Jordan

The Jordan runs the length of the inhabited land, ending at the Salt Sea: "And the east border was the Salt Sea, even to the end of the Jordan. And the border of the north quarter was from the bay of the sea at the end of the Jordan" (Jos 15:5). It is at once a fertile plain, a frontier between Canaan and the eastern tribes, a barrier to be forded in war, an annually flooding river that overflows its banks at harvest, and the place where Yahweh repeatedly cuts a path on dry ground. From Lot's choice of the well-watered plain to the immersion of Jesus, the river marks the seam between what is given and what must yet be entered.

The Plain of the Jordan

The first time the Jordan is named at length, it is seen from a height. "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before [the Speech of] Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar" (Ge 13:10). Lot takes what he sees: "So Lot chose for himself all the Plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom" (Ge 13:11-12). The plain that looked like Yahweh's garden sits over against the cities he is about to destroy.

Generations later, the same plain becomes industrial ground. Solomon's bronze for the temple is cast there: "The king had cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan" (1Ki 7:46), and Chronicles repeats the note with a variant place-name — "In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah" (2Ch 4:17).

A River That Marks "Beyond"

The Jordan is the constant frontier of the phrase beyond the Jordan. Jacob measures his life by it: "I am not worthy of the least of all the loving-kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your slave; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies" (Ge 32:10). Israel arrives at it from the east and camps along it: "And the sons of Israel journeyed, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho" (Nu 22:1); "And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying," (Nu 26:3); "These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho" (Nu 26:63). The eastern tribes accept their inheritance there: "We will pass over armed before Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance [will remain] with us beyond the Jordan" (Nu 32:32). Moses himself is held to that side: "but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you⁺ will go over, and possess that good land" (De 4:22).

The Crossing on Dry Ground

The first miraculous parting carries Israel itself across. "And Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over" (Jos 3:1). The river is at flood: "and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest,)" (Jos 3:15). Then the riverbed opens: "And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed clean over the Jordan" (Jos 3:17).

A memorial is set up to retell what happened: "and command⁺ them, saying, Take for yourselves from here out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you⁺, and lay them down in the lodging-place, where you⁺ will lodge this night" (Jos 4:3). The stones serve as a teaching device for the next generation — "Then you⁺ will say to them, Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off: and these stones will be for a memorial to the sons of Israel forever" (Jos 4:7) — and the people emerge dated and located: "And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho" (Jos 4:19). The neighboring kings hear and lose nerve: "And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how that Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel, until we had passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them anymore, because of the sons of Israel" (Jos 5:1).

The crossing is later sung as a stock memory of deliverance: "The sea saw it, and fled; / The Jordan was driven back" (Ps 114:3).

The Fords as Battlefield

The river's narrow crossing-points are repeatedly the decisive military ground. The first mention is the spies' escape route: "And the men pursued after them the way to the Jordan to the fords: and as soon as those who pursued after them had gone out, they shut the gate" (Jos 2:7). Ehud, after striking down Eglon, holds them: "And he said to them, Follow after me; for Yahweh has delivered your⁺ enemies the Moabites into your⁺ hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn't allow a man to pass over" (Jud 3:28). Gideon does the same against Midian: "And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah, even the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and took the waters as far as Beth-barah, even the Jordan" (Jud 7:24); and once the rout is on, he himself crosses, "And Gideon came to the Jordan, [and] passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing" (Jud 8:4).

Hostile crossings run the other direction too: "And the sons of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was very distressed" (Jud 10:9). And the river's fords become the site of the harshest internal cull in the Judges era — "And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And it was so, that, when [any of] the fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? If he said, No; / then they said to him, Now say, 'Shibboleth'; and he said 'Sibboleth'; for he did not accomplish correct pronunciation: then they laid hold on him, and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of Ephraim forty and two thousand" (Jud 12:5-6).

In David's reign the river keeps the same role. Abner retreats over it after Gibeon: "And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; and they passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Mahanaim" (2Sa 2:29). David flees east of it during Absalom's revolt — "Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that had not gone over the Jordan" (2Sa 17:22) — and Absalom follows: "Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him" (2Sa 17:24). After the rebellion collapses, the king returns: "So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan" (2Sa 19:15). A ferryboat crosses for the household — "And there went over a ferryboat to bring over the king's household, and to do that which was good in his eyes. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he came over the Jordan" (2Sa 19:18) — and the aged Barzillai escorts him personally: "And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan" (2Sa 19:31). Against the Syrians, David musters and crosses at the head of the army: "And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came upon them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him" (1Ch 19:17).

The fighting at the river continues into the Maccabean campaigns: "And Judas Maccabeus, and Jonathan his brother passed over the Jordan, and went three days' journey through the desert" (1Ma 5:24); "Then they passed over the Jordan to the great plain that is over against Beth-shan" (1Ma 5:52); and a later escape under fire — "And Jonathan, and those who were with him leaped into the Jordan, and swam over to the other side: and they did not cross the Jordan after them" (1Ma 9:48).

Swelling, Pride, and Risk

The river is dangerous on its own terms. It overflows at harvest (Jos 3:15) and again in the early spring — "These are those who went over the Jordan in the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west" (1Ch 12:15). Jeremiah uses the river's rising thicket as a measure of harder things to come: "If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?" (Je 12:5).

Elijah and Elisha at the River

The Jordan bookends the prophetic succession of the northern kingdom. Elijah's last journey traces it: "And Elijah said to him, Tarry here, I pray you; for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And both of them went on. / And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood across from them far off: and both of them stood by the Jordan" (2Ki 2:6-7). At the bank he repeats Joshua's miracle in miniature: "And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that both of them went over on dry ground" (2Ki 2:8). Beyond the river the chariots come: "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, look, [there appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which separated them both apart; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2Ki 2:11). Elisha, watching, has already asked for "a double portion" of his master's spirit (2Ki 2:9), and the test of that request is the same water: "And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah, even he? And when he had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha went over" (2Ki 2:14).

The Jordan keeps surfacing in Elisha's own ministry. The sons of the prophets move their dwelling there — "And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, Look now, the place where we dwell before you is too strait for us" (2Ki 6:1) — "So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood" (2Ki 6:4).

Naaman's Sevenfold Washing

The Jordan also becomes the unlikely site of cleansing for a foreign general. "Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, [but he was] a leper" (2Ki 5:1). Elisha, refusing to come out and meet him, sends a message: "And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will come again to you, and you will be clean" (2Ki 5:10). The instruction offends — "But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, Look, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. / Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage" (2Ki 5:11-12) — and his slaves talk him into compliance: "And his slaves came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, Wash, and be clean? / Then he went down, and dipped [himself] seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean" (2Ki 5:13-14). Jesus later anchors a Nazareth sermon on this exact precedent: "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian" (Lu 4:27).

John's Baptism and Jesus at the Jordan

The river that drowned a flood-pursuing army at the fords becomes, at the close of the canon's narrative, the place of confession. "And all the country of Judea, and all those of Jerusalem went out to him; and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins" (Mr 1:5). It is also where Jesus is baptized: "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in the Jordan" (Mr 1:9). Later, John's disciples ask him about the man whose ministry has spread back across the river: "And they came to John, and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, look, the same baptizes, and all men come to him" (Jn 3:26).