While most GR manuscripts read “Bethany,”
a number have Bethabara. In his prophecy of John the Baptist, Lehi also
mentioned Bethabara as the site of John’s baptismal work (1 Nephi 10:9). The
HEB name Bethabara means “house of the crossing/ford.” It evidently refers to
the place where the Israelites crossed over the Jordan River to enter the Holy
Land under Joshua, whose name is the source of the GR form Jesus. There is much
symbolism here. The Israelites symbolically entered into the “rest of God” by
crossing over the river, just as we do when being baptized. The idea reflected
in a number of hymns that speak of crossing the Jordan in reference to either
baptism or going to heaven. Similarly, the apostle Paul compared baptism to the
Israelite crossing of the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). Bethabara is
evidently the same as Bethbarah, at the ford of the Jordan River, mentioned in
Judges 7:24. It appears in the methasized form Bethabarah in Joshua 15:6, 61;
18:22. (John A. Tvedtnes, “The Gospel According to St. John,” in Footnotes
to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints, ed. Kevin L. Barney, 2 vols. [2007],
1:437 n. i)
