The Jordan River, hardly as wide as the Nile, gets quite full around spring time, filled up with winter rains. So when Joshua leads his people across the Jordan river into Canaan on the Tenth Day of the First Month - just four days before Passover, he needs a bridge - or a plan - and it becomes a supernatural spectacle.
This day is commemorated as ‘Yom Ha’aliya’ - the Day of Ascent. The proximity of the crossing to the Exodus seems planned: The Exodus marks the first phase of the journey from slavery, while the crossing of the Jordan marks the final step of homecoming. What’s also common to both epic events is the mythic participation of nature - and in particular, the water: The Sea of Reeds opens up to let Israel flee the Egyptian army and cross on dry land, and the Jordan river echoes the miracle:
“And when the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of Adonai, the Sovereign of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan, coming from upstream—will be cut off and will stand in a single heap.”
Joshua delivers an epic mystical river crossing, as the ark, carried by priests, leads the way, and the people follow, are awed by the waters that are frozen in response to the presence of the sacred ark. Moses used his rod to split the sea; Joshua uses the ark. The similar motif and identical language leave no doubt as to the authors’ agenda, linking the two moments as one continuum.
The Jordan River, still serves today as the border between the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, with some disputes over the use of its water. But it seems that its long held sacred status does not only stem from its importance as a regional water source - but also from its specific geographical location. It was always a border zone, and the splitting of its waters at this liminal moment indicates this vital role. Our tour guide to Joshua, Dr. Havrelock, wrote another fantastic book, entitled River Jordan:The Mythology of a Dividing Line, in which she unpacks the symbolic significance of the river especially sacred these days to both Jews and Christians. One of the reasons that it is so special is that “The Jordan River forms the essential border that distinguishes territory conferred by God (Promised Land) from the places where Israel wandered and transgressed (wilderness).”
Inspired by the biblical Priestly traditions that promote the binary system of pure/impure people, places and experiences, The Jordan crossing becomes “a transformative agent that facilitates the change from impurity to purity,” identifying the Land of Israel as more sacred than all other lands.
Later on in history, baptism in the river becomes the way to transform identity and be reborn. But for Joshua the point was not to be immersed - but to cross the river on dry ground, an echo of both the Exodus - and the creation of the world. Just as Adonai defeats the water and creates order with a word - Joshua stops the waters with the power of the sacred word. The power of that moment did not escape the ancient rabbis who created several curious tradition about this dramatic crossing. According to two different Talmudic versions, the waters of the Jordan interrupted their flow in obedience to Joshua’s command, as a conditional threat to the people. In the Babylonian Talmud the threat requires the people to agree to their future role in the annihilation of the local people - or else they themselves will be submerged before they even enter the land. In the Jerusalem Talmud the threat is more mystical: “R. Shimon b. Laqish said: “In the Jordan river they accepted upon themselves the Divine mysteries. Joshua said to them: ‘If you do not accept upon yourselves the concealed mysteries (that are part of Jewish law), the waters will drown you.”
These complex readings may indicate that the concealed mysteries surrounding the crossing of the Jordan may indeed be as much about physical political boundaries as about metaphysical ritual pollution. Everything changes once the river births them into Canaan, but the crossing is just the first step - what happens in the next chapter is an ornate ritual, designed by Moses, orchestrated by Joshua - transforming the river into a covenantal site that binds the people, with their feet dry, to their sacred story, their fluid future - and their solid new homeland.
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Echoes of Noah as well.