Ver. 5. And Joshua said unto the people— He also spake to the people the night before their passage over the Jordan; and as the matter was important, it is very evident that he went himself from tribe to tribe to give the orders in question.
Sanctify yourselves— Though the sacred historian does not say in what this sanctification was to consist, there is scarcely room to doubt that it was in the same things as God had already required on similar occasions; Genesis 35:2. Exodus 19:10-11.Numbers 9:18. But to these purifications we are to add the purification of the mind and heart, of which the former were but symbols and assistants. The essential point was, to prepare themselves, by recollection and prayer, to behold the marvellous effects of the divine power with becoming respect, fear, gratitude, confidence, and devotion; without which, in vain had the Israelites washed their clothes, and shunned all kinds of corporeal impurities: so that there is no doubt that the purification of the soul was what Joshua principally required of them.