Charles Ellicott Commentary Joshua 4:16

"Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan." — Joshua 4:16 (ASV)

Command the priests ... that they come up out of Jordan. —Observe that the removal of the priests and the ark of the covenant from their station in Jordan is made the subject of a distinct section and treated as a distinct event. It did not need to be so for the purpose of the mere historical narrative. We might have taken it for granted. But the significance of the event is so marked that it receives a separate notice. We are not permitted to forget by what means Jordan was driven back, and held in check; and the check was not meant to be perpetual. We are reminded that the suspension of the power of death for men has its limits. When the day of grace is over, the waters will return unto their place and flow over all the banks as before. (Isaiah 28:20.)