Crossing the Jordan

1 Early in the morning, Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the people of Israel and came to the Jordan River. There they encamped while waiting to cross the river.

2 After three days, the officers went around the camp

3 and ordered the Israelites: ¡°When you see the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh go by, carried by the priests from the tribe of Levi, then you shall set out from your camp and follow it,

4 that you may know the way you shall go. Because you have never been that way before. But you shall follow it at a distance of a thousand meters. Do not go near it.¡±

5 Joshua said to the Israelites: ¡°Purify yourselves, for tomorrow Yah weh will be in your midst doing wonders.¡±

6 And Joshua ordered the priests: ¡°Take the Ark of the Cove nant and cross the river at the head of the people.¡±

7 Then Yahweh said to Joshua: ¡°Today I will begin to make you great in the eyes of Israel and they shall know that I am with you as I was with Moses.

8 Give this order to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: As soon as you come to the banks of the Jordan, stand still in the river.¡±

9 And Joshua said to the Israel ites: ¡°Come nearer and listen to the words of Yahweh, our God.

10 Do you want a sign that Yahweh, the living God, is in your midst, he who drives away before you the Canaa nites, Hittites, Hivites, Periz zites, as well as the Girgashites, Jebusites and Amorites?

11 See, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to cross the Jordan before you.

12 Now, choose twelve men from the twelve tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.

13 When the priests who carry the Ark of the Lord of all the earth put their feet into the water of the Jordan, the water coming from upstream shall stop flowing and stand in one single mass.¡±

14 When the people set out from their camp to cross the Jordan, the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant went before them.

15 There was much water in the Jordan, for it was overflowing its banks at this time of the barley harvest. Neverthe less, when those who carried the Ark went down to the river and their feet touched the edge of the water, the water from upstream stopped flowing.

16 The water stood still, forming some thing like a dam very far from that place, near Adam, the neighboring city of Zarethan. The water flowing down to the Dead Sea was completely cut off, and so the peo ple could cross opposite Jericho.

17 The priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant remained in the middle of the river which dried up, until all the
Israelites had crossed the Jordan.

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Comments Joshua, Chapter 3

• 3.1 The Jordan has not always been the boundary of Israel: according to its victories or defeats Israel possessed the land to the east of the Jordan or lost that in the west. Never theless the Jordan has always been recognized as the border of the Promised Land of the people of God. Consequently we see how the tribes of Reuben and Gad, already settled to the east of the river, are constrained by Moses, and later by Joshua to cross the river with their families: only on this condition will they be recognized as true heirs of the Promised Land. That is why the passage of the Jordan led by Joshua has had such importance in both Jewish and Christian traditions.

In this crossing as in that of the Reed Sea, God alone has the major role. It is at the moment that the bearers of the Ark, on which rests the Glory of Yahweh, touches the river, that it ceases to flow. When the bearers go up from the river, the water begins to flow again.

God, resting on his Ark, opens and closes the gate of the Promised Land (Rev 3:7). Likewise Jesus, the new Ark of the Covenant, in whom resides the fullness of the divinity (Col 2:9), will go down into the water of the Jordan to open the gates of the Promised Land. This crossing is, together with that of the Reed Sea, the baptism of the people of God. Reading this narrative, we understand that this book is not a military record of Joshua¡¯s conquest; it is a liturgical book in which we see God at work: he grants or withdraws his blessings according to the fidelity or infidelity of his people. At the end of the book, we see his people invited to make a so lemn profession of faith (Jos 24). Each time that the Church invites us, like Jo shua, to renew our profession of faith, whether at baptism or the paschal vigil, we are taking part in a long established Christian tradition.

The water stood still, forming something like a dam. In 1267 a landslide took place in the Jordan valley much higher than Jericho, leaving the river bed dry until a current washed out the obstacle a few hours later. A similar phenomenon could have allowed Joshua and his people to enter the Promised Land dry foot after crossing the riverbed. The miracle lies in the fact that the event happens at the moment when Joshua and his followers are waiting for Yahweh to open a passage for them. God often uses natural causes to keep a seemingly impossible promise.

What do these stones mean for you? (4:6) What is the meaning of such a monument, of such a feast? Each time, this was answered by narrating some event in which Yahweh had helped his peo ple. In Israel the faith was taught through similar questions. The Israelites did not have much knowledge of religion; yet every place in their land re minded them that God was the savior of his people.

Joshua pitches his camp in Gilgal from where he organizes his assaults, and he returns wisely to Gilgal after each victory before the Canaanite forces can regroup.

It is evident that several accounts which are not entirely in accord with one another are com bined here. Did they put twelve stones in the camp (v. 3), or did they put them on the riverbed of the Jordan (v. 9)? It really does not matter. At best, these stones were already near Gilgal even before Joshua and the Israelites arrived; this was a sanctuary devoted to pagan cult. But after the conquest, the priests wanted to give them a religious meaning in consonance with their faith, as we saw in Exodus 12:15.