_TWELVE STONES ARE TAKEN FOR A MEMORIAL OUT OF JORDAN: TWELVE OTHER STONES ARE SET UP IN THE MIDST THEREOF, THE PEOPLE PASS THROUGH THE RIVER, AND JOSHUA ERECTS IN GILGAL THE TWELVE STONES TAKEN OUT OF JORDAN._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 5. _AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO THEM, PASS OVER BEFORE THE ARK_— Or, _Pass back again directly unto the ark._ These twelve men re-entered the channel of the Jordan, and, being dispensed from the prohibition to approach the ark, came near the place where the priests stood, and each loaded himself wit... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 7. _THEN YE SHALL ANSWER THEM, THAT THE WATERS OF JORDAN WERE CUT OFF_— "You shall seize this opportunity to inform them of the wonderful things which God has done for the opening to you an entrance into the land of Canaan; and you shall endeavour to transmit to them, together with the partic... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 9. _AND JOSHUA SET UP TWELVE STONES IN THE MIDST OF JORDAN_— Beside the monument which was erected in the _lodging-place_ or camp, Joshua caused other twelve large stones to be placed in the channel of the river, exactly on the spot where the ark had stopped while the people crossed over; and... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 10. _ACCORDING TO ALL THAT MOSES COMMANDED JOSHUA_— Some interpreters are of opinion from these words, that Moses, before his death, gave some intimation and orders to Joshua respecting the passage of the Jordan, and the erection of the monuments destined to perpetuate the memory of that even... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 12, 13. _AND THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN,_ &C.— In conformity to their engagement, (Numbers 32:20; Numbers 21:27 and chap. Joshua 1:13.) these two tribes and a half supplied a body which passed over the Jordan, marching into the enemy's country at the head of all the people. This was evidently a c... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 14. _ON THAT DAY THE LORD MAGNIFIED JOSHUA,_ &C.— By the miracle which had just given happy success to that general's first enterprize, and which acquired to him the same confidence and respect from the Israelites, that Moses had before acquired from the miraculous passage of the Red Sea. Thu... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15-18. _AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO JOSHUA,_ &C.— Before the people advanced into the country, Joshua had commanded the priests, who bare the ark, to quit the channel of the river, and come to the western bank; and as soon as they had gained this side, and their feet were beyond the place to whic... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 19. _AND THE PEOPLE CAME UP OUT OF JORDAN ON THE TENTH DAY,_ &C.— On the fifteenth of this same month the people had departed from Egypt; so that forty years, wanting five days, had elapsed from the first of these events to the second. Gilgal was situate between Jordan and Jericho, ten furlon... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 20. _AND THOSE TWELVE STONES—DID JOSHUA PITCH IN GILGAL_— Josephus relates the matter as if the Israelites had reared these stones in the form of an altar. It is more probable, that, in order to represent the number of the tribes, they were pitched each upon its basis, as so many small pillar... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 23. _FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD DRIED UP THE WATERS OF JORDAN_— Joshua, considering the people of God here morally, as one person, speaks to them as if they had been of the number of those who had crossed the Red Sea on dry land. He wishes, by the miracle that God had just wrought for them, to rec... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 24. _THAT ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH MIGHT KNOW,_ &C.— "That all the nations in this country and its adjacencies, to which the fame of this prodigy shall spread itself, may learn the infinite power of the Lord, the only true God, to whom you peculiarly belong; and that you, O Israelites, esp... [ Continue Reading ]