Crossing Jordan

All Christians allegorize, but some do it much more than others. Symbolic language is plentiful in scripture: we find it in poetry, metaphors, figures of speech, parables, prophecy and in the New Testament’s interpretation of the Old. You will find allegories in every book of the Bible and perhaps most often in the teaching of the Lord Jesus, who used symbolic language both to reveal and to conceal. In view of this, even the most literal Bible teachers allegorize from time to time. It’s impossible not to.

Of course, not all interpretations of allegories are on the same level.

Is it for Oxen?

Many of the Bible’s symbols have the sanction of the Holy Spirit, which is to say one or another of the writers the Spirit carried along over the centuries to produce our Bibles interprets the symbol for us. When Jesus says, “The field is the world” or “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock”, the attentive reader looks no further for his interpretation. It’s been handed to him on a platter.

The apostle Paul used allegory all the time, and legitimized for us the attempt to understand the Bible’s symbolic language. He tells his readers several times that the scripture of their day, the Old Testament, was written “for our sake”; that is to say for the sake of believers in the Church Age, for Christians. In Corinthians, he says this concerning a provision in the Law of Moses that Israelite farmers were not to muzzle their oxen as they trod out grain. The figurative meaning of this law, Paul says, is that those who labor in the gospel should share in the material benefits that come with faith. His implication is that understanding and acting on the allegorical implications of the law are actually more important than obeying it literally. “Is it for oxen that God is concerned?” he asks.

A Can of Worms

Now, that opens up a whole can of worms, doesn’t it. For some Christians, that makes every person, place, animal, act and event in the Old Testament fair game for non-stop free association. But in the process of seeking and finding answers to questions raised by the Bible’s allegories and symbols for ourselves, we ought to recognize that some answers are better and more biblical than others. Some interpretations are to be accepted uncritically and some with a measure of reserve, acknowledging our limitations. Some interpretations are to be rejected absolutely.

The Jordan River flows south for 156 miles from the Sea of Galilee and drains into the Red Sea. As is the case all over the world where men have settled territories and claimed them as their homes, impassable mountain ranges, deserts, seas and rivers tend to mark convenient borders. The Jordan River did this for Israel, marking the border of the land God gave it as an inheritance, as he described to Moses in Numbers 34. So if you were approaching Israel from the east, as the nation itself did when entering the Promised Land for the first time, crossing the Jordan took you out of Moab, Edom or Ammon and into the land of Israel.

No End of Interpretations

Crossing the Jordan has come to serve as a symbol of certain experiences in the Christian life. Wayne Stiles calls the Jordan “the place of new beginnings”. J. Vernon McGee says the Jordan “speaks of sanctification”. The Keltonburg Preacher says crossing the Jordan symbolizes death. Jack Zavada says the Jordan turned Israel from a wandering horde into a nation. One writer at FIRM Israel says, “Crossing the Jordan is a turning point on the way to freedom.” Ashleigh Brilliant says crossing Jordan has “long been seen as a metaphor for going to Heaven”. Several writers point out that the Jordan crossing marked the end of Moses’ leadership and the beginning of Joshua’s, symbolically transitioning the believer from Law to Grace.

I could go on. The second verse of the gospel song Wayfaring Stranger says:

I’m going there to see my father,
I’m going there no more to roam,
I am just going over Jordan
I am just going over home.

As you can see, there are almost as many interpretations of crossing the Jordan as there are people who have written about it, and some are better than others. Some succeed at one point and fall down at others. Most of the ones I’ve quoted have some measure of usefulness to them if you stretch your explanation far enough.

The Bible Says …

A careful reading of the historical account of Israel’s Jordan crossing in Joshua 3 may serve to limit our speculations a little. A few observations:

• Israel didn’t become a nation by crossing the Jordan. God promised Jacob he would make him a nation in Egypt and Deuteronomy plainly states that’s where it occurred.
• For that matter, Israel experienced conflict, victory and defeat on both sides of the Jordan. In that respect, crossing it is a weak metaphor for dying and going to heaven. Equally, it makes it a weak metaphor for sanctification.
• This was the second time Israel had to cross a body of water without a means of transportation. As miracles go, this was a repeat performance for a new generation. I’m not sure we can usefully unpack the symbolism of the Jordan crossing without comparing it to the Red Sea crossing.
• Unlike the Red Sea crossing, Israel was in no imminent danger at the Jordan. Even the water that stood up at the Jordan did so “very far away”. No enemies were slain when the waters of the Jordan returned to their place. Thus both the Passover and the Red Sea make for more typically-consistent pictures of salvation.
• At the Red Sea, the angel of the Lord was behind the people, between Israel and the Egyptian army. At the Jordan, they followed the Ark of the Covenant into the waters and the Ark remained in the Jordan until all had passed through. Is there anything in that? I’m not sure.
• Crossing the Jordan required nothing of Israel other than acting on their faith. The miracle that made the crossing possible was all of God. This may make us think of our salvation experience, which is all of Christ and requires only faith to receive. Equally, it may remind us of walking with the Lord in the Christian life. Done right, this too is all of God.

In Conclusion

In summary, let’s just say that if Israel crossing the Jordan was intended to serve as an allegory for some aspect of the Christian experience, the picture it creates is a complex one that is not easily or glibly unpacked. On the one hand, in crossing the Jordan, Israel had finally reached its new home and ceased to wander. Yet the Jordan passage did not put an end to disobedience, punishment, conflict or death. Any definitive explanation of its symbolic meaning ought to account for that.

By the way, if you’re wondering, the Old Testament historians, psalmists and prophets tended to use the Jordan literally, not as a symbol for anything. Moreover, no New Testament writer uses the Jordan metaphorically or gives us a definitive interpretation for crossing it. That doesn’t mean we cannot apply Israel’s passage through the Jordan to our Christian experience, but it does mean we do so without a great deal of established biblical authority.

For me, all these episodes in Israel’s history serve to illustrate aspects of the believer’s deliverance from sin and new life in Christ, but none of them on its own provides a complete picture.