In a recent article in The Schoolmistress, the distinguished Broadcaster, Mr. E. R. Appleton, referring to the crossing of the Jordan by Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, states :—
“It has long been recognised that the stoppage of the Jordan was an event which, though its occasion was an indication of special Divine care for Israel, can yet be explained by natural causes. Recently such falls of cliff, as that described in Joshua 3. 16, have taken place, and have dammed the lower river completely for some time. For a generation no one has seriously doubted that this is what happened when the Israelites were approaching Palestine, and that they (or some of them) took advantage of the temporary stoppage to cross the river. Their movement could not have been foreseen, and its very swiftness rendered the next conquest comparatively easy . . . and the fact that the point of stoppage was so far away from the crossing place would certainly impress these early Israelites with the sense of a miracle . . . This is what had happened. Thirty miles away from the place where the Israelites were encamped there runs a river into the Jordan from the east. It is called to-day the Wadi Zerka, but the ancient Israelites knew it as the Jabbok. The heavy rains had brought down more water than usual; there was, possibly, an earthquake as well; and the result was that huge masses of the cliffs which hung above the river were undermined by the water and fell with a tremendous crash into the stream itself. So great was the fall, that the stones and earth stretched right across the river bed and stopped it altogether. We can do much the same kind of thing to-day; when we want to make a lake, in order to secure a water supply, we build a very strong and solid wall across a valley down which a stream is running, and at once lakes are formed. That is the way, for instance, in which the Birmingham water-works away in the Welsh mountains have been made.”
“The dams we build to-day are very solid, and are meant to last for many years. But the great fall of rock and earth in the Jordan valley was not so strong. The water was piled up against it for some time, but the earth was easily washed away and the dam could not withstand the pressure of the stream. So after a few hours the water made its way through the construction, first a slow trickle, then a growing stream, until, at last, the whole force of the river burst through and ran on down in its old course. The water had been stopped only for a few hours. But that was long enough, and the Israelites took their opportunity and made their way across, without even having to wet their feet. Of course, they took with them the Ark of their God, and they believed that it was He who had stopped the stream for them. And they were right, for God had once more shown His care and His power, and had conquered for His people a difficulty which they could never have overcome by themselves.”
Any information that can be given as to the feasibility or otherwise of this suggested explanation will be welcomed.
1st Peter: Some New Testament Allusions