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.