JONATH ELEM REHOKIM

time of Simon the Maccabee (1 Mac 13"). 17. A priest who led the prayer at the first sacrifice after the Return (2 Mac l^"). W. O. E. Oesteklet.

JONATH ELEM REHOKIM.— See Psalms, p. 772».

JOPPA. — The principal seaport of S. Palestine; a place of high antiquity, being mentioned in the tribute lists of Thothmes in., but never before the Exile in Israelite hands, being in Philistine territory. It was theoretically assigned to the tribe of Dan (Jos 19«), and is spoken of as a seaport in 2 Ch 2" and Ezr 3' [where RV reads ' to the sea, unto Joppa ' in place of AV ' to the sea of Joppa']: these, and its well-known connexion with the story of Jonah (is), are the only references to the city to be found in the OT. The Maccabees wrested it more than once from the hands of their Syrian oppressors (1 Mac 10« 1238 13"); it was restored to the latter by Pompey (Jos. Ant. xiv. iv. 4), but again given back to the Jews (fb. xiv. x. 6) some years later. Here St. Peter for a while lodged, restored Tabitha to life, and had his famous vision of the sheet (Ac 9. 10). The traditional sites of Tabitha's tomb and Simon the tanner's house are shown to tourists and to pilgrims, but are of course without authority. The city was destroyed by Vespasian (a.d. 68) . In the Crusader period the city passed from the Saracens to the Franks and back more than once: it was captured first in 1126, retaken by Saladin 1187, again conquered by Richard Ceeur de Lion in 1191, and lost finally in 1196. In recent years it is remarkable for Napoleon's successful storming of its walls in 1799. It is now a flourishing seaport, though its harbour — little more than a breakwater of reefs — is notoriously bad and dangerous. A railway connects it with Jerusalem. It is also one of the chief centres of the fruit-growing industry in Palestine, and its orange gardens are world-lamed. Tradition places here the stoiy of Andromeda and the sea-monster.

R. A. S. Macalistek.

JOBAH. — The name of a family which returned with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2"); called in Neh 7^ Hariph, which is probably the true form. 1 Ea 5« reads Arsiphurith.

JOBAI.— A Gadlte chief (1 Ch 5").

JORAM. — 1.2.SeejEHOHAM(land2). 3. SonotToi (2 S 8'») (in 1 Ch IS'" called Hadoram). 4. A Levite (1 Ch 26»). 6. 1 Es 1» =2 Ch 35» Jozabad.

JORDAN. — The longest and most important river in Palestine. 1. Name. — The name 'Jordan' is best derived from Heb. yarad 'to descend,' the noun Yarden formed from it signifying 'the descender'; it is used almost invariably with the article. In Arabic the name is esh-Sheri'ah, or 'the watering-place.' though Arabic writers before the Crusades called it eUVrdun. Quite fanciful is Jerome's derivation of the name from Jot and Dan, the two main sources of the river, as no source by the name of Jor is known.

2. Geology. — The geology of the Jordan is unique. Rising high up among the foothills of Mt. Hermon, it flows almost due south by a most tortuous course, through the two lakes of Huleh and Galilee, following the bottom of a rapidly descending and most remarkable geological fissure, and finally emptying itself into the Dead Sea, which is 1292 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. In its short course of a little more than 100 miles it falls about 3000 feet, and for the greater portion of the journey runs below the level of the ocean. No other part of the earth's surface, un-covered by water, sinks to a depth of even 300 feet below sea-level, except the great Sahara. Professor Hull, the eminent Irish geologist, accounts for this great natural cleft by supposing that towards the end of the Eocene period a great 'fault' or fracture was caused by the contraction from east to west of the limestone crust of the earth. Later, during the Pliocene period, the whole Jordan valley probably formed an inland lake more than 200 miles long, but at the close I

JORDAN

of the Glacial period the waters decreased until they reached their present state. Traces of water, at heights 1 180 feet above the Dead Sea's present level, are found on the lateral slopes of the Jordan valley.

3. Sources.* — The principal sources of the Jordan are three: (1) the river Hasbani, which rises in a large fountain on the western slopes of Mt. Hermon, near Hasbeiya, at an altitude of 1700 feet; (2) the Leddan, which gushes forth from the celebrated fountain under Tell el-Qadi, or Dan, at an altitude of 500 feet — the most copious source of the Jordan; and (3) the river Banias, which issues from an immense cavern below Banias or Csesarea Philippi, having an altitude of 1200 feet. These last two meet about five miles below their fountain-heads at an altitude of 148 feet, and are joined about a half-mile farther on by the Hasbani. Their comrningled waters flow on across a dismal marsh of papyrus, and, after seven miles, empty into Lake Huleh, which is identified by some with ' the waters of Merom ' (Jos 11^-'). The lake is four miles long, its surface being but 7 feet above sea-level.

4. The Upper Jordan is a convenient designation for that portion of the river between Lake Huleh and the Sea of Galilee. Emerging from Lake Huleh, the river flows placidly for a space of two miles, and then dashes down over a rocky and tortuous bed until it enters the Sea of Galilee, whose altitude is 682 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. It falls, in this short stretch of lOi miles, 689 feet. At certain seasons its turbid waters can be traced for quite a considerable distance into the sea, which is 12i miles long.

5. The Lower Jordan is an appropriate designation for that portion of the river between the Sea of GaUlee and the Dead Sea. The distance in a straight line between these two seas is but 65 miles, yet it is estimated that the river's actual course covers not less than 200, due to its sinuosity. In this stretch it falls 610 feet, the rate at first being 40 feet per mile. Its width varies from 90 to 200 feet. Along its banks grow thickets of tamarisks, poplars, oleanders, and bushes of different varieties, which are described by the prophets of the OT as 'the pride of Jordan' (Jer 12' 49'' 60«, Zee 11'). Numerous rapids, whirlpools, and islets characterize this portion of the Jordan. The river's entire length from Banias to the Dead Sea is 104 miles, measured in a straight line.

6. Tributaries. — Its most important tributaries flow into the Lower Jordan and from the East. The largest is the Yarmuk of the Rabbis, the Hieromax of the Greeks, and the Sheri'at eUManadireh of the Arabs, which drains Gilead and Bashan in part. It enters the Jordan 5 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. The Bible never mentions it . The only other tributary of considerable importance is the Jabbok of the OT, called by the natives Nahr ez-Zerka or Wady el-' Arab. It rises near 'Amman (Philadelphia), describes a semicircle, and fiows into the Jordan at a point about equidistant from the two seas. On the west are the Nahr eUJalnd, which rises in the spring of Harod at the base of Mt. Gilboa and drains the valley of Jezreel; Wady Farah, which rises near Mt. Ebal and drains the district east of Shechem; and the Wady el-Keli, by Jericho, which is sometimes identified with the brook Cherith.

7. Fords. — The fords of the Jordan are numerous. The most celebrated is that opposite Jericho known as Makhadet et-Hajlah, where modern pilgrims are accus-tomed to bathe. There is another called eUGhSranlyeh near the mouth of Wady Nimrin. North of the Jabbok there are at least a score. In ancient times the Jordan seems to have been crossed almost exclusively by fords (1 S 13', 2 S 10"); but David and his house-hold were possibly conveyed across in a 'ferry-boat' (2 S 19"; the rendering is doubtful).

8. Bridges are not mentioned in the Bible. Those which once spanned the Jordan were built by the Romans, or by their successors. The ruins of one.

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