The interpretation timeline

Josh 4:10

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 1 Catholic · 1 Reformed

Josh 4:10 · Douay-Rheims
“Now the priests that carried the ark, stood in the midst of the Jordan till all things were accomplished which the Lord had commanded Josue to speak to the people, and Moses had said to him. And the people made haste and passed over.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
254
A.D.
Origen Patristic
c. A.D. 184–253
“It seems to me the words "the people hastened to cross" were not added idly by the Holy Spirit. For this reason, I also think that when we come to baptism for salvation and receive the sacraments of the Word of God, we should not do it idly or negligently, but we should hurriedly press on all the way until we cross over everything.For to cross over everything is to accomplish all the things that are commanded. Therefore let us hasten to cross, that is, to fulfill at the beginning, what is written: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Then, when we have set aside all arrogance and taken up the humility of Christ, we may deserve to attain the blessed promise. Yet even when we have accomplished this, we must not stand still or loiter but cross over the other things that follow, so that "we may hunger and thirst after righteousness." We must also cross over that which follows so that in this world "we may mourn." Then we must quickly cross the remaining things so that we may be made "meek" and remain "peaceable" and thus be able to hear as "sons of God." Also we must hasten so that we may pass through the burden of persecution with the virtue of patience. Whenever we seek earnestly and swiftly—not slowly and languidly—those individual things that pertain to the glory of virtue, this, it seems to me, is "to cross over the Jordan with haste."”
Source
1,595 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“To him. Moses had been dead forty days. But it seems this miraculous division of the Jordan had been revealed to him, and he had cautioned Josue to let slip no opportunity of attaching the people to God’s service, by erecting monuments of religion, as he did on this occasion. (Calmet) — Haste. Though they were assured by the divine promise, they experienced a certain fear. (Salien) — Even the most constant are liable to such impressions. (Matthew xiv. 30.)”
Source
1871
A.D.
1871
“THE PEOPLE PASS OVER. (Jos 4:10-13) the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan--This position was well calculated to animate the people, who probably crossed below the ark, as well as to facilitate Joshua's execution of the minutest instructions respecting the passage (Num 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 God's people, was, through the weakness of nature, blended with fears. But perhaps their "haste" may be viewed in a more favorable light, as indicating the alacrity of their obedience, or it might have been enjoined in order that the the whole multitude might pass in one day.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.