Joshua 3:1-12

B. Entrance into the land 3:1-5:12

The entrance into the land was an extremely important event in the life of Israel. The writer marked it off in three major movements. Each one begins with a command from God to Joshua (Joshua 3:7-8; Joshua 4:1-3; and Joshua 4:15-16), followed by the communication of the command to the people, and then its execution. The way the narrator told the story seems designed to impress on the reader that it was Yahweh who was bringing His people miraculously into the land.

1. Passage through the Jordan chs. 3-4

This section contains two parts: the actual crossing of the Jordan River (ch. 3) and the commemoration of that crossing (ch. 4).

The crossing of the river ch. 3