Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-10-11
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson in the international Series
for October ~, 19O2-Cr0ssing
the Jordan.
THE LESSON TEXT.


(Joshua 3:9-1D.
8. And Joshua said unto the chAoIen o.
Israel: Come higher, and hear the WoFos
Of the Lord your God.
To- And Joshua said: Hereby ye snaIl
know that the living God is among YOU
and that he will without fail drive ous
from before YOU the Canaanites, ana the
Hitites and the Invites, and the Per1zzltes.
and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, ana
the Jebusites.
II. Behold, the ark of the covenant OF
the Lord of all the earth passeth over De-
fore you into Jordan.
II. Now therefore take you Il men out OF
the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a
man.
Is. 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 Joi-
dan, that the waters Of Jordan shall be
cut off from the waters That come down
from above; and they shall sand upon an
heap.
II. And 1t came to pass when the people
removed from their tents to pass ove1'
Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of
the covenant before the people;
10. And as they that bare the ark were
come unto Jordan, and the feet Of the
priests that bare the ark were dipped In
the brim of the water (for Jordan over
fioweth all its banks all the time of harVest1'
16. That the waters which came down
from above STOOD and rose up upon an
heap very far from the city Adam, that
is beside Zaretan; and those that came
down toward the sea of the plain. ever
the salt sea, failed, and were cut OIL: ana
the people passed over right against Jer-
icho.
II. And the priests that bare the ark of
the covenant of the Lord stood firm on
dry ground in the midst of Jordan, ano all
the Israelites passed over on dry ground
until all the people were passed clean over
Jordan.
GOLDEN TEXT.--When thou passest
through the waters will be with
| thee; and through the rivers, they
| shall not overflow thee--Is. 43:2.
| OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURAL SECTION.
The crossing .........'''''.'-.--.-Jos III
| The memorials JOSH ala
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
The Prepare tiop.-The host had been
encamped on the upper terraces of the
Jordan valley. Early on the morning
| of the 18th of Nisan they broke camp
and descended to the waters edge.
1t was on this day that Joshua made
arrangements for the food supply
| G:10, ~. Here, as if watching their
chance to cross, they remained for
three days: But for their faith that
somehow God would find way, this
would have been very hopeless bust
|
| ing to perfect the arrangement for
the crossing, and directed that the peo-
pie sanctify themselves (see Elk. 10: 10).
The Crossing.-The Jordan valley
may be described as a great trench
$3.50 miles long, and from two to Is
| broad, which falls from the sea level
to as low as 1892 feet below tic. A.
| Smith. The river itself is a small, tur-
| bulent shallow stream, about 90 feet
in width-about the width of many of
our city streets. At certain seasons,
| however, it overfows its regular bed,
and spreads out over the bottom'lands,
becoming quite a formidable stream.
The river was high at the time of our
lesson, and the fords, usually covered
by only three feet of water, must have
| been~impa ssable. The two spies prob
ably crossed by swimming. Hereby
We shall know that the living God rs
among you" In the few encouraging
words which Joshua spoke to the peo-
pie before the start, he centered their
attention on God, who was a living,
helping present person. In Him was
| their strength. "The Lord of all the
EARTH" An idea of God vastly supe-
rior to that of the surrounding ma
tions. ga significant title of the Most
High at time when the conquest of
| the land was contemplated" &c. F.
| Maclear. "When they that bare the
| ark were come unto the Jordan:" The
| priests, whose duty it was to carry IT.
They were over half mile in advance
| of the people. Remember that Israel
| was a great company, and was spread
=
| the river. The movement of the ark
could not have been seen.if the people
| had swarmed in all around it.. From
| this time on, the ark. and not the pill
| lar of cloud, was to be the symbol of
! Gods guiding presence. "Rose up in
one heap. a great way off, at Adam"
This damming up of the river took
place over IS miles above the point of
crossing, probably near Tell Damieh,
where the mountains crowd the river,
and where a landslide or liam" of
| floating trees could easily accomplish
| the result described. At the crossing
of the Red sea God used "a strong
east wind to accomplish His purpose.
Here it was probably some unusual OBJ
struction near Tell Damien. As mat
ter of fact, exactly this, thing happened
in the year 1867 A. D. at this very place.
''What occurred $50 years ago, by
what we call natural causes. may we'll
have occurred 5000 years before, timed
by Divine interposition." canon Iris
tram in Sunday-School Times. "The
people passed over:" Probably below
the place where the priests stood in
the river bed. that they might feel
that God stood between them and the
| returning waters. The crossing was
| hurried. and effected at many differ
ent points.
The Memorials.-This memorial was
a constant reminder of what God had
done for them as a nation. Think, in
this connection, of the value to us of
Gus various emorials-soldiers' mon
uments. national holidays Chris tmas,
tho L"r3'- Gupper. etc.