Myth #82:

Joshua parted the Jordan.

The Myth : 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 over-floweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. (Josh. 3:15)

The Reality : The story derived from a legend about the cult site of Gilgal and biblical writers used it in an attempt to show that Joshua had as close a relationship with God as did Moses.

Early in the story of Joshua, as he prepared to cross the Jordan into Canaan, a miraculous event occurred. God directed him to have several priests carry the Ark of the Covenant into the Jordan River. As they did, the waters parted and left a dry area for the Israelites to cross over. The event parallels the splitting of the Red Sea during the Exodus under Moses, and symbolically it demonstrates that Joshua is not only heir to Moses but on a par with Moses before God.

The Bible has some contradictory information about this event. At one point, it says that in order to commemorate the splitting of the Jordan, Joshua directed that twelve stones be taken from the very spot where the priests stood in the Jordan and carried to the site of the night’s lodging.

Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. (Josh. 4:3)

But only a few verses later, the text says Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the very place where the priests stood, and that the stones can be seen to this day: “And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day” ( Josh. 4:9).

So, did the Israelites carry twelve stones from the shore and plant them in the Jordan, or did they remove twelve stones from the Jordan and place them on the shore? Surely such a miraculous event wouldn’t leave such confusion as to what occurred, especially since the stones were commemoratives to mark the occasion.

Significantly, the place where Israel made camp and planted the stones in one of the two versions has the name Gilgal, which translates as “Circle” and which served as a major cult center for the early Israelites. Since, according to the story, the area already had the name Gilgal in the time of Joshua, it already had a reputation as a sacred location with a circle of stones. The later biblical editors simply attempted to take a pre-Israelite cult site and give it an Israelite origin.