But Jesus [Joshua], son of Nave [Nun], was a type of him in many things; for when he began to rule the people, he began from the Jordan; thence also did Christ begin to preach the gospel after he was baptized.^[1] The son of Nave [Nun] appoints the twelve to divide the inheritance;^[2] and Jesus sends forth the twelve apostles, heralds of truth, into the whole world.^[3] He who was the type saved Rahab, the harlot, who had believed;^[4] the true Jesus . . . says, Behold: the publicans and the harlots are entering the kingdom of God before you.^[5] With but a shout, the walls of Jericho collapsed in the time of the type;^[6] and because of these words of Jesus, There will not be left here one stone upon another,^[7] the temple of the Jews just opposite us is fallen; not that this sentence was the cause of its ruin, but rather the sin of the transgressors.

Finally, see what is said: Let the people be at a distance from the ark of the covenant, it says, by two thousand cubits. The priests and the Levites, however, are very near, and near enough so that the ark of the Lord and the divine law are carried on their own shoulders. Blessed are those who deserve to be very close to God. But remember that it is written, Those who draw near to me, draw near to fire.^[1] If you are gold and silver and have drawn near to the fire, you will shine forth more splendid and glowing because of the fire. But if you are conscious of building wood, hay and stubble^[2] upon the foundation of your faith, and you approach the fire with such building, you will be consumed. Blessed, therefore, are those who are very near, who are so very near that the fire illumines and does not burn them. Nevertheless, even Israel will be saved; but it will be saved from far away, and it makes its journey not by its own power but by the support and foresight of the priests.

It is the ark of the covenant of the Lord in which the tablets of the law written by the hand of God are preserved. And everyone who is truly Israel^[1] proceeds around this ark of the covenant and is not far from it; but the Levites and the priests even carry it on their shoulders.

For indeed whoever lives by a priestly religion and by holiness are themselves truly the priests and Levites of the Lord. It is not just those who seem to sit in the priestly assembly, but even more those who behave in a priestly manner. Their portion is the Lord, and they do not possess any portion on the earth. They carry the law of God on their shoulders, namely, by doing and accomplishing through their work those things that are written in the law. HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.5.^[2]

Jesus [Joshua], who succeeded Moses, was a type of Jesus the Christ who succeeded the dispensation through the law with the gospel proclamation. This is why, although they are all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, their baptism has a bitter and briny element, for they still fear their enemies and cry out to the Lord and to Moses, saying, Did you bring us out to die in the wilderness because there were no graves in Egypt? Why did you do this to us, having brought us out of Egypt?^[3]

But baptism into Jesus in the truly sweet and fresh river has many elements superior to that baptism, since the religion has by this time been clarified and received a proper order. The ark of the covenant of the Lord our God and the priests and Levites lead the way; the people follow the servants of God, which means that they follow those who are capable of understanding the commandment about purity. Jesus [Joshua] says to the people, Purify yourselves tomorrow; the Lord will do wonders among us.

What great things were manifested before! The Red Sea was crossed on foot, manna was given from heaven, springs were burst open in the wilderness, the law was given through Moses. Many signs and marvels were performed in the wilderness, but nowhere is it said that Jesus [Joshua] was exalted. But where the Jordan is crossed, there it is said to Jesus [Joshua], In this day I am beginning to exalt you in the sight of the people. Indeed, Jesus is not exalted before the mystery of baptism. But his exaltation, even his exaltation in the sight of the people, assumes a beginning from then on. If all who are baptized [into Christ Jesus] are baptized into his death,^[1] and the death of Jesus is made complete by the exaltation of the cross, deservedly then, Jesus is first exalted for each of the faithful when that person arrives at the mystery of baptism. Because thus it is written that God exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth, and below the earth.^[2] HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 4.2.^[3]

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.

Then there are the deeds of Joshua, who was marked out with Christ’s name; under his guidance the Jordan kept its stream stationary and its waters still as it recoiled from the countenance of the divine ark. A strange power divided the river. One section came to a halt, its stream flowing back, while another section hastened in its gliding course to the sea, leaving the river bed exposed. Where the current surged strongly from its source, it held back and piled high its waves, so that a threatening mountain of water hung poised in quivering formation and looked down to see human feet passing across the dry, deep bed, and grimy soles hastening over the congealed mud, dry-footed in mid-river.

Joshua son of Nun made the Jordan River stop, but only as long as the ark was in the water. As soon as the people had crossed to the other side and the ark had come through, he gave the river back its usual flow again. The bottom of the deep in the Red Sea was denuded of water when the sea was driven back to either side by the Spirit, but the duration of the marvel was the passage of the army through the deep on the dry strip. But after that the surface of the sea became one again, and the temporary gap was flooded over.^[1] So this remains a unique event which occurred in such a way that the marvel did not lose credibility because of the passage of time, since it continues to be testified to by visible traces.