the Pliocene period, the whole Jordan valley probably formed an inland lake more than 200 miles long, but at the close of the Glacial period the waters decreased until they reached their present state. Traces of water, at heights 1180 feet above the Dead Sea’s present level, are found on the lateral slopes of the Jordan valley.
3. Sources.—The principal sources of the Jordan are three: (1) the river Hasbani, which rises in a large fountain on the western slopes of Mt. Hermon, near Hasbeiya, at an altitude of 1700 feet; (2) the Leddan, which gushes forth from the celebrated fountain under Tell el-Qadl, or Dan, at an altitude of 1500 feet—the most copious source of the Jordan; and (3) the river Banias, which issues from an immense cavern below Banias or Cæsarea Philippi, having an altitude of 1200 feet. These last two meet about five miles below their fountain-heads at an altitude of 148 feet, and are joined about a half-mile farther on by the Hasbani. Their commingled waters flow on across a dismal marsh of papyrus, and, after seven miles, empty into Lake Huleh, which is identified by some with ‘the waters of Merom’ (Jos_11:5; Jos_11:7). The lake is four miles long, its surface being but 7 feet above sea-level.
4. The Upper Jordan is a convenient designation for that portion of the river between Lake Huleh and the Sea of Galilee. Emerging from Lake Huleh, the river flows placidly for a space of two miles, and then dashes down over a rocky and tortuous bed until it enters the Sea of Galilee, whose altitude is 682 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. It falls, in this short stretch of 101/2 miles, 689 feet. At certain seasons its turbid waters can be traced for quite a considerable distance into the sea, which is 121/2 miles long.
5. The Lower Jordan is an appropriate designation for that portion of the river between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The distance in a straight line between these two seas is but 65 miles, yet it is estimated that the river’s actual course covers not less than 200, due to its sinuosity. In this stretch it falls 610 feet, the rate at first being 40 feet per mile. Its width varies from 90 to 200 feet. Along its banks grow thickets of tamarisks, poplars, oleanders, and bushes of different varieties, which are described by the prophets of the OT as ‘the pride of Jordan’ (Jer_12:5; Jer_49:19; Jer_50:44, Zec_11:3). Numerous rapids, whirlpools, and islets characterize this portion of the Jordan. The river’s entire length from Banias to the Dead Sea is 104 miles, measured in a straight line.
6. Tributaries.—Its most important tributaries flow into the Lower Jordan and from the East. The largest is the Yarmuk of the Rabbis, the Hieromax of the Greeks, and the Sheri‘at el-Manadireh of the Arabs, which drains Gilead and Bashan in part. It enters the Jordan 5 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. The Bible never mentions it. The only other tributary of considerable importance is the Jabbok of the OT, called by the natives Nahr ez-Zerka or Wady el-‘Arab. It rises near ‘Amman (Philadelphia), describes a semicircle, and flows into the Jordan at a point about equidistant from the two seas. On the west are the Nahr el-Jatûd, which rises in the spring of Harod at the base of Mt. Gilboa and drains the valley of Jezreel; Wady Fârah, which rises near Mt. Ebal and drains the district east of Shechem; and the Wady el-Kelt, by Jericho, which is sometimes identified with the brook Cherith.
7. Fords.—The fords of the Jordan are numerous. The most celebrated is that opposite Jericho known as Makhadet el-Hajlah, where modern pilgrims are accustomed to bathe. There is another called el-Ghôranïyeh near the mouth of Wady Nimrin. North of the Jabbok there are at least a score. In ancient times the Jordan seems to have been crossed almost exclusively by fords (1Sa_13:7, 2Sa_10:17); but David and his household were possibly conveyed across in a ‘ferry-boat’ (2Sa_19:18; the rendering is doubtful).
8. Bridges are not mentioned in the Bible. Those which once spanned the Jordan were built by the Romans, or by their successors. The ruins of one, with a single arch, may be seen at Jisr ed-Damieh near the mouth of the Jabbok. Since its construction the river bed has changed so that it no longer spans the real channel. This bridge is on the direct route from Shechem to Ramoth-gilead. There is another called Jisr el-Mujamîyeh, close by that of the new railroad from Haifa to Damascus, or about 7 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. A third, built of black basalt and having three arches, is known as the Jisr ‘Benat-Yâ‘gub, or ‘bridge of the daughters of Jacob,’ situated about two miles south of Lake Huleh on the direct caravan route from Acre to Damascus. A temporary wooden bridge, erected by the Arabs, stands opposite Jericho.
9. The Jordan valley.—The broad and ever-descending valley through which the Jordan flows is called by the Arabs the Ghôr or ‘bottom’; to the Hebrews it was known as the ‘Arabah. It is a long plain, sloping uniformly at the rate of 9 feet to the mile, being at the northern end 3, and at the southern end 12 miles broad. For the most part the valley is fertile, especially in the vicinity of Beisan, where the grass and grain grow freely. Near the Dead Sea, however, the soil is saline and barren. The ruins of ancient aqueducts here and there all over the plain give evidence of its having been at one time highly cultivated. By irrigation the entire region could easily be brought under cultivation once more and converted into a veritable garden. In the vicinity of Jericho, once the ‘city of palms,’ a large variety of fruits, vegetables, and other products is grown. The most fertile portion under cultivation at the present time is the comparatively narrow floor-bed of the river known as the Zôr, varying from a quarter to two miles in width, and from 20 to 200 feet in depth below the Ghôr proper. This is the area which was overflowed every year ‘all the time of harvest’ (Jos_3:15). It has been formed, doubtless, by the changing of the river bed from one side of the valley to the other.
10. The climate of the Jordan valley is hot. The Lower Jordan in particular, being shut in by two great walls of mountain, the one on the east, and the other on the west, is decidedly tropical. Even in winter the days are uncomfortably warm, though the nights are cool; in summer both days and nights are torrid, especially at Jericho, where the thermometer has been known to register 130 Fahr. by day, and 110 after sunset. This accounts largely for the unpeopled condition of the Lower Jordan valley both to-day and in former times.
11. Flora and fauna.—The trees and shrubs of the Jordan valley are both numerous and varied. The retem or broom plant, thorns, oleanders, flowering bamboos, castor-oil plants, tamarisks, poplars, acacias, Dead Sea ‘apples of Sodom,’ and many other species of bush, all grow in the valley. The papyrus is especially luxuriant about Lake Huleh.
Animals such as the leopard, jackal, boar, hyæna, ibex, porcupine, and fox live in the thickets which border the banks. The lion has completely disappeared. The river abounds in fish of numerous species, many of them resembling those found in the Nile and the lakes of tropical Africa. Of the 35 species, however, known to exist, 16 are peculiar to the Jordan.
12. The Jordan as a boundary.—In view of what has been said, it is obvious that the Jordan forms a natural boundary to Palestine proper. In the earlier books of the OT we frequently meet with the expressions ‘on this side Jordan,’ and ‘on the other side of the Jordan,’ which suggest that the Jordan was a dividing line and a natural boundary. In Num_34:12, indeed, it is treated as the original eastern boundary of the Promised Land (cf. Jos_22:25). Yet, as Lucien Gautier suggests (art. ‘Jordan’ in Hastings’ DCG [Note: CG Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels.] ), it was not so much the Jordan that constituted the boundary as the depressed Ghôr valley as a whole.
13. Scripture references.—The Jordan is frequently mentioned in both the OT and the NT. Lot, for example, is said to have chosen ‘all the circle of the Jordan’ because ‘it was well watered everywhere’ (Gen_13:10); Joshua and all Israel crossed over the Jordan on dry ground (Jos_3:17); Ehud seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, cutting off their retreat (Jdg_3:28); Gideon, Jephthah, David, Elijah, and Elisha were all well acquainted with the Jordan; Naaman the Syrian was directed to go wash in the Jordan seven times, that his leprosy might depart from him (2Ki_5:10). And it was at the Jordan that John the Baptist preached and baptized, our Lord being among those who were here sacramentally consecrated (Mat_3:1-17 and parallels). To-day thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the civilized world visit the Jordan; so that, as G. A. Smith (HGHL [Note: GHL Historical Geography of Holy Land.] , p. 496) reminds us, ‘what was never a great Jewish river has become a very great Christian one.’
George L. Robinson.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

From yarad "to descend," Arab. "the watering place." Always with the Hebrew article "the Jordan," except Job_40:23; Psa_42:6. 200 miles long from its source at Antilebanon to the head of the Dead Sea. It is not navigable, nor has it ever had a large town on its banks. The cities Bethshan and Jericho on the W., and Gerasa, Pella, and Gadara to the E. of Jordan, produced intercourse between the two sides of the river. Yet it is remarkable as the river of the great plain (ha Arabah, now el Ghor) of the Holy Land, flowing through the whole from N. to S. Lot from the hills on the N.W. of Sodom seeing the plain well watered by it, as Egypt is by the Nile (Lot's allusion to Egypt is apposite, Abram having just left it: Gen_12:10-20), chose that district as his home, in spite of the notorious wickedness of the people (Gen_13:10). Its sources are three. The northernmost near Hasbeya between Hermon and Lebanon; the stream is called Hasbany.
The second is best known, near Banias, i.e. Caesarea Philippi (the scene of Peter's confession, Mat_16:16); a large pool beneath a high cliff, fed by gushing streamlets, rising at the mouth of a deep cave; thence the Jordan flows, a considerable stream. The third is at Dan, or Tel el Kady (Daphne); from the N.W. corner of a green eminence a spring bursts forth into a clear wide pool, which sends a broad stream into the valley. The three streams unite at Tel Dafneh, and flow sluggishly through marsh land into lake Merom (Huleh). Capt. Newbold adds a fourth, wady el Kid on the S.E. of the slope, flowing from the springs Esh Shar. Indeed Anti-Lebanon abounds in gushing streams, which all make their way into the swamp between Bahias and Huleh and become part of the Jordan. The traditional site of Jacob's crossing Jordan (Jisr Benat Yacobe) at his first leaving Beersheba for Padan Aram is a mile and a half from Merom, and six from the sea of Galilee; in those six its descent with roaring cataracts over the basaltic rocks is 1,050 ft.
This, the part known to Naaman in his invasions, is the least attractive part of its course, and unfavorably contrasted with Abana and Pharpar of his native land (2Ki_5:12). From the sea of Galilee it winds 200 miles in the 60 miles of actual distance to the Dead Sea. Its tortuous course is the secret of the great depression (the Dead Sea being 663 ft. below the lake of Galilee) in this distance. On Jacob's return from Padan Aram he crossed near where the Jabbok (Zerka) enters the Jordan (Gen_32:10; Gen_32:22). The next crossing recorded is that of Joshua over against Jericho, the river being then flooded, in harvest time in April, in consequence of the rainy season and the melting of the snow of Hermon (Jos_3:15-16; Jos_4:12-13; Jos_5:10-12). The men of Jericho had pursued the spies to the fords there (Jos_2:7), the same as those "toward Moab" where the Moabites were slain (Jdg_3:28).
Higher up were the fords Bethbarah or Bethabara (house of passage), where Gideon intercepted the fleeing Midianites (Jdg_7:24) and the Gileadites slew the Ephraimites (Jdg_12:6), probably the place also of Jacob's crossing. Near was "the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan" used for Solomon's foundry (1Ki_7:46). Three banks may be noted in the Ghor or Jordan valley, the upper or first slope (the abrupt edge of a wide table land reaching to the Hauran mountains on the E. and the high hills on the W. side), the lower or middle terrace embracing the strip of land with vegetation, and the true banks of the river bed, with a jungle of agnus castus, tamarisks, and willows and reed and cane at the edge, the stream being ordinarily 30 yards wide. At the flood the river cannot be forded, being 10 or 12 ft. deep E. of Jericho; but in summer it can, the water being low. To cross it in the flood by swimming was an extraordinary feat, performed by the Gadites who joined David (1Ch_12:15); this was impossible for Israel under Joshua with wives and children.
The Lord of the whole earth made the descending waters stand in a heap very far from their place of crossing, namely, by the town of Adam, that is beside Zarthan or Zaretan, the moment that the feet of the priests bearing the ark dipped in the water. The priests then stood in the midst of the dry river bed until all Israel crossed over. Joshua erected a monument of 12 large stones in the river bed where the priests had stood, near the E. bank of the river. This would remain at least for a time as a memorial to the existing generation, besides the monument erected at Gilgal (Jos_4:3; Jos_4:6-7; Jos_4:9; Jos_4:20). By this lower ford David passed to fight Syria (2Sa_10:17), and afterwards in his flight from Absalom to Mahanaim E. of Jordan. There Judah escorted him, and he crossed in a ferry boat (2Sa_17:22; 2Sa_19:15; 2Sa_19:18). Here Elijah and Elisha divided the waters with the prophet's mantle (2Ki_2:4; 2Ki_2:8; 2Ki_2:14).
At the upper fords Naaman washed off his leprosy. Here too the Syrians fled, when panic struck by the Lord (2Ki_7:15). John the Baptist "first" baptized at the lower ford near Jericho, where all Jerusalem and Judea resorted, being near; where too our Lord took refuge from Jerusalem, and where many converts joined Him, and from from whence He went to Bethany to raise Lazarus (Joh_10:39-40; Joh_11:1). John's next baptisms were (Joh_1:29-34) at Bethabara (or "Bethany") the upper ford, within reach of the N.; there out of Galilee the Lord Jesus and Andrew repaired after the baptisms in the S. (Luk_3:21), and were baptized. (See BETHABARA.) His third place of baptism was near Aenon and Salim, still further to the N., where the water was still deep though it was summer, after the Passover (Joh_2:13-23), for there was no ford there (Joh_3:23); he had to go there, the water being too shallow at the ordinary fords. John moved gradually northwards toward Herod's province where ultimately he was beheaded; Jesus coming from the N. southwards met John half way.
The overflow of Jordan dislodged the lion from its lair on the wooded banks (Jer_49:19); in Jer_12:5 some translated "the pride of Jordan," (compare 2Ki_6:2,) "if in the champaign country alone thou art secure, how wilt thou do when thou fallest into the wooded haunts of wild beasts?" (Pro_24:10.) Between Merom and lake Tiberias the banks are so thickly wooded as often to shut out the view of the water. Four fifths of Israel, nine tribes and a half, dwelt W., and one fifth, two and a half, dwelt E. of Jordan. The great altar built by the latter was the witness of the oneness of the two sections (Jos_22:10-29). Of the six cities of refuge three were E., three W. of Jordan, at equal distances. Jordan enters Gennesareth two miles below the ancient city Julias or Bethsaida of Gaulonitis on the E. bank. It is 70 ft. wide at its mouth, a sluggish turbid stream. The lake of Tiberias is 653 ft. below the Mediterranean level.
The Dead Sea is 1,316 ft. below the Mediterranean, the springs of Hasbeiya are 1,700 above the Mediterranean, so that the valley falls more than 3,000 ft. in reaching the N. end of the Dead Sea. The bottom descends 1,308 ft. lower, in all 2,600 below the Mediterranean. The Jordan, well called "the Descender," descends 11 ft. every mile. Its sinuosity is less in its upper course. Besides the Jabbok it receives the Hieromax (Yarmuk) below Gennesareth. From Jerusalem to Jordan is only a distance of 20 miles; in that distance the descent is 3,500 ft., one of the greatest chasms in the earth; Jerusalem is 2,581 ft. above the Mediterranean. Bitumen wells are not far from the Hasbeya in the N. Hot springs abound about Tiberias; and other tokens of volcanic action, tufa, etc., occur near the Yarmuk's mouth and elsewhere. Only on the E. border of lake Huleh the land is now well cultivated, and yields largely wheat, maize, rice, etc. Horses, cattle, and sheep, and black buffaloes (the "bulls of Bashan") pasture around. W. of Gennesareth are seen grain, palms, vines, figs, melons, and pomegranates.
Cultivation is rare along the lower Jordan, but pink oleanders, arbutus, rose hollyhocks, the purple thistle, marigold, and anemone abound. Tracks of tigers and wild boars, flocks of wild ducks, cranes, and pigeons have been seen by various explorers. Conder considers the tells in the Jordan valley and the Esdraelon plain as artificial, and probably the site of the stronghold of ancient towns; the slopes are steep; good water is always near; they are often where no natural elevation afforded a site for a fortress. There are no bridges earlier than the Roman. The Saracens added or restored some. The Roman bridge of 10 arches, Jisr Semakh, was on the route from Tiberias to Gadara. In coincidence with Scripture, the American survey sets down three fords: that at Tarichaea, the second at the Jabbok's confluence with' Jordan, and that at Jericho. The Jordan seldom now overflows its banks; but Lieutenant Lynch noticed sedge and driftwood high up in the overhanging trees on the banks, showing it still at times overflows the plain.
Anciently, when forests abounded more than now, Mount Hermon had more snow and rain falling on it, and Jordan was therefore flooded to overflow. It is plain from Jos_3:15; Jos_4:18 compare with Isa_8:7, that Jordan was not merely full to the brim, but overflowed its banks. The flood never reaches beyond the lower line of the Ghor, which is covered with vegetation. The plain of the Jordan between the sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is generally eight miles broad, but at the N. end of the Dead Sea the hills recede so that the width is 12 miles, of which the W. part is named "the plains of Jericho." The upper terrace immediately under the hills is covered with vegetation; under that is the Arabah or desert plain, barren in its southern part except where springs fertilize it, but fertile in its northern part and cultivated by irrigation.
Grove remarks of the Jordan: "so rapid that its course is one continued cataract, so crooked that in its whole lower and main course it has hardly a half mile straight, so broken with rapids that no boat can swim any distance continuously, so deep below the adjacent country that it is invisible and can only be with difficulty approached; refusing all communication with the ocean, and ending in a lake where navigation is impossible useless for irrigation, it is in fact what its Arabic name signifies, nothing but a 'great watering place,' Sheriat el Khebir." Geologists find that the Jordan valley was caused by a sudden violent depression after the late cretaceous period, having a chain of lakes at three levels. The level is gradually lowering, and the area of the lakes diminishing by denudation and evaporation.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Jor'dan. (the descender). The one river of Palestine, has a course of little more than 200 miles, from the roots of Anti-Lebanon to the head of the Dead Sea. (136 miles in a straight line. ? Schaff). It is the river of the "great plain" of Palestine ? the "descender," if not "the river of God," in the book of Psalms, at least, that of his chosen people throughout their history.
There were fords over the Jordan against Jericho, to which point the men of Jericho pursued the spies. Jos_2:7. Compare Jdg_3:28.
Higher up, were the fords or passages of Bethbarah, where Gideon lay in wait for the Midianites, Jdg_7:24 and where the men of Gilead slew the Ephraimites. Jdg_12:6. These fords, undoubtedly, witnessed the first recorded passage, of the Jordan in the Old Testament. Gen_32:10.
Jordan was next crossed, over against Jericho, by Joshua. Jos_4:12-13. From their vicinity to Jerusalem, the lower fords were much used. David, it is probable, passed over them, in one instance, to fight the Syrians. 2Sa_10:17; 2Sa_17:22.
Thus, there were two customary places, at which the Jordan was fordable; and it must have been at one of these, if not at both, that baptism was afterward administered by St. John, and by the disciples of our Lord. Where our Lord was baptized is not stated expressly, but it was probably at the upper ford.
These fords were rendered so much more precious, in those days from two circumstances. First, it does not appear that there were, then, any bridges thrown over or boats, regularly established on the Jordan; and secondly, because "Jordan overflowed all his banks all the time of harvest." Jos_3:15. The channel or bed of the river became brimful, so that the level of the water and of the banks was then the same. (Dr. Selah Merrill, in his book "Galilee in the Time of Christ" (1881), says, "Near Tarichaea, just below the point where the Jordan leaves the lake (of Galilee), there was (in Christ's time) a splendid bridge across the river, supported by ten piers." ? Editor).
The last feature which remains to be noticed in the scriptural account of the Jordan is its frequent mention as a boundary: "over Jordan," "this" and "the other side," or "beyond Jordan," were expressions as familiar to the Israelites as "across the water," "this" and "the other side of the Channel" are to English ears. In one sense indeed, that is, in so far as it was the eastern boundary of the land of Canaan, it was the eastern boundary of the Promised Land. Num_34:12.
The Jordan rises from several sources near Panium (Banias), and passes through the lakes of Merom (Huleh) and Gennesaret. The two principal features in its course are its descent and its windings. From its fountain heads to the Dead Sea, it rushes down one continuous inclined plane, only broken by a series of rapids or precipitous falls.
Between the Lake of Gennesaret and the Dead Sea, there are 27 rapids. The depression of the Lake of Gennesaret below the level of the Mediterranean is 653 feet, and that of the Dead Sea, 1316 feet. (The whole descent from its source to the Dead Sea is 3000 feet. Its width varies form 45 to 180 feet, and it is from 3 to 12 feet deep. ? Schaff).
Its sinuosity is not so remarkable in the upper part of its course. The only tributaries to the Jordan below Gennesaret are the Yarmuk (Hieromax) and the Zerka (Jabbok). Not a single city ever crowned the banks of the Jordan. Still Bethshan and Jericho to the west, Gerasa, Pella and Gadara to the east of it were important cities, and caused a good deal of traffic between the two opposite banks. The physical features of the Ghor, through which the Jordan flows, are treated of under Palestine.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

the largest and most celebrated stream in Palestine. It is much larger, according to Dr. Shaw, than all the brooks and streams of the Holy Land united together; and, excepting the Nile, is by far the most considerable river either of the coast of Syria or of Barbary. He computed it to be about thirty yards broad, and found it nine feet deep at the brink. This river, which divides the country into two unequal parts, has been commonly said to issue from two fountains, or to be formed by the junction of two rivulets, the Jor and the Dan: but the assertion seems to be totally destitute of any solid foundation. The Jewish historian, Josephus, on the contrary, places its source at Phiala, a fountain which rises about fifteen miles from Caesarea Philippi, a little on the right hand, and not much out of the way to Trachonitis. It is called Phiala, or the Vial, from its round figure; its water is always of the same depth, the basin being brimful, without either shrinking or overflowing. From Phiala to Panion, which was long considered as the real source of the Jordan, the river flows under ground. The secret of its subterranean course was first discovered by Philip, the tetrarch of Trachonitis, who cast straws into the fountain of Phiala, which came out again at Panion. Leaving the cave of Panion, it crosses the bogs and fens of the lake Semichonitis; and after a course of fifteen miles, passes under the city of Julius, the ancient Bethsaida; then expands into a beautiful sheet of water, named the lake of Gennesareth; and, after flowing a long way through the desert, empties itself into the lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea. As the cave Panion lies at the foot of Mount Lebanon, in the northern extremity of Canaan, and the lake Asphaltites extends to the southern extremity, the river Jordan pursues its course through the whole extent of the country from north to south. It is evident, also, from the history of Josephus, that a wilderness or desert of considerable extent stretched along the river Jordan in the times of the New Testament; which was undoubtedly the wilderness mentioned by the evangelists, where John the Baptist came preaching and baptizing. The Jordan has a considerable depth of water. Chateaubriand makes it six or seven feet deep close at the shore, and about fifty paces in breadth a considerable distance from its entrance into the Dead Sea. According to the computation of Volney, it is hardly sixty paces wide at the mouth; but the author of “Letters from Palestine” states, that the stream when it enters the lake Asphaltites, is deep and rapid, rolling a considerable volume of waters; the width appears from two to three hundred feet, and the current is so violent, that a Greek servant belonging to the author, who attempted to cross it, though strong, active, and an excellent swimmer, found the undertaking impracticable. It may be said to have two banks, of which the inner marks the ordinary height of the stream; and the outer, its ancient elevation during the rainy season, or the melting of the snows on the summits of Lebanon. In the days of Joshua, and, it is probable, for many ages after his time, the harvest was one of the seasons when the Jordan over-flowed his banks. This fact is distinctly recorded by the sacred historian: “And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water; for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,” Jos_3:15. This happens in the first month of the Jewish year, which corresponds with March, 1Ch_12:15. But in modern times, whether the rapidity of the current has worn the channel deeper than formerly, or whether its waters have taken some other direction, the river seems to have forgotten his ancient greatness. When Maundrell visited Jordan on the thirtieth of March, the proper time for these inundations, he could discern no sign or probability of such overflowing; nay, so far was it from overflowing, that it ran, says our author, at least two yards below the brink of its channel. After having descended the outer bank, he went about a furlong upon the level strand, before he came to the immediate bank of the river. This inner bank was so thickly covered with bushes and trees, among which he observed the tamarisk, the willow, and the oleander, that he could see no water till he had made his way through them. In this entangled thicket, so conveniently planted near the cooling stream, and remote from the habitations of men, several kinds of wild beasts were accustomed to repose, till the swelling of the river drove them from their retreats. This circumstance gave occasion to that beautiful allusion of the prophet: “He shall come up like a lion, from the swelling of Jordan, against the habitation of the strong,” Jer_49:19. The figure is highly poetical and striking. It is not easy to present a more terrible image to the mind, than a lion roused from his den by the roar of the swelling river, and chafed and irritated by its rapid and successive encroachments on his chosen haunts, till, forced to quit his last retreat, he ascends to the higher grounds and the open country, and turns the fierceness of his rage against the helpless sheep cots, or the unsuspecting villages. A destroyer equally fierce, and cruel, and irresistible, the devoted Edomites were to find in Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.
The water of the river at the time of Maundrell's visit was very turbid, and too rapid to allow a swimmer to stem its course. Its breadth might be about twenty yards; and in depth, it far exceeded his height. The rapidity and depth of the river, which are admitted by every traveller, although the volume of water seems now to be much diminished, illustrate those parts of Scripture which mention the fords and passages of Jordan. It no longer, indeed, rolls down into the Salt Sea so majestic a stream as in the days of Joshua; yet its ordinary depth is still about ten or twelve feet, so that it cannot even at present be passed but at certain places. Of this well known circumstance, the men of Gilead took advantage in the civil war, which they were compelled to wage with their brethren: “The Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites:—then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan.” Jdg_12:6. The people of Israel, under the command of Ehud, availed themselves of the same advantage in the war with Moab: “And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over,” Jdg_3:28. But although the state of this river in modern times completely justifies the incidental remarks of the sacred writers, it is evident that Maundrell was disconcerted by the shallowness of the stream, at the time of the year when he expected to see it overflowing all its banks; and his embarrassment seems to have increased when he contemplated the double margin within which it flowed. This difficulty, which has perhaps occurred to some others, may be explained by a remark which Dr. Pococke has made on the river Euphrates: The bed of the Euphrates, says that writer, was measured by some English gentlemen at Beer, and found to be six hundred and thirty yards broad; but the river only two hundred and fourteen yards over; then they thought it to be nine or ten feet deep in the middle; and were informed that it sometimes rises twelve feet perpendicularly. He observed that it had an inner and outer bank; but says, it rarely overflows the inner bank; that when it does, they sow water mellons and other fruits of that kind, as soon as the water retires, and have a great produce. From this passage, Mr. Harmer argues: “Might not the over-flowings of the Jordan be like those of the Euphrates, not annual, but much more rare?” The difficulty, therefore, will be completely removed by supposing, that it does not, like the Nile, overflow every year, as some authors, by mistake, had supposed, but, like the Euphrates, only in some particular years; but when it does it is in the time of harvest. If it did not in ancient times annually overflow its banks, the majesty of God in dividing its waters to make way for Joshua and the armies of Israel, was certainly the more striking to the Canaanites; who, when they looked upon themselves as defended in an extraordinary manner by the casual swelling of the river, its breadth and rapidity being both so extremely increased, yet, found it in these circumstances part asunder, and leave a way on dry land for the people of Jehovah. The common receptacle into which the Jordan empties his waters, is the lake Asphaltites, from whence they are continually drained off by evaporation. Some writers, unable to find a discharge for the large body of water which is continually rushing into the lake, have been inclined to suspect it had some communication with the Mediterranean; but, beside that we know of no such gulf, it has been demonstrated by accurate calculations, that evaporation is more than sufficient to carry off the waters of the river. It is, in fact, very considerable, and frequently becomes sensible to the eye, by the fogs with which the lake is covered at the rising of the sun, and which are afterward dispersed by the heat.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

jôr?dan (ירדּן, yardēn, ?flowing downward?; Ἰορδάνης, Iordánēs):

1. Source:
The Jordan river proper begins at the junction of four streams (the Bareighit, the Hâsbâny, the Leddan, and the Banias), in the upper part of the plain of Lake Hûleh. The Bareighit receives its supply of water from the hills on the West, which separate the valley from the river Lı̂tâny, and is the least important of the four. The Hâsbâny is the longest of the four (40 miles), issuing from a great fountain at the western foot of Mt. Hermon near Hasbeiya, 1,700 ft. above the sea, and descends 1,500 ft. in its course to the plain. The Leddan is the largest of the four streams, issuing in several fountains at the foot of the mound Tell el-kady (Dan, or Laish) at an elevation of 505 ft. above the sea. The Bânias issues from a celebrated fountain near the town of Bânias, which is identified as the Caesarea Philippi associated with the transfiguration. The ancient name was Paneas, originating from a grotto consecrated to the god Pan. At this place Herod erected a temple of white marble dedicated to Augustus Caesar. This is probably the Baal-gad of Jos_11:17 and Jos_12:7. Its altitude is 1,100 ft. above tide, and the stream falls about 600 ft. in the 5 miles of its course to the head of the Jordan.

2. Lake Huleh:
The valley of Lake Hûleh, through which the Jordan wends its way, is about 20 miles long and 5 miles wide, bordered on either side by hills and mountains attaining elevations of 3,000 ft. After flowing 4 or 5 miles through a fertile plain, the Jordan enters a morass of marshy land which nearly fills the valley, with the exception of 1 or 2 miles between it and the base of the mountains upon the western side. This morass is almost impenetrable by reason of bushes and papyrus reeds, which in places also render navigation of the channel difficult even with a canoe. Lake Hûleh, into which the river here expands, is but 7 ft. above tide, and is slowly contracting its size by reason of the accumulation of the decaying vegetation of the surrounding morass, and of the sediment brought in by the river and three tributary mountain torrents. Its continued existence is evidence of the limited period through which present conditions have been maintained. It will not be many thousand years before it will be entirely filled and the morass be changed into a fertile plain. When the spies visited the region, the lake must have been much larger than it is now.
At the southern end of Lake Hûleh, the valley narrows up to a width of a few hundred yards, and the river begins its descent into levels below the Mediterranean. The river is here only about 60 ft. broad, and in less than 9 miles descends 689 ft. through a narrow rocky gorge, where it meets the delta which it has deposited at the head of the Sea of Galilee, and slowly winds its way to meet its waters. Throughout this delta the river is easily fordable during a great part of the year.

3. Sea of Galilee:
The Sea of Galilee occupies an expansion of the Jordan valley 12 miles long and from 3 to 6 miles wide. The hills, reaching, in general, 1,200 or 1,500 ft. above the lake, come down close to its margin on every side. On the East and South they are mainly of volcanic origin, and to some extent of the same character on the Northwest side above Tiberias. In the time of Christ the mouth of the river may have been a half-mile or more farther up the delta than now.

4. The Yarmuk:
As all the sediment of the upper Jordan settles in the vicinity of the delta near Capernaum, a stream of pellucid water issues from the southern end of the lake, at the modern town of Kerak. Before it reaches the Dead Sea, however, it becomes overloaded with sediment. From Kerak the opening of the valley is grand in the extreme. A great plain on the East stretches to the hills of Decapolis, and to the South, as far as the eye can reach, through the Ghôr which descends to the Dead Sea, bordered by mountain walls on either side. Four or five miles below, it is joined on the East by the Yarmûk, the ancient Hieromax the largest of all its tributaries. The debris brought down by this stream has formed a fertile delta terrace 3 or 4 miles in diameter, which now, as in ancient times, is an attractive place for herdsmen and agriculturists. The valley of the Yarmûk now furnishes a natural grade for the Acre and Damascus Railroad, as it did for the caravan routes of early times. The town of Gadara lies upon an elevation just South of the Yarmûk and 4 or 5 miles East of the Jordan.
Ten miles below the lake, the river is joined on the West by Wādy el-Bireh, which descends from the vicinity of Nazareth, between Mt. Tabor and Endor, and furnishes a natural entrance from the Jordan to Central Galilee. An aqueduct here still furnishes water for the upper terrace of the Ghôr. Wādy el-Arab, with a small perennial stream, comes in here also from the East.

5. El-Ghor:
Twenty miles below Lake Galilee the river is joined by the important Wādy el-Jâlûd, which descends through the valley of Jezreel between Mt. Gilboa and the range of the Little Hermon (the hill Moreh of Jdg_7:1). This valley leads up from the Jordan to the valley of Esdrelon and thence to Nazareth, and furnished the usual route for Jews going from Jerusalem to Nazareth when they wished to avoid the Samaritans. This route naturally takes one past Beisān (Bethshean), where the bodies of Saul and Jonathan were exposed by the Philistines, and past Shunem and Nain. There is a marked expansion of the Ghôr opposite Beisan, constituting an important agricultural district. The town of Pella, to which the Christians fled at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, lies upon the East side of the Ghor; while Jabesh-gilead, where the bodies of Saul and Jonathan were finally taken by their friends and cremated, is a little farther up the slope of Gilead. Twenty miles farther down, the Ghôr, on the East, is joined by Wādy Zerka (the brook Jabbok), the second largest tributary, separating Ammon from Gilead, its upper tributaries flowing past Ammon, Mizpeh, and Ramoth-gilead. It was down this valley that Jacob descended to Succoth.
A few miles below, the Wādy Farah, whose head is at Sychar between Mts. Ebal and Gerizim, descends from the West, furnishing the natural route for Jacob's entrance to the promised land.
At Damieh (probably the Adam of Jos_3:16), the Ghôr is narrowed up by the projection, from the West, of the mountain ridge terminating in Kurn Sûrtûbeh, which rises abruptly to a height of 2,000 ft. above the river.
The section of the Ghôr between Damieh and the Dead Sea is of a pretty uniform width of 10 to 12 miles and is of a much more uniform level than the upper portions, but its fertility is interfered with by the lack of water and the difficulty of irrigation. From the vicinity of Jericho, an old Roman road follows up the Wādy Nāwaimeh, which furnished Joshua a natural line of approach to Ai, while through the Wādy el-Kelt is opened the natural road to Jerusalem. Both Ai and the Mount of Olives are visible from this point of the Ghôr.

6. The Zor:
In a direct line it is only 70 miles from Lake Galilee to the Dead Sea, and this is the total length of the lower plain (the Zôr); but so numerous are the windings of the river across the flood plain from one bluff to the other that the length of the river is fully 200 miles. Col. Lynch reported the occurrence of 27 rapids, which wholly interrupted navigation, and many others which rendered it difficult. The major part of the descent below Lake Galilee takes place before reaching Damieh, 1,140 ft. below the Mediterranean. While the bluffs of the Ghôr upon either side of the Zôr, are nearly continuous and uniform below Damieh, above this point they are much dissected by the erosion of tributary streams. Still, nearly everywhere, an extended view brings to light the original uniform level of the sedimentary deposits formed when the valley was filled with water to a height of 650 ft. (see ARABAH; DEAD SEA).
The river itself averages about 100 ft. in width when confined strictly within its channel, but in the early spring months the flood plain of the Zôr is completely overflowed, bringing into its thickets a great amount of driftwood which increases the difficulty of penetrating it, and temporarily drives out ferocious animals to infest the neighboring country.

7. The Fords of Jordan:
According to Conder, there are no less than 60 fording-places between Lake Galilee and the Dead Sea. For the most part it will be seen that these occur at rapids, or over bars deposited by the streams which descend from one side or the other, as, for example, below the mouths of the Yarmûk, Jabbok, Jâlûd and Kelt. These fords are, however, impassable during the high water of the winter and spring months. Until the occupation by the Romans, no bridges were built; but they and their successors erected them at various places, notably below the mouth of the Yarmûk, and the Jabbok, and nearly opposite Jericho.
Notwithstanding the great number of fords where it is possible to cross at low water, those which were so related to the lines of travel as to be of much avail were few. Beginning near the mouth of the Jordan and proceeding northward, there was a ford at el-Henu leading directly from Jericho to the highlands Northeast of the Dead Sea. Two or three miles farther to the North is the ford of the pilgrims, best known of all, at the mouth of Wādy Kelt. A few miles farther up the river on the road leading from Jericho to es-Salt, near the mouth of the Wādy Nimrin, there is now a bridge where the dependence was formerly upon the ford. Just below the mouth of the Wādy Zerka (Jabbok) is the ford of Damieh, where the road from Shechem comes down to the river. A bridge was at one time built over the river at this point; but owing to a change in the course of the stream this is now over a dry water-course. The next important crossing-place is at the opening of the valley of Jezreel coming in from the West, where probably the Bethabara of the New Testament should be located. Upon this ford a number of caravan routes from East to West converge. The next important crossing-place is at el-Mujamia, 2 or 3 miles below the mouth of the Yarmûk. Here, also, there was a Roman bridge. There are also some traces of an ancient bridge remaining just below the exit of the river from Lake Galilee, where there was a ford of special importance to the people residing on the shores of this lake who could not afford to cross in boats. Between Lake Galilee and Lake Hûleh, an easy ford leads across the delta of the stream a little above its junction with the lake; while 2 or 3 miles below Lake Hûleh is found ?the bridge of Jacob's daughters? on the line of one of the principal routes between Damascus and Galilee. Above Lake Hûleh the various tributaries are easily crossed at several places, though a bridge is required to cross the Bareighit near its mouth, and another on the Hâsbâny on the main road from Caesarea Philippi to Sidon, at el-Ghagar.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Jor?dan, the principal river of Palestine [PALESTINE].
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Psa_42:6 (c) This represents a beautiful Christian life in which the stream of GOD (the Holy Spirit). refreshes the soul and enriches the life.

Jer_12:5 (b) This verse is very appropriate in these days. The river probably refers to the time of death. It is usually taken as an emblem of the stream which separates us from the city of GOD. The argument evidently is that if in this life the people of this world are wearied with the realities of eternity, what would be their condition if they were transported across the river into Heaven, where there are none of the things that attract the unsaved. If, in the company of believers here, with their anemic and emaciated type of Christianity they are disgusted, what would these people do when brought face to face with death, and the realities that must be faced after death.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Jordan
(Heb. Yarden', יִרְדֵּן, always with the article הִיִּיְדֵּן; Ι᾿ορδάνης), the chief and most celebrated river of Palestine, flowing through a deep valley down the center of the country from north to south. The principal river of the entire region. however (hence usually styled in the original "the River "), is the Euphrates (q.v.). SEE RIVER.
1. The Name. — This signifies descender, from the root יָרִד, "to descend — a name most applicable to it, whether we consider the rapidity of its current, or the great depth of the valley through which it runs. From whatever part of the country its banks are approached, the descent is long and steep. That this is the true etymology of the word seems evident from an incidental remark in Jos_3:16, where, in describing the effect of the opening of a passage for the Israelites, the word used for the "coming down" of the waters (הִיַֹּרדַיםהִמִּיַם) is almost the same as the name of the river (see Stanley, S. and P. p. 279, note). Other derivations have been given. Some say it is compounded of יאֹר, a river, and דִּן, the name of the city where it rises, but this etymology is impossible (Reland, Paloest. p. 271). Another view is, that the river having two sources, the name of the one was Jor, and of the other Dan; hence the united stream is called Jordan. So Jerome (Comm. in Mat_16:13). This theory has been copied by Adamnanus (De Loc. Sanct. 2, 19), William of Tyre (8, 18), Brocardus (p. 3), Adrichomius (p. 109), and others; and the etymology seems to have spread among the Christians in Palestine, from whom Burckhardt heard it (Travels in Syria, p. 42, 43; see Robinson, Bib. Res. 3, 412, note). Arab geographers call the river either El-Urdon, which is equivalent to the Hebrew, or Esh-sheriah, which signifies "the watering place;" and this latter is the name almost universally given to it by the modern Syrians, who sometimes attach the appellative el-Kebir, "the great," by way of distinction from the Sheriat el-Mandhur, or Hieromax.
2. Sources. — The snows that deeply cover Hermon during the whole winter, and that still cap its glittering summit during the hottest days of summer, are the real springs of the Jordan. They feed its perennial fountains, and they supply from a thousand channels those superabundant waters which make the river "overflow all its banks in harvest time" (Jos_3:15). The Jordan has two historical sources.
a. In the midst of a rich but marshy plain, lying between the southern prolongation of Hermon and the mountains of Naphtali, is a low cup shaped hill, thickly covered with shrubs. On it once stood Dan, the northern border city of Palestine; and from its western base gushes forth the great fountain of the Jordan. The waters at once form a large pond encircled with rank grass and jungle — now the home of the wild boar — and then flow off southward. Within the rim of the cup, beneath the spreading branches of a gigantic oak, is a smaller spring. It is fed, doubtless, by the same source, and its stream, breaking through the rim, joins its sister, and forms a river some forty feet wide, deep and rapid. The modern name of the hill is Tell el-Kady, "the hill of the judge;" and both fountain and river are called Leddan — evidently the name Dan corrupted by a double article, Eled-Dan (Robinson, Bib. Res. 3, 394; Thomson, Land and Book, p. 214; and in Bibliotheca Sac. 1846, p. 196). Josephus calls this stream "Little Jordan" (τὸν μικρὸν Ι᾿ορδάνην, War, 4, 1, 1; comp. Ant. 1, 10, 1; 8, 8, 4); but it is the principal source of the river, and the largest fountain in Syria.
b. Four miles east of Tell el-Kady, on a lower terrace of Hermon, amid forests of oak, lie the ruins of Banias, the ancient Caesarea-Philippi, and more ancient Panium. Beside the ruins is a lofty cliff of red limestone, having a large fountain at its base. Beneath the cliff there was formerly, as Josephus tells us, a gloomy cave, and within it a yawning abyss of unfathomable depth, filled with water. This was the other source of the Jordan (War, 1, 21, 3; comp. Ant. 15, 10, 3; Pliny, 5, 12; Mishna, Para, 8, 12). A temple was erected over the cave by Herod, and its ruins now fill it and conceal the fountain. From it a foaming torrent still bursts, and dashes down to the plain through a narrow rocky ravine, and then glides swiftly on till it joins the other about four miles south of Tell el-Kady (Robinson, 3, 397; Porter Handbook, p. 446).
c. The Jordan has also a fabled fountain, thus described by Josephus: "Apparently Panium is the source of the Jordan, but the water is, in reality, conveyed thither unseen by a subterranean channel from Phiala, as it is called, which lies not far from the high road, on the right as you ascend to Trachonitis, at the distance of 120 stadia from Caesarea.... That the Jordan hence derived its origin was formerly unknown, until it was ascertained by Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, who, having thrown chaff into Phiala, found it cast out at Panium" (War, 3, 10, 7). The lake here referred to appears to be Burket er-Ram, which Robinson visited and described (Bib. Res. 3, 399). The legend has no foundation in reality.
d. Other fountains in this region, though unnamed in history, contribute much to the Jordan. The chief of these, and the highest perennial source of the Jordan, is in the bottom of a valley at the western base of Hermon, a short distance from the town of Hasbeiya, and twelve miles north of Tell el-Kady. The fountain is in a pool at the foot of a basalt cliff; the stream from it, called Hasbany (from Hasbeiya), flows through a narrow glen into the plain, and falls into the main stream about a mile south of the junction of the Leddan and Baniasy. The relative size of the three streams Robinson thus estimates: "That from Banias is twice as large as the Hasbany, while the Leddan is twice, if not three times the size of that from Banias" (Bib. Res. 3, 395). The united river flows southward through the marshy plain for six miles, and then falls into Lake Huleh, called in Scripture "The Waters of Merom." SEE MEROM.
e. Besides these, a considerable stream comes down from the plain of Ijon, west of the Hasbany; and two large fountains (called Balat and Mellahah) burst forth from the base of the mountain chain of Naphtali (Porter, Handbook for S. and P. p. 436).
3. Physical Features of the Jordan and its Valley. — The most remarkable feature of the Jordan is, that throughout nearly its entire course it is below the level of the sea. Its valley is thus like a huge fissure in the earth's crust. The following measurements, taken from Van de Velde's Memoir accompanying his Map, will give the best idea of the depression of this singular valley:
Fountain of Jordan at Hasbeiya... 1700 ft. elevation.
Fountain of Jordan at Banias..... 1147 ft. elevation.
Fountain of Jordan at Dan.......... 647 ft. elevation.
Lake Hileh............…….....about 120 ft. elevation.
Lake of Tiberias.................. 650 ft. depression.
Dead Sea.......................... 1312 ft. depression.
There may be some error in the elevations of the fountains as here given. Lake Haleh is encompassed by a great plain, extending to Dan; and as it appears to the eye almost level, it is difficult to believe that there could be a difference of 500 feet in the elevations of the fountain and the lake. Porter estimated it on the spot at not above 100 feet; but it is worthy of note that Von Wildenbruch makes it by measurement 537 feet, and De Bertou 344.
The general course of the Jordan is due south. From their fountains the three streams flow south to the points of junction, and continue in the same direction to the Huleh; and from the southern extremity of this lake the Jordan again issues and resumes its old course. For some two miles its banks are flat, and its current not very rapid; but on passing through Jisr Benat Yakub ("the Bridge of Jacob's Daughters"), the banks suddenly contract and rise high on each side, and the river dashes in sheets of foam over a rocky bed, rebounding from cliff to cliff in its mad career. Here and there the retreating banks have a little green meadow, with its fringe of oleanders all wet and glistening with spray. Thus it rushes on, often winding, occasionally doubling back like the coils of a serpent, till, breaking from rocky barriers, it enters the rich plain of Batihah, where on the left bank stand the ruins of Bethsaida (q.v.). The stream now expands, and glides lazily along till it falls on the still bosom of the Sea of Galilee. Between Bethsaida and the sea the Jordan averages about twenty yards in width, and flows sluggishly between low alluvial banks. Bars of sand extend across its channel here and there, at which it is easily forded (Porter, Handbook, p. 426; Robinson, 2, 414 sq.; Burckhardt, Symria, p. 315). From Jisr Benat Yakub the distance is only seven miles, and yet in that distance the river falls 700 feet. The total length of the section between the two lakes is about eleven miles as the crow flies.
An old tradition tells us that the Jordan flows direct through the Sea of Galilee without mingling with its waters. The origin of the story may be the fact that the river enters the lake at the northern extremity, and leaves it at a point exactly opposite at the southern, without apparent increase or diminution.
The third section of the river, lying between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, is the Jordan of Scripture, the other two sections not being directly mentioned either in the O.T. or N.T. Until the last few years little was known of it. The notices of ancient geographers are not full. Travelers had crossed it at several points, but all the portions between these points were unknown. When the remarkable depression of the Dead Sea was ascertained by trigonometrical measurement, and when it was shown that the Jordan must have a fall of 1400 feet in its short course of about 100 miles, the measurements were called in question by that distinguished geographer Dr. Robinson, in a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society in 1847 (Journal, vol. 18, part 2). In that same year lieutenant Molyneux, R.N., conveyed a boat from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, mostly in the river, but in places on the backs of camels, where rocks and rapids prevented navigation. Owing to the hostility of the Arabs the expedition was not successful, and the Jordan was not yet explored. Lieutenant Lynch, of the United States Navy, headed a much more successful expedition in 1848, and was the first fully to describe the course, and fully to solve the mysteries of the Jordan. His Official Report is the standard work on the river. Molyneux's paper in the Journal of the Royal Geog. Society also contains some useful matter (vol. 18, part 2).
The valley through which this section of the Jordan flows is a long, low plain, running from north to south, and shut in by steep and rugged parallel ridges, the eastern ridge rising fully 5000 feet above the river's bed, and the western about 3000. This plain is the great plain of the later Jews; the great desert (πολλὴνἐρημίαν) of Josephus; the Aulon. or "channel" of the Greek geographers; the "region of Jordan" of the N.T. (Mat_3:5; Luk_3:3); and the Ghor or "sunken plain" of the modern Arabs (Stanley, p. 277; Josephus, War, 3, 9, 7; 4, 8, 2; Reland, Paloest. p. 305, 361, 377 sq.). It is about six miles wide at its northern end, but it gradually expands until it attains a width of upwards of twelve at Jericho. Its sides are not straight lines, nor is its surface perfectly level. The mountains on each side here and there send out rocky spurs, and long, low roots far into it. Winter torrents, descending from wild ravines, cut deeply through its soft strata. As a whole it is now a desert. In its northern division, above the fords of Succoth, small portions are cultivated around fountains, and along the banks of streamlets, where irrigation is easy; but all the rest is a wilderness — in spring covered with rank grass and thistles, but in summer parched and bare. The southern section — known as the "plain of Jericho" — is different in aspect. Its surface is covered with a white nitrous crust, like hoarfrost. through which not a blade of grass or green herb springs. Nothing could be imagined more dreary or desolate than this part of the plain.
Down the midst of the plain winds a ravine, varying from 200 yards to half a mile in breadth, and from 40 to 150 feet in depth. Through this the Jordan flows in a tortuous course, now sweeping the western, and now the eastern bank; now making a wide, graceful curve, and now doubling back, but everywhere fringed by a narrow, dense border of trees and shrubs. The river has thus two distinct lines of banks. The first or lower banks confine the stream, and are from five to ten feet high, the height of course decreasing in spring when the river is high; the second or upper are at some distance from the channel, and in places rise to a height of 150 feet. The scenery of the river is peculiar and striking. Lynch thus describes the upper section: "The high alluvial terraces on each side were everywhere shaped by the action of the winter rains into numbers of conical hills, some of them pyramidal and cuneiform, presenting the appearance of a giant encampment. This singular conformation extended southwards as far as the eye could reach. At intervals I caught a glimpse of the river in its graceful meanderings, sometimes glittering like a spearhead through an opening in the foliage, and again clasping some little island in its shining arms, or, far away, snapping with the fierceness and white foam of a torrent by some projecting point.... The banks were fringed with the lauarustinus, the oleander, the willow, and the tamarisk, and further inland, on the slope of the second terrace, grew a small species of oak, and the cedar." The Jordan issues from the Sea of Galilee close to the hills on the western side of the plain, and sweeps round a little peninsula, on which lie the ruins of Tarichaea (Porter, Handb. p. 321; Robinson, 1, 538). The stream is about 100 feet wide, and the current strong (Lynch). A short distance down are the remains of a Roman bridge, whose fallen arches greatly obstruct the river, and make it dash through in sheets of foam. Below this are several weirs, constructed of rough stones, and intended to raise the water and turn it into canals, so as to irrigate the neighboring plain (Molyneux). Five miles from the lake the Jordan receives its largest tributary, the Sheriat el-Mandhur (the Hieromax of the Greeks), which drains a large section of Bashan and Gilead. This stream is 130 feet wide at its mouth. Two miles further is Jisr el-Mejamia, the only bridge now standing on the Lower Jordan. It is a quaint structure, one large pointed arch spanning the stream, and double tiers of smaller arches supporting the roadway on each side. The river is here deep and impetuous, breaking over high ledges of rocks.
Below this point the ravine inclines eastwards to the center of the plain, and its banks contract. Its sides are bare and white, and the chalky strata are deeply furrowed. The margin of the river has still its beautiful fringe of foliage, and the little islets which occur here and there are covered with shrubbery. Fifteen miles south of the bridge, wady Yabes (so called from Jabesh-gilead), containing a winter torrent, falls in from the east. A short distance above it a barren sandy island divides the channel, and with its bars on each side forms a ford, probably the one by which Jacob crossed as the site of Succoth has been identified on the western, bank. The plain round Succoth is extensively cultivated, and abundantly watered by fountains and streamlets from the adjoining mountains. The richness of the soil is wonderful. Dr. Robinson says, "The grass, intermingled with tall daisies and wild oats, reached to our horses' backs, while the thistles sometimes over topped the riders' heads. All was now dry, and in some places it was difficult to make our way through this exuberant growth." (3, p. 313). Jacob exercised a wise choice when "he made booths for his cattle" at this favored spot (Gen_33:17). No other place in the great plain equals it in richness. The ravine of the Jordan is here 150 feet below the plain, and shut in by steep, bare banks of chalky strata (Robinson, l.c. p. 316). About nine miles below Succoth, and about halfway between the lakes, the Jabbok, the only other considerable tributary, falls into the Jordan, coming down through a deep, wild glen in the mountains of Gilead. When Lynch passed (April 17) it was "a small stream trickling down a deep and wide torrent bed.... There was another bed, quite dry, showing that in times of freshet there were two outlets." Lynch gives some good pictures of the scenery above the junction. "The plain that sloped away from the bases of the hills was broken into ridges and multitudinous cone like mounds... A low, pale yellow ridge of conical hills marked the termination of the higher terrace, beneath which swept gently this low plain, with a similar undulating surface, half redeemed from barrenness by sparse verdure and thistle-covered hillocks. Still lower was the valley of the Jordan — its banks fringed with perpetual verdure — winding a thousand graceful mazes... its course a bright line in this cheerless waste."
Below the Jabbok the fall of the river is still greater than above, but there is less obstruction from rocks and cliffs. The jungles along the banks become denser, the sides of the river glen more regular, and the plain above more dreary and desolate.
On approaching the Dead Sea, the plain of the Jordan attains its greatest breadth — about twelve miles. The mountain ranges on each side are — higher, more rugged, and more desolate. The plain is coated with a nitrous crust, like hoarfrost, and not a tree, shrub, or blade of grass is seen except by fountains or rivulets. The glen winds like a serpent through the center, between two tiers of banks. The bottom is smooth, and sprinkled on the outside with stunted shrubs. The river winds in ceaseless coils along the bottom, now touching one side and now another, with its beautiful border of green foliage, looking all the greener from contrast with the desert above. The banks are of soft clay, in places ten feet high; the stream varies from 80 to 150 feet in breadth, and from five to twelve in depth. Near its mouth the current becomes more sluggish, and the stream expands. Where wady Hesban falls in, Lynch found the river 150 feet wide and 11 deep, "the current four knots." Further down the banks are low and sedgy; the width gradually increases to 180 yards at its mouth, but the depth is only three feet (Lynch, Official Report; Robinson, 1, 538 sq.; Stanley, p. 290).
Lynch in a few words explains the secret of the great and almost incredible fall in the Jordan. "The great secret is solved by the tortuous course of the Jordan. In a space of 60 miles of latitude, and four or five of longitude, the Jordan traverses at least 200 miles.... We have plunged down twenty-seven threatening rapids, besides a great many of lesser magnitude."
Dr. Robinson (Researches, 2, 257 sq.) describes the banks as consisting of three series, with terraces between, the outer ones composed of the mountains bordering the river, the middle ones being the true bank, and the third the proper channel of the stream; and he argues that the scriptural allusions to the overflow of the Jordan at harvest (Jos_3:15; 1Ch_12:15; compare Jer_12:5; Jer_49:19; Jeremiah 1, 44; Zec_11:3; Sirach 24:26, 36) simply refer to the full stream, or at most to its expansion as far as to the middle one of these three banks, at the time of the annual melting of snows on Lebanon and Hermon, rather than to any true freshet or inundation. The river in this respect probably resembles other mountain streams, which have an overflow of their secondary boundaries or alluvial "bottoms" during the spring and early summer months. Comp. Thomson, Land and Book, 2, 452 sq.
4. The Fords of the Jordan have always been important in connection with the history of the country. The three streams which flow from the fountains are fordable at almost every point. It is south of Lake Huleh that the river begins to form a serious barrier. The bridge called Jisr Benat Yakub has for centuries been the leading pass from western Palestine to Damascus. The first reference to it is in A.D. 1450 (in Gumpenberg's day; see Robinson, Researches, 3, 362), though as early as the Crusades a "Ford of Jacob" (Vadum Jacob, Will. Tyr. Hist. 18, 13) is mentioned, and was reckoned a most important pass. The bridge was probably built during the 15th century, when the caravan road was constructed from Damascus to Egypt (Porter, Handbook, 2, 466). The origin of the name, "Bridge of Jacob's Daughters," is unknown. Perhaps this place may have been confounded with the ford of Succoth, where the patriarch crossed the Jordan or perhaps the "Jacob" referred to was some Muslim saint or Turkish pasha (Ritter, Pal. and Syr. p. 269 sq.). SEE BRIDGE.
Between Bethsaida-Julias and the Sea of Galilee there are several fords. The river is there shallow and the current sluggish. At this place the multitudes that followed our Lord from Capernaum and the neighborhood were able to cross the river to where he fed the 5000 (Mar_6:32 sq.; Robinson, 2, 414).
The first ford on the southern section of the Jordan is about half a mile from the lake, where the ruins of the Roman bridge now lie. It was the means of communication between Tiberias and Gadara, and it was doubtless at this point our Lord crossed when he went from Galilee to Judaea "by the farther side of Jordan (Mar_10:1; Mat_19:1-2). Jisr el-Mejamia is a Saracenic bridge on an old caravan route from Damascus to Egypt. Probably a Roman bridge may have stood at the same place, connecting Scythopolis with the other cities of Decapolis. There is no ford here. At a point east of the ruins of Scythopolis, ten miles below the bridge, the river is now fordable, but the passage is deep and dangerous (Robinson, 3, 325; Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 137).
At Succoth is one of the best and most important fords over the Jordan. Here Jacob crossed with his cattle. This, too, is possibly the Bethbarah, "house, or ford of passage," where the Israelites intercepted the routed Midianites (Jdg_7:24), and it was probably here that the men of Gilead slew the Ephraimites (12:6). Not far off, in "the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan," were the brass foundries of king Solomon (1Ki_7:46). These fords undoubtedly witnessed the first recorded passage of the Jordan in the O.T.; we say recorded, because there can be little dispute but that Abraham must have crossed it likewise. It is still the place at which the eastern Bedawin cross in their periodical invasions of Esdraelon. From Succoth to the mouth of the Jabbok the river becomes very low during the summer, and is fordable at many points. At one spot are the remains of a Roman bridge (Molyneux, p. 115 sq.; Lynch, April 16; Burckhardt, p. 344 sq.). Ten miles south of the Jabbok there is a noted ford on the road from Nabulus to Es-Salt. Traces of a Roman road and bridge were here discovered by Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 124). The only other fords of note are those in the plain of Jericho, one above and one below the pilgrims' bathing place. They are much deeper than those higher up, and when the river is swollen they become impassable.
5. Historical Notices. — The first notice of the Jordan is in the story of the separation of Abraham and Lot — Lot "beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah" (Gen_13:10). Abraham had just left Egypt (12:10-20), and therefore the comparison between the fertilizing properties of the Jordan and of the Nile is very apposite. The section of the valley visible from the heights of Bethel, where the patriarchs stood, was the plain of Jericho and southward over a part of the Dead Sea. The "plain" or circle (כַּכִּר) of the Jordan must have been different then from what it is now. It is now a parched desert — then it was well watered everywhere. The waters of numerous springs, mountain torrents, and probably of the Jordan, raised by weirs such as are seen at its northern end, were used by the old Phoenician inhabitants in the irrigation of the vast plain. The curse had not yet come upon it; the fire of heaven had not yet passed over it; the Lord had not yet destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Stanley, p. 215). It is manifest that some great physical change was produced in the valley by the convulsion at the destruction of the cities. The bed of the Dead Sea was probably lowered, and a greater fall thus given to the river. SEE DEAD SEA.
Another wonderful epoch in the Jordan's history was the passage of the Israelites. They were encamped on the "plains of Moab" — on the broad plain east of the river, extending along the northern shore of the sea to the foot of the mountains. It was harvest time — the beginning of April — when the rains were still failing heavily in Hermon, and the winter. snows were melting under the rays of the warm sun, and when a thousand mountain torrents thus fed swept into the Jordan, and made it "overflow all its banks;" or, as the Hebrew literally signifies, made it full up to all its banks (see Robinson, Bib. Res. 1, 540); that is, perhaps, up not merely to the banks of the stream itself, but up to the banks of the glen; covering, as it still does in a few places (Molyneux, p. 116; Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 125), the whole bottom of the glen, and thus rendering the fords impassable for such a host as the Israelites. There can be no doubt that in ancient times the Jordan rose higher than it does now. When the country was more thickly wooded and more extensively cultivated, more rain and more snow must have fallen (Van de Velde, Narrative, 2, 272). There are wet seasons even yet, when the river rises several feet more than ordinarily (Reland, p. 273; Raumer, Paläst. p. 61, 2d ed.). The opening of a passage through the river at such a season was the greater miracle. Had it been late in summer it might have been thought that natural causes operated, but in harvest — the time of the overflow — the finger of God must have been manifest to all. It is a remarkable fact that at this same spot the Jordan was afterwards twice miraculously opened — by Elijah and Elisha (2Ki_2:8; 2Ki_2:14).
At a later period it was considered a feat of high daring that a party of David's "mighty men" crossed the Jordan "in the first month (April), when it had overflown all its banks," and subdued their enemies on the east side (1Ch_12:15). Jeremiah speaks of the lions "coming up" from the "swellings of the Jordan;" but the Hebrew word גָּאוֹֹן signifies beauty or glory, and refers to the dense jungles and verdant foliage of its banks; these jungles are impenetrable except to the wild beasts that dwell there. No allusion is made to the rise or overflow of the river (Gesenius, Thesaurus, s.v.; Robinson, 1, 540). Travelers have often seen wild; swine, hyenas, and jackals, and also the tracks of panthers, on the banks of the Jordan (Molyneux, p. 118).
The passage of the river by king David in his flight from Absalom has one peculiarity — a ferry boat was used to convey his household over the channel (2Sa_19:18). The passage was probably effected at one of the fords in the plain of Jericho. The word עברה simply signifies a thing for crossing; it may have been a "boat," or a "raft," or a few inflated skins, such as are represented on the monuments of Nineveh, and are still used on the Euphrates and the Jordan. SEE FERRY.
Naaman's indignant depreciation of the Jordan, as compared with the "rivers of Damascus," is well known. The rivers of Damascus water its great plain, converting a desert into a paradise; the Jordan rolls on in its deep bed, useless, to the Sea of Death.
The great event of the N.T. history enacted at the Jordan was the baptism of our Lord. This has made it the queen of rivers, and has given it the title "sacred." The exact spot is disputed. SEE BETHBARA; SEE AENON. The topography and the incidents of the narrative, both before and after the baptism, unquestionably point to the same place, already famous as the scene of three miracles (Porter, Handbook, p. 198). In commemoration of the baptism, the Christian pilgrims who assemble at Jerusalem at Easter visit the Jordan in a body and bathe at this spot (Stanley, p. 308).
The references to the Jordan in the writings of Josephus contain nothing of importance beyond what has already been mentioned in connection with the fountains and the physical features. Greek and Roman geographers seem to have known but little of the river. Pliny praises its beauty, and states that, "with the greatest reluctance, as it were, it moves onward towards Asphaltites, a lake of gloomy and unpropitious nature, by which it is at last swallowed up" (Hist. Nat. 5, 15). Strabo makes the singular assertion that it is "navigated upwards with vessels of burden!" Of course, he can only refer to the Sea of Galilee (16, 2, 16). Pausanias tells how strangely the river disappears in the Dead Sea (book 5, 7, 4).
6. Mineral, Animal, and Vegetable Productions. — Some of these have been incidentally noticed above. As there were slime pits, or pits of bitumen, and salt pits (Gen_11:3; Zep_2:9) in the vale of Siddim; on the extreme south, so Mr. Thompson speaks of bitumen wells twenty minutes from the bridge over the Hashbeiya on the extreme north; while Ain-el Mellahah above Lake-Huleh is emphatically "the fountain of the salt works" (Lynch's Narrative, p. 470). Thermal springs are frequent about the Lake of Tiberias; the most celebrated, below the town bearing that name (Robinson, 2, 384, 385); some near Emmaus (Lynch, p. 467), some near Magdala, and some not far from Gadara (Irby., p. 90, 91). The hill of Dan is said to be an extinct crater, and masses of volcanic rock and tufa are noticed by Lynch not far from the mouth of the Yermak (Narrative, April 12). Dark basalt is the characteristic of the rocks in the upper stage; trap, limestone, sandstone, and conglomerate in the lower. On the second day of the passage a bank of fuller's earth was observed.
How far the Jordan in olden time was ever a zone of cultivation, like the Nile, is uncertain. Now, with the exception of the eastern shores of the Lake Huleh, the hand of man may be said to have disappeared from its banks. The genuine Arab is a nomad by nature, and contemns agriculture. There, however, Dr. Robinson, in the month of May, found the land tilled almost down to the lake, and large crops of wheat, barley, maize, sesame, and rice rewarded the husbandman. Horses, cattle, and sheep — all belonging to the Ghawarinah tribe — fattened on the rich pasture; and large herds of black buffaloes luxuriated in the streams and in the deep mire of the marshes (3, 396). These are doubtless lineal descendants of the "fat bulls of Bashan;" as the "oaks of Bashan" are still the magnificent staple tree of those regions. Cultivation degenerates as we advance southward. Cornfields wave around Gennesareth on the west, and the palm and vine, fig and pomegranate, are still to be seen here and there. Melons grown on its shores are of great size and much esteemed. Pink oleanders, and a rose colored species of hollyhock, in great profusion, wait upon every approach to a rill or spring. These gems of nature reappear in the lower course of the Jordan. There the purple thistle, the bright yellow marigold, and scarlet anemone, saluted the adventurers of the New World: the laurustinus and oleander, cedar and arbutus, willow and tamarisk, accompanied them on their route. As the climate became more tropical, and the Lower Ghor was entered, large ghurrah trees, like the aspen, with silvery foliage, overhung them; and the cane, frequently impenetrable; and now in blossom, "was ever at the water's edge." Only once during the whole voyage, on the fourth day, were patches of wheat and barley visible; but the hand that had sowed them lived far away. As Jeremiah in the O.T., and St. Jerome and Phocas (see Relaud) among Christian pilgrims, had spoken of the Jordan as the resort of lions, so tracks of tigers, wild boars, and the like presented themselves from time to time to these explorers. Flocks of wild ducks, of cranes, of pigeons, and of swallows were scared by their approach; and a specimen of the bulbul, or Syrian nightingale, fell into their hands. The scenery throughout was not inspiring — it was of a subdued character when they started, profoundly gloomy and dreary near ford Sukwa, and then utterly sterile just before they reached Jericho. With the exception of a few Arab tribes — so savage as: scarcely to be considered exceptions — humanity had become extinct on its banks.
Such, then, is the river Jordan, without any parallel, historical or physical, in the whole world.. A complete river beneath the level of the sea! Disappearing in a lake which has no outlet, which could have none, and which originated in a miracle! Thrice were its waters divided by the direct agency of God, that his servants; might pass in safety and comfort. It is a river that has never been navigable, flowing into a sea that has never known a port — has never been a high road to more hospitable coasts — has never possessed a fishery — a river that has never boasted of a single town of eminence upon its banks; in fine, it is, if not "the river of God" in the book of Psalms, at least that of his chosen people throughout their history, and as such, it figures largely in the poetical symbolism of the passage from this world to the next.
In addition to the works above cited on the physical features of the Jordan, the following afford important information: Journal of R. Geog. Society, 18, part 2, articles by Robinson, Petermann, and Molyneux; Bertou, in Bulletin de la Soc. Geograph. de Paris, 12, 166 sq.; Wildenbruch, Monatsberichte der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1845-46; Capt. Newbold, Jour. of Roy. Asiat. Society, 16, 8 sq.; Rev. W. Thompson, Bibl. Sac. 3, 184 sq. A clear summary of all known about the Jordan up to 1850 is given by Ritter, in Palastina und Syrien, 2, 152-556; also in his separate essay, Der Jordan und die Beschiffung des todten Meeres (Berlin, 1850). More popular descriptions are those published by the Religious Tract Society (London, 1858), and Nelson (ib. 1854). Most travelers in Palestine have likewise given an account of the river, chiefly at its mouth. SEE PALESTINE.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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