Almost the only description of the Jordan banks from the river itself is given by Ljmch in the account which he has written of nis adventurous boat journey. The following are the most im- portant passages.
' The river . . . cui-ved and twisted north, south, east and west, turning, in the short space of half an hour, to every quarter of the compass, seeming as if desirous to prolong its luxuriant meanderings in the calm and silent valley, and reluctant to pour its sweet and sacred waters into the accursed waters of the bitter sea. . . .
' For hours in their swift descent the boats floated down in silence, the silence of the wilderness. Here and there were spots of solemn beauty. The numerous birds sang with a music strange and manifold ; the willow branches were spread upon the stream like tresses, and creeping mosses and clambering weeds, with a multitude of white and
silver little flowers, looked out from among the.n | ami the difl' swallow wheeled over the falls, or, at his o"n wild will, darted through the arched vistas, shadowed and shaped by the meetin" foliage on the banks ; and above all, yet attuned to all, was the music of the river, gushing with a sound like that of shawius and cymbals. The stream sometimes washed the banks of the sanily hills, and at other times meandered between low banks, generally fringed with trees and fragrant with blossoms. Some points presented views ex- ceedingly picturesque — the mad rushing of a mountain torrent, the song and sight of birds, the overhanging foliage, and glimpses of the mountains far over the plain, and here and there a gurgling rivulet pouring its tribute of crystal water into the now muddy Jordan. The western shore was peculiar from the high calcareous lime- stone hills, which form a barrier to the stream when swollen by the elliux of the Sea of Galilee during the winter and early spring ; while the left or eastern bank was low, fringed with tamarisk and willow, and occasionally a thicket of lofty cane, and tangled masses of shrubs and creeping plants, giving it the character of a jungle. At one place we saw the fresh track of a tiger [nimr or cheetah '!] on the low clayey margin, where he had come to drink. At another time as we passed his lair, a wild boar started with a savage grunt and dashed into the thicket; but for some momenta we traced his p.atliway by the shaking cane and the crashiii" sound of breaking branches. . . . Many islands, .some fairy-like, and covered with a luxuriant vegetation, others mere sandbars and sedimentary deposits, intercepted the course of the river, but were beautiful features in the grand monotony of the shores — the regular and almost unvaried scene of the high-banked alluvial deposit and sandhills on the one hand, and the low swamp -like shore, covered to the water's edge with the tamarisk, the willow, and the thick liiL'h cane, would have been fatiguing without the frequent occurrence of sandbanks and verdant islands. High up in the sand bluB's the clilf swallow chattered from his nest in the hollow, or darted about in the bright sunshine in pursuit of the gnat and the water ny ' (Lynch, Narrative, p[i. 211-215).
The Plains. — The words principally used in the OT in connexion with portions of the Jordan Valley are 'drilbdh, midbdr, cicciir, gillloth, jlshl- mon, sadeh, shcdcmoth, bik'ah.
The 'Ardbdh. Without the definite article 'Ardbdh refers to any desert or wilderness; but with the definite article it is used only for that part of the Jordan Valley which is a desert extending from some miles above Jericho to 'Akabah, and in- cluding the Salt Sea, which is often called ' the Sea of the Arabah ' (Dt 3" 4", Jos 3" 12»). It is used 21 times in tliis extended sense, and is usually tr"" in AV ' the plain ' or ' the plains ' : in KV it is invariably tr" 'the Arabah.' In the plural ('drdboth) it occurs 19 times in the his- torical books, and with one exception it refers to a definite spot, viz. the uncultivated land at the northern end of the Salt Sea, the steppes of Jericho (Jos 4^ etc.), or the steppes of Moab (Nu 22, etc.). The exceptional case is 2 S 15^, tr^ in AV as ' the plain of the w ilderness.' It is probable, however, that RV, ' the fords of the wilderness,' is correct (reading may, not n^iy). See Arabah.
Midbdr, ' wilderness ' (pasture land). With the article this word is generally used for the wUder- ness of Arabia, but sometimes for tracts of pasture land about Palestine, particularly in respect to the wilderness or pasture country east of Jerusalem, and the passing to it is ' the way of the wilder npj^s ' l.lo» S'"- 20 16', Jg ll-'^ 20^^ 2 S 15^- »« 17").
JUKDAN
JORDAN
76]
Ciridr, ' ronnil,' ' rirrle,' a tract of lountry (wlien the article is generally used). The woril is used for denoting — (a) the Uoor of the valley through which the Jordan runs, with reference to the culti- vated parts ; {b) the oasis which formerly existed in the lower part of the valley around the cities of the I'hiiii. In the former sense it is used 5 times. In 2 S IS^ it is used to denote the direction taken by Ahimaaz ' by the way of the plain.' In 1 K 7*", 2 Ch 4" it refers to the plain of the Jordan, where was the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. In Neh 3^ 1"2^ it refers to the country about Jeru- salem, ' men of the plain.' In its restricted sense it is usrd 8 times to denote the oasii where the cities of the Plain were situated, Gn 13'» 19", Dt 34».