The book of Joshua describes Israel crossing the Jordan in ways that recall Eden, especially the way Yahweh caused Adam to rest in the garden (Gen 2:15). This post picks up and develops the line of thought from a previous post titled “He Caused them to Rest.”

Repeating patterns

The book of Joshua opens with Yahweh stating that he is with Joshua just as he was with Moses (Josh 1:15). One of the most prominent themes is the book of Exodus is that Israel’s ultimate hope is Yahweh’s presence with his people. In Exodus 3, Moses repeatedly tells Yahweh that he is not able to go and confront Pharaoh (3:11; 4:1, 10, 13). Yahweh repeatedly responds by telling Moses that his inability is relevant: “But I will be with you” (Exod 3:12; 4:11, 15).¹ The opening chapter of Joshua affirms that Israel’s strength and hope has not changed. Yahweh’s presence with Joshua is demonstrated with a new “Red Sea” crossing. Through Moses Yahweh parted the Red Sea, and through Joshua Yahweh parted the Jordan River, leading the people across “on dry ground” (Exod 14:16, 22, 29; 15:19; Josh 3:17; 4:18, 22).

This theme prepares the way for a less obvious one. Understanding that Joshua is empowered by Yahweh’s presence helps you see how Israel’s entrance into the land is set on analogy to Yahweh “causing Israel to rest” in Eden.

Adam in Joshua

Apart from the first few chapters of Genesis, the name Adam only appears in the Hebrew Bible in Joshua 3:16, 1 Chronicles 1:1, and Hosea 6:7.² In Chronicles 1:1 and in Hosea 6:7, “Adam” clearly refers to the first human being in Scripture, but in Joshua 3:16 “Adam” refers to a place. Could this be a reference to Adam, too? As the author describes the way the waters of the Jordan stopped flowing, just as the priests put their feet into the water, the text says,

The waters coming down from above stood still and rose as one heap, far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan … (Josh 3:16)

Why did the author include this detail about a city called Adam? What reader hasn’t stopped at this point and said, “Did he just say Adam?” I think the author of Joshua includes this detail to remind readers of the garden story and to begin to portray Israel’s entrance into Canaan as an entrance into a new Eden.

He caused Adam to rest

It’s widely recognized that the promised land, “flowing with milk and honey,” is portrayed by the biblical authors in terms of Eden.³ It is striking how the language used in Joshua 4:3 and 4:8 parallels the language used in Genesis to describe Yahweh’s action of “causing Adam to rest” in Eden. Recognizing the similar language and metaphor helps (1) explain why the name of the city of Adam was mentioned in Joshua 3:16 and (2) sheds light on the characterization of both Israel and Canaan as Adam in Eden.

In a previous post, I noted how Genesis 2:8 states that God planted a garden and “put” (שׂים) “Adam” (אָדָם) in this garden. In Genesis 2:15, however, the idea is repeated but a different verb is used. In Genesis 2:15, God “caused Adam (אָדָם) to rest (נוח)” in the garden to work it and keep it.” In that post, I argued that the different verbiage (נוח rather than שׂים) helps highlight the way Genesis 2 envisions work: The author of Genesis 2 envisions a type of “working and keeping” that goes hand in had with rest. This is both striking and hard to imagine.

You might think that reading the idea of “rest” into that Hebrew verb (hifil נוח) is going too far, but there are some key passages where that particular form of the verb (hifil נוח) is used and the idea of rest is explicit. For example, in Exodus 33:14 Yahweh tells Moses, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (hifil נוח). Deuteronomy 3:20, 12:10, and 25:19 speak about a time when Yahweh will “give Israel rest” (hifil נוח) from their enemies. In Joshua 1:13, Yahweh tells Joshua to remember what Moses said, “Yahweh is providing you a place of rest” (hifil נוח), and two verses later, again, there is mention of Yahweh “giving rest” (hifil נוח) to the people in the promised land.

Understanding how this verb can work prompts the reader of Genesis to imagine Yahweh giving Adam rest in the Garden (Gen 2:15), and this provides an important backdrop for reading the book Joshua and understanding what is being symbolized by the twelve stone pillar Joshua sets up.

He caused a twelve stone symbol to rest

After the people of Israel cross the Jordan, Yahweh instructed Joshua to set up a twelve stone pillar to memorialize what had happened that day. Joshua told the people that the pillar would be a sign representing Yahweh’s powerful presence with his people (Josh 4:22–23). There’s bonus symbolism, however, if you are tracking with the previous two sections of this post.

The twelve stone pillar represents the people of Israel (Josh 4:2), and twice—in Joshua 4:3 and 4:8—the text states that the stones were taken out of the Jordan and “caused to rest” (hifil נוח) on the other side of the Jordan, where the people were sleeping for the night. It’s noteworthy that in both places—in 4:3 and in 4:8—the place where the stones were “caused to rest” is further described as “the place where you spend the night.” The notion of “rest” is made explicitly by the description of the location.

Conclusion

In the opening chapters of Joshua, multiple patterns of Scripture repeat. One less obvious theme is the way the people’s entrance into the land is portrayed like Yahweh placing Adam in Eden. Joshua 3:16 recalls the story of Adam, and Joshua 4:3 and 4:8 make clear that Yahweh is giving Israel rest in the land just as he gave Adam rest in the garden. Yahweh explicitly told Joshua that he was with him, and this helps pave the way toward showing the reader that it is not Joshua “causing the people to rest” in the promised land. It’s Yahweh. Once across the Jordan, Joshua gave the instructions to set up the twelve stone symbol of Yahweh’s work among Israel’s twelve tribes. Twelve men, one from each tribe, “caused the twelve stone to rest” (hifil נוח) in the place where they would sleep for the night. The work was not, however, the work of the people or the work of Joshua. Yahweh caused them to rest in Canaan just as he had caused Adam to rest in Eden.

1. For more on this theme and how it is celebrated in Exodus 15, see this post: “Pentateuch Poems and the Intervening Narratives.” ↩
2. Granted, references to “humanity” in other parts of Scripture are the same Hebrew word (אָדָם), and it’s not always easy to parse out the difference in meaning, especially in the early chapters of Genesis. The ambiguity between using אָדָם as a name and a reference to all humanity is intentional in the early chapters of Genesis. ↩
3. For example, Bartholomew and Goheen state it explicitly, “The land is like a second Eden.” Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story. Second Edition, (Baker Academic, 2014), p. 85. ↩