Joshua 4: The Story In The Stones Series

Introduction: Memorials are important. They serve to remind the people who were there of what happened, and why; and they’re also to remind the people, sometimes generations later, what their ancestors had endured. This was true for Israel as well: the people in this story lived through something few if any others had experienced.

They also knew that unless something was there to serve as a reminder, the people to come would never understand the history.

The double monuments for the generations to come would consist of two altars, both made of stones. One monument was made of stones from the river bed! The other would be made of stones from the bank or the land, carried to the river. Now let’s look at the text:

(Full disclosure: Sermon Central approved a previous message about this text, called “The Double Memorial in Joshua’s Day” but this is not a rework of that message.)

1 The stones from the river

Text, Joshua 4:1-7, KJV: 1 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, 2 Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, 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. 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: 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: 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? 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.

This is one day I would have liked to see! Think about it—nearly two million people crossed a ravine, just a short time before filled to the brim with fast-flowing water, and they saw this flood of water stopped, the river bed dried up, and they walked across 200 yards or more without even getting their feet wet! They had climbed down a couple of terraces, climbed up a couple of more, and now they were home.

The PROMISED LAND!

Well, most of them, anyway . . . .there were still a few priests, standing in the middle of the riverbed holding the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders. These men had been the “point men” or advance party, leading the way for the rest of the nation. They had been the first to step into the Jordan River—at flood stage!—and now they were among the last to set foot on the Promised Land. But God had not forgotten these men, and He was going to make sure they, too, reached their new homeland.

Verses 1 through 3 have the LORD’s message to Joshua. Except for the handful of priests who were still standing in the river bed, all Israel had crossed over and now the LORD is going to do two things Israel should remember forever.

First, the LORD told Joshua to choose twelve men, one man from each tribe, and command each one of them to grab a stone from the river bed, then carry the stones to “the lodging place”, where Israel was going to regroup before moving on to their new home. With each tribe contributing a man and a stone, this was truly a national and corporate project. Best of all, they were following the LORD’s commands, so they knew this was the right thing to do.

And that’s exactly what Joshua did. Verses 4 through 7 reflect Joshua’s words to these twelve men. They were to “pass before the Ark into the midst of the Jordan (probably a reference to about the midpoint of the riverbed)”. Once they got there, Joshua told each one to take up a stone and put that stone on his shoulder! We’re not told if there is any significance to this, except maybe showing that they shared the burden of the nation, or maybe that just like the priests had kept the Ark on their shoulders, these men would suffer some discomfort as well. Of course we may never know just why Joshua commanded them to do this. But that gives us an idea of the size of each stone—most men won’t be able to carry a large stone for a long distance without multiple stops for rest, especially since they would be walking uphill for most of the hike!