Passage

The word passage in Scripture translates several Hebrew terms and denotes a ford, crossing point, mountain pass, or narrow defile — locations of critical strategic and narrative importance throughout the biblical story. The Jabbok ford served as the site of Jacob's wrestling with the divine messenger (Genesis 32:22). The crossing of the Jordan River by Joshua's Israel (Joshua 3–4) was a defining passage-event, reenacting the Red Sea crossing.

In the tribal and military narratives, control of passages was decisive. The Gileadites controlled the fords of the Jordan to identify Ephraimite fugitives by their pronunciation of Shibboleth (Judges 12:5–6). The passage of Michmash (1 Samuel 13:23; 14:4) was the narrow defile where Jonathan and his armor-bearer launched their audacious raid on the Philistine garrison. In prophetic literature (Isaiah 10:29), the advance of the Assyrian army is traced pass by pass, building dramatic tension as it approaches Jerusalem.