Some Grammar help :-)

Carmen Gauvin-O'Donnell

As I'm 58, my grammar lessons of grade 3 and 4 are Far Far Away 

I'm in Joshua 4, and randomly curious about the the following sentence: "The sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle formation before the sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them;"

I'm trying to figure this out for myself before checking resources. Does it mean...

1. The battle formation crossed the Jordan before Israel crossed the Jordan (i.e. ahead of them), OR

2. Israel crossed the Jordan and then the battle formation crossed "before them" in the sense of going past Israel while Israel watched.

I'm sort of assuming #2 just because of the order in the text, but you never know, see?

How could I use Logos to figure this out?

THANKS! 

Joseph Sollenberger

Hmmm, in military order of battle situations, I always understood "before" as ahead of X in line of battle.

--Solly

NB.Mick

Carmen Gauvin-O'Donnell said:

I'm in Joshua 4, and randomly curious about the the following sentence: "The sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle formation before the sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them;"

I'm trying to figure this out for myself before checking resources. Does it mean...

1. The battle formation crossed the Jordan before Israel crossed the Jordan (i.e. ahead of them), OR

2. Israel crossed the Jordan and then the battle formation crossed "before them" in the sense of going past Israel while Israel watched.

Other English and German translations I have looked up use wording that to me makes clear they understand option 1. (such as "in front of", "in the vanguard")