What to Do with what God’s Done

July 11, 2021   /   Palms Baptist Church

 

Joshua 3-4

Joshua 3:1: The chapter starts at a one week mark since Joshua took command of the nation. (There’s been 1 week between chapter 1-3) The nation spent 3 days at Shittim preparing to leave. They were three days at the Jordan. The Jordan is Israel’s boundary. Israel is called the “land of the Jordan.” On the seventh day they crossed the Jordan into the promised land.

Joshua 3:5 “Consecrate” would mean they were to wash their clothes, bathe and abstain from sexual activity.

Joshua 3:5 the promise that God will do “wonders” or “amazing things” is from the Hebrew (niplôt) which is usually used for Miracles.

Joshua 3:2 the Hebrews are told to stay two thousand cubits way from the ark. That’s about a thousand yards, which is a good distance. Snipers train at a thousand yards.

Notice the importance of the Ark in this account. That is because the Ark is the symbol of God’s throne and his presence among the people. The ark was the most holy object on earth. Inside were the tablets of commandments, Aron’s budding staff and a jar of manna. It was carried by priest and never to be touched (they carried it on poles.) The top of the ark is called the “Mercy Seat” with angels symbolically covering it with their wings.

Joshua 3:14-16: The Jordan comes from a word that means “to descend.” The water descends quickly from Mount Hermon twenty five miles into the Dead Sea. It is a fast moving river. The water “piles u’” at a town twenty miles north called “Adam.” Unlike the crossing of the Red Sea, where the water parted with a wall on each side, here the water stops as if it’s hit a dam and piles up.

Notice that the water stops flowing when the priest feet touch the water. This is a symbol that the conquest has begun.

Psalm 114 is a Psalm dedicated to God stopping the Jordan for the nation to cross.

Joshua 3:17 the priest stand in the idle of the Jordan while the nation passed on dry ground.

Why did God dry up the Jordan?

1. reason. So nation cross into its new homeland.

2. Reason. To exalt Joshua. (Joshua 3:7, Joshua 4:14)

3. Reason. Crossing the Jordan would show the Hebrews that God would give them success in military campaigns as well. (Joshua 3:10)

Canaanites = Seacoast

Hittites = Everywhere.

Hivites = Mt. Hermon.

Perizzites = Central highlands.

Girgashites = towns east Galilee

Amorites = Mountains.

Jebusites = Jerusalem.

4. Reason: To fill us with AWE. Teach us fear him. (Joshua 4:24)

SYMBOLS:

Symbol #1: STONES = To remind them of God’s Wonders. (Joshua 4:1, Joshua 4:17-18)

Symbol #2: CIRCUMCISION = To mark the Hebrews as Children of Abraham. Children of the covenant.

Notice the circumcision is performed with “flint” knives. (Joshua 5:2.) These are not knives for war, but a reminder of Exodus 4:24 where Moses’ wife circumcised her sons because Moses refused.

Joshua 5:9 speaks of God “rolling away the reproach of Egypt.” When the Hebrews came to the promised land after escaping Egypt, they chose not to enter, and struggled for forty years in the wilderness. The response from Egypt and the nations was ridicule. They laughed at the foolish Hebrews stumbling about in the desert. Now God rolled away that mockery and would give his people victory.

Symbol #3: PASSOVER = To remind the Hebrews of God’s Salvation. (Joshua 4:10-12)

IN MY LIFE:

Those three symbols have importance in my life as well.

  • Stones =
  • Circumcision = (Col. 2:11-12)
  • Passover = (1 Cor. 5:7)

 

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