JOS 3:1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
The journey from Shittim to the
Jordan (16 kilometres) must have taken the better part of the day . “After three days” is a Hebrew idiom meaning “on the third day”. The presence of the “ark of the covenant,” which symbolized God’s presence among his people (This is first mentioned in Ex 25: 22 There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.) The arks presence indicates that the crossing of the
Jordan was a religious procession. This crossing was of religious significance. It had to do with God. When it was carried across the
Jordan by the priests, the Lord was marching in to claim his land. “From your positions” refers to the specific locations assigned to the various tribes whenever they set up camp. In Numbers 2 God gave them specific instructions on how they should line up when they travel. This clan after this and all with their family groups.NU 2:34 So the Israelites did everything the LORD commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each with his clan and family.
JOS 3:5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”The people were to be holy because God is holy, the ark was holy, and the event itself was holy. Consecration involved bathing, washing one’s clothing, and abstinence from sexual activity (cf. Ex 19:14-15). “Amazing things” means miraculous things. This is one area that the modern church doesn’t get into. We don’t consecrate ourselves. In days gone by people would come to church early to sit quietly and pray and get ready for church. There are still a few people who do that but it is rarely seen. The hebrew word here is qadash – and it means to clean or prepare and dedicate. And yes we need to do that before we come to church. We need to clean out the bad before we worship the Lord. In the Prayer Book of the Church of England and the Anglican church, the first thing that is addressed in the readings is repentance. Right at the start. The idea is that we sought ourselves out first so we can truly participate in worship. What has happened in a lot of free church traditions is that it is expected that the sermon soughts us out, that repentance is looked for after the sermon. While here and in most of Scripture we are told to consecrate ourselves before we come to God. A right relationship to God leads us to worship.
JOS 3:6 Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them. JOS 3:7 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all
Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: `When you reach the edge of the
Jordan‘s waters, go and stand in the river.’ “The priests were commanded to take up the ark and cross over but were not told how they would be enabled to cross the river, which was overflowing its banks (v. 15). Maybe they thought they would walk on water, maybe they thought it was some kind of test of their toughness. Hey, God often waits for us to step out in faith before he opens the way for us.There is a great scene in the old movie “Indiana Jones and then Last crusade” where Harrison Ford comes to this chasm and has to get across. The instructions given by his dad are to walk in faith, but he can see no way across. But to save his dad, he steps out into what he thinks is nothing, but there is something there a narrow unseen bridge. But he had to step out to see it and experience the truth that it was there.Sometimes we have to step out and just do itIn verses 6 & 7 we have a bit of a diversion in the story, maybe to build tension, you know good story telling always has a bit of literary tension, but probably to emphasise the fact that God always has a reason for miracles.The appointment of Joshua as leader of the people would now be confirmed in an action. One major reason for the great miracle was to demonstrate that God was with Joshua as surely as he had been with Moses. The command “Go and stand in the river” builds the suspense. There is still no indication how the people would get through the water.
JOS 3:9 Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the
Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of
Israel, one from each tribe. In the phrase “the living God” emphasis is on the fact that
Israel‘s God is. Joshua is affirming that the God who marches with
Israel is able to act and to perform mighty deeds in contrast to the pagan gods that have eyes but cannot see, etc. Listen to how the Psalms puts it. Ps 115:3-7
PS 115:3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. PS 115:4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. PS 115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; PS 115:6 they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; PS 115:7 they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
Our God is a God who can do what he promises. Remember that. If you doubt it go back and read your bible, read stories from church history or read about missions around the world. Here we see it in action.
13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD–the Lord of all the earth–set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
Here finally we are told how the people would be able to cross. The regular flow of the river would be cut off upstream, where the waters would collect in a heap. Sounds a bit like the crossing of the
Red Sea. Hey this is going to be just like the Old days. Miracles and all. Notice it is told to them – before it happens. Now there is an expectation on how God will work – watch and be amazed is the idea.
JOS 3:14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the
Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest.
That the
Jordan was at “flood stage” builds the suspense by suggesting the natural impossibility of what was about to happen. Remember that they did not have bridges at this stage in history. Crossing rivers was dangerous, never more so than at this time of year. The writers of the bible certainly new how to make the most of a description of an event. This is a flood, this is not logical that they try to cross in this fashion.
Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the
Salt
Sea ) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite
Jericho.The statement that “as soon as . . . their feet touched the water’s edge, the water . . . stopped flowing” may be an example of narrative heightening to convey a true sense of wonder at the great miracle that was taking place. The flow of the water had to have stopped upstream prior to the moment that the priests approached the river, or else it would have taken time for the water to flow away downstream after they stepped into the river’s edge. Hey isn’t God’s timing great. I heard of a lecture once explaining this away as a natural event. That a mudslide cut off the water etc. Hey how did Joshua know the precise timing, Only God has that good a timing. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all
Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
Notice it says stood firm on dry ground. ***God does his miracles down to the little details. ***On dry ground for goodness sake. Most bottoms of rivers are pretty soggy things. This is recorded because it is amazing, not just saying they could get across. Dry ground. This is not normal.
So how does this affect us today? God performs miracles today down to the little details. So complete that we miss them. They appear natural to us. Unfortunately the longer we are Christians the less we are in awe of what God can do. We become in some ways used to God working, and we become used to God looking after us.
What is it like to realize that I deserve to die for the wrong I have done yet Jesus stood in for me and now I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Isn’t that miraculous? You bet. Remember Easter we celebrated that. Have we forgotten already? Notice in this passage just how he looked after different situations.
1. He reinforced Joshua’s leadership.JOS 3:7 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all
Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.
He showed the people he was with Joshua. A physical and understandable example. No longer any doubts.We need to reinforce the leadership of this church. They are committed to helping us move forward.
2. This physical example of the crossing would have calmed the concerns of the people about the future.For me, it is a miracle that Marianne and I have ended up here. God worked it that way. He has us here with a bunch of people that have a amazing gifts. This conglomeration of people and gifts gives us amazing options to what we can do as a church together. God’s plan, God’s timing.
3. He reminded them of His presence.Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,The
Ark was the sign of his presence and it was demonstrated that it was more than symbolic – His presence works.We come together each week to be reminded of God’s presence. That is part of why church happens. And God’s presence is still working.
4. These things apply to us – now.
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