Before the Lord; either,
1. Sincerely and heartily, as in God's presence. Or rather,
2. Before the ark, which was the token of God's presence. He alludes either to the order of the tribes in their march, whereby Reuben and Gad marched next and immediately before the ark, as appears from Numbers 2:10,14,16,17; or to the manner of their passage over Jordan, wherein the ark went first into Jordan, and stood there whilst all the tribes marched over Jordan by and before it, Jos 3 Jos 5, and these amongst the rest, as is expressly noted in these very words, that they passed over before the Lord, Joshua 4:13.