The Jordan Stops at the Feet of the Priests

Joshua rose early and moved the camp from Shittim to the edge of the Jordan. The entire nation lodged there before crossing, but no one crossed immediately. The river ran full, swollen at harvest time, spilling over its banks. The people had never passed this way before, and the water blocked every path forward.

After three days, the officers moved through the camp with a specific command. The people were to watch for the ark of the covenant of the Lord their God, carried by the Levitical priests. When the ark moved, they were to follow it. But a strict distance of two thousand cubits was to be maintained between the people and the ark. No one was to come near it. The ark would show them the way, because they had not traveled this route before.

Joshua then addressed the people directly. He told them to sanctify themselves, because the next day the Lord would do wonders among them. The command was not about ritual preparation alone. It was tied to the event itself. Something unprecedented was about to happen, and the people needed to be ready for it.

Joshua also spoke to the priests. He told them to take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before the people. The priests obeyed, lifting the ark and moving to the front of the assembly. The order of march was now set. The ark would lead, and the nation would follow at a distance.

That same day, the Lord spoke to Joshua directly. He said that on this day He would begin to magnify Joshua in the sight of all Israel. The purpose was clear. The people needed to know that the Lord was with Joshua just as He had been with Moses. The crossing of the Jordan would be the public confirmation of Joshua’s authority.

The Lord gave Joshua a specific instruction for the priests. When they reached the brink of the Jordan’s waters, they were to stand still in the river. Not on the bank. Not after crossing. In the water itself. The priests were to carry the ark into the current and stop there.

Joshua then gathered all Israel and told them to come near and hear the words of the Lord their God. He declared that by this they would know that the living God was among them. And because He was among them, He would without fail drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites before them. The crossing was not merely a river passage. It was the opening move of the conquest.

Joshua pointed to the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth, which would pass over before them into the Jordan. He then instructed them to choose twelve men, one from each tribe. These men were not given a task yet, but they were selected in advance. The number matched the tribes, and the selection was tied to what was about to happen in the river.

Joshua then gave the mechanics of the miracle. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the Lord of all the earth rested in the waters of the Jordan, the waters coming down from above would be cut off. They would stand in one heap. The river would stop flowing at the point where the priests stood.

The people moved from their tents and headed toward the Jordan. The priests carrying the ark went before them. When the priests reached the Jordan and dipped their feet into the water at the brink—the river was overflowing all its banks at that harvest season—the waters coming down from above stopped. They rose up in a single heap far upstream, at a town called Adam, beside Zarethan. The waters flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. The people crossed over directly opposite Jericho.

The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. The riverbed was dry. All Israel passed over on dry ground, and they kept crossing until the entire nation had passed clean over the Jordan. No one was left on the eastern side. The crossing was complete, and the priests remained standing in the riverbed until the last person had crossed.