8 and thou, thou dost command the priests bearing the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye come unto the extremity of the waters of the Jordan -- in the Jordan ye stand.'
And David calleth to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, and to the Levites, to Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, and saith to them, `Ye `are' heads of the fathers of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, ye and your brethren, and ye have brought up the ark of Jehovah, God of Israel, unto `the place' I have prepared for it;
and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijath, and Tob-Adonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. And they teach in Judah, and with them `is' the Book of the Law of Jehovah, and they go round about into all cities of Judah, and teach among the people.
and bringeth in the priests and the Levites, and gathereth them to the broad place to the east. And he saith to them, `Hear me, O Levites, now, sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah, God of your fathers, and bring out the impurity from the sanctuary, for our fathers have trespassed, and done that which is evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God, and forsake him, and turn round their faces from the tabernacle of Jehovah, and give the neck. `Also -- they have shut the doors of the porch, and quench the lamps, and perfume they have not made, and burnt-offering have not caused to ascend in the sanctuary to the God of Israel, and the wrath of Jehovah is on Judah and Jerusalem, and He giveth them for a trembling, for an astonishment, and for a hissing, as ye are seeing with your eyes. And lo, fallen have our fathers by the sword, and our sons, and our daughters, and our wives `are' in captivity for this. `Now -- with my heart -- to make a covenant before Jehovah, God of Israel, and the fierceness of His anger doth turn back from us. My sons, be not now at rest, for on you hath Jehovah fixed to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be to Him ministering and making perfume.'
and Hezekiah inquireth at the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps, and Azariah the head priest, of the house of Zadok, speaketh unto him, and saith, `From the beginning of the bringing of the heave-offering to the house of Jehovah, `there is' to eat, and to be satisfied, and to leave abundantly, for Jehovah hath blessed His people, and that left `is' this store.'
and he stationeth the priests over their charges, and strengtheneth them for the service of the house of Jehovah, and saith to the Levites -- who are teaching all Israel -- who are sanctified to Jehovah, `Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David king of Israel built; it is not to you a burden on the shoulder. `Now, serve Jehovah your God, and His people Israel, and prepare, by the house of your fathers, according to your courses, by the writing of David king of Israel, and by the writing of Solomon his son, and stand in the sanctuary, by the divisions of the house of the fathers of your brethren, sons of the people, and the portion of the house of a father of the Levites, and slaughter the passover-offering and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of Jehovah by the hand of Moses.'
and heads of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their brethren, `are' over-against them, to give praise, to give thanks, by command of David the man of God, charge over-against charge. Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, `are' gatekeepers, keeping charge in the gatherings of the gates. These `are' in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe. And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them in to Jerusalem, to make the dedication even with gladness, and with thanksgivings, and with singing, `with' cymbals, psalteries, and with harps; and sons of the singers are gathered together even from the circuit round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophathi,
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Commentary on Joshua 3 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 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.