Joshua 6:9

And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:6-16 Wherever the ark went, the people attended it. God's ministers, by the trumpet of the everlasting gospel, which proclaims liberty and victory, must encourage the followers of Christ in their spiritual warfare. As promised deliverances must be expected in God's way, so they must be expected in his time. At last the people were to shout: they did so, and the walls fell. This was a shout of faith; they believed the walls of Jericho would fall. It was a shout of prayer; they cry to Heaven for help, and help came.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He said - The reading in the Hebrew text is "they said." Joshua no doubt issued his orders through the "officers of the people" (compare Joshua 1:10).

Him that is armed - i. e. the warriors generally, not a division only. "The rereward" Joshua 6:9 was merely a detachment, and not a substantial portiere of the host; and was told off, perhaps, from the tribe of Dan (compare the marginal reference) to close the procession and guard the ark from behind. Thus the order would be

(1) the warriors,

(2) the seven priests blowing the cornets,

(3) the ark,

(4) the rear-guard.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jos 6:8-19. The City Compassed Six Days.

8-11. the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets … passed on before the Lord—before the ark, called "the ark of the covenant," for it contained the tables on which the covenant was inscribed. The procession was made in deep and solemn silence, conforming to the instructions given to the people by their leader at the outset, that they were to refrain from all acclamation and noise of any kind until he should give them a signal. It must have been a strange sight; no mound was raised, no sword drawn, no engine planted, no pioneers undermining—here were armed men, but no stroke given; they must walk and not fight. Doubtless the people of Jericho made themselves merry with the spectacle [Bishop Hall].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The

rereward being opposed to the armed men, may seem to note the unarmed people, who were desirous to be spectators of this wonderful work.

The priests; which is rightly supplied here from Joshua 6:4.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets,.... Whom Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, interpret of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; that is, as many of them as Joshua took with him over Jordan; though rather all the armed men in the camp are meant; at least along with those mentioned went the standards of Judah and Ephraim:

and the rereward came after the ark; because the tribe of Dan was the rereward in journeying, Numbers 2:31; hence the Targum paraphrases the words,"and the tribe of the house of Dan went after the ark;''and so both Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it: but rather the body of the people unarmed are designed; at least these were brought up by the standard of Dan; or otherwise no place in this procession is appointed for them, whose business it was to make the great shout on the seventh day with the rest:

the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets; the word "priests" is not in the text, but is rightly supplied; for, as Kimchi and Abarbinel observe, this is not said of the rereward, but of the priests, for they only bore and blew the trumpets; and so the Targum reads,"the priests going on, &c.''

Geneva Study Bible

And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the {g} rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

(g) Meaning, the gathering host, in which was the standard of the tribe of Dan, Nu 10:25.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. the rereward] The remaining warriors were to act as a rearguard. During the march through the wilderness this duty devolved on the tribe of Dan (see Numbers 10:25). “Rereward” means the “rearguard” of an army; guard and ward being related as guise and wise, Fr. guerre, and E. war. It is a corruption of the Fr. arrière-garde, as vanguard for avant-garde; or rather the first part of the word is formed from the O. Fr. riere (Lat. retro). Comp. 1 Samuel 29:2, “but David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish;” Isaiah 52:12, “the God of Israel will be your rereward;” Isaiah 58:8, “the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward;” Shakespeare, Ι.Hen. 6. 3. 3,

“Now in the rearward comes the duke, and his;”

Rom. and Jul. 3.2,

“But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,

Romeo is banished.”

Joshua 6:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Execution of the divine Command. - Joshua 6:8-11. The march round on the first day; and the instructions as to the war-cry to be raised by the people, which are appended as a supplement in Joshua 6:10. "Before Jehovah," instead of "before the ark of Jehovah," as the signification of the ark was derived entirely from the fact, that it was the medium through which Jehovah communicated His gracious presence to the people. In Joshua 6:9, תּקעוּ is in the perfect tense, and we must supply the relative אשׁר, which is sometimes omitted, not only in poetry, but also in prose, after a definite noun in the accusative (e.g., Exodus 18:20; see Ewald, 332, a.). There is not sufficient ground for altering the form of the word into תּקעי, according to the Keri, as תּקע is construed in other cases with the accusative השּׁופר, instead of with בּ, and that not only in poetry, but also in prose (e.g., Judges 7:22, as compared with Judges 7:18-20). ותקוע הלוך, "trumpeting continually" (Eng. Ver. "going on and blowing"). הלוך is used adverbially, as in Genesis 8:3, etc.