ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tu’apulelulu Sepitema 23, 2021

that they may know that …I will be with you

koe‘uhi ke nau ‘ilo…‘e pehē ‘eku ‘iate koe

Siosiua 3 (Joshua 3)

(v. 7-8) Pea folofola ‘a Sihova kia Siosiua, Ko e ‘aho ni te u kamata ke hākeaki‘i koe ‘i he ‘ao ‘o ‘Isileli kātoa, koe‘uhi ke nau ‘ilo, hangē na‘a ku ‘ia Mōsese, ‘e pehē ‘eku ‘iate koe. Pea te ke tu‘utu‘uni ki he kau taula‘eiki ‘oku ha‘amo ‘a e ‘A‘ake ‘o e Kovinānite, ‘o pehē, Ka mou ka a‘u ki he ngutuvai ‘o Soatani, te mou tu‘u ma‘u pē ‘i Soatani.

(v. 7-8) The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”

* G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible*

The first movement in the actual advance of the people into the land was of such a nature as to impress them with e truth of their positive relation to God. There was nothing in this first advance calculated to give them any cause for personal glorying. They came on to the actual soil of Canaan not by deflecting the course of the intervening river nor by bridging it, but by direct divine intervention. Divine power arrested the rushing river and made a highway for them to the other side.

The method of the divine procedure was intended to magnify Joshua in the sight of Israel by demonstrating to them that God was indeed with him as He had been with Moses.

While the act was wholly God's, was performed on the fulfillment of certain conditions by the people. Charged so to do by Joshua, they sanctified themselves and thus made possible the action of God. Moreover, they moved in obedience to His command, setting themselves in array, with the priests leading before the parting of the waters.

The crossing of the Jordan was connected with the center of their life, the divine Presence, which was made evident by the pause of the priests and the Ark in the midst of the river bed while the hosts marched past them into possession.

 

David Guzik :: Study Guide for Joshua 3

This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel: As Joshua takes a step of faith, God encourages him all the way.  God always wants to encourage and help along our faith, but we may have our ears closed to His encouragement.

That they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you: God will make Joshua a leader like Moses in the eyes of the people, and He will do it by using Joshua to miraculously lead the people across an impossible body of water.

After Joshua had obeyed the previous guidance, based on faith and his understanding of God's word, now God gives him more specific instructions: when you have come to the edge of the water … you shall stand in the Jordan.