TEXT [Commentary]

C.   Israel’s Crossing of the Jordan (3:1–5:1)

1.   Preparations for crossing the Jordan (3:1-8)

1 Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia Grove[*] and arrived at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped before crossing. 2 Three days later the Israelite officers went through the camp, 3 giving these instructions to the people: “When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, move out from your positions and follow them. 4 Since you have never traveled this way before, they will guide you. Stay about half a mile[*] behind them, keeping a clear distance between you and the Ark. Make sure you don’t come any closer.”

5 Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you.”

6 In the morning Joshua said to the priests, “Lift up the Ark of the Covenant and lead the people across the river.” And so they started out and went ahead of the people.

7 The LORD told Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses. 8 Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there.’”

NOTES

3:1 Acacia Grove. See note on 2:1.

arrived at the banks of the Jordan. If the identification of Acacia Grove (shittim [TH7851, ZH8850]) as the modern Tel el-Hammam in Jordan is correct, it was about 8 miles east of the Jordan River, an easy day’s journey.

3:2 Three days later. This period is not the three-day period of 1:11, nor that of 2:16, 22 (see note on 2:16).

3:3 the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD. This was a chest of acacia wood, nearly four feet long by just over two feet wide and two feet high, overlaid inside and out with gold. The Ark was the only furnishing of the Holy of Holies, the Tabernacle’s most sacred room and God’s dwelling place among Israel. God was said to occupy the mercy seat (covering) between the two cherubim of gold surmounting the Ark; thus, it was the most holy of the Tabernacle’s furnishings. Whenever Israel moved, a contingent of priests led them, carrying the Ark (Exod 25:13-15; Num 10:33-36).

3:4 about a half mile. Lit., “about two thousand cubits.” A cubit was about 18 inches; two thousand cubits, then, was about 3,000 feet, not quite six-tenths of a mile, not quite one kilometer.

3:5 Purify yourselves. Lit., “Make yourselves holy,” or “Separate yourselves.”

3:8 Give. The first Hebrew word in this verse is actually “you.” It should therefore be translated: “Now as for you, give this command.” God had just reassured Joshua of God’s presence with him. Now as for Joshua, he was to respond in faith to God’s firm reassurance.

COMMENTARY [Text]

The account of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan occupies two chapters, in keeping with the prominence of God’s actions on Israel’s behalf throughout the narrative. The length and detail of this account also is important evidence that the author’s primary interest in the book of Joshua is not the military history of the conquest, but its theological or faith history.

As we have seen in the story of Rahab and the two scouts, the narrative does not proceed in smooth chronological order. The narrator hints at events early on that he only unfolds later; he fills in details later that could have come earlier, but which, by their postponed entry into the story heighten its dramatic effect; he delays reporting a climactic event, heightening the reader’s anticipation; he repeats details and even refers again to events already reported. All these, far from being “disjointed” (Pressler 2002:28-30), or being evidence for clashing story lines, are the artistic touches of the master narrator.

The crossing of the Jordan is emphasized because of its nature as a turning point in the life of Israel. The crossing meant this generation would not turn back, as their parents had. Under Joshua, and by the power of God, Israel really would occupy the land promised for so long. This crossing became a spiritual and psychological entrance as well as a physical one. Central to the account is the role of the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant as they led the people in entering the Jordan and then standing in the river bed as the people crossed. The Ark, a visible symbol of God’s presence, was a further reminder this was a divine, not a human, enterprise.

God had appointed Joshua leader of Israel following the death of Moses; the people had accepted Joshua’s leadership. His first task was to get them across the Jordan River. Joshua now knew the conditions in Jericho and, thanks to the good work of his two scouts, he also knew the state of mind of Jericho’s citizens. It was time for Israel to move.

Joshua had Israel camp at the bank of the Jordan for three days, yet not until 3:15 is the reader told the Jordan was in flood this time of year; for dramatic effect, that information was not revealed earlier in the story. But already it occurs to the reader to wonder why Joshua did not have Israel cross the day after they reached the Jordan. Part of the answer, mundane but realistic, is that last-minute repairs, inventories, repacking, and other physical preparations were necessary. The wanderings were over; this was a new enterprise.

A more important reason for the pause was to let Israel experience close-up the impossibility of crossing the Jordan. For three days and nights they camped beside the swollen river, knowing they were to cross it soon, but knowing, too, that crossing it while it was at flood stage was humanly impossible. God had led Israel to this point. Israel needed a dramatic reminder that they could go further only if and as God led them on.

“You have never traveled this way before” (3:4) was true of most journeys in Israel’s 40 years in the Sinai. But it was of immeasurably greater significance now that the way referred to was the way across the Jordan into the Promised Land. The truth of this statement helps explain the power of the metaphor of pilgrimage in the life and thinking of God’s people from that time until today. On one level, the life of every believer is a series of familiar journeys: to church, to work, to market, etc. But at a deeper level we, like ancient Israel, travel every day a way we have not been before. Though our physical surroundings usually are familiar, our real “journey” is not. We, too, are following God with each step.

The Ark of the Covenant symbolized God’s throne. Thus, Israel knew God led them because they saw the Ark going before them. The leading groups in Israel’s march were to leave a gap of more than half a mile between themselves and the Ark. Though God is present among his people in grace and mercy, God’s people are not to take his presence for granted. God is holy, and God’s people acknowledge his holiness with reverence, respect, and awe; the old terminology for this is the “fear” of God.

The officers had given the people their instructions for the next day’s crossing of the Jordan. But Joshua himself gave the most important directive: “Purify yourselves” (3:5). God intended to bring across the Jordan a holy people, who had separated themselves to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and from all the gods of their neighbors. This involved ritual acts of purification from all that was unclean, all that would bar an Israelite from coming into the presence of God in the Tabernacle. For this crossing of the Jordan, Israel was to be pure before God, as when they came into his sanctuary. In one sense, only God can sanctify. But to be holy is to be separate to God, and God will not sanctify us (i.e., separate us to himself) against our will. Only as we separate ourselves to God, and from everything else that would be god in our lives—responding to God’s initiative, and in God’s strength, to be sure—will God sanctify us, filling us with his Spirit.

With his command to the priests (3:6), Joshua launched the enterprise. Everything to this point had been preparatory. Now God would begin to fulfill his promises to the patriarchs and bring their descendants to possess the land in which they themselves had been resident aliens.

One of God’s purposes was to lift up Joshua (3:7)—not to heighten his ego, but to reassure the people. Moses was the only leader Israel had known; now they had lost him just as they were embarking on the most difficult, dangerous, and important part of this enterprise. They needed reassurance that God had not brought them this far to abandon them on the doorstep of success. God’s words reassured Joshua personally, too, for they repeated the promise God already had given him (1:5).

For this crossing of the Jordan, the Ark was to lead the way until the feet of the priests were actually in the water. The priests were not to stop on the dry bank, but in the river itself. Israel had no way to cross the Jordan in flood, yet God commanded them to cross. By carrying the Ark into the water first, the priests would show their faith, or at least their obedience. We may go further and say that when God clearly directs his people to act, obedience is faith.