AMALEKITES Palestine in the Negeb.
JOSHUA—NOTE ON 3:8 stand . . . in the Jordan. The priests were to stand there to permit time for God's words (v. 9) to stimulate reflection on the greatness of God's eminent action in giving the land as he showed his presence (v. 10). Also, it was a preparation to allow the people following to get set for God's miracle, which stopped the waters for a crossing (vv. 13–17).
JOSHUA—NOTE ON 3:10 Canaanite people to be killed or defeated were sinful to the point of extreme (cf. Gen. 15:16; Lev. 18:24–25). God, as moral judge, has the right to deal with all people, as at the end (Rev. 20:11–15) or any other time when he deems it appropriate for his purposes. The question is not why God chose to destroy these sinners, but why he had let them live so long, and why all sinners are not destroyed far sooner than they are. It is grace that allows any sinner to draw one more breath of life (cf. Gen. 2:17; Ezek. 18:20; Rom. 6:23).
JOSHUA—NOTE ON 3:16 rose up in a heap. The God of all power, who created heaven, earth, and all else according to Gen. 1, worked miracles here. The waters were dammed up at Adam, a city 15 miles north of the crossing, and also in tributary creeks. Once the miracle was completed, God permitted waters to flow again (Josh. 4:18) after all the people had walked to the other side on dry ground (3:17). As the exodus had begun (cf. Ex. 14), so it ended.
JOSHUA—NOTE ON 4:1–8 Twelve stones picked up from the riverbed became a memorial to God's faithfulness. They were set up at Gilgal (about 1.25 miles from Jericho), which was Israel's first campsite in the invaded land (vv. 19–20). Placing 12 stones in the riverbed itself commemorated the place that God dried up, where his ark had been held, and where he showed by a miracle his mighty presence and worthiness of respect (vv. 9–11, 21–24).
The Peoples around the Promised Land
The Peoples Around the Promised Land (cf. Ex. 34:10–17; Deut. 20:17; Josh. 3:10; 9:1; 24:11) 1. AMALEKITES
The descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau (Gen. 36:12), who dwelt south of Palestine in the Negeb. 2. AMMONITES
The descendants of Ammon, the grandson of Lot by his youngest daughter (Gen. 19:38), who lived east of the Jordan River and north of Moab.
3. AMORITES A general term for the inhabitants of the land, but especially for the descendants of Canaan who inhabited the hill country on both sides of the Jordan. 4. CANAANITES
Broadly speaking, these are the descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah (cf. Gen. 10:15–18), and included many of the other groups named here.