Commentary on the Book of Joshua John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON JOSHUA
dumb, 53 was the best of heralds, proclaiming with a loud voice that heaven and earth are subject to the God of Israel.
Joshua 4:19-24
19. And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.
19. Populus autem ascendit e Jordane decima die primi mensis, et castramentati sunt in Gilgal ad plagam orientalem Jericho.
20. And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.
20. Ac duodecim lapides quos tulerant ex Jordane statuit Josue in Gilgal.
21. And he spoke unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?
21. Et loquutus est ad filios Israel, dicendo: Quum interrogaverint cras filii vestri patres suos dicendo, Quid lapides isti?
22. Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
22. Indicabitis filiis vestris dicendo, Per aridam transivit Israel Jordanem istum: Calvin, still adhering to the view that part of the plain beyond the immediate bank was overflowed, seems to think that the priests, after climbing up the steep bank, continued to walk for some time among the shallow water. The other view which supposes that the banks were only filled and not overflowed, besides being more in accordance with the original, as was formerly shown, appears to derive additional confirmation from the language here used. It is said the waters returned the moment the priests touched the dry ground with the soles of their feet; in other words, so long as they were climbing up the steep bank, and, of course, had no firm footing, the heap of waters continued, but it was immediately dissolved as soon as they could set down their foot firmly in consequence of having reached the flat. — Ed.
"Dumb." Latin, "mutus." French, "une creature insensible et sans voix;" "An inanimate creature without voice." — Ed.