Jordan Valley

“ The physical features of the country naturally depend upon its geological formation. The ranges of hills, east and west of Jordan, are formed almost entirely of beds of cretaceous limestone, which were once continuous. The Jordan Valley coincides with a line of fault; that is to say, the rocky strata cracked in an irregular line from north to south, and the country west of this fault sank down bodily, so that the higher strata of rocks on that side abut now against the lower strata on the eastern side. ”

“ If we turn from the north to the south, we have the entirely different but equally poetical prospect of the blue sea enclosed in the receding hills, which fall away into the violet shade of the horizon. The Jordan Valley is unique; by a geologic fault it is dropped over a thousand feet below the sea-level; it is guarded by mountain-ranges which are from a thousand to two thousand feet high; at one end is a mountain ten thousand feet high, from which the snow never disappears ”

“ The only clear opening from the Jordan to the Mediterranean is the Plain of Esdraelon. Standing on Jordan’s bank below Bethshan and looking westward, you see before you a valley whose farther end shows nothing but sky. Many streams cut their way down its slopes beside a green morass, and hold in their embrace the ruins of a strong city. You must follow them up westwards for some ten miles before you reach sea level, and soon after that you cross the watershed in a wide valley with mountains rising to north and south. ”

“ The Jordan Valley, as we have already seen, is more than a thousand feet below the level of the Mediterranean, that is, below what we speak of as "sea level." In this respect it is unique in the geography of the world. In winter time the climate is equable; in summer it is unbearable. ”

“ Jordan Valley is the name of a post office in Jordan Valley on the banks of Jordan Creek, which is a tributary of Owyhee River. The stream was named for Michael M. Jordan who was the leader of a party that discovered gold on its banks in May, 1863. He was killed in an Indian fight in the Owyhee country in 1864. See Bancroft's History of Washington, Idaho and Montana.
JORY HILL, Marion County. Jory Hill, with an elevation of 737 feet, is southwest of Salem. Several members of the Jory family settled in this neighborhood in pioneer days on donation land claims, and the hill was named for them. ”

“ They show that at one period the whole Jordan valley was under water ; while the sides of the valley indicate successive stages in the fall of the water from the time when its sur face was on the level of the ocean down to the present age. The hill-sides and strips of plain on both the eastern and western banks of the Dead Sea are marked by a series of terraces or shore-lines. The highest has an elevation cor responding to the level of the Mediterranean. ”

“ The word Tell (meaning a “heap”) is used for many different things; for a conical mountain, for a little sand-hillock, for an artificial mound, or for a heap of ruins. The Jordan Valley has Tells of all these kinds in it, but the class of artificial mounds is the one more peculiarly interesting. Of these there are seven at Jericho, twenty-four at Beisân, several others between, and others again east of Jordan. They have been described as ruined sites{221} of cities or fortresses, commanding the passes; the following peculiarities seem to be invariably recognisable. ”

“ Nazareth, Shechem, Jerusalem, and Hebron belong to the Mountain Region.
The Jordan Valley is the lowest portion of the earth's surface. No other depressions are more than three hundred feet below sea level, but the Jordan is six hundred and eighty-two feet lower than the ocean at the Sea of Galilee, and nearly thirteen hundred feet lower where it enters the Dead Sea. ”

“ Like the early Hebrew prophets, whom John so closely resembled, he also sought out the places where men could be found in great numbers. The later Maccabean rulers and Herod transformed the hitherto comparatively deserted valley of the lower Jordan into fruitful fields, irrigated by the brooks from the hillside, studded with prosperous villages and guarded with mighty strongholds. The Jordan valley, which touched all the Jewish parts of Palestine—Judea itself, Perea, Samaria, and Galilee—was the chief field of John's work. ”

“ East of this strong natural boundary formed by the deep trough of the Jordan, we find a very different country. It rises abruptly from the Jordan Valley, and is in itself a plateau. [33] It is at first fertile, but, at distances ranging from 40 to 60 miles inland, it merges into steppe and then into sheer desert. Thus it is a country apart, difficult of access from Jerusalem and Western Palestine, more easy of access from Damascus or from Arabia. Through it, from north to south, runs the Hejaz railway, on its way from Damascus to Medina. ”

“ James Neil declares that no bitumen pits are to be found anywhere in the neighbourhood of the Jordan. The pits spoken of by Dr Selah Merrill were connected with aqueducts, and used for purposes of irrigation. But the asphalt thrown up from the bottom of the Dead Sea may have been employed to render such pits watertight, and to that extent they would be slime pits. He shows that such pits do exist in the Jordan Valley, extending across it in long lines just north of the supposed site of some of the Cities of the Plain ”

“ The fruitfulness of the Great Plain has been, in our own times and all through the ages, an irresistible attraction to the Bedouin from the east of Jordan. Pressed by war or famine, they have crossed the Jordan at the fords near Beisan, poured up the Valley of Jezreel, and covered the plain with their tents and camels. The peaceful husbandmen have laboured, only to be periodically plundered and oppressed. ”

“ It was yet grey morning, and the mist still lay in the valley, as Jordan ap Jordan advanced his blue light in the direction of Shenkin’s cave; one eye peering in the direction of the hollow, and the other traversing the craggy mountain tops and down the hills’ sides, like a vagrant scout watching the enemy’s motions or looking out for squalls. ”

“ The greater part of this cultivable surplus is said to be in the Jordan valley, the arid and semi-arid areas to the South of Gaza and Beersheba, the broken and hilly country between Acre and Safed and in the line of country between the Jordan and Beisan. ”

“ The Jordan River flows from the south through the valley, the city being situated upon its eastern bank, and reaches the lake about ten miles northerly from the city. The Wahsatch Range, at several points near the city, is pierced by vast and rugged caftons, from which, fed by the snows upon the summits, flow the streams of water used in irrigating the land. The scenery in these cafons is of unsurpassed grandeur. A visit to any one of the half-dozen accessible from the city by a ride of a single day, will furnish an experience never to be forgotten by the student of Nature. ”

“ This south position of the Jordan valley is extremely barren. Rising very precipitously on its west boundary is a mountain, in the upper portion of which are numerous cells, which in the early Christian era were inhabited by many hermits of the most self-denying class. This locality seems to have been chosen because practically inaccessible, unless by using ropes. In the valley are remains of one or two monasteries, and a church of St. ”

“ Bethany. (See Period VI.) 3. Ephraim. This was probably the village in a wild region northeast of Bethel, in the Old Testament called Ophrah, now et Taiyibeh. 4. Peræa was the province on the east of Jordan, and south of the Hieromax river. It was governed by Herod Antipas, the slayer of John the Baptist, and was inhabited by a mixed population. [109] No towns are named as visited by the Saviour; but we have conjectured a route through most of the province, as shown on the map. 5. Jericho, at that time the largest city in the Jordan Valley, and recently beautified by Herod. ”

“ The distance traveled to-day is said to be fifty miles. But when we arrive here the road and bridge are crowded with sheep and goats being brought in from the valley for safety in the night. My first sight of the Jordan, which at this place is clear and sparkling, does not particularly impress me. I long for rest, and so we do not tarry, but pass directly into the village lying just at the west end of the bridge.
Oh, the wretchedness of this place! I wonder what kind of entertainment I can find here. There is little choice as to a place of lodging. ”

“ The Jordan at this point will not average more than ten yards in breadth. It flows at the bottom of a gully about fifteen feet deep, which traverses the broad valley in a most tortuous course. The water has a white, clayey hue, and is very swift. The changes of the current have formed islands and beds of soil here and there, which are covered with a dense growth of ash, poplar, willow, and tamarisk trees. The banks of the river are bordered with thickets, now overgrown with wild vines, and fragrant with flowering plants. Birds sing continually in the cool, dark coverts of the trees. ”

“ The valley grows deeper and deeper, until at last to get into it one must go down, down long, steep hills by winding roads, down narrow valleys where the rocks are piled high above one. At last the river flows through a wide, sandy plain into the Dead Sea.
The Jordan is the largest river of the Bible {225} land. The Hebrews used to tell their little children that in the ancient time, when they first came into the land, the Jordan stopped flowing so that their fathers, with all their little children, and cattle and sheep, crossed it on dry ground. ”

“ The mountains on the eastern side of the Jordan are more lofty than those which skirt the Vale of Jericho, being not less than 2000 feet in height. From the summit of a towering peak, which the traveller still delights to recognise, Moses was permitted to behold the promised inheritance, stretching towards the west, the south, and the north,—"All the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar. ”

“ The upper part of the broad valley, whence the Jordan draws his waters, is flat, moist, and but little cultivated. There are immense herds of sheep, goats, and buffaloes wandering over it. The people are a dark Arab tribe, and live in tents and miserable clay huts. Where the valley begins to slope upward towards the hills, they plant wheat, barley, and lentils. The soil is the fattest brown loam, and the harvests are wonderfully rich. ”

“ Here we entered upon an elevated plateau, three-fourths of a mile wide and five miles long, narrowing to the north, where a depression in the ridge leads to the great plain of Buk’ah. We then came upon a narrow, but highly cultivated valley, with a stream running through it. There were quantities of grain just reaped, and much of it ready for the sickle. A village, through which we passed, was embowered in the luxuriant foliage of the mulberry and the walnut. The houses were mud-plastered, stone huts; the people uncleanly in their persons and attire, — the women and children particularly so. ”

“ The district is pestilential to a degree, and, in no sense of the word, a white man's country. It possesses a feature of considerable importance in the river Jordan itself, almost the only river in Palestine with a perennial flow. The river is tortuous and rapid and not adapted to navigation. These features indicate this area as a difficult one in which to hold a fighting line, and a no less difficult one across which to maintain communications. In the summer of 1918, our line ran along the river valley, and the troops in this sector suffered much from diseases. ”

“ A stream flows from them of considerable size, which waters a portion of the Plain of Jericho. The Valley of the Jordan, in the direction we crossed, is about ten miles in width, possessing a rich soil, and with proper tillage could be made abundantly productive. A great portion of it, however, is a dreary, desolate region. Some parts of the valley watered by the Brook Cherith and the stream issuing from Elisha's Fountain are covered with lotus trees, interspersed with willows and a prolific growth of weeds. ”

“ It was my anxious desire to avoid taking camels down the Ghor; but, from the best information we could obtain respecting the river, I was obliged to employ them. As the Jordan was represented to run between high banks which form the terraces of another valley yet above them, I felt that our safety and the success of the expedition would depend materially upon the vigilance and alacrity of the land party. I therefore placed it under command of Lieut. Dale. It consisted of Dr. Anderson, Mr. Bedlow, Mr. Lynch, Sherîf, ’Akil, Mustafa and ten Bedouin videttes. ”