The river of the Israelite imagination, and a modest one: it falls from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea in about 105 miles of channel, dropping below sea level the whole way, muddy and in most places narrow enough to wade. ⚠ Its meaning is entirely about CROSSING. Israel entered the land through it (Joshua 3), Elijah divided it and was taken up beyond it, Elisha sent Naaman to wash in it seven times — so a prophet dressed as Elijah, calling the nation out of its towns to be immersed in this particular water, is staging the entry into the land again from the outside. Matthew has the crowds come from Jerusalem and all Judea to a stretch of it 'in the wilderness' rather than to the temple twelve miles away, which is itself an argument. ⚠ Matthew does not name the spot; the traditional site (Bethany beyond the Jordan, on the east bank near Jericho) rests on John 1:28 and on Byzantine pilgrim accounts, and the map pin here covers the lower river rather than claiming a place the text leaves unnamed.