Joshua 3:3

And they commanded the people,.... In the name of Joshua, by whom they were sent: saying, when ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it: the Targum

And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. And they commanded the people.

They commanded the people, in Joshua’ s name, and by his authority. The priests the Levites, who were not only Levites, but priests also. For although the Levites were to carry the ark, Numbers 4, yet the priests might perform that office, and did so upon some solemn occasions, as here, and . Go after it towards Jordan, to go over it in such manner as I am about to describe. Till this time the ark went in the middle of the cloudy pillar, probably being now vanished, now it goes in the front.

Joshua 3:3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.Ver. 3. When ye see the ark of the covenant.] Which represented that angel of the covenant, Christ Jesus. And the priests the Levites bearing it.] The Koathites properly and ordinarily did this office, which as it had more honour, so more burden and danger. “ Fructus honos oneris, fructus honoris onus. ” And go after it.] God must and may be followed without peril. Magnus est animus qui se Deo tradidit, saith Seneca.

(2-6) ORDERS.—The priests are to bear the ark. This was usually the duty of the Levites of the family of Kohath; but both at the passage of Jordan and the taking of Jericho, the priests were employed as bearers. The people must be sanctified, as they were in preparation for the giving of the law at Sinai (in Exodus 19). And the ark itself takes, in some sense, a fresh position. The space of 2,000 cubits was left between the head of the column of Israelites and the ark, in order that they might all see it. Up to this time, during the whole of the Exodus, they had been led by the pillar of cloud and fire. The ark had led the van ever since they left Sinai (Numbers 10:33-34). But as the cloud had moved above the ark, where all the people could see it, the head of the column might follow the ark as closely as possible, without any inconvenience. Now the cloud was no longer with them. It was a visible token of God’s presence especially granted to Moses, and with him it disappeared. The ark was now to be the only leader, and therefore it must be placed in a somewhat more conspicuous position. This difference of arrangement appears to be indicated by the words in Joshua 3:4, “Ye have not passed this way heretofore.” The words may mean, “You are marching over untrodden ground;” but if so, they are not more applicable to this march than to many previous marches. They may also mean, “You have not marched in this manner heretofore,” and this interpretation seems more to the purpose. It may be of use to consider here, what was the actual significance of the position assigned to the ark in Joshua. What was the ark? It was a chest containing the ten commandments, written with the finger of God on two tables of stone prepared by Moses (Deuteronomy 10:1-5; Exodus 34:1; Exodus 34:28). But the ark was made for the law, not the law for the ark. The mercy-seat above was the covering of the law—the shield between that law and the people. Between the cherubim that formed the mercy-seat, was the throne of Jehovah. But the central thing, the only thing not of human workmanship, that remained in the ark, was “the law written with the finger of God.” If we would exactly describe the position before us, we must say that the Israelites marched into Jordan led by the written law of God. The same written law, borne round the walls of Jericho, was the minister of vengeance to the Canaanites, as indeed it became afterwards to Israel when incautiously handled or invoked, as at Eben-ezer (1 Samuel 4), and as at Beth-shemesh (1 Samuel 6; comp. 2 Samuel 6), and also to the Philistines (1 Samuel 5). As soon as the army of Joshua reached the centre of Canaan, this same law was written on great stones in the heart of the country and became the law of the land.

3. the ark of the covenant] called sometimes (i) “the Ark of God,” 1 Samuel 3:3; sometimes (ii) “the Ark of the Testimony,” Exodus 25:22. Here it means “the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah,” the Sacred Ark, an oblong chest of acacia wood, overlaid with the purest gold within and without, 2½ cubits in length, 1½ in breadth, 1½ in height. It contained the two stone tables, on both sides of which the Decalogue had been inscribed. Round the top ran a crown or wreath of pure gold, and upon it was the Mercy Seat, at either end of which were two golden Cherubim, with outspread wings and faces turned towards each other, and eyes bent downwards, as though desirous to look into its mysteries (1 Peter 1:12). and go after it] In the wilderness the Pillar of Cloud had led the way, now the Ark of the Covenant takes its place.

3. When ye see the ark of the covenant — This was a chest made of shittim or acacia wood, four feet in length, and two and one third feet in breadth and depth. It was overlaid with gold within and without.