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a Perizzite, separating, or disseminating. b Gergesite, apply the husbandman, like the husbandman of the congregation, or a stranger approaching. c Amorite, bitter, or speaking. d Jebusite, treading down, or the heel of them. e Caphesis is filled, the Seventy. As in the days of the wheat harvest. This seems incredible to our regions, where (if the heat prevents it, as they know) in the beginning of spring there is the wheat harvest; then that river overflows and fills more through the winter.
f The waters stood descending, etc. Adam. I judge it not written without a mystical reason that part of the waters of the Jordan sinks into the sea and flows into bitterness, but part persists in sweetness. If all who are baptized guarded the sweetness of celestial grace, no one would turn into the bitterness of sins. But often, having received baptism, they return to secular things, and drink the cup of the salt of avarice, and perish in the salt sea of flowing currents. That part, however, which remains in stability and is kept in sweetness, signifies those who firmly hold the gift of God received. And rightly there is one part of those who are saved, because there is one bread which descends from heaven, one faith and one baptism, and one Spirit who purifies all in baptism, and one God over all. John 6e Ephesians 4a
g The priests and Levites, etc. The same priestly and Levitical order assists the ark of the Lord, in which the law of God is carried. For they are those who illuminate the people, etc. The same one. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths. This light is kindled through the priests and Levites. The people, he says, should be far from the ark of the covenant of the Lord, two thousand cubits. But the priests and Levites are first; and so first that it is carried on their shoulders. Blessed are they who merit to be near to God. But it is written: They who approach me, approach the fire. If you are silver and approach the fire, you will shine more brightly. If you have built upon it wood, hay, stubble, you will be consumed. Blessed are they who are first, so that the fire may illuminate them, not burn them. For Israel will be saved, but, placed far off, it makes the journey, not by its own virtue, but in the ministry of the priests. Psalm 118a 1 Corinthians 3c
Nicholas of Lyra
a Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord, etc. At whose approach the waters were dried up, as is expressed later. b Prepare twelve men, namely, to carry twelve stones from the bed of the Jordan from the dried-up part, as is expressed in the beginning of the next chapter.
c And when they have placed the soles of their feet, etc. Here the manner of the drying up of the bed of the Jordan is expressed, and the letter is clear. d Therefore they departed. Here the crossing is subsequently described and the completion of the sign, and the letter is clear until there: e But the Jordan had filled the banks of its bed in the time of harvest. It cannot be understood that they were gathering grain commonly, because they crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, as the next chapter has. But the first month of the Hebrews begins from the lunation in the vernal equinox, whether it be before or after. But the time of harvest is so called because in the land of promise, which is warm, in some warmer places some grain approached maturity, and from those a sheaf was gathered which was parched a little, and by friction the grains were shaken out from which the offering was made in the paschal festival, which was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month, as Leviticus 23 has. And besides this, the first month is called the month of new fruits, Exodus 13 and Deuteronomy 16. That which is interposed here concerning the overflowing of the Jordan: this was for the declaration of a greater miracle, the drying of the bed of the Jordan in the crossing of the sons of Israel. Therefore he says: f The waters stood descending, etc. against nature, since they are fluid.
a Perizzite, Gergesite, and Amorite, b and Jebusite. Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will precede you through the Jordan. Prepare twelve men, one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. And when they have placed the soles of their feet, the priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth, in the waters of the Jordan, the waters which are lower will run down and fail, but those which come from above will stand in one heap. Therefore the people went forth from the tabernacles to cross the Jordan, and the priests who carried the ark of the covenant went before them. And when they had entered the Jordan and their feet were dipped in the part of the water, but the Jordan had filled the banks of its bed in the time of harvest, the waters stood, descending in one place, and swelling like a mountain, they appeared far from the city which is called Adam, as far as the place Sarthan. But the lower ones, which descended into the sea of the wilderness, which is now called the Dead [Sea], descended until they altogether failed. The people, however, walked in the middle of the Jordan on dry ground, while the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. All
a because they are taught the priestly magisterium from their own as to cross the Jordan, and two parts to the land of promise. And if anyone is worthy to be ascribed in the divine order, the currents of the Jordan themselves will yield to him, and the elements themselves will fear.
a because a part of those who are baptized keep the sweetness of celestial grace received.
a because a part is converted into the bitterness of sins.
a because he teaches the people from Egypt, that is, from the errors, through the Jordan, and the priests who carry the ark of the covenant, and to cross through the desert, that is, he made a trial.
g But the lower ones, which were in the sea of the wilderness, which is now called the Dead [Sea], descended. That place was a great lake, through which the Jordan river passes. And it is called a sea according to the manner of Hebrew speaking, because every great congregation of waters is called a sea. Whence Genesis 1, where: The congregations of waters he called seas. And in this manner the lake of Gennesaret, through which the Jordan river passes, is called the Sea of Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, as is had in many places in the Gospel. And in the same manner, that lake is called here the Sea of the Wilderness, because it is near the desert of Sin. And the Dead Sea, because no fish can live there, as the Philosopher says in book 3 of the Meteorologica, where he speaks of this lake or pool: both because the waters are so thick that they are almost mud, because of which garments thrown there are more soiled than washed, as he says in the same place; and because they are excessively salty, because of which it is called elsewhere in Scripture the most salt sea. Why it is called the Dead Sea
h Until they altogether failed. From the sight of the sons of Israel. i The people, however, walked against the Jordan. That is, through the Jordan, so that one preposition is put here for another. Or he says: against the Jordan, because the people were approaching the waters of the Jordan coming from above, which stood elevated in the manner of a hill near the crossing of the people. The rest is clear.
Morally
this gospel contains. Because of which it is called the gospel of the kingdom, Matthew 4. The third was manna, by which the spiritual food from the words of the gospel was signified. Because of which John 6: The apostles said to him: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
f The waters stood, etc. Through which the tribulations of the world are signified, Isaiah 8: The Lord will bring upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, etc. Through that which the waters of the Jordan, those coming from above and also the lower ones, did not impede the passage of the ark, it was signified that the tribulations of the world would not impede the carrying of the gospel through the world. Which is evident, because the persecution of the Jews in the primitive church, and afterwards the persecution of tyrants and heretics, did not impede the preaching of the gospel; nor in the future is it to be hoped that they will impede, at least altogether. 1 Corinthians 10: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will make with the temptation a way out, that you may be able to bear it. Through this also it was signified that the crossing of the elect to the homeland would not be impeded by any tribulation whatsoever. By this, however, that the ark dried up the people in the entry of the Jordan and in the exit is secure, it was signified that the preaching of the gospel would bring the Gentiles to baptism, and would preserve those brought to Christ.
Morally
f Concerning the concordances, distinction 2, chapter "revera", about the Jordan, etc.
Decorative initial O containing a figure of a man looking towards a rocky landscape. O That the people crossed the parent bed Chapter 3
Decorative initial Q containing a figure of a person holding what appears to be a large stone or tablet. Q Which having been crossed. Here it is said to be shown what was done in the exit of the Jordan: because twelve stones from the bed of the Jordan were exported and twelve others from the dry land were placed in the bed. In this chapter, therefore, it proceeds thus: because first the command of the Lord is placed, the fulfillment of the command of the second command, there: they did so. Third, the determination of time, there: But the people. Concerning the first it is said: l The Lord said, etc. Choose twelve men. Receive those thus chosen, because by the command of Joshua each tribe had chosen one, as was said in the preceding chapter. And therefore this election is sometimes attributed to Joshua, sometimes to the tribes, because it was done by Joshua authoritatively, and by them executively.
Morally
Twelve
- Morally k Which having been crossed, the Lord said, etc. Here he deals with twelve stones being exported from the bed of the Jordan, and twelve others being placed in it. By the first stones allegorically, the Jewish people are signified, begotten from the twelve sons of Jacob: who were nurtured in the softness of the doctrine of the law and the prophets: but with Christ arriving, they were cast out to obstinacy
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