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Yesterday, the spies returned from Jericho with this report: “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.” This melting of the hearts of Canaan was predicted in Moses’ song in Exodus 15, but the last time spies returned from Canaan, Deuteronomy 1 records that it was the Israelites’ hearts that melted. It appears that things have been set right, and that Israel is finally ready for this.

This leads into the LORD’s commands, at the beginning of today’s reading, regarding crossing the Jordan. Had they entered from the south 40 years ago, there would have been no dramatic crossing. But now they approach from the east, and this generation gets its own parting of the waters moment.

Go back and read Exodus 14 again, and compare the details of the two events. The first one was chaotic – Pharaoh’s army and the angel of the LORD and people panicking and Moses promising “Stand firm! The LORD will fight for you!”

The Joshua crossing contains much less drama but no less significance. The LORD promises that today, He will “begin to exalt Joshua before all Israel.” The priests and the ark play a central role. And by this parting of the river, the people will know “that the living God is among you and He will without fail drive out the Canaanites.”

So they cross, as promised. And the manna ceases, also as promised. And they celebrate the Passover – close readers yesterday would have noticed we’re in the middle of the first month of the year. And they are circumcised, prepared for battle and covenant occupation of the promised land.

We close today with one of my favorite texts in all the Bible. At the end of chapter 5, Joshua heads out toward Jericho alone. The text doesn’t tell us why he was out there. Perhaps he was praying, working up his courage, or preparing plans for battle… He looks up, and sees a man with drawn sword. Joshua asks a binary question: “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” Let the man’s answer sink in, and consider, once again, the type of God we are dealing with.

Our verse for this week is Galatians 3:29: And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Joshua chapters 3 through 5. Now let’s read it!

Joshua 3 - 5

Joshua got up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They camped there before they crossed over. After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp; and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of Jehovah your God's covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measure--don't come closer to it--that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before." Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Jehovah will do wonders among you." Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people." They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. Jehovah said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 'When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.'" Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of Jehovah your God." Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap." When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people, and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest), the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho. The priests who bore the ark of Jehovah's covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan. When all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan, Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, "Take twelve men out of the people, a man out of every tribe, and command them, saying, 'Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you'll camp tonight.'" Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, a man out of every tribe. Joshua said to them, "Cross before the ark of Jehovah your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in the future, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?' then you shall tell them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of Jehovah's covenant. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.'" The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as Jehovah spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel. They carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there. Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle 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. For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished that Jehovah commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and passed over. When all the people had completely crossed over, Jehovah's ark crossed over with the priests in the presence of the people. The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them. About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war, passed over before Jehovah to battle, to the plains of Jericho. On that day, Jehovah magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, "Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, that they come up out of the Jordan." Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up out of the Jordan!" When the priests who bore the ark of Jehovah's covenant had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet had been lifted up to the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before. The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho. Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal. He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?' Then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For Jehovah your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you until you had crossed over, as Jehovah your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah's hand is mighty, and that you may fear Jehovah your God forever.'" When all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how Jehovah had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, their heart melted, and there was no more spirit in them, because of the children of Israel. At that time, Jehovah said to Joshua, "Make flint knives, and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time." Joshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness along the way, after they came out of Egypt. For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they didn't listen to Jehovah's voice. Jehovah swore to them that he wouldn't let them see the land which Jehovah swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way. When they were done circumcising the whole nation, they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed. Jehovah said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal to this day. The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. They ate unleavened cakes and parched grain of the produce of the land on the next day after the Passover, in the same day. The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel didn't have manna any more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our enemies?" He said, "No; but I have come now as commander of Jehovah's army." Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and asked him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" The prince of Jehovah's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy." Joshua did so.

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