Joshua 3

Jos 3:1-6.

JOSHUA

COMES TO

JORDAN.

1. Joshua rose early in the morning--On the day following that on which

the spies had returned with their encouraging report. The camp was

broken up in "Shittim" (the acacia groves), and removed to the eastern

bank of the Jordan. The duration of their stay is indicated

(Jos 3:2),

being, according to Hebrew reckoning, only one entire day, including

the evening of arrival and the morning of the passage; and such a time

would be absolutely necessary for so motley an assemblage of men, women,

and children, with all their gear and cattle to make ready for going

into an enemy's country.

2-4. the officers went through the host; And they commanded the

people--The instructions given at this time and in this place were

different from those described

(Jos 1:11).

3, 4. When ye see the ark . . ., and the priests the Levites bearing

it--The usual position of the ark, when at rest, was in the center

of the camp; and, during a march, in the middle of the procession. On

this occasion it was to occupy the van, and be borne, not by the

Kohathite Levites, but the priests, as on all solemn and extraordinary

occasions (compare

Nu 4:15;

Jos 6:6;

1Ki 8:3-6).

then ye shall . . . go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you

and it--These instructions refer exclusively to the advance into the

river. The distance which the people were to keep in the rear of the

ark was nearly a mile. Had they crowded too near the ark, the view

would have been intercepted, and this intervening space, therefore, was

ordered, that the chest containing the sacred symbols might be

distinctly visible to all parts of the camp, and be recognized as their

guide in the untrodden way.

5. Joshua said unto the people--rather "had said," for as he speaks of

"to-morrow," the address must have been made previous to the day of

crossing, and the sanctification was in all probability the same as

Moses had commanded before the giving of the law, consisting of an

outward cleansing

(Ex 19:10-15)

preparatory to that serious and devout state of mind with which so

great a manifestation should be witnessed.

6. Joshua spake unto the priests--This order to the priests would be

given privately, and involving as it did an important change in the

established order of march, it must be considered as announced in the

name and by the authority of God. Moreover, as soon as the priests

stepped into the waters of Jordan, they were to stand still. The ark

was to accomplish what had been done by the rod of Moses.

Jos 3:7, 8.

THE

LORD

ENCOURAGES

JOSHUA.

7, 8. the Lord said to Joshua, This day will I . . . magnify thee in

the sight of all Israel--Joshua had already received distinguished

honors

(Ex 24:13;

De 31:7).

But a higher token of the divine favor was now to be publicly bestowed

on him, and evidence given in the same unmistakable manner that his

mission and authority were from God as was that of Moses

(Ex 14:31).

Jos 3:9-13.

JOSHUA

ENCOURAGES THE

PEOPLE.

9-13. Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord--It seems that the

Israelites had no intimation how they were to cross the river till

shortly before the event. The premonitory address of Joshua, taken in

connection with the miraculous result exactly as he had described it,

would tend to increase and confirm their faith in the God of their

fathers as not a dull, senseless, inanimate thing like the idols of the

nations, but a Being of life, power, and activity to defend them and

work for them.

Jos 3:14-17.

THE

WATERS OF

JORDAN

ARE

DIVIDED.

14-16. And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents,

&c.--To understand the scene described we must imagine the band of

priests with the ark on their shoulders, standing on the depressed edge

of the river, while the mass of the people were at a mile's distance.

Suddenly the whole bed of the river was dried up; a spectacle the more

extraordinary in that it took place in the time of harvest,

corresponding to our April or May--when "the Jordan overfloweth all its

banks." The original words may be more properly rendered "fills all its

banks." Its channel, snow-fed from Lebanon, was at its greatest

height--brimful; a translation which gives the only true description of

the state of Jordan in harvest as observed by modern travellers. The

river about Jericho is, in ordinary appearance, about fifty or sixty

yards in breadth. But as seen in harvest, it is twice as broad; and in

ancient times, when the hills on the right and left were much more

drenched with rain and snow than since the forests have disappeared,

the river must, from a greater accession of water, have been broader

still than at harvest-time in the present day.

16. the waters which came down from above--that is, the Sea of Galilee

stood and rose up upon a heap--"in a heap," a firm, compact barrier

(Ex 15:8;

Ps 78:13);

very far--high up the stream;

from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan--near mount Sartabeh,

in the northern part of the Ghor

(1Ki 7:46);

that is, a distance of thirty miles from the Israelitish encampment; and

those that came down toward the sea of the desert--the Dead Sea--were

cut off

(Ps 114:2, 3).

The river was thus dried up as far as the eye could reach. This was a

stupendous miracle; Jordan takes its name, "the Descender," from the

force of its current, which, after passing the Sea of Galilee, becomes

greatly increased as it plunges through twenty-seven "horrible rapids

and cascades," besides a great many lesser through a fall of a thousand

feet, averaging from four to five miles an hour [LYNCH]. When swollen "in time of harvest," it flows with

a vastly accelerated current.

the people passed over right against Jericho--The exact spot is

unknown; but it cannot be that fixed by Greek tradition--the pilgrims'

bathing-place--both because it is too much to the north, and the

eastern banks are there sheer precipices ten or fifteen feet high.

17. the priests . . . and all the Israelites passed over on dry

ground--the river about Jericho has a firm pebbly bottom, on which the

host might pass, without inconvenience when the water was cleared off.