Ver. 13. The waters of Jordan shall be cut off, &c.— "The moment that the priests, bearing the ark, shall set foot in the waters of Jordan, that river shall open a wide passage over against the place where they enter on your right, towards the head or springs of the flood: the course of the waters being suspended, they shall accumulate, and form, as it were, a wall, not a drop being suffered to run down; while, on your left, they shall flow on to the Dead Sea, and thus leave dry a considerable extent of the river's channel."
"With respect to the rivers, (says Dr. Shaw, in his Travels,) the Jordan is not only the most considerable in the Holy Land, but, next to the Nile, is by far the largest I have seen either in the Levant or Barbary. I could not, however, compute it to be more than thirty yards broad; but this is made up by its depth, which even at the brink I found to be nine feet. If then we take this, during the whole year, for the mean depth of the stream, which runs about two miles an hour, the Jordan will daily discharge into the Dead Sea about 6,090,000 tuns of water. Such a quantity of water daily received without increasing the limits of that sea or lake, has made some conjecture, that it is absorbed by the burning sands; and others, that it is carried off through subterraneous cavities; or that it has a communication with the Serbonic Lake. But if the Dead Sea is, according to the general computation, 72 miles long, and 18 broad, by allowing, according to Mr. Halley's observation, 6914 tons of vapour for every square mile, there will be daily drawn up in clouds to refresh the earth with rain or dew 8,960,000 tons, which is near one third more than is brought into it by this river."
"As to the bitumen for which this lake has been always remarkable, I was told, that it is raised at certain times from the bottom in large hemispheres, which, on their touching the surface, and being acted on by the external air, burst with great smoke and noise, and disperse themselves in a thousand pieces. This, however, only happens near the shore; for in greater depths the eruptions are supposed to discover themselves only in the columns of smoke that are sometimes observed to arise from the lake. This bitumen is probably accompanied, on its rising, with sulphur; as both are found promiscuously on the shore. The latter exactly resembles common native sulphur; and the former is brittle, yielding, upon friction, or being set on fire, a fetid smell; it is also as black as jet, and exactly of the same shining appearance."
REFLECTIONS.—God, being now about to bring his people into the land of promise under their new general, is pleased,
1. To put a mark of distinguished honour upon him, by speaking to him from the mercy-seat, before the ark was removed; assuring him publicly of his presence with him at the banks of Jordan, as distinguishably as it had been with Moses at the Red Sea; and the priests themselves are to be under his direction, and receive their orders from him. Note; (1.) Those who honour God, he will honour. (2.) It was at Bethabara, the place where Joshua passed, that Jesus was baptized, and entered upon his ministry of bringing God's Israel to their rest in glory. (3.) It is the duty of magistrates to stir up ministers to their work, as it should be their delight to be ready to execute every plan proposed for the good of immortal souls.
2. Joshua communicates to the people God's design of dividing the waters of Jordan, and, from such a miraculous instance of God's favour to them, infers the certain victory which they should gain over all their enemies. He, who went before them down into Jordan, would go up before them utterly to expel the nations of Canaan; and when they had seen with their eyes the waters dried up, they might no more doubt their possessing the land whither they were thus led. Note; The wondrous preservations and the repeated mercies that every believer is daily receiving from God, should be improved as a comfortable ground of confidence in futurity. He who leads us through the dangers of to-day will preserve us amid the trials of to-morrow; and as we have found him our support in life, we shall also find him our strength and comfort in death.