Year 1, Week 24, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 24, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Joshua 3-4.

Today’s reading records the crossing of the Jordan River. Joshua 3 narrates the instructions for crossing the Jordan, while Joshua 4 narrates the actual crossing. For forty years, since their rescue from Egyptian captivity, the Israelites have dwelt in the wilderness en route to the Promised Land. Today’s reading signifies a new moment in Israel’s life as a nation. They are entering the Land as promised and thus embarking on the fulfillment of the LORD’s promises for assured conquest: “And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.” (Joshua 3:10). The crossing of the Jordan River at this moment is reminiscent of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea as they left Egypt. In fact, such a point of connection was explicitly stated: “For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.” (Joshua 4:23-24).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is how the crossing of the Jordan River is clearly to be understood as a mighty work of the LORD: “The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?” (Psalm 114:3-6). The significance of the LORD’s power on display in crossing the Jordan is meant to instruct Israel in how the conquest of the Land will truly be realized—the LORD will enable them to take the Land. What the LORD has been promising, He will now bring to fulfillment. The presence of the LORD, as symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant leading the way, shows that the LORD Himself is fulfilling what He has promised: “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it…and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away…And the people passed over opposite Jericho” (Joshua 3:3,15-16).

The timing of the crossing of the Jordan is also significant: “The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.” (Joshua 4:19). The day that Israel completed their crossover into the Promised Land is the same day that was the start of the Passover preparation: “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.” (Exodus 12:1-3). What is intriguing about this association with the start of passover, is the frequent use of the term “pass over” throughout today’s reading. The crossing of the Jordan, just like the crossing of the Red Sea, just like the release from captivity, forty years earlier, is all linked to the Passover, and thus, is all grounded in the powerful grace of God to rescue His people through substitution. From start to completion, the LORD is fulfilling what He has promised.

The crossing of the Jordan River, which was meant to display the continued power of the presence of the LORD, was to be remembered: “Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD” (Joshua 4:5-7). This memorial was to commemorate God’s power, which cannot be stopped: “So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever” (Joshua 4:9). Just as the LORD destroyed the enemies of His people in the waters at the Red Sea, so now the LORD wants His people to remember that as the LORD enabled them to cross the Jordan, He will now give victory over the enemies that they will now face. Israel was not to forget this as the conquest began.

The crossing of the Jordan River also becomes an occasion to elevate Joshua as Israel’s new leader: “On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.” (Joshua 4:14). It will be through the leadership of Joshua that the LORD will show Himself to be mighty. While the LORD is exalting Joshua and even Israel as a nation, the crossing of the Jordan has a deeper purpose of the LORD exalting Himself before Israel, so that they would fear Him, but also before the nations, so that they would know that He is the LORD. This is a reminder that God’s purposes for Israel are never just about one nation, but all the nations: “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!” (Psalm 67:5,7; see also Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:45).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe