Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.”
When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people, and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest), the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v15 15. And as they that bare the ark, etc…
15. And as they that bare the ark, etc The valor of the priests in proceeding boldly beyond the bed into the water itself, was deserving of no mean praise, since they might have been afraid of being instantly drowned. For what could they expect on putting in their feet, but immediately to find a deep pool in which they would be engulfed? In not being afraid on reaching the stream, and in continuing to move firmly forward to the appointed place, they gave a specimen of rare alacrity, founded on confidence.
To the general danger was added the special one, that the Jordan had then overflowed its banks, as it is wont to do at the commencement of every summer. As the plain was covered, it was impossible to observe the line of the banks or the ford, and the slime spread far and wide, increased their fear and anxiety. God was pleased that his people, and especially the priests, should contend with these obstacles, in order that the victory of their faith and constancy might be more illustrious. At the same time, the difficulty thus presented tended to magnify the glory of the miracle when the waters, which had overflowed their banks, retired at the divine command, and were gathered together into a solid heap. First, Joshua explains the nature of the miracle for the purpose of removing doubt, and preventing profane men from denying the divine interposition by a subtle searching for other causes. It is not, indeed, impossible that the flowing of the water might have been restrained for a short time, and that some portion of the channel might thus have appeared dry, or that the course might have changed and taken some other direction. But it was certainly neither a natural nor fortuitous event, when the waters stood gathered up into a heap. It is therefore said that the waters which previously flowed from the higher ground, seeking in their descent a continuous outlet, stood still.
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There cannot be a doubt that this wonderful sight must have been received with feelings of fear, leading the Israelites more distinctly to acknowledge that they were saved in the midst of death. For what was that collected heap but a grave in which the whole multitude would have been buried, had the waters resumed their naturally liquid state? Had they walked upon the waters their faith might have served them as a kind of bridge. But now, while mountains of water hung over their heads, it is just as if they had found an open and level path beneath them. The locality is marked out as situated between two cities, that the remembrance of it might never be lost; and, in like manner, God ordered stones to be set up as a perpetual memorial, that this distinguished mercy might be celebrated by posterity in all ages.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 Which should set up twelve stones in remembrance of…
Which should set up twelve stones in remembrance of the benefit.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Jos 3:12 Now therefore take you twelve men out…
Jos 3:12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
Ver. 12. Now therefore take you twelve men,] i.e., Now make choice of them for that service afterwards to be performed. {Jos 4:4} Potior est testis oculatus unus quam auriti decem. {a}
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{a} Plaut.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16 Take you twelve men, for the work described, Jos…
Take you twelve men, for the work described, Jos 4:2,3.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v14 Here we have a short and plain account of…
Here we have a short and plain account of the dividing of the river Jordan, and the passage of the children of Israel through it. The story is not garnished with the flowers of rhetoric (gold needs not to be painted), but it tell us, in short, matter of fact.
I. That this river was now broader and deeper than usually it was at other times of the year, Jos 3:15. The melting of the snow on the mountains of Lebanon, near which this river had its rise, was the occasion that at the time of harvest, barley-harvest, which was the spring of the year, Jordan overflowed all his banks. This great flood, just at that time (which Providence might have restrained for once, of which he might have ordered them to cross at another time of the year) very much magnified the power of God and his kindness to Israel. Note, Though the opposition given to the salvation of God's people have all imaginable advantages, yet god can and will conquer it. Let the banks of Jordan be filled to the brink, filled till they run over, it is as easy to Omnipotence to divide them, and dry them up, as if they were ever so narrow, ever so shallow; it is all one with the Lord.
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II. That as soon as ever the feet of the priests dipped in the brim of the water the stream stopped immediately, as if a sluice had been led down to dam it up, Jos 3:15, Jos 3:16. So that the waters above swelled, stood on a heap, and ran back, and yet, as it should seem did not spread, but congealed, which unaccountable rising of the river was observed with amazement by those that live upward upon it many miles off, and the remembrance of it remained among them long after: the waters on the other side this invisible dam ran down of course, and left the bottom of the river dry as far downward, it is likely, as they swelled upward. When they passed through the red Sea, the waters were a wall on either hand, here only on the right-hand. Note, The God of nature can, when he pleases, change the course of nature, and alter its properties, can turn fluids into solids, waters into standing rocks, as, on the contrary, rocks into standing waters, to serve his own purposes. See Psa 114:5, Psa 114:8. What cannot God do? What will he not do for the perfecting of his peoples, salvation? Sometimes he cleaves the earth with rivers (Hab 3:9), and sometimes, as here, cleaves the rivers without earth. It is easy to imagine how, when the course of this strong rapid stream was arrested on a sudden, the waters roared and were troubled, so that the mountains seemed to shake with the swelling thereof (Psa 46:3), how the floods lifted up their voice, the floods lifted up their waves, while the Lord on high showed himself mightier than the noise of these many waters, Psa 93:3, Psa 93:4. With reference to this the prophet asks, Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? Hab 3:8. No, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, Jos 3:13. In allusion to this, it is foretold, among the great things God will do for the gospel church in the latter days, that the great river Euphrates shall be dried up, that the way of the kings of the east may be prepared, Rev 16:12. When the time has come for Israel's entrance into the land of promise all difficulties shall be conquered, mountains shall become plains (Zac 4:7) and rivers become dry, for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over. When we have finished our pilgrimage through this wilderness, death will be like this Jordan between us and the heavenly Canaan, but the ark of the covenant has prepare us a way through it; it is the last enemy that shall be destroyed.
III. That the people passed over right against Jericho, which was, 1. An instance of their boldness, and a noble defiance of their enemies. Jericho was one of the strongest cities, and yet they dared to face it at their first entrance. 2. It was an encouragement to them to venture through Jordan, for Jericho was a goodly city and the country about it extremely pleasant; and, having that in view as their own, what difficulties could discourage them from taking possession? 3. It would increase the confusion and terror of their enemies, who no doubt strictly observed their motions, and were the amazed spectators of this work of wonders.
IV. That the priests stood still in the midst of Jordan while all the people passed over, Jos 3:17. There the ark was appointed to be, to show that the same power that parted the waters kept them parted as long as there was occasion; and had not the divine presence, of which the ark was a token, been their security, the waters would have returned upon them and buried them. there the priests were appointed to stand still, 1. To try their faith, whether they could venture to take their post, when god assigned it to them, with mountains of water over their heads. As they made a bold step when they set the first foot into Jordan, so now they made a bold stand when they tarried longest in Jordan; but they knew they carried their own protection with them. Note, Ministers in times of peril should be examples of courage and confidence in the divine goodness. 2. It was to encourage the faith of the people, that they might go triumphantly into Canaan, and fear no evil, no, not in this valley of the shadow of death (for so the divided river was), being assured of God's presence, which interposed between them and the greatest danger, between them and the proud waters, which otherwise had gone over their souls. Thus in the greatest dangers the saints are comforted with his rod and his staff, Psa 23:4.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Now therefore take ye twelve men,.... For what end…
Now therefore take ye twelve men,.... For what end and purpose is not mentioned. Abarbinel is of opinion, that they were chosen and appointed, that every man might pitch upon and take a place for his tribe to encamp in, when they came on the other side Jordan: whether this was Joshua's view or no is not certain; however, the use he made of these, thus provided by divine direction, is related Jos 4:2,
and these were to be taken out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man; Levi not reckoned, having no part in the land; and so we find that tribe left out in other accounts, when there was a choice of twelve men out of each of the tribes, Num 13:4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16 Twelve men - For the work described, chap. iv,…
Twelve men - For the work described, chap. iv, 2, 3.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16 Verse 12. Take you twelve men] See Clarke on…
Verse 12. Take you twelve men] See Clarke on Jos 4:2.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16 Jos 3:12-13. Twelve men — For the work described,…
Jos 3:12-13. Twelve men — For the work described, Jos 4:2-3. The ark of the Lord — That so it may appear this is the Lord’s doing, and that in pursuance of his covenant made with Israel. Of all the earth — The Lord of all this globe of earth and water, who therefore can dispose of this river and the adjoining lands as he pleaseth. Cut off — The waters which now are united shall be divided, and part shall flow down the channel toward the Dead sea, and the other part, that is near the spring of the river, and flows down from it, shall stand still. They shall stand upon a heap — Being as it were congealed, as the Red sea was, (Exo 15:8,) and so kept from overflowing the country. 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, it seems, sometimes done even in that country, by the ordinary power of nature, (Job 38:30,) 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 in the dividing of the Red sea. And that miracle is here repeated to show that God has the same power to finish that he had to begin the salvation of his people, for he is the Omega as well as the Alpha; and that the word of the Lord, (as the Chaldee reads it, Jos 3:7,) the essential word, was with Joshua as truly as he was with Moses.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv15–16 Jordan overfloweth all his banks - Rather “is full…
Jordan overfloweth all his banks - Rather “is full up to all his banks,” i. e. “brim-full.” This remark strikingly illustrates the suddenness and completeness, not less than the greatness, of the marvel. The Jordan River flows at the bottom of a deep valley, which descends to the water’s edge on either side in two, occasionally in three, terraces. Within the lowest of these the stream, ordinarily less than 100 feet wide in this lower part of its course, is confined. The margin is overgrown with a jungle of tamarisks and willows, which in the spring is reached by the rising waters (compare the figure in Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44); and the river, occasionally at least, fills the ravine which forms its proper bed to the brim. Its highest rise takes place about the time when Joshua had to cross it. By the middle of April the river cannot be forded; and, if passed at all, can only be so by swimming. This, however, was a hazardous feat (compare 1Ch 12:15); and though no doubt performed by the two spies, was utterly out of the power of the mixed multitude that followed Joshua. The mere fact that the whole vast host crossed the stream of Jordan at this season, is no small proof of the miracle here recorded. No human agency then known and available could have transported them speedily and safely from bank to bank.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16 Prepare. Hebrew, "take." But they must have been selected…
Prepare. Hebrew, "take." But they must have been selected from the tribes, either to carry twelve stones out of the bed of the Jordan, and to place twelve others in their stead, as monuments of this stupendous miracle; (Calmet) or to accompany the priests and the ark, out of respect. (Cajetan) (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv14, 16 THE WATERS OF JORDAN ARE DIVIDED. (Jos 3:14-17)
THE WATERS OF JORDAN ARE DIVIDED. (Jos 3:14-17)
And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, &c.--To understand the scene described we must imagine the band of priests with the ark on their shoulders, standing on the depressed edge of the river, while the mass of the people were at a mile's distance. Suddenly the whole bed of the river was dried up; a spectacle the more extraordinary in that it took place in the time of harvest, corresponding to our April or May--when "the Jordan overfloweth all its banks." The original words may be more properly rendered "fills all its banks." Its channel, snow-fed from Lebanon, was at its greatest height--brimful; a translation which gives the only true description of the state of Jordan in harvest as observed by modern travellers. The river about Jericho is, in ordinary appearance, about fifty or sixty yards in breadth. But as seen in harvest, it is twice as broad; and in ancient times, when the hills on the right and left were much more drenched with rain and snow than since the forests have disappeared, the river must, from a greater accession of water, have been broader still than at harvest-time in the present day.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16 12. [
12. [
Now therefore take you twelve men — Emphasis is put on now. The election of these twelve men is to take place immediately, not after they cross the Jordan. The purpose for which they are selected is shown in Jos_4:4-5, where it will be seen that a visible memorial of this miracle is provided for before it takes place. The men were designated at this time because they could not be elected while the people were crossing, and afterwards there would be too little time. Hence the assumption of some that this verse is brought in by mistake, being disconnected from the succeeding chapter, is utterly groundless. The men are mentioned before the moving of the ark because they were chosen then.]
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Out of every tribe a man — This was done that every tribe might be represented in the memorial, and have its accredited witness of the great event.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–16 13. shall be cut off] See below, Jos_3:16.
13. shall be cut off] See below, Jos_3:16.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 16 (12) Take you twelve men.—These were selected beforehand and…
(12) Take you twelve men.—These were selected beforehand and kept in readiness, that there might be no delay in the work which they had to do (Jos_4:3).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Take you twelve men. Joshua commands the election of…
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 ver. 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.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v14 The priests . . . before the people.
Jos_3:14-17
The priests . . . before the people.
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Ministers as leaders of the people
It is not always that either priests or Christian ministers have set the example of going before in any hazardous undertaking. They have not always moved so steadily in the van of great movements, nor stood so firmly in the midst of the river. What shall we say of those whose idea, whether of Hebrew priesthood or of Christian ministry, has been that of a mere office, that of men ordained to perform certain mechanical functions, in whom personal character and personal example signified little or nothing? Is it not infinitely nearer to the Bible view that the ministers of religion are the leaders of the people, and that they ought as such to be ever foremost in zeal, in holiness, in self-denial, in victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil? And of all men ought they not to stand firm? Where are Mr. Byends, and Mr. Facing-Both-Ways, and Mr. Worldly-Wiseman more out of place than in the ministry? Where does even the world look more for consistency and devotion and fearless regard to the will of God? What should we think of an army where the officers counted it enough to see to the drill and discipline of the men, and in the hour of battle confined themselves to mere mechanical duties, and were outstripped in self-denial, in courage, in dash and daring by the commonest of their soldiers? Happy the Church where the officers are officers indeed! Feeling ever that their place is in the front rank of the battle and in the vanguard of every perilous enterprise, and that it is their part to set the men an example of unwavering firmness even when the missiles of death are whistling or bursting on every side. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
As they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan.--
The passage of the river Jordan
I. That whatever difficulties may arise in the Christians pilgrimage, the most formidable awaits him at its close. Reserve, then, your resources. Do not waste your moral strength in useless sighing over ills that are incident to human life, and which are blessings rather than curses if patiently borne. Remember that some really formidable obstacle may ere long be placed in your path, and that floods of suffering may be before you. The lesser troubles wisely borne will prepare you for greater ones--will teach you calmly to meet and eventually to triumph over them, as did the Israelites when, after encountering the perils of their desert-life, they came at length to the swellings of Jordan.
II. That God has provided appropriate means by which the difficulties incident to the christian life may be overcome.
1. He endows us with moral courage. Faith in God will give us firmness in times of danger; we shall be calm when others are agitated, and steadfast when others are moved.
2. He vouchsafes His gracious presence. And where God is there is peace and safety. Victory over temptation, comfort in trouble, support in death, all are insured by the presence of God.
3. He provides a guide. It was not under Moses, but under Joshua, that the Israelites crossed the Jordan, yet all and more than Joshua was to the Israelites the Saviour is to us; going before to show us the way, encouraging us by His example and sustaining us by His grace. (H. J Gamble.)
The crossing of the Jordan
Our subject brings before us a scene which in many of its features reminds us of that memorable night in which the Lord led Israel forth by that unexpected way, through the waters of the sea, from the house of bondage into liberty, from cruel slavery into the joy of a new national life. Now there is much to be learned from considering both the points of similarity and of contrast in those two memorable events. First we notice that in both cases there was a going down into the element of water, and a rising up out of it into an entirely new position--the mystical symbol of death, and burial, and of resurrection. In both cases by this passage through water a complete separation was effected between the old and the new state of things, and in both cases the passage indicated the commencement of a new and happy career. In each case the water, which naturally should have been an obstacle, became, we may say, an assistance, and that which naturally should have been a cause of danger became a means of safety. And in both cases this was caused by a distinct Divine intervention, and in each case that manifestation of supernatural power was associated with a symbol of the Divine presence, though the symbols in the two cases were different--in the first it was the fiery pillar, in the second it was the ark of the covenant. Nor are the points of contrast less striking than the points of agreement. The frenzied terror, the fearful excitement which pervaded that terrified multitude at the Red Sea is conspicuous by its absence on this occasion; they are no longer fleeing from destruction and death, but passing on to a higher and happier kind of life. There they were passing from a fertile land into a howling desert, where they would have to depend on a miracle for every meal. Here they were passing from a waste of desert into a fertile land--a land that flowed with milk and honey. There we hear an outburst of triumphant enthusiasm when the sea was crossed, and loud songs of triumph rang forth from the vast multitude as the returning wave submerged the Egyptians. Here all seems to have been calm and solemn; the only expression of strong feeling was the setting up of those memorial stones as if a deep and lasting recollection of this great fact were aimed at rather than an evanescent excitement. In both eases, observe, we are contemplating a scene of salvation, yet is there a great difference between the salvation effected in the one case and in the other. In both cases the salvation comes through a divinely-appointed Saviour; but even between these there is a contrast. Moses was the Saviour from, Joshua was the Saviour into. And all this may throw much light upon a question that seems greatly to exercise the minds of some, especially just at present. It is unquestionably a fact that long after their conversion some Christians pass through an experience so marked and definite in its character, and leading to such happy and unmistakable consequences in their subsequent lives, that some teachers give to this great inward change the name of A. second conversion. Others speak of it as entire sanctification, and urge upon all indiscriminately the necessity of passing through some such definite experience, Now two things are equally plain from this narrative. The first is, that the crossing of the Jordan did mark a very definite epoch in the history of the Israelites, and served to emphasise a crisis in their history, out of which they passed into a new and far more satisfactory condition. The second is, that this crossing of the Jordan, nevertheless, would not have been necessary at all but for the backsliding and perversity and unbelief of the Israelites. The lesson of Divine power exercised over the very elements, and over that element which, but for the intervention of an omnipotent hand, must have destroyed those whom it now protected, and the pledge that such a miracle contained for the future--all this would have been fresh in the minds of the Israelites when they first reached Kadesh-Burned, and would have required no repetition. I was much struck with the remark of a dear friend of mine. Shortly after I had devoted myself entirely to mission work he said to me with great emphasis, Now, my dear brother, you are going to give yourself up to the work of preaching the gospel, and I hope the Lord will give you many converts. But whatever you do, try and bring them in at Kadesh-Barnea; dont tell them that theyve got to go wandering in the wilderness for forty years. I have never forgotten his words; and how I long for you young Christians who are just starting forwards from the Red Sea that you may be spared these forty years of weary wandering; that it should not be necessary for you to go on year after year murmuring over your doubts and fears, your disappointments and your barrenness, your dulness and deadness, your infirmities and failures. Oh, it is weary work this! I pray you avoid it. We have seen that both the passage of the Red Sea and the passage of the Jordan were miracles of salvation wrought for Israel by God. We have also to notice that they are both instances of salvation by water. It is by Gods judgment upon sin that we are to be saved from sin; by His judgment upon the world we are to be saved from the world. And now here lies our practical lesson. Whether we have been baptized at the moment of our conversion, and actually expressed our faith in Christ for justification in submitting to the ordinance, as probably was the case with St. Paul, or whether we are baptized in unconscious infancy before our faith became operative, as is usually the case with us Church-people, or whether we are baptized long after justification, as in the case with modern Baptists, we cannot become truly justified without passing through that which the ordinance symbolises--death and resurrection. Rise from the regrets of the past into the acquisitions of the future. Dry your tears, and claim your heritage. And here is the first step, Sanctify yourselves: for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Sanctify yourselves. This is Gods call to those of us who would fain cross over the Jordan. Put away every unclean thing--all that interferes with the Divine operation. And the next lesson is, expect! To-morrow the Lord will do wonders amongst you. Only by a miracle of grace can you be raised to your true level of Christian experience, and brought into the land that flows with milk and honey. Your heavenly Leader seems to ask, Believest thou that I am able to do this? Oh, let Him be answered from the bottom of your heart with a fervent Yea, Lord; there is nothing too hard for Thee. Then comes the great fact, the pledge and presage of all coming victories: Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, &c. Go down again into the place of death and burial, but see your Lord there before you, a pledge that when you pass through the waters, because He is with thee, the floods shall not overflow thee. Go down into the place of judgment, and see thine old wilderness life, with all its waywardness and wilfulness, judged, condemned, and left behind thee for ever. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
The ark and the crossing of Jordan
I. The circumstances as connected with the people of Israel. It does not appear that any intimation was given to the Israelites before the morning of the day on which they crossed the river as to the manner in which their passage was to be effected. This would be a great trial of their faith; and the readiness which they showed to go on when the ark did move was a clear proof that their faith, through the grace of God, stood the trial; and that they were actuated by simple trust in God, believing that whatever He said should be done would surely come to pass, however impossible it might seem to the judgment of men. The fact is that Israel had become accustomed to the constant exhibition of the most amazing miracles. They had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt by a succession of wonders. As our minds dwell on this strange sight, one object stands forth pre-eminently conspicuous, and that is the ark borne by the priests. The ark was the point round which all the glory of the miracle was made to revolve. As the people passed and gazed at the wall of waters, they would feel, we owe our safety and our easy passage to the presence of the ark, the token of the presence of Jehovah Himself. It will not be without instruction if we notice the name by which the ark was called in connection with the transaction before us: the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. Here, then, was a pledge of Gods truth and faithfulness. He who was showing their way was one on whom they could thoroughly depend, How would this serve to stimulate them, to stir up their hearts, to awaken faith, to strengthen hope! Thus conspicuous was the ark on this most notable day. And if you ask why, the answer is twofold. First, because the ark was to remind them of the presence of God. By it He made to His people that most welcome of announcements, ever fresh: I will dwell in them and walk in them, and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. The ark was also a type of Christ; and though Israel might not see the lessons which all the typical economy taught, yet God would magnify His Son by exalting that which pre-eminently represented Him.
II. From the consideration of Israel let us turn to ourselves, and see what is to be gathered from the history before us for instruction, comfort, and encouragement, as far as our own Christian life and practice are concerned. Is it not true that if we are among the spiritual Israel of God, experience of difficulty and trial is constantly falling to our lot? Now when we reflect on our necessities, east our eyes around to survey our individual position, look onwards to the Canaan which we love, and think what we must encounter before its shore is reached, must we not have a guide and a defence? Obstacles as great as Jordan with its overflowed banks and swollen stream meet us in our course; uncertainties in respect of which no calculation can, humanly speaking, be made, veil the future; intricacies which we cannot thread are constantly arising; enemies seem to stand upon the farther shore, and to threaten opposition and repulse even if we cross the stream. To-day all may be fair and smooth, to-morrow such a flood may arise of trouble, adversity, or temptation, as will be well-nigh sufficient to sweep us quite away. Well, let it be so. Believer, there is help for you which is all-sufficient. The ark is going before. Hear how the Lord speaks (Isa_42:15-16; Isa_43:1-2). Remember how you have been guided hitherto: how when you broke from the bondage of Satan and of sin, the Lord made a way through all that would have kept back your soul. If He of whom the ark was but a type, if Jesus be our guide, where may we not readily go? How precious is the word, He goeth before them (Joh_10:4). As we follow our heavenly Guide we may well believe that He leads us forth by the right way, that we may go unto a city of habitations. This is the glad portion of every one who lives the life of faith. He may thus individualise the covenant truth of God, and make it his own. But not only so, he can rest in the assurance that this covenant truth is the common heritage of all the saints, and so learn more and more to rejoice that all his brethren and sisters in Christ Jesus have the same guide, the same defence, the same refuge as himself. What a source of comfort is this; inexhaustible, overflowing, ever fresh and life-affording! (C. D. Marston, M. A.)
Jordan driven back
This was only one of several ways of entrance that might have been chosen; therefore this, the most unlikely of all, must have been chosen for special purposes. Nor are these difficult to find.
I. By this wonderful entrance into the land Joshua was greatly honoured (verse 7). It was a wonder wrought by Jehovah to establish the authority of Joshua. It was a fulfilling of the promise He had made, to be with him as He had been with Moses. It was an emphatic endorsement of the peoples enthusiastic response. It was His own seal and signature placed upon Joshuas commission. Surely this was essential to united and effective action on the part of those he led. If men have no deep confidence in their commander, they cannot follow cheerfully, they cannot work heartily. Therefore, when God calls to office, lie endows with all needful honour; and not only does He bestow it at the beginning, He also maintains it so long as He has work for His servants to do. Surely such a record as this should teach every servant of God to leave his honour in Gods keeping. His one aim should ever be to honour God, knowing assuredly that that word of promise is never broken, Them that honour Me I will honour. Yea, more than that, He will also cause others to do the same.
II. Still further, we are told that by this miracle the divine presence was revealed (verse 10). This wonder gave new proof of His guiding presence, and such an assurance was, in their present circumstances, peculiarly appropriate. The manna was about to cease. In like manner the beckoning banner of cloud and fire is furled for ever. No longer can it lead them forward, for their rest is gained. But if it has gone, Jehovah has not. His presence, though without that visible manifestation, is as real as ever. And it is as powerful; He is the living God, not dead like the idols of the Canaanites, or the ideas and abstractions of the philosopher, or the forces sad atoms of the scientist. Neither is He inoperative; a worn-out energy, a decrepit force. He is acting everywhere, by all means, at all times. What a demonstration of these things was the working of this wonder. If it has been said of a great general that his presence with the army was worth a regiment, how much more would the assurance of the Divine presence strengthen every hero in Israel to chase thousand foes.
III. Again, by this miracle success was guaranteed. After such brilliant opening of the campaign, could there be an ignominious end? Impossible! lie that did the greater wonder, would not fall in accomplishing the less. God never abandons His work half-way; lie never leaves it marred or unfinished.
IV. Among the results flowing from this wonder, not the least important was its influence on Israels enemies. The Canaanites were terror-struck (Jos_5:1). This great event, which filled the hearts of the Israelites with confidence, had just the opposite effect upon their enemies. Nothing could have dispirited them more. Who could stand against a people thus favoured? When God makes bare His arm the stoutest heart becomes like wax. All refuges of lies, every false security, is felt more frail than a gossamer web. (A. B. Mackay.)
The Jordanic passage
1. Standing on the scene of that affrighted and fugitive river Jordan, I learn that obstacles, when they are touched, vanish. It is the trouble, the difficulty, the obstacle there in the distance that seems so huge and tremendous.
2. Again: this Jordanic passage teaches me the completeness of everything that God does. Does He make a universe, it is a perfect clock, running ever since it was wound up; fixed stars the pivots, constellations the intermoving wheels, and ponderous laws the weights and mighty swinging pendulum; the stars in the great dome striking midnight, and the sun with brazen tongue tolling the hour of noon. A perfect universe! No astronomer has ever proposed an amendment. Does God make a Bible, it is a complete Bible. Standing amid its dreadful and delightful truths, you seem to be in the midst of an orchestra, where the wailings over sin, and the rejoicings over pardon, and the martial strains of victory make a chorus like the anthem of eternity. Does God provide a Saviour; He is a complete Saviour. God--man. Divinity--humanity united in the same person.
3. Again, I learn from this Jordanic passage that between us and every Canaan of success and prosperity there is a river that must be passed. Oh! how I should like to have some of those grapes on the other side, said some of the Israelites to Joshua. Well, said Joshua, if you want some of those grapes why dont you cross over and get them? A river of difficulty between us and everything that is worth having. That which costs nothing is worth nothing. God makes everything valuable difficult to get at for the same reason that He puts the gold down in the mine, and the pearl clear down in the sea; it is to make us dig and dive for them. We acknowledge this principle in worldly things. Would that we were wise enough to acknowledge it in religious things. Eminent Christian character is only attained by Jordanic passage. No man just happens to get good. Why does that man know so much about the Scriptures? He was studying the Bible while you were reading a novel. He was on fire with the sublimities of the Bible while you were sound asleep. It was by tugging, and toiling, and pushing, and running in the Christian life that he became so strong. In a hundred Solferinos he learned how to fight. In a hundred shipwrecks he learned how to swim. Tears over sin, tears over Zions desolation, tears aver the impenitent, tears over graves, made a Jordan which that man had to pass. The other morning, seated at my table, all my family present, I thought to myself how pleasant it would be if I could put them all in a boat, and then get in with them, and we could pull across the river to the next world, and be there, and be there all together. But we cannot all go together; we must go one by one. What a heaven it will be if we have all our families there! Lord God of Joshua, give them safe Jordanic passage! Every Christian will go over dry-shod. One word of comfort from this subject for all the bereft. You see our departed friends have not been submerged, they have not been swamped in the waters; they have only crossed over. They are not sick, not dead, not exhausted, not extinguished, not blotted out; but with healthier respiration, and stouter pulsation, and keener sight, and better prospect, crossed over--their sins, their physical and mental disquietude all left on this side. Impassable obstacle between them, and all human and Satanic pursuit, crossed over. Would you have them back again? Would you have them take the risks and the temptations which threaten every human pathway? Would you have them cross Jordan three times--in addition to the crossing already--crossing again to greet you now, and then crossing to go back to heaven? (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The passage of Jordan
Behold, in this passage of Jordan, first of all a picture of the beginning of the Christians earthly course. As we stand where Israel stood, on the eastern bank, we behold a fair inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey, rich with every earthly blessing, with all that heart could wish. But as between Israel and Canaan Jordan rolled, a great and immovable barrier, so between us and the goodly heritage of spiritual blessings we behold the swollen river of Gods judgment against sin. How can we who are sinners enter into life and rest? How can we reach or enjoy such blessings? That barrier is to us unsurmountable. There are no fords in this river; and we cannot swim across it as the spies the Jordan. Neither is there any bridge above the waterflood. But look again. Behold a mighty wonder. That river is dried up and driven back. That barrier has been abolished, and the empty bed lies bare. It is as if there were no river. What has abolished the barrier? The ark of God alone. By means of it Jordan was driven back. And as the ark abolished the barrier between Israel and Canaan, so Christ has abolished death. He Himself, in His own body, has borne all the weight of the flood of Gods judgment against sin. He has finished the work of salvation, and opened up a new and living way through His own body into the land of spiritual rest. He has done this, and done it alone. Of the people there was none with Him. No hand of man had a share in this work, even as no man in Israel drove Jordan back. And Jesus abolished death as speedily and effectually as that flood was driven back. As it was with the priests in Jordan so was it with the great High Priest in the waters of judgment. Whenever the soles of His feet touched the brim of the deadly flood it fled away. He has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. To those who trust in Him, so far as safety goes, it is as if it did not exist. Not the faintest trickle of condemnation can damp their feet. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Mark also how the passage was made by Israel. As it is written, By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land; so might it also be written of this twin event, By faith they crossed the Jordan and entered into the inheritance of the Lord. By nought that we can do can we gain an entrance; but trusting in Him who has made an end of sin, we pass from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Gods dear Son. As Israel passed over Jordan by faith in God, even so must all pass from condemnation to acceptance, according to theft word of the gospel, Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And right gloriously is all such confidence justified, whether in the case of Israel or of any sinner that believes. Oh l how safe are they who put their trust in the living God, who enter into life by faith in Christ Jesus. The way of faith is absolutely safe for all who walk therein. And it is as simple as it is safe. The entrance into Canaan was the simplest, the easiest, the plainest, that could be devised. A little child could cross the emptied river as well as the stoutest warrior. And the stoutest warrior had to go the same way as the little child. It was a path that suited the feeblest, and therefore a path that suited the strongest; and no one could make any mistake about it; the wayfaring man, though a fool, could not err therein. Again, note that this way of entrance was free to all. No one was prevented from crossing. No charge was made for crossing. Whosoever would was welcome to enter in. The fact that the road lay open was an invitation for all to cross to the goodly, land of rest. Even so, though the blessings of Canaan are not to be compared for a moment with the glory of Gods inheritance of grace, still entrance into this heavenly rest is free. Without money, and without price, whosoever will may enter in. But we cannot conclude our consideration of this great event without pointing out its resemblance to that abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom, ministered to all those who with all diligence add to their faith courage, knowledge, temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love. The grace that led Israel through the wilderness for forty years; the grace that sustained their lives amid its barren sands; the grace that gave them bread from heaven and water from the flinty rock, did it fail them at the end of the journey? Nay! nay! The same power and love that had fed them with manna, and canopied them with cloud and flame, divided the waters of Jordan and gave them abundant entrance. This God remains our God for ever. His grace can never fail us. (A. B. Mackay.)
The priests.., stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan.
The priests in the midst of Jordan; or, Moral firmness
Observe the sublime calmness of these priests--these leaders of the people; they stood firm in the midst of the waters till all passed over. The circumstances suggest two remarks about their firmness.
I. That it was rational in its foundation.
1. It was not stolid indifference.
2. It was not confidence in their own power to keep back the mountain of water.
3. It was not, of course, faith in the laws of nature. These men were firm in defiance of natures laws.
4. What, then, was the foundation of their firmness? The word of God. Now, our position is, that it is more rational to trust the word of God than the laws of nature.
(1) Because His words bind Him to action; the laws of nature do not.
(2) Because deviation from His word would be a far more serious thing to the universe, than deviation from the laws of nature. Were He to deviate from His word, virtue would be at an end, moral government would be disobeyed, the grand barrier between right and wrong, truth and error, heaven and hell, would be broken down; and anarchy and misery would deluge the moral creation.
(3) Because He has departed from the laws of nature, but has never swerved an iota from His word. Heaven and earth shall pass away, &c.
4. Two inferences necessarily flow from the foregoing considerations--
(1) That it is more reasonable to walk by faith than by sight.
(2) That apparent impossibilities can never be pleaded against Divine predictions.
II. That it was salutary in its influence.
1. The force of human influence. The millions of every age follow the few.
2. The philosophy of useful influence. Fidelity to God is the spring of useful influence. (Homilist.)
No river there!
The dying words of Bishop Haven to the Rev. Samuel Upham, who went to see him, were, Preach a complete gospel: a whole Christ, a whole heaven, a whole hell, the whole Bible from end to end. His physician on leaving said, Good-night, bishop, and he answered, Good-night: next time it will be Good-morning. Then he closed his eyes, and some thought the spirit had fled, but he opened them again, and, looking at the Rev. Mr. Mallalieu, said, I have been looking for the cold river, but there is no river there; only a broad plain leading up to the throne. Soon afterwards his spirit crossed the broad plain..
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v14 Jos_3:15. Jordan overfloweth] Owing to the melting of the…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Jos_3:15. Jordan overfloweth] Owing to the melting of the snow on the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains. “The swellings of Jordan” seems to have driven the wild beasts from their usual lairs (cf. Jer_49:19).
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Jos_3:16. The City Adam] The site is unknown; probably it was several miles to the north; the back-flow of the accumulated waters was apparent as far up the river as this city.
Jos_3:17. All the people] All excepting the women and children of the two and a half tribes, with the 70,000 armed men left to guard them (chap. Jos_4:12-13).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_3:14-17
MAN’S FIRM FAITH AND JEHOVAH’S MIGHTY WORKS
Three events, each of imposing magnitude, are recorded in Scripture history as having taken place within a few miles of each other in that reach of the river Jordan which is opposite to Jericho. First, here is the passage of the Israelites through the miraculously divided river, when, without counting the families of the eastern tribes, some two and a quarter millions of people went over into Canaan. Five hundred and fifty years later, near to this same place, Jordan was divided again. As if to throw into prominence the significant symbolism in which the crossing of this river illustrates death, and to re-affirm in a marked manner that dying has no actual death to the children of God, Elijah, just before his ascent to the heavenly inheritance, smites the waters with his mantle, when they again part, that this ransomed servant of the Lord may also pass over. Elijah is seen to cross Jordan immediately before going up into heaven, as though designedly to connect the river with death, and to throw over the latter, as is so vividly seen with the former, the beautiful assurance of the sufficiency of Divine love and power to bring the believing traveller safely into rest. Elisha returns from accompanying Elijah, and the waters part again; thus twice in one day is Jordan divided, not far from Jericho, over against which all Israel had crossed more than five centuries before. Somewhere in this neighbourhood the more important event of the Saviour’s baptism also took place. The Lord’s people had gone repeatedly into a river which through His power opened to make a way for their feet; the Lord Himself enters, and Him the waters overwhelm in a most significant baptism, the full meaning of which cannot be reached till the Saviour endures that other baptism, of which He cries, “How am I straitened till it be accomplished!” The waters of death overwhelm Deity, that redeemed humanity may pass through them, unharmed, into the richer life that lies beyond. Near the place where the typical people pass safely into the land, notwithstanding the roughest “swellings of the river,” there Christ is consecrated to a work which offers the only ford to death, and at which point all of us must pass into life, if such life is really to be ours. Thus here, too, does this greater JOSHUA “begin to be magnified” in a glory which shall endure for ever. Here, then, are three imposing events, each of which seems mysteriously connected with the other in the idea of death, which is common to them all; and each of which lies centuries apart from the others, as though, by the very breadth of the time which they cover, they were to lay stress on the unchanging and stately purpose of God to bring safely through the grave into life that great multitude which no man can number. While we might well shrink back even in pain from the irreverence of a merely fanciful exposition, it would be almost like “taking away from the things of this book” to resist the impressions which fairly come from so suggestive a sequence and method in the Divine working. Bearing these thoughts in mind, there are three principal features in the narrative which claim attention:—
I. Entrance into the Promised Land is through the wonderful working of God.
1. Think of the glory of God which is shewn in the salvation of His people. (a) It knows no dimness whatever. No physical difficulty throws the slightest shade upon the majesty of His power; no lack of patience, or forbearance, or forgiveness so much as suggests any imperfection in His grace and love. The many sins of the wilderness are all cast behind His back; now that His people are to be brought into their inheritance, He remembers their transgressions no more than as if they had never been. Even the recent guilt on the plains of Moab seems as far removed from His children as the east is from the west. But though the glory of Divine mercy is so beautiful in this passage of the Jordan, it is the perfection of God’s power which is forced most prominently on our attention. Think of the shock which throbs through the whole river the moment it is touched by the feet of the priests; of that half of the flood which hastes away, as if affrighted, from the presence of Jehovah; of the ever accumulating waters in which the other half of the “deep utters its voice, and lifts up its hands on high,” as in very awe, nor dares to pass the presence of its God. Oh what perfection of power is this, in which the fierce torrent of the flooded river is thus in its full sweep shocked in twain, and made to stand up in an heap till the ransomed of the Lord shall have passed over! And all this is done with no effort, and with no machinery, saving that of the ordinary ark, with which all Israel had become familiar. “Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty!” “Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even for salvation with Thine anointed.” The stars are obscured by the glory of the day, even the sun has its spots, but no one has ever yet seen even the beginning of shade on the perfect and awful brightness of Divine majesty. Not even the mightiest obstacles ever shew so much as the beginnings of difficulty to Him who is “Lord of all the earth.” Shall we remember that when we are tempted, as many often are, to think salvation possible only in proportion as it seems free from hindrance? Some seem to want all the road paved, and the rivers bridged, in order to make their heaven accessible; they forget that nothing hinders God even for a moment. (b) God’s glory is never for mere display. Men speak of God sometimes as though He sought to make known His glory merely for the honour of His own name. God’s glory ever reveals itself in connection with His people’s good. It is when Israel is in need that the sea divides, the manna falls, the Jordan parts asunder. When we speak of an “economy of power” in the Saviour’s miracles, we are only saying in another form that God never does mighty works for the sake of Himself. Whenever, then, we behold any wonderful work of the Lord, let us look for its human occasion. (c) The same glory that encourages those who believe, is a terror to all who walk after “other gods.” All the men on one side of the parted waters find a song in the mighty work of the Lord, which even for centuries afterwards animates the hearts of their children; all the people on the other side are appalled,—fear and pain take hold on them. How do we feel amid the more manifest works of God? To answer that enquiry faithfully may give us a clue to the state of our own hearts. Divine power to the three men on the plains of Dura was a trust and a joy, to Nebuchadnezzar it became a terror; to Paul it was a never-failing theme for song, it made Herod the Sadducee fear lest John the Baptist was risen from the dead; to the jailor of Philippi the earthquake was a thing of terror, but Paul and Silas sang praises to God.
2. Think of the method of God in working for the salvation of His people. The incident lays much stress on one feature which we are all prone to overlook—in the salvation of men it is not so much God’s way to remove our hindrances as to help us to overcome them. The Israelites were brought to this river at the worst possible season of the year. The caverns of the mountains, filled by the latter rain, were emptying themselves, the snow was melting under the great heat by which those rains were followed, and thus Jordan overflowed “all his banks.” God, who overlooks nothing, and times carefully the ways of His providence, selects these very days of the flooded river for the passage. What is this but His more ancient way of saying, “Through much tribulation ye must enter into the kingdom”? What is it but a clear revelation of the fact that trial is not arbitrary, but an occasion for helping His children, and of bringing terror and discomfiture to their enemies? It stands back here in the nursery volume written for the infant Church like a pictorial rendering of God’s early and easy answer to man’s grave and troubled and ever-recurring complaint—“He hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass, and He hath set darkness in my paths.” The fence is put about us, that we may learn to trust the love and power which will presently remove it; the darkness is in our paths, that we may learn to say in the moment when His presence appears through the departing gloom. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
II. Entrance into the Promised Land can only be through the faith of men. Even the mighty power of God would carry no man, woman, or child over the river, and none would walk over but those who believed that the mass of water which gathered above them would be held back from sweeping them to destruction.
1. The first steps of faith are often the most difficult to take. When the waters were cut off, it would be comparatively easy for the priests to go on; it would need more courage to dip their feet boldly into “the brim of the water” which only began to yield as they began to tread onward seemingly into the depths. (a) It is so in the first steps of an unsaved man towards his God. It is hard to resolve, hard to decide, hard for men to commit themselves before the eyes of some one else to any decidedly Christian act. It is hard for a young man to begin prayer before godless companions who share his chamber. It was a trial to the Prodigal Son to take the first steps homeward; it would be comparatively easy, after the Father’s embrace and kiss and welcome, to go onward in the new life. (b) Not less the first steps are the hardest to Christians who undertake special work for God. The first tract that is given; the first personal exhortation; the first effort to preach Jesus Christ to perishing men; Müller’s first orphan house.
2. Faith is salvation, even when it has fear. Those who walked tremblingly across would be as safe as those who went confidently; those who had just faith enough to commit their way unto the Lord, although terror accompanied every step, would also, and equally with their bolder companions, enter into Canaan. It was thus on the night of the passover; if the father of the family had only sufficient faith to kill the lamb, and sprinkle the door-posts as directed, he might tremble, and even cry out like the Egyptians, as the destroying angel passed by, but he would be as safe as though he sang praises to God. Salvation is not in our freedom from trembling, but in Christ; if our faith only lead us to Him, He is the life.
3. The faith of each is helped by the faith of all. Shrieking priests would have made shrieking people; one trembling Israelite would have inflicted his fear on his neighbour. The firmness of the priests is confidence to the host, and the boldness of each courageous individual in the host was help and strength to all around him. “No man liveth unto himself.” Our faith will help the faith of others; our doubt will not only dishonour God, but injure men. One of the difficulties at which infidels cavil in the doctrine of the resurrection is the distribution of the bodies of the dead into other life. Plants take up the elements of the bodies into vegetable life, and animal life takes up the same elements in consuming the plants. The same process is going on in the spiritual world; our personality overruns, and each man is taking up something of the being of his companions. Though God may not suffer our fear to destroy us, it may be ruinous to others.
4. Faith, though weak in many, might well be firm in us all. We look too much to the gathered heap of the waters, and at the time which it will take us to cross, and too little at the covenanted presence of God. McCheyne used to say, “For one lock at self, take ten looks at Christ.” We endure best, not as seeing ourselves, but “as seeing Him who is invisible,” and of whose presence the death of the Saviour should give us sufficient assurance. This sublime scene of an open way quite across the Jordan is a true picture of the results of the work of Christ: there are no obstacles to our entrance into heaven, but such as are in our own hearts.
III. Entrance into the Promised Land under the Old Covenant forcibly and perhaps designedly illustrates our entrance into that New Covenant life which is through and beyond death. (Cf. outline on Jos_3:8.) Pulsford has said, “If the approach of Death awaken fear in you, tell Death that you are bringing the Lord Jesus along with you, and Death, like Jordan before the Ark, will put back, and a free passage will open before you into eternal life. ‘What ailest thou, O sea, that thou fleest; and thou Jordan, that thou art driven back?’ But hide Christ in thee indeed; for it will not serve to say, ‘Lord, Lord.’ The devils will leap upon thee, and prevail over thee, if the Lord Jesus be only on thy tongue, and not present, by His Holy Spirit, in thy soul. If He be in thee, who is the Light of Life, very Light and very Life, then, when the candle-light of thy body’s life goes out, the Sun-light of thy soul’s life shall be bright about thee.” Let no one fear, whose trust is in the Saviour; He who has been bread for us and water of life to us through the desert, who has given us “honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock,” will not suffer us at last to be overwhelmed in Jordan.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_3:14. DEVELOPMENTS IN DIVINE TEACHING.
The Pillar of Cloud had here given place to the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark becomes the one visible symbol of God’s presence for the next four hundred and fifty years, and excepting at the end of that time, when it once more appears, as if in holy blessing of the new arrangements, the Cloud is seen no more in the days of the Old Covenant. (Cf. 1Ki_8:10-11, etc.) In the days of the New Covenant it most significantly reappears on the Mount of Transfiguration, and at this time, also, seems present to consecrate, or rather to recognise before men as consecrated, a fresh development in the Divine plan of teaching and guiding the Church of the living God. The Cloud overshadows Moses, and in him the Law; Elijah, and in him the prophets; and presently departing, leaves visible to the representatives of the Church “Jesus only.” Yet once again in the New Covenant, as if to put the Divine mark on that period in which men should see Him no more, it is the Cloud which receives the ascending Saviour out of sight, till that time when He shall reappear, still coming “in the clouds of heaven,” and coming then with power and great glory. Thus the Pillar of Cloud is seen as the first manifestation of God’s presence with His people, the Cloud gives place to the Ark, the Ark becomes absorbed in the Temple, of which Jesus said, “My Father’s house,” and the Temple, in its turn, makes way for the Church of the Cross. The Cloud which inaugurates all these forms of teaching reappears to bless them all, and receives the ascending Saviour up into glory; and although the Cloud now is not visible in its old form, Isaiah prophesied of these days of the Saviour’s kingdom, “The Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.” These changes in the outward form of God’s plan of teaching or guiding His people, of which the removal of the Cloud is the first, naturally lead us to look for their reason and cause. Why should God reveal Himself differently to different ages, guiding some men by one form of manifestation, and some by another?
I. Developments in God’s plan of teaching are a necessary accompaniment of human growth. The books that are good for the boy of eight years of age are of little use to the youth of fifteen; yet it is with the elementary books that the child must begin.
1. The Divine plan never shews over-teaching. God has infinite pity for us in all the forms of our weakness, and His pity is not less when the weakness is in our understanding than when we are feeble in some other manner. The Divine gentleness begins with these liberated slaves, by shewing God in the imposing Pillar of Fire and Cloud, which is light in the darkness, and refreshing shade in the day; and when they are able to go on to something further, the same gentle care changes the form of communication. Jesus Christ shews us that the plan is still the same. He taught His apostles three years by mighty miracles, and by wonderful words from His own lips; then, as He was about to depart, He added, “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them now.” Christ taught men, not as keeping in view His power to impart knowledge, but as ever having regard to their power to learn. So God has ever taught the world; He begins with it in its weakness, and raises the measure of its after lessons into fitness with its increasing powers of acquirement.
2. The Divine plan, thus observed, shews wonderful patience and long suffering. Think of the centuries in which men have contemplated God in each of these several forms of manifestation, and how little they have seemed to learn. Yet God has waited patiently in each case, till men were ready to go on to the next new forms of truth. He has never grown weary, and closed the book of revelation altogether; it is still more glorious that, in His majestic self-control, He has never hurried His dull children from one form of communication till they were ready for the next.
II. The changes which occur in this development of God’s plan of teaching are always FROM THE SENSUOUS TO THE SPIRITUAL. The Ark had less of the supernatural about it than the Cloud. The Cloud was God-made and God-moved; men had made the Ark, and men carried it from place to place. In giving the Ark instead of the Cloud, God was withdrawing Himself gradually from the apprehension of the senses. The direction of this teaching was continually and unalterably the same till Christ came, saying to the woman of Samaria, “God is a Spirit,” and to the woman of Magdala, “Touch me not.” The fathers came “unto the mount that might be touched;” we are come “unto Mount Sion.”
1. All teaching or worship that gives undue prominence to the sensuous is reactionary. It is crossing God’s plan, it is turning back in the way of God’s purposes.
2. All personal trials of faith should be accepted as honours conferred by God, or at least with a devout regard to His patience in the training of men generally. God looks about in the family of His children to see who can best bear the next lessons in walking by faith, and where He selects us for trial He also selects us for honour. Abraham’s trial of faith was honourable, not simply because he proved faithful, but also because God chose him as the man who could best endure, and best lead his fellow-men a step onward in the Divine life. Even if we cannot welcome trial as an honour, we should remember God’s long patience in teaching His people, and willingly and cheerfully take our part in leading men into the knowledge of His ways.
3. The high aim of every Christian should be to trust in God. This is the Divine ideal for the Church: let it be ours personally.
III. No change in the outward form of God’s presence ever indicates less need of God, or shews less efficiency in His power to help His people.
1. The presence of the Lord did not become less actual as it became less manifest. The Cloud might give place to the Ark, the Ark to the Temple, and the Temple to the living Church, but God was not most present when He was most seen. The wilderness was not more blessed with the Divine presence than the Church of the New Testament. Is not this true, also, in the personal experience of Christians? God is not with us least when we least behold Him nigh.
2. The power of the Lord did not become less mighty to save and to help as His presence became less visible to the senses. The dividing of the Jordan seems even more miraculous than the dividing of the Sea; the falling of the walls of Jericho shews an arm as potent to help as the rending of the rock at Horeb; the mighty works of Christ are transcended by nothing in the Old Testament; while the glories of Pentecost, when Christ had ascended up on high, seem absolutely to surpass everything that had gone before. Do not let us think that to have to “worship in the Spirit” means worshipping or waiting in weakness. Help, in the desert, may be more gross and material in its forms; it is not more glorious. Looking on the weak men who were about to forsake Him and flee, Christ said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.” To that prediction the first fulfilment came in Pentecost.
Jos_3:14-15. The changes which God makes in His methods of teaching men are not because of any change in God; they are because of our altered circumstances, or different state of heart, or our fresh necessities. Thus is it that men find to guide them, now a Pillar of Cloud, and now an Ark.
The waters that roll between us and our possessions seldom shew signs of making way for us till our feet are “dipped in the brim.” It is not till the twelve apostles bear their few loaves to feed the thousands, that they find how much bread they carry. It is only when the withered arm tries to raise itself in obedience to the Saviour’s bidding, that it finds itself healed of its infirmity. In the kingdom of the Lord, he who never attempts to perform what he cannot do, seldom does that which he might and ought.
God loves to bring us to our difficulties when they are at flood-tide, that we may not attempt to cross them without His help. God delights to help His children in their absolute necessities, that the remembrance of His love and power may be more abiding. Those whom God would largely help He suffers to be much hindered: He brings Israel to Jordan in its heaviest swellings, that nothing may effectually hinder them in the conflicts which are to come.
Jos_3:16. The passing over “right against Jericho” may teach us two things:—
1. God helps His people over their difficulties, not that they may be out of difficulty, but that they may turn again to Him when difficulty comes next. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,” and no man need think his foes are all behind him till death also is in the rear.
2. God would have not only His children, but His enemies also, to behold His wonderful works. This is not that He wishes to destroy His enemies: He willeth not the death of any. He makes the hard heart to melt with fear, because fear alone can soften it. If out of fear His enemies will go on to faith, they too shall be received among and become His children, even as Rahab bears witness.
Jos_3:17. He who trusts God with the beginning of his salvation, may well trust Him for the end. As Bp. Hall has said, “The same hand that hath made the way hard, hath made it sure. He that hath made the wilderness comfortable, will make Jordan dry.” The things which we most fear, our Father knows how to make most helpful. The mighty works of the Lord are not so much to excite our astonishment as to instruct our hearts; they are to teach us to know Him.
Jos_3:17. THE PRIESTS IN THE MIDST OF JORDAN; OR, MORAL FIRMNESS.
If we look at the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness as illustrating the journey of human life, the narrative before us will supply three facts concerning it:—
1. The future difficulty in life’s journey. The Jews in their journey had surmounted many difficulties, but there was one before them yet—the overflowing Jordan. So it is with us. The Jordan of death is before us all. The passage through it, to us, as to the Jews, is strange, perilous, necessary; we cannot reach Canaan without it.
2. The true guide in life’s journey. God directed Joshua what the people were to do (Jos_3:7-8). God guided them in two ways: (a) By the external symbol—the ark. (b) By human effort—“the priests.” What the ark and the priests were to these men then, Christianity and true teachers are to humanity now; they are God’s means of guiding us on our journey. A guide must know the way; God alone knows the winding and endless path of souls.
3. The final deliverance in life’s journey. “All the people were passed clean over,” etc. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” But the point to which we would now draw particular attention is the sublime calmness of these priests; they stood firm in the midst of the waters till all passed over. The circumstances suggest two remarks about their firmness.
I. That it was rational in its foundation. What was its foundation? The answer to this question will enable us to see what moral firmness really is.
1. It was not stolid indifference. Some men are lauded for their composure, who ought to be denounced for their stoicism.
2. It was not confidence in their own power to keep back the mountain of water.
3. It was not, of course, faith in the laws of nature. All men have a fixed and practical faith in the laws of nature; the mariner, agriculturist, physician, etc., all trust these. But these men were firm in defiance of the laws of nature. It was the law of nature that the Jordan should roll on and whelm them in destruction. What, then, was the foundation of their firmness? The WORD OF GOD. God had told them, through Joshua, that they were thus to stand, and they would be safe (Jos_3:8; Jos_3:13). Now our position is, that it is more rational to trust the word of God than the laws of nature. First: Because His words bind Him to action, the lam of nature do net. He may continue to act according to what are called the “laws of nature,” or He may not.… But His word allows Him no such option. The absolute rectitude of His being binds Him to carry it out. Secondly: Because deviation from His word would be a far more serious thing to the universe, than deviation from the laws of nature. He may reverse every natural law, roll the wheels of nature backward, without infringing any moral principle, or injuring any sentient being. But were He to deviate from His word, what stupendous evils would ensue! Virtue would be at an end, moral government would be disobeyed, and the grand barrier between right and wrong, truth and error, heaven and hell, would be broken down, and anarchy and misery would deluge the moral creation. Thirdly: Because He has departed from the laws of nature, but has never swerved an iota from His word. The history of Moses, Elijah, Christ, furnishes numerous instances of deviation from the laws of nature, but the history of the universe, from its earliest dawn, supplies not a single instance of deviation from His word. “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” etc.
Two inferences necessarily flow from the foregoing considerations:
1. That it is more reasonable to walk by faith than by sight. Our senses and our reason deceive us; sense and reason have deceived millions, but the word of God is infallible.
2. That apparent impossibilities can never be pleaded against Divine predictions. There are, especially, two works predicted in the Bible, which sceptical men declare impossible—The entire evangelization of the world, and the resurrection of the dead. But the question is, has God predicted them? If so, the idea of impossibility is an absurdity. With Him “all things are possible.”
The other fact which the circumstances before us suggest in relation to the moral firmness of these priests, is—
II. That it was salutary in its influence. The firmness of these priests in the midst of Jordan, with the billows piled above them, inspired the thousands of Israel to follow. Had one of these priests displayed, in that terrible situation, the least excitement or fear, would it not have struck a panic through all the assembled tribes, so that they would not have ventured to the brink? But seeing the priests standing sublimely calm, they were braced with courage to step into the fearful channel and pursue their way (Jos_3:17).
This incident suggests two thoughts:—First: The force of human influence. All Israel now follows these men. Men are made to follow their superior brethren. The millions of every age follow the few. Secondly: The philosophy of useful influence. The influence of these priests was useful, because they were following God. Fidelity to God is the spring of useful influence. Brother, the Jordan of death is before thee, cold, dark, and tumultuous. Take courage from the example of the brave men who, trusting in God, have stood firmly in its midst, and crossed it safely. Follow them who ‘through faith and patience inherit the promises.’ ” [Dr. Thomas: Homilist, vol. iii. 334.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 14 General Information:
General Information:
Joshua continues to tell Israel of the miracle that Yahweh will do.
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General Information:
Just as Israel's fathers experience crossing the Red Sea, these people will experience crossing the Jordan river on dry land.
the soles of the feet
This refers to the bottom of their feet.
upstream
This word refers to the direction the Jordan River water is flowing toward Israel.
stand in one heap
The water will stay in one spot or place. It will not flow around the priests.
translationWords
twelve tribes of Israel
priest
ark of the covenant
Yahweh
lord
water
Jordan River
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 13, 15, 16 3:12 Joshua told the people to choose twelve men…
3:12 Joshua told the people to choose twelve men but did not reveal what this group of men would be doing (4:2-8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.