Joshua 3:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 3:6
And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua) · proper noun, a man's name
spake
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
priests
הַכֹּהֲנִ֣יםha.ko.ha.Nim
H3548
literally one officiating · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
up
שְׂאוּ֙se.'U
H5375
to lift · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
ark
אֲר֣וֹן'a.Ron
H727
a box · noun, common masculine singular construct
covenant
הַבְּרִ֔יתha.be.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
over
וְעִבְר֖וּve.'iv.Ru
H5674
to cross over · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
before
לִפְנֵ֣יlif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
people
הָעָ֑םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
up
וַיִּשְׂאוּ֙vai.yis.'U
H5375
to lift · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
ark
אֲר֣וֹן'a.Ron
H727
a box · noun, common masculine singular construct
covenant
הַבְּרִ֔יתha.be.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
went
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
before
לִפְנֵ֥יlif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
people
הָעָֽםha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 10:33 And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days…
Numbers 14:15 Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
Joshua 3:3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, the…
Micah 2:13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass…
John 14:2-3 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Hebrews 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 3:1-6
Rahab, in mentioning to the spies the drying up of the Red Sea (Jos 2:10), the report of which terrified the Canaanites more than anything else, intimates that those on that side the water expected that Jordan, that great defence of their country, would in like manner give way to them. Whether the Israelites had any expectation of it does not appear. God often did things for them which they looked not for, Isa 64:3. Now here we are told,
I. That they came to Jordan and lodged there, Jos 3:1. Though they were not yet told how they should pass the river, and were unprovided for the passing of it in any ordinary way, yet they went forward in faith, having been told (Jos 1:11) that they should p…
Joshua spake unto the priests--This order to the priests would be given privately, and involving as it did an important change in the established order of march, it must be considered as announced in the name and by the authority of God. Moreover, as soon as the priests stepped into the waters of Jordan, they were to stand still. The ark was to accomplish what had been done by the rod of Moses.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 3:6
Spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark - It is remarkable that the priests, not the Levites, whose ordinary business it was were employed to carry the ark on this occasion. Calmet conjectures that this was because it was probably carried without being wrapped up in its curtains, as it always was when the Levites carried it. Though it was the business of the Levites, the sons of Kohath, to carry the ark; yet on certain occasions the priests alone performed this office.
1. In the present case.
2. When they encompassed Jericho, Jos 6:6.
3. When it was carried to the war against the Philistines by the priests, the sons of Eli, Sa2 15:25.
4. When David sent it back to Jerusalem, at the t…
After these things it says: "and all Israel," it says, "and the presbyters and the judges and the scribes went before, on this side and on that, the ark of the covenant of the Lord." "The ark of the covenant of the Lord" is that in which the tablets of the law, written by the hand of God, are kept. And around this "ark of the covenant" everyone who is "truly Israel" walks and is not far from it; but the Levites and priests even carry it upon their shoulders. For whoever live in priestly religion and holiness — not only those who seem to sit in the priestly assembly, but rather those who act in a priestly manner, whose "portion is the Lord" and who hold no share on earth — these are truly the priests and Levites of the Lord, who carry the law of God upon their shoulders, that is, by doing and fulfilling through their work the things that are written in the law.
Meanwhile there is a priestly and Levitical order which is to show the way to the people of God who have gone out from Egypt. For it is they who teach the people to go out from Egypt, that is, from the errors of the world, and to pass through the vast wilderness, that is, to traverse the various kinds of temptations and not to be harmed by the serpents, which are the bites of demons, and to avoid the poisons of evil suggestions. And "if" perhaps "someone has been struck" in the wilderness "by a serpent," that they may show him the "bronze serpent" hung upon the cross, "which whoever shall look upon," that is, whoever believes in him whose figure that serpent displayed, shall through this flee from the diabolical poisons. There is a priestly and Levitical order which stands by the ark of the Covenant of the Lord, in which the law of God is carried, doubtless so that they themselves may enlighten the people concerning the commandments of God, as the prophet says: "your word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths." This light is kindled through the priests and the Levites. But if perhaps someone of this order has "put a kindled lamp under a bushel" and not "upon a lampstand, that it may give light to all who are in the house," let him consider what he must do, when he shall begin to render account to the Lord of light for those who, receiving no illumination from the priests, walk in darkness and are blinded by the obscurity of sins.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ark — Noah’s ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Gen. 6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side…
Ark Of The Covenant · Was carried: Before the Israelites in their journeys — Was carried: Before the Israelites in their journeys
Jordan, The River · Passage of Israel over: In an appointed order — Passage of Israel over: In an appointed order
Priests · Services of: Carrying the ark — Services of: Carrying the ark
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And Joshua spoke unto the priests,.... On the morrow, that is, on the tenth day of the month, the day on which they went over Jordan:
saying, take up the ark of the covenant; in which the law was put, which was the covenant between God and the people, from whence the ark had this name; and in which it was typical of Christ, in whom both the law, the covenant of works, was fulfilled, and with whom the covenant of grace was made; who is the Mediator; surety, and messenger of it, and in whom all the blessings and promises of it are, and with whom it is, and will be kept for evermore: the ark, the priests were ordered to take up and bear on their shoulders; for no other way might they carry it;…
Joshua 3:1-13
1. 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.
1. Surrexit autem Josue summo mane, et profecti sunt e Sittim, venerantque usque ad Jordanem ipse et omnes filii Israel, pernoctaveruntque illic antequam transirent.
2. And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;
2. Et fuit a fine trium dierum, ut praefecti transirent per medium castrorum.
3. And they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove from your place, and g…
Jos 3:1-4
"Arrangements for the Passage through the Jordan. - When they reached the Jordan, the Israelites rested till they passed over. לוּן, to pass the night; then in a wider sense to tarry, Pro 15:31; here it means to rest. According to Jos 3:2, they stayed there three days. "At the end (after the expiration) of three days" cannot refer to the three days mentioned in Jos 1:11, if only because of the omission of the article, apart from the reasons given in the note upon Jos 1:11, which preclude the supposition that the two are identical. The reasons why the Israelites stayed three days by the side of the Jordan, after leaving Shittim, are not given, but they are not difficult to guess; fo…
Purify yourselves: They had to separate themselves from anything unclean that would bar an Israelite from coming into God’s presence (cp. Exod 19:9-20; Lev 11:44).
Rashi on Joshua 3:6
And Yehoshua said to the Kohanim. He said this on the next day.
Carry the Ark of the Covenant. Until now it was carried by the Levites, but today it was to be carried by the Kohanim.
