03/03/08: Joshua 1-3
What do you think "in a heap" means? Similar to what happens behind a dam? I wonder why the water pooled "far away"?
Ted: The water's being heaped up just means that it was "stacked" or "piled" up on itself. I think the word for "heap" is more correctly translated "wall." I've wondered myself why this was done far upstream from where the Israelites crossed.
Possibly it had something to do with the fact that the Jordan River was at flood stage (Joshua 3:15). Maybe wherever the water was heaped up, the water, continuing to flow from upstream to that point and needing somewhere to go, spilled out onto the land in that area and caused even greater flooding. Therefore, for the Israelites to avoid that extra flooding, they were told to cross further downstream where the flooding was less.
Ted: The water's being heaped up just means that it was "stacked" or "piled" up on itself. I think the word for "heap" is more correctly translated "wall." I've wondered myself why this was done far upstream from where the Israelites crossed.
Possibly it had something to do with the fact that the Jordan River was at flood stage (Joshua 3:15). Maybe wherever the water was heaped up, the water, continuing to flow from upstream to that point and needing somewhere to go, spilled out onto the land in that area and caused even greater flooding. Therefore, for the Israelites to avoid that extra flooding, they were told to cross further downstream where the flooding was less.
