Joshua 3:14, commentary and pictures

Israel removed from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant on poles ahead of the people, the ark leading the procession into the river toward the promised land. By God's will and command the swollen waters were cut off before the presence of Christ and the angels who went before the ark, God holding the current back to leave a wide stretch of dry riverbed for the people to follow in a long line behind the ark-bearers. The ark which contained the law symbolized God's presence among His people and was a sign that God was with them and their cause. The power that held back the Jordan was the same power that had opened the Red Sea, and crossing on dry ground displayed God's power to strengthen Israel's faith, strike the Canaanite and Amorite kings with fear, and end the reproach of Egypt. That passage was remembered with terror as Israel marched around Jericho with the ark, yet Israel later wrongly assumed that bringing the ark into battle would guarantee victory, when their strength lay in obedience to the law kept in the ark and transgressing it forfeited God's protection.

Leaving Tents for Jordan

Israel broke camp from their tents to pass over the Jordan toward the promised land, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant on poles ahead of the people and the ark leading the procession into the river. The order was that the ark-bearers went first and the people followed behind them across the ground God opened. Christ with heavenly angels went before the ark, and the waters were cut off before His presence.

By God's will and command the crossing was miraculous. As the priests stepped into the river God stopped the current and held the swollen Jordan back to one side, leaving a wide stretch of exposed dry riverbed and opening a safe path for the vast company. The people gathered and followed in a long line behind the ark-bearers across the opened ground on dry ground.

Christ and the angels remained with the ark and the priests standing in the riverbed until all Israel had crossed over and everyone was safely across. The ark that went before them into the promised land contained the law and symbolized God's presence among His people. In that place at their head it was a sign that God was with them and their cause.

Power and Immediate Impact

The power that held back the Jordan was the same power that had opened the Red Sea forty years earlier. It was the power of the Mighty One who descended on Sinai amid fire and smoke and thunder, who parted the Red Sea and made a way through Jordan for the children of Israel, and who later struck the Philistines with a deadly storm. Many who had crossed the Red Sea as children now crossed the Jordan as men ready for battle.

Crossing the swollen river on dry ground displayed God's power and strengthened Israel's faith. That display struck the Canaanite and Amorite kings with fear. It also ended the reproach of Egypt, so that enemies could no longer claim God was unable to bring His people into Canaan. The wonder showed that God could work wonders for Israel and struck fear into the people of Jericho.

The recent passage through the river was remembered by Jericho's inhabitants and watchmen as a sign of God's power when Israel approached their city. As Israel marched around the city each day with the ark, the memory struck terror into priest and people. That remembrance made them expect further wonders God might work for Israel.

The miraculous passage by the power of God was one of the most direct and solemn warnings and most mighty manifestations of God's power. It came immediately before the recognition of the covenant by the circumcision of the people, and before the observance of the Passover. It came before the appearance of the Angel of the covenant as Captain of the Lord's host, before the command to keep from the accursed thing, and before the overthrow of Jericho.

That manifestation gave solemn weight to the command prohibiting Israel from partaking of the spoils. Achan's sin was therefore defiance of manifested power.

The crossing was one of the great blessings God gave to Israel as the people He had chosen and claimed as His own after bringing them out of Egypt, working mightily for them at the taking of Jericho. Those blessings they could never repay even by their best service.

Remembered and Misapplied Later

The order of leaving the tents for the Jordan was echoed at Jericho, where armed men went first not to fight but as an act of obedient faith, seven priests with trumpets followed them, then priests bore the ark in its sacred dress, and the tribes marched in order beneath their standards in solemn procession. The recent passage through the river had prepared the way for Israel and had reminded Jericho's watchmen that God had made a way for His people, and that same ark-led order moved again around the city in orderly procession. The crossing itself had shown Israel setting out from its tents with the priests carrying the covenant ark ahead of the people into the Jordan toward the promised land.

Remembering that crossing and the defeat of Jericho, Israel later wrongly assumed that merely bringing the ark into battle would guarantee victory. By God's command the ark had been carried into the river and had remained there until all Israel had crossed on the path God opened, the waters parting to provide a safe path for the vast company. The ark, which contained the law, symbolized God's presence among His people and was a sign that God was with them and their cause, but its presence alone could not secure success or bring blessing apart from obedience to God's law and the conditions of the covenant. Their strength lay in obedience to the law kept in the ark, which represented God, and transgressing His law meant forfeiting His protection.

God stayed the Jordan in its flow not far from Bethabara beyond Jordan where John preached and baptized, just below the crossing where He divided the waters to make a path for Israel to enter the promised land. The nearness of the place revived the memory of that crossing among the crowds thronging the banks in John's day, reminding the Jews of God's wonderful past works and giving thrilling interest to his message. It stirred hearts with the thought that He who had worked so wonderfully in ages past would again manifest His power for Israel's deliverance, raising expectation throughout the nation of what might happen if the Messiah had actually come. That crossing was one of the great blessings God gave to Israel as the people He had chosen and claimed as His own after bringing them out of Egypt, blessings they could never repay even by their best service, so their utter failure to use their opportunities and their rejection of Jesus Christ made them more guilty.