---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Joshua 3"
description: "CHAPTER 3   :-. JOSHUA COMES
TO JORDAN. 1. Joshua rose early in the
morning—On the day following that on which the spies had
returned with their encouragi"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/joshua/3"
---

CHAPTER 3

. 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 (), 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 ().

**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
[Numbers 4:15](../../../kjv/numbers/4/15); [Joshua 6:6](../../../kjv/joshua/6/6);
[1 Kings 8:3-6](../../../kjv/1-kings/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 () 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.
[Joshua 3:7](../../../kjv/joshua/3/7);
[Joshua 3:8](../../../kjv/joshua/3/8). 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 ([Exodus 24:13](../../../kjv/exodus/24/13);
[Deuteronomy 31:7](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/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 ([Deuteronomy 31:7](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/31/7)).
[Deuteronomy 31:7](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/31/7). 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.
. 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 ([Exodus 15:8](../../../kjv/exodus/15/8);
[Psalms 78:13](../../../kjv/psalms/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 ([1 Kings 7:46](../../../kjv/1-kings/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 ([Psalms 114:2](../../../kjv/psalms/114/2);
[Psalms 114:3](../../../kjv/psalms/114/3)). 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.

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