Twelve Memorial Stones from the Jordan. “Take for yourselves the twelve men [chosen] from among the people, one man from each tribe,

and command them, ‘Pick up for yourselves twelve stones [one each] from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm; carry them over with you and lay them down at the place where you will spend the night tonight.'” Jos 4:2-3

INTRODUCTION

Though there are evident traces of the hand of an editing scribe, probably Ezra, there are many indications that the substance of this book was written while the events were still recent. There is therefore no good reason for doubting that the book in its original form was written by Joshua, as Jewish tradition alleges.

This book is to the Old Testament what the Acts of the Apostles is to the New. The name “Joshua” is equivalent to Jesus, and means “he shall save,” Heb_4:8. The Jericho of the early Church was Jerusalem, which they compassed through ten days of prayer as Israel compassed Jericho in seven days of marching. At Pentecost the walls of prejudice fell flat. Ananias and Sapphira were the Achan of the first days. The victories of the Church at Samaria, Antioch and elsewhere recall the conquests of Joshua. And the failure of the Church to go forward to the conquest of the nations finds a bitter parallel in the story of Israel’s apathy toward driving out the Canaanites.

Possessing the Promised Land

2. The Jordan Crossed; Memorial Stones; Circumcision and the Passover, Jos_3:1-17; Jos_4:1-24; Jos_5:1-15

6. What provision was made for preserving a memorial of the crossing of the Jordan?

Joshua 4:1-24

TWELVE MEMORIAL STONES FROM THE JORDAN

So it was when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,

“Take for yourselves the twelve men [chosen] from among the people, one man from each tribe,

Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe;

and Joshua said to them, “Cross over again to the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel,

so that this may be a sign among you; when your children ask later, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’

then you shall say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall become a memorial for Israel forever.”

So the [twelve men chosen from the] sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, just as the LORD had spoken to Joshua; and they carried them over with them to the place where they were spending the night and put them down there.

Then Joshua set up [a second monument of] twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day.

For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell the people, in accordance with everything that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried and crossed [the dry riverbed];

and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people.

The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed for battle before the [other] sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them;

about 40,000 [men] armed and equipped for war crossed for battle before the LORD to the desert plains of Jericho.

On that day the LORD magnified and exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so they feared him [with profound awe and reverence], just as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.

Now the LORD said to Joshua,

“Order the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.”

JSo Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up out of the Jordan.”

When the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were raised up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and flowed over all its banks as before.

Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month and encamped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.

And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.

He said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’

then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’

For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, just as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed;

so that all the peoples of the earth may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that the hand of the LORD is mighty and extraordinarily powerful, so that you will fear the LORD your God [and obey and worship Him with profound awe and reverence] forever.”

Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
Joshua 4:1-24

THE MEMORIAL STONES

Twelve stones were brought up from the Jordan and erected in Gilgal. They gave fathers the opportunity of telling their children of the miraculous passage of the river. We, too, through our Lord, have passed through the waters of death on to resurrection-ground. Let the great deliverances of God wrought for our fatherland, as well as those wrought for us personally in Christ, be more frequent subjects of family-talk.

Twelve other stones were placed in the river-bed and would be visible when the waters were low. There was an ocular demonstration, therefore, that Israel was really once in these depths. We must not forget the Rock out of which we were hewn, Isa_51:1; 1Co_6:11. Let us never cease to magnify God’s grace, Psa_40:2.

The presence of the Ark alone restrained the piled-up waters. Thus Jesus stands between us and whatever would overwhelm us, especially sin and death, Heb_2:14. Do not, in rejecting Him, reject your only screen.

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TWELVE MEMORIAL STONES FROM THE JORDAN