DEFINITION OF TERMS

SEA (Heb. D.P; Gk. WKDODVVD and SHODJRV: this latter term, meaning ‘open sea’, occurs only once, Acts 27:5). The predominating sea in the OT is, of
course, the Mediterranean. Indeed, the word D.P also means ‘west’, ‘westward’, i.e.‘seaward’, from the geographical position of the Mediterranean with reference to Palestine. The Mediterranean is termed ‘the Great Sea’ (Jos. 1:4), ‘the western sea’ ( Dt. 11:24), and ‘the sea of the Philistines’ (Ex. 23:31).

Other seas mentioned in the OT are the Red Sea, lit. ‘sea of reeds’ (Ex.13:18); the Dead Sea, lit. ‘sea of salt’ (Gn. 14:3); the Sea of Galilee, lit.
‘sea of NLQQHUHWB‘ (Nu. 34:11). The word D.P was also used of a particularly broad river, such as the Euphrates (Je. 51:35f.) and the Nile (Na. 3:8). It is used with reference to the great basin in the Temple court (1 Ki. 7:23).

As one would expect, the NT WKDODVVD is used with reference to the same seas as are mentioned in the OT. The Hebrews betrayed little interest in, or enthusiasm for, the sea. Probably their fear of the ocean stemmed from the ancient Semitic belief that the deep personified the power that fought against the deity. But for Israel the Lord was its Creator (Gn. 1:9f.), and therefore its Controller (Ps. 104:7-9; Acts 4:24). He compels it to contribute to man’s good (Gn. 49:25; Dt.33:13) and to utter his praise (Ps. 148:7). In the figurative language of Isaiah (17:12) and Jeremiah (6:23) the sea is completely under God’s command. Many of the manifestations of the Lord’s miraculous power
were against the sea (Ex. 14-15; Ps. 77:16; Jon. 1-2). So also Christ’s walking on the sea and stilling the storm (Mt. 14:25-33; cf. G. Bornkamm,
‘The Stilling of the Storm in Matthew’, in G. Bornkamm, G. Barth and H. J. Held, Tradition and Interpretation in Matthew, 1963, pp. 52ff.). God’s
final triumph will witness the disappearance of the sea in the world to come (Rev. 21:1). 1

SEA, THE — (Heb. DP, signifies (1) “the gathering together of the waters,” the ocean (Gen. 1:10); (2) a river, as the Nile (Isa. 19:5), the Euphrates (Isa. 21:1; Jer. 51:36); (3) the Red Sea (Ex. 14:16, 27; 15:4, etc.); (4) the Mediterranean (Ex. 23:31; Num. 34:6, 7; Josh. 15:47; Ps.80:11, etc.); (5) the “sea of Galilee,” an inland fresh-water lake, and (6) the Dead Sea or “salt sea” (Gen. 14:3; Num. 34:3, 12, etc.). The word “sea” is used symbolically in Isa. 60:5, where it probably means the nations around the Mediterranean. In Dan. 7:3, Rev. 13:1 it may mean the tumultuous changes among the nations of the earth. 2

RIVER. Hebrew has a good many different words often rendered ‘river’, although this is not always an accurate translation of the original term. The Heb. word QDK?DO is common, meaning a wadi or torrent-valley; in summer a dry river-bed or ravine, but a raging torrent in the rainy season.

The Jabbok was such a wadi (Dt. 2:37), as were all the streams mentioned in the Elijah stories. Because these river-beds could suddenly become
raging torrents, they often symbolize the pride of nations (Is. 66:12), the strength of the invader (Je. 47:2), and the power of the foe (Ps. 124:4). In his vision it was a QDK?DO that Ezekiel saw issuing from the Temple (47:5-12).

The second term, QD.KD.U, is the regular word for ‘river’ in Heb. It is used of particular rivers: e.g. the rivers of Eden (Gn. 2:10, 13-14), the Euphrates (Dt. 1:7), and the rivers of Ethiopia (Is. 18:1), Damascus (2 Ki. 5:12), etc. In Ex. 7:19; Ps. 137:1, the word should almost certainly be rendered ‘canals’. The waters from the rock struck by Moses formed a QD.KD.U (Ps.105.41). The word used most frequently of the Nile is _ µR¦U_ The term is also found in Coptic, and was probably an Egyp. loan-word (BDB): see, e.g.,Gn. 41:1; Ex. 1:22. It is used by Jeremiah (46:7f.) as a similitude of Egyp. invasion.

Other Heb. terms for ‘river’ are SHOHJ×, irrigating canals (Pss. 1:3; 65:9);µD.SBɦT, channel or river-bed (Ps. 42:1; Is. 8:7; and X¦EBD.O or µX¦EBD.O, a stream or watercourse (Is. 30:25; Dn. 8:2-3, 6). In the NT the word for ‘river’ is SRWDPRV_ It is used of the Euphrates (Rev. 16:12) and the Jordan (Mk. 1:5); of the river issuing from God’s throne (Rev. 22:1f.); and of the Holy Spirit under the figure of living water (Jn. 7:38f.). J.G.S.S.T.2

RIVER. Hebrew has a good many different words often rendered ‘river’, although this is not always an accurate translation of the original term. The Heb. word QDK?DO is common, meaning a wadi or torrent-valley; in summer a dry river-bed or ravine, but a raging torrent in the rainy season.

The Jabbok was such a wadi (Dt. 2:37), as were all the streams mentioned in the Elijah stories. Because these river-beds could suddenly become
raging torrents, they often symbolize the pride of nations (Is. 66:12), the strength of the invader (Je. 47:2), and the power of the foe (Ps. 124:4). In his vision it was a QDK?DO that Ezekiel saw issuing from the Temple (47:5-12).

The second term, QD.KD.U, is the regular word for ‘river’ in Heb. It is used of particular rivers: e.g. the rivers of Eden (Gn. 2:10, 13-14), the Euphrates (Dt. 1:7), and the rivers of Ethiopia (Is. 18:1), Damascus (2 Ki. 5:12), etc. In Ex. 7:19; Ps. 137:1, the word should almost certainly be rendered ‘canals’. The waters from the rock struck by Moses formed a QD.KD.U (Ps.105.41).
The word used most frequently of the Nile is _ µR¦U_ The term is also found in Coptic, and was probably an Egyp. loan-word (BDB): see, e.g.,
Gn. 41:1; Ex. 1:22. It is used by Jeremiah (46:7f.) as a similitude of Egyp. invasion.

Other Heb. terms for ‘river’ are SHOHJ×, irrigating canals (Pss. 1:3; 65:9); µD.SBɦT, channel or river-bed (Ps. 42:1; Is. 8:7; and X¦EBD.O or µX¦EBD.O, a stream or watercourse (Is. 30:25; Dn. 8:2-3, 6). In the NT the word for ‘river’ is SRWDPRV_ It is used of the Euphrates (Rev. 16:12) and the Jordan (Mk. 1:5); of the river issuing from God’s throne (Rev. 22:1f.); and of the Holy Spirit under the figure of living water (Jn. 7:38f.). J.G.S.S.T.2

RED SEA — The sea so called extends along the west coast of Arabia for about 1,400 miles, and separates Asia from Africa. It is connected with
the Indian Ocean, of which it is an arm, by the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. At a point (Ras Mohammed) about 200 miles from its nothern extremity it is
divided into two arms, that on the east called the AElanitic Gulf, now the Bahr el-’Akabah , about 100 miles long by 15 broad, and that on the west
the Gulf of Suez, about 150 miles long by about 20 broad. This branch is now connected with the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal. Between these
two arms lies the Sinaitic Peninsula.

The Hebrew name generally given to this sea is <DP_6XSK. This word VXSK means a woolly kind of sea-weed, which the sea casts up in great abundance on its shores. In these passages, Ex. 10:19; 13:18; 15:4, 22; 23:31; Num. 14:25, etc., the Hebrew name is always translated “Red Sea,”
which was the name given to it by the Greeks. The origin of this name (Red Sea) is uncertain. Some think it is derived from the red colour of the
mountains on the western shore; others from the red coral found in the sea, or the red appearance sometimes given to the water by certain zoophytes
floating in it. In the New Testament (Acts 7:36; Heb. 11:29) this name is given to the Gulf of Suez. This sea was also called by the Hebrews Yam-mitstraim, i.e., “the Egyptian sea” ( Isa. 11:15), and simply Ha-yam, “the sea” (Ex. 14:2, 9, 16,21, 28; Josh. 24:6, 7; Isa. 10:26, etc.).

The great historical event connected with the Red Sea is the passage of the children of Israel, and the overthrow of the Egyptians, to which there is
frequent reference in Scripture (Ex. 14, 15; Num. 33:8; Deut. 11:4; Josh. 2:10; Judg. 11:16; 2 Sam. 22:16; Neh. 9:9–11; Ps. 66:6; Isa. 10:26; Acts
7:36, etc.). 2

RED SEA, PASSAGE OF — The account of the march of the Israelites through the Red Sea is given in Ex. 14:22–31. There has been great diversity of opinion as to the precise place where this occurred. The difficulty of arriving at any definite conclusion on the matter is much
increased by the consideration that the head of the Gulf of Suez, which was the branch of the sea that was crossed, must have extended at the time of the Exodus probably 50 miles farther north than it does at present. Some have argued that the crossing took place opposite the Wady Tawarik,
where the sea is at present some 7 miles broad. But the opinion that seems to be best supported is that which points to the neighbourhood of Suez.
This position perfectly satisfies all the conditions of the stupendous miracle as recorded in the sacred narrative.2

EXODUS — the great deliverance wrought for the children of Israel when they were brought out of the land of Egypt with “a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm” (Ex 12:51; Deut. 26:8; Ps 114; 136), about 1490, and four hundred and eighty years (1 Kings 6:1) before the building
of Solomon’s temple. The time of their sojourning in Egypt was, according to Ex. 12:40, the space of four hundred and thirty years. In the LXX., the words are, “The sojourning of the children of Israel which they sojourned in Egypt and in
the land of Canaan was four hundred and thirty years;” and the Samaritan version reads, “The sojourning of the children of Israel and of their fathers which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.” In Gen. 15:13–16, the period is
prophetically given (in round numbers) as four hundred years. This passage is quoted by Stephen in his defence before the council (Acts 7:6).
The chronology of the “sojourning” is variously estimated. Those who adopt the longer term reckon thus:

Years
71 From the descent of Jacob into Egypt to the death of Joseph
278 From the death of Joseph to the birth of Moses
40 From the birth of Moses to his flight into Midian
40 From the flight of Moses to his return into Egypt
1 From the return of Moses to the Exodus
In all … 430

Others contend for the shorter period of two hundred and fifteen years, holding that the period of four hundred and thirty years comprehends the
years from the entrance of Abraham into Canaan (see LXX. and Samaritan) to the descent of Jacob into Egypt. They reckon thus:

Years
25 From Abraham’s arrival in Canaan to Isaac’s birth
60 From Isaac’s birth to that of his twin sons Esau and Jacob
130 From Jacob’s birth to the going down into Egypt
(215)
From Jacob’s going down into Egypt to the death of Joseph
64 From death of Joseph to the birth of Moses
80 From birth of Moses to the Exodus
In all … 430

During the forty years of Moses’ sojourn in the land of Midian, the Hebrews in Egypt were being gradually prepared for the great national
crisis which was approaching. The plagues that successively fell upon the land loosened the bonds by which Pharaoh held them in slavery, and at
length he was eager that they should depart. But the Hebrews must now also be ready to go. They were poor; for generations they had laboured for
the Egyptians without wages. They asked gifts from their neighbours around them (Ex. 12:35), and these were readily bestowed. And then, as
the first step towards their independent national organization, they observed the feast of the Passover, which was now instituted as a perpetual
memorial. The blood of the paschal lamb was duly sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels of all their houses, and they were all within, waiting the next movement in the working out of God’s plan. At length the last stroke fell on the land of Egypt. “It came to pass, that at midnight Jehovah smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.” Pharaoh rose up in the night, and
called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve
Jehovah, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.” Thus was Pharaoh (q.v.) completely
humbled and broken down. These words he spoke to Moses and Aaron “seem to gleam through the tears of the humbled king, as he lamented his son snatched from him by so sudden a death, and tremble with a sense of the helplessness which his proud soul at last felt when the avenging hand
of God had visited even his palace.”

The terror-stricken Egyptians now urged the instant departure of the Hebrews. In the midst of the Passover feast, before the dawn of the 15th
day of the month Abib (our April nearly), which was to be to them henceforth the beginning of the year, as it was the commencement of a new epoch in their history, every family, with all that appertained to it, was ready for the march, which instantly began under the leadership of the
heads of tribes with their various sub-divisions.

They moved onward, increasing as they went forward from all the districts of Goshen, over the whole of which they were scattered, to the common centre. Three or four days perhaps elapsed before the whole body of the people were assembled at Rameses, and ready to set out under their leader Moses (Ex. 12:37; Num. 33:3). This city was at that time the residence of the Egyptian court,
and here the interviews between Moses and Pharaoh had taken place. From Rameses they journeyed to Succoth (Ex. 12:37), identified with Tel-el-Maskhuta, about 12 miles west of Ismailia. (See 13:20, “in the edge of the wilderness,” and was probably a little to the west of the modern
town of Ismailia, on the Suez Canal. Here they were commanded “to turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea”, i.e., to
change their route from east to due south. The Lord now assumed the direction of their march in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.
They were then led along the west shore of the Red Sea till they came to an extensive camping-ground “before Pi- hahiroth,” about 40 miles from
Etham. This distance from Etham may have taken three days to traverse, for the number of camping-places by no means indicates the number of
days spent on the journey: e.g., it took fully a month to travel from Rameses to the wilderness of Sin (Ex. 16:1), yet reference is made to only
six camping-places during all that time. The exact spot of their encampment before they crossed the Red Sea cannot be determined. It was probably somewhere near the present site of Suez.

Under the direction of God the children of Israel went “forward” from the camp “before Pi- hahiroth,” and the sea opened a pathway for them, so that they crossed to the farther shore in safety. The Egyptian host pursued after them, and, attempting to follow through the sea, were overwhelmed in its returning waters, and thus the whole military force of the Egyptians perished. They “sank as lead in the mighty waters” (Ex. 15:1–9; comp. Ps. 77:16–19).

Having reached the eastern shore of the sea, perhaps a little way to the north of ‘Ayun Musa (“the springs of Moses”), there they encamped and
rested probably for a day. Here Miriam and the other women sang the triumphal song recorded in Ex. 15:1–21.

From ‘Ayun Musa they went on for three days through a part of the barren “wilderness of Shur” (22), called also the “wilderness of Etham” (Num. 33:8; comp. Ex. 13:20), without finding water. On the last of these days they came to Marah (q.v.), where the “bitter” water was by a miracle made drinkable.

Their next camping-place was Elim (q.v.), where were twelve springs of water and a grove of “threescore and ten” palm trees (Ex. 15:27). After a time the children of Israel “took their journey from Elim,” and encamped by the Red Sea (Num. 33:10), and thence removed to the “wilderness of Sin” (to be distinguished from the wilderness of Zin, 20:1), where they again encamped. Here, probably the modern el-Markha, the supply of bread they had brought with them out of Egypt failed.

They began to “murmur” for want of bread. God “heard their murmurings” and gave them quails and manna, “bread from heaven” (Ex. 16:4–36). Moses
directed that an omer of manna should be put aside and preserved as a perpetual memorial of God’s goodness. They now turned inland, and after
three encampments came to the rich and fertile valley of Rephidim, in the Wady Feiran. Here they found no water, and again murmured against Moses. Directed by God, Moses procured a miraculous supply of water from the “rock in Horeb,” one of the hills of the Sinai group (17:1–7); and shortly afterwards the children of Israel here fought their first battle with the Amalekites, whom they smote with the edge of the sword.

From the eastern extremity of the Wady Feiran the line of march now probably led through the Wady esh-Sheikh and the Wady Solaf, meeting in the Wady er-Rahah, “the enclosed plain in front of the magnificient cliffs of Ras Sufsafeh.” Here they encamped for more than a year (Num. 1:1 ;10:11) before Sinai (q.v.).

The different encampments of the children of Israel, from the time of their leaving Egypt till they reached the Promised Land, are mentioned in
Ex. 12:37–19; Num. 10–21; 33; Deut. 1, 2, 10.

It is worthy of notice that there are unmistakable evidences that the Egyptians had a tradition of a great exodus from their country, which could be none other than the exodus of the Hebrews. 2

RED SEA. In modern geography, the sea that divides NE Africa from Arabia and extends some 1,900 km from the straits of Bab el-Mandeb near Aden N to the S tip of the Sinai peninsula. For nearly another 300 km, the Gulfs of Suez and Aqabah continue the sea N on the W and E sides of the
Sinai peninsula respectively. In classical antiquity the name Red Sea (HUWKUD_WKDODVVD) included also the Arabian and Indian Seas to the NW coast of India. In the OT the term DP_VX¦SB, ‘sea of reeds’ (and/or ‘weed’), is used to cover: (a) the Bitter Lakes region in the Egyptian Delta N of Suez along the line of the present Suez Canal; and (b) the Gulfs of Suez and Aqabah and possibly the Red Sea proper beyond these.

I. The Bitter Lakes region
In general terms, the Israelites were led from Egypt on the way of the wilderness and the DP_VX¦SB (Ex. 13:18). Ex. 14 and 15 are more specific: on leaving Succoth (Tell el-Maskhuta) and Etham, Israel were to turn back and camp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the ‘sea’, before Baalzephon (Ex. 14:1-2, 9; cf. *Encampment by the Sea). It was this ‘sea’, near all these places, that God drove back and divided by a ‘strong east wind’ for Israel to cross dryshod, and then brought back upon the pursuing Egyptians (Ex. 14:16, 21-31; 15:1, 4, 19, 21). From the ‘sea of reeds’, DP_VX¦SB, Israel went into the wilderness of Shur (Ex. 25:22; Nu. 33:8) and
then on towards Sinai. Various points suggest that this famous crossing, the Exodus in the narrow sense, took place in the Bitter Lakes region,
roughly between Qantara (48 km S of Port Said) and just N of Suez. First, geographically, the wilderness of Shur, which Israel entered directly from crossing the DP_VX¦SB (Ex. 15:22), is opposite this very area (*Shur).

Secondly, geophysically, the reedy waters of the Bitter Lakes and Lake Menzaleh can be affected by strong E winds precisely in the way described
in Ex. 14:21 and experienced on a small scale by Aly Shafei Bey in 1945-6 (Bulletin de la Société Royale de Géographie d’Egypte 21, August 1946,
pp. 231ff.; cf. also JTVI 28, 1894-5, pp. 267-280).

Thirdly, philologically, the Heb. word VX¦SB is generally admitted to be a loan-word from Egyp.
WBZI_), ‘papyrus’, and Sµ_WBZI, a location, ‘the papyrus-marshes’ par excellence in the NE part of the Delta between Tanis (Zoan), Qantir and the present line of the Suez Canal N of Ismailia, on the former Pelusiac arm of the Nile. For details and references, see A. H. Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Onomastica, 2, 1947, pp. 201*-202*; R. A. Caminos, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, 1954, p. 79; Erman and Grapow, Wörterbuch d.Aegypt. Sprache, 5, 1931, p. 359: 6-10. Ps. 78:12, 43, puts the great events preceding the Exodus in the ‘field of Zoan’, i.e. in the NE Delta.

II. The Gulfs of Suez and Aqabah
Turning S from Shur via Etham, Marah and Elim, the Israelites pitched by the DP_VX¦SB and then went on to Sin and Dophkah (Nu. 33:10-11). This would appear to refer to the Gulf of Suez. Whether Ex. 10:19 during the plagues refers to the Lakes region, the Gulf of Suez or the Red Sea proper
is not certain; see *Plagues of Egypt (eighth plague) and G. Hort, ZAW 70, 1958, pp. 51-52. The DP_VX¦SB of Ex. 23:31 is ambiguous, but perhaps it is the Gulf of Aqabah.

Various references clearly show that the term DP_VX¦SB applied to the Gulf of Aqabah. After their first halt at Kadesh-barnea (*Kadesh), the
Israelites were ordered into the wilderness by the way to the DP_VX¦SB (Nu.14:25; Dt. 1:40; 2:1), i.e. by the Arabah towards the Gulf of Aqabah as
suggested by the physical circumstances in which the earth swallowed Korah and his company (*Wilderness of Wandering; G. Hort, Australian
Biblical Review 7, 1959, pp. 19-26). After a second sojourn at Kadesh, Israel went by the way of the DP_VX¦SB to go round Edom (Nu. 21:4; Jdg.
11:16), again with reference to the Gulf of Aqabah. Solomon’s seaport of Ezion-geber or *Elath on this gulf is placed on the DP_VX¦SB by 1 Ki. 9:26; Teman in Edom is associated with it (Je. 49:21).

That the term DP_VX¦SB should have a wider use for the two N arms of the Red Sea as well as the more restricted application to the line of reedy lakes from Suez N to Lake Menzaleh and the Mediterranean is not specially remarkable orunparalleled. About 1470 BC, for example, Egyp. texts of a single epoch can use the name :DGMZHU, ‘Great Green (Sea)‘, of both the Mediterranean and Red Seas (Erman-Grapow, op.cit., 1, p. 269: 13-14,
references), and 7D_QHWHU, ‘God’s Land’, of both Punt (E Sudan?) in particular and E lands generally (ibid., 5, p. 225: 1-4, references). 1
JORDAN — Heb. Yarden, “the descender;” Arab. Nahr-esh-Sheriah, “the watering-place” the chief river of Palestine. It flows from north to south down a deep valley in the centre of the country. The name descender is significant of the fact that there is along its whole course a descent to its
banks; or it may simply denote the rapidity with which it “descends” to the Dead Sea.

It originates in the snows of Hermon, which feed its perennial fountains. Two sources are generally spoken of. (1.) From the western base of a hill
on which once stood the city of Dan, the northern border-city of Palestine, there gushes forth a considerable fountain called the Leddan, which is the largest fountain in Syria and the principal source of the Jordan. (2.) Beside the ruins of Banias, the ancient Caesarea Philippi and the yet more ancient Panium, is a lofty cliff of limestone, at the base of which is a fountain. This is the other source of the Jordan, and has always been regarded by the Jews as its true source. It rushes down to the plain in a foaming torrent, and joins the Leddan about 5 miles south of Dan (Tell-el-Kady). (3.) But besides these two historical fountains there is a third, called the Hasbany, which rises in the bottom of a valley at the western base of Hermon, 12 miles north of Tell-el-Kady. It joins the main stream about a mile below the junction of the Leddan and the Banias. The river thus formed is at this point about 45 feet wide, and flows in a channel from 12 to 20 feet below the plain. After this it flows, “with a swift current and a much-twisted course,” through a marshy plain for some 6 miles, when it falls into the Lake Huleh, “the waters of Merom” (q.v.).

During this part of its course the Jordan has descended about 1,100 feet. At Banias it is 1,080 feet above sea-level. Flowing from the southern
extremity of Lake Huleh, here almost on a level with the sea, it flows for 2 miles “through a waste of islets and papyrus,” and then for 9 miles through a narrow gorge in a foaming torrent onward to the Sea of Galilee (q.v.). “In the whole valley of the Jordan from the Lake Huleh to the Sea of
Galilee there is not a single settled inhabitant. Along the whole eastern bank of the river and the lakes, from the base of Hermon to the ravine of
Hieromax, a region of great fertility, 30 miles long by 7 or 8 wide, there are only some three inhabited villages. The western bank is almost as
desolate. Ruins are numerous enough. Every mile or two is an old site of town or village, now well nigh hid beneath a dense jungle of thorns and
thistles. The words of Scripture here recur to us with peculiar force: ‘I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation … And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it … And your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate’ (Lev. 26:31–34).”, Dr. Porter’s Handbook.

From the Sea of Galilee, at the level of 682 feet below the Mediterranean, the river flows through a long, low plain called “the region of Jordan” (Matt. 3:5), and by the modern Arabs the Ghor, or “sunken plain.” This section is properly the Jordan of Scripture. Down through the midst of the “plain of Jordan” there winds a ravine varying in breadth from 200 yards to half a mile, and in depth from 40 to 150 feet. Through it the Jordan flows in a rapid, rugged, tortuous course down to the Dead Sea. The whole distance from the southern extremity of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is in a straight line about 65 miles, but following the windings of the river about 200 miles, during which it falls 618 feet. The total length of the Jordan from Banias is about 104 miles in a straight line, during which it falls 2,380 feet.

There are two considerable affluents which enter the river between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, both from the east. (1.) The Wady Mandhur, called the Yarmuk by the Rabbins and the Hieromax by the Greeks. It formed the boundary between Bashan and Gilead. It drains the plateau of the Hauran. (2.) The Jabbok or Wady Zerka, formerly the northern boundary of Ammon. It enters the Jordan about 20 miles north of Jericho.

The first historical notice of the Jordan is in the account of the separation of Abraham and Lot (Gen. 13:10). “Lot beheld the plain of Jordan as the garden of the Lord.” Jacob crossed and recrossed “this Jordan” (32:10).

The Israelites passed over it as “on dry ground” (Josh. 3:17 ; Ps. 114:3). Twice afterwards its waters were miraculously divided at the same spot by Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:8, 14).

The Jordan is mentioned in the Old Testament about one hundred and eighty times, and in the New Testament fifteen times. The chief events in
gospel history connected with it are (1) John the Baptist’s ministry, when “there went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and were baptized of him in Jordan” (Matt. 3:6). (2.) Jesus also “was baptized of John in Jordan” (Mark 1:9). 2

JORDAN. The Jordan depression is unique among the features of physical geography. Formed as a result of a rift valley, it is the lowest depression on
earth. The headwaters of the river Jordan, fed by springs, collect into Lake Huleh, 70 m above sea-level. Ten km S at Lake Tiberias the river is
already nearly 200 m below the Mediterranean, while at the N end of the Dead Sea the floor of the trench has dropped a further 177 m and the river has plunged to 393 m below sea-level. Thus the name ‘Jordan’ (Heb. DUGH.Q) aptly means ‘the descender’. The river is the largest perennial
course in Palestine, and its distance of some 120 km from Lake Huleh to the Dead Sea is more than doubled by its meander. No other river has more
biblical allusions and significance.

I. Archaeological sites
Archaeological sites in the Jordan valley have revealed it to be one of the earliest loci of urban settlement in the world. The Natufian transition from hunting to urban life at Jericho may be as old as 7000 BC. A potterymaking people arrived about 5000 BC, and with the later pottery (Neolithic B culture) the first evidence occurs of links with other Jordan valley sites and the N Fertile Crescent. Copper was introduced in the Chalcolithic period (4500-3200 BC), such as at Teleilat Ghassul, just N of the Dead Sea.

At Ghassul, three city levels existed from the 4th millennium onwards, with evidence of irrigation farming. This Ghassulian culture is identified
widely in Palestine, but it was especially prevalent in the Jordan valley, at Mefjar, Abu Habil, Jiftlik Beth-shan, En-gedi and Tell esh-Shuneh, S of the Sea of Galilee.

At the end of the 4th millennium at least three groups of peoples entered the Jordan valley from the N, to settle in unwalled villages in the
plains of Esdraelon, or from the E via Jericho. This period K. M. Kenyon has called proto-urban. City-states then began to appear in the Jordan
valley, such as Jericho in the S, Beth-shan in the centre and Beth-yerah (Khirbet Kerak) in the N, and these traded with Egypt and Mesopotamia.
About 2200 BC Amorite nomads invaded the valley and destroyed many of the urban centres. They may have been part of a vast general eruption of peoples that went on from 2300 to 1900 BC, that is, to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. Abraham may have come into the Jordan valley in association with this period of nomadic unrest. This was followed by the N invasion of the Hyksos culture, when elaborate urban defences in depth were built at such towns as Jericho. Following the defeat of the Hyksos by the Egyptians, the great fortress towns of the Jordan valley, such as Beth-shan and Hazor, were rebuilt and equipped with Egyptian garrisons. Then later in the Bronze Age, at least by 1220 BC, the Israelites entered Palestine through the Jordan valley. There is evidence of the destruction of the cities of Hazor, Debir and Lachish. But the archaeological evidence for Joshua’s capture of Jericho is obscure.

II. Topographical features
a. The Huleh basin
The Jordan valley begins below Mt Hermon (2,814 m), out of whose limestone springs issue the headwaters of the Jordan. Banias, later called
Caesarea Philippi, may have been the centre of Baal-gad in the valley ‘of Lebanon’ (Jos. 12:7). It was the territory of Dan, the N limit of Israel, whose inhabitants controlled the vital trade route into Syria and were likened to a nest of vipers (Gn. 49:17). Moving down the upper valley is the Huleh area, a depression some 5 x 15 km, where ancient lava flows blocked the valley, so that the Jordan plunges 280 m in 15 km of gorges.

On the plateau overlooking the Huleh plain stands the site of Hazor. the great Canaanite town.

b. The Tiberias district Beyond the Huleh gorges, at about 213 m below sea-level, the Jordan enters the Sea of Galilee, a harp-shaped lake, 21 km long, and about 13 km across. Fed by numerous thermal springs, its fresh waters are well stocked
with fish, the maximum depth of 50 m permitting vertical migrations of the fish with the seasonal temperatures. It was, therefore, probably in the hot summer season when the normal winter temperature of 13C. lies 37 m below the surface of the lake, that Jesus advised the fishermen to ‘cast into the deep’ ( Lk. 5:4). The methods of catching *fish referred to in the Gospels are still practised: the single-hook line (Mt. 17:27); the circular fishing net (Mt. 4:18; Mk. 1:16); the draw-net cast out by a boat (Mt.13:47f.); deep-sea nets (Mt. 4:18f.; Mk. 1:19f.); and deep-sea fishing undertaken with two boats (Lk. 5:10).

A dense population clustered round the lake in our Lord’s day, and it was the sophisticated city folk of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum that he condemned (Mt. 11:20-24). ‘There is no spot in the whole of Palestine where memories heap themselves up to such an extent as in Capernaum’ (G. Dalman). Jewish life throbbed in its synagogues (Mt. 12:9; Mk. 1:21; 3:1; 5:22; Lk. 4:31; 6:6; 8:41). There lived Jairus, the chief of the synagogue (Mk. 5:22), the centurion who built a synagogue (Lk. 7:5) and Levi the customs official (Mt. 9:9; Mk. 2:14; Lk. 5:27). E of Capernaum was Bethsaida from which Philip, Andrew and Peter came (Jn. 1:44), and beyond that the less populous district of the Gadarenes, where the heathen reared their pigs (Lk. 8:3;). The lake, plains and steep rocky slopes, interspersed with boulders and thistle-fields, provide the setting for the
parable of the sower (Mk. 4:2-8), while in spring the flowered carpets of asphodels, anemones and irises are also telling sermons.

Dominating this lake environment are the surrounding mountains, especially those of the NW, which played so vital a part in the prayer-life
of our Lord, where he taught his disciples (Mt. 5:1) and from which he appeared as the risen Lord (Mt. 28:16). The NE corner of the lake is supposedly the scene of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand (Lk.9:10-17).

c. The ‘Ghor’ or Jordan valley
This runs for over 105 km between Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea. The Yarmuk, entering the left bank of the Jordan 8 km downstream from the lake, doubles the volume of flow, and the valley is progressively deepened to as much as 50 m below the floor of the trough. In this sector, three physical zones are distinguishable: the broad upper terrace of the Pliocene trough, the Ghoreasingly more arid, until at the head of the Dead Sea there is scarcely more than 5 cm mean annual rainfall. The Qattara badlands, carved grotesquely in soft marls and clays, create a steep, desolate descent to the valley floor. The Zor, making its way in vivid green vegetation cover, stands out in sharp contrast below, hence its name JD.´R¦Q (‘luxuriant growth’) of Jordan ( Je. 12:5; 49:19; 50:44; Zc. 11:3; cf. Pss.47:4; 59:12; Pr. 16:18). The haunt of wild animals (Je. 49:19), it is partly flooded in spring (Jos.3:15). Thus the question can be understood, ‘And if in a safe land you fall down, how will you do in the jungle of the Jordan?‘ (Je. 12:5).

Between the Yarmuk in the N and the Jabbok are nine other perennial streams entering the left bank of the Jordan, and their water-supply
explains why all the important settlements were located on the E side of the Ghor, towns such as Succoth, Zaphon, Zaretan, Jabesh-gilead and Pella.
With the aid of irrigation, this was probably the view Lot saw ‘like the garden of the Lord’ (Gn. 13:10). The brook Cherith may well have been a
seasonal tributary of the Jabesh farther N, where Elijah, a native of Jabeshgilead, hid himself from Ahab (1 Ki. 17:1-7). Between Succoth and Zarthan (identified by Glueck as Tell es-Saidiyeh) Solomon had his copper cast in earthen moulds, using local clay and fuel (1 Ki. 7:46; 2 Ch. 4:17).

In this section of the valley, there are a number of fords, though the river was not bridged until Roman times. Near the mouth of the Jabbok, both
Abraham and Jacob crossed it (Gn. 32:10). Somewhere here, the Midianites crossed pursued by Gideon (Jdg. 7:24; 8:4-5). Twice David crossed it in the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sa. 17:22-24; 19:15-18). But between the Jabbok confluence and the Dead Sea, crossings are more difficult, owing to the swift current. The miraculous crossing of the Israelites appears to have taken place at Adam (modern Tell Dâmiyeh), 26 km N of Jericho (Jos. 3:1-17; 4:1-24; Ps. 114:3, 5). Between the Jabbok and Beth-nimrah for 26 km (Is. 15:6) there are no
streams entering the Jordan, and little settlement. Oasis towns occur near springs, such as Jericho W of the Jordan, and in the plains of Moab (Nu.20:1) to the E was Shittim, where the spies were sent (Jos. 2:1-7).

BIBLIOGRAPHY. D. Baly, The Geography of the Bible2, 1974; G. Dalman, Sacred Sites and Ways, trans. by P. P. Levertoff, 1935; J. and J. B. E.
Garstang, The Story of Jericho, 1948; N. Glueck, The River Jordan, 1946; K. M. Kenyon, Jericho I, 1960; E. B. Smick, Archaeology of the Jordan
Valley, 1973. 1

1 The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1962.
2 Easton, M. G., M. A. D. D., Easton’s Bible Dictionary, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1996.