Joshua Crosses the Jordan

Joshua 1:1-4:20

     After the people of Israel spent forty-years in the desert, God told Moses to climb a high hill to see the land promised them.

     Moses looked out from the top of a mountain. He could see the large, good land of Canaan across the Jordan River below. He knew his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and their children's children would live there and be happy.

     Moses put his hands on Joshua's head to show that God was now giving command to Joshua. Then Moses went away into the desert and died. He was one hundred and twenty years old, but he was as strong as a young man until he died.

     The people of Israel spent thirty days remembering Moses and all he had done for them. Then God called Joshua and said, " Joshua, Moses is gone. Now you must lead the people across the Jordan River into Canaan. Be strong and brave. You will be the one to help these people have the land that I have promised. Do not be afraid of the people of the country, because I am the Lord and I will be with you."

     Joshua sent two secret spies into the country. "Go look over the land," he told them. Especially look at the city of Jericho."

     When the two men arrived in Jericho, they met a woman named Rahab. While they  were staying at her house, the king of Jericho said, "I hear that two men of Israel are in Jericho as spies." He sent a message to to Rahab that said, "Send those men of Israel to me. They are spies for the armies of Israel."

     Rahab told the two spies, "I have heard of the people of Israel, an of your God. I will help you, if you ask your God to save me and my family when Joshua comes."

     She hid the men under some straw on her roof and told the king she did not know where they were. Later, she let them out her window by a rope, and they went back to Joshua to report.

     "Watch for a house with a bright red cord tied to the window," the men told Joshua. "That is the house of Rahab, who helped us. We promised that we would not hurt her or her family."

     Early in the morning Joshua and all the people got ready to cross the Jordan River. His captains went through the camp shouting, "When you see the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, follow it."

     God told Joshua, "From this day on I will speak to you as I did to Moses. Now tell the people that they will know that the living God is with them. When the ark is at the edge of the water, the river will stop running until everyone is across."

     The priests carrying the ark stepped into the water. The river stopped flowing, just as God had said. The priests stopped halfway across, and the people went over the Jordan on dry land. Twelve captains each took a big rock from the place where the priests stood. When everyone was across, the priests carried the ark into Canaan, the water came together, and the river ran again. The rocks were made into a monument to remember the crossing.