JORDAN.

with a single arch, may be seen at Jisr ed-Damieh near tlie moutti of the Jabbolc. Since its construction the river bed has changed so that it no longer spans the real channel. This bridge is on the direct route from Sheohem to Ramoth-gilead. There is another called Jisr eUMujamiyeh, close by that of the new railroad from Haifa to Damascus, or about 7 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. A third, built of black basalt and having three arches, is known as the Jisr Benat- Ya'gub, or 'bridge of the daughters of Jacob,' situated about two miles south of Lake Huleh on the direct caravan route from Acre to Damascus. A temporary wooden bridge, erected by the Arabs, stands opposite Jericho.

9. The Jordan valley .—The broad and ever-descending valley through which the Jordan flows is called by the Arabs the OhBr or 'bottom'; to the Hebrews it was known as the 'Arabah, It is a long plain, sloping uniformly at the rate of 9 feet to the mile, being at the northern end 3, and at the southern end 12 miles broad. For the most part the valley is fertile, especially in the vicinity of Beisan, where the grass and grain grow freely. Near the Dead Sea, however, the soil is saline and barren. The ruins of ancient aqueducts here and there all over the plain give evidence of its having been at one time highly cultivated. By irrigation the entire region could easily be brought under cultivation once more ind converted into a veritable garden. In the vicinity of Jericho, once the 'city of palms,' a large variety of fruits, vegetables, and other products is grown. The most fertile portion under cultivation at the present time is the comparatively narrow floor-bed of the river known as the ZSr, varying from a quarter to two miles in width, and from 20 to 200 feet in depth below the GhOr proper. This is the area which was overflowed every year 'all the time of harvest' (Jos 3"). It has been formed, doubtless, by the changing of the river bed from one side of the valley to the other.

10. The climate of the Jordan valley is hot. The Lower Jordan in particular, being shut in by two great walls of mountain, the one on the east, and the other on the west, is decidedly tropical. Even in winter the days are uncomfortably warm, though the nights are cool; in summer both days and nights are torrid, especially at Jericho, where the thermometer has been known to register 130 Fahr. by day, and 110 after sunset. This accounts largely for the unpeopled condi-tion of the Lower Jordan valley both to-day and in former times.

11. Flora and fauna. — The trees and shrubs of the Jordan valley are both numerous and varied. The retem or broom plant, thorns, oleanders, flowering bamboos, castor-oil plants, tamarisks, poplars, acacias. Dead Sea 'apples of Sodom,' and many other species of bush, all grow in the valley. The papyrus is especially luxuriant about Lake Huleh.

Animals such aa the leopard, jackal, boar, hysena, ibex, porcupine, and fox live in the thickets which border the banks. The lion has completely disappeared. The river abounds in fish of numerous species, many of them resembling those found in the Nile and the lakes of tropical Africa. Of the 35 species, however, known to exist, 16 are peculiar to the Jordan.

12. The Jordan as a boundary. — In view of what has been said, it is obvious that the Jordan forms a natural boundary to Palestine proper. In the earlier books of the OT we frequently meet with the expressions 'on this side Jordan,' and 'on the other side of the Jordan,' which suggest that the Jordan was a dividing line and a natural boundary. In Nu 34i2, indeed, it is treated as the original eastern boundary of the Promised Land (cf. Jos 22"). Yet, as Lucien Gautier suggests (art. 'Jordan' in Hastings' DCG), it was not so much the Jordan that constituted the boundary as the depressed OhBr valley as a whole.

13. Scripture references. — The Jordan is frequently mentioned in both the OT and the NT. Lot, for ez-

JOSEPH

ample, is said to have chosen 'all the circle of the Jordan' because 'it was well watered everywhere' (Gn IS""); Joshua and all Israel crossed over the Jordan on dry ground (Jos 3"); Ehud seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, cutting off their retreat (Jg 3^8); Gideon, Jephthah, David, Elijah, and Elisha were all well acquainted with the Jordan; Naaman the Syrian was directed to go wash in the Jordan seven times, that his leprosy might depart from him (2 K S"). And it was at the Jordan that John the Baptist preached and baptized, our Lord being among those who were here sacramentally consecrated (Mt 3 and parallels). To-day thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the civilized world visit the Jordan; so that, as G. A. Smith (HGHL, p. 496) reminds us, 'what was never a great Jewish river has become a very great Christian one.' George L. Robinson.

JORIBtrS.— 1. (AV Joribas) 1 Es 8« = Jarib, Ezr 8". 2. 1 Es 9" = Jarib, Ezr lO".

JORm. — An ancestor of Jesus (Lk 3").

JOREEAM. — A Judahite family name (1 Ch 2"). We should perhaps read Jokdeam, the name of an unidentified place in the Negeb of Judah (Jos 15").

JOSABDUS (1 Es 8«) =Jozabad, No. 6.

JOSAPHIAS (1 Es 8») =Ezr 8i» Josiphiah.

JOSECH ( AV Joseph) .—An ancestor of Jesus (Lk 3") .

JOSEDEK. — See Jehozadak.

JOSEPH (in OT and Apocr.). — 1. The patriarch. See next article. 2. A man of Issachar (Nu 13'). 3. A son of Asaph (1 Ch 252'). 4. One of the sons of Bani who had married a foreign wife (Ezr 10**); called in 1 Es 9" Josephus. 6. A priest (Neh 12"). 6. An ancestor of Judith (Jth 8'). 7. An officer of Judas Maccabaeus (1 Mac 518. ». 90). 8. In 2 Mac. 8^2, and probably also 10", Joseph is read by mistake for John, one of the brothers of Judas Maccabaeus.

JOSEPH. — Jacob's eleventh son, the elder of the two sons of Rachel; born in Haran. The name is probably contracted from Jehoseph (Ps 81'), 'May God add' (cf. Gn 3023'-, where etymologies from two sources are given) . Joseph is the principal hero of the later chapters of Genesis, which are composed mainly of extracts from three documents. J and E supply the bulk of the narrative, and as a rule are cited alternately, the compiler often modifying a quotation from one document with notes derived from the other. From P some six or seven short excerpts are made, the longest being Gn 46'-2', where the object and the parenthetic quaUty are evident. For the details of analysis, see Driver LOT', 17 fl. The oc-casional differences of tradition are an evidence of original independence, and their imperfect harmonization in the joint narrative is favourable to its substantial historicity .

At present the date of Joseph can be only provisionally fixed, as the account of his life neither mentions the name of the ruling Pharaoh nor refers to distinctive Egyptian manners or customs in such a way as to yield a clue to the exact period. The Pharaoh of the oppres-sion is now generally taken to be Rameses ii. of the 19th dynasty (c. B.C. 1275-1208); and if this be correct, the addition of the years of residence in Egypt (Ex 12") would bring Joseph's term of ofBce into the reign of the later Hyksos kings (c. b.c. 2098-1587; for dates and particulars, see Petrie, History of Egypt).

With the return of Jacob to Hebron (Gn 35") he ceases to be the central figure of the story, and Joseph takes his place. Of his life to the age of 17 (Gn 37^) nothing is told, except that he was his father's favourite, and rather too free in carrying complaints of his brothers and telling them of his boyish dreams. Sent to Shechem, he found that his brothers had taken their flocks north-wards fifteen miles, to the richer pasturage of Dothan. As soon as he came within sight, their resentment per-ceived its opportunity, and they arranged to get rid of him and his dreams; but the two traditions are not

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