Joshua · chapter 4 of 24
Updated on
Joshua 4 tells how, once Israel has crossed the Jordan, twelve men, one from each tribe, take twelve stones from the riverbed and carry them to the place where the people camp. Joshua also sets up twelve stones in the middle of the river. When the priests come up out of the river the waters return, and the people camp at Gilgal, where the memorial is set up so that future generations will ask and know what God did.
In Joshua 3 the Jordan stopped and the people crossed on dry ground. Chapter 4 does not linger on the miracle but on how to remember it. The Israelites had seen how memory fades: God commands them to set up a visible monument that will provoke questions from their children and keep alive the story of what the Lord did.
When the whole nation has finished crossing, the Lord tells Joshua to choose twelve men, one from each tribe, to take twelve stones from the place where the priests stood firm in the middle of the Jordan and carry them to the place where they will spend the night. Joshua calls the twelve together and explains that the stones will be a sign among them: when their children ask what they mean, they will answer that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. The men obey, and Joshua also sets up twelve other stones in the middle of the river, where the priests' feet had stood.
The people hurry across. The men of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh cross armed ahead of Israel, as Moses had said, about forty thousand ready for war. That day the Lord exalts Joshua in the eyes of all Israel, who revere him as they had revered Moses. When Joshua tells the priests to come up out of the Jordan and their feet touch dry ground, the waters return to their place and overflow its banks as before.
The people come up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camp at Gilgal, on the eastern edge of Jericho. There Joshua sets up the twelve stones taken from the river and explains their purpose: when their children ask in the future what they mean, they are to tell them that Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground, as God dried up the Red Sea, so that all the peoples of the earth may know the power of the Lord and that Israel may fear him always.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The stones will be a sign among Israel: when the children ask what they mean, their parents will explain that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark. The memorial turns God's story into a conversation between generations.
That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the eyes of all Israel, and the people revered him as they had revered Moses. God keeps the promise he made in the previous chapter and confirms the authority of his servant.
Joshua connects the crossing of the Jordan with the Red Sea and gives two purposes: that all the peoples recognize that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and that Israel fear him always. The miracle is for witness to the nations and for the reverence of his people.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Twelve, one for each tribe of Israel. — Joshua 4:2-3
Answer: That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it crossed. — Joshua 4:6-7
Answer: In the middle of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests carrying the ark had stood. — Joshua 4:9
Answer: About forty thousand, ready for war. — Joshua 4:13
Answer: The waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran over all its banks again. — Joshua 4:18
Answer: At Gilgal, on the eastern edge of Jericho, on the tenth day of the first month. — Joshua 4:19
Joshua 4 reminds us that faith needs memory. God does not only work miracles; he wants his people to tell about them. The stones provoke questions: the best teaching often begins when children see something and ask. At home, in Sunday school or in a small group, what visible reminders do we have of what God has done? A journal of answered prayers, an object or a celebrated date can serve that purpose.
It also shows that testimony runs in two directions: toward our children, so they learn to fear the Lord, and toward those outside, so they know his hand is mighty. Think about which story of God's faithfulness you should tell this week to someone from another generation.
Joshua 4 ends with Israel camped at Gilgal, with a memorial of twelve stones and a new generation tied to the past. In Joshua 5 the people will renew their covenant with God in that same place and receive a vision that prepares them for the battle of Jericho.
They were a visible memorial of the crossing of the Jordan. Their purpose was not to be worshiped but to provoke children's questions and give parents a chance to tell what God did. They represented the twelve tribes so that everyone could feel part of the story.
The text says he set them where the priests' feet had stood and that they are there to this day, that is, until the time of the one who wrote the book. They marked the exact spot of the miracle, even though they lay under the water.