1Da machte sich Josua des Morgens früh auf, und sie brachen von Sittim auf, und kamen an den Jordan, er und alle Söhne Israels; und sie übernachteten daselbst, ehe sie übersetzten. 2Und es geschah nach drei Tagen, da gingen die Vorsteher durch das Lager; 3und geboten dem Volke und sprachen: Sobald ihr die Bundeslade Jehova's, eures Gottes, sehet, und die Priester, die Leviten, die sie tragen; so brechet auf von eurer Stätte, und ziehet ihr nach. 4Doch soll eine Entfernung von zwei tausend Ellen zwischen euch und ihr seyn; näher tretet nicht zu ihr, damit ihr den Weg kennen lernet, welchen ihr gehen sollet; denn nie zuvor seyd ihr diesen Weg gegangen. 5Und Josua sprach zum Volke: Heiliget euch; denn morgen wird Jehova in eurer Mitte Wunder thun. 6Und Josua sprach zu den Priestern: Traget die Bundeslade, und ziehet vor dem Volke hinüber. Da trugen sie die Bundeslade, und gingen vor dem Volke her. 7Und Jehova sprach zu Josua: Heute will ich beginnen, dich groß zu machen vor den Augen von ganz Israel, damit sie erkennen, daß ich, wie ich mit Mose war, auch mit dir bin. 8Und du gebiete den Priestern, welche die Bundeslade tragen, und sprich: Sobald ihr bis zu dem Wasser des Jordans gekommen seyd; so bleibet am Jordan stehen. 9Und Josua sprach zu den Söhnen Israels: Tretet herzu, und höret die Worte Jehova's, eures Gottes! 10Und Josua sprach: Daran sollet ihr erkennen, daß ein lebendiger Gott in eurer Mitte ist, und daß er austreiben wird vor euch die Kananiter, Hethiter, Heviter, Pheresiter, Gergesiter, Amoriter, und Jebusiter. 11Siehe! die Bundeslade des Herrn der ganzen Erde wird vor euch her durch den Jordan gehen. 12Und nun nehmet euch zwölf Männer aus den Stämmen Israels, von jedem Stamme Einen Mann. 13Und es wird geschehen, sobald die Fußsohlen der Priester, welche die Bundeslade Jehova's, des Herrn der ganzen Erde, tragen, im Wasser des Jordans ruhen; so werden sich die Gewässer des Jordans scheiden, das Wasser, das oben herabkommt, wird stehen bleiben wie ein Damm. 14Und es geschah, als das Volk aufbrach aus seinen Zelten, um über den Jordan zu ziehen, und die Priester die Bundeslade vor dem Volke hertrugen; 15und als die Träger der Lade an den Jordan kamen; und die Füße der Priester, welche die Lade trugen, in das Vorderwasser des Jordans tauchten (der Jordan füllt nämlich sein ganzes Ufer die ganze Erntezeit); 16da blieb das Wasser, das von oben herabkam, stehen, es richtete sich auf zu einem Damm, in weiter Ferne von Adam, der Stadt, welche auf der Seite Zarthans liegt; und was hinabfloß in das Meer der Ebene, in das Salzmeer, verlor sich ganz, und das Volk ging hindurch, Jericho gegenüber. 17Und die Priester, welche die Bundeslade Jehova's trugen, standen im Trockenen in der Mitte des Jordans sicher; und ganz Israel ging trocken durch, bis das ganze Volk über den Jordan gezogen war.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 JOSHUA COMES TO JORDAN. (
Josh 3:1-
Josh 3:6)
Joshua rose early in the morning--On the day following that on which the spies had returned with their encouraging report. The camp was broken up in "Shittim" (the acacia groves), and removed to the eastern bank of the Jordan. The duration of their stay is indicated (
Josh 3:2), being, according to Hebrew reckoning, only one entire day, including the evening of arrival and the morning of the passage; and such a time would be absolutely necessary for so motley an assemblage of men, women, and children, with all their gear and cattle to make ready for going into an enemy's country.
2 the officers went through the host; And they commanded the people--The instructions given at this time and in this place were different from those described (
Josh 1:11).
3 When ye see the ark . . ., and the priests the Levites bearing it--The usual position of the ark, when at rest, was in the center of the camp; and, during a march, in the middle of the procession. On this occasion it was to occupy the van, and be borne, not by the Kohathite Levites, but the priests, as on all solemn and extraordinary occasions (compare
Num 4:15;
Josh 6:6;
1Kgs 8:3-6).
then ye shall . . . go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it--These instructions refer exclusively to the advance into the river. The distance which the people were to keep in the rear of the ark was nearly a mile. Had they crowded too near the ark, the view would have been intercepted, and this intervening space, therefore, was ordered, that the chest containing the sacred symbols might be distinctly visible to all parts of the camp, and be recognized as their guide in the untrodden way.
5 Joshua said unto the people--rather "had said," for as he speaks of "to-morrow," the address must have been made previous to the day of crossing, and the sanctification was in all probability the same as Moses had commanded before the giving of the law, consisting of an outward cleansing (
Exod 19:10-
Exod 19:15) preparatory to that serious and devout state of mind with which so great a manifestation should be witnessed.
6 Joshua spake unto the priests--This order to the priests would be given privately, and involving as it did an important change in the established order of march, it must be considered as announced in the name and by the authority of God. Moreover, as soon as the priests stepped into the waters of Jordan, they were to stand still. The ark was to accomplish what had been done by the rod of Moses.
7 THE LORD ENCOURAGES JOSHUA. (
Josh 3:7-
Josh 3:8)
the Lord said to Joshua, This day will I . . . magnify thee in the sight of all Israel--Joshua had already received distinguished honors (
Exod 24:13;
Deut 31:7). But a higher token of the divine favor was now to be publicly bestowed on him, and evidence given in the same unmistakable manner that his mission and authority were from God as was that of Moses (
Exod 14:31).
9 JOSHUA ENCOURAGES THE PEOPLE. (
Josh 3:9-
Josh 3:13)
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.
14 THE WATERS OF JORDAN ARE DIVIDED. (
Josh 3:14-
Josh 3:17)
And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, &c.--To understand the scene described we must imagine the band of priests with the ark on their shoulders, standing on the depressed edge of the river, while the mass of the people were at a mile's distance. Suddenly the whole bed of the river was dried up; a spectacle the more extraordinary in that it took place in the time of harvest, corresponding to our April or May--when "the Jordan overfloweth all its banks." The original words may be more properly rendered "fills all its banks." Its channel, snow-fed from Lebanon, was at its greatest height--brimful; a translation which gives the only true description of the state of Jordan in harvest as observed by modern travellers. The river about Jericho is, in ordinary appearance, about fifty or sixty yards in breadth. But as seen in harvest, it is twice as broad; and in ancient times, when the hills on the right and left were much more drenched with rain and snow than since the forests have disappeared, the river must, from a greater accession of water, have been broader still than at harvest-time in the present day.
16 the waters which came down from above--that is, the Sea of Galilee
stood and rose up upon a heap--"in a heap," a firm, compact barrier (
Exod 15:8;
Ps 78:13);
very far--high up the stream;
from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan--near mount Sartabeh, in the northern part of the Ghor (
1Kgs 7:46); that is, a distance of thirty miles from the Israelitish encampment; and
those that came down toward the sea of the desert--the Dead Sea--were cut off (
Ps 114:2-
Ps 114:3). The river was thus dried up as far as the eye could reach. This was a stupendous miracle; Jordan takes its name, "the Descender," from the force of its current, which, after passing the Sea of Galilee, becomes greatly increased as it plunges through twenty-seven "horrible rapids and cascades," besides a great many lesser through a fall of a thousand feet, averaging from four to five miles an hour [LYNCH]. When swollen "in time of harvest," it flows with a vastly accelerated current.
the people passed over right against Jericho--The exact spot is unknown; but it cannot be that fixed by Greek tradition--the pilgrims' bathing-place--both because it is too much to the north, and the eastern banks are there sheer precipices ten or fifteen feet high.
17 the priests . . . and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground--the river about Jericho has a firm pebbly bottom, on which the host might pass, without inconvenience when the water was cleared off.