Ferry-boat
Ferry-Boat
(עֲבָרָה abarah', passage; Sept. διάβασις), a vessel for crossing a stream (2Sa 19:18). The Syriac and Vulg. refer this word to the men mentioned in the above text- and accordingly Boothroyd renders the passage, "And these went over Jordan before the king, and performed the service of bringing over the king's household," which, as some of the Rabbins understand, was accomplished by carrying over on their backs the women and children who could not conveniently ford the river. This, however, is not in accordance with the construction of the original (which, moreover, has the article emphatically וע ברָה הָעֲָברָה, and THE ferry[-boat] crossed). Some suppose (so Josephus, Ant. 7:11, 2) that there was a bridge of boats employed on this occasion, and others that a ferry- boat of some kind was used for this purpose (see Kitto, Pict. Bible, note in loc.). It is probable that a raft, or float, was constructed; if not, some kind of boat, for the use of these must have been known to the Hebrews, as we find vessels apparently of this description delineated among the paintings of ships on the Egyptian monuments. Floats of various kinds, buoyed up by inflated bladders, calabashes, wicker-work, and even earthen or metallic vessels, have been used from the earliest ages on the Nile (Isa 18:2) and Tigris,' for transporting passengers or goods; and modern travellers frequently allude to similar modes of conveyance at the present day among the Arabs. SEE FLOAT. Similar scenes are depicted upon the Assyrian monuments (Layard's Nineveh, i, 276). SEE BOAT.
