And they commanded the people
In the name of Joshua, by whom they were sent:
saying, when ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord
your God, and
the priests the Levites bearing it:
the Targum reads, the priests and Levites; so the Septuagint: it
was the business of the Levites, particularly the Kohathites, to
bear the ark in journeying, but here the priests, who also were
Levites, were to carry it: it is remarked in the Talmud
F16, that there are three places in
which the priests are said to bear the ark; here, and when they
surrounded Jericho, ( Joshua 6:6 ) ; and when
it was returned to its place in the times of David, ( 2 Samuel
15:29 ) ; and Kimchi and Abarbinel observe a fourth, when it
was brought into Solomon's temple, ( 1 Kings 8:6 ) ;
then ye shall remove from your place, and go after
it;
their usual signal for marching was the cloud, when that was
taken up, ( Numbers 9:17
) , &c. but now the ark, the clouds of glory having removed
at the death of Moses, and were seen no more, as Abarbinel and
other Jewish writers observe; and therefore it was proper the
Israelites should be made acquainted with this signal; for, as
Jarchi says, this journey was different from all the journeys
(though that of the three days journey from Sinai must be
excepted, ( Numbers
10:33 ) ), for all the time Moses was in being, the pillar of
cloud marched first and showed them the way, and the ark moved
after two of the standards (Judah and Reuben), and now the ark
went first: the cloud was a figure of the dark and cloudy
dispensation of the law, particularly the ceremonial law, the
shadow of good things to come, and which continued only during
the former state, and discontinued to be of any use when the
Mosaic dispensation ceased, and when Joshua or Jesus was come:
the ark was a type of Christ, the forerunner for us entered, and
whom we are to follow whithersoever he goes or directs to, in the
exercise of grace and performance of duty; and the ark being
carried now by different persons, may denote that Christ was held
forth in a weaker manner under the legal dispensation, and by his
apostles and ministers under the Gospel dispensation in a clearer
and stronger manner, and who are to be followed no further or
longer than as they bear the ark or direct to Christ.