Reader! while looking at the letter of the precept, on the feet of the priests touching the river, do not overlook that sacred ark, the type of Jesus, as being with them? And though there were to be twelve men to attend the priests, yet these were as witnesses of the miraculous deed to be done that day, and not as party performers. There is somewhat very striking in the expression, the Lord of all the earth; meaning that Israel' s God is God of all things; but with Israel only hath he entered into these covenant engagements. I hope the Reader will not fail to observe how in this instance, as in every other, the Lord makes the performance of one mercy to become the sure pledge of all. By the fording of Jordan, was to be proved God's promises for the total subduing all Canaan. And wherein do gospel promises differ from the same? Doth not the Lord say, in the fulfillment of everyone of them, I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of? Genesis 28:15. Did not Moses, by the spirit of prophecy, promise this passage to Israel, at least forty years before it came to pass? See Exodus 15:16-17.
Joshua 3:8-13
8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.