מתן על הפרק - יהושע ג'-ד'

בפרקים אלו מתואר האירוע המכונן של חציית הירדן והכניסה לארץ. התיאור מזכיר כמובן את קריעת ים סוף אך גם את יציאת מצרים וברית סיני. קודמות לו הוראות והכנות מדוקדקות. ננסה לעמוד על ההקשר הרחב של מעמד חציית הירדן ומשמעותו לדור הנכנסים לארץ ולדורות.

וַֽיִּקְרְא֥וּ בַסֵּ֛פֶר בְּתוֹרַ֥ת הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים - בקיאות

יהושע ג׳

Joshua 3

(1) Early next morning, Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and marched to the Jordan. They did not cross immediately, but spent the night there. (2) Three days later, the officials went through the camp (3) and charged the people as follows: “When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God being borne by the levitical priests, you shall move forward. Follow it— (4) but keep a distance of some two thousand cubits from it, never coming any closer to it—so that you may know by what route to march, since it is a road you have not traveled before.” (5) And Joshua said to the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will perform wonders in your midst.” (6) Then Joshua ordered the priests, “Take up the Ark of the Covenant and advance to the head of the people.” And they took up the Ark of the Covenant and marched at the head of the people. (7) The LORD said to Joshua, “This day, for the first time, I will exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they shall know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. (8) For your part, command the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant as follows: When you reach the edge of the waters of the Jordan, make a halt in the Jordan.” (9) And Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come closer and listen to the words of the LORD your God. (10) By this,” Joshua continued, “you shall know that a living God is among you, and that He will dispossess for you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: (11) the Ark of the Covenant of the Sovereign of all the earth is advancing before you into the Jordan. (12) Now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. (13) When the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of the LORD, the Sovereign of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan—the water coming from upstream—will be cut off and will stand in a single heap.” (14) When the people set out from their encampment to cross the Jordan, the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant were at the head of the people. (15) Now the Jordan keeps flowing over its entire bed throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the bearers of the Ark reached the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the Ark dipped into the water at its edge, (16) the waters coming down from upstream piled up in a single heap a great way off, at Adam, the town next to Zarethan; and those flowing away downstream to the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea) ran out completely. So the people crossed near Jericho. (17) The priests who bore the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant stood on dry land exactly in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over on dry land, until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

תוך כדי קריאה ועיון בפרק אנו מציעים להעזר בשאלות הבאות:
1.
"בזאת תדעון כי אל חי בקרבכם" (ג׳, ו׳). ארון ה׳ מוזכר בפרק עשר פעמים. בדקו מה הם הכינויים השונים שלו? מה מבטא כל כינוי?
2.
בחציית הירדן המתוארת בפרקנו מודגש המרחק שבין הארון למחנה ישראל. מדוע דווקא באירוע זה יש צורך בזהירות יתר ביחס לקרבה לארון ה׳? לברור סוגיית הקושי בשמירת מרחק מהקודש עיינו: ויקרא ט׳, א׳; י׳, א׳-ז׳; שמואל ב׳ ו׳, א׳-י"ד.
3.
מה ניתן ללמוד מפסוק ט"ו על אמונתם של ישראל בקב"ה. השוו לשמות י"ד, ח׳-י"ג.

יהושע ד׳

Joshua 4

(1) When the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, (2) “Select twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, (3) and instruct them as follows: Pick up twelve stones from the spot exactly in the middle of the Jordan, where the priests’ feet are standing; take them along with you and deposit them in the place where you will spend the night.” (4) Joshua summoned the twelve men whom he had designated among the Israelites, one from each tribe; (5) and Joshua said to them, “Walk up to the Ark of the LORD your God, in the middle of the Jordan, and each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder—corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel. (6) This shall serve as a symbol among you: in time to come, when your children ask, ‘What is the meaning of these stones for you?’ (7) you shall tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off because of the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant; when it passed through the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ And so these stones shall serve the people of Israel as a memorial for all time.” (8) The Israelites did as Joshua ordered. They picked up twelve stones, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel, from the middle of the Jordan—as the LORD had charged Joshua—and they took them along with them to their night encampment and deposited them there. (9) Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the spot where the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant had stood; and they have remained there to this day. (10) The priests who bore the Ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until all the instructions that the LORD had ordered Joshua to convey to the people had been carried out. And so the people speedily crossed over, just as Moses had assured Joshua in his charge to him.^-a (11) And when all the people finished crossing, the Ark of the LORD and the priests advanced to the head of the people. (12) The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh went across armed in the van of the Israelites, as Moses had charged them. (13) About forty thousand shock troops went across, at the instance of the LORD, to the steppes of Jericho for battle. (14) On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, so that they revered him all his days as they had revered Moses. (15) The LORD said to Joshua, (16) “Command the priests who bear the Ark of the Pact to come up out of the Jordan.” (17) So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” (18) As soon as the priests who bore the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant came up out of the Jordan, and the feet of the priests stepped onto the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan resumed their course, flowing over its entire bed as before. (19) The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. (20) And Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan. (21) He charged the Israelites as follows: “In time to come, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of those stones?’ (22) tell your children: ‘Here the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry land.’ (23) For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you crossed, just as the LORD your God did to the Sea of Reeds, which He dried up before us until we crossed. (24) Thus all the peoples of the earth shall know how mighty is the hand of the LORD, and you shall fear the LORD your God always.”

1.
בדקו את מספר הפעמים שבהם מסופר על איסוף שתים עשרה אבנים בפרק. היכן מניחים אותן בכל פעם?
2.
להבנת סמליותו של המספר שתים עשרה החוזר בפרק בהקשרים שונים עיינו: בראשית מ"ט, כ"ח; יחזקאל מ"ז, י"ג; עזרא ו׳, י"ז.

מְפֹרָ֑שׁ וְשׂ֣וֹם שֶׂ֔כֶל - עיון

1.
בפרק ד׳ מוזכרים שלושה אירועים מרכזיים שארעו לעם ישראל: קריעת ים סוף, יציאת מצרים וברית סיני.
קריאת ים סוף ראו: יהושע ד׳, י"ח; יהושע ד׳, כ"ג
יציאת מצרים ראו: שמות י"ב, כ"ו-כ"ז; שמות י"ג, י"ד בהקבלה ליהושע ד׳, ו׳; ד׳, כ"א.
מעמד הר סיני ראו: שמות כ"ד, ד׳ בהקבלה ליהושע ד׳, ט׳.
לאור ההקבלות הנ"ל ולאור פסוקים ג׳, ז׳; ד׳, י"ד נסו להגדיר את מבנה הפרקים ואת משמעותם.
2.
"והיו האבנים האלה לזכרון לבני ישראל עד עולם" (ד׳,ז׳). מהי משמעותם וחשיבותם של זכרון והנצחה בחיי האומה ובחיים הפרטיים?

וַיָּבִ֖ינוּ בַּמִּקְרָֽא - הרחבה

"כי במקלי עברתי הירדן הזה"
ר׳ יהודה בר׳ סימון בשם ר׳ יוחנן אמר: בתורה בנביאים בכתובים מצינו שלא עברו ישראל את הירדן אלא בזכותו של יעקב. בתורה "כי במקלי עברתי את הירדן הזה" (בראשית ל"ב). בנביאים "והודעתם את בניכם לאמר ביבשה עבר ישראל את הירדן הזה" (יהושע ד׳). בכתובים, "מה לך הים כי תנוס הירדן תסוב לאחור...מלפני אלוה יעקב" (תהילים קי"ד). ומכוחו של יעקב יונקים גם הדורות הבאים עד בוא המשיח. "מטה עזך ישלח ה׳ בציון" (תהילים ק"י) זה המטה שהיה ביד יעקב היה ביד אהרון, והוא היה ביד דוד והוא היה ביד כל מלך ומלך עד שחרב בית המקדש וכן עתיד אותו המטה למסור למלך המשיח. (ילקוט שמעוני ח"א תשס"ג).

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