XVIT. THE STONES BURIED IN THE JORDAN. 305 



demned by their unbelief to wander in the wilderness ; 

 and, the old easy route Divinely forbidden, they had to 

 skirt round the mountains on the right hand, and then 

 to descend into the valley of the Jordan, and cross over 

 that formidable river. The place where they entered 

 the Holy Land is unique. There is no other place like 

 it in the world. It is the deepest chasm on the surface 

 of the earth at a great depth below the level of the 

 sea. Is there no spiritual significance in this remark- 

 able fact that the Israelites should have entered the high 

 mountain land of Palestine, not by a high mountain 

 pass, but by the lowest part of it, the deepest defile on 

 the face of the earth ? Do we not see in this circum- 

 stance a symbol of the deep repentance and self-abase- 

 ment which a people so sensual, so ignorant, required 

 before they could be fitted to occupy the heights of 

 worship in God's holy heritage ? 



Then look further at the fact that the time when 

 the Israelites crossed the Jordan was the spring-time, 

 which in Palestine is the commencement of the barley- 

 harvest. We are told elsewhere in Scripture that the 

 harvest is emblematical of the judgment. It was there- 

 fore a time of judgment when the Israelites crossed 

 the river; their past sins, their numerous rebellions, 

 and outbursts of unbelief, deserved condemnation and 

 punishment ; their iniquities rose up against them, 

 and demanded their exclusion from the Land of 

 Promise as unworthy. But God in His great mercy 

 held back the waters of the Jordan, the waters of 

 judgment and death, which would otherwise have 



