Joshua 4:3 Komentář

This chapter gives a further account of the miraculous passage of Israel through Jordan. I. The provision that was made at that time to preserve the memorial of it, by twelve stones set up in Jordan (Jos 4:9) and other twelve stones taken up out of Jordan (Jos 4:1-8). II. The march of the people through Jordan's channel, the two tribes first, then all the people, and the priests that bore the ark last (Jos 4:10-14). III. The closing of the waters again upon their coming up with the ark (Jos 4:15-19). IV. The erecting of the monument in Gilgal, to preserve the remembrance of this work of wonder to posterity (Jos 4:20-24).

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 4 This chapter relates an order, that is men, should take twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, and carry them to the first place they lodged at as a memorial of their passage over it, Jos 4:1; and how Joshua set up twelve other stones in the river itself, Jos 4:9; and how many of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, went before the Israelites when they passed over, Jos 4:10; which being done, the priests were ordered to come out of Jordan, when the waters returned to their place, Jos 4:15; The time when this miracle was wrought is observed, Jos 4:19; and an account is given of Joshua's pitching the twelve stones taken out of Jordan in Gilgal, and the use they were to be of in future time, Jos 4:20.

And command you them, saying,.... As follows: take you hence out of the midst of Jordan; so that they were obliged to go back into the midst of Jordan, having already passed over it, as appears from Jos 4:1, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm; where being stones, they chose to stand upon them, and which were a firm standing for them; and which secured them from the slime and mud at the bottom of the river the waters left behind; though it is not absolutely necessary to understand it that they were to take, and did take, the stones from under their feet, but those that lay about the place where they stood: twelve stones; each man a stone; and, according to the Samaritan Chronicle (f), every man inscribed his name on the stone: and ye shall carry them over with you; from the place they took them up, to the place they should next stop at: and leave them in the lodging place where you shall lodge this night: which was in the place afterwards called Gilgal, Jos 4:19. (f) Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. p. 500, 503.

The people of the Hebrews, as we learn, after many sufferings, and after accomplishing their weary course in the desert, did not enter the land of promise until it had first been brought, with Joshua for its guide and the pilot of its life, to the passage of the Jordan. But it is clear that Joshua also, who set up the twelve stones in the stream, was anticipating the coming of the twelve disciples, the ministers of baptism.

Also, twelve stones from Jordan’s bed, Left dry when waters backward flowed, He raised and firmly set in place, The type of Christ’s apostles twelve.

The twelve patriarchs destined to become twelve tribes were arranged to be a type and pattern of the number of the apostles. So were the twelve fountains in the desert and twelve stones taken from the bed of the Jordan. We leave it to the student of the law to find deeper proof of all this.

When the people are passed over, Joshua commands twelve men, one taken out of each tribe, to take up a stone on his shoulder out of the midst of the river, and carry it to the other side, to be set up as a memorial of this miraculous passage, Jos 4:1-7. They do so, and set up the stones in the place where they encamp the first night, Jos 4:8, Jos 4:9. The priests stand in the river, till all the people are passed over, Jos 4:10, Jos 4:11. Of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, 40,000 fighting men pass over with the other tribes, Jos 4:12, Jos 4:13. Joshua is magnified in the sight of the people, and they fear him as they did Moses, Jos 4:14. The priests are commanded to come up out of the river, which, on their leaving it, immediately returns, and overflows its banks as before, Jos 4:15-18. This miraculous passage takes place the tenth day of the first month, Jos 4:19. The stones are set up in Gilgal, and Joshua teaches the people what use they are to make of them, Jos 4:20-24.

Where ye shall lodge this night - This was in the place that was afterwards called Gilgal. See Jos 4:19.

TWELVE STONES TAKEN FOR A MEMORIAL OUT OF JORDAN. (Jos 4:1-8) the Lord spake unto Joshua, Take you twelve men--each representing a tribe. They had been previously chosen for this service (Jos 3:12), and the repetition of the command is made here solely to introduce the account of its execution. Though Joshua had been divinely instructed to erect a commemorative pile, the representatives were not apprised of the work they were to do till the time of the passage.