Two Memorials
Joshua 4
Joshua 4
Joshua 4. The two memorials we read of in this chapter are quite instructive. There were the twelve stones left in the Jordan, and then there were the twelve stones set up on the bank in Gilgal. Both were memorials of the Lord’s mighty power in cutting off the waters of Jordan to allow the people to cross over. Typically, one is a picture of death and the other of death and resurrection. More than that, they speak of a people’s identification with death and resurrection (twelve stones for twelve tribes).1 Typically, this speaks of the believer’s death and resurrection with Christ as the border of the heavenly portion that Christ has brought us into. The old Adam-life cannot thrive in Canaan. We must go into the land in the power of a new life; the resurrection life of Christ! In this way the Christian is in a new creation, partaking of the resurrection life of Christ, who is the beginning of the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 3:14).
The Twelve Stones at Gilgal (4:1-8)
CHAPTER 4
1 And it came to pass when the whole nation had completely gone over the Jordan, that Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 Take you twelve men out of the people, one man out of every tribe, 3 and command them, saying, Take up hence out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging-place where ye shall lodge this night. 4 And Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had appointed of the children of Israel, a man out of every tribe; 5 and Joshua said to them, Pass before the ark of Jehovah your God into the midst of the Jordan, and lift up each of you a stone and put it upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign in your midst. When your children ask hereafter, saying, What mean ye by these stones? 7 then ye shall say to them, That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah; when it went through the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. 8 And the children of Israel did so, as Joshua had commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as Jehovah had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the lodging-place, and laid them down there.
vv.1-8 Twelve Stones at Gilgal. From the place where the priests feet stood firm, representatives of the tribes would take out stones for a memorial to place in Gilgal. These stones represent the remembrance of our death and resurrection with Christ. We take something of the death of Christ with us and it becomes life to us.2 It is our privilege to stand dry-footed on Canaan’s shore and “build” a memorial to what our Joshua has done in love for us, in defeating death, and raising us with Him. It is there, in the depths of the river, that we find the greatest proof of His love for us. The stones taken out of the river are also a memorial to resurrection, because His death has brought us life. It is never to be forgotten. As Christians, we have a memorial of the death of Christ: partaking of His supper. There is a practical result of being risen with Christ; “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). The book of Colossians is a wilderness book, but it gives us the truth of the Jordan. In Colossians, we have come through the wilderness, into the Jordan, and now are looking up the bank into the land, setting our affection on things above, where our life with Christ is hid in God. But we are not yet settled in the land until Ephesians.
The Twelve Stones in the Midst of Jordan (4:9)
9 And twelve stones did Joshua set up in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant had stood firm; and they are there to this day.
vv.9-11 Twelve Stones in the Midst of Jordan. The twelve stones in the midst of Jordan are a memorial to death; they speak of us, dead with Christ. The stones are placed where the ark had gone down. Later, the water closes over them and they are out of sight forever, although forever in that place. Christ went out of sight – made sin, forsaken of God – in order to defeat death and put away sin, but also that I might go out of sight in death with Him. But I do not remain out of sight; the stones in Gilgal are set up, so I am created anew in Christ Jesus. When God takes the old away, He gives us something infinitely better. It is remarkable that it says “they are there unto this day”. Picture in your mind the mighty Jordan closing back over those stones. It is as much as to say, “I am dead. All that I was in Adam is left under the judgment of God.” Then turn, and look up the bank at the twelve stones in Gilgal and say “My life is hid with Christ in God.” Col. 3:3. The stones in the river are there unto this day, although we can’t see them like we can the ones in Gilgal. This is because it is God’s memorial. In His sight, we are dead with Christ, and that fact will never change! But they are out of sight to us because it would not be a normal focus to dwell on death, or to “keep looking down”. Rather, we are to acknowledge it, and then look to the stones in Gilgal, remembering Christ’s victory for us, His being made sin, and move into the land of promise.
Something Old, Something New. The twelve men carried something from the wilderness side into the river, and left it there. They came out carrying something new! This is very much like the old and new man! The old man and the new man are two orders of manhood. The characteristics of the old man are seen looking at the whole race of Adam; morally depraved. The characteristics of the new man are seen in the life of Jesus. The believer is seen has having put off the old man when he is saved, and having put on the new man. This happens once, and never is repeated! The change is connected with our death and resurrection with Christ, and the believer becoming a new creature.
“…having put off the old man with his deeds…having put on the new.” (Col. 3:9-10)
“…having put off according to the former conversation the old man… having put on the new man.” (Eph. 4:22-24)
The Crossing Accomplished (4:10-11 )
10 And the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan, until everything was finished that Jehovah had commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hasted and passed over. 11 And it came to pass, when all the people had completely gone over, that the ark of Jehovah went over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.
vv.10-11 The Ark and The Priests Cross. “For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished”. The Lord Jesus bore the wrath of God in the three hours of darkness. He remained on the cross until He could say, “It is finished.” Not one drop of death’s dark water will never touch the soles of the believer’s feet. The ground is dry for me. And now I stand on the other side, created new in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10).
12 And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, went over in array before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. 13 About forty thousand armed for military service passed over before Jehovah to the war, unto the plains of Jericho.
vv.12-13 The Two and a Half Tribes Cross. Just as they had promised in chapter one, the 2 1/2 tribes who had settled for a portion east of Jordan do in fact cross over with the other tribes to drive out the inhabitants of the land. However, the total number of men twenty years old and upwards of the two and a half tribes was probably well over 100,000 men (Numbers 26), but here only 40,000 cross. Perhaps some stayed behind! Nevertheless, it seems that God gave these tribes credit for fulfilling their promise.
14 On that day Jehovah magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.
v.14 Joshua Magnified. The crossing of the Jordan was the one event that really identified Joshua as the chosen leader of Israel by Jehovah Himself. It magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and the people to respect him as they had respected Moses.
15 And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, 16 Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan. 17 And Joshua commanded the priests, saying, Come up out of the Jordan. 18 And it came to pass when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, when the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on to the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and they flowed as previously, over all its banks.
vv.15-18 The Priests and Ark Exit, the Waters Return. Once all the people were safe passed over the river, Joshua commanded the priest to exit the Jordan. The soles of their feet lifted up onto dry land, the waters returned and overflowed their banks as they had before. This showed that it was really the arc going into the Jordan that made a passage for the people on dry land. Just so, it is only the death of Christ that makes a way for the believer to go through death with Him.
The Encampment at Gilgal (4:19-24)
19 And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the eastern extremity of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones which they had taken out of the Jordan did Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 And he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children hereafter ask their fathers, saying, What mean these stones? 22 then ye shall let your children know, saying, On dry land did Israel come over this Jordan; 23 because Jehovah your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until ye had passed over, as Jehovah your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had passed over; 24 that all peoples of the earth might know the hand of Jehovah, that it is mighty; that ye might fear Jehovah your God continually.
vv.19-24 Gilgal. The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. They had left Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month forty years earlier! The people would camp at Gilgal, where in the following chapter they would exercise the rite of circumcision, which is a practical reckoning on the basis of the truth that we have in Joshua 3 and 4. The memorial was to be set up there in Gilgal and it would be a place that the camp of Israel would return time and time again. This memorial is something that we need to have brought before us repeatedly, that we are dead with Christ and risen with Him, and seated with Him in heavenly places!
- Twelve stones were laid in the Jordan where the priests’ feet stood, and twelve stones taken out of the Jordan; being, it is evident, the memorials one more particularly of death, as taken into the river, the other of resurrection, as taken out of the waters. They were the signs not only of Christ’s death and resurrection, but of the connection of the people with Christ in it. The Adam life cannot enjoy Canaan, and must go down into death. Beyond the Jordan it must be the power of a better life. – W. Kelly. Lectures Introductory to the Old Testament.
- The Holy Spirit brings with Him, so to speak, the touching memorial of the death of Jesus, by the mighty power of which He has turned all the effect of the enemy’s strength into life, and deliverance from what could not enter into heavenly things, and has laid the basis for our having part in them. Death comes with us from the grave of Jesus: no longer now as death, it is become life unto us, and, subjectively for faith, the absence of that which cannot have part in what is heavenly. … The remembrance of Jordan, of death when Christ was in it, is the remembrance of that power which secured our salvation in the last stronghold of him who had the power of death. It is the remembrance of that love which went down into death, in order that, as to us, it should lose all its power, except that of doing us good, and being a witness unto us of infinite and unchangeable love. – J.N. Darby. Synopsis of the Books of the Bible.