


At God’s command, Joshua (the people’s new leader) instructed the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant to stand in the water of the river. Only the Jordan River stood in their way now, and it was at flood stage (Joshua 3:15). It was the next generation of Israelites who stood on the banks of the Jordan, ready to enter Canaan at last. The people had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years as a punishment for distrusting the Lord’s care when He first brought them to Canaan Moses himself was denied entry into the Promised Land and was only allowed to view it from a mountain across the Jordan before he died (Numbers 27:12 Deuteronomy 31:2 32:48–52). Many years later, as the Israelites journeyed from slavery in Egypt to the land God had promised them, the Jordan River acted as both an obstacle and pathway. This was a pivotal moment, as it not only established that Lot’s character was selfish but also directed Lot toward the evil city of Sodom, which God later destroyed (see Genesis 18–19). Abraham allowed Lot to choose his share first, and Lot chose the Jordan Valley, which was lush and well-watered due to the Jordan River (verse 10). The Jordan River is mentioned indirectly in Genesis 13, where Lot and Abraham are dividing up the land to which God had led them. Because of its great length and central location, the Jordan River is mentioned in the Bible over 185 times. It lies on the eastern border of modern-day Israel and the western borders of both Syria and Jordan. The Jordan River is a 156-mile-long river that flows north to south from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.
