Joshua 3

Ark of the covenant

And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Joshua 3:3–4

The people must follow the ark to know a way they have never walked. The ark stood for the Lord's presence and carried the mercy seat, so following it is a picture of following Christ, who alone knows and is the way home.

How we know: a traditional type, cited

Jehovah

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. Joshua 3:7

Jehovah, the premortal Christ, speaks and promises to magnify Joshua as He magnified Moses, so that Israel will follow their new leader with the same trust.

How we know: the verse itself names Him · another scripture interprets it of Him · a footnote points to Him

• fulfilled by Joshua 4:14 — 'On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel.'

Lord of all the earth

Lord of all the earth — sovereign over every land and people

And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Joshua 3:10–13

Jehovah is called 'the living God' and twice 'the LORD of all the earth' as He goes before Israel through the river. The risen Jesus used that very title of Himself when He came to the Nephites: 'I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth.'

How we know: Jehovah is the premortal Christ (Abraham 1:16; D&C 110:3–4) · the verse itself names Him · another scripture interprets it of Him · a footnote points to Him

• the same title in 3 Nephi 11:14 — The resurrected Christ: 'I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth.'
• the same title in Micah 4:13 — 'the Lord of the whole earth.'

Ark of the covenant — the crossing of Jordan

And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) Joshua 3:15–17

With the Lord's ark standing in the middle of the river, Israel passes through the waters into a new life in the promised land. Christians have long read that crossing as a figure of baptism; the Lord Himself was later baptized in this same Jordan.

How we know: a traditional type, cited · a footnote points to Him

• the same event in Joshua 4:18 — The waters return as soon as the priests bearing the ark come up out of Jordan.