Joshua 3:14 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Book Notes

Joshua 3:14

12 Now therefore, ^atake for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe.

13 And it shall come to pass, ^aas soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, ^bthe Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they ^cshall stand as a heap.”

14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ^aark of the covenant before the people,

15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and ^athe feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the ^bJordan overflows all its banks ^cduring the whole time of harvest),

16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away¹ at Adam, the city that is beside ^aZaretan. So the waters that went down ^binto the Sea of the Arabah, ^cthe Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; ^aand all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

Book Notes:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Book Notes

Joshua

JOSHUA. The title of this book is derived from the pious and valiant leader whose achievements it relates and who is commonly supposed to have been its author. The objections to this idea are founded chiefly on the clause, "unto this day," which occurs several times (Joshua 4:9; Joshua 6:25; Joshua 8:28). But this, at least in the case of Rahab, is no valid reason for rejecting the idea of his authorship; for assuming what is most probable, that this book was composed toward the close of Joshua's long career, or compiled from written documents left by him, Rahab might have been still alive. A more simple and satisfactory way of accounting for the frequent insertion of the clause, "unto this day," is the opinion that it was a comment introduced by Ezra, when revising the sacred canon; and this difficulty being removed, the direct proofs of the book having been produced by a witness of the transactions related in it, the strong and vivid descriptions of the passing scenes, and the use of the words "we" and "us," (Joshua 5:1-6), viewed in connection with the fact, that, after his farewell address to the people, Joshua "wrote these words in the book of the law of God" [Joshua 24:26] —all afford strong presumptive proof that the entire book was the work of that eminent individual. Its inspiration and canonical authority are fully established by the repeated testimonies of other Scripture writers (compare Joshua 6:26 with I Kings 16:34; compare Joshua 10:13 with Habakkuk 3:11; Joshua 3:14 with Acts 7:45; Joshua 6:17-23 with Hebrews 11:30; Joshua 2:1-24 with James 2:25; Psalms 44:2; Psalms 68:12-14; Psalms 78:54-55). As a narrative of God's faithfulness in giving the Israelites possession of the promised land, this history is most valuable, and bears the same character as a sequel to the Pentateuch, that the Acts of the Apostles do to the Gospels.

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