Jordan River



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Map of the Ancient Jordan River Jordan River in Easton's Bible Dictionary Heb. Yarden, "the descender;" Arab. Nahr-esh-Sheriah, "the watering-place" the chief river of Israel. 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 Israel, 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...
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Jordan River
esh-Sheri'ah el-Kebireh. River. (Heb. generally with article hayyarden, "the descender," probably from the rapid descent of the river). It is now called El Urdan, or Esh-Sheri'ah, or the watering-place, and is the main river in Palestine.

It flows along the geological Syro-African Rift and is formed by the merging of three streams at the base of Mount Hermon which are 250 feet above sea level. It descends extremely rapidly to the Huleh region and dividing again into several streams. Before it descends into the Sea of Galilee it drops 850 feet with extremely rocky banks. From the Sea of Galilee The river descends south on a windy course for 104 miles into the Dead Sea, although the straight distance is only 65 miles.

On its descent southward it is met by the Yarmuk River and the Jabbok River both from Gilead. The Bible mentions the plain through which the River flows as "the plain" (Josh 2:11), or the Plain of Jordan (I Kings 7:46). The Plain forms to shelves, with one above the other, the southern Plain was referred to the Bible as the Plains of Moab (Num 21:1) and the Plains of Jericho (Josh 4:13). Genesis refers to "the cities of the Plain" (Gen 19:29).

The Jordan valley contains thick vegetation and was filled with wildlife, including wild boar, and lions, as mentioned in the Bible (Jer. 49:19). In biblical times there were a few natural crossing places, and there were no bridges back then. The crossing of the Jordan in the Promised Land was as much of a miracle as a crossing of the Red Sea (Josh 3-4). The Bible mentions that the Jordan River was with divided the eastern tribes of Israel from the western tribes (Judg 5:17).

The Jordan River was held as sacred since the earliest of times. The Bible records that Elijah divided them when he smote the waters with his mantle, and so did Elisha (II Kings 2:8, 13-14). Naaman the Leper who was captain of the armies of Syria dipped seven times in the Jordan River and "his flesh came again likened to the flesh of a little child, and he was clean" (II Kings 5:14). John the Baptist prepared the people for the coming of the Messiah when he baptized them in the waters of the Jordan River (Matt 3:5 ff; Mk 1:5 ff). Jesus Himself was also baptized by John in the Jordan River near Bethabarah (John 1:28-33).

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Jordan River in Bible Cities
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Israel in the First Century

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Jordan River Scriptures

Judges 7:25 - And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan. 

Joshua 13:23 - And the border of the children of Reuben was Jordan, and the border [thereof]. This [was] the inheritance of the children of Reuben after their families, the cities and the villages thereof. 

Jeremiah 12:5 - If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and [if] in the land of peace, [wherein] thou trustedst, [they wearied thee], then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? 

Joshua 18:12 - And their border on the north side was from Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north side, and went up through the mountains westward; and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Bethaven. 

Joshua 22:25 - For the LORD hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the LORD: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the LORD. 

Numbers 35:14 - Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, [which] shall be cities of refuge. 

Joshua 4:23 - For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: 

2 Kings 2:6 - And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, [As] the LORD liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. 

1 Chronicles 19:17 - And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel, and passed over Jordan, and came upon them, and set [the battle] in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him. 

Joshua 4:8 - And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. 

1 Samuel 31:7 - And when the men of Israel that [were] on the other side of the valley, and [they] that [were] on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 

Joshua 4:10 - For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over. 

Joshua 22:11 - And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel. 

Joshua 1:15 - Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as [he hath given] you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD'S servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising. 

Joshua 12:7 - And these [are] the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the West, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel [for] a possession according to their divisions; 

Ezekiel 47:18 - And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel [by] Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And [this is] the east side. 

Joshua 3:14 - And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; 

Psalms 114:5 - What [ailed] thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, [that] thou wast driven back? 

Joshua 18:7 - But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the LORD [is] their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them. 

Joshua 19:34 - And [then] the coast turneth westward to Aznothtabor, and goeth out from thence to Hukkok, and reacheth to Zebulun on the south side, and reacheth to Asher on the West side, and to Judah upon Jordan toward the sunrising. 

Joshua 22:7 - Now to the [one] half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given [possession] in Bashan: but unto the [other] half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them, 

Numbers 32:29 - And Moses said unto them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over Jordan, every man armed to battle, before the LORD, and the land shall be subdued before you; then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession: 

Deuteronomy 3:27 - Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold [it] with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. 

Deuteronomy 12:10 - But [when] ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and [when] he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety; 

Joshua 13:8 - With whom the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond Jordan eastward, [even] as Moses the servant of the LORD gave them; 

Zechariah 11:3 - [There is] a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride ofJordan is spoiled. 

Joshua 1:11 - Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it. 

Judges 10:8 - And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that [were] on the other sideJordan in the land of the Amorites, which [is] in Gilead. 

Deuteronomy 27:2 - And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: 

Joshua 18:19 - And the border passed along to the side of Bethhoglah northward: and the outgoings of the border were at the north bay of the salt sea at the south end of Jordan: this [was] the south coast.