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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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JORDAN RIVER

River lying in the bottom of a great canyon called the Jordan Rift, an elongated depression stretching from lower southwest Asia Minor (Syria) to the Gulf of Aqaba. The rift was once filled by the Lisan Lake, but significant geologic activity caused it to recede, and the result was the formation of three separate aqueous bodies: the Huleh Lake, the Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea. To this day each of these are fed by the Jordan River, the stream whose name in Hebrew means “the descender.”

Sources

Originating at the northern end of the Huleh Basin, the river comprises four separate streams: Nahr Bereighith, Nahr Hasbani, Nahr el-Liddani, and Nahr Baniyas. In the northwest corner of the Huleh Valley the Bereighith emerges within the area of Merj Ayoun, flowing from a spring located on a modest knoll west of Mt Hermon. Slightly to the east is the Hasbani, a stream that descends from a spring 1,700 feet (518.2 meters) above sea level and follows a course of about 24 miles (38.6 kilometers). These two smaller streams merge less than a mile above their confluence with the el-Liddani and the Baniyas. The el-Liddani, lying between the Nahr Hasbani and the Nahr Baniyas, is located near Tel el-Qadi (the biblical city of Dan). The most powerful stream of the four; it is fed by ‘Ain Leddan, a spring that is nestled among thick underbrush and is fed by the melting snows off Mt Hermon. Flowing quickly and briefly, the el-Liddani rushes to meet the Nahr Baniyas, the last of the four streams. In the northeast corner of the Huleh Valley, at the NT site of Caesarea Philippi, the Baniyas originates from a cave approximately 1,100 feet (335 meters) above sea level and follows a steep descent to its confluence with the others. These four streams, making up the Jordan River, then flow together along a southerly course of 10 miles (16 kilometers) before entering Huleh Lake.

Course and Character of the River

The course of the Jordan follows a north-south route through the Great Rift, descending gradually from the Huleh Lake (7 feet, or 2 meters, above sea level) to the Dead Sea (1,274 feet, or 388 meters, below sea level). From the Huleh Lake the river follows a 20-mile (32.2-kilometer) course, passing through the basaltic lip that forms the southern dam of the Huleh Basin (Rosh Pinnah Sill) and descends quickly to the Sea of Galilee (685 feet, or 209 meters, below sea level). To the south lies the Dead Sea at a distance of approximately 65 miles (105 kilometers). The river that connects these two seas, however, travels a circuitous route of 200 miles (322 kilometers), following a snakelike riverbed cut through the Ghor, the canyon floor.

The Jordan has many tributaries, not all of which are perennial. If there is no consistent water source, such as a spring at the head of the riverbed, then these V-shaped watercourses remain dry until a seasonal deluge. When the rain comes, these dry, narrow courses are filled with fast-paced streams that flow off the sides of the canyon into the Jordan River. North of the Sea of Galilee four major systems feed the fluvial system in the Huleh Basin: Nahr Dishon and Nahr Hazor on the west, and Nahr Shuah and Nahr Gilbon on the east. Between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are the following major tributary systems: on the east—Yarmuq, ‘Arab, Tayibeh, Ziqlab, Jurm, Yabis, Kufrinjia, Rajib, Zarqa, Nimrin, Abu Gharuba; on the west—Fejjas, Bireh, Jalub, Malih, Far’ah, Aujah, el-Qelt.

The character of the Ghor varies from north to south as the canyon floor drops farther below sea level. Just south of the Sea of Galilee arable fields may be cultivated without irrigation, which permits occupation and settlement. South of this and farther below sea level, beyond the narrowest constriction of the canyon at Ghor el-Wahadina, the terrain and climate change. Since the floor now consistently approaches 1,000 feet (305 meters) below sea level, the climatic conditions approximate that of the desert. In this dry and desolate region, the river and its immediate environs now assume a more prominent role, becoming a lifeline to the flora and the fauna that hug its banks. Its course and character are more easily discerned as it has become a veritable stream in the desert. The dense foliage on the banks of the Jordan is still today a wildlife haunt as it was in antiquity, the low-lying shrubs and the tamarisk alike providing thick ground cover. This lower section of the canyon, called the Zor, is 150 feet (45.7 meters) below the Ghor and separated by the qattara (a sedimentary deposit of grayish-white marls and clays that form precipitous and barren slopes) from the canyon floor above. Generally inaccessible and extremely dangerous, the Zor and qattara form a natural barrier between Cis-Jordan (west) and Transjordan (east). Thus, trade, settlement, and travel were necessarily affected by the various topographical features that characterize this area.

Biblical Events

The OT Israelites passed across the Jordan upon entry into the Promised Land (Jos 3:14-17). The fords of the Jordan were the sites of conflict in the war of Jephthah and the Gileadites against the Ephraimites (Jgs 12:1-6). The prophet Elijah sought refuge from Ahab king of Israel by the brook of Kerith east of the Jordan (1 Kgs 17:1-5). Elijah was translated up to heaven in a whirlwind after having crossed the Jordan with Elisha on dry ground (2 Kgs 2:6-12). Naaman, the Syrian general, bathed in the Jordan at the command of Elisha and his leprosy was healed (5:8-14). Elisha made the ax head float here (2 Kgs 6:1-7). In the NT, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan (Mt 3:13-17). Peter confessed that Jesus was the “Christ, the Son of the living God” at Caesarea Philippi—located on one of the sources of the Jordan, Nahr Baniyas (16:13-20). Jesus healed two blind men at Jericho, which is near the Jordan (20:29-34) and visited with Zacchaeus in that same city (Lk 19:1-10).