And it came to pass when the whole nation had completely gone over the Jordan, that Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying,
Israel now stands on Canaan's soil, with the dry riverbed behind them. God's first word to Joshua on the far bank is about memory. He tells him to send twelve men, one from each tribe, back for twelve stones.
God chose the twelve men before the crossing began. He waits until every Israelite is across before He asks for the stones.
Before Israel crossed the Jordan, the LORD had told Joshua to select "twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man" (Joshua 3:12). God intended Israel to give a definite witness to His wonders. So He commanded all the people, through their representatives, to get ready for the action He had planned... By doing this, Israel acknowledged through its representatives what the LORD had done for them. Remember, they did this only when all of them had passed over into Canaan.
The whole nation shares the work, so no tribe holds the memory second-hand.
The whole assembly had to grasp the great fact and carry it out in practice — "from each tribe a man" — "every man of you a stone on his shoulder." Each stone was taken from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. All were to be brought into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact that the waters of the Jordan were cut off. All were to help set up a memorial that would make their children ask what it meant. It was never to be forgotten.
There are two sets of stones here — one left in the river, one carried into the land.
Twelve stones were laid in the Jordan where the priests' feet stood, and twelve stones were taken out of the Jordan. One memorial speaks more of death, since it went into the river. The other speaks of resurrection, since it came out of the waters. They were signs not only of Christ's death and resurrection, but of the people's connection with Christ in it. The life we have from Adam cannot enjoy Canaan. It must go down into death. Beyond the Jordan, only the power of a better life will do. For this very reason there were twelve. It has been suggested that wherever Scripture makes man prominent — wherever it gives him a place of authority — twelve is the number usually used.
The stones are not random rubble. They come from the very spot where the ark stood, and that spot explains what they mean.
They represented the twelve tribes, the people snatched from death by the ark. The ark had stood in the very spot where deliverance was needed. It had held back the waters of the Jordan so that Israel could pass over. The stones became a monument at the very entrance of Canaan. From then on they were a sign always before their eyes and the eyes of their children.
With no way back across the river, Israel sets the stones down at the first night's camp. That camp becomes the ground they keep returning to.
The people are now, as it were, on resurrection ground. The river now behind them cuts them off from retreat. Gilgal is their first camp in Canaan, where the stones are set up; and they return to it constantly after their battles. It is a stronghold no enemy can take, and a base of support. How could they not be strong in the memory of that amazing deliverance! God is for them: who shall be against them? Who shall force them back into that flood through which He has so wonderfully brought them? It would be His dishonour. The stones stay here solidly with their firm assurance: "Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground."
A visible monument makes people ask questions. Mackintosh turns those questions back on the reader.
What a lesson this is for us! Are we setting up our memorial? Are we giving evidence — evidence that might strike even the mind of a child — that our Jesus has defeated the power of death for us?... Do our children see anything in our habits and ways? Anything in our spirit and behaviour, in our whole character and way of life, that leads them to ask, "What do you mean by these things?"
- All over first. God speaks about the memorial only after the whole nation has crossed. The memory rests on a finished deliverance, not a partial one.
- All involved. Twelve men, one per tribe, each with a stone on his shoulder, so every part of the people touches the fact for itself.
- All from one spot. The stones come from where the priests' feet stood firm with the ark. The place that made the crossing possible supplies the monument.
- All that it says. Stones left in the river speak of death, stones carried out speak of resurrection, and the tribes are tied to both.
- All who follow. The stones rest at the first night's camp. That camp becomes Israel's base of strength, and the stones make the children ask what they mean.
Take you twelve men out of the people, one man out of every tribe,
The crossing is over, and God stops the whole nation before it takes another step into the land. He names twelve men, one from each tribe, to lift stones from one exact spot — the riverbed where the priests carrying the ark had stood.
The order comes at a fixed moment. The men do not fetch stones while the nation is still crossing. All Israel already stands in the land.
God intended Israel to bear a clear witness to His wonders. He commanded that all the people, through their representatives, be made ready for the action He had planned... By doing this, Israel acknowledged through their representatives what the Lord had done for them. Remember, they did this when all of them had crossed into Canaan.
The number is not decoration. One writer links the twelve stones lifted out of the river to a second set left in it. He reads the two sets as death and resurrection, with the people joined to Christ in both.
Twelve stones were laid in the Jordan where the priests' feet stood, and twelve stones were taken out of the Jordan. Clearly these were the memorials: one set speaks more of death, since it went down into the river; the other of resurrection, since it came out of the waters. They were the signs not only of Christ's death and resurrection, but of the link between the people and Christ in it... Wherever man is made prominent — wherever Scripture shows him in his place of rule — it has been suggested that twelve is the number usually used.
The stones do not come at random from the riverbed. They come from the exact spot where the ark stood while the water stayed back.
They represented the twelve tribes — the people, snatched from death by the ark. The ark had stood in the very spot where deliverance was needed, and it had held back the waters of Jordan so that Israel could pass over. They became a monument at the very entrance of Canaan, at Gilgal, a place the people always had to come back to. From then on they were to be a sign always before their eyes and the eyes of their children.
Another writer calls the stones a record of where the ark had been. He compares them to the Lord's Supper.
It was the testimony of where the ark had been. I have no doubt that the twelve stones are the memorial. It is like what the Lord's Supper is to us.
One writer takes the picture of a man with a stone on his shoulder and turns it into a question for the reader.
What a lesson is here for us! Are we putting up our memorial? Are we giving evidence — such evidence as may strike even the mind of a child — that our Jesus has defeated the power of death for us?... Is there anything in our daily life that matches the picture in the words, "Every man of you a stone upon his shoulder"?
Two and a half tribes had settled on the far side of the river. God still asked for twelve stones.
True, two and a half tribes had settled on the opposite side of the river, and only nine and a half had entered Canaan proper. Yet twelve stones were still taken from the place where the ark had rested on behalf of all. God did not order nine and a half stones for Canaan and two and a half for the wilderness side of the river, to match what Israel actually held. He commanded the number that spoke of the whole nation... We see the same in Elijah. He bore witness to Israel's oneness even in the days when the nation had turned away from God, for in the very presence of the priests of Baal he built an altar to the Lord of "twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob" (1 Kings 18:31).
The stones were meant to make the next generation ask questions. Their fathers already had the answer.
The children would ask their fathers, "What do you mean by these stones?" The answer was to be an account of the Lord's doings... And Christians may well recount to their children what God has done. Our little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God's word.
- Chosen — twelve men, one from each tribe, so the whole people acknowledged God through their representatives.
- Cut from the spot — the stones came from where the priests' feet stood firm, marking the exact place the ark held back death for the people.
- Carried — every man bore his own stone on his own shoulder; the memorial was personal before it was public.
- Counted — God asked for twelve stones, though only nine and a half tribes settled in the land. His number matched His purpose, not Israel's record.
- Confessed — the monument stood there to draw a child's question and a father's answer about what God had done.
and command them, saying, Take up hence out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging-place where ye shall lodge this night.
The whole nation is now across. God tells Joshua to send twelve men back into the dry riverbed, one from each tribe. Each man lifts a stone from the exact spot where the priests had stood with the ark. Why go back into a place God had just brought them out of? And why leave the stones at that night's camp?
Nothing here is improvised. The plan was in place before Israel stepped into the river. The order to lift the stones comes only when everyone is on the far bank.
Before Israel crossed the Jordan, the LORD had told Joshua to select "twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man" (Joshua 3:12). They stood ready for an action to carry out after they crossed its empty bed. God purposed that Israel should bear a definite witness to His wonders. He commanded that all the people, through their representatives, should be ready for the action He had planned… By doing this, Israel acknowledged through their representatives what the LORD had done for them. Keep in mind that they did this when all of them had passed over into Canaan.
The men could not gather stones at random. They had to lift them from one patch of riverbed — the ground the ark of the covenant held dry.
It was the testimony of where the ark had been. I do not doubt that the twelve stones are the memorial. It is like what the Lord's Supper is to us.
One stone per tribe ties the whole nation to what happened in the river. Kelly reads these stones together with the twelve stones left in the riverbed.
Twelve stones were laid in the Jordan where the priests' feet stood, and twelve stones were taken out of the Jordan. Both sets are clearly memorials. The stones put into the river speak above all of death; the stones taken out of the waters speak of resurrection. They were signs of Christ's death and resurrection. They also showed the people's connection with Christ in it. The Adam life cannot enjoy Canaan, and must go down into death. Beyond the Jordan it must be the power of a better life. That is why there were twelve. Where Scripture gives man a place of responsibility, twelve is the usual number for completeness.
No one was to watch from a distance. The stones passed through the hands of the whole nation.
The whole assembly had to grasp this great fact and act on it — "from each tribe a man" — "take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder" — a stone taken from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. All were to come into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact: the waters of Jordan were cut off. All were to share in setting up a memorial that would make their children ask what it meant. It was never to be forgotten.
The men carry the stones out of the river and set them down on the far side. Life beyond the Jordan begins with a reminder brought up from the place of death.
But suppose the Spirit of God brings us into a life on the other side of death, as those dead and risen in Christ. Then we must keep the remembrance of that death. It delivered us from what lies on this side of it… Death comes with us from the grave of Jesus. It is no longer death: it has become life to us.
That resting place became fixed ground for the nation's faith:
But the monument of this memorable work stands for good on the other side of Jordan. It keeps Israel's faith alive, and the people can see it at any time at the entrance of Canaan. For us the monument is Christ, the object of our faith. He is the Firstborn from the dead, risen and entered into the heavenly places. He represents us there, joining us to Himself, just as He joined Himself to us in death.
The stone had to be carried in public. Mackintosh asks what our own lives put on show.
Are we setting up our memorial? Are we giving evidence that our Jesus has conquered the power of death for us — evidence that may strike even the mind of a child?… Is there anything in our daily life that matches the picture just quoted — "take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder"?
- Place — the stones had to come from one spot only: where the priests' feet stood firm, the ground the ark held dry.
- People — twelve stones for twelve tribes: the whole nation owned what God had done.
- Passage — lifted out of the riverbed and carried across, they mark the move out of death into a life on the far side.
- Permanence — set down at the first night's camp, they stood at the entrance of the land to keep Israel's faith alive.
- Proof — the memorial made children ask what it meant. The test today is whether our daily life still carries the stone on the shoulder.
And Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had appointed of the children of Israel, a man out of every tribe;
The whole nation had just crossed the dry bed of the Jordan, and now God tells Joshua to call out twelve men, one for each tribe, and send them back into the empty channel. Why did God want the crossing marked by human hands at all?
The twelve were not picked on the spur of the moment. Joshua had chosen them already, before the people ever stepped into the river.
Before Israel crossed the Jordan, the Lord had told Joshua to choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe (Joshua 3:12). They were to be ready for something they would do after they crossed its empty bed. God planned that Israel should give a clear witness to His wonders. He commanded that all the people, through their representatives, should be ready for the action He had planned. Keep in mind that they did this when all of them had already passed over into Canaan.
Twelve men meant twelve tribes, and the count carried a message.
These stones proclaimed certain realities. They were taken from the dry bed of the river, so they declared God's power in cutting off the waters before the ark of His covenant. They were twelve in number, one stone for each tribe, so they declared how all Israel had entered into Canaan. They were set up together in Canaan, so they witnessed to Israel's unity in that land.
No one could do this for the people. Each of the twelve had to walk back down, bend, and lift.
The whole assembly had to grasp this great fact and act on it — one man from every tribe, each man with a stone on his shoulder, a stone taken from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. Every one of them was to come into living, personal contact with the great and mysterious fact that the waters of Jordan were cut off.
Commentators see more than history here. They read the crossing as a picture of death and resurrection.
The stones taken out of the water — the place of death — picture Israel brought through death into resurrection life. Every tribe is represented, just as God sees all believers today as raised with Christ (Colossians 3:1).
Another writer traces the same picture back to the ark. It stood in the riverbed while the people walked past.
They represented the twelve tribes, the people, snatched from death by the ark which had stood in the very spot where deliverance was needed, and which had stayed the waters of Jordan so that Israel could pass over. These stones became a monument at the very entrance of Canaan, at Gilgal — a place the people always had to come back to. From then on they were a sign constantly before their own eyes and their children's.
This chapter has two sets of stones, and who handled each one matters. The twelve men carried stones out; Joshua alone set stones down in the riverbed.
As well as the stones set up in the land, Joshua (not the twelve men) set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan (v.9). The water would soon cover them, hiding them from sight. This is a picture, not of our having resurrection life in Christ, but of our having died with Christ. So our past is, as it were, blotted out. It is Christ's death that has done this: we had no part in that work. So it was Joshua who set up these stones. But believers have the privilege of entering into and enjoying the resurrection life we now have in Christ. The stones set up by the twelve men picture that life.
These were two separate acts: "The fact is there are two transactions" (Arno Clemens Gaebelein).
The memorial was meant to raise questions. That makes this story a test of how believers live now.
Are we erecting our memorial? Are we giving evidence that our Jesus has conquered the power of death for us — evidence clear enough to strike even the mind of a child? Are we giving any practical proof in daily life that Christ has died for us, and that we have died in Him?… Do our children see anything in our habits and ways, in our spirit and conduct, in our whole way of life, that leads them to ask, "What do you mean by these things?"
- Prepared — Joshua appointed the twelve before the river opened. God planned this witness in advance.
- Representative — One man per tribe meant no tribe was left out. Every family in Israel had a stone in the monument.
- Personal — Each man carried his own stone on his own shoulder. Every part of the nation touched what God had done.
- Two piles, two truths — The stones the men carried out picture resurrection life we share. The stones Joshua left in the river picture a death that was Christ's work alone.
- Retold — The stones at Gilgal made children ask questions, and parents answered with the story of God's power.
and Joshua said to them, Pass before the ark of Jehovah your God into the midst of the Jordan, and lift up each of you a stone [and put it] upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel,
Israel has just crossed the Jordan on dry ground. Before the nation moves on, Joshua sends twelve men back into the riverbed for twelve stones — one man and one stone for each tribe.
They came from one exact spot: where the ark rested while the nation walked past.
Twelve men, one out of each tribe, were to bring stones from the middle of the Jordan. They took them from the place where the priests' feet stood firm with the ark, while all Israel passed over on dry ground. The Holy Spirit brings with Him, so to speak, the touching memorial of the death of Jesus. By the mighty power of that death He has turned all the effect of the enemy's strength into life, and into deliverance from what could not enter into heavenly things. He has also laid the basis for our having part in them. Death comes with us from the grave of Jesus: no longer now as death, it has become life to us.
Every tribe had a man in the group. Each of the twelve lifted his own stone onto his own shoulder.
The whole assembly was to grasp the great fact and act on it — "from each tribe a man" — "each of you a stone upon his shoulder" — a stone taken from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. Every one of them was to come into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact: the waters of Jordan were cut off. All were to take part in setting up a memorial of this fact. It would make their children ask what it meant. It was never to be forgotten.
No one just looked at the stone. Each man lifted his stone and carried it, and that carrying becomes a picture of Christian life.
The type also teaches what the stones from the depths of the river were for. They were to remind Israel that they had entered the promised land through the ark of the covenant, which stood in the bed of the Jordan for them. God would have His saints always keep in their hearts the remembrance of Christ's death. The believer has died with Christ, and he is also risen with Him. He should always remember what the Lord went through in dying for him. We are risen with Him, and His death has delivered us from our old condition. So let us place our stone from the bed of the river on our shoulders, in the strength God gives and in the power of the Spirit. We are "always carrying in the body the death of Jesus" (2 Cor. 4:10).
Two and a half tribes had settled outside Canaan. The count God gave says more than the facts on the ground.
True, two and a half tribes had settled on the opposite side of the river, and only nine and a half had entered Canaan proper. Yet twelve stones were still taken from the place where, on behalf of all, the ark had rested. God did not order nine and a half stones for Canaan and two and a half for the wilderness side of the river, to match how far Israel had taken possession. He commanded the number that spoke of the whole nation. It was to stand where, in His purpose, undivided Israel inherited and camped.
Joshua set another twelve stones in the riverbed itself, where the water soon covered them. The two piles teach different things.
The twelve stones in Gilgal spoke to Israel's conscience. Another monument stood in the middle of the Jordan, and it spoke seriously to their hearts. Who could see the stones that the overflowing waters had covered? They could only be known to faith… The stones in Gilgal are the monument of our introduction by Christ into our privileges. We enter them only after passing through death with Him. But when I think of the stones in the Jordan, my heart is in communion with Him in death.
The stones were meant to raise a question in the next generation.
The Israelites were to teach their children the meaning of the stones. In the same way, believers should teach their children that the death and resurrection of Christ are the basis of all blessing for His people. We today have a memorial of this great work of God in the Lord's Supper. The word to believers is, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). We too should teach our children what this memorial means.
- Source — Every stone came from the one spot where the ark stood firm. The memorial traces back to Christ's death.
- Shoulder — Each man carried his own stone. The crossing was national; the stone was personal.
- Count — Twelve stones for twelve tribes stood for the whole people, not only the part that had taken possession.
- Camp — The pile at the camp marked entry into the land. The pile hidden in the river marked death shared with Him.
- Children — The stones were there to make the next generation ask. Parents then retell what God did.
that this may be a sign in your midst. When your children ask hereafter, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
The command in this verse turns a pile of river stones into a question waiting to be asked. God plans not only a crossing but a conversation. A child will start it years later, standing in front of a heap of rocks.
God chose the twelve men before Israel set foot in the riverbed. The memorial was His plan, not a grateful afterthought.
Before Israel crossed the Jordan, the Lord had told Joshua to choose "twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man" (Joshua 3:12). They were ready for something they would do after they crossed its empty bed. God meant Israel to give a definite witness to His wonders. So He commanded that all the people, through their representatives, should be ready for the action He had planned.
The sign was for the whole nation. No one in Israel was to stand at a distance from what had happened.
All were to come into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact that the waters of the Jordan were cut off. All were to help set up a memorial of this fact — one that would make their children ask what it meant. It was never to be forgotten.
Three things are packed into the pile at once — where the stones came from, how many there are, and where they now stand.
These stones proclaimed certain realities. They came from the dry bed of the river, so they declared God's power in cutting off the waters before the ark of His covenant. There were twelve of them, one stone for each tribe, so they declared how all Israel had entered into Canaan. They stood together in Canaan, so they were a witness to Israel's unity in that land.
The stones came from the exact spot where the ark had stood, and that is what gives them their meaning.
They stood for the twelve tribes, the people, snatched from death by the ark. The ark had stood in the very place where they needed deliverance, and it had held back the waters of the Jordan so that Israel could pass over. The stones became a monument at the very entrance of Canaan, at Gilgal, a place the people always had to return to. From then on they were a sign always before their eyes and their children's eyes.
Israel's stones looked back to a day of rescue. Christians have a memorial that looks back too.
These stones were a witness for coming generations of what God did that day for His people. We too can look back to the day when Christ entered into death. There is a fitting memorial for that, given by the Lord Himself on the night He was delivered up. And because of His death, it is ours to share His place as risen from the dead.
The verse assumes the children will ask, and it assumes the parents will have an answer ready.
The children of the Israelites were to be taught the meaning of the stones. In the same way, the children of believers should be taught that the death and resurrection of Christ are the basis of all blessing for His people. We today have a memorial of this great work of God in the Lord's Supper, for believers are told, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). Our children too should be taught carefully about the meaning of this memorial.
Grant explains why God had to insist on this.
Why should this be insisted on? Because we naturally tend to forget even such great miracles of God's power and to slip into a lax, careless state. The children had not seen this great miracle. Hearing about it would not impress them much unless they saw that their parents deeply valued this work of God.
Mackintosh turns the verse into a question about daily life at home.
Do our children see anything in our habits and ways, in our spirit and behaviour, in our whole character and way of life, that makes them ask, "What do you mean by these things?" Are we living as those who are dead with Christ — dead to sin — dead to the world?
- Planned. The twelve men were chosen before the crossing; God arranged the witness ahead of the wonder.
- Carried. Every tribe lifted its own stone, so no one stood at a distance from what God had done.
- Placed. The stones stood at Gilgal, the camp Israel kept returning to, always in view.
- Asked. The verse expects a child's question. A child who never saw the miracle is gripped only if the parents treasure it.
- Answered. Israel points to the ark in the riverbed. Christians point to Christ's death and resurrection, remembered in the Lord's Supper and shown in a life children can see.
then ye shall say to them, That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah; when it went through the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.
Israel has just walked across a flooded riverbed on dry ground. Before the wonder can fade, God orders twelve stones carried out of it and piled on the far bank. The verse is God's own script for a conversation that has not happened yet — the day a child points at the heap and asks what it means.
The stones were not decoration. They were a question waiting to be asked, and God wrote the answer in advance.
The pillar of twelve stones, set up in Gilgal, became a memorial to the nation of Jehovah's work for them. The children would ask their fathers, "What do you mean by these stones?" The fathers were to answer by telling what the Lord had done. And Christians may well recount to their children what God has done. Our little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God's word. Redemption, resurrection, and ascension facts should be planted in their minds and memories.
Notice where the credit goes. Not to Joshua, and not to Israel's courage. The river gave way before the ark the priests carried. Commentators read that ark as a picture of Christ meeting death.
The truth shown by the ark going through the Jordan could never be known till Christ came. It could be known only by His going away through the path of death, and then making a way for us through the same waters. His presence stayed there, so that its power might hold back the overflowing waters of death... The ark in the Jordan is no part of atonement. It is the presence of the power of Christ. That power alone can withstand the power of death, and it is our only defence against it. Their past mercies did not keep the flood from destroying Israel, and neither did the promises alone. It was the ark resting in the middle while the people passed before it.
The Red Sea crossing left no memorial behind. The Jordan crossing left two.
So you see that the passage of the Jordan is essentially different from the crossing of the Red Sea... Besides, there was no lasting memorial. When you come to the Jordan, there was a double memorial. Twelve stones were placed in the bed of the river, where the feet of the priests rested. Another twelve were taken out of it and brought to Gilgal.
Both heaps stood for the same twelve tribes, in two places at once.
The people were identified with the ark. Where it had stood, twelve stones were placed, representing the tribes. And twelve stones taken from that same spot were set up as a memorial in the promised land. In later days a God-fearing Israelite might stand at the place and say: There, sunk in the waters, our twelve tribes lie. Yet at the same time we stand, as risen from the waters, in the land that God promised us.
These are not the only twelve stones in Israel's story, and the two sets face opposite ways.
When Israel passed through the Jordan into the promised land, they took up by divine command twelve stones from the bed of the river. They set them on the Canaan shore. "These stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever." The twelve precious stones in the priest's breastplate were a memorial for God; the twelve rough stones on the bank of the Jordan were a memorial for man. The human heart is so forgetful and fickle that there is need of some lasting memorial of God's goodness. The Lord's Supper has this character in Christianity.
Every tribe had to put a man's shoulder under a stone. Mackintosh turns that act into a searching question about the way a believer lives.
The whole assembly was to grasp this great fact and carry it out in practice: one man from every tribe, each with a stone on his shoulder, taken from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. All were to come into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact that the waters of the Jordan were cut off. All were to share in setting up such a memorial of this fact as would draw out questions from their children about what it meant. It was never to be forgotten... Do our children see anything in our habits and ways, in our spirit and conduct, in our whole character and manner of life? Does it lead them to ask, "What do you mean by these things?"
- Cut off. The answer God puts in the parent's mouth points at the ark, not at Israel: the river stopped in front of it.
- Held back. In the ark standing in the riverbed, commentators see Christ's power over death holding the waters back.
- Doubled. Two heaps of stones: one sunk in the river, one standing in the land. The same tribes are counted as gone under the waters and as risen out of them.
- Carried. Each tribe's man lifted his own stone. Nobody could point at the memorial without first carrying it.
- Asked. Hearts forget and children ask. A life marked by what God has done answers both.
And the children of Israel did so, as Joshua had commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as Jehovah had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the lodging-place, and laid them down there.
Twelve men lift twelve stones from the dry riverbed and set them down at Israel's first camp in the promised land. Commentators say the pile does more than mark a date: it declares what God had done and who His people are.
At God's word, Joshua picked the men before Israel set foot in the river. The timing matters too: nobody lifted a stone until the whole nation stood on the far bank.
Before Israel crossed the Jordan, the LORD had told Joshua to choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe (Joshua 3:12). They were ready for an action to be done after they walked across its empty bed. God intended Israel to bear a clear witness to His wonders. So He commanded all the people, through their representatives, to get ready for the action He had planned. By doing this, Israel acknowledged through their representatives what the LORD had done for them. Remember, they did this when all of them had already crossed into Canaan.
Their source, their number and their placement each carried a message.
These stones proclaimed certain realities. They came from the dry bed of the river, so they declared God's power in cutting off the waters before the ark of His covenant. They were twelve in number, one stone for each tribe, so they declared that all Israel had entered into Canaan. They stood together in Canaan, so they witnessed to Israel's unity in that land. Beyond that, they became a memorial to the nation of the LORD's work for them.
Two and a half tribes had settled on the other side of the river. God still asked for twelve stones.
God did not tell Israel to set up nine and a half stones in Canaan and two and a half on the wilderness side of the river, to match how much they had taken possession of. He commanded them to set up the number that spoke of the whole nation. The place was where, in His purpose, undivided Israel inherited and camped (Joshua 4:19-20). His will was to give a testimony to His purposes for all His people Israel.
The stones came out of the water itself. One writer draws out what that pictures, and how this crossing differs from Israel's earlier escape through the Red Sea.
The stones taken out of the water (the place of death) picture Israel being taken through death into resurrection life. They stand for all the tribes, just as God sees all believers today as "risen with Christ" (Col. 3:1). The crossing of the Jordan certainly reminds us of the passage of the Red Sea. But with the Red Sea the emphasis was Israel's deliverance out of Egypt. With the crossing of the Jordan the emphasis is Israel's entrance into the land of promise.
A second pile of stones stayed in the riverbed and vanished under the returning water. One writer contrasts it with the pile at the camp, Gilgal.
The twelve stones in Gilgal spoke to Israel's conscience. The other monument, set up in the middle of the Jordan, spoke seriously to their hearts. Who could see the stones that the overflowing waters had covered? They could only be known to faith. They were not a picture of a resurrection life that had passed through death and carried its mark and character. At heart they were the sign of death.
A memorial that stays in view is meant to work on the person looking at it.
God also wants Christ, set before us in this way, to produce a matching moral effect in us. He wants the sight of Him to take lasting hold of our consciences. "It is a memorial to the children of Israel for ever." It is that for us too, and it comes with an inward effect. The believer, risen with Christ, carries the marks of His death stamped on him, and they can never be erased.
The pile was there to make the next generation ask a question.
The children would ask their fathers, "What do you mean by these stones?" The answer was to tell what the LORD had done. And Christians may well recount to their children what God has done. Our little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God's word.
- Lifted — the stones came out of the riverbed, the place of death. The memorial was made of the ground the water had covered.
- Counted — twelve stones, one for every tribe, though only nine and a half tribes settled in Canaan. God's number matched His purpose, not their possession.
- Carried — the men brought them across and laid them down at Israel's first camp. The whole nation had arrived on the far side.
- Kept — a memorial "for ever" takes lasting hold of the conscience and shapes how you live.
- Told — the pile existed to make children ask, so each generation would hear again what God had done.
And twelve stones did Joshua set up in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant had stood firm; and they are there to this day.
The crossing of the Jordan left two piles of stones. One pile stood on dry land at Gilgal. Joshua planted the other in the riverbed itself, where the ark had rested, and the returning water would swallow it. Why build a monument no one would ever see again — and why say it is still there?
Some have argued that verse 9 is a second, competing account of the same monument. One writer traces what actually happened:
The LORD commanded a memorial to keep this great event in memory. Twelve men, one from each tribe, were to carry twelve stones from the river bed, where the priests' feet stood firm, and leave them at the first lodging place in the land, that is, at Gilgal. Joshua set up another memorial of twelve stones in the middle of the river, where the priests stood with the ark. Critics have questioned this whole record, charging that there are two different accounts. There is nothing in the text to warrant such a statement. The fact is there are two separate acts.
The two heaps served different audiences. One stood in the open for the whole nation. The other lay under the flood, remembered by the man who set it there.
When the record was written, the swellings of Jordan had not swept away the leader's own memorial in the river bed. Israel's memorial in Canaan was for all in the land of promise to see — "a memorial forever" to the people of Israel. Joshua raised his own memorial in the bed of the river. No eye could see it when the waters were at their flood. Yet it was no less a memorial for the leader himself. In the river, we may rightly say, his deepest feelings would centre. There, where the priests stood, the whole burden of Israel's safety rested. There lay the secret power of all Israel's blessing as they entered Canaan.
The verse marks the exact spot. It lay under the ark, where the priests held their ground while the whole nation walked past. Commentators read Joshua here as a picture of Christ, and the spot as the place He took:
Our Lord never forgets the deep waters through which He passed. Those were His sufferings in death and unto death. By them He defeated the devil, who had the power of death. By them He opened to His people their heavenly inheritance. From the throne on high He remembers the travail of His soul, His cross, its shame and agony. The work of Jesus has brought the people of God into heavenly places. He always remembers the swellings of Jordan, that flood of deep waters. There, blessed be His Name, He stood firm for us, to bring us to His God and Father.
Read together, the two heaps say two things about the believer:
These twelve stones in the bed of the river surely tell us that we have died with Christ. In the same way, the twelve stones on the bank tell us that we are risen with Christ (Colossians 2:20; 3:1).
Twelve stones, not one, tie the whole people to what happened in the river:
And notice the association: the memorial was not a single stone, but twelve, both in the river and on the far side. If these stones showed the death of Christ alone, one stone might have expressed it. But our very life, Christ, is in the presence of God. "You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
One writer draws a sharp line between what is forgiven and what is not:
We have the forgiveness of our sins in the work of the cross. But the nature that committed them is never forgiven. God has permanently recorded the judgment of death against it. In Joshua 4:9, death, not forgiveness, is before us. As for the twelve stones placed in the bed of the river, they were a figure of the twelve tribes. The waters of judgment roll over them without stopping — the same waters Israel walked through on dry ground. But as to their permanence in the bed of the Jordan, the word adds, "And they are there to this day."
Another puts the same permanence in warmer terms:
The monument remains, the cross remains, eternal witness of a love I have there learned to know, and testimony too of the only place where God could put all that belonged to my old self.
Nothing in the record says God commanded this second heap. Joshua acted on his own, and one writer reads it as worship:
We do not read that God commanded him to set up twelve stones in the Jordan. Did Joshua's faith go beyond the memorial at the lodging place? Did he alone of all Israel worship God in the place of death, where the priests' feet had stood — owning the power of death, yet worshipping Him who conquered death? It was Christ — the ark — who overcame and stopped the power of death, and Joshua returned to bless the God of his salvation. It was an act of worship in the same spirit, though not in the same form, as when we remember the Lord in His death.
- Two heaps. Verse 9 is a second act, not a rival account — one pile in the river, one on the bank.
- Under the water. The submerged stones speak of death with Christ; the stones at Gilgal, of being raised with Him.
- Where He stood. The stones mark the exact place the ark rested — the place Christ took in the deep waters, which He never forgets.
- To this day. The memorial does not wash away: the old nature stays under judgment, and the word still says the stones are there.
- Seen by faith. Flood water hid Joshua's stones from every eye, yet he set them up anyway — worship in the same spirit as ours when we remember the Lord in His death.
And the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan, until everything was finished that Jehovah had commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hasted and passed over.
The ark does not move while Israel crosses. The priests carrying it hold their place in the riverbed, while the whole nation walks past on dry ground. The verse ties three things together: a command from Moses, a work carried to completion, and a people hurrying across.
The priests were not left standing in the riverbed by accident.
The priests who carried the ark remained in the middle of Jordan. They stood there as a guarantee that the people were in no danger. They stayed until all this was finished and all the people had passed over. Then they too crossed over with the ark.
The river was in flood as they stood there.
The waters were there as in the day of Noah, ready to overflow their banks, as at the time of barley harvest. But the priests were in the middle of them, and the ark — the presence of God. And there they stood, the ministers of God and the presence of God, until all the people had crossed the river. Jesus was in the boat, and He must sink if the disciples did. The safety of the ark was the safety of the camp. As it was, so were they.
The priests stood there "until everything was finished." That wording sends one writer's mind to the death of Christ.
How very touching it is to read those words! Are we not reminded of the Lord enduring the judgment of death until He was able to cry, "It is finished"? There is nothing more to do. Jesus did all that God commanded. He did all that was required to meet the claims of God and secure His glory, and so His people are brought into the place of richest blessing.
Israel did not wade across. The ground under their feet was dry.
At first the feet of the priests had only touched the edge of the water of Jordan. The waters were driven back while they stood there. But while the people were passing over, "the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of Jordan" (Joshua 3:17). Death's power is so completely set aside in the death of Christ that not a trace of death is left. The ground is firm and dry. It was on that firm, dry ground that God's people passed over.
Commentators compare this crossing with the earlier one at the Red Sea.
At the crossing of the Red Sea, the waves fled before Israel; at the crossing of the Jordan, the flood was driven back out of Israel's sight. In the one case a path opened out before them, and they marched between two walls of water. In the other no water was visible. To the right and left of them, as far as they could see, lay a dry riverbed.
Their haste is also a clue to how quickly the crossing went.
The riverbed lay empty for many miles, and the people hurried over (Joshua 4:10). This seems to show that the crossing took a very short time. That could well be the case if they marched side by side, in only a very few ranks.
The verse credits the instructions to Moses, though Joshua is now the leader. That pattern runs through the whole book.
This principle underlies the whole book of Joshua. It is true that Joshua represents the authority of God just as Moses did. But for that reason all that Joshua does is "according to what Moses the servant of the Lord commanded." "As it is written in the book of the law of Moses" was true of every act of Joshua that God authorised and approved.
- Command. Nothing here is improvised. Joshua acts on what Moses was told, and that pattern runs through his whole career.
- Stand. The priests hold the ark in the riverbed and do not move. Their standing still is what lets the people move.
- Finish. They stay "until everything was finished." Commentators link that phrase with the Lord's cry that His work was complete.
- Safety. As long as the ark stood there, the camp was secure; the safety of the ark was the safety of the people.
- Cross. Every Israelite hurried over on firm, dry ground, The river was not just parted; it was driven out of sight.
And it came to pass, when all the people had completely gone over, that the ark of Jehovah went over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.
The crossing ends here: every Israelite is on the far bank, and only then does the ark come up out of the riverbed with the priests who carry it. Why did the ark go in first and come out last?
The verse marks the people's crossing as complete before the ark moves. That wait in the riverbed had a purpose.
The priests who carried the ark remained in the middle of the Jordan. This was a guarantee that there was no danger to the people. They stayed until all this was finished and all the people had passed over. Then they too crossed over with the ark.
Some translations render the last phrase as "in the presence of the people." The people did not only cross the river. They watched.
How closely the people were bound up with every movement of the ark of the Lord. They saw the ark move towards the river. They watched the waters draw back as the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the edge. As they passed over, they watched the ark in the middle of the Jordan. And they saw the ark come out of the Jordan after they had crossed. What a privilege is ours — to see Christ in all the different scenes pictured here.
At the Red Sea the waters parted when Moses stretched out his rod. Here no one lifts a rod and no one strikes the water. The ark alone goes down and comes up.
In this place we have the full sign of the glory of the person of Christ, as far as a type could convey it. There was none more complete than the ark. Here we do not read of a rod stretched over the waters. The rod was used at the Red Sea, for it was the sign of judicial authority. Judgment fell upon Christ in order that we should be delivered.
Writers draw a sharp line between what the cross pictures and what the Jordan pictures. The Jordan also says something about us, not only about Him.
So the ark in the Jordan speaks of Him no less. It also speaks of our death with Him, in that He died to sin, and of our rising with Him, in that both the people and the ark come up out of the Jordan. For as Israel followed the ark into the waters of death, so we pass through, sustained by His power. We do not feel its power as He felt it. We rejoice in His victory, and gain our good land, sitting with Him in the heavenly places. On the cross Christ met death as a Victim; that was atonement. Here, as pictured by the ark in the Jordan, He meets death as a Conqueror.
The verse records a coming out as well as a going in. Writers take the two movements of the ark together.
Read Joshua 3 and 4 in the light of Colossians 2 and 3. They show that the ark of the covenant passed over into Jordan before the children of Israel, and then came out of it. This was a picture of the death and resurrection of Christ. It has power to bring the believer now, as having died with Him, into "the heavenlies" where we have our conflict with the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:10-20). It was the only way open to them, and it was strange to them. "You have not passed this way before."
Writers read Joshua and the ark as one picture of Christ. He goes through death first, then leads His people in.
Joshua stands before us as a picture of the risen Christ, leading His people, in the power of the Holy Spirit, into their heavenly inheritance. The priests carrying the ark into the middle of Jordan picture Christ going down into death for us, and destroying its power completely. "He passed through death's dark raging flood, to make our rest secure" — and not only to make it secure, but to lead us into it, in association with Himself.
- Last out. The ark stayed in the riverbed until the last Israelite was across. It moved only when the people were safe.
- In full view. Israel watched every stage: the ark entering, standing, and coming up. Nothing happened out of sight.
- Not a rod. Moses' rod parted the Red Sea, a sign of judicial authority. The Jordan opened before the ark alone — and no picture of Christ is more complete than the ark.
- Victim, then Conqueror. On the cross He met death as a Victim; that was atonement. In the Jordan He meets death as a Conqueror, and His people pass through rejoicing in His victory.
- In and out. The ark going down and coming up pictures death and resurrection. Having come up, it leads His people on into their inheritance.
And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, went over in array before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them.
The crossing of the Jordan brought the whole nation into the land. Yet this verse pauses on three tribes who had already chosen not to live there. Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh marched at the front, armed, as Moses had told them. Their presence raises a question: can you fight for a land you have decided not to live in?
after
This verse reaches back to something these tribes asked for earlier. They wanted to stay east of the river, and Moses agreed on one condition:
God's purpose for Israel was to have His people surrounding Him in the land of promise. His tabernacle would stand in the middle of them, with His glory in the holiest place. But the thought of God's presence among His people was not first in the minds of the tribe of Reuben and the children of Gad. Their minds were on the "very great multitude of cattle" that they owned. They wanted to stay on the east side of the Jordan, cut off from their brothers who had the God of Israel among them. Moses was angry with them, yet he let these two tribes, and the half tribe of Manasseh with them, live on the wilderness side of Jordan. The condition was the one they had proposed themselves: their warriors would go armed before the children of Israel until Israel had inherited its portion in the land (Num. 32:1-32).
Whatever their earlier choice, they did what they had promised:
It is good to see that about 40,000 of the men of Reuben and Gad and of the half tribe of Manasseh kept their word. They crossed over Jordan with the rest of Israel, all prepared for war, though their families and possessions remained on the eastern side (vv.12,13).
Settling early gave them no way out of the fighting:
They had made their choice and had found rest on this side of Jordan. But they were not to be exempt from the coming warfare. They were commanded to help their brothers by crossing Jordan with them. Then after their brothers had found rest, they were to return to their rest. They could not escape the conflict, though they had no reward in the land itself.
Moses told them to "pass over" before they could fight. One writer takes that order as far more than a military arrangement:
In these words about the two and a half tribes, Moses lays down three conditions for conflict with Satan's power, and not one of them can be left out. First, they must pass over Jordan. Applied to believers now, that means accepting for themselves the truth of death and resurrection with Christ, for this is what Jordan pictures. The Red Sea is Christ's death and resurrection for us, but the Jordan is our death and resurrection with Christ… Moses also says that they must be armed… Finally, he says that they must pass over Jordan, every man armed for battle, "before the LORD." This is the secret of all courage in conflict: to know that we are before the Lord, that we are under His eye.
The men went over; their wives, children and cattle stayed behind. One writer weighs what that showed about them:
All through their wars in Canaan, these forty thousand were fighting for others, not for themselves. It is a very solemn thing when Christians in spiritual warfare are, as it were, only auxiliary troops. Genuine Christian soldiers are very rare; they are soldiers for life. … "Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle," on the east of the river, were the true witnesses of where the forty thousand really lived. Sooner or later these warriors would return home. Not one of them was a soldier across the Jordan for life.
Joshua and these tribes each called a different bank of the river home:
Two standpoints stand out clearly: that of Joshua — or rather of the LORD — and that of the two and a half tribes. Canaan, the land of the Hittites, was to Joshua the home side of Jordan; the land of Gilead was the home side to the two and a half tribes. We form our ideas of spiritual things from the standpoint we occupy.
Commentators differ here. Some praise the promise these men kept. Others weigh what the arrangement cost them.
- Choice. These tribes chose pasture over God's presence among His people. They settled short of what He purposed for them.
- Crossing. No one fights the Lord's battles without first crossing Jordan. Death and resurrection with Christ is the condition of conflict.
- Commitment. They kept their promise and crossed armed at the front. Settling early gave them no way out of the war.
- Cost. Fight for others while your home stays behind, and you are only auxiliary troops, not a soldier for life.
- Consequence. Where you call home shapes every idea you form about spiritual things.
About forty thousand armed for military service passed over before Jehovah to the war, unto the plains of Jericho.
About forty thousand fighting men from Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh line up at Jericho, while their families and herds stay behind across the river. They are armed for a war whose spoils they will never own, and they cross "before the LORD."
The word behind "armed" is not only about weapons. One reference work traces the same word back to Israel's march out of Egypt, where older translations render it "harnessed":
We read that the Israelites went out "harnessed," or "by five in a rank" as the margin reads (Exodus 13:18). The same word, chamushim, is translated "armed" for the way the Israelites crossed the Jordan. There they had plenty of time to arrange themselves in proper order (Joshua 1:14; Joshua 4:12)… From this we gather that the Israelites did not travel in disorder: the heads of each tribe would have control over their tribe and could arrange its march.
These tribes had given their word to fight alongside the rest of Israel. This verse records them keeping it:
It is good to see that about 40,000 men of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh kept their word. They crossed over Jordan with the rest of Israel, all prepared for war. Their families and possessions, though, remained on the eastern side (vv. 12, 13).
These tribes had already settled east of Jordan. That did not release them from the campaign ahead:
They had made their choice and had found rest on this side of Jordan. But they were not to be exempt from the coming warfare. They are commanded to help their brothers by passing over Jordan with them. Then, once their brothers had found rest, they were to return to their own rest. They could not escape the conflict, though they had no reward in the land itself.
They pass over first, and only then take the field. One writer sees the Jordan as a picture of the believer's death and resurrection with Christ. The crossing is what opens the way into real conflict:
First, they must pass over Jordan. Applying this to believers now, they must accept for themselves the truth of death and resurrection with Christ, for this is what Jordan pictures. The Red Sea is Christ's death and resurrection for us, but the Jordan is our death and resurrection with Christ… Moses says that these tribes must "pass over" Jordan if they are to have part in the Lord's wars. In the same way, all who would engage in true Christian conflict must take up their own association with Christ in death and resurrection. Finally, he says, they must pass over Jordan, every man armed for battle, "before the LORD." This is the secret of all courage in conflict: to know that we are before the Lord, under His eye.
Commentators weigh these forty thousand differently. Some praise their loyalty. One writer weighs them by where their families still lived:
All through their wars in Canaan, these forty thousand were fighting for others, not for themselves. It is a very solemn thing when Christians in spiritual warfare are, so to speak, only support troops… "Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle," on the east of the river, were the true witnesses of where the forty thousand really lived. Sooner or later these warriors would go home, and not one of them was a soldier across the Jordan for life.
The place named at the end of the verse is where the fighting starts. The crossing settles the question of ownership; it does not end the struggle:
At the end of Joshua 4, the people are in the land that God had given them. But in Joshua 5 we find kings of the Amorites still holding that land, and Israel had to drive them out. So Israel was committed to a time of conflict. This is also a picture. The letter to the Ephesians shows the believer seated in Christ in heavenly places, and it ends with a chapter on conflict… In our case we do not fight to gain possession. We are in possession already, and we fight to keep it.
- Over. They kept their word and crossed Jordan first. Only those who cross have part in the Lord's wars, because the river pictures death and resurrection with Christ.
- Armed. The word means more than weapons — it describes men drawn up in proper order, not a disorderly crowd.
- Before the LORD. They crossed under the Lord's eye, and that is the secret of courage in conflict.
- For others. Their reward lay east of the river. They fought the whole campaign for their brothers' inheritance, not their own. Commentators differ on whether to admire that or mourn it.
- Then battle. The plain of Jericho is where possession turns into conflict. God has given the land, but enemies still hold it, and Israel must drive them out.
On that day Jehovah magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.
Israel has just crossed the Jordan riverbed on dry ground, and on that day God lifted up their leader in front of everyone. Why this moment, and why does the awe once given to Moses now rest on Joshua?
God had told Joshua beforehand what the crossing would do for him. The honour answered a faith he had held for forty years. Back then he stood almost alone against a nation that would not believe.
Joshua had believed years before that God could and would bring them in. That was his foundation, for "without faith it is impossible to please him." ... You can see the Lord's purpose for him in Joshua 3:7 and Joshua 4:14. Forty years earlier he had stood almost alone. He had stood firm for God's purpose and power against the opposition and unbelief of the people. Now he was to be magnified before all Israel, and the Lord's presence with him proved to be as real as it had been with Moses.
The empty Jordan spoke for Joshua, and Israel took him as leader. Believers come to know Christ as their leader in the same way.
He is not fully magnified in the soul until He is known as the Joshua, the risen and ascended Lord. The Lord promised to magnify Joshua before Israel crossed the Jordan. At the emptied riverbed Israel accepted him as their God-honoured leader. Christians know Christ as their Joshua because He has overcome death and entered heaven.
The people stood in awe of Joshua "just as they had stood in awe of Moses." It was the same reverence, for a different stage of the journey. Commentators read the two men as two sides of one picture.
Remember that Joshua carries on where Moses left off. Both men picture the Lord Jesus in different ways. Moses leads me up to the death of Christ; Joshua leads me victoriously out of it, carrying his spoils with him.
What God did for Joshua in public points forward to Christ.
It is like this with Christ. He is highly exalted as Saviour by the glory of the Father before our eyes, because of His finished work. That work brings the saints in with Him to the present enjoyment and future possession of the glory.
That exaltation also has a day still to come, pictured in a later king of Israel.
But the Lord will have other crowns as well. The day will come for Him which Solomon enjoyed as a picture. Of Solomon it says: "the LORD made Solomon very great in the sight of all Israel" (1 Chr. 29:25). No king in Israel before him had such royal majesty. He will reign. His people Israel will be subject to Him. Even those He was pleased to call His brothers will bow the knee before Him.
(Older translations use one word for both men: the LORD "magnified" Joshua, and "magnified Solomon exceedingly.")
God lifted Joshua up; Joshua did not lift himself. The same rule has a warning side, and Moses at the rock shows it.
He always delights to honour His saints in the eyes of others; but they must not seek their own honour. He will honour His servants. But the moment we step out of the servant's place to take one we judge to be higher, He humbles us. ... When we honour God, He honours us. "Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Sam. 2:30). ... God told Moses to speak to the rock in front of the people, so that it would give them water to drink. That was a high honouring of Moses in the sight of all Israel. But Moses took the rod and said, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" He did not treat the Lord as holy in the eyes of the people. It was "we," not "the Lord." As soon as we claim to be something, we step out of the servant's place.
- Promised — God said He would magnify Joshua before the river opened. The honour kept a word; it was no surprise.
- Proved — the empty riverbed was the evidence; Christians know Christ as their leader because He has overcome death and entered heaven.
- Pictured — Moses leads up to the death of Christ; Joshua leads victoriously out of it. The exalted Leader brings His people in with Him.
- Placed — God honours His servants; but step out of the servant's place to take a higher one, and He humbles us.
- Pending — a greater day of exaltation is still ahead, when every knee bows to Him as Israel bowed to Solomon.
And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying,
The priests still stand in the dry riverbed, holding the ark, while the whole nation walks past them. Now God speaks to Joshua again, and His word will lift the ark out of the river and let the water back.
Everything in this verse depends on where the ark had been left. It had gone down into the water first, and it had not moved since.
The priests who carried the ark remained in the middle of the Jordan. They were a guarantee that there was no danger to the people. They stayed until all this was finished and all the people had passed over. Then they too crossed over with the ark.
God does not address the priests. He addresses the man He has just set before the whole nation, and the command travels down from there.
The Lord magnified Joshua by the crossing of the Jordan, and by it gained for him the leadership in Israel's eyes. "On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life."
Commentators read Joshua here as a picture of Christ, and the crossing as the event that established him in the people's sight.
This marvellous event of the crossing of the Jordan on dry ground could not help but deeply impress all Israel. God used it to exalt Joshua in their eyes (v.14). In the same way, the more marvellous miracle of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from among the dead surely exalts Him in our eyes. From this time on, Israel would have full reason to respect and honour the leadership of Joshua.
The command is about the ark — the chest that went into the river ahead of the people. Writers read its going down and its coming up as one picture.
The ark was, in a very special way, a picture of Christ, the Leader of His people. This appears clearly in the early days of Israel, when they were about to take possession of the land of their inheritance which God gave them. Read Joshua 3 and 4 in the light of Colossians 2 and 3. They show that the ark of the covenant passed over before the children of Israel into the Jordan, and then came out of it. That was a picture beforehand of the death and resurrection of Christ.
The obedience to this command has an immediate and irreversible effect, and it comes only after every person is safely across.
At the Lord's command Joshua told the priests carrying the ark to come up out of the Jordan (vs.15-17). As soon as they reached ground the overflowing waters had not touched, the waters returned to the same flood level as before (v.18). So no one would be able to follow Israel on dry ground. Only true believers can know what it means to have died with Christ and to be raised with Christ.
The river is a barrier again. This time it works in the other direction.
The sentence is carried out, the old man condemned, the judgment is passed, death is conquered, but death remains. Once, the river was an obstacle to entering. The ark removed that obstacle and opened the pathway for us. Now that we are across, the same river separates us — not only from Egypt and the desert of Sinai, but from ourselves. If it were otherwise, we could have no lasting enjoyment in the land of Canaan.
Twelve stones had been set in the riverbed where the priests' feet stood. When the priests come up, the water covers them, and only faith can see them.
I go back and sit, so to speak, on the banks of the river of death. And I say: that is my place. That is where I was. That is where He has been for me. He has delivered me from my old man. He has left it in the depths of the Jordan, with everything that belonged to it. I am buried under its waters in the Person of Christ. What led You, blessed Saviour, to take this place? You alone could claim exemption from it, and having laid down Your life, You alone had the power to take it again. But it was Your love to us that led You down to death.
- Waiting — the ark stayed in the river until the last Israelite had crossed. God gave the command to come up only when no one was left behind.
- Word — the priests do not move on their own. God speaks to Joshua, Joshua speaks to them, and only then do they come up.
- Leader — the crossing exalted Joshua in Israel's eyes. The resurrection exalts Christ in ours.
- Ark — the ark went down into the Jordan and came up out of it. Writers read the two as one picture: the death and resurrection of Christ, who opened the way.
- Closed — as soon as the ark is out, the flood returns. No one can follow, and the old life stays buried.
Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan.
The crossing is over, and God tells Joshua to call the priests and the ark up out of the riverbed. The command looks purely practical, yet the moment those priests reach dry land the river closes again — so what is God showing us here?
The ark went into the river first and stayed there while every Israelite crossed. Only now is it called up. The people watched every stage of that movement. One writer walks through what they saw:
They saw the ark move towards the river. They saw the waters go back as the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the brink. As they passed over, they watched the ark in the middle of the Jordan. And they saw the ark come out of the Jordan after they had crossed. What a rich thing for us to consider Christ passing through this world and on into death. Then we see Him in the region of death. We consider Him in death, sustaining everything for God's glory and our blessing, and showing His mighty triumph over all the power of death. And we gaze on Him coming up as the victorious One, so that all His people might be with Him on the risen side of death.
Here God calls it the ark of the testimony. One writer notes that this is the last time the ark carries that name.
It is worth noting that the ark, after it had crossed over the Jordan, is never spoken of as "the ark of the testimony." In Joshua 3:13 it is called "the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth." In this last description, do we not see Christ as the One in whom all the rights of God are secured and maintained?
The verse names who must come up: the priests who carry the ark. One writer sees why that choice matters.
The power and presence of the Living God, symbolised by the ark, held back the waters, which would have been death to the army... How this speaks to us of the Lord Jesus, who Himself has passed through death, and has now annulled it, for all His own (2 Timothy 1:10). Death is no impassable barrier to the heavenly saints going in to their everlasting dwelling. We believe it was to picture this that the priests, not the Levites, carried the ark that day.
The ark went down into the river; now it comes up. One writer sets Israel's coming up beside what believers have in Christ:
And as Israel came up out of the Jordan, and into Canaan, by the ark, so believers now are made alive together with Christ; they have life together with Him, who went into death for them and who has come up out of death.
Another writer reads the same two movements through Colossians and Ephesians:
Read Joshua 3 and 4 in the light of Colossians 2 and 3. The ark of the covenant went before the people of Israel into the Jordan, and then came out of it. This was a picture of the death and resurrection of Christ. That death and resurrection has power to bring the believer now, as one who has died with Him, into "the heavenlies," where we have our conflict with the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:10-20). ... Before this, the ark had never pictured resurrection. From now on the people would join it inseparably with that mighty power of God working for their complete deliverance from the sorrows and toils of the wilderness, and bringing them into final rest in the heavenly inheritance.
Obeying this command had an immediate effect.
At the Lord's command Joshua told the priests carrying the ark to come up out of the Jordan (vv. 15-17). As soon as they stood on ground the overflowing waters had not touched, the river returned to the same flood level as before (v. 18). So no one would be able to follow Israel on dry ground.
The returning flood carries a further lesson:
The sentence has been carried out, the old man condemned, the judgment is past, death is conquered — but death remains. The river once blocked the way in. The ark removed that obstacle and opened the path for us. Now that we are across, that same river separates us not only from Egypt and the desert of Sinai, but from ourselves.
- Command. The order starts with the Lord, passes through Joshua, and reaches the priests. The crossing ends as it began — by God's word.
- Carried. Priests, not Levites, carried the ark that day. They picture the One who passed through death and annulled it for all His own.
- Last. The ark held the river open until every Israelite was over. Only then did it come up — the Victor rising, so His people stand with Him on the risen side of death.
- Up. Down into Jordan and up out of it form one truth: died with Christ, raised with Christ, brought into the heavenly places.
- Closed. The moment the priests' feet touched dry ground, the flood returned. No one can walk that road back.
And Joshua commanded the priests, saying, Come up out of the Jordan.
The whole nation now stands on Canaan's soil, and only the ark and the priests carrying it are still in the riverbed. Joshua's order to them ends the miracle: why does the ark come out last, and why does the river close only after it does?
The wording matters. One writer notes that Scripture never says Israel came up out of the Red Sea. Here it says exactly that, and both the silence and the statement have a reason:
At the Red Sea they saw sins, death, and judgment all behind them. The sins were their part; the death was Satan's, who wields its power (Hebrews 2); the judgment was God's part; and all of it is past forever. But note, it is never stated that they came up out of the Red Sea. Historically, of course, we know it was so. But recording it would have spoiled the picture, just as it would in Romans 6 to say that we were risen with Christ. It is fully stated afterwards that the people came up out of the Jordan. There it was needed to say so, but not before. By coming up out of the Jordan they were cut off from the world, just as the death of Christ has done for us.
The Jordan adds the other half: coming up on the far side, into the land.
The people had watched the ark at every stage of the crossing:
They saw the ark move towards the river. They saw the waters recede as the feet of the priests bearing the ark touched the brink. As they passed over, they watched the ark in the middle of the Jordan. And they saw the ark come out of the Jordan after they had crossed... What a rich subject for us to consider Christ passing through this world, onward into death. Then to see Him in the region of death. To think of Him in death, sustaining all for God's glory and our blessing. To see His mighty triumph over all death's power, and to gaze on Him coming up the victorious One, so that all His people might be with Him on the risen side of death.
Verse 17 calls the men in the river priests. That was not the usual arrangement:
God's method was only for the Levites of the family of Kohath to carry the ark by means of the poles (Ex. 25:13-14; Num. 3:27-32), though Joshua 4:16-17 calls them "priests".
Another writer treats the exception as deliberate, and reads meaning into it:
How this speaks to us of the Lord Jesus, who Himself has passed through death, and has now abolished it for all His own (2 Tim. 1:10). Death cannot block the heavenly saints from going in to their everlasting dwelling. It was to picture this, we believe, that the priests, not the Levites, carried the Ark that day.
The command did not begin with Joshua, and what follows it is timed to the moment:
At the Lord's command Joshua told the priests bearing the ark to come up out of Jordan (vv. 15-17). As soon as they reached ground not affected by the overflowing waters, the waters returned to the same flood level as before (v. 18). So no one would be able to follow Israel on dry ground. Only true believers can know what it means to have died with Christ and to be raised with Christ.
Once the ark is out, the Jordan is full again. That full river now serves the people on the far side:
The sentence is carried out. The old man is condemned. The judgment is passed. Death is conquered — but death remains. The ark removed that obstacle and opened the pathway for us. What was once an obstacle to entrance now separates us, once we are across, not only from Egypt and the desert of Sinai, but from ourselves. If it were otherwise, we could have no lasting enjoyment in the land of Canaan.
- Command. The order did not start with Joshua. The Lord spoke, and Joshua passed it on to the priests standing in the riverbed.
- Carrier. The ark went in first and came out last. In that final step commentators see Christ coming up as the victorious One, with all His people on the risen side of death.
- Bearers. The men here are priests, not the Levites who usually carried the ark. Some writers see the change as deliberate, picturing the One who has passed through death for His own.
- Crossing completed. Scripture says Israel came up out of the Jordan, language it never uses of the Red Sea. Rescue from judgment is one truth. Rising into the promised place is the other.
- River restored. The moment their feet touched dry land, the flood returned. No one could follow them back. What once barred the way in now stands between them and all they left behind.
And it came to pass when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, [when] the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on to the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and they flowed as previously, over all its banks.
The ark that opened the Jordan is the last thing to leave it. The moment the priests' feet touch dry ground, the flood rushes back. Commentators read this closing detail as the seal on the whole crossing: the way through death stayed open as long as God's people needed it, and no longer.
The timing is the point. God held the water back until every last Israelite stood on the far bank. Only then did it return.
At the Lord's command Joshua told the priests bearing the ark to come up out of Jordan (vv. 15-17). As soon as they reached ground the overflowing waters had not touched, the waters returned to the same flood stage as before (v. 18). So no one would be able to follow Israel on dry ground. Only true believers can know what it means to have died with Christ and to be raised with Christ.
What held the river back was never the strength of the people walking through it. So the whole nation reached the other side.
Jordan's bed was dry for all Israel. The power which held back the waters was as effective for the least as for the chief of the host... It is not by our strength, nor by our degree of faith, but of God, through whom in Christ we enter the heavenly places. Every single believer in Christ is blessed alike with heavenly privileges. Canaan belongs to each, and all "in Christ" are there, solely because of what Christ has done and what He is.
Israel saw the ark go down into the river, stand in it, and rise out of it. Writers trace the life of Christ along those same stages.
How closely the people were bound up with every movement of the ark of the Lord... How rich a contemplation for us to consider Christ passing through this world, onward into death. Then to see Him in the borders of death. To contemplate Him in death, sustaining everything for God's glory and our blessing, and to see His mighty triumph over all death's power. And to gaze on Him coming up the victorious One, so that all His people might be with Him on the risen side of death.
The river did not stay dry. It filled its banks again, and that return carries a lesson.
The sentence is carried out, the old man condemned, the judgment is passed, death is conquered, but death remains. It was once an obstacle to entering. The ark removed that obstacle and opened the pathway for us. Now that we are across, it separates us not only from Egypt and the desert of Sinai, but from ourselves. If it were otherwise, we could have no lasting enjoyment in the land of Canaan.
The same writer notices that not everyone saw the returning river the same way. Two and a half tribes crossed with the rest, then went back over.
The two and a half tribes (vv. 12, 13) truly crossed the Jordan with their brothers, armed for war and ready to fight. But two things they did not know: the value of the land of Canaan, and the value of death. The river did not stop them when they turned back to rejoin their wives, their little ones, and their cattle. All of these were waiting for them on the opposite shore. The country "on this side" had its attractions for them. Meanwhile the people who were enjoying Canaan in peace saw with joy that the Jordan was a barrier. It separated them from everything that had once been of value to them.
The verse dwells on something small — the soles of the priests' feet lifted to dry land. One writer sees the Lord's honour resting there.
On that very day the Lord put honour on priesthood, and even on the soles of the priests' feet. Those feet touched the brim of the water, or stood firm in the middle of that Jordan until all the people had passed over. The waters returned to their banks only when the priests reached the dry land themselves. All this happened because of "the ark of the God of the whole earth," which they carried.
- The ark first. It went down into the river before anyone, and stayed until the last person was over. The crossing rested on the ark, not on the people.
- The ark last. Israel watched it come up out of Jordan. Commentators see Christ rising as "the victorious One," so His people stand with Him on the risen side of death.
- All, or none. The power that held the water worked the same for the weakest Israelite as for the chief. Canaan belonged to every one of them.
- The water returns. Death is conquered, but it is not gone. The barrier that once blocked our entry now stands behind us. It separates us from Egypt, the desert, and ourselves.
- Which side you value. The two and a half tribes went back over the river the ark had just brought them through. You can cross and still prefer what lies behind.
And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the eastern extremity of Jericho.
The crossing is over. Now come two details that look like plain bookkeeping: a date and a place name. Both carry weight. The date ties this day to the Passover, and Gilgal becomes the camp Israel keeps returning to.
For people who had come out of Egypt, this date carried a memory.
Verse 19 tells us the date of this event, the tenth day of the first month. Would they not remember this date? In Egypt they were told to take a young lamb on this day and keep it for four days until the Passover. (Ex. 12:2-3) This signified a new beginning for Israel. Now they face another new beginning — but in very different circumstances!
Scripture never says Israel came up out of the Red Sea. Of the Jordan, it says so plainly.
It is never stated that they came up out of the Red Sea. Historically, of course, we know they did. But recording it would have spoiled the picture, just as it would in Romans 6 to say we were risen with Christ. Later Scripture states it fully: the people came up out of the Jordan. There it needed to be said, but not before.
Twelve stones came out of the riverbed. What they stood for, and where they stood, both mattered.
They represented the twelve tribes, the people, snatched from death by the ark. The ark had stood in the very spot where deliverance was needed. It had held back the waters of Jordan so that Israel could pass over. The stones became a monument at the very entrance of Canaan, at Gilgal, a place the people had always to return to. From then on they were a sign always before their eyes and the eyes of their children.
Two and a half tribes had settled on the far side of the river. Fewer than twelve tribes were camped in Canaan. God still commanded twelve stones.
God did not order the stones split, nine and a half set in Canaan and two and a half on the wilderness side of the river, to match how much of the land Israel had actually taken. He commanded instead the number that spoke of the whole nation. Those stones stood where, in His purpose, undivided Israel inherited and encamped.
Israel's first camp sat on the edge of Jericho, the city they were about to fight.
Gilgal is their first camp in Canaan, where the stones are pitched; and to it after their battles they constantly return. It is their stronghold that no enemy can take, and their base of support. How could they not be strong as they remember that wonderful deliverance! God is for them: who can be against them? Who can force them back into the flood He has so wonderfully brought them through?
Israel reached this camp on the day the lamb was set apart, with the Passover four days ahead. Before that meal, and before any battle, something had to happen in the camp itself.
If Israel are about to bring the sword against the Canaanites, they must first take the sharp knife to themselves. They had never been circumcised in the wilderness. The reproach of Egypt had never been rolled away from them. Before they could keep the Passover and eat the old grain of the land of Canaan, they must have the sentence of death written on them. No doubt this was anything but pleasant to nature, but it had to be done.
That is why Gilgal mattered long after the crossing.
Gilgal, therefore, stands for the judgment of self. This is the place of our strength and power. Israel had always to return to Gilgal; when they did not they were defeated. Defeat, failure in our walk, always drives us back to self-judgment and humiliation. Victory and blessing may keep us from it; and that is our real spiritual danger.
- Date. On this date in Egypt, Israel set apart the Passover lamb. The same date now marks a fresh beginning in the land.
- Entry. Scripture says Israel came up out of the Jordan. It never says that of the Red Sea. This crossing is not only escape, but entry.
- Stones. Twelve stones stand at the entrance of Canaan — one for every tribe, including those settled across the river. They testify to God's purpose for the whole nation.
- Camp. Gilgal sits on the edge of Jericho — the first camp is also the base of support they return to after every battle.
- Return. At Gilgal Israel took the sharp knife to themselves before taking the sword to Canaan. When they stopped returning there, they were defeated.
And those twelve stones which they had taken out of the Jordan did Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Israel has crossed the Jordan and camps for its first night in the land. Joshua's first act there is to set up twelve stones carried out of the riverbed — so why stones, why twelve, and why at Gilgal?
One writer sets out everything the pile announced at once.
These stones proclaimed certain realities. They were taken from the dry bed of the river, so they declared God's power in cutting off the waters before the ark of His covenant. There were twelve of them, one stone for each tribe, so they declared that all Israel had entered Canaan. They stood together in Canaan, so they witnessed to Israel's unity in that land. Moreover, they became a memorial to the nation of what the Lord had done for them.
The number twelve was not a count of who had arrived.
God did not order nine and a half stones for Canaan and two and a half for the wilderness side of the river. He did not match the stones to how much land Israel had taken. He commanded the number that spoke of the whole nation to stand where, in His purpose, undivided Israel inherited and encamped. His will was that the stones should testify to His purposes for all His people Israel.
The place mattered as much as the stones themselves.
They were to be a memorial to the children of Israel, laid in the place where the people spent their first night in the land of Canaan. That place was Gilgal. They stood for the twelve tribes, the people snatched from death by the ark. The ark had stood in the very spot where deliverance was needed, and it had held back the waters of the Jordan so that Israel could pass over. The stones became a monument at the very entrance of Canaan, at Gilgal. The people always had to come back to that place. From then on the stones were a sign always before their eyes and their children's eyes.
One writer sets the two piles of stones beside two truths in Colossians.
In Colossians 2 and 3 we have what clearly matches the two sides of this picture of the Jordan. "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world…" This answers to the middle of the Jordan. There the waters of death normally rolled, hiding from sight everything beneath them. Then at the start of chapter 3 we have, "If then you have been raised with Christ." This answers to the stones taken up out of the water and placed on the other side. "Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." Note the point: the memorial was not a single stone, but twelve, both in the river and on the farther side.
after-note: DISCUSS not needed
Being raised is not the end of the lesson. One writer hears a command in the stones standing at Gilgal.
The stones brought up from the bottom of the Jordan stood in Gilgal. They said, "You are risen, so put to death what belongs to the flesh."
The stones did not do the work. They pointed back to a work already finished.
They remained as the eternal witness of a finished work, just as the Lord's Supper speaks to us… God would always keep alive in my memory how He has brought me into blessing and association with His Son.
Joshua expected children to ask about the pile. One writer explains why that mattered so much.
Why insist on this? Because it is natural for us to forget even such great miracles of God's power and to slip into a careless, casual condition. The children had not seen this great miracle. Hearing about it would not impress them much unless their parents showed a great appreciation of this work of God. What is more, this was meant to affect all the peoples of the earth, as well as instilling the fear of God in all Israel.
- Taken — the stones came from the dry riverbed where the ark had stood, so they carried proof of God's power.
- Twelve — one stone for each tribe, though only nine and a half tribes settled west of the river. The count spoke of God's purpose for the whole people, not of what they had taken so far.
- Pitched — Joshua set them at Gilgal, Israel's first camp in the land. The people kept coming back there, so the memorial stayed in view.
- Paired — stones left in the river speak of dying with Christ. Stones carried out speak of being raised with Him, and rising with Him brings the call to put the flesh to death.
- Passed on — memory fades, so Joshua built the pile to make children ask, to hold Israel in the fear of God, and to reach all the peoples of the earth.
And he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children hereafter ask their fathers, saying, What [mean] these stones?
Israel has just crossed the Jordan on dry ground. Twelve stones lifted from the riverbed now stand at Gilgal. Joshua looks past the generation that saw it happen. He tells the fathers what to answer when their children point at the stones and ask.
The stones were not decoration. Israel set them up so that a child would one day have to ask about them. Every tribe helped carry them.
The whole assembly was to grasp the great fact and act on it — "from each tribe a man" — "each of you take up a stone upon his shoulder." Each stone came from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. All were to come into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact that the waters of the Jordan were cut off. All were to share in setting up a memorial of this fact — one that would make their children ask what it meant. It was never to be forgotten.
The same writer notes what set these stones apart from all others:
These were stones of unusual significance. No other stones could tell such a story, teach such a lesson, or stand for such a staggering fact. There were no other stones like them.
Joshua does not leave the reply to the parent's invention. The required answer is a report of what God did.
The pillar of twelve stones, set up in Gilgal, became a memorial to the nation of what the Lord had done for them. The children would ask their fathers, "What do those stones mean to you?" The answer was to be an account of the Lord's doings: "The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off." And Christians may well recount to their children what God has done. Our little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God's word. We should plant the facts of redemption, resurrection, and ascension in their minds and memories.
Joshua made provision for teaching the children what the stones meant. That care for the young ran through Israel's life, and the duty fell on the parent.
It is not too much to say that the children were never forgotten in any important act or ceremony of the congregation of Israel… God placed on the Jewish parent the responsibility of teaching his children the knowledge of His word, His work, and His ways. The aim was that the children's hope might also be in God. They were to teach expecting God to bless their work. They knew it was not His will that one of their little ones should perish.
Joshua had already said this in verses 6 and 7. Saying it twice is deliberate, and the reason is in us.
Then Joshua repeated to Israel what he had said in verses 6-7. He reminded them to answer their children's questions in the future with the full truth: they crossed the Jordan on dry ground when the Lord dried up the waters for them. Why insist on this? Because it is natural for us to forget even such great miracles of God's power and to slip into a slack, careless condition. The children had not seen this great miracle. Hearing about it would not impress them much unless their parents showed them how much they valued this work of God.
A second writer draws the same line from the forgetfulness of the heart to the need for something visible and lasting:
The human heart is so forgetful and unsteady that there is need of some lasting memorial of God's goodness. The Lord's Supper has this character in Christianity.
The stones came out of the place of death and now stand in the land. Darby sees a picture of the believer's position in this.
Note that circumcision is not the only thing at Gilgal, on the far side of the Jordan, in the land. The stones from the bottom of the Jordan are set up there too — we carry the witness and power of death there. We are dead and risen with Christ, not merely circumcised in heart.
Grant draws the line straight to our own children:
The Israelites were to teach their children the meaning of the stones. In the same way, believers should teach their children that the death and resurrection of Christ are the basis of all blessing for His people. We today have a memorial of this great work of God in the Lord's Supper, for believers are told, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). We too should take care to teach our children what this memorial means.
- Remember — the stones stood at Gilgal for one purpose: the crossing "was never to be forgotten."
- Ask — the memorial was designed to pull a question out of a child who had not been there.
- Answer — the reply was fixed in advance: a plain account of what the Lord did, not what Israel achieved.
- Teach — the duty falls on parents, and children take it in when the parents themselves treasure the work of God.
- Carry — the Lord's Supper is to believers what those stones were to Israel — the witness that we are dead and risen with Christ.
then ye shall let your children know, saying, On dry land did Israel come over this Jordan;
Joshua set up twelve stones from the riverbed at Gilgal. He then told the people what to answer when a child points at them and asks what they mean. The answer is a fact, not a sermon: the nation walked across the Jordan on dry ground.
The stones were not a private keepsake. One man from each tribe carried a stone on his shoulder. The whole nation had a hand in the work.
The whole assembly had to grasp this great fact and act on it — "a man from each tribe" — "take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder" — a stone taken from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. Each of them had to come into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact that the waters of the Jordan were cut off. All of them had to share in building a memorial of this fact — one that would make their children ask what it meant. They were never to forget it.
The words the parents must repeat cover every single person in the camp.
Every member of the camp had passed clean over the Jordan. Not one of them was allowed to feel the slightest touch of the river of death. Grace had brought them all safely over into the inheritance promised to their fathers. The Red Sea had separated them from Egypt. Now they were brought right into Canaan across the dry bed of the Jordan, and camped at Gilgal, in the plains of Jericho.
One writer reads the stones lifted out of the riverbed as a picture of the Christian's new place before God.
When they looked at these stones, their children would ask, "What do these stones mean?" They could point to them and say: just as these stones came up out of the Jordan onto dry land, so they had been brought out of the Jordan into this land of promise. This memorial is a picture of the fact "that we are alive to God in our Lord Jesus Christ." We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. It is the memorial which tells us that we are raised up and seated in Christ in the heavenly places.
The command speaks to fathers. One writer applies it straight to Christian homes.
The pillar of twelve stones, set up in Gilgal, became a memorial to the nation of Jehovah's work for them. The children would ask their fathers, "What do those stones mean to you?" The fathers were to answer by telling the Lord's doings: "the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off." And Christians may well recount to their children what God has done. Our little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God's word. Plant the facts of redemption, resurrection, and ascension in their minds and memories.
Joshua says the same thing twice in one chapter. One writer asks why, and finds the reason in us.
Why insist on this? Because it is a natural tendency for us to forget even such great miracles of God's power and to slip into a lax, careless condition. The children had not seen this great miracle. Hearing about it would not impress them much, unless their parents showed a great appreciation of this work of God.
Israel set the stones up at the place where they lodged for the night. One writer turns from those stones to the memorial Christians have.
But what a blessed portion is ours as we look at the stones in the lodging place! We are only "lodgers" in this world, and only for a "night." But the Lord has given us a memorial too. It tells of our salvation, and also how it was accomplished... But who, even of the firstborn ones, can fully estimate the Lord's death? As the stones were a memorial for the children of Israel forever, so the Lord's supper is in remembrance of Him until He comes.
- Fact. The answer to the child's question is an event, not an opinion. The nation crossed on dry ground, and the river of death did not touch one of them.
- Memorial. Israel placed the stones to make the children ask questions. The fact was never to be forgotten.
- Meaning. One writer reads the stones lifted out of the Jordan as a picture: we are alive to God, raised with Christ into a new place of blessing.
- Charge. God gives parents the answer in advance. Ground your children in redemption, resurrection and ascension as settled facts.
- Danger. Joshua repeats the command because forgetting comes naturally. Children value only what their parents clearly treasure.
because Jehovah your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until ye had passed over, as Jehovah your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had passed over;
Joshua is telling parents what to say when their children point at twelve stones and ask what they mean. The answer he gives them is not about Israel's march but about God's hand. He also ties this crossing to the older miracle at the Red Sea, telling the two rescues as one story.
The Jordan was not a trickle at that season. It was in flood, and God stopped it when the obstacle was at its worst.
The Jordan fills all its banks throughout harvest time. For Christ, when He rolled back its stream for us, death had all its terrors. But its flood is stopped, its waters are heaped up far away, so that they should not come near His people as they cross. It was our death He bore. It is taken out of the way, and we pass over to our inheritance, untouched and unhindered by it.
Joshua sets the two crossings side by side. Commentators have long held that they picture two different things, not one truth told twice.
Many have observed that the crossing of the Red Sea foreshadowed the death and resurrection of Christ for His people. The passage of the Jordan pointed forward to the death and resurrection of the saints with Christ. This very clear distinction must be plain to every spiritual mind that weighs the two Scriptures in the light of the New Testament.
Another writer puts the difference as a matter of direction: what God brought them out of, and what He brought them into.
The Red Sea was God's way of power for bringing His people out of their slavery. The Jordan was His way of power for bringing them into the fulness of their blessings. In the one case, death, in figure, was passed through. In the other, death, in figure, was out of sight altogether.
A popular reading treats this river as the crossing every believer makes at death. Commentators push back on that and point to something entered now.
The passage of the Red Sea pictured Christ dying for the believer, by which the believer escapes death and judgement. The passage of the Jordan pictured the believer dying with Christ and rising with Him. The path of death becomes the path of life. Many have taken the Jordan itself as a picture of the death we must pass through to reach heaven. But it is rather a figure of something entered while still on earth. Through death with Christ, the Christian comes into his heavenly position. There he has to stand for the Lord in conflict with spiritual powers of wickedness, just as Israel had to fight the Canaanites.
These are words for parents to speak. Joshua expects them to repeat the story years later, to children who never stood on that riverbed. One writer explains why it mattered so much.
Why should this be insisted upon? Because we tend by nature to forget even such great miracles of God's power, and to slip into a careless, casual state. The children had not seen this great miracle. Hearing about it would not impress them much unless their parents showed them a deep appreciation of this work of God.
One generation told the next what God had done. Another writer presses the same content on Christian parents.
And Christians may well recount to their children what God has done. Our little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God's word. The facts of redemption, resurrection and ascension should be planted in their minds and memories.
Joshua does not stop at the family. The reason he gives right after this verse reaches past his own nation.
Joshua 4:23 links the crossing of the Jordan with the passing over of the Red Sea. This was not only to remind God's people of what He has done for them, but "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." What a testimony God has given to men in the death of Christ. It is in bringing Christ out of death that God has displayed the "immeasurable greatness of His power" (Eph. 1:19-23). Whether men accept this testimony or not, it is also given so that His own might fear Him forever.
- Dried, not dammed — the river was at full flood when God stopped it. His people crossed the worst obstacle untouched.
- Dried out — the Red Sea brought Israel out of slavery; it pictures Christ dying for the believer.
- Dried in — the Jordan brought them into their promised land. It pictures the believer dying and rising with Christ, and standing in conflict there.
- Dried for you, dried for us — parents were to retell the crossing, because people forget miracles. Children take it to heart only when their parents treasure it.
- Dried for all the earth — the aim runs past Israel to every nation, so that all may know God's mighty hand, and His own may fear Him forever.
that all peoples of the earth might know the hand of Jehovah, that it is mighty; that ye might fear Jehovah your God continually.
Israel has just walked across a dry riverbed into the land God promised, and twelve stones now stand at Gilgal to mark it. The verse gives the reason for that pile of stones, and it reaches far past Israel. The nations are to learn what God's hand can do. Israel is to keep a fear of Him that never wears off.
The stones were not decoration. Men carried them out of the dry riverbed, and every detail of them carried a message.
These stones proclaimed certain realities. Taken from the dry bed of the river, they declared God's power in cutting off the waters before the ark of His covenant. Twelve in number, one stone for each tribe, they declared how all Israel had entered into Canaan. Set up together in Canaan, they witnessed to Israel's unity in that land. Moreover, they became a memorial to the nation of Jehovah's work for them.
Joshua told the parents to give their children the full truth of the crossing. God pressed this hard, and one writer explains why.
Why insist on this? Because it is a natural tendency for us to forget even such great miracles of God's power and to slip into a lax, careless condition. The children had not seen this great miracle. Simply hearing about it would not impress them much, unless their parents showed them a great appreciation of this work of God.
The same task falls to parents today. One writer names what they must pass on.
And well indeed may Christians recount to their children what God has done. Our little ones should be grounded in the great truths of God's word. We should plant the facts of redemption, resurrection, and ascension in their minds and memories. The pillar of stones taken from the Jordan's bed was thrown down long ago. But the Christian's pillar of witness is the word of God, and it can never be removed.
The stones at Gilgal were the second memorial. One writer reads them as a picture of the new life God's people have in Christ.
The other memorial was erected at Gilgal. They would look at these stones, and their children would ask, "What do these stones mean?" Then they could point to them and answer. These stones were taken out of the Jordan onto dry land. In the same way, they themselves had been brought out of the Jordan into this land of promise. This memorial is a picture of the fact "that we are alive to God in our Lord Jesus Christ." We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old things have passed away; look, all things have become new.
The verse widens the audience beyond Israel. The nations were to learn who this God is: tied to one people, and Lord of the whole earth.
The rivers and their stones were memorials to the twelve tribes. Beyond all these, the stones carried a witness to God everywhere. He was "the Lord their God" by relationship with them through the ark, for they had followed it in triumph to the other side. He was also "the God of the whole earth," for the Jordan had fled away and stood up as a heap before Him. It is in this double title and character that the Lord now appears before them and "all the people of the earth" at Gilgal, as a God who does wonders.
The verse ties the Jordan back to the Red Sea, and both events point forward to a greater display of the same power.
The crossing of the Jordan and the passing over of the Red Sea are linked together. This is not only to remind God's people of what He has done for them. It is also so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty. What a testimony God has given to men in the death of Christ. In bringing Christ out of death, God has displayed the "exceeding greatness of His power." Whether people accept this testimony or not, God also gives it so that His own might fear Him forever.
That fear is reverence, and it slips away without notice.
We rejoice in God our Father. But let us never forget that our Father is God. Reverence and godly fear are always the right attitude in His presence. Holy confidence and free access to Him do not mean familiarity, and familiarity may slide, without our noticing, into treating Him lightly.
- Stones speak. The twelve stones declared God's power over the waters, the whole nation's entry, and Israel's oneness in the land.
- Memory guards. Left to itself, the heart forgets even great miracles and drifts into carelessness. So God gave Israel a reminder in stone.
- Children ask. The memorial exists for the next generation. Parents answer with the facts of redemption, resurrection, and ascension.
- Nations watch. The event showed a double title — the Lord who belongs to His people, and the God of the whole earth.
- Fear remains. The same power that dried the Jordan raised Christ from the dead. The right answer is lasting reverence, not familiarity.