Joshua 3:4-5

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

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 3:4

About two thousand cubits - This distance they were to keep, For the greater respect, because the presence of the ark was the symbol and pledge of the Divine presence. 2. That the ark, which was to be their pilot over these waters, might be the more conspicuous which it could not have been had the people crowded upon it. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 3:5

Sanctify yourselves - What was implied in this command we are not informed; but it is likely that it was the same as that given by Moses, Exodus 19:10-14 . They were to wash themselves and their garments, and abstain from every thing that might indispose their minds from a profitable attention to the miracle about to be wrought in their behalf. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 3:4

Verse 4 4.Yet there shall be a space, etc As the younger Levites, whose province it was to carry the ark, (Numbers 4:15) were strictly forbidden to touch it, or even to look at it, when uncovered, it is not wonderful that the common people were not allowed to approach within a considerable distance of it. The dignity of the ark, therefore, is declared, when the people are ordered to attest their veneration by leaving a long interval between themselves and it. And we know what happened to Uzzah,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 3:5

Verse 5 5.And Joshua said, etc Some unwonted manifestation of divine power in bringing assistance behooved to be held forth, lest the backwardness arising from hesitancy might produce delay; and yet, in order that the Israelites might depend on the mere counsel of God, Joshua does not yet plainly point out the special nature of the miracle, unless, indeed, we choose to read what follows shortly after, as forming part of one context. Herein lies the true test of faith, to lean so on the counsel... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 3:1-6

The command to cross Jordan. We have here a chapter replete with instruction, whether we take the words in their natural and literal or in their figurative and allegorical sense. The instruction is of a kind which it is difficult to gather up into one point of view, so various and many-sided is it. It will be best, therefore, to follow the events of the narrative seriatim, and endeavour to notice the various points which may be observed for instruction and exhortation, rather than to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 3:4

There shall be a space between you and it. Perhaps in order that they might keep it in view. This agrees best with the remainder of the verse, "that ye may know the way by which ye must go." Keil remarks that, had the Israelites pressed close on the heels of the priests who bore the ark, this would have defeated the very object with which the ark was carried before the people, namely, to point them out the way that they should go. But Cornelius Lapide among the earlier commentators and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 3:5

Sanctify yourselves. The Hithpahel, which is used here, is frequently used of ceremonial purification, as in Exodus 19:22 ; 1 Chronicles 15:12 , 1 Chronicles 15:14 ; 2 Chronicles 5:11 ; and especially 2 Samuel 11:4 . It is also connected with purification, but ironically, in Isaiah 66:17 . Tomorrow. These words were uttered while all was in preparation. We learn from Isaiah 66:7 , though it is not expressly stated, that the actual crossing took place the next day. We ought,... read more

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