A Song of Deliverance & Remembrance
JOY! OH GREAT JOY! fills the mouths of the righteous as they sing their song of deliverance! They give out a shout for their day of suffering has finally come to an end! They have been torn and battered, runover and depleted. BUT GOD! And they now stand knowing that their God has brought them through HIMSELF! For He IS a mighty God and there is no one like HIM!
And we all say together, "God, it is YOU who have set us free from oppression, the thumb of our enemy! YOU ALONE have done this and we will remember! We will never forget! For it has not been by our own strength, our own hands, our own power and might. It has been by YOUR strength, YOUR power, YOUR might! And MAY WE NEVER FORGET OUR GOD on the other side of the river. Like the children of Israel as they crossed the Jordan, they gathered rocks so they would remember, so they would never forget, and so they would be able to tell their children and children's children and children's children's children how God brought them through HIMSELF into their Promise Land! Great are you Lord and greatly to be praised!!"
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Joshua got up early in the morning; then he and all the children of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they spent the night there before they crossed [the river]. And it happened at the end of three days that the officers went throughout the camp, and they commanded the people, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from where you are and follow it. However, there shall be a distance between you and it of about 2,000 cubits (3,000 ft.) by measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may [be able to see the ark and] know the way you are to go, for you have not passed this way before.”
Then Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves [for His purpose], for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders (miracles) among you.” Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over [the river] ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went on ahead of the people.
The LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to magnify and exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that just as I was with Moses, I will [also] be with you. You shall command the priests who carry the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ ” Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here, and listen to the words of the LORD your God.” Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.
Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you [leading the way] into the Jordan. So now take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, [come to] rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing down from above will be cut off, and they will stand in one mass [of water].”
So when the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan with the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, and when those who were carrying the ark came up to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were submerged at the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all of its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters which were flowing down from above stopped and rose up in one mass a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan. Those [waters] flowing downward toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed [the river] opposite Jericho. [Ps 114] And while all [the people of] Israel crossed over on dry ground, the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan [riverbed], until all the nation had finished crossing over the Jordan.”
So it was when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Take for yourselves the twelve men [chosen] from among the people, one man from each tribe, and command them, ‘Pick up for yourselves twelve stones [one each] from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm; carry them over with you and lay them down at the place where you will spend the night tonight.’ ” Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, “Cross over again to the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, so that this may be a sign among you; when your children ask later, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall become a memorial for Israel forever.”
So the [twelve men chosen from the] sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, just as the LORD had spoken to Joshua; and they carried them over with them to the place where they were spending the night and put them down there. Then Joshua set up [a second monument of] twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day. For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell the people, in accordance with everything that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried and crossed [the dry riverbed]; and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed for battle before the [other] sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them; about 40,000 [men] armed and equipped for war crossed for battle before the LORD to the desert plains of Jericho.
On that day the LORD magnified and exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so they feared him [with profound awe and reverence], just as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.
Now the LORD said to Joshua, “Order the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” So Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up out of the Jordan.” When the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were raised up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and flowed over all its banks as before.
Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month and encamped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. He said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, just as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; so that all the peoples of the earth may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that the hand of the LORD is mighty and extraordinarily powerful, so that you will fear the LORD your God [and obey and worship Him with profound awe and reverence] forever.”
Joshua 3:1-17 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/jos.3.1-17.AMP
&
Joshua 4:1-24 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/jos.4.1-24.AMP
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