When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua:
Choose twelve men from the people, one from each tribe.
And he said to them, Take twelve stones from here, from the middle of Jordan, where the priests' feet stand, take them over and put them in the place where you will stay tonight. "
So Joshua called the twelve men he had prepared from the Israelites, one from each tribe.
He said to them, "Go down to Jordan and cross over to the ark of the LORD your God, and each of you shall bear a stone according to the number of the twelve tribes of the Israelites.
These stones can be used as evidence among you. In the future, your descendants will ask you,' What do these stones mean?'
Then you shall say to them, This is because the water of Jordan was cut off before the ark of the LORD. When the ark crossed Jordan, the water in Jordan was cut off. These stones will be a permanent memorial to Israel. " "
So the Israelites took twelve stones from the Jordan according to the number of tribes of the Israelites, as Joshua commanded, and did as the Lord commanded Joshua. They took the stone to the place where they had been and put it there.
Joshua also set up twelve stones in the Jordan River, where the feet of the priests who carried the ark stood. To this day, the stone is still there.
10 The priests who carried the ark stood in the middle of Jordan until all that the LORD had commanded Joshua and the people had been finished, as Moses had commanded Joshua. So, people passed quickly.
When all the people crossed the river, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed in front of all the people.
12 Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh all went over armed in front of the Israelites, as Moses had commanded.
About forty thousand people got ready and crossed over before the Lord to wait for the battle in the plains of Jericho.
On that day, the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel. All the days of his life, the people feared him as they feared Moses.
The Lord said to Joshua:
16 "tell the priests with the ark of testimony to come up from Jordan."
Joshua said to the priest, Come up from Jordan.
18 The priests who carried the ark of the Covenant of the LORD came up from Jordan, and as soon as their feet set foot on dry land, the water of Jordan flowed back to its original place and still rose over the banks.
On the tenth day of the first month, the people came up from Jordan and camped in Gilgal, east of Jericho.
The twelve stones they took from Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
2 1 Say to the Israelites, "In the future, your children and grandchildren will ask their father,' What do these stones mean?'
Then you will tell them that Israel crossed this Jordan on dry land.
For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan before you until you came over, just as the Lord your God dried up the Red Sea before us until we came over.
May all the peoples of the earth know that the hand of the Lord is powerful, and may you fear the Lord your God forever. "
Scripture segmentation:
Verse 1/7: The people picked up twelve stones in the Jordan River.
8/ 10: 12 stones are erected all over the Jordan River.
Section1118: People cross the river and go ashore
Twelve stones stand in Gilgal.
Scripture sharing:
This passage records that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and used twelve stones as a memorial to the Covenant.
What we notice, however, is that Joshua's address to the Israeli people is the address of the country, and the Israeli people have become the concept of a country, and the original translation is the whole country. This country can be divided into two types. First, the Israelites were founded in a kingdom on earth. Second, people belong to heaven, because the Lord made them king.
When all the Israelites crossed the Jordan River. The priests who carried the ark of the Covenant remained in the Jordan and did not leave. At this time, the Lord told Joshua to find a man from every tribe in the Jordan River, return to the Jordan River, take a stone and take it to the place where he will enter, in order to commemorate it and let future children know what the Lord has done.
They obeyed Joshua's command and went back to Jordan to get twelve stones. Joshua put twelve other stones on the bank of the Jordan River as a souvenir. In memory of God leading the people of Israel across the Jordan River. When Joshua finished everything, all the people crossed the Jordan. Finally, the priests carrying the ark went ashore, and the river rose to the banks again.
On the 10th day of the first month, about November of the Jews, Joshua put twelve stones from the Jordan River in Gilgal, which was the first place of worship for the Israelites when they entered the land of Canaan.
Meditate:
The purpose of Joshua's erection of that stone twice is to remind future generations of God's actions, to commemorate the manifestation of God's power in it, and to let parents witness God's actions for their children and not forget God's actions. Meditate on how we tell our children what God did today. Let our children think about God's actions with us?