At Succoth is one of the best and most important fords over the Jordan. Here Jacob crossed with his cattle. This, too, is in all probability the Beth barah, house, or ford of passage,' where the Is raelites intercepted the routed Midianites tjudg. vii. 24). It is still the place at which the eastern Bedawin cross in their periodical invasions of Es draelon. 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 (Moly neux, pp. '15, seq. ; Lynch, April 16 ; Burckhardt, pp. 344, seq.) 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 be come impassable.
Historical Notices.—The first notice of the Jor dan 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. xiii. ro). The section of the valley visihle 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' (irt..1), 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 nume rous springs, mountain torrents, and probably of the Jordan, raised by weirs such as are seen at its northern end, were used by tbe old Phcenician in habitants 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 de struction of the cities. The bed of the Dead Sea was probably lowered, and a greater fall thus given to the river ; but this subject will be considered elsewhere [SEA.1...
Another wonderful epoch in the Jordan's history was the passage of the Israelites. They were en camped on the 'plains of Moab'—on the broad plain east of tbe river, extending along the northern sbore of the sea to the foot of the mountains. It was harvest-time—the beginning of April—when the rains were still falling heavily in Hennon, 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' (1111-lrnir t.6n ; see Robinson, B. R.,i• 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. There are wet seasons even yet, when thc river rises several feet more than ordinarily (Reland, p. 273 ; Raumer, p. 61, 2d ed.) The open ing 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 mani fest to all. It is a remarkable fact that at this same spot the Jordan was afterwards twice miracu lously opened—by Elijah and Elisha (2 ICings 8> 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 (I Chron. xii. 15). Jeremiah spealcs of the lions coming up' from the swellings of the Jordan ;' but the Hebrew word 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, Thesau rus, s. v. ; Robinson, i. 54o). The writer has often seen wild swine, hyeenas, and jackals, and also the tracks of panthers, on the banks of the Jordan (cf. 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 (2 Sam. xix. 18). The passage was pro bably effected at one of the fords in the plain of Tericho. The word inn simply signifies a thing for crossing—it may have been a boat,' or a raft,' or a few inflated skins, such as are repre sented on the monuments of Nineveh, and are still used on the Euphrates and the Jordan.
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, 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. The topography and the incidents of thenarrative, both before and after the baptism, unquestionably point to the same place, already famous as the scene of three miracles (Handbook, p. 198). In commemo ration of the baptism, the Christian pilgrims who assemble at Jerusalem at Easter, visit the Jordan in a body and bathe at this spot iStanley, p.
308) The references to the Jordan in the writings of Josephus contain nothing of importance beyond what has been already 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 reluc tance, as it were, it moves onward toward Asphal tites, a lake of gloomy and unpropitious nature, by which it is at last swallowed up' (H. N., v. i5). 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 (XVi. 2, 16). Pausanias tells how strangely the river disappears in the Dead Sea (book v. 7. 4).
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. , In whatever light we regard it, the Jordan stands alone. —J. L. P.