March 5 Daily Devotional

Joshua 3–6

The time had come for Israel to be ready to enter the promised land. The people made preparation, as they had been told to do. When everything was ready, Joshua spoke to the people, saying, “Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you … Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you” the people of Canaan. The priests shall bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth, before you. “And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.”

And so it happened. As soon as the feet of the priests touched the water at the shore, the river above stopped flowing, and far away, up the river, they could see the water rising and piling up like a great heap, and below the place, where they were standing, the water ran off and the ground was dry. Then at Joshua’s command the priests carried the ark; down to the middle of the dry river bed and stood there with the ark while the long procession of the Israelites passed by them to the other side. Joshua had picked out twelve men, one of every tribe, and told them that each one should pick up a stone from the bed of the river, where the priests’ feet had stood, and take it to the other side. With them they should erect a memorial at Gilgal so that later the children might ask, “What mean these stones?” “Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you … that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear … God forever.”

Now the city of Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given into thine hand Jericho … And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days … and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets … all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat.” So for six days the men of war went around the city once a day, but on the seventh day they rose early at the dawning and marched around seven times. At this time the priests blew a loud and long blast on their horns together. Joshua cried, “Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.” A great shout filled the air and the walls of Jericho broke to pieces with a terrible crash. Thus the city with all that was in it was taken, but the Israelites were forbidden to use any of the treasures for themselves.