Crossing the Jordan River #45

The crossing of the Jordan River marks Israel’s entry into the promised land under Joshua. About forty years after the exodus, the people stood on the east bank of the Jordan with the river in flood. When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stepped into the water, the flow stopped, and the whole nation crossed on dry ground. The account is told in Joshua 3 and 4.

Biblical Account

Before crossing, the officers told the people to follow the ark when they saw it carried by the Levitical priests, keeping a distance of about two thousand cubits so that all could see the way (Joshua 3:1-4). Joshua told the people to consecrate themselves, for the LORD would do wonders among them the next day. He then explained that when the soles of the priests’ feet touched the Jordan, the waters flowing down would be cut off and stand in a heap. The river was overflowing its banks, as it does at harvest time (Joshua 3:15).

As the priests stepped in, the water upstream stood and rose up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam near Zarethan, and the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah was completely cut off. The priests stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed until the entire nation had passed over (Joshua 3:14-17). Joshua then had one man from each tribe take a stone from the riverbed, and these twelve stones were set up as a memorial at Gilgal, while another twelve were set up in the middle of the Jordan (Joshua 4:1-9). At Gilgal, near Jericho, Joshua explained that the stones would prompt future generations to ask what they meant, and the answer would be that the LORD dried up the Jordan as He had the Red Sea (Joshua 4:19-24). The Israelites celebrated Passover there, and the manna stopped the day after they ate the produce of the land (Joshua 5:10-12).

Theological Significance

The crossing deliberately echoes the Red Sea. Just as Moses led Israel out of Egypt through the sea, Joshua leads them into the land through the Jordan, and the text draws the parallel explicitly. The ark going first shows that the conquest depends on God’s presence, and the timing during flood season underlines that this is not an ordinary crossing. The stones at Gilgal turn the event into teaching for children who were not there.

Historical and Archaeological Notes

Historical sources record that landslides have blocked the Jordan near the site called Damiya, the likely location of Adam, on several occasions, including in the thirteenth century and again in 1927, when the river stopped for around twenty-one hours. Some readers see this as a possible natural mechanism for the biblical event, while others stress that the account presents the exact timing, at the moment the priests entered the water, as the miracle. The passage does not specify a natural cause.