The Travels of Israel in Joshua 1–6
Author: Daniel Owens, PhD
February 13, 2025
As Pastor Chris has been walking us through the early chapters of Joshua, we have mainly focused on the big issues about God and his relationship with Israel and with us. However, we don’t want to forget that the events described in these early chapters occurred in a particular place, and that place colors the stories that our author shares with us. This post will draw out a number of geographic features that will help fill in the picture for us.
First, Joshua 1:4 gives us a general sketch of the land of promise: “From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.” This verse starts in the south (“the wilderness,” probably referring to the Negeb, which includes the land from Beersheba southward.
Lebanon brings to mind the northern mountains above the Sea of Galilee (a region that today belongs to the modern state of Lebanon). The far northern boundary extends to the Euphrates River. This south-to-north description is followed by an east-to-west description from “the land of the Hittites” (probably the hill country west of the Jordan River)1 to the place where the sun set for Israelites, in the Mediterranean Sea.
This description is broad, including land that Israel was able to control only during the reigns of David and Solomon (1 Kings 4:24).2 Most importantly, the land sits on the fertile land bridge between Egypt in the southwest and Mesopotamia in the northeast. Due to the nearly impassable Arabian Desert to the east, people traveling between those two main regions would naturally pass through the land promised to Israel, making it a strategic and contested location.
Second, the events of these early chapters take place in a small area called the Arabah. It includes the Jordan Rift Valley, cut by the Jordan River in its flow down from the Sea of Galilee (which is known in Joshua 12:3 as the Sea of Chinneroth) to the Dead Sea (which is known in Joshua 3:16 as the Sea of the Arabah or the Salt Sea). The Arabah is dry, apart from the water from the river. In Jericho, the average annual rainfall is only five inches, in contrast to the nearly 41 inches of average annual precipitation in Naperville and even the 15 inches that Jerusalem receives each year.3 The Arabah is also far below sea level, dropping from 695 feet below sea level at the Sea of Galilee down to 1,380 feet below sea level at the Dead Sea.4
Third, the actual movement of the Israelites into the land and first battle all took place in a small area in the southern Jordan Rift Valley. The spies perhaps swam the Jordan to reach Jericho. When they escaped, they hid in the hills to the west of the city while pursuers sought them to the east toward the Jordan.
The miracle stopping the flow of the Jordan River during its inundation during the harvest season (Josh. 3:15) allowed the nation to cross safely. The water stopped at a heart-comforting 16 miles north at Adam, where the Jabbok joins the Jordan River.
When Israel set out from their camp at Shittim, they traveled roughly eight miles to the eastern bank of the Jordan (Josh. 3:1–2). Having camped there for three days, they received instructions to cross the river (Josh. 3:3–6). The actual trip from the river to their encampment at Gilgal (Josh. 4:19–20) was only about five miles as the crow flies.
And the distance from Gilgal to Jericho was even shorter, perhaps only about a mile or two. The people of Jericho could have watched Israel from the city walls before the battle, even when the Israelite men were circumcised and recovering (Josh. 5:1–9). This whole process was a test of faith for Israel and a demonstration of God’s faithfulness to keep his promises to bring them into the land.
Daniel Owens, PhD, is NCC’s Pastor of Discipleship.
Hillshade data copyright ©Maptiler (https://www.maptiler.com/).
1David M. Howard Jr., Joshua, New American Commentary 5 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1998), 82–83.
2Marten H. Woudstra, The Book of Joshua, New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1981), 59–60.
3Barry J Beitzel and Nick Rowland, The New Moody Atlas of the Bible (Chicago: Moody, 2009), 65; “Check Average Rainfall by Month for Naperville (IL),” World Weather & Climate Information, accessed February 3, 2025, https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-precipitation-Rainfall,naperville-illinois-us,United-States-of-America.
4Beitzel and Rowland, The New Moody Atlas of the Bible, 51–52.
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