Joshua 3:9

3:7-13 The waters of Jordan shall be cut off. This must be done in such a way as never was done, but in the dividing of the Red sea. That miracle is here repeated; God has the same power to finish the salvation of his people, as to begin it; the WORD of the Lord was as truly with Joshua as with Moses. God's appearances for his people ought to encourage faith and hope. God's work is perfect, he will keep his people. Jordan's flood cannot keep out Israel, Canaan's force cannot turn them out again.

Joshua 3:9-10 . Come hither — To the ark or tabernacle, the place of public assemblies. Hear the words of the Lord your God — Who is now about to give a proof that he is both the Lord, the omnipotent Governor of heaven and earth, and all creatures, and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and affection for you. Ye shall know — By experience and sensible evidence. The living God — Not a dull, dead, senseless idol, such as the gods of the nations are; but a God of life, and power, and activity, to watch over you and work for you. Among you — Is present with you to strengthen and help you.

Come hither, to the ark or tabernacle, the place of public assemblies, and hear the words of the Lord your God; who is now about to give a proof that he is both the Lord, the omnipotent Governor of heaven and earth, and all creatures; and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and true affection for you.

Jos 3:9-13. Joshua Encourages the People. 9-13. Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord—It seems that the Israelites had no intimation how they were to cross the river till shortly before the event. The premonitory address of Joshua, taken in connection with the miraculous result exactly as he had described it, would tend to increase and confirm their faith in the God of their fathers as not a dull, senseless, inanimate thing like the idols of the nations, but a Being of life, power, and activity to defend them and work for them.

This day will I begin to magnify thee - One cause why the miracle now to be narrated was performed is here suggested. As Moses was declared to he sent immediately from God with an extraordinary commission by the miracles which he worked, more especially that of dividing the Red Sea in two parts, so was Joshua both sent and accredited in a like manner. (Compare Joshua 1:5 , and Joshua 4:14 .) Other reasons are given in Joshua 3:10 ; Joshua 5:1 .

The summons to the children of Israel, i.e., to the whole nation in the persons of its representatives, to draw near (גּשׁוּ for גּשׁוּ, as in 1 Samuel 14:38 ; Ruth 2:14 ) to hear the words of the Lord its God, points to the importance of the following announcement by which Israel was to learn that there was a living God in the midst of it, who had the power to fulfil His word. Jehovah is called a "living God," in contrast with the dead gods of the heathen, as a God who proved himself to be living, with special reference to those "divine operations by which God had shown that He was living and watchful on behalf of His people; just as His being in the midst of the people did not denote a naked presence, but a striking degree of presence on the part of God in relation to the performance of extraordinary operations, or the manifestation of peculiar care" (Seb. Schmidt). The God of Israel would now manifest himself as a living God by the extermination of the Canaanites, seven tribes of whom are enumerated, as in Deuteronomy 7:1 (see the remarks on this passage).

Joshua mentions the destruction of these nations as the purpose which God had in view in the miraculous guidance of Israel through the Jordan, to fill the Israelites with confidence for their entrance into the promised land. (Note: "He extends the force of the miracle beyond their entrance into the land, and properly so, since the mere opening of a way into a hostile country from which there would be no retreat, would be nothing but exposure to death. For they would either easily fall, through being entangled in difficulties and in an unknown region, or they would perish through want. Joshua therefore foretold, that when God drove back the river it would be as if He had stretched out His hand to strike all the inhabitants of the land, and that the proof which He gave of His power in their crossing the Jordan would be a certain presage of victory, to be gained over all the tribes.")

3 . The Covenant : esp., and probably first, in Dt. and Deuteronomic writers (cf. above, p. 175): Exodus 34:28 (?; see the note); Deuteronomy 4:13 ‘his covenant’ (cf. 23, Exodus 5:2-3 ); and in the expressions, ‘the tables of the covenant ,’ Deuteronomy 9:9 ; Deuteronomy 9:11 ; Deuteronomy 9:15 , 1 Kings 8:9 LXX. (see Skinner); and ‘the ark of the covenant (of Jehovah),’ Deuteronomy 10:8 ; Deuteronomy 31:9 ; Deuteronomy 31:25-26 ; Joshua 3:3 ; Joshua 3:6 ; Joshua 3:8 ; Joshua 3:11 ; Joshua 3:14 ; Joshua 3:17 ; Joshua 4:7 ; Joshua 4:9 ; Joshua 4:18 ; Joshua 6:6 ; Joshua 6:8 ; Joshua 8:33 (all JE or D2[173]); Numbers 10:33 ; Numbers 14:44 (both JE); Jdg 20:27 ; 1 Samuel 4:3-5 , 2 Samuel 15:14 ; 1 Kings 3:15 ; 1 Kings 6:19 ; 1 Kings 8:1 ; 1 Kings 8:6 ; and several times in Chr. (In the occurrences in JE and other pre-Deuteronomic writers, ‘the covenant of’ is probably the addition of a redactor or scribe familiar with the Deut. expression1[174].) [173] Deuteronomic passages in Josh., Jud., Kings. [174] This supposition is not arbitrary: because—at least as far as we know—until Dt. was written, the conditions for calling the ark the ‘ark of the Covenant’ did not exist: no covenant is concluded on the basis of the Decalogue in Ex.; this is first and to have been done in Dt. (cf. Chapman, Introd. to the Pent. p. 113 f.). 3 . The first commandment, against polytheism.

The Levites, which bare the ark - i. e., as in Deuteronomy 31:9 , "the priests the sons of Levi." The non-priestly Levites could not so much as enter the sanctuary or touch the ark (compare Numbers 4:15 ). Though in the journeys through the wilderness the ark was borne by the non-priestly Kohathites, yet on occasions of a more solemn and public character it was carried by the priests themselves ( Joshua 3:3 ff, Joshua 4:9-10 ; Joshua 6:6 , Joshua 6:12 ; Joshua 8:33 ; 1 Kings 8:3 ).