Joshua 3:5

_AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE, SANCTIFY YOURSELVES: FOR TO MORROW THE LORD WILL DO WONDERS AMONG YOU._ Joshua said unto the people - rather 'had said;' for, as he speaks of "tomorrow," the address must have been made previous to the day of crossing, and the sanctification was in all probability the same as Moses had commanded before the giving of the law, consisting of an outward cleansing (Exodus 19:10), preparatory to that serious and devout state of mind with which so great a manifestation should be witnessed....

5._And Joshua said, _etc Some unwonted manifestation of divine power in bringing assistance behooved to be held forth, lest the backwardness arising from hesitancy might produce delay; and yet, in order that the Israelites might depend on the mere counsel of God, Joshua does not yet plainly point out the special nature of the miracle, unless, indeed, we choose to read what follows shortly after, as forming part of one context. Herein lies the true test of faith, to lean so on the counsel of God, as not to keep inquiring too anxiously concerning the mode of action or the event. As the word קדש means sometimes to _prepare, _and sometimes to _sanctify, _and either meaning is not inappropriate, I thought it best to leave a free choice. For faith prepares us to perceive the operation of God; and in those times, when God manifested himself to men more nearly, they consecrated themselves by a s...

1-6 The Israelites came to Jordan in faith, having been told that they should pass it. In the way of duty, let us proceed as far as we can, and depend on the Lord. Joshua led them. Particular notice is taken of his early rising, as afterwards upon other occasions, which shows how little he sought his own ease. Those who would bring great things to pass, must rise early. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. All in public stations should always attend to the duty of their place. The people were to follow the ark. Thus must we walk after the rule of the word, and the direction of the Spirit, in everything; so shall peace be upon us as upon the Israel of God; but we must follow our ministers only as they follow Christ. All their way through the wilderness was an untrodden path, but most so this through Jordan. While we are here, we must expect and prepare to pass ways that we have not...

Verse Joshua 3:5. _SANCTIFY YOURSELVES_] What was implied in this command we are not informed; but it is likely that it was the same as that given by Moses, Exodus 19:10-2. They were to wash themselves and their garments, and abstain from every thing that might indispose their minds from a profitable attention to the miracle about to be wrought in their behalf....

EXPOSITION THE COMMAND. JOSHUA 3:1 AND JOSHUA ROSE UP EARLY IN THE MORNING, _i.e; _after the return of the spies, and most likely (see Joshua 1:10, Joshua 1:11) on the morning on which the announcement was made to the children of Israel that they were to cross the Jordan. "This newes is brought but overnight, Joshua is on his way by morning, and prevents the sunne for haste. Delays, whether in the business of God or our owne, are hatefull and prejudiciall. Many a one loses the land of promise by lingering; if we neglect God's time, it is just with Him to crosse us in ours" (Bp. Hall). AND THEY REMOVED FROM SHITTIM. Lite

AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE,.... On the third day; and the thirtieth day of the mourning for Moses, Jarchi says, was the first of the three days, and that being the seventh day of the month, this must be the ninth, as it is most clear the morrow was the tenth: SANCTIFY YOURSELVES; in a ceremonial sense, by washing their bodies and their clothes, and abstaining from their wives; and in a moral sense, by acts of religion and devotion, by prayer and meditation, and the exercise of repentance and, good works: it may denote that sanctification is necessary to our passage over Jordan, or through death to the heavenly Canaan, for without holiness no man shall see the Lord: FOR TOMORROW THE LORD WILL DO WONDERS AMONG YOU: in their sight and presence, and for them, by dividing the waters of Jordan, that they might pass through it as on dry land; this, as Kimchi says, was the tenth of Nisan,...

3. THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The Ark of Jehovah going before (Joshua 3:1)_ 2. Jehovah's words to Joshua (Joshua 3:7) 3. Joshua's words to the people (Joshua 3:9) 4. The passage accomplished (Joshua 3:14) The River Jordan divided the people from the promised land. To be in the land Jordan had to be crossed. Jordan, overflowing all its banks at that time (verse 15), rolled its dark waters between them and their God-given possession. Only the power of God could bring them through those dark waters. It was a miracle which took place, when a way was opened and “the waters which came down from above stood

JOSHUA 3:1 TO JOSHUA 5:1. THE CROSSING OF JORDAN. Here we begin to meet with more serious difficulties. The old tradition was that after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan, they commemorated the event by the erection of twelve stones. But this simple narrative existed in two recensions, which differed as to the destination of these memorial stones. According to one account, they were to be placed in the midst of the river; according to the other, they were to be set up on the W. side of the Jordan in the place where the army encamped for the night. Deuteronomic additions have been made to these narratives, _i.e._ additions of a religious colouring as in Joshua 3:7, And Yahweh said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in t

_Sanctify yourselves_ Compare the instructions of Moses before the giving of the Law (Exodus 19:10-15). This would consist partly in ceremonial purification, partly in turning to the Lord in a spirit of expectant faith in "the wonders" which "the Lord would do" amongst them. Wyclif renders the verse: "Be ye hallowid; forsothe to morrowe the Lord shall do among yow marveyls." _to morrow_ the tenth of Nisan (Joshua 4:19), the anniversary of the day on which forty years before the Israelites had "taken to them" (Exodus 12:3) "every man a lamb" as a Paschal victim....

_VER._ 5. _AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE_— He also spake to the people the night before their passage over the Jordan; and as the matter was important, it is very evident that he went himself from tribe to tribe to give the orders in question. _SANCTIFY YOURSELVES_— Though the sacred historian does not say in what this sanctification was to consist, there is scarcely room to doubt that it was in the same things as God had already required on similar occasions; Genesis 35:2. Exodus 19:10.Numbers 9:18. But to these purifications we are to add the purification of the mind and heart, of which the former were but symbols and assistants. The essential point was, to prepare themselves, by recollection