The Bible Says
Joshua 3:5-6 Meaning

In Joshua 3:5-6, the Israelites undergo purification rituals to prepare to enter Canaan.

Joshua trusted God to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. After hearing the spies’ report that the LORD would grant Israel victory over their enemy and allow them to possess the land of Canaan, the Israelites departed from Shittim. They arrived at the Jordan River, where they stayed for three days on the eastern bank. On the third day, the officers instructed the people to follow the Ark of the Covenant carried by the Levitical priests from a distance of about 914 meters (over half a mile) (Joshua 3:1-4).

As the day for crossing the Jordan drew near, Joshua addressed the Israelites and the priests. Speaking to the people, he said, Consecrate yourselves (v. 5). The Hebrew verb translated as Consecrate is “qadash.” It means to be holy or set apart. The idea is to separate profane things from sacred ones. The verb Consecrate often occurs in the context of ceremonial purification, as in Exodus 19, where the LORD instructed Moses to “consecrate the people today and tomorrow” so that they could meet Him on the third day on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:10, 22). This ritual involved washing their “garments” and abstaining from sexual relations (Exodus 19:14-15).

In Joshua, the people were to consecrate or sanctify themselves. They were to separate themselves from anything that failed to meet God’s standard of holiness so that they could be in perfect communion with Him. The reason for this consecration, Joshua declared, was because tomorrow, the LORD will do wonders among you.

The Hebrew term translated as LORD is Yahweh, the everlasting God who revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). It often emphasizes God’s covenant relationship with His people. The LORD took the Israelites as His chosen people and vowed to bless them beyond measure if they obeyed Him. Some of such blessings included performing wonders among them to show His mighty power.

The word wonder refers to mighty acts of God that human beings cannot explain or describe. According to Exodus 34, such acts are miracles that are marvelous to the world, powerful events that have never happened before and cannot happen apart from God’s divine authority (Exodus 34:10). God used miracles to display His power and instill fear in humans so that they would understand He is almighty God (Exodus 3:20, 14:31; Psalm 78:12-16). He is master over creation. What He wills is what happens. Nothing can stop His sovereign actions.

In this chapter, the wonders will be when God stops the waters in the Jordan River, allowing the Israelites to cross it on “dry ground” (Joshua 3:14-17).

Having urged the Israelites to sanctify themselves, Joshua turned his attention to the priests and asked them to take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people (v. 6). The ark was a wooden box overlaid with gold. It contained the stone tablets on which the LORD wrote the Ten Commandments. It was a special object that pictured the presence of God with His covenant people (Exodus 25:10-22). As such, the Israelites needed to follow the ark carried by the Levitical priests so that God could guide them and grant them victory over their adversaries as they entered the Promised Land.

The procession began after the preparation. Once the people were ready, they could march to conquer the land God had promised them. Thus, Joshua commanded the priests to place the covenant box on their shoulders and go ahead of the people. The priests did as Joshua commanded them:

So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people (v 6).

The Israelites would follow the priests insofar as they carried the ark and obeyed God’s instructions.