Joshua 3:6

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Joshua 3:6

6. Joshua spake unto the priests—This order to the priests would be given privately, and involving as it did an important change in the established order of march, it must be considered as announced in the name and by the authority of God. Moreover, as soon as the priests stepped into the waters of Jordan, they were to stand still. The ark was to accomplish what had been done by the rod of Moses. Joshua 3:7; Joshua 3:8. THE LORD ENCOURAGES JOSHUA. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Joshua 3:1-6

Joshua may have moved the nation from Shittim to the Jordan’s edge at approximately the same time he sent the spies on their mission (cf. Joshua 3:1-2; Joshua 1:11; Joshua 2:22). However, the sequence of events was probably as it appears in the text. Chapter 1 Joshua 3:11 describes one three-day period during which the spies were in Jericho and the hills. A second, overlapping three-day period began on the next day (day four) with the people’s arrival at Shittim (Joshua 3:1), and concluded two... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Joshua 3:1-12

B. Entrance into the land 3:1-5:12The entrance into the land was an extremely important event in the life of Israel. The writer marked it off in three major movements. Each one begins with a command from God to Joshua (Joshua 3:7-8; Joshua 4:1-3; and Joshua 4:15-16), followed by the communication of the command to the people, and then its execution. The way the narrator told the story seems designed to impress on the reader that it was Yahweh who was bringing His people miraculously into the... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 3:1-17

The Passage of JordanThis is the initial miracle of Joshua’s leadership. Its moral effect upon the Israelite host is suggested in Joshua 3:7 and Joshua 4:14 that wrought upon the Canaanites in Joshua 5:1 (which properly belongs to this section of the book). 3. The ark of the covenant of the Lord your God] see Exodus 25:10-22 and Exodus 37:1-9. It was the authoritative symbol of the Divine Presence (cp. Exodus 23:20.), and as such led the van in the desert marches (Numbers 10:33-36). The priests... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Joshua 3:2-6

(2-6) PRELIMINARY 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 19:0). 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... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Joshua 3:1-17

Joshua 3:0 'In the mosaics of the earliest churches of Rome and Ravenna,' says Dean Stanley, 'before Christian and pagan art were yet divided, the Jordan appears as a river-god pouring his streams out of his urn. The first Christian Emperor had always hoped to receive his long-deferred baptism in the Jordan up to the moment when the hand of death struck him at Nicomedia.... Protestants, as well as Greeks and Latins, have delighted to carry off its waters for the same sacred purpose to the... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Joshua 3:1-7

CHAPTER VIII.JORDAN REACHED.Joshua 3:1-7. THE host of Israel had been encamped for some time at Shittim on the east side of the river Jordan. It is well to understand the geographical position. The Jordan has its rise beyond the northern boundary of Palestine in three sources, the most interesting and beautiful of the three being one in the neighbourhood of Caesarea Philippi. The three streamlets unite in the little lake now called Huleh, but Merom in Bible times. Issuing from Merom in a single... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Joshua 3:1-17

CHAPTER IX.JORDAN DIVIDED.Joshua Ch. 3-4.AT Joshua’s command the priests carrying the ark are again in motion. Bearing the sacred vessel on their shoulders, they make straight for the bank of the river. "The exact spot is unknown; it certainly cannot be that which the Greek tradition has fixed, where the eastern banks are sheer precipices of ten or fifteen feet high. Probably it was either immediately above or below, where the cliffs break away; above at the fords, or below where the river... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Joshua 3:1-17

3. The Passage of Jordan CHAPTER 3 1. The Ark of Jehovah going before (Joshua 3:1-6 ) 2. Jehovah’s words to Joshua (Joshua 3:7-8 ) 3. Joshua’s words to the people (Joshua 3:9-13 ) 4. The passage accomplished (Joshua 3:14-17 ) The River Jordan divided the people from the promised land. To be in the land Jordan had to be crossed. Jordan, overflowing all its banks at that time (verse 15), rolled its dark waters between them and their God-given possession. Only the power of God could... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 3:1-17

THE CROSSING OF JORDAN (vv. 1-17) The next morning Joshua arose early and led Israel to the river. There may be a question as regards the three days spoken of in chapter 2:11 and the three days the spies hid.Whether the latter two are the same three days spoken of in chapter 2:11 seems to be rather unclear; but the spiritual lesson of three days is the most important, speaking of resurrection, thus Israel acting in "newness of life," the energy of resurrection power. The people were told... read more

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