The Jordan Runs Dry

The beginning of Israel’s long-awaited entrance into Canaan comes when Joshua, following God’s command (v. 8), instructs the Levitical priests who carry the ark to set out and walk directly into the Jordan River. The Levites may or may not know what is going to happen next, but Joshua does, and he gathers the people to tell them. God had said to him, “ ‘This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.’ ” God reveals His plans to Joshua so that he may make them known to the people. Thus, Joshua proclaims the Word of God. He becomes a prophet, clear evidence for the people that God is with him in a unique way, just as He was with Moses (Num. 12:6–8). Summoning the people to hear “ ‘the words of the LORD your God,’ ” he tells them of the “ ‘wonders’ ” God is about to do.

While God plans to exalt Joshua through his prophecy, the miracle itself is intended that the people might know “ ‘that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites’ ” and the other inhabitants of the land. When the feet of the Levites touch the waters of the Jordan, Joshua tells them, the waters of the river shall be cut off and shall stand up in a heap far upstream. And so it is. The Levites step into the water and it is as if a faucet is turned. The waters stop flowing from upstream and what is already in the channel flows away downstream so that the riverbed runs dry. Remarkably, this occurs at the time of year when snow melting on the mountains of Lebanon has caused the Jordan to overflow its banks, further magnifying the Lord’s power in this miracle. The Levites then take up a position in the middle of the riverbed—God, in effect, standing in the channel to hold the river back—and the people of Israel flow around them on dry ground and come at last into Canaan. Matthew Henry calls this miracle “a sure token of God’s presence with them. By this they could not but know that God was among them, unless their unbelief was as obstinate against the most convincing evidence as that of their fathers was.”

Joshua also had commanded the people to “ ‘take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe.’ ” In tomorrow’s study, we will see the task appointed for these men.