And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’” – Joshua 3:7-8
Adolph Harstad writes:
What is the LORD’s aim in performing a miracle at the Jordan? The immediate answer would seem to be to transport His people into the Promised Land. But that aim He could fulfill in some les spectacular way – with a human engineering project involving ropes, rafts, or boats. The LORD, as the text explicitly states, has planned an awesome act at the river for several father-reaching purposes. The first is revealed in 3:7 and the last is made explicit at the very end of the account of the two chapters: according to 4:22-24, the miracle shows all peoples that the God of Israel is the only God who is strong to save.
The LORD Himself state[s] the first immediate aim of His miracle to being to exalt Joshua in the eyes of all Israel. The author will present this aim as fulfilled in 4:14. The LORD Himself will see to it that Joshua receives the honor due his divinely given ministerial office and the respect necessary for governing the covenant nation at this critical time of the conquest of the Land of Promise. After this special day no one in “all Israel” will be able to accuse Joshua of usurping the office left vacant by Moses’ death. The nation will experience something from the LORD that will magnify Joshua in their eyes.
MEMORY WORK – Shorter Catechism Q/A 13
Q. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
A. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.