Teach Your Kids: Yahweh Is A God Of Wonders (Joshua 4:1-24) Series

The easiest way to jump into today's passage is by turning back to Joshua 3:7-13. It begins with Yahweh's words to Joshua, right before He does the wonder He has planned for Israel. Verse 7:

(7) And Yahweh said to Joshua,

"On this day I shall/will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel,

that they may know that just as I was with Moses, (thus) I am with you,

(8) while you shall command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, saying,

"As soon as you come up to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, in the Jordan you shall stand,"

(9) And Joshua said to the sons of Israel,

"Come near here,

and hear the words of Yahweh your God,"

(10) And Joshua said,

"By this you shall know that the living God (El) [is] in your midst,

and He shall certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites."

(11) LOOK! The ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you in the Jordan,

(12) and so then, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, a man from each tribe,

(13) and then, as soon as they rest-- the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of Yahweh-- Lord of the world-- in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off-- the water coming down from above--

and they shall stand in one heap.

In these verses, Yahweh explains to Joshua why He is about to do this great wonder. Yahweh wants to make Joshua great-- to exalt him in the sight of all Israel. God wants the people to understand that He is with Joshua, just as He was with Moses.

But when Joshua explains to the people why Yahweh is doing this wonder, he says that it's because Yahweh wants to prove that Yahweh is with them, and that he will certainly drive out the nations before them.

And right in the middle of this explanation, we get this puzzling note about choosing twelve men. Let me reread verse 12:

(12) and so then, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, a man from each tribe.

Why are these men chosen? What's going on? AJ (Author of Joshua) didn't explain it. And so it just sat in the back of our minds, bugging us. There must be an explanation.

Here, in chapter 4, we finally get our answer. This is the thread that AJ picks back up.

(1) And then , as soon as the whole nation finished crossing the Jordan, Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,

(2) "Take for yourselves from the people twelve men-- one man from each tribe--

(3) and command them, saying,

"Take for yourselves from here -- from the middle of the Jordan-- from where the feet of the priests stand firm-- 12 stones,

and (then) bring them over with you,

and place them in the lodging place

where you are spending the night,"

So why are the 12 men chosen? Their job is to grab 12 stones, and carry them across the river, and leave them wherever it is they are camping that night. We find ourselves asking, again, why? But we aren't told yet. We have to keep reading.

There is something else going on here. When God speaks in the OT, do you ever stop to think, what does this mean that God is speaking? Where is Yahweh speaking from? Sometimes, Yahweh speaks from a burning bush. Sometimes, he speaks in dreams or visions. Where is Yahweh speaking from in Joshua 4? Is He speaking audibly? Or is this like an internal voice?

Let's read verse 3 again. "Take for yourselves from here, from the middle of the Jordan, from where the feet of the priests stand firm, 12 stones." Yahweh says, "take them from here."

So where is Yahweh?

Yahweh is in the middle of the river. We can't see him, I don't think. But we know Yahweh is enthroned on the ark. And we know Israel consecrated itself last week (3:12) to prepare to meet Yahweh. So it makes sense, that Yahweh is right here. He's in the middle of the Jordan.

Verses 4-7:

(4) And Joshua called to the twelve men

whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel-- a man from each tribe--

(5) and Joshua said to them,

"Cross over before the ark of Yahweh your God to the middle of the Jordan,

and (then) take up for yourselves, each man, a stone on his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel,

(6) so that this will be a sign in your midst when your sons ask in the future, saying,