in other places broad and shallow, and in general wider than the Tiber at Rome, and about as wide as the Thames at Windsor (6). Jordan did not receive its name, as many suppose, from Yor, the spring, and Dan, the tribe where it rose, for it was called Jarden, or Yarden, before the tribes inhabited the land (7). In. deed it was supposed to rise at Yor, in Dan, till Philip the tetrarch corrected the error by casting straw or chaff into the lake Phiala, fifteen miles higher up the country eastward, which, coming up again to view at the old supposed source, proved a subterranean passage from the Phiala. A little below Dan, the stream formed the lake Samachonites, which was about four miles over and seven miles long; thence issuing out again at the opposite end it ran fifteen miles further, and formed the lake, or, as it is sometimes called, the sea of Tiberias, which was in the broadest part five miles in width, and in length eighteen; thence at the opposite end it proceeded forward again, crossed the whole country through the wide valley just now mentioned, and fell into the lake Asphaltites, where it was lost. Reland derives its name from Yard, which answers, says he, to the low Dutch, Vliet, or Vloet, a river; and it was called the River, by excellence, as the Nile and the Euphrates were, because each was the great and principal river of the country. He quotes authorities, Arabick and Persick, to prove that Jordan was called Arden, and the country the land of Arden. Father D'Herbelot (8) does the same, and quotes in proof a Persian life of the Khalif Jezid Ben Abdalmalek, who innocently caused the death of Hababah his favourite concubine, by giving her a grape in a garden in Beled Arden, or the country of Jordan. The grape was large, such as that country produced. The lady put it hastily into her mouth, it lodged in her throat, stopped her breath, and she died on the spot. The event so affected the Khalif, that he died with grief soon after. The pomegranates, and figs, (6) Dr. Richard Pococke's Description of the East. Vol. ii. part i. London, 1745. Chap. viii. Of the wilderness, the fountain of Elisha, Jericho and Jordan. (7) Johan. Quistorpii Nebo. De aquis terræ sanctæ. Lib. i. cap. xliii. De Jordano. (8) D'Herbelot Bibliot. Orient. A Paris, 1697. Arden. Relandi Palæst. and grapes of Eshcol, had been famous from the time of Moses, and his spies seem to have taken the rout that John the Baptist did, for they went by the same wilderness, through Hebron, and came down to the brook Eshcol (9); from all which it appears, that both in the time of Moses and in that of Abdalmalek, the Jordan was a considerable river, and the adjacent country abounded in fertility. The patriarch Jacob, who knew the country, described, perhaps from views which he had taken, the aspect or face of it, in a manner very picturesque and beautiful. Upward on the hills glistened the rich ripe grapes, projecting through the leaves; on the surface ran live mineral waters, twinkling and sparkling, like eyes red with wine; below, the white rocky vallies, covered with flocks, appeared as teeth white as milk; the shaggy herbage, tinged with mineral moisture oozing through the soil and hanging down the slopes, resembled garments washed in the blood of grapes (1). All the Evangelists affirm, John baptized in Jordan. Mark, who says he baptized in Jordan, says also, he baptized in the wilderness (2). Of course he baptized in that part of the river, which bounded the lands of Benjamin and Judah on the east, about four or five miles above the mouth where it discharged itself into the lake Asphaltites, and where the woodlands of Judah abutted on those of Benjamin. The river here was about seven miles east of Jericho, and about twenty-five or six east of Jerusalem. Hereabouts the Israelites passed over Jordan; and about half a mile from the river, the remains of a convent, dedicated to John the Baptist, are yet to be seen; for the Syrian monks availed themselves of the zeal of early pilgrims who aspired at the honour of being baptized where they supposed John had baptized Jesus (3) The Greeks have imagined a place three or four miles distant; others have supposed it higher up the stream northward toward Galilee; and others, again, the passage right over against Jericho; but some ford a little nearer the mouth, somewhere about the line that parted the lands of Benjamin (9) Numbers xiii. 17-25. (1) Gen. xlix. 11, 12. Poli Synops. Jun. et. Tremel. in loc. (2) Chap. i. 4. (3) Pococke, vol. ii. Book i, chap. viii. Orig. Com. in Johan. Hie ron, de loc. Hebr. and Judah, seems best to agree with the account given by the Evangelists, and it exactly agrees with the ancient geography; for the line that parted the two tribes. ran through a place called Bethbarah, in the wilderness of Judah, or the house at the ford next the woodlands. The river Jordan, far from wanting water, was subject to two sorts of floods, one periodical at harvest time, in which it resembled the Nile in Egypt, with which some suppose it had a subterranean communication (4). When this flood came down, the river rose many feet, and overflowed the lower banks, so that the lions that lay in the thickets there were roused and fled. To this Jeremiah alludes, Behold the king of Babylon shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan (5). The other swellings of Jordan were casual, and resembled those of all other rivers in uneven countries. In flat countries idle rivers move lazily along, and the waters preserve a general sameness of depth, from their surface to their mud; but in hilly countries it is far otherwise, for here, after heavy rains or sudden thaws, waters come roaring down the mountains, sweeping through vallies in a wide bed, cleansing away the soil as they go, and, when they fall into chasms of narrow compass, weigh down every thing that obstructs their passage, cleaving rocks, and rending and rolling huge masses along to make themselves a way. There are several such rivers in the mountainous and northern parts of this island. In such rivers there are shallows in the greatest floods; and in the greatest droughts there are, in various parts of their beds, a kind of natural cisterns, perfectly clean, and every way convenient for the baptism of immersion. The romantic glen, called Dovedale, in Staffordshire, not far from Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, is a miniature picture of the channels of such rivers. It should seem, the bed of the Derwent about Matlock in the same county; the rough and craggy channel of the fretting waters in the deep woody vale at Ambleside, in Westmoreland, above the town and a little below the fall; the bed of the river Nith, in Scotland, between Sanquhar and Drumlanrig; and a great many more, fordable one day and impassable the next, resemble, in this respect, the river Jordan at certain times. (5) Chap. 1. 44. (4) Reland. cap. xliii. De Jordane. It is not easy to reconcile what is affirmed of Jordan without supposing it of this kind. There were fords, which were obliged to be guarded against invaders, and yet at one of them the water was so deep that a miracle was necessary to open a passage for the Israelites, when, under Joshua, they first entered the land. The waters were low in a drought, but Joshua passed the river at the time of the annual flood (5). Over the river were bridges, and yet on the river were boats and ships; in it many delighted to swim, and yet swimming in it was so dangerous, from the steepness of the banks, and the rapidity of the water, that many lost their lives. All these accounts are true of different seasons and different parts (7). On the whole, Jordan was a considerable river, but at different seasons, and in different parts, subject to great variations, as all rivers in hilly countries are. John baptized first at Bethabara beyond Jordan. Here he received the messengers from Jerusalem, and bore that testimony of Jesus which is recorded in the first of John, then he crossed the river, and baptized on the opposite side, which belonged to Reuben or Manasseh; and thus his ministry was extended through the region round about Jordan; and here he delivered that testimony concerning Christ, which is recorded in the third chapter of John, and this is what some call his second baptismal station. The word Bethabara signifies a passage-house, and such there were on both sides the river near the fords, and most likely they were houses to accommodate and direct travellers in times of low water, and ferry-houses for the convenience of passage, when floods and high waters rendered boats necessary. In the arabah or plain sloping towards the ford, where the abutments of Judah, Benjamin, and Reuben met, near the mouth of the river, a little above the north-bay of the lake Asphaltites, stood the town called Bethabara, sometimes named Betharabah, in the wilderness, and said to belong to Judah; and at other times simply called Betharabah, and said to belong to Benjamin. Probably, like Jerusalem, it belonged to both, just as some towns in England stand in two coun 4. (6) Judges iii 28. vii. 24. Josh. ii. (7) Dr. Gill's Expos. John i. 28. viii. xvii. Sea of Tiberias. xviii. Chap. Matt. iii. 6 Pococke as above ties, the partition line running through the towns. No places could be chosen more convenient for the baptism of immersion than these. Here was a gentle descent into water of sufficient depth; here were houses of accommodation; and fords were publick roads. It did not become the majesty of a divine institute to shun the publick eye when it first appeared in the world. I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth, I Jehovah declare things that are right. The third station of John was at non, near Salim. Salim is differently written, as Saleim, Salem, Salom, Schiloh, Zaleim, and so on; and several places were so called either simply or in compound. This was about eight miles south from Scythopolis, the ancient Bethshean, a city in Issachar, but belonging to Manasseh. One of the Apostles was said to be a native of Salim, and called Zelotes, from this place of his nativity. Some think this was the city of which Melchizedek was king. (8). Enon, near it, was chosen for a place of baptism by John, because there was much water. Since sprinkling came into fashion, criticism, unheard of in all former ages, hath endeavoured to derive evidence for scarcity of water, from the Greek text of the Evangelist John, and to render a vdule, not much water, but many waters, and then by an ingenious supposition, to infer that many waters signifies, not many waters collected into one, but waters parted into many little rills, which might all serve for sprinkling, but could not any one of them be used for dipping as if one man could possibly want many brooks for the purpose of sprinkling one person at a time. It is observable that the rivers Euphrates at Babylon, Tiber at Rome, and Jordan in Palestine, are all described by πολλά υδαία, Jeremiah speaks of the first, and addressing Babylon says, O thou that dwellest upon many waters, thine end is come (9); for Babylon was situated on what the Jews called the river, the great river Euphrates (1). The Evangelist John describes Rome, which was built on the Tiber, by saying, The great harlot, the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth, sitteth upon many waters (2). Ezekiel describes Judea and Jordan, by saying to the princes of Israel, (8) Reland in Salem. Ainon. Bethshean. (9) Chap. li. 13. (2) Rev. xvii. 1. 18. |