Background Story: God promised to bless the world through Abraham’s descendants who multiplied
in Egypt but became enslaved. God called Moses to lead Israel and delivered
Israel out of Egypt through the ‘Red Sea’. The Lord led them by the pillar of
cloud and fire to Mt. Sinai
where Lord established His covenant with Israel and gave them the 10
commandments. The Lord brought that generation to the border of their ‘Promised
Land’ but they refused to enter. The Lord said that generation would wander
forty years and die in the desert and their children would enter the land.
Later when the second generation grumbled for water the Lord told Moses to
speak to the rock and water would pour out. But Moses said, “Listen, you
rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock”. Moses struck the rock twice water
gushed out but the Lord told Moses and Aaron that they couldn’t enter the land
because they failed to honor the Lord as holy before Israel. Aaron died and his
priesthood passed on to his son, Eleazar. The Lord had Moses commission Joshua
as Israel’s new leader. Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo and the Lord let Moses see
their ‘promised land’ but he was not to enter it. After Moses died, Israel came
to the border of Canaan and Joshua as Israel’s leader was to get the people
ready to cross the Jordan and enter Canaan. The Lord promised to be with Joshua as He had
been with Moses and Joshua was to be strong and courageous. Joshua sent two men
to spy out Canaan and they stayed at the house of a Canaanite prostitute named
Rahab. When the king of Jericho found this out Rahab hid the two Israelite
spies and sent the king’s messengers away in another direction. Because Rahab protected
the spies they promised to spare Rahab and her household when the lord gave
them the land. This brings us to the story of Israel crossing the Jordan
(Joshua 3-5).
Crossing the Jordan
This story demonstrates that Joshua
was God’s chosen leader and that God was fulfilling His promise to give Israel their
land. It marks the end of Israel’s wilderness
wandering and the beginning of their conquest of Canaan. The Israelites were to
consecrate themselves because the Lord would do amazing things and would exalt
Joshua. The Lord would lead Israel into the Jordan, dry it up, and lead them
into the Promised Land. This would exalt Joshua so that Israel would know that
the Lord was with them and with Joshua. The Lord would drive out the
inhabitants of Canaan in order to give Israel their promised inheritance (9–13).
While Israel camped by the Jordan River their officers told the people
to move out when they saw the Levitical priests carrying the ‘Ark of the Covenant’
of the Lord. They were to follow
the priests but they were to stay back about a thousand yards from the Ark. The Ark of the Covenant was the very throne of God and
was no mere symbol (4:11; Dt. 10:8; 1 Sa. 6:7–12). The Ark (Josh. 3:13) demonstrated that God was leading Israel and
would give them their land. The throne and presence of God went before the
Israelites, in order to give all Israel a full view that it was God who was leading
them.
Joshua, the
Lord’s appointed leader, tells the priests to carry the Ark to the river’s edge.
When the feet of the priests touched the Jordan River the waters of the river upstream
piled up and the water flowing downstream was cut off. This would demonstrate to
Israel that God was with them and that He would drive out the inhabitants of
the land. As the Lord divided the Red Sea when Israel left Egypt, so now the
Lord would cut off the waters of the Jordan and drive out the inhabitants of
the land in order to give Israel their promised inheritance (Joshua 3:6-10). This
was in fulfillment of the Lord’s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15:18-21) and which
He confirmed to Moses (Deuteronomy 34:1-4). The Israelites followed the priests, and
as soon as the priests put their feet in the river, the waters of the Jordan upstream
piled up and the water flowing downstream was cut off. The priests stood in the
middle of the Jordan with the ark of the Lord
and all Israel hurried across the Jordan on dry ground. The Lord had Joshua choose a man from each tribe
to take up a stone from the middle of the Jordan where the priests stood with
the Ark. The chosen representatives from each tribe collected a stone from the
middle of the Jordan and carried it to the other side. Through these events the
Lord exalted Joshua so that Israel revered Joshua as they had revered
Moses. (Joshua 3:14-4:14).
After this the Lord told Joshua to command the priests with
the ark to come up out of the Jordan. They did and when the priests set their
feet on the dry ground the waters of the Jordan returned to flood stage. Israel
camped at Gilgal and there was no turning back now. Joshua set up the twelve
stones from middle of the Jordan as a sign and as a memorial
(Ex. 12:26–27; Dt. 6:20–25). When
their descendants asked the meaning of the stones they were to say that the Lord dried up the Jordan for Israel to
cross over just as He did to the Red Sea when Israel came out of Egypt. This
would demonstrate the power of Lord to the peoples of the earth and it would remind
Israel to fear the Lord their God.
The memory of
these acts of God on Israel’s behalf would help to further shape Israel’s
identity as God’s people. When
the Amorite and Canaanite kings heard that the Lord
had dried up the Jordan and Israel had crossed over they lost their courage to
face the Israelites. These
kings knew about the Lord’s mighty act, but instead of fleeing to him in faith,
as Rahab had done, their rebellious hearts sank in fear and they were immobilized
(2:10; 11:20).
Now before Israel could receive the
land they were promised in the Abrahamic covenant they would need to receive
the sign of that covenant (Genesis 15:18-19). After all, God had said that if
an Israelite male failed to receive the sign of the covenant then they had
broken the covenant (Genesis 17:14). So the Lord
had Joshua circumcise the Israelite men because the men who were circumcised
had all died in the desert for not obeying the Lord.
Joshua circumcised the sons of those who died in the desert, and they stayed in
the camp until they were healed. The Lord
said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.”
Now the ‘Covenant Community’ stood in the land ready to take possession of it.
No one in Egypt could now say that the Lord had delivered Israel out of Egypt
only to kill them in the desert (Exodus 32:12, Numbers 14:13-16). The Lord had
rolled away the reproach of Egypt from Israel so the place was Gilgal (Hebrew
for ‘roll’). Then while they were camped the time came to celebrate the
Passover. So the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The day after they ate the
‘Passover’ the Lord stopped supplying manna for the Israelites and the Israelites
started eating the produce of Canaan. The celebration of Passover reminded the Israelites
that they began their journey with God through his Passover. The years of
eating manna ended and they tasted the food of their promised land, but now
they must take possession of their inheritance.
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