Joshua 3:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 8. When ye are come to the brink, &c.— The Hebrew is, so soon as ye are come to the extremity of the water: by which we are certainly to understand the eastern limit of the river, whose waters were now out beyond the banks; just as if Joshua had said to the priests, "Without waiting till you are entered into the common bed of Jordan, as soon as your feet are wetted with its waters, stop, and there rest, till you see what the divine power will effect." Some able interpreters understand here, by the extremity of the water, the western bank of the river; supposing, that the priests had order to cross the river immediately, without stopping till they came to the other side of the land: while others conjecture, that the priests remained upon the eastern bank of the Jordan till all the people were gone over. We prefer, however, the opinion of those, who say, that the priests, having first wetted their feet in the waters of the Jordan, stopped there some time, till, one part of the waters having run off, they advanced into the middle of the channel, and did not go from thence till the whole people had passed over. This explanation seems to be the most simple, and the best adapted to the words of this verse, compared with those of ver. 15.