Canaan and the Jordan River

In short

Canaan is the land of Israel before Israel conquers it (and so it is a land of pagans). The Jordan River is what the Jews have to cross to get there.

Why it is important

Approximately 125% of the songs we sing in church have to do with heaven, and it’s usually represented in some way as “the other shore” or “crossing a river” or “the promised land,” etc.

But more importantly, God reminds the Jews repeatedly of

1. How they conquered Canaan (the book of Joshua)
2. How they failed to completely conquer the people of Canaan (Judges 1:27-33)

Geography!

Long story short, Canaan (aka ancient Israel) is exactly in the same spot as modern Israel and the Jordan River is still called the Jordan. Israel is even about the same size today.

I did my best to find a free map that shows the region without a lot of clutter. “Free” was the hard part. I have really nice one on my computer that a friend referred, but I’d need to get permission to share it. So here we go with me explaining this.

1. The Jordan River is smack in the middle of this picture. It connects the two blue lakes, which are the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.
2. Canaan is everything WEST (left) of the Jordan River
3. The Jews tried to go straight in to Canaan from the south after leaving Egypt, but they failed
4. So they had to go the long way, along the east side of the Jordan, and then crossed the Jordan to get in
5. How did a couple million people cross a river, you ask? God parted the waters. Yes, that happens TWICE in the first six books of the Bible (well, three if you count creation).
6. Canaan is also where Abraham and Isaac and Jacob live much of their lives, and the Jews have to find their way back to it.

Theology and doctrine

The Jordan River gets a HORRIBLE reputation.

• The story of Naaman is particularly funny when he is told to dip in the Jordan seven times and say, basically, “Why the nasty Jordan? We have nice rivers back home in Syria!”
• In the New Testament, John the Baptist baptizes people in the Jordan to cleanse them of their sins, just as Naaman was cleansed of his leprosy
• In both cases, the point is not that the Jordan has miraculous powers or is even particularly useful for bathing, but that the LORD delivers people as they obey His commands

Canaan symbolizes heathen nations

• As we have discussed, Canaan was a person before it was a place and he/they are cursed to serve the Jews (Gen 9:25-26)
• They are often lumped with six other nations and the people are told to kill them completely and not marry them (Deut 7:1-6)
• (You see some foreshadow, right? Why a command about marriage if they are supposed to completely destroy them?)
• Of course, they are not destroyed and they continue to come back and pester the Israelites for centuries

Footnote

Map from “Bible History Online,” https://www.bible-history.com/biblemaps/the-conquest-of-canaan/