Tricky Chronology and Mangled Storytelling

The account of the crossing of the Jordan in the Book of Joshua contains some of the oddest chronology that I’ve seen in my reading so far. Joshua commands the people to choose twelve men before they crossover. Then, after they crossover, he commands them to again choose twelve men. After they take twelve stones from the river, Joshua puts twelve stones back in the river. At the end of chapter 3, the author says that the people crossed over. Part way through chapter 4, they are still crossing over. At one point in chapter 4, the priests crossover. Later, Joshua commands the priests to come out of the river bed. The author describes two different liturgical rituals about the twelve stones (one at the beginning of chapter 4 and the other at the end).

Why would the author-redactor stagger the chronology of the account of the Jordan crossing? For us, such an important event ought not start and stop, twist and turn so many times. The account disrupts the main plot so much that it’s difficult for one to get the facts straight. Some have said that the text’s complicated chronology is derived from a complex textual pre-history. In other words, the Jordan crossing account is mixture of red, yellow, blue, and green Play-Dough. The theory is odd. For a author-redactor who is putting the text together in its final form, why would he mangle such an important event in the Book of Joshua? So far, the book has been building toward the conquest of Canaan with three different pericopes. Chapter 1 contains dialog encouraging Joshua to “be strong and courageous” to fulfill his duty. In the second chapter, Rahab confesses to the spies that the people of the land are fearful of the Israel and have no hope for success against them. Chapters 3-4 contain the accounts of Israel’s crossing (chapter 5 is a reinterpretation of chapters 3-4). If this story really is Play-Dough, it’s an odd way to build up to the conquest that occurs in chapter 6.

I think we can find another answer. For the author-redactor, the importance of the event isn’t that they got to the other side. The importance of the event centers around the two liturgies of the twelve stones. The mixed chronology catches our attention and refocus it on different elements within the story that make the liturgies significant. In a lot of ways, the staggered chronology also allows the author to show the reader the fulfillment of different prefigured, predicted elements. How is Joshua great? How did the LORD show wonderful things? How did the LORD show Israel that El-Hai was among them? How did he show that all the words that he commanded Joshua were fulfilled? He uses the odd chronology to answer all these questions. The liturgies focus our vision to see how the text answers these questions.

Thus, the text is deeply theological in nature. When Israel looks back at the Jordan Crossing, they are to remember all the things that God through Joshua showed them. They had no need to abstract anything from the event; the author displays the religious significance in plain sight.