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NOTES for Jos 3:1-17

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1 And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
2 And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;
3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.
4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.
6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;
15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)
16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
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Once again the Lord leads His people. Forty years later the exodus from Egypt continues, and many events of the exodus are repeated. It is as if the intervening years had not passed, and the people, after crossing the miraculously parted waters, found themselves after Egypt immediately beyond the Jordan on the shore of the promised land.

But these decades did not pass in vain; they were not a meaningless waste of time. In the wilderness the Law was proclaimed through Moses, and in the wilderness the people made a covenant with the Most High. During these years yesterday's slaves became a people led by the Lord. And now the visible sign of the Most High's presence is no longer in the pillar of fire, but in the ark of the covenant, carried by priests called to service precisely during the years of wandering in the wilderness.

Other notes

 
For Jos 3:1-17
1 And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
2 And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;
3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.
4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.
6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;
15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)
16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
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The third chapter of the Book of Joshua quite clearly shows that it once belonged to the composition biblical scholars usually call the Hexateuch, concluding the account of...  Read more

The third chapter of the Book of Joshua quite clearly shows that it once belonged to the composition biblical scholars usually call the Hexateuch, concluding the account of the Exodus and of the people's receiving the land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants. Here there is a clear parallel with the crossing of the Red, more precisely the Reed, Sea, described in the Book of Exodus, and Joshua is shown here as the continuer of Moses' work, before whom God parts the waters of the Jordan just as He once parted the waters of the Reed Sea before Moses.

Some biblical scholars consider the text of the third chapter ritual, supposing that it is connected with some ancient sanctuary, perhaps the very one built in memory of the crossing of the Jordan and the beginning of the conquest of the land. Later it lost its significance as a religious center, and its sacred stones came to be perceived only as an old monument recalling glorious times long past. It is obvious that a ritual procession of the kind described in this chapter, with the solemn carrying of the Tabernacle and the Ark across the river, was possible only after the conquest: such a procession could hardly have been safe in full view of the enemy.

In this case, however, that is not important. The sacred writer is creating not simply history, but sacred history. By beginning the history of the conquest with a description of an ancient rite and including a ritual text in his account, the author wants to say that before us are not simply nomads invading someone else's territory in order to conquer it. Before us is the people of God, going into the land promised to them by God. Of course, God is not an advocate of war; in this sense there are no "holy" wars. But God must make a path for His people, if necessary even through war. War is not God's work, but a path through war and beyond it to the goal can be, if there is no other path.

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