Crossing the Jordan
In passing from Peræa on the east of the Jordan to Jerusalem Jesus crossed the Jordan. We do not know what his route was, but he probably went as far south as to a point opposite Jericho, because from the ford over against Jericho there is a road to Bethany and Jerusalem. There are but two old bridges spanning the Jordan. Dangerous as the river is, it offers an extraordinary number of fords. Dr. George Adam Smith describes the Jordan as a “rapid, muddy water with a zigzag current, and the depth varies from three to ten or twelve feet in the sixty-five miles of descent. The descent is six hundred and ten feet from the Sea of Galilee. The descent is sometimes over forty feet a mile, and the impetus given to a large volume of water down a channel in which it can not sprawl induces a great rapidity of current. This has given to the river its name. Jordan means ‘down-comer.’ ”
To cross a ford of the Jordan is a common occurrence still. Dr. Thomson says: “What a strange and treacherous condition of things!” speaking of the ford in front of his camp. “Just there it is broad and not more than four feet deep, so that the villagers were continually fording it; men, women, children, returning home from their fields to the east of the Jordan; a rural scene curious as rare. Sheep, goats and even donkeys had to swim, and it required the constant care of the shepherds to prevent their being carried down the stream together. Cattle and horses came boldly across and so did the men, but the women and children needed the help of the men, who brought them safe to shore.” The above view is not one of our own artist’s pictures, but is used to give a scene on the Jordan different from any he obtained.
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