3:1 The notice that “Joshua rose early in the morning” (v. 1)—coincident, it seems, with the “three days” timing (v. 2)—raises again the question of the relationship of this activity to the narrative of Rahab in chapter 2. The formula “and . . . rose early in the morning” (Hb. wayashkem . . . baboqer) is found a further eleven times in Hebrew narrative, including three in Joshua. On each of those occasions the formula signals action directly consequent of some instruction, usually divine.30 The case of Abraham in Genesis 19:27 is instructive for this instance in Joshua, as it is separated from its precursor text (Gen. 18:33) by the dramatic events in Sodom (19:1–26). This consistent pattern strongly suggests that the activity that now unfolds in preparation for crossing the Jordan links back directly to Joshua 1, with the Rahab story fitting integrally into this sequence rather than being sequential with it. Readers are invited to understand that the “end of three days” in verse 2, when the officers act on Joshua’s instructions of 1:10–11, is coincident with the arrival of the spies and their conference with Joshua—even if this chronology seems awkward to modern readers.

The time has finally come to depart from Shittim (cf. 2:1; modern Juwafat al-Kafrayn, Jordan), roughly 5 miles (8 km) from the Jordan River and opposite Jericho, another 10 miles (16 km) to the west.

3:2–4 The action now unfolds with deliberate reference back to chapter 1. The “officers” (cf. comment on 1:10) move into action, delivering an update on the instructions given three days previously.

The ark is swiftly introduced along with its bearers, the priests. The ark will serve as the guide to the people in their crossing; it is a central “character” in the narrative of the Jordan crossing, mentioned seventeen times in Joshua 3–4. This pervasive presence of the ark is striking in view of its otherwise limited appearance in the book. Aside from two brief, incidental references (7:6; 8:33), it is prominent again only in the fall of Jericho in chapter 6. Given the ark’s role as a guide to the people, an inviting parallel emerges with the fire and cloud in the exodus from Egypt, which provided divine direction for the Israelites from the moment they departed Egypt as they made their way through the wilderness (Ex. 13:21–22; cf. Deut. 1:33). The fire and cloud protected them from their Egyptian enemies (Ex. 14:24), and signaled God’s presence with them in association with the tabernacle on their journeys (cf. Ex. 40:36–38). At some point, though, this guidance by fire and cloud ceased. Whereas these had guided the people earlier, now the ark takes over the guidance function at this crossing, which forms a counterpart to the episode at the Red Sea.31 And just as the fire and cloud miraculously delivered the people as they left Egypt, so too the ark will be present at the miraculous entrance to the Land of Promise at Jericho in Joshua 6, so fulfilling the protection function. And clearly it becomes the focal point for God’s presence in the books of Samuel–Kings, latterly in association with the temple.

With the people now in the land, the ark takes the place of the fire and cloud of the wilderness. But there is a difference between these modes of guidance. The fire and cloud were, in a sense, unmediated. They required no human assistance. This is not the case for the ark—for the most part! (cf. comment on 4:15–18)—which requires some intervention for transport. With an object so holy, however, only priests can function as its bearers. When arrangements were made for the transport of the camp in the wilderness, Aaron and his sons covered the ark, and the Kohathites—one branch of the tribe of Levi—were assigned to carry it, but they were prohibited from touching it (Num. 4:5, 15; recalled in Deut. 10:8; 31:9). In fact, apart from the assignment of cities in Joshua 21:19, interest in priests as a class in the book of Joshua is limited to the two occasions on which they bear the ark: at the crossing of the Jordan and the taking of Jericho.32

The final instruction conveyed by the officers—to keep “about 2,000 cubits in length,” or over one-half mile (0.8 km)—has interpretive difficulties of its own.33 The Jordan is not very wide at this point, nor are the banks very steep. It is difficult to know how maintaining such a gap to the ark would aid with direction, which is the rationale provided. But the instruction has other echoes. The wording “do not come near” appears only three times in the Bible, and two of those are here and in the scene of Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3:5). Although the bush scene has a stronger resonance still to come (Josh. 5:13–15), this explicit echo is a reminder of the ark’s sacrosanct status. We also find similar instruction when Israel is camped at the foot of Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, although there it is a matter of strict demarcation of Israel from the mountain, rather than of keeping a given distance from it. Even if directional sense is meant to be enhanced by the people’s keeping so far from the ark, these other resonances inform both Israel’s sense and the reader’s that the ark requires the utmost respect.

3:5 If the instructions conveyed by the officers contains a faint echo of the preparations at the foot of Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, the command from Joshua amplifies it. In the preparation at the mountain of God in Exodus 19:10 Moses instructed the people similarly to consecrate themselves in anticipation of the Lord’s coming to the mountain (Ex. 19:9). In that case, two days of preparation were provided. Another incident in the wilderness wanderings has an even stronger resonance, and closer verbal parallel: the provision of quail in response to the people’s demand for meat in Numbers 11:18. Woven into that account is the appointment of seventy elders and the distribution of the Spirit on them to assist Moses in governing Israel. The motif of consecration “for tomorrow,” then, reinforces the expectation of divine intervention as announced in the “wonders” predicted by Joshua (cf. 7:13). This can be seen as a fulfillment of the promise the Lord made to Moses at the renewal of the covenant following the golden calf episode, still at Mount Sinai (Ex. 34:10), as the “marvels” (Hb. niflaʾot) announced by God find their counterpart in the “wonders” (niflaʾot) Joshua announces here.

3:6 Although the instructions of the officers in Joshua 3:5 relate to “tomorrow,” the command Joshua now gives to the priests—to “take up the ark” and “pass on before the people”—seems temporally awkward. The reader is to assume either that, unsignaled, this is now the next day or that the priests go out in advance of the people, who remain in place for a few more hours. Given the hints in the remainder of chapter 3 (“today,” v. 7; the coincident action in v. 14), the former is the more likely scenario. In a narrative so taut and compressed as this account of the Jordan crossing, such abrupt transitions may be expected.

A subtle but meaningful contrast can be seen between Joshua’s brief words to the people in verse 5 and this instruction to the priests. In the previous verse, and on the previous day, the last phase of preparation is put in place in anticipation of what will come. With the instruction in verse 6a, complete with its word-for-word fulfillment in verse 6b, the moment of decisive action has finally come. As Soggin points out, “When the ark is taken up and carried, God begins to act. That this in no way means that it is possible to make Yahweh do what is required of him by ritual means, is something Israel was to learn at its cost, cf. I Sam. 4.”34

3:7–8 With the ark now in motion and, in some profound but mysterious sense, with God on the move, the Lord addresses Joshua. This caps a crescendo of authority, as the reader has “heard” the voices of the officers, the voice of Joshua, and now the voice of the Lord. The reassurance God gives Joshua here reinforces the promise of divine presence given in 1:5, when God formerly spoke to Joshua, providing a further connection between this episode and that of chapter 1. The promise here is extended, as not only must Joshua know that God is with him but Israel as a whole must see that the leadership mediated by Moses continues intact in Joshua. The promise thus serves as a reassurance not only to Joshua but by extension also to the whole people of God.

The divine instruction in 3:8 concerning the movement of the priests with the ark not only gives guidance concerning their actions but also provides explicit confirmation that the ark’s movement as carried by the priests has divine sanction. By this action, and signaled by the presence of the ark, God will act at the Jordan on behalf of those entering the land with the same power demonstrated at the Rea Sea to those who left Egypt.

3:9–13 As Joshua summons the people to draw near, his words take on prophetic overtones as he speaks on behalf of the Lord (v. 9). He issues the final instructions before the people embark on the crossing itself, and, as has so often been the case already in this book, the directions come with encouragements. A miracle is announced (v. 13), but this startling and significant statement is not the primary focus; rather, Joshua is concerned first to ensure that the people understand that this event discloses the character of their God and the meaning of his presence among them.

Two titles are used, one each in verses 10 and 11, that set apart the God of Israel as distinct from the pretensions of any potential rival. Although their wording is familiar, they are not so pervasive in the OT as we might assume. In verse 10 Joshua informs Israel how they will know “that the living God is among you.” The precise wording used here for “living God” (Hb. ʾel hay) occurs at only three other places in the OT: in two of the psalms of the Sons of Korah (Pss. 42:2; 84:2) and in Hosea 1:10. At a further nine places a close variant is found (ʾelohim hay, 2 Kings 19:4, 16//Isa. 37:4, 17; ʾelohim hayyim, Deut. 5:26; 1 Sam. 17:26, 36; Jer. 10:10; 23:36). Taken together, the passages using this title outline a theology of divine presence (Deut. 5:26; Pss. 42:2; 84:2) and the dignity and incomparability of this God against the presumptions of hostile nations (1 Sam. 17:26, 36; 2 Kings 19:4, 16; Isa. 37:4, 17). Joshua’s use of the title stands at the intersection of these two main themes connected with referring to the God of Israel as the “living God.”

The second title, “Lord of all the earth” (ʾadon kol-haʾarets), appears in verses 11 and 13. Here again the phrase occurs with less frequency than might be supposed: it is found only in the two verses here and again at Psalm 97:5; Micah 4:13; and Zechariah 4:14; 6:5. In the psalm and Micah it is used in parallel with the divine name, Yahweh, in the context of theophany and military victory, respectively. In such settings a universalistic sense for ʾerets—which may be translated as either “land” or “earth” (or, we might say, “world”)—makes good sense. Here in Joshua that might seem more difficult if the reference is to the Promised Land in a more limited sense. But if Rahab is able to confess that the Lord the God of Israel reigns over heaven and earth (ʾerets; Josh. 2:11), so too this larger claim may be seen in this title, especially with its qualification by “all.”

Such is the character of the God who is about to act on behalf of Israel. It is fitting that Joshua should signal this theology at just this moment, as he announces an imminent act of God (3:13) that will serve as the guarantee of God’s immediate presence as well as his capacity to dispossess the nations before Israel (v. 10). There are, then, two parts to Joshua’s prophetic statement, which entails three temporal phases: (1) “now” (v. 11) and (2) “later” (v. 10) served by the (3) “very soon” (v. 13). The seven-member list of nations holds its own interest. Such a list occurs roughly fifteen times, with five each coming in Exodus and Joshua, the other instances being scattered. But on only two further occasions is it a seven-member list, as here: Deuteronomy 7:1, where it accompanies the prospective instruction concerning the kherem (cf. comment on Josh. 2:10), and Joshua 24:11, where it is found again in Joshua’s prophetic retrospective of God’s faithfulness in all that has been accomplished in bringing them into the Promised Land. The certainty of God’s dispossessing (or “driving out”—the expression does not require the sense of “exterminate”) these nations is founded upon the action he is about to undertake in preventing the waters of the Jordan from flowing (3:13). The cessation of the water is a consequence of his presence, as identified with the ark of the covenant; the “feet of the priests” are incidental to the miracle.

This tightly-woven sequence brackets the instructions of verse 12 to select twelve men, one from each of Israel’s twelve tribes, which is left without explanation. Their actions are integral to Israel’s crossing the Jordan seen as a whole and will feature prominently in chapter 4. Here their selection is integrated into the final moments of preparation. Their duty is no afterthought; rather, their role is deliberate, even if at this point their function remains obscure.

3:14–17 Aside from the arrangement of the march in verse 6, everything up to this point has been either instruction or preparation. Now there is action—and according to the Hebrew syntax everything happens at once. We find two sets of coordinated activity in verses 14–16, bracketed by mention of the “people.” First, as the people set out, the ark-bearing priests go before (v. 14); second, as the feet of the ark-bearing priests touch the edge of the water (v. 15a MT), the waters of the Jordan stop flowing (v. 16). The note about the Jordan’s seasonal flooding (v. 15b MT) is “offline” in terms of the Hebrew syntax and could be represented in parentheses in translation. This tightly knit scene has its culmination in the second mention of the “people” (v. 16). They cross over “opposite Jericho,” the mention of the city recalling the reconnaissance in chapter 2 and anticipating the advance of chapter 6. The topographical details included have been scrutinized by commentators in an attempt to explain the miraculous cessation of the river’s flow, especially since in contemporary experience crossing the Jordan does not seem so difficult.35 The additional details of 3:16 describe an extent of some miles, from a named point “far away” upstream to the Dead Sea, the destination of the water’s flow downstream—an impressive stretch of dry riverbed. The repetition of details from verse 13 in verse 16 signals the primary intention: to reinforce the perception of the drying up of the Jordan’s flow as a result of divine intervention. Further reinforcement comes in verse 17, which in Hebrew uses the identical first word as verse 16: the verb “stand.” While in verse 16 it is the flowing waters of the Jordan that “stand,” in verse 17 it is the ark-bearing priests who “stand.” Where the Lord’s ark stands, there the waters must do likewise.

The result is “dry ground” shared by priests as they stand and the people as they cross over, repeated for emphasis in verse 17. In similar fashion the reiteration of the word “all” (Hb. kol; “all Israel,” “all the nation”) makes abundantly clear the inclusive and complete nature of the event.

4:1b–3 The Lord speaks again to Joshua to carry forward the instructions begun in 3:7–8 and passed along to the people in the central paragraph of that chapter. There Joshua summoned twelve men as tribal representatives (3:12) but did not clarify what their task was to be. Now the Lord repeats that instruction (4:2) and calls them to take one stone each from the riverbed and bear the stones to the new camp, on the west bank of the Jordan (v. 3). No action corresponds to this in the Red Sea crossing, although we find something like it at the conclusion to the reception of the law at Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:4). Unlike the “pillars” (Hb. matsebah) set up at the conclusion of the law giving on Sinai, however, these are simple “stones” (ʾeben). Although pillars appear to have been an acceptable part of patriarchal devotion (e.g., Gen. 28:18, 22; 35:14; cf. Isa. 19:19) and were erected by Moses at Sinai, they came to be regarded as illicit (Lev. 26:1; Deut. 16:22) and appear later only in association with idolatry (e.g., 1 Kings 14:23 [of Judah]; 2 Kings 17:10 [of Israel]; cf. Hos. 10:1–2). Here the collected “stones” avoid any such associations. Presumably they are of a modest size, too, since each can be carried by a single individual (Josh. 3:5).

4:4–7 As Joshua conveys the Lord’s command to the twelve men, the bare instructions he has received begin to be filled with meaning. First, what might have been assumed even from 3:12 concerning their selection is made explicit: the men, and the stones they have taken up, are tribal representatives and so in that sense stand for the people of Israel as a whole. This goes beyond the mere political representation of the twelve spies of Numbers 13:4–15, when one man was also chosen from each tribe. These stone bearers—and even more so their stones—hold symbolic value. When these stones are seen they point beyond themselves to the people as a whole.

The deeper meaning of these symbolic stones is explained twice in this chapter, here and in Joshua 4:21–24. In both cases the explanation provided is to be passed on to the children when they inquire into the meaning of “these stones.” The trope of instruction to the succeeding generation is common enough in the OT (e.g., Deut. 11:19; Ps. 78:1–8), but the detail of the children’s questioning connects the teaching concerning the memorial stones with the event of the Passover and the initial exodus from Egypt (Ex. 12:26; 13:14).36 In both cases, too, the explanation is provided in the context of a “memorial” (Ex. 12:14), so that another link is forged between the departure from Egypt and the entry into the Land of Promise.

The first account is now given by Joshua to the twelve chosen men. He is not only an instructor but an interpreter. Like the memorial on the departure from Egypt, here too the meaning is explained in terms of God’s extraordinary and saving action on behalf of his people. The ark, which signals the Lord’s presence, is the agent of the miracle: the waters cease “before” (Hb. mipney) it. The audience for the miracle and the memorial is Israel itself.37 In effect, the memorial is one that directs Israel’s attention to the ark, and thus to the Lord who has acted so powerfully in this moment on Israel’s behalf. These stones are instrumental in forging and maintaining a shared recognition and social memory of this saving event. That they serve a further purpose will be seen at the end of the chapter.

4:8–9 This account of the execution of the instructions may induce some confusion, on two counts. First, the Hebrew pronouns (“they”) lack the clarity of explicit nouns. All Israel does not gather the stones and set them up, as the text of Joshua 4:8 might imply; rather, the twelve designated tribal representatives (“they”) carry them to the camp at which Israel (“they”) has come to rest. In verse 9 some care is needed in perceiving that the twelve stones Joshua places in the riverbed of the Jordan to mark the spot where the priests stood is a different set of stones from those referenced in verse 8. This is signaled by the Hebrew syntax and the lack of a definite article with these twelve stones. The Septuagint makes this explicit, translating as “twelve other stones.”

4:10–11 With the matter of the twelve stones (both sets!) dealt with, the narrative returns to the matter of the crossing of the Jordan itself, into which the account of the stones is set. Here, too, matters unfold as Joshua has instructed. Verse 10 brings the additional and seemingly random detail that “the people passed over in haste [wayemaherhu].” This brief notice provides yet another connection to the departure from Egypt: when the moment finally came for the Israelites to leave Egypt, the Egyptians sent the people “out of the land in haste [lemaher]” (Ex. 12:33).

The Hebrew of Joshua 4:11 presents a conundrum, as it could be read as stating that the priests bearing the ark crossed over “in front of the people” (Hb. lifney haʿam). How could the priests with the ark cross over “in front of” the people, who had already crossed? The ESV adopts an ancient solution, envisaging that as the people on the west bank of the Jordan turn and look they see the ark and the priests complete their crossing “before” them, that is, in their presence.38 The somewhat unusual decoupling of the ark from the priests is striking and bears on the understanding of an unusual detail of verse 18 (cf. comment on 4:15–18).

4:12–13 The role of the Transjordan tribes was noted previously (cf. comment on 1:12–15). Here again they appear for explicit comment at the decisive moment of the crossing into the Land of Promise. The notice that forty thousand of them are “ready for war” (lit., “ones equipped for military service”) picks up the precise phrase used in Numbers 32:27 by the Transjordan tribes when the arrangements were first made with Moses.

4:14 Just as the Transjordan tribes provide closure to the transition from Moses’ to Joshua’s leadership in chapter 1, so too here the notice of their crossing provides the occasion for noting the impression this complex event has on the perception of “all Israel” regarding Joshua. His exaltation is seen as the Lord’s doing and is a further outcome of the miracle of the cessation of the waters of the Jordan. “Joshua has become the new Moses,”39 in fulfillment of the Lord’s words at Joshua 3:7.

4:15–18 For the third and final time in this episode the Lord addresses Joshua. In three swift sentences (vv. 15–17) the command is given for the priests also now to “come up” (or “ascend”) from the riverbed. Although the Hebrew construction (ʿalah + the preposition min) is common enough in the Hebrew Bible, it is also the distinctive language used of the journey from Egypt to Canaan (Gen. 45:25) and especially of the exodus from Egypt itself (e.g., Ex. 3:8; 17:3; 32:1, 4, 7, 8; 33:1; Num. 16:13). Now used of “coming up” from the Jordan (Josh. 4:16, 17, 19), this construction adds another link in the chain of connections to the departure from Egypt in this account of the entry into the Promised Land.

The departure of the priests bearing the ark from the Jordan bears some unusual—and usually unnoticed—features. As noted above on verse 11, the ark is distinguished from its bearers as the crossing of the priests is completed. Three distinct actions are related in verse 18: (1) the coming up of the ark-bearing priests from the “midst of the Jordan,” (2) the “soles of [their] feet” being lifted to dry ground, and (3) the reflowing (and overflowing!) of the waters of the Jordan “as before.” Translations since the time of the Septuagint have connected actions 1 and 2 as the conditions for the coincident occurrence of action 3, that is, when the priests leave and their feet meet dry ground, then the Jordan flows. This, however, is not the sense of the Hebrew. Rather, action 1 is the sole condition for the co-occurrence of both actions 2 and 3; that is, as the priests depart the dry riverbed, then their feet are “lifted up on” dry ground while the Jordan flows. Another factor is the passive voice of the verb in action 2. The Hebrew nitqu is a passive form of the verb nataq, with its meaning normally to do with being “plucked” or “torn apart”; it is nowhere else used of being “lifted,” for which several other verbs are available (ʿalah, rum, or nasaʾ). The passive sense is correctly maintained by the ESV, although it is common among modern versions to recast this and make the verb active through a variety of translation strategies.

If the feet of the priests are passive, however, who—or what—is active? The obvious and surprising solution is that the ark itself “acts.” The unusual syntax at certain points in chapter 3 identifies the presence of the ark with the presence of God in a striking way. So how is it that the priest’s feet are torn from the dry riverbed, with their being passive in the operation? The Hebrew suggests it is due to the power of God present in the ark. The medieval Jewish commentator Rashi found in this circumstance the explanation for the wrath of God against Uzzah when he reached out to steady the ark at David’s first attempt to bring it into Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:7–8). Uzzah’s sin was to fail to realize, based on this episode, that if the ark could lift its bearers out of (or over) the Jordan, it could bear itself.

4:19 At last all the people are together on the west bank of the Jordan. Only at this point is the timing of the event stated in terms of the calendar; previously, simply “three days” passage of time sufficed for the narrative moment (3:2; cf. comment on 3:2–4). This exact day, however, the tenth day of the first month, is enormously important. This is the same day on which the final plague came in Egypt, the night of which Israel kept the first Passover and subsequently were sent out of Egypt (Ex. 12:3). The moment of exodus finds its counterpart in this moment of entry.

Several locations in the Bible bear the name Gilgal, but this camp of the Israelites in the proximity of Jericho and near the Jordan, named here for the first time, is certainly the most important of them and appears most frequently. It will be Israel’s base of operations throughout the opening campaigns of Joshua 6–12. Its last significant mention in Joshua comes in the episode of Caleb’s securing land in 14:6. Thereafter its associations are less positive. In Judges 2:1, while the action is obscure, the movement of the “angel of the Lord” away from Gilgal at a moment of announcing national disobedience hints at discipline. Later still it is the site of the making and unmaking of Saul as king (1 Sam. 11:14–15; 15:21, 33), and among eighth-century BC prophets it was a place of apostasy (e.g., Hos. 9:15; Amos 4:4; Mic. 6:5). Those tragic associations lay far in the future. As will be explained more fully in Joshua 5, the site at this point is one at which God’s promises for his people come to fulfillment as they now occupy the Land of Promise.

4:20–24 As the episode concludes, attention returns to the memorial stones. Joshua has already offered one explanation of these stones’ meaning for succeeding generations in Joshua 4:6–7 (cf. comments on 4:4–9), and that was offered in anticipation of their being set up by way of instruction. There the significance they hold for Israel was the focus of attention, and Joshua spoke only to the twelve stone carriers. In this second explanation, now given consequent to the placement of twelve stones at Gilgal and to “the people of Israel” (vv. 20–21), Joshua brings another element into the foreground. As in verse 8, their children’s questioning prompts the explanation (vv. 21–22).

The explanation itself completes the passage (vv. 23–24). The drying up of the Jordan’s waters remains the act of God, twice stated explicitly (as verse 23 both begins and ends)—thus bracketing the notice of this moment’s parallel to the miracle of the Red Sea. The entry of this generation into the land is thus of a piece with their parents’ departure from Egypt: they are two sides of one act of deliverance and salvation. The ESV says the waters dry “for” (Hb. mipney) Israel, while other translations render this second explanation to say the waters dry up “before” Israel, contrasting “before the ark” in verse 7. There is a double reason given for this in verse 24. First, God has done this “so that [lemaʿan] all the peoples of the earth” will recognize this as God’s power: that is, the audience now is not so much Israel, as in the earlier explanation, as her watching neighbors. Second, God has done this “that” (or “so that”; lemaʿan) Israel will fear its God. As the ark, then, was the focal point of the first memorial explanation, in this second account Israel is the focus and beneficiary of the mighty acts of God: through her the nations come to “know” this God; through this moment Israel learns what obedience looks like and what its benefits are as she “fears” her God (cf. Deut. 10:12).