The Successor - Joshua #4

The Lord said to me,.."I will test my people with a plumbline. Amos 7:8 (TLB)

The Plumbline is a blog to encourage the Body of Christ.

The Successor - Joshua #4

Israel Crosses the Jordan

The Infallible, Authoritative Rule of Faith & Conduct

Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. ² So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; ³ and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Joshua 3:1–3 (NKJV)

Think of it, finally after forty years of wandering through the wilderness, under new leadership Israel is now poised to cross the Jordan into the land which God had promised.

Joshua was a man of action. The spies having reported in, Israel’s leader began immediate preparations to cross the Jordan and invade Canaan. As yet Joshua had no knowledge of how this massive group of people was to cross the swollen river (cf. v. 15). But believing that God would somehow make it possible, he moved them all, bag and baggage, the seven miles from Shittim … to the Jordan.

Having arrived at the river they stopped for three days. Time was no doubt needed for the leaders to organize the crossing and pass instructions on to the people. The delay also gave everyone an opportunity to get close and see the river, now a strong and rapid current due to the melting of the winter snows of Mount Hermon in the north. They must have faltered at the seeming impossibility of the crossing.

At the end of the third day of waiting the people were given instructions. The pillar of cloud would no longer lead them but they were instead to follow the ark of the covenant. No army scouts would advance first into the land but rather priests bearing the ark (cf. v. 11). And since the ark symbolized the Lord Himself, it was Yahweh who led His people into Canaan.

With the ark going ahead the people were to fall in behind, or possibly to spread around it on three sides. But they were to keep their distance by some 3,000 feet. Why? Probably to remind them of the sacredness of the ark and the holiness of the God it represented. They were to have no casual or careless intimacy with God but a profound spirit of respect and reverence. God was to be considered not “the Man upstairs” but the sovereign and holy God of all the earth.

The distance was also essential so that the largest possible number of this great population could see the ark. God was about to lead them over unfamiliar ground, over a way they had not taken before. It was new territory so without the Lord’s guidance and leadership the people would not know which direction to take.

Consecration for the Crossing

As the day for the crossing approached Joshua commanded the people to sanctify or consecrate themselves. It would be easier to understand if he had said, “Sharpen your swords and check your shields!” But spiritual not military preparation was needed at this time because God was about to reveal Himself by performing a great miracle in Israel’s midst. As a person would prepare scrupulously to meet someone of earthly fame so it was appropriate for the Israelites to prepare for a manifestation of the God of all the earth. The same command was heard at Sinai when the previous generation prepared itself for the majestic revelation of the Lord in the giving of the Law (Ex. 19:10-13).

But that was not all. The people of Israel were to expect God to work a miracle. They were to be eager, gripped by a sense of wonder. Israel was not to lose sight of their God who can do the incredible and the humanly impossible.

The Lord then told Joshua how they would make the crossing, and explained to Joshua that this miracle would magnify or exalt him as the leader of the people. It was time to establish Joshua’s credentials as God’s representative to guide Israel. What better way to accomplish this than for Joshua to direct their passage through a miraculously parted river? After the crossing the people did in fact revere Joshua (4:14), knowing that God was with him (3:7; cf. 1:5, 9).