For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.
The priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan. This position was well calculated to animate the people, who, with their wives and children placed in the center, 'as if being afraid for them lest they should be borne away by the stream' (Josephus, 'Antiquities,' b. 5:, ch. 1, sec. 3), probably crossed below the ark, as well as to facilitate Joshua's execution of the minutest instructions respecting the passage (Numbers 27:21-23). The unfaltering confidence of the priests contrasts strikingly with the conduct of the people who "hasted and passed over." Their faith, like that of many of Gods people, was, through the weakness of nature, blended with fears. But perhaps their 'haste' may be viewed in a more favourable light, as indicating the alacrity of their obedience; or it might have been enjoined, in order that the whole multitude might pass in one day.