Crossing the Jordan

Upon crossing the Jordan, the final act of the Levitical priests and the Israelites is to erect a memorial. Joshua calls men from the twelve tribes of Israel to descend back into the Jordan to retrieve a stone. The twelve stones are then arranged by Joshua as a memorial to the Lord at Gilgal (Joshua 4:1–9, 19–24). The stones are for future generations, to remind them that it was the Lord who led them across the Jordan and the Reed Sea, ‘so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty; that you may fear the LORD your God forever’ (v.24).

The erecting of a memorial (matsevah in Hebrew) at important religious sites is found throughout the Old Testament. Jacob set up a stone pillar at Bethel (Genesis 28:18), Moses created twelve pillars at the base of Sinai (Exodus 24:4), and the Israelites were frequently commanded to tear down the cultic pillars of the Canaanites in the land (Deuteronomy 7:5). The significant feature of the stones in Joshua, however, is that they are to remind all generations of YHWH’s mighty acts to save Israel.

The creation of stone monuments was part of human artistic expression long before the Israelites. The Calanais Standing Stones on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland are an extraordinary collection of stones that were erected around 2900 BCE. The circular setting presents a cruciform-shaped monument on a dramatic landscape elevated above sea level. The Lewisian gneiss stone is a foliated metamorphic rock that contains bands of varying mineral composition. These bands offer a polished, interlocking texture that appear like stripes in the stone. The massive central monolith stands around 4.8m and is estimated to weigh 4.5 tonnes.

Archaeologists do not know what the site was used for, but some speculate that it was an astronomical site while others argue that it was a ritual site where the dead were buried (Burl 2005). Whatever the reason for its creation, it still stands nearly 5,000 years later as a memorial to a people who once lived there.

Unlike the Israelite monument, no story is attached to the Calanais Stones, at least none that is remembered. Yet, they are a reminder of how powerful and enduring a stone monument can be in re-telling a story from one generation to another. Maybe this is why God commanded the Israelites to do the same so that thousands of years later they would still remember his mighty works of deliverance through the Jordan.

References

Burl, Aubrey. 2005. A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany (New Haven: Yale University Press)

The waters of the Jordan are highly symbolic in the book of Joshua. They represent the threshold that divides Israel’s past as an enslaved people and their future freedom in the land. The waters are a symbol of cleansing and purification, as Israel is called to be a ‘kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Exodus 19:6). They are to put off the pain and trauma of their past before entering the land to fulfil their calling.

The scene of the crossing is a solemn, sacred, and liturgical event. The Levitical priests, bearing the Ark of God’s Covenant, process one step at a time into the running waters. As their feet touch the riverbed the waters heap up, clearing a path of dry ground for the Israelites to traverse safely. Unlike the chaotic rout of Pharaoh’s army and the great songs of Moses and Miriam after crossing the Reed Sea (Exodus 15), the crossing of the Jordan conveys a sense of awe-inspiring silence. The priests ‘stand still’; their feet ‘rest in the waters’; the river is ‘stopped’ (Joshua 3:13).

An impression of water, silence, and liminality is conveyed by Makoto Fujimura’s work Silence and Beauty—Mysterion in a way that speaks to this moment of transition. The massive canvas is structured like a triptych and conveys a wall of emerald waters, which do not feel threatening but whose warm tones and glimmers of sapphire seem welcoming. Fujimoura’s pigments, made of pulverized minerals, are built up in layers, offering a dynamic range of colour and textured complexity. Subtle transitions of light almost undulate across the canvas. The refractive quality of the materials gives a sense of sunlight refracting through turquoise waters and one can almost feel submerged in these ‘waters’ while reflecting on the work.

Fujimura’s artworks about silence emerged from his study of Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence and his study of Christian persecution and martyrdom in seventeenth-century Japan (Fujimura 2016). He explores how beauty can emerge from trauma and persecution, and attempts to depict this in visual form by capturing the ‘soundwaves’ of silence. The painting offers the possibility and hope that one can pass through the experience of trauma to a place of new creation, beauty, and life. Like the Israelites leaving behind the pain of Egypt, Fujimura suggests something of what it means to cross through liminal waters and to move from suffering to joy.

References

Fujimura, Makoto. 2016. Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press)

______. n.d. ‘Silence’, available at https://makotofujimura.com/art/portals/silence

The biblical description of the Jordan crossing is filled with sacramental images. The Ark of the Covenant, Israel’s most sacred cultic artefact, is brought out by the Levitical priests as they reach the waters’ edge. Joshua tells the people to ‘consecrate yourselves’ (Joshua 3:5) which points to the sacred crossing that awaits the Israelites. They must be pure before they enter into God’s holy land. They are leaving behind the death of Egypt for a new life blessed by God’s presence, protection, and life.

This powerful divide between death and life is displayed in the work of Howard Finster. His painting is a Christian reading of the Joshua narrative. Finster was a Baptist preacher and an untrained artist (Girardot 2015). After decades in the church, he felt a call to paint sacred art as a way to teach people the gospel. His work has an almost childlike simplicity (with lots of unconventional spellings!) but conveys a powerful visual impression of the choices one has on either side of the ‘Jordon’.

Finster creates a sense of flow and movement towards the heavenly kingdom which dominates much of the painting. The great white paths draw the eye upward leading to the heavenly mansions. Each one is inscribed with characteristics of the promised land—KINDNESS, LOVE, PEACE, ETURNAL LIFE, HOME.

In the middle of the work, Christ stands upon the waters with open, welcoming arms. Finster, like the Joshua passage, makes clear that it is the Lord who delivers his people. This is written on the face of the waters along with the promise ‘I WANT HAFTO CROSS JORDAN ALONE’.

The combination of Old Testament and New Testament themes in Finster’s work offer a visual representation of what it means for the faithful to pass through the waters into new life. For the Israelites, the Jordan represented the final stage of God’s redemption as they moved into the land of blessing. For Finster, Jordan represents the Christian journey of redemption as the believer crosses into Christ’s heavenly kingdom.

References

Girardot, Norman. 2015. Envisioning Howard Finster: The Religion and Art of a Stranger from Another World (Berkeley: University of California Press)