Why did God instruct Elijah to cross the Jordan to be carried up?

Answer 1

A:2 Kings 2:6,11 "And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on ... And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."

In The Bible as we now read it, there was no practical reason for the ascension of Elijah to take place across the Jordan, as also there was no reason for him to be taken up in a chariot of fire.

The crossing of the Jordan placed Elijah in the same exalted company as Moses and Joshua in biblical tradition - the only three to have parted the waters by smiting them with his staff. This explains the need for Elijah to cross the River Jordan, whether or not we accept it as historically true.

Much of the story of Elijah is consistent with a sun god - including, for example, his defeat of the priests of Baal by miraculously lighting a fire under the burnt sacrifice - and we know that to the ancients the sun god rode in a chariot of fire. We also now know that the Israelites did indeed worship a sun god (cf Keel and Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel). I believe that in the earliest version of this account, Elijah was the sun god of Israel, but that later redaction of the story turned him into a human prophet who could perform great miracles.

Another Answer:

The story begins in 1 Kings and tells us that Elijah (meaning 'The Lord is My God') was deeply depressed because he thought he was alone - the 'last' prophet or faithful follower of God. He feared he would soon be killed and that there would be no one left to serve God. So God instructed His servant to make His arrangements for succession (1 Kings 19:15-18) as God was going to 'transfer' Elijah to his homeland of Gilead across the Jordan River, since Elijah was a Tishbite (1 Kings 17:1) and God still had more work for him to complete (2 Chronicles 21:12-15).

Paul, well versed in the Greek language, uses the word metatithemi and it means "to transfer to another place" ( Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words , 1985) in Hebrews 11:5. He was not taken into the 'Throne of God' in the highest or 3rd Heaven but died as all men have/will and awaits the resurrection of firstfruits of which Jesus was the 1st.