Turning eastward, we soon reach the FORDS OF THE JORDAN, the traditional site of our Lord's baptism and the present bathing-place of the pilgrims. The river comes down from the Sea of Galilee in a turbid impetuous stream. It has cut its channel so deeply in the marly soil, that throughout the

greater part of its course it is hidden from view. From any elevated point, however, it is easy to trace its course by the fringe of bright green which marks it. Innumerable willows, oleanders, and tamarisks grow upon its banks and overhang the river-bed. Hence the incident recorded of the

sons of the prophets, who, in the days of Elisha, went down to the Jordan to cut timber, one of whom let the head of a borrowed axe fall into the river.'

As we contrast this muddy, turbulent torrent, rushing unprofitably along its deep-cut channel, with the clear bright waters of Damascus, which spread fertility and prosperity wherever they come, it is easy to understand the scornful words of Naaman the Syrian: Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? . . . So he turned and went away in a rage.''

Like the Dead Sea, the physical phenomena of the Jordan are absolutely unique. Emerging from the Sea of Galilee at a probable depression of six hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean, it rushes along a narrow fissure of sixty miles in length; but doubling and winding as it goes, its actual course is two hundred miles. Starting from so low a level, its current might be expected to be slow and torpid. So far from this, it plunges over a series of rapids,3 and finally loses itself in the Dead Sea, to emerge no more, at a depth of thirteen hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean. No river famous in history is so unproductive and useless. Like the Upper Rhone, its rapid torrent and its sudden violent floods, make it an object rather of dread than delight to the dwellers on its banks. Yet, even in these physical characteristics, we can see its admirable adaptation to the Divine purpose. The Israelites were to be cut off from intercourse with the licentious idolaters on the east bank of the Dead Sea. A river easily crossed, with numerous fords and bridges, would have failed to answer this purpose. But the Jordan, though only from twenty to thirty yards wide, offered an almost insuperable barrier to intimate association, the fords being few and dangerous, and the floods rendering bridges almost impossible.

Crossing the plain in a westerly direction, we reach, in about an hour, a wretched village of mud huts, dominated by a single ruinous tower. Its modern name is Er Riha. Near it was the site of the ancient GILGAL. Here the column of stones, taken from the bed of the Jordan, was piled; here the first camp in the promised land was pitched; here the covenant with God was renewed by the celebration of the passover and the circumcision of the people; here 'the manna ceased' and 'they did eat of the old corn of the land, unleavened cakes and parched corn on the selfsame day;' and here it was that 'the Captain of the Lord's host,' with a sword drawn in his hand,' appeared to Joshua to encourage him in the conflicts which yet awaited him. It is not to be wondered at that something of sanctity should attach to a spot hallowed with such memories and associations

3 Lieutenant Lynch enumerates twenty-seven, of great violence, between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. From these the prophets often deduced lessons of warning for the impenitent. Thus Jeremiah says, 'If in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?' Jer. xii. 5. Joshua iv. v.

as these. Hence we find that the Tabernacle remained at Gilgal during the stormy period which followed till it was removed to its resting-place in Shiloh.' And in after ages the people still assembled to offer sacrifices on the spot so memorable in their history. As this was in a certain sense the cradle, if not the birth-place, of the national existence, we find that it was at Gilgal that Saul was made king,3 and that the men of Judah assembled to reinstate David upon the throne on his return from exile.+ The residence of Elijah and Elisha in Gilgal, and the events which are recorded to have happened there, show that a school of the prophets continued to exist on the site of the ancient sanctuary down to a late period of the monarchy.5

The tendency to apostacy and idolatry which cast so deep a shadow over the history of the Jews, was specially manifest on this sacred spot, for we find Hosea and Amos singling out Gilgal for special censure and denunciation, teaching that no sanctity of place, no hallowed memories, no outward influences, can avail to check the corruptions of an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.'7

About half an hour after leaving Er Riha, we reach some mounds of crumbling débris at the foot of a range of barren precipitous mountains, which form the western boundary of the Jordan valley. It is the site of JERICHO. The soil around it is fertile as ever. Its fountains still pour forth streams

DEAD SEA

Rom Dridge

Robok

SEAGALILEE

THE
RIVER JORDAN

THE JORDAN.

FROM THE SEA OF GALILEE TO THE DEAD SEA.

over the 'well-watered' plain. Nowhere has the primeval curse fallen more lightly. With the slightest effort on the part of man, the whole region would become a garden. But, alas! it is a desolate waste. The Bedouin lead their flocks across the plain as did the patriarchs of old. But there is no other sign of human life. The groves of palm trees which once stretched for miles around the city and gave it its name have disappeared.

One solitary sur

3 Ibid. xi. 15.

5 See the various references to Gilgal in the Books of the Kings. 7 Heb. iii. 12.

Hosea iv. 15; ix. 15; xii. 11. Amos iv. 4; v. 5.

* Deut. xxxiv. 3. Judges i. 16; iii. 13. 2 Chron. xxviii. 15.