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| Jabbok River Valley, courtesy, Wikipedia |
The Jabbok River is one of the principal tributaries of the Jordan, flowing from that river’s
east bank in the Arab-occupied Kingdom of Jordan about midway between the Sea
of Galilee in the north and the Dead Sea in the south. In the course of its 65
mile length, it passes south of the cities of Gilead (Ajlun), Gerasa (Jerash),
and Mafraq, finally ending in the northern
deserts of the East Bank near the border
with Arab-occupied Syria. According to the Book of Genesis, in the hamlet
of Penuel in the Jabbok River Valley, Jacob struggled
with the angel after his escape from his father-in-law in Syria, and later, it
is mentioned in connection with the meeting between Jacob and Esau. The Jabbok
was also the scene of an important battle between the Israelites and the
Amorites. According to Numbers 21:22-24, Sihon, King of the Amorites, refused
to allow the tribes of Israel to pass through his land on their way to Canaan
and instead, sent an army against them. “And Israel smote him with the edge of
the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok…” After the Israelites
settled in the Promised Land, the Jabbok served as the border between the tribes
of Gad and Reuben and the Kingdom of Ammon, today, the land in and around Amman. Some time during or after the
Babylonian Captivity, the Jewish family of Tobiah ruled Ammon and that dynasty continued
to rule this area until the time of the Maccabbees.
Over the centuries, Arab settlers
migrated to the river valley from the Arabian Peninsula, especially after the
Crusader period. However, Jewish travelers, merchants, and explorers still
traversed the area. Ashturi haParhi in the 14th century and
Yehoseph Schwarz in the 19th would make in-person researches on
locations of Biblical sites and have identified the Jabbok River with, what the
settlers called, the “Zarqa”. Scholars tend to disagree as to why the river
received this name. Schwarz states that the Arabs named it the Zarqa because it
touched the fortress of Zarqa which was on the route between Damascus and
Mecca. But nowadays, the general opinion is that the Jabbok was given this
Arabic name on account of the bluish color of its water (“Zarqa” is the Arabic
word meaning “blue”).
Today, Jews are prohibited from
residing in any part of the river valley as they are in the rest of the Kingdom
of Jordan.
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