July 11, 2011
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The Victorious Life of Joshua Part 23
Jos 3:6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
Here, the reference to “pass over” is before the people, as in, pass in front of them, or go before them. They would begin the passing over process by wading out into the middle of the river first.
Jos 3:7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, 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.
I love these little private conversations the Lord has with him. He’s confirming His promise. This is what prayer is; intimate conversations with God about God’s plans for you and those within your sphere of influence.
It’s like becoming the favored employee of the company CEO, and having the honor of him including you on all the plans he has for the company as well as for you.
Jos 3:8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
Jos 3:9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
So now we are ready; we’re in position; and our hearts are consecrated. We are ready to move forward into God’s plan. We are now ready to receive from Him, and in order to do that, we need to hear from Him before we begin our 1st major move towards the prize.
Jos 3:10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God [is] among you, and [that] he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
Here is the reason and the purpose of this crossing.
- You shall know the living God is amoung you.
- He will not fail you.
- He will drive out the mess (obstacles) before you.
Canaanite = see Cana “zealous”
1) descendant of inhabitant of Canaan
2) a merchant, trader
Hittite = “descendant of Heth”
1) the nation descended from Heth, the 2nd son of Canaan; once inhabitants of central Anatolia (modern Turkey), later in north Lebanon
Hivite = “villagers”
1) 6th generation of descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, who were living in northern Canaan near Mount Hermon at the time of the conquest
Perizzite = “belonging to a village”
1) a people who inhabited southern Canaan prior to the conquest
Girgashite or Girgasite = “dwelling on a clayey soil”
1) descendants of Canaan and one of the nations living east of the sea of Galilee when the Israelites entered the promised land
Amorite = “a sayer”
1) one of the peoples of east Canaan and beyond the Jordan, dispossessed by the Israelite incursion from Egypt
Jebusite = “descendants of Jebus”
1) descendants of the 3rd son of Canaan who lived in or around the site of Jebus, the early name for Jerusalem
Jos 3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
According to my archeological bible, two fundamental questions needed to be addressed.
- Was the God of Israel or the god on whom the Canaanites depended (Baal, who was believed to reign over the sea god) the true and mighty God?
- Did the Lord of the Israelites have a rightful claim to the land?
By opening the way through the flooded Jordan, God would show both the Israelites and the Caananites that He is Lord over the waters. By passing safely through the Jordan at the head of His army, God demonstrated the validity of His claim.
In the ancient Near East, a judicial verdict of the gods was commonly obtained by compelling an accused person to submit to a trail-by-water ordeal. Usually, this involved casting the accused individual into a river. If the person drowned, the gods had found him or her guilty; if not, the gods had acquitted the individual.
In Israel, however, another form of water ordeal was practiced.
Num 5:16 And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:
Num 5:17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put [it] into the water:
Num 5:18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which [is] the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
Num 5:19 And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness [with another] instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:
Num 5:20 But if thou hast gone aside [to another] instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:
Num 5:21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
Num 5:22 And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make [thy] belly to swell, and [thy] thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
Num 5:23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot [them] out with the bitter water:
Num 5:24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter.
Num 5:25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar:
Num 5:26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, [even] the memorial thereof, and burn [it] upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
Num 5:27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, [that], if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
Num 5:28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
Num 5:29 This [is] the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside [to another] instead of her husband, and is defiled;
Num 5:30 Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.
It is significant that the Lord would enter the Jordan first, and then remain there until his whole army had crossed safely over. His claim to the land was thereby vindicated before the eyes of all who heard about it. And it was his claim, not Israel’s; she accompanied him through the Jordan as his army, “baptized” into his service.
