Gen 13:11 Lot chose .. all the plain of the J
Gen 32:10 for with my staff I passed this J, and now
Deu 4:22 I will die in this .. and I will not pass the J
Jos 1:2 get up and pass this J, you and all
Jos 3:17 the priests .. stand firm in the middle of the J
2Sa 19:15 Judah came to .. to make him pass the J
2Ki 2:7 far; and the two of them stood by the J
2Ki 5:10 go and wash seven times in the J, and your flesh
2Ki 6:4 when they reached the J, they cut the wood
Psa 114:3 the sea saw him, and fled; the j turned back
Jer 49:19 like a lion will come up out of the thicket of the J
Zec 11:3 because the glory of the J is destroyed
Matt 3:6; Mark 1:5 and were baptized by him in the J
Jordan (Heb. Yardên, “who descends”; Eg. Yrdn; Gr. Iordán’s). The most important river in Palestine. It divides the country into 2 parts: western Palestine (land of Canaan), the most important and richest part; and the Transjordan. The sources of the Jordan are located on the western slope of Mount Hermon, the southernmost range of the Anti-Lebanon mountains. Finally there are 4 currents that form the Jordan River. The easternmost of these 4 streams is the Nahr Bâniyâs, the Paneas River, about 8 km long. Its source is about 331 m asl in the famous cave of Paneas, named in Hellenistic times in honor of the Greek god Pan. The next, the Nahr el-Leddan, is a much shorter river, arising from numerous springs near the ancient city of Dan, now Tell el-Qâdî, at about 145 m asl The third is the Nahr el-Hasbân§, the longest of the 4 tributaries. From its source, at about 528 m asl, it runs for about 38.5 km along the western slope of Mount Hermon. The westernmost river is the Nahr Bereighith, which originates near the ancient city of Ikhon, now Tell ed-Dibbin, at about 550 m asl These 4 rivers join south of the Hermon and form the Jordan, called esh-Sherî a el-Kebîreh by the Arabs. From this confluence, at about 43 m asl, the river runs for about 11 km through a fertile plain with subtropical vegetation. Some of it is swampy, with an abundance of papyrus plants that until recently the Arabs used to make mats. The Israeli government has been draining those swamps to reclaim the land. 289. Aerial view of the tortuous course of the Jordan River at the conjunction of Jabbok. The first of 3 lakes formed by 658 Jordan was Lake Huleh (Ba1ret el-2ûleh), called Semeconitis by Josephus, until the government of Israel drained it and its bottom is used as farmland, through which it flows the river. Many modern writers have mistakenly identified it with the “waters of Merom”* (Jos 11:5), which are about 10 miles southwest of ancient Lake Huleh. This was found at about 2 m above sea level and was about 5 km long by 3 km wide in its northern part, and its depth varied from 3 to 5 m. After leaving the dried up Lake Huleh, the river flows for about 3 km at a constant speed until it reaches the “Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob” (Jisr Banat Ya’qub), over which the main road from Galilee to Damascus passes. . It then traverses a narrow, steeply sloping basalt gorge, which forms many jumps and drops, descending some 183m over the next 11km. Leaving that gorge, it enters a small plain, and for the last couple of kilometers before it empties into the other lake, the Sea of Galilee, it flows serenely. In the 16 km distance between the 2 lakes, the river level dropped from 2 m a.s.l. to about 209 m bsl, a drop of about 211 m. The Sea of Galilee, well known to every Christian for its relationship to the life of Jesus, is called the Sea of Cineret in the OT (Jos 12:3; 13:27), after the city of Cineret,* near its northwestern shore. . The lake is about 21 km long and has a maximum width of about 13 km near the center. Its maximum depth is about 46 m. The lake is fed not only by the Jordan River, but also by minor streams that enter it from the northeast and west shores, and by numerous underwater hot and cold springs. The lake has always had an abundance of fish. The Jordan leaves the Sea of Galilee at its southwestern end and becomes the most winding river in the world, with countless meanders on its way south. Because of these curves, it travels 320 km to cover a distance that in a straight line is only 104 km between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea* (fig 289). Various tributaries increase the volume of water in the river. The western tributaries are insignificant, but the rivers, Yarmuk and Jabbok in Transjordan are important; the former supplies the Jordan at its confluence with almost as much water as the Jordan itself carries. On its way from the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan drops another 183 m to reach the Dead Sea, at 396 m bsl, the lowest region on earth. The average descent of the river is 0.50 m for every km if you follow its course, or 1.70 m for every km in a straight line. Its current is fast, with many whirlpools and rapids that make navigation dangerous, although some have done it, especially in small metal boats, as Lt. Lynch. The wide river valley, which is between 5 and 19 km wide, is called in Arabic el-Ghor, “the lowland”. Within the valley is another depression, on the edge of which are strange-looking gray hills of loam and clay, up to about 30 m high, called qattarahs, on which nothing grows. The lower depression, into which the river flows, is called Zor, ‘thickness’ or ‘thickness’, an apt name, for jungle-like vegetation abounds in many parts. This thicket was a refuge for wild animals in ancient times (Jer 49: 19). The river itself is between 27 and 30 m wide and 1 to 3 m deep. Map II, B-3. The inhabited places that arose in the Ghor are generally not found in the Zor, but above it, on the banks of the tributaries of the Jordan. However, only a few sites on the west bank were suitable for settlement. One of them was on the Nahr J~lûd, which formed the eastern extension of the Jezreel Valley. On its banks and near them several important towns arose. Another similar region was formed by the Wâd§ Fârah, which received its water from a spring northeast of Shechem. The 3rd place was the plain of Jericho,* where the Wâd§ Qelt joins the Jordan. A copious spring in that region, now called Ain es-Sultân, provided attractive conditions for a settlement, and since the dawn of Palestinian history a village has formed there, as recent excavations have shown. The oldest remains of Tell es-Sultân, ancient Jericho, go back in history longer than any other site yet excavated in Palestine. The various 659 tributaries that joined the Jordan from the east formed small plains at their confluence, with fertile land that allowed agriculture. Towns were formed on it. The largest of these plains was immediately northeast of the Dead Sea. Its name, “the fields of Moab” (Num 22:1; etc.), indicates that in very early times it must have been occupied by Moabites. 290. The Jordan River seen from the hills of Gilead. The biblical passages that refer to the Jordan deal mostly with the sector of the river between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. As before the time of the Romans there were no bridges that crossed it, it was crossed by some ford or in boats. In the upper part, north of the confluence with the Jabbok River, in several places there were easy crossings, but in the south the current is fast (many people lost their lives trying to cross in this part). The Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground, at the latitude of Jericho, by virtue of a miracle (Jos 3:1-17; 4:1-24; Psa 114:3, 5). The biblical record makes it clear that they passed through it in the spring, when the Jordan was overflowing with melting snow from Mount Hermon. When the priests entered the water, the river stopped at Adam, modern Tell ed-Dâmiyeh, some 35 km north of the Dead Sea, but south of Adam the water continued towards the Dead Sea, leaving a good stretch of the river dry. bed of the river (Jos 3:14-17; 4:15, 16). In historical times, several landslides, produced by earthquakes, have been recorded in the same place. On the night of December 8, 1267 AD, a high hill overlooking the river, near ed-Dâmiyeh fell into the riverbed and formed a dike that left the southern part of that natural dam dry for 16 hours. Meanwhile, the water to the north of ed-Dâmiyeh flooded the neighboring lands; finally, he opened a breach in it and the level of the river was restored throughout its course. Similar cases were recorded in 1546 and 1906. Again, in the strong earthquake of July 11, 1927, which destroyed many properties and cost many lives, a high ravine in ed-Dâmiyeh fell into the river and formed a dam that interrupted its flow. course for 21 1/2 hours, so that the settlers crossed and recrossed the dry bed on foot at will. Some are of the opinion that for the crossing of the Israelites under Joshua, God perhaps produced an earthquake to form the dam that would contain the water of the river at the precise moment when they were ready to cross it, using, as in other occasions, natural means to carry out their missions. miracles (fig 9). Jacob and his family forded the Jordan perhaps near the mouth of Jabbok (Gen 33:17, 18). The Midianites, persecuted by Gideon and his forces, would have crossed it to the north of the Jabbok, in the vicinity of Sucot (Jdg 7:24; 8: 4, 5). David, when fleeing from Absalom with a group of loyal followers, crossed the Jordan perhaps near Jericho, and this activity – perhaps by boat – would have kept the group busy all night (2Sa 17:22). The crossing of Absalom and his forces, and later David’s return to Jerusalem, is also reported (17:24; 19:15-18, 39). Twice the dry crossing took place miraculously in the time of Elijah and Elisha: first to allow the 2 prophets to cross the river, and then for Elisha to cross it again (2Ki 2:5-8, 13-15). Once again the Jordan played a role in Elisha’s life when he asked Naaman, the Syrian official, to wash himself 7 times in its waters to be cleansed of his leprosy (5:10, 14). Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan by John (Mat 3:13-16; cf Joh 3:23; fig 292). Bib.: WF Lynch, “Narrative of the United States Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea”, made in 1848; John Garstang, The Foundations of Bible History (London, 1931), pp. 136, 137; DH Kallner, Amiran, YEJ 1 (1950-1951):229, 236, 245.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
river of Palestine, rises in the mountains of Anti-Lebanon. It runs south, passing through a place today called Hule, former Lake Merom, Jos 11, 57; then through Lake Tiberias or the Sea of Galilee, until it empties into the Dead Sea; It is 320 kilometers long, and between Lake Tiberias and its mouth it runs 150 kilometers through the Ghor valley. Almost…