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 Cæsarea
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 bason 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 subterraneous 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 Julias, 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
overflowed 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,”
Joshua iii, 15. This happens in the first month of the Jewish year,
which corresponds with March, 1 Chronicles xii, 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. xlix, 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,” Judg. xii, 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,” Judg. iii, 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 overflowings 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 Yahweh. 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.
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 Cæsarea
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 bason 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 subterraneous 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 Julias, 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
overflowed 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,”
Joshua iii, 15. This happens in the first month of the Jewish year,
which corresponds with March, 1 Chronicles xii, 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. xlix, 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,” Judg. xii, 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,” Judg. iii, 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 overflowings 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 Yahweh. 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.