Jordan

The Jordan is a river that runs from the Hermon hills to the Dead Sea. In Old Testament times the Jordan formed the boundary between the land of Canaan and Transjordan. From the New Testament we know the Jordan especially as the river in which John the Baptist baptised Jesus.

The source of the Jordan is in the Hermon hills to the north of Israel at an altitude of 1 800 metres. Via Lake Galilee the river runs to the Dead Sea in the south, at an altitude of around 400 metres below sea level. In the area between Lake Galilee and the Dead Sea, the Jordan gets most of its water from the tributaries, the Jabbok and the Jarmuk.

The length of the Jordan from beginning to end is roughly 170 kilometres as the crow flies. Actually, the river is twice as long as this, because of the way it meanders. At many points, the Jordan is just a few metres wide. So in Bible times it probably was not particularly difficult to cross the river.
It was only in the spring that this was difficult, because the Jordan flooded its banks when the snow melted (Joshua 3:15; 1 Chronicles 12:15). As a result, the land by the river was fertile and rich in flora and fauna (Genesis 13:10; Jeremiah 49:19).

The Jordan formed the natural boundary between the land of Canaan and Transjordan. When the Promised Land was divided up, a clear distinction was made between tribes on either side of the river (Numbers 32:19-22).
We see this distinction again in the story in Judges 12 about the war between the Gileadites on the eastern side of the Jordan and the Ephraimites on the western side of the Jordan. The Gileadites made everyone who wanted to cross over the Jordan say the word shibboleth. The Ephraimites could not pronounce the sh very well and said sibboleth. This immediately marked them out as enemies (Judges 12:5-6).

The Jordan is best known from the New Testament as the river in which John the Baptist baptised people looking to start a new life. Jesus, too, was baptised by John in the Jordan (Mark 1:4-11).