A Journey Through the Book of JoshuaÖrnek

Memorial Stones

Let us take a moment to think about the happiest day of our lives. For most of us, chances are that this was our wedding day or the day a child was born. If we came to faith in Christ later in life, it might be the day of our conversion. Regardless of what happened that day, we remember many details about it. Yet, we forget many elements of that day as well.

No matter how good our memory is, we do not readily recall everything about the happiest and most significant day of our lives. So, we take pictures of that day, keep mementos from that day, and hold on to other tangible reminders to help us remember what happened. The day the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the promised land about thirty-six hundred years ago was one of the most important days in Israel’s history. God commanded His people to create a physical sign to help them remember it.

As we saw in Joshua 3, God miraculously caused the waters of the Jordan to stop flowing when the priests carrying the ark of the covenant put their feet in the overflowing river, and the people crossed it on dry ground. While the priests stood where the river flowed, the waters were held back, and Joshua 4:1–10 describes the Lord’s telling Joshua to have one man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel collect a stone from the river after “all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan” (v. 1). The time reference is better translated as “while the nation was finishing passing over the Jordan.” The twelve men picked up the stones as the nation was exiting the river.

After crossing the river, Joshua set up the twelve stones at Gilgal (v. 20). Joshua 4:9 mentions Joshua’s setting up stones amid the river, which possibly means that he created another memorial in the river itself but is more likely another reference to the Gilgal monument. More important is the memorial’s significance. Later generations of Israelites would see the stone memorial and ask about it, and their parents were to tell of the miracle at the Jordan so that they would fear—believe and worship—the Lord (vv. 6–7, 21–24).

God’s people need such signs to remind them of God’s mighty acts of salvation, and though today we cannot look at the stones Joshua set up, God has given us two signs to bring His salvation to mind. When we celebrate baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we are to remember God’s great acts of salvation in Christ and proclaim what He has done to our children and others.

CORAM DEO Living before the face of God

Since we are a part of the people of God, what He did for old covenant Israel, He also did to bolster our faith. We cannot see Joshua’s memorial today, but we can remember what God has done as we see the signs He has given us and as we read His Word. Matthew Henry comments, “God’s mercies to our ancestors were mercies to us; and we should take all occasions to revive the remembrance of the great things God did for our fathers in the days of old.”