Introduction: Israel had endured 40 years of wandering here and there in the desert wilderness but now was just a few miles from the Promised Land. They had camped near the Jordan River at a place called Shittim, and while there the two spies had gone to Jericho and returned. One can almost feel the excitement and, maybe, other emotions as they knew the wilderness was behind them and their promised homeland was so close they could see it from a distance! Joshua gave the commands, and the people started marching west, towards Canaan, their promised home.
1 The instructions to follow before they set out
Text, Joshua 3:1-6, KJV: 1 And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. 2 And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host; 3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore. 5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you. 6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
The first thing Israel did was move closer to the Jordan River. They had spent at least 30 days mourning for Moses (per Deuteronomy 34:8), “in the plains of Moab” and Shittim seems to be in that area. Now they’ve moved or “came to Jordan”, or in sight of the river itself. I for one don’t know if they ever saw the Jordan during the wilderness journeys. Maybe the 12 spies did but they didn’t have much of anything good to say about the land (see Numbers 13-14).
Israel, then, “lodged” there, near the Jordan, meaning they arrived and set up camp. Joshua knew this was going to be a temporary thing, because he then commanded the people, “sanctify yourselves”. The reason was that the LORD was going to do wonders among the people. Those who had survived the wilderness journeys may have remembered a very similar thing when Israel was at Mount Sinai and they had a glimpse of the LORD Himself (Exodus 19).
And now Joshua’s first command was for Israel to move forward, closer to the river. No problem, at least nothing like a problem, is noted in the text. Then he commanded the people to sanctify themselves, and, again, no problem noted; at least not in the text. Now he’s ready to give one final command while Israel is on the east side of the Jordan.
Through the “officers”—we’re not told who they were, nor how many; all of them had a job to do—Joshua instructed Israel to leave where they were and follow or “go after it”. The officers also told them to keep a distance about “two thousand cubits” or about 1000 yards (one measure of a “cubit” was 18 inches or a half-yard). This was so the people could see the Ark of the Covenant, which was ordinarily hidden inside the Tabernacle, leading the way as the priests carried the Ark on their shoulders.
The final instructions were for the priests themselves. Joshua said to them, “Take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass over before the people”. Now, this wasn’t so easy a thing to do as we might think. Back in Numbers 3, the three sons of Levi (Gershom, Kohath, and Merari) and their descendants all had various duties as to who did what when it came time to move the Tabernacle. Numbers 4 has the prescribed commands to follow when the Tabernacle was taken down to move and it seems like this was one of those times.
Once the Ark was prepared, the priests took it up, no doubt using the poles (“staves”, KJV) of wood covered with gold as the LORD had commanded (Exodus 25:10-15). Now they began the journey towards the Jordan, leaving the camp and going before the people.
But there was something very difficult in their pathway. The next several verses describe it:
2 The instructions to follow as they began to leave
Text, Joshua 3:7-13, KJV: 7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. 9 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. 9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God. 10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. 12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. 13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
First, the LORD gave a promise to Joshua. This promise was that the LORD would “magnify” Joshua in the sight of all Israel. Then the LORD gave Joshua a command that the priests should stand still in the Jordan once they came to the brink.
A word about the “brink”: Several commentators observe that the Jordan was only about 100 feet wide, normally, but at flood stage—as was the case here, in early spring—the Jordan rose to about 220 yards across (for example, Joseph Sutcliffe’s commentary, https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/sutcliffe-s-commentary-on-the-old-and-new-testaments/386634 ). Others also note that the Jordan is at the bottom of two to three terraces, which normally are almost like a jungle (their words) of vegetation. And is so often the case, at flood stage the river would be flowing rapidly. To get across, with that kind of obstacle, would not only take a miracle, it would take faith!
Perhaps while the priests were walking towards the Jordan, Joshua then spoke to all the people of Israel. He first said, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God”—a call to silence, maybe—and then reminded them of God’s promise to drive out all the various tribes, nations, and whatnot already in Canaan.
The third thing he said was, “Look, the Ark of the Covenant is going before you” and indeed it was. The Ark was 2000 cubits, 1000 yards or a little more than a half-mile in front of the camp of Israel. One reason was that the people could see it as the continued west, across the Jordan, and another might have been to witness the faith of the priests. A bit more about the priests: their mission, that day, was to (have enough faith to) set foot in fast-flowing water! Nobody knows for sure how much the Ark of the Covenant weighed, but a box about a yard-and-a-half long, 27 inches wide, and 27 inches high, and all overlaid with gold (Exodus 25:10-15), might not be the lightest thing they ever carried!
And once the Israelites would begin crossing the Jordan’s river bed, Joshua gave one more command, that one man from every tribe be selected for something yet to happen. Joshua didn’t tell them exactly what they were going to do at this time, but he did give a clear signal: that the waters of the Jordan would “stand upon an heap”.
Now, various preachers and teachers have tried to explain this, some by saying there was an earthquake or landslide (I’ve heard both of these many years ago) and others by saying the LORD used a wind, just as He did at the Red Sea so Israel could cross on dry land.
All of this sounds very exciting, and perhaps it was, but the success of this journey depended, really, on the faith of the priests. Would they really step into the Jordan’s floodwaters?
3 The information or first report as Israel crossed the Jordan
Text, Joshua 3:14-17, KJV: 14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; 15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) 16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. 17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
If I read the text correctly, the Israelites had stayed in or near their tents until the priests had stepped into the Jordan. These men had set out before the rest of the people, leading the way by about half-a-mile, so that the rest of the people could see the way to go. These Israelites would have had to walk to the edge of a ravine or gully, two or three terraces or levels before reaching the Jordan’s waters themselves, before they could reach the other side. Now, though, this was early spring and the water was all the way to the top of the ravine!
By the way, those of you who are better at math than I am, and that’s probably a lot of folks, here are a couple of problems or scenarios that I’d like to get your inputs. First, I’ve wondered for a long time how long it would take the nation—we’re looking at nearly two million people here—to cross from the east side to the west. The military, and I know this, as a veteran, trains recruits to march at a 30-inch step at two steps per second (“quick time”, in military jargon). So, allowing for a slightly longer step, and still one second per step, and estimating 220 yards distance, how long would it take one person to cross over—assuming they don’t break into a run or stop for a breather or anything like that. The second one is a bit more difficult: we’re never told how much of the Jordan’s riverbed was left open, or clear, so that Israel could cross. Remember, we’re talking about 600,000-plus fighting men, each standing in roughly one square foot per person. I’ve wondered how wide or broad the opening might be. Clearly it wasn’t only 10 or so going across at a time. Anyway, they made it, but let’s get back to the text.
And here’s how I think the last events of this chapter took place. Imagine, if you will, Joshua pointing to the west and saying, “Canaan’s that-a-way! Let’s go!” The priests then led the way, carrying the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders. Israel had moved closer to the Jordan so it was closer than before, but still the priests had the not-too-pleasant prospect of walking into a fast-flowing river.
To their credit, though, the priests at the front did indeed step into the Jordan, as did the others. This was the greatest test of their faith, ever—would God indeed dry up the Jordan, as He promised them?
The answer? Oh, how did the LORD honor their faith! Once their feet touched the water, a miracle just as great as the crossing of the Red Sea happened: the waters of Jordan “rose up as an heap,” many miles away according to some estimates. Even better, the river bed was DRY. Now, I used to like squishing my toes in river mud, as a child, and maybe the younger Israelites might have wanted to do the same thing. After all, they’d been walking in plenty of sand for nearly 40 years and anything would feel better! But that wasn’t the case—the Jordan’s riverbed was just as dry as any other dirt would be (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2724.htm)!
But let’s go back to the priests for a moment. We had seen them at the top of the ravine, still there as the waters began to disappear once they stepped into the waters. Apparently they stayed there for a bit but soon they moved down to the middle of the Jordan’s riverbed. To me, this took even more faith than stepping into fast-flowing waters: they had no idea how long they’d need to stand in place and, if the waters did come down on them, where could they go?
Eventually, all the people of Israel crossed over the Jordan—on dry ground—but the chapter closes with the people on the west side, and the priests still in the Jordan’s river bed. Having said that, remember that God leaves nothing unfinished, and He never will abandon anyone who does His will. There’s more to come, and we’ll see some of this in the next chapter.
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
