Appendix: Site of Bethabara
Since the preceding pages were printed, I have received the Report of the recent identifications made by the “Palestine Exploration Society.” Among the most interesting of these, is the alleged discovery of the true position of BetUabara referred to in page 47 of thiB volume, — the scene of Peter’s first introduction to the Messiah. I give, in the words of the Report, the objection to the traditional site, and the grounds for supporting a more northerly one: —
“There is a serious objection to placing Bethabara so far south. Our Lord descended from Galilee to Jordan, and to Galilee he returned after the baptism and temptation. In the chapter which relates the testimony of John the Baptist to Christ, and which contains the passage, these things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing, we learn, in continuation (ver. 43), the day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and the next chapter commences, 4 and on the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, at which Christ was present (John ii. 1).”
On instituting a search for a more appropriate site within thirty miles of Cana of Galilee (the present Khirbet Kana), the explorers came upon the name, at one of the Fords of the Jordan, one mile north of the mouth of Wady Jalud, and not more than twenty-five from Nazareth and Cana.
APPENDIX.
“The ford in question is called Makhddhet ‘Abara, or the ‘Ford of the Crossing Over,’ for the name is derived from the Arabic root, ‘Abr, having the meaning of crossing....
“Makhadhet ‘Abara is one of the principal northern fords; the great road descending Wady Jaliid on its northern side, and leading to Gilead and the south of the Hauran, passes over by it. The situation is well fitted for the site of the baptism, not only on account of its nearness to Galilee and Nazareth, but also because the river bed is here more open, the steep banks of the upper valley or ghor lesser and farther retired, thus leaving a broader space for the collection of the great crowd which had followed John the Baptist into the wilderness.”
The above must be accepted with all the deference due to the reliable and indefatigable labourers engaged in this noble mission. The point which seems least satisfactory in transferring the site from the traditional one, is the greater accessibility of the latter to the multitudes who flocked to the preaching of the Baptist “from Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan” (ireptxwpos: most probably the wide plain, or lower valley around Jericho) (Matt. iii. 5). Moreover, the mere name ‘Abara cannot, of itself, in the present case, authoritatively fix the site, as the word Bethabara — meaning 49 the House of the Crossing,” or “the Ford * — is allowed by the explorers in their Report “to be applicable to many points on the course of the Jordan.” Meanwhile, at all events, the question must remain an open one.