The Knowledge of the Glory

This morning my Bible reading brought me through Joshua 3, which describes the Jordan drying up during flood, allowing the Israelites to cross into Canaan. Critics are generally skeptical of the miracles described in the Bible; however, they do not call this miracle a myth. Instead, they circle around to attack from a different angle, impugning the account because of its complexity, because it interweaves the actions of the priests, the people crossing over, and the tribal leaders taking up memorial stones.

The reason the critics do not attack head on is because there is independent evidence to deflect such an approach.

In Joshua 3:16, the writer tells us that the waters piled up at the village of Adam. This is significant.

Adam is about 16 miles north of where the Israelites crossed the river. Twice in the last 1,000 years the drying of the Jordan river has been replicated. The first instance was recorded by an Arab historian, who tells us that in 1266 a landslip at Tell ed-Damiyeh (identified with Adam) left the river bed dry for ten hours. The second instance occurred almost 700 years later in 1927 when an earthquake again caused a landslip at Adam which left the river dry for 21 hours.

Clearly a natural basis for the miracle exists. The critics cannot argue it away as a myth. Does this “naturalness” at all detract from the Biblical miracle? Not in the least. Given the rarity of landslips at Adam, that one should occur at just the moment when Israel was ready to cross is a miracle of timing that reveals the finger of God.