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Crossing the Jordan: Joshua 3-4
After God talked with Joshua, the children of Israel set out to enter the land. They came to the Jordan River and lodged there before crossing. The people were then told that when they saw the ark of the covenant, they were to follow it at a distance.
The instructions were given that “when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap.”
That is exactly what happened. When the priests stepped into the edge of the waters, the water dried up and the people walked across the Jordan on dry ground. Once again, God’s power was displayed to His people.
Joshua was told to select twelve men, one from each tribe, to pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan. These stones were to be set up as a memorial to this occasion, “so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”
When the priests came up from the Jordan, the waters “went all over its banks as before.” The people set up camp at Gilgal, just east of Jericho, and the stones were set up there (another group of stones was set up in the Jordan where the priests had stood). God’s power would be remembered so that they would continue to fear Him.
Discussion
1. Why were the children of Israel to keep at a certain distance from the ark of the covenant?
2. At what point would the waters part? When did they return to their original state?
3. Why were they told to take up twelve stones? How many piles of stones were there? Where were they set up?
4. Discuss the purpose of the memorial. Read especially 4:6-7, and 21-24. What can we learn from all of this?