"Within three days you shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God gives you to possess it." (Josh. 1.11.)

The great day had dawned and Israel stood at the banks of Jordan gazing at the Promised Land half-a-mile away. For full forty years had the promise stood. The fathers who had set out from Egypt to inherit this land were dead, their remains buried in the wilderness, but these their children had lived to see the fulfilment of the promise. This very day they were to pass over and enter upon their inheritance.

The crossing of Jordan is usually bracketed together with the passage of the Red Sea. They are two very similar miracles. But there is a fundamental spiritual difference. The passage of the Red Sea was a going into the wilderness; that of Jordan was a coming out of the wilderness. The one was a prelude to a time of humiliation and suffering, the other to a time of conquest and triumph. The one has been used to picture the Christian's deliverance from the bondage of sin and his entrance upon the Christian life, a life of humiliation and suffering whilst in the flesh. The other pictures his final victory and entrance into the heavenly kingdom, into the light and joy of the presence of God, the full attainment of the promised spiritual inheritance. The passing into the glory of the Divine is often spoken of as a crossing of Jordan; never as a crossing of the Red Sea.

For three days they had waited, watching the turbulent waters rushing past, for it was early summer and the snows of Hermon were melting. "Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest" (Josh.3.15). The stream, normally only about a hundred feet wide and easily fordable, was a raging torrent half-a-mile from bank to bank and quite impossible of passage even by boats, if they had any, and they had not. The Canaanites on the other side were feeling tolerably secure, at least for the next few weeks until the waters would begin to subside.

Obedient to the command of Joshua, the priests were carrying the Ark of the Covenant, swathed in its blue coverings so that it should not be exposed to the gaze of the people. They were at a respectful distance, two thousand cubits, a little over half-a-mile, and the leaders of the people followed. How they were to cross the river no man knew, but, confident in Joshua and in their God, the priests went steadily forward and down to the water's edge. With perhaps only a moment's natural hesitation, they stepped boldly into the water. As they did so the wet mud appeared under their soles. They stepped forward again, slowly, into the stream, and again the water had hardly washed their ankles before it receded and the mud appeared.

So they went on, more confidently now, and the water's edge retreated from before them as fast as they stepped into it. The hosts of Israel, higher up on the slope that led down to the river, could see what was happening, and a shout of exultation arose on the still air, a shout that aroused the attention of the Canaanite guards on the other side of the river, and caused them to disappear in haste to warn their superiors of the strange phenomenon that was occurring down there in the bed of Jordan.

The priests were still advancing, very slowly. Always the waters were shrinking and the priests advancing. The watching hosts on the hillside, limited still to their two thousand cubits distance from the Ark, therefore not as yet able to approach even the river's bank, cried and shouted to each other in awe and wonder at this great thing the Lord was doing in their sight.

The stream was down in the deepest part of its channel, gliding along more quietly and only thirty yards or so wide. The wide terraces so lately covered by the rushing waters were baking and steaming in the tropical sun, the soft mud hardening as it dried, ready for the tramping of the thousands of feet that would shortly be crossing its wide expanse. And the priests still advanced, slowly, forward.

There was but a brook now in the midst of Jordan. Farther up the valley, as the watchers on the hillside looked into the distance, the river bed was completely dry. There was no more water to come down. The last of the flow would soon have passed them on its way into the Dead Sea. The gateway into Canaan stood open before them.

The priests had stopped, and turned aside a little, standing in a group, with the Ark in their midst clearly visible as they held it hoisted up upon their shoulders. As they stood thus, there was a moving and a jostling of men. As though animated by one impulse the whole host surged forward, down the slopes to the edge of the bare hard mud, swarming on to the level terraces, dropping by successive steps to the place where the priests were standing. As they did so they spread out so until the whole valley as far as eye could see, in either direction, was filled with the thousands of Israel, walking, running, climbing, to the accompaniment of shouts and cries of triumph and joy. They were up the terraces on the Canaanite side, and assembling in the wide meadows, beyond which could be seen the walls of the garrison town of Jericho. It was not until the last few stragglers had brought up the rear and made their way up the slope to the Canaan side that the priests reformed their little party, and with the Ark still in their midst, moved up in turn, out of Jordan, into the Promised Land. From behind them, as they did so, came the water. The channel was filling, water was coming down again from the higher reaches and as the people looked the river began to flow in strength. It lapped behind the feet of those slow moving priests until by the time they had gained the topmost level with their burden, the swirling flood stretched once more from bank to bank. Moab and Canaan were separated again and no man might come nor go. But the host of Israel was in Canaan. It was a miracle; of that there can be no doubt. Whatever the natural means by which the flow of the river was interrupted, it was by Divine intervention that it occurred just at the moment when Israel needed such an occurrence to make possible their entrance into the Holy Land.

The account in Joshua 3.15-16 reads "So when those who bare the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah the Dead Sea were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho".

The waters "stood, and rose up upon an heap". Where was this heaping of the waters? The "city of Adam" is the modern El Damieh, twenty miles up stream from Jericho, and Zaretan is Zarthan, opposite El Damieh, on the eastern bank of the river. At this point the Jordan traverses the narrowest part of its valley; it flows between clay banks ranging from forty to one hundred and fifty feet high. The clay is soft and landslides into the river occasionally occur. A heavy landslide can dam the river completely and interrupt its flow until the weight of the mounting waters is sufficient to wash away the obstruction and permit the river to resume its normal course.

Such a thing has happened three times at least in recorded history. On the 8th December, 1267, the west bank at El Damieh collapsed and dammed the river so that no water flowed down the channel for sixteen hours. This record rests on the authority of an Arab historian, Nowairi. It meant that the bed of Jordan from El Damieh to the Dead Sea was dry for all that time and anyone could cross on foot. In the year 1906 the same thing happened in consequence of an earthquake. Again in 1927, according to Prof. Garstang, the celebrated earthquake which shook all Israel, and cracked the Mount of Olives, caused the west bank at El Damieh to collapse. On this occasion the flow of water was interrupted for no less than twenty-one hours, and a number of people did actually cross and re-cross the river bed on foot.

It is known nowadays that the fall of the walls of Jericho, a few days after the Israelites crossed Jordan, was caused by an earthquake, occurring at the critical moment. It might well be, as suggested by Garstang, that there was a tolerably long period of earthquake activity at this time and that such an earth tremor, occurring at the right moment, threw down the cliffs and dammed the river, just as in 1927. There is at any rate a remarkably exact correspondence between the story in Joshua and these more modern instances and there seems no reasonable doubt that the crossing of Jordan was due to this precise cause.

"Coincidence" says someone. "If this has happened at other times in history then it was just pure luck that it happened when the Israelites were ready to cross. Perhaps, even, Joshua had received secret information by swift runner of what had already happened twenty miles upstream and knew that within an hour or two the river would be running dry".

Perhaps - if it were not that the Scripture provides its own refutation of the suggestion. Joshua knew precisely what was going to happen at El Damieh several hours at least before it happened!

At some time during the previous day, when Israel was already gathered on the banks of Jordan in anticipation of the crossing, Joshua had said to them "Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you" (Jos.3,5). He, and they, already knew that by some means or other they were to cross Jordan. Joshua now knew that it was to be the very next day; whether at that time he also knew the means by which the crossing was to be effected does not appear. But that night, early in the morning hours, the Lord spoke to Joshua (v 7) "This day," He said "will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel .... and thou shalt command the priests . ..." . This was the day of the crossing; it is probable that the word of the Lord came to Joshua during the silent watches of the night, for it is most unlikely that the day itself with all its excitement would give any time to Joshua for quiet communion with God. And there was a full programme of events to be fitted into twelve short hours. First, there was Joshua's charge and instructions to the children of Israel. Then there was the selection of twelve men from amongst their number to be responsible for bringing out of the river's bed twelve great stones to be a memorial of the crossing. It was whilst giving these instructions that Joshua revealed his knowledge of how the miracle was to be effected. "The waters of Jordan" he said "shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon an heap" (v.13). This speech must have been delivered not later than 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning, for it would take the people several hours before they could be ready for the crossing. There must time allowed for two millions of people to cross before sundown. By eleven o'clock the people would begin to move from their tents and by midday the priests be venturing into the edge of the rushing flood. It would be at this time therefore that the first effects of the collapse that had occurred upstream became visible at Jericho in the retreat of the water's edge. Now if this effect became observable at Jericho at midday, the disaster at El Damieh must have occurred not more than four hours before. The high velocity of the water in the Jordan would drain the channel between the two places within that time. It must be concluded then that the collapse occurred not earlier than eight o'clock and yet Joshua knew precisely what was going to happen when he rose that morning, and probably earlier, during the small hours.

It may be expected that God revealed this coming event to him by means of a dream, as has been done so often in Scriptural story. Joshua saw the high, overhanging cliffs, the rushing river sluicing its way between them. In that incomprehensible manner associated with dreams he knew that he was looking at Jordan, although the place itself he had never seen before. As he looked the ponderous masses moved and slid across the foaming channel. As the waters behind began to pile themselves up behind the barrier, and those in front quickly drained away and left the river-bed bare, he knew that he was seeing what the Lord was about to do and awoke, ready for his great task. Thus it was, perhaps, that he was able to give Israel so accurate and graphic a description of the marvel that was to happen in a few more hours' time.

The rest of the day's programme fits into this picture very well. By one o'clock the crossing was in full swing. It need not be assumed that the people waited to negotiate the river channel in one long procession ‑ two million would take a long time to cross in that way. More probably Israel was encamped along a wide 'front' ‑ perhaps five miles or even more along the course of the river ‑ and when the word was given, they began to cross in a body. In such fashion the entire host, with all their flocks and herds, tents and baggage, could be inside the Promised Land in three hours. By four o'clock the transfer could have been accomplished and the priests begin to make their own way up out of the river-bed. Thus the water began to flow again, following their retreating footsteps as they came slowly up the terraces. By six o'clock ‑ sunset ‑ the river was in full flood once more.

The crossing of Jordan was a miracle. The agency used was a natural one; the powers of Nature were enlisted in the service of God. But God knew beforehand what He was going to do and when He was going to do it. He gave Joshua due notice several hours before the event, and when the hour had struck for the barriers to be thrown down and Israel enter His Promised Land, "the sea saw it, and fled; Jordan was driven back .... at the presence of the Lord".

AOH