---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Joshua 4"
description: "CHAPTER 4   :-. TWELVE STONES
TAKEN FOR A MEMORIAL
OUT OF JORDAN. 1-3. the Lord spake unto Joshua,
Take you twelve men—each representing a tribe. They had"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/joshua/4"
---

CHAPTER 4

. TWELVE STONES
TAKEN FOR A MEMORIAL
OUT OF JORDAN.

**1-3. the Lord spake unto Joshua,
Take you twelve men**—each representing a tribe. They had been
previously chosen for this service (), 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.

**4, 5. Joshua called the twelve
men**—They had probably, from a feeling of reverence, kept back,
and were standing on the eastern bank. They were now ordered to
advance. Picking up each a stone, probably as large as he could
carry, from around the spot "where the priests stood," they
pass over before the ark and deposit the stones in the place of next
encampment ([Joshua 4:19](../../../kjv/joshua/4/19); [Joshua 4:20](../../../kjv/joshua/4/20)),
namely, Gilgal.

**6, 7. That this may be a sign among
you**—The erection of cairns, or huge piles of stones, as
monuments of remarkable incidents has been common among all people,
especially in the early and rude periods of their history. They are
the established means of perpetuating the memory of important
transactions, especially among the nomadic people of the East.
Although there be no inscription engraved on them, the history and
object of such simple monuments are traditionally preserved from age
to age. Similar was the purpose contemplated by the conveyance of the
twelve stones to Gilgal: it was that they might be a standing record
to posterity of the miraculous passage of the Jordan.

**8. the children of Israel did so as
Joshua commanded**—that is, it was done by their twelve
representatives.
. TWELVE STONES
SET UP
IN THE MIDST OF
JORDAN.

**9. Joshua set up twelve stones . . .
in the place where the feet of the priests . . . stood**—In
addition to the memorial just described, there was another memento of
the miraculous event, a duplicate of the former, set up in the river
itself, on the very spot where the ark had rested. This heap of
stones might have been a large and compactly built one and visible in
the ordinary state of the river. As nothing is said where these
stones were obtained, some have imagined that they might have been
gathered in the adjoining fields and deposited by the people as they
passed the appointed spot.
**they are there unto this
day**—at least twenty years after the event, if we reckon by the
date of this history ([Joshua 24:26](../../../kjv/joshua/24/26)),
and much later, if the words in the latter clause were inserted by
Samuel or Ezra.
[Joshua 24:26](../../../kjv/joshua/24/26). THE PEOPLE
PASS OVER.

**10. the priests which bare the ark
stood in the midst of Jordan**—This position was well calculated
to animate the people, who probably crossed *below* the ark, as
well as to facilitate Joshua's execution of the minutest instructions
respecting the passage (). The unfaltering confidence of the priests contrasts
strikingly with the conduct of the people, who "hasted and
passed over." Their faith, like that of many of God's people,
was, through the weakness of nature, blended with fears. But perhaps
their "haste" may be viewed in a more favorable light, as
indicating the alacrity of their obedience, or it might have been
enjoined in order that the the whole multitude might pass in one day.

**11. the ark of the Lord passed over,
and the priests, in the presence of the people**—The ark is
mentioned as the efficient cause; it had been the first to move—it
was the last to leave—and its movements arrested the deep attention
of the people, who probably stood on the opposite bank, wrapt in
admiration and awe of this closing scene. It was a great miracle,
greater even than the passage of the Red Sea in this respect: that,
admitting the fact, there is no possibility of rationalistic
insinuations as to the influence of natural causes in producing it,
as have been made in the former case.

**12, 13. the children of Reuben . . .
passed over armed before the children of Israel**—There is no
precedency to the other tribes indicated here; for there is no reason
to suppose that the usual order of march was departed from; but these
are honorably mentioned to show that, in pursuance of their promise
([Joshua 1:16-18](../../../kjv/joshua/1/16-18)), they had
sent a complement of fighting men to accompany their brethren in the
war of invasion.

**13. to the plains of Jericho**—That
part of the Arabah or Ghor, on the west, is about seven miles broad
from the Jordan to the mountain entrance at Wady-Kelt. Though now
desert, this valley was in ancient times richly covered with wood. An
immense palm forest, seven miles long, surrounded Jericho.
. GOD MAGNIFIES
JOSHUA.

**14-17. On that day the Lord
magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel**—It appeared clear
from the chief part he acted, that he was the divinely appointed
leader; for even the priests did not enter the river or quit their
position, except at his command; and thenceforward his authority was
as firmly established as that of his predecessor.

**18. it came to pass, when the
priests that bare the ark . . . were come out of the midst of Jordan
. . . that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place**—Their
crossing, which was the final act, completed the evidence of the
miracle; for then, and not till then, the suspended laws of nature
were restored, the waters returned to their place, and the river
flowed with as full a current as before.

**19. the people came up out of Jordan
on the tenth day of the first month**—that is, the month Nisan,
four days before the passover, and the very day when the paschal lamb
required to be set apart, the providence of God having arranged that
the entrance into the promised land should be at the feast.
**and encamped in Gilgal**—The
name is here given by anticipation (see on ). It was a tract of land, according to JOSEPHUS,
fifty stadia (six and one-half miles) from Jordan, and ten stadia
(one and one-fourth miles) from Jericho, at the eastern outskirts of
the palm forest, now supposed to be the spot occupied by the village
Riha.

**20-24. those twelve stones, which
they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal**—Probably to
render them more conspicuous, they might be raised on a foundation of
earth or turf. The pile was designed to serve a double purpose—that
of impressing the heathen with a sense of the omnipotence of God,
while at the same time it would teach an important lesson in religion
to the young and rising Israelites in after ages.

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