History of Israel: Crossing the Jordan

A new leader is established for Israel and they stand on the precipice of entering the Promised Land. Before that happens, they have to do a few things. On this episode of Bible Backdrop, we start in the book of Joshua and learn about Jericho, two spies and a prostitute. Then we see the nation of Israel finally cross the Jordan as the next generation does what their parents refused to do. 

Transcript

The Levite looked across the river. It was hard to believe that they were now here. About to cross the Jordan into the land God had promised to their ancestors.

He wished his parents were here to see this. They had been through a lot. He remembered the crossing of the Red Sea after they left Egypt. Then the days without water and Moses striking the rock that made it gush out with tremendous force. Then the visit to Sinai. His eyes narrowed. He’d never forget that place. Where God came to meet with His people only for them to reject Him 40 days later. He had seen his father stab another Israelite, crying as he did so. They had been through a lot, only to trip at the finish line. 

So God decided that they wouldn’t enter into the land. It would be up to him and his generation to do so. They spent years in the wilderness, waiting and watching. As he grew older, the man learned from his father about the responsibilities of being a Levite; the men that served the priests and the tabernacle. The years went by and he watched his parents steadily grow older. As the 40 years were coming to an end, he hoped that maybe they would be spared and could enjoy the blessings with the rest of Israel. It wasn’t to be. His father passed away first and almost as soon as the mourning period was over, his mother then passed away. As the oldest, he received a double portion of their possessions. But what he really wanted was them to be there next to him.

As he gazed, he heard someone walking up to him. He turned around to see his younger brother, born 9 months to the day after the battle with the Amalekites. He smiled. They had always gotten along, even with the 9 year age difference. This experience was new to his brother. He had never known anything but the wilderness. Always moving to different water sources; always having manna, provided by the hand of God. He didn’t know what it was like to live in Egypt...under the bondage of slavery. The man was grateful that he didn’t have to experience that, but, in a way, he was sad too. With that experience, he was able to appreciate where they were today and what they were about to do.

 “Think it will be today?” his brother said.

 “If not today, then soon.” the man responded.

His brother nodded. The rumors were flying through the whole nation.

 “Here comes the man himself” his brother said. 

The man turned around and he saw Eleazar, the high priest, walking towards them. He had known Aaron, saw how he had established the office of the high priest. His son seemed to be just as good; in some ways, maybe even better.

 “Shalom” Eleazar said.

 “Shalom” they responded.

 “I’m glad you’re both here so I don’t have to send messengers all over camp. My father and I knew your parents. Your father was a loyal and steadfast servant of the Lord. And I’ve seen how both of you attend to your duties with devotion. As I’m sure you’ve already heard, we will soon be crossing the Jordan. The ark is to go out in front of the nation and requires 4 Levites to carry it. Both of you will take 2 of those spots.”

The man could hardly believe his ears. Carry the ark? In front of the nation? On the day they cross into the Promised Land? It was almost too much. Now he really wished their parents were here.

The man bowed his head toward the high priest: “Thank you for giving us such an honor. When do we need to be ready?”

Eleazar smiled: “Joshua has said everyone should be ready to cross in 3 days. I think he’s attending to some last minute details.”

 “That gives us plenty of time. We will be ready. Thank you again, Eleazar.”

Eleazar nodded: “The waiting will soon be over. We stand on the threshold of entering into God’s promise.”

Hello again everyone and welcome to this episode of Bible Backdrop. Starting with this episode, we leave the wilderness and prepare to take over the Promised Land with Joshua in the lead. We’ll go through the book of Joshua and talk about how Israel went through the process of conquest and what the campaign looked like. Joshua 1 starts with God officially acknowledging Joshua as the leader of the Israelites and to be strong and courageous. He repeats that several times, so it may have been that Joshua needed reassurance that God would be with him and the nation. 

Now the real action starts in chapter 2. Joshua sends out 2 spies to look at the land and especially at Jericho, the first city on the list. Why start with Jericho? If you look at the nation of Israel, it is near the western border in the middle. The plan was to conquer the middle section, then the south, and finally the north. This is the same battle plan Field Marshal Sir Edmund Allenby used in World War 1. 

Even though God had told Joshua that they would be victorious, he still had to execute the plan and he wanted as much knowledge as he could gain. In this case, though, instead of sending out 24 spies as they did 40 years prior, he only sent 2. This was to avoid a repeat of the sins of faithlessness that caused the 40 year wait. The spies head out on their mission to spy out the land and the city.

Before moving ahead, let’s talk about the city of Jericho. Many people think that Jericho was a very large city but the reality is much different. It encompassed about 9 acres in total in two levels and was protected by a double wall. The upper area, which composed about 6 acres, was the nerve center of the city. This is where the king lived and was the location of the main market. This area was surrounded by a wall over 20 feet high. Below this, covering a little over 3 acres, was the lower level. This would be considered a lower rent district since it was only protected by the one wall whereas if you lived in the upper level, you had two walls. The lower wall was built on top of a retaining wall about 12-15 feet high and the wall was about 20-26 feet high. All told, the walls were about 40-46 feet high and about 6 feet thick. They were made of mud brick and stone and were impenetrable.

The rule of thumb for population in a given city in ancient times is about 200 people per acre. This seems awfully high, but if we go with it then we’re looking at a population of about 1800 people. In times of war, when an army approaches, the people living outside the city usually go inside so they can be protected by the huge walls. 

Archaeological evidence from this time shows that the grain harvest had just been brought in. Also, if you listened to the episode about the Canaanites, you know that the city-states were built around a spring for just this occasion. So with a source of fresh water and large food reserves, the leadership and the people probably believed they could have held out for years.

There’s also some discussion about the inhabitants of the city. Was it a large civilian population or a military garrison? Most likely it was both. Jericho was a full city-state with outlying settlements that would have come in to seek protection from an advancing army. 

So this isn’t a city of 10 or 20 thousand people. It’s a fairly small city but very heavily defended with extremely thick walls and resources to last out a siege. The Israelites don’t have any siege weapons with them. In fact, these are not in widespread use at this time. There was no way for Israel to conquer the city in their own power.

Now let’s come back to the story of our two spies. They come to Jericho and find a place to spend the night. To avoid attracting attention, they get a place in the low rent district so probably on the lower level. In this case, the owner is a woman named Rahab. Here’s where things get interesting. The Bible says that Rahab was “a harlot.” This usually is the word used to mean a prostitute. This makes a lot of people uncomfortable for a variety of reasons, so there is a line of belief that she was more like an innkeeper than a prostitute. Another website mentions that the word used here could mean an unmarried woman who wasn’t a virgin. This could certainly go several ways.

Here’s my personal belief. I think Rahab was probably both a prostitute and an innkeeper. If someone wanted to spend the night in her house, she’d rent them a room. If someone wanted to spend the night with her, then she could have made some extra money. She may have been a widow or just had loose morals so that no man would marry her. This being Canaanite society, there are a few possibilities.

While this makes people squeamish, I think it’s going to show a beautiful picture of grace in the Old Testament. In the Gospels, Jesus spent his time with the outcasts of society and this included prostitutes that he called to repentance. As the story goes on here, we’re going to see several lessons. Rahab’s story is a one of grace, honor and mercy but it’s also a story of judgment.

If the place Rahab was running was an inn, a tavern and a brothel (not mutually exclusive by a long shot) this would be the place the men would go to stay the night and pick up any news. Unfortunately, somehow the news gets out and back to the king who orders the guard to get the spies and bring them to him. Word must have gotten back to Rahab who has a choice to make: turn the men over to the king or hide them and commit treason. She decides to commit treason. She hides the men on roof and covers them in flax while sending the guards on a wild goose chase. Looking back, we know she made the right decision but she couldn’t have known it then. She had more faith in God than 22 spies who 40 years earlier gave a bad report about the Promised Land.

What’s amazing here is the discourse she gives the spies about why she’s helping them and it speaks volumes. “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

Now Rahab can’t be older than 40, so the stories about the Red Sea must have been circulating for quite some time. The battles with Sihon and Og were much closer in time. If a prostitute on the edge of Canaanite society knows what is happening, what does that tell us? It tells us that the Canaanites knew what was coming. They were without excuse. They had three choices: surrender and assimilate; abandon the city; or fight it out. Unfortunately, they chose to fight it out. With the recent grain harvest and access to the spring, there was reason to believe they could hold out for a siege. However, they should have known what Rahab knew; this wasn’t a war against Israel; it was a war against God.

After her discourse, Rahab asks that her and her family be spared from the coming wrath. The men agree with stipulations. Everyone must be in the house and she had to tie a scarlet thread in the window as a sign. She agrees and lets the two men out a window overlooking the wall. Her home must have been in the very low rent district if it was that close to the wall. The closer you are to the wall, the poorer you were because if an army breached the wall, you’d be the first to go. The king and his court were likely in the very center of the upper part of the city.

The men wait 3 days and then return to Joshua, telling them what Rahab had said and that the people feared them. This is all Joshua needs to hear. Three days later, he tells the people to get ready to go. Leaders go throughout the populace telling them that when they see the Ark of the Covenant go through the camp, they are to follow it but keep 1,000 yards behind it. Then Joshua tells them to consecrate themselves as God was going to do great things for them, similar to meeting the Lord at Mount Sinai.

The next day, everyone follows Joshua’s instructions. They break down the camp and follow behind the Ark. Then they see first hand a similar miracle as the previous generation saw. When the priests carrying the Ark step into the Jordan, the waters immediately pile up near a village called Adam so that everyone crossed over on dry land. Joshua orders that one man from each tribe collect a stone from the Jordan to make an altar of remembrance. As soon as the nation passes, then the Levites with the Ark make their way toward the bank. As soon as they step onto it, the waters immediately start flowing again.

Now, finally, the nation is in the Promised Land. There is much to do starting with the conquest of Jericho, but there are three things that happen before the battles can start. First, God orders Joshua to circumcise all the males that haven’t been. Everyone from the generation that came out of Egypt had been circumcised, but for some reason the new generation had not been. So for the two men in the story at the beginning of this episode, the older brother had been circumcised while likely his younger brother had not. Second, after they were healed 3 days later, they celebrated the Passover. It seems that the Passover had not been celebrated since after leaving Sinai when they returned to the wilderness. Now, in the Promised Land, it was crucial that they did celebrate it. These are both signs of being aligned with the covenant established at Sinai. Finally, the Passover was eaten with produce from the Promised Land. As of this day, the manna stopped. The people were now to eat from the land that God had given them. 

On that note, I think we will end it here for now. In the next episode, the conquest begins with the cities of Jericho and Ai. If you are enjoying Bible Backdrop, please subscribe and leave a 5 star rating and review. If you want to get in touch with the show, you can e-mail me at BibleBackdrop@gmail.com. Word of mouth is still the best way for this show to get around, so tell a friend and have them subscribe. You can find Bible Backdrop on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere podcasts are found. Thank you again for listening and have a great week!