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by Jeremy
M. Hutton
The
Jordan River runs through a broad, arid valley between the Sea of Galilee and
the Dead Sea.
The
Jordan River Valley has been occupied for millennia, with agriculture focused
on palm and date farming.
Archaeological
excavations have also confirmed the report in 1 Kings 7:46 (repeated
in 2 Chronicles 4:17) suggesting that inhabitants of the region
east of the river exploited deposits of iron ore there.
Moreover,
like many rivers, the Jordan often served as a political boundary between
Israel and its neighboring nations; before the Assyrians annexed the
Israelite territory east of the Jordan in the mid-eighth century B.C.E. (see 2
Kings 10:32-33, 2
Kings 15:29), the river also served as a border between the
Israelite tribes themselves (see, for example, Numbers
32:19, Numbers
34:15).
This
is true not only of the biblical period but of the modern period as well; the
river currently forms the border between Israel and
the Palestinian Territories on the west and the Hashemite Kingdom of
Jordan on the east.
In antiquity,
the river probably formed a significant barrier to travel and could be forded
only at certain spots. This imposed some restrictions on cross-river trade and
movement.
Since
the Jordan River plays a larger role in the biblical narratives than it may
have played historically, it is difficult to describe the river’s place in history;
it is perhaps more appropriate to talk about the river’s place in Israelite
(that is, biblical) history writing.
Most
famously, the book of Joshua claims that after the exodus from Egypt,
Joshua led the Israelite fugitives across the Jordan River into Canaan (Joshua
3-4).
This
conquest narrative became a key idea in the formation of the people
Israel and served as a recurrent motif in Israelite literature.
Another
example of the same theme of crossing the Jordan appears in Jacob’s journey to
Paddan-Aram to live with his uncle Laban; see especially his reflection on his
life in Genesis 32:10: “with only my
staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.”
Although
Jacob utters these words while crossing the Jabbok River (a small tributary of
the Jordan) on his return from Paddan-Aram, this is probably intended to
foreshadow Joshua’s similar statement during the conquest of Canaan (Joshua
4:22).
The
importance of crossing the Jordan River no doubt occasioned the stories
surrounding Elijah and Elisha (see 2
Kings 2:1-14) and, ultimately, the ministry of John
the Baptist on its banks (see Matthew
3:1, Matthew
3:13).
But
the fords of the Jordan were not always sites of peaceful unification for the
people Israel.
Frequently,
we read of battles occurring at these fords (see Judges
3:28, Judges
7:24-25) or on the river’s eastern banks (Judges
8:4, 1
Samuel 11, 2
Samuel 10:17, 1
Chronicles 19:17, 1
Maccabees 5:24, 1
Maccabes 9:42-49).
Sometimes
we even read of squabbling between the various Israelite tribes occurring at
the fords (see Judges
12:5-6, 2
Samuel 20:1-2).
The
topography and the climate of the valley through which the Jordan River flows
have played a decisive role in the region’s settlement and political importance.
This
political importance has left its mark in the biblical text’s historical
writing, in turn influencing the theological and symbolic importance
of the area.
Jeremy
M. Hutton
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin
Jeremy M. Hutton is an assistant professor of
Classical Hebrew and biblical literature in the Department of Hebrew and
Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is the author
of The Transjordanian Palimpsest (de
Gruyter, 2009).
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