Joshua 4

Jos 4:1-8.

TWELVE

STONES

TAKEN FOR A

MEMORIAL

OUT OF

JORDAN.

1-3. the Lord spake unto Joshua, Take you twelve men--each

representing a tribe. They had been previously chosen for this service

(Jos 3:12),

and the repetition of the command is made here solely to introduce the

account of its execution. Though Joshua had been divinely instructed to

erect a commemorative pile, the representatives were not apprised of

the work they were to do till the time of the passage.

4, 5. Joshua called the twelve men--They had probably, from a feeling

of reverence, kept back, and were standing on the eastern bank. They

were now ordered to advance. Picking up each a stone, probably as large

as he could carry, from around the spot "where the priests stood," they

pass over before the ark and deposit the stones in the place of next

encampment

(Jos 4:19, 20),

namely, Gilgal.

6, 7. That this may be a sign among you--The erection of cairns, or

huge piles of stones, as monuments of remarkable incidents has been

common among all people, especially in the early and rude periods of

their history. They are the established means of perpetuating the

memory of important transactions, especially among the nomadic people

of the East. Although there be no inscription engraved on them, the

history and object of such simple monuments are traditionally preserved

from age to age. Similar was the purpose contemplated by the conveyance

of the twelve stones to Gilgal: it was that they might be a standing

record to posterity of the miraculous passage of the Jordan.

8. the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded--that is, it

was done by their twelve representatives.

Jos 4:9.

TWELVE

STONES

SET

UP IN THE

MIDST OF

JORDAN.

9. Joshua set up twelve stones . . . in the place where the feet of the

priests . . . stood--In addition to the memorial just described, there

was another memento of the miraculous event, a duplicate of the former,

set up in the river itself, on the very spot where the ark had rested.

This heap of stones might have been a large and compactly built one and

visible in the ordinary state of the river. As nothing is said where

these stones were obtained, some have imagined that they might have

been gathered in the adjoining fields and deposited by the people as

they passed the appointed spot.

they are there unto this day--at least twenty years after the event, if

we reckon by the date of this history

(Jos 24:26),

and much later, if the words in the latter clause were inserted by

Samuel or Ezra.

Jos 4:10-13.

THE

PEOPLE

PASS

OVER.

10. the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan--This

position was well calculated to animate the people, who probably

crossed below the ark, as well as to facilitate Joshua's execution of

the minutest instructions respecting the passage

(Nu 27:21-23).

The unfaltering confidence of the priests contrasts strikingly with the

conduct of the people, who "hasted and passed over." Their faith, like

that of many of God's people, was, through the weakness of nature,

blended with fears. But perhaps their "haste" may be viewed in a more

favorable light, as indicating the alacrity of their obedience, or it

might have been enjoined in order that the the whole multitude might

pass in one day.

11. the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests, in the presence

of the people--The ark is mentioned as the efficient cause; it had

been the first to move--it was the last to leave--and its movements

arrested the deep attention of the people, who probably stood on the

opposite bank, wrapt in admiration and awe of this closing scene. It

was a great miracle, greater even than the passage of the Red Sea in

this respect: that, admitting the fact, there is no possibility of

rationalistic insinuations as to the influence of natural causes in

producing it, as have been made in the former case.

12, 13. the children of Reuben . . . passed over armed before the

children of Israel--There is no precedency to the other tribes

indicated here; for there is no reason to suppose that the usual order

of march was departed from; but these are honorably mentioned to show

that, in pursuance of their promise

(Jos 1:16-18),

they had sent a complement of fighting men to accompany their brethren

in the war of invasion.

13. to the plains of Jericho--That part of the Arabah or Ghor, on the

west, is about seven miles broad from the Jordan to the mountain

entrance at Wady-Kelt. Though now desert, this valley was in ancient

times richly covered with wood. An immense palm forest, seven miles

long, surrounded Jericho.

Jos 4:14-24.

GOD

MAGNIFIES

JOSHUA.

14-17. On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all

Israel--It appeared clear from the chief part he acted, that he was

the divinely appointed leader; for even the priests did not enter the

river or quit their position, except at his command; and thenceforward

his authority was as firmly established as that of his predecessor.

18. it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark . . . were come

out of the midst of Jordan . . . that the waters of Jordan returned

unto their place--Their crossing, which was the final act, completed

the evidence of the miracle; for then, and not till then, the suspended

laws of nature were restored, the waters returned to their place, and

the river flowed with as full a current as before.

19. the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first

month--that is, the month Nisan, four days before the passover, and

the very day when the paschal lamb required to be set apart, the

providence of God having arranged that the entrance into the promised

land should be at the feast.

and encamped in Gilgal--The name is here given by anticipation

(see on

Jos 5:9).

It was a tract of land, according to JOSEPHUS,

fifty stadia (six and one-half miles) from Jordan, and ten stadia (one

and one-fourth miles) from Jericho, at the eastern outskirts of the

palm forest, now supposed to be the spot occupied by the village

Riha.

20-24. those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua

pitch in Gilgal--Probably to render them more conspicuous, they might

be raised on a foundation of earth or turf. The pile was designed to

serve a double purpose--that of impressing the heathen with a sense of

the omnipotence of God, while at the same time it would teach an

important lesson in religion to the young and rising Israelites in

after ages.