Joshua 3:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 3:7
And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Joshua
יְהוֹשֻׁ֔עַye.ho.Shu.a'
H3091
Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua) · proper noun, a man's name
day
הַיּ֣וֹםhai.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
begin
אָחֵל֙'a.Chel
H2490
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
magnify
גַּדֶּלְךָ֔ga.del.Kha
H1431
to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · verb, piel infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
sight
בְּעֵינֵ֖יbe.'ei.Nei
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
know
יֵֽדְע֔וּןye.de.'Un
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
Moses
מֹשֶׁ֖הmo.Sheh
H4872
Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Joshua 4:14 On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.
Joshua 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail…
1 Chronicles 29:25 And the LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king…
2 Chronicles 1:1 And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.
Psalms 18:35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
Philippians 2:9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Joshua 1:17 According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.
Job 7:17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 3:7-13
We may observe here how God honours Joshua, and by this wondrous work he is about to do designs to make Israel know that he is their governor, and then how Joshua honours God and endeavours by it to make Israel know that he is their God. Thus those that honour God he will honour, and those whom he has advanced should do what they can in their places to exalt him.
I. God speaks to Joshua to put honour upon him, v. 7, 8. 1. It was a great honour God id him that he spoke to him as he had done to Moses from off the mercy-seat, before the priests removed it with the ark. This would make Joshua easy in himself and great among the people, that God was pleased to speak so familiarly to him. 2. that…
THE LORD ENCOURAGES JOSHUA. (Jos 3:7-8)
the Lord said to Joshua, This day will I . . . magnify thee in the sight of all Israel--Joshua had already received distinguished honors (Exo 24:13; Deu 31:7). But a higher token of the divine favor was now to be publicly bestowed on him, and evidence given in the same unmistakable manner that his mission and authority were from God as was that of Moses (Exo 14:31).
Adam Clarke on Joshua 3:7
This day will I begin to magnify thee - By making him the instrument in this miraculous passage, he did him honor and gave him high credit in the sight of the people: hence his authority was established, and obedience to him as their leader fully secured. What must have confirmed this authority was, his circumstantially foretelling how the waters should be cut off as soon as the feet of the priests had touched them, Jos 3:13. This demonstrated that the secret of the Lord was with him.
John Gill on Joshua 3:7
And the Lord said unto Joshua,.... Out of the tabernacle:
this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel; by working the miracle afterwards related; dividing the waters, which was done on this day, and was but the beginning of wonders; for other great and marvellous things were done for him and by him, by which it appeared he was high in the favour of God, greatly esteemed and honoured by him, and so would be great and honourable in the account of the people:
that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee; by dividing the waters of Jordan for him, as he had divided the waters of the Red sea for Moses; which, as it was a token of his powerful presence…
The Church Fathers
And he commands the priests to go before the people with the ark of the covenant. It is then, too, that the mystery of the dispensation of the Father with the Son is manifested, since the Son is highly exalted by him who grants "that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."These matters are revealed through the following words which have been recorded in the book of Joshua: "And the Lord said to Jesus [Joshua], 'In this day I will begin to exalt you before the sons of Israel.' " We must also hear our Lord Jesus saying to the sons of Israel, "Come here and hear the Word of the Lord our God. In this you shall know that the living God is among you." For by being baptized into Jesus we will know that the living God is among us.
How great were the things done before! The Red Sea was crossed on foot, manna was given from heaven, fountains were broken open in the wilderness, the law was given through Moses, many signs and wonders were done in the wilderness, and nowhere is Jesus said to be "exalted." But where the Jordan is crossed, there it is said to Jesus: "on this day I begin to exalt you in the sight of the people." For Jesus is not "exalted" before the mystery of baptism, but his exaltation and "exaltation in the sight of the people" takes its beginning from there. For if "all who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized into his death," and the death of Jesus is fulfilled in the exaltation of the cross, then rightly for each of the faithful Jesus is first "exalted" then, when one arrives at the mystery of baptism, because thus also it is written that "God exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things heavenly and earthly and infernal."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jordan, The River · Passage of Israel over: In an appointed order — Passage of Israel over: In an appointed order
Joshua · .Divinely inspired — .Divinely inspired
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Joshua 3:1-13
1. And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
1. Surrexit autem Josue summo mane, et profecti sunt e Sittim, venerantque usque ad Jordanem ipse et omnes filii Israel, pernoctaveruntque illic antequam transirent.
2. And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;
2. Et fuit a fine trium dierum, ut praefecti transirent per medium castrorum.
3. And they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove from your place, and g…
Commencement of the Crossing. - First of all (in Jos 3:7 and Jos 3:8), the revelation made by God to Joshua, that He would begin this day to make him great, i.e., to glorify him before the Israelites, and the command to the priests who bore the ark of the covenant to stand still in the river, when they came to the water of the Jordan; then (Jos 3:9-13) the publication of this promise and command to the people; and lastly (Jos 3:14-17), the carrying out of the command. אחל, I will begin to make thee great. The miraculous guidance of the people through the Jordan was only the beginning of the whole series of miracles by which the Lord put His people in possession of the promised land, and glor…
To reassure the people that he had not brought them this far to abandon them, God made Joshua a great leader like Moses.
Rashi on Joshua 3:6
And Yehoshua said to the Kohanim. He said this on the next day.
Carry the Ark of the Covenant. Until now it was carried by the Levites, but today it was to be carried by the Kohanim.
