Joshua 3

Sorry.  I seemed to have squashed Chapters 1 and 2 together.  My Bible doesn’t list Chapters and verses.

Anyway.  The third chapter is interesting.  The Jordan at flood stage in some spots can be a mile wide.  It doesn’t seem to intimidate the Israelites or reassure the folks of Jericho.  Notice the insistence of God on a sort of blind bravery.  The ark moves out and the orders are to follow it because “you have never been this way before.”  I will check other versions for a different translation.  God looks at the priests with this horribly heavy ark and their fancy robes and tells them to stand in the middle of the river.  Twelve men are chosen.  Disciple reference?  God with His sense of humor forces them to step in the water first.  It would have been less scary to part the water, then step forward.  The water piles up at the town of “Adam.”  I was curious about this and then realized that the words “dry ground” are referred to twice.  I wonder if it is a reference to the day of creation where a big point is made about God separating the waters and revealing the dry ground.  The word “dry” seems to give commentators fits.  The priests stood firmly.

Prayer

Abba Father, Give me the courage to step into the river.  to follow the ark.  Across the river stands a mighty fortress.  Beyond the fortress is the world I have been promised.  It is mine to claim with trust in your plan.  Help me to step into the flood and stand firm in the river.  You are the God who has already one the battle.