Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 3:9
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
9. And Joshua said ] Jos 3:9-13 contain the substance of an address to a solemn assembly of the people, in which a fuller explanation is given of what has been stated generally in Jos 3:7-8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jos 3:9-13
Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord.
The environment of worship
That is a bold challenge. That is a voice we need. Every age wants some Joshua, some mighty soldier of the Cross, to say, Come, hear the upper music, the Divine melody, the holy revelation. Have we the hearing ear? If we could hear better we could hear more. Come hither. Does that indicate a point in space, a place, a boundary, a sanctuary? If so, it would be quite in keeping with Oriental thought in general, and with Jewish habit in particular. Always religious exercise was associated with locality–with the mountain, with the city, with the temple, with the tabernacle, with the terebinth, with some place made sacred by historic communes and wrestlings with God. Christ said, The time cometh and now is when neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem (particularly and exclusively) shall men worship the Father, but wherever there is a human spirit desiring the upward way, the higher light, the noonday of thought, and hope, and peace, wherever there is such a soul God is there, and God is the Author of it. Yet Jesus Christ Himself went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day–one of the evangelists says, as was His custom. Beware lest in supposing ourselves able to grasp the all we grasp nothing. The universe is too big really for any one of us to grasp; we had better, therefore, have a little place cornered off and call it the Church, the sanctuary, the little temporary hostelry and lodging-place. All the earth is the Lords. Men are now in danger of worshipping totals, the Unspeakable All, the incognisable infinite, as the metaphysicians call it. We may believe in all that grandeur of immeasurableness, and yet at the same time we go home every evening. Home–but the earth is the Lords: why do you not live out in the open air? What do you want with home? you are a worshipper of Humanity, all space: why do you go home? You cannot keep away from the old place: the loved ones are there, all the lives that make your life a possible joy are there; all the holy, shadowy, tender memories are there–the old seat, the old books, the old fire that talks as it crackles and blazes are there. Come. Why, the mere coming does us good, the very walk to church reddens the blood. The hunter says the delight is in the chase; not in the death of the hunted animal, but in the flight, the leap, the bound, the dash. The coming, the act of locomotion and the act signified by locomotion, will do us good. For what purpose shall we come? Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God. That is the purpose. Not to hear the words of men. We are now here before God to hear what He will say unto us–Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. What shall we hear? Shall we hear the words of some strange deity? Nay, hear the words of the Lord your God. It is a family meeting. These pronouns seem to bring us into sacred and general possession of things in common with God. Your God, our Father, my God, your fathers God: these are the terms in which the greatness and the nearness of God are typified to our dull imagination. When you hear the words of the Lord your God they will not be strange, inarticulate, untranslatable thunder; they will be gospels, voices of music, voices of welcome, tender assurances, great offers of love, sublime propositions of pardon; you will know every word of the speech, being neither affrighted by its majesty nor rendered indifferent by its condescension. To be able to receive such words–is that an insignificant sign? To know Gods voice–is not that an evidence of mans greatness? (J. Parker, D. D.)
Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you.
The best helper
Observe the form which the purpose of the miracle assumes there. It is the confirmation of the Divine presence, not with the leader, but with the people and their consequent victory. Joshua grasped the inmost meaning of Gods word to himself, and showed noble self-suppression, when he thus turned the direction of the miracle. The true servant of God knows that God is with him, not for his personal glorification, but for the welfare of Gods people, and cares little for the estimation in which men hold him, if they will only believe that the conquering God is with them. We too often make great leaders and teachers in the Church opaque barriers to hide God from us, instead of transparent windows through which He shines upon His people. We are a great deal more ready to say God is with him, than to add, and therefore God is with us, in our Joshuas, and without them, Observe the grand emphasis of that name, the living God, tacitly contrasted with the dead idols of the enemies, and sealing the assurance of His swift and all-conquering might. Observe, too, the triumphant contempt in the enumeration of the many tribes of the foe with their barbarous names. Five of them had been enough, when named by the spies trembling lips, to terrify the congregation, but here the list of the whole seven but strengthens confidence. Faith delights to look steadily at its enemies, knowing that the one Helper is more than they all. This catalogue breathes the same spirit as Pauls rapturous list of the foes impotent to separate from the love of God. Mark, too, the long-drawn-out designation of the ark, with its accumulation of nouns, which grammatical purists have found difficulty–the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth; where it leads they need not fear to follow. It was the pledge of His presence, it contained the ten words on which His covenant was concluded. That covenant enlisted on their side Him who was Lord of the swollen river as of all the fierce clans beyond; and with His ark in front their victory was sure. Then follows the command to elect twelve representatives of the tribes, for a purpose not yet explained; and then, at the last moment, the manner of crossing is disclosed, to the silencing of wise doubters and the confirmation of ignorant faith. The brief anticipatory announcement of the miracle puts stress on the arrest of the waters at the instant when the priests feet touched them, and tells what is to befall the arrested torrent above the point where the ark stood, saying nothing about the lower stretch of the river, and just hinting by one word, heap, the parallel between this miracle and that of the passing of the Red Sea (Exo 15:8). (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth.–The emphasis with which here and verse 13 Jehovah is called the Lord of all the earth is very significant. This miracle demonstrated His power over all nature. He who can by His word suspend the operation of material laws, and whose bidding the forces of the world obey, is the supreme ruler of the world. As such all that it contains is at His sovereign disposal. As the living God has the power, so the Lord of all the earth has the right to bestow the land of Canaan upon whomsoever He pleases. Joshua and Israel were under no delusion in claiming that the Most High had given them this land. They were acting under no fanatical impulse. And their conduct gives no sanction to crusades elsewhere waged by those who have imagined themselves the special favourites of heaven, and pleaded a Divine right for their acts of rapine and bloodshed. Israels credentials were of the most palpable character. The miracle which attended their march was Gods own attestation to the fact that they were working His will. And as Jehovah is the Lord of all the earth, He shall one day be universally worshipped and obeyed. The covenant of God with Israel has sometimes been decried as the offspring of a narrow mind, which would limit the Divine favour to particular nation. But it is here joined with the widest universality; and one purpose of this particular miracle wrought on Israels behalf is declared (Jos 4:24) to be that nil the people of the earth might learn a lesson of Jehovahs greatness. (W. H. Green, D. D.)
The ark of God; visible aids in religion
In the ark Israel saw God Himself, and yet lost none of their faith in the spiritual character of God. When the ark rested, Israel knew that God was among them; when the ark moved, then Israel believed that God was calling them to journey on again, and sang, Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered, &c.; when, again, the ark rested, they ceased to move forward, and sang, Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel. There was ever before the people of Israel the words of that commandment which forbade their ever thinking of God under any human, any material form, so that they had to content themselves with the ark of the covenant. But God, all this time, was preparing for a new manifestation of Himself in the Person of the Son, who was to take upon Him the form of His own highest creation, so that no longer should it be a sin to think of God under the likeness of a man. The man who depreciates the idea of a visible Church, and rejects externals in religion, has one side of the truth very clearly revealed to him; but I venture to think that not only is this one side insisted on to the exclusion of another equally true, but his position is maintained against certain unalterable facts, of which the first and foremost is, that our souls, through which alone, he argues, communion may be held with God, are imprisoned within material bodies, and cannot in this life, in the ordinary course, receive impressions of spiritual things except through the medium of those bodies. Israel in the wilderness was, no doubt, often very unworthy of the high calling which belonged to the chosen people; but they did succeed in living a life from which everything was removed except the prospect of the heavenly rewards. They knew they should not inherit temporal promises, and yet they patiently lived their lives in expectation of spiritual things. And during these lives they were guided by the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth, and by the system of worship provided for them by God. We are looking, or ought to be looking, for like heavenly promises, and while we are in the flesh we shall find help, comfort, encouragement, and strength from these outward ordinances, which God has given us in His holy Church. (E. Smith, B. A.)
As soon as the soles of the feet . . . shall rest in the waters of Jordan.—
Committal
The first step was to be taken in the waters. They were called upon not only to face the difficulties, but to enter them. They were not to ask God to prove His power first. They were to trust Him first, and then should they see as they followed on to know the Lord, His giving forth to be prepared as the morning. How fatal had been a halt, although but one step short of the brim of the waters! Even the foot uplifted, ready to fall as soon as the path was ready, would have waited in vain. The promise was addressed only to the faith that, without seeing signs and wonders, could yet believe. That one step taken which proved their faith, and placed it in a position of entire receptivity–then God could prove His faithfulness and manifest His power. His wonders follow at once. The lesson which is here taught us is of the utmost importance, showing us the very essence of all true faith. Mature faith must be able to dare and to endure, with no other stay than seeing Him who is invisible. Our Father does, indeed, stretch out the hand of yearning tenderness to steady the tottering steps of a babe. In His pity and compassion He will not forbid the poor cripple his staff; but the faith of full years and of steady strength can never be developed by continued indulgence. It must be exercised by reason of use. Again, that God, instead of giving His people some visible aid for their crossing, set before them a most visible hindrance, doubling the danger and difficulty to the natural eye, is in perfect accord with our advanced experience. Only how often does the simplicity of our faith fail to equal theirs. It is the first instinctive impulse of unbelief to seek a sign–to have something to interpose between itself and the bare word of God. And so, how often is the question asked: If God be really disposed to bring me into this glorious liberty, will there not be at least some token of it? Shall I find no evidence of it in my own altered feelings; and especially will not the Lord prepare the way by lowering the opposing tide of temptation? The word of our God needs neither sign nor surety. Be it a promise, or be it a command, it matters not; for every command has a promise for its kernel. We are to go forward to obey His commands–forward to receive His promises–forward in faith–forward though difficulties double. Again, the foot dipped in the brimming waters declares emphatically that faith is to precede feeling. Nothing that we discover in heart or life need hinder us in coming to Christ to seek deliverance from it. We may even use our worst discoveries as our plea in coming; For the whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. Nor will my sickness make the Physician displeased with me in my first application to Him. But if after He has healed me, and taught me the conditions of sustaining health, I find myself again unloving, cold, perturbed, fretted, moody, I have not the least right to say that all is well, and that, disregarding all this, I am to believe myself fully accepted through Christ. Unless I bring this disturbance to Him for confession, forgiveness, and healing, I am utterly at fault. Our feelings are of importance. The same Creator who set the faithful nerves as sentinels along all the lines of the senses, to give due warning of danger and disease, gave a corresponding sensitiveness to our souls. Faith is not to discharge this as unnecessary, but to retain it in her service. If it be well with our faith, it will also be well with our feelings. (S. F. Smiley.)
When does Divine help come?
When we, actually going forth in duty as He has told us, according to the directions He has given, laying hold by faith upon His promise, come to the limit of our strength–when thus our feet are dipped in the brim of the waters of our Jordan, His great help does come.
1. Such Divine help comes in difficult duty. Though duty be difficult, when we go forth toward it, as God has ordered, and in faith in His promise, we may be certain somehow His help will meet us.
2. Such Divine help comes scattering foreboded inability, e.g., the women going to the sepulchre, asking, anxiously, Who shall roll away the stone? but going on and finding it rolled away (Mar 16:1-4).
3. Such Divine help will come in death. See what Mr. Greatheart says of Mr. Fearing in the second part of Pilgrims Progress. The whole passage is most exquisite.
4. Such Divine help will also come in conversion. There is that Jordan of belief in Jesus–of the absolute commitment of the self to Him which we must pass before we can enter the Canaan of forgiveness, and Gods favour, and the noble life. Now go on toward it. Cross it. But you have no feeling, you say; that is not to the matter. But you do not know such feeling as other people say they have; that is not to the matter. But you do not understand how it can be; you need not; that is not to the matter. But you are not fit to make the crossing; you never will be fitter; that is not to the matter. This is enough. God tells you to go forth, along His way in faith of His promise; and when your feet but touch the brim of a perfect self-surrender, you are His, you are Christian. His forgiveness falls, you have passed into the Canaan of the new life. (W. Hoyt, D. D.)
The ark in Jordan
It is worth noticing the use which in the passage of the river they made of the ark of the covenant. The pillar of fire had ceased to go before them. They had grown into the ability to appreciate a better and more spiritual symbolism. Fire meant more to the eye than a little box of acacia-wood, but the acacia box, considered as the casket of the Divine autograph of the two tables, denoted more to the mind and heart; and so it marks a growth that not the pillar, but the ark, guided them across the river. They treated the ark on this occasion reverently, but not superstitiously. They used it not as a charm, but as a symbol. The Israelites on a later occasion used it as a charm in one of their battles with the Philistines, when after one defeat they said (1Sa 4:3). To the men standing on the brink of the swollen Jordan, however, the ark was not a charm, a power, but only the representative of a power. Their own faith earned them miraculous passage, and not the little acacia chest; and they felt it so. There is danger of our coming to use the holy things of our religion more as the Israelites used the ark at Ebenezer than as they used it at the river. We easily fall into a way of attributing Divine potency to rites and ceremonies, prayers, sanctuaries, and ordinances, forgetting that these things are only types, significant as types, but not as forces–that the power of Christianity is not in the rites, but in the faith only that uses them. A symbol is a dangerous thing: the Hebrews learned that lesson at Ebenezer. A symbol is a precious thing: the Hebrews learned that lesson at the Jordan-crossing. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.
Obeying Gods commands
The Jordan of Canaan stands for any difficulty which the Lord commands us to encounter. Between us and the goal at which we are aiming, there is often some wide Jordan which, at the time, seems to us to be very peculiarly broad. At another time, when the stream is not so wide, we think that we might dare to make the attempt, but just now the thing seems too hazardous. We think we had better wait for a little, until the waters abate. So we stand on the brink shivering, and dare not plunge into the waves. How many a sinner has felt thus, as he has heard the call of God to forsake his sins! If only this or that were a little different, he thinks he might venture, but just now the opportunity seems hardly propitious. To the believer the same temptation comes, as he faces some duty, and recognises that it is a duty, while yet he shrinks from it to-day. To-morrow, he argues, will be a more favourable season; and so he too refuses to step boldly into the flood. We all are inclined to ask that the billows may cease flowing before we are called to descend into their very midst. Is it not so? Let the example of this people, whom we have so often condemned with a kind of superior feeling of virtue, spur us to better ways of heeding the command of God. All that we need to be sure of is that we have the command of God. Sure of that, there is only one thing to be done by the believer, and that is to go ahead. If God says, Go into the water, and when you get there the way will be made clear, we may be sure that in due time the waters will cease. Ours is to go ahead, and Gods business is to see that the waters abate. If we do our part, we need not fear but what He will do His. It is the first step that costs, is a proverb as true in religious matters as things secular. Many an undertaking that seemed impossible when we started has become very easy before we were done with it. Like the ten lepers who were told to go and show themselves to the priests before a spot of their leprosy had departed from them, but who as they went were cleansed, so it happens to the people of God: as they go, they receive the fulness of blessing, whereas had they waited for that until they were willing to start, they would have received nothing at all. How many blessings do you suppose you have failed to receive simply because you have refused to move until the whole way was made clear to you? You can at least go as far as the brink of the water, and even put your feet into the water, without being drowned. Why not try that much, and see what will happen? Is it not worth while? (A. F. Schauffler, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Come hither, to the ark or tabernacle, the place of public assemblies, and hear the words of the Lord your God; who is now about to give a proof that he is both the Lord, the omnipotent Governor of heaven and earth, and all creatures; and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and true affection for you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9-13. Come hither, and hear thewords of the LordIt seems that the Israelites had nointimation how they were to cross the river till shortly before theevent. The premonitory address of Joshua, taken in connection withthe miraculous result exactly as he had described it, would tend toincrease and confirm their faith in the God of their fathers as not adull, senseless, inanimate thing like the idols of the nations, but aBeing of life, power, and activity to defend them and work for them.
Jos3:14-17. THE WATERSOF JORDAN AREDIVIDED.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, come hither,…. Very probably to the door of the tabernacle:
and hear the words of the Lord your God; which he was about to deliver to them as from him, and in his name.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The summons to the children of Israel, i.e., to the whole nation in the persons of its representatives, to draw near ( for , as in 1Sa 14:38; Rth 2:14) to hear the words of the Lord its God, points to the importance of the following announcement by which Israel was to learn that there was a living God in the midst of it, who had the power to fulfil His word. Jehovah is called a “living God,” in contrast with the dead gods of the heathen, as a God who proved himself to be living, with special reference to those “divine operations by which God had shown that He was living and watchful on behalf of His people; just as His being in the midst of the people did not denote a naked presence, but a striking degree of presence on the part of God in relation to the performance of extraordinary operations, or the manifestation of peculiar care” ( Seb. Schmidt). The God of Israel would now manifest himself as a living God by the extermination of the Canaanites, seven tribes of whom are enumerated, as in Deu 7:1 (see the remarks on this passage). Joshua mentions the destruction of these nations as the purpose which God had in view in the miraculous guidance of Israel through the Jordan, to fill the Israelites with confidence for their entrance into the promised land.
(Note: “He extends the force of the miracle beyond their entrance into the land, and properly so, since the mere opening of a way into a hostile country from which there would be no retreat, would be nothing but exposure to death. For they would either easily fall, through being entangled in difficulties and in an unknown region, or they would perish through want. Joshua therefore foretold, that when God drove back the river it would be as if He had stretched out His hand to strike all the inhabitants of the land, and that the proof which He gave of His power in their crossing the Jordan would be a certain presage of victory, to be gained over all the tribes.”)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Joshua’s Command, vs. 9-13
Joshua comes now to the announcement of the mighty miracle which the Lord is about to perform before the Israelites. Its purpose is not merely to get Israel across the flooding river Jordan, but it is to strengthen the faith of the people that the Lord is indeed among them and is leading them through the ministry of Joshua.
It will further reassure them concerning their ultimate victory over the tribes of Canaan, seven of whom are named specifically here. There is one mysterious command of Joshua, the purpose of which will not at once be clear. Each tribe is to choose one particular man for a yet unspecified purpose.
It was then, as it is often today, that the Lord prepares His workmen for purposes not readily apparent. The great event which is about to occur, which will magnify Joshua in their sight, is that the waters of the Jordan will cease to flow downstream as soon as the feet of the priests bearing the ark touch the water of the Jordan The waters will be impounded behind an invisible dam, producing a lake which is contained by the hand of the Lord. The following Israelites would be able to look down upon this scene and have faith to follow where the Lord leads them, (Heb 12:1-2).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Joshuas Instructions to the People Jos. 3:9-13
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.
10.
Why call Jehovah a living God? Jos. 3:10
Jehovah is called a living God, in contrast with the dead gods of the heathen. God proved Himself to be living and watchful on behalf of His people. His being in the midst of the people did not denote a naked presence but was to a striking degree manifested in extraordinary operations. His presence was seen in the manifestations of peculiar care. The God of Israel would now manifest Himself as a living God by the extermination of the Canaanites, seven tribes of whom are enumerated, as in Deu. 7:1.
11.
Who were the peoples mentioned? Jos. 3:10 b
The Canaanites were, in general, the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah (Gen. 10:1; Gen. 10:6). The word Canaan was used to describe all the land west of the Jordan. The Hittites were the descendants of Heth. The word Hittite is the equivalent of son of Heth (see Gen. 23:5; cf. Gen. 25:9). They enter into the narrative of Israels history at various times, such as these:
a.
Abrahams day (Gen. 15:20)
b.
Spies day (Num. 13:29)
Some think the Hivites were villagers and that the term Hivite is a general term meaning villager. At times they are confused with the Horites. No name resembling the Hivite term has yet been found in the Egyptian and Babylonian inscriptions. Of them we learn they dwelt in Shechem (Gen. 34:2), at Gibeon (Jos. 9:7), and at the foot of Hermon (Jos. 11:3). They were peaceful and commercial (see 2Sa. 24:7; cf. Jdg. 3:3; Gen. 34:10; Gen. 34:23; Gen. 34:28-29).
The word Perizzite also signified a villager, and so corresponds with the Egyptian fellah. Hence the Perizzite is not included among the sons of Canaan in Gen. 10:15-19.
The Girgashites, in the Septuagint called Gergesaios, are also mentioned in Gen. 15:21, Deu. 7:1, and Jos. 24:11; but their dwelling place is unknown. The reading Gergesenoi in Mat. 8:28 is critically suspicious, although this fits them best of all.
The Amorites were inhabitants of the mountain or heights, though the derivation from ahmin, summit, is not established. They were a branch of the Canaanites, descended from Emor (Amor), who were spread far and wide over the mountains of Judah and beyond the Jordan in the time of Moses, so that in Gen. 15:16; Gen. 48:22, all the Canaanites are comprehended by the name. They were west of the Dead Sea to Hebron (Gen. 13:18; Gen. 14:13, cf. Num. 21:13).
The Jebusites were inhabitants of Jebus, afterwards called Jerusalem.
The listing of these names on various occasions emphasizes the fact of Gods judgment which was to come upon each and every one of these people. None was to be spared. All were to be dispossessed.
12.
Was the Ark considered as having authority over all the earth? Jos. 3:11
The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is not called the ruler of the whole earth. The description of Jehovah as Lord of all the earth is very appropriately chosen for the purpose of strengthening confidence in the omnipotence of God. Here His government over all the elements of the world is exhibited. The Israelites had no doubt. The seas and rivers were under His control. The waters though liquid by nature became stable at His nod.
13.
Why did Joshua ask the tribes to take men from among themselves? Jos. 3:12
The purpose for the selection of these men is made clear from the events described in chapter four. Each man was to be from a different tribe. Each of the twelve tribes was to have a man from among themselves to stand ready for Joshuas special orders. They were to select stones from the midst of the river bed and carry them out to the other side. Since each tribe had selected a man from among themselves, each had a part in the memorial which was to be erected. These twelve men stood as representatives of the different tribes, and their participating in the endeavor together symbolized the unity which bound the Israelites in their effort to conquer Palestine.
14.
By what power were the waters to be stopped? Jos. 3:13
The priests themselves had no power. The fact that they were standing in the water would not be sufficient reason for the waters to cease their flowing. They could not make a dam to hold back the waters. The Ark itself had no power to cause the waters to stop. It was the Lord of all the earth who performed the miracle. The fact that the priests stepped into the water demonstrated their faith in God. God chose their standing there as a symbol of the unconquerable faith through which miracles are granted.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
9. Unto the children of Israel The objection that Colenso urges against these addresses to the children of Israel by Moses and by Joshua, that it was a physical impossibility for so vast an encampment to hear the words of one speaker, falls to the ground when we reflect that all the people were addressed, not personally en masse, but representatively, as specified Jos 3:2 and Jos 1:10; Jos 1:16, through the heads and officers of their tribes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of YHWH your God.” ’
Possibly ‘here’ meant before the Tabernacle, as he spoke in God’s name. He wanted them to be aware that his words were from YHWH Himself. He was YHWH’s mouthpiece.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Miraculous Wall of Water
v. 9. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither and hear the words of the Lord, your God, v. 10. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail, v. 11. Behold, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. v. 12. Now, therefore, take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. v. 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, v. 14. And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, v. 15. and as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (for Jordan, v. 16. that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan, v. 17. And the priests that bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Ver. 9, 10. And Joshua said to the children of Israel, &c. After giving God’s orders to the priests, Joshua communicated them to the Israelites at the door of the tabernacle, making them sensible of their felicity in a dependance upon a Deity who was the living God, in opposition to the idols of the heathen, who were as impotent as lifeless; whereas the LORD, the Sovereign of heaven and earth, did whatever pleased him. He insists on this great God’s being among them; that is, that he protected them in a singular manner, and that the miracles which he was about to perform in their sight, to facilitate their passage over the Jordan, would be a sure warrant for the accomplishment of the promises he had given them, of subduing to their arms the seven nations which inhabited the land of Canaan.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” Jos 3:9
In the Old Testament, the question of place has never been regarded as inferior. To us locality is a matter of little or no importance, but to the Hebrew locality was an element of true worship. The Israelites were in this instance invited to a particular place, in order that they might hear the words of the Lord. Christianity so far enlarges this idea as to find in the sanctuary the place in which God especially reveals himself to earnest and expectant worshippers. Jesus Christ went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-days. Jesus Christ also withdrew from the crowd in order that he might alone commune with God in the silence of night and the solitude of the mountain. There is no doubt an utter destruction of the idolatry of place in Christianity; but the destruction of idolatry is not equal to the deconsecra-tion of given places of worship: the altar is still holy; the church is still recognised as praying-ground in an especial sense, namely, the sense of bringing together men of common sympathies and common aspirations, and giving them to feel the security of nearness and multitude. Whilst it is possible to pray in the great throng, and even to commune upon deep subjects amid the noise of the world, yet Silence will ever be regarded as constituting a kind of sanctuary in which the soul more especially delights. Every Isaac will feel a pleasure in going into the fields at eventide to meditate. There is a kind of thought which may be said to have its residence in the mountains, and a kind of praise which may be said to reach its noblest expression amid the waves of the great deep. The mere act of “coming” is itself a religious exercise; it means withdrawment from usual avocation or entertainment, and specialty of thought and service: it breaks up the idea of commingling and intermixture, which too often tends towards earthliness rather than towards heavenliness, and constitutes in itself a severe trial of intellectual attention and moral expectation. Such coming means willingness to set apart time for Christian purposes, and to create opportunities for spiritual education. Coming is thus, in some degree, a sacrifice, a token of the heart’s willingness to obey God rather than yield to the clamour of earthly appeals. All men are the better for coming together for religious service. We get something in fellowship which we can never get in solitude. Men belong to one another in this sense, and are not complete in the absence of one another. Even where physical association is impossible, the very act of yearning after the absent, and compelling them to be spiritually present, is in itself an expression of the noblest religious feeling. Atmosphere will always have its effect upon moral education. Here the great subject of environment shows its importance. Whilst there may be some minds so strong and independent as to create their own atmosphere, yet looking at men in the generality, they require the help of locality and all the subtile suggestion of association and habitude in order to excite religious impulse and expectation to the highest point. -There is great plausibility in the sophism that men can hear the words of the Lord anywhere. Jesus Christ did not mean to teach that doctrine when he told the woman at the well, “Neither in this place, nor at Jerusalem, shall men worship the Father;” he merely meant to destroy the idolatry of place, not its consecration; his idea was one of inclusiveness, not of exclusiveness; and his purpose was to show that men could everywhere pray, and that, when compelled to abstain from consecrated places, that compulsion would not interfere with the integrity or prevalence of prayer. Men can live everywhere, but they can live best at home. Men can express their thoughts in any language, but there will always be about the mother-tongue a tenderness which cannot be communicated by any other. Men can see in other men brothers, but they can see in family likenesses and feel in family sympathies what cannot be found elsewhere. It is so with religious life in relation to the Church. The fact that some men are superstitious upon these points must not destroy rational veneration. So long as the Church preserves the peculiarity of its function, and strenuously endeavours to meet the abiding demands of human instinct and reason, it can never lose its hold upon the confidence of the world.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Jos 3:9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
Ver. 9. Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God. ] For miracles do but excite men; they do but as the bells that call us to the sermon, they cannot work faith in us: but faith cometh by hearing.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hear the words: Deu 4:1, Deu 12:8
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 3:9-10. Come hither To the ark or tabernacle, the place of public assemblies. Hear the words of the Lord your God Who is now about to give a proof that he is both the Lord, the omnipotent Governor of heaven and earth, and all creatures, and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and affection for you. Ye shall know By experience and sensible evidence. The living God Not a dull, dead, senseless idol, such as the gods of the nations are; but a God of life, and power, and activity, to watch over you and work for you. Among you Is present with you to strengthen and help you.