Joshua Lifted Up

The Levites bearing the ark of the covenant hold their position in the Jordan’s riverbed until “everything was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.” Two aspects of the crossing mentioned in this passage are noteworthy.

First, the writer of Joshua gives us a small detail about the people’s conduct in the crossing: “the people hurried and crossed over.” What is the reason for this haste? Perhaps they are simply eager to finally set foot in the Promised Land, but Matthew Henry speculates on less pure motives: “Some hasted because they were not able to trust God [to hold back the waters].… Others because they were not willing to tempt God to continue the miracle longer than needs must.” But whether or not everyone’s motive is righteous, God holds back the waters for all. Second, the men from the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and from half the tribe of Manasseh, all of whom had received their land on the east side of the Jordan, march across armed for battle just as they had promised Moses and Joshua. They leave their new homes and their families behind to keep their vow to help their Israelite brothers take the land God had promised to them. They cross in the sight of the whole nation as an example of faithfulness.

When all the Israelites have come across the Jordan, God instructs Joshua to order the Levites bearing the ark to come up from the riverbed. Joshua obeys, and the Levites obey him. And no sooner have the Levites’ feet touched the bank of the river than the waters once again flow down, fill the channel, and overflow as before.

The author of Joshua tells us that “the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel” by using him to prophesy the miraculous Jordan crossing and to direct the nation through all of these events. The people are clearly shown that God has placed another in the role of Moses, one to whom He will speak so as to lead the people. No doubt this helps Joshua greatly by reducing any opposition to him that might exist, but, as Henry writes in his commentary, “it was not for Joshua’s sake only that he was thus magnified, but to put him in a capacity of doing so much the more service to Israel, for hereupon they feared him as they feared Moses.”