Joshua 3:6

6 And Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and go before the people: and the priests took up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and went before the people.

Joshua 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 3:6

And Joshua spoke unto the priests
On the morrow, that is, on the tenth day of the month, the day on which they went over Jordan:

saying, take up the ark of the covenant;
in which the law was put, which was the covenant between God and the people, from whence the ark had this name; and in which it was typical of Christ, in whom both the law, the covenant of works, was fulfilled, and with whom the covenant of grace was made; who is the Mediator; surety, and messenger of it, and in whom all the blessings and promises of it are, and with whom it is, and will be kept for evermore: the ark, the priests were ordered to take up and bear on their shoulders; for no other way might they carry it; these typified the ministers of Christ who bear his name, his Gospel in the world, see ( Acts 9:15 ) ;

and pass over before the people;
over the river Jordan, to direct them in the way through it, and encourage them to follow them:

and they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people;
from the place where they had lodged the night before to the brink of the river.

Joshua 3:6 In-Context

4 But let there be a distance between you and it; ye shall stand as much as two thousand cubits . Do not draw nigh to it, that ye may know the way which ye are to go; for ye have not gone the way before.

5 And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

6 And Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and go before the people: and the priests took up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and went before the people.

7 And the Lord said to Joshua, This day do I begin to exalt thee before all the children of Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I also be with thee.

8 And now charge the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, As soon as ye shall enter on a part of the water of Jordan, then ye shall stand in Jordan.