And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
The camp at Shittim breaks up at dawn, and Israel walks to the edge of the Jordan — the last barrier before the promised land. They do not cross that day; they lodge on the bank, and the pause itself is part of the lesson.
The first thing the book records about Joshua is the hour he got up. That detail sets the tone for everything the next four chapters teach.
The teaching from the third chapter to the sixth holds a remarkable group of lessons. Such divine instruction demands one thing first of all from those who hear it: diligence of soul. Joshua, in his energy, rose early in the morning; we need an alert soul, or we will miss our lessons in grace and glory. Christians cannot see divine truths while they sleep. "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Eph. 5:14).
The name Shittim carries both a memory of worship and a memory of failure.
They left Shittim, the last stage of their wilderness journey. Shittim, the place of flowering acacias — the trees whose wood made the boards of the tabernacle and the ark of God. Shittim, with its memories of the wilderness, and its dark memories of their sin with Moab.
They arrive, and then they stop. Commentators read the delay as training — a guard against mistaking fresh excitement for faith.
We have to learn that human energy cannot cross rivers of death. It cannot break down the walls of this world's strongholds. And if we are stirred up to follow the Lord, it must be in His own way. Impulse is not faith. We can pick up knowledge of God's truth by our own effort. Going forward in that strength alone is not the Spirit leading us. God would not have His people act in the excitement of newly gained knowledge. It would often be far better to stop, instead of pushing on with the impulse of new truth. Better to wait, as it were, three days, and digest it. Then, by the power of God's Spirit, it becomes part of the new man through and through.
The night on the bank is also time to look hard at the water.
Let us, too, "lodge" for a season on the banks of our river of Jordan. Its waters are both broad and deep, and they flow swiftly. Who shall bridge them? What ferry shall cross them? Divine power, and divine power alone, can lead us into the glowing Canaan on the other side of our river. Our possessions are in Christ, in heaven; and heaven can only be reached by man through the death of Christ. Death, in itself, is destruction to man: the swift river would sweep him away for ever.
Many people read the river as a picture of their own dying. Commentators here point to a different death.
The Jordan is not a picture of the death of the believer. In Joshua, it pictures the death of Christ. That death sets us apart for this blessed heavenly possession and brings us into it, as Israel came into Canaan by crossing the Jordan.
That changes the timing as well. The crossing is not something waiting at the end of life.
People often think the crossing of the Jordan means passing the boundary from earth into heaven when we die. On that view, we enter the heavenly Canaan through death. I do not doubt that it means passing over the boundary of death and entering Canaan. But this does not happen when we leave this world. It happens while we are still in the body. It is what God has given us in the resurrection of Christ, and in His present taking possession of the heavenly places for us. One thing makes this plain to everyone. When we get to heaven, we will not have to fight Canaanites, or anything like them.
No ark went into the Red Sea. At the Jordan the ark goes in first, and that difference decides what the crossing means.
The Jordan is death, and again it is Christ going down into it. But this is not God's rod striking the sea, where salvation came by that judgment, and no ark was there. In the Jordan, in this passage of death, the ark goes first, or man could not pass. It is not protection, salvation and rescue from their condition in Egypt, their coming out free. It is their going into the place of promise. It is the same death of Christ, but going down before His sheep, so that, since He had taken away its power completely, they should pass over on dry ground.
- Rise — Joshua is up before the sun; sleeping souls miss the lessons that follow.
- Leave — they break camp at Shittim, leaving behind its wilderness memories and its sin with Moab.
- Wait — they lodge at the bank instead of plunging in; impulse is not faith, so digest new truth before acting on it.
- Look — the river is not the believer's dying but Christ's death, the only way into the possessions held for us in Him.
- Follow — the ark goes in first; Christ went down into death ahead of His people and took away its power.
And it came to pass at the end of three days, that the officers went through the camp;
Israel had reached the edge of the Jordan and camped there. Two questions rise from this short verse: why did God hold the people still for three days at a flooded river, and what was the message the officers then carried?
The wait was not empty time. One writer links these three days back to Israel's escape from Egypt, and to the cross and the empty grave.
The three days seem to carry the mind back to Israel's departure from Egypt. As far as we can tell, they spent three days from the night they left the land of slavery to the completion of their salvation at the Red Sea. "Three days" speak to us of the familiar span of time between the cross and the empty grave of the Lord Jesus Christ… But the wilderness had come in between, with its forty long and unexpected years of testing. Now those years were over. Once again Canaan, as their possession, was the one thought of the camp, and God ordained the three days' pause for them.
The river in front of them was worth studying before they crossed it.
Let us also "lodge" for a season at the banks of our river Jordan. Its waters are both broad and deep, and they flow swiftly. Who can bridge them? What ferry can cross them? Divine power, and divine power alone, can lead us into the glowing Canaan on the other side of our river. Our possessions are in Christ, in heaven, and man can only reach heaven through the death of Christ. Death, in itself, is destruction to man: the swift river would sweep him away for ever.
The river was more than water in the way. It stood for what Israel could never get past on their own.
The condition of Israel was an absolute obstacle to their entering Canaan. When they come to the end of their experiences in the flesh, they find the Jordan. It is an overflowing flood, a barrier to their onward progress. The Red Sea hindered their escape from Egypt. The Jordan prevents their entrance into Canaan, and to try to cross it would destroy them. Here we have a fresh type of death. It is the end of man in the flesh, and, at the same time, the end of Satan's power.
The officers carried one instruction through the camp. They did not point to a route. They pointed to the ark.
The officers went through the camp with the command: Observe the ark, leave a space between it and you, for Israel is going a way never before walked. Every genuine officer among God's people — every servant God has properly commissioned to lead — has only one message for those he addresses: "Look at Christ, keep your eye on Christ. With reverent steps give Him the pre-eminence. Follow where He leads." Where the path may go is not the question; where Christ leads is the consideration. Obeying His voice frees us from the thousand questions and difficulties that block progress in the things of God.
Something had changed since the Red Sea. The sign Israel had to follow was not the same one.
At the Red Sea, God made the path by the rod of His power; there Israel had the pillar of glory behind them, and the way split open through the sea before them. At Jordan, the rod gave place to the ark. The ark, in a special way, represents Christ Himself: its acacia wood stands for His humanity, its gold for His deity, and its contents (the law) for His righteousness as a man. All testify to Him personally. The sign for their movement, their only sign, was the guiding ark.
A measured space of two thousand cubits stood between the people and the ark. That gap did two things at once.
Across the Jordan was a new way for Israel, and the way through death is a new way for the people of God. Only with Christ before us can we take that way for His glory… The two thousand cubits allowed each one to have an uninterrupted view of the ark, and God desires that no one should block our view of Christ. The measured distance also tells us that Christ stands alone in the eye of God in all His deep perfections, and that His people should see Him this way.
- Wait. God ordained the three days at the river's edge. They were not wasted, and the same span sits between the cross and the empty grave.
- Look. The officers carried one message to the whole camp: watch the ark. Every true servant of God since has carried the same one: look at Christ.
- Follow. Israel could not make a way through the water. They could only move when the ark moved, and follow where it led.
- Cross. The Jordan stood for death: the end of man in the flesh and the end of Satan's power. Only divine power could take that obstacle away.
- New. Israel had never walked this way before. The way through death is new for God's people too, so the eye must stay on Christ.
and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then remove from your place, and go after it;
Israel camps at the edge of a flooded river. There is no bridge and no ford. The order that goes through the camp is not a marching plan but a sign to watch for: the ark, carried by the priests. Where the ark goes, the people go — and not one step before.
The ark was the chest that stood for God's presence with Israel. The command fixes its place in the march.
Notice especially the command given by the officers of the host. "As soon as you see the ark of the covenant … being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it." The ark must go first. They did not dare move one inch along that mysterious way until the symbol of the divine presence had gone before.
Israel had been led before, but by something else:
Israel had the pillar of fire to lead them out of Egypt; they had the ark to lead them into Canaan. In either case they only had to follow God's guidance. They could not make a way for themselves through the waters. Efforts at making their own path keep many from walking in the one God has made. But as we look to Christ, the path of blessing appears before our feet.
The officers gave the order and the priests carried the load. The order pointed past both of them.
Every eye was directed to the ark. In the same way God directs every eye of ours to Christ, the true ark of the covenant. He is the One in whom God's testimony is found. He answered in perfection every claim God made on man, and He brought glory and pleasure to God in every step He took. God's people were not told to follow the officers, or to keep their eye on the priests the Levites, but to "go after" the ark.
Normally the ark travelled in the middle of the tribes. Here its place changes.
Normally the ark was in the middle of the tribes as they journeyed. This time it went before them, as in Numbers 10:33. But it would stay in the middle of the Jordan until all the people had passed clean over. When the priests carrying the ark came to "the brink of the waters of the Jordan," they were to stand still in the Jordan. This day would show Israel that the living God was among them. It was the assurance that He would drive out all their enemies from the land He had promised them.
The priests carry it as those who stand for the whole nation. The ark's crossing becomes the people's crossing.
The ark goes before the people. It not only shows them the way they should go, since they had not passed this way before, but it joins them to itself in the passage. The priests, the representatives of the people, were to take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before Israel. … As soon as their feet rested in the waters of the Jordan, the waters were cut off and stopped flowing. A power was there that was victorious over the power of death, and that joined Israel to the victory.
The way through the river was a way no one had ever taken.
It was an unknown, untrodden way. No mortal could walk it and come off unharmed. Death and destruction are linked together… Who can stand before the king of terrors? Who can face that grim and terrible enemy? Who can meet the swelling waters of the Jordan? Poor Peter thought he could, but he was badly mistaken. He said to Jesus, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward."
Israel had already walked through parted waters once. This crossing is arranged differently.
It is plain that in this case there are some notable points that differ from the passing of the Red Sea. There was no such solemn ceremony there as here. The ark of the LORD had no place in that scene, nor any assertion of His right to all the earth — the Lord of all the earth. There was no such order there: the priests entering in with the ark first, and then the waters failing so the people could pass over. In the main substance the same general truth appears. God's power acts in grace, and His people enter into death and come out of it in victory.
- Ark first. No one moved a step until the sign of God's presence had gone ahead — the order of the crossing was the order of faith.
- Ark seen. The command was to watch, then move. Every eye went to the ark, not to the officers or the priests.
- Ark shared. Priests carried it as representatives. What the ark passed through, the people passed through with it.
- Ark ahead. The road ran through waters no one could face alone — the lesson Peter had to learn.
- Ark alone. The Red Sea crossing had no ark and no claim on all the earth; here the ark leads the way in as Lord of all the earth.
yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Ye shall not come near it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
Israel camps beside a river in full flood. The march order is strange: the ark of the covenant goes first, and the people must stay two thousand cubits behind it. Why the gap? And why is that gap what lets them know the way?
The verse gives the reason: the route was new. Commentators read the Jordan as death, and the ark as Christ going into it first.
There could be no passing the Jordan unless the Ark went first into it, because death is the judgment for sin. It is that in Christ, and then it is salvation to us. But the Ark goes first and does the whole thing. That is, Christ dries up the whole way across, and that makes Jordan an entrance into Canaan instead of shutting the people out of it. It is a blessed thing to see that we have passed the Jordan. Our place in Christ is beyond everything — beyond sin, beyond death, beyond the devil's power, beyond judgment, and in a way, beyond the world of which Satan is the prince.
The distance was not a formality. Older translations call it "a space," and one writer sees that same space between Peter and his Lord.
"Yet there shall be a space between you and it." How needful! How absolutely essential! There truly was a space between Peter and his Lord. Jesus had to go before. He had to meet death in its most terrible form. He had to tread that rough path in complete solitude — for who could go with Him? "Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward." He would not let His poor weak servant walk that path until He Himself had gone first and changed its whole character.
Three chapters later, at Jericho, the space is gone and the people march close around the ark. One writer explains the change.
There was no longer any need to keep the measured space of two thousand cubits, as in Joshua 3:4. Other truths were now being shown. Christ was alone in His death, and in resurrection He is "the firstfruits." Only when the Holy Spirit makes the value of Christ's death and resurrection good in the soul do we enjoy closeness of intimacy with that blessed One who went alone into death for us.
The gap was for knowing the way. Crowding the ark would have blocked the view of everyone behind. That has a plain application to anyone who leads God's people.
They were to observe the ark and follow it, yet they were not to come near it. The Christian must always give the Lord Jesus Christ His full place. In all things He must have the pre-eminence (Colossians 1:18). He is the way, and He has made it. He is the leader, and He leads. If we are looking at one another, we are not looking to Jesus. If the Israelites had not left a space between themselves and the ark, the front ranks would have stopped those behind from seeing it.
Watching the ark was not enough. The people had to leave where they were and follow.
Seeing Christ passing through the very same circumstances first, we must move out of our place of natural ease and follow after Him… You cannot pass through Jordan without going into it. You cannot fly over it. It must be passed through on foot — but then Christ passed through before us. We do not learn to pass through Jordan while we are in it; we learn it beforehand.
The gap is not coldness. The ark they may not touch is the ark that carries them over.
The ark goes before the people. It not only makes them know the way they should go, for they had not passed this way before. It also joins them to itself in the crossing… The ark kept its pre-eminence: "There shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure." But as the eyes of the people were fixed on it, they saw at the same time the priests who carried it. A power was there which was victorious over the power of death, and which joined Israel to the victory.
Believers stand where Israel stood — the way is settled in fact, and untried in experience.
"You have not passed this way before" is true in the experience of many of God's people as they enter the heavenly places. We say in experience, because in fact all saints of God are now seated in the heavenly places in Christ. Yet, if he is following God, the believer will often find himself, in practice, walking an unknown path — a simple but solemn reality, which tests faith.
- Unknown — no one in Israel had walked this road, and only the ark could open it.
- Alone — the two thousand cubits guard the truth that Christ went into death by Himself; not even Peter could close that space.
- Sight — the gap lets everyone see the ark; those who lead must point to Christ, not block the view.
- Follow — when the ark moved, the people moved; you cross the river on foot, you cannot fly over it.
- Together — the ark keeps its distance, yet it carries the whole nation across. At Jericho the space is gone: separation ends in nearness.
And Joshua said to the people, Hallow yourselves; for to-morrow Jehovah will do wonders in your midst.
Israel camps on the bank of the Jordan, one day away from the promised land. The order that comes is not about weapons or tactics but about the people themselves. Why does God tie the day of His power to their holiness the night before, and what were the "wonders" He was about to work?
(The ESV says "Consecrate yourselves." Older translations, used by the writers below, say "Sanctify yourselves.")
The command has two sides: a turning away and a turning toward. Both matter because God Himself was about to act.
Joshua then commanded the people to sanctify themselves, because the Lord was about to do wonders among them (v. 5). Sanctification means separation from what does not honor God, and separation to God, for He was about to work in great power among them. We too should be prepared in heart and conduct to receive God's blessing, set apart for His glory.
One writer asks how a person actually obeys such a command. His answer: the work is inward, and the power is not ours.
Reverence and holiness were the conditions for seeing the wonders the Lord was about to work for them. A believer cannot take up any truth of God carelessly without risking his own spiritual life. Without this holy fear of the Lord our God, our spirits will never truly enter into His work for us. We cannot walk by faith in the way the Lord Jesus has opened unless our steps are reverent. So how do we sanctify ourselves? No outward sanctification, and no outward separation from any form of evil, will do it. What is needed is real work in the heart, in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. "The flesh is no help at all." The Spirit of God is the Sanctifier.
The word "tomorrow" is not decoration. One commentator turns it into a rule about timing, then applies it to an ordinary test case.
We are called to sanctify ourselves beforehand, not at the moment of action. Why are we so often unable to judge evil and to act for God? Because we have not sanctified ourselves in advance. Why are our hearts so often cold at the worship meetings, and our lips silent in praise? Because we have not obeyed the word: "Sanctify yourselves ready for tomorrow."
The promised wonders were the crossing itself. Israel would not enter Canaan by any ordinary route. The name of the God who brought them in had to shape the way they came.
Israel must not enter in any common, ordinary way. The power of Jehovah had led them out of Egypt through the divided waters of the Red Sea, and in the same way they must enter the good land and cross the Jordan on dry ground. The power of Jehovah their God was their victory banner as they crossed. He is the Lord of all the earth, and He must bring His people into their possessions in a way that fits this Name... Israel must be known as His people, and the nations must also see the witness of His eternal power and divine nature.
The word "wonders" reaches further than that one day. One writer finds a second layer in the crossing.
Jehovah worked "wonders" for Israel at the Jordan, both in what He actually did and in the hidden meaning of what He did. So this picture holds great things of God's mind for us to find.
That hidden meaning turns on who went into the river first. The ark — the chest that carried God's covenant — went down into death ahead of the people.
Jordan is death, and again it is Christ going down into it. But here it is not God's rod striking the sea, so that salvation came by that judgment, and no ark was there. In Jordan, in this passage through death, the ark goes first, or no one could pass. This is not defence and salvation and rescue from their condition in Egypt, their coming out free; it is their going into the place of promise. It is the same death of Christ, but now He goes down ahead of His sheep, so that, since He had taken away its power completely, they could cross on dry ground.
- Two directions. To consecrate yourself is to move away from what dishonours God, and toward God Himself. One act, two directions.
- Inward, not outward. No ceremony or outward distance from evil can produce it. The Spirit who lives in the believer is the Sanctifier.
- The day before. The command is for "tomorrow." We get ready in advance. Cold hearts and silent lips at the moment of action trace back to a neglected yesterday.
- A fitting entrance. The Lord of all the earth would not bring His people in by an ordinary road. The watching nations had to see it too.
- The ark first. The wonder was not only the dry riverbed. It was who went down into it first, taking away death's power so the people could walk through.
And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and go over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.