Jordan River Joshua 3

Joshua 3:1 "And Joshua rose early in the morning: and they removed from Shittim and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over."

My little map is not real good but it

gives an idea of where the children of Israel are and where they are going.

The order of events are that Joshua rose early in the morning (a good lesson) and had the people move close to Jordan. Then instructions were given concerning the crossing.

The priest bearing the ark would step in the edge of the overflowing water of Jordan. A path would dry up like at the Red Sea then Israel would cross over.

v3 "And they commanded the people saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it."

The priest stood in the middle of Jordan on dry ground while Israel passed to the other side. A note of interest here is that they stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan v17. Can you imagine the waters of the river piling up and your job is to stand in the middle while thousands of people walk past you. They stood firm, though, with the ark.

Verse 16 is a long one but I need to put it in. It tells the story.

"That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan; and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea failed, and were cut off, and the people passed over right against Jericho."

One other thing I should mention. The people had to keep their distance from the ark of the covenant. Verse 4 says "Yet there shall be a space between you and it...come not near unto it..."

This speaks to the separation between God and man that must exist because of sin. Yet a new way is provided when Jesus died for those sins as described in Hebrews of the New Testament.

Hebrews 10:19-22 "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say , his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

Our lesson here is the difference in the old way and the new way in Christ. Only the priest could enter the holiest to approach God but with Christ blood covering our sin we may now approach boldly to the throne. It's a better way.

On another note: Jordan is often compared with death. It must have been scary for Israel to see Jordan overflowing its banks and knowing they must cross. Death too is scary until we are given grace for that need. Notice as soon as the priest's feet touched the water it was dried up and the crossing was made easy. So to, as Christians, will we find death safe for us to cross. The Bible calls the death of His saints precious.

Psalms 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

Psalms 48:14 "For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death."

Isaiah 58:11 "And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not."

Key words: Bible Study, Jordan River, Israel, Milton Southerland, Old Testament