Joshua 3

1 in the morning. i.e., probably on the morning of the day after the order was issued to prepare for passing the river. In this verse the writer appears to resume the narrative in i. 10, 11, which was broken off by the parenthetical account given in ii. of the despatch and return of the spies: see i. 11, and note.

3 go after it. This was different from the usual order of march. The ark, probably with the bright cloud which indicated the presence of Jehovah, went first to divide the waters; and remained in the bed of the stream on the upper side, as a protection to the passing multitude.

4 two thousand cubits. About 1000 yards.

7. And the Lord said. It is probable that God made this communication to Joshua, and through him to the people, when they were all in order of march, and waiting for the command to start.

to magnify thee. As the passage of the Red Sea had demonstrated the Divine commission of Moses, so the division of the Jordan was to prove that God was now beginning to fulfil His promise, to be with Joshua as He had been with Moses.

10. Hereby ye shall know, etc. This miracle afforded encouragement to Israel, as well as discouragement to their enemies, who probably regarded the Jordan, in its then swollen state, as an impassable barrier, at least for some weeks, to the host of the Hebrews.

11 the Lord of all the earth. Who, therefore, has all nature under His control. The word for “Lord” here is Adon, not Jahech.

12 take you twelve men. The purpose of this selection is more fully detailed in iv. 1-3.

13 the waters of Jordan shall be cut off, etc. Rather, “the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, even the waters which come down from above, and they shall stand in one heap” (R.V.). Jordan means descending, i.e., a rushing current. See Psa. cxiv. 3. To early Israel the crossing of the Jordan was as great a crisis as the crossing of the Red Sea (Sir G. A. Smith’s Historical Geography of the Holy Land, p. 486).

15 overfloweth all his banks. The Jordan is usually easily forded; but it has a broad bed with steep banks, which occasionally fills. This occurs during the months of March and April (the time of the barley harvest in those countries), when the snow of the mountains being melted, a large body of water comes down in a turbid, rapid current. This was just the time when the Israelites crossed; and on this account the miracle was the more impressive.

16 very far from the city Adam, etc. Or, rather, “very far off (viz., from the spot at which they crossed) near Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan”: see R.V. If this be the place mentioned in 1 Kings iv. 12, it was about thirty miles above the crossing, and near the great rapids, where the accumulation of water would probably be stopped.

failed, and were cut off. Rather, “were wholly cut off” (R.V.); i.e., as no more water came down from above, all flowed into the Dead Sea, leaving the channel perfectly dry.