Where did Israel cross the Jordan?

Question

Accepted Answer

Opposite Jericho. The Book of Joshua says that the people came from Shittim to the river and “passed over right against Jericho”, and that they camped at Gilgal, “in the east border of Jericho”. The exact spot is not known. The map point stands on Gilgal at Khirbet el-Mefjir, about 2 km north-east of Tell es-Sultan, the mound of Jericho, and about 21 km in a straight line from Shittim, the last camp east of the river; Khirbet en-Nitla south-east of Jericho is the other usual candidate for Gilgal. Local tradition puts the crossing at the ford of Qasr al-Yahud, about 10 km south-east of the map point, where the baptism of Jesus is also remembered. The text describes the river stopping upstream: the waters “stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan”, while those flowing to the Dead Sea “failed, and were cut off”. Adam is identified with Tell ed-Damiyeh, near the mouth of the Jabbok, about 28 km north of Jericho in a straight line, and Zarethan with Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, 18 km further north. It was the spring harvest, when “Jordan overfloweth all his banks”, and the priests with the ark stood “on dry ground in the midst of Jordan” until all had crossed; twelve stones from the riverbed were set up at Gilgal, and in the fourth century Eusebius was shown them at the second mile from Jericho. How it happened is read in different ways. Many take it as a plain miracle; others note that the high marl banks near Damiyeh have collapsed and dammed the river for hours, as in the earthquake of 1927, and see God's hand in the timing. The date also divides scholars: the map follows the early chronology, about 1406 BC, forty years after an Exodus dated from 1 Kings 6:1, while many put Joshua in the thirteenth century BC or read the conquest story as later tradition. A psalm keeps it in one line: “Jordan was driven back”.