Section 28
Jesus' first followers
Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River & Galilee
John 1:35-51
35On the next day John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” 37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following him and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and stayed with him that day; it was about the tenth hour. 40Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard this from John and followed Jesus. 41Andrew first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”), 42and he brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah; you shall be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”). 43On the next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44(Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.) 45Philip then found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the law, and of whom the Prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.” 48Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!” 50Jesus answered him, “Do you believe because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree’? You will see greater things than these.” 51Then he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before long you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Notes
Jordan River
The name Jordan, or yarad in Hebrew, means “to go down...to descend.” From the time it leaves its main sources at the foot of Mount Hermon, it drops 2,600 feet to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the earth’s surface. Its course follows the largest fault zone on earth, the Great Rift Valley, which begins in Turkey and extends to East Africa.
The melted snows from Mount Hermon which spring forth at Dan and Caesarea Philippi are the main source of the river. As the river runs down toward the Sea of Galilee, the volume of water increases as several small tributaries and springs contribute to the flow. About 264 billion gallons of water flow through the Jordan River each year.
After the Jordan River exits the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, it meanders 125 miles (although the distance in a straight line is only 65 miles) to the Dead Sea. The depth of the river varies with the season as well as by region. At some points it is as shallow as three feet, in other places 10 to 12 feet. In the spring, however, the Jordan used to be “at flood stage all during the harvest” (Joshua 3:15). Today about 90 percent of the Jordan flow has been diverted for domestic or agricultural use.
The southern part of the Jordan attracts few tourists because it straddles Israel and the country of Jordan. Just above the Dead Sea, across from Jericho, near what the Bible calls “Bethany beyond the Jordan,” John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River (John 1:28).