And thou shalt command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, stand still in the Jordan.
Israel stands at a flooded river with no bridge. God's answer is an order that passes from Him to Joshua, and from Joshua to the priests carrying the ark: walk to the water's edge, then stand still.
The verse is one link in a chain of orders. One writer traces the steps:
Joshua told the priests to take up the ark and begin the crossing of the River Jordan (v. 6). At the same time the Lord told Joshua that He would now begin to magnify him in the sight of Israel. They would then realize that as God was with Moses, so He was now with Joshua (v. 7). Joshua is told next to instruct the priests to carry the ark and stand in the water at the edge of Jordan (v. 8).
What the ark does at Joshua's word shows the nation who is with him. Commentators also read Joshua himself as a picture:
Joshua stands before us as a picture of the risen Christ. He leads His people into their heavenly inheritance, in the power of the Holy Spirit. The priests carrying the ark into the middle of Jordan picture Christ going down into death for us, and destroying its power completely.
The order of the procession carries the meaning:
Jordan is death, and again it is Christ's going down into it... In Jordan, in this passage of death, the ark goes first, or man could not pass. This is not defence and salvation and deliverance 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. He has taken away its power completely, so that they should pass over on dry ground.
At the Red Sea Moses lifted a rod and the sea divided. Here no one lifts anything. The water retreats before what the priests carry:
It was not the rod of God's power used by Moses that drove back Jordan's waters, as had happened at the Red Sea. It was the presence of the ark of God. What a wonderful mystery lies in this! The Son of God was crucified in weakness. Yet He had power to overcome the power of death when He entered into death. It was the power He showed in life, the power of holiness, that drove back the dark waters of death.
"Stand still" is not a pause before the real work. It is the work:
The priests who carried the ark stayed in the middle of Jordan as a guarantee that there was no danger to the people. They stayed until all this was finished and all the people had passed over. Then they too crossed over with the ark.
Writers are careful about what this stationary ark does and does not picture:
The ark going through the Jordan is neither suffering for sin nor intercession for a rebellious people. It is Christ in power. But it is a power that came to Him in a special way: He Himself went under death's power when He made His soul an offering for sin... The ark in the Jordan is no part of atonement. It is the presence of the power of Christ, which alone can withstand the power of death. It is our only defence against it.
The priests came to the water's edge when the river was at its fullest:
The difficulties were greatest at this very time. Jordan was especially full. So it was rather harder, if anything, to have crossed then. How then was it that God met the difficulty?... When the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the water, the waters shrank back. In the middle the priests stayed until the people crossed. So faith was alive and at work.
The standing ark also settles where the eyes of a believer belong:
The priests were to "stand still in the Jordan."... "The priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan ... until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan." So the power of Christ is there until everyone has gone over. If our souls are taken up with going through Jordan, we will never be able to venture into it. But if we see Christ there, and follow Him with no thought of Jordan but only of Him, we will pass right through, and find no Jordan at all.
- Command — the word travels from God to Joshua to the priests. When the ark moves at Joshua's word, Israel learns that God is with him as He was with Moses.
- First — the ark enters the water before anyone else, because no one could cross until it had gone in ahead.
- Power — no rod is raised here; the river gives way to a Person, and to the power in Him that overcame death when He went into it.
- Still — the order to stand still is the promise: the ark stays put in the riverbed until the last Israelite is across.
- Look — the river was at its fullest, yet whoever watches Christ in the water instead of the water itself passes right through and finds no Jordan at all.
And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of Jehovah your God.
Joshua stops the whole nation on the near bank of a flooded river. Before anyone takes a step, he tells them to gather and listen. What they are about to hear is not a battle plan but a promise about who is with them — and the crossing itself will prove it.
Israel could go no further on their own. One writer pictures them at the water's edge.
The green fields and rich hills of the "land flowing with milk and honey" were now in sight, but they could not enter. The overflowing Jordan rolled in front of them. It threatened death to anyone who tried to cross in his own strength. The point was so clear that we are not told anyone even suggested trying. So we see Joshua and all the hosts of Israel standing on the wilderness side of Jordan's overflowing banks. They knew their own helplessness, and they had no hope as far as their own resources went.
So the only thing left to them was a word from God and a sign to watch.
The Lord was about to magnify Joshua by the passage of the Jordan, and so bring Israel into Canaan. They had their ears open to Joshua's commands, and their eyes fixed on the movement of the ark.
What Joshua tells them to hear is a claim about God's presence. It comes with a sign they will see.
"Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God," Joshua said to Israel. The "living" God was among them. He would without fail drive out the nations who held the good land flowing with milk and honey. The sign was this — that when the feet of those carrying the ark of His covenant touched the river, its waters would flee away.
The ark carried in front of them was not a lucky object but a picture of God Himself being there.
The ark was the symbol of the presence of the living God, and before Him the overflowing floods of Jordan would be rolled back. This was to assure Israel that the living God who was among them would drive back the forces of the nations living in the land of Canaan.
In the same speech the ark carries a title: the ark of the Lord of all the earth. That title reaches to the territory ahead.
The ark was declared to be His who is "the Lord of all the earth" (v. 11). In this way the LORD showed His people His supreme power, His lordship and authority. He did it in the very place where the pagan nations, who worshipped demons, had settled. After the Lord rose from the dead, He said to His disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matt. 28:18). This supremacy should hold the heart. His might and His place in glory decide the heavenly position of His saints.
Joshua spoke this word when the river was at its worst, not its calmest.
The priests carrying the ark stepped into the edge of the water, and the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the harvest season. That is, the difficulties were greatest at this very time. The Jordan was especially full. So crossing then was, if anything, a little harder.
Commentators read the ark going down into the river as a picture of Christ going into death. On that reading, the sign Joshua announced settles far more than one river crossing.
The passing of the ark into the Jordan proved two things. The living God was present among His people, and He would most surely drive out all their enemies before them. The death of Christ is the basis and the guarantee of everything to faith. Grant us only this: Christ has gone down into death for us. Then we argue with all confidence that this one great fact secures everything. God is with us, and God is for us. The difficulty of unbelief is, "How shall He?" The difficulty of faith is, "How shall He not?"
That guarantee still left them work to do — hearing did not replace walking.
True, as we know, they had to take possession: they had to plant their feet on the inheritance. But the power that could hold back death's dark waters could also drive out every enemy.
The work still ahead of them also corrects a common idea about this river.
To understand what Israel's crossing of the Jordan teaches, we must get rid of the common idea that it pictures the Christian's experience of dying. That Israel's crossing cannot mean this is clear, because when they crossed the river they began to fight. But when we fall asleep in Jesus, all our fighting is over.
- Stop. Israel stood at a flooded river with no hope in their own resources. The first order was not to march but to gather and listen.
- Hear. The words announced a Person, not a method: the living God was among them.
- See. The word came with a sign: the ark entering the water. Their ears and eyes worked together.
- Trust. The ark belonged to the Lord of all the earth. His authority already covered the land their enemies still held.
- Go. The sign guaranteed the outcome. But they still had to plant their feet on the inheritance. Hearing led to walking.
And Joshua said, Hereby shall ye know that the living God is in your midst, and [that] he will without fail dispossess from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
Israel camps at a flooded Jordan with no bridge and no boats. Joshua tells them what the day's miracle will prove: who is with them, and what will become of the seven nations already living in the land.
The title Joshua uses was not decoration. It set Israel's God apart from everything the surrounding nations worshipped.
The Living God. He directed attention to the living God. That speaks of one, and only one, divine Being. There are not two living Gods. Their fathers had understood what this title meant. It defined their God, the Lord Jehovah, as completely different from the idols of the nations. Those had no life... But the Lord, the God of Israel, as Jeremiah writes, "is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation."
That presence had a visible centre. It was the ark, the chest carried at the head of the march.
The ark was the symbol of the presence of the living God, and before Him the overflowing floods of Jordan would roll back. This assured Israel that the living God among them would drive back the forces of the nations living in Canaan.
Joshua links a single event to a whole future. Commentators carry the same logic into the gospel. The greater gift settles every smaller one.
The ark's passage into Jordan proved two things. First, the living God was present among His people. Second, He would without fail drive out all their enemies from before them. The death of Christ is the basis and the guarantee of everything to faith... "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" The difficulty of unbelief is, "How shall He?" The difficulty of faith is, "How shall He not?"
The list of peoples is not filler. Commentators read these nations as a picture of the unseen enemies a believer faces.
The Canaanites were the future enemies of the chosen people, and they were already in the land. They were Satan's instrument to shut Israel out, if that were possible, or at least to expose and corrupt those whom God had called. According to Ephesians 6 they picture our own foes: the world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Our conflict is with them.
Each name carries a meaning, and each meaning marks out a different danger.
The names here, as everywhere, are no doubt significant. They suggest those powers of evil that take the ground first and would keep us from enjoying our God-given inheritance in Christ. The Hittite, "child of terror" — how spiritual dread makes cowards of us all! The Girgashites, "dwellers in clay." We are prone to settle down in the dust of earth instead of rising to our heavenly portion. The Amorite, "the talker," rather than the doer of the Word. The Canaanite, "the trafficker," is the talker's companion. He turns the very truth of God into merchandise. The Perizzite, "the countryman," perhaps suggests great power, nobility, false pride. The Hivite, "the villager," suggests the opposite, a false humility. The Jebusite, "the treader down," never rests until he has put every divine thing under his feet. All of these must be cast out, and we must refuse any alliance with them.
The ark that goes ahead into the water carries a title. That title claims the ground the enemy holds.
The ark was declared to be His who is "the Lord of all the earth" (v. 11). In this way the Lord showed His people His supreme power, His lordship and authority. He showed it in the very place where the nations who worshipped demons had settled. After the Lord had risen from the dead, He said to His disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
The promise does not rest on how well Israel fights. It rests on what Christ has already done to the enemy's power.
Having met the whole power of the enemy, Christ has annulled it. He had met it at the Red Sea, at the beginning; but now it is its whole power in the overflowing banks... Christ has annulled Satan's power in full. So our part now is to "resist the devil, and he will flee from you" — not, "and you shall overcome him." Satan has no power against us, if we are walking in the power of Christ.
- Living — the title sets Israel's God apart from lifeless idols. He is the one true and living God, and He was among them.
- Among — the ark carried ahead was the visible symbol of that presence, going first into the water.
- Proof — one sign settled two things. God was with them, and He would drive the nations out.
- Reach — the ark belongs to the Lord of all the earth, so His authority covers the very land the enemy occupies.
- Result — the greater gift settles the smaller ones. Christ has annulled the enemy's power, so our part is to resist, not to conquer.
Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going over before you into the Jordan.
The verse names a title for God — Lord of all the earth — and a movement: the ark going ahead of the people into a flooded river. One settles whose land Canaan is; the other settles how anyone gets in.
The name Joshua repeats here reaches far past Canaan.
"Lord of all the earth" is the title Joshua repeats, the title God had taken here. God planted Israel in Canaan as a testimony to this great truth. Later He will establish in power, according to His own purposes, what He had put into Israel's hands for them to keep as their responsibility.
The phrase is rare in the Old Testament.
This title of God is made up of six words. It sets out His wide dominion. It occurs only three times in the Old Testament: twice in Joshua 3:11 and 13, and again in Zechariah 6:5. The Ark pictures Christ in resurrection. Here the priests carry it over the river Jordan, and so prepare the way for Israel to cross and take possession of Canaan.
Israel took the land for God, not for itself.
They were called to take possession of the promised land for God, as a kind of pledge that the whole earth belonged to Him, even though Satan had seized control of it. When they entered they crossed the Jordan as the people of "the Lord of all the earth."
Israel's later history did not end that claim, because the claim never rested on them.
"The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the Earth" — the intention was that God would take possession of the earth through Israel. Israel failed. But the One whom the Ark speaks of will not fail. He will yet establish God's rights as the Lord of all the earth.
The ark was not a lucky object carried for morale. It stood for a Person who was present.
The ark was the symbol of the presence of the living God. Before Him the overflowing floods of Jordan would roll back. This assured Israel that the living God among them would drive back the forces of the nations living in Canaan.
At the Red Sea no ark went first. Here the order is different.
The Jordan is death, and here again it is Christ going down into it. But 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 passing through death, the ark goes first, or man could not pass. This is not defence, salvation and deliverance 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 before His sheep. He has taken away all its power, so they pass over dry-shod.
The ark in the riverbed shows something different from the sin offering.
The ark going through the Jordan is neither suffering for sin nor intercession for a rebellious people. It is Christ in power. But this power is the special result of His own going under death's power, when He made His soul an offering for sin. He won victory in the only way possible — by the death of the Victor... The ark in the Jordan is no part of atonement. It is the presence of the power of Christ. That power alone can withstand the power of death, and it is our only defence against it.
Many read the Jordan as an image of a believer's dying day. One writer rejects it.
To understand what Israel's crossing of the Jordan teaches, we must try to put aside a common idea. Many take it as a picture of the Christian's experience at the moment of death... Israel crossing the Jordan cannot mean this. When they crossed the river they began to fight. But when we "sleep in Jesus," all our fighting is over.
The ark moved first so the people could follow.
The ark takes first place on the journey of death, to lead God's people into it... Christ passed through the very same circumstances first, so we must move from our place of comfortable ease and follow after Him... You cannot cross Jordan without going into it; you cannot fly over it. It must be crossed on foot — but Christ went through it before us.
- Claim. The title "Lord of all the earth" appears here for a reason. God takes possession of Canaan as a pledge that the whole earth is His.
- Pledge. Israel held that claim on His behalf and failed; the One pictured by the ark will make it good.
- Presence. The ark marked the living God among them. The presence that opened the river would also drive out the nations.
- Precedence. The ark goes first because no one could pass otherwise. Christ went down into death ahead of His people, so they cross dry-shod.
- Pursuit. Since He went first, the call is to leave our ease and follow. Writers warn against treating the Jordan as a picture of dying: Israel crossed the river to start fighting.
And now take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe.
The river is in flood and nothing has happened yet when God tells Joshua to pick twelve men, one from each tribe. The command sits between two promises — the ark goes first, the waters will be cut off — so why men, why twelve, and why now?
The command begins with "now therefore." It points back to the title just given to God, and to the ark the priests are about to carry. One writer shows how rare that title is, and what the ark pictures.
This title of God is made up of six words, and it sets out His wide dominion. It occurs only three times in the Old Testament: twice in Joshua 3:11 and 13, and again in Zechariah 6:5. The first of these passages brings before us the striking scene of the priests carrying the ark (a picture of Christ in resurrection) over the river Jordan. This prepared the way for the Israelites to pass over and take possession of the land of Canaan. How cheering for them that the Lord of All the Earth should give them a possession where they could live.
God appoints the twelve while the river is still running. They have nothing to do yet. He is getting them ready for what He has already planned on the far side.
Before Israel crossed the Jordan, the Lord had told Joshua to select "twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man" (Joshua 3:12). They were chosen ready for an action they would carry out after they had crossed its empty bed. God purposed that Israel should make a definite witness to His wonders. He commanded that all the people, through their representatives, should be ready for the action He had planned.
One man from each tribe puts the whole nation in the picture. One writer explains what the number twelve itself stands for.
The twelve stones, for the twelve tribes, represented the tribes of God as a whole. This number is the symbol of perfection in human agency, and it is linked here, as elsewhere, with Christ.
Two and a half tribes had settled on the near side of the river. God still called for twelve stones, and one writer draws out what that says.
The stones, twelve in number, spoke of the whole of Israel. True, two and a half tribes had settled on the opposite side of the river, and only nine and a half had entered Canaan proper. Yet twelve stones were still taken from the place where, on behalf of all, the ark had rested. God did not order nine and a half stones in Canaan and two and a half on the wilderness side of the river, to match the land Israel had so far taken. He commanded the number that spoke of the whole nation. His will was for a testimony to be given to His purposes for all His people Israel.
Being represented did not let the rest of the nation stand back. Each of the twelve would carry his own stone from the place where the miracle happened.
The whole assembly was to seize this great fact and act on it — "from each tribe a man" — "every man of you a stone on his shoulder" — a stone taken from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. This was to bring every one of them into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact that the waters of Jordan were cut off.
The stones these men would carry point beyond Israel. One writer reads the crossing as a picture of Christ's death, and of who shares in what it opened.
These stones represent the identification of God's people with Christ. The stones in the bed of Jordan were a reminder not only that the Lord stopped the stream, but that all Israel passed over. In the same way, the stones set up in Gilgal were a reminder that all Israel had entered into their inheritance. So the death of our Lord Jesus has stopped the river of death and judgment. It has provided a way for His people to pass over into their eternal inheritance… And this is true not for some special class of believers, but for every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- God first. The ark of the Lord of all the earth goes into the river ahead of them. God names the twelve because He has already committed Himself to act.
- Chosen early. God picks them before the water moves. They are made ready for a witness He had planned for the other side.
- Each tribe. One man from each tribe makes the whole nation present. The number stands for perfection where people act for God.
- All twelve. God would not cut the count down to match the land Israel had so far claimed. The full number spoke of His purpose for the whole people.
- Each man. Each man would carry his own stone from the exact spot, so the crossing belonged to all of them. In the same way, commentators say, Christ's work belongs to every believer and not to a special class.
And it shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan, the waters flowing down from above, shall be cut off, and shall stand up in a heap.
Joshua tells the people what will happen before it happens: the moment the priests' feet touch the water, the river will stop. The verse turns on a title given to God twice in this chapter — "the Lord of all the earth" — and on a flooded river standing between Israel and the land promised to them.
The name given to the ark here makes a claim over the whole world. God states it at the very moment He brings one nation into one small country.
Although it is only with respect to Canaan, God takes possession as "Lord of all the earth." It is His title for the millennium.
Israel's entry was a down payment on something far larger.
They were called to take possession of the promised land for God, as a pledge that the whole earth belonged to Him, even though Satan had seized power over it. When they entered, they crossed the Jordan as the people of "the Lord of all the earth" (Joshua 3:11-13).
Everything in the verse is future tense. Joshua gives the people the outcome in advance.
Joshua assures them in advance what will happen. As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters will be cut off. They will stop flowing and stand in a heap upstream from them (v. 13). […] So neither Joshua nor the people were taken by surprise when this astounding miracle took place. […] It must have been a tremendous heap of water far upstream, especially since the river was at flood stage at that time (vv. 15-16).
The river answers to a presence. The point of contact is the sole of a foot.
As soon as the feet of the priests who carry the Ark touch the edge of the water, it draws back. "What is wrong with you, O Jordan, that you are driven back?" The presence of God was felt. In calm, undistracted majesty, in the awareness of nothing less than divine strength and right, this crossing is now made. Only yesterday the hills had been a hiding place for the spies. Now the water itself will stand up in a heap to serve the camp.
The ark leads. Commentators read the Jordan as death itself.
Jordan is death, and it still pictures 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 Jordan, in this passage of death, the ark goes first, or no one could pass. This is not defence, salvation and rescue out of their condition in Egypt, their coming out free. It is their going into the place of promise.
Commentators read the heaped-up water as a picture of judgment taken by Another.
Jordan pictures the river of death, since it runs into the Dead Sea. The heaping up of the waters speaks of the death of the Lord Jesus. He bore the overflowing judgment of God for us at Calvary, taking all that judgment into His own bosom so that we might have none at all to bear.
The ark went ahead of Israel, but it did not go without them.
It was indeed the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth (v. 13) that was to go on before them across Jordan, but not without them. […] As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests rested in the waters of Jordan, the waters were cut off and stopped flowing. A power was there that won the victory over the power of death, and that joined Israel to that victory.
God's purpose ran through Israel, and Israel failed. The title did not fail with them.
The first time we find the words "the Lord of all the earth" seems to be when the Ark crossed the Jordan. "The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the Earth" — the intention being that God would take possession of the earth through Israel. Israel failed, but the One the Ark speaks of will not fail, and He will yet establish God's rights as the Lord of all the earth.
- Title. At the river God takes the name "the Lord of all the earth." He claims one country as a pledge of the whole world, and writers tie the name to His coming reign.
- Word. Joshua announces the miracle before it happens, so no one is taken by surprise when the river stops.
- Touch. The river gives way at the soles of the priests' feet. No rod strikes this water; the presence of the ark is enough, and the river stands in a heap to serve the camp.
- Ark. The ark enters death's river first, "or no one could pass," and the piled-up waters picture judgment taken into Another's bosom so His people bear none.
- Us. The ark went before them, but never without them. The power that beat death brought the whole nation into the victory, and the One pictured by the ark will yet make God's claim good.
And it came to pass when the people removed from their tents, to pass over the Jordan, that the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were before the people;
Israel's years in the wilderness end in one move: the people fold their tents and head for a flooded river. The ark goes in front, and commentators read it as a picture of Christ leading the way.
The move described here is not another stage of the journey. It closes the wilderness chapter of their history for good.
To enter into Canaan Israel must cross the Jordan, and they were simply to follow the ark... Of course I need not say, the ark is Christ. It is Christ who has gone into death. He passed through the judgment of God, ended man's history, and overcame the power of death. In verse 14 they struck their tents in the wilderness for the last time. They had the pilgrim character about them to that moment.
They set out when the river was at its most impassable. The obstacle was not shrinking to meet their faith; it was at full height.
The difficulties were greatest at this very time. The Jordan was unusually full. So crossing then was harder, if anything. How then did God meet the difficulty?... When the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the water, it shrank back. They stood in the middle of the Jordan until the people had crossed. Faith was in lively exercise.
Writers read the Jordan as more than geography. It marks where human strength runs out.
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 — an overflowing flood that bars their way forward. The Red Sea hindered their escape from Egypt. The Jordan prevents their entrance into Canaan, and to try to cross it would be their destruction. 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 order of the procession is the whole point. Nothing could follow until the ark had gone in first.
There could be no passing the Jordan unless the Ark went into it first. 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: Christ dries up the whole way across. That makes the 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 all — beyond sin, beyond death, beyond the devil's power, beyond judgment.
A set distance separated the ark from the people. Commentators take that gap as part of the picture.
The distance between the ark and the people was to be two thousand cubits. It shows that our Lord had to do this work alone. Peter declared that he would go with Him into death. But the Lord told him, "You cannot follow Me now, but you will follow afterward." No one was with Him when He made the way. Yet He takes all His people through death into resurrection life and glory.
Two things were in view as Israel came down toward the water: a wide, swollen river and the ark. Only one of them held their eyes.
Faith always enters into, and acts upon, the divine word. Told to set out, Israel left their tents. Men of war, women and children — one and all fixed their eyes upon the ark... There was no other way into Canaan for the weak or the strong, except such as the ark should make... As the army came down from the higher ground toward the river, the waters stretched away to their right and their left. But every eye was fixed on the ark, not on the broad waters running across its path. We look at Christ whom the ark pictures, not on death, difficulties, or impossibilities.
Commentators press the picture further. What the crossing did for Israel, the cross of Christ does for the believer.
All that we were in the flesh has found its end in the cross of Christ... My eyes are fixed on the ark — on Christ. In Him I see the end of myself as a child of Adam. But in Him there is also a victorious power, now made mine. It brings me, in resurrection life in Him and beyond death, into the full enjoyment of all that this life has: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."
- Tents down. Verse 14 ends the pilgrim stage. Israel folds the wilderness away and follows the ark toward the land.
- Ark first. No one crossed until the ark had entered the water. Christ went into death ahead of His people and turned the barrier into a doorway.
- Alone. The two thousand cubits of empty space say that no one but Him could do the work — yet He brings all His people through.
- Eyes fixed. Faith acts on the word and watches the ark, not the flood. The river was at its fullest at the very moment God acted.
- Beyond. The end is a settled place in Christ — beyond sin, beyond death, beyond judgment — with resurrection life enjoyed now.
and when they that bore the ark were come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (and the Jordan is full over all its banks throughout the days of harvest),
Israel reached the Jordan at the worst moment of the year. The river was at its fullest, with no bridge, no boat, and no way across. The verse does not say how they solved that. It marks where the water first gave way: at the priests' feet.
The picture is not of a flood spilling over the countryside. One writer says the old English wording overstates the Hebrew. Travellers who have seen the river report the same.
The passage in Joshua 3:15, which says that "Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest," is a mistranslation. The Hebrew word mala, translated "overflows" in our authorised version, has no such meaning. It means fills, and that is how the verse should read — "Jordan fills all its banks." That is, the river runs brim-full during that season of the year, which matches what travellers see there today.
Translations still differ here. The ESV keeps "overflows"; others read that the Jordan is full over all its banks. Either way, the note sits right where the priests step into the water, and one writer draws the point from its timing.
The difficulties were greatest at this very time. The Jordan was unusually full. So it was harder, if anything, to cross then.
God could have brought them over in the dry months. He chose the river at its height. One writer sees why: the enemy is beaten at his strongest, not at his weakest.
Jesus met death for us in its most terrible form. The river Jordan parted when it looked most frightening — "the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest." In the same way our Jesus faced our last great enemy. He defeated him in his most terrifying form. In the very centre of death's dark and dreary land He left the lasting record of His glorious victory.
One writer notes the victory was real but not yet final. The ark held the water back, and the river still stood there.
The power of death was annulled there, though not yet fully destroyed. The great wall of water remained. It was ready to rush forward in its fury and power as soon as the ark stopped holding it back.
The river did not part while Israel watched from the bank. It parted when men walked into it. That order is the lesson of the verse. One writer applies it to the obstacles that keep people from following Christ.
It was harvest-time, the season of the year's richest good. Israel saw their place of blessing, but the rushing Jordan shut them out. The river was swift, wide, and deep. What then were they to do? Obey the word of the living God. Go forward, and leave God to deal with the difficulty. Each of us has our own difficulties on the path to full blessing of the soul. Someone said to us not many years ago, "I cannot be truly devoted to Christ until my aged relative dies, because if I were, it would break her heart." A man said to us in tears, "If I were decided for Christ, my friends would give me no rest." Arise, go forward, believe God, and leave the difficulty with Him.
The priests were not rescued from the water first. They stood in the riverbed while everyone else walked past them.
The waters were there as in the day of Noah, ready to overflow their banks, as at the time of barley harvest. But the priests were in the midst of them, and the ark — the presence of God. And there they stood, the ministers of God and the presence of God, until all the people had crossed the river. Jesus was in the boat, and He must sink if the disciples did. The safety of the ark was the safety of the camp. As it was, so were they.
The detail that dates the crossing also explains what they ate on the other side.
For the Passover kept at Gilgal, we read of unleavened cakes made from the grain of the land. This was something brand new in Israel's history. Until they were in Canaan they could not eat its harvest. They had entered the land at "the time of harvest" (Joshua 3:15), and the Lord gave them Canaan's food as their portion.
- Full — the note about the river is deliberate. The water stood at its highest, so the crossing was hardest at the moment God appointed.
- Faced — writers read the flood as death at full strength. Christ met it and turned it back; He did not avoid it.
- Feet — nothing changed until the priests' feet touched the brim; the way opened as they moved, not before.
- Firm — the ark stayed in the riverbed until the last person was over; the safety of the ark was the safety of the whole camp.
- Fed — they crossed at harvest and ate the grain of the land. The season that had barred them now fed them.
the waters which flowed down from above stood [and] rose up in a heap, very far, by Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan; and those that flowed down towards the sea of the plain, the salt sea, were completely cut off. And the people went over opposite to Jericho.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. And all Israel went over on dry ground, until all the nation had completely gone over the Jordan.
The verse ends the crossing story with two pictures: the priests standing still in the riverbed with the ark, and the whole nation walking past them into the land. Why was that ground dry, and why did the ark stay until the last person was over?
The crossing did not happen at an easy time of year. The Jordan overflows its banks all through harvest. The obstacle was at its worst on the day God removed it.
The priests' feet were dipped in the edge of the water, and the Jordan overflows all its banks all through harvest. That is, the difficulties were greatest at this very time. The Jordan was fuller than usual. So if anything, it was harder to cross then.
The text says twice that the ground was dry: under the priests, and under the people.
The mighty waters stood in a heap above. In the middle of the river, the priests holding the ark stood firm on dry ground until all the people had crossed. It was a dry way; not a drop of the dark, muddy waters was left. It shows the truth: the power of death (pictured by the waters of the Jordan) is completely gone. Nothing is left of it. The work is done for all His people. Not one is left behind; the weakest and the smallest pass over.
Nothing held the waters back but the ark standing in the riverbed. Writers are careful about what that pictures, and what it does not.
The ark going through the Jordan is not suffering for sin. It is not intercession for a rebellious people. It is Christ in power. That power is the special result of His own going under death's power, when He made His soul an offering for sin. He won the victory where it could be won in no other way than by the death of the Victor... The ark in the Jordan is no part of atonement. It is the presence of the power of Christ. That power alone can withstand the power of death, and it is our only defence against it. Past mercies did not keep the flood from destroying Israel, and the promises alone did not either. The ark resting in the middle kept it back, while the people passed before it.
Israel walked across on the same dry bed where the ark stood. No one crossed on better ground than anyone else.
The Jordan's bed was dry for all Israel. The power that stopped the waters was effective for the least as well as for the chief of the army... Great and small, all the people went over in the strength of the ark. What a blessed thought for us! It is not by our strength, nor by our degree of faith, but of God, through whom in Christ we enter the heavenly places.
The ark stayed in place until the last person was over. One writer turns that into a question of what we look at.
The priests stood firm in the middle of the Jordan until all the people had crossed. So the power of Christ is there until every one has gone over. If our minds are taken up with going through the Jordan, we shall never be able to venture into it. But if we see Christ there, and follow Him without thinking about the Jordan, only about Him, we shall pass right through and find no Jordan at all.
Many people take the Jordan as a picture of a believer's own dying. Writers here reject that reading and set the two crossings side by side.
The crossing of the Red Sea pictured Christ dying for the believer. By this the believer escapes death and judgement. The crossing of the Jordan pictured the believer dying with Christ, and being raised with Him... People have often taken the Jordan itself as a picture of death, which we must pass through to enter heaven. It is a figure of something else. While still on earth, the Christian enters through death with Christ into his heavenly position. There he has to stand for the Lord in conflict with spiritual powers of wickedness.
One writer explains where the mistake comes from.
The mistake has most likely come from missing two things. The gospel brings us a present salvation. And the Scriptures speak of every believer as one who has everlasting life and has passed from death to life. Not seeing this, some think of death as ahead of them instead of behind them. Israel's crossing cannot picture dying, because when they crossed the river they began to fight. When we fall asleep in Jesus, all our fighting is over.
- Flood. God timed the crossing for harvest, when the river was at its fullest. The obstacle was greatest on the day He removed it.
- Firm. The ark alone held the waters back. It pictures Christ's power over death, won by His own death — not the atonement itself.
- Dry. Not a drop remained. The dry bed shows how fully the power of death is gone.
- All. The same ground carried the least and the greatest. The ark stayed until the last person was across, so the weakest is as safe as the strongest.
- Over. The crossing does not picture a believer's future dying. It pictures present death and resurrection with Christ — a place we enter on this side of the grave, and then hold in conflict.