Joshua 4:16

9 Joshua also erected twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan under the station of the feet of the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant, and they have remained there even to this day. 10 And the priests, bearing the ark, kept standing in the midst of the Jordan, till all the speech which Jehovah had commanded Joshua to speak to the people was finished; exactly as Moses had commanded Joshua himself: but the people made haste in passing. 11 And when the whole people had made an end of passing, the ark of Jehovah passed, and the priests in presence of the people. 12 The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh also passed over armed before the children of Israel; in like manner as Moses had spoken to them. 13 Forty thousand armed men passed over in presence of Jehovah to battle to the plains of Jericho. 14 On that day Jehovah magnified Joshua in the eyes of all Israel, and they feared him just as they had feared Moses all the days of his life. 15 And Jehovah spoke unto Joshua, saying, 16 Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to ascend from the Jordan. 17 And Joshua commanded the priests, saying, Ascend from the Jordan.

4:10-19 The priests with the ark did not stir till ordered to move. Let none be weary of waiting, while they have the tokens of God's presence with them, even the ark of the covenant, though it be in the depths of adversity. Notice is taken of the honour put upon Joshua. Those are feared in the best manner, and to the best purpose, who make it appear that God is with them, and that they set him before them.

Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony,.... In all places before, in this history, the ark is called the ark of the covenant, here the ark of the testimony, which signifies the same thing, the law; which was both the covenant between God and the people, and a testimony of his will unto them; the Septuagint version has both words: that they come up out of Jordan; where they stayed until all the people passed over, for the encouragement of them, and until they received this order.

(16) Command the priests . . . that they come up out of Jordan. —Observe that the removal of the priests and the ark of the covenant from their station in Jordan is made the subject of a distinct section, and treated as a distinct event. It need not have been so for the purpose of the mere historical narrative. We might have taken it for granted. But the significance of the event is so marked as to receive a separate notice. We are not suffered to forget by what means Jordan was driven back, and held in check; and the check was not meant to be perpetual. We are reminded that the suspension of the power of death for men has its limits. When the day of grace is over, the waters will “return unto their place and flow over all the banks as before.” (Comp. Isaiah 28:16-18 ; Isaiah 28:20 .)

Jos 4:14-24. God Magnifies Joshua. 14-17. On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel—It appeared clear from the chief part he acted, that he was the divinely appointed leader; for even the priests did not enter the river or quit their position, except at his command; and thenceforward his authority was as firmly established as that of his predecessor.

The passage of the priests to the further bank had been already referred to, Joshua 4:11 ; but the writer, in observance of his general plan (compare introductory remarks to Joshua 3 ), re-introduces it here as the leading feature in the concluding section of his account, and (as before) with mention of God's special direction about it. The statement that on the removal of the ark the waters of Jordan at once returned to their former level Joshua 4:18 , heightens the impression which is especially inculcated throughout - that the whole transaction was extraordinary and miraculous. The details and incidents of the passage are no doubt open to manifold discussion: but all such discussion will be futile unless it proceed throughout on the admission that we have here before us the record of a distinctly supernatural interposition: compare the introduction to the Book of Joshua.

Verse 16. - The testimony. The word עֵדוּת though derived from the same root as עֵד witness, would seem rather to have the sense of precept , from the idea of repetition contained in the root. Compare the well known Hebrew particle עוד again. It must refer to the two tables of the law which ( Hebrews 10:4 ) were placed in the ark (see Deuteronomy 10:5 , and comp. Exodus 25:16, 21, 40 , Numbers 17:10 , where this is said to be the testimony). Other things were placed in the ark, such as the manna, Aaron's rod, and these, no doubt, were for a witness to the facts of the Mosaic record. The LXX., however, consistently render this word by μαρτύρια μαρτύριον . The Vulgate here has arcam foederis. Joshua 4:16

Termination of the miraculous Passage through the Jordan. - As soon as the priests left their standing-place in the river with the ark of the covenant, according to the command of God made known to them by Joshua, and the soles of their feet "tore themselves loose upon the dry ground" (נתּקוּ אל החרבה, constructio praegnans, for they tore themselves loose from the soft soil of the river, and trode upon the dry or firm ground), the waters of the Jordan returned again to their place, and went over all its banks as before (vid., Joshua 3:15 ). This affirms as clearly as possible that it was the ark which kept back the stream.

[Reformed Biblical] In this sense the same phrase is used, #Joshua 4:3,8 ; for certainly those stones which were to be witnesses and monuments of their passage over Jordan should not be taken from the brink or brim of the river, or from the shore which Jordan overflowed only at that season, but from the most inward and deepest parts of the river; and #Joshua 3:16-17 , where the priests are said to ascend or come up out of Jordan , and out of the midst of Jordan unto the dry land ; whereas had this been meant only of the first entrance into the river, they must have been said first to go down into Jordan , and then to go up to the land . ## JOSHUA CHAPTER 4 God commands them to carry twelve stones for a memorial out of Jordan; Joshua orders it; the people perform, #Joshua 4:1-8 . Twelve other stones set up for a memorial in the midst of Jordan, #Joshua 4:9 . The people pass over: the order they observe, #Joshua 4:10-13 . God magnifies Joshua, #Joshua 4:14 . The priests with the ark are commanded to come up out of Jordan, #Joshua 4:15-17 . The waters ## return, #Joshua 4:18 . The time of this passage, #Joshua 4:19 . Twelve stones set up in Gilgal; to what purpose declared, #Joshua 4:20-24 . ## Ver. 1. This was commanded before, #Joshua 3:12 , and is here repeated with enlargement, as being now to be put in execution. Ver. 2. For the greater evidence and certainty, and the more effectual spreading of the report of this marvellous work among all the tribes. ## Ver. 3.

And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, went over in array before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. About forty thousand armed for military service passed over before Jehovah to the war, unto the plains of Jericho. On that day Jehovah magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life. And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan. And Joshua commanded the priests, saying, Come up out of the Jordan. And it came to pass when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, [when] the soles of the priests` feet were lifted up on to the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and they flowed as previously, over all its banks. And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the eastern extremity of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they had taken out of the Jordan did Joshua set up in Gilgal. And he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children hereafter ask their fathers, saying, What [mean] these stones? then ye shall let your children know, saying, On dry land did Israel come over this Jordan;