Joshua 3: Israel Prepares to Cross the Jordan
1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”
And Joshua rose early in the morning... Work while it is yet day. "He wanted to make full use of the day. While the people did have lampstands which gave off dim light, daytime was the time for doing things, and people therefore tended to rise at dawn and go to bed ‘early’, especially when something important was going on." (Peter Pett's Commentary)
"Early morning of the ninth day of the first month, called Abib; as on the tenth day [Joshua 4:19] - which was the day wherein the paschal lamb was set apart - the Israelites entered the land of Canaan under the command and conduct of Joshua, who was a type of Jesus Christ, by whom we have 'the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.' [Ephesians 1:14]" (John Trapp) "By the middle of April the river cannot be forded; and, if passed at all, can only be so by swimming." (Barnes Notes)
At the time of the original Passover, this month was announced as the beginning of months for Israel. (Exodus 12:2) And now: When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it… “Hitherto the Israelites had been led on their way by the pillar of cloud. But now that was to be seen no more. With the death of Moses, apparently, it had disappeared.” “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.” (Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown) Here it leads the way.
Jesus was the cloud that lead them in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:4); but He is also the ark of His people to lead them to the land of Canaan. “In Him as in the ark of old, are lodged the tables of the law, and the mercy seat from whence God speaks. My soul! when the Holy Ghost gives me to see Him before me, may I follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth..." (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary) even unto death.
The ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, as a type of Christ, "contained within it the covenant made between YHWH their God and themselves. It was the guarantee of His promises. They would go forward as His people. Thus would He go forward with them over Jordan and into battle as YHWH their God." (Peter Pett's Commentary)
“There was to be a space maintained between the ark and the people of about two thousand cubits, which would be approximately half a mile according to our method of computation. This was to teach due reverence for the ark of God. It had to lead the way. Alone the priests were to go down into the river and then the waters would be rolled back. Christ entered into death alone. No one could participate in the work of propitiation. Alone He bare the cross; Alone its grief sustained.” (Ironside ) Grant me Jesus to be willing to follow you into the Jordan River- the river of death. "Of this it may be also said to every believer, ‘Ye have not passed this way heretofore.’ Oh! for the ark of the covenant of God, or which is the same thing, Jesus whom that ark represented, to be with me when I pass the dark valley; for then shall I fear no ill while thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalms 23:4; Isaiah 43:2."
(Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
5 And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
“Sanctify yourselves — Not only wash your clothes, and shun all kinds of bodily impurities, (see Genesis 35:2; Exodus 19:10; Numbers 9:10,) but purify your minds and hearts, by repentance, and faith, and new obedience, without which the external purifications of your bodies and garments will be of little avail. In other words, prepare yourselves by seriousness, recollection, and prayer, that you may behold with proper regard, reverence, and gratitude, and may fix in your hearts, the wonderful display which is about to be made of the divine power in your behalf, and that you may be meet to receive so great a favour as is now about to be conferred upon you.” (Benson Commentary)
6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
Carrying the ark of the covenant "was usually the duty of the Levites of the family of Kohath; but both at the passage of Jordan and the taking of Jericho, the priests were employed as bearers." (Ellicott's Commentary) “Calmet conjectures that this was because it was probably carried without being wrapped up in its curtains, as it always was when the Levites carried it. Though it was the business of the Levites, the sons of Kohath, to carry the ark; yet on certain occasions the priests alone performed this office.” (Clarke) It was here functional as it moved, leading Israel into Canaan.
7 And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.’”
This day I will begin to exalt you ... "One cause why the miracle now to be narrated was performed is here suggested. As Moses was declared to be sent immediately from God with an extraordinary commission by the miracles which he worked, more especially that of dividing the Red Sea in two parts, so was Joshua both sent and accredited in a like manner. (Compare Joshua 1:5, and Joshua 4:14.) Other reasons are given in Joshua 3:10; Joshua 5:1.” (Albert Barnes)
You shall stand still in Jordan... you will not swim but will stand - pass through on dry ground. "The whole camp, therefore, passed over below where the priests were standing, keeping at the distance of two thousand cubits from the ark; this they would readily do, as the whole bed of the river was dry for many miles below the place where the priests entered.” (Adam Clarke Commentary)
Joshua 3: Israel Crosses the Jordan on Dry Ground
9 So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.”
"Come hither to the ark or tabernacle, the place of public assemblies..." (Poole) “For what purpose shall we come? ‘Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God.’ That is the purpose. Not to hear the words of men. We are now here before God to hear what He will say unto us—‘Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.’ What shall we hear? Shall we hear the words of some strange deity? Nay, ‘hear the words of the Lord your God.’ It is a family meeting. These pronouns seem to bring us into sacred and general possession of things in common with God. Your God, our Father, my God, your fathers’ God: these are the terms in which the greatness and the nearness of God are typified to our dull imagination. When you hear the words of the Lord your God they will not be strange, inarticulate, untranslatable thunder; they will be gospels, voices of music, voices of welcome, tender assurances, great offers of love, sublime propositions of pardon; you will know every word of the speech, being neither affrighted by its majesty nor rendered indifferent by its condescension. To be able to receive such words--is that an insignificant sign? To know God’s voice--is not that an/ evidence of man’s greatness?" (J. Parker, D. D.)
10 And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. 13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”
“Observe the grand emphasis of that name, ‘the living God,’ tacitly contrasted with the dead idols of the enemies, and sealing the assurance of His swift and all-conquering might. Observe, too, the triumphant contempt in the enumeration of the many tribes of the foe with their barbarous names. Five of them had been enough, when named by the spies’ trembling lips, to terrify the congregation [in Moses' day], but here the list of the whole seven but strengthens confidence. Faith delights to look steadily at its enemies, knowing that the one Helper is more than they all. This catalogue breathes the same spirit as Paul’s rapturous list of the foes impotent to separate from the love of God. [Romans 8] Mark, too, the long-drawn-out designation of the ark, with its accumulation of nouns, which grammatical purists have found difficult,—‘the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth’; where it leads they need not fear to follow. It was the pledge of His presence, it contained the Ten Words on which His covenant was concluded. That covenant enlisted on their side Him who was Lord of the swollen river as of all the fierce clans beyond; and with His ark in front, their victory was sure. If ever the contemplation of His power and covenant relation was in place, it was on that morning, as Israel stood ranked for the march that was to lead them through Jordan, and to plant their feet on the soil of Canaan. Nor must we omit the peculiar appropriateness of this solemn designation, on the occasion of the ark’s first becoming the leader of the march. Hitherto it had been carried in the centre; now it was moved to the van, and took the place of the pillar, which blazed no more. But the guidance was no less divine. The simple coffer which Bezaleel had made was as august and reliable a symbol of God’s presence as the pillar; and the tables of the law, shut in it, were henceforth to be the best directors of the nation.” (Alexander Maclaren)
Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap… (12-13) “Joshua did not assume any self-ordered leadership over Israel. He was an intermediary. He stood between God and the people. He told them what he was commanded to tell. He did what he was told to do. Here is a message for the preachers and workers of today. We preach not ourselves, but Christ. His Words are our words. We cannot go beyond what is written. Paul said to Timothy and he says to us, ‘Preach the Word.’” (Wells of Living Water Commentary)
14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.
“It all happened as the Lord had spoken. Does not His Word always come true? We like the opening statement of Joshua 3:14 , which says: ‘And it came to pass.’ That coming to pass was not a mere accidental occurrence. It was an answer to the step of faith, and it was a fulfillment of the Words of Almighty God. Every Word of God is yea and amen in Christ Jesus. There is not one thing that He has said, that He will not do. When His promises are based upon His children's faith or faithfulness, His promises are conditional. When, however, the conditions are met and His believing saints undertake upon the basis of His command, then they will find that He will do even as He said. We must walk by faith if we expect God to accomplish for us. Salvation is not the only gift of God which is received by faith. We are saved by faith to be sure, but we walk by faith; and, it is the prayer of faith which brings down from Heaven the workings of God for us.” (Wells of Living Water Commentary)
The prayer of faith will justify you, but step into the Jordan- as the good confession of faith – for the promise. "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)