Thickets of the Jordan, גאון הירדן

גאון הירדן (ge’on hayyarden) occurs four times in the Hebrew Bible, three of them in Jeremiah (Jer 12:5; 49:19; 50:44), and the fourth in Zechariah (11:3). Is it the name of a specific site or of a region? And to what does it refer: the Jordan water flow (as suggested by Qimhi) or the vegetation unit of the Jordan river banks? In any event, גאון הירדן is taken to be a dangerous area. In Jer 12:5 it stands in opposition to ארץ שלום (“a secured land” or “a tranquil land”); in the other three instances, the danger is specified as the habitat of lions (Jer 49:19; 50:44; and Zech 11:3), who are a threat to shepherds.

The meaning of גאון הירדן has been debated, due to the גאון component of this phrase. According to HALOT (169), גאון stands for “height” of sea waves (Job 38:11) or the tone of the divine voice (Job 37:4), and HALOT reads the four occurrences of גאון הירדן accordingly. This meaning accords with the verb גאה, “to grow tall,” used of plants enjoying plenty of water (e.g., Job 8:11) or of rising waters (Ezek 47:5; and גאות הים in Ps 89:10).

Another meaning of גאון is “eminence,” a meaning restricted to God (Exod 15:7; Isa 2:10, 19, 21; 24:14; Mic 5:4), and Job 40:10 clusters this meaning with its others—height, eminence, and glory—as they play their role in the divine גאון. When it comes to individuals or to nations, however, גאון is evaluated negatively as “pride, hubris” (Prov 8:13; 16:18; Ps 59:13; Job 35:12). In the national sphere, גאון is a sin committed by Israel (Hos 5:5; 7:10; Amos 6:8; 8:7), by Jerusalem or Judah (Ezek 7:20, 24; 16:56; 33:28), and by their surrounding enemies: Assyria (Zech 10:11) or its ruler (Isa 14:11), Babylon (Isa 13:19), Egypt (Ezek 30:6, 18; 32:12), Moab (Isa 16:6; Jer 48:29; Zeph 2:10), Philistia (Zech 9:6), Sodom (Ezek 16:49), and Tyre (Isa 23:9), a sin that God will call to judgment (e.g., Isa 13:11). [1] גאון עזכם may refer to the land (Lev 26:19; and, with a positive tone, Ps 47:5) or to the Jerusalem temple (Ezek 24:21). Consolation prophecies mention גאון as the restored dignity of God’s people (Isa 4:2; Isa 60:15; Nah 2:3).

גאון הירדן was therefore commonly understood as a geographical term of a region, but two different options were designated as expressing the quality of height, either the river’s water height, hence “the swell of the Jordan,” or the vegetation regional conditions, i.e., the high flora of its banks. [2] Based on the Targum, medieval interpretation took גאון הירדן to refer to the water flow of the river (e.g., Qimhi on Jer 49:19). The fluctuations of the water height in the Jordan between winter and summer were recorded already in the mid-nineteenth century by Henri Tristram. [3] But it seems that biblical (both premodern and modern) scholarship, nineteenth century travelers’ reports, and studies of geographers of the land of Israel preferred to use this term in reference to the flora of this narrow region along the Jordan. [4] BDB 145 explains גאון הירדן as the “majesty of the Jordan, referring to the green and shady banks, clothed with willows, tamarisks, and cane in which lions made their covert.” Moshe Nadel takes the construct character of the expression quite literally: גאון refers to the flora which makes the Jordan a source of pride or glory. [5] Menashe Har-El suggests that the pride is relative, designating “the forest of the Pride of the Jordan” as “the pride of this arid region” in contrast to the “burning hot, desolate Jordan Wilderness.” [6] Modern biblical scholars have followed this line. [7]

For the sake of our discussion of גאון הירדן, as applied to vegetation, we are then left with two options. Is height the major characteristic of the vegetation in the Jordan valley (following the etymological meaning of גאה)? Or should we be thinking of “thickets”?

Three of the four occurrences of גאון הירדן in the Hebrew Bible are in Jeremiah.

• Once in an individual lament (“confession”), Jer 12:5
• Twice in parallel verses in two prophecies against the nations, Jer 49:19 against Edom and 50:44 against Babylon,

The forth occurrence, Zech 11:3, is taken as either judgment prophecy or as a lament. [8]

גאון הירדן appears to designate a feature of vegetation or a geographical region (not a place name), based on the following characteristics:

The oppositional parallel to ארץ שלום (“a secured land” or “a tranquil land”) in Jer 12:5 illustrates that גאון הירדן is an entire area taken to be dangerous.

Other geographic locations occur in the same context beside גאון הירדן; see Lebanon and the Bashan in Zech 11:1–3.

However, the vegetation formation to which גאון הירדן may refer is not specified. In contradistinction to the mention of specific plants like the cedars (ארזים) in Lebanon and the oaks (אלוני הבשן, Quercus) in the Bashan, the area of גאון הירדן is not characterized by specific plants in Zech 11:1–3, and the same is true in the other references. Rather, it is designated by its unique fauna, being the habitat of lions. However, the proximity in Zech 11 to those high trees of Lebanon and the Bashan drives us back to the context of height in reference to גאון הירדן.

Agreed throughout is that danger that resides in גאון הירדן; in three of the references, that danger involves lions that are said to settle in it (Zech 11:3) and attack from there (Jer 49:19; 50:44). [9]

All four occurrences are figurative, symbolizing a place of danger, which in Jer 12:5 refers to danger that threatens the prophet as an individual.

In Jer 49:19–20; 50:44–45 גאון הירדן is a simile for God’s furious war and threat against Edom and Babylon. God is to attack those lands as if he were the lion coming out from גאון הירדן. The discrepancy in these repeated verses is that this simile may indeed be geographically relevant (and understandable) when expressed in Judah and addressed to Edom, but it is hardly so when issued against Babylon. [10] In Zech 11:3, גאון הירדן is about to be devastated and will no longer be habitat of lions.

[1] While HALOT (169) took גאון in human contexts to be critically judged as hubris based on the contexts of the above mentioned passages, note that BDB (144–45) has a different understanding of this word. גאון in itself means “exaltation” and thus has a neutral or even positive meaning when it refers to nations’ “exaltation, majesty, excellence,” referring to “their wealth, power, magnificence of buildings.” According to BDB, a second meaning with a “bad sense” of “pride” is more limited in its occurrences: Job 35:12; Ps 59:13; Prov 8:13; 16:18; Ezek 7:20; 16:49; Zeph 2:10; and, in reference to Moab, Isa 16:6 and Jer 48:29.

[2] The former option was suggested already by the Targum (to Jer 12:5) and was further elaborated already in medieval interpretation as by Qimhi (see History of Identification), as well as among modern critics such as McKane, Jeremiah I–XXV, 264–65. Lundbom, Jeremiah 1–20, 647 briefly refers to both options.

[3] Tristram, The Land of Israel, 222, 237–38, who further described a hunt of a great boar at the Gohr, the Arab name of the Jordan valley south of the Sea of Gallilee. The water flow phenomenon, however, cannot be validated in current times, as the Jordan waters are exhausted by Israel, Syria, and Jordan, and its flow to the Dead Sea has decreased significantly over the last few decades.

[4] For the early translations see History of Identification. McKane, Jeremiah I–XXV, 264–65 favored this last option, arguing that the alternative of “swell” cannot be accepted for three of the occurrences (Jer 49:19; 50:44; Zech 11:3). A mid-nineteenth-century report emphasizes the flora (Lynch, Narrative of the United States’ Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea, 246, 252). Among the twentieth century studies, see in particular Glueck, The River Jordan, 62–77.

[5] Nadel, “Mountain Names Dependent on Hair,” 56–57.

[6] Har-El, “The Pride of the Jordan: The Jungle of the Jordan,” 69, 71.

[7] Boda, Zechariah, 647 translates גאון as “lush thicket,” although he recognizes that גאון serves as an attribute of several other nouns.

[8] Boda, Zechariah, 636–40

[9] Har-El,  “The Pride of the Jordan,” mentions different aspects of danger in this area under the general thought that “living conditions at the Pride were unbearable for both man and beast” (71). Among those terrible conditions he mentioned are destructive floods in the winter, malarial mosquitoes on its banks, and high temperatures, in addition to wild beasts within the “dense forest.” Not least, these conditions have become a hiding place for fugitives, robber bands, etc. (72).

[10] This difficulty has been raised by commentators; see, e.g., Lundbom, Jeremiah 37–52, 343, 429, who therefore considers Jer 50:44–46 to be another application of the oracle, this time against Babylon, and dates it prior to 594 BCE, a date he suggested for “the bulk of Jeremiah’s oracles” against Babylon (429).

Boda, Mark J. Zechariah. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016.

Glueck, Nelson. The River Jordan. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1946.

Har-El, Menashe. “The Pride of the Jordan: The Jungle of the Jordan.” Biblical Archaeologist 41 (1978): 65–75.

Lynch, William F. Narrative of the United States’ Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. Philadelphia: Lee and Blanchard, 1849.

Lundbom, Jack R. Jeremiah 1–20. Anchor Bible 21A. New York: Doubleday, 1999.

Lundbom, Jack R. Jeremiah 37–52. Anchor Bible 21C New York: Doubleday, 2004.

McKane, William. Jeremiah I–XXV. International Critical Commentary. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1986.

Nadel, Moshe. “Mountain Names Dependent on Hair: Journey on the Semantic Field (שמות הררים התלויים בשערה: תיור בשדה הסימנטי)” Leshonenu 19 (1954): 51–60 (Hebrew).

Tristram, Henri. The Land of Israel: A Journal of Travels in Palestine. 2nd ed. London: SPCK, 1866 (originally published 1865).