now waited to see the salvation of God. Joshua told them to
follow the priests, and the Levites who would bear the Ark of the
Covenant, so when Joshua said:

"Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth
over before you into Jordan," the people followed.

The Jordan lay spread before them like a lake, for it was the time of
year when it overflowed all its banks, but when the feet of the priests
who bore the Ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters from
above stopped and rose like a wall, while the waters below flowed away
into the Dead Sea, and left a wide path for the people to walk in, and
the Ark stood still in Jordan until every one had passed over. Then
twelve men, one out of every tribe, took a stone from the bed of the
river and carried it over for a memorial altar, so that when any should
ask in years to come, "What do these stones mean?" someone might tell
them how the Lord led Israel through Jordan into their own land.

[Illustration: Crossing the Jordan]

After the Ark had come up from the bed of Jordan, and there was not one
of all the thousands of Israel left behind, the waters came down from
the place where they had stayed, and flowed down into the Dead Sea, and
overflowed the banks of Jordan as before.

The stones were heaped in Gilgal where they camped, and directly before
them rose the walls of Jericho, and here they kept the passover. For
forty years they had been fed with manna from heaven as they camped or
journeyed in the wilderness, but now they began to eat the grain and
the fruits of the land, and the manna fell no more.

Nearly five hundred years before the family of Jacob left this land to
go down into Egypt where Joseph was. They grew to be a great people,
but they were slaves. Then the Lord sent Moses to make them free, and
they began the long journey, which at last brought them to their own
land.

Forty years they were on the journey, and all this time they were
pilgrims, but on the day that the Jordan ceased to flow, and parted
while they passed over into the land promised to their fathers, they
became a nation.

The land was before them, and they had only to obey the Lord and his
servant Joshua to conquer and possess it.

As they filled the valley of the Jordan before Jericho, the hearts of
the heathen fainted for fear, for they knew that only the Lord could
divide a river to let his people pass.

Joshua went out of the camp to look at J