Joshua 4:1-8
Jos 4:1
And it came to pass, when all the people were clean
passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
Then once they had all passed over the Jordan, then the
word of the LORD came to Joshua.
The move across Jordan would have been a tough one since they had their families
and all their worldly belongings along with livestock plus now they were in
enemy territory close to the city of Jericho and since the king knew it, they
were susceptible to attack because they were not yet coordinated.
Jos 4:2
Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe
a man,
Now was the time for twelve men who were chosen out of
the twelve tribes to be given the tasks which they were chosen for.
Jos 4:3
And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the
midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve
stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging
place, where ye shall lodge this night.
Then each of the men were to go back into the midst of
Jordan where the priests had stood firm in the middle of it.
They were to carry out twelve stones, one each, and they were to take
them to the place where they would be lodging that night.
That night they camped at Gilgal which was approximately one mile (1.6
KM) northeast of Jericho so Jericho did have something to worry about at this
time. They crossed on the tenth day
of the first month which would have been about March 25th on our
calendar.
Jos 4:4
Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared
of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:
Then Joshua hailed the twelve man who were about to
receive their divine orders.
Jos 4:5
And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of
the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a
stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children
of Israel:
Then Joshua relays the directions for them that he
received from the LORD. They were
to go back into the Jordan river to the place where the priests stood firm
holding the Ark and each one of them was to bring one stone from that place.
It would be a total of twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of
Israel. They were not tiny stones
but were to be large stones but small enough for them to be able to carry them
from the Jordan. These were stones
which could be used in the building of an edifice.
Jos 4:6
That this may be a sign among you, that when your
children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye
by these stones?
The twelve stones were to be set up as a memorial and
this way when the children inquire what they meant, then the fathers would be
able to tell their children about the deliverance from Egypt and the crossing of
Jordan to claim the land which God gave them in the covenant with Abraham.
Jos 4:7
Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were
cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan,
the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto
the children of Israel for ever.
Then they were to answer the children and tell them how
the LORD performed a miracle by stopping the waters of the Jordan River at
harvest when the river was running very high and would have been dangerous to
cross without the LORD intervening to let them cross on dry ground.
The stones were taken from the midst of Jordan and were set up as a
memorial of this event. They would
also be told that the LORD gave them a very wide place to cross heaping the
waters by the city of Adam thus allowing them to cross in a short period of
time.
Jos 4:8
And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded,
and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto
Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and
carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down
there.