Joshua 3:5

Joshua ‘THE WATERS SAW THEE; THEY WERE AFRAID’Joshua 3:5 - Joshua 3:17 . The arrangement of the narrative of the passage of Jordan, which occupies Joshua 3:1-17 and Joshua 4:1-24 , is remarkable, and has led to suggestions of interpolation and blending of two accounts, which are quite unnecessary. It is divided into four sections,-the preparations { Joshua 3:1 - Joshua 3:6 }, the passage { Joshua 3:7 - Joshua 3:17 }, the lifting of the memorial stones from the river’s bed and the fixing of one set of them in it { Joshua 4:1 - Joshua 4:14 }, the return of the waters, and the erection of the second set of memorial stones at Gilgal { Joshua 4:15 - Joshua 4:24 }. Each section closes with a summary of the whole transaction, after the common manner of Old Testament history, which gives to a hasty reader the impression of confusion and repetition; but a little attention shows a very symmetrical arrangement, negativing the possibility of interpolation. The last three sections are all built on the same lines. In each there is a triple division,-God’s command to Joshua, Joshua’s communication of it to the people, and the actual fact, fulfilling these. So each stage passes thrice before the view, and the impressiveness of the history is heightened by our seeing it first in the mirror of the divine Word, and then in the orders of the commander, before we see it as a thing actually happening. Joshua 3:5 - Joshua 3:6 of the chapter belong to the section which deals with the preparation.

General instructions had been already issued that the host was to follow the ark, leaving two thousand cubits between them and it; but nothing had been said as to how Jordan was to be crossed. No doubt many a question and doubt had been muttered by the watch-fires, as the people looked at the muddy, turbid stream, swirling in flood. The spies probably managed to swim it, but that was a feat worthy to be named in the epitaph of heroes { 1 Chronicles 12:15 }, and impossible for the crowd of all ages and both sexes which followed Joshua. There was the rushing stream, swollen as it always is in harvest. How were they to get over? And if the people of Jericho, right over against them, chose to fall upon them as they were struggling across, what could hinder utter defeat? No doubt, all that was canvassed, in all sorts of tones; but no inkling of the miracle seems to have been given. God often opens His hand by one finger at a time, and leaves us face to face with some plain but difficult duty, without letting us see the helps to its performance, till we need to use them. If we go right on the road which He has traced out, it will never lead us into a blind alley. The mountains will part before us as we come near what looked their impassable wall; and some narrow gorge or other, wide enough to run a track through, but not wide enough to be noticed before we are close on it, will be sure to open.

Joshua 3:5 . And Joshua said — He himself also, as well as the officers, by his direction, spake to the people the day before their passage; and as the matter was very important, he probably went himself from tribe to tribe, to give the orders here mentioned. Sanctify yourselves — Not only wash your clothes, and shun all kinds of bodily impurities, (see Genesis 35:2 ; Exodus 19:10 ; Numbers 9:10 ,) but purify your minds and hearts, by repentance, and faith, and new obedience, without which the external purifications of your bodies and garments will be of little avail. In other words, prepare yourselves by seriousness, recollection, and prayer, that you may behold with proper regard, reverence, and gratitude, and may fix in your hearts, the wonderful display which is about to be made of the divine power in your behalf, and that you may be meet to receive so great a favour as is now about to be conferred upon you.

5 . Sanctify yourselves ] Compare the instructions of Moses before the giving of the Law ( Exodus 19:10-15 ). This would consist partly in ceremonial purification, partly in turning to the Lord in a spirit of expectant faith in “the wonders” which “the Lord would do” amongst them. Wyclif renders the verse: “Be ye hallowid; forsothe to morrowe the Lord shall do among yow marveyls.” to morrow ] the tenth of Nisan ( Joshua 4:19 ), the anniversary of the day on which forty years before the Israelites had “taken to them” ( Exodus 12:3 ) “every man a lamb” as a Paschal victim.