When I visited the Jordan River, I saw how much it represented life to Israel. It can be a dry and inhospitable land, but where the river runs there is a flourishing verdure. One of the possible meanings for the name Jordan is derived from the root “to descend,” meaning “the stream that descends rapidly.” In various accounts in Scripture, the Jordan River is a significant symbol. When looking beneath the surface of these experiences, I feel it could indicate a point at which individuals crossed over from the material sense of being to the spiritual, from belief in mortality to an apprehension and understanding of immortal being, leaving behind irrelevant materiality.
In Second Kings, Naaman, a highly regarded man and the commander of the Syrian army, was a leper who went to Elisha for healing (see chap. 5). He had expected Elisha to meet him in person; instead, Elisha sent a messenger out to Naaman, asking him to wash in the Jordan seven times. In response to Elisha’s request, Naaman “turned and went away in a rage,” refusing to follow Elisha’s instructions.
I wondered: Why did Elisha instruct Naaman to bathe in the Jordan River? Naaman also wondered, asking “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?” I believe it took deep humility—and possibly some time—to come down from his human sense of greatness. An uplifting descent was required. But after talking with his servants, he was willing, and his innate understanding of the necessity of obedience overcame the reluctance to follow the simplest of orders. As a result, he returned to the Jordan River and dutifully immersed himself seven times, cleansing himself of impurity of thought—a “spiritual baptism” (see Science and Health, p. 242).
