John Wesley

“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.

“Moses the servant is dead; but God the master is not: he lives forever. This Jordan - Which is now near thee, which is the only obstacle in thy way to Canaan.”

“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that…

“And hence it comes, that these three days mentioned here below, after the history of the spies, are again repeated chap. iii, 2. Commanded you - His charge to you, and your promise to him.”

So they answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go.

“And they answered - Not the two tribes and an half only, but the officers of all the people, in their name, concurring with the divine appointment, by which Joshua was set over them.”

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.”

“Jericho - That is, the land about Jericho, together with the city. The land and Jericho, that is, especially Jericho. Harlot's - So the Hebrew word is used, Judg. xi, 1, and so it is rendered by two apostles, Heb.”

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they had come…

“And this is justly mentioned as a great and generous act of faith, Heb. xi, 31, for she apparently ventured her life upon a steadfast persuasion of the truth of God's word and promise given to the Israelites.”

“Go to the hill country,” she said, “so that your pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there for three days until they have returned; then go on your way.”

“The mountain - That is, to some of the mountains wherewith Jericho was encompassed, in which also there were many caves where they might lurk. Three days - Not three whole days, but one whole day, and part of two days.”

The men said to her, “We will not be bound by this oath you made us swear

“Said - Or, had said; namely, before she let them down; it being very improbable, either that she would dismiss them before the condition was agreed on; or that she would discourse with them, or they with her, about such secret and weighty things after…”

and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you are to set out from your…

“Go after it - Towards Jordan, to go over it in such a manner as I am about to describe. 'Till this time the ark went in the middle of the cloudy pillar, now it goes in the front.”

But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between yourselves and the ark.

“Two thousand cubits - A thousand yards, at which distance from it the Israelites seem to have been encamped in the wilderness.”

When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—touch down in the waters of the Jordan, its flowing waters will be…

“Cut off - The waters which now are united now shall be divided, and part shall flow down the channel towards the dead sea, and the other part that is nearer the spring of the river, and flows down from it, shall stand still.”

Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,

“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, chap.”

the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah…

“Adam - The city Adam being more obscure, is described by its nearness to a more known place, then eminent, but now unknown.”

For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as He did to the Red Sea, which He dried…

“Before us - That is, myself and Caleb, and all of us here present; for this benefit, though done to their fathers, is justly said to be done to themselves, because they were then in their parent's loins.”

Now this is why Joshua circumcised them: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of war—had died on the journey in the wilderness after they had left Egypt.

“Out of Egypt - This is to be restrained to such as were then above twenty years old, and such as were guilty of that rebellion, Num. xiv, 1-25, as it is expressed below, ver. 6.”

Though all who had come out were circumcised, none of those born in the wilderness on the journey from Egypt had been circumcised.

“Rather, it was a continued token of God's displeasure against them, for their unbelief and murmuring: a token that they should never have the benefit of that promise, whereof circumcision was the seal.”

For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey…

“The people - The Hebrew word commonly signifies the Gentiles; so he calls them, to note that they were unworthy the name of Israelites.”

And Joshua raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones he circumcised.

“To ratify the covenant between God and them, whereof circumcision was a sign and seal, to assure them that God would now make good his covenant, in giving them this land; and to oblige them to perform all the duties to which that covenant bound…”

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.

“Or 3. because many of them lay under this reproach in Egypt, having wickedly neglected this duty there for worldly reasons; and others of them continued in the same shameful condition for many years in the wilderness. Gilgal - That is, rolling.”

On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover.

“The passover - Which was their third passover: the first was in Egypt, Exod. xii, 11-24, the second at Mount Sinai, Num. ix, 1-5, the third here; for in their wilderness travels, these and all other sacrifices were neglected, Amos v, 25.”

The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

“Parched corn - Of that year's corn. which was most proper for that use. Self-same day - Having an eager desire to enjoy the fruits of the land.”

And the day after they had eaten from the produce of the land, the manna ceased.

“The manna ceased - Which God now withheld, to shew that Manna was not an ordinary production of nature, but an extraordinary and special gift of God to supply their necessity.”

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand.

“In Jericho, that is, in the territory adjoining to it; whither he went to view those parts, and discern the fittest places for his attempt upon Jericho.”

“Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the LORD’s army.”

“By his acceptance of adoration here, which a created angel durst not admit of, Rev. xxii, 8, 9. Because the place was made holy by his presence, ver. 15, which was God's prerogative, Exod. iii, 5. Because he is called the Lord, Hebrew.”

But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction.

“A curse - By provoking God to punish them for your sin, in which they may be one way or other involved; or the whole camp having sins of their own, God might take what occasion he saw fit to inflict this punishment.”

And Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her father’s household and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho.

“The harlot olive - For that general command of rooting out the Canaanites seems to have had some exception, in case any of them had sincerely and seasonably cast off their wickedness, and submitted to the Israelites.”