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RIVER.—For the meaning and use of ’âphîq, ye’ôr, and nachal, sometimes rendered ‘river,’ see art. Brook. yûbal (Jer_17:8), ’ûbal (Dan_8:2-3; Dan_8:6), are from the root yâbal, ‘to flow.’ peleg, ‘division,’ signifies an artificial water-channel, used for irrigation (Psa_1:3 etc.), by which the water from cistern or stream is led to the various parts of field, garden, or orchard requiring moisture. It is used poetically of the stream bringing the rain from the great storehouses on high (Psa_65:9). te‘âlâh (Eze_31:4) is properly a ‘channel’ or ‘conduit’ (so 2Ki_18:17; 2Ki_20:20, Isa_7:3; Isa_36:2, also Job_38:25 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). The usual word for river in OT is nâhâr (Job_40:23, Psa_46:4 etc.). It is often used of rivers that are named: e.g. the rivers of Eden (Gen_2:10 etc.), the Euphrates (Gen_15:18 etc.), the rivers of Damascus (2Ki_5:12). The Euphrates is called ‘the river’ (Gen_31:21 etc.), and ‘the great river’ (Gen_15:18, Deu_1:7), a title given also to the Tigris (Dan_10:4). Aram-naharaim (Psa_60:1-12 [title], also Heb. Gen_24:10, Deu_23:4), ‘Aram [Note: ram Aramaic.] of the two rivers,’ is Mesopotamia. The word appears to have been used like the Arab [Note: Arabic.] , nahr, only of perennial streams. It is applied, indeed, to the Chebar (Eze_1:1) and the Ahava (Ezr_8:21), while in Psa_137:1, Nah_2:7, Exo_7:19; Exo_8:5, canals seem to be intended. But in all these cases they were probably not mere temporary conduits, but had become established as permanent sources of supply, so that, as with Chebar and Ahava, they might have names of their own. The NT word is potamos (Mar_1:5 etc.).
In the fig. language of Scripture the rising of a river in flood signifies the furious advance of invading armies (Jer_46:7 f., Jer_47:2, Isa_8:7). The trials of affliction are like the passage of dangerous fords (Isa_43:2). The river is significant of abundance (Job_29:6 etc.), and of the favour of God (Psa_46:4). To the obedient peace is exhaustless as a river (Isa_48:18; Isa_30:28). Prevailing righteousness becomes resistless as an overflowing stream (Amo_5:24).
Palestine is not rich in rivers in our sense of the term. The Jordan is perhaps the only stream to which we should apply the name. Apart from the larger streams, the wâdy of the mountain is sometimes the nahr of the plain, before it reaches the sea, if in the lower reaches it is perennial. Bearing the name nahr in modern Palestine, there are: in the Philistine plain, the Sukreir and the Rûbîn; to the N. of Jaffa, el-‘Aujâ, el-Fâlik, Eskanderûneh, el-Mefjir, ez-Zerkâ, and ed-Difleh; to the N. of Carmel, el-Muqatta’ (the ancient Kishon), Na‘mein (the Belus), and Mefsûh. The streams that unite to form the Jordan in the N. are Nahr el-Hasbâni, Nahr el-Leddân, and Nahr Bâniâs. The only nahr flowing into the Jordan from the west is the Jalûd, near Beisân. From the east Nahr Yarmûk drains the Jaulân and Haurân, and at its confluence with the Jordan is almost of equal volume. Nahr ez-Zerkâ is also an important stream, draining a wide region.
The rivers are crossed to-day, as in ancient times, almost entirely by fords. When the rivers are in flood, tragedies at the fords are not infrequent. The rivers that open into the Mediterranean have their main fords at the mouth. The sand washed up by the waves forms a broad bank, over which the water of the stream spreads, making a wide shallow.
W. Ewing.