Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Joshua Chapter 3
Metaphysically Interpreting Joshua 3:1-17
3:1And Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over. 3:2And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp; 3:3and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. 3:4Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore. 3:5And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Jehovah will do wonders among you. 3:6And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
3:7And Jehovah said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. 3:8And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, ye shall stand still in the Jordan. 3:9And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of Jehovah your God. 3:10And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite. 3:11Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into the Jordan. 3:12Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. 3:13And it shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap.
3:14And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over the Jordan, the priests that bare the ark of the covenant being before the people; 3:15and when they that bare the ark were come unto the Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (for the Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest,) 3:16that the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. 3:17And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation were passed clean over the Jordan.
October 12, 1902: Josh. 3:9-17
There is a stream of thought flowing through the mind constantly. On its bosom are carried good thoughts and bad thoughts, with all their varying degrees from the highest to the lowest. This stream makes the race consciousness, and it is our heritage from generation to generation. It is the Jordon (judgment) of all the past thoughts and acts of humanity. Its substance is essentially pure, but error has filled its banks with a flood of muddy water (ignorant negations.) The I AM (Joshua) must pass through with all his conscious mind (people) before he can take possession of the “promised land,” or subjective consciousness. The aliens mentioned in the tenth verse of this lesson represent invasions of thought from without, and the evidence that there is a higher power at Work with us is that these inharmonious thoughts are in a measure eliminated, and bodily health more pronounced, as soon as we claim the I AM power.
“The ark of the covenant” represents a spiritual principle, which we all possess, but which transcends ordinary consciousness. The “priests” are those thoughts that transmit to the conscious mind the flashes of intelligence and superior powers, which are native to the spiritual principle. We cannot pass through this Jordon of mortal thought in our own personal strength; we must come in touch with some of the more interior forces of Being. These superior powers are ours, but we have allowed them to become inactive through non-recognition. Now they are to be brought into consciousness in the very centre of our mortal thought. We are to place them in the very midst of this flood of thought and cut it off, while the I AM, and all that follow it, pass into the realm within. In one of its aspects this is “going into the silence.”
We affirm the presence of Spirit as all and shut out the thoughts of sense, when a new state or presence comes to us, and we realize that which is beyond words to describe. This passing over Jordon is not accomplished all at once and the “promised land” entered as you would go from one place to another on earth. But each day we affirm the power of the I AM, we invoke the presence of the spiritual principle within us, and its power to shut out every mortal thought; we concentrate all our attention upon the depths of the life within, and step by step we are led into that land of “milk and honey” lying just below the line of our everyday life.
– UNITY magazine.
October 13, 1907: Joshua 3:5-17
Right within the soul of everyone is a wonderful realm of possibilities, latent and partly developed, termed in Scripture the “Promised Land.” Those who live wholly in the outer or sense plane know but little of this realm, although from it they draw all that sustains the body as a physical thing. When man has reached a certain point in experience, has had enough of sense consciousness, he longs for something higher, and resolves to be free from the bondage of fleshly sensations. This is the first step toward the “Promised Land”, in Scripture typified in the flight from Egypt. But the “Promised Land” is not so easily possessed as we thought, when we began the journey, and it sometimes requires all the diplomacy of our leader (Moses, spiritual understanding) to keep us moving in the right direction. We want to return to the “fleshpots” of Egypt, and we are afraid of the giant, Anak.
The way to keep right on going forward is illustrated in this journey of the children of Israel. The “priests” represent our faith in the power of Spirit, and Joshua I AM. Jordan is the flood of negative, earthly, mortal thoughts that constantly flow through the mind from Galilee, the head, to the Dead Sea, the body. Here is shown a way to stop this mortal thought flow (Jordan) and let the thoughts (children of Israel) go into the inner realms. The “Ark of the Covenant” is the consciousness of a God-promise, or intuitive knowledge, that man's real nature is spiritual. This is the foundation of our faith (priests) and, when we put our most external understanding (soles of the feet) in conjunction with this spiritual truth, mortal thought stops its flow in the mind and another lot of forces and thoughts are in evidence. We become conscious of the “Promised Land,” The children of the Real march right over into it.
The revelations that come to those who enter this inner realm are various, no two alike, because of the wide difference in the character of individuals. To one it may seem a land flowing with milk and honey, because of the good thoughts and deeds stored there from previous bodily experiences, and to another “walled cities” and “giants” loom up. But I AM, Joshua, is always master of the situation whenever he resorts to spiritual law, faith and trust in God. We should remember that it is not “blind faith” that opens the way to the “Promised Land,” but faith working under the law. First convince yourself that certain fundamental propositions are true. Rest the soles of your spiritual feet upon this substantial foundation, then command your thoughts to fall in line with it, and you will enter a new land, a new world; the very heavens will be opened to you and you will know that all that the prophets have said is true.
– UNITY magazine.
May 26, 1918: Joshua 3:5-17
What in consciousness is the “ark of the covenant”? The “ark of the covenant” is the conscious realization that the spiritual nature in man is the Real Self.
What do the “waters of Jordan” symbolize? The “waters of Jordan” symbolize the flood of negative, mortal thoughts which flow from Galilee (mind) to the Dead Sea (unregenerate body).
What in consciousness does Joshua represent, and what is his office? Joshua represents the I Am who governs and controls the activity of thought in the inner realms. He speaks to the children of Israel, and commands them to “hear the words of Jehovah your God.”
What in consciousness do the “priests” mentioned in this lesson symbolize? The “priests” symbolize our faith in the power of Spirit, through which understanding of mind action is established.
How does one enter into the joys of the “promised land” (spiritual realization)? First there is faith in Spirit as the one reality active in man-consciousness, followed by understanding of Divine Law. Established in understanding, man, through I Am (Joshua) commands his thought-world to harmonize with Divine standards, and thus sets up an entirely new state of consciousness of a spiritual character. This spiritual consciousness is the “promised land.”
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 12-23-2013
