Joshua 3:17

Jos 3:17 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.

Ver. 17. And all the Israelites passed over.] He was a bold Israelite that first set foot on the water: but no "Israelite indeed" need fear to pass through corporal death, having the ark of God’s covenant in his eye, to take possession of the heavenly Canaan.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 3:17. Stood firm — That is, in one and the same place and posture; their feet were neither moved by any waters flowing in upon them, nor sunk into any mire, which one might think was at the bottom of the river. And this may be opposed to their standing in the brink of the water when they came to it, as commanded, (Jos 3:8,) which was but for a while, till the waters were divided and gone away; and then they were to go farther, even into the midst of Jordan, where they were to stand constantly and fixedly, as the Hebrew word signifies, until all were passed over. The midst of Jordan — In the middle and deepest part of the river. This manifests how firmly the priests believed the word of the Lord, and confided in his power, otherwise they would not have dared to stand so long in the midst of the channel of a river, whose rapid waters stood suspended above them in mountainous heaps, ready every moment to overwhelm them unless miraculously withheld by the power of God.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:17 The repetition of the phrase on dry ground emphasizes that God performed a miracle.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Either tarrying till the people were past, or as some read, sure, as though they had been upon the dry land.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

Next: Joshua Chapter 4

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 17. The priests - stood firm on dry ground] They stood in the mid channel, and shifted not their position till the camp, consisting of nearly 600,000 effective men, besides women, children, c., had passed over.

1. Is it not surprising that the Canaanites did not dispute this passage with the Israelites? It is likely they would, had they had any expectation that such a passage would have been attempted. They must have known that the Israelitish camp was on the other side of the Jordan, but could they have supposed that a passage for such a host was possible when the banks of the Jordan were quite overflowed? It was not merely because they were panic struck that they did not dispute this passage, but because they must have supposed it impossible and when they found the attempt was made, the passage was effected before they could prepare to prevent it.

2. GOD now appears in such a way, and works in such a manner, as to leave no doubt concerning his presence or his power, or of his love to Israel. After this, was it possible for this people ever to doubt his being or his bounty? This, with the miraculous passage of the Red Sea, were well calculated to have established their faith for ever; and those who did not yield to the evidence afforded by these two miracles were incapable of rational conviction.

3. In some respects the passage of the Jordan was more strikingly miraculous than that even of the Red Sea. In the latter God was pleased to employ an agent; the sea went back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, Ex 14:21. Nothing of this kind appeared in the passage of the Jordan; a very rapid river (for so all travellers allow it to be) went back to its source without any kind of agency but the invisible hand of the invisible God.

4. Through the whole period of the Jewish history these miracles, so circumstantially related, were never denied by any, but on the contrary conscientiously believed by all. Nor did any of them in their revolts from God, which were both foul and frequent, ever call these great facts in question, when even so full of enmity against God as to blaspheme his name, and give his glory to dumb idols! Is not this a manifest proof that these facts were incontestable? and that Jehovah had so done his marvellous works that they should be had in everlasting remembrance? Reader, the same God who is over all is rich in mercy to all that call upon him. HE changes not, neither is he weary: trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength; and HE ever saves his followers out of the hands of all their enemies, and, having guided them by his counsel, will receive them into his glory.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. all the Israelites passed over] Where the passage exactly took place cannot now be determined, but the typical significance of the narrative is very impressive. Whether we consider (i) the solemn inauguration of Joshua to his office; or (ii) his attestation by the waters of the Jordan; or (iii) the choice of twelve men, one from each tribe, to be the bearers of the twelve stones, and the builders of the monument founded therewith (1Co_3:10; Rev_21:14), we see types of the other “Joshua,” Who was solemnly inaugurated and divinely attested by the rushing waters of the same stream, and Who ordained His twelve Apostles to be the Pillars of His Church, and the builders of the Spiritual Temple. See above, Introduction, p. 25.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the priests that bare the ark of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan,.... Which for its breadth Mr. Maundrell, the above mentioned traveller, says (c) might be about twenty yards over, and its depth exceeded his height; but Dr. Shaw (d), a later traveller still, says,"the river Jordan is by far the most considerable river, excepting the Nile, either of the coast of Syria, or of Barbary. I computed it to be about thirty yards broad, but the depth I could not measure, except at the brink, where I found it to be three yards.''Now in the midst of this river the priests bearing the ark stood firm on dry ground, the waters above being stopped and those below cut off. This perhaps might give rise to the fables among the Heathens of the river Scamander being swelled for the destruction of Achilles, and dried up by Vulcan, of which Homer (e) makes mention; and of the river Inachus, dried up by Neptune, as the Grecians fable; however, if Heathens can credit these accounts, surely we Christians ought to believe this, attested by divine revelation. And this may denote the presence of Christ with his people in afflictions, who will not suffer those waters to overflow them, and in death itself, when the swellings of Jordan shall not come near them to distress them; and when the covenant of grace will appear firm and sure, and be their great support; and when also the feet of the ministers of Christ stand firm, and their faith fails not; which is of great use, and very encouraging to the spiritual Israel of God:

and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground; the waters being divided to a space large enough for such a body of people to pass over, and which continued

until all the people were clean passed over Jordan; perfectly and completely, not one being left behind, or lost in the passage through it; in the midst of which the priests stood until all were passed over. So the spiritual Israel of God must all go over Jordan's river, or must all go through the valley of the shadow of death; and they will all go over safe to Canaan's land, to the heavenly glory; their souls go immediately to heaven at death, and their bodies will be raised at the last day, and be reunited to them, and partake of happiness with them; nor will anyone of them be lost; they all clean pass over, and arrive safe; for they are the chosen of God, the care and charge of Christ, the purchase of his blood, partake of his grace, and have the earnest of his Spirit.

(c) Maundrell, Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 83. (d) Travels, p. 346. (e) Iliad. 21.

Next: Joshua Chapter 4

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The miraculous passage to the holy land through Jordan is not less pregnant with typical meaning than that through the Red Sea (compare 1Co 10:1-2). The solemn inauguration of Joshua to his office, and his miraculous attestation, by the same waters with which Jesus was baptized on entering on the public exercise of His ministry (compare Mat 3:16-17); the choice of twelve men, one from each tribe to be the bearers of the twelve stones, and the builders of the monument erected therewith (compare 1Co 3:10; Rev 21:14): these were divinely-ordered occurrences, not without a further bearing than their more immediate one upon Israel. Nor must in this point of view the name “Adam,” the place where the stream flowed to the people which cut them off from the promises, and the failure for the time under the rule of Joshua of the full and rapid flood which supplies the Dead Sea, be overlooked.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jericho, at Bethabara, which was five or six leagues from the Dead Sea, all which space was left dry. Jericho was three leagues from the Jordan. (Calmet) --- Girded. Septuagint, "ready," preparing the way for all the army. Hebrew, "firm," and undaunted. (Haydock) --- A great part of the day must have been spent in crossing the river, and erecting the two monuments. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Stood firm, i.e. in one and the same place and posture; their feet neither moved by any waters flowing in upon them, nor sinking into any mire, which one might think was at the bottom of the river. And this may be opposed unto their other standing in the brink of the water when they came to it, commanded Jos 3:8, which was but for a while, till the waters were divided and gone away; and then they were to go farther, even

into the midst of Jordan, as is here said, where they are to stand constantly and fixedly, as this Hebrew word signifies, until all were passed over. If it be said that what is prescribed Jos 3:8, is here said to be executed, and therefore the midst of Jordan here is the same place with the brink of the water of Jordan, Jos 3:8; it may be answered, that the manifest variation of the phrase shows that it is not absolutely the same thing or place which is spoken of there and here; but what is there enjoined is here executed with advantage; for when it is said that they

stood firm...in the midst of Jordan, it must needs be supposed that they first came to the brink of the water, and that they stood there for a season, till the waters were cut off and dried up, as appears from the nature of the thing; and that then they went farther, even into the midst of Jordan. In the midst of Jordan: either,

1. Within Jordan, as it is expressed above, Jos 3:8; for that phrase doth not always signify the exact middle of a place, but any part within it, as appears from Gen 45:6; Exo 8:22; 24:18; Jos 7:13; 10:13; Pro 30:19. Or rather,

2. In the middle and deepest part of the river. For,

1. Words should be taken properly, where they may without any inconveniency, which is the case here.

2. The ark went before them to direct, and encourage, and secure them in the dangers of their passages, for which ends the middle was the fittest place.

3. In this sense the same phrase is used, Jos 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 Jos 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. The priests… stood firm on dry ground — The priests stood above, near the wall of waters, and the people passed below. The ark, the symbol of the presence of Jehovah, was the instrument of the miracle, as the rod of Moses had been in the division of the Red Sea. Thus God honours his own ordinances.

Dry ground — Not hard and dusty ground, but dry only in the sense of being drained of water. See note on Jos_4:18.

All the Israelites passed… clean over Jordan — The Jordan is now passed, and Canaan is attained! The forty years’ sojourn is closed, and for the first ecstatic moment the feet of the tribes are standing on the Promised Land! Their departure from Egypt and their arrival in Canaan are signalized by parallel miracles of sea and river. Both at their exit and at their entrance Jehovah leads them through a watery gate, by cleaving the waves asunder. Through all ages the Church has seen in the desert sojourn the symbol of our probationary life, and in the crossing the Jordan the symbol of death. Yet is there this memorable difference: the crossing the Jordan was to Israel the commencement of a new warfare; the transit of Christian death is into eternal repose.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Firm. The LXX does not translate this. The Vulgate renders accincti. The original, literally translated, means to cause to stand upright. In the midst of Jordan. That is, they stood surrounded by water, but not in midstream, which would be expressed by brqB as in ver. 10, where our version has "among". (see note on Jos_4:9) So Drusius: "In medio Jordanis; i.e., intra Jordanem. Sic Tyrus legitur sita in corde maris; i.e., intra mare nam non procul abest a continente." Clean over. The word is the same as that translated "failed" in the last note. It means completion the people had entirely finished crossing." Origen thus explains, in his fourth homily on Joshua, the mystical signification of this crossing the Jordan: "Cure catechumenorum aggregatus es numero, et praeceptis Ecclesiasticis parere coepisti digressus es mare rubrum, et in deserti stationibus positus, ad audiendam Dei legem, et intuendum Mosei vulture per gloriam Domini revelatum quotidie vacas. Si vero ad mysticum baptismi veneris fontem, et consistente sacerdotali et Levitico ordine initiatus fueris venerandis illis magnificisque sacramentis quae norunt illi quos nosse fas est, hanc etiam sacerdotum ministeriis Jordane digresso terram repromissionis intratis, in qua te post Moysen suscipi Jesus, et ipse tibi efficitur novi itineris dux."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Stood firm - That is, in one and the same place and posture; their feet neither moved by any waters moving in upon them, nor sinking into any mire, which one might think was at the bottom of the river. And this may be opposed to their standing on the bank of the water when they came to it, commanded, ver. 8, which was but for a while, 'till the waters were divided and gone away; and then they were to go farther, even into the midst of Jordan, where they are to stand constantly and fixedly, as this Hebrew word signifies, until all were passed over. The midst of Jordan - In the middle and deepest part of the river.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

But the priests stood with the ark of the covenant "in the midst of Jordan," i.e., in the bed of the river, not merely by the river, "upon dry ground, הכן," lit., firmando, i.e., with a firm foot, whilst all Israel went over upon dry ground, "till all the people were passed over." This could easily have been accomplished in half a day, if the people formed a procession of a mile or upwards in breadth.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

The miraculous Jordan River crossing continues.

the Jordan

This refers to the Jordan River bed. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

crossed over

This phrase means to go to the opposite bank of the river. AT: "traveled from this side to the opposite side" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

priest

ark of the covenant

Yahweh

Jordan River

Israel

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And the Kohanim remained standing. They remained standing at the edge of the Jordan.

In the midst of the Jordan. So long as they remained standing, the upper waters did not descend below, and during this time all the people were crossing on dry land.

Firmly They were placed firmly, exactly opposite each other.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.