Joshua 3:15

And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan,.... Not to the bank, which was overflowed, but to the extremity of the water overflowing: and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were

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

Which is also noted /APC , and by Aristoeas in the History of the LXX. Interpreters. This is meant not of the wheat harvest, but of the barley harvest, as is manifest from their keeping of the passover at their first entrance, , which feast was kept on the fourteenth day of their first month, when they were to bring a sheaf of their first-fruits, ,10, which were of barley, as Josephus affirms, and is evident from the thing itself. 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 have fallen all the winter, and partly because of the snows, which then melt into water and come into the rivers; for which reasons the same overflowing of water which is here ascribed to Jordan, is by other authors ascribed to Euphrates, and Tigris, and the Rhine, and Maine, &c. And this time God chose for this work, partly that the miracle might be more glorious in itself, more obliging to the Israelites, and more amazing and terrible to the Canaanites; and partly that the Israelites might be entertained at their first entrance with more plentiful and comfortable provisions.

Joshua 3:15 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,)Ver. 15. For Jordan overfloweth his banks.] Ordinarily every year; either ex fiuminis natura, by the nature of this river, as it is also of the Nile, 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." Tremell. Perinde at Nilus messis tempore alveos excedens et exundans maltum terrae irrigat . - Aristeas.

Verse 15. And the feet of the priests - were dipped in the brim of the water] Thus we find that every thing occurred exactly in the way in which Joshua had foretold it. This must have greatly increased his credit among the people. For Jordan overfloweth all his banks, c.] It has often been remarked that there was no need of a miracle in crossing Jordan, as it is but an inconsiderable stream, easily fordable, being but about twenty yards in breadth. But the circumstance marked here by the sacred historian proves that there was a time in the year, viz., in the harvest, that this said river overflowed its banks and this is confirmed by another place in Scripture, 1 Chronicles 12:15. As the miracle reported here took place about the beginning of April, a time in which rivers in general are less than in winter, it may be asked how there could be such an increase of waters at this time? The simple fact is, that the Jordan, as we have already seen, has its origin at the foot of Mount Lebanon, which mountain is always covered with snow during the winter months; in those months therefore the river is low: but when the summer's sun has melted these snows, there is consequently a prodigious increase of waters, so that the old channel is not capable of containing them; this accounts for the statement in the text that the Jordan overfloweth his banks all the time of harvest; and this was the time which God chose they should pass over it, that a miraculous interposition might be necessary, and that by the miracle they should be convinced of his omnipotence, who was not only their guide, but had promised to put them in possession of this good land.

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.

Jordan overfloweth all his banks - Rather “is full up to all his banks,” i. e. “brim-full.” This remark strikingly illustrates the suddenness and completeness, not less than the greatness, of the marvel.