Ep. 49 - Crossing the Jordan

The Israelites were still camping on the east side of the Jordan River, making final preparations for the long-awaited invasion of Canaan – the Promised Land.  The two spies had come back from Jericho with great news - all the people in Canaan were super scared of the Israelites…this might make the invasion go a little bit easier.  God had also told Joshua that He would be with him, just like He’d been with Moses.  The fiery cloud still hovered over the camp.  Manna still came everyone morning.  God was certainly still with the Israelites. 

But there were still so many unanswered questions.  Not the least of which was…how would the Israelites actually cross the Jordan River?  Now, the Jordan River wasn’t always a huge and deep river.  But as you kidzos know, rivers can look a lot different depending on the season.  Rivers can get big during the spring, and small during the summer.  And it just so happened when the Israelites needed to cross the river that is was the “time of the harvest” …a time when the Jordan River, as the Bible says, “overflows all of it’s banks.” (Jos. 3:15) Which means that at the time that the Israelites were needing to cross, the Jordan River was deep, wide, and flowing super fast.  It probably looked more like a rapids than a river.  How were the Israelites going to cross that?  I mean, it was one thing for the two spies to do it because they didn’t have to bring armour, or wagons, or food, or livestock, or children, or anything like that…but the Israelites certainly did have to worry about those things.  So, how in the world would the Israelites manage to cross the Jordan River?

Well, as you might have guessed, God had a plan.  And Joshua stood up and said to the Israelites, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God… By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites:  (11)  Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. …  (13)  And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.” (3:9-13) So basically, the priests were to go into the tabernacle, grab the ark, take it outside, and walk all the way down to the edge of the Jordan River.  And once everybody was ready, the priests were to just walk into the river.  And, according to what God was saying, as soon as the priests’ feet touched the river, the fast moving water would be miraculously stopped upstream somewhere, piling up in a heap…almost like there was an invisible dam.  The remaining water would quickly drain away, and then the Israelites, with all of their extra stuff, would be able to cross.

Now some people probably thought this was crazy…especially the priests who were no doubt tempted to think to themselves, ‘What…why do we have to be the first ones to go?’  But of course, most of them had learned to trust God in these situations.  The Bible says, “So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,  (15)  and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water…,  (16)  that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away.” (3:14-16) The Israelites stared with amazement at the water piling up in the distance, and then they stared at the empty riverbed in front of them.  The Israelites, who had been camping in and around the Jordan River for quite a while now, were probably a little weirded out seeing the river with no water in it.  When Papa was growing up, we lived near Niagara Falls, and we used to go see it all the time.  And one time I remember going there when they were doing some maintenance to the falls.  And when they do that, they have a way of really turning down the amount of water going down the river and over the falls.  And when I saw it like this, I remember looking at it and feeling like it looked super strange…like woe…that’s what it looks like with hardly any water.  And I’m guessing that the Israelites, sitting there looking at the riverbed with no water in it, probably had a similar strange feeling. 

After the river stopped flowing, the priests carried the ark to the center of the riverbed.  And this is when the Israelites noticed that there had been another miracle.  The Bible says that “the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan.” (3:17) That’s right kidzos.  Even though there had been a raging river there just moments before, not only was all the water gone, but the ground that the priests walked on was dry – no mud, no slime, no big puddles of water.  It was completely dry.  Now this would obviously make it much easier for the Israelites to cross with all their livestock and wagons and everything else.  And no doubt, it reminded the Israelites of when their parents and grandparents had crossed the Red Sea…because God had done the same miracle there too…they had also crossed the Red Sea on dry ground.

With the ground completely dry, and the priests standing in the middle of the riverbed, the Israelites went ahead and crossed the Jordan River.  The Bible doesn’t say too much about the actual crossing, but you can just imagine all the families with young children, all the animals, all the wagons, and of course all the soldiers making their way down the riverbank, across the riverbed, and up the bank on the other side…eyes wide open, mouths to the floor, in total amazement of this incredible miracle that they were looking at.  No doubt more than a few of them were thinking back to when their parents and grandparents had crossed the Red Sea…and how much like that that this was.  Everyone couldn’t help but feel that God was with them.

But after the Israelites had all crossed the river, it wasn’t quite over.  With the priests and the ark still in the middle of the riverbed, God said to Joshua, “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe,  (3)  and command them, saying, 'Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm.'” (4:2-3) And so, twelve men, one from each tribe, quickly went back down to the riverbed again.  They went right into the middle of the river where the priests were standing, and each one picked up a (probably) medium-sized stone, and then they took the stones back up the riverbank to where the rest of the Israelites were waiting.  And what were the Israelites going to do with these 12 stones?  Well, God wanted them to be setup kind of like a memorial at the first place where the Israelites would camp on this side of the Jordan.  God wanted the Israelites to remember this amazing miracle that God was doing for them.  And God said to the Israelites, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?'  (22)  then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land';  (23)  for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over,  (24)  that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.” (3:21-24) Not only did the Israelites end up setting up the stones at the next camp, but while the 12 men were collecting their stones, Joshua…without being asked by God…went ahead and picked another set of 12 stones for himself and setup another memorial right in the middle of the Jordan river right where the priests were standing.  With all these memorials of the Jordan River crossing, the Israelites wouldn’t be forgetting this miracle anytime soon.

Once everything was done - once all the stones had been collected, once Joshua had setup his own memorial in the middle of the river, and once all the Israelites were safely on the other side of the river - God said to Joshua, “Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.” (4:16) …which Joshua did.  And as soon as the priests and the ark had arrived safely on the other side of the Jordan, the Bible says that, “the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.” (3:18) The invisible dam that had been holding back the water disappeared, and while all the Israelites watched, the water came crashing down the riverbed again.  And after everything was done, the river had returned to the same level as when the Israelites had first arrived…almost as if nothing had happened.

Alright kidzos, so what lesson can we draw from this story?  Well, other than a reminder of just how powerful God is and that God can really do anything, something that stands out to Papa is just how important it was to God that the Israelites remember what He was doing for them.  Think about it, God is doing this super amazing miracle, holding back the mighty Jordan River and making sure that millions of Israelites cross the riverbed safely.  And right in the middle of that, God basically says, ‘hold on, hold on…go back…get some stones…we gotta make sure that people remember this for as long as possible.’  Doing the miracle was one thing…but remembering the miracle was another.  It was super important to God that the Israelites remember what He was doing for them. 

And it’s the same thing for us kidzos.  God does amazing things for us all the time.  God sometimes even does super amazing miracles for us.  Like one time when Papa was 19, God saved me from a horseback riding accident.  (Maybe one of these days Papa share that story in a bonus episode…we will see.) It was an amazing miracle that God did for Papa.  Now what did Papa do to make sure that we don’t forget about that miracle?  Well, Papa didn’t setup 12 stones as a memorial like the Israelites did, but Papa does make sure to tell you kidzos that story every once in a while…just so that we don’t forget.  But even if you don’t have a big miracle story like that, there’s still all kinds of little miracles that we can make sure not to forget.  Like have you ever prayed for something and it happened?  Have you ever asked God for something and He gave it to you?  Have you ever asked God for help, and He helped you?  Have you ever found out that if something hadn’t happened exactly the way that it did that your life would be much different?  Well, these are all little miracles that have happened in your life…and it’s important that we remember them too.  How you remember them…well that’s up to you.  Maybe you write it down in a journal, maybe you talk about it at worship, maybe you bring it up around the camp fire, maybe you make a song about it, maybe you make a video about it and share it with your friends - the sky is the limit.  Notice how Joshua found his own creative way of remembering?  Yah, he setup the stones in the middle of the Jordan River.  God didn’t ask him to do that…he came up with that on his own.  And I’m sure that God loves to see how creative we get.  But the important thing is that we do indeed find a way to remember…just like the Israelites did at the Jordan River.

After the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, they camped at a place called Gilgal…where they did indeed setup the stones as God instructed.  The Israelites must have been super excited.  After all these years, they had finally finally finally made it to the Promised Land.  They were actually moving ahead in God’s promises.  And with this big miracle, they were extra super duper sure that God was with them.  But do you know who wasn’t super excited?  Yah…the people who lived in Canaan.  When the people who lived close by (the Canaanites and the Amorites) saw the Jordan River dry up and this hoard of Israelites cross into their territory, the Bible says that, “their hearts melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer...” (5:1) If they hadn’t been scared before, then they were certainly scared now.  Would the Canaanites and the Amorites take the hint and get outta dodge?  Despite everything that they were seeing, would they still decide to put up a big fight?  Well, we’ll find out all about it…next time.