Immerse: Kingdoms - Flipbook - Page 18
6
IMMERSE
•
KINGDOMS
3:9–4:8
the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few
steps into the river and stop there.’”
So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come and listen to what the Lord your
God says. Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will
surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites,
Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you. Look, the Ark of the Covenant,
which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the
Jordan River! Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from
each tribe. The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the
earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut
off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.”
So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who
were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. It was the
harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as
the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the
river’s edge, the water above that point began backing up a great distance
away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below
that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all
the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.
Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people
passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed
the Jordan on dry ground.
When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,
“Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, ‘Take twelve
stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of
the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will
camp tonight.’”
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from
each of the tribes of Israel. He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up
one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one
for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a
memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones
mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River
stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These
stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”
So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve
stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the
Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped
for the night and constructed the memorial there.
4:9–5:5
JOSHuA
7
Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the
Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant
were standing. And they are there to this day.
The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river
until all of the Lord’s commands that Moses had given to Joshua were
carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the riverbed. And when
everyone was safely on the other side, the priests crossed over with the Ark
of the Lord as the people watched.
The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe
of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had directed. These armed men—about 40,000 strong—were ready for battle,
and the Lord was with them as they crossed over to the plains of Jericho.
That day the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had
revered Moses.
The Lord had said to Joshua, “Command the priests carrying the Ark
of the Covenant to come up out of the riverbed.” So Joshua gave the command. As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant
came up out of the riverbed and their feet were on high ground, the water
of the Jordan returned and overflowed its banks as before.
The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. Then
they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho. It was there at Gilgal that Joshua
piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.
Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask,
‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the
Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried
up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all
across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all
crossed over. He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that
the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God
forever.”
When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite
kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had
dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart
and were paralyzed with fear because of them.
At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this
second generation of Israelites.” So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.
Joshua had to circumcise them because all the men who were old
enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died in the wilderness.
Those who left Egypt had all been circumcised, but none of those born
