Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore. About two thousand cubits - This distance they were to keep,
1. For the greater respect, because the presence of the ark was the symbol and pledge of the Divine presence.
2. That the ark, which was to be their pilot over these waters, might be the more conspicuous which it could not have been had the people crowded upon it.