I’m sure you can think of some day in your life for which you waited a long, long time. And then, eventually it came. It may have been Christmas, a birthday, perhaps a birth of a child, or something else. Your anticipation grew as the event got closer. Imagine the intensity of the Israelites’ anticipation as they stood on the banks of the Jordan River and prepared to cross over and go into the Promised Land. Most were part of the new generation that had come from the one who had refused to believe God could give them the land. God had judged them by allowing them to wander in the desert for the 38 years until all of the old generation that were over 20 years old at the time had died. So it was a new generation that was going in, and they had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Joshua and Caleb had waited even longer than that. They were about 80 years old at this time. Of the twelve spies who had gone into the land to bring a report to Moses, they were the two who had believed that Israel could triumph. They were the only ones of that generation who had not died.
God’s promise of the land goes back to His initial promise to Abraham. God led Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and showed him the land that He would give to Abraham’s ancestors. That was more than 500 years before Joshua’s time, and then finally, after all that time, the day arrived. Joshua told the people in 3:5: “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord is going to do amazing things among you.”
Now, this narration of the crossing of the Jordan really occupies three chapters. It begins in chapter 3. Chapter 4 is closely attached to it; and after they cross the Jordan, there are certain events that take place that are reported in chapter 5. And all of that belongs together as one narrative. As a matter of fact, there are verbal links between these chapters. You notice in 3:7 God says to Joshua: “Today I will begin to exalt the eyes of all Israel so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.” Then you skip over to 4:14, and you find a verse that picks up on that: “That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel. And they revered him all the days of his life just as they had revered Moses.” So those chapters are linked together in that way.
We see another connecting idea again in 3:12, as Joshua is giving instructions as to what the people are to do: “Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.” But we’re not told there why they were to choose them. But if you go to 4:2, the same phrase occurs: “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe.” But here it tells why: they’re to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan as a memorial. Then in addition to all of this, there’s the matter of God’s covenant, which really does tie all three chapters together.
