Commentari biblici

15. for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest] In the deeply sunken, tropical valley of the Jordan, the harvest had already commenced, and the snow on Hermon having begun to melt, the “yellow” water of the river stood high and had overflowed its lower bank. “We were on the banks of the Jordan.… Muddy, swollen, and turbid, the stream was far too formidable and rapid for the most adventurous to attempt their intended bathe.… Had we arrived a few days sooner, we could not have approached the river at all; for it had been overflowing its banks and filling the lower level, to which we had descended from the plain, and which was still a deep slimy ooze. Under our tree, however, the drift had formed a sandbank, on which we could sit. By measurement we found that the river had lately been fourteen feet higher than its present margin, and yet it was still many feet above its ordinary level.” Tristram’s Land of Israel, p. 223.

Observe: (a) The feet of the priests were dipped in the brim of the water. This is explained by the season being that of a periodical inundation of the Jordan, which overflowed its banks all the time of harvest;

(b) The barley harvest is here meant, for the wheat harvest was not fully completed till Pentecost, or fifty days later in the year, and the Israelites crossed the Jordan on the 10th day of Abib or Nisan, i.e. four days before the Passover;

(c) Now in Exodus we learn that at the Plague of Hail, which was but a day or two before the Passover, “the flax and the barley were smitten, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was boiled. But the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up;”

(d) It would seem then that the flax and the barley were crops which ripened about the same time in Egypt, and as the climate of Canaan did not differ materially from that of Egypt, especially in the sunken Ghôr of the Jordan, this was, no doubt, the case in Canaan too; there also these two crops would come in at the same time, and this also must have been the season of the flax harvest;

(e) Now Rahab hid the spies in the stalks of flax (Joshua 2:6) laid on the roof doubtless to steep and season. Here we have a strikingly undesigned coincidence in the passage of the Israelites at the time of harvest, and that the barley harvest, which coincides with the Passover, and the ripening of the flax harvest. Blunt’s Undesigned Coincidences, pp. 105–107.

Joshua 3:15. The feet of the priests were dipped in the brim of the water — The stream stopped immediately, as if a sluice had been let down to dam it up; so that the waters above swelled, stood on a heap, and ran back, and yet, it seems, did not spread themselves over the adjacent lands. When they passed through the Red sea, the waters were a wall on either hand; here only on the right hand. Thus the God of nature, when he pleaseth, can change the course of nature, and alter any of its properties; can “turn waters into rocks, and rocks into waters,” to serve his own purposes. What can he not do? What will he not do for the perfecting of the salvation of his people? Hear the psalmist celebrate this work of wonder, in most beautiful and striking language: “When Israel went out of Egypt — Judah was his sanctuary. The sea saw it and fled: Jordan was driven back. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?” Well might he add, “Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of Jehovah, who turneth the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.” Jordan overfloweth all the time of harvest — This is meant, not of wheat-harvest, but of the barley-harvest, as is manifest from their keeping the passover at their first entrance, (Joshua 5:10,) which was kept on the fourteenth day of the first month, when they were to bring a sheaf of their first-fruits, which were of barley. So that this harvest, in those hot countries, fell very early in the spring, when rivers used to swell most; partly because of the rains which had fallen all the winter, partly because of the snows which melted and came into the rivers. And this time God chose that the miracle might be more glorious, more amazing and terrible to the Canaanites; and that the Israelites might be entertained at their first entrance with plentiful and comfortable provisions.

Ver. 15. (Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest)— The Jordan overflows at the time of barley harvest, (1 Chronicles 12:15.) at the beginning of the summer, contrary to other rivers, which are never higher than in winter, those rivers in Europe excepted, whose source being in high mountains, covered for a long time with snow, they are never more swelled than in summer. The melting of the snows on Lebanon, at the foot of which are the springs of the Jordan, causes this increase of its waters. It does not, however, always happen at the beginning of the summer. Maundrell, who was upon the banks of the river on the 30th of March 1697, found it no way swelled; but, as he says, perhaps the force of its current, which is very rapid, may have rendered the channel deeper; or the Jordan may now diffuse its streams into some other place than that where this accurate and learned traveller crossed it. See Travels, p. 82. Doubdan, who was there in 1652, about the latter end of April, saw its waters disturbed, and ready to overflow. We can neither contest the fact, therefore, nor elude the consequence of it; viz. that the miracle of the passage through this river dry-shod was so much the greater, as it happened not at a time when its waters were low, and in a narrow channel, but, on the contrary, when, swelled by the melting of the snows, they rose above its banks. Besides, what Maundrell observes of the great rapidity and width of the Jordan, is confirmed by various credible travellers. Its channel is no less than sixty feet wide in the narrowest parts. It is not surprizing, therefore, that the Scripture, and profane authors, speak of it always as of a great river; and though it should be much smaller now than anciently, this is nothing to be wondered at, when we consider how many other changes have happened upon the surface of the globe. We cannot conclude this note without remarking, that what we before said respecting the Jordan, on Gen 13:11 needs a supplement. The celebrated Reland derives its name from Jadar, which signifies to descend, to flow, and he gives it but one source, namely, the lake Phiala; asserting this to be the opinion of Josephus, Antiq. lib. iii. c. 18. lib. viii. c. 3. though the matter is much disputed; and Mr. Roque, in his Travels to Syria and mount Lebanon, seems to have solidly confuted that opinion, shewing that Josephus commonly speaks of the origin of the Jordan under the name of Fountains, in the plural number; Antiq. lib. v. c. 1, 2. lib. xv. c. 13. and lib. xviii. c. 3. to which he adds the testimony of several modern travellers respecting the two sources of the Jordan. The Arabs, at this time, call the river Arden and Ordonnon; and the Persians Herdum. In the geographical account of Nubia, it goes by the name of Zaccar, which, in Arabic, signifies full and swelled; epithets which perfectly agree with this river.

See commentary on Jos 3:14

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And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

For Jordan overfloweth his banks. — Ordinarily every year; either ex fiuminis natura, Tremell. by the nature of this river, see 1 Chronicles 12:15 as it is also of the Nile, Perinde at Nilus messis tempore alveos excedens et exundans maltum terrae irrigat . - Aristeas. or else by the melting of the snow from the mountains: the like whereunto befalleth Tigris and Euphrates.

At the time of harvest. — Barley harvest. Compare Leviticus 23:10 . So that the Israelites were brought into the land at the best time. And "herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth." John 4:37

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16. the waters which came down from above--that is, the Sea of Galilee

stood and rose up upon a heap--"in a heap," a firm, compact barrier

(Ex 15:8; Ps 78:13);

very far--high up the stream;

from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan--near mount Sartabeh, in the northern part of the Ghor

(1Ki 7:46);

that is, a distance of thirty miles from the Israelitish encampment; and

those that came down toward the sea of the desert--the Dead Sea--were cut off

(Ps 114:2, 3).

The river was thus dried up as far as the eye could reach. This was a stupendous miracle; Jordan takes its name, "the Descender," from the force of its current, which, after passing the Sea of Galilee, becomes greatly increased as it plunges through twenty-seven "horrible rapids and cascades," besides a great many lesser through a fall of a thousand feet, averaging from four to five miles an hour [LYNCH]. When swollen "in time of harvest," it flows with a vastly accelerated current.

the people passed over right against Jericho--The exact spot is unknown; but it cannot be that fixed by Greek tradition--the pilgrims' bathing-place--both because it is too much to the north, and the eastern banks are there sheer precipices ten or fifteen feet high.

The passage should run "rose up, an heap far away, by Adam, the city which is beside Zarthan."

The city of Adam is not named elsewhere, and Zarthan (mentioned here and in marginal references.) has also disappeared. It is, however, probably connected with the modern Kurn Sartabeh (Horn of Sartabeh), the name given to a lofty and isolated hill some 17 miles on the river above Jericho.

Rose up upon a heap - That is, they continued to accumulate, filling up the whole of the channel toward the source, and the adjacent ground over which they were now spread, to a much greater depth, the power of God giving a contrary direction to the current. We need not suppose them to be gathered up like a mountain, instar montis, as the Vulgate expresses it, but that they continued to flow back in the course of the channel; and ere they could have reached the lake of Gennesareth, where they might have been easily accumulated, the whole Israelitish army would have all got safely to the opposite side.

Very far from the city Adam - beside Zaretan - Where these places were it is difficult to say. The city Adam is wholly unknown. From 1 Kings 4:12 we learn that Zartanah was below Jezreel near Bethshean, or Scythopolis, and not far from Succoth, 1 Kings 7:46. And it appears from Genesis 33:17, Joshua 13:27, that Succoth lay on the east side of Jordan, not far from the lake of Gennesareth; and probably Adam was on the same side to the north of Succoth. It is probable that the Israelites crossed the Jordan near Bethabara, where John baptized, John 1:28, and which probably had its name, the house of passage, from this very circumstance. After all, it is extremely difficult to ascertain the exact situation of these places, as in the lapse of upwards of 3,000 years the face of the country must have been materially changed. Seas, rivers, and mountains, change not; and though we cannot ascertain the spot, it is sufficiently evident that we can come near to the place. It has been considered a lame objection against the truth of the Iliad that the situation of Troy cannot now be exactly ascertained. There are even many ancient cities and considerable towns in Europe, that, though they still bear their former names, do not occupy the same spot. There are not a few of those even in England; among such Norwich, Salisbury, etc., may be ranked, neither of which is in its primitive situation.

Right against Jericho - It would be impossible for the whole camp to pass over in the space opposite to Jericho, as they must have taken up some miles in breadth, besides the 2,000 cubits which were left on the right between them and the ark; but the river was divided opposite to Jericho, and there the camp began to pass over.

That the waters which came down from above,.... Above where the priests' feet rested, and which came down from Mount Lebanon, and the fountains of Jordan northward:

stood and rose up upon an heap; they stopped their current, and as the water came down they rose up on high, and made one vast heap of waters:

very far from the city of Adam, that is, beside Zaretan; the Cetib, or textual reading, is, "in Adam the city"; we follow the marginal reading, "from Adam": both readings, as is usually, if not always the case, are to be received; and the meaning is, that this heap of waters, though the river was at a considerable distance from Adam; yet through the overflow of it, it reached to, and was "in Adam": this city was in Perea, on the other side Jordan, that side on which the Israelites were before their passage; and Zaretan, which is supposed to be the same with Zartanah, and Zarthan, 1 Kings 4:12, was on this side, in the tribe of Manasseh; and the sense is, not that Adam was on the side of Zaretan, or near it, for it was on the other side of the river; and according to the Talmudists (a) was twelve miles from it; but the construction is with the word "heap", "which heap was on the side of Zaretan"; it was there where the waters were heaped up; it seems as if they reached on the one side to Adam, and on the other side to Zaretan:

and those that came down towards the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off; those waters, which were below where the priests' feet rested, ran down into the lake Asphaltites, where Sodom and Gomorrah formerly stood, the sea of the plain, or vale of Siddim, Genesis 14:3; sometimes called the dead sea, and here the salt sea, its water being exceeding salt; so, Mr. Maundrell, the above mentioned traveller (b) testifies on his own knowledge;"the water of the lake (the lake Asphaltites, or dead sea, says he) was very limpid, and salt to the highest degree; and not only salt, but also extreme bitter and nauseous;''

so that these waters running down thither, and those above stopped, made a dry channel for sixteen or eighteen miles: and the people passed over right against Jericho; which was the city Joshua had in view to attack first, and had sent spies thither to get intelligence of it, and the disposition of the people in it: See Gill on Joshua 2:1.

(a) T. Hieros. Sotah, fol. 21. 4. (b) Maundrell, ut supra, (Journel from Aleppo to Jerusalem) p. 84. Ed. 7.