05. Waters

Waters

Rivers

1. The Jordan is the only river of any note in Palestine, end besides it. there are only two or three perennial streams. The greater number of the streams which figure in the history, and find place in the maps, are merely torrents or water-courses, which carry off the waters in the season of rain, or if they have their origin in springs, are spent, in the season of drought, soon after they quit their source.

2. The Jordan. The remotest origin of this river lies among the mountains, not much less than forty miles north of the Sea of Galilee. The source is a large fountain, just above a place called Hasbeiya, whence the stream which flows from \it takes the name of Hasbany. This is about twenty miles north of Banias, or Caesarea Philippi, and the ancient city of Daniel where again are large fountains, which have been from ancient times regarded as the sources of the Jordan, to the neglect of the more important and remoter source. The streams from these latter fountains there unite and form a small river, which, after running a short distance further, unites with the Hasbany, and the streams, thus joined into one to form the true Jordan, then proceeds to the lake Huleh, from which the fountain is about twenty-five miles distant. This fountain, which has an undoubted title to stand at the head of the springs and fountains and lakes of this renowned river, hails up from the bottom of a shallow pool some eight or ten rods in circumference. It at once, even in the dry season, forms a considerable stream, which meanders for the first three miles through a narrow, but very lovely, and highly cultivated valley, and then sinks rapidly down a constantly deepening gorge of dark basalt for about six miles, until it reaches the level of the great volcanic plain, extending to the marsh above the Lake Huleh. Through this plain it proceeds eight or ten miles, receiving the other streams in its way, and enters the lake not far from its north-west corner. The other stream which joins the Hasbany, and whose sources have been so long regarded as those of the Jordan, has distinct sources, at Banias and at Tel-el-Kâdi. At Banias (anciently Paneas, from the worship of Pan) a stream issues from a spacious cavern, under a wall of rock, at the base of the Heish mountains.

Ford of the Jordan

Directly over the cavern and in other parts, in the face of the perpendicular rock, niches have been cut to receive statues. Here Herod built a temple in honor of Augustus; and there was a town somewhat below, traces of which still remain. This is, undoubtedly, that place and cavern, at the foot of a mountain, which Josephus describes as the main source of the Jordan (Josephus Ant. xv. 10,3 Bell. Judges i. 21,3). Yet, in another place (Josephus Bell. Judges iii. 10,7), this writer refers the source to a remoter quarter. He relates that the Tetrarch Philip cast some chaff into the lake Phiala, and as it came out at the Paneas cavern, the lake was deemed the true source of the river. This lake lay 120 stadia eastward, and was deep and round, like a bowl or cup—whence its name Phiala. Such a lake, about a mile in circumference, and perfectly round, was discovered by Captains Irby and Mangles, as they journeyed from Damascus to Banias, not more than twelve miles from the latter place.[2]

[2] It has been more lately visited by Mr. Tipping, who has given am interesting representation and description of it in the new translation of Josephus by Dr. Traill. A second source of the Jordan, as described by ancient writers, is at the place now called Tel-el-Kadi, which is about three miles to the west of the cavern at Banias. The Tel (hill) is a small elevation in the plain, with a flat space on the top; here are two springs, one of which is very large. The united waters immediately form a stream, twelve or fifteen yards across, which rushes rapidly over a stony bed into a lower plain. After a course of about four miles the stream unites with that from Banias, forming the reputed Jordan, which then continues its course to join the Hasbany, and so to the lake Huleh.

Jacob’s Bridge

Between the two lakes lies a tract of high uneven tableland, through which flows the Jordan for about ten miles, in a narrow and somewhat tortuous valley—the upper part a rapid stream, the lower slow and turbid. Nearly two miles below the lake is a bridge, called Jacob’s Bridge; and here the river is about eighty feet wide and four feet deep. It is said that, in passing through, the Jordan does not mingle its waters with those of the lake of Gennesareth; this is also reported of other rivers that pass through lakes. It is certain that the course of the river may be traced through the middle of the lake by a line of smoother water. The portion of the Jordan which is historically and geographically the most interesting and important, is that which runs between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. This portion was formerly but little known, but has of late been thoroughly explored (together with the Dead Sea) by an American expedition under the command of Lieut. Lynch of the United States naval service. It had been ascertained that the Dead Sea was more than a thousand feet below the level of the lake of Tiberias; but it was difficult to understand this, seeing that the distance was but sixty miles, and this would give a fall of twenty per mile[3] to a river which was not known to be tortuous or to have any falls or rapids. From this explanation we, however, know that the river is full of rapids; and that although the direct distance is but sixty miles, the course of the river is made at least 200 miles by the exceedingly tortuous course of the stream. This reduces the fall to not more than six feet in the mile, and for this the numerous rapids sufficiently account.

[3] This was then thought to be without example: but it is now known that the Sacramento River of California has an average fall of 100 feet per mile. On leaving the lake of Gennesareth the river enters into a very broad valley, or Ghor, which name the natives apply to a depressed tract or plain between mountains. This name is applied to the plain of the Jordan, not only between the lake of Gennesareth and the Dead Sea, but quite across the Dead Sea, and to some distance beyond. The valley varies in width from five to ten miles between the mountains on each side. The river does not make its way straight through the midst of the Ghor; it flows first near the western hills, then near the eastern, but advances to the Dead Sea through the middle of the valley. Within this valley there is a lower one, and within that, another still lower, through which the river flows; the inner valley is about half a mile wide, and s generally green and beautiful, with trees and bushes, Whereas the upper or large valley is, for the most part, sandy or barren; and the mountains, or rather cliffs, and slopes of the river uplands, present, for the most part, a wild and cheerless aspect. The mountains on the west are the most precipitous, while those on the east rise in a gradual slope to a much greater elevation. The water of the river is clear and transparent, and abounds in fish. It is wholesome, always cool, and nearly tasteless. It is turbid only in the vicinity of the falls and rapids, and on advancing to the Dead Sea, where it probably passes over beds of clay. The breadth and depth of the river varies much in different places and at different times of the year. Dr. Shaw calculates the average breadth at thirty yards, and the depth at nine feet. In the season of flood, in April and early in May, the river is full, and sometimes overflows its lower bank, to which fact there are several illusions in Scripture (Jos 3:15; 1Ch 12:15; Jer 12:5; Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44; Sir 14:26).

3. The Kishon, that “ancient river,” by whose wide and rapid stream the hosts of Sisera were swept away (Jdg 4:13; Jdg 5:21), is, in winter and spring, a mighty river, flowing from Mount Tabor, and collecting the waters of a large part of the plain of Esdraelon and its bordering hills; but in summer all the part which passes over the plain is quite dried up, and only water from perennial springs in Carmel is then found in the last seven miles of its bed. It enters the bay of Acre near the foot of Mount Carmel.

4. The Belus,now called Nahr Kardanus, enters the bay of Acre higher up than the Kishon. It is a small stream, fordable even at its mouth in summer. It is not mentioned in the Bible, and is chiefly celebrated for the tradition, that the accidental vitrification of its sands taught man the art of making glass.

5. The other streams of note enter the Jordan from the east; these are the Jarmuch, the Jabbok, and the Arnon—The Jarmuch, called also Sheriatel-Mandhur, anciently Hieromax, joins the Jordan five miles below the lake of Gennesareth. Its source is ascribed to a small lake, almost a mile in circumference, at Mezareib, which is thirty miles east of the Jordan. It is a beautiful stream, and yields a considerable body of water to the Jordan.

6. The Jabbok, now called Zerka, is a small stream, winding prettily through a deep valley or ravine, which is not so well wooded as its neighborhood. The water is very clear; and, although narrow, the stream is deep and its course rapid.

7. The Arnon, now called Wady Modjeb, enters the Dead Sea. It was the river of Moab, and as such is often mentioned in Scripture. This stream also flows through an exceedingly deep valley, which is less shrubby than the river valleys of this country usually are. It is almost exhausted by the end of summer, but at all times there are clear indications of the furious rapidity with which the full stream rushes to the Dead Sea during the season of rain.

Lakes The river Jordan in its course forms three remarkable lakes, in the last of which, called the Dead Sea, it is lost—

1. The Lake Merom (Jos 11:5-7), or Semechonitis (Joseph. Antiq. v. 5, 1) now called Huleh, the first of these serves as a kind of reservoir to collect the waters which form the Jordan, and again to send them forth in a single stream. The lake is of a triangular or funnel shape, five or six miles broad at its base, and tapers down to an apex at its outlet, at a distance of six or eight miles from the northern base. This is in spring, when the waters are highest; but in summer it becomes a mere marsh. In some parts it is sown with rice, and its reeds and rushes afford shelter to wild hogs.

2. The Lake of Gennesareth, called also the Sea of Galilee, and the Lake of Tiberias. After quitting the lake Huleh, the river Jordan proceeds for about thirteen miles southward, and then enters the great lake of Gennesareth. This lake lies very deep, among fruitful hills and mountains, from which, in the season, many rivulets descend; its shape will be seen from the map. The extent has been greatly overrated: Dr. Robinson considers that the length, in a straight line, does not exceed eleven or twelve geographical miles, and that the breadth is from five to six miles. From numerous indications, it is judged that the bed of this lake was formed by some ancient volcanic eruption, which history has not recorded; the waters are very clear and sweet, and contain various kinds of excellent fish in great abundance. It will be remembered that several of the Apostles were fishermen of this lake, and that it was also the scene of several transactions in the life of Christ; it is thus frequently mentioned in the New Testament, but very rarely in the Old where it is called the Sea of Chinnereth, of which Gennesareth is a corruption. The borders of the lake were in the time of Christ well peopled, having been covered with numerous towns and villages; but now they are almost desolate, and the fish and water-fowl are but little disturbed.

3. The Dead Sea, called also the Salt Sea, the Sea of Sodom, and the Asphaltic Lake (Lacus Asphaltitis), is from its size the most important, and from its history and qualities the most remarkable, of all the lakes of Palestine. It has been assumed that this lake did not exist before the destruction of Sodom and the other “cities of the plain” (Genesis 19); and that before that time the present bed of the lake was a fertile plain, in which those cities stood. It was also concluded that the river Jordan then flowed through this plain, and afterwards pursued its course through the great valley, of Arabah, to the eastern arm of the Red Sea. These conclusions seem to be substantially correct. The results of the recent complete survey and soundings of the whole lake by the American Expedition under Lieut. Lynch, are in conformity with the inference one would draw from the Scriptural account, that the entire chasm was a plain, sunk and “overwhelmed” by the wrath of God. The bottom of the sea consists of two submerged plains, an elevated and a depressed one; the former averaging thirteen, and the latter about thirteen hundred feet below the surface. In the northern, and largest and deepest one, in a line corresponding with the bed of the Jordan, is a ravine which corresponds with another at the south bed of the lake. In the Jordan itself, between the Jabbok and this lake, there is a sudden break down in the bed of the river; and if there be a similar break in the water courses to the south of the Dead Sea, accompanied with like volcanic characters, there can scarcely be a doubt that the whole Ghor has sunk from some extraordinary convulsion, preceded most probably by an irruption of fire; and a general conflagration of the bitumen which abounded in the plain. The Dead Sea is about thirty-nine or forty geographical miles long from north to south, and nine or ten miles wide from east to west; and it lies embedded very deep between lofty cliffs on the western side, which are about 1500 feet high, and mountains on the eastern shore, the highest ridges of which are reckoned to be from 2000 to 2500 feet above the water. The water of the lake is much saltier than that of the sea. From the quantity of salt which it holds in solution, it is thick and heavy, and no fish can live or marine plants grow in it. Even when subjected to a powerful microscope the water exhibits no trace of animalcule or of any animal matter. The old stories respecting the pestiferous qualities of the Dead Sea and its waters, are mere fables or delusions; and actual appearances are the natural and obvious effects of the confined and deep situation, the intense heat, and the uncommon saltness of the waters. Lying in its deep cauldron, surrounded by lofty cliffs of naked limestone rock, exposed for seven or eight months in the year to the unclouded beams of a burning sun, nothing but sterility and solitude can be looked for upon its shores; and nothing else is actually found, except in those parts where there are fountains or streams of fresh water; in all such places there is a fertile soil and abundant vegetation. Birds also abound, and they are observed to fly over and across the sea without being, as old stories tell, injured or killed by its exhalations. The water, although unpleasant, acrid, and greasy, is entirely inodorous. The noxious smells which pervade the shores are to be ascribed to the fetid springs and marshes along the shore, increased by exhalations from stagnant pools. Indeed, the saline and inodorous exhalations from the lake itself are probably rather wholesome than otherwise; and as there is but little verdure upon the shores, there can be no vegetable exhalations to render the air impure. The evil to which the human frame is here subject, arises from the dangerous and depressing influence of the intense concentrated heat, and from the acrid and clammy quality of the waters, producing a most irritated state of the skin, and eventually febrile symptoms, and great prostration of strength. On the borders of this lake is found much sulfur, in pieces as large as walnuts, and even larger. There is also a black shining stone, which will partly burn in the fire, and which then emits a bituminous smell: this is the “stinkstone” of Burckhardt. At Jerusalem it is made into rosaries and toys, of which great quantities are sold to the pilgrims that visit the sacred places. Another remarkable production, from which, indeed, the lake takes one of its names, is the asphaltum, or bitumen. Josephus says, that “the sea in many places sends up black masses of asphaltum, which float upon the surface, having the size and shape of headless oxen” (Josephus, Bell. Judges, iv. 8,4). From recent information, it appears that large masses are rarely found, and then generally after earthquakes. The substance is doubtless produced from the bottom of the sea, in which it coagulates, and rises to the surface; or possibly the coagulation may have been ancient, and the substance adheres to the bottom until detached by earthquakes and other convulsions, when its buoyancy brings it to the surface. We know that “the vale of Siddim” (Gen 14:10), was anciently “full of slime-pits” or sources of bitumen; and these, now under the water, probably supply the asphaltum which is found on such.