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Joshua 3

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Joshua 3
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Old Testament Minute: Joshua

Stephen O. Smoot

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Contents

Joshua 1
Joshua 2
Joshua 3
Joshua 4
Joshua 5
Joshua 6
Joshua 7
Joshua 8
Joshua 9
Joshua 10
Joshua 11
Joshua 12
Joshua 13
Joshua 14
Joshua 15
Joshua 16
Joshua 17
Joshua 18
Joshua 19
Joshua 20
Joshua 21
Joshua 22
Joshua 23
Joshua 24
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Contents

Joshua 1
Joshua 2
Joshua 3
Joshua 4
Joshua 5
Joshua 6
1 2 … 4 Next »
Genesis 1
Genesis 2
Genesis 3
Genesis 4
Genesis 5
Genesis 6
Genesis 7
Genesis 8
Genesis 9
Genesis 11
Genesis 12
Genesis 13
Genesis 14
Genesis 15
Genesis 16
Genesis 17
Genesis 18
Genesis 19
Genesis 20
Genesis 21
Genesis 22
Genesis 23
Genesis 24
Genesis 25
Genesis 26
Genesis 27
Genesis 28
Genesis 29
Genesis 30
Genesis 31
Genesis 32
Genesis 33
Genesis 34
Genesis 35
Genesis 36
Genesis 37
Genesis 38
Genesis 39
Genesis 40
Genesis 41
Genesis 42
Genesis 43
Genesis 44
Genesis 45
Genesis 46
Genesis 47
Genesis 48
Genesis 49
Genesis 50

Stephen O. Smoot, “Joshua 3,” in Joshua, Old Testament Minute Commentary Series, ed. Taylor Halverson (Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2021).

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Joshua 3. Israel Crosses the Jordan

Having previously secured a favorable report by the spies in Jericho (in Joshua 2), the Israelites next undertook their initial push into the land of Canaan by crossing the Jordan. This is the episode narrated in Joshua 3. In terms of its narrative purpose, the crossing of the Jordan serves as a liminal moment: Israel crossed over from its old identity as a group of wandering tribes in the wilderness to a new identity as conquering heroes in the land of promise. Like for Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, the crossing of the Jordan was the point of no return for Israel. The Jordan was a natural boundary marker delineating this metaphorical (and literal) space for Israel, which the Lord had already mentioned in His initial speech to Joshua (1:2).

The procedure for the crossing is laid out in chapter 3, verses 3–6, 8, 13. The people were to follow the priests bearing the ark of the covenant, who would stand in the waters of the Jordan. As they stood in the water, the people would cross the river on dry ground, the waters being gathered up as a “heap.”[1] The ritual nature of the crossing is thus reinforced with the priests of Israel filling a crucial role in this undertaking.

The parallels with the crossing of the Red Sea as narrated in the book of Exodus are unmistakable (compare Exodus 14). Indeed, the Lord Himself affirmed to Joshua a connection between the two, saying, “This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee” (Joshua 3:7). Once again, the narrative legitimizes Joshua as Moses’s successor by the Lord’s performing comparable wonders for the children of Israel under his leadership.

Although the Jordan is a comparatively narrow and shallow river, the text informs us that the Israelites crossed during its seasonal flooding after the winter rains (verse 15). This narratively and theologically amplifies the miraculous nature of the event, as the Israelites were crossing at the most perilous moment, demonstrating beyond question Jehovah’s mastery of the elements (and thereby, implicitly, of the Canaanite gods believed to control various aspects of nature). This in turn serves to reassure the Israelites (and the reader), who will soon face the daunting challenge imposed by the walled Canaanite city of Jericho.

[1] Joshua 3:13; Hebrew ned, “dam, obstruction”; compare Exodus 15:8.

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