All the people completely crossed over the Jordan and then the LORD spoke to Joshua (v1-9) and told him to take twelve men, one from each tribe and to take twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan where the priests had stood firm. They were to carry the stones to the lodging place for the night. The priests with the ark were still in the river on dry ground. The twelve men were told to cross before the ark, and each take a stone. The purpose of the stones was for a sign when their children ask what they mean. When they did ask, they were to answer and tell them of the LORD staying the waters of the Jordan before the ark of the covenant when it was carried to cross the Jordan on dry land and the stones were for a memorial of the event forever. It was to tell their children of the miracle performed by God as a reminder for generations to come. The children of Israel did as they were commanded, and Joshua set up the memorial in the midst of the river and they were there at the time of writing of this book.
No doubt that Joshua had heard similar words which God had spoken to Moses – “Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.” (Deuteronomy 4:10)
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut 6:4-10)
It is easy to forget what God has done but we have a responsibility to teach our children about the greatness of our God.
God attached great importance to parents/grandparents teaching their children the truth about the workings of God. It is vital that we do not shirk our responsibilities in teaching our children and not to leave it to someone else. We in our churches only have these children for approximately two hours a week and, yes, we need to teach them well, but parents have them for the majority of the rest of the time so how much more their responsibility. We cannot abdicate our responsibilities.
There were two sets of stones set up as memorials, this first one in the middle of the Jordan, but also at Gilgal as we shall see shortly in verses 19-24. We are often prone to forget, and these were monuments to help them to remember and believe that God had worked miraculously on their behalf. We could say that the stones set up in the river were a sign of the old life buried in the waters and the one at Gilgal, a sign of the new life. These were not idols.
The priests stood in the middle of the Jordan bearing the ark of the covenant. It was obviously solid, dry ground because I’m sure they would have sunk into the mud during the time it took for the people to cross. The people hurried and crossed over in accordance with God’s promises through Joshua and Moses. When they had all crossed over, the priests carried the ark out of the riverbed as all the people watched. 40,000 men of war from Reuben, Gad and half tribe of Manasseh also crossed over. (v10-13)
God was in control of everything that day, the water, the riverbed being dry and hard enough to stand on and walk over, and the people. God was certainly glorified that day and He, “On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.” (v14) God exalted Joshua thus raising him up as their leader as He had Moses before him.
Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, “Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.” Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. (v15-18)
This was undoubtedly God’s timing. It was no trickle of water; it was a gushing river overflowing its banks. Not only was the parting of the water a great spectacle, but what a spectacle this was, the waters coming back. Full assurance, if they needed any, that God was at work and controls His creation.
On the tenth day of the first month, having come through the river on dry ground, Joshua set up a memorial with the twelve stones at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho (v19). “Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; “for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”
There were only two live human witnesses to both the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the River Jordan, Joshua and Caleb. They were both faithful to God and gave the glory to God and showed their complete trust in God to do what He told them to do. Both events must have been quite scary and required absolute trust in God. We must be faithful and true witnesses and have confidence that God will fulfil His word.
This second monument was also for a purpose, to remind them of what God had done. Every time they would pass it; it would remind them of their rescue from Egypt and also crossing the river Jordan and into the Promised Land. It was also for other nations to see and know our Mighty LORD. There is a responsibility on us to tell people of our LORD Jesus, what He has done and is still doing in the lives of people.
The last phrase in this chapter is interesting. Not only was the crossing of the Red Sea and The Jordan significant for the Israelites, but we read that ‘all the peoples of the earth may know’. This was a testimony to us all, through all generations, of the power of God and that we should ‘fear the LORD our God forever.’ We should not simply think that what happened here was solely for the benefit of the Israelites, but for us all, even in the 21st century.
