Today's lesson narrates the events which finally brought the wandering Israelites into the Promised Land. When the people completed this final stage of their journey from Shittim to Gilgal the Abrahamic promise is at last fulfilled. As befitted such a momentous occasion in the history of Israel, the first steps into Canaan are carefully orchestrated and ritualistically precise.

Furthermore, the symbolic "crossing over" marks the first real demonstration of Joshua's divinely anointed leadership since Moses' death. It is under Joshua's exacting directions that the Jordan crossing is executed. Speaking under Yahweh's authority, Joshua commands the people on every nuance affecting this climactic moment.

Joshua organizes the ranks, orders ritualistic sanctification, oversees the movement of t…