Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 18
6
IMMERSE
•
KINGDOMS
3:9–4:8
the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few
steps into the river and stop there.’”
So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come and listen to what the Lord your
God says. Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will
surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites,
Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you. Look, the Ark of the Covenant,
which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the
Jordan River! Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from
each tribe. The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the
earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut
off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.”
So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who
were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. It was the
harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as
the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the
river’s edge, the water above that point began backing up a great distance
away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below
that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all
the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.
Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Cov
enant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people
passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed
the Jordan on dry ground.
When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,
“Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, ‘Take twelve
stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of
the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will
camp tonight.’”
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from
each of the tribes of Israel. He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jor
dan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up
one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one
for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a
memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones
mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River
stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These
stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”
So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve
stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the
Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped
for the night and constructed the memorial there.