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Josh. 3:1–4:24 Chapters 3 and 4 form a unit, with the common theme of crossing the Jordan.
Josh. 3:1 Shittim. See note on 2:1.
Josh. 3:3 On the construction of the ark of the covenant and its significance, see Ex. 25:10–22. It was normally kept in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle (and later in the temple).
Josh. 3:4 Two thousand cubits is just over half a mile (0.8 km). From that distance, more people would have been able to see the ark and follow its path. The holiness of the ark may also have prompted this safe distance.
Josh. 3:5 Consecrate yourselves. Sanctifying, or “separating,” oneself included washing one’s clothes and temporarily refraining from sexual relations (see Ex. 19:10–15).
Josh. 3:7 Today I will begin to exalt you. The Lord acted through Joshua so that the people “stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses” (4:14).
Josh. 3:10–11 These seven people groups are described in Deut. 7:1 as “seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves.” the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth. The literal Hebrew (see esv footnote) strongly connects the Lord to his ark (see Josh. 3:13) and highlights his presence with his people.
Josh. 3:15 The Jordan overflows all its banks—caused by spring rains and snowmelt from the Mount Hermon region and the Jordan’s headwaters—throughout the time of harvest, that is, the grain harvest of March–April. Normally the Jordan has a 3- to 10-foot (0.9- to 3.0-m) depth and 90- to 100-foot (27- to 31-m) width. It would have been much more difficult to cross with the added water.
Josh. 3:16 Apparently the water was stopped as far upriver as Adam, identified with modern Damiya, east of the Jordan and just south of where the Jordan and the Jabbok River join (about 18 miles [29 km] north of the fords of the Jordan). It is a place where mudslides have occasionally completely blocked the Jordan’s southward flow. the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap. The waters could have been held back by mudslides, or through no visible natural means. Either way the event was miraculous, as it occurred just as the priests stepped into the water (v. 15).
Josh. 3:17 all Israel . . . the nation. In Egypt and in the wilderness, Israel was referred to as a “people.” Now that they have entered the Promised Land, they begin to be called a “nation.”
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