Joshua 3 Footnotes

3:10 Seven people groups are named. Similar lists are found in 9:1; 11:3; 12:8 and 24:11. According to Dt 7:1-11 the Lord would remove the inhabitants of Canaan and settle the Israelites in the land, fulfilling his covenant with Abraham (Gn 15:7-8,18; 17:8). Various peoples, including the seven listed here, had occupied the land for generations. Their idolatrous religious practices and their potential corruption of the Israelites were the principal justifications for their dispossession. Yahweh, the God of Israel and the universe, would not forever tolerate the idolatry of the Canaanite peoples. Through the generations he had given them opportunity to repent, to reject the false gods and place their faith in him as the living God. Their sin had “reached its full measure” (Gn 15:16), and time had run out.

3:14-17 When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stepped into the Jordan River, the waters “stood still, rising up” and the people crossed over on dry ground. The fact that the Jordan River was at flood stage heightens the wonder of the miracle; even the downstream waters ceased to flow toward the Dead Sea. Not since the exodus (see Ex 14:21-22) had Israel experienced such an awe-inspiring event of divine intervention. The similarity between this event and Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea could not have been lost upon the people, as a reminder of the Lord’s presence with, and purpose for, Israel.