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John Trapp Complete Commentary

Joshua 3:4

Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed [this] way heretofore.

Ver. 4. Yet there shall be a space.] That you may know the distance, and show your reverence. See Exodus 19:12. As also,

That you may know the way by which you must go,] i.e., Ut ignari vice tuto vado transire possitis, that ye may have a sure and safe passage through the river discovered unto you.

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See also Joshua 3:4 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Joshua 3:4. _ABOUT TWO THOUSAND CUBITS_] This distance they were to keep, 1. For the greater respect, because the presence of the ark was the symbol and pledge of the Divine presence. 2. That...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    The ark, which was since the making of the covenant the special shrine and seat of God’s presence, went before to show the people that God, through its medium, was their leader. They were to follow at...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    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 accompl...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    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 ev...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    A SPACE. This is very significant. Compare Exodus 19:12; Exodus 13:22.Leviticus 10:3. CUBITS. See App-51. About Joshua 1:5 miles....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _there shall be a space_ Partly for the sake of reverence, partly that it might be observed and marked as it led the way. _two thousand cubits_ a Sabbath day's journey (Acts 1:12) = 3000 feet....

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    _VER._ 4. _THERE SHALL BE A SPACE,_ &C.— The ark here supplying, in some measure, the place of the miraculous cloud which had guided the Israelites in their several encampments, and which, for that pu...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    _God's Instructions to Joshua 3:1-8_ And Joshua rose early in the morning and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _YET THERE SHALL BE A SPACE BETWEEN YOU AND IT, ABOUT TWO THOUSAND CUBITS BY MEASURE: COME NOT NEAR UNTO IT, THAT YE MAY KNOW THE WAY BY WHICH YE MUST GO: FOR YE HAVE NOT PASSED THIS WAY HERETOFORE._...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN This is the initial miracle of Joshua's leadership. Its moral effect upon the Israelite host is suggested in Joshua 3:7 and Joshua 4:14 that wrought upon the Canaanites in Joshua...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    TWO THOUSAND CUBITS] 3,000 ft.; the ancient Hebrew cubit = 18 in....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    COME IN, AND RECEIVE GOD’S PROMISES! JOSHUA _BRIAN ROWLANDS_ Maps to help you to study this book are on the Internet at www.easyenglish.info. CHAPTER 3 THE PEOPLE CROSS THE RIVER JORDAN – JOSHU...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    (2-6) PRELIMINARY ORDERS. — The priests are to bear the ark. This was usually the duty of the Levites of the family of Kohath; but both at the passage of Jordan and the taking of Jericho, the priests...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    אַ֣ךְ ׀ רָחֹ֣וק יִהְיֶ֗ה בֵּֽינֵיכֶם֙ _וּ_†_בֵינָ֔יו_† כְּ...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER IX. JORDAN DIVIDED. Joshua Ch. 3-4. AT Joshua's command the priests carrying the ark are again in motion. Bearing the sacred vessel on their shoulders, they make straight for the bank of the...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER VIII. JORDAN REACHED. Joshua 3:1. THE host of Israel had been encamped for some time at Shittim on the east side of the river Jordan. It is well to understand the geographical position. The...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE JORDAN SAFELY CROSSED Joshua 3:1 For three days the host faced that swollen river. It was enough to appall them, except that, like Abraham, they dared to behold it in the light of the divine prom...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The first movement in the actual advance of the people into the land was of such a nature as to impress them with e truth of their positive relation to God. There was nothing in this first advance cal...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    The text does not tell us why Joshua broke camp at Shittim, not more than 6 miles from Jordan, to move closer to the river. Some suggest it was to impress upon the people the fact that they could not...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Space of. Hebrew adds, "about...by measure." It was not easy to observe the exact distance in the march. This was prescribed both to keep the people at a respectful distance, and also to enable them t...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    The distance pointed out is striking. I do not think as some have supposed, that the distance ordered between the ark and the people, was that the multitude which followed might not crowd upon one ano...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    The book of Joshua naturally follows the five books of Moses, and indeed is connected more manifestly with those that go before it than might appear to an ordinary reader. It opens not with a mere par...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    4._Yet there shall be a space, etc _As the younger Levites, whose province it was to carry the ark, (Numbers 4:15) were strictly forbidden to touch it, or even to look at it, when uncovered, it is not...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    And now the people are to enter the promised land; but how enter it? For Jordan, with its flood at the highest, lay as a barrier before the people of God, guarding the territory of those that oppose t...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    YET THERE SHALL BE A SPACE BETWEEN YOU AND IT,.... The ark; the Keri or marginal reading is, "between you and them"; the priests that bear it: hence sprung a fiction among the Jews, that there were tw...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _There shall be a space between you and it_ Thus it was made to appear that the ark needed not to be guarded by the men of war, but was itself a guard to them. With what a noble defiance of the enemy...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 Ioshua commeth to Iordan. 2 The Officers instruct the people for the passage. 7 The LORD incourageth Ioshua. 9 Ioshua incourageth the people. 14 The waters of Iordan are diuided. [THE ARKE BORN...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR CROSSING...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure (three thousand feet). COME NOT NEAR UNTO IT, they were to observe this respectful distance, lest their vanguard hid...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    THE CROSSING OF JORDAN (vv. 1-17) The next morning Joshua arose early and led Israel to the river. There may be a question as regards the three days spoken of in chapter 2:11 and the three days the...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    HERETOFORE: _ Heb._ since yesterday and the third day...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    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...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    TWO THOUSAND CUBITS make a thousand yards, and at which distance from it the Israelites seem to have been encamped in the wilderness. And because they generally went from their tents to the ark to wor...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Joshua 3:4 space H7350 thousand H505 cubits H520 measure H4060 near H7126 (H8799) know H3045 (H8799) way...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    “ Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure, come not near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not crossed over this way up to no...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Joshua 3:4 I. "Ye have not passed this way heretofore." We are all continually entering upon new paths, which afterwards turn out to be old ones in a new form. Religious experience moves by crises. Is...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The passing of Jordan. CHARACTERS: God, Joshua, priests. CONCLUSION: The believer is to go on in the way of duty, though foreseeing great difficulties, depending on the divine sufficiency...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Joshua 3:5. _Sanctify yourselves,_ by washings and purifications. The Persians, when commissioned to march against Babylon, are called God's sanctified ones; for the ministers of his vengeance are hol...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _When ye see the ark _. .. _ go after it._ THE GOOD SUPERSEDED BY THE BETTER Hitherto the Israelites had been led on their way by the pillar of cloud. But now that was to be seen no more. With the de...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOSHUA—NOTE ON JOSHUA 3:1__ Chapters Joshua 3:1 and Joshua 4:1 form a unit, with the common theme of crossing the Jordan.

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOSHUA—NOTE ON JOSHUA 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 al...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN_ MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Joshua 3:1 THE PRESENCE OF GOD Joshua had received the evening before, through their officers, the reply of the people to the charge wh...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    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,...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    As we get into chapter three, Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and they came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and they lodged there before they passed...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Chronicles 11:2; Exodus 19:12; Exodus 3:5; Exodus 4:10; Genesis 31:2;

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    CROSSING THE JORDAN Joshua 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We wish to discuss the preparatory steps to the crossing of the Jordan. These steps are set forth in the opening verses of our chapter. 1. LODGING...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Two thousand cubits — A thousand yards, at which distance from it the Israelites seem to have been encamped in the wilderness. And because they generally went from their tents to the ark to worship Go...

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