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 days later (on the sixth day) with the officers giving the people last-minute instructions about the crossing (Joshua 3:2-4). The people then crossed the Jordan on the next day (day seven). [Note: David M. Howard Jr., "’Three Days’ in Joshua 1-3 : Resolving a Chronological Conundrum," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41:4 (December 1998):539-50.]

"Duty often calls us to take one step without knowing how we shall take the next; but if brought thus far by the leadings of Providence, and while engaged in his service, we may safely leave the event to him." [Note: Bush, p. 41.]

God continued to lead His people by means of the ark. Whereas in the wilderness the cloudy pillar over the ark was the focus of the Israelites’ attention, now the ark itself became the primary object of their interest. The writer mentioned the ark 17 times in chapters 3 and 4. It was the visible symbol that God Himself was leading His people into the land and against their enemies.

". . . the ark was carried in front of the people, not so much to show the road as to make a road by dividing the waters of the Jordan, and the people were to keep at a distance from it, that they might not lose sight of the ark, but keep their eyes fixed upon it, and know the road by looking at the ark of the covenant by which the road had been made, i.e., might know and observe how the Lord, through the medium of the ark, was leading them to Canaan by a way which they had never traversed before; i.e., by a miraculous way." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, p. 41.]

Other frequently recurring words in chapters 3 and 4 are "cross" and "stand" used 22 and five times respectively. These words identify other emphases of the writer.

The people’s self-consecration (Joshua 3:5) consisted of their turning their hearts to God and getting their attitudes and actions right with Him (cf. Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17). God had previously promised to do wonders (Joshua 3:5, awesome miracles) when they would enter the land (cf. Exodus 34:10). Undoubtedly the people had been looking forward to seeing these miracles in view of what their parents had told them and what some of them remembered about the plagues in Egypt.