Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Moses My assistant is dead, and you must lead the Israelis across the Jordan River into the land I promised them. Be strong and brave, and be careful to obey all of My Laws. Then everything you do will be successful. Don’t be afraid, for I will be with you and help you wherever you go.
Then Joshua spoke to the Israeli Officers. “Go through the camp,” he said, “and announce to all the people that three days from now we will cross the Jordan River into Canaan, the Promised Land!”
Meanwhile, Joshua had already sent two spies across. They came to the city of Jericho and went into the house of a woman named Rahab. Someone told the king of Jericho that the two spies had come to the city and were at Rahab’s home and told her to bring out the men who were hiding there.
Instead, Rahab took the two men up to the flat roof of her house and hid them under some stalks of flax spread there to dry. The king’s messengers looked all over, but since they couldn’t find them, they finally went away.
After they were gone, Rahab talked with the men and said she knew that the Lord had given her country to the Israelis. The people of Canaan had already heard how the God of Israel had dried up a path for them through the Red Sea and how He had helped them in fighting against their enemies. Rahab said that when her people heard these things they were very much afraid of the people of Israel. Then she asked the two men to promise that they would remember her kindness in protecting them, and not let any of her family be killed when Israel captured the city of Jericho.
The men said that if she would keep it a secret about their being there, they would protect her. They told her to hang a red rope from the window of her house to help them recognize it again. When the Israeli army came to destroy the city, no one inside her house would be harmed.
The city of Jericho had a high wall around it, and Rahab’s house was built on the wall. The king had ordered the gates of the city closed to keep the two spies from getting away, so Rahab let the two men down by a rope on the outside of the wall. She warned them to hide in a nearby mountain for three days until the soldiers quit looking for them.
They did this, then crossed the river to tell Joshua all that had happened.
Joshua and all the people got up early the next morning and travelled to the banks of the Jordan River, where they stayed for three days. Then Joshua told them, “Get ready! Tomorrow we will cross the river, and the Lord will do wonders among you. The priests will go first, carrying the Ark. As soon as their feet touch the water, the river will stop flowing, and the priests will walk through on dry ground!”
Everything happened just as Joshua had said. The next morning the priests carried the Ark toward the river, and all the people followed them. When the priests stepped into the water at the river’s edge, the water opened up in front of them, and they walked on dry ground into the middle of the river! The priests waited there with the Ark while all the people walked past them to the other side, into the Promised Land of Canaan!
After all the people were across, the priests carrying the Ark followed. As soon as they stepped out of the river onto the shore, the river began flowing again!
The Israelis made their camp at a place called Gilgal. There they found some corn in the fields, which they roasted and ate. It was the first time they had eaten anything but manna for forty years! The next day, the manna stopped coming. For the forty years while they were in the wilderness where no grain grew, the Lord had sent manna to them every morning without fail. But in Canaan there was plenty of food, so the Lord stopped sending the manna.
Questions:
How did Rahab help the Israelis spies?
How did the Israelis get across the Jordan River?
Did the people find manna to eat in Canaan?
Why not?
"Only Life Changes" 