JOSHUA - CHAPTER 4
After the Israelites Crossed the Jordan
v1 When all the Israelites had crossed the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua. v2 ‘Choose 12 men from the people. Choose one from each tribe’, he said. v3 ‘Tell them to take up 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan. Take them from where the priests are standing. Carry the stones over with you. Put them down where you stay tonight.’
v4 So Joshua called the 12 men that he had chosen. There was one from each Israelite tribe. v5 He said to them, ‘Go back into the river where of the ark of the Lord is. Each of you must pick up a stone and put it on his shoulder. There will be one stone for each of the tribes of Israel. v6 This will be like a special sign for you. In future years, your children will ask you, "What do these stones mean?" v7 Then you will tell them that the waters of the river Jordan stopped. That was while the ark of God’s promise went across the river. These stones will help the Israelites to remember this always.’
v8 So the 12 men obeyed Joshua. They took 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan, as the Lord had told Joshua. There was one stone for each tribe of Israel. They carried the stones to the place where the people had put their tents. And they put the stones down. v9 Joshua set up the 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan, where the priests with the ark had stood. (The stones are still there.) v10 The priests stood in the middle of the Jordan. Then the people did everything as the Lord had told Joshua. The Lord had spoken to Joshua as he had spoken to Moses.
The people crossed the river quickly. v11 As soon as everybody was on the other side, the priests took the ark to the other side, too. The people saw them.
Commentary
Verses 2, 4, 8
Joshua chose 12 men. He chose one from each of the tribes of Israel. They acted for all the Israelites. It was as if all of them were helping.
Verses 3, 5-9
The men took 12 stones from the middle of the river Jordan. Joshua built a monument with the stones. It would always remind the Israelites about what God had done for them. The Passover reminds Israelites that God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. They remember this every year (Exodus 12:26, 27). The Passover reminded the Israelites that they had come out of Egypt. The pile of stones reminded them that they had come into the promised land. We need to remind ourselves about what God has done for us. We do this when we take Communion (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
Two monuments that the Israelites built. They built the second one in the middle of the river Jordan to show that the old life was finished. The journey through the desert had ended. They had entered the promised land. The past was behind them.
The Tribes
v12 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the people. They were ready to fight, as Moses had told them. v13 About 40,000 men who were ready to fight crossed to the flat land near Jericho. v14 This is what the Lord did that day. It made all the people think that Joshua was a great man. They gave him honour all his life, as they had given honour to Moses.
Joshua Spoke to the Priests
v15 Then the Lord spoke again to Joshua. v16 ‘Tell the priests that are carrying the ark to come up out of the Jordan.’v17 So Joshua said to the priests, ‘Come up out of the Jordan.’ v18 And the priests came up out of the river. They were carrying the ark of the Lord. As soon as their feet touched the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan began to return. There was much water and it moved fast.
v19 The people went from the Jordan and put their tents at Gilgal. It was the 10th day of the first month. Gilgal was a city on the east side of Jericho. v20 At Gilgal, Joshua put the 12 stones that they had taken out of the Jordan. v21 He said to the Israelites, ‘Your children will ask, in later years, "What do these stones mean?" v22 Then you must tell them, "Israel went across the river Jordan on dry ground." v23 The Lord your God made the river dry up as he made the Red Sea dry up. He dried the Sea. Then the people could cross it when they left Egypt. v24 He did this to show all the nations in the world how powerful he was. He did it so that you would always fear the Lord, your God.”’
Commentary
Verse 14
Moses had helped the Israelites to escape from Egypt. The Israelites had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground (Exodus 14). The Israelites thought that Moses was a great man. Now Joshua had done something similar. The Israelites crossed the river Jordan on dry ground. The Israelites now thought that Joshua was a great man.
Verse 15-24
God completed the miracle. The river started to flow again. This happened when the priests walked out of the dry river.
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