The Jordan River is the most important river in Palestine. It divides the country into two parts: western Palestine (the land of Canaan), the more vibrant part, and Transjordan. The sources of the Jordan are located on the western side of Mount Hermon, the southernmost ridge of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Four streams eventually combine to form the river Jordan.
The easternmost part of the four rivers is the five-mile-long Nahr Bâniyâs, the Paneas River. Its source lies 1,085 feet above sea level at the famous grotto of Paneas, named in Hellenistic times after the Greek god Pan. The next, the Nahr el-Leddan, is a much shorter river, emanating from a spring near the ancient city of Dan, 476 feet above sea level. The next, the Nahr el-Hasbânī, is the longest of the four feeder rivers. From its source, which lies at an altitude of 1,730 feet, it flows for about 24 miles along the western slope of Mount Hermon. The westernmost river is the Nahr Bereighith, originating near the ancient city of Ijon, now Tell ed-Dibbin, 1,800 feet above sea level.
The four rivers join south of Hermon and then form one stream, the Jordan. From the last junction, 142 feet above sea level, the river flows for seven miles through a fertile plain with subtropical vegetation.
The first of the three lakes formed by the Jordan was Lake Hulch (Bahret el-Hûleh), called Lake Semechonitis, by Josephus until the government of Israel drained it and converted its seabed into fertile agricultural land through which the Jordan flows. Lake Huleh was seven feet above sea level, three miles long and two miles wide in its northern part, and its depth varied from nine to 16 feet.
After leaving Lake Hulch, the Jordan flows for about two miles until it reaches the “Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob” (Jisr Banat Ya‘qub). Then the river runs through a narrow, steep basalt gorge, which forms many cataracts, and descends about 600 feet in the next seven miles. Emerging from this gorge, it enters a small plain for the last mile before entering the Sea of Galilee flows rather quietly. In the distance of about 10 miles between the two lakes, the level of the river drops from seven feet above sea level to about 685 feet below sea level, a decline of nearly 700 feet.
The Sea of Galilee is called the Sea of Chinneroth, or Chinnereth, in the Old Testament (Josh. 12:3; 13:27), after a city named Chinnereth, near its northwestern shore. The lake is about 13 miles long and has a maximum width of about eight miles near its center. Its maximum depth is 150 feet. Not only the Jordan but also several lesser streams entering the northeastern shore and at the western bulge feed the lake, as well as many hot and cold underwater springs. The lake has always contained an abundance of fish.
The Jordan leaves the Sea of Galilee at its southwestern corner and then becomes one of the most crooked rivers in the world, meandering toward the south in many curves. Because of the many twists and turns, the river travels 200 miles to cover the straight-line distance of fewer than 65 miles between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Several tributaries swell the volume of water in the river. Those from the west are insignificant, but the Yarmuk and Jabbok of Transjordan are famous rivers.
In its course from the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan descends another 600 feet until it reaches the level of the Dead Sea, 1,300 feet below sea level, the lowest area on the earth’s land surface. The average fall of the river is, therefore, about nine feet for every mile of its winding riverbed. Its flow is swift, causing many whirlpools and rapids.
The broad river valley, which is from three to 12 miles wide, is called in Arabic el-Ghor, “the lowland.” Within it is another depression rimmed by weird-looking grayish marl hills about 100 feet high called qattarahs, on which nothing grows. The lower depression in which the river flows is called the Zor, “thicket,” an appropriate name for it since it contains dense jungle-like vegetation in many areas. It was a haven for wild animals in ancient times (Jer. 49:19). The river itself is in some places from 90 to 100 feet wide and 3 to 10 feet deep.
Biblical passages referring to the Jordan deal mainly with that part of the river between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Since no bridges crossed the Jordan in pre-Roman times, the river had to be forded or crossed by boat. In the upper part, north of the mouth of the Jabbok, fords provide easy passage at several places, but in the southern section, the current of the Jordan is rapid. Many people have lost their lives while attempting to cross the river in this section. The Israelites crossed the Jordan east of the city of Jericho, where a miracle enabled them to pass over on foot (Josh. 3:1-17; 4:1-24; Ps. 114:3, 5). The biblical account makes it clear that they did so in the spring, when the Jordan was at flood stage, swelled by the melting snow waters from Mount Hermon. When the priests stepped into the water, the river stopped its flow at Adam, modern Tell ed-Dâmiyeh, 22 miles north of the Dead Sea, and the water south of Adam ran on into the Dead Sea, leaving dry a long stretch of riverbed (Josh. 3:14-17; 4:15, 16).
Jacob and his family crossed the Jordan probably somewhere near the mouth of the Jabbok (Gen. 33:17, 18). The Midianites, pursued by Gideon and his forces, seem to have forded it north of the Jabbok, near Succoth (Judg. 7:24; 8:4, 5). David, when fleeing before Absalom with a band of faithful followers, crossed the Jordan probably somewhere near Jericho, and this crossing—perhaps by boat—seems to have taken the group all night to accomplish (2 Sam. 17:22). Also, Scripture reports the crossing of Absalom and his forces as well as that of David on his return to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 17:24; 19:15-18, 39). Twice a dry passageway through the Jordan miraculously appeared in the time of Elijah and Elisha, first to allow the two prophets to cross the river, and then for Elisha to recross it (2 Kings 2:5-8, 13-15). The Jordan River played a role in the life of Elisha once more when he required Naaman, the Syrian officer, to wash himself seven times in that river to be cleansed from his leprosy (2 Kings 5:10, 14). John baptized Jesus Christ in the river (Matt. 3:13-16; cf John 3:23).