Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 3:7

And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, [so] I will be with thee.

This day will I begin to magnify thee – One cause why the miracle now to be narrated was performed is here suggested. As Moses was declared to he 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 Jos 1:5, and Jos 4:14.) Other reasons are given in Jos 3:10; Jos 5:1.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. This day will I begin to magnify thee] By making him the instrument in this miraculous passage, he did him honour and gave him high credit in the sight of the people: hence his authority was established, and obedience to him as their leader fully secured. What must have confirmed this authority was, his circumstantially foretelling how the waters should be cut off as soon as the feet of the priests had touched them, Jos 3:13. This demonstrated that the secret of the Lord was with him.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

i.e. To gain thee authority and reputation among them, as the person whom I have set in Mosess stead, and by whom I will conduct them to the possession of the promised land.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7, 8. the Lord said to Joshua, Thisday will I . . . magnify thee in the sight of all IsraelJoshuahad already received distinguished honors (Exo 24:13;Deu 31:7). But a higher token ofthe divine favor was now to be publicly bestowed on him, and evidencegiven in the same unmistakable manner that his mission and authoritywere from God as was that of Moses (Ex14:31).

Jos3:9-13. JOSHUAENCOURAGES THE PEOPLE.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the Lord said unto Joshua,…. Out of the tabernacle:

this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel; by working the miracle afterwards related; dividing the waters, which was done on this day, and was but the beginning of wonders; for other great and marvellous things were done for him and by him, by which it appeared he was high in the favour of God, greatly esteemed and honoured by him, and so would be great and honourable in the account of the people:

that they may know that as I was with Moses, [so] I will be with thee; by dividing the waters of Jordan for him, as he had divided the waters of the Red sea for Moses; which, as it was a token of his powerful presence with him, this would be a like token of it with Joshua. The Targum is,

“as my Word was for the help of Moses, so shall my Word be for thy help.”

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Commencement of the Crossing. – First of all (in Jos 3:7 and Jos 3:8), the revelation made by God to Joshua, that He would begin this day to make him great, i.e., to glorify him before the Israelites, and the command to the priests who bore the ark of the covenant to stand still in the river, when they came to the water of the Jordan; then (Jos 3:9-13) the publication of this promise and command to the people; and lastly (Jos 3:14-17), the carrying out of the command. , I will begin to make thee great. The miraculous guidance of the people through the Jordan was only the beginning of the whole series of miracles by which the Lord put His people in possession of the promised land, and glorifies Joshua in the sight of Israel in the fulfilment of his office, as He had glorified Moses before. Just as Moses was accredited in the sight of the people, as the servant of the Lord in whom they could trust, by the miraculous division of the Red Sea (Exo 14:31), so Joshua was accredited as the leader of Israel, whom the Almighty God acknowledged as He had His servant Moses, by the similar miracle, the division of the waters of Jordan. Only the most important points in the command of God to the priests are given in v. 8. The command itself is communicated more fully afterwards in the address to the people, in v. 13. When they came with the ark to the end of the waters of Jordan-i.e., not to the opposite side, but to the nearest bank; that is to say, as soon as they reached the water in the bed of the river-they were to stand still (vid., v. 15, and Jos 4:11), in order, as we see from what follows, to form a dam as it were against the force of the water, which was miraculously arrested in its course, and piled up in a heap. Moses divided the waters of the Red Sea with his rod; Joshua was to do the same to the Jordan with the ark of the covenant, the appointed symbol and vehicle of the presence of the Almighty God since the conclusion of the covenant. Wherever the ordinary means of grace are at hand, God attaches the operations of His grace to them; for He is a God of order, who does not act in an arbitrary manner in the selection of His means.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

      7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.   8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.   9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.   10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye 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 passeth over before you into Jordan.   12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.   13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.

      We may observe here how God honours Joshua, and by this wondrous work he is about to do designs to make Israel know that he is their governor, and then how Joshua honours God and endeavours by it to make Israel know that he is their God. Thus those that honour God he will honour, and those whom he has advanced should do what they can in their places to exalt him.

      I. God speaks to Joshua to put honour upon him, Jos 3:7; Jos 3:8. 1. It was a great honour God id him that he spoke to him as he had done to Moses from off the mercy-seat, before the priests removed it with the ark. This would make Joshua easy in himself and great among the people, that God was pleased to speak so familiarly to him. 2. That he designed to magnify him in the sight of all Israel. He had told him before that he would be with him (ch. i. 5), and that comforted him, but now all Israel shall see it, and this would magnify him. Those are truly great with whom God is and whom he employs and owns in his service. God magnified him because he would have the people magnify him. Pious magistrates are to be highly honoured and esteemed as public blessings, and the more we see of God with them the more we should honour them. By the dividing of the red Sea Israel was convinced that God was with Moses in bringing them out of Egypt; therefore they are said to be baptized unto Moses in the sea, 1 Cor. x. 2. And upon that occasion they believed him, Exod. xiv. 31. And now, by the dividing of Jordan, they shall be convinced that God is in like manner with Joshua in bringing them into Canaan. God had magnified Joshua before on several occasions, but now he began to magnify him as the successor of Moses in the government. Some have observed that it was at the banks of Jordan that God began to magnify Joshua, and at the same place he began to magnify our Lord Jesus as Mediator; for John was baptizing at Bethabara, the house of passage, and there it was that when our Saviour was baptized it was proclaimed concerning him, This is my beloved Son. 3. That by him he gave orders to the priests themselves, though they were his immediate attendants (v. 8): Thou shalt command the priests, that is, “Thou shalt make known to them the divine command in this matter, and take care that they observe it, to stand still at the brink of Jordan while the waters part, that it may appear to be at the presence of the Lord, of the mighty God of Jacob, that Jordan is driven back,” Psa 114:5; Psa 114:7. God could have divided the river without the priests, but they could not without him. The priests must herein set a good example to the people, and teach them to do their utmost in the service of God, and trust him for help in time of need.

      II. Joshua speaks to the people, and therein honours God.

      1. He demands attention (v. 9): “Come hither to me, as many as can come within hearing, and, before you see the works, hear the words of the Lord your God, that you may compare them together and they may illustrate each other.” He had commanded them to sanctify themselves, and therefore calls them to hear the word of God, for that is the ordinary means of sanctification, John xvii. 17.

      2. He now tells them, at length, by what way they should pass over Jordan, by the stopping of its streams (v. 13): The waters of Jordan shall be cut off. God could by a sudden and miraculous frost have congealed the surface, so that they might all have gone over upon the ice; but that being a thing sometimes done even in that country by the ordinary power of nature (Job xxxviii. 30), it would not have been such an honour to Israel’s God, nor such a terror to Israel’s enemies; it must therefore be done in such a way as had no precedent but the dividing of the Red Sea: and that miracle is here repeated, to show that God has the same power to finish the salvation of his people that he had to begin it, for he is the Alpha and the Omega; and that the word of the Lord (as the Chaldee reads it, v. 7), the essential, eternal Word, was as truly with Joshua as he was with Moses. And by the dividing of the waters from the waters, and the making of the dry land to appear which had been covered, God would remind them of that in which Moses by revelation had instructed them concerning the work of creation (Gen 1:6; Gen 1:9), that by what they now saw their belief of that which they there read might be assisted, and they might know that the God whom they worshipped was the same God that made the world and that it was the same power that was engaged and employed for them.

      3. The people having been directed before to follow the ark are here told that it should pass before them into Jordan, v. 11. Observe, (1.) The ark of the covenant must be their guide. During the reign of Moses, the cloud was their guide, but now, in Joshua’s reign, the ark; both were visible signs of God’s presence and presidency, but divine grace under the Mosaic dispensation was wrapt up as in a cloud and covered with a veil, while by Christ, our Joshua, it is revealed in the ark of the covenant unveiled. (2.) It is called the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth. “He that is your God (v. 9), in covenant with you, is the Lord of all the earth, has both right and power to command, control, use, and dispose of all nations and of all creatures. He is the Lord of all the earth, therefore he needs not you, nor can he be benefited by you; therefore it is your honour and happiness to have him in covenant with you: if he be yours, all the creatures are at your service, and when he pleases shall be employed for you.” When we are praising and worshipping God as Israel’s God, and ours through Christ, we must remember that he is the Lord of the whole earth, and reverence him and trust in him accordingly. Some observe an accent in the original, which they think directs us to translate it somewhat more emphatically, Behold the ark of the covenant, even the ark of the Lord, or even of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth. (3.) They are told that the ark should pass before them into Jordan. God would not appoint them to go any where but where he himself would go before them and go with them; and they might safely venture, even into Jordan itself, if the ark of the covenant led them. While we make God’s precepts our rule, his promises our stay, and his providence our guide, we need not dread the greatest difficulties we may meet with in the way of duty. That promise is sure to all the seed (Isa. xliii. 2), When thou passes through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee.

      4. From what God was now about to do for them he infers an assurance of what he would yet further do. This he mentions first, so much was his heart upon it, and so great a satisfaction did it give him (v. 10): “Hereby you shall know that the living God (the true God, and God of power, not one of the dead gods of the heathen) is among you, though you see him not, nor are to have any image of him, is among you to give you law, secure your welfare, and receive your homage,–is among you in this great undertaking now before you; and therefore you shall, nay, he himself will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanites.” So that the dividing of Jordan was intended to be to them, (1.) A sure token of God’s presence with them. By this they could not but know that God was among them, unless their unbelief was as obstinate against the most convincing evidence as that of their fathers was, who presently after God had divided the Red Sea before them, impudently asked, Is the Lord among us, or is he not? Exod. xvii. 7. (2.) A sure pledge of the conquest of Canaan. “If the living God is among you, expelling he will expel (so the Hebrew phrase is) from before you the Canaanites.” He will do it certainly, and do it effectually. What should hinder him? What can stand in his way before whom rivers are divided and dried up? The forcing of the lines was certain presage of the ruin of all their hosts: how could they stand their ground when Jordan itself was driven back? When they had not courage to dispute this pass, but trembled at the approach of the mighty God of Jacob (Ps. cxiv. 7), what opposition could they ever make after this? This assurance which Joshua here gives them was so well grounded that it would enable one Israelite to chase a thousand Canaanites, and two to put then thousand to flight; and it would be abundantly strengthened by remembering the song of Moses, dictated forty years before, which plainly foretold the dividing of Jordan and the influence it would have upon the driving out of the Canaanites. Exod. xv. 15-17, “The inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away, and so be effectually driven out; they shall be as still as a stone till thy people pass over, and then thou shalt bring them in and plant them.” Note, God’s glorious appearances for his church and people ought to be improved by us for the encouragement of our faith and hope for the future. As for God, his work is perfect. If Jordan’s flood cannot keep them our, Canaan’s force cannot turn them out again.

      5. He directs them to get twelve men ready, one of each tribe, who must be within call to receive such orders as Joshua should afterwards give them, v. 12. It does not appear that they were to attend the priests, and walk with them when they carried the ark, that they might more immediately be witnesses of the wonders done by it, as some think; but they were to be at hand for the service they were called to, ch. iv. 4, &c.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

God’s commands, vs. 7-8

This verse relates what the Lord had told Joshua in chapter one, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee” (v. 5). The people of Israel had not yet seen what the Lord would do with Joshua, as their new leader; he was yet unproven.

Note that God said He would on this day “begin to magnify” him. The people, after the miracle which the Lord is about to perform, as Joshua leads the people in crossing the River, will realize that the Lord approves their new captain and will perform His promises through Joshua’s leadership. He will build on this initial magnifying of Moses’ successor until they will accept Joshua, just as they had Moses.

The Lord now directs Joshua to assume his authority, by telling the priest bearers of the ark to move forward to the river’s brink, and to stand still in the Jordan The priests must exercise faith and confidence in Joshua to obey, (1Co 11:1).

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES.

Jos. 3:1. In the morning] The morning after the addresses and reply recorded in chap. Jos. 1:10-18. From Shittim to Jordan] Josephus (v.

1. 1) gives the distance as sixty stadia, or furlongs, being nearly eight English miles. Lodged there] i.e., rested there till the return of the spies, and till the completion of the time named in chap. Jos. 1:11. There is nothing in the verse which requires the misleading conjecture that they lodged here only one night.

Jos. 3:2. After three days] According to chap. Jos. 4:19, the people crossed the Jordan on the tenth of Abib, which it may be well to remember is not called Nisan in the Scriptures till more than nine hundred years later (cf. Est. 3:7). Three days before crossing the river, i. e., on the seventh of Abib, the time of the passage was foretold (chap. Jos. 1:11). Early on the morning of the eighth, the preparations began for the movement of the camp from Shittim (chap. Jos. 3:1), the raising of the tents, the march of the vast host for eight miles, and their temporary re-encampment before Jordan, probably occupying them till the close of the eighth (Hebrew) day of the month. On the evening which introduced the ninth of Abib they would begin to lodge before Jordan, resting there over the following day, and throughout the night which commenced the tenth of the month. The spending of two nights and one clear day before Jordan seems in no may contradictory to chap. Jos. 3:1.

The spies probably left Shittim in the morning, or as early as mid-day on the sixth of Abib, walked eight miles to the Jordan, and about seven more from Jordan to Jericho, reaching the latter place considerably before sunset (chap. 5). Reckoning inclusively, they would be in the mountains three days, i. e., on nearly all the seventh, the whole of the eighth, and from sundown till say four oclock on the morning of the ninth, when two hours walk in the darkness would bring them to the Jordan, swimming the overflowing waters of which they would rejoin the camp now pitched on the eastern side of the river. Thus understood, the spies left Shittim one day before the army; this agrees with the margin, had sent, of chap. Jos. 2:1, coincides with each of the four verses given in the three chapters, and is in harmony with the view of Josephus.

Jos. 3:3. The Priests the Levites bearing it] The duty of bearing the ark on ordinary occasions belonged to the sons of Kohath, who were Levites, but not priests (cf. Num. 4:15); on solemn occasions it was customary for priests to undertake this duty.

Jos. 3:4. Come not near unto it] The distance of about one thousand yards was probably to be observed, not only in the short march to the river, but also when crossing; the people were to pass the Jordan at this distance below the ark.

Jos. 3:5. Sanctify yourselves] There seems no sufficient reason for the very general supposition that the formal rites of sanctification were dispensed with for want of time. The phrase for to-morrow shews that there would be as much time for washing the garments, etc., as in the instance given in chap. Jos. 7:13.

Jos. 3:10. Drive out] One of several incidential confirmations of the view that many of the Canaanites were expelled, and not slain (Groser).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 3:7-13

DIVINE AND CHRISTIAN HONOURS

Honour is one of the rewards of life which Christian men have sometimes failed to honour. In the ordinary conscience and judgment it has often been confused with petty pride and paltry ambition. The world has tried to dignify mere position or possessions by the name of honourable, till even good men are not quite certain that coming to honour does not mean, at least partially, coming to something wicked. Society tells us that the king is the fountain of honour, and that is supposed to hold good even when the fountain has no better repute than Richard III., Henry VIII., or one of the Charleses Stuart. A member of Parliament is always The Honourable Member, whether he has any honour or not, and if he happen to be in the Privy Council, then he is Right Honourable, though in mind and character he may be neither the one nor the other. Irrespective of what a lady may be, she has only to be attached to the household of the Queen to be a Maid of Honour, and even transactions so nefarious as the traffic through Penn for the liberty of the Taunton school girls has been supposed to leave the honour quite unimpaired. A man need only be the younger son of an earl, the son of a viscount or a baron, or possess some equally adventitious claim, and forthwith society dubs him honourable. Thus it has come to pass that we have had honourable outlaws and honourable debtors, whose only thought has been how to avoid payment of that which they owed; all sorts of honourable people, with hardly enough character to keep blushes out of the face of a respectable tramp or of a decent beggar. So perhaps it is not wonderful that Christian men have been found to think small things of honour, and to treat even the fame of a noble life with scant courtesy, as if it were only some more respectable rendering of worldliness and sin. Our great poet had other thoughts when he said

If it be a sin to covet honour,

I am the most offending soul alive.

He tells us more distinctly what he means, when he writes

Mine Honour is my Life; both grow in one;
Take Honour from me, and my Life is done.

Men have done themselves wrongwe cannot say how much wrongby allowing themselves to be driven from the desire for a just fame before the eyes of their fellows. God, who also knows human weaknesses, has not dealt with them in a manner so indiscriminate. He says to Joshua, I will magnify thee, I will magnify thee before the people; this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel.

I. The honour which God loves to put upon His servants. God would magnify Joshua as He had magnified Moses. He would give him a large place in the minds of the people; He would do this by a miracle. God tells His servant this before it comes to pass; He fills him with thought about it, and sets his mind and desire on this matter. Honour and desire for honour cannot all be sinful, when the Holy God does this. We are not altogether to shut ourselves out from the wish and hope that others may think well of us. There is a certain place in the public mind which we may earnestly desire to fill; we may yearn to shew men that God is with us, with us in our character and work, with us for the sake of others.

1. Gods delight in honouring His faithful servants is shewn throughout the Bible and all through human history. Take the case of Elijah; the long drought, the miracle on Carmel, the prayer and the answering rain, the fulfilment of the predictions concerning the death of Ahab. The preservation of Daniel in the den of lions was Gods distinguishing honour set upon the life of the man who was found faithful both in his business and his religion. Think of Paul foretelling the disaster in the Adriatic Sea, and of his being able to speak to those about him of the angel of God who had stood by him to reveal the future, an impression presently deepened by the marvellous incident at Malta, in which the bite of the viper from the fire brings no harm. God loved to exalt the man who had so exalted the Saviour. All through profane history it has been the same: there are great names which tower up above all other names, just because God has honoured the men who bore them. How human all this makes God seem; how human in His sympathies! This is how we feel about our children. Who would not see his son honoured? It seems to bring God so near, that He should think about His children as we so naturally and ardently think concerning ours. Do not, then, let us worship a great abstraction of omnipotence and majesty; this is a Father who waits to magnify His children, just as we might wish to worthily exalt ours. When we draw near to adore God, let us also learn to love.

2. How is it that more of His children are not magnified by God? He could honour us all, if He would; why are so few made prominent? Well, if God were to magnify everybody in this way, the world would all become pious in order to get its celestial decorationa kind of blue ribbon from aboveand thus religion would become the most selfish and vain and sinful condition of human life. But we need not contemplate the evil which would arise in this direction. There is another reason which intercepts that by a long way. So very few of us could bear to be magnified. Most men would shew their honours, and find in them an occasion for pride. Honour, such as Joshuas, would ruin most of us; so God withholds this source of harm. By-and-by, when we can bear it, He is going to make us all kingskings and priests unto Himself; but we cannot endure that till we become like Him, and see Him as He is. How human this is also; it is thus that we feel in our holiest longings for our children. If it were not for the temptation, and the mischief, and the curse, few would think any honour too great for his own son. Were we to consult only our hearts, where should we come to the limit at which we would stay the honour and the joy of our children? And if it were only a question of Gods heart how we, as His children, should be magnified even on earth, nothing would be too large for Gods love, only the honours would harm us, curse us, destroy us; so just as we should desire to place limits on our children, our heavenly Father limits us.

3. The life which God is prepared to honour is the life which is willing to give itself for God and for men. Joshua puts all his honour back again on God; he gives his life, and the influence which comes from his magnified name, not to win a possession for himself, but to bring his brethren into their inheritance. When all the fighting and labour are over, Joshua asks for himself only a poor and insignificant estate, which we only hear of as his own name makes it conspicuous (cf. chap. Jos. 19:49-50). Joshua sought to bless men, and desired to magnify the name of Jehovah. God is just as willing to magnify any one of us, if we were only able to bear it, for there are no prejudices with Him. But what about all our self-seeking, self-love, self-adoration? what of this constant turning of our thoughts to ourselves, as if the chief good of the universe began and ended there? When we are ready to give ourselves for others, God will be ready to set us on high before men. If any man serve ME, him will My Father honour.

II. The honour in which a true servant loves to proclaim his God.

1. The true servant refers all gracious words to their Author. Hear the words of the Lord. There is no spirit of plagiarism; all the grace is referred back at once to God. It reads like an early edition of PaulGod forbid that I should glory, save, etc. This anticipates the song of Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto Thy name be the glory. Joshua says never a word about his own magnified name; he simply says, Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God.

2. The true servant thinks the words of his Lord worthy to be heard. Joshua is anxious to bless men and encourage them, and he knows that these Divine words will be helpful. Oh for a larger measure of enthusiasm in the Scriptures, and a faith which will believe that they are the power of God unto salvation!

3. The true servant, even in his incidental expressions, shews that he thinks there is none like unto God. Hereby the living God, etc. The people had left a country of dead and polluted gods, and the gods of the Canaanites were no better than those of the Egyptians. The very manner in which this is said shews how incidentally the thought of the contrast came to the speakers lips. If we love God indeed, our love will make itself seen in a multitude of forms.

4. The true servant shews that he thinks nothing too hard for the Lord (Jos. 3:10). Our life also has to meet with opposition from men, and with natural obstacles, but through Jesus Christ we should feel and know that we may be more than conquerors.

5. The true servant confirms his proclamation of God by pointing his fellows to the visible link in which God is seen connecting Himself with the interests of men. Behold the ark, etc. The superstition around us is a great evil; we have need to be even more filled with concern at the way in which men seek to obliterate from the earth all visible tokens and traces of Deity. The materialist does this on principle, as a theory; the pleasure-seeker and the careless do it in practice; the true servant of Jehovah points to the tokens of Divine presence, and says, God is there, and there, and there. With which class do we take our position? Are we with the superstitious who obscure the Lords presence? with the men whose lives proclaim that they are without God in the world? or can we take our stand with this man, who, looking at to-morrows difficulties, says, with a holy faith, Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you?

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Jos. 3:7. THE SPIRIT AND TENDENCIES OF WORLDLY AND DIVINE HONOURS.

I. Worldly honours often have no relation to character, while the honour which comes from God is usually more within a man than upon him. The dignity in one case is often accidental and foreign; in the other case it is through and because of nobility of spirit.

II. Worldly honours lead to pride, while the honour which is of God has humility. As the lark that soars the highest, builds her nest the lowest; the nightingale that sings the sweetest, sings in the shade when all things rest; the branches that are most laden with ripe fruit, bend lowest; and the ship with the heaviest cargo sinks deepest in the water,so the holiest Christians are the humblest (Mason). It has frequently been pointed out that soon after his conversion Paul said he was unworthy to be called an apostle. Nearly thirty years later this experienced Christian of much grace and many works wrote to the Ephesians, speaking of himself as less than the least of all saints. Just before his martyrdom when his course was finished and his good fight fought, he wrote to Timothy, sinners, of whom I am chief. Thus, too, Joshua goes away to the Israelites, forgetting to say anything about his own magnified name. How often when worldly honours come to a worldly spirit, they soon get to be the only thing about the possessor for which even the world has any respect. The spirit which is really noble wears with increasing humility both the applause of men and the favours of God.

III. Worldly honours are unsatisfying, and tend to promote selfishness, while the honour which is from God is filled with peace and benevolence. Any man who gives himself up in a worldly spirit to delight in fame, even though it should be fame for fames sake coming through spiritual work, gets to live in a world which is daily narrowing down to himself; and when life comes to be bounded all round by his own small individuality, no wonder that life is soon found to be mean and insignificant. The man who wears his honours with a godly mind gets to live every day in a larger and more beautiful world, while the mere creature of fame is like a prisoner in the cell, the iron sides of which drew gradually closer each week, till the miserable victim was presently crushed to death.

IV. Worldly honours are temporary and perishing, while the honour which comes from God abides for ever. Time has done nothing to obscure the names of Abraham, and Moses, and Joshua, and Samuel, and Paul; they are as great before men to-day as when they were first magnified by the Lord. Even poor Byron, looking at the worlds glories, could only write,

Thy fanes, thy temples, to the surface bow,

Commingling slowly with heroic earth,

Broke by the share of every rustic plough:

So perish monuments of mortal birth,

So perish all in turn, save well-recorded Worth.

Thus while all material honours, and everything which might be great, but which is made worldly by being received in a worldly spirit, perishes and vanishes away, the glory of the Lord, like His mercy, endureth for ever and ever.

It is thought by some that at the place where the Israelites crossed the river our Lord was afterwards baptized by John. The best MSS. call the place named in Joh. 1:28, Bethany, not Bethabara. Origen, it is thought by Dr. Clarke and others, altered the reading to Bethabara, which means the house of passage. The name Bethabara seems to have given rise to the conjecture that the Saviour was baptized at the spot where the Israelites went over; some maintain that the baptism was administered at the very place where the priests supported the Ark in the midst of the river. If this were so, it is deeply interesting, nor could it be justly treated as any mere coincidence. It would be most significant to think that in the spot where Israel was baptized unto faith in Joshua (as their fathers, in the Red Sea, were said to have been baptized unto Moses), Christ, the Joshua of the New Covenant, was consecrated to the service in which He also sought the faith of a mighty multitude, that He might win for them an abiding inheritance. It would be temptingly suggestive for homiletical purposes if we could believe that Gods people entered into that Canaan which is a type of heaven at the very place where Jesus was afterwards set apart as a Saviour for His people. What a picture it would be of the Lords own word, I am the way. The evidence, however, for the fact is insufficient, and perhaps the very interest attaching to the idea should make us receive it cautiously. No amount of spiritual significance in teaching could possibly compensate for an untruth, or for carelessness respecting truth. Rahab might save the spies in her own way, and Rebekah might seek to make the covenant to Jacob sure by similar methods; Gods truth is never so much adorned by us as when we make it manifest that it has taught us truthfulness.

Jos. 3:8. I WILL FEAR NO EVIL, FOR THOU ART WITH ME; or, THE SWOLLEN RIVER, THE VISIBLE ARK, AND THE UNDISMAYED PILGRIMS.

This passage has no direct teaching about death, and it would seem a wrong use of Scripture to suggest that it has. Let it be granted freely that Canaan may be a type of heaven, and Jordan a symbol of death, still we have no authority to make the parables stand on all-fours. If this were otherwise, the heaped up waters, their back-flow to Adam, their on-flow to the Dead Sea, the double valley of the river; the very drops of the water, and the different trees of the land might, no doubt, all be found to be instructive. While, however, God does not here give us direct teaching about death, there is no reason why this beautiful illustration of a believers confidence during the passage of those last deep waters should be passed fruitlessly by.

I. We are reminded that death, like the Jordan, is sometimes calm and peaceful, and sometimes turbulent. Ordinarily the river was narrow, and easily fordable; but it was in the time of the swellings of Jordan that the Israelites had to cross over.

1. Death is always a trial. No man ever becomes familiar enough with death to do away with its ordeal and solemnity. We may have seen it often in others, but it will be new to us. Concerning some loved ones who have passed its cold waters before us, we may have only thoughts of gladness. We may think of them and sing in the soft and rich strains of T. K. Hervey

I know thou hast gone to the home of thy rest,

Then why should my soul be so sad?

I know thou hast gone where the weary are blest,

And the mourner looks up and is glad;

Where Love has put off, in the land of its birth,

The stains it had gathered in this;

And Hope, the sweet singer that gladdened the earth,

Lies asleep on the bosom of Bliss.

I know thou hast gone where thy forehead is starred

With the beauty that dwelt in thy soul;

Where the light of thy loveliness cannot be marred,

Nor the heart be flung back from its goal.

I know thou hast drunk of the Lethe that flows

Through a land where they do not forget,

That sheds over memory only repose,

And takes from it only regret.

So brightly and peacefully may we be able to think of some who have fathomed the depths before us. With all this to cheer us, death will still be new when we come to it for ourselves, and not without its solemnity. But those who can contemplate death like this, find that not even its strangeness and awe can destroy the calm given by its attendant hopes.

2. Sometimes death is made harder by physical suffering. Many, doubtless, suffer more severely in life than when passing from life, but with others these conditions may be reversed. Terrible accidents or fearful diseases may make death as the swellings of Jordan.

3. Great social trials sometimes make death a severer ordeal. For a father to die, and leave a family in poverty, or for a widow to pass into eternity, and leave several children unprovided for and orphans, must aggravate very terribly the pains of dying.

4. But the pain before which all others seem to sink to peace, must be that of dying without hope. May God deliver us from such turbulence as the river must shew to souls who come to it like this.

II. We are reminded here that even when the attendant circumstances of death are very aggravated, the believer may pass through fearing no evil. The priests in their faith could stand still in Jordan, and the believing hosts of the people could tread the bed of the river in confidence. Faith gives death also a very different appearance from that which it presents to men in unbelief.

1. The natural view of death has fear and even terror. (a) Look at the worlds literature. A modern writer tells us that the foremost men of Greece and Rome applied more than thirty epithets to death, all indicative of the deepest dejection and dread. To them death was an iron sleep, an eternal night, gloomy, merciless, and inexorable. Our great English poet, whom for many years the world has delighted to honour, wrote

Death is a fearful thing:

To die and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;

Tis too horrible!

The weariest and most loaded worldly life,
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradise
To what we fear of death.

This is a dull, hard strain, and these are but a few of many dreary lines which the brilliant mind that catered so long and ably for the worlds joy poured forth on this dread subject. Another wrote: Neither the sun nor death can be looked at steadily. Byron said

How clay shrinks back from more quiescent clay!

And Dryden

O that I less could fear to lose this being,
Which, like a snowball in my coward hand,
The more tis grasped, the faster melts away.

(b) What, too, are the worlds unwritten thoughts on death? Think of the myriad thoughts like these which no one ever sets down. Think of the stolen glances, and the quick turning away; of the deeper darkness which so often, to some, seems to lie hidden away within the folds of each returning night. If the speech be so sad, what are the feelings themselves?

2. The view of death given to faith is not like this. Look at Christian literature, and commune with the thoughts of the children of the cross, One says, I am now ready to be offered, etc.; Having a desire to depart, and be with Christ, which is far better; O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Nor is this spirit of triumph an exceptional heritage of apostles. The whole history of the Church is harmonious with the songs of its dying sons and daughters.

III. We are reminded that the only sufficient encouragement for faith to contemplate, when we come to death, will be the presence of God through the covenant. The Ark was at once the sign of safety and the occasion of confidence. If we are to lose the fear of death both now and when we come near to it, it must be through Him who came to deliver us from this bondage. The cross of Christ does not bridge the river, but it stands up well out of its cold waters, that we may keep it in sight; and seeing it we are to behold not merely a cross, but the covenant of His presence who is able to save to the uttermost. It is knowing this that we shall stand firm in Jordan, saying, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.

Jos. 3:9. THE INCOMPARABLE WORDS OF THE LORD.

I. Consider the words of the Lord in their claims. They are the words of the Lord your God. They come as such to every one in the multitude of the human race. No family privileges or adversities, no dignity, and no poverty, no dislike to them or disbelief of them can in any measure weaken their claims. To every living man, whether atheist, deist, idolater, worldling, or Christian, they come as the words of his Lord and his God.

1. God made us each, and our opinion about that cannot alter His claims upon us. Our view of the origin of the human race can never alter the fact itself.

2. God supports us and provides for us, and our disbelief can never affect the measure of our obligation. Fancy an intelligent Israelite saying, I know that I had manna every morning, and sometimes quails; I know that I drank of water, which flowed out of a rock, just as I was perishing; I know when the hills were all about me, the Egyptians behind me, and the waters cold and threatening before me, that the sea opened and became as a defending wall on either side, and that while I escaped mine enemies perished from my sight; I know that I have lived for forty years in a desert which did not seem to have supplies enough to support me alone, and that two or three millions of my people have always had enough, and often more than enough; I know that the words of Moses, who professed to be Gods prophet, always came truethat the manna had a way of spoiling or failing when we gathered it contrary to instructionsthat the brazen serpent healed me and my bitten children, just as he said it would, and that the man himself often had a moral majesty about him, which brought us back to obedience when we felt most rebellious; I remember feeling almost awed that morning when he came down from the eruption of Mount Sinaifor such, as an intelligent man, I prefer to call itwith his face shining in that strange brightness, and when he dashed down the tables of stone in front of our new calf, and made Aaron and all of us feel as if we had done something very wrong: I cannot forget all these things, but I am wiser than I once was, and now I see clearly that all the events which we used to call miracles were the working of natural causes, that Moses was a shrewd and far-seeing man, and as to his moral majesty, why he was born to command. True, the coincidences between our need and the development of these natural causes, which so often helped us just as we were perishing, leaves something to be explained; but I can understand so much, that I am sure this part may be passed over. Now when you talk to me of the claims of the word of the Lord, dont you think I am fairly entitled to ask, How do you know that there is any Lord, much less that you have His words? Oh, how devils might laugh, and how God, if He were less than God, might despair, when men reason like this!

II. Think of the words of the Lord in their purity. The tendencies of them are to make men holier and larger in heart. They stimulate no mean passions, such as vanity and selfishness. The ambition which heaven stirs within us is exaltation through a more exalted spirit. The Lord had told Joshua that the day of his honour was at hand; but Joshua was stirred by the words of the Lord, not to petty ideas of his personal greatness, but to efforts which should secure the inheritance of the land to the people. The tendencies of the Bible are to lead us to

(1) forgetfulness of ourselves,
(2) to a generous interest in men, and
(3) to ardent praise of God.

III. Reflect on the words of the Lord in their distinctiveness.

1. The words of the Lord are the only words which are ever addressed to mans most serious difficulties. Only Divine words are heard as to the way of crossing into Canaan, and driving out the Canaanites. In mans greatest necessities it is still the same; only the words of God ever propose to meet them. (a) Law has no suitable words. Think of listening to law in our bereavements, in our need of the pardon of sin, of sanctification, of hope beyond the grave. Law is pitiless, cold, and inexorable. Law never said, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people; speak ye comfortably unto men, and cry unto them that their warfare is accomplished, that their iniquity is pardoned. Law never proposed for Israel a path through the sea, manna from heaven, water from rocks, or that the Jordan should stand up in a heap till the people had passed over. (b) Men have never had any suitable words for the deeper necessities of their race. The physician accompanies the sick within sight of the grave, but once seeing that open before them, he has nothing more to propose. He has no medicine for death, and not a single cordial is there in the whole of his pharmacopia which he has ever thought it worth while to prescribe as a cure for bereavement. The engineer has opened no door for us on the other side of the grave, the chemist has failed to bring immortality to light, and the mechanician has never contrived anything to bear the burden of sin. The naturalist, the poet, and the philosopher, as the priests of this world must, have ever passed by, and left the worlds wounded on the other side; or if pity has drawn them to the side of distress, they have discovered no words but those of the old stoic, You must bear up as bravely as you can. It is only God who ever speaks to the subject of our keenest miseries and profoundest want. On questions like these, there are no words but the words of the Lord.

2. The words of the Lord, even on our deepest necessities, are not vain words. (a) They are practical. We can always use them. They are not mere theory, or poetry, or mysticism; they are never Utopian. Men can read them before any floods or any enemies, and know what to do next. (b) They are thorough and sufficient. They do not buoy men up for a season, and let them sink after all. It is something to say for Christianity, at least, that even its bitterest enemies have never been able to charge its words with being weak and comfortless. (c) They betray no effort. There is as much ease about words that propose to divide a river, to raise the dead, or to save men, as about words which simply give directions concerning our least important duties. The Saviours words in calming the sea, feeding the thousands, or raising Lazarus, are as free from hesitation or effort as any of the words in the sermon on the mount.

3. Thus it might be clear to all men that the words of the Lord are the only words of hope. No other words are addressed to our extreme wants; not even enemies can charge them with weakness. Those who lean on them most are most satisfied with them, and they never seem so dear as at the point of death, farther than which we cannot trace their effect. These were the solitary words of hope to Israel at the Jordan; in all our greater need they alone can afford hope and help to us. Let us receive these words, then, with enthusiasm, as did Joshua and the people of Israel. Wherever in our life we come to the words which belong to any present difficulty, let there be no doubt and no distrust till we are found safely on its other side. Let us tell these words to one another, as though there were little else worth telling, crying here and there in lifes way to our perplexed and helpless brethren, Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God.

Jos. 3:10. By what do we also recognise the presence of a living God among us?

1. By His word which He still causes to be perpetually published among us.
2. By His deeds which He is still perpetually performing.

How should we think of God?

1. Not as a rigid order of nature
2. As the living God and ruler over all the earththe mightiest Ruler, the best Ruler. (Lange.)

Jos. 3:11; Jos. 3:13.

I. We need new grace for new experiences. Some trial which we have never before endured is to be borne by us. Some duty which we have never before discharged is to be performed by us. Some relationship that is entirely new is to be formed by us, and we know not how we shall bear ourselves. Let us take courage. He who gave these minute directions to His ancient people will not fail us; and though He may not come to us with such specific guidance, He will yet by His providence and Spirit give us the help we need.

II. When we have to cross any river of difficulty, let us put the Ark of the Covenant into the middle of the stream. In simple phrase, when we come to a difficulty, let us see Christ in it, and then we shall be able to surmount it. He turns the water into dry land. He makes our difficulties stepping-stones to glory. We are never really in danger when we can see Him.

III. There are no degrees of difficulty with God. All things are equally easy to omnipotence. Let us not limit the Holy One of Israel by supposing that any of our emergencies are too great for Him to help us through them. (Dr. William Taylor, New York.)

The Ark was not a talisman that wrought wonders, as if by some magical charm; for in after years, when Israels warriors took it into the battlefield, they were defeated (cf. 1Sa. 4:5-10). That which is a help to faith when God commands it, becomes a snare when He has not given His sanction to it. There is all the difference in the world between faith and presumption. (Dr. Wm. Taylor.)

Jos. 3:13. This seems to have been the first intimation given to the people as to the manner in which they were to cross the river. (Bush.)

Joshua telling the people of the miracle that God would now do upon Jordan, laboureth to confirm their faith about the expelling of the heathen before them. When marvellous things are done for us by the Lord, we are hereby taught to build our confidence on His promises touching things to come (Dr. Mayer, A.D. 1647.)

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(7) The Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee . . .Compare Jos. 4:14, on that day the Lord magnified Joshua. These words mark the beginning and end of the section. The details that follow in Jos. 4:15, &c., seem to be added by way of appendix. The passage of Jordan, being the principal event, is exhibited by itself; and other particulars of attendant circumstances are given separately. A somewhat similar plan appears to be adopted in Joshua 10, but the arrangement of both narratives is at first sight somewhat complex, and not quite clear.

It is here stated that the passage of Jordan was to be to Joshua what the giving of the law at Sinai was to Moses, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever (Exo. 19:9). But the power which establishes Joshua is the work of the written instead of the spoken word.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

7. This day will I begin to magnify thee This was only the beginning of a glorious succession of miracles attesting the divine commission of Joshua. Jehovah pledges to make Joshua great in the estimation of the people, and thus secure to him their promised loyalty and obedience. Compare Jos 1:17.

As I was with Moses As I crowned Moses with divine honour when, at the outstretching of his rod, I divided the waters of the Red Sea, so will I honour thee by rolling back the Jordan, when, at thy command, the symbol of my presence shall be borne to the river’s brink. Special honour had been put upon Joshua when he was permitted to accompany Moses up the Mount, but it was eclipsed by the greater honour of his master, who alone was permitted to enter the cloud of the glory of the Lord. Exo 24:13-16. Moses on a former occasion (Deu 31:7) had magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel, but now a Greater than Moses is about to magnify him in the sight of all mankind.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘ And YHWH said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” ’

God now revealed to Joshua His purpose, that the people might realise that the God Who had revealed His power on Egypt was equally with Joshua. He knew how important it was at this critical stage that the people had an unrivalled leader in whom they could trust.

“That they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” As the waters divided and they walked across on dry land, and remembered how their fathers had done it so long ago, they would be aware that here was another Moses who enjoyed the full backing of YHWH, and through whom YHWH would reveal His power.

Throughout the narrative we will be told that YHWH spoke to Joshua, but no hint is given as to how this took place, whether by commands within his mind impressed on him, or by a spoken voice. That it was YHWH Who spoke comes out in what results from obedience to His commands.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

EXPOSITION

THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN

Jos 3:7

This day will I begin to magnify thee. “Neque enim ante mysterium baptismi exal-tatur Jesus, sed exaltatio ejus, et exaltatio in conspectu pepuli, inde sunlit exordium” (Orig; Hem. 4 on Joshua. Cf. Mat 3:17; Luk 3:22).

Jos 3:8

And thou shalt command the priests. We have not here the whole command. That is to be found in Jos 3:13. To the brink . Literally, to the end, i.e; the end or brink of the waters at the eastern side. There they halted, and as long as the ark remained there, the waters of Jordan ceased to flow.

Jos 3:10

That the living God. Rather, perhaps, that a living God, i.e; that you hare not with you some idol of wood or stone, or some deified hero, long since passed out of your reach, but a living, working, ever present God, who shows by His acts that your faith in Him is not vain. The phrase is a very common one as applied to God in the Old Testament. In the New, Christ is frequently referred to as the source of life. Is among you. The original is stronger, in the midst of you. The Canaanites. The descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham (Gen 9:18). The word which signifies “low” is by some supposed to signify the same as lowlanders, because the Canaanites inhabited the less mountainous portions of Palestine, by the sea (Num 13:29; Jos 5:1), and by the side of Jordan (Num 13:29). According to Ewald, their territory extended along the west bank of the Jordan as far as the Mediterranean Sea. Canaan has also been held to signify bowed down, depressed (see Gen 9:25). But St. Augustine, in his exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (sec. 13), says that the country folk of the neighbourhood of Carthage, a Phoenician colony, as the name Punic implies, called themselves Canani, which they would hardly have done were the name a badge of servitude. Whether we are to attach much importance to this statement or not, it is certainly a remarkable coincidence. The story told by Procopius (‘DeBello Vandalico, 2.10; see also Suidas, s.v. ) of two pillars of white stone near Tangier, with the inscription in Phoenician, “We are those who fled from the face of the robber Joshua, the son of Nun,” is obviously not to be depended upon. Even if the inscription existed it was not likely to be of ancient date And as Kenrick remarks, those who erected the pillars were not likely

(1) to represent themselves as fugitives, and

(2) to speak of Joshua as the “son of Nun.”

He further remarks that, while the oldest genuine Phoenician inscription is not more than four hundred years before Christ, this, if genuine, must have been erected nearly a thousand years earlier still; and he further observes on the impossibility of its having been deciphered by the scholars of Justinian’s day. The stow, no doubt, had its origin in the Rabbinical tradition, mentioned by Jarchi in his Commentary, as well as by Kimchi, that Joshua grote three letters to the Canaanites before invading Palestine: the first inviting them to make peace; the second, on their refusal, proclaiming war; the third, to those who feared the wrath of Jehovah, warning them to depart to Africaadvice which, Jarchi adds, was actually taken by a great many. Concerning these seven nations more will be found in the Introduction. That a Hebrew signification is found for Phoenician words need not surprise us. The descendants of Ham, when “dwelling in the tents of Shem,” might have formed for themselves a similar language. But that the Aramaic, which was spoken throughout Syria and Palestine, was closely similar to the Hebrew, we have overwhelming evidence. Not only is there clear proof that Abraham and the Canaanites spoke the same language, not only are all the ancient names of places and persons of Hebrew origin, but even the Carthaginian language is pronounced by Jerome, a competent judge, to be cognate to the Hebrew (see Havernick, Introduction, see. 21). The Hittites. The Hittites (Hebrew, Chittim) were out of all proportion the principal tribe in Palestine at this time, as we have already seen (Jos 1:4). They were the descendants of Heth or Chet (Gen 10:15), who dwelt in the neighbourhood of Hebron in the days of Abraham (Gen 23:19; Gen 25:9). At that time they do not appear to have attained the importance which they afterwards reached (Gen 12:6; Gen 13:7; Gen 34:30), though this is perhaps not altogether a safe inference (cf. Jdg 1:4, Jdg 1:5). For the mention of the Canaanites in Gen 12:6 without the Perizzite might lead to a similar inference with regard to the relative importance of these two tribes, whereas in the other two passages they appear on a level. Be this as it may, we find the Hittites occupying a prominent position in Canaan at this time, not only in the Book of Joshua, but on the Egyptian monuments, “Before the exodus the Kheta had become the terrible rivals of Egypt, and had mingled their genealogy with that of the renowned Pharaohs of the nineteeth dynasty”. It is worthy of remark, however, that on the Egyptian monuments their leaders are spoken of as chieftains (see note on Jos 9:3, and ‘Records of the Past,’ 2.67-78). In later times they had attained to regal government (1Ki 10:29; 2Ki 7:6; 2Ch 1:17). It is, however, possible that the proud monarch of Egypt would not admit the petty kings of the Hittites to an equality with himself (see also note on Jos 1:4). Moses connects the Chittim (Num 24:24; Isa 23:1; Eze 27:6), or the inhabitants of Cyprus, with the Hittites. Since these words were written an able article appeared in The Times of Jan. 23rd, 1880, on the Hittite Empire. Carchemish, on the Euphrates, and Kadesh, or the Holy City, on the Orontes, appear to have been the chief centres of the Hittite power. They were “powerful enough to threaten Assyria on the one hand and Egypt on the other, and to carry the arts and culture of the Euphrates to the Euxine and AEgean seas.” Professor F. W. Newman, finding no mention of their existence in profane histories, came to the usual conclusion of his school, that where the Bible mentioned persons or nations and profane history did not, it was quite clear that such persons or nations never existed. The cases of Sargon and the Hittites may perhaps induce critics of this school to be a little less hasty henceforth in dismissing the statements of Scripture. The site of ancient Carchemish has lately been discovered on the western bank of the Euphrates. The Hivites, or rather Hivrites. The name of this tribe is not found in the first enumeration of the nations of Canaan (Gen 15:19-21), but we find the name in the list of Canaan’s descendants in Gen 10:17 and 1Ch 1:15. Shechem, the prince of the city of that name, was a Hivite (Gen 34:2), though some copies of the LXX. read Horite for Hivite without authority. The Hivites then (Gen 34:10-21) seem, as afterwards in the case of the Gibeonites, to have been a peaceful, commercial race. The character of the Shechemites afterwards seems to have been unwarlike. At least they were neither very spirited nor successful in their military enterprises, as the narrative in Jdg 9:1-57. shows. The voluptuous beauty of the place, testified to by so many modern travellers, such as Robinson, Vandevelde, etc; falls in well with the character of the inhabitants. A colony of Hivites seem to have dwelt in the north, in the highlands beneath Mount Hermon, a country to which the name of Mizpeh, or watchtower, seems to have been given, no doubt from its elevation. This must not, however, be confounded with Mizpeh in the land of Benjamin (see Jos 11:3). In 2Sa 24:7 they appear to have been found in the neighbourhood of Tyre, though this is by no means clear. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Ewald would explain it “midlander;” Gesenius explains it by “village,” from to live, breathe. That signifies a town or village we may learn from Num 32:41, Deu 3:14, Jos 13:30, Jdg 10:4, I Kings Jdg 4:13. The mention of their city so early as the time of Jacob, the description given of their character in that narrative, and the characteristic astuteness of the Gibeonites as well as their unwarlike conduct, would lead to the conclusion that they dwelt in settled habitations, not nomadic encampments, and that they gained their living chiefly by commerce. We ought not to quit the subject without the remark that all we learn from Scripture concerning the Hivites is remarkably consistent, and bears testimony to the scrupulous accuracy of the writers. The Perizzites. The word Perizzite signifies countryman, as distinguished from the dwellers in houses. Thus the word signifies “unwalled,” or “open,” in Deu 3:5, 1Sa 6:18, and in the Keri of Est 9:19. Perhaps the reason of the omission of their name in Gen 10:1-32. and 1Ch 1:1-54. may justify the supposition that they were of no particular tribe, but were a collection of men from every tribe engaged in agricultural pursuits. Redslob (see art. in ‘Dictionary of the Bible ‘) suggests that the Hawoth (Jos 13:30) were pastoral, the Perazoth agricultural villages. This is to a certain extent borne out by the fact that Hawoth signifies “living places,” and Perazoth” places spread out,” as well as by the fact that the trans-Jordanic tribes were specially pastoral in their habits. Passages such as 2Sa 5:20, 2Sa 6:8, 1Ch 14:11, Isa 28:21 are cited as illustrative of this word, but erroneously, for in the Hebrew the letter is Tzade, and not Zain, as here. Ritter regards the word as analogous to Pharisee, from pharash, to separate, and regards them as nomad tribes. But the authority of Ewald and Gesenius must outweigh his. The Girgashites. They are not mentioned in Scripture, save in Jos 24:11, Gen 15:21, Deu 7:1. They were therefore no doubt a small tribe, in. habiting, it has been supposed, the country of Gergesa or Gerasa (as some editions read in Mat 8:28) upon the lake of Gennesareth. But this was on the other side of Jordan. If therefore there be any connection between Gergesa or Gerasa and the Girgashites, there must have been a small settlement of them on the eastern side of the lake of Gennesareth. The Amorites. These were the most powerful of the Canaanitish peoples (see Amo 2:9). They not only inhabited the mountains (Num 13:29; Jos 11:3), but crossed the Jordan and wrested the country from Arnon to Jabbok out of the hands of the Moabites (Num 21:13, Num 21:24, Num 21:26), and dwelt there until dispossessed by Moses. In Gen 14:9 we find them west of Jordan, near Engedi, on the shores of the Dead Sea. Thence crossing Jordan they seem to have spread eastward. They are found in the Shephelah, on the borders of Dan (Jdg 1:34), and even in the mountain district near Ajalon. But (verse 35) they seem to have been driven out of Judah, and to have occupied a small portion of the Arabah south of the Dead Sea (cf. Jos 15:3). Ewald, as well as Gesenius, regards the word Amorite as signifying highlander, and he quotes Isa 17:9, where Amir signifies the highest part of anything, as of a tree. So the Syriac Amori signifies a hero, and the Arabic Emir signifies a ruler. With this we may compare the term Ameer of Afghanistan, no doubt derived from a similar root. See also Isa 17:6, and the Hithpahel of in Psa 94:4, with the meaning to exalt one’s self. Shechem, though a Hivite settlement, is spoken of by Jacob (Gen 48:22) as an Amorite city, and in Jos 10:6 the sovereigns of Jerusalem and the neighbour cities are spoken of as Amorite monarchs. This would suggest that the words applied to the inhabitants were to a great extent convertible terms, just as we apply the term Celt, Gael, Highlander indiscriminately to the inhabitants of the north of Scotland, Dutchman and Hollander to the inhabitants of Holland, and as Scotus and Erigena were both applied to Irishmen up to the 10th century. The Jebusites were in possession of the central highlands around Jerusalem, their stronghold. They retained possession of this until David dislodged them (2Sa 5:6-8. See note on Jos 10:1).

Jos 3:11

The Lord of all the earth. As He was about to prove Himself to be by the mighty miracles He wrought to establish the Israelites in their land and thus fulfil His promise. The Israelites needed to be reminded of this to support them during the crossing of the Jordan. The translation of the LXX; though rejected by the Masorites, who separate the words “covenant” and “Lord,” is admissible here, “the covenant of the Lord of all the earth.” If we follow the Masoretic punctuation, we must supply the word “ark” again, and translate “the ark of the covenant, the ark of the Lord of the whole earth.”

Jos 3:12

Take you twelve men. Joshua commands the election of twelve men previous to the passage of the Jordan, and in pursuance of the command he had already (Jos 4:2; cf. note on Jos 4:2) received from God. The reason for which they were to be chosen was probably not communicated to the Israelites till after the passage had taken place. Masius thinks that it would make the narrative clearer, “si proximum is versiculum sequeretur.” But see note on Jos 4:1.

Jos 3:13

The Lord, the Lord of all the earth. The original is, Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth. That the waters of Jordan shall be cut off. The construction here seems to have perplexed the LXX; Vulgate, and English translators. The former have given the sense, but have changed the construction. The second have supposed to mean fail, and to refer to the waters below the place of crossing. The third have interpolated the word “from.” The words “the waters descending from above” are in apposition to, and explanatory of, the words “the waters” above. If for “from” in our version we substitute “namely,” we shall express the meaning of the original. The Masorites point thus, dividing the verb from what follows by Zakeph Katon. A heap (cf. Psa 38:7). The original is picturesque, “and they shall stand, one heap.”

Jos 3:14

Removed from their tents. The word used for “removed” in this chapter is the same as is used of Abraham’s removing. It is appropriate to the nature of the removal, for it signifies originally to pull up stakes or tent-pins, and has reference, there. fore, to the removal of a people who dwelt in tents.

Jos 3:15

Brim. The water’s edge is meant here, as in Jos 3:8, where the same word is translated brink (see note on Jos 3:17, and on Jos 4:19). Jordan overfloweth all his banks. Some commentators translate here, filleth all his banks (, LXX). But this rendering is contrary

(1) to the Hebrew, and

(2) contrary to fact.

The literal rendering here is, “filleth out (or upon) all its banks.” In Jos 4:18 we read that Jordan goeth over all its banks And that the Jordan is not merely full, but full to overflowing, at the harvest season, is proved by the statements of many travellers. Take, for instance, Canon Tristram, who describes his visit to the Jordan as occurring just after it had been overflowing its banks, and the lower level of the valley as filled with “a deep slimy ooze.” He adds that, by measure merit, the river was found to have been fourteen feet above the level at which he found it, and it was then quite full. Bartlett remarks, “We were fortunate enough to see it in the state in which it is described in Joshua, ‘overflowing all its banks’that is, the whole line of its banks. The turbid stream rushed along like a mill race, and though it had fallen from its greatest height, the proper banks of the channel were invisible, and indicated only by lines of oleanders and other shrubs and trees.” This was on the 22nd of March. This overflowing is caused by the melting of the snows of Hermon, which then rush down, fill Lake Huleh and its marshes, as well as Gennesareth, and cause the “swelling of Jordan” (Jer 12:5; Jer 49:19; Jer 1:1-19 :44), which drives the wild beasts from their retreats on its banks (see also 1Ch 12:15). Some travellers have boldly asserted, in spite of this concurrent testimony, that Jordan does not overflow its banks at the time of harvest. But they have mistaken the wheat for the barley harvest, forgetting that in Palestine the latter precedes the former by six or seven weeks. By the time of wheat harvest Jordan has returned to its normal condition, and all traces of the inundation have passed away. The time of harvest, i.e; the barley harvest, which took place about the 10th Nisan, or Abib, when the Israelites crossed. The wheat harvest was about Pentecost, or seven weeks later (Exo 34:22). An important argument for the genuineness of the narrative (and much the more important as its chief incident is miraculous) is drawn from this passage by Blunt in his ‘Undesigned Coincidences.’ He remarks that in Exo 9:31, Exo 9:33 the barley and flax are said to have ripened together. Therefore the time of the barley and flax harvest would be identical. Accordingly we have Rahab, three days before the event here recorded, in possession of the as yet undried stalks of flax which had just been cut. Nothing could be a more satisfactory proof that the narrative we have before us comes from persons who were accurately and minutely informed concerning the circumstances of which they tell us.

Jos 3:16

Stood and rose up upon a heap. Literally, “stoodthey rose up, one heap.” The narrative assumes a poetic form here (cf. Exo 15:8, Exo 15:9; Jdg 5:27). Very far from the city Adam. The Masorites have corrected the text here. The original text has for which the suggested Keri is . But the correction is needless. It is better to render, “they rose up, one heap, very far off, at the city Adam.” The city Adam is nowhere else mentioned in Scripture, The LXX. appears to have read instead of , for it translates . This reading of the LXX. shows that the correction, though it obscures the sense, is of great antiquity, and that the site of Adam was then quite unknown. Knobel would place it either just south of the Jabbok, where the ford Damieh now exists, or at Eduma, now Daumeh, twelve German miles east of Neapolis. The former is generally accepted now, and Conder identifies it with Admah (see Gen 14:2), in the plain or ciccar of Jordan. That is beside Zaretan. Called Zarthan in the original (cf. 1Ki 4:12; 1Ki 7:46), and Zeredatha, in 2Ch 4:17. Some read Zeredatha for Zererath in Jdg 7:22. Knobel supposes, and not without some probability, that Zereda, Jeroboam’s birthplace, is the same as this. It was in the plain of Jordan, not far from Succoth, at the mouth of the Jabbok. The LXX. here reads , i.e; either Kiriathaim or Kirjath-jearim, but without authority. Delitzsch and Knobel suppose the spot to be Kurn, or Karn (i.e; horn) Sartabeh, near the ford Damieh, where the Jordan valley is at its narrowest, and the rocks stretch forward so as almost to meet. They fix on this spot, partly from the suitability of the situation for such an arresting of the waters, partly from its agreement with the situation of Zarthan, as described in the Scriptures. Vandevelde agrees with them. There was an Adami and a Zartanath higher up the river near Bethshean, which some have supposed to be meant (see Jos 19:1-51 :83; 1Ki 4:12), but these lay entirely out of Joshua’s line of march. The sea of the plain. Rather the sea of the ( , LXX), or desert (so Deu 3:17; Deu 4:49; 2Ki 14:25; see also Deu 1:1). The term is applied by the Hebrews and Arabs to any sterile region, and thence to the sterile depression which borders on the Jordan, extending from the lake of Tiberias southward. The Arabs now apply the term el ghor to the part between Tiberias and the Dead Sea, and reserve the term Arabah for the desert valley, or wady, which extends thence to the Red Sea. So Gesen; ‘Thesaurus,’ s.v.; and Robinson, ‘Bibl. Res.’ The word translated plain in Gen 13:10 is , a word of very different signification (see also ‘Shephelah’ and ‘Emek,’ Jos 10:40; Jos 11:2). The salt sea. This sea is called the Dead Sea from the immobility of its waters, as well as from the apparent absence of all life within them. “Some of our party,” says Canon Tristram,” employed themselves in searching, but without avail, for life in the Dead Sea.” It lies at a level of more than 1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. Its waters are thus described by Dr. Thomson: “The water is perfectly clear and transparent. The taste is bitter and salt, far beyond that of the ocean. It acts upon the tongue and mouth like alum; smarts in the eye like camphor; produces a burning, pricking sensation.” The specific gravity of its waters is very great, and bathers find a great difficulty in swimming in it from the unusual buoyancy of the water. This is caused by the very large quantity of saline matter held in solution from the salt hills in the neighbourhood. One of them, Jebel Usdum, is described by Canon Tristram as “a solid mass of rock salt,” and the water in its vicinity as “syrup of chloride of sodium,” that is to say, of common salt. So also Bartlett, ‘Egypt and Palestine,’ p. 451. The statement that no bird can fly across its waters is a fable. The fullest account of the various attemptssome of them fatalto explore the Dead Sea are to be found in Ritter’s ‘Geography of Palestine,’ vol. 3. Canon Tristram explored the western side thoroughly, while Mr. Macgregor’s canoe voyage, described in his ‘Rob Roy on the Jordan,’ gives a number of most interesting details. In Ritter’s work will also be found some valuable observations on the physical geography of the district, on the geological formation of the basin of the Dead Sea, together with two papers, one by M. Terreil and the other by M. Lartet, on the chemical composition of the Dead Sea waters. Failed and were cut off. Literally, were completed, were cut off, i.e; were completely cut off, so that the supply of water failed, and the channel of the Jordan to the southward, and to the northward as far as Zaretan, became dry ground (see also Psa 114:3).

Jos 3:17

Firm. The LXX. does not translate this. The Vulgate renders accincti. The original, literally translated, means to cause to stand upright. In the midst of Jordan. That is, they stood surrounded by water, but not in midstream, which would be expressed by as in Jos 3:10, where our version has “among” (see note on Jos 4:9). So Drusius: “In medio Jordanis; i.e; intra Jordanem. Sic Tyrus legitur sita in corde maris; i.e; intra mare nam non procul abest a continente.” Clean over. The word is the same as that translated “failed” in the last note. It means completion“till the people had entirely finished crossing.” Origen thus explains, in his fourth homily on Joshua, the mystical signification of this crossing the Jordan: “Cure catechumenorum aggregatus es numero, et praeceptis Ecclesiasticis parere coepisti digressus es mare rubrum, et in deserti stationibus positus, ad audiendam Dei legem, et intuendum Mosei vulture per gloriam Domini revelatum quotidie vacas. Si vero ad mysticum baptismi veneris fontem, et consistente sacerdotali et Levitico ordine initiatus fueris venerandis illis magnificisque sacramentis quae norunt illi quos nosse fas est, hanc etiam sacerdotum ministeriis Jordane digresso terram repromissionis intratis, in qua te post Moysen suscipi Jesus, et ipse tibi efficitur novi itineris dux.”

HOMILETICS

Jos 3:7-17

The passage of Jordan.

I. THE MINISTRY OF JOSHUA AND JESUS BEGAN AT JORDAN. As with Joshua at his crossing, so with Jesus at His baptism, God marked the moment of their coming to Jordan with a special favour. For as the waters of the Red Sea (1Co 10:2), so the waters of Jordan are the type of Christian baptism. In connection with the wandering in the wilderness, the stream of Jordan is the type of death, which admits us to the promised land. But in connection with the conflicts in Canaan, to which it was the introduction, it is a type of the commencement of the spiritual life. For in it we are dedicated to our Joshuawe begin to follow our Leader. In it He was first “marked out to be the Son of God” (Mat 3:17); and in it He shows to us the power of God in delivering us from our wanderings in the wilderness of evil, and translating us into the regions of His promises. In baptism we enter into covenant with God, and receive His blessings and gifts, as well as declare our resolution to serve Him. Thus it is the turning point of our lives whenever we receive it. It places us in a new covenant relation to God. It introduces us into new obligations, and entitles us to new blessings. It gives us the right to claim the aid of God in our conflict with evil; in other words, it is the starting point of our sanctification. And the work is all of God. He alone parts the waters for us to cross from the world into His kingdom. Jordan is overflowed. No passage is possible by human means; that is, no works of our own can avail to place .us where we may hope to carry on a successful war against our own and God’s enemies. “Not of works, lest any man should boast,” but “by grace are ye saved through faith, and even that (i.e; faith) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” We attribute no magical power thus to the sacrament of baptism. It derives its sole power from being the means appointed by Jesus Christ Himself whereby we enter into covenant with Him.

II. IT WAS NO LONGER THE PILLAR OF CLOUD THAT GUIDED THEM, BUT THE ARK OF THE COVENANT. That is, the mystery of the law was unveiled in the gospel. Like the veil on the face of Moses (2Co 3:1-18), so this figure teaches us that what was dark under the Mosaic dispensation should be made clear by Jesus Christ. “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did” (cf. also Heb 12:18-24). The law guided through the wilderness; the gospel, into the promised land. The law, which was enshrouded in darkness, led man only in uncertain wanderings; the gospel led them to favour and victory. God was with them, no longer by cloudy tokens in the skies, but by the visible symbols of His presence. And so the God who leads us now is no longer a God who hides Himself, but God manifest in the flesh; God clothed in a visible form, that thus we might see Him who is invisible. The humanity of Jesus is at once the revelation of God, and the perfection of man. Following Him, though at a respectful distance, beholding Him, though not too nigh, we enter into the enjoyment of the promise.

III. JORDAN WAS CROSSED AT THE TIME OF ITS OVERFLOWING. Thus God manifests His own glory and man’s insufficiency. The miracle was the greater in that it was performed at such a time. So God always deals with His people. The time of trouble is the time when He manifests His power. It is then that He makes our way most “plain before our face.” Both Churches and individuals are apt in their prosperity to say, “I shall never be removed.” But in adversity they betake themselves in all humility to God, and He makes them a way through the deep waters. “The swellings of Jordan” abate at His presence; “the overflowings of ungodliness” give ground at His word. When He speaks, sorrow and distress flee away “far off,” and they whose “treadings had well-nigh slipt,” who were “grieved at the wicked,” or at the seeming tokens of God’s wrath, find that He has made “straight paths for their feet” where all had seemed disappointment and despair.

IV. HELP AND STRENGTH ARE TO BE FOUND IN THE ORDINANCES OF RELIGION. When the priests’ feet touched the brink of the waters they fled away. And is it not a spiritual fact that the consolations and helps of religion are to be found at the hands of the ministers of religion? How often did the exhortations of a Moses, a Joshua, or Samuel revive the drooping spirits of God’s people? How often were the first converts of the gospel “provoked unto love and good works” by the mouth of a St. Peter or St. Paul! How many date their first serious impressions of Divine things from an earnest sermon, or a few words of loving counsel spoken by a minister of Christ. How many have felt kindled to love and devotion by the prayers reverently offered up in the sanctuary, where the sacred fire spreads from soul to soul till it has enkindled the warmth of zeal in all present! How often has the worshipper, either in the congregation or on the sick bed, been moved to tears and stirred to the depths of his soul by the “blest memorials of a dying Lord,” consecrated and administered according to His word! It is one of the privileges of the Christian ministry of the New Covenant, when faithfully carried on, as of the priests at the command of the Jesus of the Old Covenant, that as their feet touch the swelling waters of neglect, thoughtlessness, and indevoutness, they subside, they flee far off, at least when, at the root of the individual life, there lies the sparkeven though almost quenchedof faith. Not that the ministers are to take credit to themselves for this. They are but the organs of the Spirit of Christ. As Matthew Henry remarks, “God could have divided the river without the priests, but they could not do without Him.” But He is pleased to use human means, and He blesses them. Though the “treasure is in earthen vessels,” yet the “excellency of the power is of God.”

V. THE PRIESTS STOOD FIRM. They were “caused to stand upright,” as the Hebrew says; that is, there was no faltering or wavering. Had they drawn back after entering Jordan, had they shown signs of uncertainty, the waters would have returned, or the people had never dared to cross. So great is the responsibility that rests on God’s ministers. The people look to them for guidancefor encouragement. If they “faint by the way,” if they falter in their work of contending for the faith, of promoting the spread of Christ’s Gospel, if their trumpet gives an uncertain sound, or if they retreat from their appointed task, the conflict with evil stands still; the pathway for God’s Church to proceed to further conquests is not opened. How many great works for the spread of Christ’s Gospel, for the proclamation of His truth, for the victory of His cause among men, have failed because the “priests” have not “stood firm” in the waters of Jordan; because timidity, halfheartedness, divided counsels, profitless controversies have obscured the witness for God’s truth I If “the kingdoms of this world” have not “become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ,” if the number of Christ’s elect is not yet filled up, if the pathway to the final fulfilment of God’s promises be not yet open, how much of it is because His ministers have not yet learned to “stand firm in the midst of Jordan”?

HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER

Jos 3:11

The passage of the Jordan.

The lessons of importance are not exhausted in those already suggested in this passage of the Jordan. A deed so great, so solemn, so vast in its results, has many sides, and many subordinate points of interest. I gather up in this second homily a few of those points of interest and instruction. And first observe

I. THE SIGN OF GOD‘S PRESENCE WITH ISRAEL IS TEMPORARY, BUT THE PRESENCE ITSELF IS PERMANENT. This lesson arises at once from the fact that the pillar of cloud which hitherto had led them does not precede them now. To its guidance hitherto they had marched, and under its shadow rested. And the sign of God’s presence had been a sweet assurance and a constant augury of success. Now it disappears altogether from the history of Israel. They will cross Jordan under the guidance of the ark, and of that alone. God’s presence remains with them, but the sign of it is withdrawn. There were doubtless many who regarded such a loss as an omen of sinister significance; and many who, mixing devotion and superstition, would deplore that when the great crisis of the enterprise was come, their usual assurance of God’s presence failed them. But there were some that had looked net to but through the sign, and built their hopes on the living God. And they, Joshua leading them, trusting in the love and faithfulness which they felt must be His character, were ready to venture without their sign. And venturing, they found God there, though the cloud of His presence had been withdrawn, and they got a notable lesson in walking by faith rather than by sight. We need few lessons more than this: That God’s presence or absence is not to be concluded from the presence or absence of the sign of it. We are all Jewish enough to “require a sign.” We want some assurance of acceptance over and beyond what gospel words convey. We want some “leading of Providence” in addition to the sense of duty before we feel comfortable in starting on any course. Raptures, mystic whisperings of God’s consolation, special experiences not granted to othersthese are apt in the regard of all of us to assume too much importance. We are apt to make the same mistake concerning these which some in Israel doubtless made concerning the pillar of cloud and fire; namely, to imagine them a special crown, a testimony to our unusual sanctity, instead of a gracious condescension to our weaknesses and to the fears which mark our setting out on a pilgrimage. Just escaping from slavery, Israel needed signs; now, maturer in experience and stronger in faith, the signs are no longer needed. Probably. in all cases it will be found that signs belong to the earlier stages of the experience either of the community or the individual. When experience and faith are strong, they are withdrawn. Put not a dark construction on any mere want of signs, for while the sign of the presence is temporary, the presence itself is permanent with all God’s people. Growing out of this a second lesson suggests itself, viz.:

II. THEY ARE WELL LED WHO ARE ARK LED. Israel no longer had the pillar of cloud and fire, but they had the ark of God, and, as the event proved, the ark led them just as wisely as the pillar; and in following it they found just the same help of miraculous power. What was this ark of the covenant? A wonderful piece of sacred symbolism. Over itin fact, forming the lid of itwas what was named the mercy seat, God’s earthly throne. Within it were the ten commandments, written on two tables of stone. This combination of symbols of law and mercy belonged to no religion but that of Israel. The gods of other nations required but little duty, and were hardly expected to show mercy. But the symbolism of the ark and the whole Mosaic economy projected these thoughts before the minds of Israel: The true God is a God of mercy. But at the same time He insists on duty. The ark proclaimed Him the God of mercy and of law; of gracious promise, of ennobling precept; delivering men by the grace He gave, dignifying them by the duty He exacted. This was the God of Israel. And now, in lieu of signs, the symbol of mercy and of duty was to lead the way. Not eagles, symbols of victorious power, but tables of stone led them, and “marshalled them the way that they were going.” And their successful following of this lead suggests that when any one marches to the lead of the ten commandments, or of the promises of God, he is as well led and as grandly succoured as when some cloudy pillar moves before him. There is importance in this. Often our signs are withdrawn; as with the community of Israel so with us, it is probably the case that signs grow fewer and that special experiences grow more rare as character matures. Then comes a time, more or less clearly definite, when, instead of mysterious movings felt to be Divine, the guidance of the Lord is given, through a testimony of mercy and of duty. Before you goes the symbol of heavenly love and of earthly duty. And you have to march, coldly as it may seem, to the lead of tables of stone and verbal assurances only of God’s care. Murmur not at this; a hope and a duty are guides sublime. The ark is just as good as the cloud. If you had the choice of an enlightened conscience or a special angel to be your guide, you would do wisely to choose the conscience in preference to the angel. You may mistake the reading of your signsyou rarely will your duty. Next to His redeeming grace, the richest mercy He gives us is a “word behind us,” or within us, “saying, this is the way, walk ye in it.” And the grandest spirits of mankindin their pilgrimage from victory to victoryhave marched under the lead of nothing grander than some ark, something that whispered hope and demanded duty. Thus led, did Israel lose? Nay, as before the cloudy pillar the sea divided, so before the sacred ark did Jordan. If you have something like what the ark embodieda promise and a preceptask no more; where the tables of the covenant lead you, there follow. Few get more, and none get anything better, than these. God guides through enlightenment of conscience, or Bible precept, or the devout example which you instinctively perceive is a pattern to be followed. Seek not any sign; God’s presence will ever be with all those that keep His precepts. If the ark of God, as replacing the pillar of cloud, has such suggestions, observe thirdly

III. GOD‘S HYDRAULICS ARE NEVER FAULTY. In the West of England just now there is considerable discussion about” dockising” the river Avon, i.e; so throwing a dam across the mouth that all the river up to Bristol would be converted into one huge dock. And in the discussion the strength of such a dam, its cost, its leakage, the right place for it, how to provide for the outlet of all water above a certain level, are canvassed by all. Here we have the “dockising” for a day or two of the river Jordan, a very much larger river than the Avon, one whose very name suggests the swiftness of its current. And the dam that effects this great collection of the waters is “the ark of God,” set down in the midst of the Jordan bed, with the priests grouped on either side. How would the philosophers of that day criticise that dam, and express with assumed anxiety their fears that the law of gravitation and the law that governs the flow of liquids would prove too much for the legs of the priests, and even for the weight of the tables of stone. But whatever fear might be entertained by the people before the ark entered Jordan, and whatever misgivings by the priests when they were standing in its pebbly bed, there was a power which operated from that ark which dammed the fiver as no engineer could have done it. So that instead of reading of struggling with the water, of multitudes carried down the stream, of hairbreadth escapes, of multitudes left behind, all got safely across. And here, I think, we have a specimen of what is everywhere to be seen; the efficiency of spiritual barriers against all assailing forces. We see them on all hands; we dread lest they be overborne by some strong current bearing down against them. But lo! they stand against all force that threatens them. God’s truth is such a barrier. With error like a huge river rushing down upon it, it seems as slender and insufficient as was the barrier of the ark. Science is so arrogant and captious, chronology so sure, metaphysics so disputatious, error so agreeable to the natural man, that it seems as if there could be no standing. But the Jordan of all the philosophies and all the heresies threaten in vain, and God’s ark of truth is sufficient to withstand them. God’s grace in the heart is such a dam; nothing seemingly more feeble, nothing really more strong, against the swelling tides of inward corruption and outward temptation that assail the character. Sometimes prayer shields a distant boy, an erring friend, and protects them with a guard as really omnipotent as it appears feeble. Judge not by the outward appearance. The clock is not about to go backward, nor error usurp the place of truth. Don’t tremble for the ark of God, as did Eli. Whatever God wants guarded, it is omnipotent to guard. So that, amongst other lessons, this sweet one comes to us that we are guarded better than we think. And what seems God’s weakness is mightier than the strongest strength which can come against us.G.

HOMILIES BY J. WAITE

Jos 3:14-17

The division of the waters.

The passage of Jordan, like that of the Red Sea, marks a momentous crisis in the career of the chosen people. The events are similar in their general character as Divine interpositions, but there are notable points of difference. In the first case there was haste, confusion, and alarm; the people fled precipitately, the noise of the Egyptian host behind them, the mountains shutting them in, the sea an object of terror before them; they cried unto the Lord, in their distress. Even Moses seems to have had his misgivings. “Wherefore criest thou unto me?” etc. (Exo 14:15). But here, apparently, all is tranquillity and order. The territory on which they stand has been subdued and is their possession, and they move deliberately, under the direction of Joshua, down to the brink of the river, waiting in calm expectancy for the salvation of the Lord. In the former case, the region beyond the sea was a dread mystery to them. It was a waste, howling wilderness, towards which they could not look without sad forebodings. But here the hills, and forests, and fertile plains of the land of promise axe actually in sight, and though they know that they are not destined to enter at once into peaceable possession of it, the vision gives such stimulus to their faith that it is as if the inheritance were already theirs. Let us look at this event

(1) as a revelation of God;

(2) as a chapter in the moral education of the people.

I. AS A REVELATION OF GOD. The miraculous, supernatural character of the event we take to be beyond all reasonable doubt. It is impossible to explain it on mere natural grounds. The spies, like David’s “mighty men” at a later period (1Ch 12:15), probably swam the flood. But, considering the condition of the river at the time (verse 15), it is incredible that so vast a host, with women and children, should have passed over except by a miraculous division of the waters. In the passage of the Red Sea an intermediate agent was employed to bring about the result. “The Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind” (Exo 14:21). But there is no indication of anything of this kind here. It is a direct exercise of the wonder working hand of God. In the one case a natural agent is used supernaturally; in the other nothing intervenes between the supernatural cause and the visible effect. Note

1. God’s control over nature. All miracles in the physical realm are an assertion of the absolute sovereignty of God over the things He has made and the laws He has ordained. The possibility of miracles springs naturally from the fact of the existence of a “living God,” who is “Lord of all the earth.” Whether any particular miracle is credible must depend on the force of evidence, and in this evidence the moral end to be answered plays an important part. But to deny its possibility is to deny the Divine sovereignty. It is absurd to suppose that the order of nature which God Himself has established limits His own freedom. The power that created it must ever be Lord over it. Consider how this truth of the supremacy of the living God is the basis of our faith in a controlling Providence and in the efficacy of prayer. How the Divine will may work freely within the bounds of natural order we know not. But once grasp the principle that the forces and laws of nature are not fetters imposed on the freedom of Divine power, but instruments by which that power may accomplish the purposes of love as it pleases, and you have no longer any difficulty in believing in a fatherly Providence in which you can trust and to which you can appeal in time of need.

2. God’s control over the nations. This miracle is to the people a prophecy and pledge of victory in their conflict with the Canaanites. “Hereby ye shall know,” etc. (verse 10). The power that rolled back the waters of the rushing river could roll back the force of the barbarous tribes beyond it. The opening for the chosen people of a pathway across the stream would be a doubtful benefit unless they could take it as the pledge of the presence of that power with them afterwards. Moreover, shall not He who planted the nations be able to uproot them? Shall not He who “determined for them the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation,” etc; be able to change their boundaries as He pleases, and to destroy them when they fail to fulfil the ends for which He gave them their local habitation? This is a very different thing from saying that the strong have license to oppress and exterminate the weak. It may be perfectly true that there is a process ever going on among the peoples of the earth, by virtue of which those that have risen higher in the scale of humanity thrust out the lower, a “survival of the fittest.” But this in no way overrides the law that the oppressor and the spoiler must, sooner or later, suffer a righteous retribution. “Woe to thee that spoilest,” etc. (Isa 33:1). God may use one nation as the scourge of another, and the avenger of His own abused authority. But let none think to move in this path without a very distinct and definite Divine call. “Vengeance is mine,” etc. (Rom 12:19). This violent seizure of the land of Canaan by the Israelites can be justified only on the ground of a direct Divine commission, and of that commission the miraculous passage of Jordan was the seal and proof.

II. A CHAPTER IN THE MORAL EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. AN EDUCATION IN FAITH, AND IN THE COURAGE THAT SPRINGS FROM FAITH. Their whole career in the wilderness had been marked by signal Divine interpositions. “The Lord alone did lead them, and there was no strange God with them” (Deu 32:12). They specially needed to have this impressed on them now, entering as they were on a new stage in their national history, new situations, new responsibilities; coming as an organised commonwealth into contact with the corruptions of Phoenician idolatry. This miracle was intended also to give them confidence in their leader: “This day will I begin to magnify thee,” etc. (verse 7). And the calm strength of Joshua’s faith was fitted to inspire them with the same spirit.

Lessons suggested:

(1) Life to most of us is a succession of trials of faith and fortitude. “Ye have not passed this way before.” We are continually entering on new ground, new phases of experience, unknown difficulties and dangers. Our only security is the consciousness of the Divine presence, the faith that lays hold on the strength of God.

(2) The inspiring effect of a noble example. “It does a wrestling man good to be surrounded by tried wrestlers.” He is most honoured of God who has most power to awaken in his fellows faith in God.

(3) The conditions of victory in the last emergency of life. Though there may be nothing in Scripture teaching to warrant it, it is not without reason that, in hymns and allegories, the Jordan is regarded as a symbol of death. The dark river rolls between us and the land of promise; how shall we cross it in safety? “Yea, though I walk through the valley,” etc. (Psa 23:4). Let us hear the voice of the Captain of our salvation, and we shall not be afraid. The ark of the covenant will open for us a sure pathway through the deep.W.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Ver. 7. And the Lord said unto Joshua It was not merely of himself, that Joshua gave to the priests the orders mentioned in the foregoing verse. Immediately on the priests’ approaching the sanctuary, a voice issued from it, and spake to Joshua as in this and the subsequent verse. This day, viz. the

10th of the first month, called Nisan, was the day on which the law enjoined the paschal lamb to be set apart from the flock, to be offered four days after.

Will I begin, &c. “This day, after having raised thee to the rank which Moses occupied, I proceed to signalize the first-fruits of thy ministry by prodigies, which shall convince all Israel that thou art the lawful interpreter of my commands, the respectable executor of my counsels; and that they are to place no less confidence in thee, than they did in Moses.” It is remarkable, that from the time of Moses to that of Saul, God always signified to the people by some miracle the choice he had made of the person who was to govern them.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

God had before honoured Joshua when returning from searching out the promised land. But not in so eminent a manner as now. I hope the Reader in keeping his eye all along upon Joshua as a type of the ever blessed Jesus, will not forget that it was from the same river of Jordan, and on the entrance of his ministry, that Jesus began to be so distinguished in honour, when a voice from heaven declared him to be the only beloved son of his Father. See Mat 3:16-17 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jos 3:7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, [so] I will be with thee.

Ver. 7. This day will I begin to magnify thee, ] viz., In the esteem of the people. It is God that giveth honour; he fashioneth men’s opinions: he caused that “whatsoever David did pleased the people.”

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 3:7-13

7Now the LORD said to Joshua, This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. 8You shall, moreover, command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ 9Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God. 10Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. 11Behold, the ark of the covenant of the LORD of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan. 12Now then, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. 13It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap.

Jos 3:7 that they will know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you The human leader had changed but God was the same! God is going to show His support for Joshua by doing several things for him that He had also done for Moses. As God split the Red Sea in the Exodus, He now splits the Jordan in the Conquest. Another example of this same type of duplicated events Isa 5:13-15, which is comparable with Moses’ burning bush experience in Exodus 3.

Jos 3:9 Joshua again commands the people.

1. come here, BDB 620, KB 670, Qal IMPERATIVE. This probably refers to the leaders who would pass on the information, but it could also refer to all the Israelites.

2. hear the words of the LORD your God, BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERATIVE. This VERB means to hear so as to do! These are God’s words, not Joshua’s.

Jos 3:10 the living God This is the meaning of the name YHWH (cf. Exo 3:14). It is from the Hebrew VERB to be. He is the ever living, only living God. See Special Topic: NAMES FOR DEITY .

the living God is among you What a tremendous promise this is. The transcendent Holy One is with them (immanence). YHWH’s miracle (splitting the Jordan) will convince them all that YHWH fulfills His promise (cf. Num 16:28).

that He will assuredly dispossess from before you This is an emphatic grammatical construction made up of the Hiphil INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and the Hiphil IMPERFECT of the VERB for possess/drive out (BDB 439, KB 441). This VERB is common in Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges.

the Canaanite, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites

SPECIAL TOPIC: PRE-ISRAELITE INHABITANTS OF PALESTINE

Jos 3:11 the ark of the covenant of the LORD of all the earth This is the name adon (BDB 10), which means owner, husband, or master. Here again is that universal emphasis which is seen so often in the Pentateuch (cf. Jos 3:13; Jos 4:24; Gen 3:15; Gen 12:3; Exo 9:29; Exo 19:5). There is one and only one creator, sustainer, and redeemer, God (cf. Psa 97:5; Mic 4:13). See Special Topic: YHWH’s ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PLAN .

Jos 3:12 take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe Notice that this does not include the tribe of Levi. This emphasis on the inclusion of the tribes is a major theme throughout the book of Joshua. Their purpose is stated in chapter 4 (to gather stones as a memorial)

Jos 3:13 when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD These priests who were carrying the ark had to act in faith to enter the turbulent waters of the overflowing Jordan. All of them had to get their feet into the water before it would divide. This is another sign of the faith that God required of His people.

LORD, the Lord See Special Topic: NAMES FOR DEITY .

the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off At a location north of the crossing (Jericho) the limestone cliffs caved in at the city of Adam and dammed up the Jordan (cf. Jos 3:16). This was a natural event, but with supernatural timing (when it started and when it stopped) and locality. This was just like the plagues of Egypt, which they had heard about from their parents.

In Genesis 1 water is never said to be spoken into existence. It is present and covers the earth in Gen 1:2. God’s control of water (i.e., forming the dry land, splitting the Red Sea and the Jordan) shows that He is the God of creation. Water is so important to life, but can be so destructive. Too much is a problem and too little is a problem. YHWH controls the oceans (salt water) and the rivers, dew, and rain (fresh water). Water brings and sustains life (as does God)!

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

the LORD (Hebrew. Jehovah. said unto Joshua (or him), at nine sundry times: Jos 3:7; Jos 5:2; Jos 6:2; Jos 7:10, Jos 8:1, Jos 8:18; Jos 10:8; Jos 11:6; Jos 13:1.

as = according as.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

magnify thee: Jos 4:14, 1Ch 29:25, 2Ch 1:1, Job 7:17, Psa 18:35, Joh 17:1, Phi 1:20, Phi 2:9-11

as I was: Jos 1:5, Jos 1:17

Reciprocal: Gen 21:22 – God Gen 26:28 – was with Gen 48:21 – God Deu 3:28 – for he shall Deu 31:3 – and Joshua 2Ki 2:15 – The spirit Hos 13:1 – exalted Luk 1:15 – great Act 7:45 – Jesus

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jos 3:7. This day will I begin to magnify thee That is, to honour thee in a peculiar manner, and gain thee authority; in the sight of all Israel As the person I have set in Mosess stead, and by whom I will conduct them into the promised land. It has been observed by some, as a remarkable circumstance, that, from the time of Moses to that of Saul, God always signified to the people, by some miracle, whom he had appointed to govern them.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The miraculous parting of the Jordan was only the beginning of a series of miracles that demonstrated to the Israelites that their God was indeed among them. He was active for them and working through Joshua to give them victory (Jos 3:7).

This event bore many similarities to the crossing of the Red Sea (Jos 3:13; cf. Exodus 14). In contrast, Moses had divided the waters of the Red Sea with his rod. Joshua divided the waters of the Jordan with the ark that had become the divinely appointed symbol of God’s presence since God gave the Mosaic Covenant (Jos 3:8).

Evidently the pushing back of the waters of the Jordan was to be a sign to the Israelites that God would push back the Canaanites (Jos 3:10). The title "the Lord of all the earth" occurs here (Jos 3:11) first in Scripture indicating Yahweh’s absolute sovereignty over this planet. Because He was "the Lord of all the earth" He could give Canaan to the Israelites.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)