The Way
Crossing the Jordan
The waters stop, and stones become memory
Story
It was the time of the spring harvest, and the Jordan had swollen over its banks. On the shore, beside the rushing muddy water, the people stayed three days, looking across to the other side. An order went round the camp. When the ark of the covenant moves, follow it, but do not come too close. Joshua said, Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
The next day the priests carrying the ark went ahead down to the water. The moment their feet dipped into the river, the water flowing down from upstream piled up like a dam far away beside the town of Adam and stood still. While the priests stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the river, all the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Only the sound of feet on pebbles filled the riverbed.
Twelve men, one chosen from each tribe, each hoisted a stone onto his shoulder from the middle of the river and carried it out. The stones were set up at Gilgal. They were a sign, so that one day, when children asked what these stones meant, they would be told of the day the waters of the Jordan were cut off. There the people were circumcised, and on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month they kept the Passover. The day after they ate the produce of the land, the manna that had fallen for forty years stopped.
Walk this scene on the map →God's Words
Today I will begin to raise you up in the sight of all Israel, so that they will know that I am with you as I was with Moses.
Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.
When your children ask one day what these stones mean, tell them: Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Josh 3:1–5:12
Background
The Jordan rises highest in spring, when the snows of Mount Hermon melt. The town of Adam is thought to be Tell ed Damiyeh, about 30 kilometres upstream, and there are records that during an earthquake in 1927 the banks nearby collapsed and blocked the river for a time. Views on the location of Gilgal differ.
Pause and Reflect
Even when I can't see the road ahead, can I trust and obey as God opens the way?