The Jordan is in flood — spring melt-water over the banks — and there is no bridge and no ford. God’s plan is not to lower the river but to stop it, and He waits until the priests carrying the ark have actually stepped into the current before He does. Israel crosses on dry ground, forty years and one river after the Red Sea. Then twelve men are sent back for twelve stones, so that a question will get asked for generations: what mean these stones?
A study in Joshua 3-4 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
Sanctify Yourselves: For To Morrow The LORD Will Do Wonders
“And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
Joshua 3:5
Before the miracle comes a summons to get ready for it: sanctify yourselves — put away sin, be clean, be present to what God is about to do. The ark of the covenant goes first, with a deliberate gap of about two thousand cubits between it and the people, so that everyone can see it and follow. The reason given is simple and human: ye have not passed this way heretofore. Nobody in the camp has done this before. The way through unfamiliar ground is to keep your eyes on where God’s presence is going.
The Feet Of The Priests Were Dipped In The Brim Of The Water
“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,) that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap.”
Joshua 3:15-16
The water does not part at the river’s edge while the priests watch from dry land. They have to walk into a flooding river carrying the ark, and only when their feet are wet does the flow upstream pile up and stop. At the Red Sea the sea opened first and Israel walked through; here the step of faith comes before the sign. God times it so that obedience has to move before the way is clear.
“They saw them with the sacred ark move steadily forward toward the angry, surging stream, till the feet of the bearers were dipped into the waters. Then suddenly the tide above was swept back, while the current below flowed on, and the bed of the river was laid bare.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 484
The Waters Rose Up Upon An Heap
“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.”
Joshua 3:17
The water stacked up “very far from the city Adam” — miles upstream — and downstream the riverbed drained toward the Dead Sea and emptied. A whole nation walked across, and the priests stood in the middle with the ark until the last person was over. Joshua makes the link explicit for the next generation: the LORD “dried up the waters of Jordan… as the LORD your God did to the Red sea” (Joshua 4:23). The God who opened the exodus is the God who opens the entrance. The generation that doubted has died in the desert; this one He carries across dry-shod.
“Thus was impressed upon the minds of all Israel the fact that the power that stayed the waters of Jordan was the same that had opened the Red Sea to their fathers forty years before.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 484
What Mean These Stones?
“That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD… and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.”
Joshua 4:6-7
Twelve men carry twelve stones out of the dry riverbed and set them up at Gilgal, the first camp in the land. The monument has one job: to make a child ask a question, so a parent has to tell the story. It is the same instinct as the Passover — “when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?” (Exodus 12:26). And the aim reaches past Israel: the stones stand “that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty” (Joshua 4:24). Deliverance is meant to be retold, not just remembered.
