Gen. 33:1-17, The Fords of Adam

Abel Mehola, hometown of Elisha

Zaretan, in the Jordan Rift

Adam Fords in the Jordan Rift

The Adam Bridge crossing over the Jordan River from Israel to Jordan is about 25 kilometers/15 miles upstream from the Allenby Bridge that is across from Jericho.  A comparison of the above photo with the one in our previous post should tell you they are the same location.  This is the area where Jacob met up with Esau 20+ years after Jacob had stolen the blessing and Esau had threatened to kill him. 

There is another reference to this area, and actually mentions a city called “Adam” and that is in Joshua 3:16.  When Israel came from Egypt into Canaan near Jericho, the waters of the Jordan River were stopped up as far upstream as “Adam, the city near that is beside Zaretan.”  If you read some Bible dictionaries they might tell you that there was a time in the middle ages when an earthquake resulted in the damming up of the Jordan at this spot. 

The geography of the Bible is fascinating, especially when you are in Israel.  So, Joshua 3:16 says Zaretan is near Adam.  1 Ki. 4:12 refers to “Beit Shean, which is beside Zaretan below Jezreel.”  The Jezreel Valley (Armageddon) is not much above sea level.  As you head from there in a southeastern direction you come to Gideon’s Spring and the Mountains of Gilboa.  The valley then begins to drop off  rapidly as you drop down to Beit Shean, which sits in the Jordan Rift at 460 feet below sea level.  You are in the Harod Valley, the Harod being the stream in which Gideon reduced his army down to 300 men. 

A turn to the south at Beit Shean will take you to Mehola and then Shadmont Mehola.  They derive their names from Abel Mehola, the hometown of Elisha in OT times, which was in this area but on the east side of the Jordan.  Also in that area, east of the Jordan, was the Brook Cherith where God fed Elijah during the famine. 

Further south, as you get close to the turnoff for the Adam Bridge, you pass a town called Argaman.  This has come to be a special place for us, as it seems to be conclusive that the people of Israel camped here after the fall of Jericho.  This “Gilgal” (i.e. “camp”) was at the base of the mountains of Ephraim and was the base of operations for taking Ai and then the decisive battle at Gibeon later.

Which then brings us back to Zaretan and also Succoth, where Jacob pitched his tent for a time before continuing on to Shechem (Gen. 33:17).  Solomon had the bronze furnishings for the temple “in the plain of Jordan …cast in clay molds, between Succoth and Zeredah” (probably the same as Zaretan).  Today, along that stretch of Hwy. 90 that runs through north to south in the Jordan Rift, there is a community where you can buy all manner of clay pots and yard items and so forth.

What it tells you is not that these communities are built on the ruins of cities by the same name.  It tells you that people believe the Bible.  They know that their little town is near where some special Bible town was located.  So they choose that name, perhaps to encourage themselves to be like Elisha or Jacob or some other saint.  If you live in Israel, the land of the Bible, that makes sense.  The stories are true and should be remembered for our benefit.