Neither of these words expresses the thing intended ; but the term "brook" is peculiarh' unhappy, since the pastoral idea which it conveys is quite at variance with
RIVER
40
RIVER
the general character of the wadys of Palestine. Many of these are deep abrupt chasms or rents in the solid rock of the hills, and have a savage, gloomy aspect, far removed from that of an ordinary brook. For example, the Anion forces its way thnmgh a ravine several hun- dred feet deep and about two miles wide across the top. The Wady Zcrka, probably the Jabbok. which Jacob was so anxious to interpose between his family and Esau, is etpially unlike the quiet "meadowy brook" with which we are familiar. And those which are not so abrupt and savage are in their width, their irregu- laritv. their forlorn arid look when tlie torrent has sub- sided, utterly unlike " brooks." Unfortunately, our lan- guage does not contain any single word which has both the meanings of the Hebrew ndchal and its Arabic equivalent wdily. which can be used at once for a dry valley and for the stream which occasionally flows through it. Ainsworth, in his Annofatioiu (on Numb, xiii, 23), says that "bourne" has both meanings; but " bourne" is now obsolete in English, though still in use in Scotland, where, owing to the mountainous nature of the country, the ■' burns" partake of the nature of the u-adi/s of Palestine in the irregularity of their flow. Burton {Geofj. Journ. xxiv, 209) adopts the Italian fiumann. Others have proposed the Indian term rwl- lah. The double application of the Hebrew ndchal is evident in 1 Kings xvii, 3, where Elijah is commanded to hide himself in (not by) the ndchal Cherith, and to drink of the ndchal. This word is also translated "flood" in 2 Sam. xxii, 5; Job xxviii, 4, etc. See Brook.
The frequent use of the word ndchal in Scripture, and the clear distinction drawn between it and nahur by the sacred writers, are indicative of the physical character of Palestine — "a land of hills and valleys •'^ a land in which nearly all the valleys are dry in summer, and the beds of torrents during the winter rains. The Arabic word icady is the modern equivalent of the He- brew ndchal. It means a valley, glen, or ravine of any kind, whether the bed of a perennial stream or of a winter torrent, or permanently dry. Like its Hebrew equivalent, it is also sometimes applied to the river or stream which flows in the vallej- ; but not so commonly as ndchal. In reading the Hebrew Scriptures the con- text alone enables us to decide the meaning attached by the writer in each passage to the word ndchal. In a few instances it appears to be used in two senses in the very same sentence (comp. 1 Kings xvii, 3-7, etc.). See a picturesque allusion to such brooks in Job vi, 15. When the word stands alone it seems to denote a mere winter torrent, a permanent stream being indicated by the addition of the word 'iP'^X, "perennial," as in Psa. Ixxiv, \h ; Deut. xxxi, 4 ; Amos v, 24. See Valley.
A few brooks are specially designated (in addition to the above ), as the Brook of Willows ( Isa. xv, 7 ), a Stream on the east of the Dead Sea, probably the pres- ent Wady el-Ahsy, which descends from the eastern mountains and enters the eastern end of the Dead Sea; the Besor {ihe cold), a torrent emptying itself into the Mediterranean near Gaza (1 Sam. xxx, 9, 10, 21) ; and the Kanah, a stream on the borders of Ephraim and Manasseh ( Josh, xvi, 18; xvii, 9). "The brook of Egypt," mentioned in Numb, xxxiv, 5; Josh, xv, 4, 47 ; 1 Kings viii, (>."); 2 Kings xxiv, 7; Isa. xxvii, 12, which is also called simply "the brook" (Ezek. xlvii, 19; xlviii, 28), and described as on the confines of Palestine and Egypt, is unfiuestionably the Wady el-Arish, near the village of that name, which was anciently called Rhi- nocorura. The "river (yeof) of P^gypt" is, however, the Nile; and it is unfortunate that the two are not so well distinguished in the A.Y. as in the original. Oth- er exami)les are the valley of (ierar ((ien. xxvi, 17) and the valley of Sorek (Judg. xvi, 4), so called proba- bly from its vineyards, which Eusebius and Jerome place nr>rtli of Kleutheropolij and near to Zorah. The valley of Sljittiui ("acacias") was in Moab, on the borders of
Palestine (Joel iv, IS ; comp. Numb, xxv, 1 ; Josh, ii, 1 ; iii, 1 ; Mic. vi, 5). — Kitto. See each name in its place.
7. yi^, peleg. The root of this word appears to be the same as that of (fK'mo, <t>\vw, Jleo, fiuo, pluo, and the English Jlow ; its meaning is " to gush" or " flow over." Peleg is equivalent to the Arabic palrj, "a stream," and is always given to something floirin//. Thus in Job xxix, 6, " The rock poured me out rivers of oil ;" and Lam. iii, 48, " Mine eye runneth down with riveis of water." In the Bible it is used ten times, and is trans- lated " rivers," except in Psa. xlvi, 4, where it is ren- dered "streams," and in Judg. v, 15, 16, "divisions," where the allusion is probably to the artificial streams with which the pastoral and agricultural country of Reuben was irrigated (Ewald, Zi/c/z/f?-, i, 129; Gesen. Thesaur. col. 1103 6); or perhaps to the gullies that in- tersect that high table-land. — Kitto; Smith. See IMoAU.