Reflections on Joshua 3

Joshua 03 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Early the next morning, Joshua and the Israelites packed up and left Acacia. They went to the Jordan River and camped there that night.
   
2. Two days later their leaders went through the camp,
   
3. shouting, "When you see some of the priests carrying the sacred chest, you'll know it is time to cross to the other side. You've never been there before, and you won't know the way, unless you follow the chest. But don't get too close! Stay about half a mile back."
   
4. (SEE 3:3)
   
5. Joshua told the people, "Make yourselves acceptable to worship the LORD, because he is going to do some amazing things for us."
   
6. Then Joshua turned to the priests and said, "Take the chest and cross the Jordan River ahead of us." So the priests picked up the chest by its carrying poles and went on ahead.
   
7. The LORD told Joshua, "Beginning today I will show the people that you are their leader, and they will know that I am helping you as I helped Moses.
   
8. Now, tell the priests who are carrying the chest to go a little way into the river and stand there."
   
9. Joshua spoke to the people: Come here and listen to what the LORD our God said he will do!
   
10. The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites control the land on the other side of the river. But the living God will be with you and will force them out of the land when you attack. And now, God is going to prove that he's powerful enough to force them out.
    
11. Just watch the sacred chest that belongs to the LORD, the ruler of the whole earth. As soon as the priests carrying the chest step into the Jordan, the water will stop flowing and pile up as if someone had built a dam across the river. The LORD has also said that each of the twelve tribes should choose one man to represent it.
    
12. (SEE 3:11)
    
13. (SEE 3:11)
    
14. The Israelites packed up and left camp. The priests carrying the chest walked in front,
    
15. until they came to the Jordan River. The water in the river had risen over its banks, as it often does in springtime. But as soon as the feet of the priests touched the water,
    
16. the river stopped flowing, and the water started piling up at the town of Adam near Zarethan. No water flowed toward the Dead Sea, and the priests stood in the middle of the dry riverbed near Jericho while everyone else crossed over.
    
17. (SEE 3:16)
    

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    Once the spies brought their report concerning conditions in Jericho to Joshua, he wasted no time in taking action. The next morning he moved the Israelite camp to the banks of the Jordan River, spending three days in preparation to cross the Jordan into Canaan. A part of this preparation was spiritual. They were to consecrate themselves in preparation for what the Lord was going to do among them.
    
    The crossing of the Jordan served even a greater purpose than simply getting into the land of Canaan. Only a miracle would make it possible for the crossing and through the miracle Joshua would be exalted before the people and the people would be exalted before the residents of Canaan and also assured that God would be with them in taking possession of the land. As there was a spiritual component in the three-day preparation, there was also a spiritual component in the crossing. The priests were to lead the people into the river carrying the ark of the covenant, representing God who was leading them. As soon as the priests stepped into the water of the river, the waters of the river would be cut off causing the water to "stand up in a mass." (3:13) This left the riverbed dry where the Israelites were to cross. So Joshua 3:16 says that, "the water flowing downstream stood still, rising up in a mass that extended as far as Adam, a city next to Zarethan. The water flowing downstream into the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea) was completely cut off, and the people crossed opposite Jericho." This was not an event known only to the Israelites. All of the Canaanites living in the area knew of this phenomenon and a people whose courage had already failed them were now completely traumatized.
    
    The life God wants with His people is not one in which the spiritual aspects of that life are compartmentalized, separating life in general from our religious duties in giving acknowledgment to God. Instead He wants there to be no separation between our lives in general and life with Him. Our lives should be totally engrossed with Him. How else is He to give us the type of life He desires for us and promises to us?  But we compartmentalize our lives giving a tip of our hat, so to speak, to God and then wonder why He has not made our lives better. But if our lives are to be better we must invite God into the whole of our lives.