p. 1 | The Jordan

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 5, 1905

The Jordan

This celebrated stream, the name of which means in the Hebrew “swift flowing,” is the principal river of Palestine. From its rise in a cave at Banias, which is the historical source of the stream, the distance to the Dead Sea direct is one hundred and four miles, and during this course it descends from a height of 1,000 feet above sea-level to a depth of nearly 1,300 feet below sea-level, making a total descent of nearly 2,300 feet. It is necessarily therefore, in many places at least, a rapidly flowing stream.

There are three streams which unite to form the Jordan near its source, one rising on Mount Hermon, which is regarded as the true source of the river geographically, and one at Dan, besides that already mentioned. From its source to the Huleh Lake, or Lake Merom, the stream is very rapid, falling 1,000 feet in twelve miles. Lake Merom is four miles in length, and ten and a half miles distant from the Sea of Galilee, the descent between these lakes being 682 feet. The Sea of Galilee is twelve and a half miles long. Below this lake the Jordan flows through a valley having a width of from four to fourteen miles, but with a deeper valley, from a mile to a furlong in width, bordering the stream. In March the Jordan overflows and fills this narrow valley, but its width in summer is from thirty to fifty yards. Along the edge of the stream are close thickets which afford a shelter for wild boars, jackals, and other animals, as well as birds. The course of the river is extremely tortuous.

The river is crossed by ford and ferry in several places, one ford being between Lake Merom and the Sea of Galilee, at a place supposed to be the site of Jacob’s wrestling with the angel. Another ford is nearly opposite Jericho, and is the traditional site of Bethabara. A bridge spans the stream a short distance below the Sea of Galilee.

Geologists find reasons for believing that previous to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah the Jordan may have flowed into the Red Sea.