Beyond

Beyond, when used with reference to the Jordan River in the Pentateuch and early historical books, carries a specific directional meaning that depends on the vantage point of the author. Moses, writing on the east bank of the Jordan, uses beyond the Jordan to refer to the west side of the river—the direction in which he could not go but toward which Israel was heading. The phrase therefore describes Canaan proper from the perspective of the wilderness camp in Moab.

This seemingly simple directional term became a source of discussion for commentators who noticed the apparent anachronism: Genesis 50:10-11 uses beyond the Jordan of a location west of the river in a narrative set when Israel had not yet crossed. The later historical books use the phrase with greater variation, sometimes meaning the Transjordanian region (east of the Jordan, the beyond the Jordan of later readers in Canaan) and sometimes preserving the Mosaic perspective. The Deuteronomic formula this side of the Jordan and beyond the Jordan thus encapsulates the geographical and compositional complexity of the Pentateuchal tradition.