Joshua 3:1-17

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 3:1-6

Rahab, in mentioning to the spies the drying up of the Red Sea (Josh. 2:10), the report of which terrified the Canaanites more than anything else, intimates that those on that side the water expected that Jordan, that great defence of their country, would in like manner give way to them. Whether the Israelites had any expectation of it does not appear. God often did things for them which they looked not for, Isa. 64:3. Now here we are told, I. That they came to Jordan and lodged there, Josh.... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 3:7-13

We may observe here how God honours Joshua, and by this wondrous work he is about to do designs to make Israel know that he is their governor, and then how Joshua honours God and endeavours by it to make Israel know that he is their God. Thus those that honour God he will honour, and those whom he has advanced should do what they can in their places to exalt him. I. God speaks to Joshua to put honour upon him, Josh. 3:7, 8. 1. It was a great honour God id him that he spoke to him as he had... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joshua 3:14-17

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, Josh. 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 3:1

And Joshua rose early in the morning ,.... The morning after the spies had returned and made their report; which, as Kimchi rightly observes, was the ninth of Nisan; for on the morrow, which was the tenth, the people passed over Jordan, see Joshua 3:5 . Moses, according to the Jewish writers, died on the seventh of Adar or February; the thirty days of his mourning ended the seventh of Nisan or March; two days before they were ended the spies were sent, who returned on the eighth day of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 3:2

And it came to pass after three days ,.... At the end of the three days they were bid to prepare food for their expedition, and to go over Jordan, Joshua 1:11 , that the officers went through the host ; the camp of Israel; very probably the same as in Joshua 1:10 ; this was, no doubt, by the order of Joshua, and who was directed to it by the Lord. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 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 reads, the priests and Levites; so the Septuagint: it was the business of the Levites, particularly the Kohathites, to bear the ark in journeying, but here the priests, who also were Levites, were to carry it: it is remarked in the Talmud F16 T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 33. 2. , that there... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 3:4

Yet there shall be a space between you and it ,.... The ark; the Keri or marginal reading is, "between you and them"; the priests that bear it: hence sprung a fiction among the Jews, that there were two arks, the ark of the Shechinah or divine Majesty, and the ark of Joseph, in which his bones were put, which went together F17 T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 13. 1. ; which Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel take notice of, but has no foundation in the text: about two thousand cubits by measure ; by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 3:5

And Joshua said unto the people ,.... On the third day; and the thirtieth day of the mourning for Moses, Jarchi says, was the first of the three days, and that being the seventh day of the month, this must be the ninth, as it is most clear the morrow was the tenth: sanctify yourselves ; in a ceremonial sense, by washing their bodies and their clothes, and abstaining from their wives; and in a moral sense, by acts of religion and devotion, by prayer and meditation, and the exercise of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 3:6

And Joshua spoke unto the priests ,.... On the morrow, that is, on the tenth day of the month, the day on which they went over Jordan: saying, take up the ark of the covenant ; in which the law was put, which was the covenant between God and the people, from whence the ark had this name; and in which it was typical of Christ, in whom both the law, the covenant of works, was fulfilled, and with whom the covenant of grace was made; who is the Mediator; surety, and messenger of it, and in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 3:7

And the Lord said unto Joshua ,.... Out of the tabernacle: this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel ; by working the miracle afterwards related; dividing the waters, which was done on this day, and was but the beginning of wonders; for other great and marvellous things were done for him and by him, by which it appeared he was high in the favour of God, greatly esteemed and honoured by him, and so would be great and honourable in the account of the people: that... read more

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