Joshua 3, 4

Date: Sunday, November 22, 2009 (Thanksgiving)
Study #12: Remember what God has done.
Bible Study: The Israelites Cross the Jordan River


REVIEW:   the Israelites have prepared to cross (Chapter 1) and then sent spies in to case the place (Chapter 2) and now are ready to actually Cross the Jordan River.


Joshua 3
the Israelites come to Jordan. (vv.  1-6)
 1 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. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”
5 And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”
So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

·    the Israelites came to Jordan in faith, having been told that they should pass it.
·    let us proceed as far as we can, and depend on the Lord.
·    Those who would bring great things to pass, must rise early.
o    Proverbs 20:13 --- Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty;
·    The people were to follow the ark. We must walk after the rule of the word, and the direction of the Spirit, in everything
·    For us to experience the effects of God's love and power, we must put away sin.


the Lord encourages Joshua-Joshua encourages the people. (vv.  7-13)
7 And the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.’”
9 So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.” 10 And Joshua said, “By this you 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 is crossing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe.  13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”

The miracle of the Red Sea is repeated here
God has the same power to finish the salvation of his people, as to begin it
He was with Joshua as He was with Moses
God's work is perfect, he will keep his people
Jordan's flood cannot keep out Israel
Canaan's force cannot turn them out again.


Very Neat:  In Abraham’s days:  God gave the Amorites 420 years to “get right”
While God was making a Covenant with Abraham:

Genesis 15:13-16 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”


the Israelites pass through Jordan on dry land. (vv.  14-17)
14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

the people crossing the Jordan now (except Joshua and Calab) were kids when they crossed the Red Sea
A very similar experience .. Ones they can tell/teach their kids about
Jordan overflowed all its banks . . about 10-12 feet nowadays .. about how the Red Sea crossing was described in the Bible (covering the Egyptian chariots)
Memory / Tradition / National Heritage
this magnified the power of God, and his kindness to Israel
Like the Israelites, after we finish our wanderings in this sinful world, Jesus, typified by the ark, goes before us
What experiences of His faithful and tender care in our lives can help our faith and hope during the rest of our time here ??


Joshua 4
Stones taken out of Jordan. (vv.  1-9)
 1 And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying: 2 “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’”
4 Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; 5 and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”
8 And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the LORD had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. 9 Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

The works of the Lord are worthy of remembrance but the heart of man so easily forgets them.
God gave orders for preparing this memorial . . It must be important to remember God’s Blessings in our lives.
“to this day” … remember that Joshua, and especially Moses before him, are writing these books after the fact . . . their autobiographies .. So even now as I write this book many years later (to this day), they are still there.


the people pass through Jordan. (vv.  10-19)
10 So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. 11 Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. 12 And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. 13 About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14 On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.
15 Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, 16 “Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.” 17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” 18 And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.  19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

the priests with the ark did not move until the crossing and then the retrieval of the stones was complete . . honoring God during this miracle
five days short of exactly forty years from the time of their coming out of Egypt, which was on the fifteenth day of the first month.
What timing !!! . . . This was the day that God told Moses & Aaron to take up lambs for the first Passover .. eating the lambs and using their blood to mark their doors . . . Now was the time to “take up” the Israelites to their Promised Land.

Exodus 12:3, 6 (1st Passover) . . . 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.  6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.


the twelve stones placed in Gilgal. (vv.  20-24)
 20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; 23 for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

Such memorials were important in the life of Israel
Each memorial told a story of how God intervened on behalf of his people. As time passed and younger generations would be born, the need to help people remember what happened in the past would become important. It was a way of letting future generations participate in the story of God's activity with His people. Each memorial directed the Israelites to remember that something amazing and divine had happened.
note v.23:  God is the same yesterday, today and forever
It is the duty of parents to tell their children of the words and works of God so that they may be aware of them and their lives may be shaped “in the right direction”.
Reading them as bedtime stories is a great way.
In all the instruction parents give their children, they should teach them to fear God.
Serious Godliness is the best learning.
Shouldn’t we praise God in our own families for bringing us through dangers and distresses?
Gilgal became their base of operations for the next 6-years and then later on became a religious center for them.


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How comfortable are you with the idea of miracles? Do you even believe they occur?
What do miracles tell us about God?
What's your favorite miracle?
How about in your own lives ?
Why is it so important that we remember what God has done?