Fourty years of wandering have brought the people to a river at flood time - on the wrong side, as it turns out. Beyond the river lies the land their parents had been too scared to enter, had marched toward, and have now buried a generation waiting to enter at long last. There is no bridge, no boats, and the Jordan River is running over its banks.
Their new leader instructs them to take the most holy artifact they have and wade into the oncoming flood. What takes place is an undeniable repeat of the greatest miracle their parents saw, and announces the arrival of a new generation of Israel's children with their new leader. They've crossed home.
A New Leader Emerges
Moses was dead. The giant who got Israel out of Egypt, dueled with Pharaoh, and got the Ten Commandments was dead - within sight of the promised land that he himself would never see. Joshua took over. He was the faithful spy that forty years ago tried to reason with the people to get them to believe in God and accept his offer of the land. God told him to be strong and to have courage. Three times God told Joshua this very thing as if he needed to hear it more than once - or maybe because he did need to hear it more than once. The task before him was daunting - to lead a nation into the land of cities and walled fortresses, but God promised that he would be with him. That he would not be alone because I WILL be with you - I will never leave you or forsake you.
After the death of Moses within sight of the Promised Land, Joshua took command — the same man who, forty years earlier, had been one of only two spies willing to trust God and urge the nation forward.
A River Flooded in Their Path
The children of Israel set up camp at the edge of the Jordan river and the time was perfect, because it was the harvest season, so the Jordan was overflowing its banks. Getting an entire nation of people across a river during harvest season was a daunting task - a nearly impossible task if you believe the text. God gives Joshua some instructions that require faith before action, but the miracle is not done till after the action. The priests were to carry the Ark of the Covenant (the gold-covered chest containing the ten commandments, the most sacred possession of the Israelites). They were to lead the way into the river before the rest of the people followed at a safe distance. Joshua told the people to sanctify themselves and told them that the Lord was going to do amazing things among them tomorrow, and everyone went to bed on the banks of the Jordan waiting on the miracle to happen.
The Israelites reached the Jordan at the worst possible time: harvest season, when the river ran over its banks. With no boats and no bridge, the only path forward required stepping in first.
The Stop to the River
This is the moment of courage. The priests had to go first into the flooded river before anything miraculous happened at all, and this is the test of faith that the people of Israel have waited forty years to see. The water stopped almost immediately at the feet of the priests carrying the Ark. The waters flowing down the Jordan stopped right there forming a pile of water several miles upstream at a place called Adam. The Jordan was cut off completely so that the riverbed was exposed all the way to Jericho. The priests continued walking into the center of the riverbed carrying the ark of the covenant while the Israelites crossed the dried-up bed of the Jordan River - and if this scene sounds familiar, it should. Forty years ago the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry ground after their Egyptian oppressors were drowned to death. Now the children of Israel have followed their new leader Joshua to cross the Jordan River on even drier ground than their parents did.
Twelve Stones to Recall the Miracle
Joshua instructed twelve men to go to the middle of the Jordan River and get a stone apiece, because in the future when their children asked them what these stones meant, they would tell them of the miracle that brought them into the land of God. They would tell them how the waters of the Jordan stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord was crossing so that the Israelites might cross on dry land. The twelve men formed a memorial of stone to the children of Israel who had come to this land forty years earlier and died there. They carried the twelve stones (one apiece) to the place where the Israelites had camped that night and laid them in a memorial. Another twelve stones, probably from the same riverbed, were placed by Joshua as a memorial in the center of the Jordan River to that most important day in the history of Israel. The people who had crossed the Jordan had seen the miracle themselves, but a long line of Israelites would follow after them needing to hear the story once again. So the next morning after the crossing took place when the priests carrying the Ark had stepped back on to the dry land on the banks of the Jordan River, the waters flowed right back to their banks over their edges just as if nothing had happened.
A New Beginning Begins for Israel
Joshua led the people of Israel to cross the Jordan, one of the most important turning points in their history. It was a long four centuries of oppression in Egypt and forty years of wandering in the desert with a small contingent of the original exodus survivors. This new beginning allowed a whole generation of Israelites who had seen the miracles of the Red Sea and the parted Jordan River to enter the land God had promised their fathers long ago. The crossing marked a new leader emerging with a whole new generation of Israel's children with him.
The crossing also marked a personal turning point for Joshua himself, for the text says that on this day the Lord made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel. He gained their respect just as much as his predecessor Moses did. The miracle performed at the Jordan River had earned the respect of the people, marking him as a leader who had God's guidance as much as Moses did. The people who crossed the Jordan were not the trembling masses who had stood before the walls of Jericho. These were their children.
Gilgal and the Future Ahead
The place the Israelites first camped within sight of the Jordan River (and within range of Jericho) was called Gilgal, and it was the launching point for everything that would happen next. The memorial stones were set up in this place called Gilgal, a place on the border of Israel's promised land. In Gilgal this new nation of Israel paused to renew their identity as the children of God. This was the site of Israel's first Passover feast - a celebration of the miracle of their deliverance from Egypt. It was a most appropriate place to hold this festival with the children of Israel crossing Jordan and entering into the land God had promised to their fathers. The text even records this interesting detail saying that the next day after they ate of the fruits of the land, the manna ceased. The daily provision of bread from heaven stopped as a miracle, because they were in a new land with a new future.
Israel needed a new beginning, and they began in Gilgal just across the river from Jericho and within sight of the Jordan crossing. From this place marked by these stones on the riverbank, Israel would enter the next phase of their long journey with a new future ahead of them and a whole generation behind them. They turned their attention to look toward Jericho and the wall surrounding it.
At Gilgal, Israel celebrated their first Passover in the land, ate the fruit of Canaan for the first time, and watched the daily manna stop — then turned to look at the walls of Jericho.
Why This Story Matters to Us Today
There are two lessons worth noting from this passage that has been told long after the children of Israel entered the Promised Land and crossed the Jordan River. The first is one of courage. The priests carrying the Ark had to go first into the flood, the waters still running strong, before anything miraculous happened at all, and this is the lesson of faith. The Israelites may have seen the miracle of the Jordan stopping, but only those priests who went first actually saw it happen. They crossed on dry ground because faith had already been tested before the miracle occurred. Their faith was in the promise of God to be with them always. Faith makes us brave, and often the most difficult things we accomplish in life are things that happened before we saw results.
The second thing worth noting is the value of remembrance. The memorial stones were placed as a reminder from one generation to the next that God was with them. He did miracles to get them to this land, and the next generation needed those reminders as much as the ones who crossed the Jordan needed them to see the miracle with their own eyes. The children of Israel would need reminders of the good things God did to bring them into the land of promise. The very fact that the next day after eating of the fruits of the land the manna ceased as a daily provision is a reminder that Israel had a new future ahead of them, and things would change, but life would go on. With that, Israel's long journey continued as they looked toward Jericho and its walls.
