Joshua 3:9

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Joshua 3:9-10. Come hither — To the ark or tabernacle, the place of public assemblies. Hear the words of the Lord your God — Who is now about to give a proof that he is both the Lord, the omnipotent Governor of heaven and earth, and all creatures, and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and affection for you. Ye shall know — By experience and sensible evidence. The living God — Not a dull, dead, senseless idol, such as the gods of the nations are; but a God of life, and power, and activity, to watch over you and work for you. Among you — Is present with you to strengthen and help you.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:7-13 The waters of Jordan shall be cut off. This must be done in such a way as never was done, but in the dividing of the Red sea. That miracle is here repeated; God has the same power to finish the salvation of his people, as to begin it; the WORD of the Lord was as truly with Joshua as with Moses. God's appearances for his people ought to encourage faith and hope. God's work is perfect, he will keep his people. Jordan's flood cannot keep out Israel, Canaan's force cannot turn them out again.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This day will I begin to magnify thee - One cause why the miracle now to be narrated was performed is here suggested. As Moses was declared to he sent immediately from God with an extraordinary commission by the miracles which he worked, more especially that of dividing the Red Sea in two parts, so was Joshua both sent and accredited in a like manner. (Compare Joshua 1:5, and Joshua 4:14.) Other reasons are given in Joshua 3:10; Joshua 5:1.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jos 3:9-13. Joshua Encourages the People.

9-13. Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord—It seems that the Israelites had no intimation how they were to cross the river till shortly before the event. The premonitory address of Joshua, taken in connection with the miraculous result exactly as he had described it, would tend to increase and confirm their faith in the God of their fathers as not a dull, senseless, inanimate thing like the idols of the nations, but a Being of life, power, and activity to defend them and work for them.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Come hither, to the ark or tabernacle, the place of public assemblies, and hear the words of the Lord your God; who is now about to give a proof that he is both the Lord, the omnipotent Governor of heaven and earth, and all creatures; and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and true affection for you.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, come hither,.... Very probably to the door of the tabernacle:

and hear the words of the Lord your God; which he was about to deliver to them as from him, and in his name.

Geneva Study Bible

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. And Joshua said] Joshua 3:9-13 contain the substance of an address to a solemn assembly of the people, in which a fuller explanation is given of what has been stated generally in Joshua 3:7-8.

Joshua 3:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The summons to the children of Israel, i.e., to the whole nation in the persons of its representatives, to draw near (גּשׁוּ for גּשׁוּ, as in 1 Samuel 14:38; Ruth 2:14) to hear the words of the Lord its God, points to the importance of the following announcement by which Israel was to learn that there was a living God in the midst of it, who had the power to fulfil His word. Jehovah is called a "living God," in contrast with the dead gods of the heathen, as a God who proved himself to be living, with special reference to those "divine operations by which God had shown that He was living and watchful on behalf of His people; just as His being in the midst of the people did not denote a naked presence, but a striking degree of presence on the part of God in relation to the performance of extraordinary operations, or the manifestation of peculiar care" (Seb. Schmidt). The God of Israel would now manifest himself as a living God by the extermination of the Canaanites, seven tribes of whom are enumerated, as in Deuteronomy 7:1 (see the remarks on this passage). Joshua mentions the destruction of these nations as the purpose which God had in view in the miraculous guidance of Israel through the Jordan, to fill the Israelites with confidence for their entrance into the promised land.

(Note: "He extends the force of the miracle beyond their entrance into the land, and properly so, since the mere opening of a way into a hostile country from which there would be no retreat, would be nothing but exposure to death. For they would either easily fall, through being entangled in difficulties and in an unknown region, or they would perish through want. Joshua therefore foretold, that when God drove back the river it would be as if He had stretched out His hand to strike all the inhabitants of the land, and that the proof which He gave of His power in their crossing the Jordan would be a certain presage of victory, to be gained over all the tribes.")